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The  Scottish  nation;  or,  The 
surnames,  famihes,  hterature, 

William  Anderson 


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THE 

SCOTTISH    NATION; 


OR  THE 


SURNAMES,   FAMILIES,   LITERATURE,   HONOURS, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  HISTORY 


PEOPLE  OF   SCOTLAND. 


BY 

WILLIAM  ANDERSON, 

ACTBOK  07  Un.  AMD  BDITOK  Of  WOBK8,  OF  LOKD  fiTlU>H,  StC,  &Q. 


VOL.  L 

ABE-CUB. 


A.  FULLARTON  &  CO., 

44   BOUTH    BRIDGE,    EDINBURGH;     AND 
116  NEWGATE  STREET,  LONDON. 


1867. 


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■ir 
V.I 


EDINBURGH: 

PULLAIITON  AND  MACKAB,  l■ul^TluU8,  UflTQ  WALK. 


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-&^. 


PREFACE. 


The  work  which  is  now  presented  to  the  world  assumes,  by  its  compre- 
hensively national  title,  that  the  various  and  diversified  information  it 
contains  is  so  illustrative  of  the  Scottish  nation,  and  of  the  origin  and 
constitution  of  modem  Scottish  society,  as  to  justify  the  adoption  for  it 
of  a  designation  so  conspicuous.  Of  any  other  country,  it  is  true,  an  ac- 
count of  its  surnames,  families,  and  honours,  would  cast  little  or  no  light 
over  the  constitution  of  the  society  existing  therein.  Such  an  account 
would  probably  tell  next  to  nothing  of  the  earlier  races  out  of  which 
society  was  formed,  because,  in  the  case  of  any  other  nation,  whatever 
might  elsewhere  be  found  to  illustrate  that  part  of  its  history,  few  indica- 
tions in  the  names  now  borne  by  individuals  or  families,  or  in  its  titles  of 
honour,  will  be  found  to  mark  the  tribes  or  institutions  whence  they 
sprung,  or  to  be  otherwise  identified  with  the  commencement  of  its 
national  unity.  This  is  a  result  to  be  found  in  Scotland  alone ;  not 
uniformly,  indeed,  nor  always  without  admixture  of  doubt,  but  certainly 
in  a  greater  degree  than  in  any  other  kingdom  or  state. 

Modem  Scottish  society,  and  Scottish  nationality  in  its  proper  sense, 
may  be  said  to  have  come  into  existence  together.  Hereditary  monarchy, 
hereditary  surnames,  families,  and  honours,  hithei-to  imknown  among  its 
peoples,  were  their  commoil  instruments  for  consolidation,  for  conserva- 
tion, and  for  progress.  To  the  Cumbrian,  the  Pict,  the  Scot,  Norwegian, 
Dane,  or  Saxon,  who,  at  various  times  and  in  various  degrees,  were  spread 
over  its  soil,  these  distinctions  were  exceptional  and  comparatively  un- 
known. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  greater  part  of  the  country 
now  constituting  Scotland  was  in  a  state  little  better  than  that  of  chaos, 
and  worse  than  that  of  anarchy.     A  contemporary  document  of  a  solemn 


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IV 


PREFACE. 


character  describes  the  southern  portion  (and  it  may  be  held  as  equally 
true  of  the  northern)  as  having  till  then  been  occupied  rather  than  in- 
liabited  "  by  diverse  tribes  of  diverse  nations  coming  from  diverse  parts; 
of  dissimilar  language,  features,  and  modes  of  living,  not  easily  able  to 
liold  converse  among  themselves,  practically  Pagans  rather  than  Christ- 
ians, living  more  like  iiTational  animals  than  as  worthy  of  the  name  of  a 
people,"**  and  even  deducting  from  this  picture  for  the  exaggerations  of 
a  Churchman,  enough  remains  to  confirm  tlie  foregoing  remark.  The 
arrival  of  a  new  people  of  polished  manners,  military  discipline,  and 
Christian  zeal,  by  giving  new  institutions  and,  for  a  time,  a  new  language 
to  this  incongruous  mass,  created  a  nation  and  a  nationality,  yet  without 
a  so-called  revolution  or  even  a  change  of  dynasty.  The  new  race, 
whose  presence  was  so  beneficially  felt  in  Scotland,  came  through  Eng- 
land, yet  were  not  of  it.  They  were  the  Normans, — a  people  of  the 
same  original  stock  as  many  of  the  tribes  above  referred  to,  but  refined 
and  instructed  by  familiarity  with  the  institutions  of  the  South. 

This  new  order  of  things,  however,  might  have  attained  to ,  no  per- 
manence, or  even  if  permanent,  to  no  historic  significance — at  least  in 
the  sense  which  our  title  assumes — had  not  the  silent  but  ceaseless  immi- 
gration of  the  new  race  continued  vrithout  interruption  for  nearly  two 
centuries,  in  the  course  of  which  they  identified  their  fortunes  with  those 
of  a  dynasty  which,  although  sprung  from  an  elder  settlement  of  the 
population,  was  led  by  sympathy,  education,  and  the  necessities  of 
their  position,  to  cherish,  enrich,  and  lean  upon  this  new  people  for 
tlie  preservation  of  their  crown  and  prerogatives,  and  to  cement  their 
union  by  numerous  family  alliances.  A  revolution,  which  placed  first 
one  and  then  another  family  of  the  new  race  upon  the  throne  of  Scot- 
hmd,  completed  the  solidarity  of  the  social  tlnion  of  races  in  Scotland, 
while  it  prevented  fresh  admixtures  of  foreign  blood ;  and  lastly  and 
chiefly  the  practice  of  bestowing  hereditary  surnames  and  honours,  and 
of  holding  all  lands  from  the  Crown,  which  obtained  generally  throughout 


♦  Diversae  tribus,  diverwinim  nacionuni,  ex  diversis  partibus  affluentes,  regionem  prefatum  habita- 
verunt.  Sed  dispari  gente  et  dissimidi  lingu4,  et  varia  more  viventes,  haut  facile  (inter)  sese  consen- 
cientes,  gentilitatem  potiuB  quam  iidei  cnltum  tenuerunt.  Quos  infeliccs  et  damoate  habitacionis, 
habitatores,  more  pecudum  irrationabiliter  degentes,  digiiatus  est  Dorniims,  .  .  .  vii<itare. — 
TnquisiU&n  by  David  Prince  of  Cumbria  (circa  1116). 


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1     I 

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I  I 


PREFACE. 


this  peiiod,  and  found  a  permanent  and  faithful  record  in  charters  and 
other  public  deeds,  many  of  which  are  still  in  existence,  insured  to  Scot- 
land the  integrity  and  continuity  of  its  social  annals. 

The  surnames  traceable  to  immigrant  Norman  chiefs,  or  to  the  lands 
bestowed  upon  their  retainers,  constitute  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  those 
peculiar  and  pertaining  to  vast  numbers  of  individuals  forming  modem 
Scottish  society.  Under  those  derived  from  lands,  not  a  few  Danish  and 
Norwegian  names  are  to  be  foimd,  which,  in  like  manner  as  those  of  Celtic 
and  Norman  origin  referring  to  personal  or  local  distinctives,  are  to  be  re- 
cognised by  their  composition ;  yet,  while  of  this  latter  class,  even  in  the 
remote  North  we  find  in  the  names  Fraser,  Grant,  Cameron,  and  others, 
undeniable  proofs,  notwithstanding  their  present  use  of  the  Celtic  tongue, 
I  !!  of  a  Norman  or  French  immigration,  the  composition  of  the  southern 
j  !l  population  is  singularly  manifested  when  the  distinctive  of  an  individual 
j  I ;  of  the  more  ancient  lineage  is  there^as  in  the  case  of  a  Fleming  or  an  Inglis, 
i  1 1  expressed  by  the  simple  name  of  Scott.  An  account  of  the  origin  or  of  the 
original  holdei-s  of  these  surnames  of  the  forefathers  of  tlie  present  Scot- 
tish people,  cannot  fail  to  be  highly  interesting  to  all  classes  at  the 
present  day. 


But,  a  mere  explanation  of  the  origin  o{  surnames  alone  would  lack  com- 
pleteness unless  accompanied  with  some  account  of  the  families  by  which 
they  were  borne,— of  the  distribution  of  those  families  over  the  country, — 
of  their  subdivision  into  new  families, — and  of  the  distinguished  individ- 
uals who  sustained  their  reputation  and  promoted  their  influence:  and  such 
an  account  it  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  Work  to  supply.  *  The  Scottish 
Nation'  professes  to  present  the  succession,  the  affiliations  and  alliances, 
and  the  leading  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  families  whose  sur- 
names have  obtained  distinction  and  influence  throughout  Scotland  since 
the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore. 

The  ancient  baronies  of  Scotland,  associated  as  they  were  with  heredi- 
tary jurisdictions  only  short  of  regal,  had  all  a  significancy  in  that  country 
unequalled  in  any  others  where  the  feudal  regime  obtained.  The  holders 
of  these  honours  were  regarded  as  heads  of  its  name  as  well  as  of  their 
vassals ;  and  to  promote  the  honour  of  the  one  as  well  as  the  welfare  of 


j    i 

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ii 


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VI  PREFACE. 


the  other  was  their  business  and  their  strength.  An  account  of  these 
hxmours  is  an  account  of  the  territorial  supremacy  of  a  name  and  of  a 
family,  among  the  members  of  which  the  lands  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  their  heads  were  in  course  of  time  parcelled  out. 

A  history  of  Scottish  titles  is  a  necessary  supplement  to  that  of  families, 
and  a  key  to  many  of  the  social  and  political  incidents  in  that  kingdom 
as  well  as  in  the  history  and  fortunes  of  its  families.  Such  a  history  forms, 
therefore,  another  and  it  is  hoped  a  valuable  topic  of  the  present  Work. 

Immeasurably  beyond  all  these  social  facts  in  importance,  although 
greatly  illustrated  by  the  lights  they  furnish,  the  biographies  of  its  dis- 
tinguished natives  become,  when  properly  treated,  the  topic  which  illus- 
trates and  shows  foii-h  in  its  strength  and  peculiarities  *  The  Scottish 
Nation.'  The  poorest  country  in  Europe,  occupied  by  a  hardy  race  trained 
to  military  exercises,  struggling  for  centuries  to  maintain  their  national  in- 
dependence, and  ever  contending  for  mastery  amongst  themselves,  Scotland 
has  belield  her  sons  loving  and  honouring  the  country  that  gave  them  birth 
with  a  high  and  pure  patriotism ;  and  clinging  to  each  other  with  a  pro- 
verbial partiality,  yet  not  alone  on  account  of  their  common  relationship, 
but  also  for  those  qualities  of  endurance,  energy,  and  intelligence  which 
their  common  struggles  and  even  social  feuds  drew  forth  and  incorporated 
as  it  were  with  the  national  character.  At  a  comparatively  ciirly  period 
she  sent  forth  many  of  her  sons  to  obtain  distinction  and  honours  in  other 
lands;  and  when  more  peaceful  times  had  arrived  and  milder  institu- 
tions obtained,  she  saw  them  launch  into  the  arts  of  civil  life,  for  which 
their  hereditary  qualities,  animated  by  the  lessons  of  a  simple  but  sin- 
cere piety,  had  well  prepared  them,  and  assert  for  themselves  a  fi-ont 
rank  among  the  leaders  of  mind  and  intellect  in  Europe,  in  numbers  alto- 
gether unexampled  in  the  social  development  of  other  nations.  Of  such 
men  is  Scotland's  pride  and  glory,  and  their  lives  and  deeds  constitute 
the  truest  account  of  the  Scottish  nation. 

In  its  general  biography  the  present  work  embraces  a  wider  range 
than  is  contemplated  in  any  of  those  specially  devoted  to  that  subject, 
comprising  many  names  not  to  be  met  with  in  history,  yet  of  men  whose 
skill,  genius,  or  labours  have  added  to  the  comfort,  the  knowledge,  or 


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PREFACE.  VU 


the  happiness  of  mankind.  Not  a  few  names,  moreover,  that  have  long 
been  borne  down  by  undeserved  obloquy  have  been  restored  to  their 
proper  position ;  while  others,  upheld  by  misstatement  or  exaggeration 
at  an  undue  elevation,  have  been  placed  on  a  lower  pedestal.  In  all  cases 
the  truth  has  been  stated,  without  reference  to  party  feelings  or  sectarian 
misrepresentations. 

In  the  department  of  literature  great  attention  has  been  bestowed  upon 
the  articles  relatmg  to  men  distinguished  by  their  writings.  By  append- 
ing the  titles  and  dates  of  their  works,  and  sometimes  when  these  were  |  j 
numerous,  classifying  the  subjects  treated  of,  easy  reference  is  combined 
with  great  economy  of  space.  In  a  word,  as  respects  the  productions  of  its 
literary  characters,  '  The  Scottish  Nation'  becomes  as  it  were  a  Btbli- 
otheca  Scottica  corrected  and  brought  down  to  the  present  day. 

For  a  work  of  this  character  it  is  evident  that  an  Alphabetical  arrange- 
mentj  or  what  is  generally  although  incorrectly  known  as  the  Dictionary 
form,  is  the  only  one  compatible  with  clearness,  order,  and  facility  of  ref- 
erence, and  accordingly  such  a  form  has  been  adopted,  with  some  peculi- 
arities which  it  is  hoped  will  be  found  to  improve  it  in  these  respects. 
In  all  other  works  of  this  kind,  when  several  articles  or  parties  of 
the  same  name  came  to  be  described,  the  suh-alphahetical  order,  or  that 
of  the  initial  letters  has  obtained.  In  the  case  of  biographies,  however, 
on  this  principle,  the  ancestor  is  placed  often  at  a  distance  from  and  not 
unfrequently  long  after  his  descendants.  Throughout  long  lists  of  similar 
surnames  the  strictly  alphabetical  arrangement  mixes  up  epochs,  and 
mars  all  attempts  to  present  the  connection  which  distinguished  indi- 
viduals bearing  them  had  to  one  another.  This  inconvenience,  except 
in  a  few  unimportant  eases,  has  been  obviated  by  a  double  arrange- 
ment. In  narrating  isolated  biographies  of  individuals  of  the  same  sur- 
name the  order  in  time  is  followed;  they  succeed  each  other  accord- 
ing to  the  epochs  in  which  the  parties  lived.  Where,  however,  a  lineal 
descent  is  traceable,  the  biographies  are  introduced  and  continued  in  a 
direct  succession.  The  order  of  the  series  is  here  chronological,  but  in 
the  order  of  families,  and  not  by  individuals. 

To  the  student  of  Scottish  history  the  value  of  the  assistance  furnished 


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Vlll 


PREFACE. 


by  a  work  of  the  character  of  ^  The  Scottish  Nation'  need  not  be  dwelt 
upon.  In  the  accounts  given  of  every  family  or  title  of  antiquity  and  note, 
numerous  indirect  and  incidental  lights  are  thrown  upon  its  pages.  The 
direct  additional  matter  it  supplies,  is,  however,  perhaps  of  still  more 
importance.  In  this,  as  well  as  in  many  other  points,  it  will  be  found  a  more 
accurate  and  complete  exhibition  of  the  Earlier  History  of  Scotland  than 
any  that  has  yet  been  presented  to  the  public. 

In  the  course  of  his  labours  the  author  was  necessarily  obliged  to  enter 
into  an  extensive  correspondence  with  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  with  some  families  out  of  it,  and  he  now  returns 
his  acknowledgments  to  all  for  the  kindness  and  promptitude  with  which 
they  answered  his  applications,  furnished  valuable  information,  and,  in 
many  cAses,  placed  their  family  records,  for  the  time,  at  his  perusal. 
It  may  give  some  idea  of  the  care  and  research  bestowed  upon  this 
work  when  it  is  stated  that  the  author  was  altogether  nearly  twelve  years 
occupied  in  its  composition  and  coiTCction. 

The  Autographs,  Seals,  Genealogical  and  Titular  tables,  and  other 
illustrative  objects,  as  well  as  the  Portraits  on  wood  and  steel  with  which 
the  work  is  so  profusely  embellished,  have  all  been  taken  from  original 
or  other  authentic  sources. 


!    t 


A  National  Gallery  of  Scottish  Portraits  has  long  been  pointed  out  as 
a  desideratum,  and  learned  societies  have  recently  brought  the  matter 
strongly  before  the  public.  In  the  care  taken  to  make  the  Porti-ait  illus- 
trations authentic  and  numerous  in  a  degree  far  beyond  those  in  any  col- 
lection heretofore  presented  to  the  world,  the  Publishers  anticipate  that 
the  first  exhibition  of  a  National  Portrait  Gallery  worthy  of  the 
name  will  be  found  in  the  pages  of '  The  Scottish  Nation.' 

The  Biographies  that  were  required  to  be  added  during  the  publica- 
tion of  the  work  by  demise  of  distinguished  individuals,  are  given  in  the 

form  of  a  Supplement. 

W.  A. 


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LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


VOLUME    I. 


ENGEAVED  PORTRAITS. 


1.  BxTBHS,  Robert, 

2.  Absbobombt,  Sir  Ralph, 

3.  Allan,  Sir  WUliam, 

4.  BvTHUirB,  (Beaton)  Cardinal, 

6.  BucHAHAN,  George, 
6.  Campbell,  Thomas, 
7   Chalmebs,  Thomas,  D.D..  LL.D., 


From  a  painting  by  Naismyth, 

„  J.  Hoppner,  R.A, 

Himself, 
Roman    Catholic ) 
College  at  Bhiir,  j 
Pourbus, 
Sir  Thomas  Lawrence, 
T.  Duncan, 


byF. : 


Engraved  by  W.  Holl, 
J.  B.  Bird, 
W.  E.  Sibbald, 

W.  Holl, 


To  face  page 
Frontispiece, 
page  4 
117 


J.  B.  Bird, 
E.  Finden, 
J.  B.  Bird, 


288 

462 
578 
623 


ENGRAVED  TABLES  OF  TITULAR  GENEALOGIES. 


I.  Amcibnt  Ea&looms. 
As  arranged  by  the  anthor  and  others 


1.  Earldom  of  Angns, 

2.  „  Athol, 

3.  „  Bachan,  „ 

4.  „  Caithness,  „ 

II.  Anouimt  Babohages. 
1.  Campbell,  Lord  Lochow,         As  arranged  by  the  author  and  others, 


137 
161 
453 
620 


543 


WOODCUTS  (IN  LETTERPRESS). 


1.  Abbrorombt,  John,  M.D., 

2.  Abbrqbombt,  Sir  Ralph,  birth-  > 

place  of,  f 

8.  Abbborombt,  Sir  Ralph, 

4.  „  „  (on) 
horseback),  j 

5.  Adam,  Alexander,  LL.D., 

6.  Albaht,  Seal  of  Robert, ) 

1st  duke  of,  j 

7.  Albany,  Doane  Castle,  Resi-  ) 

dence  of  2ddake  of,  j 

8.  Albany,  Earl  of  Buohan,  ) 

son  of  1st  duke  of  j 

9.  Albany,  John,  4th  duke  of, 

10.        „  „  Aatograph  of, 

U.  Alexander  L,  Seal  of  David  > 
I.,  brother  of,  f 

12.  Alexander  I.,  Monastery  \      i 

built  by,  (on  Inchcolm,)  f"      < 

13.  Alexander  I.,  Silver  Pennies  >!. 

14.  „  Seal  of, 

15.  „  Coldingham ) 
Priory  rebuilt  by,  } 

16.  Alexarder  II.,  Seal  of, 

17.  Alexander  III.,  Seal  of. 


Fro 

ED  a  Medallion  on  Monument, 

3 

}i 

a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot  by  J. 

C.  Brown, 

5 

»» 

Kay's  Portraits, 

7 

>» 

ti 

11 

1} 

a  painting  by  Sir  Henry  Raebum, 

23 

t) 

Anderson's  Diplomata  Scotis,  Engraved  b) 

r  J.  Adam, 

40 

»» 

Cardonnell's  Scot  Antiq., 

ft 

G.  Measom, 

42 

♦» 

Pinkerton's  Gallery, 

M 

ti 

43 

Sloane's  MSS.,  " 

" 

11 

11 

61 
51 

»» 

Anderson's  Diplomata  Scotite, 

»> 

J.  Adam, 

53 

11 

Swan's  Views  in  Fifeshire,  ^ 

by  J.  C.  Brown, 
Anderson's  Numismata, 

»i                   tt 

19 

»» 
»i 

58 

60 
60 

It 

Cardonnell's  Scot.  Antiq., 

II 

•G.  Measom, 

65 

ft 

Anderson's  DiplomaU  Scoti«, 
II                 If            >> 

ft 

n 

J.  Adam, 

79 
79 

Digiti 


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2                                                LIST  OP  n<T.USTRATIONS. 

'®-  '^S^eTof  M^irft  ^"'}    ^^  •  Contempomor  print,               Engraved  by  J.  Adam. 

96 

19.  ALRXA?n>ER  III.,  Kinghoni,^    ( 
(the  scene  of  the  death  of,)  f  \ 

)) 

a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot  > 
by  J.  C,  Brown,                 j 

98 

M 

tf 

20.  Alexakdeb  ni.,  Donferm- 1     '^ 
line  Abbey,  Interior  (Archi-  V  • 
tecture  of  tie  period  of),      I    ^ 

»» 

BiUing»s  Baronial  and  Ecclo- ' 
siastical  Architecture,       } 

•t 

G.  Measom, 

103 

(to  illustrate  Scottish  Art  - 

»» 

Scottish  Antiquarian  Museum, 

ft 

W.Williams, 

104 

of  the  period  of),                   i 
22.  Albxahdeb,  Sir  William,  lst\   f 

«» 

Billing»s  Baronial  and  Ecde-  \ 

T     kA 

111 

earlofStirling  (mansion  of),  r  1 
23.  Albxandeb,  Sir  William,  Ist  T   / 

siastical  Architecture,        } 

ft 

ti.  /Loam, 

V 

Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  1 

Dalziel, 

112 

earl  of  Stirling  (portrait  of),  r  "5 
24.  Allak,  Darid,  Sketch— Chanty  fi 

Authors,                             i 

ft 

icene,  by 

ft 

G.  Measom, 

115 

25.  Arbubthnot,  John,  M.D., 

11 

a  scarce  print, 

painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
Kay's  Portraift, 

ft 

DalEieL 

W.  Williams, 

150 

26.  Aemstbono,  John,  M.D., 

n 

tf 

157 

27.  Arkot,  Hugo, 

If 

ft 

G.  Measom, 

159 

28.  Athol,  (Blair  Castle,  seat  of  > 
the  duke  of,)                        j 

n 

Cardonnell's  Scot.  Antiq., 

ft 

Linton, 

165 

29.  Ayton,  Sir  Robert, 

)« 

a  bust. 

tf 

W.Williams, 

171 

30.  Baillie,  Robert  (of  Jarriswood), 

»i 

an  original  miniature. 

ft 

t» 

178 

31.  Baillib,  Matthew,  M.D., 

ii 

a  rare  print, 

ff 

Linton, 

181. 

32.  Baillib,  Joanna, 

33.  Baibd,  Sir  David, 

n 

a  painting  by  Sir  W.  Newton, 

tf 

ft 

187 

i» 

„           Sir  Henry  Raebum, 

ft 

ft 

196 

34.  Baibd,  George  Husband,  D.D. 

35.  Baloarrbs  OiAio,  Fifeshire, 

»i 

Kay's  Portraits, 

ft 

ft 

198 

Swan's  Views  in  Fifeshire, 

ff 

J.Adam, 

207 

36.  Balfour,  Sir  James, 

n 

an  original  print, 

tf 

Linton, 

214 

37.  Balgonie  Castle,  Fifeshire, 

ti 

Scotia  Depicta, 

tf 

J.  Adam, 

219 

38.  Baliol,  John,  Seal  of. 

»> 

Anderson's  Diplomata  Scotie, 

ft 

ft 

222 

39.  BAUO^  Edward,  Seal  of. 

»> 

ff                  ff 

tf 

ft 

223 

40.  Balmbr,  Robert,  D.D., 

i» 

a  lithographic  print, 
Kay's  Portraits, 

ff 

Linton, 

228 

41.  Bannattxb,  Lord, 

t» 

ft 

It 

236 

42.  Barbour,  John,  (Aberdeen!^ 
Cathedral,  where  served,)  J ' 

i» 

Caidonnell's  Scot.  Antiq., 

tf 

J.  Adam, 

238 

43.  Barolat,  John, 

)i 

an  original  print, 

a  paintmg  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 

Pinkerton's  Gallery, 

ft 

W.  WiUiams, 

247 

44.  Beaitib,  James,  LL.D., 

i» 

ft 

Linton, 

266 

45.  Brlhaybn,  2d  Lord, 

»♦ 

tf 

tt 

271 

46.  Bell,  Benjamin, 

47.  Bell,  Sir  Charies, 

»♦ 

Kay's  Portraits, 

tt 

tt 

273 

11 

an  original  print. 

ft 

ft 

280 

48.  Bisset,  John,  (Beauly  priory  i 

founded  by,)                         j ' 

49.  Black,  Josepn,  M.D., 
60.  Blair,  Hugh,  D.D., 

i» 

Cardonnell's  Scot  Antiq. 

ff 

J.  Adam, 

304 

i» 

apainting  by  Sir  Henry  Raebum, 
Kay's  Portraits, 

ft 

W.  Williams, 

308 

ft 

ft 

Linton, 

326 

61.  Blaib,  RobertJLord  President), 
52.  Blanttrb,  F.  T.  Stewart,  Duch-  ) 

If 

ft               ff 

ff 

ft 

327 

ess  of  Richmond,  daughter  of  > 

f» 

a  painting  by  Sir  Peter  Lely, 

t? 

ft 

834 

Walter,  3d  son  of  the  1st  Lord, ) 

53.  BoBTHwiOK  Castlb, 

ft 

Scotia  Deplete, 
Lodge's  Portraits, 

ff 

J.  Adam, 

340 

64.  BoswELL,  James, 

ft 

ft 

Linton, 

347 

55.  BoTD,  Robert, 

ff 

Pinkerton's  Gallery, 

ff 

W.  WUliams, 

367 

56.  BoTD,  Zachary, 

ft 

ft               ff 

ff 

ft 

369 

57.  Bbbadalbanb,  (Taymouth  ^      ^ 
Castle,  seat  of  the  mar-  V     • 
quis  of,)             Interior, )      ^ 

ff 

a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot  > 
by  J.  C.  Brown,                 j 

ft 

Linton, 

872 

68.  Ditto,        ditto,    Exterior, 

ft 

a  drawing  by  Sargent, 

tt 

If 

377 

59.  Brown,  Thomas,  M.D., 

ft 

Watson, 

tt 

tt 

397 

60.  Brus,  Robert  de.  Seal  of. 

ff 

Anderson's  Diplomate  Scotiee, 

tf 

J.  Adam, 

409 

61.     „             „         Tumbemr) 

Castle  (the  birthplace  of),/ 

1        62.  Bruce,  King  Robert,  Seal  of. 

If 

Tytler's  Scottish  Worthies, 

tt 

ft 

410 

ft 

Anderson's  Diplomate  Scotiie, 

ff 

ft 

421 

'        63.  Bruob,  Robert, 

ft 

an  original  miniature, 
a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot ) 
by  J.  C.  Brown,                j 

ft 

Linton, 

486 

64.  Bruob,  James,  (mansion-)       f 
house  of;)                      /     \ 

ff 

»» 

G.  Measom, 

441 

66.  Brucb,  James,  portrait  of, 

ft 

Kay's  Portraito, 

ff 

Linton, 

442 

,         66.  BuoHAK,  1  St  earl  of  (of  the  i , 
1                house  of  Erskmel             i 

ff 

loonographia  Scotioa, 

tt 

ft 

464 

1        67.  Buchanan,  George, 

f» 

Pinkerton's  Gallery, 

9* 

ft 

471 

,        68.  Buchanan,  Claudius,  D.D., 

ft 

a  portrait  prefixed  to  his  life. 

tf 

»» 

480 

1        69.  Burnet,  Gilbert,  D.D. 

ff 

Lodge's  Portraito, 

ft 

If 

492 

70.  BoBNKT,  James,  (Lord  Monboddo,) 
i              71.  BuBHS,  John,  M.D., 

,        72.  Campbell,  1st  Lord,  and  his  TAdy , 

ff 

Kay's  Portraito, 

ft 

ft 

496 

ff 
ft 

a  painting  by  Graham  Gilbert, 
Pinkerton's  Gallery, 

tf 
tt 

ft 
tf 

513 
646 

' '        73.  Campbell  Castle, 

tf 

a  drawing  taken  on  the  spot  > 
by  J.  C.  Brown,                > 

ft 

ft 

646 

1 

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LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


74.  Cahfbbo,  Comitou  of  Argyle,  j*'««'  ^aJSSI^?"'"''"^^*'"*}     ^««'«^  ^^ 
Campbell,  Archibald  (Marquis  " 


Linton, 


75. 


76.  Campbell,  John  (2d  d«ke  of  1 

Argyle),  j 

77.  Cabsoh,  Aglionby  Boss,  M. A.,  1 

and  LL.D., 

78.  Cabstairs,  Principal, 

79.  Cassillis,  Countess  of^ 

80.  Clappbston,  Captain  Hagh, 

81.  Colquhouh,  Ladjr, 

82.  Constablx,  Arombald, 

83.  Craio,  Sir  Thomas, 

84.  Crai«,  Lord, 

85.  Crawford,  Archibald,  Arms  of, 

86.  Craufuirds    of    Ardmillah,  1 

Arms  of  the  j 

87.  Crawford,  Darid,  Ist  earl  >     J 

of.  Seal  of;  f    \ 

88.  Crawford,  David,  5th  earl  of,  T 

Seal  and  Autograph  of.  } 

89.  Crawford,  David,    11th  earl  1 

of,  Autograph  of,  j 

90.  Criohton,  James  (the  Admirable), 

91.  Gromabtt,  Ist  earl  of 


a  painting  bj  Aitkman, 

„  Sir  W.  Gordon, 

Chambers'  Eminent  Scotsmen, 
a  painting  in  Culxean  Castle, 
„        byGildon  Manton, 
a  poi^rait  prefixed  to  her  Life, 
a  painting  by  Sir  Henry  Baebom, 
an  original  print, 
Kay's  rortraito, 
Wilson's  Prehistoric  Annals, 

Lord  Ardmimi^y 

Lord  Lindsay's  Lives  of  the  > 
Lindsays,  > 


Jonm.  of  Antiq.  Soo.  of  Scotland, 
Walpole's  Boyal  and  NoUe  Authors, 


J.  Adam, 


Linton, 


Paf* 

556 

561 
566 

599 

601 
607 
647 
666 
680 
688 
691 
700 

705 
708 
710 

718 

729 
73? 


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THE 


SCOTTISH    NATION. 


ABERCORN. 


ABERCROMBY. 


Abbrcorx,  Marquis  of,  is  a  peerage  held  bj  the  Hamilton 
family  in  its  eldest  surviving  male  heir,  as  directlj  descended 
from  Lord  Chiud  Hamilton  (see  vol.  ii.  p.  418).  fourtli  son 
of  James,  second  earl  of  Arrao,  regent  of  Scotland  in  the 
minority  of  Queen  Maiy.  He  was  created  duke  of  Chatel- 
herault  in  the  kingdom  of  France.  Lord  Claud  was  distin- 
guished for  his  zealous  and  steady  attachment  to  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  at  an  early  age  was  appointed  com- 
mendator  of  the  abbacy  of  Paisley.  The  extensive  lands 
of  this  abbiicy  were  afler  tlie  Refonnatiun  erected  into  a 
temporal  lordship,  and  he  w>is  elevated  to  the  peerage  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Paisley.  He  died  in  1622,  aged  78.  He 
married  Margaret,  only  daughter  of  George,  sixth  Lord 
Seton,  and  had  by  her  four  sons,  of  whom  James,  the  eldest, 
was  created  baron  of  Aberoom,  1603,  and,  in  1606,  advanced 
to  the  dignity  of  earl  of  Abercom,  baron  of  Paisley,  Hamil- 
ton, Mountcastle,  and  Kilpatrick.  The  estate  of  Abercom, 
from  which  this  title  is  derived,  is  in  Linlithgowshire.  The 
name  is  derived  from  Aber^  beyond,  and  Com,  a  corrup- 
tion of  Cum,  which  has  generally  been  held  as  equivalent  to 
Carron.  The  earl  of  Abercom  was  appointed  in  1601  one 
of  the  commissioners  on  the  part  of  Scotland  to  treat  of  a 
union  with  England.  As  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  plan- 
tation of  Ulster,  he  had  a  very  great  estate  granted  out 
of  the  escheated  lands  in  that  country,  and  was  called 
as  a  peer  to  the  paHiament  of  Ireland  in  1613.  He  died 
in  1618,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  James,  who  during  his 
father*s  lifetime  had  been  created  a  peer  of  Ireland  in  1616,  by 
the  title  of  baron  of  Strabane.  James,  the  second  earl,  was 
a  loyal  supporter  of  Charles  I.  On  the  death  of  the  second 
duke  of  Hamilton  in  1651,  without  male  issue,  he  became  the 
male  representative  of  the  house  of  Hamilton.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Geoi^,  third  earl,  at  whose  death,  without 
issue,  the  title  devolved  upon  Claud,  grandson  of  Claud  second 
I^rd  Strabane.  CUud,  fourth  earl  of  Aberoom,  adhered  to 
James  VH.  at  tlie  Revolution,  and  after  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne  embarked  for  France,  but  was  killed  on  the  voyage  in 
1690.  His  brother  Charies,  fifth  eari,  gave  in  his  adhesion 
to  King  William's  govemmeiit,  and  died  in  1701  without 
surviving  issue.  The  title  then  devolved  on  James,  descended 
from  Sir  George  Hamilton,  fourth  son  of  the  first  eari,  and 
great-grandson  of  the  first  duke  of  Chatelherault  On  the 
occasion  of  the  clause  in  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713,  stipu-  j 
iatipg  for  justice  to  the  Hamilton  family  in  regard  to  the  I 

I. 


duchy  of  Chatelherault,  Jamea,  sixth  earl  of  Abercom,  pre« 
ferred  his  oUim  as  nearest  heir  male  of  tlie  first  duke, 
against  tliat  of  Anne,  duchess  of  Hamilton,  the  heir  female. 
The  court  of  France,  however,  came  to  no  decision.  James, 
eiglitli  eari,  was  created  a  peer  of  Great  Britain  in  1786, 
by  the  title  of  Viscount  Hamilton.  John  James  Hamilton, 
9th  eari,  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  marquis  of  Aberpom 
in  1790;  and  dying  in  1818,  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson, 
James,  2d  marquis.  The  latter,  on  Jan.  IS,  1862,  was  served 
heir  male  of  the  l»t  dnke  of  Chatelherault  The  marquis  of 
Aberoom  is  the  chief  and  heir  mole  of  the  house  of  Hamilton. 


Abbrcrombib,  or  Abbrcbombt,  a  sumame  derived  from 
a  barony  of  that  name  in  Fifeshire,  erected  in  a  district  ori- 
ginally named  Abercrombie,  aber  meaning  beyond,  and  crott^ 
bie,  the  crook,  in  allusion  to  the  bend  or  crook  of  Fifeness.  The 
pariah,  until  recently  called  St  Monance,  and  now  Abercromby, 
was  known  by  the  name  of  Abererombis  so  far  back  as  1174. 
The  Abercrombies  of  that  ilk  were  esteemed  the  chiefs  of  the 
name  until  the  seventeenth  century,  when  that  line  became 
extinct,  and  Abereromby  of  Birkenbog,  in  Banfishire,  became 
the  head  of  the  clan  of  Abereromby.  In  1637  Alexander 
Abereromby  of  Birkenbog  was  created  a  baronet  of  Scotland 
and  Nova  Scotia,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  royalist  dur- 
ing the  dvil  wars.    The  baronetcy  is  still  in  the  family. 

Abbrcrombib,  Baron,  an  extinct  peerage,  bestowed  by 
Charies  I.,  in  1647,  on  Sir  James  Sandilands  of  St  Monance, 
or  Abercrombie,  in  Fife,  descended  from  James  Sandilands 
belonging  to  the  noble  house  of  Torphichen.  I..ord  Aber- 
crombie married  a  daughter  of  the  first  earl  of  Sonthesk,  and 
by  her  he  had  a  son,  James,  second  I..ord  Abercrombie,  who 
dying  without  issue  in  1681,  the  title  became  extinct 


Abercromby  of  Aboukir  and  Tullibody,  Baron,  a  title  in 
the  .peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom,  conferred  in  1801  on 
Mary  Anne,  widow  of  the  celebrated  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby, 
immediately  after  her  husband*s  death  at  the  battle  of  Alex- 
andria, with  remainder  to  the  heirs  male  of  the  deceased 
general.  Baroness  Abercromby  died  in  1821,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  her  eldest  son,  George,  a  barrister  at  law,  fintt 
baron.  On  his  death  in  1843,  Colonel  George  Ralph  Aber- 
cromby, his  son,  bom  in  1800,  became  second  baron.  The 
latter  died  in  1852,  when  his  son,  George  Ralph  Campbell 
A 


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ABKRCROMBIE. 


ABERCROMBIE. 


Abennrombjr,  born  in  1838,  became  third  b;in>n.    See  Abek- 
CROMBY,  Sib  Ralph. 

ABERCROMBIE,  John,  M.D.,  an  eminent 
physician,  and  moral  and  religious  writer,  was 
born  in  Aberdeen,  12tli  October,  1780.  His 
fattier  was  miuLiter  of  the  East  church  of  that 
city.  After  having  completed  his  literary  edu- 
cation in  liis  native  city,  he  was  sent  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  to  prosecute  liis  studies  for 
the  medical  profession.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Monro  was  at  that  time  professor  of  anatomy 
and  surgeiy  there,  and  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
attended  his  lectures. 

In  1803,  being  then  twenty-three  years  of  age. 
Dr.  Abercrombie  began  to  practise  as  a  physician 
in  Edinburgh.  He  soon  acquired  a  high  reputa- 
tion, and  became  extensively  known  to  his  pro- 
fessional brethren  through  the  medium  of  his  con- 
tributions to  the  *  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.' 
On  the  death  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Gregory  in 
1821,  Dr.  Abercrombie  at  once  took  his  place  as  a 
consulting  physician.  He  was  also  named  physi- 
cian to  the  king  for  Scotland,  an  appointment 
which,  though  merely  honorary  and  nominal,  is 
usually  conferi'ed  on  the  physician  of  greatest 
eminence  at  the  time  of  a  vacancy.  He  subse- 
quently held,  till  his  death,  the  office  of  phy- 
sician to  George  Heriot's  Hospital.  In  1828, 
he  published  a  treatise  on  the  '  Diseases  of  the 
Brain  and  NeiTOUs  System,'  and  soon  after  an 
essay  on  those  of  the  ^  Abdominal  Organs,'  both 
of  which  rank  high  among  professional  publica- 
tions. In  1830  he  appeared  as  an  author  in  a 
branch  of  literature  entirely  different,  and  one  in- 
volving the  treatment  of  subjects  in  the  highest 
department  of  philosophy  and  metaphysical  specu- 
lation, havin<^  published  in  that  year  his  able 
work,  in  8vo,  on  the  'Intellectual  Powers.'  In 
1833  he  produced  a  work  of  a  similar  kind,  on 
'The  Philosophy  of  the  Moral  Feelings,'  also  in 
8vo.  In  1832,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  cho- 
lera, he  had  published  a  medical  tract  entitled 
*  Suggestions  on  the  Character  and  Treatment  of 
Malignant  Cholera.'  In  1834  he  published  a 
pamphlet  entitled  'Observations  on  the  Moral 
Condition  of  the  Lower  Orders  in  Edinburgh.' 
The  same  year  appeared  an  address  delivered  by 
him  at  the  Fiftieth  Anniversar}'  of  the  Destitute 


Sick  Society,  Edinburgh.  He  was  also  the  au- 
thor of  Essays  on  the  '  Elemeiits  of  Sacred  Truth,' 
:md  on  the  'Harmony  of  Chi-istian  Faith  and 
Character;'  besides  other  wntings  which  have 
been  comprised  in  a  small  volume  entitled  'Essays 
and  Tracts.'  Of  writings  so  well  known,  and  so 
very  highly  esteemed,  as  proved  by  a  circulation 
extending,  as  it  did  in  some,  even  to  an  eighteenth 
edition,  it  were  useless  to  speak  in  praise  cither  of 
their  literary  or  far  higher  meiits.  But,  distin- 
guished as  he  was,  both  professionally  and  as  a 
writer  in  the  highest  departments  of  philosophy, 
it  was  not  exclusively  to  his  great  fame  in  either 
respect,  or  in  both,  that  he  owed  his  wide  influ- 
ence throughout  the  community  in  which  he  lived. 
His  name  ever  stood  associated  with  the  guidance 
of  every  important  enterprise,  whether  religious 
or  benevolent, — somehow  he  provided  leisure  to 
bestow  the  patronage  of  his  attendance  and  his  ^ 
deliberative  wisdom  on  many  of  the  institutions 
of  Edinburgh,  and,  with  a  munificence  which  has 
been  rarely  equalled,  ministered  of  his  substance 
to  the  upholding  of  them  all.  He  valued  money 
so  little,  that  he  often  declined  to  receive  it,  even 
when  the  offerer  urged  it,  as  most  justly  his  own 
His  diligence  and  application  were  so  gi*eat  that 
whoever  entered  his  study  found  him  intent  at 
work.  Did  they  see  him  travelling  in  his  carriage, 
they  could  perceive  he  was  busy  there.  [Obituary 
notice  in  Witness  newspaper.'] 

In  1834  the  university  of  Oxford  conferred  upon 
him  the  degi'ee  of  M.D.,  which  he  had  long  previ- 
ously obtained  from  the  univereity  of  Edinburgh. 
In  1835  he  was  chosen  by  the  students  lord  rector 
of  Marischal  college,  Aberdeen.  Dr.  Abercrom- 
bie died  suddenly  at  Edinburgh,  from  rupture  of 
an  artery  in  the  region  of  the  heart,  on  the  14th 
of  November,  1844.  Distinguished  alike  as  a 
physician,  an  author,  a  benefactor  of  the  poor, 
and  a  sincere  Christian,  his  loss  was  univei*sally 
lamented.  He  was  buried  in  the  West  church- 
yard, Edinburgh,  where  a  monument  with  a  me- 
dallion has  been  erected  to  his  memory,  the  for- 
mer bearing  the  following  inscription  : — "  In  mem- 
ory of  John  Abercrombie,  M.D.,  E<lin.  and  Oxon., 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  colleges  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  Edinburgh,  Vice-president  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  first  Physician  to  the 


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ABERCROMBIK. 


ABERCROMBIE. 


Qnceii  in'  Scotland,  born  xii.  Oct.  mdcclxxx. 
From  a  life  very  early  devoted  to  the  service  of 
God,  occupied  in  the  most  assidaoos  labours,  and 
distinguished  not  more  by  professional  eminence 
than  by  personal  worth  and  by  successful  author- 
ship on  the  principles  of  Christian  morals  and 
philosophy,  it  pleased  God  to  translate  him  sud- 
denly to  the  life  everlasting  xiv,  Nov.  mdcccxliv." 
Annexed  is  a  copy  of  the  medallion,  which  embo- 
dies as  true  a  likeness  of  Dr.  Abercrombie  as  stone 
or  wood  can  convey. 


Tlie  procession  at  his  funeral  was  one  of  the 
largest  ever  seen  in  Edinburgh.  It  was  joined 
by  the  membei-s  both  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, and  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  as 
well  as  by  the  Free  Church  presbytery  of  Edin- 
burgh and  the  commission  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Free  Church,  and  by  many  professional 
brethren  from  a  distance.  Dr.  Abercrombie  mar- 
ried in  1808  Agnes,  only  child  of  David  Wardlaw, 
Esq.,  of  Nctherbeath  in  Fifeshire,  and  had  eight 
dnughtei-s,  one  of  whom  died  at  the  age  of  four. 
Seven  daughters  survived  him,  the  eldest  of  whom 
became  the  second  wife  of  the  Rev.  John  Bruce, 
minister  of  Free  St.  Andrew's  church,  Edinburgh, 
in  whose  congregation  Dr.  Abercrombie  was  an 
elder,  and  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  which 


wae  afterwards  published.  The  estate  of  Ncther- 
beath deflcended  to  Mi-s.  Bruce. 

The  followittg  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Abercix)mbic's 
publications : 

Difleases  of  the  Brain  uid  Norvoos  System,  8vo,  1828. 

Diseases  of  the  Abdoniinal  Organo,  8vo,  1829. 

The  Intellectual  Powers,  8vo,  1830. 

Sui^gesdons  on  the  Character  and  Treatment  of  Malignaiit 
Cholera,  8vo,  1832. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  Moral  Feelings,  8vo,  1833. 

Observations  on  the  Moral  Condition  of  the  Lowei  Oitlors 
in  Edinburgh,  8vo,  1834. 

Address  delivered  at  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Desti- 
tute Sick  Society,  Edinburgh,  1835. 

Mental  Culture,  l8mo,  being  the  AddiTss  delivered  to  the 
students  of  Marischal  College  when  he  was  elected  Lord  Rec- 
tor of  that  university,  1835. 

The  HarmonyofScripturc  Faith  and  Character,  l8mo,  1836 

Thmk  on  these  Things,  18mo,  1839. 

Messiah  our  Example,  18mo,  1841. 

The  Contest  and  the  Armour,  18mo,  1841. 

The  Elements  of  Sacred  Truth,  18mo,  1844. 

Et>t>ays  and  Tracts,  including  the  two  lust  works  und  some 
other  writings  on  similar  subjects,  8vo,  1844,  1847. 

ABERCROMBIE,  John,  conjectured  by  Demp- 
ster, in  his  Hist.  Eccl  Scot,^  to  have  been  a  Ben- 
edictine monk,  was  the  author  of  two  energetic 
treatises  in  defence  of  the  Church  of  Ronre  against 
the  principles  of  the  Reformers,  entitled  *  Veritatis 
Dcfensio,*  and  *  Hseresis  Confusio.'  He  flourished 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  centuiy; 

ABERCROMBIE,  Patrick,  physician  and  his- 
torian, third  son  of  Alexander  Abercrombie  of 
Fettemeir,  Aberdeenshire,  a  branch  of  the  Birk- 
enbog  family  of  that  name,  was  bom  at  Forfar  in 
1656,  and  took  his  medical  degrees  at  St.  Andrews 
in  1685.  His  elder  brother,  Francis  Abercrombie 
of  Fettemeir,  on  his  marriage  with  Anna,  Baron- 
ess Scmpill,  was,  in  July  1685,  created  by  James 
VII.  Lord  Glassford,  under  the  singular  restriction 
of  being  limited  for  his  own  life.  After  leaving 
the  univei-sity,  Patrick  travelled  on  the  continent, 
and  on  his  return  to  England,  embracing  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  religion,  he  was  appointed  physi- 
cian to  James  VII. ;  but  at  the  Revolution  was 
deprived  of  his  oflSce,  and  for  some  ycai-s  lived 
abroad.  Returning  to  his  native  countiy,  he  af- 
terwards devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  national 
antiquities.  In  1707  he  gave  to  the  world  a  trans- 
lation of  M.  Beange's  rare  French  work,  *L'llis- 
toire  dc  la  Guerre  d'Ecosse,*  1556,  under  the  title 
of  '  The  Campaigns  in  Scotland  in  1548  and  1549,' 
which  was  reprinted  m  the  original  by  Mr.  Smy  the 


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ABERCROMBTR. 


ABERCROMBY. 


of  Methven  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  in  1829,  with 
a  preface  containing  an  account  of  Abcrcrombie^s 
translation.  His  great  work,  however,  is  *The 
Martial  Achievements  of  the  Scots  nation,  and  of 
buch  Scotsmen  as  have  signalized  themselves  by 
the  Sword,'  in  two  volumes  folio,  the  first  pub- 
lished in  1711,  and  the  second  in  1715.  He  also 
wrote  the  'Memoirs  of  the  family  of  Abercrombie.' 
Dr.  Abercrombie  died  in  poor  circumstances  in 
1716 ;  some  authorities  say  1720,  and  others  1726. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works. 

Tho  Adyantages  of  the  Act  of  Sepunty,  compared  with 
tlioee  of  the  intended  Union;  founded  on  the  Revolation 
Principles,  published  by  Mr.  Daniel  De  Foe.    Edm.  1707, 4to. 

A  Vindication  of  the  same,  against  Mr.  De  Foe.  Edin. 
1707,  4to. 

The  History  of  the  Campaigns  1548  and  1549,  between  the 
Scots  and  the  French  on  the  one  side,  and  the  English  and 
their  foreign  auxiliaries  on  the  other.  From  the  French  of 
Reauge,  with  a  Preface,  showing  the  Advantages  which  Soot- 
I:ind  received  by  the  Ancient  League  with  France,  and  the 
mutual  assistance  given  bv  each  kingdom  to  the  other.  Edin. 
1707,  8vo. 

Hie  MarUal  Achievements  of  the  Scots  nation,  being  an 
Account  of  the  Lives,  Characters,  and  Memorable  Actions  of 
such  Scotsmen  as  have  signalized  themselves  by  the  Sword, 
at  home  and  abroad.    Edin.  1711-1715.    2  vols.  fol. 

ABERCROMBIE,  John,  an  eminent  horticul- 
turist, and  author  of  several  horticultural  works, 
was  the  son  of  a  respectable  gardener  near  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  was  born  about  the  year  1726. 
In  his  eighteenth  year  he  went  to  London,  and 
obtained  employment  in  the  royal  gardens.  His 
first  work,  '  The  Gardener's  Calendar,*  was  pub- 
lished as  the  production  of  Mr.  Mawe,  gardener  to 
the  duke  of  Leeds,  who  received  twenty  guineas 
for  the  use  of  his  name,  which  was  then  well- 
known.  The  success  of  that  work  was  so  com- 
plete, that  Abercrombie  put  his  own  name  to  all 
his  future  publications;  among  which  may  be 
mentioned,  *The  Universal  Dictionary  of  Garden- 
ing and  Botany,'  4to,  *  The  Gardener's  Vade  Me- 
cum,'  and  other  popular  productions.  lie  died  at 
Somerstown,  London,  in  1806,  aged  80.  A  list  of 
his  works  is  subjoined. 

Tlie  Universal  Gardener  and  Botanist,  or  a  General  Dio- 
tionaty  of  Gardening  and  Botany,*  exhibiting,  in  Botanical 
Arrangement,  according  to  the  Lumamn  system,  every  Tree, 
Shrub,  and  Herbaceous  Plant  that  merit  Culture,  &c  Lond. 
1778,  4to. 

The  Garden  Mushroom,  its  Nature  and  Cultivation,  exnib- 
itiiig  full  and  plain  directions  for  producing  this  desirable 
plant  in  p<»rfection  and  plenty.  Lond.  1779.  8vo.  New  edi- 
tion cnUrend,  1802.  12mo. 


The  British  Fruit  Garden,  and  Art  of  Pruning ;  comprunng 
the  most  approved  Methods  of  Planting  and  raiidng  every  use- 
ful Fruit  Tree  and  Fruit-bearing  Shrub.    Lond.  1779,  8vo. 

The  Complete  Forcing  Gardener,  for  the  thorough  Practi- 
cal Management  of  the  Kitchen  Garden,  raising  all  early 
crops  in  Hot-beds,  and  forcing  early  Fruit,  &c.  Lond.  1781, 
12mo. 

The  Complete  Wall-tree  Prunor,  &c    Lond.  1783,  12mo. 

Tlie  Propagation  and  Botanical  Arrangement  of  Plants 
and  Trees,  useful  and  ornamental.    Lond.  1785, 2  vols.  12mo. 

The  Gardener's  Pocket  Dictionary,  or  a  Systematical  Ar- 
rangement of  Trees,  Herbs,  Flowers,  and  Fruits,  agreeable  to 
the  Liniuean  Method,  with  their  Latin  and  English  names, 
their  Uses,  Propagation,  Culture,  &c.  Lond.  178G,  8  vols. 
12mo. 

Doily  Assistant  in  the  Modem  Practice  of  English  Garden- 
ing for  every  Month  in  the  Year,  on  an  entire  new  plan. 
Lond.  1789,  12mo. 

The  Universal  Gardener's  Kalendar,  and  System  of  Practi- 
cal Gardening.     Lond.  1789,  12mo;  1808,  8vo. 

The  Complete  lutchen  Gardener  and  Hot-bed  Forcer,  with 
tho  thorough  Practical  Management  of  Hot -houses.  Fire- 
walls, &c    Lond.  1789,  12mo. 

The  Gardeher*s  Vade-mecum,  or  Companion  of  General 
Gardening;  a  Descriptive  Display  of  the  Plants,  Flowers, 
Shrubs,  Trees,  Fruits,  and  general  Culture.    Lond.  1789,  8vo. 

The  Hot-house  Gardener,  or  the  general  Culture  of  the 
Pine  Apple,  and  the  Methods  of  forcing  early  Grapes,  Peach- 
es, Nectarines,  and  other  choice  Fruits  in  Hot-houses,  Vin- 
eries, Fruit -houses,  Hot- walls,  with  Directions  for  raising 
Melons  and  early  Strawberries,  &c  Plates.  Lond.  1789, 
8Vo 

The  Gardener's  Pocket  Journal  and  Annual  Register,  in  a 
concise  Monthly  Display  of  all  Practical  Works  of  General 
Gardening  throughout  the  year.  Lond.  1791,  12mo;  1814, 
12mo. 


It  has  been  already  stated,  in  giving  the  origin  of  the  name, 
(see  page  1,)  that  in  the  17th  century,  Abercromby  of  Bir* 
kenbog  in  Banfishire,  became  the  chief  of  the  name  of  Aber- 
cromby. Alexander  Abercromby  of  Birkenbog  was  grand 
falconer  in  Scotland  to  King  Charies  I.  In  1636  bis  eldest 
son,  Alexander,  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  and 
took  an  active  part  against  King  Charles  in  the  dvil  wars  of 
that  period.  From  the  pedigree  of  the  family  it  appears  thi^ 
Sir  Alexander  Abercromby  of  Birkenbog,  the  first  baronet, 
had  two  sons.  The  eldest,  James,  succeeded  his  father. 
Alexander,  tlie  second  son,  succeeded  his  oousm  George  Aber- 
cromby of  Skeith,  in  the  estate  of  Tullibody,  in  Clackman- 
nanshire, formerly  a  possession  of  the  earb  of  Stirling.  This 
Alexander  was  the  grandfather  of  the  celebrated  military 
commander,  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  and  the  second  of  th** 
name  of  Abercromby  who  possessed  Tullibody.  The  most 
eminent  of  this  family  were  General  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby ; 
and  his  two  brothers,  Alexander,  Lord  Abercromby,  a  judge 
of  the  court  of  session ;  and  General  Sir  Robert  Abercromby, 
K.C.B.;  of  all  three  notices  are  hero  given. 

ABERCROMBY,  Siu  Ralph,  K.B.,  a  dis- 
tinguished genei-al,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Gcorgo 
Abercromby,  of  Tullibody,  in  Clackmannanshire, 
by  Mary,  daughter  of  Ralph  Dundas,  Esq.  of  Ma- 
nor. His  father  was  born  in  1705,  passed  advo- 
cate in  1728,  and  died  June  8,  1800,  at  the  ad- 


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SIR.      RALPH       A  B  F.  R  C  R  0  M  li  y 


n-tni,    -v  I    liL'U  y   L--.lM.|i,..Ji 


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k 

112 

Ik 
ci 


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ABERCROMBY, 


SIR  RALPH. 


vanced  age  of  ninety-five,  being  the  oldest  mem- 
ber of  tiie  college  of  justice.  His  son  Ralph  was 
bom  on  the  7th  of  October,  1734,  In  the  old  man- 
sion of  Menstrie,  then  the  ordinary  residence  of 
his  parents,  near  the  village  of  that  name  which 
lies  at  the  southern  base  of  the  Ochil  hills,  on  the 
boundary  between  the  parish  of  Alloa  in  Clack- 
mannanshire, and  the  Perthshire  part  of  the 
parish  of  Logie.  The  day  of  his  birth  has  not 
been  inserted  in  the  session  book  of  the  pai'isli 
of  Logie,  but  the  following  is  an  extract 
from  the  register  of  his  baptism:  "A.  D.  1734, 
October  26th,  Bap.  Ralph,  lawful  son  to  George 
Abercromby,  younger  of  Tullibody,  and  Mary 
Dundas  his  lady.**  Menstrie  house,  in  which  he 
was  bom,  was,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  property  and  residence  of  Sir 
William  Alexander,  the  poet,  afterwards  creati'd 
earl  of  Stirling.  Although  not  now  inhabited  by 
any  of  the  Abercromby  family,  it  is  still  entire. 
A  woodcut  representation  of  it  is  here  given. 


After  the  usual  coarse  ot  study,  young  Aber- 
cromby entered  the  army  in  1756,  as  a  comet  in 
the  dd  regiment  of  dragoon  guards.  His  commis- 
sion is  dated  22d  March  of  that  year.  In  Febraary 
1760  he  obtained  a  lieutenancy  in  the  same  regi- 
ment; in  April  1762  he  was  promoted  to  a  com- 
pany in  the  3d  regiment  of  horse.  In  1770  he 
became  major,  and  in  1773,  lieutenant -colonel. 
In  1780  he  was  included  in  the  list  of  brevet  colo- 


nels, and  in  1781  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
103d,  or  King*8  Irish  infantry.  This  newly  raised 
regiment  was  reduced  at  the  peace  in  1783,  when 
Colonel  Abercromby  was  placed  on  half- pay.  In 
September  1787  he  became  major-general,  la 
1788,  in  which  year  he  resided  in  George's  Square, 
Edinburgh,  he  obtained  the  command  of  the  69th 
regiment  of  foot.  He  was  afterwards  removed  to 
the  6th  regiment,  from  that  to  the  5th,  and  in 
November  1797  to  the  7th  regiment  of  dragoons 

He  first  served  in  the  seven  years*  war,  and 
acquired  great  knowledge  and  military  experience 
in  that  service,  before  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
distinguishing  himself,   which  afterwards,   when 
the  oppoi'tunity  came,  enabled  him  to  be  the  fin^t 
British  general  to  give  a  check  to  the  French  in 
the  first  revolutionary  war.     He  has  often  been 
confounded  with  (he  General  Abercrombie  who 
commanded    the  troops  against   the   French  at 
Crown    Point  and   llconderoga   in  America  in 
1758,  but  Sir  Ralph  at  that  period  was  only  a 
comet  of  dragoons,  and 
notwithstanding  the  mis- 
take into  which  some  of 
his  biographers  have  fal- 
len, it  is  certain  that  he 
never  was  in  America. 

In  the  year  1774,  when 
lieutenant-colonel,  he  had 
been  elected  member  of 
parliament    for    Ciack- 
mannanshire,which  conn 
ty  he  continued  to  repre- 
sent till  the  next  election 
in  1780,  but  never  made 
any  figure  in  parliament. 
On  the  commencement 
of  the  war  with  France 
in  1792,  he  was  employed 
iu  Flanders  and    Holland  with  the   local   rank 
of  lieutenant-general,  and  in   the  campaigns  of 
1793  and  1794  he   served    under  the  duke  of 
York,  when  he  gave  many  proofs  of  his  skill, 
vigilance,  and. intrepidity.     He  commanded  the 
advanced  guard  during  the  action  on  the  heights 
of  Cateau,  April  16,   1794.     On  this  occasion 
he   captured   35   pieces    of  cannon,    and    took 
prisoner     Chapny    the     Fi*ench     general.       In 


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ABERCROMBY, 


6 


SIR  RALPH. 


the  despatches  of  the  duke  of  York  his  ability  and 
courage  were  twice  mentioned  with  special  com- 
aicndation.  In  the  succeeding  October  he  received 
a  wound  at  Nimeguen,  and  upon  him  and  General 
Dnndas  devolved  the  arduous  duty  of  conducting 
the  retreat  through  Holland  in  the  severe  winter 
which  followed.  It  has  been  remarked  that  the 
talents,  as  well  as  the  temper,  of  a  commander  are 
put  to  as  sevei*e  a  test  in  conducting  a  retreat  as 
in  achieving  a  victory.  This  was  well  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  General  Aberci*omby.  The  guards 
and  the  sick  were  committed  to  his  care ;  and  in 
the  disastrous  march  from  Deveuter  to  Oldensaal 
the  hardships  sustained  by  those  under  his  charge 
were  such  as  the  most  consummate  skill  and  judg- 
ment were  almost  inadequate  to  alleviate,  while 
the  feelings  experienced  by  the  commander  him- 
self were  painful  in  the  extreme.  Harassed  in 
the  rear  by  a  victorious  enemy,  upwards  of  fifty 
thousand  strong,  obliged  to  conduct  his  troops 
with  a  rapidity  beyond  their  strength,  through  bad 
roads,  in  the  most  inclement  part  of  a  winter  more 
than  usually  severe, — the  sick  being  placed  in 
oi)cn  waggons,  as  no  othere  could  be  procured, — 
and  finding  it  impossible  to  procure  shelter  for  his 
soldiei*s  in  the  midst  of  the  drifting  snow  and 
heavy  falls  of  sleet  and  rain,  the  anguish  he  felt 
at  seeing  their  numbers  daily  diminishing  from  the 
effects  of  cold,  fatigue,  and  hunger,  can  scarcely 
be  described.  About  the  end  of  March  1796,  the 
British  army,  which  during  the  retreat  had  some- 
times to  halt,  face  and  fight  the  enemy,  arrived  at 
Bremen  in  a  very  reduced  state,  and  thence  em- 
barked for  England.  The  judgment,  patience, 
humanity,  and  perseverance  shown  by  General 
Abercromby  in  this  calamitous  retreat  were  equal 
to  the  occasion,  and  received  due  acknowledg- 
ment. 

In  the  autumn  of  1795  General  Abercromby  was 
appointed  to  succeed  Sir  Charles  Grey,  as  com- 
mander -  in  -  chief  of  the  troops  employed  against 
the  French  in  the  West  Indies.  Previous  to  his 
arrival,  the  French  revolutionary  army  had  made 
considerable  exertions  to  recover  their  losses  in 
that  quarter.  They  retook  the  islands  of  Gnada- 
loupe  and  St.  Lucia,  made  good  their  landing  on 
Martinique,  and  hoisted  the  tricolour  on  several 
forts  in  the  islands  of  St.  Vincent,  Grenada,  and 


Marie  Galante;  besides  seizing  the  property  of 
the  rich  emigrants  who  had  fled  thither  from 
France,  to  the  amount  of  1,800  millions  of  livres. 
The  expedition  under  General  Abercromby  was 
unfortunately  prevented  from  sailing  until  after 
the  equinox,  and  several  transports  were  lost  in 
endeavouring  to  clear  the  Channel.  The  remain- 
der of  the  fleet  reached  the  West  Indies  in  safety, 
and  by  the  month  of  March  1796  the  troops  were 
in  a  condition  for  active  duty.  A  detachment  of 
the  anny  under  Sir  John  Moore,  was  sent  against 
the  island  of  St.  Lucia,  which  was  speedily  cap- 
tured, though  the  attack  on  this  island  was  at- 
tended with  peculiar  difficulties  from  the  intricate 
nature  of  the  countiy.  A  new  road  was  made  for 
the  heavy  cannon,  and  on  the  26th  of  May  1796, 
the  gaiTison  surrendered.  St.  Vincent  was  next 
subdued ;  and  thence  the  commander-in-chief  pro- 
ceeded to  Grenada,  where  the  fierce  and  enteipris- 
ing  Fedon  was  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  insurgents 
prepared  to  oppose  the  British.  After  the  arrival 
.of  General  Abercromby,  however,  hostilities  were 
speedily  bix)ught  to  a  termination;  and  on  the 
19th  of  June,  full  possession  was  obtained  of  every 
post  in  the  island,  and  the  haughty  chief  Fedon, 
with  his  troops,  was  reduced  to  unconditional  sub- 
mission. The  British  also  became  masters  of  the 
Dutch  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Guiana,  namely 
Demerara,  Essequibo,  and  Berbice. 

Early  in  the  following  year  (1797)  the  general 
sailed,  with  a  considerable  fleet  of  ships  of  war 
and  transports,  against  the  Spanish  island  of  Tri- 
nidad, and  on  the  16th  of  February  approached 
the  fortifications  of  Gaspar  Grande,  under  cover 
of  which  a  Spanish  squadron,  consisting  of  four 
sail  of  the  line  and  a  frigate,  were  found  lying  at 
anchor.  On  perceiving  the  approach  of  the  Bri- 
tish, the  Spanish  fleet  retired  farther  into  the  bay. 
General  Abercromby  made  arrangements  for  at- 
tacking the  town  and  ships  of  war  early  in  the 
following  moniing.  Dreading  the  impending  con- 
flict, the  Spaniards  set  fire  to  their  own  ships,  and 
rctired  to  a  different  part  of  the  island.  On  the 
following  day  the  British  troops  landed,  and  soon 
after  the  whole  colony  submitted  to  General  Aber- 
cromby. 

After  an  unsuccessftil  attack  on  the  Spanish 
island  of  Puerto  Rico,  the  general  returned  to 


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England  the  same  year  (1797)  and  waa  received 
with  every  demonstration  of  public  respect  and 
honour.  In  his  absence  lie  had  been  made  a 
kniglit  of  the  Bath  and  presented  to  the  colonelcy 
of  the  Scots  Greys.  On  his  return  he  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  was 
afterwards  invested  with  the  lucrative  govern- 
ments of  Forts  Geoi*ge  and  Augustus.  The  same 
year  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  lientenant-gen- 
cral,  which  he  had  hitherto  held  only  locally. 

In  1798  Sir  Ralph  was  appointed  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  forces  in  Ireland,  where  the  insur- 
rectionary spirit,  inflamed  by  promises  of  assist- 
ance from  France,  was  every  day  assuming  a  more 
serious  form  and  threatening  to  break  out  into 
open  rebellion.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  finding 
that  the  disorderly  conduct  of  some  of  the  British 
troops  had  bnt  too  much  tended  to  increase  the 
spirit  of  insubordination  and  discontent  that  pre- 
vailed, he  Issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he 
lamented  and  reproved  the  excesses  and  irregu- 
larities into  which  they  had  fallen,  and  which,  to 
use  his  own  w^ords,  "had  rendered  them  more  for- 
midable to  their  friends  than  to  their  enemies," 
and  declared  his  firm  determination  to  punish, 
with  exemplary  severity,  any  similar  outrage  of 
which  they  might  be  guilty  in  future.  He  did  not 
long  retain  his  command  in  Ireland.  The  incon- 
veniences arising  from  the  delegation  of  the  high- 
est civil  and  military  authority  to  diflbrent  persons, 
had  been  felt  to  occasion  much  perplexity  and 
confusion  in  the  management  of  public  affairs,  at 
that  season  of  agitation  and  alarm,  and  finding 
the  service,  under  such  circumstances,  disagree- 
able. Sir  Ralph  resigned  the  command,  and  the 
Marquis  Coniwallis,  on  becoming  lord -lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  was  appointed  his  successor. 

Sir  Ralph  waa  next  nominated  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  forces  in  Scotland ;  and  for  a  short 
interval,  the  cares  of  his  military  duties  were 
agreeably  blended  with  the  endearments  of  his 
kindi'ed  and  the  society  of  his  early  friends. 
During  his  residence  in  Edinburgh  at  this  time,' 
the  military  spirit  that  generally  prevailed  ren- 
dered the  occurrence  of  reviews  extremely  popular 
among  the  inhabitants.  The  accompan3ing  wood- 
cut represents  Sir  Ralph  in  the  act  of  giving  the 
word  of  command  to  the  troops. 


It  was  at  this  period  that  the  I^chiel  Highland- 
ers were  inspected  at  Falkirk  by  General  Vyse, 
one  of  the  major-generals  of  the  staff  in  Scotland, 
under  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  who  was  present  at 
the  inspection.  Cameron,  the  chief  of  I^chicl, 
man-ied  Sir  Ralph's  eldest  daughter  Anne.  The 
regiment  was  ostensibly  composed  of  Camerons, 
but  there  were  enrolled  in  its  ranks,  not  only 
lowlanders,  but  even  Englishmen  and  Irishmen. 
Some  laughable  attempts  at  fraud  in  endeavouring 
to  pass  inspection  are  related,  but  unless  actually 
disabled,  few  objections  were  made,  although 
Scotsmen  in  general  found  a  preference.  **  Where 
are  yon  from?"  said  General  Vyse  to  a  strange- 
looking  fellow,  who  was  evidently  an  Irishman, 
although  he  endeavoured  to  make  believe  that  he 
was  Scotch.  "From  Falkirk,  yir  honour,  this 
morning,"  was  the  ready  answer.  His  language 
betraying  him,  the  general  demanded  to  know 
how  he  came  over.  "Sure  I  didn't  come  in  a 
wheelbarrow ! "  The  rising  choler  of  the  inspect- 
ing officer  was  speedily  soothed  by  the  milder  tact 
of  Sir  Ralph,  who,  seeing  the  man  a  fit  recruit, 
laughed  heartily,  and  he  was  passed.  On  this 
occasion  Sir  Ralph,  during  his  stay  in  Falkirk, 
took  up  his  residence  with  the  son  of  his  late  fa- 


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tlier's  gardener  at  Tullibody,  Mr.  James  Walker, 
a  merchant  in  the  town,  and  long  known  for  his 
agricultural  skill,  as  *^  the  Stirlingshire  Fanner." 
Sir  Ralph  delighted,  after  dinner,  to  recall  the  in- 
cidents of  their  boyhood,  when  he  and  Mr.  Walk- 
er, with  their  brothers,  were  at  school  together. 
He  had  previously  shown  the  attachment  of  former 
days  to  a  younger  brother  of  Mr.  Walker,  during 
the  struggle  for  liberty  between  America  and  the 
mother  country.  These  kindly  and  benevolent 
traits,  it  has  been  well  remarked,  easily  explain 
why  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  was  personally  so 
dear  to  all  who  knew  him. — [Kcn/^g  Edinburgh 
Portraits.'} 

In  the  autumn  of  1799  he  was  selected  to  take 
the  chief  command  of  the  expedition  sent  out  to 
Holland,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  prince  of 
Orange  to  the  stadtholdership,  from  which  he  had 
been  driven  by  the  French.  In  this  expedition 
the  British  were  at  the  outset  successful.  On  the 
27th  of  August  the  British  troops  disembarked 
near  the  Holder  point,  but  were  almost  imme- 
diately attacked  by  General  Daendells;  after  a 
contest,  which  lasted  from  day-dawn  till  about 
Ave  in  the  afternoon,  the  Dutch  were  defeated, 
and  retired,  leaving  the  British  in  possession  of  a 
ridge  of  sand  hills  which  stretched  along  the  coast 
from  south  to  north.  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  re- 
solved to  attack  the  Helder  next  morning,  but  the 
enemy  withdrew  during  the  night,  in  consequence 
of  which  thirteen  ships  of  war  and  three  India- 
men,  together  with  the  arsenal  and  naval  maga- 
zine, fell  into  the  possession  of  the  British.  Ad- 
miral Mitchell,  who  commanded  the  British  fleet, 
immediately  offered  battle  to  the  fleet  of  the  Ba- 
tavian  republic  lying  in  the  Texel,  but  the  Dutch 
sailors  refusing  to  fight  against  those  who  were 
combating  for  the  rights  of  the  prince  or  Orange, 
the  whole  fleet,  consisting  of  twelve  sail  of  the 
line,  surrendered  to  the  British  admiral.  This 
encouraging  event,  however,  did  not  put  an  end 
to  the  struggle.  The  mass  of  the  Dutch  people 
held  sentiments  very  different  from  those  of  the 
sailors,  and  they  refused  to  receive  the  British  as 
their  deliverers  from  the  yoke  of  France.  On  the 
morning  of  the  10th  of  September  the  Dutch  and 
French  forces  attacked  the  position  of  the  British, 
which  extended  from  Petten  on  the  German  ocean 


to  Oude-Sluys  on  the  Zuyder-Zee.  The  onset 
was  made  with  the  utmost  bravery,  but  the  enemy 
were  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  a  thousand  men. 
From  the  want  of  numbers,  however,  Sir  Ralph 
Abercromby  was  unable  to  follow  up  this  advan- 
tage, until  the  duke  of  York  arrived  as  command- 
er-in-chief, with  a  reinforcement  of  Russians, 
Batavians,  and  Dutch  volunteers,  which  augment- 
ed the  allied  army  to  nearly  thirty-six  thousand 
men.  Sir  Ralph  now  served  as  second  in  com- 
mand. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  September  the  army 
under  the  duke  of  York  commenced  an  attack  on 
the  enemy's  positions  on  the  heights  of  Camper- 
down,  which  was  successful.  Tlie  Russian  troops, 
under  General  Hermann,  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  Bergen,  but  beginning  to  pillage  too  soon, 
the  enemy  rallied,  and  attacked  them  with  so 
much  impetuosity  that  they  were  driven  from  the 
town  in  all  directions.  Tlie  British  were  in  con- 
sequence compelled  to  abandon  the  positions  they 
had  stormed,  and  to  fall  back  upon  their  foimer 
station.  Another  attack  was  made  on  the  2d  of 
October.  Tlie  conflict  lasted  the  whole  day,  and 
the  enemy  abandoned  their  positions  during  the 
night.  On  this  occasion  Sir  Ralph  Abei*cromby 
had  two  horses  shot  under  him.  Sir  John  Moore 
was  twice  wounded  severely,  and  reluctantly  car- 
ried off*  the  field,  while  the  marquis  of  Huntly 
(the  last  duke  of  Gordon)  who,  at  the  head  of  the 
92d  regiment,  eminently  distinguished  himself, 
received  a  wound  from  a  ball  in  the  shoulder. 
The  Dutch  and  French  troops  had  taken  up  ano- 
ther strong  position  between  Benerwych  and  the 
Zuyder-Zee,  from  which  it  was  resolved  te  dis- 
lodge them  before  they  could  obtain  reinforce 
ments.  A  day  of  sanguinary  fighting  ensued, 
which  continued  without  intermission  till  ten 
o'clock  at  night  amid  deluges  of  rain.  The  French 
republican  general,  Bmne,  having  been  reinforced 
with  six  thousand  additional  men,  and  the  giound 
which  he  occupied  being  found  to  be  impregnable, 
the  duke  of  York  resolved  upon  a  retreat.  A  con- 
vention was  accordingly  concluded  with  General 
Bmne,  by  which  the  British  troops  were  allowed 
to  embark  for  England. 

In  June  1800  Sir  Ralph  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  troops,  then  quartered  in  the 


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island  of  Minorca,  which  had  been  sent  oat  upon 
a  secret  expedition  to  the  Mediterranean.  On 
the  22d  of  that  month  he  arrived  at  Minorca,  and 
on  the  23d  the  troops  wei-e  embarked,  and  sailed 
for  I^gbom.  They  arrived  there  on  the  9th  of 
Jnlj,  bnt  in  consequence  of  an  armistice  having 
been  concluded  between  the  French  and  the  Ans- 
trians,  they  did  not  land  there ;  but  while  part  of 
the  troops  proceeded  to  Malta,  the  remainder  re- 
\  turned  to  Minorca.  On  the  26th  of  July  Sir 
Ralph  arrived  again  at  that  island,  where  he  re* 
roained  till  the  SOth  of  August,  when  the  troops 
were  again  embarked ;  and  on  the  14th  September 
the  fleet,  which  consisted  of  upwards  oY  two  hun- 
dred sail,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Lord 
Keith,  came  to  anchor  off  Europa  point  in  the  bay 
of  Gibraltar.  After  taking  in  water  at  Teutan, 
the  fleet,  on  the  3d  of  October,  arrived  off  Cadiz, 
where  it  was  intended  to  disembark  the  troops, 
and  orders  were  accordingly  issued  for  the  purpose, 
but  a  flag  of  truce  was  sent  from  the  shore,  and 
some  negotiations  took  place  between  the  com- 
manders, in  consequence  of  which  the  orders  for 
landing  were  countermanded.  After  thus  threat- 
ening Cadiz,  and  sailing  about  apparently  without 
any  distinct  destination,  orders  were  at  last  re- 
eeivcd  from  England,  for  part  of  the  troops  to  pro- 
ceed to  Portugal,  and  the  remainder  to  Malta, 
where  they  arrived  about  the  middle  of  Novem- 
ber. The  latter  portion  afterwards  formed  part 
of  the  forces  employed  in  the  expedition  to  Egypt, 
with  the  view  of  driving  the  French  out  of  that 
country.  The  sailing  backwards  and  forwards  of 
the  fleet  for  so  many  months,  seemingly  without 
any  definite  aim,  so  far  from  being  indicative  of 
want  of  design  or  weakness  in  the  councils  of  the 
government  at  home,  as  was  believed  and  said  at 
the  time,  was  no  doubt  intended  to  deceive  the 
French  as  to  the  real  object  and  destination  of  the 
expedition. 

From  Malta  the  fleet,  with  Sir  Ralph  Aber- 
cromby  and  the  troops  on  board,  sailed  on  the 
20th  December,  taking  with  them  500  Maltese 
recruits,  designed  to  act  as  pioneers.  On  the  1st 
of  January  1801,  it  rendezvoused  in  the  bay  of 
Marmorice,  on  the  coast  of  Caramania,  where  it 
remained  till  the  23d  of  February,  on  which  day, 
to  the  number  of  175  sail,  it  weighed  anchor 


again ;  and  on  the  1st  of  March,  it  came  in  sight 
of  the  coast  of  Egypt.  On  the  following  morning 
the  fleet  anchored  in  Aboukir  bay,  in  the  very 
place  where,  a  few  years  before,  Admiral  Nelson 
had  adde^  so  signally  to  the  naval  triumphs  of 
Great  Britain. 

This  was  undoubtedly  the  most  glorious  period 
of  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby's  career.  "  All  minds,** 
says  a  contemporary  historian,  '*  were  now  anxi- 
ously directed  towards  Egypt.  It  was  a  novel 
and  interesting  spectacle  to  contemplate  the  two 
most  powerful  nations  of  Europe  contending  in 
Africa  for  the  possession  of  Asia.  Not  only  to 
England  and  France,  but  the  whole  civilized 
world,  the  issue  of  this  contest  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  With  respect  to  England,  the  difil- 
culties  to  be  surmounted  were  proportioned  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  object.  Tlie  vizier,  with  his 
usual  irresolution,  yet  debated  on  the  propriety  of 
co-operation,  while  the  captain  bashaw,  who  was 
at  Constantinople,  with  part  of  his  fleet,  inclined 
to  treat  with  the  enemy.  The  English  taking  the 
unpopular  side,  that  of  the  government,  still  less 
was  to  be  hoped  from  the  countenance  and  support 
of  the  people,  whom  the  French  had  long  flattered 
with  the  idea  of  freedom  and  independence.  It 
remained,  also,  to  justify  the  breach  of  faith  so 
speciously  attributed  to  this  nation  in  the  treaty 
of  El  Arish.  These  were  serious  obstacles  to  the 
progress  of  the  expedition  in  Egypt;  but  they 
were  not  the  only  obstacles.  The  expedition  had 
to  contend  with  an  army  habituated  to  the  coun- 
try, respected  at  least,  if  not  beloved,  by  the  in- 
habitants, and  flushed  with  reputation  and  suc- 
cess; an  army  inured  to  danger;  aware  of  the 
importance  of  Egypt  to  their  government ;  deter- 
mined to  defend  the  possession  of  it ;  and  encour- 
aged in  this  determination,  no  less  by  the  assur- 
ance of  speedily  receiving  effectual  succours,  than 
by  the  promise  of  reward,  and  the  love  of  glory." 

The  violence  of  the  wind,  from  the  1st  to  the 
7th  of  March,  rendered  a  landing  impracticable ; 
bnt  the  weather  becoming  calmer  on  the  7th,  that 
day  was  spent  in  reconnoitring  the  shore ;  a  ser- 
vice in  which  Sir  Sidney  Smith  displayed  great 
skill  and  activity. 

In  the  meantime  Bonaparte  had  sent  naval 
and  military  reinforcements  from  Europe,  and  the 


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SIR  RALPH. 


delay  ill  the  disembarkation  of  the  British  troops 
caused  by  the  state  of  the  weather,  enabled  the 
French  to  make  all  necessary  preparations  to  re  • 
ceive  them.  Two  thousand  five  hundred  of  the 
latter  were  strongly  intrenched  on  the  sand  hills 
near  the  shore,  and  formed,  in  a  concave  figure, 
opposite  the  British  ships.  The  main  body  of  the 
French  army  was  stationed  at  and  near  Alexan- 
dria, within  a  few  miles.  At  two  oVlock  on  the 
morning  of  the  8th,  the  Bi-itish  troops  began  to 
assemble  in  the  boats,  their  fire-locks  between  their 
knees.  A  rocket  from  the  admiral's  ship  gave  the 
signal ;  and  when  all  was  ready,  the  boats,  con 
taining  five  thousand  men,  pulled  in  towards  the 
shore,  a  distance  of  about  five  miles.  The  silence 
was  broken  only  by  the  sullen  dip  of  the  oars.  As 
soon  as  the  boats  came  within  reach,  a  most  tre- 
mendous fire  was  opened  upon  them  from  fifteen 
pieces  of  artillery  placed  on  the  ridge  of  sand  hills 
in  front,  besides  the  guns  of  Aboukir  castle  and 
the  musketry  of  2,500  men.  These  completely 
swept  the  sea,  and  the  falling  of  the  balls  and  shot 
is  compared,  by  a  contemporary  writer,  to  the 
falling  of  a  violent  hail-storm  on  the  water.  Two 
boats  were  sunk  with  all  on  board  of  them.  Each 
man  had  belts  loaded  with  three  days*  provisions, 
and  a  cartouch-box  with  sixty  rounds  of  ball  car- 
tridge. It  was  nine  oVlock  when  the  rest  reached 
land ;  and  the  French,  who  had  poured  down  in 
thousands  to  the  beach,  and  even  attacked  the 
Bi-itish  in  the  boats,  were  ready  to  receive  them 
at  the  bayonet's  point.  It  was  now  that  their 
commander  reaped  the  advantage  of  his  precau- 
tionary discipline.  While  anchored  in  the  bay 
of  Marmorice,  he  had  caused  the  troops  to  prac- 
tise all  the  manoeuvres  of  landing ;  so  that,  disem- 
barkation having  become  familiar  to  them,  on 
reaching  the  shore,  they  leaped  fVom  the  boats, 
formed  into  line,  mounted  the  heights,  in  the  fkce 
of  the  enemy's  Qre^  without  returning  a  shot, 
charged  with  the  bayonet  the  enemy  stationed  on 
the  summit,  put  them  to  flight,  and  seized  their 
cannon.  In  this  service  the  28d  and  40th  regi- 
ments, which  first  reached  the  shore,  particularly 
distinguished  themselves ;  while  the  seamen,  har- 
nessing themselves  to  the  field  artillery  with  ropes, 
drew  them  on  shore,  and  replied  to  the  incessant 
roar  of  the  hostile  cannon  with  repeated  and  tri- 


umphant cheei-3.  In  vain  did  the  enemy  endea- 
vour to  rally  his  troops;  in  vain  did  a  body  ol 
cavalry  charge  suddenly  on  the  guards  at  the  mo- 
ment of  their  debarkation.  The  French  gave  way 
at  all  points,  maintaining,  as  they  retreated,  a 
scattered  and  inefficient  fire.  The  boats  returned 
to  the  ships  for  the  remaining  part  of  the  army, 
and  before  noon  the  landing  was  effected.  It  not 
being  deemed  expedient,  however,  to  bring  on 
shore  the  camp  stores;  the  commander-in-chief 
and  the  troops,  after  having  advanced  three  miles 
into  the  country,  alike  slept  in  huts  made  of  the 
date-tree  branches. 

The  next  day  the  troops  were  employed  in 
searching  for  water,  in  which  they  happily  sue-  ' 
ceeded  ;  and  the  castle  of  Aboukir  refusing  to  sur- 
render, two  regiments  were  ordered  to  blockade  it. 
On  the  13th,  Sir  Ralph,  desirous  of  forcing  the 
heights  near  Alexandra,  on  which  a  body  of 
French,  amounting  to  0,000  men,  was  posted, 
marched  his  aiiny  to  the  attack. 

After  a  severe  contest,  the  French  were  com- 
pelled to  retire  to  the  heights  of  Necopolis,  which 
formed  the  principal  defence  of  Alexandria.  Anx- 
ious to  follow  up  the  victory,  by  driving  the  enemy 
from  his  new  position,  Sir  Ralph  ordered  forwai-d 
the  resei*ve  under  Sir  John  Moore,  and  the  second 
line  under  General  Hutchinson,  to  attack  the 
heights,  which  were  found  to  be  commanded  by 
the  guns  of  the  fort.  As  they  advanced  into  the 
open  plain,  they  were  exposed  to  a  most  destruc- 
tive fire,  from  which  they  had  no  shelter;  and 
having  ascertained  that  the  heights,  if  taken, 
could  not  be  retained,  the  attempt  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  British  army  retired,  with  consider- 
able loss,  to  the  position  which  was  soon  to  be 
the  theatre  of  Sir  Ralph's  last  victory; — that, 
namely,  from  which  the  enemy  had  been  driven, 
comprising  a  front  of  more  than  half-a-inile  in  ex- 
tent, with  their  right  to  the  sea,  and  their  left,  to 
the  canal  of  Alexandria  and  Lake  Maadie,  thus 
cutting  off  all  communication  with  the  city,  ex- 
cept by  way  of  the  desert.  The  loss  of  the  Brit- 
ish, on  that  unfortunate  day,  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed, was  upwards  of  1,000,  and  Greneral  Aber- 
cromby  himself,  on  this  occasion,  had  a  very 
narrow  escape.  His  horse  being  shot  under  him, 
he  became  surrounded  by  the  enemy's  cavalry. 


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SIR  RALPH. 


and  was  rescued  only  by  the  devoted  intrepiflity 
of  the  19th  regiment.  After  the  13th,  Abonkir 
castle,  which  had  hitherto  been  only  blockaded, 
was  besieged,  and  on  the  18th  the  garrison  sur- 
rendered. The  annexed  woodcut  represents  the 
general  viewing  the  anny  encamped  on  the  plains 
of  Egypt,  a  short  time  before  his  lamented  death. 


It  is  vei*}'  characteristic  of  him,  and  though  the 
glass  at  his  eye  may  indicate  that  age  had  begun 
to  affect  his  sight,  the  erectness  of  his  figure  shows 
tliat,  notwitlistanding  his  long  and  active  career, 
advancing  years  and  the  hard  sen'iccs  in  which 
he  had  been  engaged,  had  left  their  traces  but 
lightly  on  his  frame 


The  French  commander-in-chief.  General  Me- 
nou,  having  arrived  from  Cairo,  with  a  reinforce- 
ment of  9,000  men,  early  on  the  moniing  of  the 
21st  of  March,  was  fought  the  decisive  battle  of 
Alexandria,  in  which,  after  a  sanguinaiy  and  pro- 
tracted stniggle,  the  British  were  victorious.  Gen- 
eral Menon  being  obliged  to  retreat  with  a  loss 
of  between  three  and  four  thousand  men,  including 
many  officers,  and  three  generals  killed.  Tlio  loss 
of  the  British  was  also  heavy,  and  this  was  the 


last  f^eld  of  the  victor,  for  here  Sir  Ralph  Abcr- 
cromby  received  his  death -wound. 

Meaning  to  surprise  the  British,  the  French 
commander  attacked  their  position  between  three 
and  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  with  his  whole 
foree,  amounting  to  about  twelve  thousand  men. 
Tlie  action  was  commenced  by  a  feigned  attack 
on  the  left,  while  the  main  strength  of  the  enemy 
was  directed  against  the  right  wing  of  the  British 
army.    They  advanced  in  columns,  shouting  "  Vive 


--J 


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Sm  RALPH. 


la  France  1"  "Vive  la  Hepubliqne!''  bnt  they 
were  received  with  steady  coolness  by  the  British 
troops,  who,  wai-ned  the  previous  evening,  by  an 
Arab  chief,  of  the  intentions  of  the  French  gen- 
eral, were  in  battle  array  by  three  oVlock,  and 
prepared  to  receive  the  onset  of  the  enemy.  The 
contest  continued  with  varioos  success  nntil  eight 
o'clock,  when  General  Menou,  finding  that  all  his 
efforts  were  fruitless,  ordered  a  retreat,  and  from 
the  want  of  cavalry  on  the  part  of  the  British,  the 
French  effected  their  escape  to  Alexandria,  in 
good  order. 

On  the  first  alarm.  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby, 
blending  the  coolness  and  experience  of  age  with 
the  ardour  and  activity  of  youth,  repaired  on 
horseback  to  the  right,  and  exposed  himself  to  all 
the  dangers  of  the  field.  During  the  battle  he 
rode  about  in  all  paiis,  cheering  and  animating 
his  men,  and  while  it  was  still  dark  he  got  among 
the  enemy,  who  had  already  broken  the  front  line 
and  fallen  into  the  rear.  Unable  to  distinguish 
the  French  soldiers  fi*om  his  own,  he  was  only  ex- 
tricated from  his  dangerous  situation  by  the  val- 
our of  his  troops.  To  the  first  British  soldier  who 
came  up  to  him  he  said,  "  Soldier !  if  3'ou  know 
me,  don't  name  me."  Soon  after,  two  French 
dragoons  rode  furiously  at  him,  and  attempted  to 
lead  him  away  prisoner.  Sir  Ralph,  however, 
would  not  yield;  one  of  his  assailants  made  a 
thrust  at  his  breast,  and  passed  his  sword  with 
great  force  under  the  general's  arm.  Although 
severely  bruised  by  a  blow  from  the  sword-guard. 
Sir  Ralph,  with  the  vigour  and  strength  of  arm 
for  which  he  was  distinguished,  seized  the  French- 
man's weapon,  and  after  a  short  struggle,  wrested 
it  from  his  hand,  and  turned  to  oppose  his  remain- 
ing adversary,  who,  at  that  instant,  was  shot  dead 
by  a  corporal  of  the  42d,  who  had  witnessed  the 
danger  of  his  commander,  and  ran  up  to  his  as- 
sistance; on  which  the  other  dragoon  retired. 

Although  Sir  Ralph,  early  in  the  action,  had 
been  wounded  in  the  thigh  by  a  musket  ball,  he 
treated  the  wound  as  a  trifle,  and  continued  to 
move  about,  and  give  his  orders  with  his  charac- 
teristic promptitude  and  clearness.  On  the  re- 
treat of  the  enemy  he  fainted  fVom  pain  and  the 
loss  of  blood.  His  magnanimous  conduct,  both 
during  the  battle  and  after  it,  is  thus  detailed  by 


the  late  General  David  Stewart,  of  Garth,  who 
was  an  eye-witness  to  it.  After  describing  Sit 
Ralph's  rencontre  with  the  French  dragoons,  he 
continues :  "  Some  time  after  the  general  attempt- 
ed to  alight  from  his  lioi-se ;  a  soldier  of  the  High- 
landers, seeing  that  he  had  some  difficulty  in 
dismounting,  assisted  him,  and  asked  if  he  should 
follow  him  with  the  hoi-se.  He  answered,  that 
he  would  not  require  him  any  more  that  day. 
While  all  this  was  passing,  no  officer  was  near 
him.  The  first  officer  he  met  was  Sir  Sidney 
Smith ;  and  observing  that  his  sword  was  broken, 
the  general  presented  him  with  the  tro])hy  he  had 
gained.  He  betrayed  no  symptom  of  personal 
pain,  nor  relaxed  a  moment  the  intense  interest 
he  took  in  the  state  of  the  field ;  nor  was  it  per- 
ceived that  he  was  wounded,  till  he  was  joined  by 
some  of  the  staff,  who  observed  the  blood  trick- 
ling down  his  thigh.  Even  during  the  interval 
from  the  time  of  his  being  wounded,  and  the  last 
charge  of  cavalry,  he  walked  with  a  fii-m  and 
steady  step  along  the  line  of  the  Highlanders  and 
General  Stuart's  brigade,  to  the  position  of  the 
guards  in  the  centre  of  the  line,  where,  from  its 
elevated  situation,  he  had  a  full  view  of  the  wnole 
field  of  battle.  Here  he  remained,  regardless  of 
the  wound,  giving  his  orders  so  much  in  his  usual 
manner,  that  the  officers  who  came  to  receive 
them  perceived  nothing  that  indicated  either  pain 
or  anxiety.  These  officers  afterwards  could  not 
sufficiently  express  their  astonishment,  when  they 
came  to  learn  the  state  in  which  he  was,  and  the 
pain  which  he  must  have  suffered  from  the  nature 
of  his  wound.  A  musket  ball  had  entered  his 
groin,  and  lodged  deep  in  the  hip  joint ;  the  ball 
was  even  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  hip  joint  that  it 
required  considerable  force  to  extract  it  after  his 
death.  My  respectable  friend.  Dr.  Alexander 
Robertson,  the  surgeon  who  attended  him,  assured 
me  that  nothing  could  exceed  his  surprise  and 
admiration  at  the  calmness  of  his  heroic  patient. 
With  a  wound  in  such  a  part,  connected  with  and 
bearing  on  every  part  of  his  body,  it  is  a  matter 
of  surprise  how  he  could  move  at  all,  and  nothing 
bnt  the  most  intense  interest  in  the  fate  of  his 
army,  the  issue  of  the  battle,  and  the  honour  of 
the  British  name,  could  have  inspired  and  sus- 
tained such  resolution.    As  soon  as  the  impulse 


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SIR  RALPH. 


ceased  ill  the  assurance  of  victory,  lie  yielded  to 
exhausted  nature,  acknowledged  that  he  required 
some  rest,  and  lay  down  on  a  little  sand  hill  close 
to  the  battery." 

Fi-om  the  field  of  victory  he  was  removed  on  a 
litter,  feeble  and  faint,  on  board  the  admiral's  flag 
ship,  *the  Foudroyant,'  where  every  effort  was 
made  by  the  medical  gentlemen  of  the  fleet  and 
the  aimy  to  extract  the  ball,  but  without  effect. 
During  a  week  that  he  lingered  in  great  bodily 
suffering,  he  continued  to  exercise  the  same  vigi- 
lance over  the  condition  and  prospects  of  his  ar- 
my as  he  had  manifested  while  at  its  head.  His 
son.  Lieutenant -colonel  Abcrcromby,  attended 
him  from  day  to  day,  and  regularly  received  his 
instructions,  as  if  no  serious  accident  had  befallen 
him.  lliroughout  the  evening  of  the  27th,  he 
t)ccame  more  than  usually  restless,  and  complain- 
ed of  excessive  languor,  and  an  increased  degree 
of  thirst ;  next  day  mortification  supervened,  an  J 
in  the  evening  he  expired ;  thus  closing  his  glori- 
ous career,  on  the  28th  March  1801,  in  the  68th 
yiiar  of  his  age. 

In  the  despatches  sent  home  with  an  account  of 
his  death  by  General  (afterwards  Lord)  Hutchin- 
son, who  succeeded  him  in  the  command,  the  lat- 
ter says :  "  We  have  sustained  an  irreparable  loss 
ill  the  person  of  our  never-suflSciently- to-be-la- 
mented commander-in-chief,  Sir  Ralph  Abcr- 
cromby, who  was  mortally  wounded  in  the  action, 
and  died  on  the  28th  of  March.  I  believe  he  was 
wounded  early,  but  he  concealed  his  situation 
from  those  about  him,  and  continued  in  the  field 
giving  his  orders  with  that  coolness  and  perspicu- 
ity which  had  ever  marked  his  character,  till  long 
after  the  action  was  over,  when  he  fainted  through 
weakness  and  loss  of  blood.  Were  it  permitted 
for  a  soldier  to  regret  any  one  who  has  fallen  in 
the  service  of  his  country,  I  might  be  excused  for 
lamenting  him  more  than  any  other  person ;  but 
it  is  some  consolation  to  those  who  tenderly  loved 
him,  that,  as  his  life  was  honourable,  so  was  his 
death  glorious.  His  memory  will  be  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  his  country,  will  be  sacred  to  every 
British  soldier,  and  embalmed  in  the  i*ccollection 
of  a  grateful  posterity."  His  remains  were  con- 
veyed, (in  compliance  with  his  own  request,)  to 
Malta,  and  inteiTed  in  the  Commandery  of  the 


Grand  Master,  beneath  the  castle  of  St.  Elmo.  A 
monument  was  erected  to  his  memory  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  parliament  having  voted  a  sum  of 
money  for  the  purpose.  His  widow  was  created 
Bai-oness  Abercromby  of  Aboukir  and  Tullibody, 
with  remainder  to  the  hcire-male  of  the  deceased 
general ;  and,  in  support  of  the  dignity,  a  pension 
of  £2,000  a-year  was  granted  to  her,  and  to  the 
two  next  succeeding  heirs-male. 

Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  possessed,  in  a  high  de- 
gree, some  of  the  l>est  qualities  of  a  general,  and 
his  coolness,  decision,  and  intrepidity,  wei-e  the 
theme  of  general  praise.  As  a  country  gentleman, 
also,  his  character  stood  very  high,  being  described 
as  **  the  friend  of  the  destitute  poor,  the  patron  of 
useful  knowledge,  and  the  promoter  of  education 
among  the  meanest  of  his  cottagers."  His  studies 
were  of  so  general  a  nature  that  it  is  stated  In 
Stiriing's  edition  of  Nimmo's  History  of  Stirling- 
shire, that  when  called  to  the  continent  in  1793, 
he  had  been  daily  attending  the  lectures  of  the 
late  Dr.  Hai*dy,  regius  professor  of  church  history 
in  the  university  of  Edinburgh. 

To  Sir  Ralph's  patronage  many  who  would 
otherwise  have  passed  their  lives  in  obscurity, 
owed  their  being  placed  in  situations  where  they 
had  opportunities  of  advancement  and  distinction ; 
among  the  rest  was  the  late  Major-general  Sir 
William  Morison,  K.C.B.,  one  of  the  many  able 
officers  whom  the  East  India  Company's  seiTice 
has  produced.  His  father,  Mr.  Morison  of  Green- 
field, Clackmannanshire,  was  a  land  surveyor  in 
Alloa  in  the  county  of  Stirling,  who  was  well 
known  to  most  of  the  gentlemen  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, and  was  in  particular  employed  by  Sir 
Ralph  Abercromby.  When  Sir  Ralph  was  going 
abroad  on  foreign  service,  he  had  occasion  to  con- 
sult Mr.  Morison,  the  father,  about  one  of  his 
farms,  and  was  particularly  pleased  with  the  accu- 
racy and  clearness  of  the  plan  and  its  references, 
which  he  submitted  to  him.  On  being  asked  who 
drew  them  up,  Mr.  Moiison  told  Sir  Ralph  that  it 
was  done  by  his  son,  and  the  general  immediately 
said  that  he  should  like  to  have  the  whole  of  his 
estate  mapped  in  the  same  manner,  so  that,  when 
away  from  home,  he  might  be  able,  by  i*efercnco, 
to  correspond  about  any  point  that  occurred.  Ttic 
maps  were  made  by  young  Morison,  who  waited  on 


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ABERNETHY. 


Sir  Ralph  to  explain  them,  and  tlic  veteran  gen- 
eral, who  was  a  gi*eat  judge  of  character,  instantly 
perceived  the  value  of  the  self-taught  youth.  He 
made  inquiries  as  to  his  views  and  pros|XJcts,  and 
finding  that  he  was  anxious  to  go  to  India,  he 
procured  for  him  a  cadetship,  in  the  year  1800. 
From  the  outset  the  young  man  justified  Sir 
Ralph's  estimate  of  his  abilities,  and  he  so  applied 
his  faculties  to  military  science,  that  his  attain- 
ments raised  him  to  a  high  i-ank  in  the  Indian 
army,  and  he  died  15th  May  1851,  a  major-general 
in  the  East  India  Company's  service,  a  knight 
commander  of  the  Bath,  and  member  of  pailia- 
ment  for  Clackmannanshire  and  Kinross-shire. 

Sir  Ralph  married  Mary  Anne,  daughter  of 
John  Menzies,  Esq.  of  Fcnitower,  Perthshire,  and 
left  four  sons,  viz.  George,  passed  advocate  in  179-1, 
wiio  succeeded  his  mother  on  her  death  in  1821, 
as  Loi*d  Abercromhy,  and  died  in  1843 ;  Sir  John, 
a  major-general,  and  G.C.B.,  who  died  unmar- 
ried in  1817  ;  James,  a  barrister  at  law,  returned, 
with  Francis  Jeffrey,  Esq.,  (subsequently  a  lord 
of  session,)  as  one  of  the  membei's  of  parliament 
for  the  city  of  Edinburgh  at  the  first  election  under 
the  Reform  act,  aftei*wards  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  created  Lord  Dunfermline  in  1839  ; 
and  Alexander,  a  colonel  in  the  army ;  with  three 
daughters;  Anne,  married  to  Donald  Cameron, 
Esq.  of  Lochicl;  Maiy,  died  unmarried  in  1825; 
and  Catherine,  wife  of  Thomas  Buchanan,  Esq., 
in  the  East  India  Company's  service.  Lord  Dun- 
fermline, the  third  son,  died  in  1858,  leaving  a 
son,  Ralph,  second  Lord  Dunfermline.  (See  Dun- 
fermline, Lord,  vol.  ii.  p.  105.) 

ABERCROMBY,  Alexander,  an  eminent 
lawyer  and  occasional  essayist,  was  born  October 
15,  1745.  He  was  tlie  second  son  of  George 
Abercromby  of  Tullibody,  and  the  brother  of  Sir 
Ralph.  He  received  his  education  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  and  was  admitted  a  membei  of 
the  faculty  of  advocates  in  1766.  He  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  bar,  and  in  1780,  after 
being  sheriff  of  Stirlingshire,  he  became  one  of 
the  depute-advocates.  He  was  raised  to  the  bench 
m  May  1792,  when  he  assumed  the  title  of  Lord 
Abercromby.  In  December  of  the  same  year,  he 
was  made  a  lord  of  justiciary.  He  was  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  *  Mirror,'  a  periodical  published 


at  Edinbui'gh  in  1779  and  following  year,  to  which 
he  contributed  eleven  papers.  He  also  furnished 
nine  papers  to  the  '  Lounger,'  a  work  of  a  similar 
kind,  published  in  1785  and  1786.  He  caught  a 
cold,  while  attending  his  duty  on  the  northern 
circuit  in  the  spring  of  1795,  from  which  he  never 
recovered,  and  died  on  the  17th  of  November  of 
that  yeai*,  at  Exmouth,  in  Devonshire,  where  he 
had  gone  on  account  of  his  health.  A  short  tri- 
bute to  his  memory  was  written  by  his  friend, 
Henry  Mackenzie,  for  the  Royal  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh.— Haig  and  Brunton's  Senators  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Justice. 

ABERCROMBY,  Sir  Robert,  the  youngest 
brother  of  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  was  a  general 
in  the  army,  a  knight  of  the  Bath,  and  at  one  pe- 
riod the  governor  of  Bombay  and  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  forces  in  India.  He  was  afterwards 
for  thirty  yeara  governor  of  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh. When  the  late  Mr.  Robert  Haldane,  the 
brother  of  Mr.  James  Alexander  Haldane,  de- 
tei-mined  upon  selling  his  estates,  and  devoting 
himself  to  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  in  India, 
Sir  Robert  Abercromby,  whose  niece  Mr.  J.  A. 
Haldane  had  married,  purchased  from  him  his 
beautiful  and  romantic  estate  of  Airthrey,  in  Stir- 
lingshire, and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Ixird 
Abercromby,  the  son  of  his  elder  brother,  Sir 
Ralph.     Sir  Robert  died  in  1827. 

Aberdeen,  earldom  of,  a  peerage  possessed  by  a  branch 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Gordon.  In  1644,  Sur  John  Gordon 
of  Haddo  was  beheaded  at  Edinburgh,  for  his  adlierence  to 
the  cause  of  Charles  I.  After  the  Restoration,  Sir  John 
Gordon,  his  eldest  son,  was  restored  to  the  baronetage  which 
had  been  bestowed  on  his  father  m  1642,  and  to  the  estates  of 
the  family.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  George,  who 
was  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland  in  1682,  and  the  sjinie 
year  was  created  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Viscount  Formartuic,  Ba- 
ron Haddo,  Methlic,  Tarves,  and  Kellie.  In  1814  the  fourth 
earl  of  Aberdeen  was  created  Viscount  Gordon  of  Aberdeen, 
m  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom.  See  Gdrdon,  p.  S23. 

Abkrnbthy— (beyond  the  Nethy)— a  surname  derived 
from  a  barony  of  that  name  in  Lower  Strathcam,  Perthshire, 
which  was  possessed  m  the  reign  of  William  I.  by  Ormc,  the 
son  of  Hugh,  who  was  styled  Abbot  of  Abemethy,  and  whose 
descendants  assumed  the  name  of  Abemethy.  In  1288  Sir 
William  de  Abemethy,  the  first  of  the  family  styled  of  Sal- 
toun,  and  Sir  Patrick  de  Abemethy,  lay  in  wait  for  Duncan 
earl  of  Fife,  one  of  the  regents  of  the  kingdom  during  the 
minority  of  Margaret  of  Norway,  at  Fotpollock,  and  murdered 
hun.  William  was  seized  by  Sir  Andrew  Moray  of  Bothwell 
and  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  and  Patrick  fled 
into  France  and  died  there.  [ForduH.']  His  nephew,  Alex 
ander  de  Abemethy,  in  1308,  along  with  Robert  de  Keith. 


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ABERNETHY. 


Adam  de  Gordon,  and  other  leading  barons,  were  sureties  to 
Edward  for  the  good  behaviour  of  William  de  Lanibjrton, 
bishop  of  St  Andrews.  [^Rtfmer't  Fadera,  tome  iiL  p.  82.] 
The  same  individual  was  appomted  bj  £dward  warden  of 
the  country  between  the  Forth  and  the  mountains  of  Scot- 
land, 15th  June,  1310.  \^lbid.  tome  iii.  p.  211.]  His  eldest 
daughter  Margaret  was  man-ied  to  John  Stewart,  earl  of  An- 
^us,  who  got  with  her  the  baronj  of  Abemethy,  the  superior- 
ity of  which  is  still  possessed  by  the  family  of  Douglas,  (now 
Hamilton,)  as  representatives  of  the  earl  of  Angus.  To  the 
famous  letter  to  the  Pope,  drawn  up  by  the  barons  of  Scot- 
land at  the  parliament  ik  Aberbrothio  6th  April,  1320,  appears 
the  name  of  William  de  Abemethy,  lord  of  Saltoun.  He 
was  the  son  of  the  first  Sir  William  de  Abemethy  of  Saltoun. 
His  son,  also  named  Sir  William,  appears  in  the  list  of  noble 
persons  who  fought  at  the  battle  of  Halidon  hill,  19th  July, 
1333,  [Haiie$^  AtmalSy  voL  ii.  p.  307,]  from  which  disastrous 
field  he  appears  to  have  escaped.  He  had  from  David  II.  a 
grant  of  the  lands  of  Rothiemay  in  Aberdeenshire.  George 
Abemethy  of  Saltoun,  his  son,  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  fatal 
fight  of  Durham,  17th  Oct,  1846.  At  the  battle  of  Harlaw 
24th  July  1411,  William  Abemethy,  son  and  heir  to  the  Lord 
Saltoun,  was  one  of  the  prmdpal  leaders,  and  was  slain.  But 
altiiongh  he  is  called  **  the  worthy  Lord  Saltone  **  and  of  his 
death  it  is  said  in  the  popular  ballad, 

"  And  on  the  other  side  war  lost 

Into  the  field  that  dismal  day, 
Cliicf  men  of  worth  of  micide  cost. 

To  be  lamented  sair  for  aye, 
Tlie  lord  Sallone  of  Rothiemay, 

A  man  of  micht  and  micklo  wain. 
Great  dolour  was  for  his  decay 

That  sae  unhappily  was  slain ;" 

yet  the  peerage  was  not  conferred  upon  the  family  till  28th 
June,  1445, — 34  years  later, —  in  the  person  of  Laurence 
Abemethy  of  Saltoun  and  Rothiemay,  created  Baron  Saltoun 
of  Abemethy,  and  as  the  said  William  Abemethy  predeceased 
his  father,  he  was  called  ''  the  Lord  Saltone^  only  by  courtesy. 
This  Laurence  Abemethy  of  Saltoun  and  Rothiemay,  first 
Lord  Saltoun,  was  the  twelfth  in  descent  from  Orm  the 
.bunder  of  the  famOy.  Margaret,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
seventh  Lord  Saltoun,  married  Sir  Alexander  Fraser  of  Phil- 
orth  in  Aberdeenshire,  and  their  son,  Sir  Alexander  Fraser, 
became  the  tenth  Lord  Saltoun,  and  his  descendants  suc- 
ceeded to  the  title.  The  brother  of  his  mother,  John,' 
eighth  Lord  Saltoun,  sold  the  estate  of  Rothiemay.  The 
family  of  Abemethy  is  now  represented  by  the  Frasers  of 
rhilorth,  lords  Saltoun. — See  Saltoun. — The  parish  and 
village  of  Abemethy  are  of  great  antiquity.  The  latter 
was  at  one  period  the  capital  of  the  Pictish  kings.  It  is 
named  by  various  English  writers  and  by  Fordoun  as  the 
pbce  where  Malcolm  Canmore  concluded  a  peace  with  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  in  1072,  delivered  to  bun  hostages,  and 
did  homage  to  him  for  the  lands  wliich  he  held  in  England. 
But  although  now  a  mean  village,  **  it  would  appear,*'  says  Dr. 
Jamieson,  **  that  it  was  a  royal  residence  in  the  reign  of  one 
of  the  Pictish  princes  who  bore  the  name  of  Ncthan  or  Nectan. 
I'he  Pictish  chronicle  has  ascribed  the  foundation  of  Abeme- 
thy to  Nethan  I.,  in  the  tlurd  year  of  his  reign,  corresponding 
with  A.D.  458.  The  Register  of  St  Andrews,  with  greater 
probability,  gives  it  to  Nethan  11.  about  the  year  600."  We 
find  that  while  the  church  of  Abemethy  was  granted  by 
William  I.  in  1178,  to  his  foundation  of  the  abbey  of  Aber- 
brothock,  Orme,  abbot  of  Abemethy,  granted  the  half  of  tlie 
tithes  of  the  property  of  himself  and  his  heirs  to  the  same 
mstitution.      The  other  half  belonged  to  the  Culdees,  as  in 


ancient  times  Abemethy  was  a  prindiol  seat  of  the  Culdees, 
who  had  a  university  at  Abemethy,  which  in  1273  was  tumcd 
mto  a  priory  of  canons  r^ular  of  St  Augustine.  It  is  a 
burgh  of  barony,  and  has  a  charter  from  Archibald,  earl  of 
Angus,  lord  of  Abemethy,  dated  November  29,  1628.  The 
title  of  Lord  Abemethy  was  conferred  on  the  eari  of  Angus 
when  created  marquis  of  Douglas  in  1633,  and  is  now  one  of 
the  inferior  titles  of  the  duke  of  Hamilton  as  representative 
and  chief  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Doughis. — See  Hamiltok. 

ABERNETHY,  John,  an  eminent  physician  of 
London,  was  born  in  1763  or  1764,  at  Abenietliy 
in  Perth8hire,it  is  believed ;  although  Londondeiry 
in  Ireland  is  also  mentioned  as  his  birth-place. 
When  very  young,  his  parents  removed  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  late  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir)  Charles  Blick,  surgeon  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital.  He  was  the  pupil  and 
friend  of  the  celebrated  John  Hunter.  In  1780, 
on  being  elected  assistant-surgeon  to  St.  Bartho- 
lomew's, he  began  to  give  lectures  in  the  hospital 
on  anatomy  and  surgery.  On  the  death  of  Sir 
Charles  Blick  he  succeeded  him  as  surgeon  to 
the  Hospital.  In  1793  he  published  *  Surgical 
and  Physiological  Essays.'  In  1804  appeared 
*  Surgical  ObsciTations,'  volume  first,  relating  t4 
tumours,  and  two  yeai-s  aflerwai-ds,  volume  se- 
cond, treating  principally  of  the  digestive  organs. 
Having  been  elected  anatomical  lecturer  to  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  he  published  in  1814 
the  subject  of  his  first  two  lectures,  under  the 
title  of  *  An  Enquiry  into  Mr.  Hunter's  Theoiy  of 
Life,'  elucidatory  of  his  old  master's  opinions  of 
the  vital  processes.  In  1809  appeared  his  *  Sur- 
gical Observations  on  the  Constitutional  Origin 
and  Treatment  of  Ix>cal  Diseases,  and  on  Aneu- 
risms,' in  which  are  detailed  his  memorable  cases 
of  tying  the  iliac  artery  for  aneurism ;  a  bold  and 
successful  operation,  which  at  once  established  his 
reputation.  He  was  the  author  of  several  other 
popular  medical  works.  In  chemistry,  we  owe  to 
him  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Howard,  brother  of 
the  duke  of  Norfolk,  the  discovery  of  the  "  fulmi- 
nating mercury,"  the  force  of  which,  as  an  explo- 
sive power,  is  greater  than  that  of  gunpowder. 
He  died  on  the  20th  of  April,  1831,  at  his  hou^e 
at  Enfield.  Many  amusing  anecdotes  ai'e  related 
of  his  eccentricities.  He  attributed  most  com- 
I)laint8  to  the  disordered  state  of  the  stomach,  and 
his  chief  remedies  were  exercise  and  regulation  of 
the  diet.    Once  he  prescribed  a  skipping  rope  to  a 


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ABTHANE. 


female  hypochondriac  patieut  of  the  upper  ranks ; 
and  at  another  time,  as  a  cure  for  gout,  lie  advised 
an  indolent  and  luxurious  citizen  to  ^^  live  upon 
sixpence  a-day,  and  earn  it."  In  spite  of  the 
bluntness  of  his  manner,  however,  he  was  very 
benevolent,  and  often  not  only  gratuitously  visited 
pei-sons  whose  poverty  prevented  them  from  com- 
ing to  him,  but  even  sometimes  supplied  their 
wants  from  his  own  purse.  The  following  is  the 
account  given  of  the  abrupt  and  unceremonious 
but  truly  characteristic  manner  in  which  he  ob- 
tained his  wife.  The  name  of  the  lady  is  not 
given.  "  While  attending  a  lady  for  sevei*al  weeks, 
he  observed  those  admirable  qualifications  in  her 
daughter,  which  he  truly  esteemed  to  be  calculated 
to  make  the  marriage  state  happy.  Accordingly, 
on  a  Saturday,  when  taking  leave  of  his  patient, 
he  addressed  her  to  the  following  purport : — *  You 
are  now  so  well  that  I  need  not  see  you  after 
Monday  next,  when  I  shall  come  and  pay  you  my 
farewell  visit.  But,  in  the  meantime,  I  wish  you 
and  your  daughter  seriously  to  consider  the  pro- 
posal I  am  now  about  to  make.  It  is  abrupt  and 
unceremonious,  I  am  aware;  but  the  excessive 
occupation  of  my  time  by  my  professional  duties 
affords  me  no  leisure  to  accomplish  what  I  desire 
by  the  more  ordinary  course  of  attention  and  soli- 
citation.   My  annual  receipts  amount  to  £ , 

and  I  can  settle  £ on  my  wife  (mentioning 

the  sums) :  my  character  is  generally  known  to  the 
public,  80  that  you  may  readily  ascertain  what  it 
is.  I  have  seen  in  your  daughter  a  tender  and 
affectionate  child,  an  assiduous  and  careful  nurse, 
and  a  gentle  and  ladylike  member  of  a  family; 
such  a  person  must  be  all  that  a  husband  could 
covet,  and  I  offer  my  hand  and  fortune  for  hei* 
acceptance.  On  Monday,  when  I  call,  I  shall 
expect  your  determination ;  for  I  really  have  not 
time  for  the  routine  of  courtship.'  In  this  humour, 
the  lady  was  wooed  and  won;  and  the  union 
proved  fortunate  in  every  respect."— ilwitto/  Obi' 
tuary,  1832. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works: 

Surgical  and  Physiological  Essays.     Lond.  1793-7,  8vo. 

Surgical  Observations,  containing  a  Classification  of  Tu- 
mours, with  Casefi  to  illustrate  the  History  of  each  Species. 
I^nd.  1804,  8vo. 

Surgical  Observations,  part  second,  containing  an  Account 
of  the  Disorders  of  the  Health  in  general,  and  of  the  Digestive 
Organs  m  particnlar.     Observations  on  the  Diseases  of  the 


Urethra,  and  Observations  relative  to  the  Treatment  of  one 
Species  of  the  Na;\i  MatenuB.  Lond.  1806,  8vo.  Lond. 
1816,  8vo. 

Sui^cai  Observations  on  the  Constitutional  Origin  and 
Treatment  of  Local  Diseases;  and  on  Aneurisms.  Lond. 
1809,  8vo.    8d  edit.  1813,  8vo. 

Surgical  Observations,  part  second,  containing  Observations 
on  the  Origin  and  Treatment  of  Pseudo-syphilitic  Diseases, 
and  on  Diseases  of  the  Urethra.    Lond.  1810,  8vo. 

Surgical  Observations  on  Injuries  of  the  Head,  and  other 
Miscellaneous  Subjects.     Lond.  1810,  8vo. 

An  Inquuy  into  the  Probability  and  Rationality  of  Mr. 
Hunter*s  Thooiy  of  Life,  bemg  the  Subject  of  the  first  two 
Anatomical  Lectures  before  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 
Und.  1814,  8vo. 

The  Introductory  Lecture  for  the  year  1815,  exhibiting 
some  of  Mr.  Hunter^s  Opinions  respecting  Diseases;  delivered 
before  Rojral  College  of  Surgeons,  I>ondoD.    I^nd.  1816,  8vo. 

Surgical  Works,  a  new  edit  1815, 2  vols.  8vo. 

Fhysiohigical  I^tnres,  1817. 


Abotne,  Eari  of,  a  title  possessed  by  the  Gordon  family, 
derived  from  the  parish  of  Aboyne  in  Aberdeensljire.  On  the 
death  of  tlie  lust  duke  of  Gordon  in  1836,  when  that  dukedom 
became  extinct,  the  title  of  earl  of  Aboyne  merged  in  that  of 
marquis  of  Huntly.    (See  Huittlt,  marquis  of.) 

Abthane,  a  title  which  occurs  in  Scottish  history,  ana 
which  appears  peculiar  to  Scotland,  as  no  trace  of  it  has  been 
found  in  any  other  country.  It  is  a  Thanedom  or  proprietor- 
ship of  land  held  of  the  crown,  and  in  the  possession  of  an 
abbot  Like  a  Thanedom  also,  it  is  the  title  of  a  Saxon  pro 
prietor,  that  is,  a  proprietor  under  the  Saxon  laws,  holding 
direct  of  the  crown,  and  is  therefore  exactly  equivalent  to 
that  of  a  Norman  baron.  Three  Abthainri«s  only  have  been 
as  yet  traced  in  Scotland,  viz.  those  of  Dull,  Kilmichael,  and 
Madderty;  the  two  former  in  Athol,  the  latter  in  Stratheam. 
Mr.  Skene,  whose  investigations  supply  the  foregoing  infor- 
mation, seems  to  have  established  that  all  these  three  were 
created  between  the  years  1098  and  1124, — that  is,  between 
the  accession  of  Edgar  to  the  throne  and  that  of  David  I. , 
that  they  were  all  held  in  connection  with  the  CiUdee  monks 
of  Dunkeld ;  that  they  must  have  been  in  possession  of  an 
abbot  of  that  monastery ;  and  that  the  party  who  then  held 
that  dignity,  and  in  whose  favour  they  were  created,  was 
Ethelred,  youngest  son  of  Malcolm  III.,  who  consequently 
had  obtained  them  firom  one  of  his  brothers,  Edgar  or  Alex- 
ander, the  then  reigning  monarchs  of  Scothind.  The  fact  of 
the  possession  of  these  and  other  lands  in  Athol  by  the  then 
reigning  family  of  ScotUmd,  is  one  of  the  many  circumstances 
adduced  by  this  gentleman  to  demonstrate  the  descent  of 
Malcolm  III.,  and  after  him  a  long  line  of  Scottish  kings, 
firom  the  ancient  Maormors  of  Athol,  one  of  the  many  facts 
illustrative  of  early  Scottish  history  for  which  we  are  mdebted 
to  his  careful  investigations  and  ingenious  inductions.  Seo 
Athol,  Earlb  of.  On  the  death  of  Ethehred,  these  hinds 
again  reverted  to  the  crown.  In  various  charters  so  recent  as 
the  reign  of  David  II.  they  are  described  as  the  "abChancs  of 
Dull "  of ''  Kilmichael,**  &c  The  second  family  whoso  chief 
obtained  the  earldom  of  Lennox  appears  by  -an  entiy  m  an 
early  history  of  the  Drummonds  to  have  been  previously 
the  hereditary  baillies  of  the  abthainries  of  Dull,  and  on  the 
promotion  of  its  head  to  that  dignity,  that  baillierie  passed  to 
a  younger  branch  or  cadet  of  it  according  to  Celtic  usage.— 
Skene  on  the  Origin  <ifiht  Highhmdert^  vol.  ii.  pp.  129 — 137 
152,  153. 


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ACHATUS. 


17 


ADAIR. 


ACHAIUS,  or  Achayus,  or  Eochy,  the  son  of 
King  Ethwin,  or  Ewen,  succeeded  to  the  crown  of 
Scotland  in  788,  npon  the  death  of  Solvatins,  or 
Selvach.  Before  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he 
lived  famUiarly  with  the  nobles,  and  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  causes  of  their  mutual  feuds.  It 
was,  therefore,  the  first  act  of  his  reign  to  recon- 
cile the  chiefs  with  one  another,  and  check  the 
turbulent  spirit  which  their  animosities  had  en- 
gendered. No  sooner  had  he  succeeded  in  thus 
reconciling  his  subjects,  than  he  was  called  upon 
to  take  measures  to  repel  an  aggression  of  the 
predatory  Irish.  A  number  of  banditti  from  Ire- 
land, who  infested  the  district  of  Eantyre,  in  the 
west  of  Scotland,  having  been  completely  routed 
by  the  inhabitants,  the  Irish  nation  was  highly 
exasperated,  and  resolved  to  revenge  the  injury 
done  to  them.  Achaius  despatched  an  ambassa- 
dor to  soften  their  rage,  but  before  he  had  time  to 
return  from  his  fruitless  mission,  an  immense 
number  of  Irish  plundered  and  laid  waste  the 
island  of  Isla.  These  depredators  were  all  drown- 
ed when  returning  home  with  their  spoil,  and  such 
was  the  terror  which  this  calamity  inspii*ed  into 
the  Irish,  that  they  immediately  sued  for  peace, 
which  was  generously  granted  them  by  the  king 
of  Scotland.  A  short  time  afler  the  conclusion  of 
this  treaty,  the  emperor  Charlemagne  sent  an  am- 
bassador to  Achaius,  requesting  the  Scots  king  to 
enter  into  a  strict  alliance  with  him  against  the 
English,  who,  in  the  language  of  the  envoy, 
'^shamefully  filled  both  sea  and  land  with  their 
piracies,  and  bloody  invasions."  After  much  hesi- 
tation and  debate  among  the  king^s  counsellors, 
the  alliance  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and 
Achaius  sent  his  brother  William,  along  with 
Clement,  John  Scotus,  Raban,  and  Alcuin,  a  na- 
tive of  the  north  of  England,  four  of  the  most 
learned  men  then  in  Scotland,  together  with  an 
army  of  four  thousand  men,  to  accompany  the 
French  ambassador  to  Paris,  where  the  alliance 
was  concluded,  on  terms  very  favourable  to  the 
Scots.  In  order  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance 
of  this  event,  Achaius  added  to  the  arms  of  Scot- 
land a  double  field  sowed  with  lilies.  After  as- 
sisting Hungus,  king  of  the  Picts,  to  repel  an 
aggression  of  Athelstane,  king  of  the  West  Sax- 
ons, Achaius  spent  the  rest  of  his  reign  in  com- 


plete tranquillity,  and  died  in  819,  distinguished 
for  his  piety  and  wisdom. — Bretcster^s  Edinburgh 
Enqfclopedia, 

ADAIR,  James  Makittrick,  physician  and 
medical  writer,  was  bom  at  Inverness  in  1728, 
and  for  several  years  practised  at  Bath.  He  was 
noted  for  extreme  irritability  of  temper,  and 
among  other  persons  with  whom  he  had  a  dispute 
was  the  eccentric  Philip  Thicknesse,  in  the  dedi- 
cation to  whose  memoirs  is  given  an  account  of 
one  of  his  last  quarrels.  He  afterwards  went  to 
Antigua,  and  became  physician  to  the  command- 
er-in-chief and  the  colonial  troops,  and  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  court  of  king's  bench  and  com- 
mon pleas  in  that  island.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  medical  tracts  on  regimen,  the  materia 
medica,  &c.,  as  also  of  a  pamphlet  against  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade.  He  died  24th  April 
1801,  at  Ayr. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Adair^s  works : — 

Medical  Cautions  for  the  ConsideratioD  of  Invalids,  more 
especially  of  those  who  resort  to  Bath.  Lond.  1786,  8to 
Second  edit  greatly  enlaiged,  1787,  8to. 

a  Philoeopbical  and  Medical  Sketch  of  the  Natural  Histoiy 
of  the  Human  Body  and  Mind,  with  an  Essay  on  the  Diffi- 
culties of  attaining  Medical  Knowledge.     Lond.  1787,  8vo. 

Essays  on  Fashionable  Diseases ;  the  Dangerous  Effects  of 
Hot  and  Crowded  Rooms;  the  Clothing  of  Invalids;  Lady 
and  Gentlemen  Doctors;  and  on  Quacks  and  Quackery. 
Lond.  1789,  8vo. 

Essay  on  a  Non-Descript,  or  Newly  Invented  Disease ;  its 
Nature,  Causes,  and  Means  of  Relief,  with  some  very  impor- 
tant Observations  on  the  Powerfnl  and  most  Surprising  Effects 
of  Animal  Magnetism,  in  the  Cure  of  the  sAid  Disease.  I^ond. 
1790,  8vo. 

Anecdotes  of  the  Life,  Adventures,  and  Vindication  of  a 
Medical  Character,  metaphorically  Defunct.  By  Benjamin 
Goosequin.  Lond.  1790,  8vo,  with  regard  to  his  own  Ufii 
and  Character. 

A  Candid  Inquiry  into  the  Truth  of  Certain  Charges  of  the 
Dangerous  Consequences  of  the  Suttonian  or  Cooling  Regi- 
men under  inoculation  for  the  Small  Pox ;  with  some  remarks 
on  a  Successful  Method  used  some  years  ago  in  Hungary,  in 
the  case  of  Natural  Small  Pox.    Lond.  1790,  8vo. 

Two  Sermons;  the  first  addressed  to  Seamen,  the  second 
to  British  West  India  Slaves,  by  a  Physician,  (Dr.  A.) ;  to 
which  are  subjoined,  Remarks  on  Female  Infidelity,  and  a 
Plan  of  Platonic  Matrimony,  by  which  that  Evil  may  be  Les- 
sened or  totally  Prevented,  by  F.  G.  1791,  8^•o. 

An  Essay  on  Regimen.    Air,  1799,  8vo. 

Unanswerable  Arguments  against  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave 
Trade,  with  a  Defence  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  British  Sugar 
Colonies.    Lond.  1790,  8vo.  • 

An  Essay  on  Diet  and  Regimen,  as  indispensable  to  the 
Recovery  and  Preservation  of  Fum  Health,  especially  to  In- 
dolent, Studious,  Delicate,  and  Invalid;  with  appropriate 
Cases.    Lond.  1804,  8vo. 

B 


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ObservationB  on  Regimen  and  Preparation  under  Inocula- 
tion, and  on  the  Treatment  of  the  Natural  Small  Pox  in  the 
West  Indies;  with  Strictures  on  tho  Suttoniaii  Practice. 
Med.  Com.  viii.  p.  211, 1782. 

Hints  respecting  Stimulants,  Astringents,  Anodjnas,  Cicuta, 
VcrmifugSf  Nausativa,  Fixed  Air,  Arsenicum  Album,  &c. 
lb.  ix.  p.  206. 

Remarks  on  Alnmen  Rupium,  and  several  other  Articles  of 
the  Materia  Medica.    lb.  x.  p.  283. 

Three  Cases  of  Pthisis  Pulmonalis,  treated  by  Cuprum 
Vitriolatum  and  Conium  Maculatum,  two  of  which  termi- 
nated favourably.    Med.  Com.  xriL  p.  473,  1792. 

Case  of  Inflammatory  Constipation  of  the  Bowels,  socoess- 
^ully  treated.    Mem.  Med.  il  p.  236,  1789. 

Adam,  a  surname  belonging  to  a  family  of  some  antiqui- 
ty in  Scotland.  Duncan  Adam,  son  of  Alexander  Adnm, 
lived  in  the  reign  of  Robert  the  Bruce,  and  had  four  sons, 
Rubert,  John,  Reginald,  and  Duncan,  from  whom  all  the 
Adams,  Adamsons,  and  Adies  in  Scotland,  are  descended. 
IBurJx^s  Landed  Gerttn/.']  From  the  youngest  son,  Duncan 
Adam,  who  accompanied  James,  Lord  Douglas,  in  his  expe- 
dition to  Spain  on  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land,  with  the  heart 
of  King  Robert,  is  stated  to  have  descended,  John  Adau. 
who  was  slain  at  Floddcn  in  1513.  His  son  Charles  Adam 
was  seated  at  Fanno,  in  Forfarshire,  and  his  descendant  in 
the  fourth  degree,  Archibald  Adam,  of  Fanno,  sold  his 
patrimonial  lands  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  and  acquired 
those  of  Queensmanour  in  the  same  county.  His  great- 
grandson,  John  Adam,  married  Helen  Cranstoun,  of  the 
family  of  Lord  Cranstoun,  by  whom  he  left  one  son,  Wu/- 
LiAM  Adam,  an  eminent  arehitect,  who  purchased  several 
estates,  particularly  that  of  Blair,  in  the  county  of  Kinross, 
where  he  built  a  house  and  village,  which  he  named  Mary- 
burgh.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  William  Robertson, 
Esq.  of  Gladney,  and,  with  other  issue,  had  John  Adam, 
his  heir  (the  father  of  the  Right  Hon.  William  Adam,  Lord 
Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Jury  Court  in  Scotland,  the  sub- 
ject of  a  subsequent  biography),  and  Robert  and  James 
Adam,  the  celebrated  arehitects,  of  both  of  whom  notices  are 
here  given : — 

ADAM,  Robert,  a  celebrated  architect,  was 
bom  at  Kirkaldy  in  1728.  He  was  the  second  son 
of  Mr.  William  Adam  of  Maryburgh,  who,  like  his 
father,  was  also  an  architect,  and  who  designed 
Ilopetoun  house,  the  Edinburgh  Royal  Infirmary, 
and  other  buildings.  After  studying  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  Robeit,  in  1754,  proceeded 
to  the  continent,  and  resided  three  years  in  Italy, 
studying  his  art.  From  the  splendid  monuments 
of  antiquity  which  that  country  presents  to  the 
traveller,  he  imbibed  that  scientific  style  of  design 
by  which  all  his  works  are  distinguished.  But  it 
was  only  from  fragments  that  he  was  enabled  to 
form  his  taste,  the  ravages  of  time  and  the  hands 
of  barbarian^ having  united  for  the  destruction  of 
those  noble  specimens  of  ancient  architecture,  the 
ruins  of  which  only  remain  to  attest  their  former 
grandeur  and  magnificence.    With  the  intention 


of  viewing  a  more  complete  monument  of  ancient 
splendour  than  any  he  had  seen,  accompanied  by 
M.  Clerisseau,  a  French  artist,  and  two  expert 
draughtsmen,  in  July  1757  he  sailed  from  Venice 
to  Spalatro  in  Dalmatia,  to  inspect  the  remains  of 
the  palace  to  which  the  emperor  Dioclesian  re- 
tii'ed  from  the  cares  of  government.  Tliey  found 
the  palace  much  defaced ;  but  as  its  remains  still 
exhibited  the  nature  of  the  structure,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  a  minute  examination  of  its  various 
parts.  Their  labours,  however,  were  immediately 
interrupted  by  the  interference  of  the  government 
of  Venice,  from  a  suspicion  that  they  wei-e  mak- 
ing plans  of  the  fortifications.  Fortunately,  Gen- 
eral Grsme,  commander-in-chief  of  the  Venetian 
forces,  interposed ;  and,  being  seconded  by  Count 
Antonio  Marcovich,  they  were  soon  allowed  to 
prosecute  their  designs.  In  1762,  on  his  return 
to  England,  ho  was  appointed  architect  to  the 
king,  an  ofiSce  which  he  resigned  six  years  after- 
wards, on  being  elected  M.P.  for  the  county  of 
Kinross.  In  1764  he  published,  in  one  volume 
folio,  a  splendid  work,  containing  seventy-one  en- 
gravings and  descriptions  of  the  ruins  of  the  pal- 
ace of  Dioclesian  at  Spalatro,  and  of  some  othef 
buildings.  In  1778  he  and  his  brother  James, 
also  an  eminent  architect,  brought  out  *The  Works 
of  R.  and  J.  Adam,'  in  numbers,  consisting  of 
plans  and  elevations  of  buildings  in  England 
and  Scotland,  erected  or  designed,  among  which 
are  the  Register  House  and  the  University  of  Ed- 
inburgh, and  the  Glasgow  Royal  Infirmary,  in 
Scotland,  and  Sion  House,  Caen -Wood,  Luton 
Park  House,  and  some  edifices  at  Whitehall,  in 
England. 

Mr.  Adam  died  3d  March,  1792,  by  the  burst- 
ing of  a  blood-vessel,  and  was  buried  in  Westmin- 
ster Abbey.  The  year  before  his  death  he  de- 
signed no  less  than  eight  public  buildings  and 
twenty-five  private  ones.  His  genius  extended 
itself  beyond  the  decorations  of  buildings,  to  vari- 
ous branches  of  manufacture;  and  besides  tho 
improvements  which  he  introduced  into  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  countiy,  he  displayed  great  skill 
and  taste  in  his  numerous  drawings  in  landscape. 
— Annual  Register,  vol.  xxxiv. — Scots  Mag,  1803. 

Of  the  Register  House  at  Edinburgh  it  is  re- 
marked by  Telford,  in  his  contribution  on  CivU 


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Arcbitectnre  to  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  that 
^*  only  a  part  of  thia  masterly  plan  has  been  exe- 
cuted, but  even  this  composes  an  apparently  com- 
plete bnildiug.  The  original  design  as  given  in 
the  works  of  R.  and  J.  Adam,  has  in  the  centre  a 
magnificent  circular  saloon,  covered  and  lighted 
by  a  dome.  This  saloon  is  surrounded  by  small 
apartments,  and  the  whole  of  these  are  enclosed 
by  buildings  in  the  shape  of  a  parallelogram,  by 
which  ingenious  contrivance  access  to  all  the 
apartments  and  an  effective  lighting  of  tlie  whole 
is  perfectly  accomplished.  Even  as  it  is,  this 
building,  both  internally  and  externally,  reflects 
great  credit  on  the  architect,  and  from  the  chaste- 
ness  of  the  details,  it  is  evident  that  the  external 
features  have  been  the  result  of  much  atten- 
tion. A  greater  degree  of  magniflcence,"  he  adds, 
*'  might  have  been  obtained  by  keeping  the  base- 
ment of  the  principal  front  lower,  by  adding  to 
the  magnitude  of  the  order,"  and  by  a  few  modi- 
flcatlous  of  other  details. 

Among  the  private  edifices  pertaining  to  Scot- 
land connected  with  the  name  of  Robert  Adam, 
are,  Hopetoun  House,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  es- 
tuary of  the  Forth,  to  which  magnificent  edifice  he 
added  the  graceful  wings ;  Melville  Castle,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Esk  near  Lasswade,  which  was  by 
his  ingenuity  rendered  a  magnificent  and  appro- 
priate feature  In  that  part  of  the  kingdom ;  Cul- 
zean  Castle,  on  a  bold  promontory  on  the  coast 
of  Ayrshire,  where,  with  his  usual  fertility  of  in- 
vention, the  same  architect  has  rendered  this  seat 
of  the  marquis  of  Ailsa  a  just  resemblance  of  a 
Uoman  villa  as  described  by  Pliny ;  and  last,  but 
not  least,  Gosford  House  in  East  Lothian,  per- 
haps the  most  extensive  and  superb  of  modem 
Scottish  structures,  built  by  the  earl  of  Wemyss 
from  one  of  his  designs.  Of  Sion  House,  the 
mansion  of  the  duke  of  Northumberland,  in  the 
county  of  Middlesex,  the  chief  features  of  novelty 
are  in  the  style  of  Spalatra  and  the  Pantheon  at 
llome,  but  the  interior  arrangements  are  in  every 
respect  as  good  as  can  well  be  imagined.  Luton 
park  in  Bedfordshire,  the  seat  of  the  marquis  of 
Bute,  is  the  most  original  of  all  his  works,  and 
although  not  in  all  respects  the  happiest,  may  be 
considered — the  facade  especially— as  designed  in 
his  best  manner. 


ADAM,  James,  the  brother  of  the  preceding, 
held,  at  one  period,  the  ofl!ce  of  architect  to  his 
majesty  George  III.  He  was  the  designer  ol 
Portland  Place,  one  of  the  noblest  streets  in  Lon* 
don,  and  died  on  the  17th  October,  1794.  From 
the  two  brothers  the  Adelphi  Buildings  in  the 
Sti*and  derive  their  name,  being  their  joint  work. 

ADAM,  William,  Right  Hon.,  nephew  of  the 
two  foregoing  gentlemen,  lord  chief  commissioner 
of  the  jury  court  in  Scotland,  on  its  fii-st  introduc- 
tion there  for  the  trial  of  civil  causes,  the  son  of 
John  Adam  of  Blair  Adam,  and  his  wife  Jean,  the 
daughter  of  John  Ramsay,  Esq.,  was  bom  21st 
July  1751,  O.S.  He  was  educated  at  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  and  Oxford,  and  in  1773  was  admitted 
a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Advocates,  but  never 
practised  at  the  Scottish  bar.  In  1774  he  was 
chosen  M.P.  for  Gatton ;  in  1780  for  Stranraer, 
<&c. ;  in  1784  for  the  Elgin  burghs;  and  in  1790 
for  Ross-shire.  At  the  close  of  Lord  North's  ad- 
ministration in  1782,  in  consequence  of  some  family 
losses  he  became  a  bamster-at-law.  In  1794  he 
retired  from  parOamcnt  to  devote  himself  to  his 
profession.  In  1802  he  was  appointed  counsel  for 
the  East  India  Company,  and  in  1806  chancellor  of 
the  duchy  of  Cornwall.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
returned  M.P.  for  Kincardineshire,  and  in  1807, 
being  elected  both  for  that  county  and  for  Kinross- 
shire,  he  preferred  to  sit  for  the  former.  In  1811 
he  again  vacated  his  seat  for  his  professional  duties. 
Being  now  generally  esteemed  a  sound  lawyer  his 
practice  increased,  and  he  was  consulted  by  the 
prince  of  Wales,  the  duke  of  York,  and  many  of 
the  nobility.  In  the  course  of  his  parliamentary 
career,  in  consequence  of  something  that  occurred 
in  a  discussion  during  the  fii*st  American  war,  he 
fought  a  duel  with  the  late  Mi*.  Fox,  which  hap- 
pily ended  without  bloodshed,  when  the  lattei 
jocularly  remai'kcd,  that  had  his  antagonist  not 
loaded  his  pistol  with  government  powder,  he 
would  have  been  shot.  Mr.  Adam  genei*ally  op- 
posed the  politics  of  Mr.  Pitt.  In  1814  he  sub- 
mitted to  govcmmcnt  the  plan  for  trying  civil 
causes  by  jury  in  Scotland.  In  1815  he  was  made 
a  privy  councillor,  and  was  appoint^  one  of  the 
barons  of  the  Scottish  exchequer,  chiefly  with 
the  view  of  enabling  him  to  introduce  and  estab- 
lish the  new  system  of  trial  oy  jury  in  civil  cases. 


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In  1816  an  act  of  parliament  was  obtained,  insti- 
tating  a  separate  jury  court  in  Scotland,  in  which 
he  was  appointed  lord  chief  commissioner,  with 
two  of  the  judges  of  the  court  of  session  as  his 
colleagnes.  He  accordingly  relinquished  his  sitn- 
ation  in  the  exchequer,  and  continued  to  apply 
his  energies  to  the  duties  of  the  jury  court,  over- 
coming, by  his  patience,  zeal,  and  urbanity,  the 
many  obstacles  opposed  to  the  success  of  such  an 
institution.  In  1880,  when  sufficiently  organized, 
the  jury  court  was,  by  another  act,  transferred 
to  the  court  of  session,  and  on  taking  his  seat  on 
the  bench  of  the  latter  for  the  first  time,  addresses 
were  presented  to  him  from  the  Faculty  of  Advo- 
cates, the  Society  of  Writers  to  the  Signet,  and 
the  Solicitors  before  the  Supreme  Courts,  thank- 
ing him  for  the  important  benefits  which  the  intro- 
duction of  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases  had  conferred 
on  the  country.  In  1833  he  retired  from  the 
bench ;  and  died  at  his  house  in  Charlotte  Square, 
Edinburgh,  on  the  17th  February  1889,  in  tlie 
89th  year  of  his  age. 

After  his  appointment  to  the  presidency  of  the 
)ury  court,  he  spent  a  great  part  of  his  time  at 
his  paternal  seat  in  Kinross-shire.  "  Here,"  says 
Jjockhart,  in  his  Life  of  Scott,  *^  about  Midsum- 
mer 1816,  he  received  a  visit  from  his  near  rela- 
tion William  Clerk,  Adam  Fergusson,  his  heredi- 
tary friend  and  especial  favourite,  and  their  life- 
long intimate,  Scott.  They  remained  with  him 
for  two  or  three  days,  in  the  course  of  which  they 
were  all  so  much  delighted  with  their  host,  and  he 
with  them,  that  it  was  resolved  to  re-assemble  the 
party  with  a  few  additions,  at  the  same  season  of 
every  following  year.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
Blair-Adam  club,  the  i-egular  members  of  which 
were  in  number  nine;  viz.,  the  four  ah-eady  named, 
—  the  chief  commissioner's  son,  Admiral  Sir 
Charles  Adam;  his  son-in-law,  the  late  Mr.  An- 
struther  Thomson  of  Charleton,  in  Fifeshire;  Mr. 
Thomas  Thomson,  the  deputy  register  of  Scot- 
land ;  his  brother,  the  Rev.  John  Thomson,  mini- 
ster of  Duddingstone,  one  of  the  first  landscape 
painters  of  bis  time;  and  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Sam- 
uel Shepherd,  who  became  chief  baron  of  the 
court  of  exchequer  in  Scotland,  shortly  after  the 
third  anniversary  of  this  brotherhood.  They  usu- 
ally contrived  to  meet  on  a  Friday;  spent  the 


Saturday  in  a  ride  to  some  scene  of  historical  in- 
terest within  an  easy  distance;  enjoyed  a  quiet 
Sunday  at  home, — *  duly  attending  divine  worehip 
at  the  Kirk  of  Cleish  (not  CIcishbotham)' — ^gave 
Monday  moniing  to  another  antiquarian  excuraion, 
and  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  ♦ime  for  the  courts 
of  Tuesday.  From  1816  to  1881  inclusive,  Sir 
Walter  was  a  constant  attendant  at  these  meet- 
ings." It  was  during  one  of  these  visits  to  Blair- 
Adam  that  the  idea  of  *  The  Abbot*  had  first  arisen 
in  Scott's  mind,  and  it  was  at  his  suggestion  that 
the  chief  commissioner  commenced  a  little  book 
on  the  improvements  which  had  taken  place  on  his 
estate,  which,  under  the  title  of  *  Blair-Adam, 
from  1783  to  1834,'  was  privately  printed  for  his 
own  family  and  intimate  friends.  "  It  was,"  says 
the  Judge,  **  on  a  fine  Sunday,  lying  on  the  gi-assy 
summit  of  Bennarty,  above  its  craggy  brow,  that 
Sir  Walter  said,  looking  first  at  the  fiat  expanse  of 
Kinross-shire  (on  the  south  side  of  the  Ochils), 
and  then  at  the  space  which  Blair-Adam  fills  be- 
tween the  hill  of  Diiimglow  (the  highest  of  the 
Cleish  hills)  and  the  valley  of  Lochore — '  What 
an  extraordinary  thing  it  is,  that  here  to  the  north 
so  little  appears  to  have  been  done,  when  there  are 
so  many  proprietors  to  work  upon  it;  and  to  the 
south,  here  is  a  district  of  country  entirely  made 
by  the  efibrts  of  one  family,  in  three  generations, 
and  one  of  them  amongst  us  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
what  has  been  done  by  his  two  predecessors  and 
himself!  Blair-Adam,  as  I  have  always  heard, 
had  a  wild,  uncomely,  and  unhospitable  appear- 
ance, before  its  improvements  were  begun.  It 
would  be  most  curious  to  record  in  writing  its  ori- 
ginal state,  and  trace  its  gradual  progress  to  its 
present  condition.'"  Lockhart  adds,  "upon  this 
suggestion,  enforced  by  the  approbation  of  the 
other  members  present,  the  president  of  the  Blair- 
Adam  club  commenced  an-anging  the  materials  for 
what  constitutes  a  most  instructive  as  well  as  en- 
tertaining history  of  the  agricultural  and  arbori- 
cultural  progress  of  his  domains  in  the  course  of  a 
hundred  years,  under  his  grandfather,  his  father 
(the  celebrated  ai*chitcct),  and  himself.  And  Sir 
Walter  had  only  suggested  to  his  friend  of  Kin- 
ross-shire what  he  was  resolved  to  put  into  prac- 
tice with  regard  to  his  own  improvements  on 
Tweedside;  for  he  began  at  precisely  the  same 


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period  to  keep  a  regular  joarual  of  all  his  rural 
transactions,  under  the  title  of '  Sylra  Abbotsford- 
lenais.' "   (See  Lockhco^i  Life  of  Scott,  chapter  60.) 

Mr.  Adam  was  a  personal  friend  of  Greorge  IV., 
and  at  one  period  held  a  confidential  office  in  the 
royal  household  at  Carlton  House,  when  the  latter 
was  prince  regent.  He  married  in  1777  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  tenth  Lord  Elphinstone,  and  had  a 
fomily  of  several  sons:  viz.  John,  long  at  the 
head  of  the  council  in  India,  who  died  in  1825; 
Admiral  Sir  Charies,  M.P.,  one  of  the  lords  of 
admiralty,  and  governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital; 
died  in  1854 ;  William  George,  an  eminent  king's 
counsel,  afterwards  accountant-general  in  the 
court  of  Chancery,  who  died  16th  May  1839,  tlu-ee 
months  after  his  father ;  and  the  Right  Hon.  Gen- 
eral Sir  Frederick,  who  distinguished  himself  in 
the  Peninsular  war,  held  a  command  at  Waterloo, 
where  he  was  wounded,  was  afterwards  high  com- 
missioner of  the  Ionian  islands,  and  subsequently 
governor  of  Madras ;  died  17th  August  1853.  A 
younger  son  died  abroad. 

ADAM,  Alexander,  an  eminent  scholar,  and 
author  of  a  standard  work  on  *  Roman  Antiqui- 
ties,' was  born  at  Coats  of  Bnrgie,  in  the  parish  of 
Rafford,  county  of  Elgin,  on  the  24th  June,  1741. 
(Coaie$  or  Cots^  meaning  a  house  or  enclosure  for 
sheep.)  His  parents,  who  rented  a  small  farm, 
were  in  humble  circumstances ;  and,  like  many  of 
his  eountrymen  who  have  afterwards  raised  them- 
selves to  distinction,  he  received  the  first  part  of 
his  education  at  the  parish  school.  His  constant 
application  to  his  book  induced  his  father  to  have 
him  taught  Latin.  Before  he  was  sixteen,  he 
had  borrowed,  from  a  clergjrman  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, a  copy  of  Livy  in  the  small  Elzevir 
edition,  and  we  are  told  used  to  read  it  before 
daybreak,  during  the  mornings  of  winter,  by  the 
light  of  splinters  of  bogwood  dug  out  of  an  ad- 
joining moss,  not  having  an  opportunity  of  doing 
80  at  any  other  period  of  the  day.  In  1757  he 
endeavoured,  but  without  success,  to  obtain  a 
bursary  or  exhibition  at  King's  college,  Aberdeen. 
In  1758,  a  relative  of  his  mother,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Watson,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Canongate, 
Edinburgh,  advised  him  to  remove  to  that  city, 
"  provided  he  was  prepared  to  endure  every  hard- 
Mp  for  a  season ;"  and  hardships  of  a  severe  na- 


ture he  did  endure,  but  nothing  could  deter  him 
from  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  Through  Mr. 
Watson's  influence  he  obtained  free  admission  to 
the  lectures  of  the  dificrent  professors,  with,  of 
course,  access  to  the  college  library;  and  while 
attending  the  classes,  it  appears  that  all  his  income 
was  only  the  sum  of  one  guinea  per  quarter,  which 
he  received  from  Mr.  Alan  Maconochie,  afterwards 
Lord  Meadowbank,  for  being  his  tutor.  At  this 
time  he  lodged  in  a  small  room  at  Restalrig,  for 
which  he  paid  fonrpence  a-week.  His  breakfast 
consisted  of  oatmeal  ponidge  with  small  beer,  and 
his  dinner  was  often  no  more  than  a  penny  loaf 
and  a  drink  of  water.  After  about  eighteen 
months  of  close  study,  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen 
he  was  fortunate  in  being  elected,  on  a  compara- 
tive trial  of  candidates,  head  master  of  Watson's 
Hospital,  where  he  continued  to  improve  himself 
in  classical  knowledge,  by  a  careful  perusal  of  the 
best  authors.  Three  years  afterwards  he  resigned 
this  office,  on  becoming  private  tutor  to  the  son  of 
Mr.  Kincaid,  subsequently  lord  provost  of  Edin- 
burgh. In  April  1765  he  was,  by  that  gentleman's 
influence,  appointed  assistant  to  Mr.  Matheson, 
rector  of  the  high  school,  whose  increasing  infir- 
mities compelled  him  to  reth-e,  on  a  small  annuity, 
paid  principally  from  the  class-fees;  and  on  the 
8th  June  1768  he  succeeded  him  as  rector.  He 
now  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  duties  of 
his  school,  and  to  those  literary  and  classical  re- 
searches for  which  he  was  so  peculiarly  qualified. 
To  him  the  high  school  of  Edinburgh  owes  much 
of  its  reputation,  and  is  entirely  indebted  for  the 
introduction  of  Greek,  which  he  eflfected  in  1772, 
in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Senatus  Academi- 
cus  of  the  university,  who,  considering  it  an  en- 
croachment on  the  Greek  chair,  presented  a  peti- 
tion and  remonstrance  against  it  to  the  town 
council,  but  without  success.  Having  introduced 
into  his  class  a  new  Latin  grammar  of  his  own 
compiling,  and  recommended  its  adoption  in  the 
other  classes,  instead  of  Ruddiman's  which  had 
been  heretofore  in  use,  a  dispute  arose  between 
him  and  the  under  masters,  and  the  matter  was 
referred  by  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh,  the  pa- 
trons of  the  school,  to  Dr.  Robertson,  the  historian, 
principal  of  the  university,  who  decided  in  favour 
of  Ruddiman's.    The  magistrates,  in  consequence, 


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issued  an  order  in  1786  prohibiting  the  nse  of  any 
other  gi-ammar  of  the  Latin  language ;  but  tliis, 
and  a  subsequent  oi*der  to  the  same  effect,  Dr. 
Adam  disregarded,  and  continued  to  use  his  own 
niles,  without  being  further  inteifered  with.  In 
1772  he  had  published  the  work  in  question,  under 
the  title  of  *  The  Principles  of  Latin  and  English 
Grammar ;'  the  chief  object  of  which  was  to  com- 
bine the  study  of  English  and  Latin  grammar,  so 
that  they  might  illustrate  each  other,  in  oi-der  to 
avoid  the  inconvenience  to  pupils  of  learning  Latin 
from  a  Latin  grammar,  before  they  understood 
the  language.  One  of  the  most  active  opponents 
of  the  new  grammar  was  Dr.  Gilbert  Stuart,  who 
was  related  to  Rnddiman,  and  who  inserted  sev- 
eral squibs  in  the  papers  of  the  day  against  Adam 
and  his  work,  to  the  au thorns  great  annoyance. 

In  1780  the  degree  of  LL.D.  was  confen*ed  upon 
Mr  Adam  by  the  college  of  Edinburgh,  chiefly  at 
the  suggestion  of  Principal  Robertson ;  and  before 
his  death,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his 
grammar  adopted  in  his  own  seminary.  Among 
the  more  celebrated  of  his  pupils  was  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  who  joined  the  rector^s  class  at  the  high 
school  in  1782.  It  was  from  Dr.  Adam,  he  says, 
that  he  fii-st  learned  the  value  of  the  knowledge 
he  had  till  then  considered  only  as  a  burdensome 
task.  As  he  gained  some  distinction  by  his  poetical 
versions  from  Horace  and  Virgil,  the  rector  took 
much  notice  of  Scott,  and  when  he  began  afterwards 
to  be  celebrated  in  the  literary  world.  Dr.  Adam 
never  failed  to  remind  him  of  his  obligations  to 
him.  "The  good  old  Doctor,"  says  Sir  Walter, 
"  plumed  himself  upon  the  success  of  his  scholars 
in  life,  all  of  which  he  never  failed  (and  often 
justly)  to  claim  as  the  creation,  or  at  least  the 
fmits,  of  his  early  instructions.  He  remembered 
the  fate  of  every  boy  at  his  school,  during  the  fifty 
years  he  had  superintended  it,  and  always  traced 
their  success  or  misfortunes,  entirely  to  their 
attention  or  negligence  when  under  his  care.'* 
One  of  the  nnder-masters  at  the  high  school,  a 
person  of  the  name  of  William  Nicol,  the  hero  of 
Burns^  famous  drinking  song  of  "  O  Willie  brew*d 
a  peck  0*  mant,'*  is  said  to  have  been  encouraged 
by  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh  to  insult  the 
person  and  authority  of  Dr.  Adam,  at  the  time 
4>f  the  famous  dispute  with  him  about  his  grammai*. 


"  This  man,"  says  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "  was  an  ex- 
cellent classical  scholar,  and  an  admirable  convivial 
humorist  (which  latter  quality  recommended  him 
to  the  friendship  of  Bums);  but  woithless,  drunken, 
and  inhumanly  cruel  to  the  boys  under  his  charge 
He  can'ied  his  feud  against  the  rector  within  an 
inch  of  assassination,  for  he  waylaid,  and  knocked 
him  down  in  the  dark,"  one  night  in  the  High 
School  Wynd.  The  i-ector's  scholars,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  future  author  of  Waverley,  took  a 
schoolboy's  revenge.  Exasperated  at  the  outrage, 
the  next  time  that  Nicol  went  to  teach  the  rec- 
tor's class,  they  resolved  on  humbling  him.  "  The 
task,"  says  Mr.  James  Mitchell,  Sir  Walter's  tutor 
at  this  time,  ^^  which  the  class  had  prescribed  to 
them  was  that  passage  in  the  ^neid  of  Virgil, 
where  the  queen  of  Carthage  intenx)gates  the 
couit  as  to  the  stranger  that  had  come  to  her  ha- 
bitation— 

*  Qnis  oovus  hie  bospes  suocessit  sedibus  nostris?* 

Master  Walter  having  taken  a  piece  of  paper,  in- 
scribed upon  it  these  words,  substituting  vanus  for 
novusy  and  pinned  it  to  the  tail  of  the  master's 
coat,  and  turned  him  into  ridicule  by  raising  the 
laugh  of  the  whole  scliool  against  him."  [LockharCs 
Life  of  Scott,'] 

Dr.  Adam's  principal  work  was  the  *  Roman 
Antiquities,'  or,  an  account  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  Romans,  published  in  1791,  which 
was  translated  into  various  foreign  languages,  and 
which  is  now  used  as  a  class-book  in  many  of  the 
English  schools.  For  this  work  he  got  £600.  In 
179-1  appeared  his  *  Summary  of  Greography  and 
History,'  in  one  thick  volume  of  900  pages,  having 
increased  to  this  size  from  a  small  treatise  on  the 
same  subject,  printed,  for  the  use  of  his  pupils,  in 
1784.  The  least  popular  of  his  works  is  the  *  Clas- 
sical Biography,'  published  in  1800;  and  the  last 
of  his  laborious  and  useful  compilations  was  an 
abridged  Latin  Dictionary,  entitled  ^  Lexicon  Lin- 
guae Latinas  Compendiamm,'  8vo.,  which  was 
published  in  1805,  and  intended  for  the  use  of 
schools.  Dr.  Adam's  books  are  valuable  auxilia 
ries  to  the  student,  from  the  mass  of  useful  and 
classical  information  which  they  contain.  He  had 
commenced  a  largei*  dictionary  than  the  one  pub< 
lished,  but  did  not  live  to  complete  it. 


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Having  been  seized  in  the  high  school  with  an 
apoplectic  attack,  he  was  conducted  home,  and  put 
to  bed,  where  he  langaished  for  five  days,  and,  as 
death  was  approaching,  fancying  himself,  during 
the. wanderings  of  his  mind,  with  his  pupils,  he  said, 
"  But  it  grows  dark,  boys,  you  may  go!"  and  al- 
most immediately  expired,  on  the  18th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1809,  at  the  age  of  68.  Possessed  of  an 
ardent  and  independent  mind,  and  liberal  in  the 
extreme  in  politics,  he  took  a  great  interest  in  the 
progress  of  the  French  Revolution,  believing  it  to 
be  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
introduce  political  matters  into  his  school,  for 
which  he  was  much  censured  at  the  time,  and  that 
by  many  of  his  friends;  but  after  the  first  excite- 
ment had  passed  away,  he  soon  regained  the  re- 
spect even  of  those  who  had  been  most  embittered 
against  him.  He  was  universally  regretted,  and 
the  magistrates  of  Edinbm'gh  honoured  his  mem- 
ory by  a  public  funeral.  His  portiuit  by  Rae- 
burn,  taken  shortly  before  his  death  at  the  desire 
of  some  of  his  old  pupils,  was  placed  in  the  libra- 
ry of  the  high  school.    Annexed  is  a  woodcut  of  it. 


**  His  features,"  says  his  biogi*apher,  *^  were 
regular  and  manly,  and  he  was  above  the  middle 
Rize."    He  was  twice  manied,  and  left  a  widow, 


two  daughters,  and  a  son.  One  of  his  daughters 
married  a  Dr.  Prout,  and  at  one  time  i-esided  in 
SackviUe  Street,  London.  His  son.  Dr.  Adam,  for 
many  years  resided  in  Edinburgh. — Henderson'^ 
Life  of  Dr.  Adam;  Edin,  Monthly  Mag.  1810. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works: 

The  PrindplM  of  Latin  and  English  Onunmar.  Edin. 
1772,  8vo.    7th  Edit  improved,  1809,  12mo. 

A  Summary  of  Geograpby  and  History,  both  Ancient  and 
Modem,  designed  chieflj  to  unite  the  Study  of  Classical 
Learning  with  that  of  General  Knowledge.  Edin.  1784,  8vo. 
1794,  8vo.     1809,  8vo. 

Roman  Antiquities,  or  an  Account  of  the  Manners  and 
Customs  of  the  Romans,  their  Government,  Laws,  Religion, 
&c  Edin.  1791,  8vo.  2d  edit  enlaiged.  1792,  8vo. 
1807,  8vo. 

Geographical  Index,  oontiuning  the  Latin  Names  of  the 
principal  Countries,  Cities,  Rivers,  and  Mountains,  mentioned 
in  the  Greek  and  Roman  Classics,  with  the  Modem  Names 
subjoined;  also,  the  Latin  Names  of  the  Inhabitants,  being  a 
Summary  of  the  Ancient  and  Modem  Geography.  Edin. 
1796,  8vo. 

Classical  Biography;  exhibiting  alphabetically  the  proper 
Names,  with  a  short  Account  of  the  several  Deities,  Heroes, 
&c  mentioned  in  the  ancient  Classic  Authors;  and  a  more 
particular  Description  of  the  most  Distmguished  Characters 
among  the  Romans,  the  whole  being  interspersed  with  Occa- 
sional Explanations  of  Words  and  Phrases,  designed  chiefljr 
to  contribute  to  the  Illustration  of  the  Latin  Classics.  Edin. 
1800,  8vo. 

Dictionary  of  the  Latin  Tongue.  Edin.  1805, 8vo.  2d  edit 
greatiy  improved  and  enlarged.     Edin.  1815,  8vo. 

ADAM,  BoBERT,  the  Rev.,  B.A.  anthor  oi 

*  The  Religious  World  Displayed,*  was  bora  in  the 
parish  of  Udiiy,  Aberdeenshire,  of  poor  but  re- 
spectable parents,  about  the  year  1770.  He  was 
educated  and  took  his  degree  of  M.  A.  at  Aber- 
deen. He  was  afterwards  sent,  by  some  persons 
interested  in  his  welfare,  to  St.  Edmund  Hall, 
Oxford,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
arts.  Subsequently  he  was  ordained  deacon  and 
priest  by  Dr.  Beilby  Portens,  bishop  of  London. 
About  the  year  1801  he  was  appointed  assistant 
to  Dr.  Aberaethy  Drummond  of  Hawthornden, 
titular  bishop  of  Glasgow,  whom  he  succeeded  as 
minister  of  Blackfriars*  Wynd  episcopal  chapel, 
Edinburgh.  He  was  also  chaplain  to  the  eai*l  of 
Kellie.  In  1809  he  published  an  elaborate  and 
comprehensive  work  in  three  volumes,  entitled 

*  The  Religious  World  Displayed,  or  a  View  of  the 
Four  Grand  Systems  of  Religion,  Judaism,  Pagan- 
ism, Christianity,  and  Mahomedanism,  and  of  the 
Various  Denominations,  Sects,  and  Paities  in  the 
Christian  World ;  to  which  is  subjoined,  a  View 


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ADAMSON. 


of  Deism  and  Atheism ;'  wliich  he  inscribed  to  the 
memory  of  Bishop  Drammond,  formerly  senior 
minister  of  his  congregation.  He  was  subsequently 
appointed  to  a  church  in  the  Danish  island  of  St. 
Croix,  where  he  was  much  annoyed  by  the  Dan- 
ish authorities,  and  ultimately  ordered  to  leave  the 
island.  His  conduct  met  with  the  full  approbation 
of  our  own  government,  and  he  proceeded  to  Den- 
mark to  procure  redress,  which  it  appears  he  never 
obtained.  After  his  return  from  Copenhagen  to 
London,  he  accompanied  the  newly  appointed 
bishop  of  Barbadoes  to  the  West  Indies  in  1825, 
and  was  appointed  interim  pastor  of  the  island  of 
Tobago,  where  he  died  on  the  2d  July  1826. 

ADAM,  ScoTUs,  one  of  the  doctors  of  the  Sor- 
bonne,  and  a  canon  regular  of  the  order  of  Pre- 
monstratcnses,  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century. 
He  was  bom  in  Scotland,  and*  educated  in  the 
monastery  of  Lindisfame,  or  Holy  Island,  in  the 
county  of  Durham.  He  afterwards  went  to  Paris 
and  taught  school  divinity  in  the  Sorbonne.  In 
his  latter  years  he  became  one  of  "  the  monks  of 
Melrose."  He  afterwards  retired  to  the  Abbey 
of  Durham,  where  he  wrote  the  Lives  of  St.  Co- 
lambanus,  and  of  some  other  monks  of  the  sixth 
century,  and  also  of  David  I.  king  of  Scotland. 
He  died  in  1195.  His  works  were  printed  at 
Antwerp  in  folio,  in  1659  — Biog,  Die, 

ADAMSON,  Henry,  a  poet  of  the  seventeenth 
centtyy,  was  the  son  of  James  Adamson,  dean  of 
guild  in  Perth  in  1600,  the  year  of  the  Gowrie 
conspiracy,  and  provost  of  that  city  in  1610  and 
1611.  He  was  educated  for  the  churcli,  and  is 
tttated  to  have  been  a  good  classical  scholar.  He 
wrote  some  Latin  poems  which  are  described  as 
being  far  above  mediocrity.  In  1688  he  published  a 
poem,  in  4to,  entitled '  Muses  Threnodie,  or  Mirthful 
Mournings  on  the  Death  of  Mr.Gall,  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  Perth,  and  an  account  of  the  Gowry  conspi- 
racy,' &c.  He  was  honoured  with  the  approbation 
of  Drummond  of  Hawthomden,  and  appears,  from 
the  complimentary  vei-ses  prefixed  to  his  poems, 
to  have  been  much  respected  for  his  talents  and 
worth.  It  was  at  the  request  of  Drummond  that 
Adamson  published  his '  Muses  Threnodie,'  after 
having  resisted  the  solicitations  of  his  friends  to 
print  it.  The  letter  which  the  poet  of  Hawthom- 
den wrote  to  him  on  the  occasion,  is  dated  Edin- 


burgh, 12th  July  1637.  It  was  inserted  in  the 
introductory  address  to  the  reader,  prefixed  to  the 
first  edition,  and  contains  the  following  passage: 
^^  Happie  hath  Perth  been  in  such  a  citizen,  not 
so  other  townes  of  this  klugdome,  by  want  of  so 
diligent  a  searcher  and  preserver  of  their  fame 
fi-om  oblivion.  Some  Muses,  neither  to  them- 
selves nor  to  others,  do  good,  nor  delighting  nor 
instructing.  Tours  inform  both,  and  longer  to 
conceal  them,  will  be,  to  wrong  your  Perth  of  her 
due  honours,  who  deserveth  no  less  of  you  than 
that  she  should  be  thus  blazoned  and  registrate  to 
posterity,  and  to  defraud  yourself  of  a  monument 
which,  after  you  have  left  this  transitory  world, 
shall  keep  your  name  and  memory  to  after  times 
This  shall  be  preserved  by  the  towne  of  Perth,  fof 
her  own  sake  first,  and  after  for  yours;  for  to  her 
it  hath  been  no  little  glory  that  she  hath  brought 
forth  such  a  citizen,  so  eminent  in  love  to  her,  so 
dear  to  the  Muses."  Adamson  died  unmarried  in 
1689.  A  new  edition  of  his  poem  was  published  in 
1774,  with  illustrative  notes,  by  James  Cant,  in  2 
vols.  12mo.  The  book  is  now  scarce. — Campbelti 
Introduction  to  the  History  of  Poetry  in  Scotland, 

ADAMSON,  Patrick,  an  eminent  prelate  and 
Latin  poet,  was  bom  at  Perth,  Mareh  15, 1537.  His 
parents  are  said  to  have  been  poor,  but  he  received 
a  sufiSclcntly  liberal  education,  first  at  the  gram- 
mar sdiool  of  his  native  town,  and  afterwards  at 
the  unlvei-sity  of  St.  Andrews,  where  he  studied 
philosophy,  and  took  his  degree  of  master  of  arts. 
His  name  first  appears  in  the  diaries  and  church 
records  of  the  period,  not  as  Adamson,  but  under 
the  varieties  of  Coustaine,  Cousting,  Constan,  Con- 
stant, and  Constantino.  [See  Bannatyne^s  Journal^ 
p.  823;  James  MehiUe's  Diary,  pp.  25  and  42; 
Calderwood,  vol.  ii.  p.  46;  and  The  Booke  oj 
the  UniversaU  Kirk  of  Scotland,  pp.  2  and  28.] 
His  biographers  state  that  on  quitting  the  univer- 
sity he  became  a  schoolmaster  at  a  village  in  Fife^ 
but  on  the  meeting  of  the  first  General  Assembly, 
in  December  1560,  he  was,  under  the  name  of  Pa- 
trick Constan,  among  those  who  were  appointed 
in  St.  Andrews,  **  for  ministering  and  teaching." 
[Calderwoody  vol.  ii.  p.  46.]  Under  the  same 
name  he  was,  in  1568,  minister  of  Ceres,  in  Fife, 
and  was  appointed  a  commissioner  *^  to  plant  kirks 
from  Dee  to  Ethan."  ^Ihid.  p.  245.]    In  the  sev 


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ARCHBISHOP. 


enth  Creneral  Assembly,  held  at  Edinburgh  in 
Jnne  1564,  he  preferred  a  reqaest  to  be  allowed 
to  pass  to  France  and  other  countries,  ^'  for  aug 
menting  of  his  knowledge  for  a  time;**  but  the 
Assembly  unanimously  refused  his  application, 
and  ordained  that  he  should  not  leave  his  congre- 
gation, ^*  without  speciall  licence  of  the  haill  kirk.*^ 
[Booke  of  the  Umversaa  Kirk  of  Scotland,  p.  23.] 
£arly  in  1566,  on  the  invitation  of  Sir  James  Mak  • 
gill  of  Rankeillor,  clerk-register,  he  accompanied  his 
eldest  son,  as  tutor,  to  France,  where  the  latter  was 
going  to  study  the  civil  law,  on  which  occasion  he 
appears  to  have  demitted  himself  of  the  office  of  the 
ministry.  On  the  19th  of  June  of  that  year,  Mai*y 
queen  of  Scots  was  delivered  of  a  prince,  after- 
wards James  the  Sixth,  on  which  occasion  Con- 
stant or  Adaroson,  then  at  Paris,  wrote  a  Latin 
poem,  styling  the  ix>yal  infant  **  Prince  of  Scotland, 
England,  France,  and  Ireland,**  which  so  offended 
the  French  government  that  he  was  imprisoned  for 
six  months.  Queen  Mary  herself,  and  several  of 
the  nobility,  interceded  for  his  liberation.  On 
regaining  his  freedom  he  proceeded  with  his  pupil 
to  the  universities  of  Poitiers  and  Padua,  where 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  civil  and 
canon  laws.  On  their  return  from  Italy,  they 
visited  Greneva;  and  here,  from  his  intercourse 
with  Beza,  he  imbibed  the  Calvinistic  doctrines 
of  theology.  Some  time  before  theur  return  to 
Scotland  they  revisited  Paris.  As  well-known 
Protestants,  however,  they  found  it  dangerous  to 
remain  in  the  capital,  and  retii'ed  to  Bourges, 
where  Constant  concealed  himself  for  seven 
months  in  an  inn,  the  master  of  which,  an  old 
man  70  years  of  age,  was,  for  harbouring  heretics, 
thrown  from  the  roof  of  his  own  house  and  killed 
on  the  spot.  In  this  sepulchre,  as  he  called  it,  he 
employed  his  time  in  composing  a  Latin  poetical 
version  of  the  Book  of  Job,  and  in  writing  in  the 
same  language  a  piece  called  the  Tragedy  of  He- 
rod— the  latter  of  which  has  never  been  published. 
Before  leaving  Fi-ance  he  was  bold  enough  to  pub- 
lish a  Latin  translation  of  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
for  which  he  obtained  gi*eat  credit. 

At  what  period  Constant  returned  to  Scotland 
does  not  appear,  but  it  must  have  been  previous 
to  5th  March  1571,  for  the  Assembly  which  met 
at  Edinburgh  at  that  time  earnestly  desired  him,  { 


in  consideration  of  the  lack  of  ministers,  to  re 
enter  the  ministry.  He  craved  time  till  next  As- 
sembly, which  met  on  6th  August  thereafter,  to 
which  he  sent  a  written  answer,  complying  with 
their  request.  He  had  previously  mamed  the 
daughter  of  a  lawyer. 

On  the  election  of  Mr.  John  Douglas,  rector  of 
the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  to  the  archbishop- 
ric of  that  diocese,  on  the  8th  of  February  1572, 
Constant  is  mentioned  as  having  preached  a  ser- 
mon, and  John  Knox  the  discourse  before  the 
installation.  [Barmatyne.']  On  this  occasion  he 
was  not,  as  afterwai-ds  alleged  by  his  enemies,  a 
candidate  for  that  see.  Most  of  his  biographers 
represent  him  to  have  been  in  France  at  the  period 
of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  occurred 
on  the  24th  August  of  this  year  (1572),  but  he  had 
certainly  retumod  to  Scotland  mora  than  a  year 
befora  that  event,  and  no  mention  is  made  of  a 
second  visit  to  that  country.  Constant  appears  at 
this  time  to  have  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Andrew 
Melville  and  of  many  of  the  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh. He  had  been  appointed  minister  of  Pais- 
ley, and  through  his  influence  with  the  regent 
Morton  the  valuable  living  of  Grovan,  near  Glas- 
gow, was  in  the  year  1575  annexed  to  the  univer- 
sity of  that  city,  "  the  only  good  thing,**  says  the 
spitefU  James  Melville,  "  he  or  Morton  were  ever 
known  to  have  done.**  {Diary ,  p.  42.]  In  the  same 
year  he  was  named  one  of  the  commissioners  of 
the  General  Assembly,  for  settling  the  polity  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  church,  which,  at  that  period  of 
ecclesiastical  transition,  was  episcopalian  in  its 
spirit  and  form,  although  the  supreme  authority 
in  spiritual  matters  was  placed  in  the  General 
Assembly.  About  this  time  he  appears  to  have 
dropped  the  name  of  Constant,  as  he  is  ever  after- 
wards called  Adamson  by  contemporary  writers. 

In  the  course  of  1576  Adamson  was  nominated, 
with  John  Row  and  David  Lindsay,  to  report 
the  proceedings  of  the  commissioners  to  the  re- 
gent Morton,  who  appointed  him  one  of  his  chap- 
lains. In  the  same  year,  on  the  death  of  Douglas, 
archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Adamson,  on  the  pre- 
sentation and  recommendation  of  Morton,  was 
advanced  to  the  vacant  archbishopric.  His  eleva- 
tion to  the  archiepiscopal  see  became  the  origin  of 
all  his  misfortunes.  The  General  Assembly,  having 


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j^nerally  acceded  to  the  new  views  which  Melville 
Introduced  from  Geneva  as  to  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  government  for  the  church,  sought  to  im- 
pose limitations  on  his  powers,  which  were  con- 
trary to  the  previous  usage  of  the  church  and  to  the 
laws  of  the  kingdom;  to  which  ix^trictions,  how- 
ever, Adamson  fi*om  the  outset  and  even  before 
his  installation  declai-ed,  when  questioned  by  that 
court,  that  he  would  not  submit.  From  the  period 
of  his  instalment,  therefore,  he  was  engaged,  for 
several  years,  in  almost  perpetual  altercation  with 
the  General  Assembly.  **  Adamson, "  says  Bishop 
Keith,  "  did  not  receive,  for  what  we  know,  any 
ecclesiastical  consecration."  This,  however,  is 
incorrect.  From  the  acts  of  the  General  Assembly 
threatening  proceedings  against  his  inaugumtoi-s, 
the  chapter  of  St.  Andrews,  we  infer  that  he  was 
installed  by  a  form  of  consecration  similar  to  that 
of  his  predecessor;  which,  as  formally  settled  by 
the  General  Assembly  with  reference  to  that  cere- 
mony, was  the  same  as  tliat  of  the  superintendents, 
and  of  which  Bannatyne  details  the  foimnla,  (p. 
821). 

In  the  General  Assembly,  whicli  met  at  Edin- 
Durgh  in  April,  1577,  Adamson  was  cited  to  answer 
before  some  commissioners  who  had  been  appointed 
to  examine  him ;  and,  in  the  interim,  it  was  or- 
dered that  he  should  be  discharged  from  exercis- 
ing his  episcopal  functions  *^  till  he  should  be  ad- 
mitted by  the  Assembly."  [CalderwooiTs  History^ 
vol.  iii.  p.  379.]  The  same  year  he  published  a 
translation  of  the  Catechism  of  Calvin  in  Latin 
verse,  for  the  use  of  die  young  prince  (James  VI.), 
which  was  much  commended  in  England,  France, 
and  the  Netherlands,  where  he  was  already  well 
known  by  his  translation  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  In  1578  he  was  induced  to  submit  himself 
to  the  General  Assembly,  but  this  did  not  long 
secure  his  tranquillity ;  for  in  the  year  following 
he  was  exposed  to  .fresh  troubles.  In  the  record 
of  the  88th  General  Assembly,  which  met  at  Stir- 
ling, 11  June  1578,  as  printed  in  *The  Booke  of 
the  Universall  Kirk  of  Scotland,'  there  are  five 
pages  blank,  supposed,  as  marked  in  an  old  hand 
on  the  copy  transcribed,  **  to  be  pairt  of  that  which 
was  torn  out  by  Adamson  B.  of  St.  Andrews." 
Some  after  blanks  are  also  pointed  out.  [B.  of 
UniversaU  Kirk,  pp.  180,  183,  208,  207,  338,  foot- 


notes.] This,  however,  is  as  likely  to  have  been 
done  by  another.  The  Greneral  Assembly  which 
met  at  Edinburgh  7th  July  1579,  summoned  him  to 
answer  to  five  several  charges,  three  of  which  were 
for  voting  in  parliament  without  a  commission 
from  the  Assembly,  for  giving  collation  of  the  vi- 
carage of  Bolton,  and  for  opposing  the  policy  oi 
the  church  in  his  place  in  parliament.  Finding  it 
expedient  to  retire  for  a  time  to  the  castle  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  he  lived,  as  James  Melville  ex- 
presses it,  *^  like  a  tod  in  his  hole,"  be  was,  in  the 
year  1582,  attacked  with  a  grievous  chronic  dis- 
temper, from  which,  as  he  could  get  no  relief  from 
his  physicians,  he  had  recourse  to  a  simple  reme- 
dy, administered  by  an  old  woman  named  Alisop 
Peai'son,  which  completely  cured  him.  His  ene- 
mies now  accused  him  of  dealing  with  a  witch, 
and  applying  to  an  emissaiy  of  the  devil  for  means 
whereby  to  save  his  life.  The  old  woman  herself 
was  committed  to  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews  for 
execution,  but  by  the  connivance  of  the  archbish- 
op she  contrived  to  make  her  escape.  Four  years 
tliereafter,  however,  she  was  again  apprehended, 
and  burnt  for  witchcraft. 

In  the  year  1583,  King  James  visited  St.  An- 
drews, when  Aixihbishop  Adamson  preadied  before 
him  with  great  approbation.  In  his  sermon,  he 
inveighed,  as  Calderwood  expresses  it,  against 
the  Presbyterian  clergy,  the  lords  reformere,  and 
all  their  proceedings.  [Calderwood^s  Histary^  vol. 
iii.  p.  716.]  Tlie  doctrines  which  the  archbishop 
avowed  on  this  occasion  recommended  him  to  the 
favour  of  the  king,  who  sent  him  as  his  ambassa- 
dor to  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  where  his 
object  was  twofold,  namely,  to  recommend  the 
king  his  mastei*  to  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Eng- 
land, and  to  obtain  support  to  the  tottering  cause 
of  episcopacy  in  Scotland.  His  eloquent  sermons 
and  address  attracted  such  numerous  auditories, 
and  excited  such  a  high  idea  of  the  young  king, 
that  Queen  Elizabeth's  jealousy  was  kindled,  and 
she  prohibited  him  from  preaching  while  he  re- 
mained in  England.  In  1584  he  was  recalled, 
and  on  his  return  to  Edinburgh,  he  exerted  him- 
self strenuously  in  support  of  King  James'  views 
in  favour  of  episcopacy.  He  sat  in  the  parliament 
held  at  Edinburgh  in  the  month  of  August  of  that 
year,  and  concurred  in  several  laws  which  wero 


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enacted  for  esUblisbing  the  kiug's  supremacy  in 
ecclesiastical  matters.  In  the  following  year  be 
was  appointed  to  rindicate  these  acts  of  parlia- 
ment, and  his  apology  is  inserted  in  Holinshed^s 
English  Chronicle.  Mr.  James  Melville  gives  a 
full  copy  of  what  he  styles  "a  Bull  which  the 
archbishop  of  St.  Andi-ews  got  of  the  king  as  su- 
preme governor  of  the  kirk,  whereby  he  has  power 
and  authority  to  use  his  arcbiepiscopal  office  with- 
in the  ku-k  and  his  diocese."     [Diary,  p.  182.] 

In  April  158G,  the  provincial  synod  of  Fife  met 
at  St.  Andrews,  when  Mr.  James  Melville,  as  mo- 
derator of  the  previous  meeting,  preached  the 
opening  sermon,  in  the  course  of  which  he  de- 
nounced the  archbishop  to  his  face,  and  demanded 
Ihat  he  should  be  cut  off,  for  having  devised  and 
procured  the  passing  of  the  late  acts  of  parliament 
in  1584,  which  were  subversive  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian discipline.  In  his  defence  Adamson  said  that 
the  acts  were  none  of  his  devising,  although  they 
had  his  support  as  good  and  lawful  statutes.  He 
then  declined  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  and 
appealed  from  it  to  the  king  and  parliament,  but 
nevertheless  was  formally  excommunicated  by 
the  synod.  In  return,  he  next  day  ordered  Mr. 
Samuel  Cunningham,  one  of  his  servants,  to  pro- 
nounce the  arcbiepiscopal  excommunication  against 
Andrew  Melville,  James  Melville,  and  others, 
with  Andrew  Hunter,  minister  of  Cambee,  who 
had  denounced  the  anathema  of  the  synod  against 
the  archbishop.  The  proceedings  of  the  synod 
being  manifestly  informal,  the  General  Assembly, 
which  met  at  Edinburgh  in  the  following  month, 
annulled  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against 
him,  and  reponed  him  to  the  same  position  which 
he  had  held  before  the  meeting  of  the  provincial 
synod  of  Fife.  The  Melvilles  being  summoned 
before  the  king  for  their  conduct  in  this  harsh  and 
vindictive  transaction,  were  ordered  to  confine 
themselves,  Andrew  to  his  native  place  during  the 
klng^s  will,  and  James  to  his  college.  {MehiUe^s 
Diary ^  p.  165.]  The  archbishop,  besides  his  usual 
rlerical  duties,  was  required  to  teach  public  lessons 
in  I^tin  within  the  Old  college,  and  the  whole  uni- 
versity commanded  to  attend  the  same.  \Ibid. 
p.  166.]  As  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  he  was 
€x  officio  chancellor  of  the  university. 

About  the  end  of  June  1587,  M.  Du  Bartas,  the 


famous  French  poet,  being  in  Scotland  as  ambas- 
sador from  the  king  of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry 
lY.  of  France,  accompanied  King  James  to  St. 
Andrews.  His  mi^esty,  desirous  of  hearing  a 
lecture  from  Mr.  Andrew  Melville,  principal  of  St. 
Mai7*8  college,  gave  him  an  hour's  notice  of  his 
wish.  Melville  endeavoured  to  excuse  himself, 
but  his  majesty  insisting,  he  delivered  an  extem- 
pore discourse,  upon  the  govemmeut  of  the  church 
of  Christ,  when  he  refuted  the  whole  acts  of  par- 
liament which  had  been  passed  against  the  pres- 
byterian  discipline.  On  the  following  day  an  en- 
tertainment was  given  by  the  arclibishop  to  the 
king  and  the  French  envoy,  when  Adamson  took 
occasion  to  pronounce  a  lecture,  to  counteract  tliat 
of  Melville,  his  principal  topics  being  the  pre- 
eminence of  bishops  and  the  supremacy  of  kings. 
Melville  was  present  and  took  notes,  and  had  no 
sooner  returned  to  his  college  than  he  caused  the 
bell  to  be  rung,  and  an  intimation  to  be  conveyed 
to  the  king  that  he  intended  to  deliver  another 
lecture  after  an  interval  of  two  hours.  On  this 
occasion,  besides  the  king,  Du  Bartas  and  Adam- 
son were  present.  Avoiding  all  formal  reference 
to  the  previous  speech  of  the  archbishop,  Melville 
dexterously  quoted  from  popish  books,  which  ho 
had  brought  with  him,  all  his  leading  positions 
and  arguments  in  favour  of  episcopacy.  When 
he  had  shown  them  to  be  plain  popery,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  refute  them  with  such  force  of  reason  that 
Adamson  remained  silent,  although  he  had  pre- 
viously requested  permission  from  the  king  to  de- 
fend his  own  doctrines.  The  king,  however, 
spoke  for  him,  and  after  making  some  learned 
and  scholastic  distinctions,  be  concluded  with 
commanding  them  all  to  respect  and  obey  the 
archbishop.  The  whole  of  this  narrative,  how- 
ever, rests  upon  the  authority  of  James  Melville, 
which,  besides  being  that  of  a  prejudiced  oppon- 
ent, is  unfortunately  in  other  matters  relative  to 
Adamson  found  to  be  opposed  to  facts  recorded 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Church. 

By  the  act  of  annexation  passed  in  1587  the  see 
of  St.  Andrews,  with  all  the  other  church  bene- 
fices in  the  kingdom,  was  annexed  to  the  crown. 
The  revenues  of  the  archbishopric  were  thereafter 
bestowed  on  the  duke  of  Lennox,  by  James  VI., 
excepting  only  a  small  pittance,  reserved  for  the 


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gubsisteuce  of  Archbishop  Adamson.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  exposed  to  a  fresh  prosecu- 
tion by  the  church,  having  been  summoned  for 
having,  contrary  to  an  inhibition  of  the  presbytery 
of  Edinburgh,  married  the  Catholic  earl  of  Hnntly 
to  the  king^s  cousin,  the  sister  of  the  duke  of  Len- 
nox, without  requiring  the  earl  to  subscribe  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  although  he  had  already  sub- 
scribed certain  articles  which  were  requii-ed  of  him 
previous  to  the  proclamation  of  the  bans.  Adam- 
son  on  this  occasion  appeared  by  his  procurator, 
Mr.  Thomas  Wilson,  (very  likely  his  son-in-law,) 
who  produced  a  testimonial  of  his  sickness,  sub- 
scribed by  the  doctor  who  attended  him  and  two 
bailies,  but  the  memorial  was  not  admitted  as  suf- 
ficient. The  pi-esby tery  of  St.  Andrews  proceeded 
against  him  in  absence,  deprived  him  of  all  office 
in  the  church,  and  threatened  him  with  excom- 
munication. The  Assembly  ratified  the  sentence 
of  the  presbytery,  and  for  this  and  other  alleged 
cnmes  he  was  deposed  and  again  excommunicated. 
In  the  beginning  of  1589  he  published  the  La- 
mentations of  Jeremiah,  in  Latin  verse,  which  he 
dedicated  to  the  king  in  an  address,  complaining 
of  the  harsh  treatment  he  had  received.  The 
same  year  he  also  published  a  Latin  poetical 
translation  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  addressed  a 
a>py  of  Latin  verses  to  his  majesty,  deploring  his 
distress.  The  unfoitunate  prelate  had  at  one  period 
stood  so  high  in  the  royal  favour  that  James  had 
condescended  to  compose  a  sonnet  in  commenda- 
tion of  his  paraphrase  of  the  Book  of  Job ;  but 
times  were  altered,  and  the  king  paid  no  attention 
to  his  appeals.  In  his  need  Adamson  is  said  to 
have  addressed  a  letter  to  his  former  opponent, 
Mr.  Andrew  Melville,  with  whom  he  at  one  pe- 
riod lived  on  terms  of  good  neighbourhood,  but 
opposite  views  in  church  government  had  long  not 
only  driven  them  asunder,  but  rendered  them  bit- 
ter antagonists.  On  receipt  of  his  letter  contain- 
ing the  sad  disclosure  of  his  destitute  situation, 
Melville  hastened  to  pay  the  archbishop  a  visit, 
and  besides  procuring  contributions  on  his  behalf 
ft-om  his  brethren  of  the  presbytery  of  St.  Andrews, 
continued  for  several  months  to  support  him  from 
his  own  private  purse.  Reduced  by  poverty  and 
disease,  the  unfortunate  prelate,  in  the  year  1591, 
•uent  to  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Andi-ews  a  paper 


expressive  of  his  i*egret  at  the  com*se  he  had  pur- 
sued, and  desiring  to  be  restored  into  the  church. 
This  is  not  the  same  paper  which  afterwards  ap- 
peared under  the  title  of  *Tlie  Recantation  of 
Maister  Patrick  Adamsone,*  and  which  was  pub- 
lished as  a  pamphlet  in  1598.  Some  of  the  Epis- 
copal writers  are  disposed  to  deny  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  latter,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  proofs  of  its  genuineness  are  not  more  com- 
plete. Adamson  died  on  the  19th  Februai-y  1592, 
and  his  death  was  speedily  followed  by  the  resto- 
ration of  the  presbyterian  form  of  church  govern- 
ment in  Scotland.  A  collection  of  his  Latin  poeti- 
cal translations  from  the  Scriptures  was  published 
in  a  quarto  volume  in  London  in  1619,  with  his 
Life  by  his  son-in-law,  Thomas  Wilson,  an  advo- 
cate, under  the  title  of  Poemata  Sacra,  Several 
of  his  other  poems  are  to  be  found  iu  the  Dditia 
Poetarum  Scotorum^  tome  i.,  and  in  the  Poetarum 
Scotorum  Mus<b  SacrtBy  tome  ii. 

Adamson^s  character  has  been  much  traduced 
by  contemporary  writers,  but  by  none  more  so 
than  by  Robeii;  Semple,  a  minor  poet  of  that  day, 
who  wrote  a  gross  and  scurrilous  work  professing 
to  be  his  life,  which  he  styled  '  A  Legend  of  the 
Biscliop  of  St.  Audrois*  Life.'  It  is  thought  that 
this  ^  legend'  had  an  effect  on  the  king's  mind  unfa- 
vourable to  Adamson,  but  he  fell  more  into  dis- 
grace with  his  majesty  after  having  been  ^^  put  to 
the  horn,"  in  1587,  and  "denounced  rebel,"  for 
withholding  their  stipends  from  several  ministers 
in  his  diocese,  and  "  for  not  furnishing  of  two  gal- 
lons of  wine  to  the  communion." 

The  following  address  to  his  departing  soul, 
written  by  Adamson  in  Latin  poetiy,  in  which  he 
so  much  excelled,  is,  says  Dr.  Irving,  "  as  much 
superior  to  that  of  Adrian  as  Christianity  is  supe- 
rior to  Paganism :" 

0  aDimm !  assidais  vits  jactata  procellis, 
Esilii,  perttesa  gravis,  nunc  lubrica,  teinpus 
R«gna  tibi,  et  mxmdi  inTisaa  oontemnere  sordett : 
Quippe  parens  renim  caeoo  te  oorpore  olemens 
Evocat,  et  verbi  cracifixi  gratia,  ooeli 
Pandit  iter,  patrioque  beatam  limine  sistet 
Progenies  Jovis,  quo  te  ooelestis  origo 
Invitat,  felix  perge,  SBtemnmque  quiesce. 
Exuviie  camis,  oognato  in  pnlTere  vocem 
Angelicam  ezpectent,  sonitu  quo  patro  cadnvet 
Exiliet  redirivum,  et  tottim  me  tibi  reddet 


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AIDAN.  29 

Ecoe  beaU  dies !  noe  agni  dexter*  ligno 
FulgeDtes  cnuns,  et  radiantes  sangoine  vivo 
Exdpiei:  qnain  finna  ilHc,  qaam  cerU  oapeeset 
Gaudia,  felioes  inter  novns  inoola  dves! 
AlmeDetu!    Densalme!  et  non  eflfttbile  numen ! 
Ad  te  tmuin  et  tnnom,  moribando  pectore  anhelo. 

Besides  the  poems  and  translations  already  men- 
tioned, Archbishop  Adamson  wrote  many  things 
which  were  never  published,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  Six  books  on  the  Hebrew  Republic, 
various  translations  of  the  Prophets  into  Latin 
verse,  Prelections  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles  to  Timo- 
thy,  various  apologetical  and  funeral  oi-ations,  and 
a  very  candid  history  of  his  own  times: 
The  following  is  a  list  of  hb  published  works: 

Catechisnras  Latino  Carmine  Bedditus,  et  in  libroi  quatuor 
digestns.    Edin.  1581, 12mo. 

Poemata  Sacra,  cam  aHis  Opnscnlia,  et  cam  Vita  qua;  a 
T.  Voloaeno.    Lond.  1619,  4to. 

De  Sacro  Pastoris  Mnnere  Tractatos:  cam  Vita  Aactoris 
per  Th.  Voluscnum.    Lond.  1619,  4to.  8vo. 

Refotatio  Libelli  de  Begimine  Eccleais  Sooticans.  Lond. 
1620,  8ro. 

Adamsoni  Vita  et  Palinodia.    1620,  4to. 

Genethliaoon  Jaoobi  VI.  Regis  SootisB,  Ang1i»  i.  Carmine. 
Amst.  1637,  8vo.     Inter  Poet  Scot  vol.  L  p.  18. 

Recantation  of  Mr.  Patrick  Adamson,  sometime  Archbishop 
of  St  Andrews  in  Sootlande.  To  which  is  added,  his  Life  in 
Utin.    1598,  8vo. 

Sermons.    1628,  8to. 

Agxitiv,  the  name  of  an  ancient  famUj  m  Wigtonshire,  tho 
head  of  which  was  constable  of  the  castle  of  Loohnaw,  and 
hereditary  sheriff  of  that  coonty.    See  Lociuf  aw. 

AID  AN,  the  greatest  of  all  the  kings  of  the 
Scots  of  Dalriad,  a  kingdom  which  formed  what  is 
now  Argyleshire,  was  the  son  of  Gabran,  or  Gav- 
ran,  and  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  575,  on  the 
death  of  his  cousin,  Conal  I.  Ho  reigned  twenty- 
four  years,  according  to  the  celebrated  Duan,  a 
Gaelic  poem  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  the 
court-bard  of  Malcolm  the  third;  or  thirty-four  by 
the  old  lists.  Duncan  the  son  of  Conal  seems  to 
have  contested  the  kingdom  with  him,  but  he  was 
defeated  and  slain  in  battle  at  a  place  called  Loro 
in  Kintyre.  Pinkerton  thinks  that  the  Duan  dates 
the  commencement  of  his  reign  fh)m  his  unction 
as  king,  which  Columba  long  deferred,  having  a 
preference  for  Aidants  brother  Eogenan  or  Eugain. 
The  Duan  calls  him  "  Aidan  of  the  extended  ter- 
ritories," and  he  certainly  carried  the  Dalriadic 
power  to  a  height  from  which  it  ever  after  declined, 
till  Kenneth  IT.  ascended  the  PicUsh  throne,  in 


AIDAN. 

836,  and  united  the  Picte  and  the  Scots.  In  579 
the  battle  of  Cue  agiunst  Aidan  is  mentioned  in 
the  annals  of  Ulster,  and  in  581  the  battle  of  Ma- 
nan,  (OTlaherty  says,  the  Isle  of  Mann,)  in  which 
he  was  victor.  He  also  conquered  in  the  battle  of 
Miathorum,  or  Lethrigh,  in  589.  In  the  following 
year  he  was  at  the  famous  council  of  Drumkeat  in 
the  diocese  of  Derry  in  Ulster,  consisting  of  kings, 
peers,  and  clergy,  summoned  by  Aid,  king  of  Ire- 
land, in  which  council  Aidan  procured  the  remis- 
sion of  all  homage  due  by  the  kings  of  Dab-iad  to 
those  of  Ireland.  In  594  Aidan's  brother  Eugain 
died.  In  603,  Aidan,  who  Is  styled  by  Bede,  **  the 
king  of  the  Scots  who  inhabited  Britain,'*  marched 
against  Ethelfrid,  king  of  Northumbria,  *^  with  an 
immense  and  strong  army,"  but  was  conquered, 
and  fled  with  a  few.  ^'  Forasmuch  as,"  says  Bede, 
^*  in  the  most  famous  place  which  is  called  Degsa- 
stone,  almost  all  his  ai-my  was  cut  to  pieces:  In 
which  fight  also  Theobold,  brother  of  Ethelfrid, 
with  all  that  army  which  he  himself  commanded, 
was  killed."  The  place  where  this  disastrous  bat- 
tle was  fought  is  now  unknown,  but  it  is  conjec- 
tured by  Bishop  Gibson  to  have  been  Dalston  near 
Carlisle,  or  as  Bishop  NicoUon  supposes,  Dawston 
near  Jedburgh.  Aidan  died  in  605,  in  Kintyre, 
at  an  advanced  age,  and  was  buried  at  Kilcheran, 
where  no  king  was  ever  buried  before.  If  the 
date  of  his  death  be  coirect,  he  reigned  just  thirty 
years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Achy,  or 
Achaius,  or  Eochoid-buidhe  (Eochy  the  yellow) 
who  reigned  for  seventeen  years.  Another  son, 
Conan,  was  drowned  in  622.  He  had  several 
younger  sons.  His  brother  Brandubiiis  was  king 
of  Leinster. — See  PinkertorCi  Enquiry^  vol.  2.  page 
113,  and  Ritson's  Annals  of  the  Caiedonianiy  Picts, 
and  Scots,  vol.  2,  page  39. 

AIDAN,  bishop  of  Lindisfame,  or  Holy  Island, 
in  the  seventh  century,  was  originally  a  monk  in 
the  monastery  of  lona,  and  is  said  by  some  to 
have  been  a  native  of  Ireland.  By  his  zeal,  a 
large  poilion  of  the  northern  pait  of  England  was 
converted  to  Christianity.  In  634,  when  Oswald 
became  king  of  the  Angll  of  Northumberland,  he 
sent  to  Scotland  for  a  missionary,  to  instruct  his 
subjects  in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity. 
Aidan  was  accordingly  consecrated  a  bishop,  and 
sent  to  the  cx)urt  of  Oswald,  and  by  his  advice. 


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AIRMAN. 


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AILSA. 


the  episcopal  see  was  removed  fi*om  York,  where 
it  had  been  fixed  by  Gregory  the  Great,  to  Lin- 
disfame,  a  peninsnla  adjoining  the  Northumbrian 
coast,  by  a  narrow  isthmns,  called  also  Holy 
Island,  because  it  was  chiefly  inhabited  by  monks. 
Here  Aidan  exercised  an  extensive  jurisdiction, 
and  preached  the  gospel  with  great  success ;  de- 
riving encouragement  and  assistance  in  his  labour 
from  the  condescending  services  of  the  king  him- 
self. On  Oswald  being  killed  in  battle,  Aidan 
continued  to  govern  the  church  of  Northumber- 
land under  his  successors,  Oswin  and  Oswy,  who 
reigned  jointly.  The  following  extraordinary  in- 
stance of  the  bishop*s  liberality  to  the  poor  is  re- 
lated. Having  received  a  present  from  King  Os- 
win of  a  fine  horse  and  rich  housings,  he  met  with 
a  beggar,  and  dismounting,  gave  him  the  horse 
thus  caparisoned.  When  the  king  expressed  some 
displeasure  at  this  singular  act  of  humanity,  and 
the  slight  put  upon  his  favour,  Aidan  quaintly  but 
forcibly  asked,  "  Which  do  you  value  most,  the 
son  of  a  mare,  or  the  son  of  God?'* — the  king  fell 
upon  his  knees  and  entreated  the  bishop's  forgive- 
ness. The  death  of  Oswin  so  much  affected  him, 
that  he  survived  him  only  twelve  days,  and  died 
m  August  1651.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of 
Liiidisfarne. 

AiKMAN,  a  sumaine,  being  the  same  as  Oakman.  An 
oak  tree  was  carried  in  the  arms  of  persons  of  this  surname, 
and  the  family  of  Aikman  of  Cairney  bad  for  crest  an  oak 
tree  proper. 

AIKMAN,  William,  an  eminent  painter,  the 
son  of  William  Aikman  of  Cairaey,  advocate,  by 
Margaret,  third  sister  of  Sir  John  Clerk,  of  Penny- 
cuik.  Baronet,  was  born  24th  October  1682.  He 
was  intended  by  his  father  for  the  law,  but  the 
bent  of  his  own  mind  early  led  him  to  painting  as 
a  profession.  In  1707,  after  selling  off  his  pater- 
nal estate,  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  spent  three 
years  in  studying  the  great  masters,  and  returned 
to  his  native  country  in  1712,  having  also  visited 
Constantinople  and  Smyrna.  At  first  his  man- 
ner was  cold,  but  it  afterwards  became  soft  and 
easy.  Ho  was  particularly  happy  in  giving  grace- 
ful airs  and  genteel  likenesses  to  the  ladies  whose 
portraits  he  painted.  In  1723,  being  patronized 
by  John,  duke  of  Argyle,  he  was  induced  to  settle 
as  a  portrait -painter  in  London,  where  he  further 


improved  his  coloming  by  the  study  of  Sir  Godfrey 
Kneller*s  works.  His  taste  and  genius  introduced 
him  to  the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  the  duke 
of  Devonshire,  the  earl  of  Burlington,  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  Sir  Godfi-ey  Kneller,  and  others.  For 
the  earl  of  Burlington,  he  painted  a  large  picture 
of  the  royal  family,  which  his  death  prevented 
him  from  finishing.  It  is  now  in  possession  of  the 
duke  of  Devonshire.  Aikman  manied  Marion, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Lawson  of  Caimmuir,  county  of 
Peebles,  by  whom  he  had  an  only  son,  John.  He 
died  4th  June,  O.  S.  1731,  in  his  49th  year.  His 
remains,  with  those  of  his  son,  who  predeceased 
him  about  six  months,  were  removed  to  Edinburgh, 
and  interred  together  in  the  Greyfriars'  churcli- 
yard.  An  epitaph,  by  his  friend  Mallet  the  poet, 
was  inscribed  on  his  tomb.  Several  of  his  portraits 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  dukes  of  Hamilton, 
Argyle,  Devonshire,  and  others.  He  numbered 
among  his  friends  Allan  Ramsay,  who  wrote  a 
pastoral  farewell  to  him  on  his  departure  for  Lon- 
don, Somerville^  the  author  of  the  Chase,  and 
Thomson,  the  author  of  the  Seasons,  who,  as  well 
as  his  friend  Mallet,  wrote  elegiac  verses  on  his 
death.  Mallet's  epitaph  has  been  long  effaced. 
Thomson's  poem  on  his  death  closes  with  the  fol 
lowing  lines: 

"  A  friend,  when  dead,  is  but  removed  from  sight, 
Sunk  in  the  lustre  of  eternal  night; 
And  when  the  parting  storms  of  life  arc  o*er, 
May  yet  rejoin  us  on  a  happier  shore. 
As  those  we  lo\'e  decay,  we  die  in  part, 
String  after  string  is  severed  from  the  heart, 
Till  loosenM  life,  at  last  but  breathmg  clay, 
Without  one  pang  is  glad  to  fall  away. 
Unhappy  he  who  latest  feels  the  blow 
Whose  eyes  have  wept  o*er  eveiy  ftiend  laid  low, 
Dnigg*d  lingering  on  from  partial  death  to  death, 

*   Till  dying,  all  he  can  resign  Is  breath.** 

Aikman  was  also  intimate  with  Pope,  Swift, 
Arbuthnot,  Gay,  and  most  of  the  wits  of  Queen 
Anne's  days.  His  style  l)ears  a  close  resemblance 
to  that  of  Kneller.  In  the  duke  of  Tuscany*s  col- 
lection of  the  portraits  of  paintere  done  by  their 
own  hands,  will  be  found  that  of  Aikman,  in  the 
ducal  gallery  at  Florence. — Cunningham's  Lives  of 
Painters, 

AiLSA,  marquis  of,  a  title  borne  by  the  ancient  family  ot 
Kennedy,  earls  of  Cassillis,  conferred  in  1831,  and  taken  from 


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AINSLIE. 


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AIRLIE. 


the  **  craggj  ocean  pTramkl,**  AQaa  Cniig,  in  the  month  of  the 
frith  of  Clyde,  which  is  the  property  of  that  family.  See 
Cassilus,  earl  of,  and  Kennedy. 

AINSLIE,  RoBEBT,  writer  to  the  signet,  the 
friend  and  correspondent  of  Robert  Bums,  was 
bom  13th  January  1766.  He  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Mr.  Ainslie  of  Damchester,  residing  at  Berry- 
well,  near  Dunse,  the  land  agent  for  Lord  Douglas 
in  Berwickshire.  He  served  his  apprenticeship 
with  Mr.  Samuel  Mitchelson,  in  Carrubber's  close, 
Edinburgh,  who  was  a  great  musical  amateur, 
and  in  whose  house  occurred  the  famous  *^  Haggis 
scene  *'  described  by  Smollett  in  Humphrey  Clink- 
er. In  the  spring  of  1787,  when  he  had  just  com- 
pleted his  twentieth  year.  Bums  being  at  that 
time  in  Edinburgh,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to 
make  his  acquaintance,  and  in  May  of  that  year, 
he  and  the  poet  went  upon  an  excursion  together 
into  Berwickshire  and  Teviotdale,  when  he  intro  - 
dnced  Bums  at  his  father*s.  house,  and  the  recep- 
tion he  received  from  the  family  is  pleasantly  re- 
ferred to,  in  his  gifted  companion's  memoranda  on 
this  tour.  In  1789  Ainslie  passed  writer  to  the 
signet.  He  afterwards  visited  Bums  at  EUisland, 
when  the  poet  gave  him  a  manuscript  copy  of  Tctm 
O'SkcMteTy  which  he  presented  to  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
He  married  a  lady  named  Cunningham,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  colonel  in  the  Scots  Brigade  in  the  Dutch 
service,  by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  family,  of 
whom  only  two  daughters  survived  him.  He  had 
two  brothers,  and  one  sister,  the  latter  of  whom, 
whose  beauty  was  highly  spoken  of  by  Bums,  died 
before  him.  One  of  his  brothers,  Douglas,  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  land  agent;  and  the  other. 
Sir  Whitelaw  Ainslie,  is  known  as  the  author  of  an 
elaborate  book  on  the  Materia  Medica  of  India, 
where  he  for  many  years  held  the  situation  of  medi- 
cal superintendent  of  the  southem  division  of  India, 
for  which  work  he  was  knighted  by  William  IV. 
Mr.  Ainslie  died  on  the  11th  April  1838.  He  was 
the  author  of  two  religious  little  works,  *  A  Father's 
Gift  to  his  Children,'  and  '  Reasons  for  the  Hope 
that  is  in  Us,'  the  latter  comprising  many  of  the 
evidences  for  the  trath  of  Christianity.  He  was 
also  a  contributor  to  the  Edinburgh  Magazine,  and 
others  of  the  periodicals,  for  forty  years  previous 
to  his  death.  His  disposition  was  kind  and  bene- 
volent, his  manners  affable  and  frank,  and  his 


conversation  cheerful  and  abounding  in  anecdote. 
Many  of  Bums'  letters  to  him  will  be  found  in  the 
poet's  printed  correspondence. — Obituary  at  thi 
time, — Personal  recollections, 

AntiJB,  earl  of,  a  title  posaened  by  a  family  of  the  name 
of  Ogiivy,  lineally  descended  from  Gilbert,  third  son  of  the 
first  thane  of  Angas,  who  fboght  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard 
in  1188,  and  obtained  from  William  the  Lion  the  Unds  of 
Powrie,  Ogilvy,  and  Kyneithin,  when,  as  was  onstomary  in 
those  days,  he  assumed  the  name  of  Ogilry  from  his  barony. 

In  1892  Sir  Walter  Ogilvy  of  Wester  Powrie  and  Anchter- 
house,  sherifi'  of  Angos,  was  sUin  with  sixty  of  his  foltowera, 
at  Gasklone  near  Blairgowrie,  in  endearooring  to  repel  an  in- 
oorsion  of  the  clan  Donnochy,  or  sons  of  Doncan  (the  clan 
now  called  Bobertson)  who  had  burst  down  upon  the  low 
country  fixHn  the  Grampian  mountains. 

Among  the  slain  at  the  battle  of  Harlaw  in  1411,  was  his 
eldest  son,  "the  brare  lord  Ogilvy,  of  Angus  sheriff-prindpal** 
See  OoiLVY,  surname  of. 

Sir  Walter  Ogilvy,  knight,  the  second  son,  was  in  1425 
constituted  lord  high  treasurer  of  Scotland.  In  1480,  he 
became  master  of  the  royal  household.  In  the  following  year 
he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  fw  renewing  the  truce  with 
England.  In  1484  he  attended  the  princess  Margaret  into 
France,  on  her  marriage  with  the  dauphin.  By  an  order  from 
the  king  he  erected  the  tower  or  fortalice  of  Eroly  or  Airly 
in  Forfarshire,  into  a  royal  castle.  He  married  Isabel  de 
Durward,  heiress  of  lintrathen,  by  whom  he  acquired  that 
barony.  He  died  in  1440,  leaving  two  sons.  From  Su:  Walter, 
the  younger,  sprang  the  earls  of  Findlater  and  Seafield,  and 
tho  lords  of  Banff;  see  Banff,  Futdlater,  and  Seafirld. 

The  elder  son.  Sir  John  Ogilvy,  knight,  of  Lintrathen,  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Sir  James  Ogilvy  of  Airiie,  am- 
bassador from  Scotland  to  Denmark  in  1491.  By  James  IV. 
he  was  created,  28th  April  of  that  year,  a  peer  of  pariiament 
by  the  title  of  lord  Ogilvy  of  Airiie.  James,  the  seventh  lord 
Ogilvy,  for  his  loyalty  and  faithful  services  to  Charles  I.,  was 
on  the  2d  April.  1689,  created  earl  of  Airiie,  Altth,  and  Lix- 
TRATHEN.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the  campaigns  of  the 
marquis  of  Montrose,  in  particular  at  the  battle  of  Kilsyth  in 
1646.  Nimmo,  in  his  history  of  Stirlingshire,  states,  that  at 
the  commencement  of  that  engagement,  a  thousand  High- 
landers in  Montrose^s  army,  without  waiting  for  orders, 
marched  np  the  hill  to  attack  the  enemy.  Though  displeased 
with  their  rashness,  Montrose  despatched  a  strong  detachment 
to  their  assistance,  under  the  command  of  the  eari  of  Airiie, 
whose  arrival  not  only  preserved  this  resolute  corps  from  be- 
ing overpowered  by  a  superior  force,  but  obliged  the  Coyenant- 
en  to  retreat  This  was  the  most  complete  victory  Montrose 
ever  gained.  The  loss  on  his  side  was  small,  only  seven  or 
eight  persons  having  been  slain,  three  of  whom  were  Ogilvies, 
relations  of  the  family  of  Airiie. 

James,  the  second  earl,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Philiphangh, 
and  sentenced  to  death,  but  escaped  from  the  castle  of  St 
Andrews,  the  night  before  the  day  of  his  intended  execution, 
in  the  clothes  of  his  sister. 

David  the  third  earl  had  two  sons;  the  eldest,  James, 
lord  Ogilvy,  having  engaged  in  the  rel)e11ion  of  1715,  was 
attainted  of  high  treason.  He  was  afterwards  pardoned, 
but,  dying  without  issue,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
John,  fourth  earl.  His  son  David,  lord  Ogilvy,  joined  Prince 
Charies  Edward  Stuart,  at  Edinburgh,  m  1746,  with  ax  hun- 
dred men,  chiefly  of  his  own  name  and  family.  He  also  was 
attainted  of  high  treason,  but  escaped  to  France,  where  Iw 


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AITON. 


had  the  oommaDd  of  a  Scotch  regiment  in  the  service  of  the 
French  king,  called  Ogilvj^s  regiment.  Having  obtained  a 
free  pardon,  he  retomed  to  Scotland  in  1783,  and  died  in  1803. 

The  title  was  for  some  time  in  abejanoe.  Walter  Ogilvy, 
Ksq.  of  Airlie,  Lord  Ogilvj*8  son,  styled  tlie  seventh  earl,  as- 
sumed the  title  in  1812,  hnt  it  was  not  restored  till  May 
1836,  when  his  son  David  was  confirmed  in  it  by  act  of  par- 
liament 

Airlie  castle,  "the  bonnie  house  of  Airlie**  of  Scottish 
song,  once  the  chief  residence  of  the  family,  was  destroyed, 
with  Forthnr,  another  of  their  seats,  by  the  marqnis  of  Ar- 
gyle,  in  consequence  of  an  order  of  the  committee  of  estates, 
in  1640.  The  phice  had  been  regarded  as  almost  impregna- 
ble by  nature,  and  had  already,  under  Lord  Ogilvy,  eldest 
son  of  the  proprietor,  successfully  resisted  an  attack  m'ade  by 
the  earls  of  Montrose  and  Kinghom,  but  on  the  approach  of 
Argyle  in  1641,  with  5,000  men,  the  garrison  fled,  leaving 
the  fortress  an  easy  prey  to  the  Covenanters,  who  set  it  on 
fire,  and  reduced  it  to  ashes ;  Argyle  himself,  according  to 
tradition,  having  taken  a  hammer  and  assisted  in  the  demo- 
lition of  the  doorways  and  hewing  of  the  stone  work,  till  he 
waft  completely  fatigued.  The  modem  house  of  Airlie,  erect- 
ed upon  the  ruins  of  the  old  castle,  is  a  beautiful  mansion, 
most  picturesquely  situated  upon  a  peninsnlated  rode,  at  the 
point  where  the  river  Melgam  forms  a  junction  with  the  Isla. 
A  fragment  of  the  old  castle  remains,  consisting  of  an  old 
strong  gateway  and  part  of  a  tower. 

AiSTH,  a  dormant  earldom  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  for- 
merly possessed  by  a  branch  of  the  noble  family  of  Graham, 
conferred  in  1633  on  William,  seventh  earl  of  Menteith,  de- 
scended firom  Sir  Patrick  Graham  of  Kincardine,  the  brother  of 
Sir  John  the  Graham,  the  faithful  companion  and  "right 
hand  "  of  Wallace,  who  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  FaUdrk. 
Sir  Patrick  had  previously  fallen  at  Dunbar.  The  grandson 
of  the  latter.  Sir  David  Graham,  styled  in  a  royal  charter, 
witnessed  by  him  in  1360,  of  Old  Montrose,  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  dukes  of  Montrose  of  the  name  of  Graham.  See  Mon- 
trose, dukes  of,  and  Graham,  surname  of.  His  only  son. 
Sir  Patrick  Graham,  styled  Domimu  de  DundafTet  Kincardine, 
acted  a  distinguished  part  In  the  reigns  of  David  Bruce  and 
Robert  IL  The  eldest  son  of  the  ktter,  by  a  second  mar- 
riage. Sir  Patrick  Graham  of  Elieston  and  Kilpont,  married 
Eupheme,  the  sole  heiress  of  Prince  David  Stewart,  eari  of 
Stratheam,  and  acquired  that  title.  He  was  killed  near  Criefl' 
in  1413,  by  the  steward  of  Stratheam,  Sir  John  Drummond, 
of  Concraig.  His  son  Malise  was  by  James  I.  in  Sept.  1427 
created  earl  of  Menteith  or  MonteiUi  in  h'eu  of  Stratheam. 
His  descendant  and  representative  William,  seventh  earl  of 
this  line,  having  attempted  to  resume  the  earidom  of  Strath- 
eam, was  by  Charles  I.  deprived  both  of  it  and  the  earldom 
of  Menteith ;  but  to  compensate  him  for  the  loss,  he  created 
him  earl  of  Auth,  as  ahtsady  mentioned,  with  precedence 
equal  to  what  he  had  enjoyed  as  earl  of  Menteith,  in  which 
earldom  he  was  afterwax^  reinstated.  Kilpont  was  the  ba- 
ronial title  of  the  family.  It  seems  to  have  been  selected  as 
marking  their  descent  from  the  stem  of  Kincardine,  subse- 
quently Montrose.  The  tower  of  Airth,  in  Stirlingshire,  is 
famous  for  an  assault  made  upon  it  by  Sir  \^^lliam  Walhuse, 
when  held  by  an  English  garrison,  whom  he  put  to  the  sword. 
The  square  tower  which  makes  a  part  of  the  present  house  of 
Airth,  upon  tho  west,  is  said  to  be  the  same  in  which  that 
bloody  exploit  was  performed.  [Mmtiu)**  HtMtory  of  SHr- 
Hngihire—Siirlmg'i  edition^  1817,  page  170.]  The  title  of 
eari  of  Airth  has  been  dormant  since  the  death  of  William, 
second  ear.  of  Airth  and  Menteith  in  1694.   It  was  claimed  by 


I  Robert  Barclay  Allardyce,  Esq.  of  Urle  and  Allardyce,  whu 
died  m  1856.    See  Menteith. 

AUKEN,  John,  for  some  time  editor  of  Con- 
stable's Miscellany,  was  bom  on  25th  March  1798, 
in  the  Tillage  of  Camelon,  Stirlingshire.  His  first 
situation  was  in  the  East  Lothian  bank,  and  soon 
after  he  was  sent  to  the  banking  office  of  Mr.  Park, 
Selkirk,  brother  of  Mungo  Park  the  traveller, 
where  he  remained  for  several  years.  He  was 
afterwards  appointed  teller  in  the  East  Lothian 
bank,  where  he  had  formerly  been.  He  sub- 
sequently removed  to  Edinburgh,  and  became  a 
bookseller.  Having  early  displayed  a  predilection 
for  literature,  he  now  resolved  to  follow  the  bent 
of  bis  mind,  and  commenced  editing  '  The  Cabi- 
net,* an  elegant  selection  of  pieces  in  prose  and 
verse,  three  volumes  of  which  were  published. 
The  taste  and  judgment  evinced  in  this  publica- 
tion recommended  him  to  Mr.  Archibald  Consta- 
ble, as  the  fittest  peraon  to  undertake  the  editor- 
ship of  his  Miscellany ;  and  though  for  a  time 
the  failure  of  Messrs.  Constable  and  Company 
postponed  the  publication,  when  the  work  at  last 
appeared,  it  was  under  Mr.  Aitken^s  manage- 
ment. On  the  death  of  Mr.  Constable,  he,  in  con- 
junction with  Mr.  Heniy  Constable  and  Messrs. 
Hurst,  Chance,  and  Company,  Ix)ndon,  purchased 
the  work,  and  continued  editor  till  1881,  when 
some  new  arrangements  rendered  his  retirement 
necessary.  He  afterwards  became  a  printer  on 
his  own  account,  with  some  prospect  of  success ; 
but  having  caught  cold,  which  produced  erysipelas 
in  the  head,  he  died  on  the  15th  of  February  1888, 
in  the  89th  year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  widow  and 
four  children.  Mr.  Aitken  wrote  a  few  pieces  of 
poetry  of  uncommon  beauty  and  sensibility ;  of 
these,  perhaps  the  most  touching  is  the  address  to 
his  children,  prefixed  to  the  third  series  of  the 
Cabinet. — Obituary  at  the  time. 

ArroN, — for  the  origm  of  the  name  of  Alton,  see  Ayton. 

AITON,  William,  styled  the  Scottish  Linnsus, 
was  bom  in  1781,  at  a  village  near  Hamilton. 
Going  to  England  in  1754,  he  was  employed  as  an 
assistant  in  the  Physic  gardens  at  Chelsea,  under 
Philip  Miller,  the  superintendent,  on  whose  recom- 
mendation he  was  in  1759  appointed  head  gar- 
dener to  the  Royal  botanical  garden  at  Kew,  and 
became  a  great  favourite  with  George  HI.    In 


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1783  he  obtained  also  the  appointment  of  super- 
intendent of  the  pleasure-grounds  at  Kew.  He 
introduced  a  number  of  improvements  into  the 
Rojal  gardens,  and  formed  there  one  of  the  best 
collections  of  rare  exotic  plants  then  known,  a 
catalogue  of  which,  with  the  title,  Hortus  Kewensis, 
was  published  in  1789  in  3  vols.  8vo,  containing 
an  enumeration  of  between  five  and  six  thousand 
species,  with  thirteen  plates.  He  died  in  1793, 
of  a  schirrus  in  the  liver,  and  his  son,  William 
Townsend  Alton,  was  nominated  by  the  king  him- 
self his  successor. 
Mr.  Alton's  publications  are . 

Hortos  Kewenns:  or  a  Catalogne  of  the  Plants  cnltivated 
in  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew,  illustrated  with  £n- 
granngs.     Lond.  1789,  8  vols.  8vo. 

New  Edition  enlaxged.     Lond.  1810-13,  5  vols.  8vo. 

An  Epitome  of  2d.  edit.    Lond.  1814,  8vo. 


Albaxt,  duke  of,  a  title  formerly  given  to  a  prince  of  the 
blood-royal  of  Scotland, — Albany,  Albion,  or  Albinn,  being 
the  ancient  Gaelic  name  of  North  Britain,  and  until  the 
time  of  Caesar  the  original  appellation  of  the  whole  island. 
The  Scottish  Highlanders  denominate  themselves  *  Gael  Al- 
binn,* or  Albinnidi,  or  Albainach.  The  name  Albany  is  evi- 
dently derived  from  the  Pictish  word  Albtmy  "  the  superior 
height,**  and  is  now  applied  to  the  extensive  mountainous  dis- 
trict comprising  Appin  and  Glenorchy  in  Argyleshirc,  Athol 
and  Breadalbane  in  Perthshire,  and  a  part  of  Lochaber  in 
Invemess-sfaire.  The  title  of  duke  of  Albany  was  first  con- 
ferred on  the  regent  Robert,  earl  of  Fife,  son  of  Robert  XL 

'  Since  the  Union,  it  has  always  been  borne  by  the  king's  sec- 
ond son,  by  creation,  and  was  last  held,  as  a  secondary  title, 
by  the  late  duke  of  York,  son  of  George  III.  The  history 
of  Scotland  mentions    four  dukes  of  Albany  who  made  a 

'  '  figure  ni  their  time;  whom,  in  consequence  of  their  relation 
to  the  royal  family  of  Scotland,  we  maert  here,  rather  than 
under  the  family  name  of  Stuart 

ALBANY,  Robert,  first  duke  of,  the  thurd 
son  of  Robert  n.  the  first  of  the  Stuarts,  by  his 
first  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Adam  Mure 
of  Rowallan  in  Ayrshire.  He  was  born  in  1339. 
He  obtained  the  earldom  of  Menteith  by  his  mar- 
riage with  Margaret,  countess  of  Menteith,  and 
afterwards  in  1371  that  of  Fife,  on  the  i*esignatiou 
of  that  earldom  into  the  king's  hands  in  his  favour 
by  Isobel,  countess  of  Fife,  the  widow  of  his  eld- 
est brother  Walter,  who  had  died  young,  without 
issue.  He  was  accordingly  thereafter  styled  earl 
of  Fife  and  Menteith.  In  the  years  1371  and  1372, 
he  presided  at  the  courts  of  redress  for  settling 
differences  on  the  marches.  In  1383  he  was 
appointed  great  chamberlain  of  Scotland,  which 
office  he  resigned  in  1408,  in  favour  of  his  son 


John,  earl  of  Bnchan.  In  1385,  accompanied  by 
the  earl  of  Douglas,  and  John  de  Vieune,  admii-a. 
of  France,  who  was  then  in  Scotland,  and  a  body 
of  French  auxiliaries,  he  marched  with  an  army 
of  30,000  men  towards  Roxburgh,  at  that  time  in 
the  hands  of  the  English.  Proceeding  into  Eng- 
land they  took  the  castle  of  Wark  in  Northumber- 
land, and  ravaged  the  country  from  Berwick  to 
Newcastle ;  but  on  the  approach  of  the  duke  of 
Lancaster,  they  resolved  to  return  to  Scotland. 
On  their  way  back,  they  sat  down  before  Rox- 
burgh, but  were  obliged  soon  to  raise  the  siege. 
On  the  invasion  of  Scotland  by  the  English,  the 
earls  of  Fife  and  Douglas,  and  Archibald  lord  of 
Galloway,  made  an  incursion  on  the  west  borders, 
as  far  as  Cockermouth,  spoiling  the  rich  country 
between  the  Fells  of  Cumberland  and  the  sea,  and 
returned  with  several  prisoners  and  abundance  of 
plunder.  The  talents  of  the  earl  of  Fife,  it  is 
stated,  were  so  highly  prized,  that  the  principal 
youth  of  Scotland  flocked  eagerly  to  his  standard. 
In  the  summer  of  1388,  when  Douglas  invaded 
England  on  the  ea<^t,  and  fell  at  Otterboume,  the 
earl  of  Fife,  with  his  brother  the  earl  of  Stratheam, 
entered  that  kingdom  on  the  west,  and  after  pass- 
ing towards  Carlisle,  returned  by  Solway,  without 
sustaining  any  loss. 

In  1389,  in  consequence  of  the  advanced  age  of 
the  king  his  father,  and  the  bodily  infii-mity  of  his 
elder  brother,  the  earl  of  Carrick,  afterwards  Ro- 
bert III.,  who  had  been  rendered  lame  in  eariy 
youth  by  the  kick  of  a  horse,  the  earl  of  Kfe  was, 
by  the  three  estates  of  the  realm,  appointed  gov- 
ernor of  the  kingdom.  Desirous  of  signalizing 
the  commencement  of  his  administration,  he  raised 
an  army,  and  advanced  against  the  earl  of  Not- 
tingham, marshal  of  England,  warden  of  the  east 
marches,  who,  after  the  battle  of  Otterboume,  had 
boasted  that  he  hoped  to  conquer  the  Scots,  even 
though  opposed  by  a  force  double  his  own  num- 
bers. On  the  approach  of  the  regent  and  the  new 
earl  of  Douglas,  however,  instead  of  giving  battle, 
he  posted  his  men  in  a  secure  and  inaccessible 
place,  and  refused  to  stand  the  hazard  of  a. fight; 
and  the  Scots  army,  after  waiting  half-a-day,  with 
banners  displayed  in  sight  of  the  foe,  returned 
home,  wasting  and  destroying  the  country.  A 
truce  was  agi-eed  to  the  same  year,  1389.  In 
0 


I 


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FIRST  DUKE  OF. 


April  of  the  following  year  his  father  died,  and  his 
elder  brother  John  succeeded  to  the  throne,  when 
he  took  the  name  of  Robert  II L,  that  of  John 
being  considered  inauspicious.  The  new  khig, 
besides  being  lame,  was  of  a  quiet  disposition  and 
had  no  strength  of  mind,  and  the  management  of 
public  affairs  was  continued  in  the  hands  of  the 
earl  of  Fife.  His  nephew,  however,  Prince  David, 
carl  of  Carriek,  conceiving  that,  as  heir-apparent 
to  the  crown,  he  was  entitled,  in  preference  to  his 
uncle,  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  administration,  had 
the  addi*ess  to  compel  his  retirement  from  the 
office  of  governor,  and  to  get  himself  named  regent 
in  his  place,  under  the  condition  that  he  should 
act  by  the  advice  of  a  council,  of  whom  his  uncle 
was  the  principal.  In  March  1398  Albany  and 
his  nephew  Prince  David  had  a  meeting  at  a  place 
called  Haudenstank,  with  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of 
Lancaster,  and  other  English  commissioners,  for 
settling  mutual  differences;  and  it  is  supposed  that, 
on  this  occasion,  Lancaster,  from  his  superior  title 
of  duke,  claimed  some  precedence  not  relislied  by 
the  prince  and  his  uncle ;  for  this  year  the  first 
introduction  of  the  ducal  title  into  Scotland  took 
place,  tlie  earl  of  Carriek,  the  king^s  son,  being 
ci*eated  duke  of  Rothesay,  and  the  eai'l  of  Fife,  the 
king^s  brother,  duke  of  Albany.  According  to  For- 
dun,  these  titles  were  confeiTcd  in  a  solemn  council 
held  at  Scone,  April  28, 1398.  In  1400,  when  Henry 
IV.  of  England  invaded  Scotland,  Albany  assem- 
bled an  army  to  oppose  that  monai*ch.  Henry  took 
Haddington  and  Leith,  and  laid  siege  to  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  at  which  time  William  Napier  of 
Wrightshouses  was  constable  of  the  castle.  With 
the  aid  of  Archibald,  earl  of  Douglas,  and  the  duke 
of  Rothesay,  at  this  time  governor  of  the  khig- 
dom,  he  maintained  that  important  fortress  against 
the  whole  English  army,  which  was  numerous  and 
well  appointed.  In  accordance  with  the  chivalrous 
eustom  of  the  times,  Rothesay,  who  was  not  want- 
ing in  courage,  though  frequently  charged  with  im- 
prudence, sent  King  Henry  a  knightly  challenge  to 
meet  him  where  he  pleased,  with  a  hundi*cd  nobles 
on  each  side,  and  so  to  determine  the  quarrel,  but 
the  English  king  was  not  disposed  to  give  him  this 
advantage,  and  sent  back  an  equivocating  verbal 
reply.  He  then  sat  down  with  his  numerous  host 
before  the  castle,  till  cold  and  rain,  and  the  want  of 


provisions,  as  the  inhabitants  had,  as  usual  in  those 
days,  taken  care  to  remove  every  thing  that  the 
invaders  could  lay  their  hands  on  from  their  reach, 
compelled  him  to  raise  the  siege  and  hastily  re- 
cross  the  Border,  without  his  visit  being  produc- 
tive of  much  injury  either  in  his  progress  or  retreat. 
On  his  part  the  duke  of  Albany,  whose  ambition 
was  equal  to  his  ability,  desirous  of  having  the  gov- 
ernment to  himself,  permitted  the  enemy  to  with- 
draw without  molestation,  and  obtained  much 
praise  from  them  for  his  clemency  to  all  who  sur- 
rendered. 

Two  years  afterwai'ds  occurred  the  tragic  death 
of  the  duke  of  Rothesay,  which  left  a  dark  cloud 
of  suspicion  on  his  uncle*s  name,  and  the  mys- 
teiy  attendant  on  which  has  never  been  satisfac- 
torily cleared  up.  The  circumstances  of  his  death 
ai'e  rotated  by  Boece,  who  attaches  the  guilt  of 
murder  distinctly  to  Albany,  but  the  love  of  the 
maiTellous  which  is  so  prominent  in  this  writer  as 
to  make  even  Tytler  call  him  the  most  apocryphal 
of  Scottish  historians,  may  be  supposed  to  have  led 
him  to  give  a  high  colouring  to  his  narrative,  which 
the  subsequent  unpopulai-ity  of  Albany  and  the  dis- 
favour into  which  his  memory  fell  with  the  Scot- 
tish court,  would  not  diminish.  After  mentioning 
the  death  of  the  young  duke's  mother.  Queen  An- 
nabella  Drummond,  his  narrative  thus  proceeds : 
^*  Be  quhais  deith,  succedit  grot  displeseir  to  hir  son, 
David,  duk  of  Rothesay;  for,  during  hir  life,  he. 
wes  haldin  in  virtews  and  honest  occupatioun,  eftir 
hir  deith,  he  began  to  rage  in  all  maner  of  inso- 
lence; and  fulyeit  virginis,  matronis,  and  nunnis, 
be  his  unbridillit  lust.  At  last.  King  Robert,  in- 
formit  of  his  young  and  insolent  maneris,  send 
letteris  to  his  brothir,  the  duk  of  Albany,  to  inter- 
tene  his  said  son,  the  duk  of  Rothesay,  and  to  Icir 
[learn]  him  honest  and  civill  maneris.  The  duk 
of  Albany,  glaid  of  thir  writtingis,  tuk  the  duk  of 
Rothesay  betwixt  Dunde  and  Sanct  Androis,  and 
bix>cht  him  to  Falkland,  and  inclusit  [enclosed] 
him  in  the  tour  thairof,  but  [without]  ony  meit  or 
drink.  It  is  said,  ane  woman,  havand  commisera- 
tioun  on  this  duk,  leit  meill  fall  down  throw  the 
loftis  of  the  tom*e ;  be  qullkis,  his  life  wes  certane 
day  is  savit.  This  woman,  fra  it  wes  knawin,  wes 
put  to  deith.  On  the  same  maner,  ane  othir  wo- 
man gaif  him  milk  of  hh-  paup,  throw  ane  lang 


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FIROT  DUKE  OF. 


reid ;  and  wes  slane  with  gret  craelte,  fra  i%  wes 
knawin.  Than  wes  the  duk  destitnte  of  all  mor- 
tall  snpplie ;  and  brocht,  finalie,  to  sa  miserable 
and  hungry-appetite,  that  he  eit,  nocht  allanerlie 
[not  only]  the  filth  of  the  toure  quhare  he  wes, 
bot  his  awin  fingaris;  to  his  great  marterdome. 
His  body  wes  beryit  in  Lnndoris,  and  kithit  mira- 
klis  mony  yeris  eftir;  qabil  [till],  at  last  King 
James  the  First  began  to  punls  his  slayerls ;  and 
fra  that  time  forth,  the  miradis  ceissit.*'  The 
melancholy  death  of  the  dake  of  Rothesay  forms 
one  of  the  most -effective  incidents  in  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  popular  novel  of  'The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth,' 
in  which  the  characters  of  the  young  prince,  of 
his  weak-minded  father  Robert  the  Third,  and  of 
his  uncle  the  regent  duke  of  Albany,  are  drawn 
with  great  faithfulness  and  power. 

It  would  appear  that  the  duke  of  Rothesay, 
who  was  of  a  wild  and  thoughtless  disposition, 
and  little  qualified  for  a  charge  so  important  as 
that  of  regent  of  the  kingdom,  had  alienated  the 
affections  of  all  whom  he  ought  to  have  courted 
and  conciliated.  He  had  in  early  life  been  affi- 
anced to  his  own  CQusin,  the  beautiful  Euphemia 
dc  Lindsay,  sister  of  Sir  William  de  Lindsay  of 
Rossie  and  of  David  earl  of  Crawford, — he  slighted 
her  for  Elizabeth  Dunbar,  sister  of  the  earl  of 
March  and  Dunbar,  to  whom  he  was  solemnly 
contracted, — and  her  again  for  Marjory  Douglas 
daughter  of  the  brave  but  unfortunate  Archibald 
earl  of  Douglas  sumamed  the  Tmeman^ — ^whom  he 
ultimately  maiTied.  The  consequence  was  the 
deadly  enmity  of  the  earl  of  March  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Rossie,  the  latter — in  absence  of  the  earl  of 
Crawford  in  Spain — the  representative  of  the  house 
of  Lindsay.  More  recently  he  had  ofiended  his 
father-in-law,  the  earl  of  Douglas,  by  personal 
affironts  and  neglect  of  his  daughter,  and  by  his 
shameful  debaucheries  and  vicious  courses  with 
other  women.  He  had  disgusted  and  insulted  one 
of  his  own  immediate  followers.  Sir  William  Ra- 
morgny,  a  man  of  highly  polished  manners,  but 
of  a  revengeful  heart.  He  conceived  a  strong 
desire  to  effect  the  overthrow  of  Albany,  which 
he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal,  and  was  guilty 
of  repeated  excesses  which  rendered  his  being 
placed  nnder  some  restraint  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity. 


On  his  suspension  from  the  office  of  governor, 
it  was  suggested  by  Sir  William  Lindsay  and  Ra- 
morgny  to  the  prince,  in  order  to  facilitate  his  cap- 
ture, that  he  should  ride  to  St.  Andi'ews — the  bishop 
of  which  had  just  died, — and  keep  the  castle  for  the 
king's  interest.  He  set  off  with  a  small  train,  but 
was  intercepted  by  them,  and  conveyed  a  prisoner 
to  the  castle.  Albany,  and  his  father-in-law 
Douglas,  then  at  Culross,  presently  an-ived,  and 
after  holding  a  council  of  the  regency,  it  was  de- 
cided to  transport  the  unfortunate  prince  to  Falk- 
land, where  he  was  placed  nnder  the  custody  of 
two  individuals  called  Wright  and  Selkuk.  The 
rest  of  the  story  we  have  given  in  the  woi'ds  of 
Boece.  The  tale  contains  matter  that  is  fabulous 
and  untrue  as  well  as  revolting  and  improbable. 
All  the  parties  named  by  the  tradition  as  the  mur- 
derers in  chief  we  know  to  have  died  a  natural 
death,  except  the  gallant  Douglas,  who  fell  at  the 
battle  of  Vemenil.  If  the  remains  of  the  prince 
could  have  wrought  miracles  at  all,  there  was 
no  truth  therefore  in  the  reason  assigned  why 
the  faculty  had  ceased.  After  a  life  so  dissipated, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  the  account  given  by 
Bower,  the  continuator  of  Fordnn,  may  have  had 
foundation,  namely,  that  the  young  prince  really 
died  of  dysentery,  and  to  this  view  of  the  case 
the  filthy  details  of  Boece  would  rather  seem  to 
give  some  countenance.  It  is  singular  that  Wyn- 
toun,  the  earliest  naiTator  of  the  event,  says  no- 
thing whatever  of  the  alleged  murder.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  he  was  in  his  29th  yeafi  having 
been  born  in  1373. — See  Rothesay,  duke  of. 

The  mysterious  death  of  the  heir  to  the  crown 
having  excited  great  attention,  a  parliament  met 
at  Edinburgh  on  the  16th  May  after,  to  investigate 
the  matter,  when  Albany  and  the  earl  of  Douglas 
acknowledged  having  imprisoned  tiieduke  of  Rothe- 
say, but  denied  being  guilty  of  his  death,  attribut- 
ing it  to  divine  providence.  These  statements 
appear  to  have  induced  the  parliament  to  de- 
clare him  innocent  of  the  murder,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  sought  to  make  himself  legally  se- 
cure by  taking  out  a  remission  under  the  great 
seal  for  the  imprisonment,  both  for  himself  and  for 
Douglas.  This  remission,  which  is  in  Latin,  was 
first  printed  by  Lord  Hailes,  but  it  does  not  follow 
from  the  concluding  remark  of  his  comment,  as 


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Pinkerton  says,  that  ho  considered  the  prince  as 
having  been  murdered;  namely,  "The  duke  of 
Albany  and  the  earl  of  Douglas  obtained  a  remis- 
sion in  terms  as  ample  as  if  they  had  actually 
murdered  the  heir  apparent/'  On  the  capital  of 
the  pillar  of  the  old  chapel  of  St.  Giles'  cathedral 
at  Edinburgh  are  still  to  be  seen  sculptured  the 
arms  of  Robert  duke  of  Albany,  and  those  of 
Archibald,  fourth  earl  of  Douglas,  the  father-in- 
law  of  Rothesay,  the  former  on  the  south  and  the 
latter  on  the  north  side,  and  the  author  .of  ^  Me- 
morials of  Edinburgh  in  the  Olden  Time '  infers 
from  this  fact  that  this  chapel  had  been  founded 
and  endowed  by  them,  as  an  expiatory  offering 
for  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  Rothesay,  and  its 
chaplain  probably  appointed  to  say  masses  for 
their  victim's  soul.  IWilson's  Memorials  ofEdtn- 
burgh,  vol.  ii.  page  168.]  The  friendship  which 
subsisted  between  Albany  and  Douglas  seems  a 
more  likely  reason  why  their  arms  should  have 
been  thus  placed  together,  than  any  thing  in  con- 
nection with  the  death  of  the  young  and  wilful 
prince,  that  could  be  imputed  to  either  of  them. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Rothesay,  Albany,  in 
order  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  nation  into 
another  channel,  gave  his  consent  for  the  renewal 
of  hostile  operations  against  England.  Two  Scot- 
tish armies  were  successively  marched  across  the 
Borders,  but  both  were  defeated  and  dispersed, 
the  first  at  the  battle  of  Nesbit  Moor,  fought  on 
the  22d  June  1402,  and  the  other  at  Homeldon 
hill,  on  the  14th  September  of  that  year,  when  the 
celebrated  Hotspur  gained  the  victory.  In  the 
latter  the  leaders  of  the  Scots,  Murdoch  earl  of 
Fife,  eldest  son  of  the  regent  Albany,  with  the 
earl  of  Douglas,  his  friend  and  supposed  accom- 
plice in  the  death  of  Rothesay,  and  eighty  knights, 
and  a  crowd  of  esquires  and  pages,  were  taken 
prisoners,  while  not  only  among  those  slain  but 
m  the  list  of  the  captives,  were  many  of  that  party 
which  supported  the  king  and  his  young  son  Prince 
James,  against  the  encroaching  power  of  Albany, 
whom  they  believed  to  be  the  murderer  of  his 
nephew  the  duke  of  Rothesay.  Soon  after  the- 
battle  of  Homeldon,  the  Percies,  who  by  this  time 
had  become  dissatisfied  with  the  monarch  whom 
they  had  placed  upon  the  English  thi*one,  began  to 
organise  that  famous  rebellion  which  terminated 


with  the  defeat  and  death  of  Hotspur  in  the  battle 
of  Shrewsbury,  in  which  they  wei*e  aided  by  their 
prisoner  the  earl  of  Douglas.  As  a  pi*etext  for 
assembling  an  army  they  pretended  an  invasion 
of  Scotland,  and  the  duke  of  Albany,  influenced 
probably  by  the  example  and  advice  of  Douglas, 
and  hoping  that  the  kingdom  would  benefit  by 
their  services,  readily  gave  in  to  their  designs 
At  the  head  of  a  large  aimy  Peix^y  advanced 
across  the  Border,  but  had  only  marched  a  few 
miles  into  Scotland,  when  he  commanded  his 
forces  to  halt  before  the  insignifieant  border-tower 
of  Cocklaws,  but  the  officer  commanding  the  tower 
having  entered  into  an  agi*eement  to  capitulate  in 
six  weeks  if  not  relieved,  the  whole  English  army 
retired.  On  receiving  information  of  this,  Albany 
assembled  the  principal  of  the  nobility,  and  hav- 
ing explained  to  them  the  circumstances,  advised 
an  immediate  expedition  into  England.  The 
Scottish  barons,  who  had  been  amazed  at  Al- 
bany's former  lukewarmness  and  inactivity,  when 
the  capital  had  been  invaded  by  Henry  IV.  in 
person  and  the  principal  castle  of  the  kingdom 
was  in  danger  of  falling  into  his  hands,  were  now 
overwhelmed  with  astonishment  at  the  sudden 
blaze  of  bravery  which  seemed  to  animate  his 
breast  when  a  paltry  Border  fortress  was  threat- 
ened by  the  English.  "All  were  of  opinion," 
says  Bower,  "  without  a  single  dissentient  voice, 
that,  upon  so  trivial  an  occasion  it  would  be  ab- 
surd to  peril  the  welfare  of  the  kingdom ;  but  Al- 
bany starting  up,  and  pointing  to  his  page,  who 
held  his  horse  at  a  little  distance;  *You,  my 
lords,'  said  he,  ^  may  sit  still  at  home;  but  I  vow 
to  God  and  St.  Fillan  that  I  shall  be  at  Cocklaws 
on  the  appointed  day,  though  no  one  but  Pate 
Klnbuck,  the  boy  yonder,  should  accompany  me.' " 
The  wai'like  resolution  of  the  governor  was  hailed 
with  gi-eat  joy.  "Never,"  says  the  historian, 
"  did  men  more  joyfully  proceed  to  a  feast,  than 
they  to  collect  their  vassals."  At  the  head  of  an 
immense  army,  Albany  advanced  to  the  Borders, 
but  on  his  mnreh,  a  messenger  from  England 
brought  the  intelligence  of  the  result  of  the  battle 
of  Shrewsbury  and  the  termination  of  the  rebel 
lion  in  England.  This,  however,  did  not  deter 
him  from  pushing  on  to  Cocklaws,  and  suiTOund- 
ing  the  fortalice  with  his  troops,  and  after  causing 


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FIRST  DUKE  OF. 


it  to  be  proclumed  by  a  herald  that  the  Fercies 
had  been  utterly  defeated,  and  so  relieved  the 
fortress,  ho  returned,  without  entering  England, 
with  his  army,  which  he  immediately  disbanded. 

In  the  meantime,  the  afflicted  monarch,  Robert 
HI.,  resolved  to  send  his  second  son  James, 
then  in  his  eleventh  year,  to  France  for  gieater 
security ;  but  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  hav- 
ing been  driven  by  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Eng- 
land, was  taken  by  an  English  cruiser,  and  the 
youthful  prince,  although  there  was  a  truce  at  the 
time  between  the  two  kingdoms,  was  ungenerously 
detained  a  prisoner  by  Henry  TV.  for  nineteen 
years. 

Robert  ITT.  died  of  a  broken  heart,  4th  April, 
1406,  and  the  duke  of  Albany,  in  the  absence  of 
James,  was,  by  a  parliament  which  met  at  Ferth, 
confirmed  in  the  regency.  He  was  then  ap- 
proaching his  seventieth  year,  but  vigorous,  poli- 
tic, and  ambitious  as  ever.  During  his  regency 
occurred  the  famous  battle  of  Harlaw,  which 
was  fought  in  1411,  between  his  nephew  Alexan- 
der, eaii  of  Mar,  and  Donald  lord  of  the  Isles, 
the  cause  of  which  was  ostensibly  the  earldom  of 
Ross,  to  which  the  lord  of  the  Isles  laid  claim  in 
right  of  his  wife,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  claim  and  his  subsequent  invasion  of  the 
district  of  Ross,  formed  merely  a  pretext,  which 
was  intended  to  conceal  his  ulterior  views  on  the 
tfirone  itself.  It  appears  that  the  male  line  of  the 
possessors  of  this  earldom  had  become  extinct, 
and  the  succession  had  devolved  upon  a  female, 
Euphemia  Ross,  the  wife  of  Sir  Walter  Lesley,  by 
whom  she  had  a  son,  Alexander,  who  succeeded 
as  earl  of  Ross,  and  a  daughter,  Margaret,  married 
to  Donald  of  the  Isles.  The  countess  of  Ross,  on 
the  death  of  her  husband,  mamed  Alexander  earl 
of  Bnchan,  fourth  son  of  King  Robert  II.  Her 
son  by  her  first  marriage,  Alexander  earl  of  Ross, 
man-ied  Lady  Isabel  Stewart,  eldest  daughter  of 
the  regent  Albany,  and  the  only  issue  of  this  mar- 
riage was  a  daughter,  also  named  Euphemia, 
countess  of  Ross,  at  her  father's  death.  This  lady 
became  a  nun,  and  committed  the  government  of 
her  earldom  to  Albany,  with  the  intention,  as  it 
is  conjectured,  of  resigning  it  in  favour  of  her  un- 
cle, John  Stewart,  earl  of  Buchan,  the  second  son 
of  the  regent.    As  the  countess  Euphemia,  by  be- 


coming a  nun,  was  regarded  as  dead  in  law,  her 
next  heir  was  her  aunt  Margaret,  the  only  sister 
of  the  deceased  Alexander,  eari  of  Ross,  and  the 
wife  of  Donald  lord  of  the  Isles.  That  diieftain 
accordingly  asserted  her  right  to  the  earldom,  and 
demanded  to  be  put  in  possession  of  it.  The  claim 
and  the  demand  were  both  rejected  by  the  regent, 
"whose  principal  object,"  says  Skene,  "appears 
to  have  been  to  prevent  the  accession  of  so  exten- 
sive a  district  to  the  territories  of  the  lord  of  the 
Isles,  already  too  powerful  for  the  security  of  the 
government,  and  whose  conduct  was  more  actu- 
ated by  principles  of  expediency  than  of  justice." 
[History  of  the  Highlanders^  vol.  ii.  p.  72.]  Re- 
solved to  maintain  his  claims  by  force  of  arms, 
and  show  his  scorn  of  the  authority  of  the  regent, 
Donald  formed  an  alliance  with  Henry  IV.  of  Eng- 
land, and  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  men,  which 
ho  had  raised  in  the  Hebrides  and  in  the  earldom 
of  Ross  itself,  suddenly  invaded  the  district  in 
dispute,  by  the  inhabitants  of  which  he  was  not 
opposed,  and  speedily  obtained  possession  of  the 
earldom.  On  his  arrival  at  Dingwall,  however, 
he  was  encountered  by  Angus  Dow  Mackay  of 
Farr,  or  Black  Angus,  as  he  was  called,  at  the 
head  of  a  large  body  of  men  from  Sutherland. 
After  a  fierce  attack  the  Mackays  were  completely 
routed,  and  their  leader  taken  prisoner,  while  An- 
gus* brother  Roderick  was  killed.  Donald  took 
possession  of  the  castle  of  Dingwall,  and  seized 
the  island  of  Skye,  contiguous  to  his  own  extensive 
territories.  Flushed  with  success,  he  now  re- 
solved, in  accordance  with  )^  secret  design  of 
overturning  the  government,  to  carry  into  execu- 
tion a  threat  he  had  often  made  to  bura  the  town 
of  Aberdeen.  He  ordered  the  army  to  assemble 
at  Inverness,  and  gathering  as  he  proceeded  all 
the  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  to  his  standai'd, 
he  swept  through  Moray  without  opposition,  and 
penetrated  into  Aberdeenshire.  In  Strathbogie, 
and  in  the  district  of  Garioch,  which  belonged  to 
the  enrl  of  Mar,  he  committed  great  excesses. 
To  arrest  his  progress,  the  earl  of  Mar,  the  ne- 
phew of  the  regent,  and  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy, 
the  sheriff  of  Angus,  hastily  raised  as  many  forces 
as  they  could  collect  in  the  counties  north  of  the 
Tay,  consisting  of  most  of  the  retainers  of  the  an- 
cient families  of  these  counties,  the  Ogilvies,  tho 


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FIRST  DUKE  OF. 


Lyons,  the  Maules,  the  Carnegies,  the  Lindsays, 
the  Leslies,  the  Hurrays,  tlie  Straitens,  the  Ir- 
vings,  the  Arbnthnots,  the  Leiths,  the  Bnmets, 
and  othera,  led  by  their  respective  chiefs.  The 
two  armies  met  at  the  village  of  Harlaw,  in  the 
parish  of  Chapel  of  Gai'ioch,  upwards  of  fifteen 
miles  from  Aberdeen.  Although  the  earl  of  Mar's 
army  was  inferior  in  point  of  numbers  to  that  of 
the  lord  of  the  Isles,  it  was  composed  of  low- 
land gentlemen,  better  armed  and  disciplined 
than  the  wild  and  disorderly  hordes  that  followed 
Donald,  who  was  assisted  by  Mackintosh  and 
Maclean,  and  other  Highland  chiefs,  all  bearing 
the  most  deadly  hatred  to  their  Saxon  foes.  This 
memorable  battle  was  fought  on  the  24th  July, 
1411,  "upon  the  issue  of  which,"  says  Skene, 
**  seemed  to  depend  the  question  of  whether  the 
Gaelic  or  Teutonic  part  of  the  population  of  Scot- 
land were  in  future  to  have  the  supremacy." 
IHistaty  of  ilie  HighlcmderSy  vol.  ii.  page  73.]  The 
disastrous  result  of  this  battle  was  one  of  the 
greatest  misfortunes  which  had  ever  happened  to 
the  numerous  respectable  families  in  Angus  and 
the  Meams.  The  earl  of  Mar  lost  five  hundred 
men,  among  whom  were  several  gentlemen  of  dis- 
tinction. Besides  Sir  James  Scrymgeonr,  consta- 
ble of  Dundee,  Sup  Alexander  Ogilvy,  the  sheriff 
of  Angus,  with  his  eldest  son,  George  Ogilvy,  Sir 
Thomas  Mnn-ay,  Sir  Robei-t  Maule  of  Fanmure, 
Sir  Alexander  Irving  of  Drum,  Sir  William  Aber- 
nethy  of  Saltoun,  Sir  Alexander  Straiton  of  Lau- 
rieston.  Sir  Robert  Davidson,  provost  of  Aberdeen, 
and  a  number  of  tly  inhabitants  of  that  city,  were 
among  the  slain.  A  gentleman,  named  I^eslie 
of  Balquhain,  whose  residence  was  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  field  of  battle,  with  six  of  his  sons, 
was  killed.  On  the  side  of  the  lord  of  the  Isles 
nine  hundred  men  wei*e  slain,  including  the  chiefs 
of  Maclean  and  Mackintosh.  Neither  party  gained 
the  victory,  and  each,  on  reckoning  its  loss,  con- 
sidered itself  vanquished,  but  the  lord  of  the  Isles 
felt  hunself  so  much  weakenefd  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  contest.  The  earl  of  Mar 
and  those  of  his  companions  who  survived  were  so 
much  exhausted  with  fatigue  that  they  passed  the 
night  on  the  field  of  battle,  expecting  a  renewal  of 
the  attack  next  morning,  but  at  daydawn  they  dis- 
covered that  Donald  and  the  remains  of  his  force 


had  retired  during  the  darkness,  without  molesta 
tion,  retreating  first  to  Ross,  and  then  to  the  Isles 
Immediately  after  the  battle,  the  regent,  anxious 
to  follow  up  the  check  which  the  Highland  force 
had  received,  collected  an  army,  and  marched  to 
the  castle  of  Dingwall,  which  he  took  and  garri- 
soned towards  the  end  of  autumn.  In  the  follow- 
ing summer  he  sent  three  separate  forces  to  invade 
the  territories  of  Donald.  The  haughty  loixl  of 
the  Isles  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  claims  to 
the  earldom  of  Ross,  to  make  i)ersonal  submis- 
sion, and  to  give  hostages  for  indemnification 
and  for  the  future  observance  of  peace.  The  in- 
strument by  which  the  earldom  of  Ross  was  re- 
signed by  Euphemia  the  nun  in  favour  of  her 
grandfather  is  dated  in  1415,  just  four  years  after 
the  battle  of  Hariaw.  The  battle  itself,  as  has 
been  well  remarked,  **  from  the  ferocity  with  which 
it  was  contested,  and  the  dismal  spectacle  of  civil 
war  and  bloodshed  exhibited  to  the  country,  ap- 
pears to  have  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  na- 
tional mind.  It  fixed  itself  in  the  music  and  the 
poetry  of  Scotland ;  a  march,  called  *  Tlie  Battle 
of  Harlaw,'  continued  to  be  a  popular  air  down  to 
the  time  of  Drummond  of  Hawthomden,  and  a 
spirited  ballad  on  the  same  event  is  still  repeated 
in  our  age,  describing  the  meeting  of  the  armies, 
and  the  deaths  of  the  chiefs,  in  no  ignoble  strain." 
[Laing's  Ecarly  Metrical  Taks^  page  229.]  For  « 
long  time  after,  it  was  customary  for  schoolboj-s 
to  arrange  themselves  into  opposite  parties,  ana 
fight  the  battle  of  Harlaw  over  again,  for  recrea- 
tion.   The  ballad  of  the  Battle  thus  concludes : 

There  was  not,  sin*  King  KennetVs  daja, 

Sic  strange  intestine  cniel  strife 
In  Sootlande  seen,  as  ilk  man  says, 

Where  monie  likelie  lost  their  life ; 

Whilk  made  diroroe  tween  man  and  wife, 
And  monie  children  fatherless, 

Whilk  m  this  realm  has  been  full  rife ; 
I>ord  help  these  lands !  our  wrangs  redress ! 

In  July,  on  Saint  James  his  enn. 

That  four-and-twenty  dismal  day, 
Twelve  hundred,  ten  score,  and  eleven 

Of  years  mn*  Christ,  the  soothe  to  say ; 

Men  will  remember,  as  they  may, 
When  thus  the  veritie  they  knaw ; 

Ana  monie  a  ane  will  mourae  for  aye 
The  brim  battle  of  the  Harlaw 


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FIRST  DUKE  OF. 


In  the  year  last  mentioned,  namely  1415,  the 
regent  obtained  from  Henry  V.  the  liberation  of 
his  son  Mnrdoch,  in  exchange  for  Henry  Percy, 
the  son  of  Hotspur.  In  1416  he  sent  his  second 
son,  John  earl  of  Bnchan,  ambassador  to  England, 
to  endeavour  to  procure  the  release  of  James  I. 
from  the  captivity  in  which  he  was  held  by  the 
English  monarch.  With  a  strange  perversity,  the 
writers  of  Scottish  history  have  almost  unani- 
mously charged  the  regent  Albany  with  **  being  in 
no  hurry  to  obtain  the  release  of  his  nephew,"  as 
Sir  Walter  Scott  gently  phrases  it — nay,  they  even 
go  farther,  and  accuse  him  of  tre^isonably  intrigu- 
ing with  the  English  king  to  retain  his  sovereign 
in  prison,  that  his  own  power  might  not  be  inter- 
rupted ;  but  hero  is  one  instance  where  Albany 
intrusted  his  son,  the  eai'l  of  Buchan,  one  of  the 
bravest  and  most  accomplished  knights  of  his  age, 
with  a  mission  to  England  to  endeavour  to  procure 
the  liberation  of  James.  In  1417,  when  King 
Henry  V.  was  in  France,  prosecuting  his  wars  there, 
the  regent,  with  a  large  army  invaded  England, 
and  after  beginning  the  siege  of  Roxburgh,  im- 
mediately retreated  in  all  haste  on  learning  that 
an  English  force,  under  the  dukes  of  Bedford  and 
Exeter,  was  on  the  way  to  meet  him.  This  was 
long  popularly  remembered  as  the  **  Foul  Raid." 
In  1419  he  despatched  his  son,  the  earl  of  Buchan, 
with  a  chosen  army  of  7,000  men,  into  France, 
to  assist  the  dauphin  against  the  English  king. 
Neither  this  invasion  of  England,  nor  this  assist- 
ance sent  to  France,  would  have  taken  place  had 
Albany  desired  to  keep  on  those  good  terms  with 
Henry  which  implied  a  mutual  understanding  as 
to  the  retention  of  James  from  his  kingdom.  This 
son,  the  earl  of  Buchan,  was  the  offspring  of  Al- 
bany's second  marriage  with  MurieUa,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  William  Keith,  marshal  of  Scotland. 
He  was  bom  about  1380.  When  his  father  be- 
came regent  in  1406,  after  the  death  of  his  brother 
Robert  HL,  he  resigned,  in  favour  of  his  son,  the 
office  of  great  chamberlain.  In  1408  Albany,  as 
regent,  created  him  earl  of  Buchan.  Five  yeara 
afterwards  Buchan  married  Lady  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Archibald  earl  of  Douglas.  While  engaged 
on  the  dauphin*s  side  against  the  English  in 
France,  tlie  earl  of  Buchan,  on  the  22d  March 
1421,  defeated  the  duke  of  Clarence,  the  brother 


of  Henry  V.,  at  Baug^  in  Anjou,  and  slew  him 
with  a  battle  axe,  after  he  had  been  pierced  with 
a  spear  by  Sir  William  Swinton.  To  recompense 
this  signal  victory  the  dauphin  conferred  upon  him 
the  high  office  of  constable  of  France.  In  1422 
he  revisited  Scotland,  with  the  view  of  inducing 
his  father-in-law,  the  eari  of  Douglas,  to  join  his 
arms.  Douglas  consented,  and  was  created  duke 
of  Touraine  in  France  by  the  dauphin.  Both 
Douglas  and  the  earl  of  Buchan,  constable  ot 
France,  were  slain  at  the  battle  of  Verneuil  in 
Normandy,  17tli  August  1424.  A  portrait  of  this 
illustrious  warrior  is  given  on  page  43,  at  the  end 
of  the  memoir. 

The  duke  of  Albany  continued  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  the  kingdom  till  his  death,  which  took 
place  at  Stiriing  castle,  on  the  8d  of  September 
1420,  at  the  age  of  81.  His  body  was  interred 
in  the  Abbey  church  of  Dunfermline.  Our  his- 
torians generally  have  given  a  very  unfair  view 
of  Albany's  character.  Pinkerton  thus  depicts 
it :  **  His  person  was  tall  and  majestic ;  his  coun- 
tenance amiable.  Temperance,  affability,  elo- 
quence, real  generosity,  appai'ent  benignity,  a 
degree  of  cool  prudence,  bordering  upon  wisdom, 
may  be  reckoned  among  his  virtues.  But  the 
shades  of  his  vices  are  deeper ;  an  insatiate  ambi- 
tion, unrelenting  cruelty,  and  its  attendant  cow- 
ardice, or,  at  least,  an  absolute  defect  of  military 
fame,  a  contempt  of  the  best  human  affections,  a 
long  practice  in  all  the  dark  paths  of  art  and  dis- 
simulation. His  administration  he  studied  to  re- 
commend, not  by  promoting  the  public  good,  but 
by  sharing  the  spoils  of  the  monarchy  with  the 
nobles,  by  a  patient  connivance  at  their  enormi- 
ties, by  a  dazzling  pomp  of  expenditure,  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  feast,  and  in  the  conciliation  of 
magnificence.  As  fortune  preserved  his  govern- 
ment from  any  signal  unsuccess,  so  it  would  be 
an  abuse  of  terms  to  bestow  upon  a  wary  man- 
agement which  only  regarded  his  own  interest  the 
praise  of  political  wisdom."  In  this  same  strain 
all  our  historians  follow  one  another  in  their  esti- 
mate of  Albany*s  character,  but  I  am  not  disposed 
to  agree  with  them  entirely.  Nothing  could  be 
wiser  or  more  calculated  for  the  public  good,  than 
his  resistance  to  Donald  of  the  Isles,  whose  object 
was  by  the  aid  of  England  to  destroy  the  Scottish 


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kingdom  to  his  own  aggrandisement;  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  motives  imputed  to  Albany,  or 
the  objects  assigned  as  the  moving  springs  of  his 
administration,  surely  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
public  good  was  indeed  promoted  by  his  policy,  and 
by  his  judicious  and  vigorous  measures  on  all  occa- 
sions. During  his  regency  justice  was  regularly 
administered.  He  took  great  care  not  to  lay 
any  taxes  on  the  people,  and  especially  he  steadily 
and  successfully  opposed  the  levying  of  a  tax  of 
two  pennies  on  every  hearth  in  the  kingdom, 
which  had  been  proposed  in  parliament  for  the 
purpose  of  defraying  the  expense  of  demolishing 
Jedburgh  castle.  "Even  in  his  time,"  says  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  **  it  wonld  seem  that  the  extent  of 
writings  used  for  the  transference  of  property,  had 
become  a  subject  of  complaint.  When  upon  this 
subject,  Albany  used  often  to  praise  the  simpli- 
city and  beauty  of  an  ancient  charter  by  King 
Athelstan,  a  Saxon  monaixh.  It  had  been  granted 
to  the  ancient  Northumbrian  family  called  Rod- 
dam  of  Roddam,  and  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Scots  on  some  of  their  plundering  excureions." 
The  duke  of  Albany,  it  is  quite  certain,  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  and  most  able  goveniora  that 
the  kingdom  ever  possessed.  He  enjoyed  to  a  high 
degree  the  confidence  of  both  king  and  nobles, 
while  the  people  placed  the  utmost  reliance  on 
the  justice  and  finnness  of  his  government.  The 
following  is  an  impression  of  his  seal,  taken  frem 
the  Diplomaia  ScoHcb: 


Robert  duke  of  Albany  was  twice  mamed :  first 
to  Margaret,  countess  of  Menteith ;  and  secondly 
to  Muriella,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  William  Keith, 
gi-eat  marischal  of  Scotland,  and  had  issue  by  both 
marriages. — Douglas'  Peerage^  vol.  i. — Piiikerton's 
History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  85. 

ALBANY,  Murdoch,  second  duke  of,  son  of 
the  preceding,  succeeded  him  both  as  duke  and 
regent.  At  first  he  bore  the  title  of  earl  of  Fife. 
He  had  a  grant  from  Robert  HI.  in  the  thii*d 
year  of  his  reign,  of  a  hundred  merks  sterling  an- 
nually from  the  customs  of  Aberdeen.  He  was 
Justiciary  of  Scotland  benorth  the  Forth,  and 
designed  of  Kinclevyne  when  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Homeldon  in  1402.  Henry  IV. 
presented  him  in  full  parliament  on  20th  Octo- 
ber, and  he  was  allowed  to  be  at  large  on  his 
parole  of  honour.  By  a  letter  from  his  father  to 
Heniy  the  Fourth,  dated  Falkland,  June  2,  1405, 
he  seems  to  have  received  much  kindness  from  that 
monarch  during  his  stay  in  England,  as  he  thanks 
him  for  his  good  treatment  of  his  son  Murdoch, 
and  the  favourable  audience  given  to  Rothesay 
herald.  In  1415  he  was  exchanged  for  Henry 
Percy  of  Northumberland,  the  son  of  Hotspur, 
who,  since  the  battle  of  Shrewsbury,  had  remained 
in  Scotland.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  pos- 
sessed the  same  degi-ee  of  energy  as  his  father,  but 
the  accounts  of  him  given  by  our  historians  are 
manifestly  partial  and  exaggerated.  It  is  stated 
that  on  his  father's  death  in  1419,  he  assumed 
the  office  of  governor  of  Scotland,  just  as  if  he 
had  naturally  and  legitimately  succeeded  to  it  as 
a  matter  of  hereditaiy  right,  and  that  he  did  not 
think  it  necessary  even  to  obtain  the  sanction  of 
parliament,  but  supported  by  the  feudal  nobility 
at  once  usui-ped  the  government.  This  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  the  conduct  of  a  person  of  the 
indolent,  incapable,  and  unambitious  character 
which  Duke  Murdoch's  is  universally  represented 
to  have  been.  In  the  commission  pi*eserved  in 
the  chapter  of  Westminster,  and  of  which  a  copy 
is  given  in  Anderson's  Diphmata,  No.  64,  it  is 
expressly  stated  that  the  parties  therein  named, 
being  the  bishop  of  Glasgow,  chancellor  of  Scot- 
land, James  Douglas  of  Balvany,  brother-in-law 
of  Duke  Murdoch,  the  earl  of  March,  the  abbot 
of  Balmennoch  and  othei's,   empowered  to  ne- 


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gotiate  for  the  deliverance  of  James  from  his  cap- 
tivity in  England,  were  so  appointed  with  the 
knowledge  and  by  the  deliberate  council  of  the 
three  estates  of  the  realm  (ex  certa  sdentia  et 
deliberato  conciho  tnum  $tatuum  regni)^  which 
must  have  been  assembled  at  the  time,  and  pro- 
bably for  the  purpose.  This  document  beai-s  date 
19th  August  1423,  and  is  stated  to  have  been 
passed  in  the  third  year  of  Murdoch's  government. 
As,  however,  his  father  died  in  1419,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  it  could  have  been  so  expressed  had  he 
then  assumed  the  government;  for  it  would,  in 
that  case,  have  been  stated  to  have  been  done  in 
the  fourth  and  not  the  third  year  of  his  regency ; 
and  it  is  but  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  post  of 
govcmof  remained  vacant  after  the  death  of  his 
father,  till  it  could  be  legitimately  conferred  on 
Murdoch  by  an  act  of  some  parliament,  of  the 
proceedings  of  which,  as  well  as  of  the  one  referred 
to  in  the  commission,  no  trace  is  now  to  be  found 
in  history.  It  is  said  that  Murdoch's  conduct  as 
rogcut  created  so  much  dissatisfaction  in  the  na- 
tion that  some  persons  refused  to  accept  of  the 
most  profitable  offices,  and  others  resigned  theirs; 
while  the  loss  of  place  was  accounted  a  proof  of 
men's  honour  and  integrity.  Bat  in  the  com- 
mission referred  to,  men  of  the  highest  rank  and 
character  ahe  mentioned  as  being  in  possession  of 
some  of  the  chief  offices  in  the  kingdom.  It  is 
certain,  how'ever,  that  during  Murdoch's  govern- 
ment, the  affections  of  the  people  became  more 
intensely  fixed  upon  their  absent  sovereign ;  and 
the  greatest  desire  was  manifested  for  his  retum ; 
to  which  Murdoch  was  induced  to  accede.  A  tra- 
ditionary stoiy,  in  which  we  place  no  faith,  is  re- 
lated that  he  was  driven  to  this  by  his  son  Walter 
having  savagely  wrung  the  neck  of  a  favourite  fal- 
con which  he  coveted,  on  its  being  refused  to  him, 
as  Murdoch  set  out  one  day  to  enjoy  the  rcci*eation 
of  hawking.  Provoked  by  his  conduct,  the  regent 
said  to  the  youth,  *^  Since  thou  canst  not  find  in 
thy  heart  to  obey  me,  I  will  bring  in  another  whom 
both  of  us  shall  be  forced  to  obey."  Ambassadoi-s 
being  despatched  to  negociate  with  the  English 
court,  after  some  delay  the  duke  of  Bedford,  then 
protector  of  England,  agreed  to  deliver  up  the 
i  king  of  Scotland,  on  payment  of  £40,000,  within 
six  years  by  half-yeai*ly  payments,  hostages  be- 


ing given  for  payment  of  the  same.  The  am 
bassadors  who  went  to  England,  to  concert  mea- 
sures about  the  payment  of  this  sum,  were  the 
bishops  of  Aberdeen  and  Dunblane  and  Mr.  Tho- 
mas Myreton.  The  aiTangement  for  the  release  of 
the  king  was  finally  adjusted  by  the  Scottish  com- 
missioners, who  proceeded  to  London  for  that 
pui-pose,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1424.  In  the  fol- 
lowing April  James  retunied  to  Scotland,  after 
having  man-led  the  Lady  Jane  Beaufort,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  eai'l  of  Somerset,  of  the  blood  royal  of 
England.  At  his  coronation,  Murdoch,  duke  of 
Albany,  as  earl  of  Fife,  performed  the  ceremony 
of  installing  the  sovereign  on  the  throne,  and 
amidst  the  rejoicings  on  the  occasion,  the  king 
conferred  the  honour  of  knighthood  on  Alexander 
Stewart,  the  second  son  of  the  duke  of  Albany, 
and  twenty-four  others  of  his  principal  nobility 
and  barons.  An  act  had  been  passed  in  the  first 
parliament  after  James'  return,  ordering  the  she- 
riffs to  enquire  what  lands  had  belonged  to  the 
crown  during  the  thi-ee  preceding  reigns,  and  em 
powering  the  king  to  summon  the  holders  to  show 
their  chartera.  There  had,  probably,  been  some 
demur,  which  roused  James  to  adopt  vigorous 
measures,  and  to  have  recouree  to  the  cruel  expe- 
dient of  cutting  off  his  own  cousin  and  his  family 
as  the  authors  of  it.  He  first  ordered  the  arrest 
of  Walter,  eldest  son  of  Murdoch,  duke  of  Al- 
bany, the  late  regent,  with  that  of  Malcolm  Flem- 
ing of  Cumbernauld,  and  Thomas  Boyd  of  Kil- 
marnock; and  in  a  parliament  held  at  Penh, 
25th  March  1425,  he  ordered  the  arrest  of  Mur- 
doch himself,  his  second  son.  Sir  Alexander 
Stewart,  the  earls  of  Douglas,  Angus,  and  March, 
and  twenty  other  gentlemen  of  note.  His  view, 
it  is  probable,  in  arresting  so  many  was  to  pre- 
vent an  insurrection.  Mui*doch  was  committed  a 
close  prisoner  to  Caerlaverock  castle,  while  his 
duchess,  Isabella,  was  sent  to  Tantallan,  and  the 
king  immediately  took  possession  of  Albany's 
castles  of  Falkland  in  Fife,  and  Doune  in  Men- 
teith.  Immediately  after  the  arrest  of  the  duke 
of  Albany  and  the  other  nobles,  the  king  ad- 
jouiTied  the  parliament  for  two  months.  It  re- 
assembled in  the  palace  of  Stu-ling,  on  the  24th  of 
May,  when  the  king  presided  in  person,  at  the 
tinal  of  Duke  Murdoch,  his  two  sons,  and  hiti 


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SECOND  DUKE  OF. 


father-in-law,  the  aged  earl  of  Lennox.  No 
known  I'ecord  specifies  their  crime,  and  our  histo- 
rians have  conjectured  that  the  charge  was  one  of 
high  treason,  for  the  alleged  usurpation  of  the 
government  on  tlie  part  of  Albany.  Walter  Stew- 
art, the  eldest  son,  was  first  tried,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  and  being  found  gnilty  was  instantly  be- 
headed in  front  of  the  castle.  On  the  following  day, 
tlie  duke  of  Albany,  Alexander  bis  second  son,  and 
the  «arl  of  I^ennox,  were  tried  by  the  same  juiy, 
and  being  convicted  were  immediately  executed. 
None  of  the  noblemen  and  others  arrested  with 
them  were  brought  to  punishment.  Seven  of 
them  even  sat  on  the  jury  of  twenty-six  persons 
who  found  the  duke  and  his  companions  guilty  on 
their  trial.  Alexander,  lord  of  the  Isles,  who  suc- 
ceeded Donald,  whom  Duke  Murdoch's  father  had 
humbled  (see  p.  37),  was  also  one  of  the  jury, 
whose  verdict  sent  him  and  his  sons  and  lus 
father-in-law  to  the  block.  Upon  this  Alexander 
of  the  Isles,  the  earldom  of  Ross,  with  extensive 
possessions  in  the  Western  Islands,  was  bestowed 
by  James:  an  impolitic  act,  which  afterwards 
brought  much  evil  upon  the  kingdom.  The  scene 
of  the  execution  was  a  rising  ground  in  front  of  the 
ca.stle  of  Stirling,  which  is  still  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Heading  Hill. 

**  Amongst  the  people,"  says  Tytler,  "  the  shed- 
ding of  so  much  noble  blood  excited  a  sympathy  and 
commiseration  for  which  James  was  not  prepared. 
Albany  and  his  two  sons,  Walter  and  Alexander 
Stewart,  were  men  whose  appearance  and  man- 
ners, in  a  feudal  age,  were  peculiarly  fitted  to 
command  popularity.  Their  stature  was  almost 
gigantic;  their  countenances  cast  in  the  mould 
of  manly  beauty;  and  their  air  so  dignified  and 
warlike  that  when  the  father  and  the  two  sons 
ascended  the  scaffold,  it  was  impossible  to  behold 
the  scene  without  a  feeling  of  involuntary  pity 
and  admiration.  Behind  them  came  the  earl  of 
J/cnnox,  a  venerable  nobleman  in  his  eightieth 
year;  and,  when  he  laid  his  head  upon  the  block, 
and  his  grey  haij-s  were  stained  with  blood,  a 
thrill  of  horror  ran  through  the  crowd,  which,  in 
spite  of  the  respect  or  terror  for  the  royal  name, 
bix)ke  out  into  expressions  of  indignation  at  the 
unsparing  severity  of  the  vengeance."  From  the 
place  of  his  execution  Duke  Murdoch  might  sec  in 


the  distance  the  fertile  territory  of  Menteith,  which 
formed  pait  of  his  family  estates,  and  even  distin- 
guish the  stately  castle  of  Donne,  which  bad  been 
his  own  vice-regal  residence.  Of  this  magnificent 
edifice  the  following  is  a  wood-cut. 


The  title  and  possessions  of  the  duke  of  Albany 
were  forfeited,  and  the  latter  annexed  to  the  crown. 
To  obtain  these  was,  no  doubt,  the  cause  of  his 
death.  A  contemporary  narrative  of  the  murder 
of  King  James,  preserved  in  the  General  Register 
House,  and  printed  by  Pinkerton,  represents  the 
general  impression  to  have  been  that  "  the  kyng 
did  rather  that  rigorons  execucion  upon  the  lordes 
of  his  kyne  for  the  covetise  of  thai*e  possessions 
and  goodes,  thane  for  any  rightful  cause ;  althoe 
he  fonde  colourabill  wayes  to  serve  his  intent  yn 
the  contrarye."  IPinkertan's  Hist  vol.  i.  p.  463.] 
The  estates  of  the  earl  of  Lennox,  his  father-in- 
law,  were  allowed  to  remain  unforfeited.  Duke 
Murdoch's  marriage  to  Isabella,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  Duncan,  earl  of  Lennox,  who  had  been  left  a 
widower  without  male  issue,  took  place  in  1391. 
By  the  maniage  contract,  it  was  agreed  that 
should  the  eai'l  of  Lennox  marry  again,  and  have 
an  heir  male,  the  latter  should  marr}'  Duke  Mur- 
doch's sister. 

The  earl  did  not  marry  again,  and  had  no  heir 


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male  of  his  body  wbo  might  fnlfil  the  condition  of 
a  marriage  with  the  regent's  daughter.  Of  the 
marriage  of  Murdoch  lUid  Isabella,  four  sons  were 
bom,  Robert,  who  died  early,  Walter,  Alexander, 
and  James.  The  latter,  who  was  the  fourth  son, 
when  his  father,  grandfather,  and  two  brothers  were 
seized  and  executed,  was  the  only  male  member 
of  the  family  who  escaped.  Resolving  to  succour 
his  kindred  or  avenge  their  fate,  with  a  body  of 
armed  followers,  as  desperate  as  himself,  he  car- 
ried fire  and  sword  into  the  town  of  Dumbarton, 
and  put  to  death  the  king's  uncle,  John  Stewai*t, 
called  the  Red  Stewart  of  Dundonald,  with  thirty- 
two  others  of  inferior  note.  The  king  pursued 
him  with  such  determined  animosity  that  ho  was 
compelled  to  fly  with  his  abettor,  the  bishop  of  Ar- 
gyle,  to  Ireland.— See  Avakbale,  lord,  p.  169. 
{^Ncgjier*s  History  of  the  Pcartihon  of  the  Lennox^  pc 
10.]  Duke  Murdoch's  widow  was  allowed  to  re- 
tain her  estates  and  titles,  and  to  reside  till  her 
death  upon  her  earldom  of  I^nnox.  She  lived 
in  the  castle  of  Inchmurrin  on  Loch  Lomond,  the 
chief  messuage  of  the  earldom,  and  there  granted 
charters  to  vassals  as  countess  of  liennox.  She 
survived  to  hear  of  the  assassination  of  him  whose 
inflexible  sentence  had  cut  ofl*  her  father,  her  hus- 
band, and  her  two  sons.  On  one  of  the  pillars  of 
St.  Giles'  church,  Edinburgh,  are  the  arms  of  Isa- 
bella, duchess  of  Albany  and  countess  of  Lennox, 
who,  in  1450,  founded  the  collegiate  church  of 
Dumbarton  and  largely  endowed  other  religious 
foundations.  She  died  about  1460.  See  Lennox, 
family  of.  [DouglcuP  Peerage, — TytUr's  Lives  of 
Scottish  Worthies,  Life  of  James  /.] 

The  physical  strength  and  imposing  appear- 
ance of  the  descendants  of  Robert  the  firet  duk^ 
of  Albany  have  been  frequently  mentioned  by 
historians.  Murdoch's  half-brother,  the  earl  of 
Bnchan,  constable  of  France,  slain  at  Vemeuil  in 
Normandy,  in  1424  (see  ante,  page  89,)  of  whom 
a  portrait  is  extant,  seems  to  have  possessed  all 
the  qualities  of  his  race  in  this  respect.  Of  this 
portrait,  which  was  discovered  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  by  Sir  Greorge  Seton  of  Garle- 
ton,  of  the  noble  family  of  Winton,  in  the  gallery 
of  M.  Fiebet,  at  his  seat  near  Chambord  in  France, 
an  engraving  is  given  in  Pinkerton's  Portrait  Gal- 
lery.   A  woodcut  of  it  is  annexed. 


ALBANY,  Alexander,  third  duke  of,  was  the 
second  son  of  King  James  II.  His  first  titles  were 
earl  of  March  and  lord  of  Annandale,  but  he  was 
about  1456  created  duke  of  Albany,  a  title  which 
had  been  foifeited  to  the  crown  when  Duke 
Murdoch  was  beheaded.  Having  been  sent  to 
France  to  complete  his  education,  he  was  in  1464, 
on  his  voyage  homeward  frcm  his  uncle,  the  duke 
of  Gueldres,  towards  Scotland,  captured  by  the 
English,  but  soon  released,  a  herald  having  been 
sent  to  England  to  declare  war  in  case  of  his  being 
detained.  In  February  1478  his  brother  James 
III.,  a  prince  of  a  weak  and  irresolute  temper,  and 
fond  of  mean  favourites,  on  the  sinister  informa- 
tion of  some  of  these,  ordered  his  arrest,  and  im- 
prisoned him  in  Edinburgh  castle.  Soon  after,  his 
younger  brother,  the  earl  of  Mar,  was  also  ar- 
rested by  the  king's  orders.  Both  of  these  princes 
were  popular  with  the  nobility  and  people,  and 
had  incuiTcd  the  king's  suspicion  and  the  hatred 
of  his  favourites.  As  lord  warden  of  the  east 
frontiers,  Albany  had  besides  restrained  and  dis- 
obliged the  Homes  and  Hepbunis  and  othera  of 
the  Border  clans,  and  in  revenge  they  bribed 
Cochrane,  the  king's  principal  adviser;  to  set  the 
king  against  him.    Man*  was  taken  out  of  his  bed 


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and  sent  prisoner  to  Craigmillar  castle,  and  slioitly 
thereafter,  being  accused  by  the  king^s  favourites 
of  consulting  with  sorcerers  and  witches  to  take 
the  king^s  life,  he  was  sentenced  to  have  a  vein 
in  his  leg  opened,  and  in  a  bath  to  bleed  to  death, 
which  was  executed  m  toe  Canongate  in  1479. 
IBalfour's  Annals^  vol.  i.  p.  203.]  Albany  was 
committed  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
out  effected  his  escape,  and  proceeded  to  his 
castle  of  Dunbar,  from  whence,  after  victualling 
and  providing  it  with  all  manner  of  munitions  of 
war,  he  sailed  for  France,  llbtd.  vol.  i.  p.  202.] 
He  was  forfeited  4th  October  1479,  and  troops 
were  sent  to  besiege  his  castle  of  Dunbar,  which 
soon  yielded,  the  garrison  escaping  in  boats  to 
England.  On  arriving  at  Paris,  the  duke  met 
with  an  honourable  reception  from  I^uis  XI.  He 
i*emained  in  France  till  1482,  when  he  proceeded 
to  England,  and  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
Edward  IV.,  by  which  the  English  king  obliged 
himself  to  aid  him  in  invading  Scotland,  and  to 
place  him  on  the  throne;  in  return  for  which  he 
consented  to  sun*ender  Berwick,  to  acknowledge 
himself  the  vassal  of  England,  to  renounce  all 
alliance  with  Louis  of  France,  and  to  marry  one 
of  Edwai'd's  daughtei's.  In  consequence  of  this 
Albany  assumed  the  title  of  king,  declaring  his 
brother  to  be  a  bastard.  An  English  army 
amounting  to  40,000  men,  under  the  duke  of  Glou- 
cester, afterwards  Richard  III.,  accompanied  by 
Albany,  marched  to  Berwick,  and  invested  that 
town.  The  town  speedily  surrendered,  but  the 
castle  held  out.  In  the  meantime  King  James 
having  assembled  his  nobility,  marched  towards 
the  Boi-dera  to  meet  the  eneifly.  As  he  lay  en- 
camped near  Lauder,  his  nobles,  highly  exasper- 
ated at  their  sovereign's  conduct,  headed  by  Ar- 
chibald Douglas,  eai'l  of  Angus,  commonly  called, 
after  this  event,  "  Bell-the-Cat,"  after  securing 
the  chief  favourite  Robert  Cochrane,  burst  into  the 
royal  tent  during  the  night,  and  seized  the  rest 
of  the  king's  minions,  all  of  whom,  with  Cochrane, 
they  hanged  over  the  bridge  of  Lauder.  They  then 
can-led  the  king  to  Edinburgh,  and  shut  him  up 
in  the  castle,  under  the  care  of  his  uncles  the  earls 
of  Athol  and  Buchan.  The  road  to  the  capital 
was  now  open,  and  the  dukes  of  Gloucester  and 
Albany,  with  their  forces,  advanced,  in  the  month 


of  July,  towards  Edinburgh.  The  archbishop  of 
St.  Andrews,  the  bishop  of  Dunkeld,  with  Lord 
Avandale,  the  chancellor,  and  the  earl  of  Argyle. 
hastily  collected  a  small  army,  and  posted  them- 
selves at  Haddington,  to  impede  the  advance  of 
the  enemy.  At  the  same  time  they  entered  into 
negociations  with  Albany,  and  on  the  2d  of  August 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded.  Albany  en- 
gaged to  be  a  true  and  faithful  subject  to  King 
James,  on  his  titles  and  estates,  with  Dunbar 
castle,  and  the  possessions  of  the  late  earl  of 
Mar,  his  brother,  being  restored  to  him,  and  the 
office  of  king's  lieutenant  of  the  realm  being  con- 
ferred on  him.  Two  heralds  were  commanded  to 
pass  to  the  castle  to  charge  the  captain  to  open  the 
gates  and  set  the  king  at  liberty.  In  Balfour's 
Annals  of  Scotland,  (vol.  i.  p.  207,)  it  is  stated 
that  the  duke  of  Albany  and  the  lord  chancellor 
then  govenied  all  the  realm,  and  that  with  several 
of  the  nobility  Albany  went  to  Stirling  to  visit  the 
queen  and  prince,  and  aflcr  his  return  he  laid  siege 
to  Edinburgh  castle,  which  he  took,  when  the  king 
and  such  servants  as  were  with  him  were  set  at 
liberty.  According  to  Lindsay  of  Pitscottie,  (vol. 
i.  p.  200),  the  king,  on  recovering  his  freedom, 
"  lap  on  a  hackney  to  ride  down  to  the  abbay ; 
but  he  would  not  ride  forward,  till  the  duik  of  Al- 
banie  his  brother  lap  on  behind  hun ;  and  so  they 
went  down  the  geat  to  the  abbey  of  Hallyraid  hous, 
qnhair  they  remained  ane  lang  time  in  great  miiri- 
nes;"  and,  as  Abercromby adds,  he  "would  needs 
make  him  a  partnei*  in  his  bed,  and  a  comrade  at  his 
table,"  that  being  considered  in  those  days  the  best 
proof  of  a  perfect  reconciliation.  Albany  immedi- 
ately concluded  a  truce  with  the  duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, and  on  the  23d  of  August  1482  surrendered 
to  him  the  fortress  of  Berwick,  after  it  had  been 
in  possession  of  the  Scots  for  twenty -one  years. 
Notwithstanding  the  favour  which  was  now  shown 
to  him  by  the  king,  Albany,  in  the  following  year, 
engaged  in  another  secret  treaty  with  Edward 
IV.,  for  depriving  his  brother  of  the  throne,  and 
securing  it  to  himself.  His  designs  being  detected 
by  the  nobles,  he  was  obliged  to  fly  to  England, 
having  previously  placed  his  castle  of  Dunbar  in 
the  hands  of  the  English.  In  consequence  of  this 
traitorous  proceeding,  he  was  formally  accused  of 
treason,  and  summoned  to  stand  his  trial;  bul 


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failing  to  appear,  he  was  condemned  to  death  as  a 
traitor  and  to  have  his  estates  confiscated.  Hav- 
ing assembled  a  small  force,  he  joined  the  earl  of 
Donglas,  who  was  likewise  an  exile  in  England, 
and  made  an  inroad  into  his  native  country,  but 
uras  routed  near  Lochmaben,  22d  July  1484,  when 
Douglas  was  taken  prisoner,  but  Albany  escaped 
by  the  fleetness  of  his  horse.  A  tiiice  for  three 
years  was  then  agreed  upon  between  the  two 
countries,  and  Albany,  finding  that  he  could  ob- 
tidn  no  farther  protection  in  England,  retii'ed  to 
France,  where  he  was  well  received  by  Charles 
Vni.  He  was  accidentally  killed  at  Paris  in 
November  1485,  by  the  splinter  of  a  lance,  while 
an  onlooker  at  a  tournament  between  the  duke 
of  Orleans  and  another  knight,  and,  by  act  of 
parliament  1st  October  1487,  all  his  lands  and 
possessions  in  Scotland  were  annexed  to  the  crown. 
According  to  the  description  given  of  him  by  an 
uicient  Scottish  author,  the  duke  of  Albany  was 
ffell-proportioned,  and  tall  in  stature,  and  comely 
b  his  countenance;  that  is  to  say,  broad-faced, 
red-nosed,  large-eared,  and  having  a  very  awful 
eountenance  when  displeased.  Like  his  younger 
brother,  the  unfortunate  earl  of  Mar,  who  was  of 
a  milder  temper  and  manners,  he*  excelled  in  the 
military  exercises  of  tilting,  hunting,  hawking, 
and  other  personal  accomplishments,  for  which  his 
brother  James  UI.  had  no  taste.  He  had  married 
first  Lady  Catherine  Sinclair,  eldest  daughter  of 
William  earl  of  Orkney  and  Caithness,  but  a  divorce 
took  place,  2d  March  1478,  on  account  of  propin- 
quity of  blood.  By  her  he  had  one  son,  Alexander, 
who  was  declared  illegitimate  by  act  of  parliament, 
13  November  1516,  and  who  was  made  bishop  of 
Moray  and  abbot  of  Scone,  in  1527.  He  married, 
secondly,  in  Febraary  1480,  Anne  de  la  Tour, 
third  daughter  of  Bertrand,  Count  d'Auvergne 
and  de  Bouillon,  and  by  her  he  had  one  son, 
Duke  John,  the  subject  of  the  following  notice. — 
Douglas^  Peerage. — Histories  of  the  Period, 

ALBANY,  John,  fourth  duke  of,  son  of  the 
preceding,  was  bom  about  1481.  Li  1505,  he 
married  his  cousin,  Anne,  or  Agnes,  de  la  Tour, 
countess  d'Auvergue  and  de  Laurajais,  by  whom 
ho  got  large  possessions.  On  the  death  of  James 
IV  ,  in  1513,  his  son  James  V.  being  then  only 
in  his  second  year,  the  queen  mother  was  ap- 


pointed regent  of  the  kingdom,  but  at  a  con- 
vention of  the  estates  held  soon  after  at  Perth, 
it  was  agreed,  at  the  m*gent  suggestion  of  the 
venerable  Elphinston,  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  se- 
conded by  the  I^rd  Home,  that  the  duke  of 
Albany,  then  in  France,  and  who  after  the  infant 
king  was  next  heir  to  the  throne,  should  be  invited 
to  Scotland  to  be  governor  of  the  kingdom,  during 
James*  minority.  This  election  was  ratified  by  a 
public  meeting  of  the  estates  held  at  Edinburgh 
soon  after,  and  Lyon  king  at  arms,  with  Sir  Patrick 
Hamilton,  was  sent  to  France  to  notify  the  ap- 
pointment to  the  duke.  In  the  meantime,  the 
sentence  of  forfeiture  which  had  excluded  him 
from  the  enjoyment  of  his  rank  and  estates  in 
Scotland  was  annulled,  and  his  arrival  hnpatiently 
looked  for  by  the  people,  as  the  queen  mother  had 
married  the  earl  of  Angus,  and,  being  opposed  by 
the  nobility,  nothing  but  anarchy  and  disorder  pre- 
vailed in  the  kingdom.  On  the  18th  May,  1515, 
the  duke  arrived  at  Dumbarton,  Balfour  says  at 
Ayr,  with  a  squadron  of  eight  ships;  and  soon  after 
he  was  installed  into  the  office  of  i*egent.  *^  He  wes 
ressaueit,*'  says  a  chronicler  of  the  period,  **  with 
greit  honour,  and  convoyit  to  Edinburgh  with  ane 
greit  cnmpany,  with  greit  blythnes,  and  glore,  and 
thair  wes  constitute  and  maid  govemour  of  this 
i*ealme ;  and  sone  thairefter  held  ane  parliament, 
and  ressauit  the  homage  of  the  lordis  and  thre 
estaittis ;  quhair  thahr  wes  mony  things  done  for 
the  weiU  of  this  countrey."  His  inauguration  into 
the  regency  was  attended  with  great  splendour. 
A  sword  was  delivered  to  him,  and  a  crown  placed 
upon  his  head,  while  the  peers  made  solemn  obei- 
sance. He  was  ddClared  governor  of  the  kingdom 
till  the  king  attamed  the  age  of  eighteen  years. 
The  duke  took  up  his  residence  at  Holyrood,  and 
seems  toiiave  immediately  proceeded  with  the  en- 
largement of  the  palace,  in  continuation  of  the 
works  which  James  IV.,  the  late  king,  had  carried 
on  till  near  the  close  of  his  life. 

Albany,  unfortunately,  was  ignorant  not  only 
of  the  constitution,  the  laws  and  the  manners,  but 
even  of  the  language  of  Scotland.  He  was  in 
fact  more  French  than  Scotch.  His  mother  was  a 
Frenchwoman,  and  so  was  his  wife.  His  chief 
estates  were  in  France,  where  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  had  been  spent,  and  his  loyalty  to  the 


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French  king  was  so  nndisgoised  that  he  constantly 
styled  him  master.  When  it  is  added  to  this  that 
his  temper  was  passionate,  that  every  comer  of  the 
kingdom  was  filled  with  spies  and  agents  in  the 
pay  of  England,  and  that  the  powerful  honses  of 
Home  and  Douglas  swayed  tlie  faction  that  were 
opposed  to  him,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
he  would  be  successful  in  restoring  peace  to  the 
country.  The  infant  king  and  his  brother  were 
still  under  the  care  of  the  queen-mother;  and  a 
parliament  which  assembled  at  Edinburgh,  nomi- 
nated eight  lords,  four  of  whom  were  to  be  chosen 
by  lot,  and  from  these  four  the  queen-mother  was 
to  select  three  who  were  to  have  the  charge  of  the 
two  infant  princes.  The  queen,  however,  was  not 
disposed  to  part  with  her  children,  and  when  the 
peers  proceeded  to  the  castle  of  Edinbui-gh,  to 
notify  to  her  the  commands  of  parliament,  her 
majesty,  who  was  then  no  more  than  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  and  in' the  full  bloom  of  her  beauty, 
was  seen  standing  under  the  archway  at  the  en- 
trance, with  the  little. king  at  her  side,  holding 
her  hand,  while  a  nurse  stood  behind  with  his  in- 
fant brother,  the  duke  of  Ross,  in  her  arms. 
In  a  loud  voice,  and  with  a  dignified  air,  she 
desired  them  to  stand  and  declare  what  they 
wanted.  They  answered  that  they  came  in  the 
name  of  the  parliament  to  receive  their  sover- 
eign and  his  brother,  on  which  the  queen  com- 
manded the  warder  to  drop  the  portcullis,  and 
this  being  instantly  done,  she  thus  addressed  the 
astonished  loi*ds :  **  I  hold  this  castle  by  the  gift 
of  my  late  husband,  your  sovereign,  nor  shall  I 
yield  it  to  any  person  whatsoever ;  but  I  respect 
the  parliament,  and  require  six  days  to  consider 
their  mandate,  for  most  important  is  my  charge ; 
and  my  councillors,  alas!  are  now  few."  Ap- 
prehensive, however,  that  she  would  not  be  able 
to  hold  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  against  the  for- 
ces of  the  parliament,  she  soon  removed,  with 
the  young  king  and  his  brother,  to  Stu'ling  castle. 
Albany  immediately  collected  an  armed  force,  and 
proceeded  in  person  to  Stirling,  where  the  queen 
finding  her  adherents  deserting  her,  was  soon 
obliged  to  suirender.  The  young  princes  were  then 
committed  to  the  care  of  the  earl  Marshal  and  the 
lords  Fleming  and  Borthwick,  while  the  queen 
was  conducted  with  every  mai'k  of  i*cspect  to  Ed- 


inburgh, where  she  took  up  her  residence  in  the 
castle.  On  the  success  of  the  regent.  Lord  Home, 
one  of  the  queen's  principal  adherents,  at  once 
commenced  to  intrigue  with  England,  and  con- 
certed measures  with  Lord  Dacre,  the  English 
warden,  of  resistance  and  revenge.  Albany  sum- 
moned the  whole  force  of  the  kingdom  to  the  aid 
of  the  government,  and  transmitted  proposals  to 
the  queen-mother,  offering  her  a  complete  restoi*a- 
tion  of  all  the  rights  and  revenues  which  she  had 
not  forfeited  by  her  marriage,  if  she  would  accede 
to  the  wishes  of  the  parliament,  and  renounce  all 
secret  correspondence  with  England.  These  pro- 
posals she  indignantly  rejected,  whereupon  Albany 
proceeded  against  the  insurgents,  and  took  the 
castle  of  Home.  The  queen  sent  Albany's  pro- 
posals privately  to  Lord  Dacre,  while  Home  re- 
quested the  assistance  of  an  English  army,  and 
retook  the  castle  of  Home.  He  also  secured  the 
strong  tower  of  Blackater,  situated  within  the  Scot- 
tish border,  about  five  miles  from  Berwick,  to  which 
place  the  queen  immediately  fled.  The  regeut 
followed  her  with  a  considerable  army,  and  surpris- 
ing Home  in  the  house  to  which  he  had  hastened 
for  refuge,  made  him  prisoner,  and  committed  him 
to  the  custody  of  the  earl  of  AiTan,  governor  of 
the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  Arran  disliked  Albany 
and  his  measures,  and  was  easily  persuaded  by 
Home  to  retire  with  him  to  the  Bordcra,  where 
they  actively  commenced  hostilities.  Home  and 
his  brother  were  again  proclaimed  rebels,  and  Ai*- 
ran  was  reqmred  to  surrender  himself  within  fif- 
teen days.  At  the  same  time  the  regent,  at  the 
head  of  a  select  body  of  troops,  and  a  small  train 
of  artillery,  proceeded  to  invest  the  castle  of  Cad- 
zow,  near  Hamilton,  Arran's  principal  fortress. 
Arran's  mother,  who  was  the  daughter  of  James 
the  Second,  at  that  time  resided  there,  and  order- 
ing the  gates  to  be  opened,  she  came  out  to  meet 
the  regent,  and  as  she  was  his  aunt  by  the  father's 
side,  and  greatly  respected  by  him,  he  was  easily 
prevailed  upon  to  listen  to  her  solicitations  in  fa- 
vour of  her  son.  Terms  of  accommodation  were 
soon  agreed  to,  and  Arran  was  allowed  to  return 
and  resume  possession  of  his  estates. 

In  the  meantime  Home  had  fled  to  England, 
whither  he  was  soon  followed  by  the  queen  and 
her  husband  Angus.    Negotiations  for  peace  be- 


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tween  the  two  countries  were  set  on  foot,  and 
Angos,  to  whom  the  qaeen  bad  recently,  at  Har- 
bottle  castle  in  England,  borne  a  daughter,  the 
1^7  Margaret  Donglas,  the  mother  of  Dam- 
ley,  husband  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  withdrew 
from  his  wife,  who  lay  dangerously  ill  at  Mor- 
peth, and  with  Home  returned  into  Scotland. 
They  both  made  their  peace  with  the  regent,  who 
restored  them  to  their  hereditary  possessions,  and 
for  a  tUtne  they  abstained  from  disturbing  the  gov- 
ernment. Queen  Margaret  on  her  recovery  pro- 
ceeded to  the  court  of  her  brother  Heniy  VUI., 
where  she  inveighed  bitterly  against  both  Angus 
and  Albany,  but  especially  the  latter,  whom  she 
accused  of  having  poisoned  her  second  son,  the 
dake  of  Ross,  who  had  died,  at  Stirling,  of  one 
of  the  many  diseases  incident  to  childhood.  Henry, 
anxious  to  have  Arran  regent,  directed  a  letter  to 
be  written  to  the  three  estates  of  Scotland,  com- 
manding them  to  expel  the  regent  Albany  from  the 
kingdom,  as,  from  his  being  the  nearest  heir  of  the 
throne,  he  was  the  most  dangerous  person  to  have 
the  charge  of  the  young  king,  his  nephew.  The 
Scottish  pailiament,  which  assembled  at  Edin- 
burgh on  the  first  of  July  1516,  replied  with  be- 
coming sphit.  They  reminded  the  English  king 
that  they  themselves  had  elected  Albany  to  the 
office  of  regent,  to  which  he  had  a  right  as  nearest 
relative  to  their  infant  king,  that  he  had  fulfilled 
its  duties  with  much  talent  and  integrity,  and  that 
the  person  of  their  infant  sovereign  was  intrusted 
to  the  keeping  of  the  same  lords  to  whose  care  he 
had  been  committed  by  the  queen-mother.  They 
concluded  by  assuring  Henry  of  their  determina- 
tion to  resist  to  the  death  any  attempt  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  their  country,  or  to  overthrow  the 
existing  government.  Notwithstanding  this  spir- 
ited reply,  the  intrigues  of  Henry's  minister.  Lord 
Dacre,  soon  succeeded  in  creating  distrust  and  dis- 
turbance, and  once  more  reinstating  in  its  strength 
the  English  faction  in  Scotland.  On  the  23d  Au- 
gust Dacre  wrote  from  Kirkoswald  to  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  informing  him  that  he  had  in  his  pay  four 
hundred  Scots,  whose  chief  employment  was  to 
distract  the  government  of  Albany,  by  exciting 
popular  tumults,  encouraging  private  quarrels,  and 
rekindling  the  jealousy  of  the  feudal  nobility.  In 
Scotland  at  this  time  Albany's  administration  was 


rather  popular  than  otherwise.  He  was  *^  sup- 
ported," says  Tytler,  **  by  the  affection  and  confi- 
dence of  the  middle  classes,  and  the  great  body  of 
the  nation ;  but  their  influence  was  counteracted, 
and  his  efforts  completely  paralysed  by  the  selfish 
rapacity  of  the  clergy,  and  the  insolent  ambition 
of  the  aristocracy."  A  new  insurrection  soon 
broke  out,  headed  by  the  earl  of  Arran,  who 
associated  himself  with  the  earls  of  Glencairn, 
Lennox,  Mure  of  Caldwell,  and  the  majority  of 
the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  the  west.  They 
met  at  Glasgow  to  the  number  of  12,000  men, 
and  seized  on  the  royal  magazines  there.  Under- 
standing that  some  French  ships,  with  supplies  of 
arms  and  ammunition  for  Albany,  had  appeared  in 
the  Clyde,  they  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  take  pos- 
session of  them.  The  vessels,  however,  had  sailed 
before  their  aiTival,  but  they  seized  a  quantity  of 
gunpowder  and  other  ammunition  which  had  been 
landed,  and  which  they  conveyed  to  Glasgow. 
Lest  it  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  enemle.'t 
the  powder  was  thrown  into  a  drawwell.  By  a 
stratagem  Arran  made  himself  master  of  the  cas- 
tle of  Dumbarton,  and  expelled  Lord  Erskine  the 
governor.  In  the  meantime  the  regent  having 
collected  an  army,  advanced  upon  Glasgow,  when 
an  accommodation  was  once  more  brought  about, 
chiefly  through  the  means  of  Beaton,  archbishop 
of  Glasgow,  who  was  high  in  favour  with  the  regent. 
Lord  Home,  (see  vol.  ii.  p.  473,)  on  his  part,  soon 
violated  the  conditions  on  which  the  regent  had 
consented  to  pardon  him.  He  renewed  his  treason- 
able correspondence  with  Dacre,  and  employed 
bands  of  marauders  to  break  across  the  border  and 
ravage  the  country.  Determined  to  put  an  end  to 
the  anarchy  created  by  the  rebellious  proceedings 
of  this  fierce  opposer  of  his  government,  the  regent 
allured  the  earl,  who  held  the  office  of  lord  cham- 
berlam,  and  his  brother  Alexander,  to  the  court  at 
Holyrood,  where  they  were  instantly  arrested. 
They  were  immediately  tried,  on  a  charge  of 
treason,  for  having  excited  the  late  commotions 
against  the  regent,  of  having  been  accessory  to 
the  defeat  at  Flodden,  and  being  concerned  in 
the  assassination  of  James  lY.  after  the  battle. 
Being  found  guilty,  they  were  both  beheaded,  on 
the  8th  of  October  1516,  and  their  heads  placed 
above  the  tolbooth  of  Edinburgh.    Soon  after  the 


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duke  of  Albany,  in  a  convention  of  the  estates  of 
the  realm  held  at  Edinburgh,  was  declared  heir 
apparent  to  the  crown. 

Anxious  to  procure  assistance  from  the  Fi*ench 
king,  and  to  revisit  his  estate  in  France,  the  re- 
gent, in  the  parliament  which  assembled  in  No- 
vember 1516,  requested  leave  of  absence  for  a 
short  period.  The  parliament  accorded  an  unwill- 
ing consent  for  four  months,  and  in  June  1517  he 
embarked  at  Dumbarton,  leaving  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  a  council,  consisting  of  the  arch- 
bishops of  St.  Andrews  and  Glasgow,  the  earls  of 
Iluntlj,  Argyle,  Angus,  and  Arran,  and  cariying 
with  him  the  eldest  sons  of  many  of  the  great 
barons  as  hostages  for  the  peace  of  the  country. 
To  each  of  the  six  persons  mentioned  was  assigned 
the  charge  of  that  part  of  the  country  contiguous 
to  his  own  estates,  while  to  a  brave  and  accom- 
plished French  knight,  whose  real  name  was  An- 
thony D'Ai'cie,  but  whose  handsome  person  pro- 
cured for  him  the  distinguishing  title  of  Seigneur 
de  la  Beaut^  (absurdly  called  de  la  Bastie  in  all 
our  histories)  was  intrusted  the  government  of  the 
eastern  and  middle  marches,  with  the  command  of 
the  important  castles  of  Home  and  Dunbar.  The 
young  king  was  brought  from  Stirling  to  Edin- 
burgh castle,  and  placed  under  the  charge  of  Lord 
Erakine,  the  earl  Mai*shal,  and  the  lords  Borth- 
wick  and  Ruthven.  Fresh  tumults  broke  out  on 
the  boi*ders,  and  the  vassals  of  the  late  Lord  Home, 
out  of  revenge  at  his  fate,  surprised  and  murdered 
the  Sieur  de  la  Beautd,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  by  the  activity  and  diligence  with  which 
he  punished  and  repressed  disorder.  Sir  David 
Home  of  Wedderburu,  whose  wife  was  the  sister 
of  Angus,  the  husband  of  the  queen -mother,  gal- 
loped into  the  town  of  Dunse,  with  the  head  of 
the  unfortunate  Frenchman  knit  to  his  saddlebow, 
by  the  fine  long  hair  which  he  wore  in  accordance 
with  the  fashion  of  the  age,  and  after  fixing  it  on 
the  market-cross,  took  shelter  in  his  strong  castle 
of  Edington,  on  the  banks  of  the  Whiteadder.  For 
this  outrage  the  estates  of  the  laird  of  Wedderbmn 
and  his  associates  were  forfeited. 

After  this  the -kingdom  became  a  scene  of  disor- 
der, anarchy,  and  confusion,  the  rival  factions  of 
Douglas  and  Hamilton  everywhere  contending  for 
the  mastery.    The  earl  of  Arran  had  been  elected 


by  the  council  of  regency  their  president,  and  at 
this  time  had  the  chief  diixiction  of  affairs,  but  he 
was,  upon  all  occasions,  opposed  by  the  earl  of 
Angus,  who  still  had  great  influence,  and  the  pri- 
vate animosity  which  subsisted  between  these  two 
powerful  noblemen  k^pt  the  country  in  a  continual 
state  of  excitement  and  disturbance.  As  soon  as 
the  queen>mother  heard  of  Albany^s  departure, 
she  returned  to  Scotland.  Her  arrival  was  at  a 
time  of  such  universal  confusion  and  strife  that 
even  Albany  himself,  unwilling  to  leave  France, 
wrote  to  her,  advising  her  that,  if  she  could  unite 
the  factions,  she  should  resume  the  regency 
Mai'garet,  however,  wished  to  have  the  office  of 
regent  conferred  on  her  husband,  the  earl  of 
Angus,  to  whom  she  had  been  lately  reconciled, 
but  this  neither  the  council  nor  the  majority  of  the 
nobles  would  agree  to.  Her  jealousy,  however, 
soon  caused  a  fresh  quarrel  with  her  husband,  and 
as  her  brother  Henry  VIU.  took  the  part  of 
Angus,  she  foi-sook  the  English  interests,  and 
entered  into  a  correspondence  with  the  duke  of 
Albany,  urging  him  to  return  and  take  the  regency 
once  moi*e  into  his  own  hands.  During  Albany*s 
absence  the  famous  street  battle  at  Edinburgh, 
between  the  rival  factions  of  the  Douglasses  and 
the  Hamlltons,  commemorated  under  the  name  ol 
"  Cleanse-the-Causeway,**  was  fought  30th  April 
1520,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  Hamiltons 
were  defeated,  ai\pl  the  earl  of  Angus  got  posses- 
sion of  the  capital. 

The  next  year  Albany  returned  to  Scotland 
after  an  absence  of  five  years.  He  arrived  in 
the  Gareloch  on  the  third  of  December  1521, 
and  was  met  at  Stirling  by  the  queen-mother, 
accompanied  by  several  lords  and  gentlemen. 
It  is  stated  that  Margaret,  who  was  very  change- 
able in  her  affections,  and  by  no  means  careful 
of  her  conduct,  received  him  with  transports  of 
joy,  and  with  such  familiarity  as  excited  scanda- 
lous rumours.  Lord  Daci*e,  in  a  letter  to  his  sov- 
ereign. King  Henry,  says  that,  not  satisfied  with 
being  with  him  during  the  day,  she  was  closeted 
the  greater  part  of  the  night  with  Albany,  taking 
no  heed  of  appearances.  The  earl  of  Arran  and 
others  of  the  nobility  hastened  to  Stirling  to  wel- 
come his  arrival,  and  on  the  9th  he  entered  the 
capital,  accompanied  by  the  queen  and  the  chan- 


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rellor  and  a  numerous  attendance  of  peers  and 
gentlemen.  Proceeding  to  the  castle,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  an  interview  with  the  young  king,  on 
which  occasion  the  captain  delivered  the  keys  of 
the  fortress  into  his  hands.  These  the  regent  laid 
at  the  feet  of  the  queen-mother,  and  she  again 
presented  them  to  Albany,  saying  that  she  con- 
sidered him  the  person  to  whose  tried  fidelity  the 
care  of  the  monarch  ought  to  be  intrusted.  On 
the  regent's  approach  the  earl  of  Angus  and  his 
party  precipitately  left  the  city,  and  fled  to  the 
Border.  In  a  parliament  held  at  Edinburgh,  on 
the  26th  day  of  December,  Angus  and  his  adhe- 
i-ents  were  cited  to  appeal*  before  it,  to  answer  for 
various  crimes  and  misdemeanours,  but  they  paid 
no  attention  to  the  summons,  and  had  ah-eady  re- 
newed their  negotiations  with  the  English  king. 
The  regent  now  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  fac- 
tious, and  to  procure  a  peace  with  England.  But 
it  did  not  suit  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  Eng- 
lish court  that  Albany  should  continue  at  the  head 
of  affairs,  or  that  peace  and  order  should  be  re- 
stored to  Scotland.  Lord  Dacre,  Henry's  unscru- 
pnlous  agent,  in  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to 
Henry,  repiesented  that  the  life  of  the  young  king 
was  in  danger,  and  that  his  mother  was  anxious 
to  obtain  a  divorce  fi-om  Angus,  that  she  might 
marry  Albany,  who,  on  his  nephew's  death,  would 
become  king.  He  distributed  money  among  the 
factious  nobles,  and  did  every  thing  that  he  could 
to  stir  up  war  between  the  two  countries.  Henry, 
on  his  part,  as  he  had  done  once  before,  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  Scottish  estates,  demanding  the 
dismissal  of  Albany,  and  received  a  similar  answer 
to  the  former,  being  sharply  told  by  the  Scottish 
parliament  that  they  had  themselves  freely  chosen 
Albany  to  the  regency,  and  would  not  dismiss  him 
at  the  request  of  his  grace,  the  king  of  England, 
or  of  any  other  sovereign  prince  whatever.  Upon 
this  Henry,  in  the  spring  of  1522,  sent  the  earl  of 
Shrewsbury  with  a  large  force  to  invade  Scotland. 
He  advanced  as  far  as  Kelso,  giving  up  the  country 
everywhere  to  havoc  and  spoliation,  until  he  was 
encountered  and  driven  back  into  England,  with 
considerable  loss,  by  the  bold  borderers  of  Teviot- 
dale  and  the  Merse.  Albany  having,  with  consent 
of  parliament,  declai-ed  war,  and  mustered  the 
whole  force  of  the  kingdom  for  an  invasion  of 


England,  at  the  head  of  eighty  thousand  men, 
and  with  a  formidable  train  of  artillery,  advanced 
towai-ds  the  English  borders,  and  encamped  at 
Annan.  The  queen- mother  at  this  time,  with 
her  characteristic  fickleness,  had  cooled  in  her  at- 
tachment to  the  regent,  and  not  only  intrigued 
with  a  party  of  the  Scottish  nobles  to  support  her 
views,  but  betrayed  all  Albany's  secrets  and  plans 
to  the  English  warden.  Lord  Dacre.  The  regent, 
ignorant  of  this,  with  his  large  army  crossed  the 
borders  and  advanced  to  Carlisle.  When  within 
five  miles  of  that  city  Daci-e  opened  negotiations 
with  him,  and  succeeded  in  prevailing  upon  him  to 
agree  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities  for  a  month,  in 
oi*der  that  ambassadors  might  treat  for  peace.  As 
the  English  king,  then  engaged  in  a  war  with 
France,  had  wisely  departed  from  his  demand  for 
Albany's  dismissal  fi*om  the  regency,  the  nobles 
who  had  joined  in  the  expedition  saw  no  further 
cause  for  continuing  in  arms,  and  Albany  himself, 
desirous  of  peace  with  England,  disbanded  his 
army,  and  returned  to  Edinburgh,  without  strik- 
ing a  blow. 

Finding  the  difficulties  of  his  situation  increase, 
with  the  view  of  soliciting  assistance  fi*om  the 
French  king,  Albany,  in  October  1522,  retired  for 
the  second  time  to  France,  after  appointing  a 
council  of  regency,  consisting  of  the  earls  of  Huntly, 
Arran,  and  Argyle,  to  whom  he  added  (xonzolles, 
a  French  knight,  in  whom  he  had  much  confi- 
dence. He  promised  to  return  in  ten  months  on 
pain  of  foifeiting  his  office.  During  his  absence, 
in  the  spring  of  1523,  the  English  renewed  tlie 
war  by  a  vast  inroad  into  Scotland.  The  earl  of 
SuiTcy,  the  victor  of  Flodden,  at  the  head  of 
10,000  men,  broke  into  the  Meree,  reduced  its 
places  of  sti-ength,  and  advancing  to  Jedburgh, 
burnt  that  town,  and  left  its  beautiful  abbey  a 
heap  of  ruins.  Lord  Dacre,  after  reducing  the 
castle  of  Ker  of  Femihnrst,  and  taking  that  cele- 
brated border  chief  prisoner,  sacked  and  depopu- 
lated Kelso  and  the  adjoining  villages,  while  the 
marquis  of  Doi'set,  the  warden  of  the  east  marches, 
made  an  incursion  into  Teviotdale,  giving  its  vil- 
lages to  the  flames,  and  carrying  off  its  grain  and 
beeves.  Albany  returned  from  France  in  Septem- 
ber 1523,  with  a  fleet  of  eighty-seven  small  ves- 
sels, and  a  force  of  four  thousand  foot,  five  hun- 
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di'cd  men  at  arms,  a  thousand  hagbutteei-s,  six 
hundred  horse,  and  a  fine  trtin  of  artillery,  whicli 
had  been  furnished  to  him  by  tlic  French.  He 
lauded  in  the  island  of  An'an,  Balfour  says  *^  at 
Kerkubright,"  having  eluded  the  enemy's  fleet, 
>vhich  was  sent  out  to  intercept  him,  and  imme- 
diately pi-oceeded  to  Edinbui*gh.  The  emban-ass- 
ment  of  his  position  at  this  ciisis  was  greater  than 
ever.  He  found  that  the  queen -mother  was  no 
longer  on  his  side,  but  deeply  engaged  in  intrigu- 
ing against  him.  That  fickle,  passionate,  and  un- 
principled woman,  whose  character  somewhat  re- 
sembled that  of  her  imperious  brother,  Henry 
VIII.,  was  now  as  anxious  to  promote  the  English 
interests  as  she  had  formerly  been  the  French, 
and  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Sm-rey  and 
Daci-e,  with  the  view  of  recovering  the  regency  to 
hei'self.  The  nobles,  though  willing  to  assemble 
an  ai'my  for  the  defence  of  the  Borders,  were  to- 
tally averse  to  an  invasion  of  England,  while  they 
were  jealous  of  the  foreign  auxiliaries  which  the 
regent  had  brought  with  him. 

The  parliament  assembled  without  delay,  and  a 
proclamation  was  issued  for  a  muster  of  the  whole 
force  of  the  kingdom  on  the  20th  of  October.  Al- 
bany summoned  together  the  principal  nobility, 
and  urged  them  to  cai'ry  the  wai*  into  England,  to 
avenge  the  disastrous  defeat  at  Flodden  and  the 
late  excesses  on  the  Bordei-s.  He  had  brought 
with  him  a  large  supply  of  gold  from  France,  and 
as  he  liberally  dispensed  it,  he  won  over  some  of 
the  more  venal  of  the  nobles,  and  even  the  queen 
herself  was  so  channed  by  his  presents,  that  she 
wrote  to  the  eai*l  of  Sui*roy,  that  unless  her  bro- 
ther Henry  remitted  her  more  money,  she  might 
be  induced  to  abandon  the  English  interest,  and 
co-operate  with  Albany.  On  the  day  appointed  a 
force  of  about  40,000  men  assembled  on  the  Bor- 
ough-muir  near  Edinburgh,  at  the  head  of  which 
the  regent  set  forward  towai*ds  the  Boi-dei-s.  But 
never  had  general  commenced  an  aggressive  march 
under  such  discouraging  circumstances.  Most  of 
the  leaders  who  had  answered  the  summons  to 
arm  had  taken  the  gold  of  England,  and  bound 
themselves  not  to  cross  the  Bordei-s,  while  othei*s, 
such  as  Argyle,  Huntly,  and  the  master  of  Forbes, 
did  not  appear  at  all  at  the  muster.  The  expedi- 
tion was  nationally  unpopular,  and  as  the  Scots 


soldiers  did  not  conceal  their  dislike  of  the  for- 
eign auxiliaries.  Indications  of  disorganiiuition 
soon  became  but  too  evident.  Added  to  this,  the 
season  was  now  far  advanced,  and  much  time  was 
lost  in  di-agging  the  cumbersome  aitillcry  over  the 
rude  and  difficult  roads  of  those  days,  which  had 
been  renderod  still  more  wretched  by  recent  falls 
of  snow  and  rain.  Albany  arrived  at  Melrose  on 
the  28th  of  October.  When  he  reached  the  wooden 
bridge  at  that  place,  a  large  portion  of  his  army 
refused  to  cross  the  Tweed,  and  those  divisions  of 
the  troops  which  had  aUxsady  passed  over,  turned 
back,  and  in  spite  of  all  his  entreaties  and  re- 
proaches, recrossed  the  bridge  to  the  Scottish  side. 
The  regent  remained  in  the  neighbourhood  ot 
Melrose  two  days,  after  which  he  marched  down 
the  Tweed,  and  arrived  at  Eccles,  on  the  side 
of  the  river  opposite  to  Wark.  The  Scottish  army 
encamped  near  Coldstream,  while  Albany  lodged 
in  Home  castle.  He  ordered  part  of  the  artillery 
to  be  conveyed  to  Berwick,  but  afterwards  he  laid 
siege  to  Wark  castle,  chiefly  with  his  foreign 
troops  and  artillery,  llie  historian,  George  Bu- 
chanan, who  was  a  volunteer  in  his  army,  gives  a 
highly  valuable  account  of  his  operations  in  this 
his  last  campaign  in  Scotland.  An  attempt  to 
storm  the  castle  was  bravely  met  by  the  garrison, 
who  poured  a  destructive  fire  from  the  ramparts 
upon  the  besiegers,  and  on  the  approach  of  nighty 
the  latter  wei*e  compelled  to  retire.  It  was  pro- 
posed, however,  to  renew  the  assault  next  day,  but 
dm*ing  the  night  thero  was  a  heavy  fall  of  i*ain  and 
snow,  which  so  flooded  the  river  that  all  retreat 
was  threatened  to  be  cut  ofif.  It  was  known  thai 
the  Esu'l  of  SuiTey  was  advancing  from  Alnwick 
with  a  foimidable  force.  Under  these  circum- 
stances Albany,  on  the  4th  of  November,  with- 
drew his  ai'tillery,  and  the  assaulting  party  re- 
crossed  the  Tweed,  leaving  three  hundred  killed, 
mostly  Frenchmen,  and  once  more  joined  the  main 
ai'my.  Balfour  says  that  with  the  latter  portion 
of  his  troops  he  had  spoiled  all  Glendale  and 
Northumbei'land  to  the  walls  of  Alnwick,  and  re- 
turned with  a  great  booty.  lAnnak,  vol.  i,  page 
252.]  The  regent  rethed  to  Eccles,  and  thence 
marched  rapidly  towards  Edinburgh,  approhen- 
sive  all  the  way  of  being  seized  by  some  of  the 
lords  with  lum,  and  delivered  up  to  the  English. 


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ALEXANDER  L 


His  retreat  had  all  the  appearauce  of  a  flight,  the 
disorder  of  which  was  increased  by  a  scvei'C  saow- 
Btorm.  Ou  reaching  Edinburgh,  he  assembled  a 
parliament,  and  ascribed  the  failure  of  the  expe- 
dition to  the  nobles  refusing  to  march  into  Eng- 
land, while  they,  on  their  part,  accused  him  of 
being  the  cause  of  the  disgrace.  Notwithstanding 
the  presence  of  the  English  army,  under  Surrey, 
on  the  Borders,  and  the  inclemency  of  the  season, 
some  of  the  peera  insisted  on  his  instantly  dis- 
missing the  foreign  auxiliaines.'  Thus  compelled 
to  embai'k,  the  French  were  by  a  storm  driven  out 
of  their  course,  and  a  considerable  number  of  them 
were  shipwrecked  and  drowned  among  the  west- 
em  Isles.  Soon  after,  having  obtained  three 
mouths'  leave  of  absence,  Albany,  in  the  end  of 
1523,  retired  in  disgust  and  despair  to  France, 
after  taking  an  affectionate  leave  of  the  young 
king,  then  at  Stu'ling,  and  returned  no  moi*e  to 
Scotland. 

He  afterwards,  in  1524,  attended  Francis  I.  in 
his  unfortunate  expedition  into  Italy ;  but  before 
the  fatal  battle  of  Pavia,  fought  24th  February 
i525,  he  was  detached  with  pai-t  of  the  French 
array  against  Naples.  It  was  the  absence  of  this 
large  portion  of  his  troops,  amounting  to  16,000 
men,  which  caused  Francis  to  lose  the  battle,  when 
attacked  by  the  emperor  Charles.  In  1533  Albany 
conducted  his  wife's  niece,  Catherhie  de  Medici, 
into  France,  on  her  marriage  with  Henry  II.  of  that 
kingdom.  He  was  governor  of  the  Bourbonnois, 
d'Auvergnc,  de  Forest,  and  de  Beaujolais.  He 
died  at  his  castle  of  Mirefleur,  2d  June  1536.  By 
his  duchess  he  had  no  issue.  By  Jean  Abemcthy, 
a  Scotswoman,  he  had  a  natural  daughter,  Eleo- 
nora,  who,  after  being  legitimated,  was  in  1547 
married  at  Fontainebleau,  in  presence  of  the 
French  king,  to  the  count  de  Choisy. 

This  duke  of  Albany  was  a  man  of  elegant  and 
gracefid  manners  and  high  accomplishments,  and 
very  gay  and  sprightly  in  conversation, — qualities 
which  made  him  a  peraonal  favourite  with  Fran- 
cis I.  of  France,  but  were  little  appreciated  in 
Scotland,  where  his  vanity,  of  which  he  had  a 
large  share,  and  evident  pai-tiality  for  French  offi- 
cers and  confidents,  soon  disgusted  the  haughty 
and  rapacious  nobility.  In  Pinkerton's  Scottish 
Gallery,  there  is  a  fine  portrait,  supposed  to  be  that 


of  Albany,  of  which  a  woodcut  is  annexed.     It  is 
on  the  same  enfjraviujr  with  one  of  Queen  Margaret 


JcJ^mu 


The  sign  manual  autograph  **  Jehan"  underneath, 

is  from  the  Cotton  MSS.  B.  vi.  fol.  170,  in  the 

British  Museum. 

The  title  of  duke  of  Albany  was  bestowed  in  1540  on  Ar- 
thur, second  son  of  James  V.  and  his  spouse  Mary  of  Guise, 
a  prince  who  died  in  1541.  It  was  afterwards  given  to  Henry 
Stewart,  lord  Damley,  or  Demely,  by  Queen  Mary,  shortly 
before  their  marriage  in  1565.  Charles  L  was  created  duke 
of  Albany,  on  his  baptism  at  Dmifermline  in  1600,  his  eldei 
brother  Henry,  who  died  in  1612,  being  duke  of  Rothesay,  the 
title  of  the  king's  eldest  son.  The  following  is  a  fac  simile  of 
the  autograph  and  motto  of  this  ill-fated  prince,  written  in 
an  album  in  the  Sloane  MSS.  No.  3415,  as  duke  of  Albany, 
in  1609,  before  he  had  completed  the  ninth  year  of  hb  age: 

Albany  king  at  anus  was  one  of  the  secondary  heralds 
in  Scotland,  when  Scotland  was  an  independent  kingdom. 
Prince  Charles  Edward  Stuart,  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life, 
styled  himself  count  of  Albany. 

ALES,  or  Alesse,  Alexander,  see  Uailes, 
Alexander. 

ALEXANDER  I.,  king  of  Scotland,  surnamed 
the  Fierce,  from  his  vigour  and  impetuous  character, 
has  hitherto  been  represented  as  the  fifth  son  of  Mal- 
colm III.,  surnamed  Canmore,  or  great  head,  by 


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Margaret,  daughter  of  Edwai*d,  uephew  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor,  king  of  England,  but  it  is 
now  admitted  that  Ethelred,  who  had  been  be- 
lieved to  be  the  third,  was  the  youngest  son  of 
that  maiTiage,  and  consequently  Alexander  was 
not  the  fifth  but  the  fourth  son  of  Malcolm  and 
Margaret.  It  is  also  placed  beyond  a  doubt  that 
by  a  previous  marriage  with  Ingibiorge,  the  widow 
of  Thorfin,  a  powerful  Norwegian  earl, — who  for 
thirty  yeai-s,  duiing  the  reigns  of  Altsxander's  fa- 
ther Malcolm  and  his  predecessor  Macbeth,  ruled 
over  all  Scotland  north  of  the  Grampians,  and 
part  of  the  present  county  of  Forfar, — Malcolm  had 
two  sons,  Duncan,  afterwards  king  of  Scotland, 
and  Malcolm,  both  of  whom  wei*e  alive  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  so  that  Alexander  was  in  reali- 
ty the  sixth  of  the  sons  of  Malcolm  Canmore. 
[See  life  of  Duncan,  king  of  Scotland,  posf] 
Thei*e  is  no  earlier  instance  in  Scottish  histoid 
of  the  name  of  Alexander  having  been  bonie  by 
king  or  noble,  although  it  afterwards  became 
one  of  the  most  common  and  familiar  Christian 
names  in  Scotland.  Lord  Hailes  has  supposed 
that  it  was  bestowed  in  honour  of  Pope  Alexan- 
der II.  If  so,  it  was  given  to  him  after  the  death 
of  that  pontiff,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1073, 
as  no  calculation  from  family  or  other  events  can 
place  the  birth  of  Alexander,  of  which  the  pre- 
cise date  is  unknown,  eai-lier  than  about  the  year 
1078. 

Alexander  was  educated  with  gieat  care,  not 
only  in  letters  but  in  religious  principles,  and  the 
solemn  injunctions  of  his  excellent  mother,  on  her 
death-bed,  to  Turgot,  prior  of  Durham,  her  con- 
fessor and  biogi'apher,  which  have  descended  to 
us  in  his  interesting  memou'  of  that  good  queen, 
prove  how  great  was  her  solicitude  in  the  latter 
respect  in  regard  to  all  her  children.  Alexan- 
der pai'took  of  those  vicissitudes  of  the  family, 
after  the  death  of  his  father,  which  are  detailed 
in  the  lives  of  his  uncle  Donald  Bane  and  of  his 
brothers  Duncan  and  Edgar,  and  which  serve  to 
exhibit,  in  a  strong  light,  the  peculiarities  of  the 
law  of  succession  to  the  throne  among  the  Celtic 
or  Pictish  races  of  that  age,  and  they  no  doubt 
contributed  to  form  and  give  a  direction  to  his 
character  and  future  government,  when  he  became 
king. 


On  the  death  of  his  brothei-  Edgar,  8th  January 
1107,  Alexander  succeeded  to  the  throne,  but  not 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  extent  of  possessions 
as  his  predecessor.  For  the  conquest  of  the  toest- 
em  portion  of  the  ancient  principality  of  Cumbria 
— ^a  region  extending  between  the  Roman  walls  of 
Agricola  and  Antoninus — ^liaving  sometime  previ- 
ous been  effected,  by  David  his  younger  brother, 
with  an  army  of  Norman  chivalry  from  England, 
the  government  of  the  province  was  also  bestow- 
ed upon  him,  and  Edgar,  on  his  death-bed,  be- 
queathed him  all  those  extensive  lands  in  those 
regions  held  by  him  and  Malcolm  his  father  which 
formed  the  subject  of  that  homage  rendered  to  the 
Norman  conqueror  and  his  son  William  Rufits  so 
frequently  refenred  to  in  English  history.  [Xorrf 
Hailes*  Quotations  horn  English  contemporaiy 
writers,  compared  with  the  narrative  of  the  in- 
quisition into  the  lands  of  the  see  of  Glasgow, 
and  existing  charters  of  that  epoch.]  All  Scot- 
tish historians,  from  the  fourteenth  until  within 
the  present  century,  have  concurred  in  stating 
that  the  province  of  Cumbria  corresponded  exactly 
in  tenitory  with  the  present  English  county  of 
Cumberland,  but  chatters,  and  Saxon  as  well  as 
earlier  Scottish  writers,  when  coixectly  understood, 
leave  it  beyond  doubt  that  the  portion  of  country 
so  called  comprehended  the  district  extending  from 
the  Clyde  to  the  Solway,  and  included  all  the  pre- 
sent Scottish  counties  of  Ayr,  Galloway,  Wigton, 
Kirkcudbright,  and  Dumfries,  with  perhaps  part 
of  Cumberland;  the  district  of  Lothian,  comprising 
the  three  counties  which  still  bear  that  name ;  and 
the  shires  of  Renfrew  and  Lanark,  with  part  of 
Lennox  now  Dimibartonshire.  Such  distributions 
of  the  royal  possessions  amongst  the  n>embers  of 
their  family  were  not  uncommon  with  the  mon- 
archs  of  that  age. 

Whatever  were  the  motives  that  led  to  this 
disjunction  from  the  Scottish  crown,  it  proved  a 
fortunate  arrangement  for  the  nation.  By  the 
subsequent  death  of  Alexander  without  issue, 
and  the  consequent  succession  of  David  to  the 
northern  throne,  the  danger  of  contention  be- 
tween rival  families  for  these  possessions,  and  of 
their  permanent  separation  from  the  ancient  king- 
dom, was  averted,  and  a  united  kingdom  was 
afterwards  formed,  able,  with  more  or  less  suc- 


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sess,  to  withstand  the  powerful  neighbouring  sou- 
thern state ;  which,  if  it  had  continued  disjoined, 
wonla  most  probably  have  fallen  to  it  by  piece- 
meal a  comparatively  easy  prey.  While,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  happy  genius  of  David  for  govern- 
ment, and  for  attracting  towards  himself  the  love 
and  affection  of  all  classes  of  people  committed  to 
his  care,  enabled  him  to  introduce  amongst  them 
order  and  civilization,  and  to  combine  Saxon  law 
with  Norman  refinement,  as  well  as  the  still  higher 
blessing  of  religions  instmction,  and  while  his 
amiable  qualities  and  the  accident  of  his  birth  en- 
deared through  him  the  family  of  Malcolm  to  the 
Saxon  race,  so  that  nearly  four  hundred  years 
afterwards  an  English  writer  resident  in  Scotland 
thns  commemorates  one  of  them : 

'*  Onr  soverane  of  Scotland    . 
Quhilk  sail  be  lord  and  ledur 
Oer  broad  Brettane  all  quhair 
As  saint  Mergarettes  air;** 

[Buke  of  the  Howlat^  si,  xxix,  printed  for 
the  BamuUyne  Club.^ 

the  sterner  rule  of  Alexander  was  made  available 
to  keep  under  the  dissatisfied  feelings  of  the  war- 
like tribes  of  the  north,  not  less  averse  to  that 
deviation  from  the  ancient  mle  of  succession  by 
which  the  descendants  of  Margaret  were  placed 
on  the  throne,  than  jealous  of  the  innovations  of 
Saxon  law  and  Saxon  settlements.  It  was  not, 
however,  to  be  expected  that  to  this  disposition 
of  lands  Alexander  would  at  once  quietly  accede. 
On  the  contrary,  he  at  first  disputed  its  validity, 
and  would  willingly  have  annulled  it,  had  he  not 
found  that  the  powerful  barons  of  the  province  in 
question,  and  of  the  northern  English  counties,  as 
Gospatrick,  Baliol,  Bruce,  Lindesay,  Areskine,  and 
others,  whose  descendants  afterwards  occupied  the 
first  rank  among  the  Scottish  nobility,  and  by  the 
aid  of  whose  arms  his  brother  Edgar  had  been  placed 
and  sustained  on  the  throne,  were  entirely  favour- 
able to  this  arrangement.  He  therefore  prudently 
desisted  from  the  attempt,  and  confined  himself  dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  his  reign  to  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  kingdom.  [Speech  of  Walter  VEspec  at 
the  battle  of  the  Standard^  in  JLldredJ]  It  has  been 
inferred  by  modem  writers  who  have  recognised 
the  foregoing  as  the  territorial  limits  of  Cumbria, 
that  David  held  this  government  as  a  fief  in  sub- 


ordination to  Alexander,  but  this  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  the  case.  David  seems  to  have  re- 
gulated the  afiairs  of  his  government  as  an  inde- 
pendent prince.  The  motto  of  his  seal  during  his 
brother's  lifetime  benrs  that  he  styled  himself 
*  David,  Comites  Anglorum  Regene  Fratris,  (con- 
tracted into  Frls) ;  that  is,  David  the  count,  bro- 
ther of  tiie  Queen  of  the  English.  Annexed  is  a 
representation  of  David's  seal : 


Several  of  his  public  instruments,  too,  after  he  as- 
cended the  throne,  when  relating  to  matters  affect- 
ing the  southern  districts,  are  addressed  to  the 
"Francis  et  Anglicis,"  Normans  and  English, 
[AnderaorCs  LHphmata  et  Numismata,  No.  17,  1 
and  2] ;  and  at  a  later  period,  or  when  referring 
to  matters  of  more  importance,  to  the  "  Francis  et 
Anglicis,  et  Scottis  et  Galwensibus,'*  that  is,  the 
Normans,  English,  Scotch,  and  Galwegians,  which 
latter  style  was  uniformly  adopted  by  his  successor 
and  grandson  Malcolm  lY.,  ITdem,  plates  19,  23, 
25,]  whilst  the  public  instruments  of  Alexander 
are  simply  addressed  to  the  Scots  and  English, 
"  Scottis  et  Anglis  "  [/rf«m,  page  9],  showing  that 
he  only  ruled  over  the  northern  portion  of  the 
kingdom  in  which  these  nations  lived  in  the  pro- 
portion of  the  order  in  which  they  are  placed. 

It  was  fortunate  both  for  Alexander  and  David, 
and  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  government  of  the 
former,  that  during  the  entire  period  of  his  reign 
an  unbroken  peace  was  maintained  with  England. 
The  marriage  of  their  sister  Matildis  in  1100, 
during  the  life  of  their  brother  Edgar,  with  Henry 


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king  of  England  the  brother  of  William  Rnfns, 
gi-eatly  facilitated  this  harmony,  and  it  was  fnrther 
cemented  by  the  union  of  Alexander  with  Sybilla, 
natural  daughter  of  that  monarch.  Such  an 
alliance,  says  Lord  Hailes,  was  not  held  dishonour- 
able in  those  days. 

The  people  of  the  north  were  not  reconciled  to 
the  sovereignty  of  the  sons  of  Malcolm.  Accord- 
ing to  their  notions  of  the  law  of  succession  to  the 
throne,  both  the  family  of  Donald  Bane,  and  that 
of  Duncan  the  eldest  son  of  Malcolm,  had  a  prior 
right  to  it.  Edgar  had  bestowed  upon  his  cousin 
Madach,  son  of  Donald  Bane,  the  maormordom 
of  Athol,  erected  by  him  into  an  earldom,  and  on 
his  death,  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  David 
the  First,  it  was  obtained  by  Malcolm,  the  son  of 
Duncan,  the  eldest  son  of  Malcolm  Canmore, 
"  either,"  says  Skene,  "  because  the  exclusion  of 
that  family  from  the  throne  could  not  deprive  them 
of  the  original  patrimony  of  the  family,  or  as  a 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  crown,"  [Skene's 
Highlanders,  vol.  ii.  p.  139,J  and  thus  this  branch 
of  the  rival  family  were  induced  to  remain  in 
quiet,  although  various  attempts  were  afterwards 
made  to  recover  their  rights,  not  only  in  the  reign 
of  Malcolm  IV.,  but  for  nearly  a  hundred  yeai-s 
after  they  were  excluded  from  it. 

Tlie  descendants  of  Donald  Bane  appear  to  have 
enjoyed  another  portion  of  the  hereditary  posses- 
sions of  the  family  in  the  person  of  Ladman  his  son, 
and  along  with  them  some  title  which  does  not 
appear.  Even  the  descendants  of  Macbeth  seem, 
in  the  person  of  Angus  the  son  of  the  daughter  of 
Lulach,  Macbeth^s  stepson,  to  have  got  the  pos- 
sessions and  ancient  maormordom  of  Moray  erect- 
ed into  an  earldom  of  that  name.  [Skene^s  High- 
landers,  vol.  ii.  p.  162.]  According  to  the  Annals 
of  Ulster  about  1116,  a  descendant  of  Malpedir, 
maormor  of  Moem  or  Garmoran,  a  district  in 
northern  Invemess-shire,  one  of  the  supporters  of 
Donald  Bane,  and  who  had  murdered  Duncan, 
eldest  son  of  Malcolm,  in  1095,  was  in  possession 
of  his  father's  title  and  lands,  and  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Ladman,  in  order  probably  to  revenge  his 
death,  he  combined  with  Angus  earl  of  Moray, 
already  referred  to  as  of  the  family  of  Macbeth,  to 
make  an  attempt  to  seize  upon  the  person  of  Alex- 
ander.   At  his  baptism  Alexander  had  a  donation 


made  to  him  of  the  lands  of  Blairgowrie  and  Liff 
by  his  godfather,  Donald  Bane,  then  probably 
maormor  of  Athol,  and  in  the  first  year  of  his 
reign  he  began  to  build  a  palace  or  residence  in 
the  vicinity ;  but  while  engaged  on  this  work  the 
Highlanders  of  Moem  (not  Meams,  as  commonly 
supposed)  and  Moray  penetrated  stealthily  from 
their  northern  abodes  to  Invergowrie,  where  Alex- 
ander was,  and  surprised  him  by  night.  Alexan- 
der escaped  to  the  shore,  and  crossing  over  the 
Tay  to  Fife,  collected  vassals,  and  followed  them 
with  surprising  activity,  through  the  'Monthe'  or 
Grampians,  across  the  Spey  and  over  the  "  Stock- 
furd  into  Ros."    Of  this  passage  Wintoun  says, 

"  He  tnk  and  dew  thame  or  he  past 
Out  of  that  land,  that  fewe  he  left 
To  take  on  hand  swylk  purpose  eft.** 

And  again  he  adds, 

**  Fra  that  day  hys  legys  all 
Oysid  byra  Alysandyr  the  Fers  to  call.** 

So  effectually,  indeed,  did  he  succeed  in  crushing 
the  inhabitants  of  Moray  that  they  were  compelled 
to  put  to  death  Ladman,  the  son  of  Donald  Bane, 
who  had  instigated  them  to  the  attempt  on  his 
life.  [Skene's  Highlanders,  vol.  i.  p.  130.]  The 
story  that  on  this  occasion  the  traitors  obtained 
admission  to  the  king's  bed-chamber,  and  that  he 
slew  six  of  them  with  his  own  hand,  is  an  invention 
of  Boece,  and  like  many  other  of  his  fables  has  ob- 
tained currency  in  Scottish  history.  Sir  James 
Balfour,  in  bis  Annals  [vol.  i.  pp.  6,  7.],  has  the 
following  passage  on  this  attempt  against  the 
king:  "The  rebells  qubo  besett  him  in  the  night 
had  doubtesley  killed  him,  had  not  Alexander 
Carrone  priuly  carried  the  king  save  away,  and 
by  a  small  boate  saived  themselves  to  Fyfle,  and 
the  south  pairts  of  the  kingdome,  qnher  he  raissed 
ane  armey,  and  marched  against  the  forsaid  rebells, 
quhome  be  totally  ouerthi*ew  and  subdued;  for 
wich  grate  merccy  and  preseruationc,  in  a  thankfull 
retribntione  to  God,  he  foundit  the  monastarey  of 
Scone,  and  too  it  gaue  lies  first  lands  of  Liffe  and 
Innergourey,  in  A°  1114.  About  this  tyme  K. 
Alexander  the  L  reuardit  for  hes  faithfull  seruice 
Alexander  Carrone,  with  the  office  of  standart 
bearir  of  Scotland,  to  him  and  hes  heirs  for  euer. 
He  was  called  Scrimshonr,  bccansse  with  a  dranen 


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suord,  in  a  combat,  he  had  stnicke  the  hand  from  a 
courtier;  wicli  surname  of  Scrinscoure,  hes  posterity 
to  this  day  have  kept."  The  name  signifies  a 
hardy  fighter.  See  Scrimgrour,  surname  of; 
also,  Dundee,  earl  of. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Alexander, 
the  Highlanders  acquiesced  in  his  occupation  of 
the  throne,  he  being  now,  even  according  to  the 
Celtic  laws,  the  legitimate  heir  of  Malcolm 
Canmore. 

The  principal  feature  in  Alexander's  reign  was 
his  successful  resistance  to  the  efibrts  made  by  the 
English  prelates  to  assert  a  supremacy  over  the 
cliurch  in  Scotland.  In  1109  when  he  first  had 
occasion  to  nominate  a  bishop  to  the  see  of  St. 
Andrews,  to  which  place  the  primacy  had  been 
removed  from  Dnnkeld,  Alexander,  with  the  ap- 
probation of  his  clergy  and  people,  named  Turgot, 
the  monk  of  Durham  already  mentioned  as  the 
confessor  and  biographer  of  his  mother  the  pious 
Queen  Margaret.  The  consecration  of  Turgot  was, 
however,  long  delayed.  The  archbishop  of  York 
pretended  a  right  of  consecrating  the  bishops  of 
St  Andrews,  but  at  this  time  Thomas,  elected 
archbishop  of  York,  had  not  himself  received  con- 
secration. In  consequence  of  a  report  that  the 
bishop  of  Durham,  concurring  with  the  Scottish 
bishops  and  the  bishop  of  the  Orkneys,  proposed  to 
consecrate  Turgot,  in  presence  of  the  archbishop 
elect  of  York,  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  alarm,  despatched  a  letter  to  the  latter,  inform- 
ing him  that  consecration  could  not  be  performed 
by  an  archbishop  elect  or  by  any  one  acting  under 
his  authority,  and  requiring  him  to  proceed  to 
Canterbury  to  receive  consecration  himself.  The 
Scottish  clergy  on  their  part  contended  that  the 
archbishop  of  York  had  no  right  to  inteifere  in 
the  consecration  of  a  bishop  to  the  see  of  St. 
Andrews.  While  the  two  archbishops  were  en- 
gaged in  mutual  altercations  concerning  canoni- 
cal order  and  the  privileges  of  their  respective 
sees,  Alexander  entered  into  a  negotiation  with 
the  English  king,  and  an  immediate  decision 
of  the  controversy  was  evaded  by  an  ambiguous 
acknowledgment  by  all  parties,  which,  confessing 
the  independency  of  the  Scottish  church  to  be 
at  least  doubtful,  seemed  to  prepare  the  way 
for  its  complete  vindication  at  a  future  time.    At 


the  request  of  Alexander,  Henry,  the  English 
king,  enjoined  the  archbishop  of  York  to  conse- 
crate Turgot,  bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  "  saving  the 
authority  of  either  church."  In  that  form  Turgot 
received  consecration  accordingly. 

In  the  discharge  of  his  episcopal  functions 
Turgot  met  with  obstacles,  which  induced  him  to 
form  a  resolution  to  repair  to  Rome  to  obtain  the 
opinion  of  the  pope  for  regulating  his  future  con- 
duct; a  journey  which  his  death  soon  after  pre- 
vented him  from  carrying  into  effect.  What  the 
nature  of  these  obstacles  were,  we  are  not  informed, 
but  as  he  perceived  that  he  had  lost  that  influence 
which  he  formerly  enjoyed  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Margaret,  his  spirit  sunk,  and  in  a  desponding 
mood  he  asked  and  obtained  permission  to  retire  to 
his  ancient  cell  at  Durham,  where  he  died,  3 1st 
August  1115. 

A  new  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  was  to  be 
appointed,  and  to  avoid  any  interference  on  the 
part  of  the  archbishop  of  York,  Alexander,  soon 
after  the  death  of  Turgot,  addressed  a  con- 
fidential letter  to  Ralph  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
who  had  succeeded  Anselm,  asking  his  advice  and 
assistance  for  enabling  him  to  provide  a  fit  suc- 
cessor to  Turgot.  In  this  letter  he  observed, 
"  That  the  bishops  of  St.  Andrews  were  wont  to 
be  consecrated  only  by  the  Pope  or  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury."  "  The  expression,"  says 
Lord  Hailes  **  is  flattering  and  artful.  Alexander 
meant  to  relieve  his  kingdom  from  the  pretensions 
of  the  one  archbishop  without  acknowledging  the 
authority  of  the  other.  He  therefore  left  the  right 
of  consecrating  doubtful  between  the  Pope  and  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  he  seemed  to  place  them  both  on  a  level." 
Eadmer,  a  monk  of  Canterbury,  had  been  fixed 
upon  by  Alexander  to  fill  the  vacant  see,  but  not 
receiving  any  answer  to  his  proposal  from  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  king  allowed  the  see  of 
St.  Andrews,  the  chief  bishopric  in  his  kingdom,  to 
remain  vacant  for  many  years.  At  length,  in  1120, 
he  despatched  a  special  messenger  to  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  with  a  letter  requesting  the  arch- 
bishop 'to  set  at  liberty'  Eadmer  the  monk,  that 
he  might  be  placed  on  the  episcopal  throne  of  St 
Andrews.  The  archbishop  consented  that  Eadmer 
should  have  liberty  to  accept  the  bishopric,  and 


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with  tliat  view  he  asked  and  obtained  the  approba- 
tion of  the  English  king.  In  a  letter  to  Alexander 
he  said,  "  I  send  you  the  person  whom  you  require 
altogether  free,^^  and  concluded  thus,  "  To  prevent 
the  inconveniencies  wUch  I  foresee  and  dread,  I 
would  counsel  yon  immediately  to  send  him  back 
to  be  consecrated  by  me."  On  his  arrival  in  Scot- 
land, Eadmer  received  the  bishopric  of  St.  Andrews 
on  the  29th  of  June  1120.  The  election  was  made 
by  the  clergy  and  people,  with  the  permission  of 
the  king;  but  on  this  occasion  Eadmer  neither 
received  the  pastoral  staff  nor  the  ring  from  the' 
hands  of  Alexander,  nor  did  he  perform  homage. 
Next  day  Alexander  held  a  secret  conference  with 
him  respecting  the  mode  of  his  consecration,  when 
the  king  expressed  his  aversion  at  his  being  con- 
secrated by  the  archbishop  of  York.  Eadmer,  on 
his  part,  declared  that  the  church  of  Canterbury 
had,  by  ancient  right,  a  pre-eminence  over  all 
Britain,  and  he  humbly  proposed  to  receive  con- 
secration from  that  metropolitan  see.  He  found, 
however,  that  Alexander  was  as  much  opposed  to 
the  pretensions  of  Canterbury  as  lie  was  to 
those  of  York,  and  that  he  had  determined  to 
free  the  Scottish  church  from  dependence  on  any 
foreign  see  but  that  of  Rome.  At  EadmeWs  proposal 
Alexander  is  described  as  having  started  from  his 
seat  with  much  emotion,  and  broken  off  the  con- 
ference. He  commanded  the  pei'son,  one  William 
a  monk  of  St.  Edmundsbury,  who  had  presided  in 
the  bishopric  since  the  death  of  Turgot,  to  resume 
his  functions.  At  the  expiry  of  a  month,  the  king, 
at  the  request  of  his  nobility,  sent  for  Eadmer,  and 
with  difficulty  obtained  his  consent  to  a  com- 
promise, by  which  Eadmer  was  to  receive  the  ring 
fi'om  Alexander,  to  take  the  pastoral  staff  from  off 
the  altar,  as  if  receiving  it  of  the  Lord,  and  then  to 
assume  the  charge  of  his  diocese.  While  the  king 
was  absent  with  his  army  quelling  some  insur- 
rection in  the  north,  as  the  Highlanders  of  the 
district  of  Moray,  particularly  at  this  time,  gave 
considerable  opposition  to  his  government,  Eadmer 
was  received  into  the  see  of  St.  Andrews  by  the 
queen,  clergy,  and  people.  • 

Finding,  however,  that  his  own  sovereign  Henry, 
who  was  then  in  Normandy,  had,  at  the  solicitation 
of  the  archbishop  of  York,  written  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  prohibiting  him  from  con- 


secrating Eadmer,  and  that  Alexander  had  also 
received  three  lettere  from  him  requiring  him  not 
to  permit  the  consecration,  the  new  bishop  of  St. 
Andrews  resolved  to  repair  to  Canterbury  for 
advice.  On  hearing  of  his  resolution  Alexander 
sent  for  him,  and  said,  '^  I  received  yon  altogether 
free  from  Canterbury;  while  I  live,  I  will  not 
permit  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  to  be  subjected 
to  that  see."  "For  your  whole  kingdom," 
answered  Eadmer,  ^'I  would  not  renounce  the 
dignity  of  a  monk  of  Canterbury."  **Then," 
replied  the  king  passionately,  *'  I  have  done  no- 
thing in  seeking  a  bishop  out  of  Canterbury."  It 
seems  to  have  been  Alexander's  design  by  soliciting 
a  bishop  from  the  province  of  Canterbury,  to  obtain 
one  who  would  have  no  partiality  for  the  see  of 
York,  and  whom  he  hoped  to  win  over  to  support 
the  independency  of  the  Scottish  Church ;  but  the 
seal  of  Eadmer  for  Canterbury  disappointed  hit 
views.  Eadmer  hunself  has  given  an  ample 
account  of  the  contest  between  him  and  Alexander; 
and  Lord  Hailes,  in  his  Annals  of  Scotland,  has 
genei-ally  followed  his  statements.  The  bishop 
complains  that  after  the  last  interview  with  the 
king,  the  latter  became  rigorous  and  unjust,  and 
would  never  afford  him  a  patient  hearing.  He 
refused  to  allow  Eadmer  permission  to  visit 
Canterbury  "  for  the  counsel  and  blessing  (mean- 
ing no  doubt  consecration)  of  the  archbishop," 
contending  that  the  church  of  Scotland  owed  no 
subjection  to  Canterbury,  and  that  Eadmer  him- 
self had  been  freed  from  all  subjection  to  it. 

In  the  anomalous  and  uncomfortable  position  in 
which  he  found  himself,  Eadmer  was  induced  to 
ask  the  advice  of  a  friend  in  England,  one  Nicho- 
las, whom  Lord  Hailes  conjectures  to  have  been 
an  ecclesiastical  agent,  whose  business  it  was  to 
solicit  causes  at  the  court  of  Rome.  This  man  ad- 
vised him  to  obtain  consecration  from  the  Pope, 
under  favour  of  the  Scottish  monarch,  and  in  the 
meantime  to  be  generous  and  hospitable  to  the 
Scots,  as  the  best  means  of  rendering  them  tracta- 
ble and  courteous.  He  concluded  his  letter  thus : 
"  I  entreat  you  to  let  me  have  as  many  of  the 
fairest  pearls  as  you  can  procure.  In  particular, 
I  desire  four  of  the  largest  sort.  If  you  cannot 
procure  them  otherwise,  ask  them  in  a  present 
from  the  king,  who,  I  know,  has  a  most  abundant 


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store" — a  remarkable  evidence  of  the  wealth  and 
magnificence  of  the  Scottish  monarchs  at  this 
time 

Eadmer,  in  his  perplexity,  also  asked  the  ad- 
vice of  John  bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  of  two  monks 
of  Canterbury,  and  the  answer  which  they  sent  to 
him  seems  to  have  determined  him  npon  resigning 
the  see.  It  was  in  these  terms :  "  If,  as  a  son  of 
peace,  yon  desire  peace,  you  must  seek  it  else- 
where than  in  Scotland.  As  long  as  Alexander 
reigns,  it  will  be  vain  for  you  to  expect  any  friend- 
ly intercourse  with  him,  or  quiet  under  his  gov- 
ernment. We  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with  his 
dispositions :  it  is  his  will  to  be  everything  him- 
self in  his  own  kingdom.  He  is  incensed  against 
you,  although  he  knows  no  reason  for  hb  resent- 
ment; and  he  will  never  be  perfectly  reconciled 
to  yon,  although  he  should  see  reason  for  a  recon- 
ciliation. You  must,  therefore,  either  abandon 
this  country,  or,  by  accommodating  youi*self  to  its 
usages,  dishonour  your  character  and  hazard  your 
salvation.  Should  you  choose  to  depart  from 
among  us,  you  will  be  constrained  to  restore  the 
ring,  which  you  received  fi*om  the  hands  of  the 
king,  and  the  pastoral  staflf  which  you  took  fi*om 
off  the  altar.  Without  complying  with  these  con- 
ditions yon  will  not  be  permitted  to  depart,  unless 
you  conld  make  to  yourself  wings  and  fly  away." 
Eadmer  consented  to  restore  the  ring  to  Alexan- 
der, but  with  regard  to  the  pastoral  staff,  he  de- 
clared that  he  would  replace  it  on  the  altar, 
whence  he  had  taken  it,  *  and  leave  it  to  be  be- 
stowed by  Christ,'  and  that  since  force  had  been 
used  against  him,  he  would  relinquish  the  bishop- 
ric, and  not  reclaim  it  during  the  reign  of  Alexan- 
der, *  unless  by  the  advice  of  the  Pope,  the  con- 
vent of  Canterbuiy,  and  the  king  of  England.' 
Having  thus,  in  effect,  resigned  his  see,  Eadmer 
was  suffered  quietly  to  leave  the  kingdom.  He 
afterwards  addressed  a  long  epistle  to  Alexander, 
in  which,  after  setting  forth  his  pretensions  to  the 
bishopric,  he  added,  in  a  tone  of  submission  which 
would  have  better  become  him  at  an  earlier  peri- 
od:  ^*  I  mean  not,  in  any  particular,  to  derogate 
from  the  freedom  and  independency  of  the  king- 
dom of  Scotland.  Should  yon  continue  in  your 
former  sentiments,  I  will  desist  from  my  opposition ; 
for,  with  respect  to  the  king  of  England,  the  arch- 


bishop of  Canterbury,*  and  the  sacerdotal  benedic- 
tion, I  had  notions,  which,  as  I  have  since  learn- 
ed, were  erroneous.  They  will  not  separate  me 
from  the  service  of  God  and  your  favour.  In 
those  things  I  will  act  according  to  your  inclina- 
tions, if  you  only  permit  me  to  enjoy  the  other 
rights  belonging  to  the  see  of  St.  Andrews.**  The 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  too,  wrote  Alexander, 
requiring  him  to  recall  Eadmer  to  Scotland ;  but 
Alexander  would  not  listen  either  to  the  solicita- 
tions, though  humbly  enough  expressed,  of  the 
one,  or  the  requisition,  however  peremptory,  of 
the  other.  He  was  resolved  to  uphold  the  inde- 
I)endence  of  the  Scottish  church;  and  the  un- 
daunted spirit  with  which  he  maintained  it  through- 
out the  whole  contest,  would  have  been  equally 
displayed,  as  Lord  HaUes  justly  remarks,  in  de- 
fence of  the  independence  of  his  kingdom,  had 
England  ever  attempted  to  call  it  in  qtiestion  dur- 
ing his  reign. 

In  January  1123,  about  a  year  before  Alexan- 
der's death,  the  pretensions  of  the  archbishop  of 
York  were  renewed,  on  the  king  procuring  an 
English  monk  named  Robert,  who  was  prior  of 
Scone,  to  be  elected  bishop  of  St.  Andrews.  The 
latter,  however,  was  not  consecrated  till  the  fourth 
year  of  the  reign  of  David  I.  about  five  years  af- 
terwards, when  Thurstin,  archbishop  of  York, 
performed  the  ceremony,  under  leservation  of  the 
rights  of  the  Scots  church. 

While  thus  successful  in  his  resistance  to  the 
claims  of  supremacy  on  the  part  of  the  metropoli- 
tan sees  of  York  and  Canterbury,  Alexander, 
as  was  usual  in  those  days,  evinced  his  devotion 
to  the  church  by  the  ample  donations  which  he 
made  to  it.  He  bestowed  upon  the  see  of  St. 
Andrews  the  famous  tract  of  land  called  the  Cur- 
sus  Apri,  or  Boar's  Chase,  of  which  it  is  not  pos- 
sible now  to  assign  the  exact  limits;  but  **so 
called,"  says  Boece,  ^^  from  a  boar  of  uncommon 
size,  which,  after  having  made  prodigious  havoc 
of  men  and  cattle,  and  having  been  frequently 
attacked  by  the  huntsmen  nnsuccessfnlly,  and  to 
the  imminent  peril  of  their  lives,  was  at  last  set 
npon  by  the  whole  country  up  in  arms  against 
him,  and  killed  while  endeavouring  to  make  his 
escape  across  this  tract  of  ground."  The  historian 
adds,  that  there  were  extant  in  his  time  manifest 


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proofs  of  the  existence  of  tiiis  huge  beast ;  its  two 
tuskSf  each  sixteen  inches  long  and  four  thick, 
Iteing  fixed  with  ii*on  chains  to  the  great  altar  of 
St.  Andrews,  having  been  placed  there  by  the 
above  named  Bishop  Robert,  who  obtained  the 
grant  of  the  boar  chase  from  Alexander,  although 
not  consecrated  bishop  at  the  time  it  was  bestowed. 
The  legend  that  this  extensive  tract  of  land  was 


confcn*ed  in  370  by  Hungus  or  Ilergustus,  a  Pict- 
isli  king,  who  is  unknown  to  histoiy,  is  a  monkish 
fiction  utterly  unworthy  of  attention. 

In  1123,  having  narrowly  escaped  shipwreck 
near  the  island  of  -^mona,  now  called  Inchcolm, 
in  the  Frith  of  Forth,  Alexander  built  a  monas- 
tery on  that  island,  of  the  ruins  of  which  a  wood- 
cut is  given  underneath. 


The  circumstances  arc  thus  related  by  Fordun : 
**  About  the  year  1123,  Alexander  I.  having  some 
business  of  state  which  obliged  him  to  cross  over 
at  the  Queen's  feiTy,  was  overtaken  by  a  terri- 
ble tempest  blowing  from  the  south-west,  which 
obliged  the  sailors  to  make  for  this  island,  (JEmo 
na,)  which  they  reached  with  the  gi'eatest  difficulty. 
Hera  they  found  a  poor  hermit,  who  lived  a  reli- 
gions life  according  to  the  rules  of  St.  Columba, 
and  performed  service  in  a  small  chapel,  support- 
mg  himself  by  the  milk  of  one  cow,  and  the  shel- 
fish  he  could  pick  up  on  the  shore ;  nevertheless, 
on  these  small  means  he  entertained  the  king  and 
his  retinue  for  three  days — the  time  which  they 
were  confined  here  by  the  wind.  During  the 
storm,  and  whilst  at  sea  and  in  the  greatest  danger, 
the  king  made  a  vow  that  if  St.  Columba  would 
bring  him  safe  to  that  island,  he  would  there  found 
a  monastery  to  his  honour,  which  should  be  an 
asylum  and  relief  to  navigators.  He  was,  more- 
over, farther  moved  to  this  foundation,  by  having, 


Iroui  liis  ciiilaliood,  entertained  a  particular  venera 
tion  and  honour  for  that  saint,  derived  from  his 
parents,  who  were  long  married  without  issue, 
until  imploring  the  aid  of  St.  Columba,  their 
request  was  most  graciously  gi*anted."  TJ  e 
monastery  thus  founded  by  Alexander  was  for 
canons  regular  of  St.  Augustine,  and  was  richly 
endowed  by  the  grateful  and  pious  king  its  founder 
and  patron.  Being  dedicated  to  St.  Colm  or 
Columba,  the  island  obtained  the  name  thereafter 
of  Inchcolm,  which  it  still  retains.  The  king  had 
previously  brought  a  colony  of  canons  regular  of 
St.  Augustine  from  the  monastery  of  St.  Oswald 
at  Nastley,  near  Pontefract,  in  Yorkshire,  and 
established  them  at  Scone,  the  abbey  of  which  he 
had  founded  in  1114,  and  dedicated  to  the  Holy 
Trinity  and  St.  Michael.  This  famous  abbey,  it 
is  well  known,  enclosed  the  celebrated  coronation 
stone  which  was  removed  to  England  by  Edward 
I.,  and  is  still  used  at  the  coronation  of  the  sove- 
reigns of  Great  Britain  at  Westminster.     Tlio 


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abbey  of  Scone,  also,  thus  founded  by  Alexander, 
witnessed  the  crowning  of  the  later  Scoto-Saxon 
kings.  By  a  royal  charter  he  conferred  upon  the 
monks  of  this  abbey  the  right  of  holding  their 
own  court,  and  of  giving  judgment  either  by 
combat,  by  iron,  or  by  water;  together  with  all 
privileges  pertaining  to  their  court;  including  the 
right  in  all  persons  resident  within  their  territory, 
of  refusing  to  answer  except  in  their  own  proper 
court.  [Cartulary  of  Sc4}ne^  p.  16.]  This  right 
of  exclusiye  jurisdiction  wa«<  confirmed  by  four 
successive  monarchs.  In  1122,  on  the  death  of 
his  qneen,  Sybilla.  who  died  suddenly  at  the  castle 
of  Loch  Tay,  in  Perthshire,  on  the  12th  of  June  of 
tha,t  year,  Alexander  erected  a  priory  on  a  small 
islnnd  on  Loch  Tay,  for  the  repose  of  his  soul  and 
tliat  of  his  consort.  According  to  Spottiswood, 
this  priory  was  a  cell  from  the  monastery  of  Scone, 
and  was  founded  by  Qneen  Sybilla  herself,  but 
this  is  evidently  a  mistake.  Some  very  inconsider- 
able ruins  of  it  still  remain.  Alexander  also 
granted  various  lands  to  the  monastery  of  Dun- 
fermline which  his  father  had  founded,  and  is  said 
to  have  finished  the  church.  His  queen  Sybilla 
also  conferred  lands  on  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  rude  condition  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  Scotland  at  that  remote  period,  the  per- 
sonal state  kept  up  by  Alexander  the  First  is  de  • 
scribed  as  having  been  scarcely,  if  at  all,  inferior 
to  that  of  his  brother- monarch  of  the  richer  coun- 
try of  England.  It  is  well-known  that  in  the 
i-eign  of  his  father,  Malcolm  Canmore,  an  unusual 
splendour  was  introduced  into  the  Scottish  court 
by  his  Saxon  consort,  the  good  queen  Margaret, 
who  not  only  encouraged  the  importation  and  use 
of  rich  vestments  from  foreign  countries,  setting 
the  example  by  being  magnificent  in  her  own  at- 
tire, but  increased  the  number  of  attendants  on 
the  person  of  the  king,  and  caused  him  to  be 
served  at  table  on  plate  of  gold  and  silver.  [7Vr- 
gofs  Memoir  of  Queen  Margaret."]  Alexander  I. 
seems  to  have  given  to  his  public  appearances,  as 
sovereign,  a  degree  of  splendour  till  then  unkno^vn 
in  the  northern  end  of  the  island.  In  his  reign 
there  appears  to  have  been  a  considerable  inter- 
course between  Scotland  and  the  East,  as  various 
oriental  commodities  and  articles  of  Asiatic  luxury 
were  imported  into  this  country.     It  is  related  of 


this  monarch,  that,  not  content  with  endowing  the 
church  of  St.  Andrews — which  had  been  founded 
in  his  reign  by  Turgot,  its  archbishop^with  nu- 
merous lands,  and  conferring  upon  it  various  im- 
munities, as  an  additional  evidence  of  his  devotion 
to  the  blessed  apostle  St.  Andrew,  after  whom  the 
see  was  called,  he  commanded  his  favourite  Ara- 
bian horse  to  be  led  up  to  the  high  altar,  his  sad- 
dle and  bridle  being  splendidly  ornamented,  while 
his  housings  were  of  a  rich  cloth  of  velvet.  The 
king's  body  armour,  of  superb  Turkish  manufac- 
ture, and  studded  with  jewels,  with  his  spear  and 
his  shield  of  silver,  were  at  the  same  time  brought 
by  a  squire ;  and  these,  along  with  the  horse  and 
his  furniture,  the  king,  in  the  presence  of  his  pre- 
lates and  barons,  solemnly  devoted  and  presented 
to  the  church.  The  housings  and  arms  were 
shown  in  the  days  of  the  historian  who  has  re- 
corded the  event.  [Extract  from  the  Register  of 
tJte  Priory  of  St,  Andrews,  in  PinkertofCs  Disserta- 
tiony  Appendix,  vol.  i.  p.  464.  Winton,  vol.  i. 
p.  286.  See  also  Tyiler's  History  of  Scotland,  vol. 
ii.  p.  198.] 

The  rising  commerce  of  the  country  in  those 
early  times  was  much  aided  and  advanced  by  the 
settlement,  in  the  districts  contiguous  to  the  Bor- 
ders, of  numbers  of  Flemish  merchants,  who,  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Alexander,  gradually  spread  into 
Scotland,  and  at  a  later  period,  namely,  in  the 
reign  of  David  the  First,  were  found  in  all  the 
towns  along  the  east  coast,  and  even  in  the  west- 
em  parts  of  the  kingdom,  wherever  traflBc  could 
be.  safely  and  profitably  canled  on.  The  money 
in  circulation  in  Scotland  at  that  period  appears 
to  have  been  of  silver  only.  Indeed,  down  to  the 
reign  of  Robert  the  Second,  the  gold  coinage  of 
England,  then  current  in  Scotland,  seems  to  have 
l)een  the  only  gold  money  in  use.  Of  the  early 
silver  money  of  Scotland,  the  most  ancient  speci- 
mens yet  found  are  the  pennies  of  Alexander  the 
First,  which  are  now  extremely  rare.  They  are 
described  as  being  of  the  same  firmness,  weight, 
and  form  as  the  contemporary  English  coins  of 
the  same  denomination,  and  down  to  the  time  of 
Robert  the  First,  the  money  of  Scotland  was  pre- 
cisely of  the  same  value  and  standard  as  that  of 
England.  [See  Ruddiman's  Introduction  to  An^ 
derson's  Diplomata,  pp.  64,  65. — Tytler's  Hiftnry 


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of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  p.  264.]  The  annexed  en- 
graving of  the  silver  pennies  of  Alexander  I.  is 
from  Anderson's  Numismata, 


Annexed  is  a  seal  of  Alexander  L,  in  which  he 
is  represented  fully  cased  in  the  armour  of  that 
period : 


Here  we  find  the  scaled  mail-coat  composed  of 
masdes,  or  lozenged  pieces  of  steel,  sewed  upon  a 
tunic  of  leather,  and  i*eachlng  only  to  the  mid  thigh. 
The  hood  is  of  one  piece  with  the  tunic,  and  covers 
the  head,  which  is  protected  with  a  conical  st^el 
cap,  and  a  nasal ;  the  sleeves  are  loose,  so  as  to 
show  the  linen  tunic  worn  next  the  skin,  and  again 
appearing  in  graceful  folds  above  the  knee;  the 


lower  leg  and  foot  are  protected  by  a  short  boot, 
aimed  with  a  spur.  The  king  holds  in  his  right 
hand  a  spear,  to  which  a  pennoncelle,  or  small  flag, 
is  attached,  exactly  similar  to  that  worn  by  Hen  17 
the  First;  the  saddle  is  peaked  before  and  behind; 
and  the  horse  on  which  he  rides  is  ornamented  by 
a  rich  fringe  round  the  chest,  but  altogether  un- 
armed. [Seal  in  the  Diphmata  ScoticB,  plate  7. 
Tytler's  History  of  Scotland  vol.  ii.  p.  360.] 

Alexander  the  First  died  at  Stirling  on  the  27th 
of  April  1124,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  reigc 
and  leaving  no  issue  was  succeeded  by  his  young- 
est brother,  David.  He  was  interred  before  the 
high  altar  at  Dunfermline,  near  to  his  father 
During  his  reign,  as  dnring  that  of  his  brother  and 
predecessor  Edgar,  the  laws,  institutions,  and 
forms  of  government,  except  in  the  Gaelic  portion 
of  the  kingdom,  were  purely  Saxon ;  and  to  this 
particular  epoch  in  our  nation's  history,  may  be 
traced  the  earliest  existence  in  Scotland  of  some 
of  the  great  oflBcers  of  state,  who  after  that  period 
discharged  some  of  the  more  important  functions 
of  the  government,  as  the  chancellor,  the  consta- 
ble, &c.  The  fonner  was  the  most  intimate  coun- 
sellor of  the  king,  and  generally  the  witness  to  hia 
chartei-s,  lettera,  and  proclamations,  and  the  lat- 
ter, an  office  of  undoubted  Norman  origin,  was 
the  leader  of  the  whole  military  power  of  the 
kingdom.  The  first  appearance  in  Scotland  of  the 
now  ancient  oflSce  of  sheriff  is  also  refeired  to  this 
reign,  although  the  division  of  the  country  into 
regular  sheriffdoms  did  not  take  place  till  a  much 
later  period.  "  During  the  reigns  of  Edgar  and 
Alexander  I.,"  says  Skene,  "  the  whole  of  Scot- 
land, with  the  exception  of  what  had  formed  the 
kingdom  of  Thorfinn  (during  the  Norwegian  con- 
quest consisting  of  the  Orkneys,  the  Hebrides, 
and  a  large  portion  of  the  Highlands),  exhibited 
the  exact  countei-part  of  Saxon  England,  with  its 
earls,  thanes,  and  sheriffs,  while  the  rest  of  the 
country  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Gaelic 
Maormors,  who  yielded  so  far  to  Saxon  influence 
as  to  assume  the  Saxon  title  of  earl."  [History 
of  the  Highlanders,  vol.  i.  p.  128.]  The  personal 
character  of  Alexander  was  bold  and  energetic, 
and  his  disposition  fiery  and  impetuous.  Sti'enu 
ous  in  maintaining  his  authority,  he  had,  early  in 
his  reign,  applied  himself  to  repressing  the  disor- 


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ders  and  iDsurrections  which  were  contiuually 
breaking  out  in  the  Celtic  poi-tion  of  his  domin- 
ions, and  his  ai*dent  temper  and  daring  spirit  con- 
tribated  not  a  little  to  his  success  in  overawing 
the  turbulent  inhabitants  of  the  north,  and  reduc- 
ing them  to  submission.  The  boldest  chieftains 
are  said  to  have  trembled  in  his  presence,  and  the 
epithet  of  *  Fierce' attached  to  his  name  seems  to 
have  arisen  fix>m  the  energy  which  he  at  all  times 
displayed,  and  which  was  necessary  for  reclaiming 
the  Scots  from  that  savage  barbarism  into  which 
they  had  relapsed  under  Donald  Bane.  Although 
tenible  to  the  rest  of  his  people,  Alexander  is  de- 
scribed by  Aldred,  as  being  humble  and  courteous 
to  the  clergy,  "  not  ignorant  of  letters,"  liberal 
even  to  profusion,  and  kind  and  benevolent  to  the 
poor. — Holies'  Annals  of  Scotland^  vol.  i.,  and  tJie 
authorities  quoted  in  the  preceding  article, 

ALEXANDER  11.,  king  of  Scotland,  the  fourth 
in  succession  from  the  subject  of  the  foregoing  me- 
moir, to  whom  he  stands  in  the  relation  of  great 
grand-nephew,  was  bom  at  Haddington  24  Aug., 
1198.  He  was  the  only  legitimate  son  of  William 
Bui-named  the  Lion,  his  predecessor  on  the  throne. 
His  mother,  Eimangarde,  was  daughter  of  Rich- 
ard Viscount  de  Beaumont,  a  descendant  from 
Henry  L  of  England,  through  his  mother,  a  na- 
tural daughter  of  that  monarch.  He  succeeded 
his  father  December  4, 1214,  being  then  only  six- 
teen years  of  age,  and  was  crowned  at  Scone  on 
the  20th  of  the  same  month. 

Some  years  before  the  death  of  William  his  fa- 
ther, that  monarch  had  been  engaged  in  warlike 
demonstrations  against  England,  followed,  (in 
1209,)  by  a  treaty  of  a  singular  character,  of  which 
the  provisions  have  not  yet  been  clearly  ascertained. 
It  appears  that  during  the  troubles  in  which  John 
— ^the  monarch  who  then  sat  upon  the  English 
throne— was  involved,  (in  consequence  of  disputes 
with  the  head  of  the  church  and  the  dissatisfaction 
of  his  barons,  which  finally  resulted  in  the  conces- 
sion by  him  of  Magna  Chai'ta,)  William— conceiv- 
ing the  opportunity  to  be  favourable — took  occa- 
sion to  demand  that  the  counties  of  Northumber- 
land, Cumberland,  and  Westmoreland,  (which 
until  about  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IL 
had  constituted  the  county  or  province  of  North- 
umbria,  and  under  that  designation  had  been  held 


during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  his  grand- 
father David  I.,  by  the  eldest  son  of  that  mon- 
ai*cn,  the  fatner  of  William,  as  a  fief  of  the  English 
crown,  but  on  the  death  of  that  monarch  had  been 
resumed  by  Henry  II.,)  should  be  restored  to  the 
Scottish  nation.  How  far  that  claim — one  of  the 
vexed  qnestious  of  Scottish  history — was  founded 
in  right,  does  not  properly  fall  to  be  considered  in 
this  biography,  but  will  be  treated  of  in  that  of 
Malcolm  IV.,  the  brother  of  William,  on  whose 
accession  these  counties  wei-e  restored  to  Henry, 
and  to  which  therefore  we  refer.  We  may,  how- 
ever, remark, — unwilling  as  we  are  to  yield  to  any 
one  in  the  asseition  of  the  just  rights  of  Scotland, — 
that  there  does  not  appear  in  the  circumstances 
any  warrant  for  assuming — as  William  then  did, 
and  as  Scottish  writers  have  hitherto  done — that 
the  intrusting  of  the  government  of  these  coun- 
ties by  Stephen  in  February  1189  to  Prince  Hen- 
ry, son  of  David — as  an  individual  lordship  for 
which  he  rendered  homage— <^n  be  construed  in- 
to permanent  cession  of  their  possession  from  the 
English  to  the  Scottish  crown.  It  may  more  pro- 
bably be  inferred  as  done  in  guarantee  of  the  ful- 
filment of  the  solemn  engagement  then  entered 
into  with  David  by  Stephen,  that  the  crown  of 
England — usui-ped  by  him — should  at  his  death 
descend  to  Heniy,  gi*and-nephew  of  David,— son 
of  the  empress  Matilda  his  sister's  daughter  the 
rightful  heiress,— on  whose  behalf  alone  it  was 
that  that  wise  and  righteous  prince  had  professed 
to  take  up  arms.  The  retention  in  his  own  hands 
by  the  English  king,  during  the  entire  period  of 
their  government  by  the  heir  to  the  Scottish  throne, 
of  the  commanding  strengths  of  Bamborough, 
Norham,  aud  Newcastle  on  Tyne,  (the  two  former 
situated  neai*  the  Scottish  border,)  and  the  omission 
of  all  reference  to  the  circumstance  of  the  supposed 
cession  on  the  part  of  English  historians,  gives 
additional  probability  to  this  aspect  of  the  ti*ans- 
action.  Its  resumption,  therefore,  on  the  fulfil- 
ment of  that  stipulation  towards  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  David,  may  in  this  view  of  the  matter 
have  involved  no  uijustice  on  the  part  of  the 
English  monarch,  and^appears  to  have  been  peace- 
fully acquiesced  in  by  Malcolm,  the  then  reign- 
ing king.  In  the  history  of  the  two  kingdoms  of 
that  period,  however,  it  will  frequently  be  found 


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til  at  the  occasion  of  distraction  or  civil  contest 
on  the  part  of  tlie  one  was  frequently  embraced, 
to  press  to  an  issue  assumed  or  disputed  claims  on 
the  part  of  the  other,  and  the  feaiful  state  of  mat- 
tere  which  then  obtained  in  England — placed  as  it 
was  under  a  papal  interdict,  the  public  services  of 
religion  suspended,  the  rites  of  interment  with- 
held, the  prelates  banished,  and  the  nobles  insult- 
ed— presented  an  opportunity  too  tempting  to  be 
withstood  by  William,  for  making  a  demand  which, 
if  yielded  to,  would  at  once  aggrandize  his  king- 
dom, and  avenge  his  long  captivity.  Nor  is  there 
wanting,  in  the  earlier  history  of  that  monai'ch 
himself,  more  than  one  incident  to  illustrate  the 
truth  of  the  foregoing  remark. 

In  order  to  understand  the  position  of  the  par- 
ties, however,  on  the  occasion  of  the  conclusion  of 
this  treaty,  it  is  proper  to  observe  that,  according 
to  the  English  historians,  John, — notwitlistanding 
the  dangerous  situation  in  which  he  stood,  and  the 
loss  of  reputation  he  had  sustained  by  acquiescing 
in  the  conquest  of  the  English  provinces  in  France, 
— appears,  on  becoming  aware  of  the  military  pre- 
palpations  of  William,  to  have  manifested  a  de- 
gree of  energy  unusual  to  him,  and  to  have  resolved 
to  do  some  act  that  would  give  a  lustre  to  his  gov- 
ernment. He  is  represented  by  them  as  hanng 
been  successful  in  his  military  entei-prises  in  Scot- 
laud,  as  also  in  othei*s  which  he  undertook  against 
the  Irish  and  Welsh.  It  was  in  these  circum- 
stances, therefoi-e,  that  by  the  treaty  in  question, 
the  king  of  Scotland  bound  himself  to  pay  to  John 
fifteen  thousand  merks  (supposed  to  be  equivalent 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling of  our  present  money)  in  two  years,  by  four 
equal  payments,  ^^for  procuring  his  good  will 
(benevolentid)^  and  for  fulfilling  certain  conven- 
tions between  them,"  contained  in  a  charter  which 
has  not  been  preserved.  For  the  performance  of 
this  treaty  William  gave  John  hostages.  He 
likewise  delivered  his  two  daughters,  Margaret 
and  Isabella,  to  the  king  of  England  to  be  edu- 
cated at  his  court,  and  **that  they  might  be  pro- 
vided by  him  in  suitable  matches,''  but  not  to 
be  considered  as  hostages.  About  thu'ty  years 
thereafter  it  was  stated  in  the  English  parliament 
that  the  conditions  of  the  chai'ter  referred  to  were 
that  the  two  Scottish  princesses  should  be  mar- 


ried to  king  John's  two  sous,  and  that  the  money, 
together  with  a  renunciation  of  his  claim  to  the 
northern  counties,  was  given  by  William  as  their 
marriage  portion.  Hubeit  de  Burgh,  the  justici- 
ary of  England,  who  married  the  princess  Mar- 
garet, positively  denied,  however,  all  knowledge  oi 
any  such  condition  as  the  former;  while  some 
Scottish  writers  subsequently  founded  on  its  non- 
fulfilment  a  supposed  claim  for  the  restitution  of 
the  latter.     [See  Life  of  Willtam  the  Lion,  post.} 

Shortly  after  Alexander  came  to  the  throne 
affaira  in  England  became  involved  in  a  still 
greater  degree  of  confusion  than  before.  John, 
perfidious  and  perjm*ed  as  tyrannical,  had  violated 
the  provisions  of  Magna  Chaita,  set  his  barons  at 
defiance,  and  threatened  alike  to  crush  the  liber- 
ties of  the  counti-y  and  then*  power.  In  this 
emergency,  they  decided  to  renounce  their  allegi- 
ance to  him,  and  sent  a  deputation  to  ofier  the 
crown  of  England  to  Louis,  son  of  the  king  of 
France.  At  the  same  time  such  of  them  as  held 
possessions  in  the  northern  counties  applied  to 
Alexander,  and  ofierod  to  put  him  in  possession  of 
these  districts  as  the  consideration  for  his  aiding 
them  against  their  oppressor.  Although  so  young, 
Alexander  was  not  unwilling  to  avail  himself  ot 
the  proposal,  and  an  agreement  was  accordingly 
entered  into  to  that  efifect.  In  accordance  with 
this  agi*eement,  Alexander  with  an  army  mai'ched 
into  Northumberland,  and  on  the  18th  of  October 
1215,  he  roceivcd  the  homage  of  the  barons  of  that 
county  at  Felton  castle.  The  castle  of  Norham 
was  besieged  by  him  for  forty  days,  during  which 
time  Eustace  de  .Vesci, — one  of  the  principal  bar- 
ons of  the  northern  counties,  who  had  made  him- 
self conspicuous  by  his  opposition  to  John, — gave 
him  investiture  of  the  county  of  Northumberland 
by  livery  and  sasine.  The  intelligence  of  these 
negotiations,  however,  again  stirred  up  John  to 
unwonted  activity,  and  he  resolved  to  ciiish  the 
northern  invasion  bcforo  Louis  should  arrive  in 
England.  Accordingly,  immediately  after  Christ- 
mas, whilst  a  deep  fall  of  snow  lay  on  the  ground, 
at  the  head  of  a  large  force,  consisting  principally 
of  foreign  mercenaries,  he  advanced  into  Yorkshire 
and  Northumberland,  devastating  the  estates  of 
the  confederated  barons,  and  burning  and  slaying 
whcrovcr  he  came.     All  the  castles  and  town« 


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they  could  take  were  given  to  the  flames,  King 
John  himself  setting  the  example,  as  he  fired  with 
bis  own  hands  in  the  moiiiiug  the  house  in  which 
he  had  rested  the  preceding  night. 

On  the  approach  northwaj-d  of  John,  Alexander 
raised  the  siege  of  Norham,  and  retu-ed  within  his 
own  dominions.  The  English  barons  accompanied 
him,  and  those  of  the  northern  counties  did  homage 
to  Alexander  at  the  abbey  of  Mebx>se  on  the  15th 
Januai7l!216.  IChronicleofMelrou^  p.  190. "]  John 
with  his  mixed  and  savage  host  of  foreign  soldiery 
followed,  burning,  in  their  march,  the  towns  of 
Werk,  Morpeth,  Alnwick,  Mitford,  and  Roxburgh. 
After  storming  Berwick  they  entered  Scotland, 
torturing,  plundering,  and  massacring  the  inha- 
bitants in  their  way.  The  towns  of  Dunbar  and 
Haddington  were  likewise  buint  to  the  ground. 
John  was  determined  to  have  vengeance  on  Alex- 
ander for  the  assistance  which  he  had  given  to  the 
pati'iotic  barons  who  had  taken  up  arms  against 
him.  "  We  will  smoke,"  he  said,  "  the  little  red 
fox  out  of  his  covert."  From  this  laconic  descrip- 
tion of  him  we  may  infer  that  Alexander  the  Sec- 
ond was  both  diminutive  in  stature  and  ruddy  in 
complexion.  John  pui-sued  his  devastating  com-se 
as  far  as  Edinburgh,  but  was  soon  obliged  to 
withdraw  from  a  country  which  his  troops  had 
ravaged  so  completely  that  it  no  longer  afforded 
them  subsistence.  In  his  retreat,  his  forces  burnt 
the  priory  of  Coldingham,  which  had  been  found- 
ed in  the  year  1098  by  Edgar  king  of  Scotland, 
and  the  town  of  Berwick ;  John  himself,  as  was 
his  usual  practice,  giving  the  example  to  his  bru- 
tal soldiery  by  setting  fire  to  the  house  in  which 
he  had  lodged. 

For  the  priory  of  Coldingham  thus  ruthlessly 
consumed  by  John's  savage  followers,  Alexander, 
like  all  the  rest  of  the  Scottish  kings  since  the 
time  of  Edgar  its  founder,  had  a  great  veneration, 
lie  had  not  only  confii'med  the  chartei's  which  his 
predecessors  had  granted  to  it,  but  exempted  the 
prior  and  his  monks  from  a  sum  of  twenty  merks 
that  they  had  been  hi  the  custom  of  paying  yearly 
to  his  exchequer,  under  the  name  of  wattinga^ — a 
tax  which  appears  to  have  been  levied  from  the 
landholders  ui  Scotland  for  the  pui-pose  of  erect- 
ing and  maintaining  in  repair  the  government  for- 
tresses.   He  also  issued  a  writ  to  Robert  dc  Bern- 


ham,  the  mayor,  and  to  the  ballifis  of  Berwick, 
enjoining  them  to  allow  free  passage  to  foreign 
merchants,  when  on  their  way  to  the  priory  to 
purchase  the  wool  and  other  commodities  belong- 
ing to  the  monks,  and  prohibiting  every  one  from 
seizing  any  property,  moveable  or  nnmoveable, 
belonging  to  the  convent,  within  the  barony  or 
lordship  of  Coldingham,  for  debt  on  forfeiture. 
Besides  these  immunities,  he  released  ^^  the  twelfth 
village  of  Coldinghamshire,  or  that  in  which  the 
cbmx^h  is  founded,"  from  the  aids  and  militai-y 
service  which  had  foimerly  been  exacted.  It  was 
not  likely  therefore  that  he  would  allow  John's 
destructive  march  to  pass  without  taking  dreadful 
reprisals. 

Accordingly,  in  the  month  of  February  fol- 
lowing this  inroad,  Alexander  in  his  turn  wast- 
ed the  western  marches  with  fire  and  sword 
and  penetrated  into  Cumberland.  Some  of  the 
undisciplined  Scots,  by  which  name  the  monk- 
ish historians  distinguish  the  Highlanders  in  his 
army,  plundered  and  burnt  the  abbey  of  Holm- 
cultram,  in  revenge  for  the  destruction  of  the  pri- 
ory of  Coldingham  by  the  English.  These  rever- 
end chroniclers  relate  with  apparent  delight  that 
two  thousand  of  the  Scots,  on  their  way  home 
with  their  booty,  wei-e  drowned  in  the  flooded 
cmrent  of  the  river  Eden,  as  a  judgment  for  their 
sacrilegious  violation  of  a  holy  house.  After  a 
temporary  retreat  into  his  own  tenitories,  Alex- 
ander invaded  Cumberland  a  second  time,  in  the 
month  of  July,  with  all  his  army,  except  the 
Highlanders,  whom  he  had  chastised  and  dis- 
missed [Chron.  Mel.y  p.  191],  and  on  the  8th  ot 
August,  he  took  possession  of  the  city  of  Carlisle. 
The  castle,  however,  held  out  against  him.  He 
then  marched  southwai'ds  quite  througli  England 
to  Dover,  to  join  Louis,  the  son  of  the  king  of 
France,  who  by  this  time  had  arrived  in  England. 
In  his  progress  Alexander  assaulted  Bernard  cas- 
tle, the  seat  of  the  Baliol  family,  then  held  by  a 
garrison  for  John.  Eustace  de  Vesci,  who  had 
given  him  investiture  of  Northumberland  at  Nor- 
ham castle,  was  slain  there.  On  aniving  at  Dover 
he  found  Louis  besieging  the  castle,  and  as  the 
English  bai'ons  had  done,  he  did  homage  to  that 
prince  for  all  his  lands  in  England,  and  paiticulariy 
for  the  counties  of  Northmnberland,  Cumberland, 


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and  Westmoreland,  which  were  then  granted  to 
him  by  chai-ter.  IRymer's  Fcsderoy  torn.  ii.  p.  217.] 
This  he  might  very  well  do,  for  the  French  prince 
Louis  had  not  only  been  offered  and  had  accepted 
the  crown  of  England,  but  actually  had  a  claim  to 
it  in  right  of  his  wife.  On  this  occasion  Louis,  on 
his  part,  swore  that  he  would  not  conclude  a 
separate  peace,  an  oath  which  he  was  soon  com- 
pelled to  violate.  On  his  return  homeward  Alex- 
ander met  with  some  obstruction  in  passing  the 
Trent,  the  bridge  at  Newark  having  been  broken 
down  by  the  army  of  King  John,  who  expii-ed  at 
the  castle  of  Newaik,  19th  Oct.  1216. 

Some  time  before  this  (May  15, 1213)  John  had 
been  reduced  to  the  unworthy  expedient  of  sui?- 
rendering  his  dominions  into  the  hands  of  the 
Pope,  and  of  consenting  to  hold  them  hencefor- 
ward only  as  his  vassal,  as  a  means  of  escaping 
from  the  consequences  of  the  papal  interdict,  and 
threatened  excommunication.  When  compelled 
by  his  barons  and  clergy  (June  19,  1215)  to  sign 
the  Great  Charter,  inwardly  resolving  to  violate 
its  provisions,  he,  as  one  means  of  effecting  this,'' 
laid  a  statement  of  the  matter,  with  a  complaint 
of  the  violence  imposed  upon  him,  before  his  feu- 
dal lord,  the  supreme  pontiff,  who  issued  a  bull, 
absolving  him  from  his  oath,  annulling  the  char- 
ter, and  prohibiting  the  barons  from  exacting  the 
observance  of  it,  on  pain  of  excommunication. 
Strange  to  say,  the  English  primate  refused  to 
obey  the  pope  in  publishing  the  sentence,  and 
though  suspended  on  account  of  this  proceeding, 
and  a  new  and  particular  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation was  issued  by  name  against  the  principal 
barons, — including  not  only  the  French  prince 
Louis,  but  Alexander  and  his  whole  army,  and 
the  entire  realm  of  Scotland, — the  nobility  and 
people,  and  even  the  clergy,  of  both  kingdoms 
adhered  to  the  combination  against  him,  and  so 
little  zeal  in  the  matter  was  manifested  by  the 
clergy  of  Scotland,  that  nearly  a  twelvemonth 
elapsed  before  it  was  published  there.  [Chron, 
Melrose,  192.  Fordun,  ix.  31.] 

Although  Alexander,  as  ah'eady  stated,  had 
taken  the  town  of  Carlisle,  the  castle  held  out, 
and  was  besieged  by  him  unsuccessfully.  While 
engaged  in  this  siege,  a  portion  of  the  army  of 
Prince  lx)uis  was  entirely  defeated  in  the  streets 


of  Lincoln,  19th  May  1217,  the  count  de  Perche, 
its  commander-in-chief,  being  killed,  and  many 
of  the  chief  commandei-s  taken  prisoners.  On  the 
news  of  this  defeat,  Prince  Louis,  who  was  still 
occupied  with  the  siege  of  Dover,  pix)ceeded  to 
London,  where  he  learned  the  further  defeat  of  a 
fleet  bringing  him  reinforcements  from  France, 
and  the  general  defection  of  the  bai-ons,  as  they 
had  by  this  time  become  suspicious  of  his  Inten- 
tion. In  the  general  turn  which  men^s  disposi- 
tions had  taken,  the  excommunication  denounced 
by  the  legate  failed  not  now  to  produce  a  mighty 
effect  on  them,  and  they  were  easily  persuaded  to 
consider  a  cause  as  impious,  which  had  hitherto 
been  unfortunate,  and  for  which  they  had  already 
entertained  an  unsurmountable  avei*sion.  Seeing 
his  cause  to  be  desperate,  Louis  now  .began  to  be 
anxious  for  the  safety  of  his  pei*son,  and  entered 
into  a  negotiation  with  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  pro- 
tector of  the  realm  of  England, — Heniy  the  Tliird, 
the  son  and  successor  of  King  John,  being  then  a 
minor, — and  a  peace  was  concluded,  Louis  stipu- 
lating for  a  full  indemnity  to  the  English  of  his 
party — with  a  restitution  of  then*  honours  and  for- 
tunes, together  with  the  free  and  equal  enjoyment 
of  those  liberties  which  that  wise  noble  had  guar- 
anteed in  the  name  of  the  prince  to  the  rest  of  the 
nation — and  formally  renouncing  his  pi-etensions 
to  the  crown  of  England.  That  Louis  might  be 
reconciled  to  the  holy  see,  he  did  penance  by 
walking  baiefooted  to  the  legatees  tent,  in  pres- 
ence of  both  armies.  He  then  depaited  with  all 
his  foreign  forces  to  France. 

On  receiving  intelligence  of  these  events,  Alex- 
ander, who  was  then  on  his  march  into  England, 
made  overtures  of  peace  to  the  young  king  Hen- 
ry III.,  and  after  some  time  spent  in  negotia- 
tion, a  ti*eaty  was  concluded  between  them.  He 
then  yielded  up  the  town  of  Cariisle  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  in  an  interview  which  he  had  with  King 
Henry  at  Northamption,  he  did  homage  to  him, 
— but /or  his  English  possessions  only,  as  Scot- 
tish writers  allege, — and  returned  into  Scotland. 
[Chron,  Mei,  192,  194,  195.     Fordun  ix.  31.] 

Alexander  now  sought  to  be  reconciled  to  the 
Pope,  and  havmg  procured  a  safe  conduct  from 
England,  he  proceeded  to  Tweedmouth,  on  the 
English  side  of  the  Border,  and  there  met  the 


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archbishop  of  York  and  the  bishop  of  Durham  who 
had  been  delegated  by  the  Pope's  legale  for  the 
purpose,  and  received  absolation  from  their  hands, 
1st  December  1217,  without  being  called  upon  to 
perform  the  ignominious  penance  which  generally 
preceded  absolution.  Some  days  thereafter  the 
delegates  also  removed  the  ban  of  excommunica- 
tion from  Alexander's  mother,  queen  Ermengai*de. 
The  sentence  was  also  removed  from  the  whole 
body  of  the  Scottish  nation,  except  the  prelates 
and  the  clergy,  who  had  become  obnoxious  by 
reason  of  their  reluctance  to  publish  the  bull. 

In  the  spring  of  1218,  William,  prior  of  Dur- 
ham, and  Walter  de  Wisbech,  archdeacon  of  York, 
traversed  Scotland,  '^  from  Berwick  to  Aberdeen," 
for  the  purpose  of  absolving  the  Scottish  clergy 
from  the  sentence  of  excommunication.  While 
upon  this  tour,  on  arriving  at  a  town  they  sum- 
moned the  clergy  to  attend  them,  and  having 


required  them  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  papal 
legate,  and  to  make  a  candid  confession  of  all 
matters  concerning  which  they  were  asked,  they 
absolved  them,  standing  barefoot  before  the  doors 
of  their  churches  and  abbeys.  The  commission- 
ers were  very  sumptuously  enteitained,  and  their 
favour  was  couited  by  large  bribes  of  money,  and 
many  presents.  IRidpath's  Border  History^  p. 
127.]  On  their  return  south  they  halted  at  the 
abbey  of  Lindores,  where  the  prior  of  Durham 
was  nearly  suffocated  with  smoke,  a  fii*e  having 
broken  out  in  the  chamber  where  he  slept,  through 
the  carelessness  and  rioting  of  those  who  had  the 
chai'ge  of  the  wine,  ''  his  chamberman,''  as  Balfour 
pithily  says,  "  being  verey  drunke.''  He  died  at 
Coldingham  priory,  which  appears  to  have  been 
partially  restored  after  its  burning  by  King  John 
in  1216.  The  following  is  a  woodcut  of  the  ruins 
of  this  celebrated  priory. 


Against  these  proceedings  the  king  appealed  to 
Rome,  while  the  clergy  themselves  sent  a  deputa- 
tion of  three  bishops  to  the  Pope.  A  judgment  was 
obtained  in  their  favour,  which  declared  that  the 
legate  had  exceeded  his  powers,  and  not  only  was 


absolution  granted  by  Pope  Honorius,  but  the 
liberties  and  privileges  of  the  Scottish  church  were 
confiimed  [Fordun  a  Goodal,  vol.  ii.  pp.  40,  42.] 
For  this  favour  one  of  the  causes  mentioned  is 
the  respect  and  obedience  which  Alexander  had 
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manifested  to  the  papal  see.  This  concession  on 
his  part  in  a  few  years  thereafter  (in  1225)  led  to 
one  of  still  greater  importance.  The  Scottish 
clergy  having  represented  to  the  Pope,  that  from 
the  want  of  a  metropolitan  they  could  not  hold  a 
provincial  conncil,  he  authorized  them  to  hold  a 
general  council  of  their  own  authority.  Of  this 
permission  they  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage, 
and  having  assembled  un'der  its  sanction,  they 
drew  up  a  distinct  fonn  of  proceeding,  by  which 
the  Scottish  provincial  councils  were  in  future  to 
be  held ;  instituted  the  office  of  Conservator  Sta- 
tutorum,  and  continued  to  assemble  frequent  pro- 
vincial councils,  unfettered  by  the  intervention  of 
my  foreign  superior. 

By  one  article  of  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded 
in  1217  between  Alexander  and  Henry,  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  king  of  Scotland  should  marry 
the  princess  Joan,  the  eldest  sister  of  the  king  of 
England;  and  their  nuptials,  after  some  delays, 
occasioned  by  the  detention  of  the  princess  in 
France,  were  celebrated  on  the  25th  of  June  1221. 
The  princess  Joan,  on  her  marriage,  was  secured 
in  a  jointure  of  one  thousand  pounds  of  land  rent. 
[Foederoy  torn.  ii.  p.  252.]  Lord  Hailes  says, 
"  The  jointure  lands  were  Jedworth,  Lessndden, 
Kinghom,  and  Crail.  Any  deficiencies  were  to 
be  made  good  out  of  the  castles  and  castellanys  of 
Ayr,  Rutherglen,  Lanark,  and  the  rents  of  Clydes- 
dale. Kinghom  and  Crail  were,  at  that  time, 
part  of  the  jointure  lands  of  the  queen-dowager." 

The  peace  with  England  and  the  marriage  of 
Alexander  to  the  English  king's  sister  put  a  stop 
to  all  hostilities  between  the  two  nations  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  intreduced  a  friendly  Intercourse 
between  the  two  royal  families,  now  so  nearly  re- 
lated, which  for  a  long  time  continued  uninteiTupt- 
ed.  The  king  and  qneen  of  Scotland  made  fre- 
quent visits  to  the  court  of  England  ;  where  they 
were  nobly  entertained,  and  received  many  valu- 
able proofs  of  friendship  from  King  Henry.  The 
alliance  with  England  was  still  farther  strength- 
ened by  the  man-iage  of  Alexander's  two  sisters, 
the  princesses  Margaret  and  Isabella,  who  had 
been  sent  to  England  in  the  preceding  reign,  to 
English  barons  of  great  power  and  influence, 
namely,  Margaret,  soon  after  her  brother's  mar- 
riage in  1221,  to  the  celebrated  Hubert  de  Burgh, 


justiciary  of  England,  and  Isabella,  iu  1225,  to 
Roger  Bigot,  eldest  son  of  Hugh,  Earl  Bigot. 
[Fardun,  ix.  32,  38.  Fadera,  i.  227,  228,  874. 
Matth,  Paris,  216.]  For  providing  portions  for 
his  sisters,  Alexander,  in  1224,  levied  an  aid  of 
ten  thousand  pounds  upon  the  nation.  This  grant 
is  stated  by  some  of  our  Scottish  writers,  in  the 
loose  manner  in  which  they  are  accustomed  to 
write  of  events  which  took  place  at  that  remote 
period,  to  have  been  authorized  by  Alexander's 
parliament;  while,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  imposed 
by  the  simple  order  of  the  king  himself,  without 
the  slightest  appearance  of  a  meeting  of  the  three 
estates,  or  even  of  the  council  of  the  king.  Such 
a  thing  as  a  parliament  was  then  unknown  in 
Scotland.  The  first  meeting,  indeed,  of  what 
may  be  teimed  one  did  not  take  place  till  1289, 
fully  sixty-five  years  later,  when,  after  the  death 
of  Alexander  III.,  the  estates  of  the  kingdom, 
that  is,  the  five  guardians  or  regents,  ten  bishops, 
twelve  earis,  twenty-three  abbots,  eleven  priors, 
and  forty-eight  barons,  calling  themselves  the 
community  of  Scotland,  although  no  representa- 
tives of  the  burghs  or  of  the  people  were  among 
them,  met  at  Brigham,  now  Birgham,  an  obscure 
village  in  Berwickshire,  to  take  into  consideration 
the  proposal  for  a  marriage  between  the  prince'ol 
Wales,  the  son  of  Edward  the  First  of  England, 
and  the  young  queen  Margaret  of  Scotland,  called 
"  the  Maiden  of  Norway."  When  Fordun  (vol. 
ii.  p.  84)  asserts  that  Alexander  the  Second,  im- 
mediately after  his  coronation,  held  his  parliament 
in  Edinburgh,  in  which  he  confirmed  to  the  chan* 
cellor,  constable,  and  chamberlain  the  same  high 
offices  which  they  had  filled  at  his  father's  death, 
the  word  parliament  so  used  may  be  held  only  to 
mean  an  assembly  of  the  court,  or  the  council  of 
his  nobles  and  great  officers  of  the  crown,  and 
not  a  parliament,  or  even  convention  of  estates,  in 
the  modem  meaning  of  the  word.  [See  Tyt/er*$ 
History  of  Scotland^  vol.  ii.  sect.  8.] 

Anciently  the  barons  of  the  realm,  with  the 
crown  vassals  and  higher  clergy,  constituted  the 
communitas  regni,  which  formed  the  parliament, 
as  Mr.  Skene  terms  it,  of  all  Teutonic  nations. 
To  this  body,  composed  of  Celtic,  Norman,  and 
Saxon  dignitaries  and  landholders,  belonged  the 
duty  of  counselling  the  monarch,  and  expressing 


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the  wants  and  wishes  of  the  nation,  without  tlio 
great  mass  of  the  people  having  either  a  voice  or 
a  will  in  the  matter,  the  principle  of  elective  re- 
presentation being  altogether  unknown  to  them. 
But  there  was  another  and  even  a  higher  body  in 
the  state,  independent  of  the  cammunitas^  whose 
peculiar  privileges  were  only  exercised  on  great  and 
rare  occasions,  namely,  when  there  was  a  vacancy 
in  the  throne.  This  was  the  Septem  Comites  Regni 
Scotia,  "  the  seven  earls  of  Scotland."  Until  very 
recently,  the  existence  of  such  a  corporate  body 
in  the  state  seems  to  have  been  .entirely  unknown. 
To  Sir  Franci«  Palgrave  belongs  the  merit  of  hav- 
ing made  the  discovery  of  a  fact  of  so  much  im- 
portance to  the  right  understanding  of  the  history 
of  Scotland.  It  is  proved,  he  8a}'s  in  his  *  Trea- 
sury Documents  lllnstrative  of  Scottish  History/ 
published  in  1837,  that  **  there  existed  in  the  an- 
cient kingdom  of  Scotland,  a  known  and  estab- 
lished constitutional  body  denominated  '  the  seven 
earls  of  Scotland,^  possessing  privileges  of  singular 
importance  as  a  distinct  estate  in  the  realm,  sev- 
ered equally  fi*om  the  other  earls,  and  from  the 
body  of  the  baronage."  These  seven  earls  as  a 
body  derived  their  fimctions  from  the  old  Celtic 
constitution  of  the  country,  ancient  Albania,  or 
Scotland,  north  of  the  friths  of  Forth  and  Clyde,  be- 
ing divided  into  seven  great  provinces  or  govern- 
ments. The  Pictish  names  of  these  provinces 
were  Fiv,  Cait,  Fotla,  Fortrein,  Circui,  Ce,  and 
Fidach,  corresponding  with,  according  to  Grcraldus 
Cambrensis,  Fife,  Caithness,  AthoU  and  Garmo- 
rin,  Stratheme  and  Menteth,  Angus  and  Meams, 
Moray  and  Ross,  and  Marr  and  Buchan.  Three 
of  these  were  provinces  of  the  Southern  Picts, 
namely,  Fife,  Stratheme  and  Menteth,  and  Angus 
and  Meams ;  the  other  four  belonged  to  the  nor- 
them  Picts.  These  seven  provinces  formed  the 
kingdom  of  the  Picts  or  Scotland  proper,  previous 
to  the  ninth  century.  The  Scottish  conquest,  in 
843,  having  added  to  it  Dalriada,  which  after- 
wards became  Argyle,  and  Caithness  having  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  same  century  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  Norwegians,  the  former  was  after 
that  period  substituted  for  the  latter,  and  the  earl 
of  Argyle  instead  of  the  earl  of  Caithness  was 
numbered  among  "  the  seven  earls."  The  Pictish 
nation  consisted  of  a  confederacy  of  fourteen  tribes 


spread  over  the  seven  provinces  named,  in  each 
of  which  one  of  the  seven  superior  chiefs  mled 
under  the  Celtic  name  of  maormor.  In  the  reign 
of  Edgar  they  assumed  the  Saxon  title  of  earl, 
and  their  territories  were  exactly  the  same  with 
the  earldoms  into  which  the  north  of  Scotland  was 
afterwards  divided. 

In  the  appendix  to  the  fii-st  volume  of  Mr. 
Skene's  valuable  *  History  of  the  Highlanders,' 
will  be  found  a  clear  account  of  the  *  seven  ancient 
provinces  of  Scotland,'  over  which  the  seven  earls 
presided.  It  was  the  privilege  of  these  seven 
superior  chiefs,  by  immemorial  custom,  as  a 
peculiar  estate  in  the  realm,  to  appoint  a  king, 
whenever  thei-e  was  a  vacancy,  and  to  invest  him 
with  the  royal  authority,  a  right  which  they  appear 
to  have  exercised  after  the  Pictish  kingdom  had 
ceased  to  exist.  Among  the  other  documents 
preserved  in  the  Treasury,  illustrative  of  Scottish 
history,  which  the  researches  of  Sir  Francis 
Palgrave  have  brought  to  light,  is  a  roll  contain- 
ing the  appeal  of  the  seven  earls  in  1290  to  the 
authority  and  protection  of  Edward  I.  and  th*. 
English  crown,  against  William  Fi^aser,  Bishop  of 
St.  Andrews,  and  John  Comyn,  Lord  of  Badenocli, 
the  Scottish  regents,  during  the  interregnum  that 
succeeded  the  death  of  the  Maid  of  Norway,  on 
the  ground  that  the  regents  were  infringing  or  in- 
tending to  infringe  this  their  constitutional  fran- 
chise ;  which  appeal,  it  is  now  understood,  led  to 
the  famous  summons  of  the  English  monarch 
that  the  Scottish  nobility  and  clergy  should  meet 
him  at  Norham  in  the  English  teiTitories,  on  the 
10th  of  May  1291,  to  decide  upon  the  claims  of 
the  various  competitors  to  the  Scottish  crown. 
Having  given  this  explanation,  which  will  form  a 
key  to  much  of  what  would  be  otherwise  unintel- 
ligible or  obscure  in  the  early  hbtory  of  Scotland, 
we  resume  the  regular  narrative. 

Tlie  external  tranquillity  which  Scotland  en- 
joyed after  the  peace  with  England  and  the  mar- 
riage of  Alexander  to  the  sister  of  the  English 
king,  allowed  Alexander  leisure  to  suppress  some 
dangerous  insurrections  that  had  broken  out  at 
home.  In  1221,  Somerled,  a  grandson  of  the 
celebrated  lord  of  the  Isles  of  that  name,  pos- 
sessed the  whole  district  of  Argyle,  which  was 
then  much  more  extensive  than  the  modem  Ar- 


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gylesliire,  and  having  that  year  risen  in  rebellion, 
the  king  collected  an  army  in  Lothian  and  Gallo- 
way, and  sailed  for  Argyle,  intending  to  disembark 
his  force,  and  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the 
country,  but  his  ships  were  driven  back  by  a  tem- 
pest, and  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  Clyde.  Al- 
exander, however,  was  not  discouraged,  but  re- 
solved to  proceed  into  Argyle  by  land.  With  a 
large  army,  which  he  had  summoned  from  every 
quarter  of  his  dominions,  he  made  himself  master 
of  the  whole  of  the  insurgent  district,  and  compel- 
led Somerled  to  flee  to  the  Isles,  where,  about 
eight  years  afterwards,  he  met  a  violent  death. 
Winton  says, 

"  De  king  that  yhere  Argyle  wan 
Dat  rebell  wes  till  hym  befor  than 
For  wythe  hys  Ost  thare  in  wes  he 
And  Athe*  tnk  of  thare  Fewte, 
Wythe  thare  aerwys  and  their  Uomage 
Dat  of  hym  wald  hald  thare  Herytage, 
But  of  the  Ethchetys  of  the  lave 
To  the  Lordies  of  that  land  he  gave.** 

The  estates  of  those  who  fled  were  bestowed  on 
the  principal  men  of  the  king's  army  as  a  reward 
for  their  having  joined  the  expedition ;  but  wher- 
ever the  former  vassals  of  Somerled  submitted  and 
were  received  into  favour,  they  became  crown 
vassals,  and  held  their  lands  in  chief  of  the  crown. 
The  district  in  which  the  forfeited  estates  were,  was 
farther  brought  under  the  direct  jurisdiction  of  the 
government,  by  being,  according  to  the  invariable 
policy  of  Alexander  II.,  erected  into  a  sheriffdom 
by  the  name  of  Argyle,  the  first  sheriffdom  bearing 
that  name,  while  the  ancestor  of  the  Campbells 
was  made  hereditary  sheriff  of  the  new  sheriffdom. 
[Skene's  History  of  the  Highlanders,  vol.  11.  p.  46.] 
The  whole  of  the  then  northern  Argyle,  now  part 
of  Inverness -shire,  was  bestowed  on  the  earl  of 
Ross,  as  a  reward  for  the  assistance  which  he  had 
rendered  to  the  king  on  this  and  a  former  occasion. 

Besides  suppressing  this  insurrection  in  Argyle, 
Alexander  was  about  the  same  time  called  upon  to 
punish  some  disturbances  of  an  alarming  kind 
which  had  broken  out  in  Caithness.  In  1222, 
Adam  bishop  of  Caithness  was  cruelly  burnt  to 
death  in  his  own  palace.  He  had  proved  himself 
extremely  rigorous  in  enforcing  the  demand  for 
tithes,  leading  the  poor  people's  com,  as  Balfour 


gays,  '*  too  avariciously,"  and  when  the  people  ol 
his  diocese  had  assembled  to  consider  what  was  to 
be  done  under  the  circumstances,  one  of  them 
exclaimed,  *^  short  rede,  good  rede,  slay  we  the 
bishop,"  meaning,  ^^  Few  words  are  best,  let  us  kill 
the  bishop."  The  persons  assembled  unfortunately 
were  too  excited  to  pause  or  reflect — they  followed 
the  cruel  advice,  thus  rashly  given,  but  too  literally. 
Rushing  with  eagerness  to  the  bishop's  house,  they 
furiously  assaulted  it,  set  it  on  fire,  and  burnt  the 
unhappy  prelate  in  the  flames  of  his  own  palace, 
with  a  monk  who  attended  him,  named  Serlo. 
Some  of  the  bishop's  servants  applied  to  the  earl 
of  Orkney  and  Caithness  to  protect  their  master 
from  the  fury  of  the  mob;  he  answered  that  if 
the  bishop  came  to  him  he  would  be  sure  of  pro- 
tection, but  did  not  offer  to  go  to  his  assistance. 
Alexander  received  Intelligence  of  this  cruel  action 
when  he  was  upon  a  jouraey  towards  England. 
He  immediately  turned  back,  marched  Into  Caith- 
ness with  an  army,  and  put  to  death  four  hundred 
of  those  who  had  been  conceiiied  in  the  murder  of 
the  bishop.  The  earl  of  Orkney  who  might  have 
prevented  the  catastrophe  but  did  not,  was  believed 
to  have  favoured  the  conspiracy,  but  him  the  king 
pardoned,  as  he  had  no  actual  hand  in  the  crime. 
He  had  to  pay,  however,  a  lai*ge  sum  of  money, 
and  give  up  the  thii*d  part  of  his  estate.  Balfour 
says  that  in  the  following  year,  while  Alexander 
was  keeping  his  birth-day  at  Forfar,  the  earl  of 
Orkney  with  a  good  sum  of  ready  money  redeemed 
the  third  part  of  his  estate  from  the  king,  but  on 
his  retuiii  home  he  was  muixlered  in  his  own 
castle,  which  was  afterwards  burnt,  in  imitation 
and  revenge  of  the  bishop's  fate.  This  event, 
however,  according  to  the  chronicle  of  Melrose 
(p.  201)  quoted  by  Lord  Hailes,  did  not  take 
place  till  1231. 

In  the  life  of  Alexander  I.  allusion  has  been 
made  to  the  peculiar  law  of  succession  which  pre- 
vailed amongst  the  Pictish  or  Gaelic  tribes.  [See 
p.  54,  ante.']  This  law  of  Tanistry,  as  it  was  called, 
provided  that  on  the  death  of  a  chief,  the  brother, 
or  "  he  of  the  blood  who  was  nearest,"  succeeded 
to  the  chiefship,  to  the  exclusion  of  females  and 
even  sons,  the  brother  being  considered  one  degree 
nearer  the  original  founder  or  patriarch  of  the 
race  than  the  son,  and  if  the  person  who  ought  t« 


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'  succeed  was  ander  fourteen  years  of  age, — the  an- 
cient Highland  period  of  majority, — ^his  nearest 
male  relation  became  chief,  and  continued  so  dur- 
ing his  life,  the  proper  heir  inheriting  the  chiefship 
only  at  his  death.  [Skem^s  History  of  the  Uigh- 
kmderSy  vol.  i.  pp.  160, 161.]  The  establishment 
of  such  a  law  originated  primarily,  there  cannot 
be  a  doubt,  in  the  natural  anxiety  to  avoid  mino- 
rities in  a  tribe  or  clan,  so  that  it  might  always 
have  a  competent  leader  in  war,  a  principle  which, 

I  however  much  opposed  to  the  feudal  notions  of 
later  times,  flowed  natm-ally  from  the  patriarchal 
constitution  of  society  in  the  Highlands,  being 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  a  peo- 
ple whose  warlike  habits  and  love  of  military  en- 
terprise, as  well  as  addiction  to  armed  predatory 
expeditions,  demanded  at  all  times  a  chief  of  full 
age  and  every  way  qualified  to  act  as  their  leader 
and  commander. 

As,  however,  the  Highlanders  adhered  strictly 
to  succession  in  the  male  line  and  according  to  the 
lineal  descent  from  the  common  ancestor,  or  found- 
er of  the  tiibe,  any  infraction  of  this  rule  was  of- 
ten productive  of  the  most  serious  outbreaks  and 
insurrections.  This  was  remarkably  the  case  in 
the  old  maormordom  or  province  of  Moray,  which, 
at  the  period  when  Alexander  the  .Second  ascended 
the  throne,  included  not  only  what  now  forms  the 
counties  of  Elgin  and  Nairn,  but  a  considerable 
part  of  Banffshire  and  nearly  the  half  of  Inver- 
ness-shire. This  was  always  one  of  the  most  re 
bellious  portions  of  the  kingdom ;  and  although 
the  tribes  of  Moray,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  Highlanders,  recognised  in  Alexander  I.  and 
his  successor  David  I.  the  legitimate  heirs  of  Mal- 
colm Canmore,  they  were  never  without  a  pretext 
for  disturbing  the  country.  After  the  suppression 
of  their  attempt  at  insurrection  early  in  the  reign 
of  the  former,  when  Angus  referred  to  (p.  54)  as 
of  the  family  of  Macbeth, — whom  Skene  with  rea- 
son supposes  to  be  the  same  with  Head  or  Heth, 
whose  name  with  Comes  attached  to  it  appears  as 
witness  in  numerous  charters  of  David  I.,  Head 
or  Heth  being  the  surname  of  the  family, — was  in 
in  possession  of  the  earldom,  they  remained  quiet 
till  1180,  Alexander's  successor  David  I.  being 
then  on  the  throne.  In  that  year,  an  Angus  earl 
of  Moray, — either  the  individual  referred  to  above, 


who  escaped  confiscation  by  causing  his  accom- 
plice Ladman,  younger  son  of  Donald  Bane,  to 
be  put  to  death,  or  a  descendant  of  the  same 
name, — ^taking  advantage  of  David's  absence  at 
the  English  court,  broke  dtit  into  rebellion,  and 
after  having  obtained  possession  of  the  northern 
districts  of  Scotland,  advanced  at  the  head  of  a 
numerous  army,  into  Forfarshire;  but  Edward,  son 
of  Si  ward,  earl  of  Northumberland,  led  an  army  into 
Scotland,  with  which  he  defeated  and  slew  the  earl 
at  Strickathrow.  Twelve  years  thereafter  one  Wi- 
mund,  an  English  monk,  who  had  lisen  to  be  bishop 
of  Man,  claiming  to  be  the  son  of  Angus,  asserted 
his  right  to  the  earldom,  and  assumed  the  name  of 
Malcolm  Macbeth.  He  was  assisted  by  Somerled, 
thane  of  Argyle,  whose  daughter  he  married,  and 
many  of  the  northern  chiefs.  After  having  for 
several  years  sustained  a  struggle  with  David,  he 
was  at  length  betrayed  by  his  own  adherents, 
who  put  out  his  eyes  and  delivered  him  up  to  the 
Scottish  king.  He  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  the  cas- 
tle of  Roxburgh,  but  after  a  tedious  captivity,  was 
pardoned,  when  he  retired  to  the  abbey  of  Biland 
in  Yorkshire,  where  he  died.  [See  Life  of  David 
r.  post,"] 

On  the  death  of  David  1.  in  1153,  the  Tanistic 
law  of  succession  would  have  conferred  the  right 
to  the  throne  on  Malcolm  son  of  Duncan,  the  eld- 
est son  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  but  being  then  in 
possession  of  the  earldom  of  Athol  (p.  54),  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  brought  it  forward,  pro- 
ferring  probably  the  certainty  of  possession  under 
the  feudal  law  to  the  risk  of  a  hopeless  conflict. 
On  his  death  however,  some  years  afterwards,  it 
would  appear  that  the  law  of  Tanistry  again  came 
into  conflict  with  the  established  system,  not  only 
as  respects  the  succession  to  the  crown,  but  in 
reference  also  to  the  family  possessions  of  the 
eaildom  of  Athol,  and  we  find  the  celebrated  Boy 
of  Egremont,  in  the  person  of  William,  son  of 
William  Fitz-Duncan,  a  younger  son  of  Duncan, 
appearing  as  a  claimant  of  both,  in  opposition  to 
Malcolm  IV.,  the  reigning  monarch,  and  to  his 
cousin  Henry,  son  of  Malcolm  his  father's  brother, 
then  earl  of  Athol.  The  people  of  the  Highlands, 
ever  prepared  to  avail  themselves  of  an  occasion  to 
thrust  out  the  race  that  governed  them  according 
to  the  Saxon  laws,  were  the  more  encouraged  to 


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support  the  claim  of  this  individual  in  the  absence 
of  Malcolm  IV.,  then  rendering  military  semce 
to  Henry  U.  in  France,  by  the  general  dissatis- 
faction professed  to  be  entertained  on  account  of 
that  servitude.  Six  of  the  seven  great  earls  of 
Scotland,  who  governed  the  districts  into  which  the 
ancient  Pictish  provinces  of  Scotland  were  divided 
— and  in  whose  hands  the  nomination  of  the  crown 
was  vested  [see  p.  67] — sent  a  message  to  Mal- 
colm, then  at  Toulouse,  expressing  then-  disappro- 
bation of  his  proceedings,  and  indicating  a  with- 
drawal of  their  allegiance.  On  his  return  from 
France,  he  met  the  chiefs  at  Perth ;  and  whilst 
by  the  intervention  of  his  clergy  he  endeavour- 
ed to  pacify  them  and  regain  their  confidence, 
he  was  in  1160  attacked  by  a  portion  of  the 
confederacy,  but  they  were  repulsed,  and  many  of 
their  followers  slain.  [See  life  of  Malcolm  IV. 
postJ]  Donald  Bane,  another  son  of  William 
Fitz-Duncan,  and  grandson  of  Duncan,  afterwards 
took  up  the  claim,  ahd  supported  by  the  northern 
chiefs,  he  for  seven  years  held  out  the  provinces 
of  Moray  and  Ross  against  William  the  Lion,  but 
in  1187,  while  his  army  lay  at  Inverness,  a  ma- 
rauding party  commanded  by  Roland  of  Galloway 
accidentally  encountering  him,  when  attended  by 
few  of  his  followers,  attacked  and  slew  him.  In 
1211  his  son  Guthred  landed  from  Ireland  and 
wasted  the  province  of  Ross.  Notwithstanding 
that  the  king  (William  the  Lion)  went  against 
him  in  pereon  at  the  head  of  an  army,  he  kept 
possession  of  the  noi*th  of  Scotland  for  some  time, 
but  was  at  last  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  Wil- 
liam Comyn,  by  whom  he  was  beheaded. 

On  the  accession  of  Alexander  II.  to  the  throne, 
Donald  Bane,  or  MacWilliam,  the  brother  of 
Guthred,  and  the  son  of  that  Donald  who  was 
slain  in  1187,  prepared  to  assert  his  own  proten- 
sions  to  the  crown,  and  in  conjunction  with  Ken- 
neth Macbeth,  who  aft«r  an  nnsuccessful  attempt 
to  obtain  the  earldom  of  Moray  in  the  roign  of 
Malcolm  IV.  had  taken  refuge  in  Iroland,  invaded 
Scotland  at  the  head  of  a  numeions  body  of  Irish 
followers.  They  made  an  inroad  into  Moray,  but 
were  met  by  Ferchard,  earl  of  Ross,  an  ally  of  the 
government,  who  defeated  and  slew  them.  Balfour 
in  his  annals  says:  *^In  the  zeire  1215,  Donald 
Bane,  the  sone  of  Mack -William,  and  Keneth 


Mack-Acht,  with  the  son  of  a  pittey  king  of 
Irlaud,  and  a  good  armey,  invadit  the  heighf 
lauds.  Against  quhom  Machentagar  leweys  ane 
aiiney,  and  with  them  feights  a  werey  bloodiey 
and  creuell  bateU,  quhom  he  totally  ouerthrowes, 
the  17  day  of  Julay,  and  solemly  presents  the 
rebells  heads  to  the  king;  for  wich  so  gude 
seruice  the  king  solemley  knights  Machentagar, 
and  gives  him  a  zeirly  pensione  during  his 
lyffe."  [Vol.  i.  p.  88.]  Lord  Hailes  transcribed 
the  same  names,  with  a  slight  difference  in  the 
spelling,  from  the  Chronicle  of  Melrose.  "The 
author,"  he  says,  "  being  a  Saxon,  has  corrupted 
the  Gaelic  names ;  Eenaukmacaht  and  M^Kentagar 
are  unintelligible  words."  Fiom  the  above  retro- 
spect, which  was  necessaiy  to  render  the  naiTative 
clear,  the  reader  will  not  be  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand that  by  Donald  Bane  is  meant  Donald 
M*William  the  gi-andson  of  William,  and  great- 
giandson  of  Duncan  king  of  Scotland,  and  b> 
Machentagar,  Ferehard  Macantagart,  earl  of  Ross, 
who  conquered  and  slew  him  and  Kenneth  Mack- 
Act,  or  Macbeth,  as  already  narrated. 

The  rebellion  of  Somerled  in  1221,  of  which  an 
account  has  been  given  in  pages  66,  67,  is  the  last 
of  those  persevering  efforts  made  to  replace  the 
family  of  Duncan  on  the  throne  of  his  father  Mal- 
colm. By  an  intermarriage  of  their  families  at  an 
earlier  period  Somerled  had  become  closely  related 
to  the  race  of  Duncan.  The  language  of  the  old 
chronicler  Winton,  already  quoted, 

"  Dat  rebell  wee  till  hym  befor  than," 

would  imply  that  he  with  ti;o  forces  of  Argyle  had 
aided  in  the  previous  one  of  1215.  The  death,  there- 
fore, of  the  last  of  the  hell's  of  the  direct  line  seems 
to  have  opened  the  way  to  a  claim  to  the  throne  in 
his  own  right.  In  reading  of  these  continuous 
struggles,  and  of  the  aid  so  frequently  rendered 
by  the  Irish  and  Scottish  branches  of  the  Celtic 
family  to  the  assertion  of  the  old  Pictish  law,  we 
see  another  proof  of  the  tenacity  with  which  under 
all  discouragements  they  held  to  it.  In  the  fre- 
quent interference  also  of  the  Irish  in  these  inter- 
nal struggles, — made  too,  it  is  worthy  of  being 
noted,  generally  on  occasions  when  the  occupant 
of  the  throne  was  embaiTassed  by  other  questions, 
— we  seem  to  read  over  again  the  series  of  con- 


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tests — ^brought  to  light  by  Skene  and  others — 
whereby  the  Irish  Dalriadic  tribe,  not  having  then 
the  Norman  arms  to  encouiter,  at  «n  earlier  pe- 
riod of  the  national  history  more  successfully  sub- 
merged the  existing  government,  and  gave  the 
name  of  Scotland,  and  race  of  monarchs — the  true 
heirs  according  to  their  theory — to  that  country. 

Although  the  family  of  Angus  had  become  ex- 
tinct by  the  death  of  Kenneth,  yet  by  the  Celtic 
law  of  succession,  the  claims  of  the  family  were 
transmitted  to  the  next  branch  of  the  clan,  and  in 
1228  the  tranquillity  of  the  same  district  was  again 
disturbed  by  one  Gillespie,  clauning  to  be  the 
chief  of  the  province.  This  warrior,  after  burning 
some  wooden  castles,  surprising  and  slaying  a 
baron  who  had  been  sent  against  him,  called  Tho- 
mas of  Thirlstane,  to  whom  Malcolm  IV.  had 
given  the  district  of  AbertarfT,  set  fire  to  the  town 
of  Inverness,  and  spoiled  and  wasted  the  crown 
lands  in  that  neighbourhood.  The  king  went 
against  him  in  person,  but  for  a  while  he  eluded 
his  pursuit.  He  was  at  last  encountered  and  slain, 
by  William  Comyn  earl  of  Buchan,  the  justiciary 
of  the  kingdom.  As  a  reward  for  suppressing 
this  insurrection  Comyn  got  a  gi*ant  from  the  king 
of  the  districts  of  Badenoch  and  Lochaber.  In 
accordance  with  his  usual  policy,  Alexander  erected 
that  portion  of  the  extensive  earldom  of  Moray, 
which  was  not  then  under  the  rule  of  the  Bissets, 
the  Comyns,  and  other  Norman  barons,  into  the 
separate  sheriffdoms  of  Elgin  and  Nairn.  ^*  The 
authority  of  government,^'  says  Skene,  **  was  thus 
so  effectually  established  that  the  Moravians  did 
not  again  attempt  any  resistance;  and  thus  ended 
with  the  death  of  Gillespie,  the  last  of  that  series 
of  persevering  efforts  which  the  earls  of  Moray  had 
made  for  upwards  otone  hundred  years  to  preserve 
their  native  inheritance.**  [Highlanders  of  Scot- 
land^ vol.  ii.  p.  170.] 

In  1233  the  most  serious  insurrection  which 
Alexander  had  yet  to  contend  with  occurred  in 
Galloway,  arising  out  of  a  similar  principle  to 
that  which  produced  the  disturbances  in  Moray ; 
the  adherence,  namely,  of  the  inhabitants  to  the 
ancient  law  of  tanistry,  as  evidenced  in  their  un- 
willingness to  submit  to  female  succession.  The 
people  of  that  extensive  district,  which  forms 
the  south-western  angle  of  Scotland,  were  chiefly 


of  a  Celtic  race.  Besides  offshoots  from  the  Scots  i 
of  Kiutyre,  large  bodies  of  colonists  from  Ireland 
formed,  at  various  times,  settlements  there,  during 
the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries,  and  from 
the  frequent  incursions  of  these  and  other  settlers, 
the  district  obtained  its  name ;  either,  as  is  most 
likely,  from  the  word  Cfall^  which  originally  signi- 
fied stranger  or  wanderer,  and  in  this  sense  was 
applied  to  the  pirates  who,  in  those  days,  infested 
the  western  coasts  of  Scotland, — hence  the  term 
used  by  the  Irish  annalists,  in  reference  to  them, 
namely  the  Gallgael,  meaning  Gaelic  pirates  or 
rovera,— or,  as  is  generally  supposed,  fi-om  the 
Gaelic  origin  of  the  inhabitants.  Although  flie 
name  is  now  confined  to  the  shire  of  Wig- 
ton  and  the  stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright,  it  an- 
ciently had  a  more  extensive  application,  as  it 
comprehended  the  entire  peninsula  between  the 
Solway  and  the  Clyde,  including  Annandale  in  the 
south-east,  and  most  of  Ayrshire  in  the  north- 
west, and  was  governed  by  its  native  chieftains, 
styled  the  lords  of  Galloway,  who  acknowledged  a 
feudatory  dependence  on  the  Scottish  crown.  Li 
the  twelfth  century,  Fergus,  one  of  the  most  po- 
tent of  these,  who  was  the  son-in-law  of  Henry 
r  of  England,  endeavoured  to  throw  off  his  alle- 
giance to  Malcolm  IV.,  and  raised  a  formidable 
insurrection  in  Galloway.  Enraged  at  his  daring, 
Malcolm  marched  into  his  teiTitory,  and  though 
twice  repulsed,  he  succeeded  in  a  thud  effort,  in 
the  year  1160,  in  overcoming  him.  Fergus,  after 
suing  for  peace,  resigned  his  lordship  and  posses- 
sions to  his  two  sons,  Gilbert  and  Uchtred,  and 
retired  to  the  abbey  of  Holyrood,  where  he  died 
in  the  following  year.  His  two  sons  attended,  as 
feudatories,  William  the  Lion,  in  1174,  on  his  un- 
fortunate expedition  into  England;  but  they  no 
sooner  saw  iiim  taken  captive  than,  at  the  head  of 
their  savage  followers,  they  returned  to  their  na- 
tive wilds,  attacked  and  demolished  the  royal 
castles,  and  murdered  many  subjects  of  William 
who  were  settled  in  Galloway.  To  protect  them 
against  the  vengeance  of  their  own  sovereign,  they 
besought  Henry,  the  English  king,  to  receive  their 
homage.  In  the  meantime,  before  receiving  an 
answer  to  their  request,  Uchtred  was  cruelly  mur- 
dered by  his  brother  Gilbert  for  his  share  of  the 
inheritance.    Gilbeit  renewed  the  negotiation  with 


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Henry  in  his  own  name,  and  offei*ed  to  pay  him  a 
yearly  tribute  of  two  thousand  marks  of  silver, 
Ave  hundred  cows,  and  five  hundi*ed  swine.  To 
mark  his  detestation  of  the  treacherous  murder  of 
Uchtred,  Henry  refused  both  the  homage  and  the 
tribute.  On  reguning  liis  liberty,  King  William 
invaded  Galloway  with  an  army,  but  instead  of 
punishing  Gilbert  as  he  deserved,  he  accepted 
from  him  a  pecuniary  satisfaction.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  (1176)  Gilbert  accompanied  William  to 
York,  where  he  was  received  into  the  favour 
of  Henry,  and  did  homage  to  him;  the  crown 
vassals  as  well  as  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  be- 
ing then,  in  terms  of  the  treaty  which  restored 
William  to  freedom,  placed  under  feudal  subor- 
dination to  England.  [See  life  of  William  the 
Lion,  post,"]  From  this  Gilbert,  who  died  in  1185, 
sprang,  afterwards,  in  the  third  generation,  Mar- 
jory countess  of  Carrick  in  her  own  right,  the  mo- 
ther of  Robert  the  Bruce.  Meantime  Roland,  the 
son  of  the  mui-dered  Uchtred,  seized  the  favoura- 
ble moment  of  the  death  of  his  uncle  Gilbert,  to 
attack  and  disperse  his  faction,  and  to  claim  pos- 
session of  all  Galloway  as  his  own  inheritance,  in 
which  he  was  favoured  by  his  own  sovereign, 
William.  Henry  IL,  however,  the  English  king, 
opposed  his  claims,  and  assembling  a  large  army 
at  Carlisle,  prepared  to  invade  Galloway.  Ro- 
land resolved  upon  a  desperate  resistance,  but  the 
dispute  was  ultimately  adjusted  by  Roland,  after 
swearing  fealty  to  Henry,  being  confirmed  in  the 
lordship  of  Galloway,  on  condition  of  surrendering 
the  territory  of  Carrick  to  his  cousin  Duncan,  the 
son  of  Gilbert.  He  is  the  Roland  of  Galloway 
who,  iu  1187,  encountered  and  killed  the  pre- 
tender, Donald  Bane,  at  Inverness,  p.  69.  On  the 
restoration  of  the  national  independence,  Roland 
obtained  the  office  of  constable  of  Scotland.  He 
died  iu  December  1200. 

Alan,  the  eldest  son  of  Roland,  and  the  last 
male-heir  of  the  line  of  the  ancient  *■  lords  of  Gal- 
loway,' died  in  1233.  He  succeeded  as  constable 
of  Scotland,  and  was  a  personage  of  considerable 
importance  in  Scottish  history.  He  had  been 
twice  married.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  a  daugh- 
ter Helen,  or  Elena,  married  to  Roger  de  Quincy, 
earl  of  Winchester.  By  his  second  wife,  Margaret, 
the  eldest  of  the  three  daughters,  and  eventual 


heiresses  of  David,  eai*l  of  Huntingdon,  the  bro- 
ther of  William  the  Lion,  he  had  two  daughter; 
his  eldest  daughter  by  his  second  marriage,  Devor- 
guil,  becoming  the  wife  of  John  de  Balliol,  lord  of 
Bernard  castle,  transmitted  to  their  son  John  Bal- 
liol, the  competitor,  afterwards  king,  the  lineal  right 
of  succession  to  the  throne.  Devorguil's  younger 
sister  Christian,  was  the  wife  of  William  des  Forts, 
son  of  the  earl  of  Albemarie.  Unwilling  to  have 
their  country  partitioned  among  the  husbands  of 
Alan's  three  daughters,  the  people  of  Galloway 
offered  the  lordship  to  Alexander,  whose  sense  of 
justice  prevented  him  from  depriving  the  legiti- 
mate heira  of  their  right.  They  then  requested 
that  an  illegitimate  son  of  Alan,  named  Thomas, 
should  be  appointed  their  lord.  To  this  applica- 
tion Alexander  also  refused  to  accede,  on  which 
the  Galwegians  broke  out  into  open  rebellion,  bav« 
ing  at  theii*  head  the  bastard  Thomas,  aided  by 
an  Irish  chieftain  named  Gilrodh,  who  joined  him 
with  a  large  force  from  Ireland.  To  suppress  this 
formidable  outbreak,  Alexander  led  an  expedition 
against  the  rebellious  Galwegians,  who  did  not 
wait  to  be  attacked  by  him,  but  rushed  forth  from 
their  mountains  and  fastnesses  with  Celtic  fnry* 
and  proceeded  to  ravage  the  adjacent  country. 
They  even  contrived  to  surround  Alexander,  when 
he  had  got  entangled  among  morasses,  and  he  was 
in  imminent  danger  till  Ferchard,  earl  of  Ross, 
came  to  his  assistance,  and  assaulting  the  rebels 
in  the  rear,  routed  them  with  great  slaughter. 
Galloway  was  restored  to  Alan's  heiresses,  and 
the  inhabitants  compelled  to  receive  as  their  supe- 
rior Roger  de  Quincey  the  husband  of  Elena. 
Thomas  and  his  Irish  ally  escaped-  to  L-eland,  but 
in  the  following  year  they  returned  with  a  fresh 
force,  and  attempted  to  renew  the  rebellion.  Gil- 
rodh, on  landing,  burnt  his  vessels,  as  if  resolved 
to  conquer  or  die.  The  insurgents  were,  however, 
again  defeated,  and  Gilrodh  sniTendered  himself 
to  the  earl  of  March  without  resistance.  He  was 
sent  bound  to  Edinburgh  castle,  but  both  he  and 
Thomas  were  pardoned.  Their  Irish  followers, 
crowding  towards  the  Clyde,  in  the  hope  of  t>eing 
able  to  find  a  passage  to  their  own  country,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  band  of  the  citizens  of  Glas- 
gow, who  are  said  to  have  beheaded  them  all  ex- 
cept two,  whom  Balfour  calls  two  of  their  chief 


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commandei's,  and  these  they  sent  to  Edinburgh, 
to  be  banged  and  quartered  there.  The  king's 
enforcing  the  rights  of  Alan's  daughters,  and  at 
the  head  of  an  army  breaking  down  the  spirit  of 
insurrection,  was  the  introduction  to  the  epoch  of 
granting  charters  for  the  holding  of  lands,  and  of 
landholders  giving  leases  to  tenants,  as  well  as  of 
the  security  of  property  and  the  cultivation  of  the 
arts  of  husbandry  in  Galloway. 

Notwithstanding  the  terms  of  amity  in  which 
Henry  and  Alexander  lived,  there  were  still  several 
subjects  of  dispute  between  them,  which  now  and 
then  occasioned  some  disquiet,  and  afforded  matter 
for  discussion  and  negotiation ;  although  their  own 
pacific  dispositions  prevented  an  open  rupture. 
Henry  showed  at  times  an  inclination  to  extend 
the  incidents  of  the  homage  of  the  king  of  Scot- 
land to  an  unreasonable  limit;  and  in  1234  he 
went  so  far  as  to  solicit  the  Pope  to  exhort  Al- 
exander to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  Eng- 
land over  Scotland,  an  exhortation  which  Alex- 
ander, when  he  received  it,  paid  no  attention  to. 
Alexander,  on  his  pait,  always  insisted  either  on 
restitution  being  made  to  him  of  the  three  nor- 
thern counties  of  England,  or  on  the  repayment  of 
the  fifteen  thousand  merks  paid  by  his  father  to 
King  John.  The  vacillating  character  of  Henry 
III.  exposed  the  peace  between  the  two  countries 
to  the  risk  of  constant  inteiTuption,  but  sometimes 
he  would  conciliate  his  brother-in-law's  favour  by 
gifts,  concessions,  and  the  wai-mest  professions 
of  friendship.  An  instance  of  this  occurred  in 
1230,  when  Henry  invited  Alexander  to  York, 
where  he  celebrated  Christmas,  and  entertained 
him  with  great  state,  and  after  loading  him 
with  presents,  sent  him  home.  In  1236,  after 
an  interview  between  the  two  monarchs  at  New- 
castle, where  they  royally  feasted  each  other, 
Henry  bestowed  the  manor  of  Driffield  on  his 
sister,  the  queen  of  Scots,  for  life,  and  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  he  conferred  on  the  same  prin- 
cess the  manor  of  Staunton.  [Chron,  Mdr.  203. 
Padera,  i.  370,  879.]  At  length  in  September 
1237,  the  matters  in  dispute  between  Henry  and 
Alexander  were  heard  at  York,  before  Otho,  or 
Eudes  le  Blanc  TAleran,  a  cardinal  deacon  and 
the  papal  legate  to  England.  The  conference  last- 
ed for  fifteen  days,  and  twenty-four  councillors  of 


the  two  kings  were  present.  The  negociations 
terminated  by  a  compromise.  Henry,  in  full  of  all 
claims,  consented  to  grant  to  Alexander  lands  in 
Northumberland  and  Cumberland,  of  the  yeariy 
value  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Alexander  agreed 
to  accept  of  these  as  an  equivalent,  and  did  hom- 
age to  Henry  in  general  terms.  Malcolm  Macduff, 
earl  of  Fife,  Walter  Comyn,  earl  of  Menteith,  and 
others  of  the  principal  Scottish  barons,  bound 
themselves  by  oath  to  maintain  this  agreement  on 
their  monarch's  part.  [Fcedera^  i.  p.  874,  400. 
Fardun,  i.  370.  Hailes*  Annals  of  Scotland^  vol. 
L  p.  153.] 

On  this  occasion  the  papal  legate  took  an  op- 
portunity of  intimating  to  Alexander  his  intention 
of  soon  visiting  Scotland,  in  order,  as  he  pretend- 
ed, to  inquh^  into  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  his 
kingdom.  Alexander,  however,  was  fully  aware 
of  the  true  motive  of  this  visit,  namely,  the  exac 
tion  of  money,  and  he  had  no  desire  to  gratify  the 
legate  in  the  matter.  The  avarice  of  the  court  of 
Rome  had,  about  this  period,  risen  to  such  an  ex- 
orbitant height  as  to  be  the  subject  of  general 
complaint  in  all  the  nations  of  Christendom.  The 
enormous  amount  of  power  which  tlie  Pope  and 
his  ministers  universally  possessed  was  used  for 
purposes  of  extortion  in  every  kingdom  subject  to 
their  contix)l.  The  venality  of  the  popedom  was 
so  great  that  it  guided  all  its  dealings  with  princes 
and  people  everywhere  abroad,  and  pervaded  its 
tribunals  at  home.  Simony  was  openly  practised ; 
neither  favours,  nor  even  justice  could  be  obtained 
without  a  bribe,  and  he  who  paid  the  highest  price 
was  sure  to  obtain  his  suit.  In  1226  Pope  Hono- 
rius,  under  pretence  that  the  poverty  of  the  see  of 
Rome  was  the  souix^  of  all  the  gi'icvances  that 
existed,  that  they  might  be  remedied,  demanded 
from  every  cathedral  in  the  Christian  world  two 
of  the  best  prebends,  and  from  every  convent  two 
monks'  portions,  to  be  set  apart  as  a  perpetual 
and  fixed  revenue  of  the  papal  see.  This  demand 
was  felt  to  be  so  unreasonable  that  it  was  unani- 
mously rejected,  but  about  three  ycai-s  later  he 
claimed  and  obtained  the  tenth  of  all  ecclesiastical 
revenues,  which  he  levied  in  the  most  oppressive 
manner,  rapacious  and  insolent  collectors  of  the 
tithes  being  sent  into  the  different  parishes,  in 
many  cases  before  the  clergy  had  even  drawn 


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their  own  i-euts.  Of  all  this  Alexander  was  not 
ignorant,  and  he  had  not  forgotten  the  conduct  of 
the  two  deputies  of  the  papal  legate  when,  in  1218, 
they  visited  Scotland  and  grievously  harassed  the 
Scottish  clergy.  For  a  long  period  previous  to 
his  reign,  Scotland  had  submitted,  although  re- 
luctantly and  impatiently,  to  the  repeated  visits 
of  a  papal  legate  who,  under  the  pretext  of  watch- 
ing over  the  interests,  and  reforming  the  abuses  of 
the  church,  assembled  councils,  and  levied  large 
sums  of  money  in  the  country,  but  now  that  the 
Scottish  church  had  obtained  fi'om  the  Pope  the 
right,  however  ambiguously  and  loosely  worded 
the  bull  granting  it  might  be,  to  hold  provincial 
councils  of  herself,  the  presence  of  a  papal  legate 
in  Scotland  for  any  such  purpose  as  that  pretend- 
ed by  Otho  was  altogether  unnecessary.  Alex- 
ander, therefore,  peremptorily  declared  that  he 
would  not  allow  any  such  visit.  **  I  have  never," 
he  said,  *^  seen  a  legate  in  my  dominions,  and  as 
long  as  I  live,  I  will  not  permit  such  an  innova- 
tion. We  i*equire  no  such  visitation  now,  nor 
have  we  ever  required  it  in  times  past."  He  add- 
ed a  hint  that  should  Ot]j)0  venture  to  disregard 
his  prohibition  and  enter  Scotland,  he  could  not 
answer  for  his  life,  owing  to  the  ferocious  habits 
of  his  subjects.  The  legate  prudently  abandoned 
all  idea  of  the  expedition  then,  but,  as  shall  pres- 
ently be  seen,  he  carried  his  intention  into  effect  a 
few  years  thereafter.     {Matth,  Paris,  p.  377.] 

Alexander's  queen,  Joan,  had  for  some  time 
been  in  declining  health,  and  according  to  the  su- 
perstition of  the  times,  she  sought  relief  at  the 
shrine  of  Thomas  k  Becket  at  Canterbury,  but  in 
vain.  She  died  on  the  4th  of  March,  1238,  in  the 
presence  of  her  two  brothers,  King  Henry  and 
Richard  duke  of  Cornwall.    3he  had  no  children. 

About  this  time  it  would  appear  that  despairing 
of  heirs  of  his  own  body,  Alexander  publicly  ac- 
knowledged, in  presence  and  with  consent  of 
his  barons,  Robert  Bruce,  known  in  Scottish  his- 
tory as  Bruce  the  Competitor,  the  grandfather  of 
the  hero  of  Bannockbum,  as  the  nearest  heir  in 
blood  to  the  crown.  The  birth  of  a  son  by  Alex- 
ander's second  wife,  in  1241,  put  an  end  to  his 
expectations  of  the  throne  at  the  time;  and  on 
the  competition  for  the  crown  which  took  place 
after  the  death  of  the  Maid  of  Norway,  more  than 


fifty  years  afterwai*ds,  he  urged  this  as  one  of  hie 
sti-ongest  pleaa.  [See  life  of  Robeit  the  Bruce, 
post.'] 

In  the  year  1239  Alexander  had  married  at  Rox- 
burgh, Lady  Mary  de  Coad,  daughter  of  Ingelram 
or  Enguerrand  de  Couci,  a  lord  of  Picardy,  Count 
de  Dreux,  in  France.  His  family  affected  a  rank 
and  state  scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  a  sovereign. 
The  motto  of  the  new  queen's  father  is  said  to 
have  been 

Je  ne  snis  Roy,  ni  Prince  aussL 

Je  suifl  le  Seigneur  de  Conci. 

The  provision  of  Mary  de  Couci,  on  her  mar- 
riage, was  a  third  of  the  royal  revenues,  amount- 
ing to  upwards  of  4,000  merks.  IMatth.  Paris,  p. 
555.]  Soon  after  this  marriage,  Alexander,  being 
in  England,  met  the  papal  legate  Otho  on  his  way 
to  Scotland,  and  strenuously  remonstrated  with 
him  on  his  intended  visit.  Through  his  earnest 
entreaty,  however,  but  with  extreme  reluctance, 
and  only  at  the  joint  request  of  the  nobility  of  both 
kingdoms,  the  king  at  length  consented  to  admit 
him  within  his  dominions,  and  even  permitted 
him  to  hold  a  provincial  council  at  Edinburgh, 
but  he  insisted  upon  and  obtained  a  written  decla- 
ration from  the  legate,  given  under  his  seal,  that 
this  permission  to  enter  the  kingdom  should  not 
be  drawn  into  a  precedent.  Not  choosing,  how- 
ever, to  countenance  by  his  pi'esence  what  he  af- 
fiimed  to  be  an  unnecessary  innovation,  Alexan- 
der retired  into  the  interior  of  his  kingdom,  nor 
would  he  suffer  the  legate  to  extend  his  pecuniary 
exactions  beyond  the  Forth.  \Matth,  Paris,  p. 
422.]  Under  such  circumstances  the  papal  emis- 
sary tan-ied  no  longer  than  to  collect  those  spoils 
which  both  clergy  and  laity,  eager  to  get  rid  of 
him,  poured  into  his  rapacious  hands.  Secretly, 
and  without  leave  asked,  he  then  departed  from 
Scotland.  He  had  previously  in  this  same  year 
(1240),  plundered  the  prelates  and  convents  of 
England  of  large  sums  of  money,  partly  by  in- 
trigues, and  partly  by  menaces,  and  on  his  depar- 
ture is  said  to  have  carried  more  money  out  of  the 
kingdom  than  he  left  in  it. 

In  1241,  the  queen  gave  birth  to  a  son  at  Rox- 
burgh, whom  the  king  called  Alexander  after  him- 
self. He  succeeded  him  on  the  throne  under  the 
name  of  Alexander  UI. 


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Although  the  ties  of  relationship  which  had 
bound  together  Henry  and  Alexandei*,  were  now 
fevered,  jet  so  good  a  mutual  understanding  still 
subsisted  between  the  two  kings,  that  in  1242, 
when  Henry  pi*epared  to  visit  his  dominions  on 
the  continent,  after  he  had  declared  war  against 
Loois  IX.  of  Fi-ance,  he  committed  to  Alexander 
the  care  of  the  northern  fi*ontiei*s  of  his  kingdom. 
He  probably  distrusted  his  own  barons,  who,  dis- 
contented with  his  patronage  of  foreigners,  were 
then  preparing  that  confederacy  against  him  which 
under  Simon  de  Montfort,  a  few  years  later,  virtu- 
ally wrested  all  his  regal  authority  fi-om  him.  The 
king  of  Scotland,  in  the  absence  of  the  English 
sovereign,  was  the  most  likely  person  to  have 
seized  the  oppoitunity  of  disturbing  the  borders ; 
but  the  trust  thus  so  honourably  confided  to  him 
was  as  faithfully  and  honourably  discharged. 
Alexander  II.  was  not  a  prince  to  violate  his  faith, 
and  he  amply  proved  himself  worthy  of  the  confi- 
dence which  the  English  monarch  had  reposed  in 
him.     IChr.  Mdr,  203,  204.   Matth.  Paris,  895.] 

In  that  age  the  gi*eat  pastime  of  the  nobles  and 
knights  was  the  tournament.  At  one  of  these 
feats  of  arms  held  in  1242,  at  Haddington,  an  inci- 
dent occun'ed  which  led  to  important  consequences. 
Between  the  noble  house  of  Athole  and  the  Bissets, 
an  English  family  who  held  large  possessions  in  the 
noith  of  Scotland,  a  feud  had  long  existed.  At  the 
tournament  referred  to,  Walter  de  Bisset  was  foiled 
and  overthrown  by  Patrick,  earl  of  Athole,  a  young 
nobleman  of  great  promise.  It  has  been  already 
stated  *(life  of  Alexander  I.  p.  54,  ante),  that  the 
earldom  of  Athole  was,  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  David  I.  obtained  by  Malcolm,  the  son  of 
Duncan,  the  eldest  son  of  Malcolm  Canmore. 
Malcolm  was  succeeded  as  earl  by  his  son  of  the 
same  name.  He  left  a  son,  Henry,  who  also  en- 
joyed the  earldom.  The  latter  died  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century.  By  a  son  who 
predeceased  him  he  had  two  granddaughtera,  Isa- 
bel and  Feiiielith.  Isabel,  the  elder,  married 
Thomas  of  Galloway,  a  younger  son  of  Roland, 
and  brother  of  Alan,  lord  of  Galloway.  Femelith, 
the  younger,  married  David  de  Hastings,  an  Anglo- 
Norman  knight.  This  Patrick,  earl  of  Athole,  was 
the  only  child  of  the  former,  and  the  representa- 
tive by  the  female  line  of  the  eldest  branch  of  the 


family  of  Duncan.  In  a  short  time  after,  the  earl 
of  Athole  was  murdered  at  Haddington,  and  the 
house  in  which  he  lodged  set  on  fire  by  the  assassins. 
Suspicion  at  once  pointed  to  the  defeated  Bisset 
as  the  instigator,  if  not  the  actual  perpetrator  of 
the  crime.  The  nobility,  headed  by  the  earl  of 
March,  immediately  raised  an  aimed  force,  and, 
excited  to  vengeance  by  David  de  Hastings,  who 
had  maiTied  Femelith,  the  aunt  and  heiress  of 
Patrick,  and  now  earl  of  Atliole,  they  demanded 
the  life  of  both  Walter  and  his  uncle  William 
Bisset,  the  chief  of  the  family.  The  latter  offered 
to  mamt^in  his  innocence  by  single  combat;  and 
urged  that,  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  he  was  at 
Foifai-,  seventy  miles  distant.  By  the  exeitions 
of  the  king  he  was  saved  from  death,  but  he  war 
banished  and  his  estates  were  forfeited.  All  hit 
kindred  were  involved  in  his  ruin.  As  his  enemies 
secretly  sought  his  life,  the  king  took  him  under 
his  protection  and  concealed  him  from  their  fiiry 
for  three  mqnths.  Escaping  after  that  period 
fii-st  to  Ireland  and  aftei*wards  to  England,  Bisset 
found  his  way  to  the  court  of  King  Henry,  to 
whom,  as  an  English  stfbject,  he  seems  to  have 
appealed  against  the  judgment  that  had  stripped 
him  of  all  his  possessions  and  exiled  him  from 
Scotland,  on  the  plea  *^  that  •Alexander,  being 
the  vassal  of  Henry,  had  no  right  to  inflict  such 
punishments  on  his  nobles  without  the  per- 
mission of  his  liege  lord. "  So  deep  was  his 
desire  of  vengeance  for  the  injuiies  which  he 
had  sustained,  that,  forgetful  of  all  feelings  of 
gratitude  to  Alexander,  to  whose  generous  in- 
terposition on  his  behalf,  ue  owed  his  life,  he 
endeavoured,  by  the  most  insidious  representa- 
tions, to  incite  Henry  to  take  up  arms  against 
him.  He  declared  that  the  king  of  Scots  was  in 
league  with  Fi-ance,  and  that  he  gave  shelter  and 
protection  to  traitors  from  England  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  his  dominions. 

Henry,  believing  on  good  grounds  that  a  strong 
anti-English  feeling  had  begun  to  prevail  in  Scot- 
land, and  suspicious  of  the  friendly  con*espondence 
which  Alexander  had,  since  his  maniage  to 
Mary  de  Couci,  cultivated  with  France,  gave 
but  too  ready  an  ear  to  these  artful  statements 
and  insinuations.  The  personal  intimacy  of 
the  two  kmgs  had  now  for  some  time  ceased. 


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and  as  oational  jealousies  began  to  revive,  the 
weak-minded  English  monarch  was  the  more 
easily  influenced  against  his  former  friend  and 
brother-in-law.  He  complained  to  Alexander  that 
he  had  violated  the  duty  which  he  was  bound  to 
yield  to  him  as  his  lord  paramount,  and  Alexander 
is  said  to  have  replied  that  he  owed  no  liomage 
to  England  for  any  part  of  his  dominions,  and 
would  perfoi-m  none.  Henry  on  this  being  re- 
ported to  him,  determined  on  an  immediate  inva- 
sion of  Scotland.  As  one  of  his  pretexts  for 
preparing  for  hostilities,  he  alleged  that  "  Walter 
Comyn,  earl  of  Menteth,  had  given  umbrage  to 
England,  by  erecting  two  castles,  the  one  in  Gal- 
loway, the  other  in  Lothian."  [HaHes^  vol.  i.  p. 
159.]  The  Comyns  were  remarkable  at  this  pe- 
riod for  their  championship  of  Scottish  indepen- 
dence, and  as  the  Walter  Comyn  mentioned  was 
one  of  the  principal  noblemen  in  Scotland,  Heni^ 
naturally  enough  looked  upon  him  as  representing 
the  feeling  against  England  prevalent  amongst 
fl^e  Scottish  nobility  at  the  time.  There  was  an- 
other pretext,  "  that  Alexander  had  leagued  him- 
self with  France,  and  imd  affoi-ded  an  asylum  to 
Geoffrey  de  Marais,  and  other  English  offendci*s." 
In  1242,  as  has  been  already  stated,  Henry  de- 
clared war  against  Louis  IX.  of  France,  and  made 
an  expedition  into  Guienne,  his  stepfather,  the 
count  de  la  Marche,  having  promised  to  join  him 
with  all  his  forces.  He  was  unsuccessful,  how- 
ever, in  all  his  attempts  against  the  French  king. 
He  was  woi-sted  at  Taillebourg,  was  deserted  by 
his  allies,  lost  what  remained  to  him  of  Poitou, 
and  was  obliged  to  return  with  loss  of  honour  to 
England.  This  disgrace  rankled  in  his  breast, 
and  Bisset*s  charge  that  Alexander  was  in  league 
witii  France,  touching  him  on  the  point  where  he 
was  most  sensitive,  incensed  him  against  Alexan- 
der. He  secretly  applied  to  the  earl  of  Flanders 
for  succoura,  and  instigated  no  fewer  than  twen- 
ty-two Irish  chiefs  to  make  a  descent  on  the 
Scottish  coast.  Having  aiTanged  all  his  plans, 
he  proclaimed  war  against  Alexander  in  1244,  and 
assembled  a  numerous  and  well-appointed  army  at 
Newcastle,  prepai'ed  to  cross  the  bordei-s  into  Scot- 
land. Some  troops  which  had  been  sent  to  the 
assistance  of  Alexander  by  his  brother-in-law, 
John  de  Couci,  were  intercepted  by  Henry.    Tlie 


English  monarch  at  this  period  was  not  on  good 
terms  with  his  nobles,  most  of  whom  were  per- 
sonally intimate  with  Alexander,  and  remembered 
their  old  association  in  arms  with  him  against  the 
tyrant.  King  John.  From  some  one  ^r  other  of 
them  he  doubtless  obtained  information  of  Henry*s 
intentions,  in  time  to  send  notice  to  his  brether- 
in-law  in  Picai-dy  for  what  aid  he  could  furnish  him 
with.  He  then  determined  upon^  a  vigorous  re- 
sistance, and  was  warmly  seconded  by  his  nobility. 
Measures  were  taken  to  strengthen  the  frontier 
fortresses  of  the  kingdom ;  and  at  the  head  of  a 
gallant  army  Alexander  marched  southward,  re* 
solved  to  be  beforehand  with  Henry,  and  encounter 
his  foes  on  English  ground.  From  the  description 
which  the  contemporary  English  historian,  Mat- 
thew Paris,  has  given  of  the  force  under  Alexandei 
on  this  occasion  it  appears  to  have  been  a  formid- 
able one.  "His  army,"  he  says,  " was  numerous 
and  brave;  he  had  a  thousand  horsemen  tolerably 
mounted,  though  not  indeed  on  Spanish  or 
Italian  horses.  His  infantry  approached  to  a 
hundred  thousand,  all  unanimous,  all  animated 
by  the  exhortations  of  their  clergy,  and  by  con- 
fession, courageously  to  fight  and  resolutely  to  dis 
in  the  just  defence  of  their  native  land."  The 
horsemen  were  clothed  in  armour  of  iron  network. 
Henry  had  a  larger  body  of  cavalry  than  the  Scot- 
tish king,  and  his  anny  included  a  force  of  five 
thousand  men  at  arms,  splendidly  accoutred 
lAfatth.  Paris,  p.  645.  Chr.  Mdr,  p.  156.]  The 
rival  armies  came  in  sight  of  each  other  at  a  place 
called  Ponteland  in  Northumberland.  No  battle 
ensued,  however.  The  English  nobles  held  in  high 
respect  the  character  of  the  Scottish  king,  who, 
according  to  Matthew  Paris,  was  justly  beloved  by 
all  the  English  nation,  no  less  than  by  his  own 
subjects,  and  they  did  not  fully  approve  of  the 
rash  enterprise  of  their  own  sovereign.  While  the 
Scottish  army,  undismayed  by  the  superior  array 
of  their  opponents,  were  prepared  and  eager  for 
battle,  the  leaders  of  the  English,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  only  anxious  to  avert  hostilities. 
Henry  soon  saw  tliat  it  would  be  dangerous  to 
push  matters  to  extremities.  Through  the  media- 
tion of  Richard  earl  of  Cornwall,  the  brother  of  the 
king  of  England,  and  the  archbishop  of  York,  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  at  Newcastle  on  the 


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13th  of  August,  the  terms  of  which  were  honoura- 
ble to  both  sovereigns,  and  that  without  a  sword 
'  being  drawn,  a  bow  bent,  or  a  lance  put  in  rest. 
Henry  did  not  insist  on  an  expi*ess  act  of  homage 
from  Alexander  for  the  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
while  Alexander,  on  his  side,  agreed  always  to 
bear  good  faith  and  affection* to  Henry  as  his  liege 
lord,  and  not  to  enter  into  any  alliance  with  the 
enemies  of  England,  unless  the  English  did  him 
some  wrong.  \_Fcuiera^  torn.  i.  p.  429.]  The 
terms  of  the  treaty  have  by  Scottish  writers  been 
represented  as  favourable  to  Scotland,  as  in  then* 
opinion  Henry  by  it  undoubtedly  conceded  the 
point  in  dispute  between  them.  Dr.  Lingard, 
however,  an  acute  and  impartial  investigator,  de- 
scribes it  as  "  an  arrangement  by  which,  though 
Alexander  eluded  the  express  recognition  of  feu- 
dal dependence,  he  seems  to  have  conceded  to 
Heniy  the  substance  of  his  demand."  This  much 
is  certain,  that  although  the  matter  was  not  pressed 
to  extremities,  the  claim  of  Henry  was  both  re- 
vived and  in  part  exercised  early  in  the  following 
reign.  [Life  of  Alexander  III.']  It  was  also  one 
of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty,  that  a  proposal 
made  in  1242,  the  year  after  a  son  was  bom  to 
Alexander,  of  a  marriage  between  Margaret  the 
daughter  of  the  king  of  England  and  the  young 
prince  of  Scotland,  should  be  carried  into  effect, 
as  it  subsequently  was  in  1251,  when  Alexander 
in.  was  only  ten  years  old.  Alan  Durward,  at 
that  time  considered  the  most  accomplished  knight 
and  the  best  military  leader  in  Scotland,  Henry 
tie  Baliol,  and  David  de  Lindesay,  with  other 
knights  and  prelates,  swore  on  the  soul  of  their 
lord  the  king,  that  the  treaty  should  be  kept  in- 
violate by  him  and  his  heirs. 

In  1247  Alexander  was  again  called  to  suppress 
an  insurrection  which  had  broken  out  in  Galloway. 
Exasperated  by  the  oppressions  of  their  liege  lord 
Roger  de  Quincy,  earl  of  Winchester,  the  husband 
of  Elena  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  deceased  Alan, 
lord  of  Galloway,  the  people  of  that  district 
suddenly  rose  against  him,  and  besieged  him  in 
his  own  castle.  In  a  sally  which  he  made  he  was 
successful  in  cutting  a  passage  through  his  rebel- 
lious vassals,  and  instantly  sought  redress  from  the 
king.  Alexander  chastised  and  subdued  the  insur- 
gents, and  reinstated  de  Qumcy  in  his  superiority. 


llie  last  expedition  in  which  Alexander  was 
engaged  was  undertaken  in  order  to  compel  van-  , 
ons  of  the  chiefs  in  the  western  islands  and  in  the  ; 
north  of  Scotland  who  were  at  that  time  the  vas-  ! 
sals  of  Norway,  to  renounce  their  allegiance  to  that 
power,  and  to  reduce  the  entire  country  under  his 
own  dominion.  On  setting  out  he  declared  *'  that 
he  would  not  desist  till  he  had  set  his  standard 
upon  the  cliffs  of  Thurso,  and  sul)dued  all  that  the 
king  of  Noi*way  possessed  to  the  westward  of  the 
German  Ocean."  IMaUh.  Paris,  p.  550.]  The 
principal  of  these  chiefs  was  Ewen,  great-grand- 
son of  the  first  Somerled,  lord  of  the  Isles,  and 
grand^n  of  his  eldest  son  Dugall,  who  held  cer- 
tain of  the  western  islands  under  the  king  of  Nor- 
way. Ewen  being  the  vassal  of  both  sovereigns 
for  different  parts  of  his  possessions,  was  placed  in 
an  awkward  position  between  them,  for  if  he  con- 
sented to  the  demand  of  Alexander,  he  would  only 
expose  himself  to  the  hostility  of  the  Norwegian 
king,  while  if  he  refused  it,  he  was  sure  to  incur 
the  vengeance  of  the  king  of  Scots.  Ewen  seems 
to  have  considered  it  the  better  policy  to  remaiiS 
true  to  the  king  of  Norway.  Alexander  collected 
a  great  fleet  and  sailed  for  the  western  Islands, 
determined  upon  making  every  effort  to  obtain 
possession  of  them.  It  appears  that  so  great  was 
the  attention  which  was  paid  to  the  building  of 
ships  in  those  days,  that  not  only  was  Alexander 
possessed  of  a  considerable  naval  force,  but  even 
the  Hebridean  chiefs,  whose  principal  busmess  was 
piracy,  then  esteemed  an  honourable  profession, 
had  formidable  fleets.  It  is  stated  also  that  in  1281 
Alan,  lord  of  Galloway,  who  has  been  ali*eady 
mentioned,  was  able  to  fit  out  a  fleet  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  ships,  from  his  own  territories,  with 
which  he  drove  Olave  the  Black,  king  of  Man, 
from  his  dominions.  This  may  help  to  furnish 
some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  naval  strength  of 
Alexander  the  Second,  when  he  set  forth  to  the 
western  Isles  to  bring  them  under  his  sway. . 

Deeming  it  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  gain 
over  Ewen  to  his  interest,  he  besought  him  to 
give  up  Kemeburgh,  and  other  three  castles, 
together  with  the  lands  which  he  held  of  Haco 
king  of  Norway,  promising  him  that  if  he  would 
come  under  his  allegiance,  he  would  reward  him 
with  many  greater  estates  In  Scotland,  and  take 


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hiin  into  his  confidence  and  favour.  All  E>ven's 
relations  and  friends  advised  him  to  yield  to  the 
king  of  Scotland  and  relinqnish  his  fealty  to  the 
Norwegian  monarch,  but  the  Island  chief  remained 
steadfast  to  his  allegiance,  and  declared  that  he 
wonid  not  break  his  oath  to  King  Haco.  ISkene's 
History  of  the  HtghlanderSy  vol.  ii.  p.  61.]  Al- 
though, however,  he  is  said  to  have  refused  all 
ofifers  of  compromise,  he  appears  to  have  agreed 
to  pay  to  Alexander  an  annual  tribute  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty  marks,  {Ayloff^s  Calendars 
of  Ancient  Charters^  p.  336],  doubtless  for  such 
portion  of  his  possessions  as  was  under  the  actual 
government  of  the  king  of  Scots.  All  our  histo- 
rians style  this  Ewen,  Angus  of  Argyle,  but  this 
is  evidently  erroneous. 

Alexander  was  not  destined  to  see  the  end  of 
his  expedition.  The  subjection  of  the  western 
Isles  to  the  Scottish  crown  was  reserved  for  his  son 
and  successor,  Alexander  in.  When  preparing 
to  invade  these  islands,  and  so  far  on  his  progress 
as  the  Sound  of  Mull,  this  brave  and  prudent 
monarch  was  attacked  with  a  fever,  of  which  he 
died  July  8,  1249,  at  Ken*ara,  a  small  island  lying 
off  the  bay  of  Oban ;  being  at  the  time  of  his  death 
in  the  51st  year  of  his  age,  and  3l8t  of  his  reign. 
A  legend  full  of  the  superstitious  feeling  of  the 
times,  yet  not  without  a  certain  degree  of  poetical 
interest,  states  that  as  Alexander  lay  in  his  bed 
there  appeared  to  him  three  men ;  one  of  them 
dressed  in  royal  garments,  with  a  red  face,  squint- 
ing eyes,  and  a  terrible  aspect;  the  second  was 
very  young  and  beautiful  with  a  costly  dress,  and 
the  third  was  of  larger  stature  than  either,  and  of 
a  still  fiercer  countenance  than  the  first. ,  The  last 
personage  demanded  of  him  whether  he  meant  to 
subdne  the  islands,  and  on  his  answering  in  the 
affirmative  he  advised  him  to  return  home;  a 
warning  to  which  he  paid  no  attention.  Tlie 
three  persons,  says  the  tale,  were  supposed  to  be 
St.  Olave,  St.  Magnus,  and  St.  Columba.  The 
latter  certainly  showed  a  most  forgiving  disposition 
in  taking  part  with  the  two  Norwegian  saints,  as 
the  piratical  invaders  from  Norway  had  always 
been  bitter  enemies  of  his  monastery  of  Ion  a. 

All  historians  agree  in  giving  Alexander  the 
Second  the  character  of  a  wise,  prudent,  and  mag- 
nanimon&tprince.    Brave,  and  not  unsuccessful  in 


war,  he  was  yet  disposed  to  cultivate  the  bless- 
ings of  peace.  His  rule  was  firm  and  strict,  and 
under  his  sway  Scotland  advanced  in  prosperity 
and  civilization ;  so  that  at  his  death  he  left  It  a 
more  powerful  nation  than  it  had  ever  been  in  any 
previous  period  of  its  history.  Though  prompt 
and  severe  in  the  administration  of  justice,  he  was 
impartial  and  just,  and  his  personal  qualities  wera 
of  that  generous  and  popular  nature  which  ren- 
dered him  beloved  equally  by  his  nobility  and 
people.  Twenty-five  statutes  of  Alexander  II. 
were  added  to  the  code  of  Scottish  laws ;  several 
of  which,  says  Lord  Hailes,  require  a  commentary. 
His  body  was  bui-ied  before  the  altar  of  the  abbey 
of  Melrose. 

The  burghs  of  Dumbarton  and  Dingwall  are  the 
only  two  which  received  charters  from  this  mon- 
arch. The  fonner  town  had  been  resigned  by 
Maldwin,  earl  of  Lennox,  into  his  hands,  and  in 
1222  he  erected  it  into  a  free  royal  burgh,  with 
extensive  privileges.  The  latter  was  made  a  royal 
burgh  by  Alexander  in  1227.  To  the  church  he 
was  a  generous  benefactor,  as  be  founded  no  fewer 
than  eight  monasteries  for  the  mendicant  friars  of 
the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  called  the  Black  Friars, 
namely,  at  Aberdeen,  Ayr,  Berwick,  Edinburgh, 
Elgin,  Inveraess,  Stirling,  and  Perth.  Boece, 
with  his  usual  ingenuity,  supposes  that  Alexander 
saw  Dominic  in  France  about  the  year  1217 ;  but 
that  was  the  year  when  he  was  deserted  by  the 
French  prince  Louis,  and  when  Alexander  was 
anxious  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Pope  and  to  make 
peace  with  England.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
Alexander  ever  was  in  France.  Lord  Hailes  thus 
remarks  on  this  conjectui-e  of  the  inventive  Boece : 
*^  The  sight  of  a  living  saint  may  have  made  an 
impression  on  his  young  mind:  but  perhaps  he 
considered  the  mendicant  friars  as  the  cheapest 
ecclesiastics.  His  revenues  could  not  supply  the 
costly  institution  of  Cistercians  and  canons  regu- 
lar in  which  his  great-grandfather,  David  I.,  took 
delight."  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  value 
of  land  in  Scotland  in  Alexander  the  Second's 
reign,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  monks  of 
Melrose  purchased  from  Richard  Barnard,  a  mea- 
dow at  Famingdun,  consisting  of  eight  acres,  at 
thirty-five  marks. 

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taken  from  Anderson's  Diphmata  et  Numismata^ 
plate  31.  Alexander  is  here  represented  clothed 
bi  a  complete  coaf  of  mascled  mail,  protected  by 


plates  at  the  elbows.  The  surcoat  also  first  woi*n 
in  England  by  King  John,  is  thrown  over  his  ar- 
mour, another  proof,  as  Tytler  remarks    of  the 


progress  of  military  fashions  from  England  into 
Scotland  at  that  period.  His  shield  is  hollow(d, 
so  as  to  fit  the  body,  and  completely  defend  it. 
The  shield  then  in  use  in  Scotland  was  the  kite- 
shaped  shield  of  the  Normans,  and  previous  to 
Alexander's  time,  it  was  plain  and  anomamented. 
The  emblazonment  of  the  lion  rampant,  which 
had  been  chosen  as  his  armorial  bearing  by  his 
father  William,  snmamed  the  Lion,  and  which 
ever  after  formed  the  arms  of  Scotland,  appeared 
on  Alexander's  shield  for  the  first  time.  In  this 
he  followed  the  example  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion, 
who  was  the  first  to  introduce  into  England  he- 
raldic emblazonments  on  the  E.iield.  In  the  above 
seal,  Alexander's  horse  has  no  defensive  armour, 
but  is  ornamented  with  a  fnnged  and  tassel  led 
border  across  the  chest,  and  an  embroidered  sad- 
dlecloth, on  which  the  lion  rampant  again  appears. 
Tlie  unicorns  as  supporters  of  the  royal  shield 
were,  added  by  the  Stewarts  to  the  arms  of  Scot- 
land. 

ALEXANDER  m.,  king  of  Scotland,  the  only 
son  of  the  preceding  and  of  his  queen  Mary  de 
Couci,  was  bom  at  Roxburgh  castle,  on  the  4th 
of  September  1241.  He  succeeded  to  the  throne 
on  the  death  of  his  father,  8th  July  1249,  being  then 


Senl  ot  Alexander  III. 

in  the  ninth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  crowned  at 
Scone  on  the  13th  of  the  same  month.  This  pre- 
cipitancy was  owing  to  the  apprehension  enter- 
tained by  that  portion  of  the  Scottish  nobles  who 
were  opposed  to  the  English  claim  of  supremacy 
over  Scotland,  that  the  English  king  Henry  HI., 
who  esteemed  himself  the  feudal  superior  of  the 
Scottish  sovereigns,  would  interfere  in  the  ar- 
rangements preliminary  to  the  young  monarcirs 
inauguration.  In  this  proceeding  they  not  only 
flattered  the  popular  sentiment  but  were  actuated 
by  a  regard  to  the  interest  of  their  order,  as  the 
privileges  of  the  Scottish  barons  and  clergy,  and 
especially  that  of  independent  heritable  jurisdic- 
tion within  their  lands,  was  not  only  not  enjoyed  in 
England,  but  proved  a  serious  check  -upon  the  royal 
authority  and  power,  and  any  assimilation  of  the 
two  countries  in  this  respect  was  calculated  to 
place  their  continued  enjoyment  of  them  in  dan- 
ger. Of  this  party  Walter  Comyn,  earl  of 
Menteith,  was  the  head.  Indeed,  all  the  power 
of  the  kingdom  was,  at  this  time,  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  Comyns,  a  family  descended  from 
Robert  Comyn,  a  Norman  knight  from  Northum- 
berland, who  came  into  Scotland  in  the  time  of 
David  the  Fii-st.    During  the  first  years  of  Alex- 


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ander*8  reign,  (when,  to  use  the  words  of  Buchan- 
an, ^'thia  family  governed  rather  than  obeyed 
him,'')  their  influence  in  the  administration  of  the 
country  was  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  nation- 
ality and  opposition  to  English  interference  in 
eveiy  shape  that  was  or  might  be  exhibited. 

On  the  day  of  the  coronation,  the  bishops  of 
St.  Andrews  and  Dnnkeld,  witli  the  abbot  of  Scone, 
attended  to  officiate,  when  some  of  the  counsel- 
loi*s,  and  among  the  rest,  Alan  Dnrward,  the  high 
justiciary,  or  lord  chief  justice,  of  Scotland,  called 
also  Ostiarius,  and  in  the  Fi*ench  rilmmer,  from 
his  office  as  keeper  of  the  palace  gate  or  of  the 
door  of  the  king's  chamber,  objected  to  the  young 
king  being  crowned  so  soon  after  his  accession,  on 
the  grounds  that  "  the  day  appointed  for  the  cer- 
emony was  unlucky,  and  that  the  king,  previons 
to  his  coronation,  ought  to  receive  the  order  of 
knighthood.*'  Durward  doubtless  expected  that, 
from  his  being  at  the  head  of  the  Scottish  chival- 
ry, as  well  as  from  having  married  a  natural  sister 
of  the  young  king,  the  honour  of  knighting  Alex- 
ander would  devolve  upon  himself;  but  in  this  he 
was  disappointed,  as  the  earl  of  Menteith  pro- 
posed that  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  should  both 
knight  the  king  and  place  the  crown  on  his  head, 
citing  the  instance  of  William  Rnfus  as  having  been 
knighted  by  Lanfranc  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
IFordun^  b.  x.  c.  i.]  Fie  also  urged  the  danger  of 
delay,  as  the  English  king,  in  a  letter  to  the  Pope, 
had  solicited  a  mandate  from  his  holiness  to  the 
young  monarch  of  Scotland,  that  **  being  Henry's 
liegeman,  he  should  not  be  anointed  or  crowned 
without  his  permission."  He,  therefore,  strongly 
advised  that  the  ceremony  should  be  over  before 
the  Pope's  answer  could  arrive.  Henry,  it  would 
appear,  bad  also  requested  a  grant  of  the  tenth  of 
the  ecclesiastical  revenues  of  Scotland.  Both  re- 
quests were,  however,  rejected  by  the  Pope,  In- 
nocent rV.,  the  first  as  derogatory  to  the  honour 
of  a  sovereign  prince,  and  the  second  as  without 
example.  [Fcedera^  vol.  i.  p.  163.]  It  is  ex- 
tremely likely  that,  chagrined  and  disappointed  at 
not  getting  the  full  extent  of  his  claim  as  feudal 
superior  recognised  by  the  treaty  of  Newcastle  in 
1244,  Henry  had  made  this  application  to  Rome 
before  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Second,  to  be 
prepared  to  assert  it  effectually  when  his  successor 


came  to  the  throne;  as  there  could  be  no  time  to 
have  done  so  in  the  short  period,  only  five  days, 
that  elapsed  between  the  acceseion  and  the  coro- 
nation of  Alexander  the  Third. 

The  advice  of  the  earl  of  Menteith  was  followed. 
Without  waiting  for  the  result  of  Henry's  appli- 
cation to  the  Pope,  the  Scottish  nobles  and  pre- 
lates seated  the  young  Alexander  in  the  regal 
chair  or  sacred  stone  at  Scone,  which  stood  before 
the  cross  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  church,  and 
invested  him  with  the  crown  and  sceptre  and  the 
other  insignia  of  royalty.  The  barons,  in  token 
of  their  homage,  cast  their  mantles  at  the  feet  of 
their  young  sovereign,  who  pi*evious  to  the  cere- 
mony had  been  by  David  Bemham,  bishop  of  St. 
Andrews,  begiit  with  the  belt  of  knighthood 
The  coronation  oath  was  read  in  Latin,  and  then 
explained  in  French,  that  being  then  the  language 
of  the  court,  clergy,  nobility,  and  barons  of 
Scotland  as  well  as  of  England,  and  the  various 
countries  more  immediately  connected  with  France. 
During  the  ceremonial  an  Impressive  incident 
occurred.  Wliile  the  king  sat  npon  the  inaugu- 
ral stone,  the  crown  on  his  head  and  the  sceptre 
in  his  hand,  a  white-haired  Highland  scnnachy  or 
bard,  of  great  age,  and  clothed  in  a  scarlet  mantle, 
advanced  from  the  crowd,  and  bending  before  the 
king,  repeated  in  the  Gaelic  tongue,  the  genealogy 
of  the  youthful  monai-ch,  deducing  his  descent 
from  the  fabulous  Gathelus,  who,  according  to  le- 
gendary lore,  married  Scota,  the  daughter  of  Pha- 
raoh, and  was  the  contemporary  of  Moses  I  Al- 
exander, though  he  did  not  comprehend  a  word 
of  this  singular  recitation,  is  said  to  have  liberally 
rewarded  the  venerable  genealogist,  who  thus  un- 
expectedly introduced  this  Celtic  usage  at  the 
coronation  of  a  Scoto-Saxon  monarch. 

The  first  act  of  the  new  reign,  after  the  corona- 
tion of  Alexander,  was  of  a  religions  character,  yet 
held  at  that  period  as  of  no  less  importance  than 
the  coronation  itself.  The  virtues  of  the  pious 
queen  Margaret,  the  wife  of  Malcolm  Canmore, 
having  become  the  subject  of  universal  belief  as 
well  as  of  monastic  biography,  according  to  the 
superstition  of  that  age  her  remains  were  believed 
to  have  the  faculty  of  working  miracles,  and  an 
application  was  made  to  the  Pope  in  1246,  by 
Alexander  II.,  to  admit  her  into  the  calendar  of 


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the  saints.  As  the  general  reader  is  well  aware, 
the  evidence  requh-ed  to  establish  such  a  claim  re- 
qoired  to  be  full  and  distinct ;  and  in  the  present 
instance,  after  a  commission,  consisting  of  the 
bishops  of  St.  Andrews,  Dnnkeld,  and  Dunblane 
had  made  a&vourable  repoit,  it  was  found  invalid, 
because  it  had  not  incorporated  the  evidence  of 
the  witnesses,  and  a  new  commission  was  issued, 
if  we  can  only  get  over  the  difSculty  as  to  whether 
the  class  of  miracles  on  which  such  claims  are 
founded  are  to  be  admitted  as  proveable  by  any 
human  testimony  whatever,  the  most  sceptical 
must  admit  that  the  evidence  generally,  such  as  it 
might  be,  was  both  abundant  and  sti'lct.  In  con- 
sequence of  these  delays,  it  was  not  till  1249  that 
Queen  Margaret  became,  as  a  canonized  saint,  the 
object  of  ecclesiastical  dedication,  and  the  abbey 
of  Dunfermline,  called  after  her  name,  had  her 
bones  "transferred"  from  the  place  wei-e  they 
were  originally  deposited  "  in  the  rude  altar  of  the 
kh'k  of  Dunfermline"  to  the  choir  of  the  abbey 
church.  The  young  lung  Alexander  III.  with  his 
mother,  and  a  large  assembly  of  nobles  and  clergy, 
were  present  at  the  ceremony.  Robert  de  Kelde- 
licht,  the  abbot,  raised  to  the  dignity  of  the  mitre 
in  1244  in  a  bull,  the  terms  of  which  are  preserved 
in  the  registry,  granted  at  the  special  request  of 
Alexander  II.,  saw  the  reward  of  hilb  ambition  and 
donations  to  the  legate.  The  remains  were  placed 
in  a  silver  sarcophagus,  which  the  chroniclers  state 
was  adorned  with  precious  stones.  So  interest- 
ing a  scene  could  not  take  place  without  a  miracle. 
The  body  of  the  wife  refused  to  be  translated  until 
that  of  her  husband  had  been  fim  lifted  to  the 
intended  spot,  then 

*•  Syne  in  fayre  manere 
Her  corse  thai  tnk  op  and  bare  ben, 
And  thame  enterydd  togyddjr,  then 
Swa  trowyed  thai  all  that  gadiyd  tbaro 
(jahat  boQoure  til  hyr  lord  scbo  bare." 

Wynton,  b.  7,  c.  10. 

llie  next  pnxseeding  of  the  new  government  was 
to  change  the  stamp  of  the  Scottish  coin,  the  ci'oss, 
which  previously  was  confined  to  the  inner  circle 
being  now  extended  to  the  circumference.  This 
took  place  in  1250.  The  coins  of  this  reign  were 
pennies  and  half-pennies  of  silver,  but  though  these 
only  were  issued,  other  denominations  of  money 


were  named  in  accounting,  as  the  shilling,  the 
merk,  and  the  pound,  while  foreign  coins,  which 
were  fi'om  time  to  time  imported  by  the  merchants, 
were  allowed  to  be  current  in  the  kingdom.  To 
give  some  idea  of  the  value  of  the  Scottish  silver 
penny,  it  may  be  stated  that  ten  of  them  wei'e 
equal  to  half  a  crown  of  our  present  money.  Five 
pence  was  the  yearly  i-ent  paid  to  the  king  by  the 
burgesses  of  every  royal  burgh,  for  each  rood  of 
land  possessed  under  burgh  privileges.  The  vas- 
sal of  a  thane,  or  of  any  other  subject,  was  fined 
in  fifteen  ewes,  or  six  shillings,  for  disobeying  the 
king^s  summons  to  join  the  royal  army.  Money 
was  common  only  in  the  burghs,  at  markets  and 
fairs,  and  through  the  more  populous  and  culti- 
vated parts  of  the  kingdom.  In  secluded  districts, 
cattle  were  more  frequenfty  referred  to,  as  a  coni^ 
mon  measure  of  value,  [^/inderson^s  Diplomata 
ScotuSy  with  RuddimojCs  Introduction,'] 

In  1251  some  measures  appear  to  have  been 
employed  by  those  at  the  head  of  affaii-s  in  Scot- 
land for  circumscribing,  or  at  least  for  defining  the 
limits  of  the  power  of  the  clergy,  as  the  Pope 
directed  a  bull  to  the  bishops  of  Lincoln,  Worces- 
ter, and  Litchfield  in  England,  requiring  them  to 
examine  into  the  abuses  said  to  prevail  in  Scot- 
land, and  on  these  delegates  he  conferred  ample 
powers  of  excommunication.  [Chartulary  of  Mo- 
ray^ i.  30.]  Lord  Hailes,  who  has  printed  this 
bull  in  full  in  the  appendix  to  the  fii-st  volume  of 
his  Annals  of  Scotland,  thinks  it  probable  that  it 
was  never  ti*ansmitted  to  the  English  bishops,  no 
historian  having  made  any  mention  of  it. 

The  state  of  the  kingdom  at  this  time  was  unfa- 
vourable to  the  continuance  of  that  peace  and 
prosperity  in  which  the  fiim  and  prudent  adminis- 
tration of  Alexander  the  Second  had  left  it  at  \\\s 
death.  The  kmg  was  a  minor,  and  exposed  to 
the  continual  demands  of  the  sovereign  of  England 
for  a  recognition  of  his  claim  of  feudal  superiority, 
while  the  nobles,  instead  of  joining  together  and 
acting  in  unison  for  the  common  welfare,  wei-e  en- 
gaged against  each  other  in  a  factious,  struggle  for 
power.  They  wei'e  divided  into  two  gi-eat  pai'ties. 
The  one,  composed  of  the  potent  family  of  the 
Comyns  and  their  adherents,  among  whom  was 
John  de  Baliol,  lord  of  Galloway,  were  masters  of 
the  government.  The  chiefs  of  the  other  paity 
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wei-e  Patrick  Cospatrick,  earl  of  Mai*ch  and  Dun-  1 
bar,  Mallse,  earl  of  Stratherae,  Niel  or  Nigel,  earl 
of  Carrick,  Alexander,  the  steward  of  Scotland, 
Robert  Bruce,  lord  of  Annandale,  and  Alan  Dur- 
ward,  the  high  justiciary.  The  latter  party  acted 
all  along  in  alliance  with  Henry  IIL  of  England, 
who,  by  the  maniage  of  his  daughter  to  Alexan- 
der, soon  obtained  a  fair  pretext  for  interfering  in 
the  affairs  of  Scotland. 

As  stated  in  the  life  of  Alexander  the  Second, 
(owte,  p.  77,)  the  young  prince  his  son  had  been 
betrothed  when  only  a  year  old  to  Henry's  eldest 
daughter,  Margaret,  who  was  about  the  same  age, 
and  their  nuptials,  although  neither  of  them  had 
reached  theur  eleventh  year,  were  solemnized  at 
York,  26th  December  1251,  amidst  cucumstances 
of  extraordinai7  splendour.  Besides  the  bride's 
father  and  mother.  King  Henry  and  his  queen, 
the  mother  of  the  young  bridegroom,  Maiy  de 
Coud,  the  queen-dowager  of  Scotland,  with  a 
train  worthy  of  her  high  station,  was  present  at 
the  nuptials,  IRymer^  voL  i.  edition  1816,  p.  278,] 
having  come  for  the  purpose  from  France,  whither 
3he  appeal's  to  have  retired  soon  after  the  death 
of  Alexander  the  Second.  There  were  also  pres- 
ent the  nobility  and  the  dignified  clergy  of  both 
countries,  and  in  theur  suite  a  numerous  assem- 
blage of  vassals.  According  to  Matthew  Paris,  a 
thousand  knights,  in  robes  of  silk,  waited  upon 
the  princess  at  her  bridal,  and  the  primate  of 
York  contributed  six  hundred  oxen,  as  part  of  the 
marriage  feast,  which,  says  the  matter-of-fact 
chronicler,  *^  were  all  spent  upon  the  first  course." 
With  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Henry  gave  the 
promise  of  a  dowry  of  6,000  merks,  IFccdera  i. 
467,]  which,  however,  was  not  paid  till  several 
years  afterwards. 

In  the  midst  of  the  marriage  festivities,  Alex- 
ander, according  to  custom,  did  homage  to  Henry 
for  the  lands  which  he  held  in  England,  but  on 
his  father-in-law  requiring  him  to  render  fealty 
for  his  kingdom  of  Scotland,  *^  according  to  the 
usage  recorded  in  many  chronicles,"  Alexander,  by 
the  advice  of  his  council,  returned  this  prudent 
answer :  "  I  have  been  invited  to  York  to  marry 
the  princess  of  England,  not  to  treat  of  affairs  of 
state,  and  I  cannot  take  a  step  of  so  much  impor- 
tance w^ithout  the  knowledge  and  approbation  of 


my  parliament."  IMatth.  Paris,  p.  829.]  This 
famous  reply,  there  cannot  be  a  question,  was 
dictated  by  the  Comyns,  whose  policy  at  that  pe- 
riod was  strictly  national,  and  against  the  claims 
of  England.  The  word  parliament  as  here  used 
must  be  taken  with  the  limitation  of  meaning 
pointed  out  in  the  life  of  Alexander  the  Second 
(ante,  p.  66).  It  signifies  no  more  than  the  states 
of  the  kingdom,  that  is  a  meeting  of  the  regents 
and  counsellors  of  the  king,  with  the  nobles, 
crown  vassals,  and  superior  clergy.  Under  the 
feudal  system  all  vassals  of  the  crown,  holding 
their  possessions  and  privileges  by  the  tenure  of 
fixed  and  certain  services,  were  entitled  to  receive 
the  royal  summons  to  sit  in  parliament,  as  it 
would  now  be  called,  whenever  the  necessities  of 
the  kingdom  compelled  the  king  to  demand  their 
advice  and  assistance  for  his  dii*ection  and  support 
in  providing  for  the  common  welfare  of  the  realm. 
While  the  young  kmg  remained  at  York,  Alan 
Dnrward,  the  high  justiciary  of  Scotland,  who 
had  accompanied  him,  and  who  by  virtue  of  his 
office  was  one  of  his  chief  counsellors,  was  accused 
by  Henry  himself  [ffoiZw'  Annals,  vol.  i.  p.  164] 
of  a  design  against  the  Scottish  crown,  *^  for  that 
he  and  his  associates  had  sent  messengers,  accom- 
panied with  presents,  to  the  Pope,  soliciting  the 
legitimation  of  his  daughters  by  the  king^s  sister ; 
whereby,  in  the  event  of  the  king*s  death,  they 
might  succeed  as  lawful  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland."  Balfour  in  his  Annals,  [vol.  i.  p.  59,] 
says  that  ^*  as  conscious  to  this  plot  were  accused 
likewise  Walter  Comyn,  earl  of  Menteith,  Wil- 
liam Comyn,  earl  of  Mar,  and  Robert,  abbot  of 
Dunfermline,  chancellor  of  Scotland,  who  was 
accused  that  he  had  passed  a  legitimation  under 
the  great  seal  to  the  king^s  base  sister,  the  wife  of 
Alan,  earl  of  Athole,  great  justiciary  of  Scotland." 
The  story  is  taken  from  the  Chronicle  of  Melrose. 
Whether  there  was  any  foundation  for  the  accu- 
sation or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the  chancellor 
hastily  left  the  English  court,  where  he  had  been 
with  the  young  king,  and  returning  to  Scotland, 
resigned  the  seals,  quitted  his  abbey,  and  assumed 
the  habit  of  a  monk  at  Newbottle,  in  Mid  Lothian, 
IChr.  Mdr,  219,]  and  that  Henry,  on  the  return 
of  Alexander  and  his  queen  into  Scotland,  sent 
with  them  Geoffrey  de  Langley,  keeper  of  the 


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royal  forests,  to  act  in  concert  with  the  Scottish 
nobles,  as  guardian  of  the  young  king,  but  he 
proved  so  insolent  and  rapacions  that  he  was  soon 
dismissed.  [Matdi.  Paris^  671.]  Tytler  says,  bnt 
without  giving  any  anthority,  that  the  accusers  of 
Dnrward  were  the  earls  of  Menteith  and  Mar, 
and  that  Henry  placed  these  noblemen  at  the  head 
of  the  new  appointment  of  guardians  to  the  young 
king,  which  he  made  at  this  time.  [Hist,  of  Scot- 
land^ vol.  i.  p.  9.]  It  is  not  improbable  that  Hen- 
ry's object  in  biinging  this  accnsation  against  the 
popular  and  potent  Alan  Durward  was  as  much  to 
remove  so  dangerous  a  rival  from  about  the  person 
of  the  queen,  as  to  obtain  the  services  of  so  ac- 
complished a  soldier  and  so  expert  a  leader,  in  his 
wars  in  Gufenne,  which  he  was  conscious  he  had 
no  means  of  securing  otherwise  than  by  driving 
him  into  a  sort  of  banishment  from  his  country, 
under  a  charge  of  meditated  treason,  not  easily 
repelled.  Two  y^ars  after  these  transactions,  the 
Pope,  havmg  induced  Henry  to  embark  in  a  pro- 
ject for  the  conquest  of  Naples,  or  as  it  was  called, 
SicOy  on  this  side  the  Fare,  levied  a  tenth  on  all 
ecclesiastical  benefices  in  England  for  three  years, 
and  in  1254  granted  to  Henry  a  twentieth  of  the 
ecclesiastical  revenues  of  Scotland  for  the  same 
term,  which  grant  was  renewed  in  1266  for  one 
year  more,  to  he  employed  by  the  English  king, 
as  asserted  by  the  chroniclers  of  the  period,  in  the 
expenses  of  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land. 
ICkr.  Mdr.  i.  80.  Fcedera,  vol.  i.  467.]  We  ra- 
ther think,  however,  that  while  this  was  the  pre- 
text, the  money  thus  received  from  Scotland  for 
four  years  was  by  Henry  intended  to  be  applied, 
and  was  in  fact  expended,  in  a  fruitless  endeavour 
to  secure  the  crown  of  Sicily  for  his  second  son 
Edmond,  which  had  been  promised  him  by  the 
Pope.     [Fcedera,  vol.  i.  p.  602,  612,  630.] 

At  this  time  the  Comyn  party  appear  to  have 
been  in  full  possession  of  the  government.  Robert 
de  Ros  and  John  de  Baliol,  two  of  their  fiiends, 
had  the  name  of  regents.  In  1264  Simon  de 
Montfort,  the  great  earl  of  Leicester,  the  same 
powerful  nobleman  who,  four  years  afterwards, 
attempted  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from  Henry's  hand, 
was  sent  into  Scotland,  charged  with  a  secret  mis- 
sion from  Henry  [JVedcro,  vol.  i.  p.  623];  the 
precise  nature  or  object  of  which  can  only  be  con- 


jectured from  subsequent  events.  In  the  following 
year  complaints  were  sent  fh)m  the  young  queen  j 
to  the  English  court,  that  she  was  confined  in  the 
solitary  castle  of  Edinburgh,  "a  place  without  ver- 
dure, and  owing  to  its  vicinity  to  the  sea  unwhole- 
some,*' that  she  was  not  permitted  to  make  excur- 
sions through  the  kingdom  or  to  choose  her  female 
attendants,  and  that,  although  both  she  and  Alex- 
ander had  completed  their  fourteenth  year,  she 
was  still  secluded  from  the  society  of  her  husband. 
Henry  had  all  along  been  in  communication  with 
the  discontented  nobles  who  were  opposed  to  the 
Comyn  party  having  possession  of  the  government, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  while  he  professed 
to  interfere  only  for  the  good  of  his  daughter,  he 
fanned  their  mutual  jealousies  and  animosities,  and 
gave  his  countenance  and  support  to  their  pro- 
ceedings. He  declared  that  he  would  protect 
them  against  the  enemies  of  the  king  and  the 
gainsayers  of  Queen  Margaret,  and  promised  to 
make  no  attempt  to  seize  the  person  or  impair  the 
dignity  of  the  king,  and  that  he  would  never  con- 
sent to  the  dissolution  of  his  marriage  with  the 
queen.  [Fosrfero,  vol.  i.  p.  559.]  The  particular 
causes  of  such  a  declaration  are  said  by  our  histori- 
ans to  be  unknown  [Hailes*  Annals,  v.  i.  p.  165], 
and  to  be  involved  in  much  obscmity  ITytler's  His- 
tory of  Scotkmd,  vol.  i.  p.  11] ;  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  when  Henry  engaged  to  support 
the  interests  of  the  party  favourable  to  his  claim 
as  feudal  superior  over  Scotland,  and  was  prepar- 
ing to  interfere  actively  in  the  overthrow  of  those 
ministers  who  were  opposed  to  it,  he  had  found  it 
necessary  to  make  some  declaration  of  the  kind  tc 
satisfy  them  that  his  interference  in  Scottish  affaira 
was  meant  to  go  no  farther  than  a  mere  change  in 
the  party  administering  the  government. 

Alan  Durward,  who  was  serving  with  the  Eng- 
lish army  in  Guienne,  had  gained,  by  his  military 
talents  and  address,  the  favour  of  the  fickle  mon- 
arch of  England,  and  by  his  advice  Henry  sent 
Richard  de  Clare  earl  of  Gloucester,  and  John 
Maunsell,  his  chief  secretary,  to  Scotland,  ostensi- 
bly to  relieve  the  young  queen  from  the  real  or 
pretended  durance  of  which  she  complained,  but 
in  reality  to  assist  the  discontented  nobles  in  theur 
efforts  to  overturn  the  Comyns,  and  place  the 
government  in  their  own  hands.    While  the  re- 


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gents  and  thejr  protectors  the  earls  of  Mcuteith 
and  Mar  wci*o  engaged  in  pi-eparatious  for  holding 
a  meeting  of  the  estates  at  Stirling,  Gloucester,  in 
concert  with  the  earls  of  Can-ick,  March,  and 
Stratheme,  surprised  the  castle  of  Edinbm*gh,  re- 
stored the  king  and  qaeen  to  liberty,  and  allowed 
them  free  conjugal  intercourse.  ^Chr.  Mdr.  p. 
220.  MattJi,  Paris,  p.  908.]  To  aid  this  enter- 
prise, Heniy  assembled  a  numerous  army,  and  as 
he  led  it  towards  the  borders,  he  issued  from  New- 
castle, August  25,  1255,  a  proclamation  declaiing 
that  in  this  progress  to  visit  his  dear  son  Alexan- 
der, he  did  not  design  anything  prejudicial  to  the 
rights  of  the  king,  or  the  liberties  of  Scotland. 
[Fadera,  vol.  i.  pp.  560,  561.]  The  young  king 
and  queen  were  immediately  conveyed  to  the 
north  of  England,  and  h.id  an  interview  with 
Henry  at  Werk  castle  in  Northumberland.  Thehr 
safe  conduct  bore,  "that  they  and  their  retinue 
should  not  taiiy  in  England,  unless  with  the  gen- 
eral approbation  of  the  Scottish  nobility."  IFcedera, 
vol.  i.  p.  562].  Henry,  soon  after,  visited  Alex- 
ander at  Roxburgh,  within  his  own  territories. 

At  the  abbey  of  Kelso,  whither  the  two  kings 
had  repaired  with  great  pomp,  a  new  regency  was 
appointed,  20th  September  1255.  This  proceed- 
ing was  said  to  be  by  the  advice  of  the  English 
king,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these,  entire 
transactions  were  under  his  express  direction  or 
rather  control  and  management  throughout.  The 
paity  of  the  Comjus  were  removed  frem  the  king's 
council  and  all  thehr  employments  in  the  state. 
Those  among  them  who  were  particularly  named 
were  Gamelin,  chancellor  of  Scotland  and  bishop- 
elect  of  St.  Andrews,  William  do  Bondington, 
bishop  of  Glasgow,  Clement,  bishop  of  Dunblane, 
Walter  Comyn,  earl  of  Menteith,  Alexander 
Comyn,  earl  of  Buchan,  William  de  Mar,  earl  of 
Mar,  John  de  Balliol,  Robert  de  Ros,  John  Comyn, 
and  William  Wishart,  archdeacon  of  St.  Andrews, 
of  which  see  he  was  afterwards  bishop.  IFcsdera, 
vol.  i.  pp.  565,  567.  Chr,  Mdr,  p.  221.]  The 
English  faction,  as  the  earl  of  March  and  his 
friends  were  accounted,  to  the  number  of  fifteen, 
were  appointed  regents  of  the  kingdom  and  guar- 
dians of  the  king  and  queen.  [Fcedera,  vol.  i.  p. 
566.]  The  following  are  then*  names:  Richard 
luverkeithen,  bishop  of  Dunkeld ;  Peter  dc  Ram- 


say, bishop  of  Abei-deen ;  Malcolm  Macduff,  car) 
of  Fife ;  Patrick  Cospati-ick,  earl  of  March  and 
Dunbar ;  Malise,  earl  pf  Stratherne ;  Nigel,  earl 
of  Carrick ;  Alexander,  the  steward  of  Scotland ; 
Robert  de  Bi-us;  Alan  Durward;  AValter  de 
Moray ;  David  de  Lindsay ;  William  de  Brechin ; 
Robert  dc  MejTiers :  Gilbert  deHay;  Hugh  Gif- 
ford  de  Ycster.  The  government  thus  new  mo- 
delled was  to  subsist  for  seven  years,  that  is,  till 
Alexander  should  have  attained  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  and  vacancies  in  the  regency  were  to  be  sup- 
plied by  the  surviving  regents.  Alexander  declared 
that  he  would  not  restore  the  Comyn  party  to 
favour  until  they  had  atoued  for  their  offences 
agiunst  the  king  of  England  as  well  as  against 
himself;  except  in  the  event  of  Scotland's  being 
invaded  by  a  foreign  enemy,  when  they  might  be 
again  taken  mto  favour.  To  Henry  he  promised 
that  he  would  treat  his  daughter  with  conjugal 
affection  and  all  due  honour ;  and  to  the  regents 
that  he  would  ratify  all  their  public  acts  and  rea- 
sonable gi-ants.  Patrick,  cail  of  Mareh  and  Dun- 
bar, swore  upon  the  king's  soul,  a  customary  form 
of  oath  in  those  days,  that  these  engagements  should 
be  fulfilled,  and  Alexander  subjected  himself  to  the 
papal  censures  should  he  fail  ih  peiformance.  The 
instrument  drawn  up  on  the  occasion  was  depos- 
ited in  the  hands  of  the  English  king  [Fcsdera, 
vol.  1.  p.  567.]  It  was  considered  by  the  Scottish 
party  in  general  as  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of 
the  kingdom,  and  Bondington,  bishop  of  Glasgow, 
Gamelin,  bishop  elect  of  St.  Andrews,  and  the  earl 
of  Menteith,  indignantly  refused  to  afiix  their  seals 
to  a  deed  which,  as  they  asserted,  compromised 
the  libeities  of  the  country,  and  was  prejudicial  to 
the  honour  of  the  king.  [Chr,  Mdr,  p.  221.] 
Winton  (book  vii.  chap,  x.)  says  of  it : 

*'  Thare  wes  made  swylk  ordjnans,  * 

That  WC8  grot  grefe  and  displcsans 
Till  of  Scotland  ye  tkre  statis, 
Burgens,  Barownys,  and  Prclads." 

Before  returning  to  England,^  Hemy,  with  the 
view  of  raising  money,  proceeded  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  the  offences  of  the  late  regents  John  de 
Baliol  and  Robert  de  Ros.  As  they  both  pos- 
sessed estates  in  England,  he  held  them  to  be 
amenable  to  his  courts,  even  on  a  vague  chai'ge  of 


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disrespect  and  disloyalty  to  Alexander  and  his 
qneen.  John  de  Baliol  obtained  his  pardon  by 
the  payment  of  a  large  fine,  but  Robert  de  Ros, 
to  whom  the  castle  of  Werk  belonged,  not  appear- 
ing to  his  summons,  was  deprived  of  his  lands 
in  England,  which  were  confiscated  by  Heniy. 
IMatth,  Paris,  p.  611.] 

The  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom  being  thus,  in 
the  meantime,  in  some  degi*ce  restored,  the  young 
king  and  queen,  attended  by  a  retinue  of  three 
hundred  horse,  visited  the  court  of  England  in 
August  1256,  and  were  royally  enteitained  at 
I^ndon,  Woodstock,  and  Oxford.  On  the  second 
of  September  of  that  yeai*  Alexander  was  invested 
by  his  father-in-law  in  the  earldom  of  Hunting- 
don as  a  fief  held  by  his  ancestors.  [Matth,  Pa- 
rw,  p.  626]  'As  a  farther  mark  of  his  affection, 
Ileniy  issued  orders  to  all  his  military  tenants  in 
the  five  northern  counties  to  assist  the  king  of 
Scotland  with  all  their  forces.  [Fadera,  vol.  i.  p. 
605.]  He  farther  declared  that  the  grant  which 
he  himself  had  obtained  from  the  Pope  of  a  twen- 
tieth of  the  ecclesiastical  revennee  of  Scotland 
should  never  be  urged  as  a  precedent  to  the  hurt 
of  the  nation. 

The  late  settlement  of  the  government  having 
been  brought  about  by  English  influence,  was  gen- 
erally unpopular  in  Scotland,  and  did  not  last 
longer  than  about  two  years.  "The  greater  part," 
says  Buchanan,  [vol.  vii.  p.  60,]  "of  the  nobility 
and  the  ecclesiastical  order,  their  power  being 
curtailed  by  the  new  ordinances,  stigmatized  them 
as  an  English  thraldom  and  a  commencement  of 
slavery."  Tlie  Comyns,  taking  advantage  of  this 
feeling,  and  working  upon  the  sensitive  national 
jealousy  of  England,  now  endeavoured  to  regain 
their  former  position  in  the  government.  That 
party  was  still  powerful,  there  being  at  this  time 
in  the  kingdom  three  earls  and  thirty-three  barons 
of  the  name,  [see  Comyn,  surname  of] ;  and 
the  number  of  their  retainers,  assisted  by  the 
forces  of  the  other  patriotic  nobles,  backed  by 
the  influence  of  Gamelin,  late  chancellor  and  bi- 
shop elect  of  St.  Andrews,  enabled  the  Comyns 
to  present  a  formidable  opposition  to  the  re- 
gency. Gamelin  had,  towards  the  close  of  1255, 
procured  himself  to  be  consecrated  by  William  de 
Bondiiigton,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  in  dh-ect  opposi- 


tion to  an  injunction  of  the  regents.  For  this  act 
of  disobedience  he  was  outlawed,  and  the  revenues 
of  his  see  were  seized.  [CJtron,  Meir,  p.  221.] 
Gamelin  immediately  hastened  to  Rome  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  Pope,  who  espoused  his  cause, 
declared  him  worthy  of  his  bishopric,  and  ex- 
communicated his  accusera,  ordering  the  sen- 
tence to  be  solemnly  published  in  Scotland  by 
Clement  bishop  of  Dunblane  and  the  abbots  of 
Melrose  and  Jedburgh,  llbid.']  Enraged  at  the 
bold  opposition  of  Gamelin,  Henry,  to  whom  the 
Pope  had  addressed  an  imperious  letter,  on  his 
behalf,  prohibited  his  return,  and  issued  orders 
for  his  arrest,  if  he  attempted  to  land  in  England. 
[Fewfero,  vol.  i.  p.  652.] 

In  the  meantime  the  Comyns  received  a  power- 
ful accession  to  their  cause  in  the  support  given  to 
them  by  Mary  de  Couci,  the  mother  of  the  young 
king,  who  in  1257  returned  to  Scotland.  That 
princess  had,  during  her  residence  in  France,  ta- 
ken for  her  second  husband  John  de  Brienne,  the 
son  of  Guy  of  Lusignan,  the  titulai*  king  of  Jeru- 
salem. After  the  male  Une  of  Godfrey  of  Bouil- 
lon had  become  extinct,  the  sceptre  of  Jerusalem 
was  held  by  Sybilla  the  daughter  of  Baldwin  and 
granddaughter  of  Fulk,  count  of  Anjou,  grandfa- 
ther of  Henry  the  Second  of  England.  Having 
such  an  adversaiy  as  Saladin  the  Great  to  con- 
tend with,  Queen  Sybilla,  to  strengthen  her  hands, 
found  it  necessary  to  marry  one  of  the  bravest  of 
the  knights  then  engaged  in  her  service,  and  the 
husband  she  made  choice  of  was  Guy  de  Lusig- 
nan, the  father  of  John  de  Brienne,  a  prince  of 
a  handsome  person  but  of  no  very  honourable  re- 
nown. Although  he  lost  his  kingdom  by  the  in- 
vasion of  Saladin  in  1187,  he  was  still  acknow- 
ledged by  all  the  Christians  as  king  of  Jerusalem. 

Tlie  queen-dowager  was  accompanied  to  Scot- 
land by  her  second  husband,  and  supported  by 
their  influence  the  Comyns  and  their  party  ac- 
quired strength  enough  to  effect  a  counter-revolu- 
tion in  the  government.  It  was  now  considered  a 
favourable  time  to  publish  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication which  had  been  procured  from  the 
pope  against  the  enemies  of  bishop  Gamelin.  The 
awful  ceremony  was  perfonned  by  the  bishop  of 
Dunblane  and  the  abbots  of  Jedburgh  and  Mel- 
rose, the  delegates  of  the  Pope,  in  the  abbey 


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church  of  Canibuskenneth,  and  repeated  *  by  bell 
and  candle*  in  every  chapel  in  the  kingdom.  [Ckr, 
Melr,  p.  182.]  The  Comyns  hereupon  declared 
that  the  king  was  now  in  the  hands  of  persons 
accursed,  and. that  the  kingdom  was  in  immediate 
danger  of  papal  interdiction,  and  under  the  pre- 
text of  rescuing  the  king  fi-om  such  a  state  of 
things,  and  relieving  him  from  the  control  of  for- 
eigner who,  they  said,  filled  all  the  highest  offices 
of  the  state,  they  assembled  in  great  strength,  and 
headed  by  the  earl  of  Menteith,  they  during  the  night 
attacked  the  court  at  Kinross,  seized  the  person 
of  the  king  while  in  bed,  and  carried  him  and  the 
queen  before  morning  to  Stirling.  They  obtained 
at  the  same  time  possession  of  the  great  seal  of 
the  kingdom.  The  king  and  queen  were  kept 
separate  till  the  party  of  the  regents  were  dis- 
persed. [Matih,  Paris,  p.  644.]  The  charge  they 
brought  against  the  young  queen  was  that  '^  she 
had  incited  her  father,  the  king  of  England,  to 
come  against  them  with  an  army  in  a  hostile  man- 
ner, and  make  a  miserable  havoc"  in  the  country. 
llbt'd.  p.  821.]  To  strengthen  their  interest,  the 
Com3m8  concluded  an  alliance  with  Lewellyn 
prince  of  Wales,  who  was  then  (1267)  at  war  with 
England,  whither  Alan  Durward  had  precipitately 
fled.  Taking  the  young  king  with  them,  the 
forces  of  the  Comyns  marched  southward  to  the 
borders,  where  it  would  appear  the  adherents  of 
the  late  government  had  rallied  and  collected  their 
strength.  A  negotiation  was  set  on  foot  which 
led  to  a  compromise  between  the  lival  factions 
at  Roxburgh ;  the  leaders  of  the  defeated  party 
agi-eeing  to  refer  all  disputes  to  a  conference  to  be 
held  at  Forfar-  This,  however,  was  only  an  ex- 
pedient to  gain  time,  as  the  latter  retired  into 
England,  and  the  earls  of  Albemarle  and  Here- 
ford, with  John  de  Baliol,  were  soon  after  sent 
by  Henry  to  Melrose,  where  Alexander  held  his 
court  for  the  time.  Although  their  avowed  object 
was  to  mediate  between  the  twx)  factions,  their 
real  intention  was  to  seize,  if  possible,  the  person 
of  the  king,  and  carry  him  to  England.  Past  ex- 
perience, however,  had  led  the  Ck>myns  to  distrust 
their  professions,  and  the  person  of  Alexander 
was  removed  from  the  abbey  of  Melrose  to  the 
forest  of  Jedbui-gh,  where  the  greater  part  of  the 
Scottish  forces  had  already  assembled. 


The  king  of  England,  obliged  to  suppress  foi 
the  present  his  bitter  opposition  to  bishop  Ga- 
melin,  and  to  be  silent  regarding  the  obnoxious 
treaty  of  Roxburgh,  was  thus  constrained  to  ac- 
cede to  the  appointment  of  a  new  regency,  con- 
sisting of  ten  persons,  six  of  them  being  of  the 
Comyn  faction,  with  four  of  the  former  regents. 
This  took  place  in  1258.  At  the  head  of  the  new 
regency,  which  may  be  said  to  have  governed  the 
country  till  the  king  came  of  age,  were  placed  the 
queen-dowager  and  her  husband.  The  regents 
were,  Mary  the  queen -do  wager;  John  of  Brienne, 
her  husband ;  Gamelin,  bishop  of  St.  Andrews ; 
Walter  Comyn,  earl  of  Menteith;  Alexander 
Comyn,  earl  of  Buchan ;  and  William,  earl  of 
Mar.  Their  colleagues  were,  Alexander,  the  stew- 
ard of  Scotland ;  Robert  de  Meyners ;  Gilbert  de 
Hay ;  and  Alan  Durward.  IMatth,  Paris,  p.  644. 
Foedera,  vol.  i.  p.  670.]  Soon  after,  Walter  eail 
of  Menteith,  one  of  the  regents  and  the  soul  of 
the  national  paity,  died  suddenly.  In  England  it 
was  reported  that  his  death  was  occasioned  by  a 
fall  from  his  horse.  In  Scotland  it  was  believed 
that  he  had  been  poisoned  by  his  wife,  countess 
in  her  own  right,  that  she  might  be  free  to  indulge 
a  guilty  passion  for  one  John  Russel,  an  English 
knight,  called  by  Boece  an  obscure  Englishman, 
whom,  disregarding  ihe  addresses  of  the  Scottish 
nobles,  she  somewhat  precipitately  married.  The 
suspicion  of  her  guilt,  perhaps  gronndlessly  ex- 
cited by  the  slighted  suitors,  was  employed  as  a 
pretext  for  depriving  her  and  her  second  husband 
of  the  earldom,  driving  them  in  disgrace  from  the 
kingdom,  and  at  last  dividing  the  inheritance  be- 
tween her  heirs  and  those  of  her  younger  sister. 
The  latter  had  married  Walter  Stewart,  called 
Bailloch  or  "the  freckled,"  a  younger  brother  of 
the  steward  of  Scotland,  who  laid  claim  to  the 
earldom  of  Menteith  in  right  of  his  wife,  and  by 
the  favour  of  those  in  power  obtained  and  kept  it. 
[Forrfiin,  X.  11.   Foidera,  ii.  p.  1082.] 

It  was  the, policy  of  the  court  of  Rome  in  that 
age,  when  it  asserted  a  right  over  all  kingdoms 
and  grasped  at  power  wherever  it  could  be  claim- 
ed, to  secure  all  ecclesiastical  patronages  to  itself; 
and  scarcely  was  the  dispute  relative  to  the  re- 
gency settled  when  Alexander  found  himself  likely 
to  be  involved  in  a  difference  with  the  Roman 


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pontiff.  Tbe  bishopric  of  Glasgow  becoming  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  William  de  Bondington, 
Alexandei*  in  1259  bestowed  it  npon  Nicholas 
Moffat,  archdeacon  of  Teviotdale,  one  of  his  own 
subjects.  Disregarding  the  king^s  appointment, 
the  Pope,  Alexander  IV.,  gave  the  vacant  see  to 
his  chaplain,  John  de  Cheyam,  an  Englishman, 
and  archdeacon  of  Bath.  Sensible,  however,  that 
this  step  would  prove  disagreeable  to  the  young 
Scottish  monarch,  he  requested  the  king  of  Eng- 
land to  use  his  good  offices  with  his  son-in-law, 
to  receive  Cheyam,  and  put  him  in  possession  of 
his  temporalities.  "  Although  he  is  my  subject," 
said  Henry  to  the  king  of  Scots,  ^*I  would  not 
solicit  you  in  his  behalf,  could  any  benefit  arise  to 
you  from  your  opposition  to  a  man  on  whom  the 
Pope  has  already  bestowed  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion." Alexander  thought  fit  prudently  to  acqui- 
esce in  the  Pope^s  nomination,  but  though  Chey- 
am was  kindly  enough  received  at  the  Scottish 
court,  the  bishop  himself  knew  that  he  was  obnox- 
ious to  the  government,  and  he  took  the  first  op- 
portunity of  leaving  the  kingdom,  and  enjoying 
the  revenues  of  his  see  abroad.  IFcedera,  vol.  i. 
p.  683.  Chr.  Mdr.  p.  222.]  Satisfied  with  Alex- 
ander's apparent  submission  to  his  wishes,  the 
Pope  recalled  certain  angry  mandates  which  he 
had  issued  against  him  and  his  kingdom. 

In  1260,  Alexander,  who  had  then  attained  his 
twentieth  year,  was  invited  by  his  father-in-law 
to  visit  him  with  his  queen  at  London.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  motive  of  this  invitation,  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  conveyed  filled  the  regents 
and  nobility  of  Scotland  with  suspicion  as  to  the 
ulterior  intentions  of  Henry.  It  appears  that 
he  sent  to  Alexander  for  the  purpose  a  monk  of 
St.  Albans,  who  arrived  at  a  time  when  the  king 
and  his  nobles  were  assembled  in  council,  to  whom 
he  declined  to  impart  the  special  objects  for  which 
the  meeting  was  desired  by  the  English  monarch, 
farther  than  that  it  was  to  treat  Of  matters  of 
great  importance.  Two  of  the  regents,  Alexander 
Comyn,  earl  of  Buchan,  and  Alan  Dnrward  the 
justiciary,  with  William  Wishart,  chancellor  of 
the  kingdom,  were  despatched  on  a  secret  mission 
into  England,  to  exact  pledges  from  Henry  as  to 
his  behaviour  towards  the  young  king  while  at  his 
court    The  conditions  on  which  Alexander  and 


his  queen  consented  to  visit  England  on  this  occa- 
sion were,  that  during^  his  residence  at  the  Eng- 
lish court  neither  the  king  nor  his  attendants 
should  be  required  to  ti-eat  of  state  affairs,  and 
that  if  the  queen  of  Scotland  became  pregnant,  or 
if  she  gave  birth  to  a  child  during  her  stay  with 
her  father,  neither  she  nor  her  infant  were  to  be 
detained  in  England.  To  the  latter  stipulation 
particularly  Heniy  gave  his  solemn  oath.  \ Fad- 
era^  vol.  i.  pp.  713,  714.] 

Thus  secm*ed,  Alexander,  attended  by  a  large 
concourse  of  the  nobility,  pix>ceeded,  in  October 
1260,  to  the  court  of  England.  The  young  queen 
followed  him  by  slow  stages,  and  on  her  approach 
to  St.  Albans,  she  was  met  by  her  younger  bro- 
ther Edmond,  then  a  mere  youth,  who  with  a 
splendid  retinue  conducted  her  to  London.  Their 
reception  was  unusually  magnificent,  but  Alexan- 
der, young  as  he  was,  did  not  allow  the  festivities 
which  marked  the  occasion  to  divert  his  mind 
from  two  objects  which  had  been  strong  induce- 
ments with  him  to  comply  with  King  Henry's  in- 
vitation. He  wished  to  exercise  his  rights  over 
the  earldom  of  Huntingdon,  which  he  held  of  the 
English  crown,  as  well  as  to  obtain  payment  of 
his  wife*s  marriage  portion,  which  had  been  too 
long  delayed.  In  this  last  matter,  however,  he 
was  disappointed.  The  authority  of  the  English 
monarch  had  been  now  for  nearly  two  years 
usurped  by  the  twenty-four  barons,  at  the  head 
of  whom  was  Simon  de  Montfort,  earl  of  Leices- 
ter, and  Henry's  exchequer  was  in  too  impover- 
ished a  state  to  allow  him  to  discharge  the  debt 
at  this  time. 

It  was  agi*eed  that  the  queen  should  remain  in 
England  until  she  gave  birth  to  the  child  of  which 
she  was  then  pregnant,  and  Henry  entered  into  a 
solemn  engagement  that,  in  the  event  of  the  death 
of  Alexander,  he  would  deliver  up  the  child  to  the 
following  Scottish  bisho])s  and  nobles  to  be  con- 
veyed to  Scotland,  namely,  the  bishops  of  St. 
Andrews,  Aberdeen,  Dunblane,  and  Galloway, 
and  to  Malcolm,  earl  of  Fife,  Alexander  Comyn, 
earl  of  Buchan,  Malise,  earl  of  Stratheme,  Patrick, 
earl  of  March  and  Dunbar,  AVilliam,  eai'l  of  Mar, 
John  Comyn,  Alexander,  the  steward  of  Scotland, 
Alan  Durward,  and  Hugh  de  Abemethy,  or  to 
any  three  of  them.    This  list  would  seem  to  indi- 


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cate  that  the  two  rival  factions  into  wliich  the 
nation  had  been  so  long  divided  had  at  last  united 
to  resist  English  interference  in  the  domestic 
affairs  of  Scotland.  Alexander  now  returned  to 
Ills  own  kingdom^  and  in  the  succeeding  Februaiy 
(1261)  the  young  queen  was  delivered  at  Windsor 
of  a  daughter  named  Margaret,  afterwards  maiTied 
to  Eric  king  of  Norway.  [Fcedera^  vol.  i.  p.  713. 
Chr,  Melr,  p.  223.]  With  regard  to  the  dowry 
promised  with  the  queen  it  may  be  stated  that  in 
1262  Alexander  sent  the  steward  of  Scotland  to 
England  to  demand  payment  of  it  from  Heniy. 
He  paid  an  instalment  of  five  hundred  marks, 
which  drained  his  treasniy ;  and  promised  to  make 
payment  of  the  remainder  at  Michaelmas  1263  and 
Easter  1264.  *^  I  appoint  such  distant  terms/'  he 
said,  '•*'  because  I  mean  to  be  punctual,  and  not  to 
disappoint  you  any  more."  Tlie  marriage  portion 
of  the  princess  of  England  was  in  fact  not  all  paid 
till  some  time  after  this,  and  only  in  small  partial 
payments.     \Ibid.'\ 

Alexander  havuig  now  (1262)  arrived  at  full 
age,  took  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own 
hands,  and  in  the  administration  of  affaire  he 
showed  both  prudence  and  courage.  Combining 
the  zeal,  but  tempered  with  discretion,  for  national 
independence  which  had  characterized  the  Comyns, 
with  something  of  the  friendly  disposition  towards 
England  which  had  been  the  most  marked  feature 
in  the  policy  of  their  opponents,  this  strong-willed 
monarch  was  able  at  once  to  shake  himself  loose 
from  the  tutelage  of  either  party,  and  to  conduct 
the  government  in  his  own  person,  according  to 
his  own  views  and  judgment.  His  first  important 
undertaking  after  he  came  of  age,  was  to  accom- 
plish the  subjection  to  his  sway  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
western  islands,  an  object  which  death  had  pre- 
vented his  father,  Alexander  the  Second,  fi*om 
effecting,  although  as  related  (an/«,  p.  78),  he  had 
prepared  an  expedition  for  the  purpose.  The 
king  of  Norway,  at  this  time,  held  unquestioned 
possession  of  the  Orkneys  and  the  Shetland  Isles, 
and  claimed  also  to  rule  over  the  Hebrides.  In 
1255  the  possessions  of  Angus  Macdonald,  lord  of 
Islay,  the  descendant  of  Reginald,  a  son  of  Somer- 
led,  lord  of  the  Isles,  were  ravaged  by  Alexander, 
because  he  would  not  consent  to  renounce  his 
fealty  to  the  king  of  Norway,  and  he  was  thus 


compelled  to  become  a  vassal  of  Scotland.     In 

1262,  Henry,  the  English  king,  interposed  his 
good  offices  to  prevent  a  rapture  between  Haco, 
king  of  Norway  and  Alexander,  as  to  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Islands  [Farfera,  vol.  i.  p.  753],  which 
were  remarkable  at  that  period  for  their  prosper- 
ous condition,  their  crowded  population,  and  their 
advanced  state  of  civilization.  Haco  returned  an 
evasive  answer,  and  after  an  unsuccessful  embassy 
to  the  Norwegian  court,  Alexander  determined 
upon  at  once  endeavouring  to  bnng  the  Islands 
under  his  sovereignty.  For  this  purpose  he  in- 
stigated William,  earl  of  Ross,  at  that  time,  says 
Skene,  the  most  powerful  nobleman  in  Scotland, 
and  whose  great  possessions  extended  over  tho 
mainland  opposite  to  the  northern  isles,  to  com- 
mence hostilities  against  them.  This  AViUiam 
was  the  son  of  Ferchard  who  acted  such  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  raign  of  Alexander  the  Second 
(see  pp.  70  and  72).  Ferchard  was  snrnamcd 
GiUeanrias,  "  the  priest's  son," — whence  Anria^ 
or  Ross,  the  family  name, — descended  from  a  noble 
who  figured  amongst  the  earls  that  besieged  Mal- 
colm IV.  in  Perth  in  the  year  1160.  [See  Ross. 
Earldom  of.]  Being  joined  by  the  Mathiesons, 
and  other  powerful  dependents,  the  earl  suddenly 
crossed  over  to  the  Isle  of  Skye,  where  he  rav- 
aged the  country,  burned  villages  and  churches, 
and  put  great  numbers,  both  of  men  and  women, 
to  the  sword.  [Skene^a  IlighUmders  of  Scotland^ 
vol.  ii.  p.  52.]  The  Norse  Chronicles  relate,  that 
in  their  wanton  fury  his  soldiers  raised  little  chil- 
dren on  the  points  of  their  spears,  and  shook 
them  till  they  fell  down  to  their  hands.  The 
complaints  of  the  island  chiefs  of  the  atrocities 
committed  by  their  savage  invaders  deteimined 
Haco  to  fit  out  an  expedition  to  revenge  the  in- 
juries offered  to  his  vassals. 

He  accordingly  repaired  to  Bergen  to  superin- 
tend in  person  the  preparations  of  this  armament. 
These  were  so  vast  and  so  threatening  as  to 
spread  alarm,  as  to  its  destination  and  objects, 
even  upon  the  coasts  of  England.  When  all  was 
complete,  he  sailed  from  Herlover,  on  July  7, 

1263.  His  own  ship,  described  as  having  been 
entirely  of  oak,  was  of  larger  size  than  the  rest, 
having  twenty-seven  banks  of  oars,  that  is,  twen- 
ty-seven scats  for  the  rowers.    It  is  also  said  to 


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have  been  ornamented  with  richly  carved  dragons, 
overlaid  with  gold.  [Norte  Account  of  the  ExpC" 
dition^  with  Johnstone's  Notes ^  p.  25.]  The  Nor- 
wegian fleet  reached  the  Shetland  Isles  witliin 
two  days,  whence  steering  for  the  Orkneys,  Haco 
proposed  to  despatch  a  sqoadron  of  light  vessels 
to  ravage  the  south-eastern  coasts  of  Scotland, 
bnt  the  principal  nobles  and  knights  on  board  his 
fleet  declined  to  proceed  unless  he  himself  went 
with  them,  and  he  was  constrained  to  bear  up  for 
Ronaldsvoe,  now  Ronaldshay,  the  most  southern 
of  the  Orcadian  group,  situated  about  six  miles 
from  Duncansby  head,  on  the  coast  of  Caithness, 
and  near  to  the  moutli  of  the  Peutland  frith. 
Here  he  remained  at  anchor  for  some  weeks,  dur- 
ing which  he  levied  contributions  upon,  and  ex- 
acted tribute  from,  the  inhabitants  both  of  the 
neighbouring  islands  and  of  the  opposite  main- 
land of  Caithness,  a  district  which  appears  to 
have  been  reduced  under  the  Scottish  sway  in  the 
interval  between  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Sec- 
ond and  the  arrival  of  Haco.  It  is  recorded  in 
the  Norse  Chronicle  of  the  expedition  that,  while 
the  fleet  lay  at  Ronaldsvoe,  '^a  great  darkness 
drew  over  the  sun,  so  that  only  a  little  ring  was 
bright  round  his  orb,**  which  precisely  fixes  the 
date  of  this  great  invasion,  as  the  remarkable 
phenomenon  of  an  annular  eclipse  has  been  ascer- 
tained to  have  been  seen  at  Ronaldsvoe  on  the 
5th  of  August  1263. 

Haco  now  sailed  to  the  south.  Crossing  the 
Pentland  frith,  his  galleys  proceeded  by  the  Lewes 
to  Skye,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  squadron  of 
Magnus  king  of  Man.  Holding  on  his  course  to 
the  Sound  of  Mull,  Dugal  of  Lorn,  the  son  of  Ro- 
nald, the  sou  of  Reginald  MacSomerled,  and  other 
Hebridean  chiefs,  united  their  forces  to  his,  so 
that  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  bead  of  a  fleet 
of  above  a  hundred  sail,  most  of  them  vessels  of 
considerable  size.  Though  far  fix>m  being  of  the 
dimensions  of  the  vessels  of  war  of  our  day,  these 
craft  of  Norway  and  the  island  chiefs  were  very 
formidable  in  piratical  excursions.  Dividing  his 
force,  he  sent  one  powerful  squadron,  under  Mag- 
nus and  Dugal,  to  ravage  the  Mull  of  Kint3rre, 
and  lay  waste  the  estates  of  those  chiefs  who  had 
submitted  to  Alexander,  while  another  was  de- 
rtpatched  to  reduce  the  isles  of  Arran  and  Bute,  in 


the  frith  of  Clyde.  The  comprehensive  name  ot 
the  Hebrides  comprised  in  those  days  not  only 
the  numerous  islands  and  islets  extending  along 
nearly  all  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  but  also  the 
peninsula  of  Kintyre,  the  islands  of  the  Clyde, 
and  even  for  some  time  the  Isle  of  Man.  With 
the  remainder  of  his  fleet  Haco  cast  anchor  at 
Gigha,  a  little  island  between  the  coast  of  Kin- 
tyre  and  Islay.  While  he  lay  here  be  was  met 
by  the  island  chief  Ewen,  mentioned  in  the  life  of 
Alexander  the  Second  (page  77),  as  having  re- 
fused to  withdraw  his  allegiance  from  Norway, 
when  that  monarch  in  1249  set  out  on  his  expedi- 
tion against  the  westciii  islands.  Since  then  he 
seems  to  have  reflected  on  the  hazai-d  of  holding 
out  against  the  king  of  Scotland,  as  he  subsequent- 
ly, although  at  what  period  does  not  appear,  swore 
fealty  to  his  successor,  and  on  Haco*s  desiring 
him  to  follow  his  banner,  he  excused  himself,  on 
the  gi-ound  that  he  had  sworn  an  oath  to  the  Scot- 
tish king,  and  that  he  had  more  lands  of  him  than 
of  the  Norwegian  monarch.  He  therefore  en- 
treated King  Haco  to  dispose  of  all  those  estates 
which  he  had  conferred  upon  him.  Haco  was 
satisfied  with  his  reasoning,  and  after  bestowing 
presents  on  him  dismissed  him  honourably.  The 
reguli  or  petty  chiefs  of  the  Hebrides  were  in 
those  remote  times  called  kings,  and  accordingly 
Ewen  is  called  King  John  by  Tytler,  who  evidently 
assumed  that  Ewen  is  the  Celtic  name  of  John, 
[History  of  Scotland^  vol.  i.  p.  25],  and  King  Ewen 
by  Skene  [History  of  the  Highlanders^  vol.  ii.  p.  52.] 
The  politic  example  of  Ewen  was  not  followed 
by  the  other  island  chiefs  who  had  owned  allegi- 
ance to  Alexander,  for  Haco  was  soon  after  joined 
by  Angus  lord  of  Islay  and  South  Kintyi-e,  who 
had  submitted  to  Alexander  ouly  eight  years  be- 
fore (p.  88),  giving  his  infant  son  as  a  hostage, 
and  agreeing,  by  a  formal  instrument,  that  his 
whole  territories  should  be  forfeited,  if  he  ever 
deserted ;  and  even  by  Murchard,  a  vassal  of  the 
earl  of  Menteith  in  North  Kintyre,  who  had  ob- 
tained this  district  from  the  baron  to  whom  it  had 
been  granted  by  Alexander  the  Second.  [Skene^s 
Highlanders^  vol.  ii.  p.  53.]  Roderic,  the  Norwe- 
gian leader,  who  had  been  despatched  to  reduce 
Bute,  took  the  strong  castle  of  Rothesay,  its  gar- 
rison having  capitulated,  pait  of  whom  he  savage- 


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ly  ronrdered.  Ue  then  laid  waste  the  island,  and 
carried  fire  and  swoi*d  throughout  the  adjoining 
distiicts  of  Scotland.  After  sending  a  force  under 
Sigurd,  a  Hebridean  chief,  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Ostmen,  or  descendants  of  the  Danes  settled  on 
the  eastern  coasts  of  Ireland,  who  were  anxious 
to  throw  off  the  English  yoke,  Haco,  with  his 
fleet,  the  greater  part  of  which  had  now  rejoined 
him,  sailed  round  the  point  of  Kintyre,  and  enter- 
ing the  frith  of  Clyde,  anchored  in  the  Sound  of 
Kilbrannan,  which  lies  between  the  island  of  Ar- 
ran  and  the  mainland. 

By  this  time  the  Norwegian  fleet  had  increased 
to  a  hundred  and  sixty  sail,  and  the  danger  of  a 
descent  on  the  Scottish  coasts  became  imminent. 
In  this  emergency  Alexander  despatched  a  depu- 
tation of  Barefooted  friars  with  ovei*tures  of  peace 
to  Haco ;  in  consequence  of  which  five  Norwegian 
commissioners  ^ere  sent  to  the  Scottish  court  to 
arrange  the  preliminaries,  when  a  truce  was  agreed 
upon.  The  defenceless  state  of  the  western  and 
south-western  portions  of  Scotland  made  the  gain- 
ing of  time  a  matter  of  the  flrst  importance  to 
Alexander  until  an  army  could  be  collected  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  repel  the  invaders.  Alexander 
offered  to  resign  to  Haco  the  sovereignty  of  all 
the  western  or  Hebridean  isles,  claiming  as  be- 
longudg  to  Scotland  only  those  of  Arran,  Bute, 
and  the  two  Cumbrays,  in  the  frith  of  Clyde. 
[Norse  Account  of  the  Expedition^  p.  71.]  These 
moderate  terms  of  the  king  of  Scotland  were  re- 
fused by  Haco,  who  carried  his  fleet  across  the 
frith  to  Millport  Bay.  Although  the  coast  of 
Ayrshire  was  now  open  to  a  descent  from  his 
fleet,  Haco,  in  consideration  of  the  existing  truce, 
restrained  his  followers  from  plunder,  but  provi- 
sions becoming  scarce,  the  officers  of  the  expedi- 
tion earnestly  entreated  him  for  permission  to 
land,  that  they  might  obtain  by  seizure  supplies 
for  the  ships.  Thus  pressed,  Haco  despatched  a 
last  envoy  to  Alexander,  of  the  name  of  Kolbein 
Rich,  with  the  following  chivaUic  proposal :  "That 
the  sovereigns  should  meet  amicably  at  the  head 
of  their  armies,  and  treat  regarding  a  peace,  which 
if,  by  the  grace  of  God,  it  took  place,  it  was  well ; 
but  if  the  attempt  at  negotiation  failed,  the  am- 
bassador was  to  threw  down  the  gauntlet  fr*om 
Norway,  to  challenge  the  Scottish  monarch  to 


debate  the  matter  with  his  army  in  the  field,  and 
let  God,  in  his  pleasure,  determine  the  victory." 
Alexander  was  too  wary  to  accept  the  challenge, 
although,  says  the  Norse  Chrenicle,  he  "  seemed 
in  no  respect  unwilling  to  fight,"  and  the  truce 
was  declared  at  an  end.  [Norse  Account  of  the 
Expedition,  p.  75.] 

A  fleet  of  sixty  vessels,  under  the  command  of 
Magnus  king  of  Man,  and  with  him  four  Hebrid- 
ean chiefs  and  two  principal  Norwegian  officers, 
was  now  despatched  by  Haco,  across  the  Clyde 
to  Loch  Long,  where  they  took  to  their  boats, 
and  dragging  them  across  the  neck  of  land  be- 
tween Arrochar  on  the  west  and  Tarbet  on  the 
east,  which  separates  the  salt  and  the  fresh  water 
lochs,  they  can-ied  havoc  and  destruction  through 
the  numerous  islands  on  Loch  Lomond.  Sturlas, 
a  Norwegian  poet,  thus  celebrates  this  exploit: 
"  The  persevering  shielded  waniors  of  the  thrower 
of  the  whizzing  spear  drew  their  boats  across  the 
broad  isthmus.  Our  fearless  troops,  the  exactors 
of  contribution,  with  flaming  brands,  wasted  the 
populous  islands  in  the  lake  and  the  mansions 
around  its  winding  bays."  A  devastating  expe- 
dition into  Stirlingshire  followed  under  another 
leader,  who  returned  to  the  ships  loaded  with  boo- 
ty. Haco  had  now  to  contend  with  the  storms 
and  tempests  of  the  end  of  autumn,  which  had 
been  counted  upon  by  the  Scots  as  likely  to  bring 
wreck  and  disaster  to  the  invaders.  Ten  of  their 
best  ships  were  lost  by  a  storm  in  Loch  I/)ng,  and 
on  the  fii-st  of  October,  while  the  main  fleet  of 
Haco  lay  at  anchor  in  the  capacious  and  usually 
well-sheltered  bay  between  the  island  of  Cumbray 
and  the  mainland  of  Ayrahire,  it  was  overtaken 
by  a  tempest  of  so  severe  and  protracted  a  char- 
acter, the  wind  blowing  right  up  the  frith  and 
sound  upon  his  fleet,  that  the  superstitious  Nor- 
wegians ascribed  its  extreme  violence  to  the  pow- 
ers of  enchantment.  [Norse  Account  of  the  Expe- 
ditiony  pp.  81,  87.]  The  galley  of  the  king  was 
in  imminent  peril,  and  several  vessels  were  strand- 
ed. The  storm  increasing,  Haco  rowed  to  one  ot 
the  Cumbray  islands,  and  caused  mass  to  be 
chaunted  amid  the  roaring  of  the  elements,  in  the 
hope  that  the  dreaded  powers  of  magic  might  be 
neutralized  by  the  services  of  religion.  Still  tho 
tempest  continued,  and  his  own  ship,  with  five 


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other  galleys,  was  cast  ashore,  while  those  of  the 
fleet  that  stlU  rode  out  the  gale,  though  mostly 
dismasted  or  otherwise  disabled,  were  driven  vio- 
lently ap  the  channel  towards  Largs,  llbid.  p.  85.] 
The  Scots  collected  on  the  sarronnding  heights 
watched  with  intense  interest  the  dispersion  of  the 
invading  armament,  and  crowding  to  the  beach, 
immediately  attacked  with  fury  tKe  ci'ews  of  the 
Norwegian  ships  as  they  were  successively  diiven 
ashore.  The  Norwegians  defended  themselves 
with  great  intrepidity,  and  Haco,  taking  advan- 
tage of  a  lull  in  the  storm,  succeeded  in  sending 
in  boats  with  reinforcements  to  their  relief,  when 
the  Scots  deemed  it  expedient  to  retire,  but  only 
to  return  again  at  night  to  plunder  the  stranded 
vessels,  among  which  were  two  transports.  At 
daydawn  next  moniing  Haco  landed  with  a  large 
force,  and  ordered  the  transports  to  be  lightened 
and  towed  to  sea,  with  those  vessels  which  had  not 
been  totally  wrecked.  The  rays  of  the  rising  sun 
now  shone  upon  the  Scots  army  mustered  on  the 
heights  above  the  village  of  Largs,  and  as  it  de- 
scended fi'om  the  high  grounds  towards  the  beach 
it  had  truly  a  formidable  appearance.  It  was  led 
by  the  king  in  person,  along  with  Alexander  the 
steward  of  Scotland,  the  grandfather  of  the  first 
lovereign  of  the  name  of  Stuart  who  occupied  the 
Scottish  throne;  and  consisted  of  a  numerous  body 
of  foot-soldiers,  well  accoutred  and  armed  for  the 
most  part  with  bows  and  spears,  with  a  force  of 
fifteen  hundred  horsemen,  chiefly  knights  and  bar- 
ons, many  of  them  with  their  Spanish  steeds 
sheathed  in  complete  armour.  All  the  horses  had 
breastplates.  The  Norwegians  on  shore  numbered 
little  more  than  nine  hundred  men,  commanded 
by  three  principal  leaders.  Two  hundred  of  them, 
under  Ogmund  £j*akldants,  occupied  a  rising 
ground  in  advance  of  the  main  body,  which  were 
posted  on  the  beach.  With  the  former  was  Haco, 
who,  on  the  approach  of  the  Scottish  army,  was 
anxiously  entreated  by  his  chiefs  to  row  out  to 
the  fleet  and  send  them  reinforcements.  The  king 
insisted  on  remaining  on  shore,  but  they  would 
not  consent  to  his  exposing  his  life  unnecessarily, 
and  he  returned  in  his  barge  to  his  fleet  at  the 
Cumbrays.  The  Nomvegians  on  the  hill,  being 
attacked  with  great  fury  by  the  Scots,  who  greatly 
outnumbered  them,  and  pressed  them  on  both  flanks, 


became  apprehensive  of  being  suri-ouudcd,  and 
began  to  retire  in  scattered  parties  towards  the 
sea.  Their  retreat  soon  changed  into  a  flight, 
and  the  divisions  drawn  up  on  the  beach  suppos- 
ing they  had  been  routed,  broke  their  ranks,  and 
while  many  of  the  Norsemen  threw  themselves 
into  their  boats  and  attempted  to  regain  their 
ships,  the  rest  were  driven  along  the  shore  amid 
showers  of  arrows,  stones,  and  other  missiles,  to  a 
place  a  little  below  Kelbnme.  In  the  meantime 
another  violent  storm  had  come  on,  which  not 
only  prevented  Haco  from  sending  ashore  in  time 
the  expected  reinforcements,  but  completed  the 
ruin  of  the  Norwegian  fleet,  already  much  shat- 
tered by  the  previous  gales.  The  Norwegians  on 
land,  thus  left  to  themselves,  gallantly  maintained 
the  unequal  contest,  and  repeatedly  I'allying,  made 
an  obstinate  stand  wherever  the  nature  of  the 
ground  favoured  their  movements.  Gathering 
round  their  stranded  galleys  they  defended  them- 
selves with  all  their  accustomed  bravery,  and  kept 
their  pursuers  for  some  time  in  check,  llbtd.  p. 
97.]  A  young  Scottish  knight  named  Sir  Piers 
de  Curry  was  here  slain.  According  to  the  Norse 
Chronicle,  his  helmet  and  coat  of  mail  were  plated 
with  gold,  and  the  former  was  set  with  precious 
stones.  In  the  true  spirit  of  chivaliy  he  galloped 
frequently  along  the  Norwegian  line,  endeavour- 
ing to  provoke  some  one  to  single  combat.  An- 
drew Nicolson,  one  of  Haco's  chiefs  who  conducted 
the  retreat,  answered  his  defiance,  and  after  a 
brief  encounter,  killed  him  with  a  blow  which 
severed  his  thigh  from  his  body,  the  sword  cutting 
through  his  armour,  and  penetrating  to  the  sad- 
dle. The  Norwegians  stripped  him  of  his  rich 
armour;  but  while  doing  so  they  were  attacked 
furiously  by  the  Scots,  and  many  fell  on  both  sides. 
{^Tbid.  p.  99.]  The  Norwegians  would  have  been 
cut  to  pieces  to  a  man,  had  not  a  reinforcement 
reached  them  towards  evening  from  the  fleet,  the 
boats  being  pushed  through  a  tremendous  surf  to 
the  shore.  These  fi-esh  ti-oops  instantly  attacked 
the  Scots  upon  two  points,  and  their  an*ival  gave 
new  courage  to  the  Nonvegians,  who  began  to 
form  themselves  anew.  The  contest  was  pro- 
tracted till  night,  when,  according  to  the  Noi-so 
account,  the  Noi-wegians,  uniting  in  a  last  grand 
eflbit,  made  a  desperate  charge  against  their  ns- 


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snilanUt,  who  were  posted  on  the  heights  over- 
hanging the  shore,  and  succeeded  in  beating  tliem 
back,  after  a  short  and  farions  resistance.  The 
survivors  then  re-embarked  in  their  boats,  and 
thongh  the  storm  continued  to  rage,  got  on  board 
their  shattered  vessels  in  safety.  [/6irf.  p.  103]. 
Among  the  Norwegians  of  note  who  fell  were 
Haco  of  Steine  and  Thorgisi  Eloppa,  both  of  King 
Haco's  household,  with  many  more  of  the  princi- 
pal Norwegian  leaders.  Sir  Piers  do  Curry  is  the 
only  name  of  mark  mentioned  as  having  fallen  on 
the  Scottish  side. 

Next  morning  the  sti*and  was  seen  covered  with 
dead  bodies  and  strewed  with  the  wreck  of  the 
best  appointed  fleet  which  Norway  had  ever  sent 
out.  Alexander  granted  a  truce  to  Haco,  to  ena- 
ble him  to  bnry  his  dead,  and  to  raise  above  their 
bodies  those  rude  memorials  which  to  this  day 
mark  the  site  of  the  field  of  battle.  The  chief 
scene  of  the  contest  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
large  plain  southward  of  the  village  of  Largs,  still 
presenting  a  recumbent  stone  ten  feet  long,  which 
once  stood  upright,  and  is  believed  to  have  been 
placed  over  the  grave  of  a  chieftain,  and  vestiges 
are  found  of  cairns  and  tumuli  formed,  as  is  said, 
over  pits  into  which  the  bodies  of  the  slain  wci'e 
thrown. 

Such  was  the  battle  of  the  Largs,  famed  in  story, 
song,  and  tradition,  and  the  most  memorable  event 
in  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third.  The  loss 
sustained  by  the  Norwegians  is  thus  feelingly 
alluded  to  in  Lady  Wardlaw*s  celebrated  ballad 
of  Hardy knute: — 

"  In  thraws  of  death,  with  wallert  dicik, 

All  panting  on  the  plain, 
The  fainting  corps  of  warriours  lay, 

Neir  to  aryse  again: 
Neir  to  return  to  native  land; 

Nac  mair,  wi*  blytheome  sounds, 
To  boist  the  glories  of  the  day, 

And  shavr  their  shynand  wounds. 

On  Norway*s  coast,  the  widow'd  dame 

May  wash  the  rock  with  teirs. 
May  lang  luik  ower  the  shiples  seis, 

Before  hir  mate  appeirs. 
Ceise,  Emma,  ceise  to  hope  in  vaii: 

Thy  lord  lyes  in  the  clay; 
rhe  valiant  Scots  nae  reivers  thole 

To  carry  lyfe  away." 


After  the  stranded  vessels  had  been  bunit  by^ 
his  order.  King  Haco  weighed  anchor  with  the 
small  remnant  of  his  fleet  that  remained  to  him 
under  the  Cumbrays,  and,  being  joined  by  the 
squadron  which  had  been  sent  up  Loch  Ix>ng,  he 
steered  to  the  bay  of  Lamlash  in  the  Island  ol 
Arran,,  and  across  the  frith  of  Clyde,  a  few  miles 
from  the  scene  of  his  disasters  and  defeat.  In 
Lamlash  bay  he  met  Sigurd,  whom  he  had  sent 
to  inquire  into  the  situation  of  the  Ostmen  of  Ire- 
land, and  was  assured  by  him  that  they  would 
willingly  receive  his  aid  against  the  rule  of  Eng- 
land. The  aged  but  heroic  monarch,  anxious  to 
wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  his  repulse  at  Largs,  was 
eager  for  the  enterprise,  but  a  council  of  his  offi- 
cers opposed  the  expedition,  and  it  was  accord- 
ingly abandoned.  [^Norse  Account,  p.  109.]  He 
afterwards  sailed  past  Sand,  Gigha,  the  Call  of 
Mull,  Rum,  and  Cape  Wrath,  to  the  Orkneys, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  29th  October,  abandoned 
by  the  island  chiefs  who  had  joined  him,  and  even 
by  many  of  his  own  followers,  and  with  the  loss 
of  another  vessel  in  the  Pentland  Frith.  At  Kirk- 
wall a  mortal  illness,  brought  on  by  anxiety  and 
disappointment  as  much  as  by  overfatigue,  seized 
upon  Haco,  under  which  he  lingered  for  some 
weeks,  and  at  last  expired  on  the  15th  December 
(1263).  Thus  ended  the  last  great  attempt  of  the 
Scandinavian  monarchs  to  secure  to  themselves 
the  possession  of  the  Western  Isles. 

The  tidings  of  the  death  of  Haco  and  of  the 
birth  of  an  heir  to  the  throne  wero  received  by 
Alexander  on  the  same  day,  the  queen  having,  on 
the  21st  of  January,  been  delivered  at  Jedburgh, 
of  a  son,  who  was  named  Alexander.  ^Chr,  Melr. 
p.  226.] 

To  follow  up  the  advantages  which  he  had  al- 
ready gained,  and  complete  the  reduction  of  the 
isles,  wero  now  the  chief  objects  of  Alexander. 
With  the  intention  of  invading  the  Isle  of  Man, 
he  raised  an  army,  and  compelled  the  island  chiefs 
to  furnish  a  fleet  for  the  transport  of  his  troops. 
Di*eading  bis  vengeance,  and  despairing  of  assist- 
ance from  Norway,  Magnus,  king  of  Man,  son  of 
Olave  the  Black,  who  had  been  subdaed  by  Alan 
lord  of  Galloway  in  1231,  sent  envoys  with  ofiers 
of  submission,  and  hastened  himself  to  meet  tho 
Scottish  king,  which  he  did  at  Dumfries  on  his 


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way  to  subdue  the  Isle  of  Man,  where  he  swore 
realty  to  the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  became  bound 
to  famish  to  his  lord  paramount,  when  required, 
ten  war-galleys,  five  with  twenty-four  oars  and 
five  with  twelve.  [Forrfun,  b.  10.  c.  18.]  This 
Magnus,  king  of  Man,  died  in  1265.  A  military 
force,  under  the  earl  of  Mar,  was  next  sent  against 
those  chiefe  of  the  Western  Isles  who  had  joined 
or  had  favoured  the  invasion  of  Uaco.  Some  of 
them  were  executed,  and  the  rest  reduced.  After 
negotiations  which  lasted  for  nearly  three  years,  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  at  last,  in  1266,  concluded 
with  Magnus,  king  of  Norway,  the  successor  of 
Haco,  whereby  the  Hebrides  and  the  Isle  of  Man, 
and  all  other  islands  in  the  western  and  southern 
deas,  of  which  the  Nonvegians  might  have  hitherto 
held,  or  claimed  the  dominion,  were  made  over  In 
full  sovereignty  to  Scotland.  The  Shetland  and 
Orkney  islands  remained  in  the  possession  of  Nor- 
way. One  of  the  articles  of  this  important  treaty 
provided  that  four  thousand  merks  sterling  of  the 
Roman  staudai-d,  in  four  yearly  payments,  and  a 
perpetual  quitrent  of  one  hundred  merks  annually 
should  be  paid  by  Scotland  to  Norway,  in  consid- 
eration of  the  latter  yielding  up  all  claim  to  the 
isles.  Another  declared  that  such  of  the  subjects 
of  Norway  as  were  inclined  to  quit  the  Hebrides 
should  have  full  liberty  to  do  so,  with  all  their 
efiects,  whilst  those  who  preferred  remaiuiug,  were 
to  become  subjects  of  Scotland.  To  this  latter 
class,  the  king  of  Norway,  in  fulfilment  of  his  part 
of  the  treaty,  addressed  a  mandate,  enjoining  them 
henceforth  to  serve  and  obey  the  king  of  Scot- 
land as  their  liege  lord ;  and  it  was  further  ar- 
ranged that  none  of  the  islandei's  were  to  be 
punished  for  their  former  adherence  to  the  Nor- 
wegians. [Gregory*  8  Highlands  and  Isles  of  Scot- 
land^ p.  22.]  To  the  treaty,  which  is  dated  the 
20th  of  July,  1266,  was  added  the  penalty  of  a 
fine  of  ten  thousand  merks,  to  be  exacted  by  the 
Pope  from  the  party  breaking  it.  The  patronage 
of  the  bishopric  of  Sodor  and  Man  was  expressly 
ceded  to  Alexander,  while  the  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction was  reserved  in  favour  of  the  archbishop 
of  Drontheim  in  Norway.  [Ty  tier's  Hist,  of  Scot- 
land, vol.  i.  p.  41,  note,'\ 

After  the  treaty  of  cession,  Alexander  appears 
to  have  acted  in  a  liberal  spirit  towaids  the  i^ihmd 


chiefs.  Ewen  of  Lorn,  (ali*eady  referred  to  as  a 
grandson  of  Dugall,  eldest  son  of  the  first  Somer- 
led  by  his  second  wife,  daughter  of  Olave  the  red, 
Norwegian  king  of  the  Isles,)  was.  of  course  re- 
stored to  the  lands  in  that  portion  of  the  Hebrides 
termed  by  the  Norwegians  the  Sudreys,  which  ho 
had  resigned  into  the  hands  of  Haoo  (an/e,  p.  89), 
and  which  he  had  fonneriy  held  of  Norway,  and 
was  further  rewai*ded  for  his  services  and  fidelity. 
By  his  death,  however,  without  male  issue,  this 
branch  of  the  descendants  of  Somerled,  chief  of 
the  Macdonalds,  became  extinct.  Angus  Moir, 
of  South  Klutyre  and  Islay,  grandson  of  Reginald 
the  second  son  of  the  elder  Somerled  by  the  same 
marriage,  the  ancestor  of  the  second  race  of  the 
lords  of  the  Isles,  who  had  on  its  arrival  joined  the 
Norwegian  expedition  (onto,  p.  89),  having  deter- 
mined to  remain  in  the  isles,  became,  according  to 
the  treaty,  a  vass^  of  the  king  of  Scotland,  for  his 
lands  there,  and  was  allowed  to  retain,  under  one 
king,  all  that  he  had  fonneriy  held  uuder  both. 
His  sou  Alexander  having  subsequently  married 
one  of  the  daughters  and  co-heiresses  of  Ewen  ol 
Lorn,  became  the  lineal  representative  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  race  of  Somerled.  The  isles  of  Skye 
and  Lewis  wei*e  conferred  upon  the  earl  of  Ross, 
no  part  of  these  islands,  or  of  Man,  Arran,  and 
Bute,  being  granted  on  this  occasion  by  Alexan- 
der the  Thii-d  to  any  of  the  descendants  of  Somer- 
led, to  whom  they  had  formerly  belonged.  The 
former,  however,  viz.  the  isles  of  Skye  and  Lewis, 
afterwards  reveited  to  that  family,  when  on  the 
utter  ruin  of  the  Albany  family,  accomplished  by 
the  revenge  of  James  I.,  the  Macdonalds,  lords  of 
the  Isles,  quietly  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of 
Ross,  through  their  descent  from  the  last  heu'css 
of  that  line. 

While  thus  fortunate  in  securing  peace  at  homc; 
Alexander  had  been  able,  in  1264,  to  allow  a  lai'gc 
body  of  Scottish  auxiliaries  under  John  Baliol, 
lord  of  Galloway,  Robeit  de  Brus,  lord  of  Annan- 
dale,  and  John  Comyn,  to  be  sent  to  the  assist- 
ance of  his  father-in-law,  Hcuiy  III.,  who  with 
his  son  Edward  prince  of  England,  afterwards 
Edward  I.,  was  in  arms  against  his  revolted  bar- 
ons, led  by  Simon  de  Montfoit,  earl  of  Leicester. 
Northampton  was  stormed  by  the  royalists,  but 
at  the  battle  of  Lewes,  14th  May,  Ilcnry  was  de- 


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feated  and  made  prisoner,  as  were  also  two  of  the 
Scottish  leaders,  John  Comyn  and  Robert  de  Brus. 
In  this  battle  great  slaughter  was  made  of  the 
Scottish  anxiliarics,  who  behaved  with  all  their 
accostomed  bravery.  IMatth,  PariSy  p.  669.  Hem- 
ingford,  p.  581.  Knyghtotty  p.  2447.]  The  battle 
of  Evesham,  4th  Angust,  1265,  where  Simon  dc 
Montfort  was  discomfited  and  slain,  retrieved  the 
foi-tnnes  of  Henry,  and  the  Scottish  barons  soon 
obtained  their  liberty.     [Chr,  Mdr,  p.  226.] 

The  long  minority  of  Alexander,  fi'om  the  con- 
stant fends  and  contentions  among  the  nobles,  and 
the  anarchy  which  generally  prevailed,  had  stmck 
deep  at  the  roots  of  the  prosperity  of  his  kingdom ; 
bat  his  wise,  firm,  and  jndicions  rale  after  he  came 
of  age,  was  well  calculated  to  heal  the  wounds 
that  had  been  inflicted,  and  to  restore  confidence 
and  tranquillity  to  his  people,  by  whom  he  was 
imiversally  beloved.  After  the  Norse  invasion 
and  the  reduction  of  the  isles,  the  kingdom  was 
not  again,  during  Alexander's  life,  assailed  by  a 
foreign  enemy,  while  its  internal  peace  seems  to 
have  been  no  longer  disturb^  by  the  turbulence 
of  its  domestic  factions.  For  three  years  after, 
Alexander  was  engaged  in  maintaining  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  national  church  against  the  exac- 
tions of  the  court  of  Rome,  at  the  same  time,  with 
equal  spirit  and  prudence,  keeping  in  check  the 
domineering  spirit  of  his  clergy.  In  the  year 
1266,  Cardinal  Ottobon  de  Fieschi,  the  legate  of 
the  Pope  in  England,  demanded  six  merks  from 
every  cathedral  in  Scotland,  and  four  merks  from 
each  parish  church,  for  the  expenses  of  his  visita- 
tion. This  demand  the  king  firmly  resisted,  and 
appealed  to  the  pontiff.  To  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  appeal,  the  clergy  supplied  him  with  two 
thousand  merks.  [Fordun^  b.  10.  ch.  21.]  Soon 
after  (in  1267)  a  dispute  between  the  king  and 
the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  arose  from  the  excom- 
munication of  a  certain  knight  named  Sir  John  de 
Dunmore,  for  offences  committed  against  the  prior 
and  convent  of  St.  Andrews.  The  king  required 
Gamelin,  the  bishop,  to  absolve  him,  without  sat- 
isfaction. The  latter  refused,  and  not  only  ratified 
the  sentence,  but  excommunicated  all  the  adhe- 
rents of  Dunmore,  the  royal  family  only  excepted. 
Irritated  at  his  zeal,  Alexander  allowed  the  legate 
to  levy  part  of  the  disputed  contributions,  and  the 


contention  between  the  king  and  the  bishop  threat- 
ened to  rise  very  high,  when,  to  put  an  etid  to  it, 
Dunmore,  of  his  own  accord,  with  creditable  good 
scQse,  ask^  forgiveness  of  the  church,  made  rep- 
aration, and  was  absolved ;  on  which  the  king  and 
the  bishop  were  reconciled.  The  papal  legate 
now  demanded  admittance  into  Scotland,  but  the 
king,  having  examined  his  commission,  and  con- 
sulted with  his  clergy,  sent  him  a  peremptory  re- 
fusal. [Ibid.  c.  23.]  Foiled  in  this  scheme,  the 
legate,  in  1268,  summoned  the  Scottbh  prelates  to 
attend  him  in  England,  at  whatever  place  he 
should  think  fit  to  hold  a  council.  He  also  re- 
quu'cd  the  Scottish  clergy  to  send  two  representa- 
tives, who  should  be  heads  of  monasteries.  Tlie 
Scottish  bishops  deputed  two  of  their  number,  and 
the  other  clergy  two;  but  though  they  acceded 
thus  far,  it  was  not  to  assist  the  council,  but  to 
watch  its  proceedings,  as  the  cardinal-legate  soon 
found ;  for  when  he  had  procured  several  canons 
to  be  enacted  relative  to  Scotland,  the  Scottish 
clergy  at  once  disclaimed  obedience  to  them.  See- 
ing them  so  resolute,  the  Pope,  Clement  lY.,  took 
up  different  ground,  and  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year  claimed  from  the  clergy  of  Scotland  a  tenth 
of  their  revenues  to  be  paid  to  Henry  of  England, 
as  an  aid  for  an  intended  crusade,  an  object  which 
he  thought  they  could  have  no  excuse  in  declin- 
ing to  subscribe  to.  Here  again,  however,  he 
was  bafiled,  as  both  king  and  clergy  united  in  a 
decided  refusal  to  the  requisition,  Alexander  de- 
claring that  Scotland  was  ready  to  equip  a  compe- 
tent body  of  knights  to  proceed  to  the  Holy  Land. 
Accordingly  David  earl  of  Atliole,  Adam  earl  of 
Carrick,  William  Lord  Douglas,  John  Steward, 
Alexander  Comyn,  Robert  Keith,  George  Dur- 
ward,  John  de  Quincy,  and  William  Gordon,  all 
connected  with  the  first  families  in  Scotland,  as- 
sumed the  cross,  and  sailed  for  Palestine,  whence 
few  of  them  ever  returned.  The  earl  of  Carrick 
here  mentioned  was  Adam  de  Eilconath,  the  hus- 
band of  the  lady  Marjory,  only  daughter  of  Nigel 
earl  of  Carrick,  whose  recent  death  in  the  Holy 
wars  had  left  her  heiress  in  her  own  right  of  the 
whole  lands  and  earldom  of  Carrick.  Her  hus- 
band, Adam  de  Kilconath,  who  became  eari  of 
Carrick  in  her  right,  having  also  been  slain  in 
Palestine  in  1270,  she  afterwards  became  the  wife 


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of  Robert  de  Bros,  the  father  of  the  restorer  of  the 
Scottish  monarchy. 

In  the  meantime,  founding  npon  the  papal  grant, 
the  king  of  England,  in  1269,  attempted  to  levy 
the  tenth  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  in  Scot- 
land, for  the  crusades.  The  attempt  was  spirit- 
edly met  by  the  Scottish  clergy,  who,  not  content 
with  appealing  to  Rome,  to  show  theur  indepen- 
dence both  of  the  papal  legate  and  the  English 
king,  assembled  in  a  provincial  council  at  Perth, 
under  the  authority  of  the  bull  of  Pope  Honorins 
IV.,  granted  in  the  year  1225,  during  the  reign  of 
Alexander  the  Second.  [See  cmte,  p.  66.]  At 
this  council,  over  which  one  of  their  own  bishops 
presided,  tliey  passed  various  canons  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  Scottish  church,  which  remained  in 
force  till  the  Reformation,  and  with  those  of  the 
council  of  1242,  are  preserved  in  the  Chartulary 
of  Aberdeen.  The  first  of  them  appointed  a  coun- 
cil of  the  national  clergy  of  Scotland  to  be  held 
annually,  and  the  second  decreed  that  each  of  the 
bishops  should,  in  rotation,  be  *'  conservator  statu- 
torum,"  or  protector  of  the  statutes,  and  during  the 
interval  between  each  council  he  should  enforce 
obedience  to  the  canons,  under  pain  of  ecclesias  • 
tical  censures.  IFordun,  b.  10.  c.  28,  24,  26.  CTw, 
Mdr.  pp.  241,  242.] 

In  1270,  Alexander's  queen  gave  bii'th  to  a 
second  son,  who  was  named  David,  but  who  died 
in  his  eleventh  year.  The  country  at  this  period 
enjoyed  both  peace  and  plenty,  and  few  events  of 
a  domestic  nature  seem  to  have  occurred  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  deserve  a  place  in  history. 
The  friendly  relations  which  had  been  for  some 
time  maintained  with  England  were  not  impaired 
by  the  death  of  Henry  III.,  which  took  place  No- 
vember 16,  1272.  At  the  coronation  of  Henry's 
son  and  successor,  Edward  I.,  at  Westminster, 
19  August,  1274,  Alexander  and  his  queen,  Mar- 
garet, Edward's  sister,  were  present,  with  a  splen- 
did train  of  his  nobility.  Before  proceeding  to 
London,  Alexander  took  care  to  obtain  from  his 
royal  brother-in-law  a  letter  declaring  that  his 
friendly  visit  to  him,  on  this  occasion,  should  not 
be  construed  into  anything  prejudicial  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  Scotland.  In  those  feudal  times  such 
a  precaution  was  customary,  and  we  find  Edward 
himself,  when  twenty  years  afterwards  he  sent 


some  ships  to  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  France, 
his  feudal  superior  for  the  duchy  of  Normandy, 
requiring  fh>m  that  monarch  a  similar  declaration. 
About  six  months  after  she  had  attended  her  bro- 
ther's coronation,  Alexander  lost  his  queen,  who 
died  26th  February  1275,  in  the  prime  of  her  age. 

In  1275,  a  tenth  of  the  church  revenues  of  Scot- 
land was  again  required  by  the  Pope,  for  the  relief 
of  the  Holy  Land.  Benemund  de  Vicci,  corrupted 
into  Bagimont,  was  sent  to  cx>llect  this  contribu- 
tion, which  was  paid  by  all  the  clergy,  except  the 
regulars  of  the  Cistertian  order;  that  order  having 
compounded  with  the  Pope,  by  granting  a  general 
aid  of  fifty  thousand  merks ;  and  thus  the  amount 
of  their  annual  revenues  throughout  Europe  re- 
mained unknown.  Bagimont  was  prevailed  upon 
by  the  Scottish  clergy  to  spply  to  Rome  on  their 
behalf  for  an  abatement  of  the  tax ;  but  the  Pope, 
remembering  no  doubt  their  former  resistance  to 
his  demands,  refused  to  grant  any  commutation, 
and  it  was  rigidly  exacted.  The  rent-roll  by  which 
this  tax  was  levied  is  known  in  history  by  the 
name  of  *'Bagimont*s  roll,"  the  estimate  being 
made  not  according  to  *^  the  ancient  extent,  but 
the  true  value."  [Fordun^  b.  10.  c.  85.]  Two 
years  thereafter,  Alexander  was  involved  in  a  dis- 
pute with  the  bishop  of  Durham,  who  accused  him 
of  encroachments  on  the  English  marches.  The 
king  of  Scots  sent  five  ambassadors  to  the  court  of 
Edward,  with  the  declaration  that  he  had  only 
maintained  the  marches  according  to  ancient  usage, 
that  is,  "to  the  floodmark  towards  the  south," 
[Fcedera^  vol.  iJ.  p.  84,]  and  bearing  a  proposal 
that  commissioners  should  be  appointed  by  both 
crowns  to  adjust  the  matter.  This  dispute,  which 
Lord  Hailes  thinks,  and  with  good  reason,  related 
only  to  a  salmon  fishing  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tweed,  was,  soon  after,  amicably  settlecj. 

In  1278  Alexander  attended  the  English  parlia- 
ment at  Westminster  on  Michaelmas  day,  when  he 
took  the  general  and  traditional  oath  of  fealty  to 
Edward  in  the  following  terms :  "  I,  Alexander, 
king  of  Scotland,  do  acknowledge  myself  the  liege- 
man of  my  lord  Edward  king  of  England,  agamst 
all  deadly."  This  Edward  accepted,  **  saving  the 
claim  of  homage  for  the  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
whenever  he  or  his  heirs  should  think  proper  to 
make  it."    [Ftedera,  vol.  ii.  p.  126.]    On  this 


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occasion  Robert  de  Bros,  eldest  son  of  the  lord  of 
Annandale,  and  who  was,  by  marriage,  earl  of 
CaiTick, — having  seven  years  before  espoused 
Martha  or  Maijory,  countess  of  Carrick  in  her 
own  right,  the  widow  of  his  old  companion  in 
arms,  and  fellow-ci'usader,  Adam  de  Kilconath, — 
by  the  command  of  Alexander  and  with  the  ap- 
probation of  Edward,  performed  the  accompany- 
mg  ceremony  of  homage,  in  these  words:  ^^I, 
Robert  eai-l  of  Canick,  according  to  the  authority 
given  to  me  by  my  lord  the  king  of  Scotland,  in 
presence  of  the  king  of  England,  and  other  pi-e- 
lates  and  barons,  by  which  the  power  of  swearing 
upon  the  soul  of  the  king  of  Scotland  was  confer- 
red upon  me,  have,  in  presence  of  the  king  of 
Scotland,  and  commissioned  thereto  by  his  special 
precept,  sworn  fealty  to  Lord  Edward  king  of 
England  in  these  words:  ^I,  Alexander  king  of 
Scotland,  shall  bear  faith  to  my  lord  Edward  king 
of  England  and  his  heu*s,  with  my  life  and  mem- 
bers, and  worldly  substance;  and  I  shall  faith- 
fully perform  the  services,  used  and  wont,  for  the 
lands  and  tenements  which  I  hold  of  the  said 
king.' "  *This  having  been  sworn  by  the  earl  of 
Canick,  was  confirmed  and  mtified  by  the  king  of 
Scotland.  [Ibid.^  Both  kings  were  then  and  al- 
ways amicably  disposed  towards  each  other,  and 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  Edward  to  advance 
those  claims  of  supremacy  over  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland  which,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  had 
so  often  created  disquiet  between  the  two  king- 
doms, and  were  only  finally  got  rid  of  on  the  field 
of  Bannockbuni.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  cere- 
mony of  homage,  under  the  reservation  on  Ed- 
ward's pai't  of  the  claim  of  fealty  for  the  kingdom 
of  Scotland,  should  have  been  on  this  occasion 
performed  by  the  father  of  that  Bruce  who,  after 
the  long  struggle  for  independence,  should  have  at 
last  succeeded  in  rescuing  the  kingdom  from  the 
claim  for  ever.  The  following  portrait  of  Alex- 
ander 111.  is  from  a  print  of  the  parliament  of 
Edward  I.  in  which  the  above  ceremony  was 
performed,  published  in  Pinkerton's  porti-aits  of 
illustrious  persons  of  Scotland,  taken  from  a  copy, 
in  the  collection  of  the  eai'l  of  Buchan,  from  an 
ancient  limning  fonncrly  in  the  Colluge  of  Anns, 
London 


JScotoxt- 


In  1281  the  treaty  which,  in  1266,  had  been 
concluded  with  Norway,  was  farther  cementi^d  by 
the  marriage  of  Margaret,  the  only  daughter  of 
Alexander,  who  was  then  twenty-one  years  old, 
to  Eric  king  of  Norway,  then  in  his  fourteenth 
year.  A  dowry  of  fourteen  thousand  merks  was 
given  with  the  princess,  who  was  accompanied  to 
the  Norwegian  court  by  Walter  Bailloch  earl  of 
Menteith  and  his  countess,  the  abbot  of  Balmeri- 
no.  Sir  Bernard  Montalto,  and  other  knights  and 
barons.  The  alliance  thus  happily  formed  between 
the  two  countries  was  calculated  to  put  an  end  to 
those  troubles  which  the  restless  chieftains  of  the 
western  islands  so  frequently  occasioned  by  their 
turbulence  and  ambition,  and  the  wavering  fealty 
of  whom  even  the  late  treaty  of  peace  had  failed 
to  secure  for  any  length  of  time  to  Scotland.  It 
appeal's  that  notwithstanding  the  submission  of 
King  Magnus,  Alexander  had  been  compelled  in 
1275  to  lead  an  aimed  foi*ce  against  the  Isle  of 
Man,  and  in  1282,  the  very  year  following  the 
marriage  of  the  princess  Margaret,  Alexander 
Comyn  earl  of  Buchan  and  constable  of  Scotland, 
proceeded  with  an  army  to  suppress  some  dis- 
turbances in  the  lately  ceded  islands.  [Fadera^ 
vol.  il.  p.  205.1 


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Soon  after  the  marriage  of  hi«  sister,  Alexander 
the  prince  of  Scotland,  then  in  his  nineteenth 
year,  was  united,  in  1282,  to  Margaret,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Guy  earl  of  Flanders.  The  cei*eniony  took 
place  at  Roxburgh,  and  the  rejoicings  lasted  for 
fifteen  days.  The  king  himself  was,  at  this  time, 
only  in  his  forty-firet  year,  and  might  reasonably 
have  expected  a  lengthened  reign,  while  the  mar- 
riages of  his  son  and  daughter,  tjins  so  auspicious- 
ly formed,  gave  an  almost  certain  hope  that  his 
sceptre  would  be  transmitted  to  descendants  of  his 
own  line.  But  a  singular  train  of  calamities  fol- 
lowing each  other  in  rapid  succession,  soon  de- 
stroyed all  such  hopes  and  expectations.  The 
queen  of  Norway  died  about  the  end  of  1288, 
leaving  an  only  child,  known  in  Scottish  history 
as  "  the  Maiden  of  Norway ;"  and  very  soon  after, 
!  on  the  28th  of  January  1284,  the  prince  of  Scot- 
land, who  had  always  been  of  a  weak  constitution, 
also  died,  at  the  abbey  of  Lindores  in  Fife,  leav- 
ing no  issue.  Prince  David,  the  youngest  son  of 
Alexander,  had,  as  already  stated  (p.  96),  died 
in  1281,  the  year  of  his  sister's  marriage.  Both 
princes  were  interred  at  Dunfermline. 

Being  thus  bereaved  of  his  chUdren,  the  first 
care  of  Alexander  was  to  take  the  necessary^  mea- 
sures for  the  settlement  of  the  succession.  On  the 
5th  of  February,  1284,  the  estaf-es  of  the  kingdom 
assembled  at  Scone,  when  the  prelates  and  barons 
became  bound  to  acknowledge  Margaret,  princess 
of  Norway,  as  their  sovereign,  "failing  any  chil 
dreu  whom  Alexander  might  have,  and  failing  the 
issue  of  the  prince  of  Scotland,  deceased ;''  it  not 
being  then  known  whether  his  widow  was  preg- 
nant.    IFcedera,  vol.  ii.  p.  266.] 

In  the  following  year,  being  earnestly  entreated 
by  the  lords  of  his  council  and  the  estates  Of  the 
realm,  Alexander  deemed  it  prudent  to  contract  a 
second  marriage,  and  accordingly  sent  Thomas 
Tartar,  the  lord  chancellor,  with  Sir  Patrick  Gra- 
hame.  Sir  William  St.  Clair,  and  Sir  John  de 
Sonlis,  knights,  as  ambassadors  ta  France,  to 
choose  for  his  bride  Joletta,  the  beautiful  and  ac- 
complished daughter  of  the  count  de  Dreux.  This 
lady  accompanied  them  to  Scotland,  and  their 
nuptials  took  place  at  Jedburgh,  April  15,  1285. 
In  the  midst  of  the  marriage  rejoicings,  an  inci- 
dent occurred  which,  in  that  superstitious  age,  dis- 


mayed and  distressed  the  guests  who  had  througcJ 
to  the  royal  festivities.  Amidst  the  masques  and 
pastimes  usually  produced  on  such  occasions,  and 
when  the  enjoyment  of  the  scene  was  at  its  height, 
a  spectral  image  of  death  glided  with  fearful  ges- 
tures among  the  revellers,  and  after  striking  ter- 
ror into  all  present,  vanished  suddenly.  The 
thing  was  nothing  more  than  a  well-acted  piece  of 
mummery,  or  clever  pantomunic  representation  by 
a  person  expert  in  such  performances,  which  were 
not  unusual  in  the  "Moralities'*  and  "Mysteries" 
as  enacted  in  those  days  by  the  monks,  but  it  was 
held  as  if  foreshadowing  those  misfortunes  which 
so  soon  after  befell  Scotland,  beginning  with  the 
sudden  and  violent  death  of  the  king  himself. 
[Fordun,  b.  10.  c.  11.]  To  the  north  of  the  burgh 
of  Kinghorn,  on  the  sea-coast  of  Fife,  and  north - 
em  shore  of  the  Frith  of  Forth,  there  stood  in 
Alexander's  time  a  castle,  bearing  the  name  of 
the  burgh,  which  was  often  the  residence  of  the 
Scottish  kings,  but  of  which  no  vestige  now  re- 
mains. This  castle  and  the  domains  attached  to 
it,  were  frequently  pledged,  along  with  others,  in 
security  for  the  jointure  of  their  quedfe.  The 
young  queen  Joletta  appears  to  have  been  resid- 
ing here  on  the  16th  Maitsh  1286,  when  Alex- 
ander the  Third,  who  had  been  enjoying  the  chase 
towards  Burntisland  and  Inverkeithing,  turned 
his  horse's  head,  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  to- 
wards Kinghorn.  The  road  then  wound  along 
the  top  of  the  rocks  which  overhang  the  sea,  and 
as  it  was  dangerous  to  proceed  in  the  dark,  bis 
attendants  strongly  urged  him  to  remain  at  Inver- 
keithmg  till  the  morning.  Disregarding  their  re- 
monstrances the  king  galloped  forward,  and  when 
little  more  than  a  mile  west  from  Kinghorn,  his 
horse  stumbled,  and  he  was  thi-own  over  a  lofty 
and  rugged  precipice,  and  kUled  on  the  spot.  The 
place  is  stiU  familiarly  known  in  the  traditions  of 
the  district  as  the  King's  AVood-End.  The  ac- 
companying cut  represents  the  scene  of  this  un- 
happy catastrophe.  This  event,  the  greatest  na- 
tional calamity  that  Scotland  ever  sustained,  took 
place  when  Alexander  was  in  the  45th  year  of  his 
age,  and  37th  of  his  reign.  His  corpse,  after  be- 
ing embalmed,  was  solemnly  interred  at  Dunferm- 
line, among  the  kings  of  Scotland. 
The  loss  of  a  sovereign  so  deservedly  beloved 

G 


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— altIioii*^ii  at  the  time  they  cotild  not 
have  foreseen  the  premature  death  of 
his  granddaughter    the    princess    of 
Norway,  much  less  the  cmitest  for  the 
succession  to  the  crown,  the  overween- 
ing claims  of  the  king  of  England,  or 
the  subsequent  intestine  war  and  the 
struggle  for  independence  whicl^  em- 
bittered it,  in  which  the  best  blood  of 
Scotland  was  shed  and  many  noble 
families  ruined  and  cast  into  exile — 
yet  the  many  amiable  qualities  of  the 
deceased  monarch,  the  series  of  do- 
mestic disappointments  by  which  his 
government  had  been  preceded,  and 
those   presentiments  of  coming  ca- 
lamities which   so  often    cast  their 
shadows    before    them,    tended    to 
overwhelm    the  people   of   Scotland  with    grief 
and  dismay,  and  the  misfortunes  and  miseries 
which  followed,  caused  it  to  be  long  and  deeply 
deplored.    "Neuer,"  says  honest  Balfour,  "was 
thcr  more  lamentatione  and  sorrow  for  a  king  in 
Scotlan(^than  for  him;  for  the  nobility,  clergie, 
and  above  all,  the  gentrey  and  comons,  bedoued  he^ 
coffin  for  17  dayes  space  with  riuoletts  of  teares." 
[Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  77.]     The  oldest 
specimen  of  the  Scottish  language  known  to  be  in 
existence  is  a  sort  of  monody,  written  on  the 
death  of  Alexander,  which  has  been  preser\'ed  by 
Winton : 

"  Qnhen  Alysandyr,  oure  k^g,  wes  dede, 
That  Scotland  led  in  lawe  and  le. 
Away  wes  sons  of  ale  and  brede, 
Of  wyne  and  wax,  of  gamyn  and  gle. 
Oure  gold  wes  changyd  into  lede. — 
Christ,  bom  in -to  viigynyte, 
Sacoour  Scotland,  and  remede, 
That  stad  is  in  perplexyte." 

W{r4on,  vol.  i.  p.  401. 

Tlie  death  of  Alexander,  so  disastrous  to  Scot- 
land, is  said  to  have  been  foretold,  the  day  previous, 
to  the  earl  of  March,  who  was  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  English  faction  during  Alexander's  minority, 
at  his  castle  of  Dunbar,  by  Thomas  of  Ercildon, 
commonly  called  Thomas  the  Rhymer.  On  the 
night  preceding  the  king's  death,  Thomas  having 
arrived  at  the  castle,  was  jocularly  asked  by  the 


Scene  of  the  death  of  Alexander  III. 
earl  if  the  next  day  would  prodnce  any  remarkable 
event;  to  which  the  bard  replied,  "Aliis!  for 
to-morrow,  a  day  of  calamity  and  misery!  Before 
the  twelfth  hour  shall  be  heard  a  blast  so  vehe- 
ment that  it  shall  exceed  those  of  every  former 
period,  a  blast  which  shall  strike  the  nations  with 
amazement,  shall  humble  what  is  proud,  and  what 
is  fierce  shall  level  with  the  ground  I  The  sorest 
wind  and  tempest  that  ever  was  heard  of  in  Scot- 
land!" Next  morning,  discovering  no  unusual  ap- 
pearance in  the  weather  which  indicated  a  storm, 
the  day  on  the  contrary  being  remarkably  clear 
and  mild,  the  earl  and  those  who  were  with  him 
began  to  doubt  the  powers  of  the  prophet,  as  Tho- 
mas was  esteemed,  and  having  ordered  him  into 
their  presence,  they  upbraided  him  as  an  impostor, 
and  hastened  to  enjoy  their  wonted  repast.  But 
his  lordship  had  scarcely  seated  himself  at  table, 
and  the  shadow  of  the  dial  fallen  on  the  hour  of 
noon,  when  an  express,  his  horse  covered  with 
foam,  appeared  at  the  castle-gate,  and  demanded 
an  audience.  On  being  asked  what  news  he 
brought,  he  exclaimed:  "I  do  indeed  bring  news, 
but  of  a  lamentable  kind,  to  be  deplored  by  the 
whole  realm  of  Scotland  I  Alas,  our  renowned 
king  has  ended  his  fair  life  at  Kinghoni !"  "  This,'' 
cried  Thomas,  gathering  himsdf  up  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  his  prediction  had  been  fulfilled, 
"  This  is  the  scaithful  wind  and  dreadful  tempest 
which  shall  blow  such  a  calamity  and  trouble  to 


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the  whole  realm  of  Scotland !  **  Whether  ^^  the  sun- 
set of  life  had  given  mystical  lore''  to  this  singular 
personage,  or  he  had  uttered  his  prediction  in  the 
usual  mystical  language  of  soothsayers,  leaving  its 
fulfilment  to  accident  or  the  weather,  as  chance 
might  determine,  it  is  ceitain  that  the  story  has  been 
generally  credited  fi*om  that  time  till  the  present, 
and  it  would  be  very  difficult  now  to  shake  the 
universal  belief  in  it.  As  Indicating  at  feast  the 
impression  which  seems  to  have  prevailed,  that 
the  death  of  Alexander  foreboded  greater  disaster 
and  woe  to  Scotland,  than  any  former  event  in  oar 
annals,  it  is  not  without  a  certain  degree  of  histo- 
rical interest,  and  could  not  well  be  omitted  in 
any  narrative  of  Alexander's  life. 

The  appearance  and  manners  of  Alexander  the 
Third  were  in  the  highest  degree  noble  and  digni- 
fied, and  such  as  befitted  a  king.  Though  tall 
and  large-boned,  his  limbs  were  well-formed  and 
strongly  knit.  His  figure  was  majestic,  and  his 
countenance  handsome  and  expressive.  His  sin- 
cerity of  character  and  excellent  nnderstanding 
were  such  as  to  command  the  respect  while  they 
won  the  attachment  of  his  people.  He  is  described 
as  having  been  affable  in  demeanour,  easy  of  ac- 
cess, firm  of  purpose,  and  of  a  just  yet  generous 
disposition.  His  kingdom  he  governed  with  wis- 
dom and  energy.  With  England  he  maintained 
constant  peace  and  amity,  yet,  as  Lord  Hailes 
justly  remarks,  never  submitted  to  any  concessions 
which  might  injure  the  independence  or  impair  the 
liberties  of  the  realm  or  the  church  of  Scotland. 
In  the  administration  of  the  laws  he  was  diligent 
and  impartial,  and  his  inflexible  love  of  justice, 
and  patience  in  hearing  disputes,  were  amongst 
the  qualities  which  endeared  him  to  his  subjects. 
For  the  punishment  of  offenders  and  the  redress  of 
wrongs,  he  divided  Scotland  into  four  great  dis- 
tricts, and  made  an  annual  progress  through  each, 
attended  by  his  justiciary  and  his  principal  nobles. 
In  passing  fVom  one  county  to  another  he  required 
the  attendance  of  the  sheriff  with  the  whole  force 
of  the  shire ;  and  the  train  of  retainers  of  the 
nobles  who  accompanied  him  being,  while  travel- 
ling, limited  by  law,  the  people  were  thus  relieved 
of  the  charge  of  supporting  the  royal  retinue.  He 
greatly  contributed  to  diminish  the  burdens  of  the 
feudal  system,  and  to  restrain  the  license  and  op- 


pressions of  the  nobility ;  keeping  them  in  quiet 
subjection  to  his  authority,  and  obliging  each  to 
act  peaceably  in  his  own  allotted  sphere.  In  his 
private  life,  Alexander  was  upright,  temperate  and 
pious,  and  in  all  his  domestic  relations  kind  and 
affectionate.  During  his  reign,  according  to  For- 
dun,  "the  church  flourished,  its  ministers  were 
treated  with  reverence,  vice  was  openly  discour- 
aged, cunning  and  treachery  were  repressed,  injury 
ceased,  and  the  reign  of  truth  and  justice  main- 
tained throughout  the  land."  [Forrfwn,  b.  10, 
ch.  xli.] 

In  Alexander's  reign  the  little  trade  that  was  iii 
the  country  became  so  flourishing  that  foreign 
merchants  were  attracted  to  Scotland  in  numbers, 
from  the  maritime  and  commercial  cities  of  Italy, 
France,  Germany,  and  the  Low  countries,  who 
were  allowed  to  traffic  with  the  burgesses,  and  had 
free  and  safe  access  to  markets  in  every  burgh 
town.  The  imports  were  chiefly  wine,  cloth  anci 
rich  stuffs,  armour  and  other  commodities,  while 
the  staple  exports  of  the  kingdom  consisted  almost 
solely  of  fish,  wool,  and  hides.  The  exportation 
of  Scottish  merchandise  was.  however,  prohibited 
by  Alexander  under  severe  laws,  owing  to  the  fre- 
quent losses  of  valuable  cargoes,  by  pirates,  wrecks, 
and  unforeseen  arrestments  Notwithstanding 
this  restriction,  which  showed  very  narrow  ideas 
on  the  subject  of  trade,  Scotland,  we  are  told, 
speedily  became  rich  in  every  kind  of  wealth,  and 
in  the  production  of  the  arts  and  manufactures. 
Agriculture,  too,  had  made  great  progress  in  Alex- 
ander's peaceful  reign,  and,  besides  the  produce  of 
the  ground,  flocks  and  herds  abounded  everywhere 
According  to  Winton : 

•*  Yowmen,  pewere  kari,  or  knawe 
That  wes  of  mjcht  an  ox  til  hawe, 
he  gert  that  man  hawe  part  in  pinch e , 
Swa  wes  com  in  hb  land  enwche ; 
Swa  than  begonth,  and  efler  lang 
Of  land  wes  meenre,  ane  ox-gang. 
Mychty  men  that  had  ma 
Oxyn,  he  gert  in  plnchp  ga. 
Be  that  vertn  all  his  land 
Of  com  he  gert  be  abowndand.** 

Vol.  i.  p.  400 

Indeed,  Scotland  at  that  period  presented  such  n 
field  for  commercial  enterprise  that  a  number  of 


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Lombard  merchants,  who  were  iu  that  age  the 
most  active  traders  in  Europe,  and  then  filled 
every  mart  in  England,  arrived  in  the  kingdom, 
and  ofTered  to  establish  roannfactnring  and  mer- 
cantile settlements  in  various  pait«,  specifying 
particularly  an  island  near  Cramond,  and  the  monnt 
above  Queensferry.  All  they  asked  in  return  was 
to  be  allowed  certain  spiritual  immunities.  Their 
proposal  was,  however,  opposed  by  some  of  the 
most  powerful  of  the  nobility,  though  Alexander 
himself  is  said  to  have  l)een  desirous  of  encourag- 
ing them;  and  their  negotiations  on  the  subject 
were  defeated  only  by  his  sudden  and  premature 
death.    [Fordun,  b.  10.  ch.  xli.  xlii.] 

In  the  period  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  years, 
which  elapsed  from  the  accession  of  Malcolm  Can- 
more  to  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Third,  that  is, 
from  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  to  near  the  dose 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  a  great  change  had  taken 
place  on  Scotland  as  a  nation.  The  vast  moral 
revolution  which  the  Saxon  connexion  and  influ- 
ence of  Malcolm's  queen,  Margaret,  at  first  re- 
motely worked  upon  the  country  had,  during  that 
time,  extended  its  effects  more  and  more  through- 
out all  its  relations,  to  the  great  improvement  of 
the  people,  and  their  steady  advance  in  civiliza 
Hon.  But  a  sad  reverse  was  now  to  take  place 
in  their  destinies.  Tlie  line  of  Scotland's  ancient 
kings  terminated  with  Alexander  the  Third,  and 
the  continuous  train  of  miseiies  and  wasting  cala- 
mities in  which  the  kingdom  was  involved  for 
more  than  a  generation  after  his  unhappy  death, 
from  the  long  and  fierce  struggle  that  ensued  for 
the  succession  to  the  throne,  in  which  the  national 
liberty  and  independence  were  frequently  at  stake, 
marks  a  peculiar  era  in  the  history  of  Scotland, 
and  caused  the  memory  of  so  good  a  king  to  be 
long  held  ia  affectionate  remembrance  by  the 
Scottish  people. 

Duiing  the  interval  fi*om  what  is  usually  called 
in  Scottish  annals  "  the  Saxon  Conquest,'' — when 
by  the  aid  of  a  Northumbrian  Saxon  armf,  Mal- 
colm Can  more  was  enabled,  firet  to  drive  Mac- 
beth beyond  the  Forth,  and  four  years  afterwards 
to  defeat  and  slay  him  at  the  battle  of  Lum- 
phanan  in  Aberdeenshire, — to  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander the  Third,  the  last  of  Malcolm's  dynasty,  the 
advance  made  in  civilization,  in  the  useful  arts, 


and  in  the  habits  of  social  life  among  the  people  of 
Scotland  was  most  remarkable.  This  was  chiefly 
owing  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  nobles  and  leaders  in  the  Lotbians 
and  lowlands,  and,  in  the  second  place,  to  the  iu- 
tixxluction  of  the  feudal  system  by  the  Norman 
adventurers  who  followed  them.  The  revolution 
that  in  the  course  of  these  changes  took  place  in 
the  laws  and  customs  and  forms  of  government 
was  strikingly  favourable  to  the  progressive  im- 
provement of  the  country.  The  Saxon  and  Nor- 
man colonization  of  the  southern  and  midland  dis- 
tricts exercised  a  far  more  direct  and  beneficial 
influence  on  the  national  character  than  ever  was, 
or  could  be,  derived  from  the  Celtic  race ;  much 
of  what  is  peculiar  and  distinctive  in  its  formation 
being  mainly  ascribable  to  this  important  acces- 
sion to  the  population ;  and  from  this  period  the 
Saxon  domination  may  be  said  to  have  been  firmly 
and  securely  established  in  Scotland.  In  the  reign 
of  Edgar  one  of  its  principal  effects  was  to  con- 
fine the  Celtic  portion  of  the  community  to  the 
mountainous  districts,  while  the  more  enlarged 
and  comprehensive  policy  of  Alexander  led  him  to 
extend  the  Saxon  institutions  to  those  portions  of 
the  country  yrhich  he  may  be  said  to  have  con- 
quered, and,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  erection  of 
separate  sheriffdoms,  to  bring  them  more  imme- 
diately under  the  operation  and  subjection  of  the 
laws  and  government. 

The  changes  which  took  place  on  the  Scottish 
church  and  clergy  were  among  the  most  important 
of  the  effects  produced  by  the  Saxon  conquest, 
and  in  this  respect  it  may  be  truly  said,  as  Mr. 
Daniel  Wilson  has  remai'ked,  to  have  been  **  even 
more  an  ecclesiastical  than  a  civil  revolution." 
\^Arch<Bology  and  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland, 
p.  604.]  By  the  marriage  of  Malcolm  Canmore 
with  the  Saxon  princess  Margaret,  the  sister  of 
Edgar  Atheling,  much  of  elegance  and  refinement 
were  introduced  into  the  Scottish  court.  By  her 
influence,  joined  to  that  of  the  Saxon  refugees, 
not  only  were  several  of  the  more  gross  and  bar- 
barous customs  of  the  Scots  abolished,  and  various 
wise  and  beneficial  laws  adopted  from  the  system 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  jurisprudence,  but  the  whole 
form  and  fabric  of  religion  was  reformed,  and  the 
Scottish  church  assimilated  as  much  as  possible  to 


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the  English,  and  to  that  of  Rome ;  so  that,  as  Mr. 
Wilson  says,  "  in  the  period  which  intervened  be- 
tween the  landing  of  the  fngitive  Saxon  princess 
at  St.  Margaret^s  Hope  and  the  death  of  her 
younger  son  David,  nearly  all  the  Scottish  sees 
were  fbnuded  or  restored,  many  of  the  principal 
monasteries  were  instituted,  their  chapels  and  other 
dependencies  erected,  and  the  elder  order  of  Cul- 
dee  fraternities  with  their  missionary  bishops  for 
the  first  time  superseded  by  a  complete  parochial 
system."  [/Wrf.]  The  change  to  the  better  on 
the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  Scotland  that  fol- 
lowed was  proportionately  great.  The  Scottbh 
clergy,  although  not  so  wealthy  as  their  English 
brethren,  appear  to  have  been  equally  anxious  to 
improve  the  splendour  of  their  churches,  and  the 
commodiousness  of  their  dwellings.  Even  before 
the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore  there  were  at  Dun- 
keld,  Brechin,  Abemethy,  and  St.  Andrews,  reli- 
gious edifices,  as  grand  and  suitable  in  their  way 
as  the  state  of  the  arts  and  manners  of  those  times 
would  admit ;  but  the  attention  paid  to  religious 
matters  by  his  pious  queen  Margaret,  and  the  en- 
couragement given  by  her  to  foreign  clergymen  to 
resort  to  this  kingdom,  to  whom  new  establish- 
ments required  to  be  assigned,  fixed  a  new  era  in 
the  style  and  character  of  the  ecclesiastical  build- 
ings in  Scotland.  The  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman 
nobles  who  were  driven  into  this  country  by  the 
oppressions  of  William  of  Normandy,  historically 
styled  the  Conqueror,  also  gave  an  impetus,  by 
their  advice  and  benefactions,  to  the  changes  and 
improvements  which  took  place  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal architecture  of  the  people  amongst  whom  they 
had  found  a  home.  Previous  to  this  period,  ttie 
churches  had  been  in  form,  square  or  oblong,  gen- 
erally built  of  timber  or  baked  clay,  and  covered 
with  lead,  thatching,  or  tiles.  In  imitation  of  the 
only  pai*ts  of  the  military  architecture  of  the  pe- 
riod that  could  be,  in  any  degree,  accommodated 
to  religious  purposes,  beside  some  of  these  square 
chuix^hcs,  round  towers  had  been  erected,  either 
as  ornamental,  or  as  secure  repositories  for  valua- 
ble things  in  times  of  danger.  In  many  instances 
those  round  towers  may  have  served  as  belfries, 
and  in  others  as  places  for  conveying  signals; 
while  in  some,  it  is  not  unlikely,  they  were  used 
as  prisons.    In  the  ecclesiastical  architecture  in- 


troduced at  this  period,  the  nave  and  the  aisles, 
the  chancel  and  the  choir,  were  distinct  parts  of 
the  same  structure.  The  relative  positions  of  the 
nave  and  the  aisles  were  arranged  by  the  practice 
of  building  these  sacred  edifices  in  the  form  of  a 
cross.  The  native  style  of  ecclesiastical  architec- 
ture which  had  been  in  use  was,  in  the  progress  of 
the  reformation  in  the  church,  entirely  superseded 
by  the  mode  prevalent  in  England,  as  its  ecclesi- 
astical system  had  also  been.  What  immediately 
succeeded  appears  to  have  been  what  is  called  the 
early  or  older  Norman,  to  which  Mr.  Wilson  gives 
the  name  of  the  Romanesque  style.  Of  this  the 
oldest  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  specimens 
now  remaining  in  Scotland  is  the  nave  of  the 
church  founded  and  endowed  by  Queen  Margaret 
at  Dunfermline,  where  her  nuptials  with  Malcolm 
took  place  in  1070,  which  she  dedicated  to  the 
Holy  Trinity,  and  which  was  the  origin  of,  and 
partly  incorporated  into,  the  Benedictine  abbey  of 
Dunfermline.  The  erection  of  the  little  chapel  of 
St.  Margaret  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  is  assigned 
to  the  same  period.  This  has  been  supposed,  or 
good  grounds,  to  have  been  erected  over  the  place 
used  for  her  devotions  by  Queen  Margaret  during 
her  i-esidence  in  the  castle  till  her  death  in  1098. 
"It  is  in  the  same  style,"  says  Mr.  Wilson, 
"though  of  a  plainer  character,  as  the  earliest 
portions  of  Holyrood  abbey,  begun  in  the  yeai 
1128 ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  era  of 
Norman  architecture  is  one  in  which  many  of  the 
most  interesting  ecclesiastical  edifices  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Edinburgh  were  founded,  including 
Holyrood  abbey,  St.  Giles*  church,  and  the  parish 
churches  of  Duddingston,  Ratho,  Kirkliston,  and 
Dalmeny."  ^Memorials  of  Edinburgh,  vol.  i.  p. 
129.]  As  specimens  of  the  early  Norman  the 
following  may  also  be  mentioned,  namely,  the 
parish  churches  of  Leuchars,  in  Fifeshire ;  Borth- 
wick,  in  Mid  Lothian ;  Gulane,  in  East  Lothian  ; 
Uphall,  and  Abercom,  in  West  Lothian  ;  St.  He- 
len's, Cockbnmspath,  in  Berwickshire ;  Mortlack 
and  Monymusk,  in  Aberdeenshire ;  St.  Columba's, 
Southend,  Kilchonchan,  Campbeltown ;  and  "  the 
beautiful  little  mined  church  of  St.  Blane,  on  the 
island  of  Bute,  with  its  Norman  chancel  arch  and 
graceful  First -pointed  chancel;  besides  tarious 
others  more  or  less  perfect  still  remaining  in  Ar- 


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gyleshire — all  pi'esentiug  interesting  features  illos- 
trative  of  the  development  of  tlie  Romanesque 
style  in  Scotland,  and  furaishing  evidence  of  the 
grcat  impetus  given  to  church  building  at  the  pe- 
riod." [WilaorCs  ArchcBologyy  p.  614.]  We  learn 
fi-om  the  work  just  quoted  that  the  portions  which 
remain  of  the  original  Noimau  structm*c  of  Alex- 
ander the  Fb-st's  foundation  on  Inchcolm,  (of 
which  the  cut  given  in  p.  58  will  illustrate  our 
remarks,)  erected  about  1123,  are  characterized 
by  the  same  unornate  simplicity  that  marks  the 
little  chapel  of  St.  Margaret  in  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  which  has  already  been  referred  to, 
and  that  it  was  not  till  the  reign  of  David  the 
First  that  any  certain  examples  wei-e  furnished 
of  the  highly  decorated  late  Norman  work. 
The  ai*cliitecture  of  Kelso  abbey,  founded  in  1128 
by  David  the  Fii-st,  (in  the  same  ycai*  with 
Holy  rood  abbey,)  and  the  singularly  rich  de- 
tails of  which  have  made  it  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated remains  of  the  middle  ages  in  Scotland,  is 
Saxon  or  early  Norman,  with  the  exception  of 
four  magnificent  central  arches,  which  ai'e  decid- 
edly Gothic ;  and  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  this 
particular  style,  being  regular  and  uniform  in  its 
titructnre.  Though  built  under  the  same  auspices, 
and  nearly  about  the  same  period  as  the  abbeys 
of  Melrose  and  Jedburgh,  it  totally  difiei*s  from 
them  in  form  and  character,  being  in  the  shape  of 
a  Greek  cross.  Melrose  abbey,  founded  in  1136, 
was  partially  consumed  by  fire  in  1322,  and  what 
now  remains  of  the  i*e-edified  structure  exhibits  a 
style  of  architecture  of  the  richest  Grothic,  which 
has  been  ascertained  to  belong  to  a  later  age  than 
that  of  David.  The  well-known  masterly  de- 
scription of  it  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the  '  Lay  of 
the  Last  Minstrel,'  may,  however,  not  unfitly  be 
applied  to  the  richer  portions  of  the  early  Scottish 
Gothic  style,  which  were  constructed  at  the  close 
of  this  period. 

*'  The  darkened  root  rose  high  oloot 
On  pillars  lofty  and  light  and  small , 
The  keystone  that  locked  each  ribbed  uisle 
Was  a  flenr-de-lys  or  a  quatre-feuille 
The  corbells  were  carved  grotesque  and  gnm , 
And  the  pillars,  with  clustered  shafts  so  trim, 
With  base  and  with  capital  flourish*d  around, 
SeeniM  bundles  of  lances  which  garlands  had  bound/' 


The  chief  object  of  architectural  intei-est  in  Jc<i- 
burgh  abbey  is  the  Norman  door,  which,  for  the 
elegance  of  its  workmanship,  and  the  symmetry  of 
its  propoi-tions  is  unrivalled  in  Scotland. 

Although  iu)t  stiictly  pertaining  till  a  later 
period  to  Scotland,  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
specimen  of  later  Norman  work  is  the  cathedral  of 
St.  Magnus  at  Kirkwall  in  Orkney,  the  most  per- 
fectly preserved  cathedral  of  that  epoch,  the  foun- 
dation of  which  was  laid  in  the  year  1138,  by 
Kognwald  or  Ronald,  Norwegian  eari  or  count  of 
Orkney,  the  nephew  of  the  sainted  Magnus.  Like 
St.  Mungo's  in  Glasgow,  it  boasts  of  being  a  com- 
plete cross  church,  with  all  its  essential  parts  en- 
tire, and  these  are  the  only  two  cathedral  edifices 
now  existing  in  Scotland,  to  which  this  descrip- 
tion applies.  A  remai'kably  curious  and  indeed 
unique  example  of  the  arehitecture  of  the  period 
Is  the  little  chureh  and  tower  of  St.  Rule,  at  St. 
Andrews.  The  Norman  prevailed  about  a  hun- 
dred years,  during  which  period  the  ecclesiastical 
architecture  of  England  and  Scotland  was  much 
the  same  in  character  as  well  as  details.  The 
next  stylo  that  was  introduced  was  the  Firat- 
pointed  or  early  English,  which  was  adopted  about 
1170,  and  was  used  till  about  1242 — a  period  of 
seventy  years.  Of  this,  which  is  considered  an 
improvement  on  the  later  Norman,  the  crypt  and 
choir  of  Glasgow  cathedral,  built  between  1188 
and  1197,  the  nave  of  Dunblane  cathedi*al,  Kil- 
winning abbey,  the  ruined  abbey  of  Dryburgh, 
and  the  chancel  of  St.  Blane^s,  Bute,  already  men- 
tioned, are  fine  examples.  Subsequently  the  ec- 
clesiastical architecture  of  Scotland  assumed  a 
somewhat  different  style  from  that  of  England, 
and  became  more  distinctive  and  peculiar  in  its 
character.  The  magnificent  abbey  of  Aberbroth- 
wick,  which  was  founded  by  William  the  Lion  in 
1178,  and  which  furnishes  a  most  interesting  spe- 
cimen of  the  early  Scottish  Gothic,  is  thought  to 
mark  the  historic  epoch  in  which  the  native  styles 
had  their  rise.  \^\ViUon^8  ArditBohgy^  p.  618.] 
As  an  illustration  of  the  progressive  character  of 
Scottish  architecture,  and  the  slow  rate  at  which 
ecclesiastical  structures  in  that  age  were  erected, 
the  reader  is  presented  with  the  following  view  of 
'*The  North  Aisle  of  the  Nave  of  Dunfermline 
Abbey,  looking  west." 


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ALEXANDER  IlL 


Tlic  architectural  distinctions  wiiicii  are  liere 
observable  indicate  a  difference  of  ages  in  the  styles 
adopted  as  well  as  in  the  periods  of  erection.  The 
nave  is  the  only  portion  of  the  original  abbey 
church  which  remains.  At  the  time  of  the  removal 
of  the  relics  of  the  sainted  queen  Margaret,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third,  as 
already  related  (see  p.  81)  the  choir  was  remodel- 
led according  to  the  prevailing  first  pointed  style 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  on  this  occasion  the 
nave  also  must  have  undergone  some  modifica- 
tions. The  interior  of  the  nave  is  thus  refciTcd  to 
ill  *  Billings*  Baronial  and  Ecclesiastical  Antiqui- 
ties of  Scotland/  article  Dunfermline :  "  ToAvards 
the  westem  extremity  the  clustered  pillar  supports 
tlie  deeply  moulded  pointed  arch," — this  later 
style  probably  indicating  the  period  when  the  new 
church  was  rebuilt,  —  "while  further  on,"  viz. 
towards  the  front  of  the  engraving,  **the  sup- 
porting pillars  are  circular  with  the  stunted  hard 
Norman  capital,  and  the  arches  are  semicircular. 
The  cylindrical  shafts  of  the  easternmost  arch  on 
either  side  are  adorned  by  large  zigzags,"  indicat- 


ing the  varieties  of  the  early  Norman.  In  the 
middle  ages  the  most  skilful  architects  were  gen- 
erally monks  or  secular  clergymen,  who  were  at 
once  the  patrons  and  chief  practitioners  of  the 
highest  branches  of  the  art ;  hence  the  peculiarly 
rich  and  splendid  style  of  their  architectural  work, 
and  as  a  guild  of  lay  masons  was  generally  organ- 
ized wherever  any  great  ecclesiastical  erection 
was  going  on,  hence,  too,  that  singular  progres- 
sive unity  of  purpose  traceable  throughout  the 
various  styles  of  the  ecclesiastical  architecturo  of 
that  period. 

During  the  reigns  of  Alexander  the  Second  and 
Alexander  the  Third,  Scotland  began  for  the  first 
time  to  assume  that  position  among  the  nations  of 
Europe  which  it  continued  to  sustain  while  it  re- 
mained an  independent  kingdom.  Its  geographi- 
cal and  political  isolation,  and  smallncss  of  extent 
and  power  in  proportion  to  the  neighbouring  realm 
of  England,  as  well  as  its  Intestine  wars,  and  as 
has  been  remarked,  "  very  partial  share  in  the  great 
movements  of  mediaeval  Europe,  including  the 
crusades,"  had  hitherto  prevented  its  importance 


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ALEXANDER  in. 


from  being  acknowledged ;  but  its  growing  influ- 
ence and  gradual  development  of  strength  under 
the  monarcbs  of  the  period  included  within  what 
is  called  "  the  Saxon  Conquest,"  could  not  fail  to 
be,  in  course  of  time,  duly  recognised  by  the  other 
powera ;  and  the  marriages  of  the  second  Alexan- 
der, firat  to  Joan,  the  sister  of  John  king  of  Eng- 
land,, the  daughter  of  a  French  hidy  and  educated 
in  France,  and  afterwards  to  Mai*y  de  Couci;  of 
Alexauder,  prince  of  Scotland,  the  son  of  Alexan- 
der the  Third ;  and  latterly  of  Alexander  himself, 
to  other  illustrious  ladies  connected  with  that 
kmgdom,  could  not  fail  to  mark  the  consideration 
in  which  Scotland  was  at  this  period  beginning  to 
be  held.  It  may  here  be  stated  that  Enguerraud 
de  Couci,  the  father  of  Maiy  de  Couci,  the  mother  of 
Alexander  the  Third,  was  one  of  tlie  most  accom- 
plished knights  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and 
conspicuous  above  his  contemporaries  for  his  vir- 
tues and  abilities.  He  stood  so  high  in  the  esti- 
mation of  his  brother  knights  and  nobles  that  they 
At  one  period  seem  to  have  entertained  a  project 
of  placing  him  on  the  throne  of  France.  Win- 
ton  (vol.  ii.  p.  482),  says  that  on  account  of  his 
brave  actions,  his  possessions,  and  three  marriages 
with  ladies  of  royal  and  illustiious  families,  he  was 
sumamed  Le  Grand.  He  was  also  one  of  those 
famous  romantic  poets  of  chivalry,  who  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  were  known  by  the  name  of  Troubadours, 
as  were  also  many  of  his  family.  His  gi*andfather, 
Raonl  I.,  lord  of  Couci,  accompanied  Philip  Au- 
gustus in  the  earlier  crusades,  to  Palestine.  His 
nephew  Renaud,  Castellan  de  Couci,  with  whom 
Raoul  is  sometimes  confounded,  is  the  hero  of  the 
old  French  ballad  of  *  The  Knight  of  Cuitesy  and 
the  Lady  of  FagucL'  Having  gone  to  the  Holy 
Land  with  Richard  Cocur  de  Lion,  ho  was  mor- 
tally wounded  in  defending  a  castle  in  1191,  and 
desired  his  squire,  after  his  death  to  cany  his 
heart  to  his  misti-ess  Gabrielle  de  Vergy,  wife  of 
the  loi-d  of  Fayel.  The  squire  was  intercepted  by 
the  husband,  and  the  heait  of  the  unfortunate 
Castellan  was  by  his  orders  di-essed  for  supper 
and  eaten  by  his  wife,  who,  on  being  informed  of 
the  horrible  fact,  refused  all  sustenance,  and  died 
of  voluntary  starvation.  The  fame  of  the  father 
of  his  fiiture  consort  as  a  votary  "  of  the  gay 
science,"  and  one  of  the  most  esteemed  Provencal 


poets,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  gallant  knights 
of  the  age,  must  have  been  well  known  to  the 
Scottish  king,  and  no  doubt  had  its  effect,  with 
the  attractions  of  the  daughter,  in  directing  the 
affections  of  Alexander  II.  towards  her,  on  the 
death  of  Queen  Joan. 

The  de  Coucis  Avere  long  an  illustrious  family  in 
France,  and  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Sixth, 
the  then  lord  de  Couci,  one  of  the  greatest  warriors 
of  his  age,  man-ied  the  daughter  of  the  duke  de 
r^rraine.  Our  historians  have  universally  con- 
tented themselves  with  mentioning  the  name  ol 
the  mother  of  Alexander  the  Third,  without  giving 
any  account  of  her  lineage  or  her  father's  illus- 
trious qualities  both  as  a  poet  and  a  knight.  The 
propensity  to  verse,  song,  and  the  dance,  was  one 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  Norman  chivalry,  and 
through  the  means  of  the  Norman  settlers  in  Scot- 
land, a  similar  taste  must  have  been  gradually 
encouraged  at  the  Scottish  court.  Of  this  fond- 
ness for  mirth  and  the  gay  poetry  of  the  trouba- 
doui*s,  which  appears  to  have  prevailed  to  some 
extent  at  the  Scottish  court  during  the  reigns  of 
Alexander  the  Second  and  Third,  a  valuable  proof 
seems  to  be  furnished  by  the  celebrated  chesspiece, 
of  which  a  woodcut  is  piven.    This  chesspiece  is 


prcsened  in  tlie  collection  formed  by  Sir  John 
Clerk  at  Penicuick  house,  and  was  found  by  John 


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ALEXANDER. 


Adair,  geographer  for  Scotland,  in  1682,  some- 
where in  the  north,  while  engaged  in  making  a 
snnrej  of  the  kingdom.  The  piece  consists  in  all 
of  sereli  figures,  and  is  supposed,  although  not  we 
tliink  on  veiy  sufficient  grounds,  to  be  of  Scottish 
manufacture. 

In  this  curious  and  ingenious  piece  of  art,  a  re- 
presentation and  description  o^  which  is  given  in 
*  Wilson's  Archaoiogy  and  Prehistoric  Annals  of 
Scotland,'  page  579,  (where  it  is  supposed  to  be- 
long to  the  fourteenth  century),  the  queen,  pro- 
bably intended  for  Queen  Mary  de  Couci,  is  re- 
presented crowned  and  seated  on  her  throne,  with 
a  lapdog  on  her  knee,  and  what  is  apparently  a 
book,  perhaps  of  troubadour  poetry,  in  her  right 
hand.  On  her  left  stands  a  knight  in  full  armour, 
with  drawn  sword  and  shield,  who  appears  to  be 
reciting  verses,  while  a  trouvere  or  minstrel  on 
ner  left  seems  to  be  accompanying  him  on  the 
crowde,  a  musical  instrument  then  in  use  which 
somewhat  resembled  the  violin.  The  four  female 
figures  behind  have  hold  of  each  other  by  the  hand, 
while  the  one  next  the  minstrel  bears  a  palm- 
^H'anch.  The  whole  seems  intended  to  embody 
some  display  before  the  queen  of  the  joyous  science, 
in  which  the  troubadours  took  so  much  delight. 

Ai^EXAHDER,  ft  soTDame  in  Scotland,  probably  derived  ori- 
ginallv  from  the  first  king  of  that  name,  bat  chiefly  borne  by 
tlio  earis  of  Stirling  and  their  descendants.  The  family  of 
Alexander,  earis  of  Stirling,  is  traced  from  a  remote  period 
by  genealogists,  who  derive  it  from  a  branch  of  the  Mao- 
donalds.  Somerled,  king  of  the  Isles,  who  lived  in  the  rdgn 
of  Malcolm  the  Foorth,  and  was  slam  m  battle  about  1164, 
had  by  his  second  wife  Efl^ca,  daughter  of  Olave  the  Red, 
king  of  Man,  three  sons,  Dogall,  Reginald,  and  Angus. 
After  Somerled*s  death,  the  Isles,  with  the  exception  of 
Arran  and  Bute,  which  had  come  to  him  with  his  wife, 
descended  to  DngalU  his  eldest  son  by  hb  second  marriage. 
Dugall  also  possessed  the  district  of  EiOm.  On  his  death 
the  Isles  did  not  immediately  pass  into  the  possession  of 
his  children,  but  appear,  according  to  the  Highland  law  of 
succession,  to  have  been  acquired  by  his  brother  Reginald, 
who,  in  consequence,  assumed  the  title  of  kmg  of  tho  Isles. 
ISkene'i  Histoty  qf  the  Highlanders,  vol.  iL  p.  49.]  Tho 
portion  of  property  which  foil  to  Reginald*s  share  on  his 
father's  death  consisted  of  lalay  among  the  Isles,  with  Kin- 
tyre  and  part  of  Lorn.  The  genealogists  of  the  noble  family 
of  Stiriing  have  confounded  this  Reginald  with  his  cousin 
Reginald  the  Norwegian,  king  of  Man  and  the  Isles,  who  was 
contemporary  with  him,  and  who  was  the  son  of  Godred  the 
Black,  king  of  Man,  the  brother  of  Efinca,  Somerled's  second 
wife.  Reginald,  lord  of  Islay  and  South  Kintyre  and  king  of 
the  Isles,  was  the  father  of  Donald,  the  progenitor  of  the  dan 
Donald,  who  had  three  sons,  Roderid^  Angus,  and  Alexander, 
Roderick's  male  descendants  became  extinct  in  the  third  gen- 
eration.  The  second  son,  Angus,  lord  of  Islay,  the  Angus  Mohr 


of  the  Sennachles,  and  the  first  of  his  race  who  acknowledged 
himtdf  a  wahjtct  of  the  King  of  Scotland,  was  ancestor  of  the 
earis  of  Roes,  kirds  of  the  Isles,  of  the  lords  MaodonaJd,  and 
<rf'tbe  earls  of  Antrim  in  Ireland.  His  grandson,  John,  lord 
of  the  Isles,  took  for  his  second  wife,  the  princess  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Robert  11.,  and  his  third  son  by  her,  Alexander, 
Lord  of  Locbaber,  forfeited  in  1481,  had  two  sons,  Angus, 
ancestor  of  the  Macalisters  of  Loup,  Argyleshire,  and  Alex- 
ander Maoalister,  who  obtained  the  lands  of  Menstrie,  Clack- 
mannanshire, in  fen  from  the  family  of  Argyle,  and  was  an- 
cestor of  the  earls  of  Stirling.  His  posterity  took  the  surname 
of  Alexander  from  bis  Christian  name.  He  had  a  son,  Thomas, 
2d  baron  ot  Menstrie,  who  is  mentioned  as  an  arbiter  in  a 
dispute  between  the  abbot  of  Cambuskenneth  and  Sir  David 
Bruce  of  Clackmannan,  6th  March  1505.  Thomas*  son, 
Andrew,  8d  baron,  was  father  of  Alexander,  Alexander,  4th 
baroD,  who  had  a  ton,  Andrew,  5th  baron.  This  gentleman 
was  father  of  another  Alexander  Alexander,  6th  baron  of 
Menstrie,  who  died  in  1594,  leavmg  an  only  son,  Sir  Willism 
Alexander,  7th  baron  of  Menstrie  and  first  earl  of  Stirling,  a 
Memoir  of  whom  is  subjoined  in  Uiger  ^pe. 

Sir  William  Alexander,  the  first  earl  of  Stirling,  married 
Janet,  daughter  and  beu^ess  of  Sir  William  Erskine,  titular 
archbishop  of  Glasgow,  parson  of  Campsie,  chancellor  of  tho 
cathedral  of  Glasgow,  and  commendator  of  Paisley,  a  younger 
son  of  Erskine  of  Balgony,  and  cousin  of  the  r^nt  earl  oi 
Mar.    By  her  he  had  seven  sons  and  three  daughters. 

The  eari*s  ddest  son,  William,  Viscount  Canada  and  Lord 
Alexander,  was  appointed  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session  in 
SootUnd,  m  room  of  his  father,  27th  January  1635.  He 
spent  a  winter  in  Nova  Scotia  as  deputy-lieutenant,  but  the 
hardships  he  endured  while  there  injured  his  constitution. 
He  died  at  London  in  1638,  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father. 
By  his  wife.  Lady  Maiy  DougUs,  daughter  of  William,  fhvt 
marquis  of  Douglas,  he  had  a  son  William,  the  second  eari  of 
Stirlii^,  who  died  within  six  months  after  succeeding  to  the 
title,  under  eight  years  of  age. 

Earl  William  was  succeeded  by  his  unde  Henry,  who  was 
the  third  son  of  the  first  earl, — the  second  son,  Anthony,  who 
had  been  knighted,  and  was  master  of  works  in  Scotland,  hav- 
ing, like  his  eldest  brother  Alexander,  died  before  his  father. 

The  third  earl  died  in  1644,  leaving  an  only  son,  also  named 
Henry,  who  became  the  fourth  eari.  He  died  in  1691,  leav- 
ing issue  four  sons,  whereof  Henry  the  eldest  succeeded  as 
fiflh  earl,  but  died  without  issue  4th  December  1739.  Hb 
three  younger  brothers  having  also  died  without  issue  in  his 
lifetime,  tlie  title  became  dormant 

The  first  earl  of  Stirling's  fourth  son,  John,  married  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  John  Graham  of  Gartmore,  of  which 
estate  the  earl  obtained  a  charter  23d  January  1636.  By  this 
hidy  the  Hon.  John  Alexander  had  a  daughter  but  no  sons; 
and  in  1644,  he  sold  Gartmore  to  Graham  of  Donnans,  pro- 
genitor of  the  baronets  of  Gartmore,  and  the  Grahams  of 
Gallangad. 

Charies,  the  first  earPs  fifth  son,  had  an  only  son  Charles, 
who  died  without  issue.  Ludovick  the  sixth  son  died  in  in- 
fancy, and  James  the  youngest  died  without  issue  male. 

In  1830,  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Mr.  Alexander  Hum- 
phrys,  or  Alexander,  came  forward,  and  claimed  the  titles 
and  honours  as  descended  fkx)m  a  younger  branch  of  the  fam- 
ily by  the  female  side,  his  mother  Hannah,  the  wife  of  Wil- 
liam Humphiys,  Esq.  of  the  Larches,  Warwickshire,  assuming 
to  be  countess  of  Stiriing  in  her  own  right  She  died  in  Sep- 
tember 1814,  and  in  April  1825  he  began  to  style  himself 
earl  of  Stirling  and  Dovan,  but  was  in  1839,  tried  before  the 
High  Court  of  Justidary,  Edinburgh,  on  a  charge  of  forging 


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EARL  OF  STIRLING. 


certain  doctunento  on  which  he  founded  bis  claim.  The  jury 
declared  the  documents  forgerieB ;  but  found  the  charge  against 
Humphrys  of  having  forged  them  not  proven.  The  result  of 
the  trial  was  to  put  an  end  to  his  pretensions  to  the  earl- 
dom. Another  supposed  descendant,  Major-general  Alexan- 
der, of  the  United  States  service,  generally  styled  Lord  Stir- 
ling, distinguished  himself  during  the  revolutionary  war  in 
Noith  America,  and  died  in  1783.    See  Stirling,  chH  of. 

The  noble  family  of  Alexander,  earls  of  Caledon  in  Ireknd, 
IS  descended  from  a  junior  branch  of  the  house  of  Stirling. 

ALEXANDER,  Sir  William,  firet  eail  of 
Stirling,  an  eminent  poet  and  statesman,  styled 
by  Drummond  of  Hawthoniden,  "  that  most  ex- 
cellent spirit  and  eai-liest  gem  of  our  north,"  was 
the  son  of  Alexander  Alexander  of  Menstrie,  in 
Stirlingshire,  and  was  born,  about  1580,  in  Men- 
strie House,  which  is  celebrated  also  as  the  birth- 
place of  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  and  of  which  a 
wood-cut  is  given  at  page  5.  All  his  patrimony 
was  the  small  estate  of  Menstrie,  of  which  he  was 
the  seventh  proprietor,  but  he  acquired  both  fortune 
and  rank  for  himself.  After  completing  bis  edu- 
cation, he  accompanied  the  seventh  earl  of  Argyle 
to  the  continent  as  his  travelling  tutor  and  com- 
panion. On  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  lived  for 
some  time  in  retirement,  employing  himself  in 
composing  amatory  verses.  His  first  poetical  ef- 
fusions were  inspired  by  a  passion  which  he  en- 
tertained for  a  lady,  whom  he  fancifully  calls 
'*  Aurora."  His  suit  was  unsuccessful.  The  lady 
of  his  love  man-ied  a  much  older  person,  and 
like  another  Petrarch  he  continued  to  address 
her  in  lachiymatory  sonnets.  These,  a  hundred 
in  number,  were  published  in  I^ondon  in  1604, 
imder  the  title  of  *  Aurora,  containing  the  Fii-st 
Fancies  of  the  Author's  Youth.'  He  subsequently 
married  Janet,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Erskine,  cousin  of  the  regent  earl  of  Mar, 
as  stated  above.  He  next  tunicd  his  attention 
to  grave  and  moral  subjects,  with  a  view  to  the 
direction  of  princes  and  rulera,  in  a  series  of  tra- 
gedies, foniied  upon  the  Greek  and  Roman  mo- 
dels, at  least  in  their  chorusses  between  the  acts. 
One  of  these,  founded  upon  the  story  of  Darius, 
was  published  in  Edlnbuigh  in  1603.  He  had 
been  eai'ly  introduced  to  the  royal  notice,  as  his 
residence  Avas  near  the  castle  of  Stirling,  where 
James  the  Sixth  often  held  his  court,  and  shortly 
after  that  monarch,  with  whom  he  had  ingratiated 
himself  by  his  poetry,  had  removed  to  England, 


in  the  year  stated  (1603),  Alexander  followed  him 
to  London.  At  court  he  distinguished  himself  by 
his  genius  and  accomplishments,  aud  soon  obtain- 
ed the  place  of  gentleman  of  the  privy  chamber  to 
Prince  Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  King  James.  To 
this  youthful  and  amiable  prince  he  addressed  his 
*  Paraenesis,  or  Exhortation  to  Government,'  a  jx)- 
em  containing  important  and  useful  lessons  to  an 
heir  of  royalty.  After  Prince  Heniy's  death  he 
published  it,  re-addressed  to  the  new  heir-appa- 
rent. Prince  Chai'les.  From  this  poem  we  may 
quote  one  short  specimen : 

"  0  heavenly  knowledge !  which  the  best  sort  loves, 
Life  of  the  soul !  reformer  of  the  will ! 
Clear  light  I  which  from  the  mind  each  cloud  removes, 
Pure  spring  of  vertue,  physick  for  each  ill ! 
Whichf  in  prosperity,  a  bridle  proves, 
And,  in  adversity,  a  pillar  still. 

Of  thee  the  more  men  get,  the  more  they  crave. 
And  think,  the  more  they  get,  the  lesse  tlicy  have." 

In  1607  the  tragedy  of  Darius,  above  referred  to, 
was  republished  with  three  others,  namely,  Cixe- 
sus.  The  Alexandriean,  and  Julius  Caesar,  under 
the  title  of '  Monarchic  Tragedies.'  They  had  an- 
other title,  '  Elegiac  Dialogues  for  the  Instruction 
of  the  Great,'  and  were  dedicated  to  the  king. 
None  of  them  were  adapted  to  the  stage.  The 
point  of  these  moral  *  Monarchic  Tragedies' was 
to  illustrate  the  superiority  of  merit  to  dignity. 
Thus,  in  Cixusus,  we  have  the  following  lines : 

•'  More  than  a  crowu  true  worth  shonld  be  esteemed. 
One  Fortune  gives,  the  other  is  our  own ; 
By  which  the  mind  from  anguish  is  redeemed, 
When  Fortune's  goods  are  by  herself  o'erthrown." 

And  in  Darius  there  is  the  following  sentiment : 

"  Who  would  the  title  of  true  worth  were  his. 
Must  vanquish  vice,  and  no  base  thought*  conceive. 
The  bravest  trophy  ever  man  obtained 
Is  that  which  o*er  himself  himself  hath  gained.'* 

We  are  afraid,  however,  that  the  tragedies  were 
monarchic  in  more  senses  than  one.  Instead  of 
such  moral  truisms,  had  he  checked  the  intempe- 
rate spirit  of  kingcraft  and  selfish  policy  of  James, 
or  pointed  out,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  display 
themselves  in  his  son  Charles,  the  folly  and  danger 
of  that  love  of  the  prcrogat've  and  fatal  duplicity 
which  aftcrwaids  led  him  to  the  block,  he  would 


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have  rendered  a  benefit  to  these  monarchs,  and 
done  good  service  to  hnmanity.  One  of  these 
plays,  called  '  The  Alcxandrsean,*  gave  rise  to  the 
following  Latin  epigram  by  Anhur  Johnston,  edi- 
tor of  his  » Whole  Works.' 

'*  Confer  Alexandros ;  Maoedo  victricibus  armu 
Magnus  erat,  Scotus  carmine  Miyor  utcr?** 

Prince  Heniy  died  in  1612,  and  in  1613  Alex- 
ander was  appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen  ushers 
of  the  presence  to  Prince  Charles,  aftenvards 
Charles  L  In  the  same  year  he  published  a  ^Sup- 
plement,' to  complete  the  third  part  of  Sir  Philip 
Sydney's  romance  of  'Arcadia,'  which  had  been 
written  some  years  before.  In  1614  he  i-eccived 
the  honour  of  knighthood  from  king  James,  who 
used  to  call  him  his  '*  philosophic  poet,"  and  was 
made  Master  of  Requests.  The  same  year  he 
published  at  Ediubm'gh  his  largest  work,  a  sacred 
lK>em  entitled  'Doomsday,  or  the  Great  Day  of 
Judgement,'  of  which  there  have  been  several 
editions.  It  is  supposed  that  Milton  has  copied 
from  this  in  some  parts  of  his  Pai*adise  Lost,  or 
at  least  derived  some  of  his  suggestions  from  it. 
At  this  period  he  commenced  his  political  career. 
The  object  which  fii'st  attracted  his  attention  was 
the  settlement  of  a  colony  in  North  America,  in 
a  part  of  the  Council  of  New  England's  patent 
from  King  James,  which  they  were  desirous  of 
Durrendering.  Of  this  great  tract  of  conntiy  he 
had  a  royal  grant,  dated  at  Windsor  the  10th  Sep- 
tember 1621,  by  which  the  said  extensive  temtoiy 
was  then  given  to  him  to  hold  hcreditai'ily,  with 
the  office  of  hereditary  lieutenant,  and  was  thence- 
forth to  be  called  Nova  Scotia.  The  following 
sketch  of  this  proposed  settlement  is  abridged  from 
Bancroft's  Histoiy  of  the  Colonization  of  America. 
Sir  Frederick  Gorges,  governor  of  Plymouth  in 
New  England,  a  man  of  energy  of  chai-acter,  and 
zeal  for  disco veiy,  having  a  few  months  previous, 
November  8,  1620,  obtained  from  James  a  patent 
for  the  famous  association,  which  has  but  one  pai'- 
allel  in  the  history  of  the  world,  whereby  forty 
English  subjects,  incor|)orated  as  '*The  Council 
established  at  Plymouth  for  the  planting,  i*ullng, 
and  governing  New  England  in  America,"  obtained 
an  exclusive  right  to  possess  and  rule  over  terri- 
tory extending  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-eighth 


degi-ee  of  north  latitude,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  that  company,  nnder  a  grant  from 
whom  the  Pilgrim  fathera  about  the  same  time 
obtained  the  privilege  of  a  settlement,  being  un- 
willing to  witness  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
and  the  French  monarch  in  possession  of  the  east- 
em  coast  of  North  America,  sought  to  secure  the 
safety  of  the  northern  frontier  of  the  region  as- 
signed to  them  (now  the  present  state  of  Maine), 
by  inviting  the  Scottish  nation  to  become  the 
guardians  of  its  frontier,  and  Sir  William  Alexan- 
der, as  a  man  of  influence  with  King  James,  and 
already  animated  with  the  ambition,  so  common 
to  the  courtiers  of  that  age,  of  engaging  in  colonial 
adventnro,  was  pci*snaclod  to  second  a  design  which 
promised  to  establish  his  pei-sonal  dignity  and  ad- 
vance his  interest.  Accordingly,  without  difficulty 
a  patent  was  obtained  by  him,  as  alroady  stated,  on 
the  10th  September  1621,  for  all  the  tenitory  lying 
east  of  the  St.  Croix,  and  south  of  the  St.  Law- 
ronce.  Immediate  attempts  wero  made  to  effect  a 
Scottish  settlement.  A  ship  was  sent  ont  in  1622, 
but  it  only  came  in  sight  of  the  shoro ;  and  those 
on  board,  declining  the  perils  of  colonization,  re- 
tui*ned  to  the  permanent  fishing  station  at  New- 
foundland. In  the  following  spring  a  second  ship 
anived,  but  the  two  vessels  in  company  hardly 
possessed  courage  to  do  more  than  survey  the 
coast.  After  making  a  partial  survey  of  the  har- 
bours, and  the  adjacent  lands,  they  postponed  the 
formation  of  a  colony,  and  retunied  with  a  biilliant 
account  of  the  soil,  climate,  and  productions  of 
Nova  Scotia,  which  is  still  to  be  read  in  Purchas 
and  other  authors. 

The  territory  thus  ceded,  however,  and  desig- 
nated Nova  Scotia,  had  already  been  included  in 
the  French  province  of  Acadia  and  New  France, 
which,  with  a  better  title  on  the  ground  of  discov- 
eiy,  had  been  gi*anted  by  Henry  the  Fourth  of 
France,  in  1603,  and  had  been  immediately  occu- 
pied by  his  subjects,  and  it  was  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  reigning  French  monarch  would 
esteem  his  rights  to  his  rising  colonies  invalidated 
by  a  parchment  under  the  Scottish  seal,  or  prove 
himself  so  forgetful  of  his  kingly  duty  and  honour 
as  to  withdraw  his  protection  from  the  emigrants 
who  had  settled  in  America  on  the  faith  of  the 
crown.    \BancroiYft  Histon/  of  the  United  States, 


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edition  1843,  p.  134.]  The  accession  of  Charles 
the  First  in  1625,  and  his  marriage  with  Henrietta 
Maria,  the  daaghter  of  the  French  king,  might 
have  been  expected  to  lead  to  some  adjustment 
between  the  rival  claimants  of  the  wilds  of  Acadia, 
but  England  would  not  recognise  the  rights  of 
France ;  and  King  Charles,  by  a  charter  dated  at 
Oatlands,  July  12,  1625,  confirmed  Sir  William 
Alexander,  and  his  heirs,  in  the  office  of  lieuten- 
ant of  Nova  Scotia,  with  all  the  prerogatives  with 
which  he  had  been  so  lavishly  invested  by  King 
James,  and  the  right  of  creating  an  order  of  baro- 
nets of  Nova  Scotia.  All  who  paid  a  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  for  six  thousand  acres  were  to  receive 
the  honour  of  a  knight  baronetcy,  and  his  majesty, 
by  letter  to  his  privy  council  of  Scotland,  dated  19th 
July  1625,  fixed  the  quantity  of  land  that  Sir 
William  might  grant  to  the  baronets  created  by 
him  as  the  qualification  and  to  sustain  the  title, 
to  be  "  thrie  myles  in  breadth,  and  six  in  lenth, 
of  landis  within  New  Scotland,  for  their  sevei-al 
proportions."  The  difficulty  of  infefting  the  new- 
made  baronets  in  their  remote  possessions  was 
overcome  by  a  royal  mandate,  converting  the  soil 
of  the  Castle  Hill  of  Edinburgh,  for  the  time  be- 
ing, into  that  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  they  were  ac- 
cordingly invested  with  their  honours  on  this  spot. 
Sir  William  Alexander  was  to  have  the  prece- 
dence of  all  the  baronets.  He  had  the  same 
year  (1625)  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  *An 
Encouragement  to  Colonies,'  the  object  of  which 
was  to  show  the  advantages  which  were  likely  to 
accrue  to  the  nation  from  the  prosecution  of  the 
scheme.  The  grants  of  such  title  of  baronet, 
though  bestowed,  in  the  fii*st  instance,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  voluntary  smTender  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam, before  or  after  he  became  earl  of  Stirling, 
were  aftei'wai'ds  held  of  the  crown,  by  charter 
of  Novodamus  to  the  respective  parties.  No 
baronet,  however,  obtained  such  grant  from  the 
king,  without  having  previously  obtained  the 
portion  of  lands  for  its  qualification,  from  Sir  Wil- 
liam Alexander,  the  lord  proprietor  of  the  coun- 
tiy.  Sir  William  was  also  invested  with  the  pri- 
vilege of  coining  small  copper  money.  The  sale 
of  lands  proved  to  the  poet  a  lucrative  traffic,  and 
he  forthwith  planted  and  began  to  settle  a  colony 
at  Port  Royal,  where  he  built  a  fort. 


The  version  of  the  Psalms  of  David  into  Scot- 
tish verse,  prepared  by  King  James,  had  been 
committed  to  Sir  William  Alexander  by  his  ma- 
jesty for  revisal ;  but  from  the  following  extract 
of  a  letter  to  his  friend  Dnimmond  of  Hawthorn- 
den,  of  date  28th  April  1620,  it  would  appear  that 
the  pedantic  monarch,  with  characteristic  vanity, 
thought  his  own  translation  of  one  of  the  psalms 
better  than  those  of  the  two  first  poets  of  his  time. 
"  Brother,"  sajrs  Alexander,  "  I  received  your  laM 
letter,  with  the  Psalm  you  sent,  which  I  think 
very  well  done.  I  had  done  the  same  long  before 
it  came;  but  he  (meaning  King  James)  prefers 
his  own  to  all  else ;  though,  perchance,  when  yon 
see  it,  yon  will  think  it  the  worst  of  the  three. 
No  man  must  meddle  with  that  suly'ect,  and  there 
fore  I  advise  you  to  take  no  more  pains  therein." 
On  the  28th  of  December  1627  he  received  a  li- 
cense from  Charies  I.  to  print  the  late  king's  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalms,  with  the  exclusive  copyright 
for  thirty-one  years.  The  first  edition  was  ac- 
cordingly published  at  Oxford  in  1631,  but  the 
earl  derived  little  benefit  from  the  privilege  thus 
confeiTed  upon  him,  as  King  James'  translations 
of  the  Psalms,  although  the  use  of  them  was  at- 
tempted to  be  enforced  by  King  Charles  through- 
out his  dominions,  were  rejected  by  the  Scottish 
church  and  people,  and  not  encouraged  by  the 
English,  and  in  the  civil  war  that  followed  they 
were  lost  sight  of  altogether. 

In  1626  Sir  William  Alexander  was  appointed 
principal  secretary  of  state  for  Scotland.  On  the 
2d  of  February,  1628,  he  had  another  charter, 
under  the  great  seal  of  Scotland,  in  which  he  was 
described  as  the  king's  hereditary  lieutenant  of 
Nova  Scotia,  and  had  a  grant  of  certain  islands 
and  territories,  the  bounds  of  which  were  most 
extensive;  and  the  whole  were  erected  into  an 
entire  and  free  lordship,  then,  and  at  all  times 
thereafter,  to  be  called  and  designated  the  **  Lord- 
ship of  Canada,"  from  the  great  river  then  bearing 
that  name,  on  both  sides  of  which  lay  the  territo- 
ries granted.  This  colony,  as  well  as  that  of  Nova 
Scotia,  was  founded  and  established  at  the  sole 
private  expense  of  Sir  William  Alexander,  the 
grantee ;  and  both  grants  were  confirmed  to  him 
by  the  parliament  of  Scotland  in  1633. 

On  the  4th  of  September.  1630.  he  was  created 


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Lord  Alexander  of  TiiUibody,  aud  Viscount  Stirling 
in  the  Scottish  peerage.  Charles  the  First  bad,  in 
1627,  entered  into  a  war  with  France,  in  support 
of  the  Huguenots  of  that  kingdom,  which  contin- 
ued until  April  1629,  when  it  was  terminated  by 
articles  of  peace,  concluded  at  Snsa  in  Piedmont. 
Dunng  this  war.  Sir  David  Kcrtk  of  Dieppe,  a 
Calvinist,  called  Kirk  by  the  English  and  Ameri- 
can historians,  and  his  two  brothers,  Louis  and 
Thomas,  having  received  the  command  of  three 
English  ships,  sailed  in  1628  on  an  expedition 
against  Quebec,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  French, 
which  they  summoned  to  surrender.  The  garri- 
son, though  destitute  alike  of  provisions  and  mili- 
tary stores,  returned  a  proud  defiance ;  but  after 
the  Kertks  had  defeated  a  squadron  sent  to  its 
relief,  and  reduced  the  garrison  to  extreme  suffer- 
ing and  the  verge  of  famine,  Quebec  capitulated 
19th  July,  1629.  " Thus,"  says  Bancroft,  "did 
England,  one  hundred  and  thirty  yeara  before  the 
enterprise  of  Wolfe,  make  the  conquest  of  the 
capital  of  New  France."  Before,  however,  this 
conquest  had  been  achieved,  peace  had  been  pro- 
claimed betwixt  England  and  France,  and  an 
article  in  the  treaty  already  mentioned  promised 
the  restitution  of  all  acquisitions  made  in  America 
iubsequent  to  its  date,  April  14,  1629. 

In  consequence  of  &  letter  from  his  majesty, 
Charles  the  First,  to  the  lords  of  the  privy  council 
in  Scotland,  on  the  subject  of  the  dispute  betwixt 
the  English  and  French  concerning  the  title  of 
lands  in  America  and  particularly  New  Scotland, 
their  lordships,  with  the  other  estates  of  the  realm, 
being  assembled  in  convention,  31st  July  1630, 
unanimously  agreed  that  his  majesty  should  "  be 
petitioned  to  maintain  his  right  of  New  Scotland, 
and  to  protect  his  subjects,  undei*takers  of  the  said 
plantation,  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  the  same, 
as  being  a  purpose  higblie  concerning  bis  majestie^s 
honour,  and  the  good  aud  credit  of  this  his  ancient 
kingdom."  The  removal  of  the  colony  planted  at 
Port  Royal  was  nevertheless  commanded  by  his 
majesty,  together  with  the  destruction  of  the  fort 
built  for  its  protection,  and  the  evacuation  of  Port 
Royal  itself,  by  a  letter  to  Sir  William  Alexander, 
chen  Viscount  Stirling,  dated  Greenwich,  10th 
July  1631.  This  fort  it  seems  was  one  which  had 
been  erected  by  Lord  Stirling's  son,  Sir  William 


Alexander,  "  on  the  site  of  the  French  cornfields, 
previous  to  the  treaty  of  St.  Germains  (afterwards 
referred  to).  The  remains  of  this  fort  may  be 
traced  with  great  ease;  the  old  parade,  the  em- 
bankment and  ditch  have  not  been  disturbed,  aud 
preserve  their  original  form."  [HalilmrUnCs  His- 
tory of  Nova  Scotia.  Halifax,  1829,  vol.  ii.  page 
1 56.]  The  removal  of  the  colony  from  Port  Royal, 
although  it  was  declared  to  have  been  only  for  a 
time,  occasioned  a  gi-eat  private  loss  to  Ix)rcl  Stir- 
ling, and  operated  as  a  discouragement  to  the 
planting  and  settling  of  Nova  Scotia.  At  the  stnne 
time  King  Charles  wrote  to  the  lords  of  the  coun- 
cil, I2th  July,  1631,  "We  will  be  verie  careful  to 
maintain  all  our  good  subjects  who  do  plant  them- 
selves there ;"  and  granted  lettera  patent,  28th  of 
the  same  month,  wherein  be  declared,  that  he 
agreed  to  give  up  the  fort  and  place  of  Port  Royal, 
without  prejudice  nevertheless  to  his  right  or  title, 
or  that  of  his  subjects,  for  ever;  and  even  held 
out  the  prospect  of  its  garrison,  colonies,  and  in- 
habitants being  allowed  to  return  in  consequence 
of  approbation  to  that  effect  being  obtained  from 
the  French  king.  To  their  lordships  he  also  wrote, 
under  date  19th  February,  1682,  with  a  warrant 
in  Lord  Stirling's  favour  for  £10,000  steriing,  "  in 
no  ways  for  quitting  the  title,  right,  or  possession 
of  New  Scotland,  or  of  any  part  thereof,  but  only 
for  satisfaction  of  the  losses  that  the  said  viscount 
hath,  by  giving  order  for  removing  of  his  colonic 
at  our  Sxpress  command,  for  performing  of  an 
article  of  the  treatie  betwixt  the  French  and  us." 
Tills  is  doubtless  what  Sir  Thomas  Urquhart,  in 
bis  *  Discovery  of  a  most  Exquisite  Jewel,'  &c., 
(8vo,  1662,)  refers  to,  when  he  charges  Lord  Stuling 
with  having  sold  the  colony  to  the  French  "  for 
a  matter  of  ^\e  or  six  thousand  pounds  Eng- 
lish money ;"  but  it  so  happens  that  this  sum  of 
ten  thousand  pounds  was  never  paid  either  to 
Lord  Stirling  or  any  of  his  ^eirs. 

That  fanciful  knight  speaks  very  sUghtingly  of 
Ijord  Stirling's  plans  of  colonization,  and  especially 
of  his  project  of  raising  money  by  the  creation  and 
sale  of  baronetcies  in  what  he  calls  "  that  kingdom 
of  Nova  Scotia,"  and  says  that  **  the  ancient  gen- 
try of  Scotland  esteemed  such  a  whimsical  dignity 
to  be  a  disparagement,  rather  than  any  addition 
to  their  former  honour."    Their  descendants,  how- 


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ever,  ai*c  of  a  different  opinion.  The  order  of  bar- 
onets of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia  is  considered 
liigiily  honourable.  From  the  beginning  of  tlie 
reign  of  Charles  the  First,  when  it  was  first 
Instituted,  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne, 
when  the  last  member  was  created,  upwards  of 
two  hundred  and  eighty  baronets  of  this  order 
were  made  in  all ;  and  of  these  creations  about 
one  hundred  and  seventy  exist  at  present.  The 
badge  of  tlie  order  is  a  medal  bearing  the  arms  of 
Nova  Scotia,  encircled  by  the  motto,  "  Fax  mentut 
honestce  gloria^^"^  suspended  from  the  neck  by  an 
orange  tawny  riband. 

Owing  to  the  capture  of  Quebec  by  Sir  David 
Kcrtk,  the  king  of  France  detained  four  hundred 
thousand  crowns,  part  of  his  sister  the  queen  of 
England^s  poi*tion.  Tliis  brought  about  a  treaty 
with  King  Charles,  who  empowered  his  ambassa- 
dor, Sir  Isaac  Wake,  to  conclude  the  dispute  29th 
June  1681,  but  it  was  not  till  29th  March  1632 
that  the  treaty  was  signed,  by  which  King  Charles 
agreed  to  make  his  subjects  withdraw  from  all  the 
places  occupied  by  them ;  and  for  that  effect  gave 
orders  to  those  who  commanded  in  Port  Royal, 
the  fort  of  Quebec,  and  Cape  Breton,  to  i-ender 
up  these  places  and  fort  into  the  hands  of  such  per- 
sons as  the  French  king  should  please  to  appoint ; 
which  put  an  end  to  all  differences,  and  the  re- 
maining half  of  the  queen's  poi-tion  was  paid  by 
the  French  king.  [Princess  Annals  of  New  Eng- 
land,'] This  treaty  is  known  in  history  as  the 
treaty  of  St.  Germains.  Although  by  this  treaty 
Nova  Scotia  was  not  ceded  at  all,  but  only  Port 
Royal  commanded  to  be  given  up,  the  French 
from  Quebec  and  the  surrounding  district  thereaf- 
ter suddenly  broke  into  the  country  of  Nova  Sco- 
tia, on  the  unsupported  pretence  of  a  right  to  the 
'  possession  of  it,  by  the  treaty  just  referred  to. 
The  troubles  in  England,  in  which  King  Charles 
was  involved,  prevented  his  breaking  with  the 
French  court,  and  the  French  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  of  the  convulsed  state  of  Bri- 
tain to  take  possession  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  keep 
it  for  a  long  time,  without  being  molested,  or  any 
effectual  remonstrances  being  made  against  their 
aggression. 

In  June  1633  the  patents  or  grants  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Alexander,  vbcount  of  Stirling,  were  solemn- 


ly ratified  by  the  Scottish  parliament,  and  at  the 
coronation  of  King  Charles  at  Holyrood  on  the 
14th  of  the  same  month,  with  a  view  to  perpetu- 
ate the  name  of  the  lordship  of  Canada  in  his 
family,  the  king,  by  other  letters  patent,  created 
him  viscount  of  Canada,  and  earl  of  Stiriing. 
His  salary  as  secretary  of  state  for  Scotland  was 
only  one  hundred  pounds  sterling,  but  the  privi- 
lege which,  as  already  stated,  he  had  received 
from  the  king,  of  issuing  small  coins,  as  well  as  his 
sale  of  baronetcies,  added  much  to  his  fortune. 
As,  however,  the  intrinsic  value  of  these  coins 
was  inferior  to  their  nominal, ^this  monopoly  was 
unpopular.  They  were  called  "turners,"  from 
the  French  town  Tottmois,  where  this  money 
was  first  coined,  and  which,  being  a  mixture  of 
copper  and  brass  termed  billon,  was  known  by  the 
name  of  "  turners  "  from  this  circumstance,  as  also 
"billons"  from  the  mixture  of  which  they  were 
composed.  Thus  the  poet  Beattie,  in  the  only 
known  composition  of  his  in  the  Scottish  language, 
referring  to  the  disposition  which  prevailed  on  the 
part  of  the  Scots  to  look  to  Englisli  to  the  neglect 
of  native  literature,  after  the  death  of  Allan  Ram- 
say, thus  uses  the  word : 

"  Since  Allan^s  death,  nae  body  carM 
For  anes  to  speer  how  Scotia  far'd ; 
Nor  plack  nor  thristled  turner  war*d 

To  quench  her  drouth ; 
For,  frae  the  cottar  to  the  laird 

We  a'  run  south." 

It  was  called  the  thristled,  that  is,  thistled  turner, 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  French  coin,  which,  ow- 
ing to  the  friendship  subsisting  between  the  Scots 
and  the  French,  circulated  in  Scotland  even  so 
late  as  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth.  The 
Scottish  turner,  or  toumois,  bore  the  national  em- 
blem of  the  thistle.  It  was  sometimes  called  a 
bodle,  or  black  farthing,  value  two  pennies  Scotch ; 
being  half  a  plack,  value  fourpence  Scotch,  or  one- 
third  of  a  penny  English.  The  motto  of  the  eari 
of  Stirling  was  " Per  Mare^  per  TerraSy''  which, 
with  his  armorial  bearings,  he  caused  to  be  placed 
in  front  of  a  spacious  mansion  he  bad  erected  at 
Stirling.  His  motto,  in  allusion  to  his  poetry  and 
his  coinage,  was  thns  parodied  by  the  sarcastic 
Scott  of  Scotstarvet,  "per  metres^  per  turners,''^ 
which  became  current  among  the  people.    The 


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ALEXANDER, 


111 


EARI.  OF  STIRLING. 


honse  remains,  but  has  been  long  known  by  the 
name  of  Argyle^s  lodging ;  the  arms  of  the  Alex- 
anders having  aft«r  his  death  In  1640,  when  it 
passed  into  that  family,  been  removed  to  make 
way  for  those  of  Argyle.  "  This  baronial  edifice 
is  a  veiy  excellent  specimen,'^  says  Billings,  in  his 
'Baronial  Architecture  of  Scotland,'  "of  that 
French  style  which  predominated  in  the  north  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Its 
characteristic  features  are,  round  towers  or  tur- 
rets, whether  at  the  exterior  or  interior  angles, 
with  conical  summits,  rows  of  richly  ornamented 
dormer  windows,  and  a  prafuse  distribution  of 
semi-classic  mouldings  and  other  decorations." 
The  accompanying  cut  represents  it  as  t)rigina11y 
constnictcd,  and  before  the  cone-topped  tower 


was  substituted  by  tlie  polygonai  one  erected  in 
1674.  It  IS  taken  from  the  highly  interesting 
work  above  referred  to.  Tlie  original  portion 
bears  the  date  of  1632.  After  the  additions  made 
to  it  in  1674,  James  VII.,  when  duke  of  York, 
became  its  inmate  as  guest  of  Argyle,  "  an  inci- 
dent," says  Billings,  "  noticed  in  connection  with 
the  cmsumstancc,  that  the  guest  waa  subsequently 
instrumental  in  putting  his  host  to  death."  It 
was  here  the  groat  Duke  John  held  his  council  of 
war,  when  suppressing  the  rebellion  of  1715.   The 


building  subsequently  came  into  possession  of  the 
Crown,  and  is  now  used  as  a  military  hospital  for 
the  gaiTison.  INimmo's  Stirlingshire^  p.  842.]  Be- 
sides being  secretary  of  state,  an  office  which  he 
is  said  to  have  held  with  no  small  degree  of  repu- 
tation till  his  death,  his  lordship  was  by  Charles 
the  First  appointed  a  member  of  the  privy  coun- 
cil, keeper  of  the  signet  m  Scotland,  conmiission- 
er  of  exchequer,  and  an  extraordinaiy  lord  ot 
session;  a  plurality  of  offices  doubtless  sufficient 
for  one  man. 

In  1637,  by  a  privy  seal  precept  dated  30th 
July,  the  earl  was  created  earl  of  Dovan  in  Scot- 
land, with  precedency  from  June  1633.  He  con- 
tinued to  procure  the  creation  of  baronets  of  those 
persons  respectively  who  concurred  with  him  in 
the  great  enterprise  of  fully  planting  Nova  Scotia, 
and  he  made  up  their  territorial  qualifications  for 
receiving  the  dignity,  by  surrender  of  portions  of 
the  lands  in  then*  favour.  This,  we  are  told,  he 
did  down  to  3l8t  July  1637,  at  which  time  he 
ceased  to  make  them,  intelligence  having  reached 
him  that  the  French  had  overrun  the  country  and 
held  it  in  possession.  Thus,  twelve  years  after 
the  commencement  of  this  great  undertaking, — 
when  one  hundred  and  eleven  baronets  having 
fulfilled  the  stipulated  conditions  of  the  institution, 
had  each  received  grants  of  sixteen  thousand  aci*es, 
which  were  erected  into  free  baronies  of  regality, 
and  two  parliaments  of  Scotland,  in  1630  and 
1633,  had  ratified  and  confirmed  all  the  privileges 
of  the  order, — it  fell  to  the  ground. 

In  1638  Lord  Stiriing's  eldest  son  and  heir, 
William,  lord  Alexander,  died,  when  his  lordship 
made  a  suiTender  of  all  his  honours  and  estates 
into  the  hands  of  King  Charles,  who,  by  a  charter  of 
Novodamus,  under  the  great  seal  of  Scotland,  dated 
the  7th  of  December  1639,  regranted  them  to  the 
earl,  to  hold  to  himself  and  the  heirs  male  of  his 
body,  whom  failing  to  the  eldest  heirs  female. 
Shortly  after  this.  Lord  Stiriing  died  at  London, 
on  the  12th  of  September  1640,  and  was  inteiTcd 
at  Stiriing  on  the  12th  of  April  thereafter.  His 
corpse  was  deposited  in  a  leaden  coffin  in  the  fam- 
ily aisle  in  the  church  of  Stirling,  aboveground, 
and  remained  entire  for  a  hundred  years.  He 
never  relinquished  any  of  the  rights  vested  in  him 
under  his  patents,  and  an  assignment  of  them  in 


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ALEXANDER, 


112 


EARL  OF  STIRLING. 


trust  was  executed  by  him  ouly  two  weeks  befora 
his  death.  The  accompanying  portrait  of  his 
lordship  is  talcen  from  one  given  in  Walpolc's 
Royal  and  Noble  authors : 


The  province  of  Nova  Scotia  finally  came  un- 
der the  undisputed  possession  of  Great  Britain 
in  1763.  By  the  fourth  article  of  the  treaty 
of  Paris,  of  10th  February  of  that  year,  the 
French  king  renounced  all  pretensions  to  Nova 
Scotia  in  all  its  parts,  and  thus,  with  Canada,  its 
sovereignty  was  re-acquired  by  Great  Britain,  in 
whose  possession  it  now  remains.  The  baronets 
of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia  in  the  year  1836, 
held  a  meeting  at  Edinburgh  for  the  purpose  of 
reviving  the  objects  for  which  their  order  was 
created,  and  a  *^Case,  showing  their  rights  and 
privileges,  digni tonal  and  temtorial,''  was  shortly 
thereafter  published  by  Richard  Bronn,  Esq.,  the 
secretary  of  the  order,  afterwards  Sir  Richard  Broun, 
bai-onet,  of  Oolstonn,  Dumfries-shire ;  but  there  is 
veiy  little  likelihood  now  of  their  ever  regaining 
the  lands  in  Nova  Scotia  which  were  originally 
granted  with  their  titles.  Since  Queen  Anne's  time 
no  new  Nova  Scotia  baronets  have  been  made. 
Those  created  are  styled  baronets  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  no  payment  of  money  can  now  purchase 
the  title,  although  of  course  expenses  attend  the 


passage  of  a  patent,  on  the  title  being  coulciTcd. 
—By  his  countess,  as  already  stated  in  the  preli- 
minary notice,  the  earl  of  Stirling  had  seven  sons 
and  three  daughters,  but  only  three  sons  and  two 
daughters  survived  him. 

A  complete  edition  of  Lord  Stirling's  works,  re- 
vised by  himself,  was  published  in  1637,  in  one 
volume  folio,  under  the  title  of  *  Recreations  with 
the  Muses.'  This  work  contained  his  four  *  Mo- 
narchick  Tragedies,'  his  '  Doomsday,'  the  '  Paras- 
nesis  to  Prince  Henry,'  and  the  first  book  of  an 
intended  heroic  poem,  entitled  *  Jonathan.'  His 
poems  are  generally  of  a  grave  and  moralizing 
character,  and  possess  considerable  merit.  Mr. 
Greorge  Chalmers  has  remarked,  that  he  must  be 
allowed  to  have  sentiments  that  spai'kle,  though 
not  "  words  that  bum,"  [Apology  for  tfie  Believers^ 
&c.,  p.  420]  ;  and  Mr.  Alexander  Chalmers  adds 
to  this  remark  that  ^*  his  versification  is,  in  general, 
much  superior  to  that  of  his  contemporaries,  and 
approaches  nearer  to  the  elegance  of  modem  times 
than  could  have  been  expected  fVom  one  who 
wrote  so  much."  His  works  were  highly  praised 
by  writers  of  his  own  day.  The  opinion  of  Drum* 
mond  of  Hawthomden  has  been  already  quoted. 
Michael  Drayton,  who  commended  Loi-d  Slirling's 
poems  highly,  expresses  a  wish  to  be  known  as 
the  friend  of  a  writer  **  whose  muse  was  like  his 
mind ;"  and  John  Davies  of  Fiereford,  in  a  book  of 
epigrams,  published  about  the  year  1611,  praises 
the  tragedies  of  his  lordship,  and  says  that  *^  Al- 
exander the  Great  had  not  gained  more  glory  with 
his  sword  than  this  Alexander  had  gained  by  his 
pen."  Higher  approbation  even  than  this,  as 
coming  from  a  higher  authority  in  matters  of  lit- 
erature, is  afforded  in  the  verdict  of  Addison,  who 
said  of  Lord  Stirling's  "  whole  works,"  that  "  he 
had  read  them  over  with  the  greatest  satisfaction.' 
Dr.  Currie,  in  his  Life  of  Bums,  says,  "Lord 
Stirling  and  Dmmmond  of  Hawthomden  studied 
the  language  of  England,  and  composed  in  it  with 
precision  and  elegance.  They  were,  however,  the 
last  of  their  countrymen  who  deserved  to  be  con- 
sidered as  poets  in  that  century."  Dean  Swift,  in 
one  of  his  poems,  has  brought  their  names  toge- 
ther as 

**  Scottish  bards  of  highest  fame, 
Wise  Uawthornden  and  Stirling's  lord.** 


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AIJEXANDER. 


118 


ALISON. 


His  plajs  appear  to  be  mere  dramatic  poems,  more 
fitted  for  perasal  in  the  closet  than  representation 
on  the  stage,  and  accordingly  none  of  them  seem 
ever  to  have  been  acted.  Three  poems  by  his 
lordship  and  a  few  of  his  letters,  with  *  Anacrisis, 
or  a  Censure  of  Poets,*  occnr  in  the  folio  edition 
of  Drnmmond's  works.  The  latter  of  these  pro- 
dactions  is  considered  very  creditable  to  his  lord- 
ship^s  talents  as  a  critic  As  a  proof  of  the  an- 
popalarity  of  Lord  Stilling  in  hb  native  country 
on  account  of  his  small  copper  money,  it  is  stated 
by  Burnet,  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Dukes  of  Hamil- 
ton, that  he  durst  not  come  to  Scotland  to  attend 
to  the  king's  affairs  as  secretary  of  state.  His 
productions  are  as  follows : 

Darius:  a  Tragedy.  Edia.  1603,  4ta  Reprinted  with  the 
Tragedj  of  Cnuaa  and  a  Panenesii  to  the  Prince,  1604,  and 
still  farther  augmented  witl^  the  Alexandrian  Tragedy  and 
Jalhis  CsBsar.    Lond.  1607,  4to. 

Aorora ;  containing  the  first  Fancies  of  the  Anthor^s  youth. 
Inscribed  to  the  Lady  Agnes  (Anne)  Douglas,  (afterwards 
Countess  of  Argjle>    Lond.  1604,  4to. 

The  Monarchicke  Tragedies.  Lond.  1604, 1607,  4to.  8d 
edition.    Lond.  1616,  small  8to. 

An  Elegie  on  the  Doath  of  Prince  Henrie.  Edin.  161S, 
4to.  Includmg  an  Address  *  To  his  Msjestie,*  and  '  A  Short 
Ylewe  of  the  SUte  of  Man.' 

Doomesday,  or  the  Great  Day  of  the  Lord's  Judgement 
Edln.  1614,  4to. 

A  Supplement  of  a  Defect  in  the  third  part  of  Sidney's 
Arcadia.    Dublin,  1621,  fol. 

An  Encouragement  to  Colonies.    Lond.  1626,  4to. 

A  Map  and  Description  of  New  England,  with  a  Discourse 
of  Plantation  and  the  Colonies,  &c    Lond.  1680,  4to. 

Recreations  with  the  Muses,  being  his  whole  works,  with 
the  exception  of  Aurora,  and  including  Jonathan,  an  Unfin- 
ished Poem.    Lond.  1637,  fol. 

ALEXANDER,  John,  a  painter  of  some  emi- 
nence during  the  earlier  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Neither  the  place  of  his  birth  nor  the  date 
is  recorded,  but  he  was  a  descendant  of  the  more 
celebrated  Croorge  Jamesone,  through  his  lawful 
daughter,  Mary  Jamesone.  He  studied  his  art 
chiefly  at  Florence.  On  his  return  in  1720,  to 
Scotland,  he  resided  at  Grordon  castle,  having 
found  a  liberal  patroness  in  the  duchess  of  Gor- 
don, a  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Peterborough.  He 
painted  poetical,  allegorical,  and  ornamental 
pieces;  also  portraits  and  historical  landscapes. 
Many  of  the  portraits  of  Queen  Mary  are  by  Al- 
exander. He  had  begun,  it  is  stated,  a  picture  of 
Mary's  escape  from  Lochleven  castle,  which  he 
did  not  liye  to  finish. 


AusoH,  the  name  of  a  faniilj  possessing  a  baronetcy  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  conferred  25th  June,  1852,  on  Sir 
Archibald  Alison,  LLD.,  D.C.L.,  and  F.R.S.,  bom  at  Kin- 
ley,  Salop,  29th  December,  1792.  His  father,  the  Rer. 
Archibald  Alison,  author  of  *  Essays  on  Taste,'  of  whom  a 
memoir  follows,  was  a  scion  of  the  family  of  Alison  of  New- 
hall,  parish  of  Kettins,  Forfarshire.  By  the  mother's  side 
he  is  descended  lineally  firom  Edward  I.  and  Robert  the 
Bruce.  Sir  Archibald  wss  educated  at  the  university 
of  Edinburgh,  and  admitted  advocate  in  1814;  advocate 
depute  firom  1828  to  1880;  sheriff  of  Ijmarkahuie,  1835, 
author  of  *  Principles  of  the  Criminal  Law  of  Scotland,' 
Edinburgh,  1882 ;  *  Practice  of  the  Crimmal  Law ;'  '  His- 
tory of  Europe,'  20  vols.  8vo,  the  first  published  in 
1833;  'Essays,'  contributed  to  Blackwood's  Magazine; 
*  Principles  of  Popuhition,*  1845;  *  England  in  1815  and 
1845,  or  a  Sufficient  and  Contracted  Currency ;'  *  IJfe  of  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough,'  1847;  married,  21st  March  1825, 
Elizabeth  Glencaim,  youngest  daughter  of  LiAitenant-colo- 
nel  Patrick  Tytler,  second  son  of  William  Tytler,  Esq.  of 
Wo'xihouselee ;  issue,  Archibald,  bom  21st  January  1826, 
Heutenant-oolonel  in  the  army,  military  secretaiy  to  Lord 
Clyde  when  commander-in-chief  in  India,  lost  an  arm  at 
Lttcknow,  and  has  a  medal  and  clasps  for  his  services  m  the 
Crimea ;  Frederick  Montagu,  bom  11th  May  1835,  a  captain 
in  the  army,  aid-de-camp  to  the  same  commander;  and  one 
daughter,  Ellen  Frances  Catherine  Mrs.  Cutlar  Fergusson 
of  Craigdarroch.  Sur  Archibald's  brother,  William  Pulteney 
Alison,  M.D.,  LLD.,  F.RS.,  professor  of  practice  of  physic, 
university  of  Edinburgh,  and  first  physician  to  the  Queen  in 
Scotland,  retired  from  his  chair  hi  1855,  and  died  in  1859. 

ALISON,  Archibald,  The  Rev.,  author  of 
*'  Essays  on  the  Nature  and  Principles  of  Taste,* 
was  the  second  son  of  a  magistrate  of  Edin 
bargh,  and  some  time  lord  provost  of  that  city, 
where  he  was  bom  in  1757.  In  1772  he  went  to 
the  nniversity  of  Glasgow,  and  afterwards  became 
an  exhibitioner  at  Baliol  college,  Oxford,  where 
he  took  the  degrees  of  A.M.  and  LL.B.  Entering 
into  holy  orders  he  obtained  the  curacy  of  Brance- 
petli,  county  of  Durham,  and  was  subsequently 
made  prebendary  of  Sarum.  Having  acquired 
the  friendship  of  the  late  Sir  William  Pulteney,  he 
was  indebted  to  him  for  preferment  in  the  church. 
In  1784  he  married  at  Edinburgh  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  celebrated  Dr.  John  Gregory,  by  whom 
he  had  six  children.  In  1800,  on  the  invitation 
of  Sir  William  Forbes,  baronet,  and  the  vestry  of 
the  Episcopal  chapel,  Cowgate,  Edinburgh,  he 
became  senior  minister  of  that  place  of  worship. 
The  congregation  having  removed  to  St.  Paul's 
church,  York  Place,  in  the  same  city,  he  continu- 
ed to  ofliciate  there  until  a  severe  illness,  in  1881, 
compelled  him  to  relinquish  all  public  duties.  He 
was  one  of  the  early  fellows  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  many 


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ALLAN. 


114 


ALLAN. 


of  its  most  distiDgulshed  membei*s.  He  was  also 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  His 
principal  work,  the  ^  Essays  on  the  Nature  and 
Principles  of  Taste/  published  in  1790,  has 
passed  through  several  editions,  and  was  trans- 
lated into  French.  He  died  17th  May,  1839. 
His  works  are: 

EsMj  on  the  Natare  and  principles  of  Taste.  Edin.  1790, 
4to.    8d.  edit  1816, 2  vols.  8to.   4th  edit.  1816, 2  vols.  8vo. 

A  Disconrse  on  the  Fast  Dar,  1809,  8vo. 

A  Thanksgiving  Sermon,  1814,  8vo. 

Sermons,  chiefly  on  particnlar  occasions.  Edin.  1814,  8va 
Vol.  il  1816,  8vo.    6th  edit  1816,  2  vols. 

Life  and  Writings  of  the  Hon.  Alexander  Fraser  Tytler, 
Lord  Woodhooselee.    Trans.  Ed.  R.  Soo.  viil  616.  1818. 


Allan,  a  name  meaning,  in  the  British,  Alan^  swift  like  a 
greyhound ;  in  the  Saxon,  Alwia,  winning  all ;  and  in  the 
Celtic,  Abdnn,  when  applied  to  mental  qualities  or  conduct, 
illustrious.  The  primazy  meaning  of  the  word,  however,  is 
sparkling  or  beautiful,  and  it  is  on  that  account  the  name  of 
several  rivers,  particularly  one  in  Perthshire,  which  waters 
the  fertile  district  of  Stratballan.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Chal- 
mers that  the  Alauna  of  Ptolemy  and  of  Richard  of  Westmin- 
ster, (in  his  Itmera  Bomana^  a  work  referable  to  the  second 
century,)  was  situated  on  the  Allan,  about  a  mile  above  its 
confluence  with  the  Forth,  so  that  the  name  has  an  ancient 
as  well  as  a  classical  origin.  The  popular  song  of  *  On  the 
banks  of  Allan  Water,*  is  supposed  to  refer  to  a  smaller 
stream  of  the  same  name,  a  tributary  of  the  Teviot  Allan 
b  also  not  unfrequentlj  a  Christian  name  in  Scotland,  as 
Allan  Ramsay. 

ALLAN,  Dayid,  an  eminent  historical  paint- 
er, the  son  of  David  Allan,  shoremaster  nt  Alloa, 
was  bom  there  on  13th  February  1744.  His  mo- 
ther, Janet  Gollan,  a  native  of  Dunfermline, 
died  a  few  days  after  his  birth,  and  it  is  related 
of  him  that,  when  a  baby,  his  month  was  so  small 
that  no  nurse  in  his  native  place  conid  give  him 
suck,  and  a  countrywoman  being  found,  after 
some  inquiry,  a  few  miles  from  the  town,  whose 
breast  he  could  take,  he  was,  one  very  cold  day, 
after  being  wrapped  up  in  a  basket,  amidst  cotton, 
to  keep  him  warm,  sent  off  to  her  nnder  the  charge 
of  a  man  on  horseback.  On  the  road  the  horse 
stumbled,  the  man  fell  off,  and  the  little  Allan  be- 
ing thrown  out  of  the  basket  among  the  snow 
which  then  covered  the  gix)und,  received  a  severe 
cut  on  his  head.  While  yet  a  mere  child  of  lit- 
tle more  than  eighteen  months  old,  he  experi- 
enced another  narrow  escape  from  a  premature 
death.  The  servant  girl  who  had  the  care  of  him, 
while  out  with  him  in  her  arms  one  day  in  the 
autumn  of  1745,  thoughtlessly  ran  in  front  of  some 


loaded  cannons,  at  the  very  moment  that  they 
were  fired  by  way  of  experiment,  but  she  and  the 
child  were  providentially  not  touched. 

Like  that  of  many  other  great  painters,  his  ge« 
nius  for  designing  was  discovered  by  accident 
Being  when  a  boy  kept  at  home  from  school,  on 
account  of  a  burnt  foot,  his  father  seeing  him  one 
day  doing  nothing,  reproved  him  for  his  idleness, 
and  giving  him  a  bit  of  chalk,  told  him  to  draw 
something  with  It  on  the  floor.  He  accordin^y 
attempted  to  delineate  figures  of  houses,  animals, 
&c.,  and  was  so  well  pleased  with  his  own  suc- 
cess, and  so  fond  of  the  amusement,  that  the  chalk 
was  seldom  afterwards  out  of  bis  hand.  His  sense 
of  the  ludicrous  was  great,  and  he  could  not  al- 
ways resist  the  propensity  to  satire.  Having 
when  about  ten  years  of  age  drawn  a  caricature 
on  his  slate  of  his  schoolmaster,  a  conceited  old 
darmnie^  who  used  to  strut  about  the  school  attired 
in  a  tartan  nightcap  and  long  tartan  gown,  and 
circnlated  it  among  the  boys,  it  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  object  of  it,  who  straightway  complained  to 
Allan's  father,  and  he  was  In  conseqnence  with- 
drawn from  his  school.  On  being  questioned  by 
his  father  as  to  how  he  had  the  impudence  to  in- 
sult his  master  In  such  a  way,  he  answered,  "  I 
only  made  it  like  him,  and  it  was  all  for  fun."  In 
one  account  of  his  life  it  is  stated  that  the  first  rude 
efforts  of  his  genius  were  formed  merely  by  a  knife, 
and  displayed  a  degree  of  taste  and  skill  far  above 
his  years ;  and  these  having  attracted  the  notice  of 
Mr.  Stewart,  then  collector  of  the  customs  at  Alloa, 
that  gentleman,  when  at  Glasgow,  mentioned  the 
merits  of  young  Allan  to  Mr.  Foulis,  the  celebrated 
printer,  and  he  was  sent,  on  the  25th  of  February 
1755,  when  eleven  years  of  age,  to  the  Messrs. 
Foulis*  academy  of  painting  and  engraving  at 
Glasgow,  where  he  remained  seven  years.  In  the 
year  1764  some  of  his  performances  attracted  the 
notice  of  Lord  Cathcart  of  Shaw  Park,  near  Alloa. 
At  the  expense  of  his  lordship,  Mr.  Abercromby 
of  Tullibody,  and  other  pereons  of  fortune  in 
Clackmannanshire,  to  whom  his  talents  had  re- 
commended him,  among  whom  were  Lady  Frances 
Erskine  of  Mar,  and  Lady  Charlotte  Erskine,  he 
afterwards  proceeded  to  Italy,  and  studied  for  six- 
teen years  at  Rome.  In  1775,  he  received  the 
gold  medal  given  by  the  academy  of  St.  Luke,  in 


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that  city,  for  the  best  specimen  of  historical  com- 
positioji ;  the  subject  being  *  The  Origin  of  Paint- 
ing, or  the  Corinthian  Maid  drawing  the  Shadow 
of  her  Lover  ;*  an  admirable  engraving  of  which 
was  executed  at  Rome  by  Dom.  Cunego  in  1776, 
and  of  which  copies  were  published  by  him  in 
February  1777,  after  his  return  to  I/>ndon.  Mr. 
Allan  presented  the  medal  received  by  him  for  this 
painting  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scot- 
land, on  the  7th  January  17d3,  and  an  account  of 
it  was  published  in  their  transactions,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
75,  76.  The  only  other  Scotsman  who  had  ever 
received  the  gold  medal  of  St.  Luke's  academy 
was  Mr.  Gavin  Hamilton.  After  a  residence  of 
two  years  in  London,  he  returned  to  E^nburgh, 
in  1779,  and,  on  the  death  of  Alexander  Run- 
dman  in  1786,  was  appointed  director  and  master 
of  the  academy  established  by  the  board  of  trus- 
tees for  manufactures  and  improvements  in  Scot- 
land. In  1788  he  published  an  edition  of  the 
Gentle  Shepherd,  with  characteristic  etchings.  In 
*  Observations  on  the  Plot  and  Scenery  of  the 
Gentle  Shepherd,'  from  Abemethy  and  Walker's 
edition  (Edinburgh :  1808),  reprinted  in  edition  of 
A.  FuUarton  &  Co.,  1848  (vol.  ii.  p.  25.),  the  fol- 
lowing passage  occurs :  *^  In  1786,  an  unexpected 
visit  was  paid  at  New  Hall  house,  (the  romantic 
seat  of  Mr.  John  Forbes,  advocate,  situated  in 
the  parish  of  Penicuick,  Edinburghshire,  the  sce- 
nery round  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  that 
of  the  Gentle  Shepherd,)  by  Mr.  David  Allan, 
painter  in  Edinburgh,  accompanied  by  a  friend, 
both  of  whom  were  unknown  to  the  family.  His 
object  was  to  collect  scenes  and  figures,  where 
Ramsay  had  copied  his,  for  a  new  edition  of  the 
pastoral.  Mr.  Allan  was  an  intelligent  Scottish 
antiquarian,  and  well  acquainted  with  everything 
connected  with  the  poetry  and  literature  of  his 
country.  His  excellent  quarto  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  1788,  with  aquatinta  plates,  in  the  time 
spirit  and  humour  of  Ramsay.  Four  of  the  scenes 
at  New  Hall  are  made  use  of  with  some  figures 
collected  there ;  and  in  his  dedication  to  Hamilton 
of  Murdiston  in  Lanarkshire,  the  celebrated  histo- 
rical painter,  he  writes,  '  I  have  studied  the  same 
characters'  (as  those  of  Ramsay),  *  from  the  same 
spot,  and  I  find  that  he  has  drawn  faithfully,  and 
with  taste,  from  nature.    This  likewise  has  been 


my  model  of  imitation,  and  while  I  attempted,  in 
these  sketches,  to  express  the  ideas  of  the  poet,  1 
have  endeavoured  to  preserve  the  costume  as  near- 
ly as  possible,  by  an  exact  delineation  of  such 
scenes  and  persons  as  he  actually  had  in  his  eye.'" 
Mr.  Allan  published  also,  some  time  after,  a  col- 
lection of  the  most  humorous  old  Scottish  songs, 
with  similar  drawings ;  these  publications,  with 
his  illustrations  of  the  Cottar's  Saturday  Night, 
the  Stool  of  Repentance,  the  Scottish  Wedding, 
the  Highland  Dance,  and  other  sketches  of  rus- 
tic character,  all  etched  by  himself  in  aquatinta, 
procured  for  him  the  title  of  the  Scottish  Hogarth. 
One  of  his  subjects,  representing  a  poor  man  re- 
ceiving charity  from  the  hand  of  a  young  woman, 
is  here  copied. 


As  an  instance  of  simple  character  and  feeling 
without  caricature,  it  gives  a  tolerably  good  idea 
of  his  natural  manner,  and  illustrates  the  particu- 
lar locality  of  Edinburgh  of  that  epoch,  where  its 
scene  is  laid.  It,  as  well  as  the  view  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  which  appears  in  another  part  of 
this  volume,  was  also  etched  by  himself.  He  like- 
wise etched  and  published  various  subjects  drawn 
when  in  Italy,  exhibiting  the  peculiarities  of  the 
people,  and  especially  the  devotional   extrava- 


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AI.LAN. 


gances  of  the  clinrch  of  Rome  of  that  time,  which 
appear  to  have  excited  his  sense  of  the  ludicrons. 
Besides  these  he  published  four  engravings,  done 
in  aquatinta  by  Paul  Sandby,  from  drawings  made 
by  himself  when  at  Rome,  where,  in  a  vein  of 
quiet  drollery,  he  holds  up  to  ridicule  the  festivi- 
ties of  that  city  in  connection  with  the  sports  of 
the  camivaL  Several  of  the  figui-es  were  portraits 
of  persons  well  known  to  the  Englbh  who  visited 
Rome  during  his  stay  there,  and  their  truthful- 
ness gave  much  satisfaction  at  the  time. 

His  personal  appearance  was  not  in  his  favour. 
•*  His  figure,"  says  the  author  of  his  life  in  Brown's 
Scenery  edition  of  the  Gentle  Shepherd,  1808,  "  was 
a  bad  resemblance  of  his  humorous  precursor  of  the 
English  metropolis.  He  was  under  the  middle  size ; 
of  a  slender,  feeble  make;  with  a  long,  sharp,  lean, 
white,  coarse  face,  much  pitted  by  the  small  pox, 
and  fair  hair.  His  large  prominent  eyes,  of  a  light 
colour,  looked  weak,  near-sighted,  and  not  ver}- 
tnunated.  His  nose  was  long  and  high,  his  mouth 
wide,  and  both  ill-shaped.  His  whole  exterior  to 
strangers  appeared  unengaging,  trifling  and  mean. 
His  deportment  was  timid  and  obsequious.  The 
prejudices  naturally  excited  by  these  external  dis- 
advantages at  introduction,  were  soon,  however, 
dispelled  on  acquaintance;  and,  as  he  became  easy 
and  pleased,  gradually  yielded  to  agreeable  sensa- 
tions; till  they  insensibly  vanished,  and  were  not 
only  overlooked,  but,  from  the  effect  of  contrast, 
even  heightened  the  attractions  by  which  they 
were  so  unexpectedly  followed.  When  in  com- 
pany he  esteemed,  and  which  suited  his  taste,  as 
lestraint  wore  off,  his  eye  imperceptibly  became 
active,  bright  and  penetrating;  his  manner  and 
address  quick,  lively,  and  interesting — alwajrs 
kind,  polite,  and  respectful ;  his  conversation  open 
and  gay,  humorous  without  satire,  and  playfully 
replete  with  benevolence,  observation,  and  anec- 
dote.*' He  resided  in  Dickson's  close,  High  street, 
Edinburgh,  where  he  received  private  pupils  in 
his  art.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  his  pupils 
was  the  late  Mr.  H.  W.  Williams,  commonly  called 
Grecian  Williams.  *  *  The  satiric  humour  and  drol- 
lery," says  Mr.  Wilson,  in  his  Memorials  of  Edin- 
burgh, (vol.  ii.  page  40), "  of  his  well-known  *  rebuke 
scene'  in  a  country  church,  and  the  lively  expres- 
sion and  spirit  of  the  *  General  Assembly,'  and 


others  of  his  own  etchings,  amply  justify  the 
character  he  enjoyed  among  his  contemporaries  as 
a  truthful  and  humorous  delineator  of  nature.** 
^*  As  a  painter,"  says  the  author  of  his  life  already 
quoted,  **  at  least  in  his  own  country,  he  neither 
excelled  in  drawing,  composition,  colouring,  nor 
effect.  Like  Hogarth,  too,  beauty,  grace,  and 
grandeur,  either  of  individual  outline  and  form,  or 
of  style,  constitute  no  part  of  his  merit.  He  was  no 
Corregio,  Raphael,  or  Michael  Angelo.  He  paint- 
ed portraits,  as  well  as  Hogarth,  below  the  size 
of  life ;  but  they  are  recommended  by  nothing  save 
a  strong  homely  resemblance.  As  an  artist  and  a 
man  of  genius,  his  characteristic  talent  lay  in  ex- 
pression, in  the  imitation  of  nature  with  truth  and 
humour,  especially  in  the  representation  of  ludi- 
crons scenes  in  low  life.  His  vigilant  eye  was  ever 
on  the  watch  for  every  eccentric  figure,  every 
motley  group,  or  ridiculous  incident,  out  of  which 
his  pencil  or  his  needle  could  draw  innocent  enter- 
tainment and  mirth."  He  died  at  Edinburgh  on 
the  6th  of  August  1796,  in  the  5dd  year  of  his 
age,  and  was  interred  in  the  High  Calton  burying- 
ground.  He  had  married  in  1788  Shirley  Welsh, 
the  youngest  daughter  of  Thomas  Welsh,  a  carver 
and  gilder  in  Edinburgh.  He  had  five  children, 
three  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  His  surviving  son, 
David,  went  out  as  a  cadet  to  India  in  1806. 
He  also  left  a  daughter  named  Barbara. — Brown's 
Scenery  edition  of  the  Gentle  Shepherd,  appendix. 

ALLAN,  Robert,  a  minor  poet,  some  of  whose 
lyrics  and  songs  have  long  been  popular  in  Scot- 
land, was  bom  at  Kilbarchan,  in  Renfrewshire, 
4th  November,  1774.  He  was  a  handloom  weaver, 
and  all  his  life  in  humble  circumstances.  To  re- 
lieve the  tedium  of  his  occupation  he  occasionally 
had  recourse  to  poetry.  In  1836,  a  volume  of  his 
poems  was  published  by  subscription,  but  made  no 
great  impression.  The  principal  poem  in  the  vol- 
ume, entitled  ^  An  Address  to  the  Robin,'  is  writ- 
ten in  the  Scottish  dialect.  His  most  popular 
pieces  are  *The  bonny  built  wheiTy;'  'The  Cove- 
nanter's Lament;'  'Woman's  wai*k  will  ne'er  be 
dune;'  ' Hand  awa'  firae  me,  Donald ;'  and  the  bal- 
lad '  O  speed,  Lord  Nithsdalo.'  He  had  a  nume- 
rous family,  all  of  whom  were  married  except  his 
youngest  son,  a  portrait  painter  of  great  promise, 
who  emigrated  to  the  United  States.    Desirous  of 


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Sm  WILLIAM. 


joining  his  son,  AUan  sailed  for  New  York,  where 
be  arriired  Ist  June  1841,  bnl  died  there  on  the 
7th,  six  days  after  his  arrival,  from  the  effects  of  a 
cold  caught  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  He 
is  represented  as  having  been  a  most  single-hearted 
and  unaffected  being,  and  much  of  the  simplicity 
of  his  character  is  reflected  in  his  poems. 

ALLAN,  Sib  William,  an  eminent  historical 
planter,  was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  in  1782,  <^  humble 
parentage,  his  father  being  one  of  the  doorkeepers 
of  the  Court  of  Exchequer.  He  was  educated  partly 
at  the  High  School  of  his  native  city,  under  William 
Nicol,  the  friend  of  Bums,  and  served  his  appren- 
ticeship to  a  coach-painter,  George  Sanders  the 
celebrated  miniature-painter  bemg  in  the  same 
employment.  All  his  spare  hours  were  devoted 
to  drawing.  He  studied  for  several  years  at  the 
Trustees'  Academy,  having  Wilkie  as  a  fellow- 
student.  These  two  great  painters  began  draw- 
ing from  the  same  example,  and  thus  continued 
for  months,  using  the  same  copy,  and  sitting  on  the 
same  form.  The  fiiendship  thus  commenced  in  their 
youth  increased  with  their  years,  and  ceased  but 
with  the  life  of  Wilkie,  who  died  nine  years  before 
him.  One  of  his  first  pieces  engraved  was  *'  Flora 
parting  with  Ascanius,'  in  Home's  *•  Adventures  of 
the  young  Ascanius,'  1804.  After  the  close  of  his 
studies  in  Edinburgh,  Allan  removed  to  London, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  school  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy, where  he  remained  some  time.  Not  ulti- 
mately finding  professional  employment  in  London, 
he  determined  upon  proceeding  to  Russia,  to  try 
whether  encouragement  could  not  be  obtained  in 
that  eoimtry,  and  that  he  might  study  the  mde  and 
picturesque  aspects  there  presented,  and  find  suit- 
able and  striking  materials  for  his  pencil.  Hasti- 
ly communicating  his  intention  to  his  friends  in 
Scotland,  with  one  or  two  letters  of  introduction 
to  some  of  his  countrymen  at  St.  Petersburg,  he 
embarked  in  1805  in  a  vessel  bound  f(H-  Riga. 
Owing  to  adverse  winds  the  ship,  almost  a  wreck, 
was  driven  into  Memel  in  Prussia,  where,  though 
ignorant  of  the  Grerman  language,  he  took  up  his 
abode  at  an  inn,  and  at  once  commenced  portrait- 
painting.  He  began  with  the  portrait  of  the 
Danish  consul,  to  whom  he  had  been  introduced 
by  the  captain  of  the  vessel.  Having,  ia  this 
way,  recruited  his  nearly  empty  purse,  he  pro- 


ceeded overland  to  St.  Petersburg,  encountering 
on  the  road  various  romantic  inddents,  and  pass- 
ing through  a  great  portion  of  the  Russian  army 
on  their  way  to  the  battle  of  Austerlitc.  On  his 
arrival  at  the  Russian  capital,  he  was  introduced 
to  many  valuable  friends,  through  the  kindness  of 
Sir  Alexander  Crichton,  then  physician  to  the 
Imperial  family;  and  was  soon  enabled  to  pursue 
his  art  diligently  and  successfhlly.  Having  at- 
tained a  knowledge  of  the  Russian  language,  he 
travelled  into  the  interior,  and  remained  for  sev- 
eral years  in  the  L^kraine,  making  excursions  at 
various  times  to  Turkey,  Tartary,  the  shores  of 
the  Black  Sea,  the  Sea  of  Azoph,  and  the  banks 
of  the  Kuban,  amongst  Cossacks,  Circassians, 
Turks,  and  Tartars ;  visiting  their  huts  and  tents, 
studying  theur  history,  character,  and  costume, 
and  forming  a  collection  of  their  arms  and  armoui, 
for  his  future  labours  in  art,  as  he  had  resolved  to 
devote  his  great  powers  to  historical  painting. 

In  1812,  Mr.  Allan  began  to  think  of  returning 
to  Scotland,  but  was  prevented  by  the  French  in- 
vasion of  Russia  of  that  year.  The  whole  country 
was  thrown  into  confusion  and  alarm  by  the  Em 
peror  Napoleon*s  advance  to  Moscow,  and  thus 
was  Allan  forced  to  remain,  when  he  witnessed 
not  a  few  heart  -  rending  miseries  iL^dent  to  that 
eventful  period.  In  1814,  however,  he  was  en- 
abled to  set  out  on  his  return  home,  and,  after  a 
lapse  of  ten  years,  he  once  more  trod  the  streets 
of  Edinburgh.  His  improvement  had  been  so 
rapid  and  so  remarkable,  that  the  most  eminent  of 
his  countrymen  in  literature  and  art  visited,  and 
were  in  daily  intercourse  with,  the  young  and  en- 
terprising artist,  and  he  numbered  among  his 
friends  Scott,  Wilson,  Lockhart,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished literati  of  the  day  in  E^uburgh,  which 
city  he  resolved  to  make  his  future  residence.  His 
first  efforts,  after  his  return,  were  directed  to  em- 
bodying on  the  canvass,  some  of  those  romantic 
and  striking  scenes  which  had  been  suggested  by 
his  travels  and  adventures  in  the  strange  countries 
he  had  visited.  His  'Circassian  Captives,'  a 
work  Ml  of  novel  and  original  matter,  character, 
and  expression,  and  remarkable  for  the  complete- 
ness of  its  design,  and  the  masterly  arrangement  of 
its  parts,  was  exhibited  at  Somerset  House,  Lon- 
don, in  1815,  and  immediately  made  his  name 


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generally  known.    To  this  great  picture  succeeded 

*  Tartar  Banditti ;'  *  Haslan  Gheray  crossing  the 
Kuban;'   'A  Jewish  Wedding  in  Poland;*   and 

*  Prisoners  Conveyed  to  Siberia  by  Cossacks,' 
which,  with  many  others,  he  brought  together,  and 
exhibited  in  Edinburgh,  along  with  the  armour  and 
costumes  he  had  collected  in  his  travels.  The  exhi- 
bition proved  highly  attractive,  and  the  artist  rose 
higher  in  the  estimation  of  his  countrymen.  £Us 
picture  of  *The  Circassians'  was  purchased  by 
Sur  Walter  Scott,  John  Wilson,  the  poet,  his  bro- 
ther, James,  the  naturalist,  Lockhart,  and  a  num- 
ber of  the  artist's  other  friends,  and  it  was  resolved 
to  raffle  it  in  Edinburgh.  In  a  letter  to  the  Duke 
of  Buccleuch,  dated  15th  April,  1819,  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  Allan,  thus 
gives  an  account  of  the  circumstance,  and  of  the 
artist  himself; — "A  hundred  persons  subscribed 
ten  guineas  apiece  to  raffle  for  his  fine  picture  of 
the  Circassian  chief  selling  slaves  to  the  Turkish 
pacha — a  beautiful  and  highly  poetical  picture. 
There  was  another  small  picture  added  by  way  of 
second  prize,  and,  what  is  curious  enough,  the 
only  two  peers  on  the  list,  Lord  Wemyss  and 
Loi-d  Fife,  both  got  prizes.  Allan  has  made  a 
sketch,  which  I  shall  take  to  town  with  me  when 
I  can  go,  in  hopes  Lord  Stafford,  or  some  other 
picture-buyer,  may  fancy  it,  and  order  a  picture. 
The  subject  is  the  murder  of  Archbishop  Sharpe 
on  Magus  Moor,  prodigiously  well  treated.  The 
savage  ferocity  of  the  assassins,  crowding  on  one 
another  to  strike  at  the  old  prelate  on  his  knees, 
contrasted  with  the  old  man's  figure,  and  that  of 
his  daughter  endeavouring  to  interpose  for  his  pro- 
tection, and  withheld  by  a  ruffian  of  milder  mood 
than  his  fellows — the  dogged,  fanatical  severity  of 
Rathillet's  countenance,  who  remained  on  horse- 
back, witnessing,  with  stem  fanaticism,  the  mur- 
der he  did  not  choose  to  be  active  in,  lest  it  should 
be  said  that  he  struck  out  of  private  revenge — are 
all  amazingly  well  combined."  The  picture  which 
Allan  executed  from  the  sketch  here  described  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  was  worthy  of  his  genius.  It 
was  afterwards  engraved,  and  is  well  known. 
The  painting  itself  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
lAKjkhart,  of  Milton-Lockhart.  Sir  Walter  add- 
ed : — "  Constable  (the  eminent  publisher)  has  of- 
fered Alian  three  hundred  pounds  to  make  sketches 


for  an  edition  of  the  *  Tales  of  my  Landlord,'  and 
other  novels  of  that  cycle,  and  says  he  will  give 
him  the  same  sum  next  yeai*,  so,  fix)m  being 
pinched  enough,  this  very  deserving  artist  sud- 
denly finds^  himself  at  his  ease.  He  waa  long  at 
Odessa  with  the  Duke  of  Richelieu,  and  is  a  very 
entertaining  person." 

During  the  visit  of  the  Grrand  Duke  Nicholas, 
afterwai'ds  Czar  of  Russia,  to  Edinburgh,  about 
this  time,  he  purchased  several  of  Allan's  pictures; 
one,  the  *  Siberian  Exiles,'  and  another,  *  Haslan 
Cheray,'  both  already  mentioned.  Allan's  works 
were  now  readily  bought.  His  most  affecting  pic- 
ture, 'The  Press-Gang,'  was  purchased  by  Mr. 
Horrocks  of  Tillyheeran ;  his  '  Knox  admonishing 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,'  a  work  full  of  character,  by 
Mr.  Trotter  of  Ballendean ;  and  his  '  Death  of  the 
Regent  Moray,'  by  the  then  duke  of  Bedford.  A 
serious  malady  in  his  eyes,  which  was  a  souree  of 
suffering  for  several  years,  caused  a  cessation  from 
all  professional  labours.  A  change  of  climate  being 
advised  by  his  physician,  he  went  to  Italy,  and 
after  spending  a  winter  at  Rome,  he  proceeded  to 
Naples,  and  thence  made  a  journey  to  Constanti- 
nople. He  afterwards,  with  restored  health,  visit- 
ed Morocco,  Greece,  Spain,  and  the  wild  range  of 
country  from  Gibraltar  to  Persia,  and  from  Persia 
to  the  Baltic,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  scen- 
ery and  manners  of  the  various  nations  through 
which  he  passed.  These  he  faithfully  embodied 
on  his  canvass,  and  among  his  greatest  pictures  in 
this  style  may  be  noticed,  *  The  Discovery  of  the 
Cup  in  the  Sack  of  Bei\jamin ;'  '  The  Polish  Cap- 
tives;' *The  Slave  Market  at  Constantinople,' 
which  was  purchased  by  Alexander  Hill,  Esq., 
print-publisher;  'Tartar  Banditti  Dividing  thefr 
Spoil;'  'The  Moorish  Love-Letter;'  'Byron  in 
the  Fisherman's  Hut,  after  Swimming  the  Helles- 
pont,' which  was  bought  by  his  friend  Robert 
Nasmyth,  Esq.,  who  was  also  the  purehaser  of  his 
whole-length  cabinet  portraits  of '  Scott  and  Bums.' 
The  eastern  pieces  named  were  executed  after  his 
return  to  Edinburgh,  with  numerous  others,  de- 
scriptive of  oriental  scenery,  persons,  and  man- 
ners. The  history  of  his  own  land  also  furnished 
him  with  subjects  for  his  powerful  and  graphic  pen- 
cil. Besides  '  The  Murder  of  Archbishop  Sharpe, 
and  'The  Death  of  the  Regent  Moray,'  he  devoted 


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SIR  WILLLAM. 


his  genius  to  many  other  scenes  illustrative  of  onr 
Scottish  annals,  so  fhiitM  in  remarkable  and 
strildng  events.  His  painting  of  Mary  and  Rizzio 
is  one  of  the  best  of  these  historic  pictnres. 

In  his  famous  picture  of  ^The  Ettrick  Shep- 
herd's House-heating/  executed  in  1819,  he  intro- 
duced a  portrait  of  his  Mend  Sir  TViJUsr  Scott, 
who  had  always  a  great  regard  for  him.  His 
figure  of  *  The  Author  of  Waverley  in  his  Study,' 
done  shortly  before  Sir  Walter's  death,  is  consid- 
ered one  of  his  most  successful  efforts  in  this  de- 
partment of  art.  He  also  finished  an  admirable 
painting  of  Sir  Walter's  eldest  son,  when  comet 
of  dragoons,  holding  his  horse,  which  bangs  over 
the  mantelpiece  of  the  great  library  at  Abbotsford. 
He  was  there  during  the  last  melancholy  scenes  of 
Scott's  life.  Mr.  Lockhart  says,  "  Perceiving,  to- 
wards the  close  of  August  1832,  that  the  end  was 
near,  and  thinking  it  very  likely  that  Abbotsford 
might  soon  undergo  many  changes,  and  myself,  at 
all  events,  never  see  it  again,  I  felt  a  desire  to 
have  some  image  preserved  of  the  interior  apart- 
ments as  occupied  by  their  founder,  and  invited 
from  Edmburgh,  for  that  purpose.  Sir  Walter's 
dear  friend,  William  Allan,  whose  presence,  I  well 
knew,  would,  even  under  the  circumstances  of  that 
time,  be  nowise  troublesome  to  any  of  the  family, 
but  the  contrary  in  all  respects.  Mr.  Allan  will- 
ingly complied,  and  executed  a  series  of  beautiful 
drawings.  He  also  shared  our  watchings,  and 
witnessed  all  but  the  last  moments." 

In  1884  he  visited  Spain,  with  the  object  of  col- 
lecting fresh  materials  for  the  subjects  of  his  art. 
He  sailed  for  Cadiz  and  Gibraltar,  proceeded  into 
West  Barbary,  and  crossing  again  into  Spain,  tra- 
velled over  the  greater  part  of  Andalusia,  intend- 
ing to  go  on  to  Madrid,  but  was  recalled  to  Scot- 
land, by  news  from  home. 

In  1836  Mr.  Allan  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  and  in  1838  he  was  chosen  pre- 
sident of  the  Royal  Scottish  Academy  of  Painting, 
Sculpture,  and  Architecture,  on  the  death  and  in 
the  room  of  Mr.  Watson,  the  original  president. 
In  1841,  on  the  death  of  Sir  David  Wilkie,  he  was 
appointed  her  Majesty's  limner  for  Scotland,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  km'ghted.  He  was 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Academies  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia. 


Having  long  intended  to  paint  a  picture  of  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo,  he  several  times  visited  France 
and  Belgium  to  make  sketches  of  the  memorable 
field,  and  to  collect  the  requisite  materials  for  his 
purpose.  The  view  he  chose  was  from  the  French 
side.  Napoleon  and  his  staff  being  the  foreground 
figures.  This  picture  was,  in  1843,  exhibited  at 
the  Royal  Academy,  London,  and  purchased  by 
the  Duke  of  WellingtoQ,  wno  expressed  his  high 
satisfaction  at  the  truthfulness  of  the  arrangement 
and  detail  in  his  work.  He  was  subsequently  in- 
duced, by  the  success  of  the  first,  to  paint  another 
great  picture  of  Waterloo,  from  the  British  side, 
with  the  view  of  entering  the  lists  of  the  West 
minster  Hall  competition  of  1846.  This  piece  alst 
gained  the  approbation  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
and  was  much  praised  by  the  public,  out  though 
voted  for  by  W.  Etty,  R.A.,  one  of  the  best  judges 
in  the  committee,  as  worthy  of  public  reward,  it 
was  not  judged  deserving  of  a  prize. 

In  1844  Allan  revisited  Russia,  and  had  an  op- 
portunity of  again  seeing  his  early  patron,  the 
Emperor  Nicholas.  While  there  he  painted  a 
picture  of  *  Peter  the  Great  teaching  his  subjects 
the  art  of  shipbuilding,'  which  is  now  in  the  winter 
palace  of  St.  Petersburgh. 

After  his  return  to  his  native  city,  he  continued 
his  professional  labours,  with  the  enthusiasm  that 
ever  marked  his  character.  His  last  energies  were 
expended  on  a  national  piece,  and  one  commemor- 
ative of  the  most  remarkalde  event  in  the  history 
of  Scotland's  independence,  namely,  *The  Battle 
of  Bannockbum,'  on  the  same  extensive  scale  as 
bis  latter  picture  of  Waterloo.  On  this  picture 
he  worked  with  as  much  diligence  as  his  weak- 
ened condition  would  admit,  for  already  his  last 
illness  was  upon  him.  So  eager  was  he  to  com- 
plete the  work  in  time  for  the  ensuing  exhibition 
of  the  Royal  Academy,  that,  it  is  stated,  he  had 
his  bed  earned  into  his  painting  room  that  he 
might  sleep  near  his  work.  When  the  pencil  at 
length  fell  from  his  hand  he  was  too  far  gone  in 
illness  to  be  removed,  and  he  died  in  his  painting 
room,  in  front  of  his  latest  picture.  He  was  never 
married,  his  niece  having  kept  house  for  him. 

Sir  William  died  at  his  residence,  72  Great 
King  Street,  Edinburgh,  on  the  23d  February, 
1850,  in  the  69th  year  of  his  age.    He  had  for 


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ALLAN. 


120 


ALPIN. 


many  years  been  afflicted  with  chronic  disease  of 
the  windwipe,  and  had  latterly  become  much  en- 
feebled. His  genius  as  an  artist  was  of  the  highest 
order,  and  he  possessed  singularly  unassuming 
manners  and  an  amiable  disposition.  As  an  in- 
stance of  his  kindly  feeling,  it  may  be  stated  that 
on  a  few  of  the  scholars  of  Mr.  John  Robertson, 
the  first  teacher  in  Gillespie's  hospital,  Edinburgh, 
who  had  been  educated  in  that  institution  under 
his  charge,  wishing  to  have  the  portrait  taken  of 
their  old  master,  two  of  them  waited  on  Sir  Wil- 
liam Allan  to  ascertain  if  his  engagements  would 
permit  him  to  do  it,  and  on  what  terms,  when, 
appreciating  their  motives,  he  at  once  generously 
agreed  to  paint  Mr.  Robertson^s  portrait  without 
remuneration,  and  it  is  now  in  the  hall  of  the 
hospital.  Sir  William  was  much  esteemed,  not 
only  by  his  brother  artists,  but  by  an  extensive 
circle  of  friends.  A  picture  of  his  commemora- 
tive of  the  Ettrick  Shepherd's  birthday,  at  Hogg's 
house  at  Altrive,  after  a  day's  sport  in  trouting 
and  rambling  on  the  mountains,  contains  nineteen 
portraits  <^  the  Shepherd's  intimate  friends  and 
his  own,  in  rural  costumes,  among  whom,  besides 
Hogg  and  himself,  are  Sir  Walter  Scott ;  his  son- 
in-law  John  Gibson  Lockhart;  the  two  Ballan- 
t3mes,  James  and  John ;  Professor  Wilson  and  his 
brother  James;  Captain  Thomas  Hamilton,  au- 
thor of  *  Cyril  Thornton  ;'  Alexander  Nasmyth, 
the  celebrated  landscape  painter;  David  Brydges ; 
Constable  the  publisher ;  James  Russell,  the  co- 
median; and  James  Bruce,  piper  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott;  a  list  of  names  calculated  to  make  the 
painting  interesting,  although  not  among  the  most 
finished  of  the  artist's  perfonnances.  It  is  now 
the  property  of  Mrs.  Gott  of  Armsly  House. 

Sir  William  Allan  was  for  a  long  period  the 
only  resident  historical  painter  of  his  country, 
and  for  seventeen  years  master  of  the  Trustees' 
academy,  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  and  Wilkie 
first  began  their  career.  His  excellence  as  a 
painter  consisted  in  his  dramatic  power  of  por- 
traying a  story,  and  his  general  skill  in  com- 
position, rather  than  in  character  or  in  colour. 
He  will  be  remembered  in  the  history  of  Scottish 
art  by  the  impulse  which  he  gave  to  historical 
composition ;  whUe  his  name  will  always  be  en- 
deared to  the  admirers  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  by  the 


strong  partiality  which  the  latter  evinced  on  all 
occasions  for  his  friend  "Willie  Allan,"  With 
the  office  of  limner  to  the  queen  for  Scotland, 
which  Allan  received  in  1842,  the  honour  of 
knighthood  is  always  conveyed  to  its  holder.  A 
small  salary  also^  accompanies  it.  The  office  was 
revived  by  George  the  Fourth,  and  given  to  Sir 
Henry  Raeburu,  and  at  Raebum's  death  it  was 
conferred  on  Sir  David  Wilkie,  who  was  succeeded 
by  Sir  William  Allan.  At  the  death  of  the  latter, 
Sir  James  Watson  Gordon,  R.A.,  president  and 
trustee  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Academy,  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  A  portrait  of  Sir 
William  Allan  is  given  separately.  Besides 
WUkie,  John  Burnet  the  engraver,  Alexander 
Eraser  the  painter,  and  others  eminent  in  art,  were 
bis  fellow  students  at  the  Trustees'  Academy, 
Edinburgh.  When  he  firat  went  to  London,  Opie, 
the  Cornish  painter,  was  then  at  the  height  of  his 
reputation,  and  in  the  first  picture  which  Allan 
sent  to  the  Ro^'al  Academy,  be  imitated  Ople's 
style,  so  far  as  colour  went,  with  something  like 
servility.  This  picture,  called  *  A  Gipsy  and 
Ass,'  was  exhibited  in  1805.  His  *  Russian  Pea- 
sants Keeping  Holiday,'  was  exhibited  in  1809. 
Besides  the  pictures  above  mentioned,  he  also 
painted  the  following : — *  Circassian  Prince  on 
Horseback  selling  two  boys  of  his  own  nation  to  a 
Cossack  chief  of  the  Black  Sea ;'  *  Circassian 
Chief  selling  to  a  Turkish  Pasha  Captives  of  a 
neighbouring  tribe  taken  in  war;'  *The  parting 
between  Prince  Charles  Stuart  and  Flora  Mac- 
donald  ai  Portree ;'  and  ' Jeauie  Deans'  fii-st  inter- 
view with  her  father  after  her  return  from  London.* 

AiJJUiDiCB,  rarname  of,  see  Barclat-Allardick. 

ALPIN,  king  of  the  Dahiadic  Scots,  reigned 
contemporary  with  his  cousin,  Drust  IX.,  king  of 
the  Picts.  He  is  usually  said  to  have  been  the 
son  of  Achaius,  or  Eoganan,  that  is,  in  the  Celtic, 
Eochy-annuine  (the  poisonous),  but  Pinkerton 
thinks  that  the  name  of  his  father  is  lost  beyond 
all  recovery,  and,  indeed,  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try at  a  period  so  remote  is  so  enveloped  in  dark- 
ness as  to  be  considered  in  many  respects  fabu- 
lous. He  succeeded  his  brother,  Dungal  the  Brown, 
in  884.  His  kingdom  comprehended  the  moun- 
tainous country  of  Argyleshire,  as  far  as  the  mouth 


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ALPIN. 


121 


ALSTON. 


of  the  Clyde,  but,  anxioas  to  extend  his  territo- 
ries, he  sailed  firom  Kintjre,  and  landed  in  the 
bay  of  Ayr,  with  a  powerful  force.  After  laying 
waste  the  district  between  the  rivers  Ayr  and 
Doon,  following  the  course  of  these  rivers,  he 
penetrated  to  the  ridge  which  separates  Kyle  from 
Galloway,  destruction  for  a  time  marking  his  pro- 
gress. He  soon,  however,  received  a  check.  The 
chiefe,  recovered  from  their  first  alarm,  and  thirst- 
ing for  revenge,  collected  their  followers,  and  com- 
ing up  with  the  invading  army,  in  the  parish  of 
Dalmellington,  in  Ayrshire,  a  furious  conflict  en- 
suedf  when  Alpin  was  numbered  among  the  slain. 
This  event  happened  about  837.  The  battle  was 
fought  near  the  site  of  Laicht  castle,  which  de- 
rived its  name  from  the  stone  of  Alpin,  a  grave- 
stone known  and  recognised  nearly  four  centuries 
after  this  last  of  the  Dalriad  kings  had  been  slain 
on  the  spot.  The  word  hickt  signifies  a  grave  or 
stone,  and  there  are  still  the  remains  of  an  old 
castle  in  the  parish  of  Dalmellington,  at  a  place 
called  Laicht,  which  was  demolished  by  the  pro- 
prietor in  1771,  to  enclose  some  ground.  Two 
farms  in  the  parish  are  still  called  Over  and  Ne- 
ther Laicht,  and  several  cairns  are  found  which 
indicate  the  scene  of  the  battle.  It  is  also  re- 
markable that  the  foundation  charter  of  the  town 
of  Ayr,  granted  by  William  the  Lion  in  1197, 
when  describing  the  limits  of  its  exclusive  trade, 
names  Laicht  Alpin,  the  stone  or  grave  of  Alpin, 
as  one  of  its  distinguishing  boundaries.  Alpin 
left  two  sons,  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  under  whom 
the  Scots  and  Southern  Picts  were  united,  and 
Donald  IT.,  who  succeeded  Kenneth.  Alpines  at- 
tempt to  extend  his  territories  appears,  says  Skene, 
from  the  register  of  St.  Andrews,  to  have  been 
confined  to  Galloway,  the  province  of  which  in 
■those  days  comprehended  Ayrshire,  and  belonged 
to  the  Southern  Picts,  and  it  is  said  by  that  chroni- 
cle, that  it  was  his  conquest  of  that  territory  which 
transferred  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts  to  the  Scots. 
The  latter  event  is  called  the  Scottish  Conquest. 
Kenneth  his  son  apparently  fought  but  one  battle, 
and  that,  according  to  the  same  chronicle,  at  For- 
ceviot,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  territory  of  the 
Southern  Picts.  [^Skene's  History  of  the  Highland- 
ersy  vol.  i.  p.  65.]  This  Alpin  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  another  Alpin  or  Elpin,  who  was 


king  of  the  Picts,  and  who  reigned  from  776  to  779 
— Chalmers^  Cakdoma. — Ritson^s  AnndU^  vol.  ii. 

ALSTON,  Charles,  an  eminent  physician  and 
lecturer  on  botany,  was  bom  in  Lanarkshire  in 
1683,  and  first  studied  at  the  university  of  Glas- 
gow. Willie  a  student  there,  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  taken  under  the  patronage  of  the 
duchess  of  Hamilton,  and  spent  his  early  years  at 
Hamilton  palace.  By  the  assistance  of  her  grace 
he  was  enabled  to  accomplish  the  design  of  devot- 
ing himself  to  the  medical  profession,  and  in  the 
year  1716  he  went,  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Monro,  to  Leyden;  where,  after  studying 
for  three  years  under  the  celebrated  Boerhaave, 
he  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  On  his  return  he 
conunenced  practice  in  Edinburgh,  and,  by  the 
interest  of  the  duke  of  Hamilton,  heritable  keep^T 
of  Holyrood  house,  he  obtained  the  sinecure  ofSce 
of  king's  botanist.  He  began  his  lectures  on  bo- 
tany in  1720,  in  the  king's  garden  at  Holyrood 
house,  which  he  enriched  by  large  collections  he 
had  made  in  Holland.  In  1738  he  was  chosen  to 
succeed  Professor  Preston,  in  the  chair  of  Botany 
and  Materia  Medica  united,  in  the  university  of 
Edinburgh ;  and  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Monro, 
Dr.  Rutherford,  Dr.  Sinclaur,  and  Dr.  Plnmmer, 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  high  character  since 
enjoyed  by  Edinburgh  as  a  school  of  medical  sci- 
ence. In  1740,  for  the  assistance  of  his  pupils,  he 
published  an  Index  of  the  plants  demonstrated  to 
them  in  the  fklinburgh  medical  garden.  He  con- 
tinued to  lecture  till  his  death  on  the  22d  of  No- 
vember 1760.  In  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Medical  Essays  he  published  a  short  paper 
on  the  efficacy  of  the  powder  of  tin  in  destroying 
or  expelling  worms  from  the  bowels.  He  was  the 
author  of  several  botanical  works,  the  principal  of 
which  is  entitled  ^  Tirocinium  Botanicum  Edinbur- 
gense,'  1753.  In  the  same  year  one  of  his  papei-s, 
in  which  he  endeavoured  to  overturn  the  Linniean 
doctrine  of  the  sexual  system  of  plants,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  first  volume  of  the  *  Edinburgh  Phy- 
sical and  Literary  Essays.'  He  also  engaged  in  a 
controversy  with  Dr.  Whytt  about  quicklime ;  but 
the  most  valuable  of  all  his  works  are  his  *  Lectures 
on  the  Materia  Medica,'  which  appeared  in  two 
volumes  4to  in  1770,  edited  by  his  friend  and  suc- 
cessor in  the  professor's  chair.  Dr.  John  Hope. 


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ALTRIE. 


122 


ANCRUM. 


In  botany  a  genus  of  the  Polyandria  monogynia 

class  and  order  is  called  Alstonia  after  Dr.  Alston. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Alston's  works : 

Index  Plantarom  in  Horto  Medico  EdinburgensL  Edin. 
1740,  8vo. 

Index  Medicamentomm  simplidom  triplex.  Edin.  1752, 
12mo. 

Dissertations  on  Quick  Lime  and  lime  Water.  Edin.  1752, 
12mo.    The  2d  edition,  with  additions.    1754,  8vo. 

Tjrodniam  Botanicam  Edinboi^nse.  Edin.  1753,  8ro. 
1765,  8ro. 

Dissertation  on  Botany,  translated  from  the  Latin  by  a 
Physician.  Edin.  1754,  8to,  perhaps  a  translation  of  the 
Tyrocinium. 

A  second  Dissertation  on  Qnick  Lime  and  Lime  Water. 
Edm.  1755, 12mo. 

A  third  Dissertation  on  Qoick  lime  and  lime  Water. 
Edin.  1757,  8vo. 

Lectores  on  the  Materia  Medica,  containing  the  Natural 
History  of  Drugs,  their  Virtues  and  Doses;  also  Directions 
for  the  Study  of  the  Materia  Medica,  and  an  Appendix  on 
the  Method  of  Preecribmg.  Lond.  1770,  2  vols.  4to,  edited 
by  Dr.  Hope. 

Powder  of  Tin,  an  Anthelmentic  Medicine.  Med.  Ess.  v. 
p.  89,  1736. 

Dissertation  «i  Opium.    lb.  p.  110, 1736. 

Case  of  Extravasated  Blood  in  the  Pericardium.  lb.  ▼.  p. 
609. 

A  Dissertation  on  the  Sexes  of  Plants.  Ess.  Phys.  and 
Lit  p.  205, 1754. 

Two  Letters  on  lime  and  lime  Water.  Phil.  Trans. 
1751,  Abr.  X.  p.  204. 


Altrie,  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  an  extinct  barony 
originally  conferred  on  Robert  Keith,  the  second  son  of  Wil- 
liam fourth  earl  Marischal,  who  was  oommendator  of  the 
Gistertian  Abbey  of  Deer  in  Aberdeenshire,  and  had  the  whole 
lands  belonging  to  that  monastery  erected  into  a  temporal 
lordship,  with  the  title  of  Lord  Altrie,  29th  July  1587.  His 
lordship  was  selected  by  Elng  James  VI.,  to  go  to  Denmark 
to  negotiate  his  marriage  with  the  princess  Anne  in  1589, 
but  excused  himself  on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities, 
when  his  nephew  George,  fifth  earl  Marischal,  was  ap- 
I  pointed  in  his  stead.  The  first  Lord  Altrie  is  supposed  to 
have  been  dead  before  1606.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  said 
I  nephew,  the  fiflh  earl  Marischal,  the  founder  of  Marischal 
'  College,  Aberdeen,  when  the  title  of  Lord  Altrie  merged  in 
the  superior  title,  and  became  extinct  on  the  death  of  Geoige 
the  tenth  earl  Marischal.  See  Mabischal,  earl,  and  Keith, 
surname  of. 

Alvks,  a  surname  derived  firom  a  parish  in  Elginshu«  of 
that  name. 

ALVES,  Robert,  a  minor  poet,  was  bom  at 
Elgin  in  1745,  and  studied  at  Aberdeen,  where 
he  took  his  degrees  of  philosophy  in  1766.  His 
poetical  talents  gained  him  the  friendship  of  Dr. 
Beattie  and  other  gentlemen  of  literary  tastes.  He 
afterwards  became  parish  schoolmaster  at  Desk- 
ford,  and  in  1773  removed  to  Banff.  In  1779  he 
went  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  maintained  himself 


by  teaching  the  classics.  He  is  said  to  have  left 
Banff  on  account  of  a  disappointment  in  love.  In 
1782  he  published  a  volume  of  poems,  which 
attracted  little  notice.  In  1789  appeared  another 
of  his  works,  entitled  'Edinburgh,  a  poem,  in  two 
parts,  and  the  Weeping  Bard,  in  sixteen  cantos,* 
which  were  not  without  merit.  He  died  on  the 
Ist  of  January  1794,  leaving  a  laborious  work 
in  the  press,  entitled  *  Sketches  of  a  History  of 
Literature,'  which  was  afterwards  published. 
ICampbdts  History  of  Scottish  Poetry. "^  The 
works  of  Alves  are : 

Poems.    Edin.  1782,  8vo. 

Edinburgh,  a  Poem;  «l8o  the  Weeping  Bard.  Edin.  1789, 
8vo. 

Sketches  of  the  History  of  Literature,  containing  Lives  and 
Characters  of  the  most  eminent  writers  in  different  Langnafi;e8, 
ancient  and  modem,  with  Critical  Remarks  on  their  works, 
together  with  several  literaiy  Essays ;  to  which  is  prefixed,  a 
short  biographical  account  of  the  Author.  Edin.  1794,  8to. 
Edin.  1796,  8vo. 

Banks  of  Esk,  and  other  Poems.    Edin.  1801, 12mo. 


Ancrum,  earl  of,  one  of  the  titles  of  the  marquis  of  Lo> 
thian,  conferred  m  1638,  on  Sir  Robert  Keir,  of  Ancrum,  an 
accomplished  poet  and  courtier,  the  descendant  of  Sir  Andrew 
Kerr  of  Femihirst,  a  border  chief  who  acted  a  prominent  part  iv 
the  reigns  of  James  IV.  and  James  V.,  particularly  in  reasting 
the  inroads  of  the  English.  The  title  derolved  on  Robert  fourth 
eari  and  first  marquis  of  Lothian,  on  the  death  of  Charles, 
second  earl  of  Ancrum,  and  is  now  by  courtesy  borne  by  tin 
eldest  son  of  the  marquis  of  Lothian.  [See  Lothian,  mar> 
quia  of,  and  Kkrr,  surname  of.]  The  name  of  Ancrum  is  de- 
rived from  Alncromb  or  Alncrumb,  signifying  the  crook  of  the 
Ale  or  Aln,  and  is  exactly  descriptive  of  the  situation  of  the 
village  of  Ancrum,  which  stands  on  a  rising  ground  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ale,  where  that  stream  fetches  a  cmre  be- 
fore falling  into  the  Teviot  A  ridge  in  the  sequestered  parish 
of  Ancrum  in  Boxbuighshire  is  called  Lilliard*s  edge,  from  a 
battle  fought  there  in  1544,  on  an  invasion  of  the  English 
under  Sir  Ralph  Evers  and  Sir  Brian  Latoon,  in  which  a 
young  Scottish  woman  named  Lilliard  who  had  foDowed 
her  lover,  on  seeing  him  fall,  rushed  forward,  and  fighting 
bravely,  by  her  gallantry  aided  to  turn  the  fight  in  favour  of 
her  countrymen.  The  heroine  was  slain  in  the  engagement, 
and  an  old  broken  and  defaced  stone  is  still  pointed  out  to 
mark  the  spot  where  she  fell.  It  is  said  to  have  once  borne 
the  following  inscription,  recast  from  the  well-known  lines  on 
Sir  Thomas  Widdrington  in  the  ballad  of  Chevy  Chase: 

**  Fair  maiden  Lyliard  lies  under  this  stane; 
Little  was  her  stature,  bat  great  was  her  fame ; 
Upon  the  English  loons  she  laid  many  thninps. 
And  when  her  legs  were  cutted  off  she  fought  upon  her 
stumps.** 

The  leaders  of  the  Scotch  were  the  regent  earl  of  Arran  and 
the  earl  of  Angus.  (See  vol.  ii.  p.  46.) 

ANCRUM,  earl  of,  sec  Kerr,  Sir  Robert. 
Andersoit,    a   surname   meaning   literally  the   son    of 
Andrew,  but  as  held  by  families  of  Lowland  origin,  denoting 


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ANDERSON. 


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ANDERSON. 


:nore  proper.j  a  son  of  St  Andrew,  that  it,  a  natire  Scota- 
tnan,  as  indicated  bj  the  Gross  of  St  Andrew,  the  patron 
saint  of  Sootland,  in  their  shield.  The  Mid  Lothian  Andersons, 
to  one  branch  of  which  belongs  the  family  of  the  anthor 
of  this  work,  have  for  crest  a  crosslet  above  the  creecent; 
motto,  '*  Gradatiro."  The  crest  evidentlj  has  reference  to 
the  cmsades. 

The  Gaelic  sept  of  Anderson  are  said  to  be  an  offshoot  of 
the  old  potent  stem  of  Clan  Annas,  from  which  spring  the 
Mac  Andrews,  the  Mac  Gilanders,  and  the  Gilhinder8es(/S:(«iMi, 
vol.  ii.  p.  228).  The  chief  of  the  sept  is  Anderson  of  Candacraig, 
Aberdeenshire. 

ANDERSON,  Adam,  author  of  the  largest 
British  compilation  upon  commercial  history,  was 
bom  abont  the  year  1692.  He  left  Scotland  early 
in  life,  and  obtained  the  situation  of  clerk  in  the 
Sonth  Sea  House,  London,  in  which  he  remained 
for  forty  years,  and  rose  to  be  chief  clerk  of  the 
Stock  and  New  Annuities  in  that  establishment. 
He  retained  that  post  till  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened on  the  10th  January  1765.  He  was  one  of 
the  trustees  for  the  Settlement  of  Georgia,  and 
also  a  member  of  the  court  of  assistants  of  the 
Scots  Corporation  in  Ix>ndon.  In  1764,  a  year 
before  his  death,  was  published  his  elaborate  work, 
entitled  ^  An  Historical  and  Chronological  Deduc- 
tion of  the  Origin  of  Commerce,  from  the  Earliest 
Accounts  to  the  Present  Time  ;  containing  a  His- 
tory of  the  large  Commercial  Interests  of  the 
British  Empire,*  &c.  London,  two  volumes  folio. 
An  improved  edition  of  this  work  was  subsequent- 
ly published  by  David  MTherson,  in  four  vol- 
umes. Mr.  Anderson  was  twice  married.  By  his 
first  wife  he  had  a  daughter.  His  second  wife 
survived  him  till  1781.  He  was  her  third  hus- 
band.— Chahners^  Biog.  Diet. 

ANDERSON,  Alexander,  an  eminent  mathe- 
matician, was  bom  at  Aberdeen,  near  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  Having  at  an  early  period 
of  his  life  proceeded  to  Paris,  he  settled  there  as  a 
private  teacher  or  professor  of  mathematics.  Be- 
tween the  years  1612  and  1619  he  published  vari- 
ous treatises  on  geometrical  and  algebraic  science. 
His  pure  taste  and  skill  in  mathematical  investi- 
gation pointed  him  out  to  the  executors  of  the 
celebrated  geometrician  Yieta,  Master  of  Requests 
at  Paris,  who  died  in  1603,  as  the  fittest  person 
to  revise  and  publish  his  valuable  MSS.,  which  he 
did  with  learned  comments,  and  neat  demonstra- 
tions of  propositions  left  imperfect.  He  subse- 
quently produced  a  specimen  of  the  application  of 


geometrical  analysis,  distinguished  for  its  clearness 
and  classic  elegance.  His  works  are  now  scarce. 
They  consist  of  six  thin  quarto  volumes,  including 
the  edition  of  the  works  of  Vieta,  The  date  of 
his  death,  as  of  his  birth,  has  not  been  ascertained. 
{Huttm's  Mathematical  Dictionary "]  The  follow- 
ing is  a  list  of  his  works : 

Sapplemontum  Apollonii  Redivivi;  sire  Analysts  Prob- 
lematis  ad  Apollonii  Doctrinam  desiderati,  a  Maiino  Ghe- 
taldo  relicti.  Hoic  subnexa  est,  yariomm  problematum 
practice.    Paris,  1612,  4to. 

Air<«X«7<«,  pro  Zetetioo  Apolloniani  Problematis  a  so  jam 
pridem  edito  in  Sopplemento  Apollonii  Redivivi,  &c  Paris, 
1615,  4to. 

Francisd  VietsB  de  Eqnationnm  Recognitione  et  Emenda- 
tione  Tractatos  duo.     Paris,  1615,  4to. 

VindidsB  Archimedis,  sive  Elenchos  Cyclometrias  Laq*- 
bexgil    Paris,  1616. 

Diacrisis  Animadrersionis  in  Franc  Vietam  a  Clem.  Cj- 
riaoo.    Paris,  1617. 

Exerdtationam  Mathematicarum  Decas  prima.  Paris, 
1619. 

ANDERSON,  David,  of  Finshaugh,  a  citizen 
and  merchant  of  Aberdeen,  the  brother,  or,  as 
another  account  says,  the  cousin  of  the  preceding, 
and  uncle  of  George  Jamesone  the  Scottish  Van- 
dyke, had  likewise  a  strong  turn  for  mathematics 
and  mechanics,  and  from  his  being  able  to  apply 
his  knowledge  to  so  many  practical  and  useful 
purposes,  he  was  popularly  known  at  Aberdeen  by 
the  familiar  name  of  Davie  Do-a*-things.  He  re- 
moved a  large  rock  which  obstructed  the  entrance 
to  Aberdeen  harbour.  He  left  three  daughters, 
yet  *'  his  widow,"  we  are  informed  by  Mr.  David 
Laing,  in  the  information  supplied  to  Allan  Cun- 
ningham for  his  Memoir  of  Jamesone  the  painter, 
*^  was  rich  enough  and  generous  enough  to  found 
and  endow  an  hospital  in  Aberdeen  for  the  main- 
tenance and  education  of  ten  poor  orphans."  One 
of  his  daughters  was  married  to  the  Rev.  John 
Gregory,  minister  of  Drumoak,  and  their  son  was 
the  celebrated  James  Gregory,  inventor  of  the  re- 
flecting telescope.  From  her  is  supposed  to  have 
been  derived  that  taste  for  mathematical  science 
which  afterwards  distinguished  the  Gregorys.  A 
portrait  of  him  by  his  nephew,  the  celebrated 
painter  above  referred  to,  is  still  extant  in  Aber- 
deen. 

ANDERSON,  Andrew,  a  printer  at  Edin- 
burgh, who,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  H.,  obtained 
a  patent  for  printing  everything  in  Scotland  for  41 


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ANDERSON. 


years,  thus  monopolizing  the  whole  trade  to  him- 
Bclf-— -a  thing  that  would  not  be  tolerated  in  our 
more  enlightened  days.  He  was  the  son  of  George 
Anderson,  who,  in  1638,  introduced  the  art  of 
letter-press  printing  into  Glasgow,  having  been 
invited  from  Edinburgh  by  the  magistrates  for  that 
purpose,  and  it  appears  from  the  council  records 
of  the  former  city  that  he  was  to  be  allowed  £100 
for  the  liquidation  of  his  expenses,  "  in  transport- 
ing of  his  gear  to  that  burgh,^'  and  in  full  of  his 
bygone  salaries  from  Whitsunday  1638  till  Mar- 
tinmas 1639.  His  son  Andrew  succeeded  him  in 
Glasgow,  but  afterwards  removed  to  Edinbnrgh, 
and  was  made  king's  printer  for  Scotland,  in  1671. 
For  many  years  after  this  period  the  art  of  print- 
ing remained  in  the  very  lowest  state  in  Scotland, 
owing  mainly  to  the  exclusive  nature  of  the  royal 
grant  to  Anderson.  This  privilege  was  after- 
wards restricted  to  Bibles  and  Acts  of  parliament, 
which  continued  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the 
king's  printers  for  Scotland,  till  1839,  when  the 
license  was  thrown  open,  under  certain  condi- 
tions and  restrictions,  to  the  printing  trade  gen- 
erally. 

ANDERSON,  Andrew,  lieutenant-general  in 
the  East  India  Company's  service,  founder  of  an 
institution  at  Elgin  for  the  support  of  old  age  and 
the  education  of  youth,  was  the  son  of  a  private 
soldier  and  a  poor  half-witted  woman  of  the  name 
of  Marjory  GUzean,  belonging  to  the  town  of  El- 
gin, to  whom  he  was  privately  married.  Andrew, 
who  was  born  about  the  year  1746,  was  brought 
up  by  his  mother  in  a  state  of  great  misery,  in 
what  had  been  the  sacristy  of  Elgin  cathedral, 
where  she  led  a  wretched  and  lonely  life,  support- 
ed by  charity;  her  infant's  bed  being  a  hollow 
sculptured  stone,  which  had  formerly  been  used  as 
i^font.  He  was  educated  at  the  grammar  school 
of  that  town  as  a  pauper,  doing  all  the  drudgery 
of  the  school  in  return  for  his  education.  After- 
wards he  was  bound  apprentice  to  his  father's 
brother,  a  staymaker  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  St. 
Andrews  Lhanbryd,  whose  harsh  treatment  in- 
duced him,  while  yet  very  young,  to  run  away 
from  home.  Having  contrived  to  reach  London, 
he  was  taken  in  by  a  tailor,  who  afterwards  em- 
ployed him  as  his  clerk.  Being  sent  with  a  suit  of 
clothes  to  an  officer  in  the  East  India  Company's 


service,  a  countryman  of  his  own,  then  about  to 
proceed  to  India,  that  gentleman,  pleased  with  his 
appearance,  and  satisfying  himself  that  he  had 
obtained  a  good  education,  advised  him  to  enlist 
in  his  regiment,  and  offered  to  take  him  as  his 
servant.  Anderson  accordingly  went  out  as  a 
drummer,  and  from  his  steadiness  and  good  con- 
duct, and  singular  facility  in  the  acquirement  of 
languages,  soon  obtained  promotion.  He  had 
early  made  himself  master  of  the  Hindostanee, 
and  was  frequently  employed  as  interpreter.  His 
conduct  at  the  taking  of  Seringapatam,  in  1799, 
was  honourably  noticed  at  the  time  in  the  public 
papers.  Having  amassed  a  large  fortune,  he  ulti- 
mately retired  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general 
in  the  Bombay  army.  In  1811  he  returned  to 
Elgin,  and  resided  for  several  summers  there,  or 
in  the  neighbourhood,  passing  the  winter  in  Lon- 
don, where,  on  the  23d  November  1815,  he  exe- 
cuted a  trust-disposition  and  deed  of  settlement, 
assigning  his  whole  property,  after  the  payment 
of  a  few  minor  legacies,  for  the  purposes  of  found- 
ing and  endowing  an  Hospital,  a  School  of  Indus- 
try, and  a  Free  School  it  Elgin,  to  be  called  the 
Elgin  Institution  for  the  support  of  old  age  and 
education  of  youth.  He  died  in  London  on  the 
16th  of  December  1824. 

The  funds  left  by  General  Anderson  amounted 
to  £70,000,  and  the  Elgin  Institution,  which  stands 
at  the  east  end  of  Elgin,  was  founded  in  1832, 
for  the  maintenance  of  aged  men  and  women,  and 
the  maintenance  and  education  of  poor  or  orphan 
boys  and  girls.  The  philanthropic  and  splendid 
monument  which  he  may  be  said  to  have  thus 
raised  to  his  own  memory  is  a  beautiful  and  ap- 
propriate piece  of  architecture.  Built  of  native 
sandstone,  it  is  a  quadrangular  structure  of  two 
stories,  surmounted  by  a  circular  tower  and  dome. 
The  institution  for  the  children  contains  a  school 
of  indnstry.  The  children  are  apprenticed  also  to 
some  trade  or  useful  occupation.  The  house  gov- 
ernor and  teacher  of  the  school  of  industry  has  a 
salary  of  £55  per  annum,  with  board  and  lodging 
in  the  institution.  A  public  school,  on  the  I^an- 
casterian  system,  is  attached  to  the  institution  as 
a  free  school,  for  the  education  of  male  and  female 
children  whose  parents,  though  in  narrow  circum- 
stances, are  still  able  to  maintain  and  clothe  them 


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ANDERSON. 


ANDERSON,  James,  the  author  of  the  *  Di- 
plomata  ScoUs,'  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Patrick 
Anderson,  one  of  the  persecuted  presbyterian  min- 
isters, who  at  the  Restoration  was  ejected  from  his 
living  and  afterwards  suffered  imprisonment  in  the 
Bass,  and  was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  August  5, 1662, 
and  graduated  at  the  university  there.  It  appears 
from  the  registers  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh 
that  he  was  a  student  under  Mr.  William  Paterson, 
the  professor  of  philosophy  in  1667,  and  took  his 
degree  in  the  class  of  Mr.  James  Wishart,  on  the 
27th  of  Afay  1680.  Having  chosen  the  law  for  his 
profession,  he  served  an  apprenticeship  with  Sii* 
Hugh  Paterson  of  Bannockbum,  writer  to  the  sig- 
net, and  on  the  6th  of  June  1691  he  was  admitted 
a  member  of  that  society.  In  1704,  an  English 
lawyer,  of  the  name  of  Atwood,  having  published  a 
pamphlet  claiming  for  England  a  direct  superiority 
over  Scotland,  Mr.  Anderson  was  led  to  publish 
an  *'  Historical  Essay,  showing  that  the  Crown  and 
Kingdom  of  Scotland  is  imperial  and  Independent,' 
which  appeared  in  1705.  This  work  procui*ed  for 
him  not  only  a  reward,  but  the  thanks  of  the  Scot- 
tish parliament,  which  ordered  Atwood's  pamphlet 
as  well  as  theHistoria  Anglo-Scotica  of  Drake,  to  be 
burnt  by  the  common  hangman.  Having  projected 
a  series  of  engravings  of  fac-similes  of  the  charters 
and  seals,  medals  and  coins,  of  the  Scottish  mon- 
archs  from  the  earliest  times,  in  November  1706, 
he  obtained  from  the  Scottish  parliament  a  vote  of 
three  hundred  pounds  sterling  towards  this  object. 
By  this  aid  he  was  enabled  to  make  great  progress 
in  his  arduous  work ;  but  before  March  1707  he 
had  not  only  expended  this  sum,  but  five  hundred 
and  ninety  pounds  sterling  of  his  own  on  the  un- 
dertaking, and  was  forced  again  to  apply  to  par- 
liament, now  about  to  expire.  A  committee  re- 
ported the  facts,  and  the  parliament,  while  they 
approved  of  his  conduct,  voted  him  an  additional 
grant  of  one  thousand  and  fifty  pounds  steriing ; 
and  recommended  him  to  the  queen  *  as  a  person 
meriting  her  gracious  favour.*  One  of  the  last 
acts  of  the  union  parliament  was  ^  a  recommenda- 
tion in  favour  of  Mr.  James  Anderson.'  This  in- 
duced him  to  remove  to  London,  to  superintend 
the  progress  of  the  work,  though  the  money  Is  &aid 
never  to  have  been  paid.  In  June  1715  he  was 
appointed  postmaster-general  for  Scotland,  a  situ- 


ation which  he  held  only  for  two  yeai-s,  havhig 
been  superseded  on  the  29th  of  November  1717, 
for  some  cause  which  does  not  appear,  by  Sir 
John  Inglis  of  Cramond.  When  he  lost  this  ap- 
pointment he  issued  proposals  for  publishing  his 
*Diplomata.'  The  following  advertisement  ap- 
peared in  Watson*s  Scots  Courant  of  the  25th  of 
February  1718:  *' Proposals  being  printed  for 
publishing  a  book,  which  will  consist  of  above  one 
hundred  copperplates,  containing  the  ancient  char- 
ters and  seals  of  the  kings  of  Scotland,  and  the 
alphabets  and  abbreviations  made  use  of  in  an- 
cient writings,  collected  pursuant  to  an  order  of 
the  parliament  of  Scotland,  by  Mr.  Anderson, 
writer  to  the  signet:  any  who  encourage  that 
book  may  have  copies  of  the  proposals  at  Mr.  An- 
derson's house  above  the  general  post  office,  Edin- 
burgh, and  may  also  see  specimens  of  the  work  at 
any  time  between  the  hours  of  two  and  five  in  the 
afternoon.''  In  1727  appeared  the  first  and  second 
volumes  of  his  ^  Collections  relating  to  the  History 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scotland ;'  to  which  he  soon 
after  added  two  more  volumes,  4to.  This  work 
was  intended  as  a  counter  publication  to  Jebb's 
Vita  et  Rebus  Gestis  Marim  Scotorum  RegiruBy 
published  at  I-ondon,  in  1725,  in  two  folio  vol- 
umes, which  represented  Mary  and  her  cause  in 
a  favourable  light.  In  preparing  his  work  on 
Queen  Mary,  Mr.  Anderson,  through  the  infiuence 
of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  obtained  admission 
to  the  state  paper  office,  "  whence,"  says  Chal- 
mers, ^'he  drew  some  documents  that  lost  their 
efficacy  from  suspicions  of  his  candour.''  Mr.  Chal- 
mers, in  his  life  of  Rnddiman,  makes  the  following 
very  just  remark:  "That  such  an  antiquary  as 
Andei*son  is  represented  to  have  been  should  enti- 
tle Mary,  queen^of  Scotland^  is  astonishing,  when 
the  charters  and  seals  of  hfs  own  Diplomata  would 
have  shown  him  that  she  was  Scotorum  Regina^ 
as  her  predecessors  had  been  Scotorum  Reges. 
Rnddiman,  with  his  usual  acuteness,  remarks, 
^  That  it  is  a  sure  indication  of  forgery  when  an 
old  charter  speaks  of  the  king  as  Scotiee  Rex.^ " 
[Chalmers'  Ruddiman^  p.  156,  note,  ed.  1794.]  An- 
derson was  one  of  a  society  of  the  critics  of  Edin- 
burgh, which  was  formed  for  publishing  a  correct 
edition  of  Buchanan's  works,  with  the  declared 
aim  of  vindicating  "that  incomparably  learned 


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and  pious  author  from  the  calumnies  of  Mr.  Tho- 
mas Ruddiman/*  It  does  not  appear  that  they 
ever  carried  their  design  into  execution,  farther 
than  preparing  a  series  of  "  Notts"  upon  the  an- 
notations of  Ruddiman,  which  are  still  in  manu- 
script. He  died  at  London  of  an  apoplectic  stroke, 
on  the  2d  of  April  1728,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six, 
leaving  unfinished  his  great  work,  on  which  he  had 
been  engaged  for  so  many  years.  He  had  married 
m  his  youth  a  daughter  of  John  Ellis  of  Elliston, 
an  advocate  in  Edinburgh,  by  whom  he  had  sev- 
eral sons,  who  survived  him,  and  a  daughter  Mar- 
garet who  married  George  Crawford,  the  author 
of  the  Peerage.  One  of  his  sons,  Patrick  Ander- 
son, was  comptroller  of  the  stamps  at  Edinburgh. 
In  his  latter  years,  Anderson  found  himself  in  em- 
barrassed curcumstances,  from  the  poverty  which 
had  gradually  fallen  upon  him  from  his  ill-directed 
projects,  arising  fi'om  his  want  of  prudence  and  over 
sanguine  temperament.  In  his  distress  he  pledged 
his  ancient  charters  and  his  copperplates  to  Tho- 
mas Paterson  of  Conduit  Street,  London,  a  fiiend 
who  had  patronized  his  labours  and  relieved  his 
necessities.  In  1729  the  plates  were  sold  by  auc- 
tion, and  brought  £530.  It  was  at  the  request  of 
Mr.  Paterson  that  Ruddiman  was  induced  to  finish 
what  Anderson  with  less  erudition  and  diligence 
had  begun.  At  last  in  1739,  eleven  years  after  his 
death,  the  work  was  published  in  one  volume  folio, 
under  the  title  of  *  Selectus  Diplomatum  et  Nu- 
mismatum  Scotin  Thesaurus,*  with  an  elaborate 
preface  by  Thomas  Ruddiman.  It  was  printed, 
in  one  large  folio  volume,  by  Thomas  and  Walter 
Ruddiman,  for  Thomas  Paterson  in  Conduit 
Street,  Andrew  Millar  in  the  Strand,  London,  and 
Gawin  Hamilton  at  Edinburgh. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Anderson's  works : 

An  Historical  Essaj,  sbowbg  that  the  Crown  of  Scotland 
is  Imperial  and  Independent^  in  answer  to  Mr.  Atwood. 
Edin.  1705,  8vo. 

Collections  relating  to  the  History  of  Maiy  Queen  of  Soot- 
land.    Edin.  1727-28,  4  vols.  4to. 

Selectus  Diplomatnm  et  Namismatnm  Scotie  Thesanms : 
de  Mandate  Parliamenti  in  snbjidontar  ad  fadlioram  Rei 
AntiqnarisB  cognitionem  Characteres  et  AbbreriatnraD,  in 
dnas  partes  distributus:  1.  Sjllogen  complectuntur  veterum 
diplomatmn,  tare  Chartamm  regam  et  procerum  ScotiiBf  una 
cum  eonun  SigOliSf  a  Dnncano  II.  ad  Jacobnm  I.  i.  e.  ab  anno 
1094  ad  1412.  2.  Continet  Nomismata  turn  aarea  quam  ar- 
gentea  singulorum  Scotise  regnm  ab  Alexandro  L  ad  supra 
dictam  regnorum  coalitionem  perpetna  serie  deducta  Qiue 
open  consammando  deerant   snpplevit  et  prefatione,  Taba- 


lanun  explicatione,  aliisqae  Appendidbns;  rem  ScotisB  diplo- 
maticam  nommariam,  et  genealogicam  baud  parom  illustran' 
t'onibus,  anxit  et  locupletavit  Thomas  Ruddimanns.  Edin. 
1739,  foL  This  splendid  work  is  enriched  with  fac-similes  o< 
charters,  &c  beautifully  engraved  by  Sturt.  The  original 
price  was  4  guineas  common  paper,  and  6  fine.  Mr.  Ruddi- 
man's  Introduction  was  afterwards  translated,  and  published 
by  itself.  Edin.  1778, 12mo.  It  is  a  work  of  extreme  rarity, 
and  great  value.  In  the  fifth  division  it  exhibits  the  char- 
acters and  abbreviations  used  in  ancient  MSS. 

ANDERSON,  James,  D.D.,  the  brother  of 
Adam  Anderson,  author  of  the  Commercial  His- 
tory, whose  life  is  given  at  page  123,  was  bom  at 
Aberdeen,  and  having  gone  to  London  in  1710, 
was  for  many  years  minister  of  the  Scotch  church, 
in  Swallow  street,  Piccadilly.  In  1 734  he  removed 
to  another  chapel  in  Leicester  Fields,  and  died 
May  23,  1739.  He  wrote  a  treatise  on  *The 
Constitutions  of  the  Free  Masons,'  and  an  elabo- 
rate folio  volume,  entitled  *•  Royal  Crenealogies,  or 
the  Grenealogical  Tables  of  Emperors,  Kings,  and 
Princes,  from  Adam  to  these  Times,*  London,  1732. 

ANDERSON,  Jambs,  LL.D.,  an  eminent  wri- 
ter, the  son  of  a  farmer,  was  born  at  Hermiston, 
near  Edinburgh,  in  1739.  His  ancestors  were 
farmers,  and  for  many  generations  had  occupied 
the  same  land.  His  parents  died  when  he  was 
very  young,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered 
upon  the  management  of  the  farm  which  they  had 
possessed.  Early  perceiving  the  great  advantage 
of  a  scientific  acquaintance  with  agriculture,  he 
attended  the  chemistry  class  of  Dr.  Cullen,  in  the 
univei-sity  of  Edinburgh,  studying  at  the  same 
time  several  collateral  branches  of  science.  He 
adopted  a  number  of  improvements  on  his  farm, 
and  was  among  the  first  to  use  the  small  twc 
horse  plough  on  its  introduction  into  Scotland.  In 
the  midst  of  his  agricultural  labours,  so  great  was 
his  desire  for  knowledge  and  so  unwearied  his 
application,  that  he  contrived  to  acquire  a  consid- 
erable stock  of  general  information.  In  1771, 
under  the  signature  of  Agricola,  he  contributed  to 
Ruddiman's  Edinburgh  Weekly  Magazine  a  series 
of  *  Essays  on  Planting,'  which  in  1777  were  col- 
lected into  a  volume.  In  1773  he  furnished  the 
article  Monsoon  to  the  fii-st  edition  of  the  Encyclo- 
piedia  Britannica,  in  which  he  predicted  the  fail- 
ure of  Captain  Cook's  first  expedition  in  search  o/ 
a  southern  polar  continent.  In  1776  appeared  his 
Essay  on  Chimneys. 


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Previotis  to  the  year  1777,  Mr.  Anderson  had 
remoyed  to  a  large  uncultivated  farm  of  1,800  acres, 
named  Monkhill,  which  he  rented  in  Aberdeen- 
shire, and  which,  oy  his  skill  and  care,  he  brought 
into  excellent  condition.  In  that  year  appeared 
'  Observations  on  the  Means  of  Exciting  a  Spirit 
of  National  Industry,*  with  regard  to  agriculture, 
commerce,  manufactures,  and  fisheries;  and,  be- 
sides his  Essays  on  Planting,  various  pamphlets  on 
agricultural  subjects,  which  raised  his  reputation 
very  high  as  a  practical  agriculturist.  In  1780,  the 
university  of  Aberdeen  conferred  on  him  the  degree 
of  LL.D.  He  had  married  in  1768,  Miss  Seton 
of  Mounie;  by  whom  he  had  thirteen  children; 
and  with  the  twofold  object  of  educating  his 
family,  and  enjoying  literary  society,  m  1783 
he  went  to  reside  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edin- 
burgh. His  place  of  residence  was  situated  within 
the  parish  of  Leith,  and  when  the  magistrates  and 
heritors  attempted  to  levy  an  assessment  upon 
householders  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor,  he 
brought  the  measure  before  the  court  of  session, 
and  succeeded  in  persuading  the  judges  that  the 
laws  of  Scotland  did  not  authorise  the  establish- 
ment of  a  poor's  rate.  He  considered  himself  as 
having  rendered  an  essential  service  to  his  country, 
by  his  resistance  in  this  case,  and  several  editions 
of  his  papers  during  the  process,  though  never 
published,  were  printed  for  the  use  of  his  friends. 
Having,  in  a  tract  privately  circulated,  projected 
the  establishment  of  the  North  British  Fisheries, 
ne  was  requested  by  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury  in 
1784  to  survey  the  western  coast  of  Scotland,  and 
in  1785  he  published  the  result  of  his  inquiries, 
under  the  title  of  ^  An  Account  of  the  present  state 
of  the  Hebrides  and  Western  Coast  of  Scotland, 
being  the  Substance  of  a  Report  to  the  Lords  of 
the  Treasury.'  In  the  Report  of  a  committee 
appointed  May  11,  1785,  to  inquire  into  the  state 
of  the  British  fisheries,  very  honourable  mention 
is  made  of  his  labours.  On  the  22d  December 
1790  he  commenced  a  weekly  publication  of  a 
literary  and  scientific  nature,  called  ^The  Bee,' 
which  continued  till  the  1st  January  1794.  He 
wrote  a  great  part  of  the  work  himself,  and  be- 
sides many  of  the  principal  papers  without  signa- 
ture, all  those  which  were  signed  Senex,  Alcibi- 
adcs,  and  Timothy  Haurbrain,  were  from  his  pen. 


When  the  Board  of  agriculture  applied  to  par- 
liament for  a  reward  to  Mr.  Elkington,  on  account 
of  his  mode  of  draining  by  boring.  Dr.  Anderson 
addressed  several  letters  to  the  president  of  that 
Board.  These  letters  were  published,  and  though 
the  language  he  used  in  them  was  considered  as 
rather  mtemperate,  yet  it  afterwards  appeared  that 
his  assertions  were  well  founded,  and  that  Elking- 
ton's  plan  contained  nothing  but  what  had  been 
fully  explained  by  Dr.  Anderson  more  than  twenty 
years  before  in  his  Agricultural  Essays.  About 
this  time,  also,  he  read  an  Essay  on  Moss  before 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  which  was  soon 
after  published.  In  it  he  first  advanced  the  very 
singular  idea  that  moss,  contrary  to  the  mode  of 
all  other  plants,  vegetates  below,  while  its  upper 
stratum  b  undergoing  putrefaction  by  exposure  to 
the  air. 

About  the  year  1797  he  removed  with  his  family 
to  London,  and  for  several  years  wrote  the  agri- 
cultural articles  in  the  Monthly  Review.  From 
1799  to  1802  he  conducted  another  journal  called 
*  Recreations  in  Agriculture,  Natural  History, 
Arts,  and  Miscellaneous  Literature,'  which  ended 
with  the  sixth  volume.  Although  the  work  con- 
tains a  number  of  communications  from  others,  the 
greater  part  of  it  was  written  by  himself  It  met 
with  the  greatest  encouragement  from  the  public, 
but  the  irregularity  of  his  printers  and  booksellers 
caused  him  to  discontinue  it.  The  thurty-seventh 
number  of  his  *  Recreations'  was  his  last  publica- 
tion in  March  1802.  After  this  period  he  published 
nothing  more,  except  his  correspondence  with 
General  Washington  and  a  pamphlet  on  scarcity, 
but  devoted  himself  almost  entirely  to  the  relaxa- 
tion of  a  quiet  Ufe,  and  particularly  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  garden  at  Isleworth ;  in  which  he  had 
constructed  a  model  of  his  patent  hothouse,  to  act 
by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  without  the  application  of 
artificial  heat.  With  this  he  amused  himself  by 
making  experiments,  in  order  to  ascertain  what 
degree  of  heat  and  moisture  was  most  salutary  to 
different  plants.  As  an  instance  of  his  unwearied 
attention  to  every  department  of  rural  economy, 
may  be  mentioned  a  discovery  which  he  made 
about  this  time,  respecting  the  most  effectual  mode 
of  exterminating  wasps.  Having  observed  that 
in  the  district  where  he  resided  these  insects  were 


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very  destructive  to  every  species  of  fruit,  he  re- 
solved to  study  their  natural  history.  He  soon 
ascertained,  by  his  inquiries  and  observations, 
that  the  whole  hive,  like  that  of  bees,  was  propa- 
gated from  one  female  or  queen,  and  that  the 
whole  i-ace,  except  a  few  queens,  peiished  during 
winter,  and  he  naturally  concluded  that  to  destroy 
the  queens,  in  the  months  of  May  and  June,  before 
they  began  to  drop  their  eggs,  was  the  sui-est  way 
of  diminishing  their  number.  With  this  view  he 
even  procured  an  association  to  be  formed,  which 
circulated  handbills  with  directions,  and  offered  a 
reward  for  every  queen  wasp  that  should  be 
brought  in,  within  a  specified  period. 

Dr.  Anderson  died  at  Westham,  near  London,  on 
15th  October  1808,  of  a  gradual  decline.  Having 
been  some  time  a  widower,  in  1801  he  had  married 
a  second  wife,  a  lady  belonging  to  Isleworth,  who 
smrived  him ;  ss  did  also  five  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter. In  his  younger  days,  and  while  engaged  in  the 
active  pursuits  of  agriculture,  Dr.  Anderson  was 
remarkably  handsome  in  his  person,  of  middle 
stature,  and  of  robust  constitution.  Extremely 
moderate  in  his  living,  the  country  exercise  ani- 
mated his  countenance  with  the  glow  of  health ; 
but  the  overstrained  exertion  of  his  mental  pow- 
ers afterwards  impaired  his  strength,  ultimately 
wasted  his  faculties,  and  brought  on  premature 
old  age.  He  possessed  a  very  independent  mind, 
and  his  manners  were  agreeable  and  unconstrain- 
ed. In  the  relative  duties  of  a  husband  and  a  fa- 
ther, he  displayed  the  greatest  prudence  and  affec- 
tion ;  and  in  the  social  circle  he  was  distinguished 
by  his  humorous  pleasantry,  and  abounded  in 
anecdote.  In  conversation  he  entered  with  zeal 
and  spirit  into  any  favourite  subject,  and  his  re- 
marks were  generally  full  of  interest.  He  was 
among  the  first  of  that  long  list  of  practical  writers 
of  which  the  present  century  has  produced  so 
many  who  directed  the  public  attention  to  the  im- 
provement of  agriculture,  and  there  was  no  agri- 
cultural subject  of  which  he  treated  without  throw- 
uig  upon  it  new  light.  Besides  the  works  men- 
tioned, he  wrote  also  many  papers  in  the  periodi- 
cals, and  an  Account  of  Ancient  Fortifications  in 
the  Highlands,  which  was  read  to  the  Society  of 
Scottish  Antiquaries.— &oti  Moff,  1809.— -Bt/m. 
Ency. 


The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works : 

A  Practical  Treatiae  on  GhimneTs ;  containing  fiill  direo- 
tions  for  oonstmcting  them  in  all  cases,  so  as  to  draw  weU, 
and  for  removing  Smoke  in  houses.    Lond.  1776,  12mo. 

Free  Thoughts  on  the  American  Contest.    Edin.  1776,  8vo. 

Essays  relating  to  Agricolture  and  Rural  Affairs.  Edin. 
1776,  8vo.  1777,  Svo.  Lond.  1796, 8  toIs.  8vo.  Fifth  *dit. 
with  additions  and  corrections.    Lond.  1800,  8  toIs.  Svo. 

Miscellaneous  llioughts  on  Planting  and  Training  Timber 
Trees,  by  Agrioohi.    Edin.  1777,  Svo. 

Observations  on  the  Means  of  exciting  a  Spirit  of  Nationa] 
Industry,  chiefly  intended  to  promote  the  Agriculture,  Com- 
merce, Fisheries,  and  Manufactures  of  Scotland.  Edm.  1777 
4to. 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  the  Com  Laws,  with  a  view 
to  the  new  Com  Bill  proposed  for  SooUand.  Edin.  1777,  Sva 

An  Enquiry  into  the  Causes  that  have  hitherto  retarded 
the  advancement  of  Agriculture  in  Europe,  with  Hints  for 
removing  the  circumstances  that  have  chiefly  obstructed  its 
progress.    Edin.  1779,  4to. 

The  Interest  of  Great  Britain  with  regard  to  her  American 
Colonies  oonsidored.    1782,  8vo. 

The  Tme  Interest  of  Great  Britain  considered,  or  a  Pro- 
posal for  establishing  the  Northern  British  Fisheries.  1783, 
12mo. 

An  Account  of  the  present  State  of  the  Hebrides,  and 
Western  Coasts  of  Scotland,  with  Hints  for  encouraging  the 
Fbheriee,  and  promoting  other  Improvements  in  these  coun- 
tries; being  the  Substance  of  a  Report  to  the  Lords  of  the 
Treasuiy.  Edin.  1785,  8vo,  illustrated  with  a  geographical 
map. 

Obserrations  on  Slavery,  particularly  with  a  view  to  lit 
effects  on  the  British  Colonies  in  the  West  Indies.  Man- 
chester, 1789,  4to. 

Papers  drawn  up  by  him  and  Sir  John  Sinclair,  in  reference 
to  a  Report  by  a  Committee  of  the  Highland  Society  on  Sbet- 
hmd  Wool    1790,  8vo. 

The  Bee,  consisting  of  Essays  Philosophical  and  Miscella- 
neous.   Edin.  1791-94,  6  vols.  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  Effects  of  Coal  Duty  upon  the  remote 
and  thinly  peopled  coasts  of  Britain.    Edin.  1792,  8vo. 

Thoughts  on  the  Privileges  and  Power  of  Juries,  with  Ob- 
servations on  the  present  State  of  the  Country  with  regard  ta 
Credit    Edm.  1793,  8vo. 

Remarks  on  the  Poor  Law  in  ScotUnd.    Edin.  1793,  4to. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  Peat  Moss,  considered  as  in  itk 
natural  state  fitted  for  affording  fuel,  or  as  susceptible  of 
being  converted  into  mould,  capable  of  yielding  abundant 
crops  of  useful  produce,  with  full  directions  for  converting  and 
cultivating  it  as  a  soil    Edin.  1794,  8vo. 

A  Genotd  View  of  the  Agriculture  and  Rural  Economy  of 
the  County  of  Aberdeen,  with  Observations  on  the  means  of 
its  improvement.  Chiefly  drawn  up  for  the  Board  of  Agri- 
culture, in  two  parts.    Edin.  1794,  8vo. 

An  Account  of  the  differeut  kinds  of  Sheep  found  in  the 
Russian  dominions,  and  among  the  Tartar  Hordes  of  Asia,  by 
Dr.  Pallas,  illustrated  with  six  plates,  to  which  are  added  flvr 
appendixes,  tending  to  illustrate  the  natural  and  OBOonomica. 
histoiy  of  sheep,  and  other  domestic  animals.  Edin.  1794, 
8vo. 

On  an  Universal  Character,  in  two  letters  to  Edward 
Home,  Esq. .  Edm.  1795,  8vo. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  Draining  Bogs  and  Swampy  Grounds, 
with  cursory  remarks  on  the  originality  of  Elkington's  mode 
of  draining.    Also  disquisitions  concerning  the  different  breedi 


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of  sheep  and  other  doraestio  wiiinBls,  beiog  the  principal  ad- 
ditions made  in  the  foniih  edition  of  his  EaaajE  on  Agricul- 
ture.    Lond.  1794, 1798,  8vo. 

Becreations  in  Agriculture,  Natural  Histoiy,  Arts,  and 
MisoeHaneons  literature.    Lond.  179^1802,  6  vols.  8vo. 

Selections  from  his  Correspondence  with  General  Washing- 
ton, in  which  the  causes  of  the  present  scarcity  are  fuUj  in- 
restigated.    Lond.  1800,  8yo. 

A  Calm  Investigation  of  the  Circumstances  that  have  led 
to  the  present  scarcity  of  Grain  in  Britain ;  suggesting  the 
means  of  alleviating  that  evil,  and  of  preventing  the  recurrence 
of  SQchacalamitjin  future.    Lond.  1801,  8vo. 

A  Description  of  a  patent  Hot-house,  which  operates  chiefly 
by  the  heat  of  the  Sun,  and  other  subjects ;  without  the  aid 
of  Fines,  or  Tan-bark,  or  Steam,  for  tiie  purpose  of  heating 
it,&c.    Lond.  1804. 12mo. 

The  Antiquity  of  Woollen  Manufactures  in  EngUnd. — 
Gents.  Mag.  August  1778,  and  other  papers  in  that  work. 

A  Disquisition  on  Wool-bearing  Animids.  American  Trans, 
iv.  149.    1799. 

On  Cast  Iron.    Trans.  Ed.  R  Soc.  L  26.    1788. 

A  further  Description  of  ancient  Fortifications  in  the  North 
ofSootland.    ArchaeoL  vl  87.    1782. 

ANDERSON,  John,  M.A.,  author  of  the 
celebrated  Defence  of  Presbyterianism,  was  bom 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  bnt  the 
precise  year  has  not  been  ascertained.  All  that 
is  known  of  his  early  life  is,  that,  after  receiving 
a  nniversity  education,  he  was  for  some  time  the 
preceptor  of  the  celebrated  John  duke  of  Argyle 
and  Greenwich;  and  that  he  subsequently  re- 
sided for  twenty-five  years  in  Edinburgh,  where 
he  kept  a  school.  Having  been  educated  for  the 
church,  he  was,  about  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  minister  of  the  parish  of  Dum- 
barton, and  afterwards  was  transported  to  Glas- 
gow. The  general  use  of  the  English  liturgy 
in  the  Episcopalian  congregations,  as  we  learn 
from  Wodrow's  correspondence,  was  exciting, 
about  this  period,  the  utmost  alarm  in  the  minds 
of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  and  people,  and  a  vio- 
lent controversy  on  the  subject  was  carried  on 
for  some  time  between  the  ministers  of  the  rival 
churches.  Into  this  controversy  Mr.  Anderson 
entered  with  much  zeal.  The  first  of  his  publica- 
tions known  is  styled  *A  Dialogue  between  a 
Curat  and  a  Countreyman  concerning  the  Eng- 
lish  Service,  or  Common  Prayer  Book  of  Eng- 
land,' 4to,  printed  at  Glasgow  about  1710.  In 
this  work,  in  opposition  to  the  statements  in  Sage^ 
*  Fundamental  Charter  of  Presbytery  Examined,' 
he  proved  that  the  liturgy  which  had  been  used 
by  the  first  Scottish  reformers  for  at  least  seven 
years  after  the  overthrow  of  popery,  was  not  the 


English  liturgy,  but  that  used  by  the  English 
church  at  Geneva,  since  known  by  the  name  of 
John  Knox's  liturgy,  or  the  old  Scottish  liturgy. 
In  1711  appeared  a  ^Second  Dialogue,'  in  which 
he  set  himself  to  oppose  the  sentiments  of  South, 
Hammond,  Beveridge,  and  Burnet.  These  works 
were  followed  by  'A  Letter  from  a  Countrey- 
man to  a  Curat,'  which  called  forth  several  an- 
swers, particularly  one  by  Robert  Calder,  an 
Episcopalian  clergyman,  the  friend  of  Dr.  Arch- 
ibald Pitcaim,  to  which  he  speedily  i*eplied  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled  'Curat  Calder  Whipt.'  Soon 
after  he  published  *  A  Sermon  preached  at  Ayr,  at 
the  opening  of  the  Synod,  on  April  1, 1712.'  In 
1714  appeared  his  famous  work,  under  the  title  of 
*  A  Defence  of  the  Church  Government,  Faith, 
Worship,  and  Spirit  of  the  Presbyterians,  in 
Answer  to  a  Book  entitled  "  An  Apology  for 
Mr.  Thomas  Rhind," '  &c.,  4to.  In  1717  he  re- 
ceived a  call  from  the  congregation  of  the  North- 
West  church,  Glasgow,  but  was  not  settled  there 
till  1720,  after  his  case  had  been  before  both 
the  sjmod  and  the  Assembly,  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  his  presb3rtery  having  objected  to  his 
removal.  His  colleagues,  it  seems,  had  taken 
offence  at  a  letter  addressed  by  him  to  Walter 
Stewart  of  Pardonan,  published  by  him  in  1717, 
in  which  he  says,  "  I  confess  I  was  under  a  great 
temptation  of  being  eager  for  a  settlement  in  Glas- 
gow, for  what  minister  would  not  be  fond  of  a 
larger  stipend  and  a  double  charge?"  In  the  lat- 
ter year  (1720)  he  published,  in  12mo,  six  '  Let- 
ters upon  the  Overtures  concerning  Kirk  Sessions 
and  Presbyteries,'  which,  like  all  his  controversial 
writings,  abound  in  curious  historical  information, 
interspersed  with  severe  satirical  remark.  He 
wrote  several  other  political  and  theological  tracts 
besides  those  mentioned,  now  gone  into  oblivion. 
The  precise  year  of  his  death  is  not  known,  but 
as  his  successor  was  appointed  in  1723,  his  de- 
cease must  have  taken  place  before  that  year 
His  grandson.  Professor  Anderson,  the  founder  of 
the  Andersonian  Institution,  Glasgow,  caused  the 
following  memorial  to  his  memory  to  be  inscribed 
upon  the  family  tombstone  erected  over  his  grave, 
on  the  front  of  the  North-West  church,  Glasgow: 
^*  Near  this  place  ly  the  remains  of  the  Rev.  John 
Anderson,  who  was  preceptor  to  the  famous  John 


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Duke  of  Argyle  and  Greenwich,  and  minister  of 
the  gospel  in  Dumbarton  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  in  this  church  in  1720. 
He  was  the  author  of  *  The  Defence  of  the  Church 
Groyemment,  Faith,  Worship,  and  Spirit  of  the 
Presbyterians,'  and  of  several  other  ecclesiastical 
and  political  tracts.  As  a  pious  minister  and  an 
eloquent  preacher,  a  defender  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  and  a  man  of  wit  and  learning,  he  was 
much  esteemed;  he  lived  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
n.,  James  11.,  William  m.,  Anne,  and  George  L 
Such  times,  and  such  a  man,  forget  not,  reader, 
while  thy  country,  liberty,  and  religion  are  dear 
to  thee." — Wodrow's  History. 

ANDERSON,  John,  F.R.S.,  founder  of  the 
Andersonian  Institution,  Glasgow,  and  grandson 
of  the  subject  of  the  preceding  article,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  James  Anderson,  minis- 
ter of  Roseneath,  Dumbartonshire,  in  the  manse 
of  which  parish  he  was  bom  in  the  year  1726. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  yet  young,  and 
he  went  to  live  at  Stirling  with  his  aunt,  Mrs. 
Turner,  widow  of  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  High 
church  of  that  town,  where  he  received  the  first 
part  of  his  education.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he 
was  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Burgher  corps  of 
Stu-ling,  raised  for  the  defence  of  the  town  against 
the  forces  of  the  Pretender,  and  the  carabine  he 
canied  on  that  occasion  is  preserved  in  the  Muse- 
um of  the  university  founded  by  him.  He  after- 
wards studied  at  the  college  of  Glasgow.  In  1756 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  oriental  languages 
in  that  university.  In  1760  he  was  removed  to 
the  chair  of  natural  philosophy.  Embued  with  an 
ardent  zeal  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge, 
he  instituted  a  class,  in  addition  to  his  usual  one, 
for  the  instruction  of  the  working  classes  and 
others,  who  were  unable  to  attend  the  regular 
course  of  academical  study,  which  he  continued 
to  teach  twice  a-week,  during  session,  till  his 
death.  In  1786  he  published  '  Institutes  of  Phy- 
sics,' which  in  ten  years  went  through  five  edi- 
tions. Having,  like  many  other  good  men,  hailed 
the  first  burst  of  the  French  Revolution  in  1789, 
as  calculated  to  promote  the  cause  of  liberty, 
he  went  to  Paris  in  1791  with  the  model  of  a  gun 
he  had  invented,  the  peculiar  advantage  of  which 
consisted  in  the  recoil  being  stopped  by  the  con- 


densation of  common  air  within  the  body  of  tht 
carriage.  To  this  ingenious  invention  he  had  un- 
successfully endeavoured  to  obtain  the  attention 
of  our  own  government.  This  model  he  presented 
to  the  national  convention,  who  hung  it  up  in 
their  hall,  with  the  superscription,  "  The  Gift  of 
Science  to  Liberty  1"  A  six-pounder  being  made 
from  his  model,  he  tried  numerous  experiments 
with  it,  in  presence,  among  others,  of  the  celebrat- 
ed Paul  Jones,  then  in  Paris,  who  expressed  his 
approbation  of  the  new  species  of  gun.  While 
Professor  Anderson  remained  in  the  capital  of 
France,  he  witnessed  many  of  those  stirring  and 
momentous  scenes,  which  at  that  period  attracted 
the  notice  of  all  Europe,  and  he  was  one  of  those 
who,  on  the  14th  July,  from  the  top  of  the  altar 
of  liberty,  sung  Te  Deum  with  the  bishop  of  Paris, 
when  the  ill-fated  Louis  XVI.  took  the  oath  to 
the  Constitution !  An  expedient  of  his  for  fur- 
nishing the  people  of  Germany  with  French  news- 
papers and  manifestoes,  after  the  emperor  Leopold 
had  drawn  a  cordon  of  troops  round  the  frontiers,  to 
prevent  their  introduction,  was  tried,  and  found 
very  useful.  It  consisted  of  small  balloons  of  pa- 
per, varnished  with  boiled  oil,  and  filled  with  in- 
flammable air,  and  the  newspapers  being  tied  to 
them,  they  were  sent  off  when  the  wind  was  fa- 
vourable, and  picked  up  by  the  people.  A  small 
flag  which  these  paper  balloons  carried,  bore  an 
inscription  in  German  to  the  following  purport : 

"  0*er  hills  anl  dales  and  lines  of  hostile  troops,  I  float  ma- 
jestic, 
Bearing  the  laws  of  God  and  Nature  to  oppressed  men, 
And  bidding  them  with  arms  their  rights  maintain.** 

On  his  return  to  Glasgow,  Profl^ssor  Anderson 
resumed  his  college  duties  with  his  usual  fervour. 
He  died  on  the  ISth  January  1796,  in  the  70th 
year  of  his  age,  and  41st  of  his  professorship.  By 
his  will,  dated  7th  May  1795,  he  bequeathed  all 
his  money  and  effects  for  the  establishment  at 
Glasgow  of  an  institution,  to  be  called  Anderson^s 
University,  for  the  education  of  the  unacademical 
classes. 

The  institution  was  endowed  by  the  founder 
with  a  valuable  philosophical  apparatus,  museum, 
and  library,  valued  at  three  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling ;  and  it  was  incorporated  by  charter  fipom  the 


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magistrates  and  council  of  Glasgow,  on  the  9th 
June  following  the  testator's  death.  The  plan  of 
Professor  Anderson  contemplated  fonr  colleges, 
for  arts,  medicine,  law,  and  theology,  each  college 
to  consist  of  nine  professors,  the  senior  professor 
being  president  or  dean,  bnt  the  funds  not  allow- 
ing of  this  at  the  ontset,  the  managers  wisely  be- 
gan on  a  small  scale,  and  the  institution  has  gra- 
dnally  grown  in  influence  and  importance,  and  is 
oow  in  a  state  more  corresponding  with  the  origi- 
nal design  of  the  founder.  The  first  teacher  was 
Dr.  Thomas  Garnet,  professor  of  natural  philoso- 
phy, and  author  of  a  '  Tour  through  the  High- 
lands,* as  well  as  various  scientific  works,  who 
commenced  on  21st  September  1796,  by  reading 
in  the  Trades*  Hall,  Glasgow,  popular  and  scien- 
tific lectures  on  natural  philosophy  and  chemistry, 
addressed  to  persons  of  both  sexes,  and  illustrated 
by  experiments.  With  the  view  that  the  institu- 
tion should  be  permanently  established  the  trus- 
tees purchased,  in  1798,  extensive  buildmgs  in 
John  Street,  and  in  the  same  year  a  professor  of 
mathematics  and  geography  was  appointed.  After 
a  successful  period  of  tuition  of  fonr  years.  Dr. 
Garnet,  on  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Institu- 
tion of  Great  Britain  in  1800,  was  chosen  its  first 
professor  of  chemistry,  and  accordingly  removed 
to  London  in  October  of  that  year,  but  was  obliged 
to  resign  the  situation  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
died  in  1802,  aged  86.  He  was  succeeded  in  An- 
derson's Institution,  Glasgow,  by  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Geoi-ge  Birkbeck,  the  founder  of  Mechanic's 
Institutes,  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  was 
appointed  professor  of  natural  history,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  what  had  formerly  been  taught,  intro- 
duced a  familiar  system  of  instruction,  which  he 
conducted  gratis,  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  opera- 
tives. One  of  the  great  benefits  of  this  institution 
from  the  commencement,  indeed,  has  been  that 
instruction  is  communicated  to  students  of  ail 
classes,  divested  of  those  technicalities  by  which 
it  is  frequently  overlaid  and  obscured  by  educa- 
tional institutions  of  greater  name.  Dr.  Bkkbeck 
resigned  in  August  1804,  and  was  succeeded  in 
the  following  month  by  Dr.  Andrew  Ure,  the 
well-known  chemist.  Dr.  Ure  continued  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  his  office  with  great  success 
for  the  long  period  of  twenty-five  years,  when  he 


removed  to  London.  In  the  meantime  the  insti- 
tution had  grown  itt  public  estimation,  and  sever- 
al professors  had  been  appointed.  The  original 
buildings  too  had  become  insufficient,  and  the 
trustees  finally  purchased  from  the  city  the  Gram- 
mar school  buildings,  situated  in  George  Street, 
which,  with  extensive  additions  and  alterations, 
were  rendered  fit  for  a  complete  college  establish- 
ment, containing  halls  for  the  professors,  the  mu- 
seum, library,  &c.  The  new  buildings  were  opened 
m  November  1828,  and  continue  to  be  used  with 
marked  success.  There  ai'e  now  thirteen  profes- 
sors, and  the  subjects  taught  are  natural  philoso- 
phy, chemistry,  natural  history,  logic  and  ethics, 
mathematics  and  geography,  oriental  languages, 
drawing  and  painting,  anatomy,  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  surgery,  materia  medica,  medica^ 
jorisprudence,  veterinary  medicine,  and  German 
and  modem  literature.  The  Institution,  or  as  it 
is  called,  the  Andersonian  University,  is  placed 
under  the  inspection  of  the  Lord  Provost  and 
other  officials  as  ordinary  visitors,  but  it  is  more 
immediately  superintended  by  eighty-one  trustees, 
who  are  elected  by  ballot,  and  remain  in  office 
for  life,  unless  disqualified  by  non-attendance. 
They  are  chosen  from  nine  classes  of  citizens, 
namely,  tradesmen,  agriculturists,  artists,  manu- 
facturers, physicians  and  surgeons,  lawyers,  di- 
vines, philosophers,  and  kinsmen  or  namesakes. 
Nine  of  their  number  are  annually  elected  by  the 
trustees  as  managers  of  the  establishment  for  the 
year,  and  they  in  turn  elect  from  their  number,  by 
ballot,  the  president,  secretary,  and  treasurer. 

A  posthumous  work  of  Professor  Anderson,  en- 
titled ^Observations  on  Roman  Antiquities  dis- 
covered between  the  Forth  and  the  Clyde,'  was 
published  at  Edinburgh  in  1800.  —  Glasgow  Me- 
chanic's Magazine^  1825.  —  ClelancPs  Annals  of 
Glasgow, 

ANDERSON,  John,  historian  of  the  Hamil- 
tons,  was  bom  June  6,  1789,  at  Gilmerton  House, 
in  the  county  of  Mid-Lothian.  He  was  the  eld- 
est son  of  James  Anderson,  supervisor  of  excise, 
Oban,  whose  father,  William  Andei-son,  was  a 
farmer  at  Upper  Liberton,  and  a  burgess  and 
guild-brother  of  the  city  of  Edinburgh.  His  mo- 
ther was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Williams, 
the  well-known  author  of  the  *•  Mineral  Kingdom/ 


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who  then  resided  at  Gibnerton.  After  receiving 
the  proper  education,  and  attending  the  university 
of  Edinburgh,  he  was  in  1818  admitted  a  licentiate 
of  the  Edinburgh  Royal  Ck)llege  of  Surgeons,  and 
had  scarcely  passed  his  college  examinations,  when 
he  was  appointed,  by  the  Marquis  of  Douglas, 
afterwards,  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1819, 
Duke  of  Hamilton,  first  Surgeon  of  the  Royal 
Lanarkshire  Militia,  and  he  retained  that  situation, 
and  the  patronage  and  confidence  of  his  grace, 
until  his  death.  He  settled  at  Hamilton,  and  ob- 
tained an  extensive  practice.  In  1825,  he  pub- 
lished, in  quarto,  a  large  and  elaborate  work,  en- 
titled *  Historical  and  Genealogical  Memoirs  of  the 
House  of  Hamilton,'  to'  which,  in  1827,  he  added 
a  supplement.  For  more  than  two  years  previous 
to  his  death,  he  had  been  engaged  collecting  ma- 
terials for  a  Statistical  Account  of  Lanarkshire; 
and  he  also  contemplated  writing  a  Genealogical 
History  of  the  Robertsons  of  Struan.  In  the  pe- 
culiar line  of  literature  which  he  selected  for  him- 
self, he  was  distinguished  by  sound  and  pertinent 
information,  deep  research,  untiring  perseverance, 
and  a  ready  and  perspicuous  style.  He  died  24th 
December  1832,  his  last  illness  being  caused  by 
extraordinary  fatigue  in  attending  patients  under 
the  cholera  morbus.  He  was  (says  a  writer  in  the 
New  Monthly  Magcuine)  universally  known  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  residence;  and  from  his  un- 
assuming manners,  his  social  disposition,  and  ex- 
tensive benevolence,  was  as  generally  respected. 
His  maternal  grandfather,  John  Williams,  F.S.A., 
Scotland,  was,  though  a  native  of  Wales,  long 
connected  with  Scotland,  and  in  his  lifetime  emi- 
nent both  as  an  antiquarian  and  a  geologist.  He 
was  a  mineral  surveyor  by  profession,  and  on  his 
first  coming  to  Scotland  he  took  the  coal-mines  of 
Brora,  in  the  parish  of  Golspie,  from  the  Earl  of 
Sutherland,  and  a  fai*m  near  them  named  Water- 
ford.  His  daughter,  Elizabeth,  the  mother  of  Dr. 
Anderson,  (and  of  the  author  of  the  *  Scottish  Na- 
tion,') was  bora  at  Brora,  13th  April  1765,  just  a  fort- 
night before  the  late  Duchess-Countess  of  Suther- 
land. The  farm  proved  a  bad  speculation,  as  Mr. 
Williams  lost  a  large  sum  of  money  in  improving 
it  to  no  purpose.  After  he  had  put  up  an  engine 
at  the  coal-mine,  the  latter  took  fire,  by  which  he 
lost  a  considerable  sum,  indeed  nearly  all  that  he 


At  that  time  the  earl  and  countess 
were  at  Bath,  on  account  of  the  health  of  the  earl, 
who  died  there.  The  young  countess,  theur  daugh- 
ter, on  succeeding  to  the  Sutherland  title  and 
estates,  was  an  infant  scarcely  a  year  old.  The 
factor,  a  Mr.  Campbell  Combie,  was  a  very  harsh 
and  arbitrary  person,  and  wonid  not  do  anything 
for  Mr.  Williams.  He  refttsed  even  to  entertain 
his  claim  either  for  the  loss  he  had  sustained  b> 
the  coal-mines,  or  for  the  money  he  had  expended 
in  improvements  on  the  farm.  Fortunately,  at 
this  juncture  Mr.  Williams  was  appointed  by  gov- 
ernment one  of  the  persons  to  survey  the  forfeited 
estates  in  Scotland,  and  in  this  employment  he 
was  engaged  for  eighteen  months.  He  afterwards 
took  a  coal -mine  at  West  Calder,  and  subse- 
quently went  to  Gilmerton  about  1775.  In  1777 
he  published  'An  Account  of  some  remarkable 
ancient  Ruins  lately  discovered  in  the  Highlands 
and  Northern  parts  of  Scotland,'  being  the  vitri- 
fied forts  found  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  direct  attention  to 
these  remains,  and  his  theory  regarding  them  has 
genei-ally  been  adopted  by  subsequent  writers 
on  the  subject.  In  17^9  appeared,  in  2  vols.  8vo., 
his  most  celebrated  work,  *Tho  Natural  His- 
tory of  the  Mineral  Kmgdom.'  Of  this  last  work 
he  sent  a  copy  to  George  the  Third,  one  to  the 
unfortunate  Louis  the  Sixteenth  of  France,  and 
one  to  the  Empress  Catherine  of  Russia.  The  two 
former  never  acknowledged  receipt.  The  Empress 
was  the  only  one  of  these  potentates  who  took  any 
notice  of  the  gift.  Whatever  was  her  character 
otherwise,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  she  patronized 
literary  and  scientific  men,  and  invited  them  to  her 
court.  Ml".  Williams  received  a  communication 
from  St.  Petersburg,  requesting  him  to  proceed  to 
Russia,  to  survey  for  minerals  in  that  empire,  and 
he  accordingly  left  Scotland  for  that  purpose  about 
the  end  of  1792,  or  early  in  1793.  On  his  way 
home,  after  fulfilling  his  mission,  he  was  seized 
with  a  fever  and  died  at  Verona  in  Italy,  May  29, 
1795.  He  was  one  of  the  twelve  original  members 
of  the  Scotch  Antiquarian  Society,  and  his  portrait 
is  in  that  Institution  in  Edinburgh.  In  the  Trans- 
actions of  that  society  there  appeared  from  his 
pen,  a  paper  entitled  ^  A  Plan  for  a  Royal  Forest 
of  Oak  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.'    An  edition 


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of  *  the  Mineral  Kingdom,'  edited  by  a  Dr.  Millar 
of  Edinburgh  was  published  in  1810,  containing  a 
Life  of  Mr.  Williams,  which  was  incorrect  in  many 
respects,  and  not  sanctioned  by  his  family. 

ANDERSON,  John,  an  enterprising  character, 
founder  of  the  town  of  Fermoy,  in  Ireland,  son  of 
David  Anderson  of  Portland,  was  bora  in  lowly 
circumstances  in  the  West  of  Scotland.  While 
very  young  he  learaed  to  read  and  write,  and  hav- 
ing made  a  few  pounds  in  some  humble  employ- 
ment, he  settled  in  Glasgow  about  1784.  By  a 
speculation  in  herrings  he  acquired  five  hundred 
pounds,  and  with  this  sum  he  went  to  Cork,  and 
became  an  export  mei'chant,  dealing  in  provisions, 
the  staple  trade  of  the  place.  In  a  few  years  he 
realized  twenty-five  thousand  pounds.  This  sum 
he  laid  out  in  the  purchase  of  four-sixths  of  the 
Fermoy  estate,  in  the  province  of  Munster.  With 
characteristic  energy  he  resolved  to  make  a  town 
at  Fermoy,  which  at  that  period  was  no  more  than 
a  dirty  hamlet,  consisting  of  a  few  hovels,  and  a 
carman's  public  house,  at  the  end  of  a  narrow  old 
bridge.  He  began  by  building  a  good  hotel,  and 
next  erected  a  few  houses,  and  a  square.  At  bis 
own  expense  he  rebuilt  the  ruinous  bridge  over 
the  Blackwater,  on  which  the  town  is  situated. 
Having  learned  that  government  intended  to  erect 
large  barracks  in  Munster,  he  offered,  in  1797,  a 
most  eligible  site  for  them,  rent  free.  The  offer 
was  accepted,  and  two  very  large  and  handsome 
barracks  were  built.  He  next  erected  a  theatre, 
and  a  handsome  residence  for  himself.  He  invited 
various  families,  having  more  or  less  capital,  to 
settle  at  Fermoy,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  little  community.  As  his  manners  were 
pleasing,  his  society  was  courted  by  the  nobility 
and  gentry  of  the  neighbourhood.  He  was  never 
ashamed  of  his  origin,  and  often  spoke  of  his  suc- 
cess in  the  world  with  laudable  pride.  On  one 
occasion,  in  the  very  height  of  his  prosperity,  he 
was  entertaining  a  large  company  at  his  residence 
i  in  Fermoy.  Amongst  the  party  were  the  late 
Earls  of  Kmgston  and  Shannon,  and  Lord  Rivers- 
dale.  The  conversation  turned  on  their  host's 
great  success  in  life,  and  Lord  Kingston  asked  him 
to  what  he  chiefly  attributed  it.  "  To  education, 
my  lord,"  he  replied,  "  every  child  in  Scotland  can 
easily  get  the  means  of  learning  to  read  and  write. 


When  I  was  a  little  boy  my  parents  sent  me  to 
school  every  day,  and  I  had  to  walk  three  miles 
to  the  village  school.  Many  a  cold  walk  I  had  in 
the  bitter  winter  mornings;  and  I  assure  you,  my 
lords,"  he  added,  smiling,  ^*  that  shoes  and  stock- 
ings were  extremely  scarce  in  those  days."  Still 
continuing  his  attention  to  business,  he  established 
a  bank,  an  agricultural  society,  and  a  mail  coach 
company.  The  first  coach  which  ran  between 
Cork  and  Dublin  was  set  a-going  by  hinu  He 
also  built  a  large  schoolhouse  and  a  military  col- 
lege; the  latter  afterwards  became  a  public  school. 
For  the  erection  of  a  Protestant  church  he  gave 
three  thousand  pounds,  and  five  hundred  pounds 
and  a  site  rent  free  for  a  Catholic  chapel.  The 
government  offered  him  a  baronetcy,  which  he  de- 
clined. It  was,  however,  conferred,  in  1813,  by 
George  IV.,  when  Prince  Regent,  upon  his  son, 
Su*  James  Caleb  Anderson,  the  well-known  ex- 
perimentalist in  steam-coaching,  as  a  mai'k  of  his 
Royal  Highnesses  gracious  approbation  of  the  ser- 
vices rendered  to  Ireland  by  his  father.  Having 
embarked  in  some  dangerous  speculations,  Mr. 
Anderson,  in  his  latter  years,  sustained  great  re- 
verses. In  Welsh  mining  alone  he  lost  £30,000. 
On  the  sale  of  the  Barrymore  estates,  he  was  a 
heavy  purchaser,  by  which,  owing  to  the  fall  in 
the  price  of  land  in  Ireland,  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  became  a  considerable  loser;  while  his 
banking  operations  were  affected  by  the  changes 
in  the  currency.  He  left  behind  him,  however,  a 
noble  monument  in  the  handsome  town  of  Fermoy, 
which  has  now  7,000  inhabitants.  Mr.  Madden, 
in  his  ^Revelations  of  Ireland,'  has  devoted  a 
chapter  to  the  enterprise  of  this  "Scotchman  in 
Munster,"  to  which  we  are  mainly  indebted  for 
the  materials  of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Anderson  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Semple,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and 
two  daughters. 

ANDERSON,  Robert,  M.D.,  editor  and  bio- 
grapher of  the  British  Poets,  born  at  Carawath  in 
Lanarkshire  on  7th  January  1750,  was  the  fourth 
son  of  William  Anderson,  feuar  there,  and  Mar- 
garet Melrose,  his  wife.  After  receiving  the  rudi- 
ments of  his  education  at  his  native  village,  he 
was  sent  to  the  grammar  school  at  Lanark,  the 
master  of  which  was  Robert  Thomson,  who  had 
married  a  sister  of  the  poet  Thomson.    T\f  o  of  his 


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schoolfellows  at  this  school  were  Pinkerton  the 
historian,  and  James  Grseme,  who  died  young,  and 
whose  poems  were  afterwards  included  in  his  edi- 
tion of  the  British  poets.  When  only  ten  years 
old  his  father  died  in  his  fortieth  year,  leaving  liis 
widow  with  four  sons  very  slenderly  provided  for. 
Robert,  the  youngest,  showed  very  early  a  taate 
for  reading  and  study,  and  being  destined  for  the 
chui-ch,  he  was  sent,  in  the  year  1767,  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  where  he  became  a  stu- 
dent of  divinity.  Subsequently  changing  his  views, 
he  entered  upon  the  study  of  medicine ;  and  after 
finishing  his  medical  studies  he  went  to  England, 
and  was  for  a  short  time  employed  as  surgeon  to 
the  Dispensary  at  Bamborough  castle,  Northum- 
berland. On  the  25th  September  1777  he  mar- 
ried Anne,  daughter  of  John  Grey,  Esq.  of  Aln- 
wick, a  relative  of  the  noble  family  of  that  name. 
He  took  his  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  at  Edin- 
burgh, in  May  1778.  He  afterwards  practised  as 
a  physician  at  Alnwick,  but  his  wife's  health  fail- 
ing, and  having  by  his  marriage  secured  a  mode- 
rate independence,  he  finally  retmned  to  Edin- 
burgh in  1784,  where,  in  December  1785,  his  wife 
died  of  consumption,  leaving  him  with  three 
daughters,  the  youngest  of  whom  soon  followed 
her  mother  to  the  grave.  In  1793  he  married 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Mr.  David  Dale,  master  of 
Tester  school,  Haddingtonshire.  He  now  devoted 
himself  to  literary  pursuits,  and  produced  various 
works,  chiefly  in  the  department  of  criticism  and 
biography.  The  principal  of  these  is  *  The  Works 
of  the  British  Poets,  with  prefaces  Biographical 
and  Critical,'  in  fourteen  large  octavo  volumes, 
the  earliest  of  which  was  published  in  1792-8; 
the  thuteenth  in  1795,  and  the  fourteenth  m  1807. 
His  correspondence  with  literary  men  of  eminence 
was  extensive.  He  was  the  fi-iend  and  patron  of 
all  who  evinced  any  literary  talent.  In  particu- 
lar he  was  the  friend  of  Thomas  Campbell  the 
poet,  who  through  his  influence  procured  literary 
employment  on  his  flrst  coming  to  Edinburgh; 
and  to  Dr.  Anderson  Mr.  Campbell  dedicated  his 
*  Pleasures  of  Hope,'  as  it  was  chiefly  owing  to  him 
that  that  most  beautiful  poem  was  flrst  brought 
before  the  world.  It  was  in  the  year  1797,  when 
Campbell  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  that 
his  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Anderson  commenced. 


which  forms  such  an  important  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  both.  The  following  account  of  it  by  Dr. 
Irving  is  extracted  from  Beattie's  Life  of  Camp- 
bell :  ^*  Campbell's  introduction  to  Dr.  Anderson, 
which  had  no  small  influence  on  his  brilliant  ca- 
reer, was  in  a  great  measure  accidental.  He  had 
come  to  Edinburgh  in  search  of  employment,  when 
he  met  Mr.  Hagh  Park,  then  a  teacher  in  Glas- 
gow, and  afterwards  second  master  of  Stirling 
school.  Park,  who  was  a  frank  and  warmhearted 
man,  was  deeply  interested  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
youthful  poet,  which  were  then  at  their  lowest 
ebb.  His  own  character  was  held  in  much  esteem 
by  the  doctor ;  and  he  was  one  day  coming  to  pay 
him  a  visit,  when  the  young  ladies  (Dr.  Anderson's 
daughters)  observed  from  the  window  that  he  was 
accompanied  by  a  handsome  lad,  with  whom  he 
was  engaged  in  earnest  conversation,  and  who 
seemed  reluctant  to  take  leave.  Their  curiosity 
was  naturally  excited,  and  Campbell's  story  was 
soon  told — ^being  merely  the  short  and  simple  an- 
nals of  a  poor  scholar,  not  unconscious  of  his  own 
powers,  but  placed  in  the  most  unfavourable  dr- 
camstances  for  the  development  of  poetical  genius. 
Park  knew  that  he  had  obtained  distinction  in  the 
university  of  Glasgow;  and  he  fortunately  had 
in  his  pocket  a  poem  [an  Elegy  written  in  Mull 
the  previous  year]  which  his  young  friend  had 
written  in  one  of  the  Hebrides.  Dr.  Anderson 
was  struck  with  the  turn  and  spirit  of  the  verses; 
nor  did  he  hesitate  to  declare  his  opinion  that  they 
exhibited  a  fair  promise  of  poetical  excellence. 
The  talents,  the  character,  and  the  prospects  of  so 
interesting  a  youth  formed  the  chief  subject  of 
conversation  during  the  afternoon.  He  expi-essed 
a  cordial  wish  to  see  the  author  without  delay, 
and  Park's  kindness  was  too  active  to  neglect  a 
commission  so  agreeable  to  himself.  Campbell 
was  accordingly  introduced,  and  his  first  appear- 
ance produced  a  most  favourable  impression." 
[Beattie's  Life  of  Ccanpbellj  vol.  i.  p.  194.]  As 
Campbell  was  anxious  to  obtain  some  literaiy 
employment.  Dr.  Anderson,  with  his  characteristic 
zeal  and  sympathy  in  the  cause  of  friendless  me- 
rit, did  not  rest  until  the  object  had  been  attained. 
He  warmly  reconnnended  the  young  poet  to  Mr. 
Mundell,  the  publisher,  who  made  Campbell  an 
offer  of  twenty  pounds  for  an  abridged  edition  of 


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Bryan  Edwards's  *  West  Indies,'  which  Campbell 
accepted,  and  which  was  his  first  undertaking  for 
the  public  press.  He  afterwards  consulted  Dr. 
Anderson  as  to  the  publication  of  his  *•  Pleasures 
of  Hope,'  as  his  experience  as  an  author  gave  pe- 
culiar weight  to  his  opinions  on  this  point.  The 
manuscript,  we  are  told,  was  then  shown  to  Mr. 
Mundell,  and  after  some  discussion  between  Dr. 
Anderson  and  the  publisher,  the  copyright  was 
sold  to  him  on  the  terms  mentioned  in  the  life  of 
Campbell.  "In  the  literary  society,"  says  Dr. 
Beattie,  "  which  Dr.  Anderson  drew  around  him, 
the  poem  was  a*familiar  topic  in  conversation, 
and  he  had  soon  the  pleasure  of  finding  that  the 
opinion  of  other  judicious  critics,  respecting  its 
merits,  was  in  harmony  with  his  own."  At  that 
period,  says  Dr.  Irving,  "  the  editor  of  the  British 
Poets  had  a  very  extensive  acquaintance ;  and  it 
was  through  him  that  Campbell  formed  his  earli- 
est connexions  with  men  of  letters.  His  house  at 
Heriot's  Green  was  frequented  by  individuals  who 
had  then  risen,  or  who  afterwards  rose  to  great 
eminence.  As  he  had  relinquished  all  professional 
pursuits,  his  time  was  very  much  at  the  disposal 
of  his  friends,  whatever  might  be  their  denomina- 
tion. He  was  visitA  by  men  of  learning  and  men 
of  genius,  and  perhaps  in  the  course  of  the  same 
day  by  some  rustic  rhymer,  who  was  anxious  to 
consult  him  about  publishing  his  works  by  Mper- 
scription,  I  remember  finding  him  in  consulta- 
tion with  a  little  deformed  student  of  physic,  from 
the  north  of  Ireland ;  who,  in  detailing  his  lite- 
rary history,  took  occasion  to  mention  that  at 
some  particular  crisis  he  had  no  intention  of  per^ 
secuting  the  study  of  poetry."  \Ihid,  vol.  i.  p. 
241.]  Before  committing  it  to  press,  the  manu- 
script of  the  *  Pleasures  of  Hope,'  by  the  advice  of 
Dr.  Anderson,  underwent  a  careful  revisal,  and  at 
his  suggestion  the  opening  of  the  poem  was  en- 
tirely rewritten. 

In  1796  Dr.  Anderson  published  *The  mis- 
cellaneous  works  of  Tobias  Smollett,  M.D.,  with 
memoirs  of  his  life  and  writings,'  six  volumes 
octavo ;  which  passed  through  six  editions.  His 
life  of  Smollett  was  also  published  separately, 
the  eighth  edition  of  which  appeared  in  1818, 
under  the  title  of  *The  Life  of  Tobias  Smol- 
lett, M.D.,   with   critical   observations   on   his 


Works.'  He  also  published  an  elaborate  *  Life  of 
Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.,  with  critical  observa- 
tions on  his  Works,'  the  third  edition  <^  which 
appeared  in  1815.  In  1820  he  published  an  edi- 
tion of  Dr.  Moore's  Works,  with  memoirs  of  his 
life  and  writings.  Among  hLa  other  publications 
may  be  mentioned  *  The  Poetical  Works  of  Robert 
Blair,'  with  a  Life,  1794.  His  latest  production 
was  a  new  edition  of  Blair's  Grave  and  other  po- 
ems, with  his  life  and  critical  observations,  Edin- 
burgh, 1826.  He  was  for  several  years  editor  of 
the  Edinburgh  Magazine,  afterwards  incorporated 
with  the  Scots  Magazine,  and  a  contributor  to 
various  periodicals.  Dr.  Anderson  died  of  dropsy 
in  the  chest  on  the  20th  February  1830,  in  the 
81st  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried,  by  his  own 
desure,  in  Camwath  churchyard.  In  the  year 
1810  his  eldest  daughter  was  married  to  David 
Irving,  LL.D.,  author  of  the  Life  of  George  Bu- 
chanan, the*Lives  of  Scottish  Writers,  and  other 
works.  Mrs.  Irving  died  suddenly  in  1812,  leav- 
ing a  son.  Dr.  Anderson's  habits  were  so  regu- 
lar, and  his  disposition  so  cheerftd  and  animated, 
that  old  age  stole  on  him  imperceptibly.  As  an 
instance  of  the  strong  interest  which  he  ever  took 
m  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  that,  on  the  evening  before  his 
death,  he  asked  for  a  map  of  Greece,  that  he 
might,  to  use  his  own  words,  form  some  notion 
of  the  general  elements  of  this  new  state,  which 
had  then  worked  out  its  independence.  As  a 
literary  critic  he  was  distinguished  by  a  warm 
sensibility  to  the  beauties  of  poetry  and  by  ex- 
treme candour.  His  personal  character  was  mark- 
ed by  the  most  urbane  manners,  the  most  hon- 
ourable probity,  and  by  unshaken  constancy  in 
friendship. — New  Monthly  Magazine  for  July  1880. 
— Annual  ObUuary, — Encyclopedia  BriUmmca^  7th 
edition. 

ANDERSON,  Walter,  D.D.,  a  respectable 
clergyman  of  mediocre  talents,  who  was  afilicted 
with  an  incurable yitror  scribendi^  which  exposed 
him  to  the  ridicule  of  his  acquaintances,  was  up- 
wards of  fifty  years  mlnbter  of  Chimside.  The 
date  and  place  of  his  birth  are  unknown.  His 
first  work  was  a  *•  Life  of  Crocus,  Ejng  of  Lydla,' 
in  four  parts,  12mo,  1755,  which  owed  its  origin, 
it  is  said,  to  a  joke  of  David  Hume.    One  day, 


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being  at  the  house  of  Nine  wells,  which  stood  with- 
in his  parish,  and  was  the  propeity  of  Hume^s 
brother,  and  conversing  with  the  great  historian 
on  his  success  as  an  author,  he  is  said  to  have  thus 
addressed  him :  **  Mr.  David,  I  daresay  other 
people  might  write  books  too;  but  you  clever 
folks  have  taken  up  all  the  good  subjects.  When 
I  look  about  me,  I  cannot  find  one  unoccupied." 
Hume  waggishly  replied,  "  What  would  you 
think,  Mr.  Anderson,  of  a  history  of  Croesus,  king 
of  Lydia?  That  has  never  yet  been  wiitten." 
He  caught  at  the  idea,  and  hence  the  life  of  the 
Lydian  king.  This  singular  work  was  honoured 
with  a  serio-bnrlesque  notice  in  the  second  number 
of  the  first  Edinburgh  Review,  started  by  Hume, 
Smith,  Carlyle,  and  others ;  and  received  rather  a 
severe  critique  in  the  second  number  of  the  Criti- 
cal Review,  then  first  established  in  London  by 
Smollett.  In  1769,  undeterred  by  the  ill  success 
of  his  first  attempt,  he  published  a  Ilistory  of  the 
Reigns  of  Francis  IV.  and  Charles  IX.  of  France, 
two  volumes  quarto.  In  1775  appeared  a  contin- 
uation, being  *The  History  of  France,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  down  to  the 
period  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,^  one  volume  quarto. 
In  1783  he  published  two  additional  volumes, 
bringing  the  history  down  to  the  peace  of  Mun- 
ster.  Not  one  of  these  works  ever  sold,  and  as 
he  published  at  his  own  risk,  it  is  related  that  the 
cost  of  print  and  paper  was  defrayed  by  the  sale, 
one  by  one,  as  each  successive  heavy  quarto  ap- 
peared, of  some  houses  which  he  possessed  in  the 
town  of  Dunse,  until  they  had  all  ceased  to  be  his 
property.  He  also  produced  an  essay,  in  quarto, 
on  the  philosophy  of  ancient  Greece,  which  dis- 
played considerable  erudition,  though  sadly  defi- 
cient in  style,  and  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
only  production  of  his  which  merited  or  received 
any  praise.  He  subsequently  published  a  pam- 
phlet against  the  principles  of  the  first  French 
Revolution,  which  fell  still-bom  from  the  press. 
With  the  view  of  drawing  attention  to  the  work, 
and  thereby  promoting  its  sale,  he  wrote  an  addi- 
tion or  appendix  to  the  pamphlet,  of  much  greater 
extent  than  the  pamphlet  itself,  with  which  he  went 
to  Edinburgh  to  get  it  printed.  Having  called 
upon  Principal  Robertson  he  informed  him  of  his 
plan,  which  caused  him  to  exclaim  in  surprise: 


^^  Really,  this  is  the  maddest  of  all  your  schemes 
— what!  a  small  pamphlet  is  found  heavy,  and 
you  propose  to  lighten  it  by  making  it  ten  times 
heavier!  Never  was  such  madness  heard  of!" 
"  Why,  why,"  answered  Dr.  Anderson,  "  did  you 
never  see  a  kite  raised  by  boys?"  "I  have," 
answered  the  principal.  "Then  you  must  have 
remarked  that,  when  you  try  to  raise  the  kite  by 
itself,  there  is  no  getting  it  up :  but  only  add  a 
long  string  of  papers  to  its  tail,  and  up  it  goes 
like  a  laverock!"  The  venerable  historian  was 
highly  amused  by  this  ingenious  argument,  but 
succeeded  in  dissuading  the  infatuated  author 
from  his  design.  Dr.  Anderson  died  at  an  ad- 
vanced age  in  July  1800,  at  the  manse  of  Chlrn- 
side. 
His  works  may  be  enumerated  as  follows : 

The  Hist^ny  of  Ctgbsus,  king  of  Lydia,  in  fonr  parts;  con- 
taining Observations  on  the  Ancient  Notion  of  Destinj  or 
Dreams,  on  the  Origin  and  Credit  of  the  Oracles,  and  the 
principles  npon  which  their  Oracles  were  defended  against 
any  attack.    £din.  1755,  4to. 

The  History  of  France,  during  the  reigns  of  Francis  II. 
and  Charles  IX.  To  which  is  prefixed,  a  Review  of  the  Gen- 
eral Histoiy  of  the  Monarchy,  from  its  origin  to  that  period ; 
comprehending  an  Acooont  of  the  various  Revolutions,  Poli- 
tical Government,  I^ws,  and  Customs  of  the  Nation.  Lond. 
1769,  2  vols.  4to.  ^ 

The  History  of  France,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  and  the  rise  of  the  Catholic  League,  to 
the  peace  of  Vervins,  and  the  establishment  of  the  ikmous 
Edict  of  Nantz,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  and  from  the 
commencement  of  the  reign  of  Lewis  XIII.  to  the  general 
peace  of  Mnnster.    Lond.  1775-1783,  8  vols.  4to. 

The  Philosophy  of  Andent  Greece  investigated,  in  its  ori- 
^  and  progress  to  the  aaras  of  its  greatest  celebrity  in  the 
Ionian,  Italic,  and  Athenian  schools;  with  Remarks  on  the 
Delineated  Systems  of  their  Founders,  and  some  Account  of 
their  Lives  and  Characters,  and  those  of  their  most  eminent 
Disciples.    Edin.  1791,  4to. 

Angus,  a  very  ancient  name  m  Scothind ;  the  first  on  re- 
cord who  bore  it  being  the  brother  of  Loam  and  Fei^gus,  the 
earliest  kuigs  of  the  Dahriadic  Scot4.  Pinkerton  says:  **  The 
Irish  accounts  bear  that  Loam,  Angus,  and  Fergus,  three 
sons  of  Ere,  led  the  Scots  back  to  Britain  m  503,  [after 
having  been  compelled  to  retreat  to  Ireland  about  fifty  years 
before — that  is,  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  or  about 
two  hundred  years  after  their  first  arrival  in  Argyleshire,]  and 
that  Loam  was  the  first  king  and  was  succeeded  by  Fergus. 
What  became  of  Angus  we  are  not  told.  It  would  seem  that, 
either  from  incapacity  or  preference  of  private  life,  he  aspired 
not  to  any  share  of  the  power  of  his  brothers.  But  though 
Loam  be  left  out  of  the  regal  list  in  the  Scottish  accounts, 
yet  neither  he  nor  Angus  is  unknown  to  them.  Fordun,  lib. 
iiL  ca^.  i.,  says  that  Fergus,  son  of  Ere,  came  to  Scotland 
cvm  duobus  frainbm  Loam  et  Tenegus^  *  with  his  brothers 
Loam  and  Tenegus,*  which  last  word  is  a  not  uncommon 
cormption  of  Angus  with  Fordun.    Tlie  register  of  the  priory 


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mmnt  KsrrMms  fd  §Mmh. 


n. 


mia  m 


2 


Dubican,  son  of 

Indcchtraig. 

Died  939. 


MaoIbrid«, 
hisioD, 


Canecliat, 
Cruchne,or 
Conqahare,  father 
of  FlMlIa,  lady  of 
Fettercalm, 
miirdereaa  of 
Kenneth  Ut 


(I)  SOOTTUH  LiNS. 

1&2  8.4.5 


1.  Gikbrist, 
Earl  of  Angus, 

uUveaft^ 
1120. 

2.  GQib^c, 
his  son, 

died  about 
1180. 


3.  Gilchrist 

4.  Duncan, 
ft.  Malcolm. 

MaUldia, 

daugliter  of 

Makolui. 


#ri{imil  jTme.  irf  Cadi  of 

(S)  Coxn 


John  Comyn, 
in  right  of  Uis 
wife, 
Countess 
Mattldl& 
Died  1243. 
No  issue. 


Gilbert  de  Urn. 
fraviile,  tmx^nd 

husband  of 

Countess 

MaUldis,  In  her 

right,  1243. 

Died  124$. 


(8)  UiinArtLLB. 
8ft9 


GUberr. 

tlieir  son, 

died  1307. 

Robert,  his 

son,  died  1326, 

under  forfeiture. 


10 


GOtart, 
■tflBobwt^a 
DtodTtliJM 

vm 


11.    fine  of  Sltbnt  of  ^oitbilL 
2  8 


Sir  Johs  Stewart 

of  BonkllU 
greaUgrandHon  of 

Alexander, 

High  Steward  of 

Scotland. 

Croated  1327. 

Died  1331. 


Thomas,  his  son. 
By  Margaret, 

heiress  of 
Abcmethy.  his 

Countess. 

Died  1361. 


Thomas,  his 


died  1877. 
Mol 


Margaret, 

sister  Of  3d  onri, 

wireorWiliiMni, 

1st  earl  of 

Donglaa, 

resigned  In 

fAvbur  of  her  son, 

1389. 


1  &2 


William,  son  of 

10th  earl, 

create  Marquis 

of  DfMiff  las, 

1633. 
DIod  1660. 


Quarterhigf:— ' 


8&4 


III.  J^istt  of  ^oixjlaf . 

5  6 


-T 

8.  James,  his  son. 

No  issue. 
4.  Oecn-ge,  2d  son 
'     of  first  earl, 

died  1462. 


Archibald,       1 

his  grandson,     1 

Archibald, 

(husband  of       1 

(Bell  the  Cat) 

Queen  Marjraret)  1 

his  son. 

died  lft66.         1 

died  1614. 

No  sunriving      | 

,              Issue.             1 

$xnt  of  ^oaglas  tontrntttl^. 


D.ivid,  nephew 

of  6th  carl, 

son  of  Sir  George 

Douglas  of 

Plltciidriech, 

diodl5i>8. 


Archibald, 

hb  8iin, 

styled  "  The  Good 

Earl,"  died  1568. 

No  surviving 

issue. 


eldest  wm,  or,  on 
bis  dMSh,  bvtbe 
ntxt  ArchUMU, 
third  marqaifl,  end 
thirteenth  «ul  of 
Angoa,  waa,  fan 
ITra,  created  doke 
of  DouglM, 


1701, 
titlet 
of 


hi 
bis 
of  maf^uis 


Angna, 
de- 


dokea  of  Hamil- 
ton,  who  are  now 
the  holders  of  the 
tiUe  of  Earl  of 
Angna 


ABMOKUL  BKARINOS  OP  DOUOLAS, 
EARL  OP  AVGUS,. 

1  for  Qilohrlst    3.  for  Alwmethr.    t.  for  Wishart  of  Rrcchln.  a  daagliter  of  this  bouse  having  manlad  OM  of 
old  Earls  of  Aagus,    4.  for  Stewart  of  Bookill    Cseutfheon  orer  all  for  Douglas.   '-' 


©Ogle 


A^'GUS. 


187 


ANGUS. 


of  St  Andrews,  written  abont  1250,  also  says  of  Kenneth,  son 
of  Alpin,  aepuUtu  m  7<ma  mtula^  tibi  Ires  JUU  Ere,  9ciHoet 
Fergm,  Loam,  et  Enegua,  tepuki  fiurmU ;  *he  was  buried 
in  lona,  where  the  three  sons  of  Ero,  namely  Fergns,  Loam, 
and  Enegoa  were  bnried.*  **  [_Enqvify  tnto  the  History  <^ 
SooUandj  toL  iL  p.  92.]  It  wonld  appear  that  Cantjre,  (from 
the  Gaelic  word  Cecmtirt  Headland),  was  the  portion  of  Fer- 
gus, Loam  poneseed  the  district  called  after  him  Lorn,  and 
Angns  is  sappoeed  to  have  colonized  Islay,  aa  it  waa  eigoyed 
by  Mmedach  his  son,  after  his  decease.  See  Lobn,  marquis 
of,  and  Arotlb,  duke  of;  also  Dalbiada. 

Akous,  styled  by  the  annalists  Angns  MacFeiigns,  was 
also  the  name  of  the  moet  powerful  king  the  Picts  ever  had. 
He  reigned  between  781  and  761,  in  which  latter  year  he 
died.  Belonging  ori^nally  to  the  southern  Picts,  he  had,  in 
729,  raised  Mmoelf  to  the  command  of  that  portion  of  the 
Pictish  tribes,  and  in  the  year  781,  by  the  conquest  of  Talor- 
gan  MaeCongnsa,  his  last  opponent,  he  obtained  the  throne 
of  the  whole  Pictish  nation.  In  consequence  of  his  success  a 
league  was  entered  into  between  the  principal  tribes  of  the 
northern  Picts  and  the  Dahiads  or  Soots  of  Aigyle,  who  were 
ever  ready  for  war  with  their  Pictish  enemies.  Angus,  how- 
ever, crushed  this  formidable  union,  and  almost  annihilated 
the  Scots  of  Dalriada;  "and  yet,**  says  Skene,  "it  was  his 
power  and  his  victories  which  laid  the  germ  of  that  revolu- 
tion that  resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Pictish  influence  in 
Sootlard."    [JEKrtory  of  Highkmdera,  vol.  L  p.  55  ] 

Akoub,  was  also  the  name  of  a  king  of  the  Dalriads,  who 
began  to  reign  in  804  and  died  in  811.  At  a  very  eariy 
period  the  district  of  oountiy  lying  between  the  North  Esk  on 
the  north,  and  the  Tay  and  Ida  on  the  south,  was  called  An- 
gus, which  it  still  retains,  though  also  called  Forfarshire  from 
the  county  town.  Its  more  ancient  name  is  commonly  sup- 
posed to  have  been  so  named  from  Angus,  a  brother  of  Ken- 
neth the  Second,  to  whom  this  territory  was  granted  by  Ken- 
neth, after  the  union  of  the  Picts  and  Scots.  Gaelic  scholars, 
however,  think  that  the  name  denotes  a  hill  of  a  particular  de- 
scription, or  which  waa  applied  to  a  special  use ;  and  it  is 
auppoaed  to  have  been  derived  from  the  Hill  of  Angus,  a  lit- 
tle to  the  eastward  of  the  church  of  Aberlemno,  in  ancient 
timea  the  usual  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  inhabitants  of 
the  surrounding  oountry,  during  the  predatory  incursions  of 
the  Danes  and  Norwegians.  It  seems  more  probable  that 
the  bill  itself  took  its  name  from  the  district 

AicoDS,  earidom  of,  one  of  the  most  ancient  titles  in 
Scotland.  According  to  Chalmers,  Dubican,  the  son  of 
Indechtraig,  and  maormor  or  eari  of  Angus,  died  in  989. 
Maolbride  his  son  died  during  the  reign  of  Culen,  who  was 
murdered  by  Rohard,  thane  of  Fife,  in  970.  His  successor 
Cnnediat,  Cruchne,  or  Conquhare,  maormor  of  Angus,  had  a 
dau^ter  FSnella,  styled  the  lady  of  Fettercaim,  to  whose 
name  an  historical  interest  is  attached  as  being  the  murderess 
of  Kenneth  the  Third,  king  of  Scots,  in  consequence  of  having 
caused  her  son  Crathilinthus  to  be  put  to  death  as  related 
b  the  life  of  that  monarch.  See  Kenneth  IIL  This  event 
happened  in  the  year  994,  and  the  Lady  Finella  was  after- 
wards put  to  death  for  her  crime,  in  the  romantic  ravine 
called  Den  FlneUa.  Her  memory  is  still  preserved  in  the 
names  of  various  other  places  in  the  county  of  Kincardine. 

In  the  reign  of  Maloolm  Canmore  flourished  Gilchrist,  eari 
of  Angus,  who  was  living  after  the  year  1120.  He  married 
Finella  or  Fynbella,  the  sister  of  the  thane  of  Meams,  by 
whom  he  had  a  son  Giiibrede,  the  seoond  eari  of  Angus,  pro- 
periy  so  called  mstead  of  maonnor,  who  succeeded  him,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  under  King  David 


the  First,  in  1188.  Eari  Giiibrede  waa  one  of  the  twenty 
barons  who  were  given  up  to  Henry  as  hostages  for  the  per- 
formanoe  of  the  disgraceful  conditions  entered  into  by  King 
William  the  Lion,  in  1174,  when  imprisoned  at  Falaise  in 
Normandy,  in  order  to  obtain  his  release.  He  died  about 
1180.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Cospatrick,  the  thh^  earl  of 
March,  by  whom  he  had  six  sona,  namely,  Gilchrist,  third 
eari  of  Angus ;  Magnus,  earl  of  Caithness,  [see  Caithnkss, 
earldom  of] ;  Gilbert,  ancestor  of  the  Ogilvys,  earls  of  Airlie, 
[see  OoiLVT,  surname  of,  and  Airlib,  eari  of];  Adam, 
William,  and  Anegus. 

Gilchrist,  third  earl  of  Angus,  mairied  a  sister  of  William 
the  Lion.  He  waa  the  father  of  Duncan  the  fourth  earl, 
whose  son,  Malcolm  the  fifth  earl,  married  Mary,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Sir  Humphrey  Berkeley,  knight,  by  whom  he 
had  a  daughter,  Matildia,  countess  of  Angus  in  her  own  right. 
She  married  first  John  Curain  who,  in  her  right,  became  eari 
He  died  in  France  in  1242.  She  married,  secondly,  in  1243, 
Gilbert  de  Urafraville,  lord  of  Redesdale,  Prudhow,  and  Her- 
bottle  in  Northumberland,  who  in  consequence  also  became 
earl  of  Angua.  He  died  in  1245.  He  waa  one  of  the  most 
famous  barons  of  that  age  and  guardian  of  the  northern  parts 
of  England.    [Dugdoit**  Baronage^  vol  L  p.  504.] 

His  only  son  by  the  oountess,  also  bore  the  name  of  Gil- 
bert de  Umfraville.  He  succeeded  as  the  eighth  earl  He 
was  governor  of  the  castles  of  Dundee  and  Forfar,  and  of  the 
whole  territory  of  Angus,  in  1291,  when  the  regents  of  Scot- 
land, during  tJie  competition  for  the  crown,  agreed  to  deliver 
up  the  kingdom  and  its  fortresses  to  Edward  I.  of  England. 
On  this  occasion  the  eari  declared  that  he  had  received  his 
castles  in  charge  from  the  Scottish  nation,  and  that  he  would 
not  surrender  them  to  England,  unless  Edward  and  all  the 
competitors  joined  in  an  obligation  to  indemnify  him.  The 
English  monarch  and  the  competitors  submitted  to  these  con- 
ditions of  Angus,  who  was  the  only  person  in  Scotland  who 
acted  with  integrity  and  spirit  at  this  national  crisis.  [/>»- 
cfero,  vol.  il  p.  581.]  He  married  the  third  daughter  of  Al- 
exander Cumin,  eari  of  Buchan,  and  died  in  1807.  He  bad 
three  sona.  The  eldest,  Gilbert,  having  died  before  his  father, 
he  waa  succeeded  by  Robert  his  second  son,  who  was  the 
ninth  eari  of  Angus.  By  Edward  the  Second,  Earl  Robert  was 
appdnted  joint-guardian  of  Scotland,  21st  July  1808,  and  had 
a  commission  to  be  sole  guardian  20th  August  1809,  but  did 
not  act  upon  it,  as  Robert  de  CUflcnx]  waa  constituted  to  that 
office.  Robert  de  Umfraville,  eari  of  Angus,  waa  forfeited  by 
King  Robert  the  ilrst,  for  his  adherence  to  the  English  inter- 
est In  1819,  he  was  one  of  the  commisnoners  of  England 
to  treat  with  those  of  Scotland  for  peace  between  the  two 
nations.  He  f^pears  to  have  died  about  1826.  By  hia 
first  wife  Luda,  daughter  of  Philip  de  Kyme,  he  had  a  son 
Gilbert,  who  succeeded  him,  and  a  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
married  to  Gilbert  de  Burden.  His  second  wife,  Alianore, 
who  waa  afterwards  the  wife  of  Roger  Mauduit,  brought 
him  two  sons,  Sir  Robert,  and  Thomaa. 

Gilbert  de  Umfraville,  the  tenth  earl  of  Angus,  waa  among 
the  disinherited  barons  who  invaded  Scotland  in  1882.  He 
claimed  the  earldom  of  Angus,  of  which  his  father  had  been 
deprived  by  foifeiture  in  the  reign  of  Robert  the  First  He 
had  a  like  right  to  the  superiority  of  the  barony  of  Dunipaoe 
in  Stirlingshire,  which  Bruce  had  granted  to  William  de 
lindesay.  He  had  a  share  in  the  decisive  victoiy  obtained  by 
Edward  Baliol  over  the  forces  of  King  David  L  at  Dupplin 
Moor,  12th  August  1882.  He  was  much  engaged  in  the 
wars  of  Scotland,  and  in  tha  fourteenth  year  of  Edward  the 
Third  he  was  joined  in  commission  with  Lord  Percy  and 
Lord  NevDle,  to  conclude  a  truce  with  the  Scots.    At  the 


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ANGUS. 


188 


ANNAND. 


battle  of  Dnrham,  20th  Aogost  1846,  when  David  the  Second 
wag  defeated  and  made  prisoner,  he  was  one  of  the  chief 
oonimandera  of  the  English  aiiny,  and  ten  years  afterwards 
he  was  one  of  the  commisaoners  for  treating  of  the  liberation 
of  that  monarch.  He  was  also  frequently  a  commissioner  for 
guarding  the  marches.  He  died  7th  January  1881,  possessed 
of  great  estates  in  the  counties  of  Northumberland,  Oumber- 
Und,  York,  Lincoln,  and  Suffolk,  leaving  his  niece  his  next 
heir,  his  son.  Sir  Robert  de  Umfraville,  having  predeceased 
him.  This  lady  was  Alianore,  the  daughter  of  his  sister, 
Elizabeth,  and  Gilbert  de  Burden,  and  the  wife  of  Heniy 
Talboys. 

The  title  of  earl  of  Angus  after  the  forfeiture,  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  Stewart  family,  having  been  bestowed  before 
1329  upon  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bonkil,  great-grandson  of  Sir 
John  Stewart  of  Bonkil,  second  son  of  Alexander,  high  steward 
of  Scotiand.  He  died  in  Decemlfer  1331.  He  had  married 
Margaret^  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  de  Abemethy, 
and  had  an  only  son  Thomas,  the  second  earl  of  Angus  of 
the  Stewart  family.  The  hitter  took  to  wife  Maigaret, 
daughter  of  Su>  William  St  Clair  of  Roelm,  by  whom  he 
had  one  son  Thomas,  the  third  earl,  and  two  daughters, 
Lady  Margaret,  married  first  to  Thomas  the  thirteenth  eai) 
of  Marr,  who  died  without  issue  in  1377,  and  secondly  to 
William,  first  eari  of  Douglas,  by  whom  she  was  the  mother 
of  George  de  Douglas,  the  first  eari  of  Angus  of  the  Douglas 
family.  The  second  daughter.  Lady  Elizabeth,  married  Sir 
Alexander  Hamilton  of  Innerwick,  and  had  issue. 

Thomas,  the  third  eari  of  Angus,  of  the  Stewart  family, 
succeeded  his  father  in  1361,  bong  tiien  an  infant  He  died 
without  issue  in  1377,  when  the  title  devolved  on  his  sister 
Lady  Margaret  On  her  resignation  of  it  in  parliament  in 
1389,  King  Robert  the  Second  granted  the  earldom  of  Angus, 
with  the  lordships  of  Abemethy  in  Perthshire,  and  of  Bonkil 
in  the  ooxmty  of  Berwick,  m  favour  of  George  de  Douglas  her 
son  and  the  heirs  of  his  body,  whom  failmg  to  Sbr  Alexander 
de  Hamilton  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  the  sister  of  the  said 
countess,  and  thdr  heirs.  The  earldom  being  afterwards  re- 
stricted to  heirs  male,  is  now  vested  in  the  Duke  of  Hamilton, 
the  representative  in  the  male  line  of  the  above  named  George 
earl  of  Angus.  See  Douglas,  earl  of,  (page  45,  vol.  iL) ;  and 
Hamilton,  duke  of,  (page  422,  voL  iiL) 

Angus,  styled  Angui  Mokr^  the  great,  lord  of  Islay,  was 
son  and  successor  of  Donald,  (from  whom  the  Maodonalds 
take  thdr  name)  second  son  of  Reginald,  son  of  Somerled,  king 
of  the  Isles,  whose  youngest  son  was  also  named  Angus. 
During  the  life  of  Angus  Mohr  the  expedition  of  Haoo,  king 
of  Norway,  to  the  Isles  took  place,  as  reUted  in  the  life  of 
Alexander  the  Third,  [see  onto,  page  88.]  Angus  joined  Haoo 
with  his  fleet,  but  in  consequence  of  the  treaty  which  was 
afterwards  entered  into  between  the  kings  of  Norway  and 
Scotland  he  was  allowed  to  retain  his  possessions  undisturbed, 
[see  page  98.]  His  son,  Angus  Oig,  or  the  younger,  was 
faithfiil  to  Robert  the  Bruce,  and  when  the  ktter,  with  the 
few  followers  who  adhered  to  him,  after  taking  refuge  in  the 
Lennox,  proceeded  to  Kintyre,  he  was  hospitably  received  by 
Angus,  and  entertained  for  three  days  in  his  castie  of  Duna- 
verty,  the  ruins  of  which  still  remain ;  and  this  at  a  time 
when  he  had  been  denied  an  asylum  everywhere  else.  At 
the  head  of  two  thousand  men,  whom  he  had  raised,  Angus 
Oig  engaged  on  Bruce*s  side  at  the  battie  of  Bannockbum, 
where  he  displayed  great  valour.  On  the  forfeiture  of  Alex- 
ander lord  of  Lorn,  and  his  son  and  heir,  John,  who  were 
opposed  to  the  claims  of  Bruce,  a  portion  of  theur  territories 
was  bestowed  on  Angus  Oig,  and  in  this  way  the  Isles  of 


Mull,  (the  possession  of  which  had,  for  some  time,  been  dis- 
puted betwixt  the  lords  of  Islay  and  Lorn,)  Jura,  Coll,  and 
Tiree,  with  the  districts  of  Duror  and  Glenooe,  fell  to  the 
share  of  Angus  Oig.  He  also  received  a  portion  of  Lochaber, 
and  the  lands  of  Morvem  and  Ardnamurchan.  As  a  measure 
of  precaution,  however,  Bruce  procured  from  Angus  Oig  the 
resignation  of  his  lands  m  Kintyre,  and  bestowed  them  upon 
Robert,  the  son  and  heir  of  Walter,  the  high  steward  and  the 
princess  Marjory  Bruce,  to  whom  he  also  gave  the  keeping  ol 
Tarbert  castie,  tiien  the  most  important  position  on  tiie  Ar- 
gyle  coast  Before  King  Robert's  death,  Angus  Oig  was  the 
most  powerful  chieftain  in  Argyle  or  the  Isles.  He  and  the 
Bruce  died  about  the  same  time,  that  is  about  1329.  Under 
David  the  Seoond  the  lands  of  Kintyre  reverted  to  the  de- 
scendants of  Angus  Oig.  \GregonfM  Western  Sighlamb 
and  Isles,  pages  22— 27.J 

ANGUS,  earl  of,  see  Douglas,  (Jeorge,  Wil- 
liam, and  Archibald. 

ANNAND,  William,  dean  of  Edinburgh,  was 
born  at  Ayr  in  1633.  His  father,  who  bore  the 
same  name,  was  rector  of  that  town  under  the 
episcopacy,  and  rendered  himself  very  unpopulai 
by  his  strong  attachment  to  the  episcopal  form  of 
worship.  Having  in  August  1637  been  appointed 
to  preach  at  the  opening  of  the  synod  of  Glasgow, 
be  chose  for  his  text  1  Tim.  ii.  1,  2,  and,  says 
Baillie,  ^'in  the  last  half  of  his  sermon,  from  the 
making  of  prayers,  ran  out  upon  the  liturgy,  and 
spake  for  defence  of  it  in  whole,  and  sundry  most 
plausible  parts  of  it,  as  well,  in  my  poor  judgment, 
as  any  in  the  isle  of  Britain  could  have  done,  con- 
sidering all  circumstances  ;  howsoever,  he  did 
maintain  to  the  dislike  of  all  in  an  unfit  time,  that 
which  was  hanging  in  saspense  betwixt  the  king 
and  the  country.  Of  his  sermon  among  us  in  the 
synod,  not  a  word ;  but  in  the  town,  among  the 
women,  a  great  din."  On  the  following  day  Mr. 
Lindsay,  minister  of  I.«anaric,  preached,  and  as  be 
was  entering  the  pulpit,  **some  of  the  women 
in  his  ear  assured  him  that  If  he  should  twitch 
(touch)  the  service-book  in  his  sermon,  he  should 
be  rent  out  of  his  pulpit :  he  took  the  advice,  and 
let  the  matter  alone."  During  the  day  the  wo- 
men contented  themselves  with  railing  and  invec- 
tives, and  "  about  thirty  or  forty  of  our  honestest 
women,  in  one  voice,  before  the  bishop  and  magis- 
trates, did  fall,  in  railing,  cursing,  scolding,  with 
clamours  on  Mr.  Annand :  some  two  of  the  mean- 
est were  taken  to  the  tolbooth."  Late  in  the 
evening  Mr.  Annand  went  out  with  three  or  four 
of  the  clergy,  when  he  was  immediately  assaulted 
by  some  hundi*eds  of  enraged  women,  "of  aU 


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qualities,"  who  with  fists  and  staves  **beat  him 
sore ;  his  doake,  niff,  hatt  were  rent.  However, 
npon  his  cries,  and  candles  set  oat  from  manj 
windows  (it  was  a  dark  night),  he  escaped  all 
bloody  wonnds ;  yet  he  was  in  great  danger  even 
of  killing."  The  following  day  the  magistrates 
accompanied  him  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  to 
prevent  (iEUther  molestation.  IBaiUie's  Letters  and 
Journals,  ed.  1841,  vol.  i.  pp.  20,  21.]  In  1638, 
five  years  after  his  son's  birth,  he  was  obliged  to 
remove  to  England,  on  account  of  his  adherence 
to  the  king  and  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  episcopa- 
cy. In  1651  the  younger  Annand  was  admitted 
a  student  of  University  college,  Oxford.  In  1656, 
being  then  Bachelor  of  Arts,  he  received  holy  or- 
ders  from  Dr.  Thomas  Fulwar,  bishop  of  Ardfert, 
or  Kerry,  in  Ireland,  and  was  (^pointed  preacher 
at  Weston  on  the  Green,  near  Bicester,  in  Ox- 
fordshire. He  was  afterwards  presented  to  the 
vicarage  of  Leighton-Buzzard,  in  Bedfordshure. 
In  1662  he  returned  to  Scotland,  in  the  capacity 
of  ch]q)lain  to  John,  eari  of  Middleton,  high  com- 
missioner from  the  king  to  the  Estates.  In  the 
end  of  1663  he  was  inducted  to  the  Tolbooth 
church  at  Edmburgh,  and  some  years  after  trans- 
ferred to  the  Tron  church.  In  April  1676  he  was 
appointed  by  the  king  dean  of  Edinburgh.  In 
1685  he  acted  as  professor  of  divinity  in  the  uni- 
versity of  St.  Andrews,  and  on  the  80th  of  June 
of  that  year  he  attended,  by  order  of  government, 
the  earl  of  Argyle  at  his  execution.  He  was  the 
author  of  seven  theological  treatises,  principally  in 
favour  of  the  episcopal  worship  and  government, 
all  published  in  London  but  the  last,  which  came 
out  at  Edinburgh  in  1674.  He  died  on  13th  June 
1689,  and  was  interred  in  the  Greyfriars*  church- 
yard, Edinburgh. — Biographia  Britanmca. 

The  titles  of  Dean  Annand's  works,  which,  not- 
withstanding their  Latin  names,  were  all  written 
in  English,  are  as  follows: 

Fidee  Calliolica;  or  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
b  dghteen  gre«t  ordinances,  &c    Lond.  1661-2,  4to. 

A  Sermon  in  Defence  of  the  Litnigy,  on  Hoeea  sir.  S. 
1661,  4ta 

Pannm  Qnotidiannm ;  or  Duly  Bread,  in  defence  of  set 
forms  of  prayer.    Lond.  1662,  4to. 

Pater  Noster;  or  Oor  Father,  an  ezplanati<m  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer.    Lond.  1670,  8vo. 

Mysterinm  Pietatis;  or  the  Mysteiy  of  Godliness.  Lond. 
1672,  Svo. 

Doxolof^    Lond.  1672,  8to. 


Dnalitas;  mdoding  Lex  Loqnens;  or  the  Honoor  of  lla- 
gistraoy;  and  Duorum  Unitas;  or  The  Agreement  of  Magis- 
tracy and  Ministry,  &o.    Edin.  1664. 

Aknandalb,  lord  of;  a  title  possessed  by  the  de  Bmses, 
the  ancestors  of  Bobert  the  Bkdce;  the  lordship  of  A  nn- 
andale  in  Dumfries-shire,  barmg  been  bestowed  by  David  the 
Fbvt,  soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  m  1124,  on  Ro- 
bert de  Bms,  the  son  of  a  Norman  knight  who  came  mto 
England  with  William  the  Conqueror.  Besides  his  Urge 
estates  m  Yorkshire,  be  thus  became  possessed  of  an  exten- 
sive property  in  SooUand,  which  he  held  by  the  tenure  of 
military  service.  [See  Bruce,  surname  of.]  Afler  the 
battle  of  Bannockbum,  the  lordship  of  Annandale  was  be- 
stowed by  Bobert  the  Bruce  on  his  nephew,  Sir  Thomas  Ran- 
doI{^,  earl  of  Moray.  With  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Agnes, 
who  married  Patrick,  ninth  earl  of  Dunbar  and  March,  it 
went,  afier  the  death  of  her  brother  John,  third  eari  of  Mo- 
ray, to  the  Dnnbars,  earis  of  March.  On  their  attainder,  it 
came  into  possession,  in  1409,  of  Archibald,  fourth  earl  of 
Dougba,  and  on  the  forfeiture,  m  1455,  of  James,  ninth  and 
last  earl  of  Doufj^Ias,  it  was  lost  to  that  family.  Annandale 
now  belongs  chiefly  to  the  earl  of  Hopetoun. 

Annahdalb,  earldom  of,  an  extinct  title,  formerly  in  the 
poesessicii  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Murray.  Sir  William 
Murray,  the  first  of  this  noble  fiunily,  is  said  to  have  been  de- 
scended from  the  house  of  Dufihs  [see  Duffus].  He  mar- 
ried Isabel,  the  sister  of  Thomas  Randolph,  eari  of  Moray,  and 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Randolph,  great  chamberlain  of  Scot- 
Und,  by  Isabel,  sister  of  King  Robert  Bruce,  and  by  her  had 
two  sons,  William  and  Patrick.  His  great  grandson,  Sir  Adam 
Murray  of  Cockpool,  made  a  considerable  figure  in  Scotland 
in  thereignsof^ng  Robert  the  Second  and  Robert  the  Third. 
A  descendant  of  his,  Mungo  Miuray  of  Brougfaton,  the  second 
son  of  Cuthbert  Murray  of  Cockpool,  was  the  ancestor  of  the 
Munrays  of  Brougfaton  in  the  stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright  Sir 
James  Murray  of  Cockpool,  the  twelilh  designed  of  Cockpool, 
who  died  in  1620,  married  Janet,  second  daughter  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  ancestor  of  the  dukes  of  Queens- 
berry,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Margaret,  was  married  to  Sir  Robert  Orierson,  younger  of 
Lag,  by  whom  she  luul  an  only  son.  Sir  John  Giierson  of  Lag, 
who  had  no  sons.  His  eldest  daughter,  Nicholas,  married 
David  Scot  of  Sootstarvet,  and  had  one  daughter,  Marjory, 
by  whose  marriage  with  David  fifth  viscount  Stormcmt,  the 
Murrays  of  Cockpool,  earls  of  Annandale,  are  lineally  repre- 
sented by  the  present  eari  of  Mansfield  [see  Stormokt, 
viscount  of]. 

Sir  James  Mnrray*s  brother,  John,  who  succeeded  to  the 
estates  of  the  fiimUy  on  the  death,  in  1686,  of  an  intermediate 
brother,  Richard,  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  James  the 
Sixth,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favourite,  and  whom,  on 
his  migesty's  accession  to  the  throne  of  England,  he  accom- 
panied to  London,  as  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  privy  cham- 
ber, by  the  titles  of  Visooant  of  Annand,  and  Lord  Murray  of 
Lochmaben.  The  date  of  his  creation  does  not  appear;  but 
he  had  a  charter  **  to  John  Viscount  of  Annand,"  of  the  pa- 
lace in  Dumfries,  and  the  lands  of  Haikheuch  and  Caerlaver- 
ock,  20th  February  1628.  He  was  created  earl  of  Annan- 
dale by  patent  dated  at  Whitehall,  13th  March  1624.  His 
lordship  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Shaw, 
knight,  and  died  at  London  m  September  1640.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  James,  second  eari  of  Annandale,  who 
in  March  1642  succeeded  as  Ihird  viscount  of  Stormont  He 
died  at  London  2Sth  December  1658,  leaving  no  issue.    The 


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titles  of  earl  of  Annandale,  Tisooant  of  Aimand,  and  Lord 
Morraj  of  Lochmaben,  in  oonseqnence  became  extinct,  and 
those  of  Viscount  Stormont  and  Lord  Scoon  devolved  on 
David,  second  Lord  Balvaird  [see  Murray,  snmame  of]. 

The  title  of  Marquis  of  Annandalu  (now  doroiant)  was 
formerly  possessed  bj  a  brave  and  powerful  Border  family  of 
the  name  of  Johnstone,  which,  as  far  back  as  can  be  traced, 
were  in  possession  of  most  extensive  estates  in  the  upper 
district  of  Annandale;  and  of  the  numerous  famiUee  beaiing 
that  name  the  Johnstones  of  Lochwood  were  acknowledged  the 
chiefs.  This  distinguished  family  maintained  their  ground, 
not  only  against  the  English  borderers,  but  also  against  the 
lords  of  Sanquhar,  whose  descendants  became  earls  of  Dumfries, 
and  against  the  powerful  and  ancient  family  of  the  Maxwells, 
lords  of  Nithsdale. 

In  the  reign  of  King  Robert  the  Second,  Sir  John  de  John- 
stone, the  ancestor  of  the  Annandale  family  of  that  name, 
made  a  conspicuous  figure.  In  1871,  he  was  one  of  the 
guardians  of  the  west  marches,  and  frequently  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  exerting  himself  against  the  English  borderers,  par- 
ticularly in  1378, 

*•  When  at  the  wattyr  of  Sulway. 
Schyr  Ihon  of  Ihonystown  on  a  day 
Of  In^  men  wenontt  a  grete  dele. 
He  bare  byro  at  that  tyme  sa  welle 
That  be  and  the  Lord  of  Gordowne, 
Had  a  sowerane  gud  renown 
Of  ony  that  wai  of  thar  degre 
For  ftaU  thftl  war  of  gret  bownte.** 

Wpnioun,  b.  IL  p  811. 

He  died  about  1883,  leaving  a  son  Sir  John  Johnstone  of  John- 
stone. A  lineal  descendant  of  his  in  the  eleventh  degree,  James 
Johnstone  of  that  ilk,  was  by  Charles  the  First  created  Lord 
Johnstone  of  Lochwood,  by  patent  dated  at  Holyroodhouse,  20th 
June  1633.  In  March  1648  he  was  created  eaxi  of  Hartfell. 
In  1644  he  was  imprisoned  by  order  of  the  committee  of 
estates,  as  a  favourer  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose.  After  the 
battle  of  Kilsyth,  August  1645,  he  joined  Montrose,  and  being 
taken  at  PhUiphaugh,  18th  September  of  the  same  year,  he 
was  carried  to  St.  Andrews,  where,  with  several  others,  he 
was  sentenced  to  death,  26th  November  1646,  and  ordered  to 
be  executed  first  of  all,  with  Lord  Ogilvy.  But  the  night 
before  tiie  time  fixed  for  the  execution.  Lord  Ogilvy  escaped 
out  of  the  oastle  of  St.  Andrews,  and  the  marquis  of  Aigyle, 
suspecting  it  to  have  been  done  by  means  of  the  Hamiltons, 
obtained  a  pardon  for  the  eari  of  Hartfell,  who  was  as  ob- 
noxious to  the  Hamiltons  as  Lord  Ogilvy  was  to  Argyle.  He 
died  in  March  1653. 

His  only  son,  James  the  second  earl  of  Hartfisll,  was,  on 
the  restoration  of  Charies  the  Second,  sworn  a  privy  council- 
lor. The  title  of  earl  of  Annandale  having  become  extinct 
by  the  death  of  James  Murray,  the  second  earl,  in  1658,  the 
oari  of  Hartfell  made  a  resignation  of  his  peerage  into  the 
hands  of  his  mijesty,  who,  Idth  February  1661,  granted  a 
new  patent  to  him  as  earl  of  Annandale  and  Hartfell,  viscount 
of  Annand,  Lord  Johnstone  of  Lochwood,  Loohmaben,  Mofiat- 
dale,  and  Evandale.  He  died  17th  July  1672.  His  son  Wil- 
liam, who  succeeded  as  second  earl  of  Annandale  and  third  of 
Hartfell,  was  appointed  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session,  23d 
November  1698.  He  was  also  constituted  one  of  the  lords  of 
the  Treasury,  and  president  of  the  parliament  of  Scotland, 
which  assembled  at  Edinburgh  9th  May  1695,  and  sat  till 
17th  July  following.  On  the  24th  of  June  1701  he  was  cre- 
ated marquis  of  Annandale,  and  on  the  accession  of  Queen 
Anne  was  appointed  lord  privy  seal    In  1703  he  was  ap- 


pointed president  of  the  privy  oounciL  In  1704  he  was  in- 
vested with  the  order  of  the  Thistle.  In  1705  he  represented 
her  majesty  as  high  commissioner  to  tho  General  Assembly 
of  the  church  of  Scotland,  as  he  had  already  done  King  Wil- 
liam in  1701.  He  was  also  constituted  in  1705  one  of  the 
principal  secretaries  of  state,  but  not  approving  of  the  Union, 
he  was  dismissed  from  that  office  in  the  following  year,  and 
strenuously  opposed  the  Union  treaty  in  pariiament.  He 
was  afterwards  on  several  occasions  elected  a  representative 
peer.  In  1711  he  was  again  lord  high  conmiissioner  to  the 
General  Assembly.  On  the  accession  of  George  the  First  he 
was,  24th  September  1714,  appointed  keeper  of  the  privy 
seal,  and  a  few  days  after  sworn  a  privy  councillor.  He  died 
at  Bath  on  the  14  th  January  1721.  His  lordship  married, 
first,  Sophia,  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  John  Fairholm  of 
Craigiehall,  in  the  county  of  Linlithgow,  by  whom  he  had 
James,  second  marquis  of  Annandale,  two  other  sons,  who 
both  died  unmarried,  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the  eldest, 
Lady  Henrietta,  married,  in  1699,  Charles  Hope  of  Hopetonn, 
created  earl  of  Hopetonn  in  1703,  and  had  issue.  His  first 
wife  having  died  in  1716,  the  marquis  married  secondly,  in 
1718,  Charlotte  Van  Lore,  only  child  of  John  Vanden  Bempde 
of  Pall  Mall,  London;  by  whom  he  had  George,  third  mar- 
quis of  Annandale,  and  another  son  named  John,  who  died 
young. 

James,  the  second  marquis  of  Annandale,  resided  much 
abroad,  and  dying  unmarried  at  Naples,  21st  February  1730, 
was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  The  estate  of  Craigie- 
hall went  to  his  nephew,  the  Hon.  Charles  Hope,  and  hi« 
titles  and  the  other  estates  to  his  half  brother  George,  third 
marquis  of  Annandale,  who  was  bom  29th  May  1720.  The 
loss  of  his  brother,  Lord  John,  m  1742,  occasioned  a  depres- 
sion of  spirits,  which  finally  derai\ged  his  mind.  In  1745 
David  Hume,  the  historian,  went  to  live  with  him,  the  friends 
and  fiunily  of  the  marquis  being  denrous  of  putting  his  lordship 
under  his  care  and  direction.  He  resided  with  him  a  year.  On 
5th  March  1748  an  inquest  from  the  court  of  Chancery  found 
the  marquis  a  lunatic  since  12th  December  1744.  He  died 
24th  April  1792,  when  the  title  of  Marquis  of  Annandale  be- 
came dormant ;  claimed  by  Sir  Frederic  John  William  John- 
stone of  Westerhall,  baronet ;  and  by  Mr.  Goodinge  Johnstone. 
It  is  understood  that  the  titles  of  earl  of  Annandale  and  Hart- 
fell devolved  upon  James,  third  earl  of  Hopetonn,  who,  how- 
ever, did  not  assume  them,  but  took  the  name  of  Johnstone 
in  addition  to  that  of  Hope. 

In  the  parish  of  Johnstone,  Dumfries-shire,  are  the  ruins  of  the 
castle  or  tower  of  Lochwood,  said  to  have  been  built  during  the 
fourteenth  oentuiy,  and  which,  from  the  thickness  of  its  walls 
and  its  insulated  situation  amidst  bogs  and  marshes,  must 
have  been  a  place  of  great  strength.  It  was  in  allusion  to 
this  circumstance  that  James  the  Sixth  is  said  to  have  re- 
marked, ^*that  the  man  who  built  Lochwood,  thou^  he 
might  have  the  outward  appearance  of  an  honest  man,  must 
have  been  a  knave  at  heart.**  In  1593,  it  was  burnt  by  Ro- 
bert, the  natural  brother  of  Lord  Maxwell,  who,  with  savage 
glee,  exclaimed  while  it  was  in  flames,  "  Til  give  Dame  John- 
stone light  enough  to  show  her  to  set  her  silken  hood  "  In 
revenge  for  the  destruction  of  Lochwood*s  "lofty  towers, 
where  dwelt  the  lords  of  Annandale,"  the  Johnstones,  aided 
by  the  bold  Bucdeuch,  the  Elliott,  the  Armstrongs,  and  the 
Grahams,  attacked  and  cut  to  pieces  a  party  of  the  Maxwells 
near  Lochmaben,  and  among  the  slain  fell  Robert  the  incendiary. 
The  surviving  few  then  took  refuge  in  the  church  of  Loch- 
maben, but  the  church  with  all  that  was  in  it  was  bunit  to 
ashes  by  the  Johnstones,  and  it  was  this  sacrilegious  act 
which  in  its  turn  occasioned  the  memorable  battle  of  Dryfe 


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Hands,  7th  December  1593,  in  which  the  Johnstones  finally 
prerailed.  Lord  Maxwell,  while  engaged  in  single  combat 
with  the  laird  of  Johnstone,  was  slain  behind  his  back  by  the 
cowardly  hands  of  Will  of  Kirkhill.  The  Maxwells  lort,  on 
the  field  and  in  the  retreat,  about  700  men.  Many  of  those 
who  perished  or  were  wounded  in  the  retreat,  wert  cut  down 
in  the  streets  of  Lockerby;  and  hence  the  i^rase  currently 
used  in  Annandale  to  denote  a  severe  wound, — **  A  Lockerby 
lick.**  Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Johnstone,  warden  of  the  west 
marches,  was  murdered,  6th  April  1608,  by  John,  ssTenth 
Lord  Maxwell,  the  son  of  the  Lord  Maxwell  slain  on  Dryfe 
Sands,  at  a  meeting  betwixt  them,  in  presence  of  Sir  Robert 
Maxwell  of  Orchardton,  brother-in-law  of  Sir  James,  to 
which  meeting  each  of  them  came  with  one  attendant  Their 
attendants  quarrelling,  Sir  James  Johnstone  turned  about  to 
separate  them,  when  he  was  treacherously  shot  in  the  back 
with  two  bullets  by  Lord  Maxwell,  who,  being  taken  at 
Caithness  some  years  afterwards,  was  beheaded  for  the  same, 
at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh^  2l8t  May  1613. 


AxsTRUTHBR,  a  sumame  derived  from  the  lands  of  An- 
stmther,  in  the  county  of  Fife,  on  a  portion  of  which  the 
burgh  of  Anstmther-easter,  of  which  the  lurd  of  Anstruther 
is  superior,  is  built.  The  family  of  Anstruther  of  Anstruther 
is  Tery  ancient,  having  been  settled  in  Fife  in  the  very  early 
periods  of  Scottish  history.  During  the  reign  of  David  the 
First,  William  de  Candela,  obviously  of  Norman  origin,  pos- 
sessed the  hmds  of  Anstruther,  as  appears  from  a  charter 
granted  in  favour  of  the  monks  of  Balmerinoch,  by  his  eon 
William,  wherdn  he  is  designated  "  Fllius  Williehni  de  Can- 
dela, domini  de  Anstruther.**  Henry  his  son  first  assumed  the 
name  of  his  lands,  and  in  a  charter  of  confirmation  of  his  fa- 
ther's grant,  dated  in  1221,  he  is  styled  *'  Henricus  de  Ayni- 
strother,  dominus  ejusdem,  Filins  Willielmi,**  &o.  From 
these  early  proprietors  the  family  of  Anstruther  are  lineally 
descended. 

About  the  year  1515  Robert  Anstruther  and  David  his 
brother,  younger  sons  of  Robert  de  Anstruther,  the  sixth  in 
descent  from  the  original  William  de  Candela,  having  gone 
to  France,  were  promoted  to  be  officers  of  the  Soots  guards  in 
the  service  of  the  French  king.  David  married  a  lady  of  dis- 
tinction in  France,  and  his  descendant,  Francis  CsDsar  An- 
struther, contracted  into  Anstrude,  was  by  Louis  the  Fif- 
teenth, in  1737,  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  French  baron,  by 
tlie  title  of  Baros  de  Anstrude  of  the  seigniory  of  Barry. 

Sir  James  Anstruther,  the  twelfth  in  direct  descent  from 
William  de  Candela,  was,  in  1585,  appointed  heritable  carver 
to  James  the  Sixth.  In  1592,  he  had  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood conferred  upon  him,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  mas- 
ters of  the  household  to  his  majesty.    He  died  in  1606. 

His  son.  Sir  William,  succeeded  to  his  father's  offices,  and 
was,  besides,  appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bed- 
chamber. On  James*  accession  to  the  English  throne,  he 
accompanied  his  rn^esty  to  London,  and  at  his  coronation 
was  created  a  knight  of  the  Bath.  He  was  also  in  great  fa- 
vour with  Charles  the  First,  by  whom  he  was  appointed  gen- 
tleman usher  of  his  majesty's  privy  chamber.  He  died  in 
1649 ;  and  was  succeeded  by  his  younger  brother.  Sir  Robert, 
who  was,  by  Charles  the  Furst,  appointed  one  of  the  members 
of  the  privy  council,  and  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  his  majesty*8 
bed-chamber.  He  was  an  able  diplomatist,  and  frequently 
employed  in  negodations  of  state,  both  by  James  the  Sixth 
and  Charles  the  rirst.  In  1620,  he  was  sent  ambassador 
extraordinary  to  the  court  of  Denmark,  to  borrow  money 
from  King  Christian,  with  power  to  grant  security  for  it  in 
the  king's  name.    At  this  time  he  got  from  the  Danish  king, 


in  a  compliment,  a  Bhip*8  load  of  timber  for  building  his  house 
in  Scotland.  In  April  1627,  he  was  commissioned  as  mini- 
ster plenipotentiary,  to  treat  with  the  emperor  and  the  states 
of  Germany,  at  Nuremberg,  about  the  concerns  of  the  elector 
palatine,  and  other  afiairs  of  Europe.  He  was  also  appomted 
by  Charles  the  First,  and  Frederick,  king  of  Bohemia,  elector 
palatine,  their  plenipotentiaiy  to  the  diet  at  Ratisbon,  for  set- 
tling all  differences  between  the  Roman  emperor  Ferdinand 
and  the  elector  palatine.  His  commission  for  this  purpose  is 
dated  at  Westminster  2d  June  1680,  and  is  signed  by  King 
Charles  and  Frederick,  and  has  both  their  seals  appeuaod. 
He  went  also  as  ambassador  to  the  meeting  of  the  princes  of 
Germany  at  Hailburi. 

His  second  son.  Sir  Philip,  succeeded  to  the  Anstmthv 
estates.  He  was  a  zealous  and  gallant  cavalier,  and  had  a 
command  in  the  royal  army  at  the  battle  of  Worcester,  where 
he  was  taken  prisoner.  He  was  fined  in  a  thousand  merks 
by  Cromwell,  and  his  estates  were  sequestrated  till  the  Res- 
toration in  1660.  He  married  Christian,  daughter  of  Major- 
general  Lumsden  of  Innergelly,  and  had  five  sons,  two  of 
whom  wero  created  baronets,  and  the  other  three  knights. 
He  died  in  1702. 

Sir  William  Anstruther,  the  eldest  son,  represented  the 
county  of  Fife  in  the  Scottish  parliament,  in  1681,  when 
James  duke  of  York  was  his  maje6ty*s  high  oommissioner  in 
Scotland,  and  strongly  oppoeed  the  measures  of  the  oourt. 
He  sat  in  parliament  for  the  county  of  Fife  till  1709,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  prooeedhigs,  those  more  particu- 
larly for  securing  and  establishing  the  Protestant  reli^on, 
and  the  government,  laws,  and  liberties  of  the  kingdom.  In 
1689  he  was  appointed  by  William  the  Thkd  one  of  the  or- 
dinary lords  of  Session,  and  soon  after  was  made  one  of  his 
mijesty's  privy  council  and  of  Exchequer.  In  1694  he  was 
created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia.  From  Queen  Anne,  he 
received  a  charter  dated  at  Kensington,  20th  April  1704,  of 
the  baronies  of  Anstruther  and  Ardross,  and  many  other 
lands,  and  of  the  heritable  bailiaiy  of  the  lordship  and  regal- 
ity of  Pittenweem ;  and  of  the  office  of  searoher,  and  giver 
of  coquets  for  the  ports  of  Anstruther  and  Elie.  The  same 
diarter  constitutes  him  heritably,  one  of  the  cibi  cuics,  or  car- 
vers, and  one  of  the  mastere  of  the  household  to  her  miyesty 
and  her  successors  within  the  kingdom  of  Scotland ;  offices 
which  belonged  to  his  predecessors,  and  which  his  descend- 
ant, the  present  baronet,  continues  to  hold.  On  the  9th  No- 
vember of  the  same  year  he  was  nominated  one  of  the  lords 
of  Justiciary,  in  the  room  of  Lord  AberuchQ.  He  married 
Lady  Helen  Hamilton,  daughter  of  John,  fourth  earl  of  Had- 
dington, and  died  at  Edinburgh  in  January  1711.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  volume,  entitled  *  Essays,  Moral  and  Divine,* 
interspersed  with  poetry,  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1701,  in 
4to.  Its  contents  are,  1st,  Against  Atheism.  2d,  Of  Provi- 
dence. 8d,  Of  Learning  and  Religion.  4th,  Of  trifling  stu- 
dies, stage  plays,  and  romances ;  and  5th,  Upon  the  incarna- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ,  and  redemption  of  mankind.  The  work 
does  not  seem  to  have  done  much  credit  to  his  literary  pow- 
ers, as  his  firicnds  did  all  they  could  to  dissuade  him  from 
publishing  it ;  and  after  his  death,  his  son  bought  up  every 
copy  that  could  be  found,  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  it 
ICcmpbeffs  History  of  Scottish  Poetry,  page  141.]  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Sir  John,  after  mentioned. 

Sir  James  Anstruther  of  Akdrie,  the  second  son  of  Sir 
Philip,  was  an  advocate,  and  principal  clerk  of  the  BUls. 
His  son,  Philip,  adopted  a  military  life,  and  rose  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-general  in  the  army,  but  dying  unmarried,  his 
estates  went  to  his  cousin.  Sir  John  Anstruther  of  Anstru- 
ther. 


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ARBUCKLE. 


Sir  Robert  Anstrather  of  Balcaskief  the  third  son  of  Sir 
Philip,  acquired  the  estate  of  Balcaskief  and  was  created  a 
baronet  of  Nova  Sootia  in  1694,  the  same  year  as  his  elder 
brother,  Sir  William. 

Sir  Philip  Anstrather,  the  fourth  brother,  was  made  a 
knight  He  was  designed  of  Anstnither-field,  from  hmds  he 
BO  named  near  Inverkeithing. 

Sir  Alexander  Anstrather,  knight,  the  fifth  brother,  mar- 
ried in  1694,  Jean  Leslie,  Baroness  Newark,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  David  second  lord  Newark,  and  was  father  of  Wil- 
liam, thud  lord  Newark,  and  Alexander,  fourth  lord.  The 
title  of  Lord  Newark,  which  became  dormant  on  the  death  of 
the  latter  in  1791,  was  daimed  in  1793,  by  his  eldest  eon, 
but  unsuocessfullj.    [See  Newabk,  Lord.] 

Sir  John  Anstruther  of  Anstruther,  the  son  of  Sir  William, 
married,  in  1717,  the  lady  Margaret  Carmichaol,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  James  second  eari  of  Hyndford,  and  on  the  failure  in 
the  male  line  of  that  noble  house,  and  the  title  becoming  ex- 
tinct in  1817,  their  descendant.  Sir  John  Anstruth^*  of  An- 
stnither,  succeeded  to  the  entailed  estates  of  the  earldom, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  Carmichael.  [See  HTin>FOBD, 
Eari  of,  and  Garmicuael,  surname  of.]  Sir  John  died  in 
1746,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  also  named  John. 

Sir  John,  the  third  baronet  of  this  branch  of  the  family, 
was  the  author  of  a  work  on  drill  husbandry,  published  in 
1796,  which  is  understood  to  have  been  usefrd  at  the  time  of 
its  publication,  but  is  chiefly  remembered  from  a  bon  mot 
connected  with  it  On  its  appearance  one  of  Sir  John's 
friends  jocularly  remarked  that  no  one  could  be  better  quali- 
fied to  write  on  the  subject,  as  there  was  not  a  better  drilled 
husband  in  the  county  of  Fife.  Sir  John  married,  m  1750, 
Janet,  daughter  of  James  Fall,  Esq.  of  Dunbar.  She  was  a 
very  superior  woman,  and  seems  to  have  had  a  considerable 
influence  with  her  brd.     Sir  John  died  in  July  1799. 

His  eldest  son.  Sir  Philip,  succeeded.  He  married  in  1778, 
Anne,  only  child  of  Sir  John  Paterson,  of  Eccles,  baronet, 
and  assumed  in  consequence  the  additional  surname  of  Pater- 
son.   He  died  without  issue  in  1808. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  John 
Anstrather,  of  Cassis  in  Staffordshire,  a  distingtushed  kwyer, 
who  had  been  created  a  baronet  of  Great  Britain,  18th  May 
1798,  when  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of 
Judicature  in  Bengal.  He  married  Maria,  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward Brice,  Esq.  of  Bemer's  Street,  London,  and  had  issue 
two  sons  and  a  daughter.  He  retired  firom  the  Bench  in 
1806,  and  died  in  1811. 

Sir  John,  his  eldest  son,  died  in  1817.  Hb  only  son,  a 
posthumous  child,  bom  6th  February  1818,  and  named  John 
after  his  father,  inherited  the  titles  and  estates  at  his  birth. 
He  was  accidentally  killed  while  on  a  shootmg  excursion  in 
November  1831,  and  the  baronetcies  and  posseaaions  of  the 
fHinily  reverted  to  his  uncle.  Sir  Windham  Carmichael  An- 
struther of  Elie  and  Ansiruther,  the  eighth  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  fourth  of  Great  Britain. 

Sir  Robert  Anstruther,  above  mentioned,  the  founder  of 
the  Balcaskie  branch,  was  thrice  married.  His  first  wife, 
whose  name  was  Kinnear,  an  heiress,  died  without  issue. 
His  second  wife,  Jean  Monteith  Wrea,  also  an  heiress,  brought 
him  six  sons  and  two  daughters;  and  by  his  third  wife, 
Marion,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Preston  of  Valleyfield,  he 
had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son.  Sir  Philip,  whose  eldest  son,  Sir  Robert,  bom  2l8t 
April  1733,  married  Lady  Janet  Erskine,  youngest  daughter 
of  Alexander,  fifth  eari  of  Kellie,  and  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.   Robert,  the  eldest,  was  the  celebrated  Gen- 


eral Anstrather.  He  was  bora  8d  March  1768,  and  entered 
at  a  very  early  period  of  life  into  the  army.  In  1798  he  ao- 
companied  his  regiment  to  Holland.  In  1796  he  joined  the 
Austrian  army  in  the  Brisgau,  under  the  Archduke  Charles 
then  at  war  with  France;  and  received  a  wound  in  the  left 
side  in  one  of  the  conflicts.  In  1797  he  purdiased  a  company 
in  the  8d  Guards,  and  was  appointed  deputy  quarter-mat>ter- 
general.  In  1798  he  was  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Ger- 
many; and  in  the  autumn  of  1799  with  the  expedition  to  the 
Holder.  In  1800  Captain  A.  went  to  Egypt  as  quarter- 
master-general to  the  army  under  the  command  of  Sir  Ralph 
Abercromby,  at  which  time  the  order  of  the  Crescent  was 
confinrred  upon  him.  In  1802  he  was  acljutant-general  in 
Ireland.  In  1808  he  went  to  Portugal  as  brigadier-general, 
and  distinguished  himself  at  the  battie  of  Vimiera.  Jn  the 
suBsequeut  campaign  in  Spain,  under  Sir  John  Moore, 
General  A.  commanded  the  rear-guard  of  the  army,  whidi  he 
brought  safely  into  Coninna  on  tiie  night  of  Xhe  12th  January 
1809;  but  survived  only  one  day  the  exertions  he  had  made, 
and  the  fatigue  he  had  endured  during  the  retreat  He  died 
14 til  January  1809,  and  lies  interred  in  the  north-east  bastion 
of  the  citadel  of  Corunna.  Sir  John  Moore  by  his  own  desire 
was  buried  by  the  side  of  General  Anstrather.  He  married 
16th  March,  1799,  Charlotte  Luc^,  only  daughter  of  CoL 
J:imes  Hamilton,  grandson  of  James,  fourth  duke  of  Hamil- 
ton, and  hiid  issue  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  Anstrather,  Bart, 
who  succeeded  his  grandfather  in  August  1818,  one  other  son 
and  three  daughters.  Sir  Ralph  married,  7th  Sept  1881, 
Mary  Jane,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Torrens,  K.C.B., 
and  has  issue  8  sons  and  2  daughters.  His  second  sou  Henry 
fell  at  the  battie  of  the  Ahna,  September  20, 1864,  in  his 
18th  year. 

ARBUCKLE,  James,  A.M.,  a  minor  poet,  was 
born  in  Glasgow,  in  1700.  He  studied  at  the  uni- 
versity of  that  city,  where  he  took  his  degrees. 
He  afterwards  kept  an  academy  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  hence  he  is  called  an  Irishman  by  Camp- 
bell, in  his  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Poetry 
in  Scotland.  He  was  the  friend  of  Allan  Ramsay. 
He  published  a  volume  of  poems,  and  had  begun 
a  translation  of  Horace,  but  died  before  it  was 
finished,  in  1734.  Some  of  his  translations  and 
imitations  of  Horace  are  among  his  best  pieces. 
He  wrote  *  Snuff,  a  Poem,'  which,  according  to 
the  advertisement,  was  **  printed  at  Edinburgh 
by  Mr.  James  M*Ewen  and  Company  for  the  au- 
thor, and  sold  by  Mr.  James  M^Ewen,  bookseller 
in  Edinburgh,  and  by  the  booksellers  in  Glasgow," 
1719.  This  poem  waa  dedicated  to  "  His  Grace, 
John,  Duke  of  Roxburgh,**  and  contained  some 
pleasing  enough  conceits,  very  prettily  turned 
As  an  instance  the  following  may  be  quoted : 

t*  Thou^^  in  some  solitary  pathless  wild 
Where  mortal  never  trod,  nor  nature  smiled, 
My  cmel  fote  should  doom  my  endless  stay, 
To  saunter  all  my  ling'ring  life  away, 


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ARBUTHNOT. 


Tet  stni  1*11  here  sodetj  enough, 
While  blest  with  Tirtae,  and  a  Pinch  of  SnofT, 
Enough  for  me  the  conadoos  joys  to  hud, 
And  silent  raptures  of  an  honest  min^  ** 

ARBUTHiroTr,  viaooont  o^  a  title  possessed  by  a  family  of 
ancient  descent,  bearing  that  snmame,  in  Kincardineshire; 
the  first  of  whom,  Hngp  de  Aberbothenoth,  flourished  in  the 
reign  of  King  William  the  Lion,  and  deriyed  his  name,  in 
1105,  from  lands  which  came  to  him  by  nurriags  with  a 
daughter  of  Osbertus  Oliphard,  sheriff  of  Meams.  Those 
lands  now  form  the  greater  part  of  the  pariah  of  Arbuthnott, 
and  haye  passed  to  the  present  viscount  through  no  less  than 
twenty-two  generations.  Previous  to  the  twelfth  century 
the  name  was  Abeibothenothe ;  about  1385,  it  had  become 
Aberbuthnot,  and  about  1443,  Arbuthnott. 

The  name  of  Aberbothenothe  is  understood  to  mean  "  the 
confluence  of  the  water  below  the  baron's  house,**  being  de- 
rived from  Aber^  the  influx  of  a  river  into  the  sea,  or  of  a 
smaller  stream  into  a  larger  Both,  or  Botkaui,  a  dwellmg,  a 
baronial  residence;  and  AeA  or  Neoth-ta,  the  stream  that 
descends  or  is  lower  than  something  else  in  the  nd^bour- 
hood;  a  derivation  which  is  peiiectly  applicable  to  the  site  of 
the  ancient  castle,  and  to  the  present  residence  of  the  noble 
fiunOy  of  Arinithnott    [See  StaHstioal  Acoomt,  voL  xL] 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second,  Duncan  de  Aber- 
bothenothe was  witness  to  a  donation  of  that  sovereign  in 
1242.  His  son,  Hn^  is  witness,  along  with  his  father,  de- 
signed Dnncanus  Dominns  de  Aberbothenoth,  to  a  charter  of 
Bobert,  the  son  of  Wamebald,  to  the  monasteiy  of  Aberbroth- 
wick.  His  son  and  suooessor,  Hu^,  called  from  the  flaxen 
colour  of  his  hair,  Hugo  Blundus  or  le  Blond,  to  distinguish 
him  from  two  predecessors  of  the  same  name,  was  laird  of 
Arimthnott  in  1282,  in  whidi  year  he  bestowed  the  patron- 
age of  the  church  of  Garvock,  in  pure  alms,  on  the  monasteiy 
of  Arbroath,  **fbr  the  saiisty  of  his  soul,**  which  patronage, 
with  many  others,  at  the  Reformation,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  king.  Along  with  the  patronage  he  gave  one  ox-gang  of 
land,  lying  adjacent  to  the  church  of  Garvock,  with  pasturage 
for  100  sheep,  4  horses,  10  oxen,  and  20  cows.  Hugo  le 
Blond  died  about  the  end  of  the  thuteenth  centniy,  and  was 
buried  at  Arbuthnott,  where  there  is  an  ancient  full-length 
stone  statue  of  him,  in  a  reclining  posture,  with  the  face  look- 
ing iqiwarda,  and  the  feet  resting  on  the  figure  of  a  dog.  His 
own  and  his  wife's  arms,  the  latter  being  the  same  with  those 
of  the  once  powerful  famOy  of  the  Morevilles,  constables  of 
ScoUand,  are  cut  on  the  stone  on  which  the  statue  lies. 

In  1355  Philip  de  Arbuthnott,  fourth  direct  descendant  from 
Hugh  le  Blond,  was  a  benefactor  to  the  church  of  the  Carme- 
lite friars,  Abodeen.  His  son  and  heir,  Hugh  Arbuthnott, 
was  accessary  with  several  other  gentlemen  of  the  Meams, 
upon  great  provocation,  to  the  slaughter  of  John  Melville,  of 
Glenbervie,  sheriff  of  that  county,  about  14^.  According  to 
tradition,  Melville  had,  by  a  strict  exerdse  of  his  authority  as 
sheriff^  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  the  surrounding  barons, 
who  teased  the  regent,  Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany,  by  repeated 
complaints  against  him.  At  last,  in  a  fit  of  impatience,  the 
regent  mcantiously  exclaimed  to  Barday,  laird  of  Mathers 
(anceetor  of  Captain  Barclay  Allardice  of  Urie),  who  had 
eome  to  him  with  another  complaint  against  Mehille,  **  Sor- 
row ^  that  sheriff  were  sodden,  and  supped  in  broo.**  Most 
of  those  who  have  reUted  this  stoiy  sti^  that  it  was  the 
king,  James  the  First,  who  made  this  exclamation,  but  his 
miyesty  was  then  a  prisoner  in  EngUnd.  Barday,  immedi- 
ately returning  home,  assembled  his  ndgfabours,  the  lairds  of 


Lauriston,  Arbuthnott,  Pitairow  and  Halkerton,  who  a|^ 
pointed  a  great  hunting  party  in  the  forest  of  Garvock,  to 
which  they  invited  the  devoted  Melville ;  and  having  prepared 
a  large  fire  and  cauldron  of  boiling  water  in  a  retired  place, 
they  decoyed  the  unsuspecting  Mdville  to  the  fatal  spot, 
knocked  him  down,  stripped  him,  and  aen  threw  him  into 
the  cauldron.  After  he  was  boiled  or  todden  for  some  time, 
they  each  took  a  spoonful  of  the  soup.  To  screen  himself 
from  justice,  Barday  built  a  fortress  m  the  parish  of  St. 
Cyrus,  called  the  Kaim  of  Mathers,  on  a  perpendicular  and 
peninsular  rock,  sixty  feet  above  the  sea,  where,  in  those 
days,  he  lived  quite  secure.  The  laird  of  Arbuthnott  clauned 
and  obtained  the  benefit  of  the  law  o^dan  Macduff,  which, 
in  case  of  homidde,  allowed  a  pardon  to  any  one  within  the 
ninth  degree  of  kindred  to  Maodufi;  Thane  of  Fife,  who 
should  flee  to  his  cross,  which  then  stood  near  Lindores,  oL 
the  march  between  Fife  and  Strathem,  and  pay  a  fine.  The 
pardon  is  still  extant  in  Arbuthnott  House.  The  rest  were 
outlawed.    He  died  in  1446. 

His  descendant.  Sir  Robert  Arbuthnott  of  Arbuthnott,  was 
knitted  by  King  Charies  the  First,  and  for  his  enduring 
loyalty  ennobled  in  1641,  by  being  created  Viscount  Arbuth- 
nott and  Lord  Inverbervie.  Robert  the  second  viscount  of 
Arbuthnott  succeeded  his  father  in  1655,  and  died  in  June 
1682.  By  his  first  wife.  Lady  Elizabeth  Keith,  second 
dang^iter  of  William  seventh  earl  Marischal,  he  had  a  son 
Robert,  thvd  viscount,  and  a  daughter,  and  by  his  second 
wifia,  Catherine,  daughter  of  Robert  Gordon  of  Pitlurg  and 
Stndoch,  he  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  Hon. 
Alexander  Arbuthnott,  the  second  son  by  the  second  marrittge, 
who  was  appointed  one  of  the  barons  of  the  Court  of  Exche- 
quer in  Scotland  at  the  union  of  1707,  married  Jean,  eldest 
daughter  of  Sir  Charles  Maitland  of  Pitrichie  in  Aberdeen- 
shire, hdr  to  her  brother,  Sir  Charles,  who  died  in  1704,  and 
he  in  consequence  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Maitland. 

John,  the  seventh  viscount  of  Arbuthnott,  married  in  De- 
oember  1775,  Isabella,  2d  daughter  of  William  Graham,  Esq. 
of  Morphia.  Kincardineshire,  and  by  her,  who  died  in  1818, 
he  had  John,  8th  viscount,  General  Hugh  Arbuthnott,  long 
M.P.  for  Kincardineshire,  5  other  sons,  and  2  daugliters. 

The  8th  viscount  succeeded  on  his  fatlier*s  death,  Feb.  27, 
1800,  and  in  June  1805  he  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
the  Hon.  Walter  Ogilvy  of  Clova,  sister  of  the  ninth  earl  of 
Airlie,  with  issue,  6  sons  and  7  dau^ters.  He  died  Jan.  10, 
1860,  when  his  eldest  son,  John,  became  9th  viscount.  His 
lofdship  married,  m  1887,  the  ddest  daughter  of  the  8th  earl 
of  Airiie ;  issue,  8  sons  and  a  daughter. 

ARBUTHNOT,  Alexander,  an  eminent  di- 
vine, and  zealoos  promoter  of  the  Reformation 
in  Scotland,  was  the  second  son  of  Andi-ew  Ar- 
bnthnot  of  Pitcarles,  the  fourth  son  of  Sir  Robert 
Arbuthnott  of  Arbnthnott,  and  the  brother  of  the 
baron  or  proprietor  of  Arbuthnott,  in  Kincardine- 
shire, and  not  the  baron  himself,  as  generally 
stated  by  his  biographers.  His  mother  was  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  James  Strachan  of  Monboddo, 
and  sister  of  Alexander  Strachan  of  Thornton. 
He  was  bom  in  1538.  According  to  Archbishop 
Spottidwood,  he  studied  at  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews,  but  Dr.  Mackenzie  says  that  he  received 
his  education  at  King's  college,  Aberdeen.    [Mac* 


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kenzie^s  Lives  of  Scots  Writers^  vol.  iii.  p.  186.] 
Hie  former  is  likely  to  be  correct,  as  in  the  year 
1560  his  name  appears  the  ninth  in  a  list  of  yonng 
men  at  St.  Andrews  best  qualified  for  the  minis- 
try and  teachiujg,  given  in  to  the  first  General  As- 
sembly. [CaMervxHxTs  History  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland^  vol.  ii.  p.  46.]  In  1661  he  went  to  France, 
and  for  the  space  of  five  years  prosecuted  the  study 
of  the  civil  law  at  Bourges,  under  the  famous  Cu- 
jacius.  This  has  led  his  biogi'aphers  to  state  that 
it  was  with  the  view  of  following  the  profession 
of  an  advocate  in  his  native  country ;  but  it  was 
then  usual  for  students  of  divinity  to  make  dvil 
law  a  branch  of  their  studies.  He  returned  to 
Scotland  in  1566,  and  was  soon  after  licensed  as  a 
minister  of  the  Reformed  church.  On  the  15th 
July  1568  he  received  a  presentation  to  the  church 
of  Logic  Buchan,  one  of  the  common  kirks  of  the 
cathedral  of  Aberdeen.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  which  met  at  Edinburgh  on 
the  first  of  July  of  that  yeai*,  and  was  intrusted 
with  the  charge  of  revising  a  book  entitled  '  The 
Fall  of  the  Roman  Church,'  published  by  one  Tho- 
mas Bassenden,  a  printer  of  that  city,  which  had 
given  great  offence  and  incurred  the  censure  of 
the  Assembly,  chiefly  on  account  of  an  assertion 
contained  in  it,  that  the  king  was  the  supreme 
head  of  the  church.  For  this,  and  for  having 
printed  at  the  end  of  the  Psalm-Book,  an  indecent 
song  called  '  Welcome  Fortune,*  the  Assembly  or- 
dained Bassenden  to  call  in  all  the  copies  of  these 
books  which  he  had  sold,  and  to  sell  no  more  of 
them,  and  to  abstain  for  the  future  from  printing 
anything  without  the  license  of  the  magisti*ates, 
and  the  revisal  by  a  committee  of  the  church  of 
such  books  as  pertain  to  religion.     [Booke  of  the 

I      UniversaU  Kirk  of  Scotland,  p.  100.] 

'  In  the  year  1569,  Mr.  Alexander  Anderson,  the 
principal  of  King's  college,  Aberdeen,  with  the 
sub-principal  and  three  of  the  regents  of  that  uni- 
versity, having  been  ejected  from  their  ofiSces,  on 
account  of  their  adherence  to  popery,  and  refusal 
to  sign  the  Confession  of  Faith,  Mr.  Arbnthnot 
was  promoted  to  the  vacant  principalship  on  the 
3d  July  of  that  year,  and  three  weeks  afterwards 
he  was  presented  to  the  church  of  Arbuthnott  in 
Kincardineshire,  ^^provyding  he  administrat  the 
sacraments  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  ellis  travell  [that 


is,  labour]  in  some  others  als  necessar  vocation 
to  the  utility  of  the  kirk,  and  approvit  by  the 
samen.*'  The  emoluments  of  his  two  parochial 
charges  were  probably  his  only  support  as  princi- 
pal, the  funds  of  the  college  having  been  greatly 
dilapidated  by  his  predecessor,  Principal  Anderson, 
when  he  found  that  he  was  likely  to  be  deprived 
for  his  adherence  to  popery.  To  the  university 
Principal  Arbuthnot  rendei*ed  the  most  important 
services,  both  in  the  augmentation  of  its  funds, 
and  by  his  assiduity  and  success  in  teaching. 
**  By  his  diligent  teaching  and  dexterous  govern- 
ment," says  Archbishop  Spottiswood,  '*  he  not 
only  revived  the  study  of  good  letters,  but  gained 
many  from  the  superstitions  whereunto  they  were 
given."  In  1572  he  was  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  held  at  St.  Andrews,  which  strenu- 
ously opposed  a  scheme  of  church  government 
called  'The  Book  of  policy,'  proposed  by  the 
regent  Morton  and  his  party,  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  the  old  titles  in  the  church,  and  retaining 
among  themselves  all  the  temporalities  annexed 
to  them.  The  same  year  he  established  his  char- 
acter as  a  man  of  learning,  by  the  publication  at 
Edinburgh,  in  quarto,  of  his  *  Orationes  de  Ori- 
gine  et  Dignitate  Juris,*  a  production  which  was 
honoured  with  an  encomiastic  poem  by  Thomas 
Maitland,  who  represents  Arbuthnot  as  one  of  the 
brightest  ornaments  of  his  native  country.  [De- 
liti€B  Poetarum  Scotorum,  tom.  ii.  p.  163.]  "To 
enhance  the  value  of  this  eulogium,"  says  Dr. 
Irving,  "  it  must  be  recollected  that  Maitland  was 
a  zealous  Catholic." 

From  this  time  Arbuthnot  began  to  take  a  lead 
in  the  General  Assembly,  and  during  the  minority 
of  James  the  Sixth,  he  appeai-s  to  have  been  much 
employed  on  the  pai-t  of  the  church,  in  its  tedious 
contest  with  the  regency,  concerning  the  plan  of 
ecclesiastical  government  to  be  adopted.  Of  the 
General  Assembly  which  met  at  Edinburgh  6th 
August,  1573,  he  was  chosen  moderator.  In  that 
of  Edinburgh  March  6th,  1574,  he  was  appointed, 
with  three  others,  to  summon  before  them  the 
chapter  of  Murray,  accused  of  giving  their  letters 
testimonial  in  favour  of  George  Douglas,  bishop 
of  that  see,  "  without  just  trial  and  due  exami- 
nation of  his  life,  and  qualification  in  literature.'* 
[Caldenoood's  Hist,   of  the  Church  of  Scotlcutd, 


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vol.  iii.  p.  304.]  Tliis  assembly  alsQ  authorized 
him,  with  Mr.  John  Row  and  others,  to  draw 
up  a  plan  of  ecclesiastical  polity  for  the  appro- 
val of  the  members.  He  was  at  the  Assem- 
bly which  met  at  Edinburgh  m  August,  1575. 
^^Efter  the  Assemblie,"  (says  James  MelviUe,) 
^^  we  passed  to  Anguss  in  companle  with  Mr.  Al- 
exander Arbuthnot,  a  man  of  singular  gifts  of 
leming,  wesdome,  godliness,  and  sweitness  of  na- 
ture, then  principall  of  the  collage  of  Aberdein; 
whom  withe  Mr.  Andro  [Melville]  communicat 
anent  the  haiU  oi-dour  of  his  collage  in  doctrine  and 
discipline,  and  aggreit  as  therefter  was  sett  dovm  in 
the  new  reformation  of  the  said  collages  of  Glasgow 
and  Aberdein."  IMehnUe^s  Diary ,  p.  41.]  He  was 
again  chosen  moderator  of  the  General  Assembly 
which  met  at  Edinburgh  1st  April  1577.  In  the 
Assembly  which  met  in  that  city  in  October  of 
the  same  year  he  was  appointed,  with  Andi'ew 
Melville  and  George  Hay,  to  attend  a  council 
which  was  expected  to  meet  at  Magdeburg  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion. [Booke  of  the  Universall  Kirk  of  Scotland^ 
page  169.]  The  council,  however,  was  not  con- 
vened. A  copy  of  the  heads  of  the  policy  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  church  having  been,  by^rder 
of  that  General  Assembly,  presented  to  the  earl 
of  Morton  as  regent  of  the  kingdom;  for  the  so- 
lution of  doubts  and  the  removal  of  difficulties, 
he  Wits  referred  to  Principal  Arbuthnot,  Patrick 
Adamson,  and  Andrew  Melville,  and  nine  other 
commissioners  of  inferior  eminence.  [Ibid,  p.  171.] 
In  the  General  Assembly  which  met  at  Edinburgh 
24th  April  1578,  it  was  resolved  that  a  copy  of 
the  same  should  be  presented  to  the  king,  and 
another  to  his  council;  and  thai  if  a  conference 
should  be  'demanded,  they,  on  their  part,  would 
nominate  Arbuthnot,  Andrew  Melville,  and  ten 
others,  to  attend  at  any  appointed  time,  llbid. 
p.  175.]  In  the  Assembly  which  convened  at 
Stirling,  11th  June  of  the  same  year,  Aibuthnot, 
with  some  others,  was  empowered  to  confer  with 
several  of  the  nobility,  prelates,  and  gentry,  rela- 
tive to  the  polity  of  the  church.  In  the  General 
Assembly  which  met  at  Edinburgh  on  the  24th 
April  1583,  Arbuthnot,  with  David  Ferguson  and 
John  Durie,  was  directed  to  wait  upon  the  king 
and  council,  to  request,  in  name  of  the  Assembly, 


the  dismissal  of  M.  Manuingville,  the  Fi*ench  am- 
bassador, whose  popish  practices  had  excited  much 
alarm,  as  well  as  to  complain  of  sundiy  other 
grievances.  He  was  also  named  in  a  commission, 
with  Mr.  Robert  Pont  and  five  others,  or  any  four 
of  them,  to  visit  the  university  of  St.  Andrews, 
for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  how  the  rents  thereof 
were  bestowed,  what  order  and  diligence  were 
used  by  the  regents  or  professoi-s  in  teaching,  and 
how  order  was  kept  among  the  students.  With 
Messrs.  Andrew  and  George  Hay  he  was  also  em- 
powei'ed  to  present  to  the  king  and  council  such 
heads,  articles,  and  complaints  as  the  Assembly 
might  determine,  and  to  confer,  treat,  and  reason 
thereupon,  and  to  receive  his  majesty's  answer  to 
the  same.  [Caiderwood^  vol.  iii.  pp.  707,  708.] 
The  leading  part  which  he  took  in  ecclesiastical 
matters  seems  to  have  rendered  him  an  object  of 
suspicion  and  displeasure  to  James  the  Sixth ;  for 
when,  in  the  same  year  (1588),  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Assembly  minister  of  St.  Andrews,  the  king 
commanded  him  to  remain  in  his  college,  under 
pain  of  homing.  The  Assembly  saw  in  this  arbi- 
trary exertion  of  the  royal  prerogative,  an  in- 
fringement of  their  rights.  They  therefore  re- 
monstrated against  it,  but  his  majesty  answered 
generally  that  he  and  his  council  had  good  grounds 
and  reasons  for  what  had  been  done.  Arbuthnot 
is  said  to  have  had  some  bias  towards  the  episcopal 
form  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  but  whatever  might  be 
his  private  sentiments,  he  adhered  with  steadiness 
to  the  presbyterian  party.  It  is  thought,  and  in- 
deed Dr.  Mackenzie  confidently  asserts,  that  he 
had  given  offence  to  the  king  by  printing  Buch- 
airan's  History  of  Scotland,  in  the  year  1582, 
[Lives  of  Scots  Writers^  vol.  iii.  p.  192,]  and  other 
authors  have  also  supposed  that  he  was  the  iden- 
tical Alexander  Arbuthnot  who  at  that  period 
held  the  office  of  king's  printer.  On  this  point 
Dr.  Irving  particularly  quotes  James  Man,  who, 
in  his  *  Censure  of  Ruddiman's  Philological  Notes 
on  Buchanan,'  (p.  99.  Aberdeen,  1753,  12mo,) 
maintained,  **  with  ridiculous  pertinacity,"  as 
Chalmers  in  his  Life  of  Ruddiman  says,  that 
Principal  Arbuthnot  was  indeed  the  printer  of 
Buchanan's  History.  The  mistake  has  been  cor- 
rected by  Chalmers,  who,  on  refen-ing  to  the  writ 
of  privy  seal,  found  that  the  Alexander  Arbuth- 


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not  therein  mentioned  as  king^s  printer  waa  deno- 
minated a  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  and  therefore  was 
a  different  person  firom  the  principal  of  King's  col- 
lege, Aberdeen.     [Xi/e  of  Ruddiman^  p.  72.] 

The  restriction  placed  on  him  by  King  James 
is  supposed  to  have  seriously  affected  his  health 
and  spirits.  He  fell  into  a  decline,  and  died  un- 
married, at  Aberdeen,  on  the  10th  of  October 
1583,  before  he  had  completed  the  age  of  forty- 
five.  On  the  20th  of  the  same  month  his  remains 
were  interred  in  the  chapel  of  King's  college. 

Principal  Arbuthnot  appears  to  have  possessed 
a  degree  of  good  sense  and  moderation  which  em- 
inently qualified  him  for  the  conduct  of  public 
business,  and  his  death  was  regarded  as  a  severe 
calamity  to  the  national  church  and  to  the  nation- 
al literature.  Andrew  Melville  honoured  his  mem- 
ory by  an  elegant  epitaph  in  Latin,  which  will  be 
found  in  Irving's  Life  of  Arbuthnot  {Lines  ofScoU 
PoetSy  vol.  ii.  p.  177),  quoted  from  the  Delitus 
Poetarum  Scotorum^  /(tom.  ii.  p.  120).  James 
Melville,  in  his  Diary,  has  pronounced  Arbuthnot 
one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  whom  Europe 
could  at  that  time  boast.  His  character  has  been 
thus  delineated  by  Archbishop  Spottiswood :  ^^  He 
was  greatly  loved  of  all  men,  hated  of  none,  and 
in  such  account  for  his  moderation  with  the  chief 
men  of  these  parts,  that  without  his  advice  they 
could  almost  do  nothing;  which  put  him  in  a  great 
fashrie,  whereof  he  did  oft  complain;  pleasant 
and  jocund  in  conversation,  and  in  all  sciences 
expert ;  a  good  poet,  mathematician,  philosopher, 
theologue,  lawyer,  and  in  medicine  skilful ;  so  as 
in  every  subject  he  could  promptly  discourse,  and 
to  good  purpose."  Notwithstanding  the  violence 
of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  the  name  of  Prin- 
cipal Arbuthnot  has  never  been  found  subjected 
to  censure.  Even  the  papists  themselves  appear 
to  have  revered  his  viitnes.  Nicol  Bume,  in  his 
*  Admonition  to  the  Antichrlstian  Ministers  of  the 
Deformit  Kirk  of  Scotland,'  written  in  1581,  while 
he  has  treated  the  rest  of  the  Protestant  clergy 
with  the  utmost  contempt,  thus  respectinlly  speaks 
of  Arbuthnot: 

**  Bot  yit,  gade  Lord,  qnha  anis  thj  Dune  hes  kend. 
May,  or  thaj  de,  find  for  tliair  sanliB  remeid : 
»       With  thy  elect  Arbuthnot  I  commend, 

Althocht  the  kve  to  Geneve  haist  with  speed.** 


Three  Scottish  poems,  published  in  Pinkerton*8 
'•  Ancient  Scottish  Poems,'  have  been  attributed  to 
Principal  Arbuthnot.  Dr.  Irving  in  his  Life  of 
Arbuthnot  gives  extracts  from  two  of  these,  *  The 
Miseries  of  a  Pure  [poor]  Scholar,'  and  'The 
Praises  of  Wemen,'  which  show  the  author  to  have 
been  an  ingenious  and  pleasing  poet.  The  Mait- 
land  MSS.  preserve  several  of  his  pieces  not  hith- 
erto published.  [See  Irving^s  Lives  of  Scottish 
Poets^  vol.  ii.  p.  169.]  Principal  Arbuthnot  left 
in  manuscript  an  account  of  the  Arbuthnott  fa- 
mily, entitled  '  Originis  et  incrementi  Arbutbno- 
ticad  familiie  descriptio  historica,'  which  is  still 
preserved.  It  was  afterwards  translated  by  George 
Morrison,  minister  of  Benholme,  and  continued 
to  the  period  of  the  Restoration  by  Alexander 
Arbuthnott,  episcopalian  minister  of  Arbuthnott, 
the  father  of  the  celebrated  wit,  the  subject  of  the 
succeeding  notice. 

ARBUTHNOT,  John,  M.D.,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous,  and  certainly  the  most  learned,  of 
the  wits  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  was  the  son  of 
Alexander  Arbuthnott,  episcopalian  clergyman  at 
Arbuthnott  in  Kincardineshire,  and  a  near  rela- 
tive of  the  noble  family  of  that  name,  and  his  wife, 
Margaret  Lamy,  from  the  parish  of  Maryton,  near 
Montrose.  He  was  bom  in  the  parish  of  Arbuth- 
nott in  April  1667,  and  received  the  elementary 
part  of  his  education  at  the  parish  school.  About 
the  year  1680  he  and  his  elder  brother  Robert,  af- 
terwards a  banker  in  Paris,  went  to  Marischal 
college,  Aberdeen,  where  he  applied  himself  dili- 
gently to  all  the  academical  branches  of  instruc- 
tion, and  after  finishing  his  medical  studies,  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree.  At  the  revolution  his 
father,  not  conrplying  with  the  new  order  of 
things,  was  deprived  of  his  living,  and  in  conse- 
quence retired  to  the  castle  of  Hallgreen  near 
Bervie,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  he  pos- 
sessed, by  inheritance,  a  small  property  called 
Eingomey ;  and  his  two  sons  wei-e  compelled  to 
trust  to  their  own  exertions  for  getting  forward  in 
the  world.  The  subject  of  this  memoir  accord- 
ingly resolved  to  push  his  fortune  in  London,  and 
on  his  arrival  there,  he  was  hospitably  received 
into  the  house  of  a  Mr.  William  Pate,  a  woollen- 
draper.  For  some  time  he  supported  himself  by 
teaching  the  mathematics,  and  soon  distinguished 


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himself  by  his  writings.  Uls  first  work  appeai-ed 
in  1697,  entitled  an  *  Examination  of  Dr.  Wood- 
ward's Account  of  the  Deluge,*  being  an  answer 
to  a  work  of  that  gentleman  bearing  the  title  of 
an  *  Essay  towards  a  Natural  History  of  the 
Earth,*  which  had  appeared  two  years  before. 
This  laid  the  foundation  of  Arbnthnot's  fame, 
which  was  much  extended  by  an  able  treatise 
published  by  hun  in  1700,  *  On  the  usefulness  of 
the  Mathematics  to  young  students  in  the  univer- 
sities.* In  1704,  in  consequence  of  a  curious  and 
instructive  dissertation  *  On  the  Regularity  of  the 
Bii'ths  of  both  sexes,*  communicated  to  the  Royal 
Society,  and  published  in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions of  that  year,  No.  328,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  that  learned  body.  It  would  appear 
from  the  signature  to  his  letters,  that  on  first 
going  to  London  he  himself  continued  to  spell  his 
name  with  the  two  t's  at  the  end  of  it,  as  is  the 
correct  way,  but  in  process  of  time  one  of  the  t*s 
was  dropped  as  unnecessary. 

In  1705  Prince  Creorge  of  Denmark,  the  consort 
of  Queen  Anne,  was  suddenly  taken  ill  at  Epsom. 
Dr.  Arbnthnot,  happening  to  be  on  the  spot,  was 
called  to  his  assistance,  and,  under  his  care,  his 
royal  highness  soon  recovered.  Arbuthnot  was, 
in  consequence,  appointed  physician  extraordinary 
to  the  queen,  and  in  the  month  of  November, 
1709,  he  was  promoted  to  be  fourth  physician  in 
ordinary  to  her  majesty;  that  is,  one  of  her  do- 
mestic physicians.  His  skill  having  been  the 
means  of  recovering  her  majesty  from  a  dan- 
gerous illness,  drew  from  his  fnend  Gay  the  follow- 
ing elegant  pastoral  compliment: 

**  WhUe  thus  we  stood,  as  in  a  stonnd, 
And  wet  with  tears,  like  dew,  the  ground, 
Full  soon,  by  bonfire  and  by  bell, 
We  learnt  our  liege  was  passing  well: 
A  skilful  leech,  so  God  him  speed, 
They  say  had  wrought  this  blessed  deed 
This  leech  Arbuthnotf  was  yclept; 
Who  many  a  nigbt  not  once  had  slept, 
But  watchM  our  gracious  sovereign  still. 
For  who  could  rest  when  she  was  ill  ? 
Oh!  niay*st  thou  henceforth  sweetly  sleep ! 
Sheer,  swains!  oh,  sheer  your  softest  sheep, 
To  swell  his  couch,  for  well  I  ween 
He  saved  the  realm  who  saved  the  queen.^ 

In  the  month  of  April,  1710,  he  was  admitted 


a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  college  of  physicians.  The 
confidence  reposed  in  him  by  his  royal  mistress 
appears  by  the  terms  in  which  he  is  spoken  of  by 
Dean  Swift,  who  calls  him  **  the  queen*s  favourite 
physician,"  and  again,  *Uhe  queen^s  favourite." 
Being  thus  distinguished  by  his  professional  ab*- 
llties,  his  influence  at  court,  and  his  literary  at- 
tainments, Arbuthnot  acquired  the  friendsliip  not 
only  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Tory  party,  to 
which  he  belonged,  such  as  Harley  and  Boling- 
broke,  but  that  of  all  the  wits  and  scbolai-s  of 
his  time.  On  Swift's  visit  to  London  in  1710,  a 
strict  intimacy  was  formed  between  them,  and 
soon  after  Pope  was  added  to  the  number  of  his 
friends,  as  were  also  Prior  and  Gay. 

In  the  year  1712,  appeared  the  first  part  of 
*  The  History  of  John  Bull,*  of  which  it  has  been 
justly  said,  that  **  never  was  a  political  allegor}* 
managed  with  more  exquiscte  humour,  or  a  more 
skilful  adaptation  of  characters  and  circumstances." 
The  doubt  entertained  respecting  the  author  of 
this  satire  has  been  dispelled  by  Swift  and  Pope, 
who  both  distinctly  attribute  it  to  Dr.  Arbuthnot. 
Pope  declared  that  Arbuthnot  was  the  *^sole 
author."  The  object  of  this  highly  humorous  pro- 
duction was  to  throw  ridicule  upon  the  splendid 
achievements  of  Marlborough,  and  to  render  the 
country  discontented  with  the  war  then  raging 
with  France.  Arbuthnot,  who  was  one  of  the 
literary  phalanx  attached  to  the  fortunes  of  Harley 
and  the  Tories,  was  aware  how  entirely  that  min- 
ister's power  depended  on  a  peace  with  France, 
and,  therefore,  he  applied  all  the  vigour  of  his  wit 
to  the  accomplishment  of  that  end.  The  ingenuity 
of  the  story  contained  in  the  *  History  of  John 
Bull,'  united  to  its  intelligible,  straightforward, 
comic  humour,  procured  for  it  a  favourable  recep- 
tion everywhere;  but  to  politicians,  the  exquisite 
skill  of  its  satire  gave  it  a  peculiar  relish.  After 
the  accession  of  the  house  of  Hanover,  a  supple- 
ment to  the  *  History '  appeared ;  but  it  has  been 
doubted  whether  this  is  a  genuine  production  of 
Arbuthnot's  pen.  Some  are  of  opinion  that  the 
first  two  parts  as  printed  in  Swift's  works,  are  all 
that  proceeded  from  Arbuthnot. 

Early  in  the  year  1714  he  entered  into  an  en- 
gagement with  Pope  and  Swift,  jointly  to  write  a 
satire  on  the  abuses  of  human  learning,  in  the  style 


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of  Cervantes.  The  name  by  which  the  intended 
hero  was  to  be  called  was  assigned  to  that  assem- 
blage of  wits  and  learned  men  of  which  these 
three  formed  the  nucleus,  and  it  was  called  the 
'Scriblerus'  Club.*  Harley,  Atterbury,  Con- 
greve,  and  Gay,  were  members;  and  of  them  all  no 
one  was  better  qualified  than  Arbutlmot,  both  in 
Doint  of  wit  and  erudition,  to  promote  the  object 
of  the  society,  which  was  to  ridicule  the  absuixlities 
of  false  taste  in  learning,  under  the  character  of  a 
man  of  capacity  enough,  but  no  judgment,  who 
had  industiiously  dipped  into  every  art  and  science. 
But  the  prosecution  of  this  noble  design  was  pre- 
vented by  the  queen^s  death,  which  deeply  affected 
Pope,  S>vift,  and  Arbuthnot,  who  were  all  warmly 
attached  to  Lord  Oxford^s  ministry;  and  a  final 
period  was  aflerwai-ds  put  to  the  project,  by  the 
separation  and  growing  infirmities  of  Dean  Swift, 
by  the  bad  health  of  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  and  other 
concurring  causes.  The  work  in  consequence  was 
never  completed,  the  fii-st  book  of '  the  Memoirs  of 
Martinus  Scriblerus '  being  only  a  part  of  it.  "  Polite 
letters,"  says  Warbui-ton,  the  editor  of  Pope's  works, 
*^  never  lost  more  than  in  the  defeat  of  this  scheme; 
in  the  execution  of  whicli  work  each  of  this  illustii- 
ous  triumvirate  would  have  found  exercise  for  his 
own  peculiar  talents,  besides  constant  employment 
for  those  they  had  all  in  common.  Dr.  Arbuthnot 
was  skilled  in  everything  which  related  to  science; 
Mr.  Pope  was  a  master  in  the  fine  arts;  and  Dr. 
Swift  excelled  in  the  knowledge  of  the  world. 
Wit  they  hod  all  in  equal  measure;  and  this  so 
large  that  no  age  perhaps  ever  produced  three  men 
to  whom  natm*e  had  more  bountifully  bestowed  it, 
or  in  whom  art  had  brought  it  to  higher  perfection.*' 
Tlio  first  book  of  *  Martinus  Scriblerus*  was  pub- 
lished after  the  death  of  Dr.  Ai-buthnot  in  1741, 
in  the  quarto  edition  of  Pope's  prose  works,  and 
there  seems  to  be  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Arbuthnot  was  the  sole  author.  It  has,  it  is  trae, 
oecn  printed  in  the  collected  editions  of  the  works 
both  of  Swift  and  Pope;  yet  the  internal  evi- 
dence is  sufficient  to  prove  it  the  entire  production 
of  Arbuthnot,  to  whom  Warton  has  attributed  the 
fifth,  six,th,  seventh,  eighth,  tenth,  and  twelfth 
chaptei-s,  whatever  may  be  determined  of  the  other 
parts  of  the  memoirs.  The  medical  and  antiqua- 
rian knowledge  displayed  in  the  other  chapters, 


and  the  ridicule  on  Dr.  Woodwai*d  in  the  third, 
afford  strong  presumption  of  their  ha\ing  had  the 
same  authorship  as  the  rest.  The  humorous  essay 
concerning  the  origin  of  the  sciences,  usually  ap- 
pended to  the  '  Memoii-s  of  Martinus  Scriblerus,* 
appears  from  Spence  to  have  been  a  joint  pro- 
duction of  Arbuthnot,  Pope,  and  Pamcll. 

The  death  of  Queen  Anne  in  July  1714  put  an 
end  to  Arbuthnot*s  connexion  with  the  court,  and 
completely  destroyed  the  hopes  of  the  Tory  party. 
He  felt  severely  the  change  in  his  ciroumstanceB, 
but  his  satirical  humour  and  spirit  of  wit  enabled 
him  to  derive  some  relief  even  fi'om  his  altered 
prospects.  In  a  letter  to  Swift,  dated  12th  August, 
he  thus  writes:  "  I  have  an  opportunity  cahmly  and 
philosophically  to  consider  that  treasure  of  vile- 
ness  and  baseness  that  I  always  believed  to  be  in 
the  heart  of  man,  and  to  behold  them  exert  their 
insolence  and  baseness;  every  new  instance,  in- 
stead of  surprising  and  grieving  me,  as  it  does 
some  of  my  fiiends,  really  diverts  me,— and  in  a 
manner  proves  my  theoiy.**  In  a  subsequent  let- 
ter, alluding  to  the  dispersion  of  the  queen's  cour- 
tiers on  her  death,  he  says,  "The  queen's  poor 
servants  are  like  so  many  poor  orphans  exposed 
in  the  very  streets.**  To  divert  his  chagiin  ho 
paid  a  visit  to  his  brother  Robert  at  Paris,  under 
whose  care  he  left  two  of  his  daughters.  On  his 
return,  in  the  beginning  of  September,  having  been 
deprived  of  his  apartments  in  St.  James*  palace, 
he  took  a  house  in  Dover  Street,  where  he  assidu- 
ously devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession and  to  literary  occupation.  His  spirits 
appear  to  have  suffered  considerably  at  this  time, 
for,  in  a  letter  to  Pope,  dated  September  7th, 
1714,  he  says,  "  I  am  extremely  obliged  to  you 
for  taking  notice  of  a  poor,  old,  distressed  courtier, 
confmonly  the  mobt  despisable  thing  in  the  worid. 
This  blow  has  so  roused  Scriblerus  that  he  has  re- 
covered his  senses,  and  thinks  and  talks  like  other 
men.  From  being  fi-olicsome  and  gay,  he  is  tura- 
ed  grave  and  morose.*'  This  depression  of  spirits, 
however,  had  not  given  him  a  distaste  for  the  so- 
ciety of  his  fi-iends :  "  Martin's  oflSce,"  he  adds,  in 
allusion  to  his  *  Martinus  Scribleinis,'  "is  now  the 
second  door  on  the  left  hand  in  Dover  Street, 
where  he  will  be  glad  to  see  Dr.  Pamell,  Mr. 
Pope,  and  his  old  friends,  to  whom  he  can  still 


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afford  a  half  pint  of  claret."  He  is  said,  with 
Pope,  to  have  assisted  Gay  in  the  fai-ce  of  '  Three 
Hoars  after  Marriage,'  which  was  brought  out  in 
1716,  but  met  with  no  success. 

lu  the  autumn  of  1722,  Arbuthnot  visited  Bath, 
for  the  benefit  of  hir  health.  He  was  accompa- 
nied by  his  brother,  who  had  shortly  before  ar- 
rived in  England.  Mr.  Robert  Arbuthnot  was  a 
person  of  a  singularly  benevolent  character,  and 
is  thus  commemorated  in  a  letter  from  Pope  to  the 
Hon.  Robert  Digby,  "  Dr.  Arbuthnot  is  going  to 
Bath, — his  brother,  who  is  lately  come  to  Eng- 
land, goes  also  to  the  Bath,  and  is  a  more  extra- 
ordinary man  than  he,  and  worth  your  going  thi- 
ther on  purpose  to  know  him.  The  spirit  of 
philanthropy,  so  long  dead  to  our  world,  is  revived 
in  him.  He  is  a  philosopher  all  of  fire ;  so  warm- 
ly, nay  so  wildly  in  the  right,  that  he  forces  all 
others  about  him  to  be  so  too,  and  draws  them 
into  his  own  vortex.  He  is  a  star  that  looks  as  if 
it  were  all  fire,  but  is  all  benignity,  all  gentle  and 
beneficial  influence.  If  there  be  other  men  in  the 
world  that  would  serve  a  friend,  yet  he  is  the 
only  one,  I  believe,  that  could  make  even  an  ene- 
my serve  a  fiiend." 

On  the  30th  September  1723,  Arbuthnot  was 
chosen  second  censor  of  the  College  of  Physicians. 
In  the  autumn  of  1725  he  had  a  dangerous  illness. 
On  this  occasion  he  was  visited  by  Pope,  who 
thus  communicated  the  intelligence  of  his  illness 
to  Dean  Swift :  ^^  Dr.  Arbuthnot  is,  at  this  time, 
ill  of  a  very  dangerous  distemper,  an  imposthume 
in  the  bowels,  which  is  broke ;  but  the  event  is 
very  uncertain.  Whatever  that  be  (he  bids  me 
tell  you,  and  I  write  this  by  him)  he  lives  and 
dies  your  faithful  friend,  and  one  reason  he  has  to 
desire  a  little  longer  life  is,  the  wish  to  see  you 
once  more."  In  1727  he  was  chosen  an  elect  of 
the  Royal  college  of  Physicians,  when  he  pro- 
nounced the  Harveian  oration  for  that  year.  In 
the  same  year  he  published  his  great  work,  en- 
titled *  Tables  of  Ancient  Coins,  Weights,  and 
Measures,  explained  and  exemplified  in  several 
dissertations,^  4to.  This  volume,  which  does  great 
honour  to  the  antiquarian  knowledge  and  indus- 
try of  the  writer,  though  not  wholly  free  from  in- 
accuracies, has  ever  since  been  considered  a  stand- 
ard work.    In  1732  he  published  a  professional 


treatise  '  On  the  nature  and  choice  of  Aliments ;' 
and  in  the  following  year  an  essay  *  On  the  effect 
of  Air  on  Human  Bodies ;'  both  founded  on  the 
doctrine  of  Boerhaave,  the  prevailing  system  of 
the  time.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  led  to 
write  these  works  from  the  consideration  of  his  own 
malady,  an  asthmatic  affection,  which  gradually 
increasing  with  his  years,  became  at  last  incura- 
ble. A  little  before  the  appearance  of  the  latter 
publication  he  sustained  a  severe  loss  in  the  death 
of  his  son  Charles,  a  clergjrman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  "  whose  life,"  he  says,  "  if  it  had  so 
pleased  God,  he  would  willingly  have  redeemed 
with  his  own."  Another  son  had  died  previously 
in  the  year  1730. 

In  his  latter  yeai-s  Dr.  Arbuthnot  was  grievously 
afilicted  with  asthma,  and  in  1732  he  retired  to 
Hampstead,  a  village  situated  on  the  declivity  of 
a  high  hill  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  pure  air  of  that  elevated  spot. 
'*■  I  came  out  to  this  place,"  he  says,  in  an  affect- 
ing letter  to  his  friend  Swift,  dated  October  4, 
**so  reduced  by  dropsy  and  an  asthma,  that  1 
could  neither  sleep,  breathe,  eat,  nor  move.  1 
most  earnestly  desired  and  begged  of  God  that  he 
would  take  me."  His  attachment  to  Swift  is 
strongly  and  tenderly  manifested  at  the  conclusion 
of  this  letter.  *'  I  am  afraid,  my  dear  fnend,  we 
shall  never  see  one  another  more  in  this  world.  I 
shall  to  the  last  moment  preserve  my  love  and 
esteem  for  you,  being  well  assured  you  will  never 
leave  the  paths  of  virtue  and  honour;  for  all  that 
is  in  this  world  is  not  worth  the  least  deviation 
from  that  way."  In  the  same  strain  of  earnest 
friendship  he  had  a  little  while  previously  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Pope.  "  As  for  you,  my  good 
friend,  I  think,  since  our  first  acquaintance,  there 
have  not  been  any  of  those  little  suspicions  or 
jealousies  that  often  affect  the  sincerest  friend- 
ships; I  am  sure  not  on  my  side.  I  must  be  so 
sincere  as  to  own,  that  though  I  could  not  help 
valuing  you  for  those  talents  which  the  world 
prizes,  yet  they  were  not  the  foundation  of  my 
friendship;  they  were  quite  of  another  sort;  nor 
shall  I  at  present  offend  yon  by  enumerating  them ; 
and  I  make  it  my  last  request  that  you  will  con- 
tinue that  noble  disdain  and  abhorrence  of  vice 
which  you  seem  naturally  endued  with ;  but  stiD 


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with  a  regard  to  your  own  safety ;  and  study  more 
to  reform  than  chastise,  though  the  one  cannot  be 
effected  without  the  other.  A  recovery  in  my  case, 
and  at  my  age,  is  impossible;  the  kindest  wish  of 
my  friends  is  euthanasia  [meaning  a  happy  and 
easy  death].  Living  or  dying  I  shall  always  be 
yours." 

Finding  no  relief  from  the  change  of  air,  Arbuth- 
not  left  Hampstead,  and  returned  to  his  bouse  in 
London,  situated  in  Cork  Street,  Burlington-gar- 
dens, where  he  died,  on  the  27th  February,  1735. 
His  only  surviving  son,  George,  filled  the  lucrative 
post  of  secondary  in  the  Exchequer-office,  under 
Lord  Masham,  and  was  one  of  the  executors  of 
Pope.  He  died  8th  September  1779,  aged  76. 
He  also  left  two  daughters,  one  named  Anne,  who 
both  died  unmarried.  The  subjoined  portrait  of 
Dr.  Arbuthnot  is  taken  from  an  engraving  from  a 
scarce  print  formerly  in  the  collection  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Musgrave,  Bart. 


Among  Ai-buthnot's  more  humorous  pieces,  be- 
sides the  '  History  of  John  Bull'  already  mention- 
ed, '  A  Treatise  concerning  the  Altercations  or 
Scoldings  of  the  Ancients,'  and  '  The  Art  of  Poli- 
tical Lying,'  arc  the  most  celebrated.  He  did  not 
excel  in  poetry,   and  seldom  attempted  it.    Li 


Dodsley's  Collection  there  is  a  didactic  poem  writ- 
ten by  him,  remarkable  for  its  philosophical  senti- 
ment, with  the  title  of  *  Know  Thyself  I '  His  well 
known  epitaph  on  Colonel  Chartres,  a  noted  usurer 
of  the  time,  beginning  "  Here  continues  to  ix)t,"  &c. 
is  a  masterly  specimen  of  his  powers  of  satire.  He 
was  also  skilled  in  music;  and  Sir  John  Hawkins 
mentions  an  anthem  and  a  burlesque  song  of  his 
composition.  [Hist,  of  Music^  vol.  v.  p.  126.] 
In  1751  two  12mo  volumes  were  published,  en- 
titled *  The  Miscellaneous  Works  of  the  late  Dr. 
Arbuthnot,'  containing  some  of  his  genuine  pro- 
ductions, but  the  greater  portion  of  the  contents 
were  declared  by  his  son  to  be  spurious. 

By  his  brother  wits  Dr.  Arbuthnot  was  held  in 
high  estimation.  Pope  dedicated  to  him  his  *  Pro- 
logue to  the  Satures,'  and  Swift  haa  more  than 
once  mentioned  him  with  praise  in  his  poems,  for 
instance  when  he  feelingly  laments  that  he  was 

^*  Far  from  his  kind  Arbnthnofs  aid. 
Who  knows  his  art,  but  not  bis  trade.** 

"His  good  morals,"  Pope  used  to  say,  "were 
equal  to  any  man's ;  but  his  wit  and  humour  su- 
perior to  all  mankind."  "  He  has  more  wit  than 
we  all  have,"  said  Swift  to  a  lady,  who  desired 
his  opinion  of  him,  "  and  his  humanity  is  equal  to 
his  wit."  His  character  is  thus  given  by  Dr. 
Johnson :  "  Arbuthnot  was  a  man  of  great  com- 
prehension, skilful  in  his  profession,  versed  in  the 
sciences,  acquainted  with  ancient  literature,  and 
able  to  animate  his  mass  of  knowledge  by  a  bright 
and  active  imagination  ;  a  scholar,  with  great 
brilliance  of  wit ;  a  wit,  who,  in  the  crowd  of  life, 
retained  and  discovered  a  noble  ardour  of  religi- 
ous zeal ;  a  man  estimable  for  his  learning,  amia- 
ble for  his  life,  and  venerable  for  his  piety."  He 
was  distinguished  in  an  eminent  degree  for  genu- 
ine benevolence  and  goodness,  while  his  warmth 
of  heart  and  cheerfulness  of  temper  rendered  him 
much  beloved  by  his  family  and  friends,  towards 
whom  he  displayed  the  most  constant  affection 
and  attachment.  Notwithstanding  his  powers  of 
satire,  all  his  contemporaries  seem  to  have  united 
in  his  praise.  "  His  very  sarcasms,"  says  Lord 
Orrery,  "  are  the  satirical  sarcasms  of  good  na- 
ture ;  they  are  like  slaps  on  the  face  given  in  jest, 
the  effects  of  which  will  raise  a  blush,  but  no 


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blacluiess  will  appear  after  the  blows.  He  laagbs 
aa  jovially  as  an  attendant  upon  Bacchus,  but 
continues  as  sober  and  considerate  as  a  disciple 
of  Socrates.  He  is  seldom  serious,  except  in  his 
attacks  upon  vice,  and  there  his  spirit  rises  with 
a  manly  strength,  and  a  noble  indignation.  No 
man  exceeded  him  in  the  moral  duties  of  life,  a 
merit  still  more  to  his  honour,  as  the  united  powers 
of  wit  and  genius  are  seldom  submissive  enough 
to  confine  themselves  within  the  limitations  of 
morality.^*  In  the  Biographia  Britannica  Arbuth- 
not  is  said,  but  at  what  particular  period  we  are 
not  informed,  to  have  been  for  some  time  steward 
to  the  corporation  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy.  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  writing  essays  on  the  current 
events  of  the  day  in  a  great  folio  paper  book, 
which  used  to  lie  in  his  parlour,  and  such  was  his 
good  nature  and  indulgence  to  his  children,  that 
he  suffered  them  to  tear  out  his  manuscript  at  one 
end  for  their  kites,  while  he  was  writing  them  at 
the  other. 

No  correct  list  of  his  productions  has  ever  been 
given.  The  following  is  as  near  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained : 

Esamiiuition  of  Dr.  Woodward*8  Aooocmt  of  the  Deluge, 
&C.,  with  a  Comparison  between  Steno's  PhUoeophy  And  the 
Doctor's,  in  the  case  of  Marine  Bodies  dog  np  oat  of  the 
Earth.  By  J.  A.,  M.D.  With  a  Letter  to  the  Author,  con- 
cerning an  Abstract  of  Agostino  Scilla's  Book  on  the  same 
subject,  by  W.  W.    Lond.  1695,  1697,  8vo. 

Essay  on  the  UseMness  of  Mathematica]  Knowledge. 
Lond.  1700. 

Sermon  preached  to  the  People  at  the  Mercat-croas  of  Ed- 
inburgh, on  the  subject  of  the  Union.  Lond.  1707,  8vo.  A 
Satire  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Arbuthnot. 

Law  is  a  Bottomless  Pit,  or  the  History  of  John  Bull,  ex- 
emplified in  the  case  of  the  Lord  Strutt,  John  Bull,  Nichohis 
Frog,  and  Louis  Baboon,  who  spent  all  they  had  in  a  law- 
suit, in  4 parts;  with  an  appen£z.    Lond.  1712,  8vo. 

Tables  of  the  Qredan,  Rbman,  and  Jewish  Measures, 
Weights,  and  Coins,  reduced  to  the  English  Standard,  and 
Explained  and  Exemplified  in  sereral  Dissertations.  Lond. 
1705,  8to.  The  same,  by  his  son,  with  a  Poem  to  the  King. 
Lond.  1727,  4to. 

Miscellaneous  Pieces  by  him.  Swift,  Pope,  and  Gay.  Lond. 
1727,  8  vols.  8vo. 

Essay,  concerning  the  Nature  of  Aliments,  the  Choice  of 
them,  &c  Lond.  1781.  Another  edition,  with  Practical 
Rules  of  Diet  in  the  various  Constitutions  and  Diseases  of 
Human  Bodies.  Lond.  1782,  8vo.  1751,  1756,  8vo.  In 
German.    Hamb.  1744,  4to. 

An  Essay  on  the  Effects  of  Air  on  Human  Bodies.  Lond. 
1733, 1751, 1756,  8vo.    In  Frendi.    Paris,  1742,  12mo. 

Miscellaneous  Works  of  the  bkte  Dr.  Arbuthnot  Glasg. 
1750,  2  vols.  8vo.  These  volumes,  now  veiy  scarce,  were 
disclaimed  in  an  advertisement  by  the  author's  son,  dated, 
London,  Sept.  25, 1750. 


Oratio  Anniversaria  Harvejana,  Anni  1727,  in  his  miscel- 
laneous works.    1751,  8vo. 

Argument  for  Divine  Providence,  drawn  from  the  eqna* 
number  of  Urths  of  both  sexes.  Phil.  Trans.  1700,  Abr.  v. 
p.  606. 

Arotlb,  duke  of,  a  title  belonging  to  the  ancient  family 
of  Campbell  of  Lochawe.  [See  Campbell,  surname  of.] 
The  name  of  Argyle  is  derived  from  two  Gaelic  words,  Earra 
Ghmdhealy "  the  country  of  the  western  Gael  ;**  or,  according  to 
Skene,  from  Okirgael,  as  the  ancient  district  of  Argyle  (which 
comprehended  also  Lochaber  and  Wester  Ross)  was  called  by 
the  Highlanders.  By  the  historians  the  whole  of  this  extensive 
district  is  included  under  the  term  of  Ergadia.  {^History  of  the 
BighhmderSn  vol  iL  p.  88.]  In  the  middle  ages  the  Mac- 
dongalls  of  Lorn  held  sway  over  Argyle  and  Mull;  while  the 
Macdonalds,  lords  of  the  Isles,  were  supreme  m  IsUy,  Kin- 
tyre,  and  the  Southern  Islands.  The  power  of  the  Macdon^ 
slds  was  broken  by  Robert  the  Bruce,  and  their  estates  be- 
stowed on  the  Campbells,  who  originally  belonged  to  the 
ancient  earidom  of  Giurmoran,  which  comprehended  Moydcrt, 
Arasaig,  Morar,  and  Knoydert.  Argyle  was  erected  mto  an 
earldom  in  1457,  and  into  a  dukedom  m  1701. 

ARGYLE,  earl,  marquis,  and  duke  of,  see 
Campbell,  Archibald,  and  John. 

Armstroito,  the  name  of  a  famous  border  family,  which 
with  its  various  branches,  chiefly  inhabited  Liddesdale.  Ac- 
cording to  tradition,  the  original  surname  was  Fairbaim,  and 
belonged  to  the  armour-bearer  of  an  ancient  king  of  Scotland, 
who,  having  his  horse  killed  under  him  in  battle,  was  straight- 
way remounted  by  Fairbaim  on  his  own  horse.  For  this 
timely  assistance,  the  king  amply  rewarded  him  with  lands 
on  the  borders,  and  in  allumon  to  the  manner  in  which  ss 
important  a  service  was  performed,  Fairbaim  having  taken 
the  king  by  the  thigh,  and  set  him  at  once  on  the  saddle,  his 
royal  master  gave  him  the  name  of  Armstromo,  and  assigned 
him  for  crest,  **  an  armed  hand  and  arm,  m  the  hand  a  leg 
and  foot  hi  armour,  couped  at  the  thigh,  all  proper.**  Amongst 
the  dans  on  the  Scottish  side  of  the  border,  the  Armstrongs 
were  formerly  one  of  the  most  numerous.  They  possessed  the 
greater  part  of  Liddesdale,  which  forms  the  southern  district 
of  Rozburghshhe  and  of  the  debateable  hmd.  All  along  the 
banks  of  the  liddel,  the  ruins  of  their  andent  fortresses  may 
still  be  traced.  The  habitual  depredations  of  this  border- 
race  had  rendered  them  so  active  and  daring,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  cautious  and  drcumspect,  that  they  seldom  failed 
dther  in  then*  attacks  or  in  securing  their  prey.  £ven  when 
assailed  by  superior  numbers,  they  baffled  every  assault  by 
abandoning  their  dwellings,  and  retiring  with  thdr  families 
into  thick  woods  and  deep  morasses,  accessible  by  paths  only 
known  to  themselves.  One  of  their  most  noted  places  of  re- 
frige  was  the  Tarras-moss,  a  frightful  and  desolate  marsh,  so 
deep  that  two  spears  tied  together  could  not  reach  the  bot- 
tom. Although  several  of  the  Scottish  monarchs  had  at- 
tempted to  break  the  chain  which  united  these  powerful  and 
turbulent  chieftains,  none  ever  had  greater  occasion  to  lower 
their  fower,  and  lessen  their  influence,  than  James  the  Fifth. 
The  hostile  and  turbulent  spirit  of  the  Armstrongs,  however, 
was  never  entirely  broken  or  suppressed,  until  the  reign  of 
James  Che  Sixth,  when  their  leaders  were  brought  to  the 
seafibld,  their  strongholds  razed  to  the  ground,  and  their 
estates  forfeited  and  transferred  to  strangers;  so  that  through- 
out the  extensive  districts  formerly  possessed  by  this  once 
powerful  and  andent  dan,  there  is  scarcely  left,  at  this  day 


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a  single  landholder  of  the  name.  Their  descendants  have 
been  long  scattered,  some  of  them  having  settled  in  England, 
and  others  in  Ireland.  The  most  celehrated  of  these  border 
chiefs  was  '  Johnie  Armstrang*  of  Gilnockie,  who  lived  in  the 
earlj  part  of  the  sixteenth  centoiy,  and  is  the  hero  of  one  of 
oar  best  historical  ballads.  A  notice  of  him  follows.  *  Jock 
o'  the  Sjde,*  the  hero  of  another  balhid,  was  also  an  Arm- 
strong, and  a  noted  moss-trooper  in  the  reign  of  Maiy,  qneen 
of  Scots.  The  site  of  his  residence,  the  Syde,  is  pointed  out 
on  a  heathy  upland,  about  two  miles  to  the  west  of  New  Cas- 
tletown, in  Liddesdale,  while  the  ruins  of  Mangerton  Tower, 
the  seat  of  his  maternal  unde,  are  still  visible,  on  the  bangh 
below.  Sir  Richard  Maitland  of  Lethington,  in  a  poetical 
complaint  which  he  wrote  "  agains  the  Thievis  of  Liddis- 
dailV*  thus  speaks  of  this  famous  border  reaver: 

**  He  is  wcel  kenned,  Johne  of  the  Syde; 
A  greater  thief  did  never  ryde; 

He  never  tyres, 

For  to  break  byres; 

Ower  tnuirs  and  rayres 
Ower  gode  ane  guyde.* 

A  lineal  descendant  of  Johnie  Armstrong,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  First,  kidnapped  the  person  of  Lord  Dune,  the 
president  of  the  Court  of  Session,  and  kept  him  upwards  of 
three  months  in  secret  confinement  in  an  old  castle  in  Annan- 
dale,  called  Graham*H  tower.  The  motive  for  this  extraordi- 
nary and  daring  stratagem  was  to  promote  the  interests  of 
Lord  Traquair,  who  had  a  lawsuit  of  importance  before  the 
court,  in  which  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  the  judgment 
would  be  unfavourable  and  decided  by  the  casting  vote  of 
the  president  [See  Gibson,  Sir  Alexander,  Lord  Dune.] 
Near  Penton  Linns,  a  ronumtic  spot  on  the  Uddel,  was 
another  border  stronghold,  called  Harelaw  tower,  once  the 
residence  of  Hector  Armstrong,  who  betrayed  his  guest,  the 
earl  of  Northumberland,  to  the  regent  Murray. 

ARMSTRONG,  John,  a  celebrated  border  chief 
of  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  was  a 
native  of  the  parish  of  Canonbie,  in  the  county  of 
Dumfries,  and  the  brother  of  Christopher  Arm- 
strong, laird  of  Mangerton,  chief  of  the  clan  or 
sept  of  the  Armstrongs.  His  stronghold  was  Gil- 
nockie Tower,  now  a  roofless  ruin,  situated  a  few 
miles  from  Langholm,  at  a  place  called  the  Hol- 
lows, on  the  banks  of  the  river  Esk.  The  ten'or 
of  his  name  was  spread  far  and  wide,  and  at  the 
head  of  a  band  of  bi*ave  and  faithful  followei*s,  he 
levied  black  maily  or  protection  money,  for  many 
miles  within  the  English  border.  All  who  refused 
were  sure  of  being  plundered  and  harassed  to  the 
utmost.  The  marauding  system  on  the  borders 
had,  during  the  long  minority  of  King  James  V., 
been  carried  to  a  formidable  extent,  especially 
uuder  the  connivance  of  the  earl  of  Angus,  the 
warden  of  the  marches,  who  had  bound  the  border 
chiefs  to  his  interests  by  those  feudal  confederacies, 
named  *  bands  of  manrent,'  which  compelled  the 
parties  to  defend  each  other  against  the  authority 


of  the  law.  Having  resolved  to  suppress  the  fo- 
raying chieftains,  the  king  raised  a  powerful  arm> . 
chiefly  composed  of  horsemen,  "to  danton  the 
thieves"  of  Teviotdale,  Annandale,  Liddesdale,  and 
other  psurts  of  the  countiy,  and  about  the  begin- 
ning of  June  1529,  he  set  out,  at  the  head  of  eight 
thousand  men,  on  an  expedition  through  the  bor- 
der districts.  To  prevent  the  mosstroopers  and 
their  chiefs  from  taking  alarm,  be  ordered  all  the 
gentlemen  of  the  borders  to  bring  with  them  their 
best  dogs,  as  if  his  only  purpose  was  to  hunt  the 
deer.  The  leaders  thus  thrown  off  their  guard, 
were  not  apprehensive  of  any  danger,  and  to  in- 
sure their  destruction  the  more  readily,  the  princi- 
pal border  nobles  who  were  known  to  be  their 
protectors  and  secret  encouragers,  namely  the 
earl  of  Bothwell,  lord  of  Teviotdale,  Lords  Home 
and  Maxwell,  Scott  of  Buccleuch,  Ker  of  Faimie- 
hurst,  with  the  lairds  of  Johnstone,  Polwarth, 
Dolphington,  and  other  powerful  chiefe,  were 
seized  and  imprisoned  in  separate  fortresses  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom.  This  being  done, 
the  king,  accompanied  by  some  of  the  borderers 
who  had  secured  their  pardon,  marched  rapidly 
through  Ettrick  Forest  and  Ewesdale,  and  seized 
Piers  Cockbnrn  of  Henderland  and  Adam  Scott 
of  Tushielaw,  commonly  called  the  king  of  the 
border,  and  ordered  both  to  be  hanged  before  the  ^ 
gates  of  their  own  castles.  So  little  did  they  ex- 
pect the  fate  that  awaited  them  that,  it  is  re- 
corded, when  James  approached  the  castle  o£ 
Cockbum  of  Henderland,  the  latter  was  in  the 
act  of  providing  a  great  entertainment  to  welcome 
him.  Armstrong,  on  his  part,  came  to  meet  the 
king  at  a  place  about  ten  miles  from  Hawick 
called  Carlinrigg  chapel,  at  the  head  of  thirty- six 
attendants,  his  usual  retinue,  he  and  his  followers 
arrayed  in  all  the  pomp  of  border  chivahry.  As 
the  ballad  says. 

The  Elliots  and  Armstrongs  did  convene, 

They  were  a  gallant  companie : — 
*'  We*ll  ride  and  meet  our  lawful  king. 

And  bring  him  safe  to  Gilnockie. 

Make  kinnen  and  capon  ready  then, 

And  venison  in  great  plentie ; 
We'll  welcome  here  our  noble  king; 

I  hope  hell  dine  at  Gilnockie  1 " 


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Tliej  ran  their  horse  on  the  Langholm  holm, 
And  hrak  their  spears  wi*  roickle  main ; 

The  ladies  lookit  frae  their  loft  windows : — 
**  God  bring  our  men  weel  hame  again  !** 

We  are  told  by  Pitscottie  that  Armstrong  was  the 
most  redoabted  chieftain  that  had  been  for  a  long 
time  on  the  borders  of  Scotland  or  England.  He 
always  rode  with  twenty-fonr  able  gentlemen,  well 
horsed,  and  from  the  borders  to  Newcastle  every 
Englishman,  of  whatever  state,  paid  him  tribute. 
Armstrong  is  said  to  have  incantioosly  made  this 
display,  by  the  crafty  advice  of  some  of  the  cour- 
tiers, who  knew  that  it  would  only  the  more  ex- 
asperate the  king  against  him;  and  the  effect  was 
precisely  so,  for  James,  seeing  this  bold  border 
chief  so  gallantly  equipped,  on  his  approach, 
fiercely  ordered  the  tyrant,  as  he  styled  Arm- 
strong, to  be  removed  out  of  his  sight  and  instantly 
executed,  exclaiming,  **  What  wants  that  knave 
that  a  king  should  have?** 

There  hang  nine  targats  at  Johnie*s  hat, 
And  ilk  ane  worth  three  hundred  pound,  — 

**  What  wants  that  knave  that  a  king  should  hare, 
But  the  sword  of  honour  and  the  oronn  ?** 

Armstrong  saw  at  once  the  snare  into  which  he 
had  fallen,  and  made  every  effort  to  preserve  his 
life.  He  offered,  if  James  would  pardon  him,  to 
maintain  at  his  own  expense,  forty  men,  ready  at 
a  moment's  notice,  to  serve  the  king,  and  engaged 
never  to  injure  any  Scottish  subject. 

**  Grant  me  my  Hfe,  mj  liege,  my  king, 

And  a  honnie  gift  TU  gie  to  thee,— 
Full  four-and-twenty  milk  white  steeds, 

Were  a*  foaled  in  ae  year  to  me. 

1*11  gie  thee  a*  thae  milk  white  steeds, 

That  prance  and  nicher  at  a  speir, 
And  as  mnckle  gude  English  gold 

As  four  0*  their  braid  backs  can  bear.** 

He  further  undertook  to  produce  to  his  majesty, 
within  a  certain  day,  any  man  in  England,  of 
whatever  degree,  duke,  earl,  or  baron,  either  alive 
or  dead.    But  James  was  inexoi-able. 

"Away,  away,  thou  traitor  Strang! 

Out  0*  ray  sight  sune  may*st  thou  be ' 
I  grantit  never  a  traitor*s  life. 

And  now  VU  not  begin  wi*  thee '  ** 

Seeing  his  death  resolved  noon,  Armstrong  haugh- 


tily exclaimed,  **  It  is  folly  to  ask  grace  at  a  grace- 
less face,  but  had  I  guessed  you  would  have  used 
me  thus,  I  would  have  kept  the  Border-side,  in 
despite  of  the  king  of  England  and  you  both ;  for  I 
well  know  that  King  Henry  would  give  the  weight 
of  my  best  horse  in  gold  to  know  that  I  am  sen- 
tenced to  die  this  day.** 

*  To  seik  het  water  aneath  cauid  ice 

Surely  it  is  a  great  foUie ! — 
I  have  asked  grace  at  a  graceless  face^ 

But  there  is  nane  for  my  men  and  me. 

But  had  I  kenn'd  ere  I  cam  frae  hame 
How  thou  unkind  wadst  been  to  me . 

I  wad  hae  keepid  the  border  syde 
In  spite  of  all  thy  force  and  thee. 

Wist  England^s  kmg  that  I  was  ta*«h. 

O  then  a  blythe  man  he  wad  be' 
For  anes  I  slew  his  sist«r*s  son, 

And  on  his  breast  bane  brak  a  tree.** 

He  and  all  his  followers,  some  accounts  make 
them  forty-eight,  were  hanged  on  the  trees  of  a 
little  grove  at  Carlinrigg  chapel,  two  miles  north  of 
Moss  Paul,  on  the  road  between  Hawick  and  Lang- 
holm, and  tradition  still  points  out  their  graves  in 
the  solitary  churchyard  of  the  place.  He  left  a  son 
Christopher  who  succeeded  as  laird  of  Gilnockie. 
On  the  borders  Armstrong  was  long  missed  and 
mourned  as  a  brave  warrior,  and  a  stout  defender 
of  his  country  against  England.  It  is  said  by 
Buchanan  that  James  executed  Armstrong  and 
his  retinue,  in  direct  violation  of  his  solemn  pro- 
mise of  safety.  We  are  told  that  this  bold  chief 
never  molested  any  of  his  own  countryTuen,  and  it 
appears  from  his  own  statement  that  his  plunder- 
ings  were  chiefly  committed  on  the  English  ;  yet 
the  Armstrongs  are  accused  of  having,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years,  destroyed  not  less  than 
fifty-two  parish  churches  in  Scotland,  and  they 
openly  boasted  that  their  chieftain,  Johnny  Arm- 
strong, would  be  subject  neither  to  James  nor  to 
Henry,  but  would  continue  his  excesses  in  defi- 
ance of  both.  The  fate  of  this  renowned  border 
leader  has  been  commemorated  in  many  of  the 
rade  ballads  of  the  border  districts.  The  cele- 
brated ballad  of '  Johnie  Armstrang,'  some  of  the 
verses  of  which  have  been  quoted,  was  firet  pub- 
lished by  Allan  Ramsay,  in  his  *  Evergreen,'  in 


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1724,  having  been  copied,  as  he  tells  as,  by  him- 
self from  the  month  of  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
Armstrong,  who  was  the  sixth  generation  from  the 
renowned  borderer.  The  tower  of  the  Hollows, 
or  Holehonse,  once  the  residence  of  this  famoos 
border  chieftain,  was  a  place  of  considerable 
strength  in  its  day ;  its  niins  are  now  used  as  a 
cowhouse  to  a  neighboaring  farmer.  The  jonnger 
son  of  Christopher  Armstrong  of  Mangerton,  the 
brother  of  this  Armstrong  of  Gilnockie,  went  to 
Ireland,  some  years  after  the  death  of  Qneen 
Elizabeth,  and  settling  in  county  Fermanagh, 
became  the  foander  of  a  numerous  family,  whose 
descendants  now  possess  extensive  estates  in  Fer- 
managh, Eing^s  county  and  Wicklow;  and  one  of 
whom  was  created  a  baronet  of  Gi-eat  Britain  in 
1841. 

ARMSTRONG,  John,  M.D.,  poet  and  miscel- 
laneous writer,  was  bom  about  1709  at  Gastleton, 
a  parish  forming  the  southern  extremity  of  Rox- 
burghshire, of  which  his  father  and  afterwards  his 
brother  were  ministers.  In  history  and  poetry, 
and  very  frequently  still  in  conversation,  its  name 
is  Liddesdale,  from  the  river  Liddel  which  runs 
through  it  from  east  to  west.  Dr.  Armstrong  has 
sung  the  beauties  of  his  native  vale,  in  his  highly- 
finished  poem  on  '  The  Art  of  Preserving  Health,' 
Book  m. : 


-"  Such  the  stream, 


On  whose  Arcadian  banks  I  first  drew  air. 

Liddal,  till  now — except  in  Doric  lajs, 

Toned  to  her  ronrmtirs  by  her  love-sick  8wain»— 

Unknown  in  song;  though  not  a  pnrer  stream 

Throngh  meads  more  floweiy,— more  roman^  grores, 

Rolls  toward  the  westward  main.    Hail,  sacred  flood! 

May  still  thj  hospitable  swains  be  blest 

In  raral  innocence ;  thy  monntains  still 

Teem  with  the  fleecy  race ;  thy  tuneful  woods 

For  ever  flourish,  and  thy  vales  look  gay, 

With  painted  meadows,  and  the  golden  gram  !** 

After  receiving  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at 
home,  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  before  his  twentieth 
year,  by  gaining  a  prize  medal  for  a  prose  com- 
position, prescribed  by  a  literary  society  in  that 
city,  and  by  other  promising  marks  of  genius  during 
his  studies.  Having  chosen  the  medical  profession, 
he  took  his  degree  as  physician  February  4,  1732. 


His  inaugural  dissertation,  De  Tabe  Pundenta^ 
gained  him  some  reputation,  as  being  superior  to 
the  general  run  of  such  essays.  Soon  after  he  went 
to  London,  where  he  commenced  practice  as  a  phy- 
sician. In  1735  he  published  anonymously  *  An 
Essay  for  abridging  the  study  of  Physic,'  being  a 
humorous  attack  on  quacks  and  quackery,  in  the 
style  of  Lucian.  This  work  gained  him  credit  as 
a  wit,  but  did  not  advance  his  practice  as  a  phy- 
sician. In  1737  he  published  a  work  on  the  vene- 
real disease.  This  was  followed  by  ^The  Economy 
of  Love ;'  for  which  poem  he  received  fifty  pounds 
from  Andrew  Millar,  the  bookseller,  but  which 
greatly  injured  his  reputation.  In  a  subsequent 
edition,  published  in  1768,  he  cai-efiiUy  expunged 
many  of  the  youthful  luxuriances  with  which  the 
first  abounded.  In  1744  appeared  his  principal 
work,  entitled  '  The  Art  of  Preserving  Health,'  in 
blank  verse,  one  of  the  best  didactic  poems  in  the 
language.  This  valuable  work  established  at  once 
his  reputation  both  as  a  physician  and  a  poet.  In 
1746  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  physicians  to 
the  hospital  for  sick  and  lame  soldiers.  In  1751 
he  published  his  poem  on  Benevolence,  and  in 
1753  his  Epistle  on  Taste,  addressed  to  a  Young 
Critic.  In  1758  he  produced  his  prose  '  Sketches 
or  Essays  on  various  subjects,  by  Lancelot  Tem- 
ple, Esq.,'  in  two  parts,  which  evinced  considera- 
ble humour  and  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  in 
which  he  is  said  to  have  been  assisted  by  Mr. 
Wilkes,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  soon 
after  his  first  arrival  in  London.  In  1760  he 
received  the  appointment  of  physician  to  the 
army,  then  in  Germany,  where,  in  1761,  he  wrote 
*  Day,  a  Poem,  an  Epistle  to  John  Wilkes,  Esq. ;' 
his  friendship  with  whom  was  not  of  long  con- 
tinuance, the  subject  of  politics  having  divided 
them;  Wilkes's  continued  attacks  upon  Scotland 
being  the  cause  of  their  quarrel.  Having  in  that 
epistle  hazarded  a  reflection  on  Churchill,  the 
satirist  retorted  severely  in  his  poem  of  'The 
Journey.' 

At  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1763  Armstrong  re- 
turned to  London,  and  resigning  his  connec- 
tion with  the  army,  resumed  his  practice,  but 
not  with  his  former  success.  In  1770  he  pub- 
lished a  Collection  of  his  Miscellanies,  containing 
amongst  others,  the  Universal  Almanack,  a  new 


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prose  piece,  and  the  Forced  Marriage,  a  tragedj, 
which  had  been  refosed  bj  Garrick.  In  1771 
he  made  the  tour  of  France  and  Italy,  in  com- 
pany with  the  celebrated  artist  Foseli,  who  snr- 
Yived  him  for  half  a  centary.  In  his  jonmey 
he  met  his  Mend  Dr.  Smollett,  to  whom  he  was 
mnch  attached.  On  his  return  he  published  an 
account  of  it  under  the  name  of  *  A  short  Ramble, 
by  Lancelot  Temple.' 

Wilkes,  his  former  friend,  joined  Churchill  in 
assailing  Dr.  Armstrong,  having  published  a  scur- 
rilous attack  upon  him  in  the  Public  Advertiser, 
contained  in  a  series  of  three  letters,  commencing 
with  one  signed  Dies^  in  which,  to  cloak  his  purpose, 
WillLes  reflected  on  himself.  That  letter  appeared 
March  23,  1778,  and  was  followed  by  one  signed 
Truths  March  24,  and  by  another  signed  iVor, 
April  1.  In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  Janu- 
ary 1792,  the  following  substance  of  a  conversa- 
tion which  took  place  between  Armstrong  and 
Wilkes  on  the  appearance  of  these  letters,  is  in- 
serted. It  was  taken  down  at  the  time  by  Mr. 
Wilkes,  and  is  quite  characteristic  of  both  par- 
ties. 

On  Wednesday,  April  7,  1773,  Dr.  Armstrong 
called  on  Mr.  Wilkes  in  Prince's  Court,  about  two 
in  the  afternoon,  and  without  the  least  ceremony 
or  compliment,  began — 

Dr.  ArvutroTtg,  Did  you,  Sir,  write  the  letters  in 
the  Public  Adrertiser? 

Mr,  Wilkes.  What  letters  do  yoa  mean,  Doctor? 
There  are  many  letters  almost  every  day  in  the  Public 
Advertiser. 

Dr.  A'.  Sir,  I  mean  the  three  letters  about  me,  and 
Day,  Day,  Sir. 

Mr.  W.  Ton  may  ask  the  printer,  Mr.  Woodfall. 
He  has  my  orders  to  name  me,  whenever  he  thinks  it 
proper,  as  the  author  of  every  thing  I  write  in  Bis 
paper. 

Dr.  A.    I  believe  you  wrote  all  those  letters. 

Mr.  W.  What  all  three,  Doctor?  I  am  veiy 
roughly  treated  in  one  of  them,  in  the  first  signed 
Dies. 

Dr.  A.  I  believe  you  wrote  that  on  purpose  to 
begin  the  controversy.    I  am  almost  sure  of  it. 

Mr.  W.  I  hope  you  are  more  truly  informed  in 
other  things.  I  know  better  than  to  abuse  myself  in 
that  manner,  and  I  pity  the  author  of  such  wretched 
stufE 

Dr.  A.    Did  you  write  the  other  letters,  Sir? 

Mr.  W.  The  proper  person  to  inquire  of,  is  Mr. 
WoodfaU.  I  will  not  answer  interrogatories.  My  time 
would  pass  in  a  strange  manner*  if  I  was  to  answer 


every  question  which  any  gentleman  chc«e  to  put  to 
me  about  anonymous  letters. 

Dr,  A.  Whoever  has  abused  me,  Sir,  is  a  villain ; 
and  your  endeavours,  Sir,  to  set  Scotland  and  England 
together  are  very  bad. 

Mr.  W,  The  Scots  have  done  that  thoroughly, 
Doctor,  by  their  conduct  here,  particnlarly  by  their 
own  nationality,  and  the  outrages  of  Lord  Bute  to  so 
many  English  families.  Whenever  you  think  proper 
to  call  upon  me  in  particular  as  a  gentleman,  you  will 
find  me  most  ready  to  answer  the  call. 

Dr.  A.    D ^n  Lord  Bute!    It  had  been  better 

for  Scotland  he  had  never  been  bom.  He  has  done 
y*  infinite  mischief. 

Mr.  W.  And  usytoo;  but  I  suppose  we  are  not  met 
for  a  dish  of  politics? 

Dr.  A.  No;  but  I  wish  there  had  been  no  Unum. 
I  am  sure  England  is  the  gainer  by  it. 

Mr.  W,  I  will  not  make  an  essay  on  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  the  Union. 

Dr,  A,  I  hate  politics;  but  I  have  been  ill  used  by 
you,  Mr.  Wilkes,  on  the  occasion. 

Mr.  W,  On  the  contrary,  Doctor,  I  was  the  injured 
friend. 

Dr.  A,  I  thought  you  for  many  years  the  most 
amiable  friend  in  the  world,  and  loved  your  company 
the  most;  but  you  distinguished  yourself  by  grossly 
abusing  my  countrymen  in  the  North  Briton— although 
I  never  read  much  of  that  paper. 

Mr.  W.  Ton  passed  your  time,  I  am  satisfied,  much 
better.  Who  told  you.  Doctor,  what  particular  num- 
bers I  wrote?  It  is  droll,  but  the  bitterest  of  those 
papers,  which  was  attributed  to  me,  was  a  description 
of  Scotland,  first  printed  in  the  last  centuiy,  on  Charles 
I.'s  return  from  thence  in  1633.  Were  you  ever,  Doc- 
tor, personally  attacked  by  me?  Were  you  not,  al- 
though a  Scotsman,  at  the  very  time  of  the  North 
Britons,  complimented  by  me,  in  conjunction  with 
Churchill,  in  the  best  thing  I  wrote,  the  mock  *  Dedi- 
cation to  Mortimer.' 

Dr,  A,  To  be  praised  along  with  such  a  writer,  I 
think  an  abuse. 

Mr,  W,  The  world  thinks  far  otherwise  of  that 
wonderful  genius,  Churchill;  but  you,  Doctor,  have 
sacrificed  private  friendship  at  the  altar  of  politics. 
After  many  years'  mutual  intercourse  of  good  c^ces, 
you  broke  every  tie  of  friendship  with  me  on  no  pre- 
tence but  ^  suspicion,  for  you  did  not  ask  for  proof,  of 
my  having  abused  your  country,  that  country  I  have 
for  years  together  heard  you  inveigh  against,  in  the 
bitterest  terms,  for  nastiness  and  nationality, 

Dr,  A,  I  only  did  it  in  joke,  Sir;  you  did  it  with 
bitterness;  but  it  was  my  country. 

Mr,  W,  No  man  has  abused  England  so  much  as 
Shakspeare,  or  France  so  much  as  Voltaire;  yet  they 
remain  the  favourites  of  two  great  nations,  conscious 
of  their  own  superiority.  Were  you,  Doctor,  attacked 
by  me  in  any  one  instance?  Was  not  the  most  friendly 
correspondence  carried  on  with  you  the  whole  time, 
till  you  broke  it  off  by  a  letter,  in  1763,  in  which  you 
declared  to  me,  that  you  could  not  with  honour  asso- 


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ciatc  with  one  who  had  distinguished  himself  bj  abus- 
ing your  country,  and  that  you  remained  with  all  due 
iinc&ityt    I  remember  thai  was  the  strange  phrase. 

Dr,  A.    You  never  answered  that  letter,  Sir. 

Mr.  W,  What  answer  could  I  give,  Doctor?  You 
had  put  a  period  to  the  intercourse  between  us,  I 
still  continued  to  our  common  friends  to  8j»eak  of 
you  in  terms  of  respect,  while  you  were  grossly  abusing 
mo.  You  said  to  Boswell,  Millar,  and  others,  '*  I  hope 
there  is  a  hell,  that  Wilkes  may  lie  in  it.** 

Dr.  A,  In  a  passion  I  might  say  so.  People  do 
not  often  speak  their  minds  in  a  passion. 

Mr.  W*    I  thought  they  generally  did,  Doctor. 

Dr.  A.  I  was  thoroughly  provoked,  although  I  still 
acknowledge  my  great  pecuniary  obligations  to  you — 
although,  I  dare  say,  I  could  have  got  the  money 
elsewhere. 

Mr,  W.  I  was  always  happy  to  render  you  every 
service  in  my  power ;  and  I  little  imagined  a  liberal 
mind,  like  yours,  could  have  been  worked  up  by  de- 
signing men  to  write  me  such  a  letter  in  answer  to  an 
affectionate  one  I  sent  you,  on  the  prospect  of  your 
return. 

Dr.  A.  I  was  happier  with  you  than  any  man  in 
the  world  for  a  great  many  years,  and  complimented 
yon  not  a  little  in  the  Day,  and  yon  did  not  write  to 
me  for  a  year  and  a  half  after  that. 

Mr.  W.  Your  memory  does  not  serve  you  faith- 
fully, Doctor.  In  three  or  four  months  at  farthest, 
yon  had  two  or  three  letters  from  me  together,  on  your 
return  to  the  head-quarters  of  the  army.  I  am  abused 
in  Dies  for  that  publication,  and  the  manner,  both  of 
which  you  approved. 

Dr.  A.    I  did  so. 

Mr.  W.  I  was  abused  at  first,  I  am  told,  in  the 
manuscript  of  Dies  for  having  sold  the  copy,  and  put 
the  money  in  my  pocket;  but  that  charge  was  sup- 
pressed in  the  printed  letter. 

Dr.  A.  I  know  nothing  of  that,  and  will  do  you 
justice. 

Mr.  W.  Will  you  call  upon  Mr.  D ^  our  com- 
mon friend,  your  countryman,  and  ask  him  what  he 
thinks  of  your  conduct  to  me,  if  it  has  not  been  wholly 
unjustifiable? 

Dr.  A.  Have  I  your  leave  to  ask  Mr.  Woodfall  in 
your  name  about  the  letters? 

Mr.  W.  I  have  already  told  you.  Doctor,  what 
directions  he  has  from  me.  Take  four-and- twenty 
hours  to  consider  what  you  have  to  do,  and  let  me 
know  the  result. 

Dr.  A.  I  am  sony  to  have  taken  up  so  much  of 
your  time.  Sir. 

Mr.  W.  It  stands  in  no  need  of  an  apology.  Doctor. 
I  am  glad  to  see  you.    Good  morrow. 

N.B. — ^These  minutes  were  taken  down  the  same 
afternoon,  and  sent  to  a  friend. 

Dr.  Armstrong's  last  publication  was  his  *  Me- 
dical Essays,'  which  appeared  in  1773.  In  this 
he  complains  of  the  little   attention  that  had 


been  paid  to  him,  while  so  many  other  physi- 
cians of  inferior  abilities  had  risen  to  fame  and 
fortune,  forgetting  that  his  own  indolence  and  ler- 
ity,  and  not  the  fickleness  or  want  of  discern- 
ment of  the  public,  occasioned  the  neglect.  A 
large  poi-tion  of  his  time  was  spent  at  Slaughter's 
coffee-house,  in  St.  Martin's  lane,  where  he  took 
his  meals,  and  where  messages  for  him  were  ordi- 
narily directed  to  be  addressed.  He  died  on  7th 
September,  1779,  and  left,  it  is  said,  three  thou- 
sand pounds,  which  his  prudence  and  good  man- 
.igement  had  enabled  him  to  collect.  He  left  his 
fortune  by  his  will  to  his  three  nieces,  the  daugh- 
ters of  his  brother  Dr.  George  Armstrong ;  who, 
after  having  been  an  apothecary  for  several  years 
at  Hampstead,  at  length  obtained  a  diploma  con- 
stituting him  doctor  in  medicine.  Settling  in  Lon- 
don, he  was  appointed  physician  to  a  dispensary 
for  the  benefit  of  poor  infants,  opened  at  a  house 
taken  for  him  by  the  subscribers  in  Soho  square. 
To  aid  the  design,  he  published  a  small  treatise  on 
the  diseases  of  children,  in  which  he  was  supposed 
to  have  been  assisted  by  his  brother  John.  The 
dispensary,  however,  did  not  succeed,  and  the 
doctor  died  some  years  after  in  obscurity.  Arm- 
strong possessed  a  glowing  imagination  and  a 
lively  fancy,  chastened,  at  times,  by  the  guidance 
of  a  sound  judgment,  and  a  well  regulated  taste. 
Of  his  *  Art  of  Preserving  Health,'  Dr.  Aikin, 
in  his  Critical  Essay  prefixed  to  Cadell  and 
Davis'  edition  of  his  works  published  in  1796, 
says,  **  The  manner  of  Armstrong  is  distingm'shed 
by  its  simplicity,  by  a  free  use  of  words  which 
owe  their  strength  to  their  plainness,  by  the  re- 
jection of  ambitious  ornaments,  and  a  near  ap- 
proach to  common  phraseology.  His  sentences 
are  generally  short  and  easy,  his  sense  clear  and 
obvious.  The  full  extent  of  his  conceptions  is 
taken  in  at  the  first  glance,  and  there  are  no  lofty 
mysteries  to  be  unravelled  by  repeated  perusal. 
What  keeps  his  language  from  being  altogether 
prosaic,  is  the  vigour  of  his  sentiments.  He  thinks 
boldly,  feels  strongly,  and  therefore  expresses  him- 
self poetically.  Where  the  subject  sinks,  his  style 
sinks  with  it;  but  he  has  for  the  most  part  exclud- 
ed topics  incapable  cither  of  vivid  description  or 
of  the  oratory  of  sentiment.  He  had  from  nature 
a  musical  ear,  whence  his  lines  are  never  harsh, 


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and  are  usually  melodious,  though  apparently  with- 
out much  study  to  render  them  smooth.  Perhaps 
be  has  not  been  careful  enough  to  avoid  the  mono- 
tony of  making  several  successive  lines  close  with 
a  rest  or  pause  in  the  sense.  On  the  whole,  it  may 
not  be  too  much  to  assert,  that  no  writer  in  blank 
verse  can  be  found  more  free  from  stiffness  and 
affectation,  more  energetic  without  harshness,  and 
more  dignified  without  formality.*'  In  Thomson's 
*  Castle  of  Indolence,'  to  which  he  contributed 
four  stanzas,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  first  part, 
describing  the  diseases  incidental  to  sloth,  he  is 
depicted  as  the  shy  and  splenetic  personage  who 
*'  quite  detested  talk."   The  following  is  the  stanza : 

"  With  him  was  sometimes  joined  in  silent  walk, 

(Profoundlj  silent,  for  they  never  spoke) 
One  shyer  still,  who  quite  detested  talk ; 

Oft  stung  bj  spleen,  at  once  awaj  he  broke. 
To  groves  of  pine  and  broad  overshadowing  oak. 

There,  inlj  thrilled,  he  wandered  all  alone, 
And  on  himself  his  pensive  fary  wroke : 

Nor  never  uttered  word,  save,  when  first  shone 
The  glittering  star  of  eve — *  Thank  heaven !  the  daj  is 
doner- 

A  portrait  of  Dr.  Armstrong  is  here  given,  taken 
from  an  engraving  by  Fisher  from  a  painting  by 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


A  list  of  Dr.  Armstrong's  works  is  subjoined.       | 


An  Essay  for  abridging  the  study  of  Medicine ;  to  which  is 
added,  A  Dialogue  between  Uygeia,  Mercury,  and  Pluto ;  re- 
lating to  the  Practice  of  Physic,  as  it  is  managed  by  a  certain 
illustrious  Society,  as  also  an  Epistle  from  Usbech,  the  Per- 
sian, to  Joshua  Ward,  Esq.    Lond.  1735,  8vo,  (anon). 

Synopsis  of  the  history  and  cure  of  the  Venereal  Disease. 
Lond.  1787,  8vo. 

The  Economy  of  Love.    Lond-  1737,  8vo. 

Art  of  preserving  Health,  a  poem.  Lond.  1744,  4to,  1745, 
8vo.,  numerous  editions,  with  a  critical  essay,  by  Dr.  Aikin, 
12mo. 

Benevolence,  a  poenL    1751,  fbl.    An  excellen^  production. 

Taste,  an  epistle  to  a  young  Critic.  1753.  A  pretty 
successful  imitation  of  Pope. 

Sketches,  or  Essays  on  various  subjects.    1758. 

Day,  a  poenL     1761. 

Miscellanies,  containing  the  art  of  preserving  Health. 
Lond.  1770,  2  vols,  12nio. 

A  short  ramble  through  some  parts  of  France  and  Italy,  by 
Lancelot  Temple.    Lond.  1771,  8vo. 

Medical  Essays.  Lond.  1773.  4to.  These  treat  of  Theoiy, 
Medicine,  Instruments  of  Physic,  Fevers,  Blisterings,  Cordials, 
Ventilation,  Bathing,  Lodging,  &c,  and,  lastly,  Gout  and 
Rheumatism. 

An  Essay  on  Topic  Medicines.  Ed.  Med.  Ess.  il  p.  36. 
1788. 

ARMSTRONG,  John,  a  miscellaneous  writer, 
was  bom  at  Leith  in  1771,  and  educated  at  tiie 
coUege  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  took  the  degree  of 
M.A.    During  his  attendance  at  the  university  he 
published  a  volume  of  *  Juvenile  Poems,'  some  of 
which  possessed  considerable  merit.    The  same 
yolame   contained    an    *  Essay   on    tlie 
Means    of   Punishing    and    Preventing 
Crimes.'    For  this  essay  he  had,  in  Jan- 
uary 1789,  a  few  months  before,  i*eceived 
the  gold  prize  medal,  given  by  the  Edin- 
burgh   Pantheon    Society  for    the  best 
specimen  of  prose  composition.      Some 
time  previous  to  this  he  had  entered  him- 
self at  the  divinity  hall,  and  had  gone 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  exercises 
necessaiy  to  qualify  him  to  become  a 
preacher  in  the  Church  of  Scotland.    In 
1790  he  repaired  to  London,  and  sup- 
ported himself  by  writing  for  the  daily 
papers.    In  1791  he  published  a  collec- 
tion of  ^  Sonnets  from  Shakspeare.'    He 
also  preached  occasionally,  and  was  lisiug 
in  reputation,  when  he  was  cut  otf,  in 
1797,  in  the  26th  year  of  his  age. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works : 

Juvenile  Poems ;  with  remarks  on  Poetiy,  and 
a  dissertation  on  the  hest  method  of  Punishing  and  Prevent- 
mg  Grimes.    Lond.  1780,  12mo. 


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GoDfi4ential  Lettets  from  the  Sorrows  of  Werter.    Lond. 
1799, 12mo. 
Sonnets  from  Shakspeare.    Lond.  1791,  8to. 

Abnot,  a  surname  derived  from  the  lands  of  Arnot  in  the 
connty  of  Fife.  In  Sibbald's  list  of  the  heritors  of  Fifeshire, 
published  in  1710,  we  find  the  names,  as  landholders  of  that 
county,  of  Amot  of  that  ilk,  Arnot  of  Woodmiln,  Arnot  of 
Balkaithlie,  Amot  of  Balcormo,  Amot  of  Chapel-Kettle,  Ar- 
not of  Freeland,  Amot  of  Lumwhat,  and  Amot  of  Benyhole. 
Sir  John  Amot  of  Berwick,  of  the  family  of  Amot,  was  pro- 
vost of  Edmburgh,  and  treasurer  depute  to  King  James  the 
Sixth.  The  lands  of  Chapel,  in  the  pariah  of  Kettle,  have 
long  belonged  to  a  family  of  the  name  of  Amot  Upon  the 
last  day  of  Deoember  1558,  James,  oonmiendator  of  the  priozy 
of  St  Andrews,  disponed  the  church  lands  called  Chapel- 
Kettle  to  John  Amot  and  his  hehrs,  declaring  that  he  and  his 
progenitors  had  been  possessors  of  these  lands  past  the  me- 
mory of  man.    [SibbakPi  History  ofFffey  p.  885.] 

Sir  Michael  Amot  of  Amot,  in  the  county  of  Perth,  the 
descendant  of  a  very  ancient  fifeshire  family,  designated  of 
that  ilk  so  early  as  the  12th  century,  was  created  a  baronet 
by  Charles  the  Fuvt,  27th  Jaly  1629.  His  son  and  heir.  Sir 
David  Amot,  second  baronet,  was  member  of  the  Scots  par- 
liament for  Kinross,  in  1689.  He  was  the  father  of  Sir  John 
Amot  the  third  baronet,  who,  having  devoted  himself  eariy 
to  a  military  life,  was  appointed,  in  1727,  adjutant-general 
of  Scotland.  In  1735  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general, and  in  1739  to  that  of  migor-generaL  He  died 
June  4,  1750,  a  lieut -general.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Ar- 
not, 4th  hart.,  wms  succeeded  by  his  son.  Sir  William  Amot, 
5th  bart,  lieut-oolonel  of  the  Queen's  regiment  of  dragoon 
guards,  who  died  in  1782,  leaving  a  son,  Sir  William  Amot, 
6th  and  last  baronet-[fiMrJbe*«  Extisict  and  Dormant  Baron- 
etaffetJ]  Title  dormant    See  Supplemknt. 

In  Perthshire  there  was  a  family  of  the  name  of  Amot  of 
Benchill,  who  for  a  long  time  were  provosts  of  Perth. 

ARNOT,  Hugo,  an  antiquarian  writer  and 
local  historian,  was  the  son  of  a  merchant  and 
shipowner  in  Leith,  where  he  was  bom  on  the  8tb 
December  1749.  His  own  name  was  Pollock,  but 
on  the  death  of  his  mother,  December  5, 1778,  at 
her  house  in  Fifeshire,  he  changed  it  to  Amot,  on 
obtaining,  through  her  right,  the  estate  of  Balcor- 
mo in  Fife.  He  was  educated  for  the  law,  and  in 
December  1772  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
I  facultj  of  advocates,  under  the  name  of  *  Hugo 
!  Amot,  Esq.  of  Balcormo.*  Having  in  his  fifteenth 
year  caught  a  severe  cold,  he  was  ever  after 
afflicted  with  painful  asthma,  which  reduced  him 
almost  to  a  skeleton,  and  which  any  exertion  al- 
ways aggravated.  In  1776  he  published  at  Lon- 
don in  12mo,  ^  An  Essay  on  Nothing,'  a  discourse 
delivered  in  the  Edinburgh  Speculative  Society, 
which  was  favourably  received.  Of  that  society 
Mr.  Amot  was  admitted  a  member  January  8, 
1770,  and,  besides  the  Essay  on  Nothing,  he  deliv- 
ered others  on  the  following  subjects:  The  Com- 


parative Happiness  of  the  Polished  and  Barbarous 
State;  Whether  a  man  would  be  most  happy  io 
retiring  from  or  continuing  in  business  after  mak- 
ing a  competent  fortune ;  Foundation  of  the  In- 
equality among  Mankind  ;  Literary  Property ; 
Nature  and  end  of  Punishments ;  and  the  Neces- 
sity of  Mankind  living  in  Society,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  it,  which  was  his  valedictory  essay.  [Hist, 
of  Speculative  Society^  p.  99.]  In  1779  appeared 
his  ^  History  of  Edinburgh,'  one  vol.  4to,  a  work 
of  much  research.  He  was  prevented,  however, 
from  deriving  much  pecuniary  benefit  from  it,  by 
a  piratical  edition  having  been  printed  at  Dublin, 
and  sent  over  to  Edinburgh  and  sold  at  a  cheap 
rate.  Taking  a  strong  interest  in  local  matters, 
he  afterwards  published  various  pamphlets  and 
essays  of  a  temporary  nature ;  and  his  exertion* 
in  promoting  the  improvements  then  in  progress  in 
Edinburgh,  were  rewarded  by  the  fi-eedom  of  the 
city  being  conferred  upon  him  by  the  magistrates. 
From  his  great  local  influence  he  is  said  to  have 
been  able  to  protract  the  erection  of  the  South 
Bridge  of  Edinburgh  for  ten  years,  by  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  proposed  tax  upon  carts  to  defray  the 
expense.  He  was  also  instrumental  in  preventing 
the  formation  of  the  spacious  road  called  Leith  Walk 
for  some  years,  on  account  of  the  putting  on  a  toll, 
which,  however,  was  done,  and  not  removed  till 
about  1837.  In  1785  came  out  his  ^  Collection  of 
celebrated  Criminal  Trials  in  Scotland,  from  1536 
to  1784,  with  Historical  and  Critical  Remarks,'  one 
vol.  4to,  published  by  subscription.  In  Decem- 
ber 1784  be  issued  an  advertisement  of  the  work, 
with  the  following  notice  appended  to  it,  from 
which  it  would  appear  that  he  and  the  Edinburgh 
booksellers  were  not  on  the  best  of  terms :  "  Mr. 
Arnot  printed,  a  few  days  ago,  a  prospectus  of  the 
work  that  the  public  might  form  some  idea  of  its 
nature,  and  he  sent  it  to  be  hung  up  in  the  princi- 
pal booksellers  in  town ;  but  they  have  thought 
proper  to  refrtse,  in  a  body,  to  allow  the  prospec- 
tus and  subscription  papers  to  hang  in  their  shops. 
The  prospectus  will,  therefore,  be  seen  at  the  Koy- 
al  Exchange  Coffee  house.  Exchange  Cofiee  house, 
Princes  street  Coffee  house,  and  Messrs.  Corri  and 
Sutherland's  Music  shop,  Edinburgh,  and  Gibb's 
Coffee  house,  Leith."  The  work  is  curious  of  its 
kind,  but  is  not  so  fUll  nor  so  valuable  as  Pitcaim's 


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ooUection  of  Criminal  Trials,  a  more  recent  publi- 
cation. Mr.  Amot  died  on  20th  November  1786, 
aged  37,  and  was  interred  in  Soath  Leith  chnrch- 
yard,  in  a  piece  of  ground  presented  to  him  before 
tiis  death  by  the  magistrates  of  his  native  town. 
For  several  weeks  previous  to  his  death  he  regu- 
larly visited  his  appointed  burial-place,  to  observe 
the  progress  of  some  masons  whom  he  had  em- 
ployed to  wall  it  in,  and  frequently  expressed  a 
fear  that  he  would  die  before  they  should  have 
completed  his  work.  Mr.  Arnot  was  of  great 
height,  and  extraoi*dinary  thinness.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  full-length  portrait  of  him  as  he  appeared 
in  the  dress  of  his  time  taken  by  Kay.  He  is  re- 
presented giving  alms  to  a  beggar,  a  sly  piece  of 
satire  on  the  part  of  the  artist. 


His  person  altogether  was  so  remarkable  that  it 
was  the  source  of  many  jests  and  witticisms.  It 
is  related  that  the  Honourable  Henry  £rsklne 
meeting  him  once  while  engaged  eating  a  dried 
haddock'or  spelding,  complimented  him  ^^  on  look- 
ing so  like  his  meat ! "  Discussing  with  the  same 
wit  on  tlie  disposition  of  the  Deity  to  pardon  the 
sins  of  the  flesh,  and  on  Hugo  expressing  his  hope 
of  forgiveness,  Erskine  impromptued, — 

'*  Pre  searched  the  whole  Scriptom,  and  texts  I  fiiid  none 
Extending  God*8  meroj  to  Am  and  to  hone.'" 

He  himself  was  reputed  to  be  a  humorist  in 


his  way.  One  day,  when  suffering  severely  firom 
his  complaint,  he  was  annoyed  by  the  bawling  ot 
a  man  selling  sand  on  the  street.  **  The  rascal,** 
said  the  unhappy  asthmatic,  "  he  spends  as  much 
breath  in  a  minute  as  would  serve  me  for  a  month  !'* 
In  his  professional  character  he  was  no  less  singu- 
lar. He  would  not  undeitake  a  case,  unless  thor- 
oughly convinced  of  its  justice.  Once  when  a 
cause  was  offered  him,  of  the  merits  of  which  he 
had  a  very  bad  opinion,  he  asked  the  person  em- 
ploying him,  "  Pray,  Sir,  what  do  you  suppose  me 
to  be?"  "  Why,"  answered  the  client,  " I  under- 
stand you  to  be  a  lawyer  I"  "I  thought,"  said 
Amot,  sternly,  *^you  took  me  for  a  scoundrel  1" 
and  dismissed  the  litigant  with  indignation.  Va- 
rious stories  are  told  of  his  intrepidity  of  mind 
in  early  life.  One  of  these  was  his  riding  to  the 
end  of  the  pier  of  Leith  on  a  spirited  horse,  on  a 
stormy  day,  when  the  waves  were  dashing  over 
the  pier  so  furiously  as  to  impress  every  on- 
looker with  the  belief  that  he  could  not  fail  to  be 
swept  into  the  sea.  Leith  pier,  it  must  be  re- 
marked, was  then  neither  so  extended  nor  so  well 
bulwarked  as  it  Is  now,  and  consequently  this  feat 
was  one  of  great  danger.  Another  was  his  accept- 
ing the  challenge  of  an  anonymous  enemy  who 
took  offence  at  one  of  his  political  pamphlets,  and 
wrote  to  him  to  meet  him  in  the  King's  Paj'k  at  a 
particular  time  and  place,  to  answer  for  his  state- 
ments. Mr.  Amot  repaired  to  the  spot  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour,  and  waited  for  some  time,  but  no 
antagonist  came  forward.  His  purpose  in  going 
might  not  have  been  to  expose  his  person  in  a 
duel,  but  to  ascertain  who  was  his  unknown  chal- 
lenger. Though  recorded  as  a  proof  of  his  intre- 
pidity, we  do  not  see  in  this  occurrence  any  strik- 
mg  mark  of  moral  courage.  A  sensible  man  would 
have  paid  no  attention  to  such  a  letter,  which 
appears  to  have  been  intended  merely  as  a  hoax. 
Of  a  nervous  and  irritable  disposition,  he  was  guilty 
of  many  eccentiicities  which  rendered  him  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  local  characters  of  his  time. 
Among  other  anecdotes  the  following  is  related  of 
him,  which  does  not  say  much  for  his  urbanity  or 
neighbourly  feeling.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  ring- 
ing his  bell  with  a  violence  which  much  annoyed 
an  old  maiden  lady,  in  a  weak  state  of  health,  who 
resided  on  the  floor  above  him.    Of  this  annoy- 


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ARTHUR. 


ance  she  fi-equently  complained,  but  without  effect. 
At  leugth,  wearied  with  her  constant  messages,  he 
gave  her  to  understand  that  he  should  cease  to 
use  it  in  future ;  but  in  the  belief  that  her  impor- 
tunities proceeded  from  mere  queralousness,  in- 
stead of  ringing  the  bell  83  usual,  he  fired  off  a 
loaded  pistol,  whenever  he  desired  the  attendance 
of  Ills  servant,  to  the  great  alarm  of  the  invalid 
upstairs,  who  now  as  earnestly  besought  the  res- 
titution of  the  bell,  as  she  had  before  requested 
its  discontinuance.  He  left  eight  children.  His 
grandson,  Dr.  David  Boswell  Reid,  the  author 
of  ^Elements  of  Chemistry,'  acquired  a  high 
character  as  teacher  of  practical  chemistry  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh.  Hugo  Arnot  figures  as 
a  principal  personage  in  Kay's  Edinburgh  Por- 
traits, in  which  some  amusing  anecdotes  of  his 
peculiarities  may  be  found. 

Arran,  earl  of,  one  of  the  secondaiy  titles  of  the  duke  of 
Hamilton,  [see  Hamilton,  dnke  of,]  derived  from  the  island 
of  that  name  in  the  frith  of  Clyde.  In  Gaelic  it  ia  pronounced 
Arrinn,  that  is,  *  the  island  of  sharp  pinnacles,*  frt>m,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Macleod,  Ar^  *a  land'  or  'oonntiy,*  and  rmn, 
*  sharp  points  ;*  an  etymobgj  far  more  satisfactoiy  than  that 
of  Ar-fhin,  *  the  Und,'  or  *  the  field  of  Ron,'  (Fingal) ;  or  fh>m 
Aratiy  *  bread,'  as  denoting  extraordinaiy  fertility,  which  is 
by  no  means  ft  characteristio  of  this  island.  The  title  of  earl 
of  Arran  was  first  conferred  on  Sir  Thomas  Boyd,  eldest  son 
of  Robert  lord  Boyd,  [see  Kilmarnock,  earl  of,]  in  April 
1467,  on  his  marriage  with  the  Princess  Mary,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  James  the  Second.  He  was  attainted  and  forfeited  in 
1469,  and  died  soon  after.  The  princess  married,  a  second 
time,  in  1474,  James,  first  lord  Hamilton,  to  whom  she  bad 
been  betrothed  in  1454,  and  their  son  James  was,  in  August 
1503,  created  earl  of  Arran.  The  title  was  afterwards  be- 
stowed on  Captain  James  Stewart  of  Bothwellmuir,  the  se- 
cond son  of  Andrew,  lord  Ochiltree,  [see  Ochiltreb,  lord,] 
whose  mother  Lady  Margaret  Hamilton,  was  the  only  child 
of  James  first  earl  of  Arran,  by  his  first  wife  Beatrice  Drum- 
mond.  He  entered  the  army  of  the  states  of  Holland,  and 
served  some  years  against  the  Spaniards.  On  his  return  to 
Scotland  in  1579,  he  obtained  the  fayour  of  James  the  Sixth, 
wbo,  a  few  days  ailer  his  appearance  at  court,  appointed  him 
a  gentleman  of  his  bedchamber,  a  privy  councillor,  captain  of 
his  guard,  and  tutor  to  the  third  earl  of  Arran  of  the  Hamil- 
ton family,  who  by  a  shameful  abuse  of  law  had  been  impri- 
soned by  order  of  the  regent  Morton,  and  was  afterwards 
cognosced  as  an  idiot.  It  was  on  the  accusation  of  the  king's 
new  favourite,  Capt  Stewart,  that  the  earl  of  Morton  was 
tried,  convicted,  and  beheaded,  for  being  accessary  to  the  death 
of  Lord  Damley.  For  five  years  he  possessed  the  whole  power 
of  the  government,  and  in  1684  was  appointed  lord  high  chan- 
cellor and  lieutenant  of  the  kingdom.  In  1581  he  obtained 
frt)m  the  king  a  grant  of  the  baronies  of  Hamilton  and  Kin- 
niel,  and  the  other  estates  of  the  Hamilton  family.  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year,  under  the  pretence  that  he  was  the 
lawful  heir  of  the  family,  and  that  the  children  of  the  third 
marriage  of  the  first  earl  of  Arran  were  illegitimate,  he  was 
created  earl  of  A. Tan,  which  dignity  he  held,  along  with  the 


estates,  until  his  disgrace  in  1585,  when  they  were  restored 
to  the  true  owner.  About  the  end  of  1596,  as  he  was  riding 
homeward  through  Symington,  near  Douglas  in  Lanarkshire, 
he  was  unexpectedly  attacked  by  Sir  James  Douglas  of  Park- 
head,  nephew  of  the  regent  Morton,  who,  in  revenge  for  the 
death  of  his  uncle,  killed  him  on  the  spot  His  body  was 
exposed  to  dogs  and  swine,' and  his  head  being  cut  off  was 
carried  on  the  point  of  a  lance,  in  triumph  through  the  coun- 
try. He  married,  6th  July  1581,  Lady  Elizabeth  Stewart, 
eldest  daughter  of  John,  fourth  earl  of  Athol,  who  had  been 
twice  previously  married,  and  by  her  had  Sir  James  Stewart 
of  Killeith,  Ijord  OchUtree,  [see  Ochiltree,  Lord,]  and  ano- 
ther son. 

Arran,  eari  of,  is  also  an  Irish  title,  created  in  1762,  and 
possessed  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Gore,  properiy  earl  of 
the  Arran  Islands  in  Qalway. 

AERAN,  Earl  of,  see  Hamilton,  James. 

Arthur,  a  surname  derived  from  ArUuir^  agnifying  the 
chief  or  great  man ;  hence  the  renowned  Welsh  prince,  King 
Arthur,  whose  achievements  have  formed  the  subject  of  m 
much  romantic  fiction,  and  whose  name  has  been  traditional- 
ly given  to  various  places  in  Scotland,  as  well  as  in  England 
and  Wales.  **  It  cannot  easily  be  discovered,**  says  Stoddart, 
**  why  several  mountains  in  Scotland  take  their  name  from 
the  Welsh  prince,  Arthur,  of  whom  no  other  traces  remun  in 
this  country ;  but  it  appears  that  they  have  been  traditionally 
considered  as  places  of  sovereignty.  Thus  it  is  said  that  Ben 
Aitliur  (a  lofty  mountain-crag  in  the  wilds  of  Glencroe,  Ar- 
gyleshire),  being,  at  one  period,  the  most  elevated  and  con- 
spicuous of  the  mountains  in  the  domain  of  the  Campbells, 
the  heir  to  that  chieftainship  was  obliged  to  seat  hunself  on 
its  loftiest  peak,  a  task  of  some  difficulty  and  danger,  which, 
if  he  neglected,  his  lands  went  to  the  next  relation  sufficiently 
adventurous.'*  Arthur*s  Seat  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
of  Edinburgh  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name  from  King  Ar- 
thur having  surveyed  the  country  from  its  summit,  previous 
to  the  eleventh  battle  which  he  fought  against  the  Saxons,  in 
the  sixth  century,  and  which,  according  to  Whittaker,  was 
decided  on  the  castle -hill  of  Edinburgh.  Pinkerton  says 
that  the  name  arose  from  the  tournaments  held  near  it,  as 
did  Arthiu^s  round-table  at  Stirling,  Arthur  being  quite  popu- 
lar in  the  centuries  of  chivalry  and  romance,  [^Enqmry  into 
the  History  qf  Scotland^  vol.  L  p.  77,  noit]*^  but  there  cannot 
be  a  question  that  the  name  of  Arthur's  Seat,  as  applied  to 
the  height  immediately  beside  the  palace  of  Holyrood,  the 
residence  of  Scotland's  later  kings,  meant  no  more  than  the 
hill  of  the  chief  or  sovereign  of  the  whole  country,  without 
any  reference  at  all  to  King  Arthur  of  Welsh  history.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  all  the  other  places  in  Scotland  to  which 
his  name  has  oeen  given,  and  of  which  Chalmers  in  his  Cale- 
donia [voL  i  p.  244]  has  collected  many  notices.  Arthur's 
fountain  in  the  parish  of  Crawford,  Clydesdale,  is  referred  to 
in  a  grant  made  in  1239  by  David  de  Lindsey  to  the  monks 
of  Newbottle,  of  the  lands  of  Brother-alwyn  in  that  district, 
as  being  bounded  on  the  west,  "  a  fonte  Artfutri  tuque  ad 
trnmitatem  mantia,'*  [Cart  Newbottle^  No.' 148.]  This, 
however,  may  only  mean  the  fountain  of  the  chief  or  great 
man  of  the  district.  The  Welsh  poets  assign  a  palace  to  Ar- 
thur among  the  northern  Britons  at  Penryn  ryoneth,  oorre 
sponding  to  Dumbarton  castle,  which,  as  appears  from  a  par- 
liamentary record  of  the  rdgn  of  David  the  Second  in  1367, 
was,  long  before,  named  Caatrttm  AtihurL  But  this  might 
mean  only  the  castle  or  fort  of  the  chief  or  sovereign.  Thf! 
romantic  castle  of  Stirling  was  equally,  during  the  middle 
ages,  supposed  to  have  been  the  festive  scene  of  Artbnr's 


Digitized  by 


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Digitized  by 


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mf  §^jC0tkiiitr. 


II. 


(Bmhm  of  %i\ak    drttttb  bj  pig  (%ar. 


(1)  DoKJU^D  BAinc. 

1 


L  Jpnx  of  ^mccBJi  |.,  j|tng  of  jKcotlsnk. 

1st,  MALE  DESCENDANTS. 
(2)  Limb  of  Dwoajk  IL 

8  8  4 


2d,  line  of  HENRT,  4tb  EARL 
(1)  Gbahdoaughtsbs. 


L  Madach,  hojx 
of  Donald 
Bane  and 
prandson  of 
Duncan  I., 
died  in  reign 
of  David  I. 
No  issue. 


2.  Malcolm, 

son  of 
Duncan  IL, 
prandson  of 
Malcolm  III. 

and 

^reat- grandson 

of  Duncan  I. 


(1)  Gbahddauohtebs. 
3  4 


6.  Henry  de 

Londoniis. 
{Oitiaritis  liegU) 

in  right  of 

his  wife, 
eldest  daujthter 
of  deceased  son 

of  Henrj'. 

No  issue. 


2d,  LINE  OF  HENRT,  4th  EARL. 

(2)  Limb  op  Stbaxhbooib  ahd  Hismros 

1  2&3  4 


6.  Thomas  de 

Galloway, 

In  right  of 

Isabel  his  wife, 

her  ftister.  died 

in  1231. 

No  issue 


5&6 


8.  David  do 

7.  Patrick, 
Ron  of 
6th  earl ; 

'            Hastings, 
1          in  right  of 
1        Fcmelith,  hla 

murdered  at 

Haddinpion   in 

1242. 

V                                    J 

1               wife, 
;        third  grand- 

daughUr,   died 
'      at  Tunis,  1269. 

9.  John  de 
Strathhofrio, 
(grandson  of 
Macdutf.  6th 
earl  of  Fife.) 
In  right  of 

hiB  wife,  Adda, 
daughter  of 

David,  8th  eaxL 


10.  David, 

their  son. 

11.  John,  his 

son, 

executed  In 

I^ondon, 

Jth  Nov.  1306. 


12.  David,  hla 

son, 

died  under 

forfeiture, 

1327. 


TiUilar  BorU. 
is.  Dayid,  Md 

OflSthMTl, 

■Uin  in  batUe, 
aoth  Not.  1335. 
14.  DftTid,  hto 


n.  CRmplrtlL         ni.  ^oitfto. 


I  2 


r' 


Sir  John  Camp- 
bell of  Moulin, 

nephew  of 

Robert  Bruce, 

created  In  reign 

of  David  II., 

killed  1833. 

at  HalidonhilL 

No  ijtaue. 


William  Doug- 
las, Lord  of  Lld- 
disdale,  created 
by  David  II., 
resigned  1341, 
In  favour  of 
Robert  the 
Great  Steward. 


1.  Robert  tho 

Steward  of 

Scotland. 

Merged  in  the 

crown  on  hig 

acceasioiL 


2.  W*»Uer,  hla 

second  son. 

by  Eu}ih  Ross. 

about  1403, 

beheaded  for 

murdering 

James  1 ,  1437. 

Forfeited 


L  John,  son  of 
Sir  James 
Stewart  of 
Lorn,  and 
of  widow  of 
James  I.. 

created  1457, 
died  1612. 


V.  Stefawtjjtmeofyow. 

2&3  4 


2.  John,  hb 

eldest  son, 

killed  at 

Flodden,  1513. 

3  John,  his 

son, 
died  in  1542. 


4.  John,  hig 

eon, 

Lord  High 

Chancellor  of 

Scotland, 
died  in  1579. 


5.  John,  his 
son,  died 
without 
male  Issue, 
1595,  leaving 
4  daughters. 


YL  Stcfosrt  ^mt  of  |mttrmeBl)i 
1  s 


L  John,  Lord 

Innermeath, 

3.  James, 

married 

their  son, 

widowed 

died 

Countess  of 

without  issue* 

Athole, 

16^5 

created  1596.      ; 

Wrniam  Momy, 

SdMriof 

TaUllMrdliM. 


ftir  ttldcr  Mridom, 

nrlwd  in  Tislit 

orbbwlA. 


L  John,  their  son* 

got  earldom 

confirmed  to 

him  in  /ight  of 

mother  1629 

Died  1642. 


LiMl; 


Vn.  Pnrras  %m  of  CnllilrarMnf .  anb  Siebaxt  of  %om. 


rDoroUiM 
Itewait, 
t  daughter 
of  JohnistEMri 
ofAtbole.bat 
diedbefore 


2.  John,  bis  son. 
Justice  General 

of  Scotland, 
succeeded  to  earl- 
dom ofTulli- 
bardine.  1670. 
(Marquis  of  Athole, 
1676.) 
Died  17( 


8.  John,  his  son, 

(2d  Marquis.) 

created  Duke, 

1708. 

One  of  tho 

Commissioners  of 

the  Union,  1707. 

Died  1724. 


6.  John,  his 

nephew, 

8d  Duke, 

(son  of  Ld.  Oca 

Murray.   1745.) 

By  his  wife  and 

cousin.  Lord 

of  Man. 
Died  1774. 


AftMORUL  BBARING8  OF  MURRAT,   EABL, 
MABQUIS,  AMD  DUKB  OF  ATHOLB. 

QiMrterings:— LibrMmrray.    i.  Lord  oTlCiin.    S.  G  A  4)  for  Stanley.  (2  ft  3)  for 


4.  Jamee,  hb  8d 
son,  and  (by  at- 
talntment  of  hi< 
brother)  2d  Duke. 
By  his  grand- 
mother, (heiress 
of  Stanley,  Eatl 
Derby,)  Lord 
Strange. 
Tied  17f 


Diaitized  by 


6.  John,  his  eldest 

son,  4th  Duke. 

(H^arl  Strange  and 

Baron  Murray, 

in   United   King- 

dom,  1786.) 

DiedlSaOL 


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ARTHUR. 


161 


ATHOLE. 


Toond  table.  ''Bex  ArAurut,'*  sajs  WiUUun  of  Worcester, 
in  his  Itinenuy,  p.  311,  **  euttodiAai  le  ro9md-4able  m  cattro 
de  Siyr^,  aiiim',  Snmedon^ioutrCcaieU, "  Sir  David  lind- 
saj,  in  his  *•  Complaint*  of  the  Papingo,  makes  her  take  leave 
of  Stirling  castle  thus : 

**  Adew,  ftdr  Snawdoon,  with  thy  toorli  hte, 
Thy  chapeU  royall,  parii,  and  tabfll  roand.** 

In  Neilston  parish,  Renfinewshire,  there  are  three  places  of  the 
name  of  Arthnr-lee.  The  ancient  monnment  of  Arthur's  Oven, 
or  *  Oon,*  on  the  Carron,  which  was  demolished  many  years  ago, 
was  known  by  that  name  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Alexander 
the  Third,  if  not  earlier.  Arthur's  Seat  near  Edinbuigfa  is 
not  the  only  hiD  which  bears  the  name.  Not  far  from  the  top 
of  Loch  Long,  that  separates  Argyle  and  Dumbarton,  there 
is  a  conical  hiD  also  called  Arthur's  Seat,  which  is  likewise 
the  name  given  to  a  rock,  on  the  north  side  of  the  hiD  of 
Dunbarrow  in  the  parish  of  Dunnichen,  Forfmrshire.  In  the 
parish  of  Cupar-Angus,  Perthshire,  there  is  a  standing  stone 
called  the  Stone  of  Arthur;  near  it  is  a  gentleman's  seat  called 
Arthur-stone,  and  not  ht  from  it  is  a  £urm  named  Arthur's 
fold.  At  Mdgle,  in  the  same  vicinity,  some  antique  and  cu- 
rious monuments  in  the  churchyard  are  associated  by  tradition 
with  the  name  of  the  fabulous  King  Arthur's  faithless  queen, 
Vanora,  Guenevra,  or  Ginevra.  Arthur  is,  besides,  the  appa- 
rent founder  of  a  numerous  dan,  whose  antiquity  is  proverbial 
among  the  Highlanders. 

ARTHUR,  Archibald,  professor  of  moral  phi- 
loBopbj  in  the  university  of  Glasgow,  eldest  son 
of  Andrew  Arthur,  a  farmer,  was  bom  at  Abbot's- 
Inch,  Renfrewshire,  September  6,  1744.  He  was 
taught  Latin  at  the  grammar  school  of  Paislej, 
and  studied  for  the  ministry  at  Glasgow  college, 
where,  when  yet  a  student,  he  lectured  on  church 
history  for  a  whole  session,  during  the  absence  of 
the  professor,  to  the  great  satisfaction  and  im- 
provement of  the  class.  In  October  1767  he  was 
licensed  as  a  preacher  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
and  soon  after  became  chaplain  to  the  university 
of  Glasgow,  and  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Craig, 
one  of  the  clei*gymen  of  that  city.  Becoming  also 
Jibrarian  to  the  university,  he  compiled  the  cata- 
logue of  that  library.  In  1780  he  was  appointed 
assistant  and  successor  to  the  venerable  Dr.  Reid, 
professor  of  moral  philosophy,  who  died  in  1796. 
Mr.  Arthur  taught  the  class  fifteen  years  as  assist- 
ant, and  only  held  the  chair  as  professor  for  one 
session,  as  he  died  on  14th  June  1797.  In  1803, 
Professor  Richardson,  of  the  same  university,  pub- 
lished a  part  of  Arthur's  lectures,  under  the  title 
of  ^Discourses  on  Theological  and  Literary  Sub- 
iects,'  8vo,  with  a  sketch  of  his  life  and  character 

AsTON,  krd,  a  title  m  the  peerage  of  Soothmd,  now  ex- 
tinct, possessed  by  a  noble  family  of  the  same  name,  which 
originally  belonged  to  the  county  of  Stafford  in  England,  the 
progenitor  of  which  was  Randal  or  Ranulpli  de  Astona,  who 


lived  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  First  His  descendant,  Sii 
Edward  Aston  of  Tlxall,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
possessed  estates  of  the  value  of  ten  thousand  a-year,  m  the 
counties  of  Staffintl,  Derby,  Leicester,  and  Warwick.  He 
married  Anne,  only  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  of  Gharle- 
oot,  and  died  in  1598.  His  eldest  son.  Sir  Walter  Aston,  at 
the  coronation  of  James  the  First  of  England,  was  honoured 
with  the  order  of  the  Bath,  and  in  1611  he  was  created  a 
baronet  In  1622  he  was  employed  to  negodate  a  marriage 
between  Charies,  prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  Charlo  the 
First,  and  the  Infanta  of  Spain ;  and,  in  requital  for  hu  ser- 
vices upon  that  occasion,  he  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  28th 
November  1627,  as  Lord  Aston  of  Forfar.  He  nuuried  Ger- 
trude, only  daughter  of  Sur  Thomas  Sadler  of  Standon,  son 
of  the  celebrated  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  and  died  m  1689.  He 
supported  Michael  Drayton  the  poet  for  many  years,  and  his 
seat  of  Tizall  is  noticed  m  his  *  Polyolbion.*  At  his  investi- 
ture as  knight  of  the  Bath  in  1603,  Drayton;  who  has  dedi- 
cated several  of  his  poems  to  this  Lord  Aston,  acted  as  one  of 
his  esquires.  The  tiUe  became  extinct  on  2l8t  January 
1845,  on  the  death  without  issue  of  the  Rev.  Walter  Hut- 
chinson-Aston,  ninth  baron  Aston,  a  clergyman  of  the  church 
of  England,  vicar  of  Tardebigg,  Worcestershire,  and  of  Tam- 
worth,  Warwickshire.  The  motto  of  the  family  was  "  Nwnim 
et  Patria  A»to.**  The  title  does  not  appear  on  the  Union 
Roll ;  but  the  eighth  baron  Aston,  the  father  of  the  last  lord, 
was  recognised  as  a  peer  by  George  the  Third. 


Athol,  Atholl,  or  Atholk,  earis  of,  an  ancient  title, 
formerly  possessed  by  the  royal  family  of  Scotland,  subse- 
quently in  right  of  marriaee  by  Thomas  de  Galloway  and  his 
son,  and  after  him  by  David  de  Hastings,  afterwax^  by  the 
Strathbogie  family,  then  after  being  held  by  a  Campbell  and 
a  Douglas,  it  was  conferred  on  a  sdon  of  the  royal  house  of 
Stewart,  and  through  a  second  creation  in  the  house  of  Stew- 
art, it  came  latterly  to  be  possessed  by  a  branch  of  thi 
noble  family  of  Murray.  It  is  the  name  of  a  moxmtainous 
and  romantic  district  in  the  north  of  Perthshire,  which,  from 
a  remote  period,  has  preserved  its  boundaries  unaltered.  It 
was  the  origmal  patrimony  of  the  family  which  gave  kings  to 
Scotiand  from  Duncan  to  Alexander  the  Third;  and  it  is  the 
earliest  district  in  Scotland  mentioned  in  history.  The  name 
signifies  *  pleasant  land,'  and  Blair  of  Athol,  its  principal 
valley,  *the  field  or  vale  of  AthoL'  ''  Its  chief  interest,** 
says  Skene,  **  arises  from  the  strong  presumption  which  ex- 
ists that  the  family  which  gave  a  long  line  of  kings  to  Scot- 
land, firom  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  centuiy,  took  their 
ongoi  firom  this  district,  to  which  they  can  be  traced  before 
the  marriage  of  their  ancestor  with  the  daughter  of  Malcolm 
the  Second  raised  them  to  the  throne."  ^History  qf  the 
Highhnden,  voL  ii.  p.  127.]  When  Thorfinn,  the  Norwe- 
gian eari  of  Orkney*  conquered  the  north  of  Scotland,  in  the 
eariy  part  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  only  portion  of  the 
territory  of  the  Northern  Picts  which  remained  unsubdued 
was  the  district  of  Athol  and  part  of  Argyle.  The  lord  of 
the  Isles  had  been  slain  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  pre- 
serve his  insular  dominions,  and  the  king  of  the  Soots,  with 
the  whole  of  his  nobility,  had  also  fiillen  in  the  short  but 
bloody  campaign  which  preceded  the  Norwegian  conquest. 
In  their  disastrous  condition  the  Scots  had  recourse  to  Dun- 
can, the  son  of  Crinan,  abbot  of  Dunkeld,  by  Beatrice,  the 
daughter  of  Malcolm  the  Second,  the  last  Scottish  king. 
Duncan  came  to  the  vacant  throne  in  1034,  but  after  a  reign 
of  six  years,  he  was  slain  in  an  attempt  to  recover  the  nor- 
thern districts  from  the  Norwegians,  and  his  sons  were  driven 
out  by  Macbeth,  who  for  a  tima  ruled  over  the  south,  whilst 
L 


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ATHOLE. 


162 


ATHOLE. 


the  Norwegians  possessed  the  north  of  Scotland.  After  the 
orerthrow  of  Macbeth,  5th  December,  1056,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  Malcolm  Ganmore  on  the  throne,  the  Lowlands 
of  Scotland  were,  according  to  the  Saxon  polity,  diyided  into 
earldoms,  all  of  which  were  granted  to  the  different  members 
of  the  royal  family.  These  earldoms  consisted  of  the  comitry 
inhabited  by  the  Scots,  with  the  addition  of  the  district  of 
Athol ;  and  from  this  drtnmstance  it  has,  not  onreasonably, 
been  presumed  that  Athol  was  the  original  possession  of  this 
royal  race.  Tliis  is  further  coniirmed  by  the  de^gnation 
which  early  Scottish  historians  apply  to  Crinan,  the  father  of 
Duncan.  Besides  being  abbot  of  Dunkeld,  he  is  styled  by 
Fordun,  ^*Abdumut  de  DuU  ac  SeneachaUus  Iruularum" 
(Abthane  of  Dull  and  steward  of  the  Isles).  Pinkerton  has 
denied  that  such  a  title  as  Abthane  was  ever  known  or  heard 
of;  but  Mr.  Skene  has  most  conclnsively  shown,  not  only 
that  there  was  such  a  title  as  Abthane  in  Scotland,  but  that 
the  veiy  title  of  Abthane  of  Dull,  which  is  the  name  of  a  dis- 
trict in  Athol,  existed  until  oomparativelj^a  late  period. 
ISkene^t  History  of  the  Highlanders^  vol.  il  part  2,  chap.  5.] 
See  Abthakb,  ofite,  p.  16. 

By  King  Edgar,  the  whole  of  Athol,  except  Breadalbane, 
was  erected  into  an  earldom,  and  conferred  upon  his  cousin 
Madach,  the  son  of  King  Donald  Bane.  Madach  married  a 
daughter  of  Haco,  earl  of  Orkney.  He  was  a  witness  to  the 
foundation  charter  of  Alexander  the  First,  of  the  monastery  of 
Scone,  in  1114^  and  he  was  himself  afterwards  a  benefactor 
to  the  abbey.  On  the  death  of  Madach  towards  the  end  of 
the  reign  of  David  the  First,  the  earldom  of  Athol  was  ob- 
tained by  Malcolm  the  son  of  Duncan,  the  eldest  son  of  Mal- 
colm Caumore,  by  Ingioborge,  the  widow  of  Thorfinn,  eari  of 
Orkney,  whose  descendants  were  excluded  from  the  throne 
by  that  king's  younger  sons.  The  earldom  was  thus  bestow- 
ed on  Malcolm,  "  either,  **  Skene  says,  "  because  the  exclusion 
of  that  family  from  the  throne  could  not  deprive  them  of  the 
original  property  tX  the  family,  to  which  they  were  entitled  to 
succeed,  or  as  a  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  crown.** 
[UisL  of  Highlanderij  vol.  il  p.  189.]  His  son  Malcolm, 
the  third  earl  of  Athol,  gave  in  pure  alms  to  the  monks  of 
Scone  the  church  of  L(^n  Mabed,  with  four  chapels  there- 
unto belonging,  and  to  the  abbey  of  Dunfermline  the  tithes 
of  the  church  of  Moulin.  He  also  made  a  donation  to  the 
priory  of  St.  Andrews  of  the  patronage  of  the  church  of  Dull. 
His  son  Henry  succeeded  to  the  earldom,  and  on  his  death, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  tlurteenth  century,  his  granddaugh- 
ters, by  his  eldest  son  who  predeceased  him,  carried  it  into 
the  famOies  of  Galloway  and  Hastings. 

The  eldest  of  these  granddaughters  (erroneously  stated  by 
Douglas  in  his  Peerage  to  have  been  the  daughters  of  Earl 
Henry)  married  Alan  de  Lundin,  Ostiarius  Regis,  who  in  her 
right  became  fifth  earl  of  Athol,  and  who  died  without  is- 
sue. •  Her  next  sister,  Isabel,  married  Thomas  de  Gallovidia, 
the  brother  of  Alan  lord  of  Galloway,  and  in  her  right  be- 
came sixth  earl  of  AthoL  He  died  in  1281.  His  son  Pa- 
trick, seventh  earl  of  Athol,  was  the  youth  who  overthrew  W. 
Bisset  at  a  tournament  on  the  English  borders,  and  was  mur- 
dered at  Haddmgton  in  1242  (see  ante,  life  of  Alexander  II., 
p.  75).  Femelith,  the  youngest  of  Earl  Henry's  grand- 
daughters, succeeded  her  nephew.  Earl  Patrick,  as  countess 
of  Athol.  She  married  David  de  Hastings,  an  Anglo-Norman, 
descended  from  the  steward  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  he, 
in  her  right,  became  the  eighth  earl.  He  was  one  of  the 
guarantees  of  the  treaty  of  peace  between  Alexander  the  Sec- 
ond and  Henry  the  Thuxl  in  1244.  [See  ante,  p.  77.]  In 
1268  he  accompanied  other  Scottish  barons  in  an  expedition 
to  the  Holy  Land,  and  died  at  Tunis  the  following  year.    His 


daughter  Adda  married  John  de  Strathbogie,  who  in  hei 
right  became  ninth  earl  of  Athol.  The  grandfather  of  this 
John  of  Strathbogie,  Duncan  earl  of  fife,  had  obt^ed  the 
lands  of  Strathbogie,  in  Aberdeenshire,  from  King  William 
the  Lion.  He  settled  them  on  his  tlurd  son,  David,  who  as- 
sumed his  name  from  these  lands,  and  was  the  father  of  the 
eighth  eari  of  AthoL  The  son  of  the  latter,  David  de  Strath- 
bogie, became  the  tenth  earl  of  Athoi,  and  was  the  father  of 
John,  eleventh  earl,  who  was  one  of  the  chief  associates  of  Ro- 
bert the  Bruce,  and  assisted  at  his  coronation  at  Scone,  27th 
March,  1806.  He  fought  on  Bruce's  side  at  Methven,  and 
on  his  discomfiture  accompanied  him  during  his  disastrous 
flight.  After  the  surrender  of  the  castle  of  Kildrummy  the 
same  year,  he  was  seized  by  the  forces  of  Edward  in  at- 
tempting to  escape  by  sea,  and  conducted  to  London.  Being 
condemned  to  death  in  Westminster  Hall,  7th  Novembet 
1306,  he  was  executed  the  same  day,  on  a  gaUows  thirty  feet 
higher  than  ordinary,  in  consequence  of  his  royal  descent. 

The  earldom  of  Athol  was  then  forfeited  and  bestowed  on 
Ralph  de  Monthermer,  styled  earl  of  Gloucester,  who,  how- 
ever, relinquished  his  title  to  it  for  5,000  merks,  in  favour  of 
David  de  Strathbogie,  son  of  the  deceased  earL  This  David, 
the  twelfth  earl,  had  from  King  Robert  the  Bruce,  the  office 
of  high  constable  of  Scotland,  as  appears  from  a  charter  ot 
that  monarch  26th  February  1812,  where  he  is  so  designat- 
ed. Two  years  alter,  however,  he  revolted  against  Bruce, 
whereupon  his  office  of  high  constable  was  ^ven  to  Gilbert 
de  la  Haye,  and  Athol's  estates  in  Scotland  were  forfeited. 
He  married  Joan,  daughter  of  John  Cumyn  of  Badenoch, 
killed  by  Brace  at  Dumfries  in  1306,  with  whom  he  got 
great  estates  in  England.  He  died  in  1827,  leaving  a  son, 
David,  who  was  styled  thirteenth  earl  of  AthoL 

Along  with  other  forfeited  Scottish  barons  this  David  ac- 
companied Edward  Baliol  into  Scotland  in  1332,  and  had  a 
considerable  share  in  achieving  the  victoiy  over  the  Scota  at 
Dupplin,  12th  August  of  that  year.  He  was  now  restored 
to  bis  paternal  inheritance  and  title.  In  1334  Edward  Ba- 
liol bestowed  on  him  the  whole  estates  of  the  steward  of  Scot- 
land ;  but  the  same  year,  the  earl  of  Moray,  regent  of  Scot- 
land, compelled  him  to  surrender,  when  he  swore  allegiance 
to  David  the  Second,  the  lawful  king.  Beuig  in  consequence 
denounced  as  a  rebel  by  Edward  the  Third,  he  was  frin,  on 
the  invanon  of  Scotland  by  that  monarch  in  July  1385,  to 
agree  to  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  make  his  submission  to  Ed- 
ward, on  which  he  was  again  received  into  favour  with  the 
English  king,  and  had  the  office  of  governor  of  Scotland  con- 
ferred upon  him  under  Baliol,  when  he  acted  very  insolently 
and  tyrannically  towards  all  the  adherents  of  the  family  of 
Brace.  Having  been  appointed  commander  of  the  English 
forces  in  the  north,  with  three  thousand  men  he  proceeded  to 
lay  siege  to  the  castie  of  Kildrummy,  the  asylum  of  the  roy- 
alists ;  but  was  surprised  in  the  forest  of  Kilblane  by  the  earl 
of  March,  Sir  William  Douglas  of  liddesdale,  and  Sir  An- 
drew Moray  of  Bothwell,  at  the  head  of  eleven  hundred  men. 
AthoVs  troops,  panic-strack,  fled  and  dispersed;  the  earl, 
finding  himself  abandoned,  disdained  quarter,  and  was  slain 
80th  November,  1885,  in  the  28th  year  of  his  age.  He  left  a 
son,  David,  styled  fourteenth  eari  of  Athol,  who  was  only 
three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  He  ac- 
companied Edward  the  Black  Prince  into  France  in  1356, 
and  was  in  the  subsequent  expeditions  into  Gascony.  He 
died  10th  October  1376,  leaving  two  daughters. 

When  the  Celtic  earls  of  Athol  became  extinct,  says 
Skene,  and,  in  consequenoe,  the  subordinate  dans  in  the  di»> 
trict  of  Athol  assumed  independence,  the  principal  part  of 
that  district  was  in  the  possession  of  the  dan  Donnachie  or 


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the  Kobertsons.  IHistorif  of  the  Highianders^  voL  iL  pp 
139, 140.]  Skene  states  in  a  not«  that  the  peerage  writere 
have  been  more  than  usaallj  inaoenn^  in  their  account  of 
the  earldom  of  Athol.  From  its  origin  down  to  the  fourteenth 
century,  **  there  is,"*  he  says,  *^  scarcelj  a  single  step  in  the 
genealogy  correctly  giTen.** 

On  the  forfeiture  of  David,  the  twelfth  earl,  his  estates 
were  granted  to  Sir  Niel  Campbell  of  Lochow,  and  Mary  his 
^)ouse,  sister  to  King  Robert  the  Bruce,  and  Sir  John 
Campbell  of  Moulin,  their  second  son;  and  the  latter  was 
created  earl  of  AthoL  This  appears  from  a  charter  of  Kmg 
David  the  Second  to  Robert  Lord  Erakine,  of  the  customs  of 
Dundee  and  third  part  of  Pettarache  in  Forfarshire,  which 
some  time  pertfdn^  to  John  Campbell,  eari  of  Athol,  as 
well  as  from  a  charter  granted  by  the  latter  to  Roger  de 
Mortuner  of  the  lands  of  Billandre.  He  was  killed  in  the 
baUle  of  Halidon-hill,  19th  July  1333,  without  issue,  where- 
by the  title  reverted  to  the  crown. 

The  next  possessor  of  the  title  of  earl  of  Athol  was  William 
Douglas,  eldest  son  of  Sir  James  Douglas  of  Loudon,  ances- 
tor of  the  earls  of  Morton.  Not  long  after  the  death  of  the 
above-mentioned  John  Campbell  he  had  the  earldom  confer- 
red upon  him,  but  the  precise  date  is  unknown.  On  the  16th 
February  1341  he  resigned  his  title  by  charter  in  favour  of 
Robert,  great  steward  of  Scotland,  and  on  the  1atter*s  aooes- 
rion  to  the  throne  in  February  1371,  under  the  name  of  Ro- 
bert the  Second,  it  became  vested  in  the  royal  family.  Wal- 
ter Stewart,  the  second  son  of  that  monarch  by  his  second 
wife,  Euphemia  Ross,  was  the  next  earL  He  was  at  first 
earl  of  Caithness,  but  afterwards  had  the  earldom  of  Athol, 
being  so  designed,  5th  June,  1403,  in  letters  of  safe-conduct 
by  King  Henry  the  Fourth,  allowing  him  to  pass  into  his  do- 
minbns  as  far  as  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  with  a  retinue  of 
a  hundred  persons.  He  had  a  charter  from  his  brother  Ro- 
bert duke  of  Albany,  governor  of  Scotland,  of  the  barony  of 
Cortachy  in  Forfarshire  22d  September  1409.  On  the  10th 
April  1421  he  obtained  a  safe-conduct  to  England,  to  arrange 
as  to  the  restoration  to  hberty  of  his  nephew  James  the  First, 
which  he  was  very  mstmmental  in  accomplishing.  He  sat 
as  one  of  the  jury  on  the  trial  of  his  nephew  Murdoch,  duke 
of  Albany,  and  his  sons,  m  1424.  [See  ante,  p.  41.]  The 
king  conferred  upon  him  the  oflBce  of  great  justiciary  of 
Scotland,  and  also  gave  him  the  county  palatine  of  Strathem 
for  his  life,  22d  July  1427.  Nearly  ten  years  after  this  he 
engaged  in  the  oonspinuy  of  his  kinsman  Sir  Robert  Graham 
against  James  the  First,  one  of  the  objects  of  which  was  the 
placing  of  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Sir  Robert  Stewart  of 
Athol,  the  earVs  grandson.  The  king  was  cruelly  assassi- 
nated in  the  Blackfriars  monastery  at  Perth  by  the  three 
conspirators,  20th  Febmaiy  1437.  The  murderers  were  ap- 
prehended, and  put  to  death  at  Edinburgh  with  horrible  tor- 
tures, in  the  following  April.  Before  being  beheaded,  Athol 
was  set  upon  the  pillory,  and  his  head  encircled  with  a  red- 
hot  iron  crown,  on  which  was  inscribed  "  The  king  of  traitors.** 
His  titles  and  extensive  estates  were  forfeited. 

The  title  of  earl  of  Athol  was  conferred,  about  1457,  on 
Sir  John  Stewart  of  Balveny,  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  James 
Stewart,  the  Black  Knight  of  Lorn,  and  the  queen  Joanna, 
dowager  of  James  the  First,  who  had  chosen  him  for  her  sec- 
ond husband.  The  earl  of  AthoFs  father,  the  Bhick  Knight 
of  Lorn,  was  the  thu^  son  of  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Lorn  and 
Innermeath,  descended  from  Sir  James  Stewart,  fourth  son 
of  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bonkill,  who  was  second  son  of  Alex- 
ander, high  steward  of  Scotland.  This  earl  of  Athol  was, 
with  the  earl  of  Crawford,  appointed  in  1475  to  the  command 
of  the  armament  emploved  in  sunoressine  the  rebellion  of  the 


earl  of  Ross,  on  which  occasion  he  assumed  the  motto,  stiB 
borne  by  the  Athol  family,  of  "  Fiirth  fortune  and  fill  the  fet- 
ters,** and  had  a  grant  of  many  lands  that  had  belonged  to 
that  nobleman,  on  his  resignation  of  the  earidom  of  Ross  and 
the  lands  of  Kintyre  and  Knapdale.  He  also  acted  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  attempt  made  in  1480  to  reduce  to  obedience 
Angus  of  the  Isles,  the  illegitimate  son  of  the  Lord  of  the 
Isles,  the  new  title  of  the  earl  of  Ross.  Some  time  after  the 
battle  of  the  Bloody  Bay,  fought  in  that  year  in  the  Isle  of 
MuQ  between  the  Island  factions,  in  which  Angus  was  victor- 
ious, oooorred  the  event  known  in  history  as  the  *  Raid  of 
Athol.*  The  earl  crossing  privately  to  Islay  had  carried  off 
the  infant  son  of  Angus,  called  Donald  DubK,  or  the  Bkck, 
whom  he  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  maternal  grandfather  the 
earl  df  Argyle.  Angus  immediately  summoned  his  adherents 
and  sailed  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Inverlochy,  where  he  left 
his  galleys,  and  with  a  chosen  body  of  Island  warriors  made  a 
rapid  and  secret  march  into  the  district  of  Athol,  which  he 
ravaged  with  fire  and  sword.  The  earl  and  his  countess  took 
refuge  in  the  chapel  of  St  Bride,  to  which  sanctuaiy  many  of 
the  country  people  likewise  fled  with  their  roost  valuable 
effects.  The  chapel,  however,  was  violated  by  Angus  and  his 
followers,  who,  loaded  with  plunder,  returned  to  Lochaber, 
carrying  with  them  the' earl  and  countess  of  Athol  as  prisoners. 
In  the  voyage  from  Lochaber  many  of  his  galleys  sunk,  and 
much  of  his  plunder  was  lost  in  a  dreadful  storm  which  he 
encountered.  Believing  this  to  be  a  judgment  from  heaven 
for  the  violation  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Bride,  he  was  touched 
with  fear  and  remorse,  and  voluntarily  liberated  his  prisoners, 
without  procuring  what  seems  to  have  been  the  principal  ob- 
ject of  his  raid  into  Athol,  the  recovery  of  his  son.  He  even 
performed  an  ignominious  penance  in  the  chapel  which  he  had 
so  lately  desecrated. 

In  1488  the  earl  of  Athol  had  a  principal  command  in  the 
army  of  James  III.  against  his  son  and  the  rebel  lords,  for 
which,  on  the  death  of  that  monarch,  he  was  imprisoned  in 
the  castle  of  Dunbar.  He  died  19th  September  1512.  By 
his  first  wife.  Lady  Mai^garet  Douglas,  only  daughter  of 
Archibald,  fifth  earl  of  Douglas,  duke  of  Touraine,  the  widow 
of  the  eighth  earl  of  Douglas  and  the  wife  of  the  ninth  eari, 
her  marriage  with  whom  after  his  rebellion  in  1455  was  an- 
nulled, he  had  two  daughters.  By  his  second  wife,  Lady 
Eleonora  Sinclair,  daughter  of  William  earl  of  Oricney  and 
Caithness,  he  had  two  sons  and  nine  daughters.  John,  the 
elder  son,  second  earl  of  Athol,  of  this  new  creation,  did  not 
enjoy  the  title  one  year,  being  killed  at  Flodden  9th  Septem- 
ber, 1513.  His  son  John,  the  third  earl,  was  famous  for  his 
great  hospitality  and  princely  style  of  living.  Pitsoottie  mi- 
nutely describes  a  grand  hunting  match  and  sumptuous  en- 
tertainment ghren  by  him  to  King  James  the  Fifth  and  his 
mother  and  the  French  ambassador,  m  1529.  He  died  in  1542, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John,  fourth  earl  of  Athol.  In 
the  parliament  of  1560,  with  the  Lords  Borthwick  and  Som- 
crville  he  strongly  opposed  the  Reformation,  saying  they 
would  believe  as  their  fathers  had  done  before  them.  Being 
afterwards  constituted  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland,  he  was 
sworn  into  office  at  Sturling,  29th  March  1577.  He  opposed  the 
measures  of  the  regent  Morton,  and  took  up  arms  to  rescue 
the  king  from  his  power,  but  by  the  mediation  of  Bowes  the 
English  ambassador,  an  accommodation  took  place,  in  Au- 
gust 1578.  At  a  grand  entertainment  given  by  Morton,  at 
Stirling,  to  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  party,  in  token  of  reo- 
ondlement^  20th  April  1579,  Athol,  the  chancellor,  was  taken 
ill,  and  died  four  days  afterwards,  not  without  strong  suspi- 
cions of  his  having  been  poisoned.  He  was  twice  married ; 
the  second  time  to  Margaret,  third  dauj^hter  of  Malcolm 


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third  lord  Fleming,  great  chamberlain  of  Scotland,  widow  of 
Robert  master  of  Montrose,  killed  at  Pinkie,  1547,  and  of 
1  homas  master  of  Erskine,  son  of  John  earl  of  Mar.  During 
her  lifetime  it  was  the  general  belief  that  this  countess  of 
Athol  possessed  the  powers  of  sorcery,  and  it  is  said  that 
when  Queen  Mary  was  confined  with  James  the  Sixth,  the 
countess  cast  all  the  pains  of  childbirth  upon  Lady  Rires.  If 
so,  it  must  have  been  by  some  unknown  species  of  mesmer- 
ism. Their  son,  John,  fifth  earl  of  Athol,  was  sworn  a  privy 
ooundllor  in  1590,  and  died  at  Perth,  28th  August  1595, 
without  issue  male,  when  the  title  reverted  to  the  crown.  He 
married  Lady  Mary  Ruthven,  second  daughter  of  William 
first  earl  of  Gowrie,  by  whom  he  had  four  daughters.  His 
countess  afterwards  became  the  second  wife  of  John  lord  In- 
nermeath,  created  earl  of  Athol  by  James  the  Sixth,  in  1596. 
Lady  Dorothea  Stewart,  the  eldest  daughter  of  John  the 
fifth  earl  and  this  lady,  married  William,  second  earl  of  Tul- 
libardine,  and  was  the  mother  of  John,  created  earl  of  Athol, 
the  first  of  the  Murray  family  who  possessed  that  title,  as 
afterwards  mentioned.  Lady  Mary,  the  second  daughter, 
married  James,  earl  of  Athol,  the  son  of  her  stepfather.  Lord 
Innermeath,  and  he  dying  without  male  issue,  the  earldom 
again  reverted  to  the  crown.     [See  Intibrmrath,  Lord.] 

Athoi<,  duke  of,  a  title  possessed  by  a  branch  of  the  an- 
cient family  of  Murray.  The  progenitor  of  the  Murray  fam- 
ily in  Scotland  was  a  Flemish  settler  in  the  reign  of  David 
the  First,  of  the  name  of  Freskin,  who  obtained  the  lands  of 
Strathbrock  in  Linlithgowshire,  now  called  Brocks  or  Brox- 
burn. A  rebellion  having  broken  out  in  Moray  in  the  year 
1130,  he  is  supposed  to  have  assisted  in  quelling  it,  and  was 
rewarded  with  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  lowlands  of  Moray, 
where  his  descendants  settled,  and  in  consequence  assumed 
the  name  of  de  Moravia.  From  Walter  de  Moravia  de- 
scended the  Morays,  lords  of  Bothwell,  the  Morays  of  Aber- 
caimey  (see  Murray,  surname  of),  and  Sir  William  de 
Moravia,  who  acquired  the  lands  of  Tullibardine,  an  estate  in 
the  lower  part  of  Perthshire,  with  his  wife  Adda,  daughter  of 
Malise,  seneschal  of  Strathem,  as  appears  by  charters  dated 
in  1282  and  1284. 

His  son,  Sir  Andrew  Murray  of  Tullibardine,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  was  an  adherent  of  Edward  Baliol,  and  contri- 
buted greatly  to  the  decisive  victory  gained  by  the  latter  at 
Dupplin  in  August  1332,  by  fixing  a  stake  in  a  ford  in  the 
river  Earn,  through  which  his  army  marched  and  attacked  the 
Soots.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Perth  about  two  months 
afterwards,  and  immediately  put  to  death  for  his  adherence  to 
Baliol.  His  descendant.  Sir  William  Murray  of  Tullibai-dine, 
succeeded  to  the  estates  of  his  family  in  1446.  He  was  sher- 
iff of  Perthshire,  and  in  1458,  one  of  the  lords  named  for  the 
administration  of  justice,  who  were  of  the  king's  daily  coun- 
cil. He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Colquhoun 
of  Luss,  great  chamberlain  of  Scotland,  by  whom  he  had  a 
numerous  issue.  According  to  tradition  they  had  seventeen 
sons,  from  whom  a  great  many  families  of  the  name  of  Mur- 
ray are  descended.  In  a  curious  document  entitled  "The 
Declaration  of  George  Halley,  in  Ochterarder,  concerning  the 
Laird  of  Tullibardine*s  seventeen  sons~1710,"  it  is  stated 
that  they  **  lived  all  to  be  men,  and  that  they  waited  all  one 
day  upon  their  father  at  Stirling,  to  attend  the  king,  with 
each  of  them  one  servMit,  and  their  father  two.  This  hap- 
pening shortly  after  an  act  was  made  by  King  James  the 
Fifth,  discharging  any  persons  to  travel  with  great  numbers 
of  attendants  besides  their  own  family,  and  having  challenged 
the  laird  of  Tullibardine  for  breaking  the  said  act,  he  answered 
he  brought  only  his  own  sons,  with  theur  necessary  attcnd- 
«nts ;  with  which  the  king  was  so  well  pleased  that  he  gave 


them  small  lands  in  heritage."  The  ancient  Scottish  song, 
"  Cromlet*8  lilt,**  was  written  on  the  supposed  inconstancy 
of  Miss  Helen  Murray,  commonly  called  **Fair  Helen  of  Ar- 
doch,**  granddaughter  of  Murray  of  Strewan,  one  of  the  sev- 
enteen sons  of  Tullibardine.  She  was  courted  by  young 
Chisholm  of  Gromleck  who,  during  his  absence  in  France^ 
impoeed  upon  by  the  fabe  representations  of  a  treacherouf 
friend,  believed  that  she  was  faithless  to  him,  and  wrote  the 
affecting  ballad  called  Gromlet*s  or  Cromleck*8  lilt  The  Itdfa 
father,  Stiriing  of  Ardoch,  had  by  his  wife,  Margaret  Murra} 
a  family  of  no  less  than  thirty-one  children,  of  whom  fair 
Helen  was  one.  It  is  said  that  James  the  Sixth,  when  pass- 
ing finm  Perth  to  Sturling  in  1617,  paid  a  visit  to  Helenas 
mother,  the  Lady  Ardoch,  who  was  then  a  widow.  Her  chil- 
dren were  all  dressed  and  drawn  up  on  the  lawn  to  receive 
his  migesty.  On  seeing  them  the  king  said,  *  Madam,  how 
many  are  there  of  them  ?'  *  Sire,*  she  jocosely  answered,  *  1 
only  want  your  help  to  make  out  the  twa  chalders  !*  a  ohaldcr 
contains  sixteen  bolls.  The  king  laughed  heartily  at  the  joke, 
and  afterwards  ate  a  ooUop  sitting  on  a  stone  in  the  dose. 
The  youngest  son  of  this  extraordinary  femily,  commonly 
called  the  Tutor  of  Ardoch,  died,  in  1715,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  one  hundred  and  eleven. 

The  eldest  of  Tullibardine*8  seventeen  sons.  Sir  William 
Murray  of  Tullibardine,  had,  with  other  issue,  William,  his 
successor,  and  Sir  Andrew  Murray,  ancestor  of  the  viscounts 
Stormont  (See  Stormont.)  His  great-grandson,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Murray  of  Tullibardine,  was  a  zealous  promoter  of  the 
Reformation  in  Scotland;  and  in  1567,  at  Oarbeny-hill,  be 
accepted  the  gauntlet  of  defiance  to  smgle  combat  thrown 
down  by  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  but  the  latter  objected  to  him 
as  being  of  inferior  rank,  as  he  did  also  to  Tullibardine*s 
brother,  James  Murray  of  Purdorvis,  for  the  same  reason.  His 
sister  Annabella  married  the  earl  of  Mar,  afterwards  regent, 
and  was  the  governess  of  the  infant  king,  James  the  Sixth. 
He  himself  married  in  1547  Lady  Agues  Graham,  third 
daughter  of  William  second  earl  of  Montrose.  On  the  death 
of  his  brother-in-law,  the  earl  of  Mar,  in  1572,  he  and  Sir 
Alexander  Erskine  of  Gogar  were  appointed  governors  of  the 
young  king  and  joint  keepers  of  the  castle  of  Stirling,  where 
his  mi\je8ty  resided,  and  he  discharged  the  office  with  the  ap- 
plause of  the  whole  kmgdom  till  1578.  George  Halley,  in 
the  curious  document  ahready  quoted,  says  that  **  Sir  William 
Murray  of  Tullibardine  havmg  broke  Argyle*s  face  with  the 
hilt  of  his  sword,  in  king  James  the  Sixth*8  presence,  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  kingdom.  Afterwards,  the  king's  mails 
and  slaughter  cows  were  not  paid,  neither  could  any  subject 
in  the  realm  be  able  to  compel  those  who  were  bound  to  pay 
them ;  upon  which  the  king  cried  out — '  0,  if  I  had  Will. 
Murray  again,  he  would  soon  get  my  mails  and  slaughter 
cows ;  *  to  which  one  standing  by  replied — *  That  if  his  ma- 
jesty would  not  take  Sir  William  Murray's  life,  he  might  re- 
turn shortly.'  The  king  answered,  *■  He  would  be  loath  to 
take  his  life,  for  he  had  not  another  subject  like  him  V  Upon 
which  promise  Sir  William  Murray  returned,  and  got  a  com- 
mission from  the  king  to  go  to  the  north,  and  lift  up  the 
mails  and  the  cows,  which  he  speedily  did,  to  the  great  satis- 
faction of  the  king,  so  that  immediately  after  he  was  made 
lord  comptroller."    This  office  he  obtained  in  1565. 

His  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Murray,  the  twelfth  feudal 
baron  of  Tullibardine,  was  brought  up  with  King  Jamea, 
who,  in  1592,  constituted  him  his  master  of  the  household. 
He  was  afterwards  sworn  a  member  of  his  privy  council,  and 
knighted,  and  on  25th  April  1604  King  James  raised  him  to 
the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Lord  Murray  of  Tullibardine.  On 
10th  July  1606  he  was  created  earl  of  Tullibardme.     His 


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kmlship  married  CatherLne,  fourth  daughter  of  David  second 
lord  Dnunmond,  and  died  in  1609. 

His  eldest  son,  William,  second  earl  of  Tullibardine,  was 
the  means  of  rescuing  James  the  Sixth  from  the  earl  of 
Gowrie  and  hia  brother  at  Perth  on  the  5th  August  1600, 
for  which  service  the  hereditary  sheriibhip  of  Perth,  which 
had  belonged  to  the  earl  of  Gowrie,  was  bestowed  on  him. 
He  married,  as  has  been  stated,  the  ladj  Dorothea  Stewart, 
daughter  of  the  6th  earl  of  Athol  of  the  Stewart  family,  who 
died  in  1595,  and  on  the  death  in  1625  of  James,  second  eari 
of  Athol,  son  of  John  sixth  lord  Innermeath,  created  earl  of 
Athol  by  James  the  Sixth,  he  petitioned  King  Charles  the 
First  for  the  earldom  of  Athol,  as  his  countess  was  the  eldest 
daughter  and  heir  of  line  of  Earl  John,  of  the  family  of  In- 
nermeath, which  had  become  extinct  in  the  male  line.    The 
king  received  the  petition  graciously,  and  gave  his  royal  word 
that  it  should  be  done, — ^thereby  a  recognition  on  the  part  of 
the  Grown  of  the  right  of  the  heir  female  to  an  ancient  peer- 
age, of  which  the  constitution  was  unknown.    The  eari  ac- 
cordingly surrendered  the  title  of  earl  of  Tullibardine  into  the 
king's  hands,  Ist  April  1626,  to  be  confiBrred  on  his  brother 
Sir  Patrick  Murray,  as  a  separate  dignity,  but  before  the  pa- 
tents could  be  expeded,  his  lordship  died  the  same  year.    Hid 
son  John,  however,  obtained  in  February  1629  the  title  of 
earl  of  Athol,  and  thus  became  the  first  earl  of  the  Murray 
branch,  and  the  earldom  of  Tullibardine  was  at  the  same 
time  granted  to  Sir  Patrick.    This  earl  of  Athol  was  a  zeal- 
ous royalist,  and  joined  the  association  formed  by  the  eari  of 
Montrose  for  the  king,  at  Cumbernauld,  in  January  1641. 
He  died  in  June  1642.     His  eldest  son  John,  second  earl  of 
Athol  of  the  Murray  family,  also  faithfully  adhered  to  Charles 
the  First,  and  was  excepted  by  Cromwell  out  of  his  act  of 
grace  and  indemnity,  12th  April  1654,  when  he  was  only 
about  nineteen  years  of  age.    At  the  restoration,  he  was 
sworn  a  privy  councillor,  obtained  a  charter  of  the  hereditary 
office  of  sheriff  of  Fife,  and  in  1663  was  appointed  justice- 
general  of  Scotland.     In  1670  he  was  constituted  captain  of 
the  king's  guards,  in  1672  keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  and  14th 
January  1673,  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session.     In  1670  he 
succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Tullibardine  on  the  death  of 
James  fourth  earl  of  the  new  creation,  and  was  created  mar- 
quis of  Athol  in  1676.    He  increased  the  power  of  his  fam- 
ily by  his  marriage  with  Lady  Amelia  Sophia  Stanley,  third 
daughter  of  the  seventh  earl  of  Derby,  beheaded  for  his  loy- 
alty 16th  October  1651.    Through  her  mother,  Chariottn  de 
la  Tremouille,  daughter  of  Claude 
de  U  Tremouille,  duke  of  Thouars 
and  prince  of  Palmont,  she  was  re- 
lated in  blood  to  the  emperor  of 
Germany,  the  kmgs  of  France  and 
Spain,  the  prince  of  Orange,  the 
duke  of  Savoy,  and  most  of  the  prin- 
cipal families  of  Europe;  and  by 
her  the  family  of  Athol  acquired 
the  seignory  of  the  Isle  of  Man, 
and  also  large  property  in    that 
island. 

In  1678,  on  the  irruption  into  the 
western  shues  of  the  Highland  host, 
the  marquis  of  Athol  joined  the  duke 
of  Hamilton  in  opposition  to  the 
duke  of  Lauderdale,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  was  deprived  of  his 
office  of  justice  -  general,  but  re- 
tained his  other  places.  He  was 
instrumental  in    suppressing   Ar* 


gyle's  inva«on  in  1685.  Notwithstanding  his  oonsptcn- 
ous  loyalty  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  the  Second  and  his 
brother  James,  he  promoted  the  Revolution,  and  went  to 
London  in  1689,  to  wait  on  the  prince  of  Orange,  but  was 
disappointed  in  his  expectations  of  preferment  under  the  new 
government.  William,  though  related  to  the  marchioness, 
did  not  receive  him  cordially,  and  in  consequence  he  joined 
the  Jacobite  party.  At  the  convention  of  the  Scottish 
estates,  14th  March  1689,  he  was  put  in  nomination  as  pres- 
ident by  the  adherents  of  King  James.  The  Whigs  on  the 
other  hand  proposed  the  duke  of  Hamilton,  and  the  Utter 
was  elected  by  a  majority  of  fifteen  votes.  When  the  vis- 
count of  Dundee  proceeded  into  the  Highlands  for  the  pur- 
pose of  trying  the  chance  of  a  battle,  the  defence  of  the  castle 
of  Blair  Athol,  belonging  to  the  marquis,  was  the  means  of 
occasioning  the  battle  of  KiUiecrankie,  in  the  same  year. 
This  strong  fortress,  which  commands  the  most  important 
pass  in  the  Northern  Highlands,  had  already  been  the  scene 
of  remarkable  events  in  the  previous  dvil  wars.  In  1644  the 
marquis  of  Montrose  had  possessed  himself  of  it,  and  was 
here  joined  by  a  large  body  of  the  Athol  Highlanders,  to 
whose  bravery  he  was  indebted  for  the  victory  at  Tippermuir. 
In  the  troubles  of  1653  it  was  taken  by  storm  by  Colonel 
Daniel,  one  of  Cromwell's  officers,  who,  unable  to  remove  a 
magazine  of  provisions  lodged  there,  destroyed  it  by  powder. 
In  1689  it  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  Stewart  of  Ballechan, 
the  marquis  of  Athol's  chamberlain,  who  refused  to  deliver  it 
up  to  Lord  Murray,  the  marquis's  son,  as  he  was  supposed  to 
favour  the  Revolution  party,  Stewart  declaring  that  he  held 
it  for  King  James,  by  order  of  his  Ueutenant-generaL  Lord 
Murray  had  summoned  his  father's  vassals  to  join  him,  and 
about  twelve  hundred^  assembled,  but  no  entreaties  could  pre- 
vail on  them  to  declare  in  favour  of  the  government  of  King 
William.  They  intimated  that  if  he  would  join  Dundee  they 
would  follow  him  to  a  man,  but  if  he  refused  they  all  would 
leave  him.  His  lordship  remonstrated  with  them,  and  even 
threatened  them  with  his  vengeance  if  they  abandoned  him, 
when,  setting  his  threats  at  defiance,  they  ran  to  the  river 
Banovy  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Blair  castle,  and  filling  their 
bonnes  with  water,  drank  King  Jajnes's  health,  and  left  his 
standard.  Dundee  knew  the  importance  of  preserving  Blair 
castle,  and  with  his  usual  expedition  he  joined  the  garrison. 
A  fSew  days  afterwards,  however,  the  battle  of  KiUiecrankie 
took  place,  when  he  was  slain  in  the  moment  of  victory 
The  following  is  a  view  of  Blair  castle: 


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The  last  siege  which  Blair  castle  sustained  was  in  Marcli 
1746,  when  it  was  gallantly  defended  by  Sir  Andrew  Agnew- 
against  a  party  of  the  Pretender's  forces,  who  retired  from 
before  it  a  few  weeks  preceding  the  battle  of  Gulloden.  Ai^ 
soon  as  peace  was  restored,  a  considerable  part  of  the  castle 
was  reduced  in  height,  and  the  inside  most  magnificentK 
furnished.  The  marquis  continued  in  the  opposition  for  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  6th  May  1703  His  second 
son,  Lord  Charles,  was  created  first  earl  of  Dun  more,  and  his 
fourth  son,  Lord  William,  was  created  first  Lord  Nairn. 

His  eldest  son  John,  the  second  marquis,  and  first  duke, 
of  Athol,  designated  Lord  John  Murray,  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners for  inquiring  into  the  massacre  of  Glencoe  in 
1693.  By  King  William  he  was  appointed  in  1696  one  of  thf 
prindpal  secretaries  of  state  for  Scotland.  He  was  created 
a  peer  in  his  father*8  lifetime,  by  the  title  of  earl  of  Tullibar- 
dine,  viscount  of  Glenalmond,  and  Lord  Murray,  for  life,  by 
patent  dated  27th  July  1696,  and  in  April  1703  he  wa.v 
appointed  lord  privy  seal  On  the  80th  July  of  that  year, 
immediately  after  his  iVither*s  death,  he  was  created  duke  or 
Athol,  by  Queen  Anne,  and  invested  vrith  the  order  of  the 
Thistle.  Having,  the  same  year,  introduced  the  act  of  secu- 
rity into  the  Scottbh  parliament,  the  duke  of  Queensben^* 
and  the  other  ministers,  greatly  displeased,  formed  a  plan  to 
ruin  hiro,  by  means  of  Simon  Fraser  of  Beaufort.  Fraser 
had  fied  to  France  some  years  before,  to  elude  a  sentence  of 
death  pronounced  against  him  in  absence,  by  the  court  of 
jusdciiiry,  for  an  alleged  rape  on  the  person  of  Lady  Amelia 
Murray,  dowager  Lady  Lovat,  and  sister  of  the  duke  of  Athol, 
but  returning  to  Scotland  in  1703,  as  the  agent  of  the  exiled 
family,  he,  after  intriguing  with  the  duke  of  Queensberry,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  government  party  in  Scotland,  revealed  the 
existence  of  «  Jacobite  conspiracy,  iif  which  the  dukes  of 
Hamilton  and  Athol,  as  well  as  others,  were  deeply  involved. 
Fraser  was  Athol's  bitter  enemy  [see  Fraser,  Simon,  twelfth 
Lord  Lovati,  and  the  whole  pretended  plot  having  been  brought 
to  light  by  Ferguson,  celebrated  as  the  plotter  [see  Ferqusos, 
Robert],  with  whom  Fraser  bad  had  some  communication  in 
London,  he  immediately  acquainted  the  duke  with  the  discovery 
he  had  made.  Athol  at  once  laid  the  matter  before  the  queen, 
who  had  been  previously  apprised  of  the  alleged  conspuracy 
by  the  duke  of  Queensberry.  The  latter  being  called  upon 
for  an  explanation,  excused  himself  by  saying  that  when  Fra- 
ser came  to  Scotland  he  had  received  a  written  communica- 
tion from  him,  to  the  effect  that  he  could  make  important  dis- 
coveries, relative  to  designs  against  the  queen*s  government, 
in  proof  of  which  he  delivered  him  a  letter  from  the  queen 
dowager,  the  widow  of  James  the  Seventh,  at  St  Germains, 

addressed  to  L M ,  which  initials  Fraser  stated  were 

meant  for  Lord  Murray,  the  former  title  of  the  duke  of  Athol, 
and  that,  after  seeing  him,  he  (Queensberry)  had  given  him  a 
protectbn  in  Scotland,  and  procured  a  pass  for  him  in  Eng- 
land, to  enable  him  to  follow  out  further  discoveries.  The  Eng- 
lish house  of  peers  took  the  subject  up  warmly,  and  passed 
strong  resolutions  regarding  the  supposed  conspiracy,  for  the 
purpose  of  clearing  Queensberry;  but  nothing  farther  was 
done  in  the  matter.  The  effect,  however,  was  to  incense 
Athol  against  the  government,  and  so  zealous  was  he  against 
the  Union  that  he  is  said  to  have  had  six  thousand  Highland 
followers  ready  to  oppose  it.  This  did  not  prevent  hiro, 
however,  from  pocketing  one  thousand  pounds  of  the  equiva- 
lent money  sent  down,  nominally  to  satisfy  such  claims  of 
damage  as  might  arise  out  of  the  Union,  but  in  reality  given 
in  many  instances  as  a  bribe.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session  of  the  Scots  parliament  in  which  the  Union  was  car- 
ried, the  duke  was  appointed  commissioner,  as  Lockart  in- 


forms us,  in  place  of  the  duke  of  Queensberry,  the  lattei 
wishing  to  ascertain  the  state  of  public  feeling  before  he  ven- 
tured himself  to  face  the  difficulties  of  the  time,  *'  and  there- 
fore he  sent  the  duke  of  Athol  down  as  commissioner ;  using 
him  as  the  monkey  did  the  cat,  m  pulling  out  the  hot  ronst«d 
chestnuts.**  [^Lockarfs  Memoirs^  p.  139.]  His  grace  died 
14th  November,  1724.  He  was  twice  married ;  first  to  Ca- 
therine, daughter  of  the  duke  of  Hamilton,  by  whom  he  had 
six  sons  and  a  daughter,  and  secondly  to  Mary,  daughter  of 
William  lord  Ross,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter. 
His  eldest  son,  John  marquis  of  Tullibardine,  died  in  1709. 
His  second  son  William,  who  succeeded  his  brother,,  was  the 
marquis  of  Tullibardine  who  acted  the  prominent  part  in 
both  the  Scottish  rebellions  of  last  century,  which  is  recorded 
in  history.  He  was  one  of  the  first  that  joined  the  earl  of  Mar 
in  1715,  for  ^hich  he  was  attainted  for  high  treason,  and 
the  family  honours  were  settled  by  parliament  on  his  next 
brother  James.  Another  brother.  Lord  Charles  Murray,  a 
comet  of  horse,  also  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of  1716,  and 
had  the  command  of  a  regiment  Upon  the  march  into  Eng- 
hmd  he  kept  at  the  head  of  his  men  on  foot  in  the  High- 
land dress.  After  the  surrender  of  Preston,  hb  lordship  be- 
ing amongst  the  prisoners,  was  tried  by  a  court  martial  as 
a  deserter,  and  sentenced  to  be  shot,  but  received  a  pardon 
through  the  interest  of  his  friends,  and  died  in  1720.  The 
marquis  of  Tullibardine  had  ^scaped  to  the  continent,  but  re- 
turned to  Scotland  vrith  the  Spanish  forces,  in  1719,  and 
with  a  younger  brother.  Lord  George  Murray,  afterwards  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Pretender's  army,  was  in  the  battle  of 
the  pass  of  Glcnshiel,  in  the  district  of  Kintail,  Ross-shure,  in 
June  of  that  year,  where  Lord  George  was  wounded.  After 
the  defeat  at  Glenshiel,  the  marquis  escaped  a  second  time 
to  the  continent,  and  lived  twenty-six  years  in  exile,  in 
1745  he  accompanied  Prince  Charles  Edward  to  Scotland, 
and  landed  with  him  at  Borodoile  25th  July.  He  was  styled 
duke  of  Athol  by  the  Jacobites.  On  the  19th  August  he 
unfurled  the  prince's  standard  at  Glenfinnan,  and  supported 
by  a  man  on  each  side,  held  the  staff  while  he  prodaimed  the 
Chevalier  de  St  George  as  king,  and  read  tJie  commission 
appointing  his  son  Charles  prince  regent  After  the  battle 
of  Culloden  he  fied  to  the  westward,  intending  to  embark  for 
the  isle  of  Mull,  but  being  unable,  from  the  bad  state  of  his 
health,  to  bear  the  fatigue  of  travelling  under  concealment, 
he  surrendered,  on  the  27th  April,  1746,  to  Mr.  Buchanan  of 
Drummaldll,  a  Stirlingshire  gentleman.  Being  conveyed  to 
London,  he  was  committed  to  the  Tower,  where  he  died  on 
the  9th  July  following. 

James  the  second  duke  of  Athol  was  the  third  son  of  the 
first  duke.  He  succeeded  to  the  dukedom  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  November  1724,  in  the  lifetime  of  his  elder  brother 
William,  attainted  by  parliament  Being  maternal  great- 
grandson  of  James  seventh  earl  of  Derby,  upon  the  death  of 
the  tenth  earl  of  that  line,  he  claimed  and  was  allowed  the 
English  barony  of  Strange,  which  had  been  oonfeired  on  Lord 
Derby,  by  writ  of  summons,  in  1628.  His  grace  was  married, 
first  to  Jean,  sister  of  Sir  John  Frederick,  hart  by  whom  he 
bad  a  son  and  two  daughters ;  secondly  to  Jane,  daughter  of 
John  Dmmmond  of  Megginch,  who  had  no  issue.  The  latter 
was  the  herome  of  Dr.  Austen*s  song  of  *  Fw  lack  of  gold  she's 
left  me,  0  !*  She  was  betrothed  to  that  gentleman,  a  physician 
in  Edinburgh,  when  the  Duke  of  Athol  saw  her,  and  falling 
in  love  with  her  made  proposals  of  marriage,  which  were  ac- 
cepted; and,  as  Bums  says,  she  jOted  the  doctor.  Having 
survived  her  first  husband,  she  married  a  second  time.  Lord 
Adam  Gordon.  Dr.  Austen,  on  his  port,  although  m  his  song 
he  says 


-I  ! 


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ATKINS. 


167 


ATKINSON. 


**  No  cruel  (Ur  shall  ever  move 
My  li\)ored  heart  again  to  love,** 

married,  in  17M,  the  Hon.  Anne  Sempill,  by  whom  he  had  a 
numeroos  famUj. 

The  son  and  the  eldest  dmnghter  of  the  second  doke  of 
Athol  died  jonng.  Chariotte,  his  yoongest  daoghter,  suc- 
ceeded on  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1764,  to  the  baronj 
of  Strange  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  She  mar- 
ried her  cousm,  John  Morray,  Esq.,  eldest  son  of  Lord  Geoi^ 
Murray,  fifth  son  of  the  first  duke,  and  the  celebrated  gener- 
alissimo of  the  forces  of  the  Pretender  in  1745,  [see  Murray, 
Lord  George.]  Though  Lord  George  was  attamted  by  par- 
liament for  his  share  in  the  rebellion,  his  son  was  allowed  to 
succeed  his  uncle  and  father-in-law  as  third  duke,  and  in 
1765  he  and  his  duchess  disposed  of  their  sovereignty  of  the 
Isle  of  Man  to  the  British  govemment|  for  seventy  thousand 
pounds,  reserving,  however,  theur  landed  interest  in  the  is- 
land, with  the  patronage  of  the  bishopric  and  other  ecdesiaa- 
tical  benefices,  on  payment  of  the  annual  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred and  one  pounds  fifteen  shillings  and  eleven  pence,  and 
rendering  two  falcons  to  the  kings  and  queens  of  England 
upon  the  days  of  their  coronation.  His  grace,  who  had  five 
sons  and  two  daughters,  died  5th  November,  1774,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  John,  fourth  duke,  who  in  1786 
was  created  Earl  Strange  and  Baron  Murray  of  Stanley,  in 
the  peerage  of  the  United  kingdom.  He  died  in  1830.  His 
second  son.  Lord  George  Murray,  was  bbhop  of  St.  David's, 
whose  eldest  son  became  Inshop  of  Rochester.  His  fifth  son, 
Lord  Charies  Murray,  dean  of  Becking  in  Essex,  having  mar- 
ried Alice,  daughter  of  George  Mitford,  Esq.,  and  heiress  of 
her  great  uncle,  Gawen  Aynsley,  assumed  the  surname  of 
Aynsley.  The  fourth  duke  was  succeeded  by  hia  eldest  son 
John,  who  was  for  many  yean  a  rechise,  and  died  single 
14th  September,  1846.  His  next  brother  James,  a  miyor- 
genenl  in  the  army,  was  created  a  peer  of  the  United  king- 
dom, as  baron  Glenlyon  of  Glen^ron,  m  the  county  of  Perth, 
9th  July,  1821.  He  married,  in  May  1810,  EmUy  Frances, 
second  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Northumberland,  and  by  her 
he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  died  in  1887.  His 
eldest  son,  George  Augustus  Frederick  John,  Lord  Glenlyon, 
became,  on  the  death  of  his  unde  in  1846,  sixth  duke  of 
Athol.    In  1853,  knight  of  the  Thistle ;  married,  with  Issne. 

ATKINS,  Etkins,  Aitkens,  or  Aiken,  James, 
bishop  of  Galloway,  was  born  at  Kirkwall,  aboat 
the  year  1618.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Atkens 
or  Aiken,  sheriff  and  commissary  of  Orkney.  He 
commenced  his  studies  at  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  completed  them  at  Oxford  in  1638. 
On  his  return  to  Scotland,  that  year,  he  was  ap- 
pointed chaplain  to  James,  marquis  of  Hamilton, 
his  majesty's  high  commissioner  to  the  Geneml 
Assembly,  in  which  situation  he  behaved  so  well 
that  on  the  marquis'  return  to  England  he  ob- 
tained for  him  from  the  king  a  presentation  to  the 
church  of  Birsa  in  Orkney.  In  the  beginning  of 
1650,  on  the  landing  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose 
in  that  stewartry.  Dr.  Atkins  was  appointed  by 
the  presbytery  to  draw  np  a  declaration  of  loyalty 


and  allegiance  to  Charles  the  Second,  which,  with 
their  consent  and  approbation,  was  published. 
For  this  step  the  whole  presbytery  was  deposed 
by  the  General  Assembly,  while  Atkins  was  ex- 
communicated for  holding  correspondence  with 
the  marquis.  An  act  of  council  was  also  passed 
for  his  apprehension ;  but  receiving  private  notice 
thereof  from  his  relative.  Sir  Archibald  Primrose, 
derk  of  council,  afterwards  lord  register,  he  fled 
into  Holland.  In  1653  he  returned  to  Scotland, 
and  quietly  resided  with  his  family  in  Edinburgh, 
till  the  king's  restoration  in  1660,  when  he  accom- 
panied Dr.  Sydserf,  bishop  of  Galloway,  the  only 
surviving  prelate  in  Scotland,  to  Loudon  to  con- 
gratulate his  majesty ;  at  which  time,  he  was  pre- 
sented by  the  bishop  of  Winchester  to  the  rectory 
of  Winfrith  in  Dorsetshire.  In  1677  he  was  con- 
secrated bishop  of  Moray;  and  in  1680  he  was 
translated  to  the  see  of  Galloway,  when,  on  ac* 
count  of  his  age,  he  received  a  dispensation  to 
reside  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  died  of  an  apo- 
plectic stroke,  28th  October  1687,  aged  74  years, 
and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the  Greyfriars  in 
that  city.  He  showed  himself  very  zealous  in  op- 
posing the  taking  off  the  penal  laws. — Ketth^s  Scot- 
tish Bishops. 

ATKJNSON,  Thomas,  a  pleasing  poet  and  mis- 
cellaneous writer,  was  bom  at  Glasgow  about  the 
year  1801.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  illegiti- 
mate son  of  a  butcher  of  that  city.  After  receiving 
his  education,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Turn- 
bull,  bookseller,  Trongate,  on  whose  death  he 
entered  into  business,  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
David  Robertson.  From  boyhood  he  was  a 
writer  of  poetry,  prose  sketches,  and  essays; 
and  among  other  things  brought  out  by  him 
were,  *The  Sextuple  Alliance,'  and  *The  Cha- 
meleon.' Three  successive  volumes  of  the  lat- 
ter were  published  annually,  containing  his  own 
pieces  exclusively.  He  was  also  sole  editor  and 
author  of  *  The  Ant,'  a  weekly  periodical,  and  an 
extensive  contributor  to  *  The  Western  Luminary,' 
*  The  Emmet,'  and  other  local  publications.  His 
writings  are  distinguished  by  taste  and  fancy,  and 
he  was  indefatigable  in  producing  them.  His  tal- 
ents for  speaking  were  also  of  a  superior  order, 
and  he  took  every  opportunity  of  displaying  his 
powers  of  oratory.    At  the  general  election,  after 


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AUCHINLECK. 


168 


AUCHMUTY. 


tlie  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill,  Mr.  AtkiDSon,  who 
was  a  keen  reformer,  started  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Stirling  burglis,  in  opposition  to  Lord  Dalmeny, 
who  was  returned.  Being  naturally  of  a  delicate 
constitution,  his  exertions  on  this  occasion  brought 
on  a  decline;  and  when  seized  with  advanced 
symptoms  of  consumption,  he  disposed  of  his  busi- 
ness, his  books,  and  his  furniture,  and  sailed  for 
Barbadoes,  but  died  on  the  passage  on  the  10th 
October  1833,  in  the  32d  year  of  his  age.  He  was 
buried  at  sea  in  an  oaken  coffin,  which  he  had 
taken  with  him !  He  left  an  annuity  to  his  mother, 
and  a  sum,  after  accumulation,  to  be  applied  in 
building  an  Atkinsonian  Hall  in  Glasgow  for  scien- 
tific purposes.  His  relatives  erected  a  monument 
to  his  memory  in  the  necropolis  of  his  native  city. 
AucHTNLEd.,  a  sorname  derived  from  lands  of  that  name. 
Aacli,  aometimes  acb,  its  diminntive  anchin  and  augmenta- 
tive avooh,  occnrt  freqaentlj  alone,  as  also  in  composition, 
in  names  of  lands.  It  implies  an  elevation,  bot  in  a  relative 
sense  only.  In  valley  lands  near  the  months  of  rivers,  where 
the  plane  is  intersected  by  channels  of  deep  waterooorses,  the 
anchin  or  haughs  are  the  separated  and  higher  portions  of 
tliAt  plane;  as  the  Hanghs  of  Cromdale  in  the  valley  of  the 
Spey ;  and  being  heavy  clays,  are  generally  very  fertile  On 
hill-slopes  anchin  or  haughs  are  more  level  portions  or  banks; 
as  Anchinross  or  Rosehnugh  in  Avoch,  Ross -shire.  The 
augmentative  avoch  refers  to  continuity  as  well  as  elevation  ; 
as  in  the  parish  of  that  name,  where  a  deep  alluvial  soil  is 
furrowed  into  m  high  parallel  flat  ridge  of  some  miles  long  by 
dividing  streams.  The  plural  is  Auchen,  frequently  corrupt- 
ed into  Auchens.  These  and  their  genitives  Aachie — 
I  ttugh-i  and  Auchenie,  occur  as  surnames,  from  lands  so  called. 
I  They  both  enter  into  topographical  combinations,  as  Auchen- 
I  denny,  Auchen-dlsn-t,  haughs  of  the  den, — abbreviated  into 
Denny,  also  a  simame,  —  whose  undulating  lands  are 
cut  through  by  deep  dens  or  stream  beds;  Craig-al-achie, 
the  rock  of  tlie  haugh  or  aoh,  through  which  the  Spey 
has  cleft  m  passage  for  itself;  and  others  of  similar 
formation.  Aughter,  augh-ter,  is  applied  to  the  up- 
per and  higher  portions  of  river  basins  where  the  affluents 
are  numerous  and  their  bed  valleys  wide  and  deep  worn.  It 
means  high  landt^  but  in  a  sense  not  identical  with  moun- 
tainous. The  aughter  in  Aughienrdw  is  derived  from  the 
dividing  ridge,  or  plane  of  the  original  bed  of  the  basin,  lying 
between  the  valleys  of  the  Ruthven  and  the  Earn.  Aughter, 
sometimes  Ochter,  having  in  composition  given  names  to  bar^ 
onies,  has,  again,  become  a  part  of  various  surnames.  Augh, 
or  och,  is  the  Gothic  root  of  the  Qerman  Hoch,  and  under 
this  form  is  found  in  Continental  topography  wherever  the 
Qothio  races  held  rule.  It  becomes  Hock  in  English  topo- 
graphy. It  has  been  claimed  as  Gaelic,  and  is  certainly  used 
by  a  Gaelic-speaking  population  as  a  descriptive  name  in  re- 
gions now  inhabited  by  them.  But  their  explanations  of  its 
meaning  are  unsatisfactory,  and  having  been  introduced  into 
the  parochial  statistical  accounts,  are  followed  in  works  on 
topography,  so  that  auch  is  rendered  a  field,  a  height,  or 
a  ridge,  as  appears  to  suit  the  locality.  Leek  or  Lyke  is  the 
Gothic  word  for  dead,  as  in  Lykewake,  the  watcli  of  the  dead. 
Cromlech,  the  circle  of  the  dead,  and  in  this  word  is  applied 


in  the  sense  of  barren,  sterile,  as  in  the  dsad  sea.  The  barony 
of  that  name  in  Ayrshire  is  an  upland  flat  lying  between  the 
valleys  of  the  waters  of  Ayr  and  Lugar,  which  flow  in  parallel 
directions  so  closely  approximating  to  each  other  tliat  in  six- 
teen miles  of  length  it  has  never  more  than  two  of  breadth, 
with  m  moss  in  a  great  part  of  its  centre.  Leoh,  Lach,  or 
Lake,  is  sometimes  duplicated  with  the  Latin  mort,  as  Mort- 
lech,  in  Aboyne,  the  sterile  land;  Mortlaeb,  in  Moray,  the 
place  of  battle ;  and  its  genitive  Leckie  is  also  a  surname. 

The  Gaelic  definition,  **  field  of  the  flagstones,**  is  simply 
absurd.  There  is  not  a  flagstone  in  the  parish  or  barony ; 
and  the  name  was  bestowed  before  the  subdivision  of  land  into 
fields  was  known.  The  name  is  often  pronounced  and  some- 
times written  Affleck. 

The  lands  of  Auchinleck  in  the  parish  of  Monikie,  Forfar- 
shire, appear  to  have  given  origin  to  the  surname  at  an  eariy 
period.  Two  rivulets  running  parallel  in  deep  dens  through 
a  valley  at  a  level  of  800  feet,  yet  near  the  sea,  leave  between 
them  a  flat  anchin  or  elevated  stripe  on  which  stands  the  old 
tower  or  castle  of  Affleck,  somewhat  more  than  a  mile  from 
the  parish  churcli,  a  beautiful  specimen  of  its  class,  entire  al- 
though long  uninhabited,  and  since  1746  has  been  used  for 
purposes  connected  with  agriculture.  It  still  serves  as  m  mark 
for  mariners.  These  lands  were  bestowed  by  charter  from  Da- 
vid I.  The  office  of  armour-bearer  to  the  Lindsays,  earls  o( 
Crawford,  was  hereditary  in  the  family  of  Auchinleck  of  that 
ilk.  [^LiveiqfiheLmdsays.YolA.p.llAjnote.']  They  became 
the  property  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Reid,  which  wai 
attainted  for  being  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of  1746.  The 
castle  and  a  large  part  of  the  estates  were  then  purchased  by 
Mr.  James  Yeaman,  one  of  the  bailies  of  Dundee,  from  thf 
representatives  of  whose  descendant,  they  were  acquired  b} 
Mr.  Graham  of  Kincaldrum,  in  whose  possession  they  still 
remain.  In  the  year  17SS,  Thomas  Reid  of  Auchinleck,  pre- 
sented a  silver  communion  cup  to  the  kiik-session  of  Dundee, 
as  recorded  in  letters  of  gold  on  the  session-house  wall  of 
that  time. 

The  lands  of  Auchinleck,  in  Ayrshire,  are  known  to  have 
given  a  surname  to  their  proprietors  so  eariy  as  the  18th 
century.  In  1800,  the  laird  of  Auchinleck  accompanied 
Sir  William  Wallace  to  Glasgow  from  Ayr,  when  he  attacked 
and  slew  Eari  Percy.  [See  Wallace,  Sir  William.]  The 
Chartulary  of  Paisley  records  a  donation  firom  Sur  John 
de  Auchinleck,  in  1886,  of  twenty  shillings  yearly  to  the 
abbot  and  convent  of  that  house,  as  a  compensation  for 
having  mutilated  the  person  of  one  of  the  monks. 
Thomas  Boswell,  m  younger  son  of  Boswell  of  Balmnto  in 
Fife,  having  married  one  of  the  daughters  and  co-heiress  of 
Sir  John  Auchinleck  of  that  ilk,  received  in  1604  m  grant  of 
these  lands  from  James  the  Fourth.  This  Thomas  Boswell, 
who  fell  at  Flodden,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  present  possessor. 
The  family  of  Boswell  of  Auchinleck  has  acquired  celebrity 
in  several  of  its  members.  [See  Boswell,  surname  of] 
There  was  another  family  of  Auchinleck  in  Perthshire,  de- 
signed of  Balmanno,  an  Auchinleck  having  married  the 
heiress  of  Balmanno  of  that  ilk. 


AucuMUTY,  or  auch-moo<-i,  augh  or  haugh  of  moot  or 
judgment,  a  surname  derived  from  lands  in  the  parish 
of  Newbnm,  anciently  called  Drumeldry,  {Drum,  hill,  ebhy 
elderi  or  alderi,  of  the  wise  men  or  elders)  Fifeshire,  onoe  be- 
longing to  an  old  family  styled  Auchmoutie  of  that  ilk.  The 
estate  of  Drumeldry,  now  the  property  of  Thomas  Calderwood 
Durham,  Esq.  of  Largo,  and  Lawhill,  now  called  Hallhill,  the 
residence  of  Cbaries  Halket  Craigie,  Esq.,  at  one  time  formed 
part  of  the  barony  of  Auchmoutie.  In  1 600  Capt  Auchmuty,  a 


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AUCHTERLONY 


169 


AVANDALE. 


dMoeadant  of  the  ancient  Fifeshire  hoose  of  Anchmaty,  set- 
tled at  Brianatown,  county  of  Longford,  Ireland,  and  hia 
posterity,  now  named  Adimnty,  still  possess  that  estate.  A 
branch  of  the  Brianstown  fiunily,  who  oondnne  to  spell  their 
name  Anchmnty,  are  the  proprietors  of  Kilmore  House  in  the 
oonnty  of  Bosoommon.  The  name  is  not  a  very  common 
one,  but  uncouth  as  it  may  sound  in  the  ears  of  our  English 
nd^bouxB,  it  has  been  rendered  iamiliar  by  the  deeds  of 
M^jor-general  Sur  Samuel  B.  Auchrouty,  0.  B.,  who  in  1807 
distinguisbed  himself  m  the  reduction  of  Monte  Video,  on 
the  river  Plate. 


AucirrBSLOifT,  the  surname  of  an  ancient  Forfarshire 
fisnuly,  who  formerly  possessed  the  barony  of  Kelly  in  the 
parish  of  Arbirlot.  Bather  more  than  two  mUes  west  of  Ar- 
broath, on  the  edge  of  a  preapioe,  at  the  side  of  the  river 
Elliot,  are  the  ndns  of  the  castle  of  Kelly,  otherwise  Auch- 
texlony.  The  first  proprietor  of  Kelly  noticed  in  history  was 
Roger  de  Monbray,  an  adherent  of  Edward  the  First  of  Eng- 
bnd,  who,  in  the  distribution  of  the  estates  of  the  Scottish 
barons  opposed  to  his  pretensions  as  lord  paramount  of  Scot- 
land, bestowed  these  lands  upon  him.  In  1321,  Moubray  was 
declared  a  traitor,  and  his  barony  forfeited.  Kelly  was  then 
conferred  on  the  steward  of  Scotland,  the  son-in-law  of  Bruce. 
In  the  reign  of  Bobert  the  Second  we  find  Alexander  Auch- 
terlony  designed  of  Kelly.  This  Alexander  Auchterlony  mar- 
ried Janet,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Manle  of  Panmure, 
knight,  and  got  with  her  the  lands  of  Greenford,  in  the  same 
parish.  It  would  seem  that  the  barony  oi  Kelly  had  passed 
from  him  or  his  successor,  for  it  is  recorded  that  William 
Aucbteriony  acquired  Kelly  in  the  year  1444,  and  from  that 
date  till  1630  it  remained  in  possession  of  the  family  of  Auch- 
terlony. At  the  Reformation  the  chief  of  the  Anchterlonies, 
acoOTding  to  tradition,  was  veiy  active  in  the  destruction  of 
the  abbey  of  Arbroath.  Being  indebted  to  the  abbey  stew- 
ard, at  the  head  of  three  hundred  men  he  attacked  the  abbey, 
and  setting  fire  to  it,  burnt  all  evidence  of  a  daim  against 
him.  Among  the  witnesses  to  a  charter  of  a  donation  to  the 
hospital  at  Dundee,  dated  2d  May  1587,  appears  the  name  of 
David  Auchterlony  dam.  ae  Kelfy^  who  is  supposed  to  have 
been  either  the  incendiary  or  his  son.  Kelly  now  belongs  to 
Lord  Panmure,  and  the  ancient  family  of  Auchterlony  is  re- 
preseifted  by  John  Auchterlony  of  Guynd,  Esq.— See  Och- 


Ayandale,  Lord,  a  title  conferred  by  James  the  Second 
on  Andrew  Stewart,  the  eldest  of  the  seven  illegitimate  sons 
of  Sir  James  Stewart,  called  James  the  Gross,  fourth  son  of 
Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany,  and  the  only  one  who  escaped  the 
vengeance  of  James  the  First,  when  his  father  and  three  bro- 
thers were  ruthlessly  cut  ofi*  by  that  monarch.  On  thdr  im- 
prisonment he  had  fiown  to  arms,  assaulted  and  burnt  the 
town  of  Dumbarton,  and  killed  Sir  John  Stewart,  the  king*s 
uncle,  who  held  the  castle  with  thirty-two  men.  He  after- 
wards took  refuge  in  Ireland,  where  he  formed  a  connection 
with  a  lady  of  the  family  of  Macdonald,  by  whom  he  had 
seven  sons,  and  a  daughter,  Matilda,  married  to  Sir  William 
Edmonstone  of  Duntreath.  These  children  are  supposed  on 
their  father*s  death  to  have  been  adopted  by  Murdoch*s  wi- 
dow, the  duchess  Isabella,  countess  of  Lennox,  to  bear  her 
company  in  her  castle  on  the  small  island  of  Inchmurrin  on 
Lochlomond,  where  her  latter  years  were  spent  in  retire- 
ment ;  as  his  name  and  that  of  three  of  his  brothers,  Mur- 
doch, Arthur,  and  Robert  Stewarts  of  Albany,  appear  as  wit- 
nesses, to  charters  granted  by  the  duchess  Isabella  as  countess 
of  Lennox,  betwixt  1440  and  1451.    [Nigner'i  History  of 


the  PartUion  o/the  Lemox^  pp.  18—20.]  Kmg  James  the 
Second,  touched  perhaps  with  regret  for  the  ruin  which  his 
father  had  caused  Duke  Murdoch's  fiimily,  honoured  the  eld- 
est of  his  illegitimate  grandsons  with  peculiar  marks  of  re- 
gard and  affection.  He  placed  him  at  one  of  the  English 
universities,  and  on  his  return  to  Scotiand,  after  his  educa- 
tion had  been  completed,  appointed  him  a  genUeman  of  his 
bedchamber,  and  Jmighted  him.  In  1456  he  bestowed  on 
him  the  barony  of  Avandale  or  Evandale  in  Lanarkshire, 
which  had  been  forfeited  by  the  hut  earl  of  Douglas  in  1455, 
and  in  1457  created  him  Lord  Avandale  [Ibid^  p.  45J.  Be- 
fore the  1st  of  March,  1459,  the  new  peer  had  superseded 
George  fourth  earl  of  Angus,  as  warden  of  the  marciies,  and 
in  1460,  on  the  acoesdon  of  James  the  Third,  he  was  chosen 
lord-chancellor  of  Scotland,  an  office  which  he  held  for  twen- 
ty-two years,  with  the  high  distinction  of  precedence  next  to 
the  princes  of  royal  blood.  He  was  one  of  the  lords  of  the 
regency,  and  in  a  charter  of  King  James  the  lliird,  in  1465, 
he  is  styled  guardian  of  the  king.  In  1468  he  was  sent  am- 
bassador to  Denmark  to  treat  of  a  marriage  between  James 
the  Third  and  the  princess  Maigaret  of  Denmaric,  which  was 
happily  accomplished.  On  the  4th  May  1471,  he  had  a  life- 
rent grant,  under  the  great  seal,  of  the  whole  earldom  of  Len- 
nox, which  had  been  in  non-entry  from  the  year  1425,  when 
Earl  Duncan,  the  Either  of  the  duchess  Isabella,  was  be- 
headed, though  it  had  never  been  forfeited,  as  erroneously 
stated  by  Douglas  in  his  Peerage,  and  other  writers.  To  for- 
tify himself  in  this  grant,  he  obtained  letters  of  legitimation 
under  the  great  seal,  of  date  28th  August  1472,  to  himself 
and  two  of  his  brothers,  Arthur  and  Walter,  by  which  a  right 
of  general  succession  was  thrown  open  to  theoL  These  let- 
ters were  repeated  on  the  17th  April  1479,  and  on  the  18th 
of  the  same  month  he  had  a  charter  of  the  lordship  ot  Avan- 
dale. In  1482,  when  the  king's  brother,  the  duke  of  Albany, 
with  the  assistance  of  Edward  the  Fourth  of  England,  invad- 
ed Scotland,  Lord  Avandale  and  many  other  noblemen  who 
bad  been  till  then  the  most  loyal  supporters  of  the  crown, 
abandoned  the  sovereign  who  had  heaped  upon  him  wealth 
and  honours,  and  after  the  king  had  been  conveyed  prisoner 
to  Edinburgh  castie,  he  as  chancellor,  with  the  ardibishop  of 
St  Andrews,  the  bishop  of  Dnnkeld,  and  the  earl  of  Argyle, 
entered  into  a  bond,  dated  2d  August  of  that  year,  for  the 
protection  and  indemnity  of  Albany.  The  noblemen  who 
sign  this  deed  declare  that  they  and  the  other  nobles  of  the 
realm  **  sail  cause  our  soverane  lord  frely  to  gif  and  grant  ** 
to  the  duke  of  Albany  "  all  his  landis,  heritagis,  strenthis, 
houses,  and  offices  quhilk  he  poesessit  the  day  of  his  last  part- 
ing furth  of  the  realm  of  Scotiand.**  [Food&ra^  b.  xiL  p.  160.] 
To  punisn  his  ingratituae,  the  xmg,  oefore  tne  25th  of  the 
same  month  of  August,  deprived  him  of  the  chancellorship, 
which  he  had  held  so  long,  and  bestowed  it  on  John  Lauig, 
bishop  of  Glasgow.  This  took  place  before  the  siege  of  Edin- 
burgh castle,  which  occurred  29th  September  1482,  and  not 
after  that  event,  as  Mr.  Tytier,  in  his  histoiy,  records  it,  and 
could  not  therefore  have  been  in  consequence  of  Albany's  par- 
tial success,  as  Tytier  says  it  was.  [Set  Napier's  History  of 
the  Partition  of  the  Lennox^  p.  68,  note.']  Albany  was  soon 
received  into  favour,  and  in  the  following  December  appointed 
lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  but  in  1484  the  Albany 
party  was  completely  crushed.  Although  not  restored  to 
the  chancellorship,  Lord  Avandale  appears  to  have  regained 
the  confidence  of  the  king,  and  in  1484  he  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  sent  to  France  to  renew  the  andent  league 
with  that  crown.  He  was  also  one  of  the  plenipotentiaries 
who  conduded  the  padfication  with  King  Richard  the  Third 
at  Nottingham,  21st  September  of  that  year.    H'm  namo  ap- 


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AYTON. 


|teiin  BH  one  of  the  witnesaes  to  a  charter  of  James  the  Tbirdf 
dated  Uth  March  1487.  He  continued  to  possess  the  lands 
of  the  earldom  of  Lennox  till  his  death  in  1488.  He  left  no 
issne,  wherebj  the  title  for  the  time  became  extinct 

The  title  of  Lord  Avandale  was  next  bestowed  on  his  ne- 
phew, Andrew  Stewart,  second  son  of  his  yonnger  brother, 
Walter  Stewart  of  Morphie,  m  the  county  of  Kincardine, 
sixth  son  of  Sir  James  the  Gross.  The  mother  of  the  second 
Lord  Avandale  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Amot  of  Amot, 
in  the  county  of  Fife.  Crawford  {Officers  of  State,  p.  89) 
says  that  Alexander  Stewart,  the  eldest  son  of  Walter  Stew- 
art of  Morphie,  was,  in  1503,  created  Lord  Avandale  by  so- 
lemn investiture  in  parliament,  but  this  is  a  mistake,  as  it 
would  appear  that  the  sidd  Alexander  Stewart  died  before 
1500,  and  that  he  was  succeeded  in  the  estate  of  Avandale 
and  other  lands  by  his  immediate  younger  brother  Andrew 
above  mentioned,  second  Lord  Avandale.  {^Doughs.']  By 
his  wife  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kennedy  of  Blair- 
qnhan  in  Ayrshire,  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  An- 
drew, the  eldest  son,  succeeded  as  third  Lord  Avandale. 
Henry,  the  second  son,  on  marrying  the  queen  dowager,  was 
created  Lord  Methven.  [See  Methvkn,  Lord.]  The  third 
son.  Sir  James  Stewart  of  Heath,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  earl 
of  Moray.     [See  Moray,  earl  of.] 

The  third  Lord  Avandale  was  governor  of  the  castle  of 
Dumbarton,  and  held  the  office  of  groom  of  the  stole  to  King 
James  the  Fourth.  In  1584,  he  transferred  the  barony  of 
Avandale  and  the  lands  of  Coldstream  to  Sir  James  Hamilton 
of  Fynnart,  in  exchange  for  the  barony  of  Ochiltree  in  Ayr- 
shire, and  in  consequence  of  this  exchange,  on  the  15th  March 
1543,  the  earl  of  Arran,  governor  of  the  kingdom,  with  con- 
sent of  parliament,  ordained  that  Andrew  lord  Avandale 
should  in  future  be  styled  Lord  Stewart  of  Ochiltree.  By  his 
wife.  Lady  Margaret  Hamilton,  only  child  of  James,  first 
earl  of  Arran,  he  had  a  son,  Andrew  Stewart,  who  became 
second  lord  Ochiltree.    [See  Ochiltree,  Lord.] 


AviENEL,  m  surname  now  scarcely  known,  except  in  the 
pages  of  romance.  Like  UmfraviUe,  de  Morville,  and  others, 
it  was  once  borne  by  high  and  powerful  barons,  whose  de- 
scendants, if  any  now  exist,  have  long  ceased  to  be  called  by 
the  name  of  their  progenitors.  Among  the  Anglo-Norman 
knights  introduced  into  Scotland  by  David  the  first,  was 
Robert  Avenel,  who,  in  reward  of  mUitary  services,  received 
Upper  and  Lower  Eskdale,  and  flourished  during  the  reigns 
of  Malcolm  the  Fourth  and  William  the  lion,  whose  charters 
he  witnessed.  He  officiated  as  Justiciary  of  Lothian  for  a 
short  time  after  the  accession  of  William,  in  1165.  His  lat- 
ter years  were  spent  in  the  monastery  of  Mekose,  to  which 
he  granted  m  large  portion  of  his  estates,  and  where  he  died 
in  1185.  His  son  and  heir,  Gervase,  confirmed  the  grant. 
Roger  Avenel,  the  successor  of  Gervase,  had  a  serious  dispute 
with  the  monks  regarding  the  game  on  the  lands.  The 
king,  Alexander  the  Second,  at  his  request  interfered,  and 
"found  that  the  monks  were  entitled  to  the  soil,  but  not 
to  the  game,  which  belonged  to  the  Avenels,  as  lords  of 
the  manor.**  For  several  generations  the  Avenels  continued 
among  the  most  powerful  families  on  the  Borders;  and  in 
the  Tales  of  the  *  Monastery,*  and  the  *  Abbot,*  they  have 
been  introduced  with  angular  success  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
The  family  of  Avenel  merged,  like  many  others,  in  an 
heiress,  who  married  Henry,  the  son  of  Henry  de  Graham 
of  Abercom  and  Dalkeith,  and  the  property  of  the  Avenels 
thus  passed  into  other  families. 

Aymoihh.  baron  of,  in  the  Scottish  peerage,  a  title  be- 


stowed on  the  great  duke  of  Marlborough  m  1682,  as  Baron 
Churchill  of  Aymouth,  or  Eyemouth,  in  Berwickshirp,  al- 
though he  had  no  connexion  with  that  place.  The  titie  be- 
came extinct  on  his  death  in  1722. 


Atton,  or  ArroN ,  a  surname  derived  from  the  village  oi 
Eytown,  now  called  Ayton,  in  Berwickshire,  which  seema  to 
have  taken  its  name,  ancientiy  written  Eytun  and  Eitun, 
from  the  water  of  Eye,  that,  rising  among  the  Lammermuir 
hills,  flows  into  the  sea  at  Eyemouth.  The  etymology  of  the 
word  is  *  the  town  on  the  river.' 

The  family  of  Ayton  were  descended  firom  Gilbert  de  Vesd, 
an  Anglo-Norman  knight,  who,  settling  in  Scotland  shortiy 
after  the  Conquest,  obtained  the  lands  of  Ayton  in  Berwick- 
shire, and  adopted  the  name  of  the  lands  as  his  family  name. 
About  the  year  1166  Hellas  and  Dolfinus  de  Eitun  attested  a 
charter  of  Waldeve,  earl  of  Dunbar.  Stephanus  de  Eyton 
appears  as  witness  to  a  charter  "  de  quieta  clamatione  de  terra 
de  Swintona,'"  granted  by  his  son.  Earl  Patrick,  who  died  in 
1232.  In  the  reign  of  William  the  lion,  Helias,  Manridus, 
and  Adam  de  Eitun  are  among  the  witnesses  to  a  donation 
of  David  de  Quixwood  to  the  lazaret  or  hospital  of  lepers  at 
Auldcambus.  In  1250  Adam  de  Eiton  granted  to  Heniy  de 
Lamberton  three  tofts  of  land  with  houses  in  Eyemouth.  In 
1331,  Adam,  the  prior  of  Coldingham,  acknowledged  a  grant 
made  to  him  of  land  for  the  site  of  a  mill  near  the  bridge  of 
Ayton,  by  Adam,  the  son  of  William  de  Ayton.  Robert  de 
Ayton  was  among  the  number  of  the  Scots  slain  at  the  battle 
of  Nesbit-moor,  22d  June  1402. 

The  principal  family  ended  in  an  heiress,  who,  in  the  reign 
of  James  the  Third,  married  George  Home,  a  son  of  the  house 
of  Home,  who  thus  acquired  the  original  lands  of  Ayton.  By 
charter  of  date  29th  November  1472,  the  greater  part  of  the 
lands  of  Ayton,  with  those  of  Whitfield,  were  granted  to 
George  Home,  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Home  of  Dunglass,  who 
thus  became  ancestor  of  the  Homes  of  Ayton. 

History  mentions  the  ^aronial  castle  of  Ayton,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Eye,  founded  by  the  Norman  baron  de  Vesd, 
which  was  taken  by  the  earl  of  Surrey  in  1498,  but  no  veo« 
tigee  of  it  now  remun.  The  modem  mansion-house  of  Ayton, 
built  upon  its  site,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1834. 


A  branch  of  the  Berwickshire  Ay  tons  settled  in  the  county 
of  Fife,  and  Skene  imputes  a  Gaelic  origin  to  the  name. 
**The  Pictish  Chronide,**  he  says,  <*  in  mentioning  the  foun- 
dation of  the  church  of  Abcmethy,  describes  the  boundaries 
of  the  territory  ceded  to  the  Culdees  by  the  Pictish  kmg  as 
having  been  *  a  lapide  in  ApurfeU  usque  ad  lapidemjuxta 
Cairfuly  id  est  Leth/oss^  et  inde  mi  aUum  usque  ad  Alhan.* 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  same  places  are  still  known 
by  these  names,  although  slightly  corrupted  into  those  of 
Apurfarg,  Carpow,  and  AyUm^  and  that  the  words  are  un- 
questionably Gaelic**  {Skene^s  Bighkmders  of  Scotland^ 
vol.  L  p.  76.] 

In  1507,  James  the  Fourth  disponed  the  west  half  of  the 
lands  of  Denmuir,  or  Nether  Denmuir,  in  the  pariah  of  Abdie, 
Fifeshire,  to  Andrew  Ayton,  captain  of  the  castle  of  Stirling, 
a  son  of  the  family  of  Ayton  of  Ayton,  in  Berwickshire,  "pro 
bono  et  fideli  servitio.**  He  was  the  undo  of  the  heiress  of 
Ayton  above  mentioned,  and  in  consequence  of  the  original 
lands  of  Ayton  having  passed,  by  her  marriage,  to  the  house 
of  Home,  he  obtained  a  new  charter  of  the  lands  of  Nether 
Denmuir,  in  which  they  were  named  Ayton,  and  the  nfeshire 
branch  of  the  family  were  afterwards  styled  Ayton  of  Ayton. 

Sir  John  Ayton  of  that  ilk  left  two  sons,  Robert  and  An- 
drew.    Robert,  the  eldest,  succeeded  to  the  estates  of  hit 


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AYTON. 


ande  Robert,  Lord  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  and  in  oonaequence, 
assumed  the  name  of  Colville,  being  styled  Robert  Colville  of 
Craigflower.  The  second  son,  Andrew,  was  a  merchant  in 
Glasgow,  of  which  city  he  became  lord  provost  He  built  a 
laige  house,  surrounded  by  a  garden,  near  the  High  Street  of 
Glasgow,  the  site  of  which,  now  occnpied  by  public  worics,  is 
still  called  Ayton  court. 

About  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
lands  of  Ayton  in  Fife  were  acquired  by  Patrick  Murray, 
Esq.,  second  son  of  Sir  Patrick  Murray,  the  second  baronet 
of  Ochtertyre,  and  they  still  continue  in  the  possession  of  his 
descendant 

The  Aytons  of  Inchdaimie,  in  the  parish  of  Kinglassie,  are 
understood  to  be  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
de  Vesds,  who  settled  in  Berwickshire.  Inchdaimie  has,  for  a 
long  period,  been  the  property  of  the  Aytons.  Of  this  family 
was  Major-general  Roger  Ayton  of  Inchdaimie,  who  died 
about  1810.  His  eldest  son,  John  Ayton,  was  served  Ayton 
of  Ayton  in  1829.  Another  eon,  James  Ayton,  Esq.,  advo- 
cate, stood  candidate  for  the  representation  of  the  city  of  £d- 
mburgh,  some  years  ago. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  lands  of 
Kippoo,  in  the  parish  of  Kingsbaros,  were  sold  by  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  family  of  John  Philp,  burgess  in  Cupar,  to 
whom  they  belonged,  to  Sir  John  Ayton,  younger  son  oi  Ay- 
ton of  Ayton,  who  was  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber  and 
usher  of  the  black  rod  to  Charles  the  Second.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  them,  in  1700,  by  his  grandson,  John  Ayton  of 
Klnaldie.  To  the  latter  fiunily  Sir  Robert  Ayton,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  following  notice,  belonged. 

AYTON,  Sib  Robert,  an  accomplished  poet,  ft 
younger  son  of  Andreur  Ayton  of  Kinaldie,  Fife- 
sblre,  was  born  there  in  1570,  and  studied  at  St. 
Leonard's  college,  St.  Andi-ews,  where  he  took  the 
degree  of  master  of  arts  in  1588.  He  afterwards 
went  to  France,  where  he  resided  for  some  time. 
In  1603  he  addressed  from  Paris  an  elegant  pane- 
gyric, in  Latin  verse,  to  Eling  James  the  Sixth, 
on  his  accession  to  the  crown  of  England,  which 
was  printed  at  Paris  the  same  year.  On  his  ap- 
pearance at  conrt  he  was  knighted,  and  appointed 
one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  and  pri- 
vate secretary  to  the  qneen.  He  was  also,  subse- 
quently, secretary  to  Henrietta  Maria,  qneen  of 
Charles  I.  About  1609  he  was  sent  by  James  as 
ambassador  to  the  emperor  of  Germany,  with  the 
king's  *  Apology  for  the  Oath  of  Allegiance,'  which 
he  had  dedicated  to  all  the  crowned  heads  of  En- 
rope.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  the  men  of 
genius  and  poets  of  his  time,  and  Ben  Jonson  took 
pride  in  informing  Drummond  of  Hawthomden, 
that  "  Sir  Robert  Ayton  loved  him  dearly."  He 
died  at  London  in  March  1638,  and  was  buried  in 
the  south  aisle  of  the  choir  of  Westminster  Abbey, 
where  a  handsome  monument  was  erected  by  his 
nephew,  David  Ayton  of  Klnaldie,  to  his  memory. 


A  representation  of  it  is  given  in  Smith's  Icono- 
graphia  Scotica^  with  his  bust  in  the  centre*  of 
which  the  following  is  a  woodcut : 


The  following  is  the  inscription  on  his  monument- 

Clarissmi  omnigenaq.  yirtvte  et  ervditione,  prtesertim  Poesi 
omatissmi  eqvitis,  Dommi  Robert!  Aitoni,  ex  antiqva  et  il- 
Ivstri  gente  Aitona,  ad  Castrvm  Kinnadinvm  apvd  Scotos, 
oriTudi,  qvi  a  Serenissmo  R.  Jacobo  m  Cvbicvla  Interiora 
admissvs,  in  Germaniam  ad  Imperatorem,  (mperiiq.  Prindpes 
cvm  libello  Regio,  Regis  avthoritatis  vindlce,  Legatvs,  ac 
primTm  Annse,  demvm  Maris,  serenissmU  Britanniarvm 
Reginis  ab  eplstolis,  consiliis  et  libellis  suppUcibvs,  nee  non 
Xenodochio  Sts  Catherinffi  prRfectvs.  AnimaCreatorisRed- 
dita,  hie  depositis  mortalibrs  exrviis  secvndvra  Redemptoris 
adventvm  ezpectat 

Carolvm  Imqyens,  repetit  Parentem 
Et  valedicens  Marias  revisit 
Annam  et  Avlai  decvs,  alto  Oljmpi 
Mvtat  Honore. 
Hoc  devoti  gratiq.  animi 
Testimonmm  optimo  Patrvo 
Jo.  Aitonvs  M  L  P. 
Obiit  Coelebfl  m  Regis  Albavla 
Non  sine  mazimo  Honore  omnlvm 
LvctT  et  Moerore,  iiltat.  svsb  LXVIII. 
Sain.    Hvmante  M.DCXXXVIII. 

MyRARVM  DBCVS  HIC,  PaTRLAQ.  AVL^Q.   DoMlQVB 

Et  Foris  exemplar  bed  non  dcitabile  uonkoti. 

At  the  top  is,  DecerptaB  Dabvnt  Odorem,  the  motto 
of  the  Aytons. 


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AYTON. 


His  Euglisli  poems  are  few  iu  number.  They 
are  remarkable  for  their  purity  of  style  and  deli- 
cacy of  fancy.  The  following  lyric  is  accounted 
one  of  his  best  pieces : 

ON  WOMAN'S  INCONSTANCY. 
I  lov*d  thee  once,  111  love  no  more. 

Thine  be  the  grief  as  is  the  blame ; 
Thou  art  not  what  thou  wast  before, 
What  reason  I  should  be  the  same? 
He  that  can  love  unlovM  again, 
Hath  better  store  of  love  than  brain : 
God  send  me  love  my  debts  to  pay, 
While  unthrift*  fool  their  love  away. 

Nothing  could  have  my  love  overthrown, 

If  thou  hadst  still  continued  mine ; 
Vea,  if  thou  hadst  remained  thy  own, 
I  might  perchance  have  yet  been  thine. 
But  thou  thy  freedom  did  recall, 
That  it  thou  might  elsewhere  enthral ; 
And  then  how  could  I  but  disdain 
A  captive*8  captive  to  remain  ? 

When  new  desires  had  conquered  thee, 
And  changed  the  object  of  thy  will, 
It  had  been  lethargy  in  me. 
Not  constancy  to  love  thee  still. 
Yea,  it  had  been  a  sin  to  go 
And  prostitute  affection  so, 
Since  we  are  taught  no  prayers  to  say 
To  such  as  must  to  others  pray. 

Yet  do  thou  glory  in  thy  choice, 

Thy  choice  of  his  good  fortune  boast ; 
ni  neither  grieve  nor  yet  rejoice, 
To  see  him  gain  what  I  have  lost : 
The  height  of  my  disdain  shall  be, 
To  laugh  at  him,  to  blush  for  thee ; 
To  love  thee  still,  but  go  no  more, 
A  begging  to  a  beggar's  door. 

In  a  different  style  are  the  following  stanzas 
prefixed  to  his  Bcisia  sive  Strena  Cal.  Jan,  Lond. 
1605,  4to.  They  are  addressed  "To  the  most 
worahipful  and  worthy  Sir  James  Hay,  Gentleman 
of  his  Majesty's  bedchamber." 

When  Janus*  keys  unlocks  the  gates  above. 
And  throws  more  age  on  our  sublunar  lands, 

I  sacrifice  with  flames  of  fervent  love 
These  hecatombs  of  kisses  to  thy  hands. 

'l*heir  worth  is  small,  but  thy  deserts  are  such. 

Theyll  pass  in  worth,  if  once  thy  shrine  they  touch. 

Laugh  out  on  them,  and  then  they  wHI  compare 
With  all  the  harvest  of  th'  Arabian  fields, 


With  all  the  pride  of  that  perfumed  air 

Which  winged  troops  of  musked  Zephyrs  yields, 
When  with  their  breath  they  embalm  the  Elysian  pbin, 
And  make  the  flow'rs  reflect  those  scents  again. 

Yea,  they  will  be  more  sweet  in  thrir  conceit 
Than  Venus'  kisses  spent  on  Aden's  wounds. 

Than  those  wherewith  pale  Cynthia  did  entreat 
The  lovely  shepherd  of  the  Latmian  bounds. 

And  more  than  those  which  Jove's  ambrosial  mouth 

Prodigalized  upon  the  Trojan  youth. 

I  know  they  cannot  such  acceptance  find, 
If  rigour  censure  their  unoonrtly  frame ; 

But  thou  art  courteous,  and  wilt  call  to  mind 
Th'  excuse  which  shields  both  me  and  them  finom  blame 

My  Muse  was  but  a  novice  into  this, 

And,  being  virgin,  scarce  well  taught  to  kiss. 

A  panegyrical  sonnet  by  Ayton  occurs  among 
*  The  Poetical  Essays  of  Alexander  Craige,  Scoto- 
britane,'  sig.  F.  3.  London  1604,  4to.  [/rt?tm/'j 
Scottish  Poets,  vol.  ii.  p.  300,  note."]  A  beau- 
tiful song,  commencing,  "I  do  confess  thouVt 
smooth  and  fair,"  piinted  anonymously  in  Lawes's 
^Ayres  and  Dialogues,*  1659,  and  rendered  into 
Scotch  by  Bums  without  improving  it,  has  been 
attributed  to  Sir  Robert  Ayton,  but  without  any 
other  ground  than  that  "  in  purity  of  language, 
elegance,  and  tenderness,  it  resembles  his  un- 
doubted lyrics."  In  *  Watson's  Collection  of  Scot- 
tish poems,'  1706-11,  several  of  Ayton's  pieces 
are  inserted  together  with  his  name,  but  the  poem 
mentioned  appears  without  it,  separate  from  those 
that  are  stated  to  be  bis.  John  Aubrey  styles 
Ayton  **  one  of  the  best  poets  of  his  time."  Ac- 
cording to  Dempster,  he  also  wrote  Greek  and 
French  verses.  Several  of  his  Latin  poems  are 
preserved  in  the  *Delitiffi  Poetamm  Scotorum,' 
printed  in  1637  at  Amsterdam. — Bannatyne  Mis- 
cdlany. — ^The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works : 

Ad  Jaoobum  VI.  Britanniarum  Re^i^em,  Angliam  petentem, 
Pan^yris,  p.  40.  inter  Delitias  Poetamm  Scotomm,  edit  ab 
Arturo  Johnstono.     Amst  1687,  8vo. 

Basia,  nve  Strena  ad  Jaoobum  Hayum,  Equitem  illuskis- 
simum,  p.  54. 

I.«88us  in  Funere  Raphaelis  Thorei,  Medid,  et  Poetae  prn- 
stantissimi,  Londoni  peste  extincti,  p.  61.  ibid. 

Carina  Caro,  p.  63.  ib. 

De  Proditione  Pulverea,  quse  incidet  in  diem  Martis,  p.  65.  ib. 

Oratiamm  Actio,  cum  In  privatum  Cubiculum  admitteretur. 
p.  66.  ibid. 

Epigrammata  Varia,  ib. 

In  Obitum  Ducis  Buckingamii,  a  Filtono  cnltro  extincti. 
MDc:cxviii.  p.  74.  ibid. 


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BADENOCH. 


173 


BAILLIE. 


B 


Badesoch,  II  snmame  derived  from  the  district  of  that 
name,  in  the  soath-east  ot  InTernesa-shiie*  anciently  belong- 
ing to  the  powerfal  family  of  the  Crnnjns.  In  1230,  Walter 
Cumyn,  Mri  of  MenteiUi  in  right  of  his  wife,  the  second 
son  c^  William  Cumyn,  eari  of  Bnchan,  acquired  the  lordship 
df  Badenoch,  by  a  grant  of  Alexander  the  Second.  IChal- 
mer^  Caledonia,  vol.  iL  p.  568.]  In  1291,  John  Cumyn, 
krrd  of  Badenoch,  admowledged  Edward  the  First  as 
superior  of  Scotland.  His  son  John,  called  the  Red  Cumyn, 
was  the  personage  who  was  slain  at  Dumfries,  by  Robert  the 
Bruce,  10th  February  1306.  On  the  forfeiture  of  the  Cu- 
royns,  Bruce  annexed  the  lordship  oi  Badenoch  to  the  earl- 
dom of  Muirmy,  and  the  dan  Chattan,  whose  origmal  pos- 
sessions were  in  Lochaher,  appear  about  this  period  to  have 
settled  in  Badenoch.  [^Gregorj/'s  Bighiamd$y  p.  77.]  Robert 
the  Second  granted  Badenoch  to  his  son  Alexander,  eari  of 
Buohan,  commonly  called,  from  his  ferocity,  "  the  Wolf  of 
Badenoch.**  [See  Buchan,  earls  of.]  In  1452  the  crown 
bestowed  Badenoch  on  the  earl  of  Hnntly,  who,  at  the  head  of 
the  dan  Chattan,  maintained  a  fierce  warfare  with  the  west- 
era  dans,  and  his  neighbours  of  Lochaber.  [See  HimrLT, 
eari  o£]  As  eariy  as  1440  we  find  one  Patrick  Badenoch 
serving  the  office  of  baillie  of  Aberdeen.  [Extraeta  from 
Abkrdekn  Bmrgk  Records,  pp.  6,  8,  &&]  The  name  is  not 
onoommon  in  the  north  of  Scotland. 


BaiLiLIS,  a  surname  supposed  to  have  been  originally  the 
same  as  BalioL  In  the  account  of  the  Baillies  of  Lamington 
mserted  in  the  appendix  to  Nisbet*s  Heraldry,  it  is  stated  that 
Mr.  Alexander  Baillie  of  Castlecarry,  a  learned  antiquarian, 
was  of  opinion  that  the  family  of  Lamington  were  a  branch 
of  the  illustrious  house  of  the  Baliols,  who  were  lords  of  Gal- 
loway, and  kings  of  Scotland.  [See  Baliol,  surname  of.] 
An  unde  of  King  John  Baliol,  named  Sir  Alexander  Baliol 
of  Cavers,  was  great  chamberlain  of  Scotland  in  the  reign  of 
his  nephew,  in  1292.  By  Isabel,  his  wife,  the  daughter  and 
hetress  of  Ridiard  de  Chillam,  the  widow  of  David  de  Strath- 
bogie,  eari  of  Athol,  he  had  two  sons,  Alexander  and  William 
BidioL  Alexander  the  ddest,  after  the  abdication  of  hb  cou- 
sin. Ring  John,  joined  the  Scottish  party,  for  which  he  was, 
by  order  of  King  Edward,  imprisoned  in  the  tower  of  London, 
but  upon  security  given  by  his  father  and  two  gentlemen  of 
the  house  of  Lmdsay,  he  was  enlarged.  [Bymer.']  His  other 
son,  Wilfiam,  had  tiie  lands  of  Penston  and  Cambroe,  in  the 
barony  of  Bothwell,  Lanarkshire,  the  oldest  of  the  possessions 
of  the  Bainies  of  Lamington.  After  the  abdication  of  his 
cousin,  he  also  joined  the  Scottish  party,  which  rendered  him 
so  obnoxioos  to  £ng  Edward,  that  by  act  of  the  parliament 
of  England,  he  was,  in  1297,  fined  in  four  years*  rent  of  his 
estate.  From  Robert  the  Bruce  he  got  a  charter  of  the  lands 
of  Penston.  He  gave  in  pure  alms  to  the  monks  of  Newbat- 
tle  Heentiam  /ornumdi  stagman  im  terra  de  Cambrue,  The 
lands  of  Cambroe  continued  in  the  same  family  till  they  were 
given  over  to  a  younger  son,  the  ancestor  of  the  Baliols  or 
BailKes  of  the  bouse  of  Carphin. 

In  the  list  of  captives  taken  with  David  the  Second  at  the 
battle  of  Durham  in  1346,  occurs  William  Baillie  lJiymer\ 


the  first  time  that  the  name  is  found  thus  written,  or  Eng- 
lished, as  it  is  expressed.  After  his  release  this  William 
Baillie  was,  in  1357,  knighted  by  David  the  Second,  who 
granted  him  a  charter,  dated  27th  January  1368,  of  the  bar- 
ony of  Lamington,  which  has  remained  in  the  possession  of 
his  descendants  till  the  present  time.  Lamington  had  pre- 
vioudy  bdonged  to  a  family  of  the  name  of  Braidfoot  It 
is  traditionally  stated  that  the  celebrated  Sir  William  Wal- 
lace aoquked  the  estate  of  Lamington  by  manying  Marion 
Braidfoot,  the  hebess  of  that  family,  and  that  it  passed 
to  Sir  William  Baillie  on  his  marriage  with  the  ddest 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Wallace.  The  statement,  however, 
is  incorrect  Sur  William  WaUace  left  no  legitimate  off- 
spring, but  his  natural  daughter  b  said  to  have  married  Sur 
William  Baillie  of  Hoprig,  the  progenitor  of  the  Baillies  of 
Lamington. 

This  Sir  William  Baillie  of  Hoprig  and  Lammgton  had  two 
sons,  William  his  heir,  and  Alexander,  who,  according  to 
Baillie  of  Castlecarry,  was  the  first  of  the  famfly  of  Carphin. 
From  him  descended  also,  besides  the  Baillies  of  Parbrotb, 
the  Baillies  of  Park,  Jerviston,  Dunrogal,  Cambroe,  Castle- 
cany,  and  Provand.  The  first  of  the  latter  family  was  Sir 
William  Baillie  of  Provand,  the  cousin  of  the  then  laird  of 
Lamington.  In  1557,  he  was  appointed  to  the  then  benefice 
of  Lamington,  being  the  first  incumbent  of  it  after  the  Re- 
formation. At  that  period  a  certain  proportion  of  the  Lords 
of  Council  and  Session  were  chosen  firom  among  the  dergy, 
and  in  1566  he  was  called  to  the  bench,  when  he  took  the 
title  of  Lord  Provand.  He  was  lord  president  of  the  court  of 
session  from  1565  till  his  death  in  1595.  He  left  a  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  his  sole  hdress,  who  married  Sir  Robert  Hamilton 
of  Oodingtoun  and  SilvertonhilL 

Of  the  house  of  Carphin  was  Mr.  Cuthbert  Baillie,  who 
was  rector  of  Cumnock,  commendator  of  Glenluce,  and  lord 
high  treasurer  of  Scotland  m  1512,  in  the  reign  of  James  the 
Fourth.    ILhes  qfihe  Lord  High  Treaturen.'} 

The  ddest  son  of  the  above  mentioned  Sir  William  Baillie 
of  Hoprig  and  Lamington,  is  designed  Willielmus  Baillie  of 
Hoprig,  in  a  charter  from  his  cousin,  "  Joannes  de  Hamilton, 
Dominus  de  Cadiow,**  ancestor  of  the  dukes  of  Hamilton,  ot 
the  lands  of  Hyndshaw  and  Watston,  dated  4th  Febraary 
1395.  He  married  IsabeUa,  daughter  of  Sur  William  Seton 
of  that  ilk,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Wintoun,  by  whom  he  had 
Sir  William,  his  son  and  heir,  who  was  one  of  the  hostages 
sent  to  England  for  James  the  First,  in  exchange  for  David 
Leslie  of  Leslie,  in  1432.     \_Rgmer,'] 

The  latter  Sir  William  Baillie  of  Hoprig  and  Lamington, 
married  Catharine,  daughter  of  the  above  mentioned  Sir 
John  Hamilton  of  Cadzow. 

His  son  and  successor,  also  named  Sir  William  Baillie, 
was  in  1484,  one  of  the  conservators  of  the  peace  with  Eng- 
land, on  the  part  of  Scotland,  then  conduded  at  Not  ingham, 
and  in  the  year  following  he  was  witness  to  a  charte  of  the 
Uinds  of  Cambusnethan,  granted  by  John  I/)rd  Some*  rille  to 
John  Somerville,  his  son,  by  Mary  Baillie  his  wife,  daughter 
of  this  Sir  William  Baillie  of  Lamington.  His  son  and  bro- 
ther were  also  witnesses  to  the  same  charter.  He  had  two 
other  daughters;  Margaret  married  to  John  earl  of  Suthor- 


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BAILLIE. 


land,  and  had  iasne,  and  Marion  to  John  Lord  Lindsaj  of  the 
Bjrrcs,  ancestor  to  the  earls  of  Crawford. 

Sir  William  Baillie  of  Hoprig  and  Lamington,  hia  son,  in 
1492,  had  a  charter  under  the  great  seal  to  him  and  Marion 
Home  his  wife,  in  conjunct  fee  and  infeftment  This  lady 
was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Patrick  Home  of  Polwarth,  comp- 
troller of  Scotland  in  the  rdgn  of  James  the  Fourth,  and 
ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Marchmont,  by  whom  he  had  Sir 
William  Baillie,  his  son  and  heir,  and  John  Baillie,  of  whom 
descended  the  Baillies  of  St  John*s  Kirk,  Lanaricshlre,  of 
whom  are  come  the  Baillies  of  Jenriswood  and  Waiston. 

Sir  William  Baillie,  the  eldest  son,  married  his  cousin  Eli- 
zabeth, daughter  and  one  of  the  heirs  of  line  of  John  Lord 
Lindsaj  of  the  B3rres,  bj  whom  he  had  Sir  William  his  son 
and  heir,  and  a  daughter,  Janet,  married  to  Sir  David  Ham- 
ilton of  Preston. 

Sir  William  Baillie  of  Lamington,  his  son  and  successor, 
was  made  principal  master  of  the  wardrobe  to  Queen  Manr, 
by  a  gift  under  the  privy  seal,  24th  January  1542.  He  mar- 
ried Janet  Hamilton,  daughter  of  James  first  earl  of  Arran, 
and  duke  of  Chatelhcrault,  by  whom  he  had  Sir  William 
Baillie,  his  successor,  and  a  younger  son,  of  whom  descended 
the  Baillies  of  Bagbie  and  Hardington,  and  their  cadets.  His 
son,  Sir  William  Baillie,  was  a  steady  adherent  of  Maiy, 
queen  of  Scots,  and  fought  for  her  at  the  battle  of  Langside, 
for  which  he  was  afterwards  forfeited.  He  married  Margaret, 
daughter  of  John  Lord  Maxwell,  widow  of  Archibald,  earl  of 
Angus,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter,  Margaret,  married  to 
her  cousin,  Edward  Maxwell,  commendator  of  Dundrennan, 
third  son  of  Lord  Herries  of  Terregles,  on  whom  and  his  chil- 
dren by  his  daughter,  he  settled  the  estate,  the  heir  of  entaO 
to  assume  the  name  of  Baillie,  a  special  act  of  parUaraent 
being  procured  for  the  purpose.  Subsequently  he  had  a  son 
by  a  Mrs.  Home,  whom,  on  his  wife's  death,  he  married, 
hoping  thereby  to  legitimatize  his  son.  He  also  endeavoured 
to  reduce  the  settlement  which  he  had  made  of  his  estates, 
so  that  this  son,  named  William,  might  succeed ;  but  it  being 
proved  that  he  was  bom  while  his  father's  first  wife  was 
alive,  ne  was  not  able  to  break  the  settlement  The  young 
man  went  over  to  Germany,  and  entered  mto  the  service  of 
the  renowned  Gustavus  Adolphus,  long  of  Sweden,  in  which 
he  attained  to  the  rank  of  mtgor-general.  When  the  troubles 
began  in  Scotland,  in  1638,  he  was,  with  other  Scotch  gen- 
eral officers  in  the  Swedish  service,  called  home  by  the  Cove- 
nanters, to  command  theb*  army.  From  the  minutes  of  the 
pariiament  1641,  it  appears  that  he  made  some  faint  efibrts 
to  reduce  the  settlement  of  the  estate  of  Lamington,  but  in 
vain.  ^Neibifs  Heraldryy  Appendix,  vol  ii.  p.  188.]  He 
served  as  lieutenant-general  against  the  marquis  of  Montrose, 
by  whom  he  was  defeated  at  Alford  and  Kilsyth,  in  1645. 
General  Baillie  married  Janet,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Bruce 
of  Glcnhouse,  by  Janet  his  wife,  daughter  and  heiress  of  John 
Baillie  of  Letham,  with  whom  he  got  the  eiCate  of  Letham, 
in  Stiriingshire.  His  eldest  son  Jamse  married  Joanna,  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  entail  of  the  first  Lord  Forrester  of 
Corstorphine,  and  in  her  right  became  in  1679  second  Lord 
Forrester.  General  Baillie's  second  son  William,  married 
Lilias,  another  of  the  daughters  of  the  first  Lord  Forrester, 
by  whom  he  had  William,  who  subsequently  succeeded  as 
Lord  Forrester.     [See  Forrkster,  lord.] 

&Ir.  Maxwell,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Baillie,  grandson 
and  heir  of  entail  of  the  laird  of  Lamington,  succeeded  to 
the  estate  on  the  death  of  Sir  William  Baillie,  and  was  knighted 
by  J^mes  the  Sixth. 

Female  heirs  have  often  held  this  estate,  but  in  accordance 
with  tlie  entaiU  the  name  of  Baillie  descends  with  it 


Vice-admiral  Sir  Thomas  John  Cochrane,  K.C.B.,  son  o< 
admiral  the  Hon.  Sir  Alexander  Forrester  Cochrane,  G.C.B., 
9th  son  of  the  8th  eari  of  Dondonald,  by  his  first  wife,  Matilda 
Wbhart  Ross,  daughter  of  Lieut-Gen.  Sir  Charles  Ross  of 
Balnagown  castle,  baronet,  had,  with  other  issue,  Alexander 
Baillie  Cochrane,  Esq.  of  Lamington,  bora  in  November  1816, 
married  Annabella  Mary  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  A.  R.  Dnun- 
mond,  Esq.  of  CadUnds,  Hants;  issue,  two  dnugbters. 


Bailub  of  Jerviswoode,  the  name  of  an  ancient  family, 
now  possessors  of  the  earldom  of  Haddington.  Cbariea, 
Lord  Binuing,  eldest  son  of  the  sixth  earl  of  Haddington, 
having  married  Rachel,  youngest  daughter  and  at  length 
sole  heiress  of  George  Baillie  of  Jerviswoode  and  Mellerstain, 
their  second  son,  the  Hon.  George  Hamilton,  on  inheriting 
the  estates  of  his  materaal  grandfather,  assumed  the  sur- 
n.une  and  arms  of  Baillie,  and  died  at  Mellerstain,  16th 
April,  1797,  aged  74.  His  eldest  son,  George  Baillie,  Esq.  of 
Mellenttain  and  Jerviswoode,  was  father,  with  other  iasus, 
of  George  Baillie  Hamilton,  who  succeeded  in  1858,  as  tenth 
earl  of  Haddington  (see  that  title,  and  pages  177  and  179  of 
this  volume). 


The  Bailubs  of  Dochfour,  Dunain,  and  others  of  the 
name  in  luveraess-shire,  are  descended  from  a  son  of  the 
laird  of  lamington,  whose  gallantry  at  the  battle  of  Brechin, 
fought  on  the  18th  of  May  1452,  between  the  earls  of  Craw^ 
ford  and  Himtly,  was  rewarded  by  the  latter,  on  whose  side 
he  was,  with  part  of  the  Castle-lands  of  Inverness. 

In  Ross- shire  are  the  Baillies  of  Tarradnle  and  Redcastle. 
(See  page  179  of  this  volume). 

Baiijjk  of  Polkemmet,  origmally  Paukommot,  the  name 
uf  an  ancient  family  in  IJnlithgowshire.  One  of  its  modern 
possessors,  William  Baillie,  advocate,  the  eldest  son  of  Tho- 
mas Baillie,  writer  to  the  signet,  was  raised  to  the  bench  in 
1792,  when  he  took  the  title  of  I^rd  Polkemmet  His  son. 
Sir  William  Baillie,  was  in  1823,  created  a  baronet 

The  surname  of  Baillie,  in  some  instances,  may  have  been 
derived  from  the  word  Bailiff,  or  the  term  bailie,  which  latter 
is  in  Scotland  applied  to  a  magistrate  of  a  burgh. 

BAILLIE,  Robert,  a  learned  Presbyterian 
minister,  was  born  at  Glasgow  in  1599.  His  fa- 
ther, described  as  a  citizen,  was  n  son  of  Baillie 
of  Jerviston,  of  the  family  of  Carphin,  descended 
from  the  Baillies  of  Lamington,  while  his  mother 
was  related  to  the  Gibsons  of  Durie.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  univeraity  of  his  native  city,  whei-e 
he  took  the  degree  of  A.M.  Having  studied  divin- 
ity, in  due  time  he  was  ordained  by  Archbishop 
Law  of  Glasgow.  Becoming  tutor  to  the  son  of 
tlie  earl  of  Eglinton,  that  nobleman  presented 
him  to  the  living  of  Kilwinning,  in  Ayrshire  In 
1626  he  was  admitted  a  regent  at  Glasgow  col- 
lege. About  the  same  time  he  appears  to  have 
prosecuted  the  study  of  the  oriental  languages, 
and  was  anxious  to  promote  similar  studies  in  the 
university.    In  1629  he  delivei*ed  an  oration  In 


I     ' 


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ROBERT. 


Laudem  LingtuB  Hthr<B4B,  In  1683  he  declined 
the  offer  of  a  living  in  Ediuborgh.  The  attempt 
of  Archbishop  Laud  to  introduce  the  Common 
Prayer  into  Scotland  met  with  his  firm  opposi- 
tion ;  and,  though  episcopally  ordained,  he  joined 
the  Presbyterians,  and  was  in  1638  elected,  by  the 
presbytery  of  Irvine,  their  representative  at  the 
Assembly  held  at  Glasgow  that  year.  In  1639, 
as  chaplain  to  Lord  Egllnton's  regiment,  he  was 
with  the  army  of  the  Covenanters,  encamped  on 
Dunse  Law,  under  Alexander  Leslie ;  on  which 
occasion  he  appears  to  have  caught  some  portion 
of  the  military  ardour  which  then  prevailed  in  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  religion.  *^It  would  have 
done  you  good,**  he  remarks  in  one  of  his  letters, 
'^to  have  cast  your  eyes  athort  our  brave  and 
rich  hills  as  oft  as  I  did,  with  great  contentment 
and  joy ;  for  I  was  there  among  the  rest,  being 
chosen  preacher  by  the  gentlemen  of  our  shire, 
who  came  late  with  Lord  Eglinton.  I  furnished 
to  half  a  dozen  of  good  fellows,  muskets  and  pikes, 
and  to  my  boy  a  broadsword.  I  carried  myself, 
as  the  fashion  was,  a  sword,  and  a  couple  of 
Dutch  pistols  at  my  saddle ;  but,  I  promise,  for 
the  offence  of  no  man,  except  a  robber  in  the 
way ;  for  it  was  our  pai*t  alone  to  pray  and  preach 
tor  the  encouragement  of  our  countrymen,  which 
1  did  to  my  power,  most  chearfully."  {^BcuUie^s 
Letters^  vol.  i.  p.  174.]  He  afterwards  states, 
"  Our  sojours  grew  in  experience  of  arms,  in 
courage,  in  favour,  daily.  Every  one  encouraged 
another.  The  sight  of  the  nobles,  and  their  be- 
loved pastors,  daily  raised  their  hearts.  The  good 
sermons  and  prayers,  morning  and  even,  under 
the  roof  of  heaven,  to  which  their  drums  did  call 
them  for  bells;  the  remonstrances  very  frequent 
of  the  goodness  of  their  cause ;  of  their  conduct 
hitherto,  by  a  hand  clearly  divine;  also  Lesly's 
skill  and  prudence  and  fortune,  made  them  all  as 
resolute  for  battle  as  could  be  wished.  We  were 
feared  that  emulation  among  our  nobles  might 
have  done  harm,  when  they  should  be  met  in  the 
field ;  but  such  was  the  wisdom  and  authority  of 
that  old,  little,  crooked  soldier,  that  all,  with  an 
incredible  submission,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  gave  over  themselves  to  be  guided  by  him, 
as  if  he  had  been  great  Solyman.  .  .  Had  you 
lent  your  ear  in  the  morning,  or  especially  at  even,  | 


and  heard  in  the  tents  the  sound  of  some  singing 
psalms,  some  praying,  and  some  reading  Scripture, 
ye  would  have  been  refreshed.  True,  there  was 
swearing,  and  cursing,  and  brawling,  in  some 
quarters,  whereat  we  were  grieved ;  but  we  hoped, 
if  our  camp  had  been  a  little  settled,  to  have  got- 
ten some  way  for  these  misorders ;  for  all  of  any 
fashion  did  regret,  and  all  promised  to  do  their 
best  endeavours  for  helping  all  abuses.  For  my 
self,  I  never  found  my  mind  in  better  temper  than 
it  was  all  that  time  since  I  came  from  home,  till 
my  head  was  again  homeward  ;  for  I  was  as  a  man 
who  had  taken  my  leave  from  the  world,  and  was 
resolved  to  die  in  that  service  without  return." 
[iWrf.  p.  211.]  llie  treaty  of  Berwick,  negotiated 
with  Charles  in  person,  produced  a  temporary 
cessation  of  hostilities. 

In  1640,  when  the  Covenanters  again  appeared 
in  arms,  Mr.  Baillie  joined  them,  and  towards  the 
end  of  that  year,  he  was  sent  to  London,  with 
other  commissioners,  to  prefer  charges  against 
Laud,  for  the  innovations  which  that  prelate  had 
obtruded  on  the  Church  of  Scotland,  lie  had 
previously  published  *The  Canterburian's  Self- 
Conviction  ;*  and  he  also  wrote  various  other  con- 
troversial pamphlets.  In  1642  he  was,  along  with 
Mr.  David  Dickson,  appointed  joint  professor  of 
divinity  at  Glasgow,  where  he  took  the  degi'ee  of 
D.D.,  and  was  employed  chiefly  in  teaching  the 
oriental  languages,  in  which  he  was  much  skilled. 
In  January  1651,  on  the  removal  of  his  colleague 
to  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  he  obtained  the 
sole  professorahip.  So  great  was  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held,  that  ho  had  at  one  time  the 
choice  of  the  divinity  chair  in  the  four  Scottish 
universities.  In  1643  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  an  in- 
teresting account  of  the  proceedings  at  which  he 
has  given  in  his  CoiTcspondence.  He  was  a  lead- 
ing member  of  all  the  General  Assemblies  from 
1638  to  1653,  excepting  only  those  held  while  he 
was  with  the  divines  at  Westminster.  In  1649  he 
was  sent  to  Holland  as  a  commissioner  from  the 
Church,  for  the  purpose  of  inviting  over  Charles 
the  Second,  under  the  limitations  of  the  Cove- 
nant. After  the  Restoration,  on  the  23d  January 
1661,  he  was  admitted  principal  of  the  university 
of  Glasgow      He  was  afterwards  offered  a  bish- 


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opric,  which  he  refused.  Wheu  the  new  arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  Andrew  Fau-fonl,  arrived  at  his 
metropolitan  seat,  he  did  not  fail  to  pay  his  re- 
spects to  the  learned  principal.  Baillie  admits 
that  ^^he  preached  on  the  Sunday,  sobei'ly  and 
well."  "  The  chancellor,  my  noble  kind  scholar," 
he  afterwards  states,  ^^  brought  all  in  to  see  me  in 
my  chamber,  where  I  gave  them  sack  and  ale,  the 
best  of  the  town.  The  bishop  was  very  courteous 
to  me.  I  excused  my  not  using  of  his  styles,  and 
professed  my  utter  difference  from  his  way,  yet 
behoved  to  iutreat  his  favour  for  our  affairs  of  the 
college,  wherein  he  promised  liberally.  What  he 
will  perform  time  will  try^"  ILettets^  vol.  ii.  p. 
461.]  According  to  another  account,  the  arch- 
bishop visited  him  during  his  illness,  and  was  ac- 
costed in  the  following  terms:  "Mr.  Andrew,  I 
will  not  call  you  my  lord,  King  Charles  would 
have  made  me  one  of  these  lords ;  but  I  do  not 
find  in  the  New  Testament  that  Christ  has  any 
I  lords  in  his  house."  In  other  respects  he  is  said 
to  have  trcated  the  prelate  very  courteously.  Mr. 
Baillie  died  in  July  1662,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  publications,  in  Latin 
and  English,  one  of  which,  entitled  *  Opus  Histo- 
ricum  et  Chronologicum,*  published  at  Amsterdam 
in  1663,  and  repnnted  in  1668,  is  mentioned  in 
terms  of  praise  by  Spottiswood.  Excerpts  from 
his  *•  Letters  and  Journals,^  in  2  volumes  octavo, 
were  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1755.  These  con- 
tain some  valuable  and  curious  details  of  the  his- 
tory of  those  times.  The  Letters  and  Journals 
themselves  are  preserved  entire  in  the  archives  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  university  of 
Glasgow.  Many  of  these  letters  are  addressed  to 
the  author's  cousin-german,  William  Spang,  min- 
ister of  the  Scottish  staple  at  Campvere,  and  af- 
terwards of  the  English  congregation  at  Middel- 
bnrg  in  Zeeland.  Mr.  Baillie  understood  no  fewer 
than  thirteen  languages,  among  which  were  He- 
brew, Chaldee,  Syriac,  Samaritan,  Arabic,  and 
Ethiopic. 

Mr.  Baillie  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
was  Lilias  Fleming,  of  the  family  of  Cardarroch, 
in  the  parish  of  Cadder,  near  Glasgow.  Of  this 
marriage  there  were  several  children,  but  only  five 
survived  him.  His  eldest  son,  Henry,  studied  for 
the  church,  but  never  got  a  living.    His  posterity 


inherited  the  estate  of  Cambroe,  which  some 
years  ago  was  sold  by  Grcneral  Baillie.  The  first 
wife  died  in  June  1658,  and  in  October  1656,  he 
married  Mra.  Wilkie,  a  widow,  the  daughter 
of  Dr.  Strang,  the  former  principal  of  Glasgow 
university.  By  this  lady  he  had  a  daughter, 
Margaret,  who  became  the  wife  of  Walkinshaw 
of  Barrowfield,  and  grandmother  of  the  cele- 
brated Henry  Home,  Lord  Kames.  Miss  Cle- 
mentina Walkinshaw,  the  mistress  of  Prince 
Charles  Stuart,  was  also  a  descendant  of  Mr. 
Baillie's  daughter. 

Mr.  Wodrow  extols  Baillie  as  a  prodigy  of  eru- 
dition, and  commends  his  Latin  style  as  suitable 
to  the  Augustan  age.  In  foreign  countries,  says 
Irving,  he  appears  to  have  enjoyed  some  degree  of 
celebrity,  and  is  mentioned  by  Saldenus  as  a 
chronologer  of  established  reputation.  Although 
amiable  and  modest  in  private  life,  in  his  contro- 
versial writings  he  displayed  much  of  the  charac- 
teristic violence  of  the  times. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Mr.  Baillie's  works : 

Opens  ffistorid  et  Gbronologid  libri  dao,  cam  Tribtu  Dia- 
tribus  Tbeologids.  1.  De  Hasretioomm  Antocatacrisl  2. 
An  Qaicqnid  in  Deo  est,  Deus  sit.  8.  De  PnedestinatioDe. 
Amst  1663,  fol.  These  three  Dissertations  printed  separately 
Amst  1664,  8vo. 

A  Defence  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Ghorch  of  Scotland, 
against  Mr.  Maxwell,  Bishop  of  Ross. 

An  Antidote  against  Arminianism.  Lond.  1641,  8vo. 
1652.  8vo. 

The  Unlawfulness  and  Danger  of  a  Limited  Prelade  and 
EpisGopade.    Lond.  1641,  4to. 

A  Parallel  or  biiefe  comparison  of  the  Litorgie  with  the 
Masse-Book,  the  Breviarie,  the  CeremoniaU,  and  other  Ro- 
ish  RitoaHs.    Lond.  1641, 1642,  1646,  1661,  4to. 

Queries  anent  the  Service  Boolce. 

A  Treatise  on  Scotch  Episcopacj. 

Ladennnm  Avrtxarax^t^if,  the  Canterbnrian*s  Self-Con- 
riction;  or  an  evident  Demonstration  of  the  avowed  Ar- 
rainianlsme,  Poperie,  and  TTrannie  of  that  Faction,  bj  their 
owne  confessions:  with  a  Postscript  to  the  Personat  Jesoite, 
Lysimachos  Nicanor.    Lond.  1641.  4to. 

Satan  the  I.<eader  in  chief  to  all  who  resist  the  Reparation 
of  Sion ;  as  it  was  deared  in  a  Sermon  to  the  Honourable 
Honse  of  Commons  at  their  late  Solemn  Fast,  Febr.  28, 1643, 
4to. 

Errours  and  Induration  are  the  great  sins  and  the  great 
Judgments  of  the  time;  preached  in  a  Sermon  before  the 
Right  Honourable  the  House  of  Peers  in  the  Abbey  Church 
at  Westmmster,  July  80,  1645,  the  day  of  the  monthdy  Fast 
Lond.  1645,  4to. 

An  Historical!  Vindication  of  the  GoTemment  of  the  Chmrh 
of  Scotland,  from  the  manifold  base  Calumnies  which  the 
most  malignant  of  the  Prelats  did  invent  of  old,  and  now 
lately  have  been  published  with  great  industry  in  two  pam- 
phlets at  London ;  the  one  mtituled  /stacAmy  Bmrdm,  &c 


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Kfitten  and  poblisbed  at  Oxford  by  John  Maxwell,  a  Scottish 
Prelate,  Ac.    Lond.  1646,  4to. 

A  Dissoasire  from  the  Erroure  of  the  Time ;  wherein  the 
Tenets  of  the  Prindpall  Sects,  espedallj  of  the  Independents, 
are  drawn  together  in  one  Map,  &c  Lond.  1645,  4to.  1646, 
4to.    1655,  4to. 

Anabaptism,  the  true  Foontaine  of  Independency,  Brown- 
lame.  Antinomy,  Famiiisme,  &c.  in  a  Second  Part  of  the  Dis- 
soasive  from  the  Erronrs  of  the  Time.    Lond.  1647,  4to. 

A  Review  of  Dr.  Bramble,  late  Bishop  of  Londonderry,  his 
Fahre  Warning  against  the  Scotes  Disdplin.  Delf.  1649,  4to. 
Baillie's  Beview  was  reprinted  at  Edinburgh;  and  having 
been  translated  into  Dutch,  it  was  published  at  Utrecht. 

A  Scotch  Antidote  against  the  English  Infection  of  Armin- 
lanism.     Lond.  1652,  12mo. 

Appendix  practica  ad  Joannis  Buxtorfii  Epitomen  Gram- 
maticae  Hebxaeae.    Edin.  1653,  8vo. 

A  Reply  to  the  Modest  Inqnirer.  Perhaps  relating  to  tlio 
dispute  between  the  Resolutioners  and  Protesters. 

Catechesis  Elenctica  Errorum  qui  hodie  vexant  Ecclesiam. 
Lond.  1654, 12mo. 

The  Dissuasive  from  tlic  Errours  of  the  Time,  Vindicated 
from  the  Exceptions  of  Mr.  Cotton  and  Mr.  Touibes.  Lond. 
1655,  4to. 

Letters  and  Journals,  cont^ning  an  Impartial  Account  of 
Pablio  Transactions,  Civil,  Ecclesiastical,  and  Military,  in 
England  and  Scotland,  from  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  Wars, 
in  1637,  to  the  year  1662.  With  an  Aooount  of  the  Author's 
Life  prefixed,  and  a  Glossary  annexed,  by  Robert  Aitken. 
Edin.  1775,  2  vols.  8vo.  The  same  edited  from  the  author's 
MS.  by  David  I.4dng,  Esq.    Edin.  1841-2.  8  vols.  8vo. 

BAILLIE,  Robert,  of  Jerviswood,  a  distin- 
guished patriot  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second, 
sometimes  called  the  Scottish  Sydney,  was  the  son 
of  George  Baillle  of  St.  John*s  Kirk,  Lanai'kshire, 
a  cadet  of  the  Lamington  family,  who  bad  become 
proprietor  of  the  estate  of  Jerviswood  in  the  same 
county.  From  his  known  attachment  to  the  canse 
of  civil  and  religions  liberty^  he  had  long  been  an 
object  of  suspicion  and  dislike  to  the  tyrannical 
govemment  which  then  ruled  in  Scotland.  The 
following  circumstances  first  brought  npon  him 
the  persecution  of  the  council.  In  June  1676,  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Kirkton,  a  non-conformist  minister, 
who  had  married  the  sister  of  Mr.  Baillle,  was 
illegally  arrested  on  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh 
by  one  Carstairs,  an  informer  employed  by  Ai'ch- 
bishop  Sharp;  and,  not  having  a  warrant,  he  en- 
deavoured to  extort  money  from  his  prisoner  be- 
fore he  would  let  him  go.  Baillie  being  sent  for 
by  his  brother-in-law,  hastened  to  his  relief,  and 
succeeded  in  rescuing  him.  Kirkton  had  been 
inveigled  by  Carstairs  into  a  mean-looking  honse 
near  the  common  prison,  and  on  Mr.  Baillie  with 
several  other  persons  coming  to  the  house,  they 
found  the  door  locked  in  the  inside.    Baillie  called 


to  Carstairs  to  open,  when  Kirkton,  encouraged 
by  the  voices  of  friends,  desired  Carstairs,  who 
after  his  capture  had  in  vain  attempted  to  procure 
a  warrant,  either  to  set  him  free,  or  to  produce  a 
warrant  fbr  his  detention.  Instead  of  complying 
with  either  request,  Carstairs  drew  a  pocket  pis- 
tol and  a  struggle  ensued  between  Kirkton  and 
him  for  its  possession,  lliose  without  bearing  the 
noise  and  cries  of  murder,  burst  open  the  door, 
and  found  Kirkton  on  the  floor  and  Carstairs  sit- 
ting on  him.  Mi*.  Baillie  di*ew  his  sword,  and 
commanded  him  to  rise,  asking  at  the  same  time 
if  he  had  any  warrant  to  apprehend  Mr.  Kirkton. 
Carstairs  said  he  had  a  warrant  for  conducting 
him  to  prison,  but  he  i*efused  to  produce  it,  saying 
he  was  not  bound  to  show  it.  Mr.  BaUlle  de- 
clared that  if  he  saw  any  warrant  against  his 
friend,  he  would  assist  in  caiTying  it  into  execu- 
tion. He  offered  no  violence  whatever  to  Car- 
stairs, but  only  threatened  to  sue  him  for  the  ille- 
gal arrest  of  his  brother-in-law.  He  then,  with 
Mr.  Kirkton  and  his  friends,  left  the  house.  Upon 
the  complaint  of  Carstairs,  who  had  procured  an 
antedated  warrant,  signed  by  nine  of  the  privy 
council,  Mr.  Baillie  was  called  before  the  council, 
and  by  the  influence  of  Sharp  fined  in  six  thou- 
sand merks,  (£318;  Wodrow  says  the  fine  was 
£500  sterling ;)  to  be  impiisoned  till  paid.  After 
being  four  months  in  prison  he  was  liberated,  on 
payment  of  half  the  fine  to  Carstairs.  The  above 
mentioned  Mr:  Kirkton  wrote  a  memoir  of  the 
church  during  his  own  times,  from  which  Wod- 
row the  historian  derived  much  valuable  assist- 
ance. 

In  the  year  1683,  seeing  no  prospect  of  relitjf 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  govemment  at  home,  Mr. 
Bailee  and  some  other  gentlemen  commenced  a 
negotiation  with  the  patentees  of  South  Carolina, 
with  the  view  of  emigrating  with  their  families  to 
that  colony ;  in  this  following  the  example  of 
Cromwell,  Hampden,  and  othera  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  the  Civil  wars ;  but  in  both  in- 
stances the  attempt  was  fi'ustrated,  and  in  Mr. 
Baillie's  case  fatally  for  himself.  About  the  same 
time  that  this  negotiation  was  begun,  he  and  sev- 
eral of  his  co-patriots  had  entered  into  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  heads  of  the  Protestant  paiiy 
in  England ;  and,  on  the  invitation  of  the  latter. 


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he  and  five  otliei-s  repaired  to  Loudon,  to  consult 
with  the  duke  of  Monmouth,  Sydney,  Russell,  and 
their  friends,  as  to  the  plans  to  be  adopted  to  ob- 
tain a  change  of  measures  in  the  government.    On 
the  discovery  of  the  Rye- House  Plot, 
with  which  he  had  no  connection,  Mr. 
Baillie  and  several  of  his  fi-iends  were 
arrested,  and  sent  down  to  be  tried  in 
Scotland.     The  hope  of  a  pai'dou  being 
lield  out  to  him,  on  condition  of  his  giv- 
ing the  government  some  information,  he 
replied,   "They  who  can  make  such  a 
proposal  to  me,  neither  know  me  nor  my 
country."    Lord  John  Russell  observes, 
^'  It  is  to  the  honour  of  Scotland,  that  no 
witnesses  came    forward  voluntarily  to 
accuse  their  associates,  as  had  been  done 
in  England."    He  had  married,  early  in 
life,  a  sister  of  Sir  Archibald  Johnston 
of  WaiTiston,  who  was  executed  in  June 
1638,  and  during  his  confinement  pre- 
vious to  ti'ial,  Mr.  Baillie  was  not  per- 
mitted to  have  the  society  of  his  lady, 
although  she  offered  to  go  into  irons,  as 
an   assurance  against   any   attempt   of 
facilitating   his   escape.     He   was    ac- 
cused   of  having  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to 
raise  rebellion,  and  of  being  concerned  in  the 
Rye-House  Plot.     As  his  prosecntore  could  find 
no  evidence  agdnst  him,  he  was  ordered  to  free 
himself  by  oath,  which  he  refused,  and  was  in 
consequence  fined  six  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
His  persecutore  were  not  satisfied  even  with  this, 
for  he  was  still  kept  shut  up  in  prison,  and  denied 
all  attendance  and  assistance,  which  had  such  an 
effect  upon  his  health,  as  to  reduce  him  almost  to 
the  last  extremity.     Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  *JIi8- 
tory  of  his  own  Times,'  tells  us  that  the  ministers 
of  state  were  most  earnestly  set  on  Baillie's  de- 
struction, though  he  was  now  in  so  languishing  a 
condition,  that  if  his  death  would  have  satisfied 
the  m&lice  of  the  court,  it  seemed  to  be  very  near. 
He  adds,  that  "  all  the  while  he  was  in  prison,  he 
seemed  so  composed  and  cheerful,  that  his  beha- 
viour looked  like  the  reviving  of  the  spirit  of  the 
noblest  of  the  old  Greeks  or  Romans,  or  rather  of 
the  primitive  Christians,  and  fii*st  martyrs  in  those 
best  days  of  the  church." 


The  following  woodcut  is  taken  from  an  early 
portrait  of  Mr.  Baillie,  painted  in  1660.  The  ori- 
ginal miniature  is  in  possession  of  George  Baillie, 
Esq.,  of  Jei-viswood  and  McUerstain. 


On  the  23d  December  1684  Mr.  Baillie  wae 
arraigned  before  the  high  court  of  justiciary  on 
the  capital  charge,  when  he  appeared  in  a  dying 
condition.  He  was  carried  to  the  bar  in  his  night- 
gown, attended  by  his  sister,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Ker 
of  Gradcn,  who  sustained  him  with  cordials ;  and 
not  being  able  to  stand  he  was  obliged  to  sit.  Ho 
solemnly  denied  having  been  accessaiy  to  any 
conspiracy  against  the  king's  or  his  brother's  life, 
or  of  being  an  enemy  to  the  monarchy.  Every 
expedient  being  i-esorted  to,  to  insure  his  convic- 
tion, he  was  found  guilty  on  the  morning  of  De- 
cember 24th,  and  condemned  to  be  hanged  that 
afternoon  at  the  market-cross  of  Edinburgh,  his 
head  to  be  fixed  on  the  Netherbow  Port,  and 
his  body  to  be  quartered,  the  quarters  to  be  ex- 
hibited on  the  gaols  of  Jedburgh,  Lanark,  Ayr, 
and  Glasgow.  On  hearing  his  sentence  he  said, 
"My  lords,  the  time  is  short,  the  sentence  is 
sharp,  but  I  thank  my  God  who  hath  made  me  as 
fit  to  die  as  you  are  to  live."  He  was  attended 
to  the  scaffold  by  his  faithful  and  affectionate  sis- 


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JOHN. 


ter.  He  was  so  weak  that  he  required  to  be 
assisted  in  mounting  the  ladder.  As  soon  as  he 
was  Hp  he  said,  '^  My  faint  zeal  for  the  Protestant 
religion  hath  brought  me  to  this;'*  but  the  drams 
iutermpted  him.  He  had  prepared  a  speech  to  be 
di'livered  on  the  scaffold,  but  was  prevented. 
'*Thus,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "a  learned  and 
worthy  gentleman,  after  twenty  months'  hard 
usage,  was  brought  to  such  a  death,  in  a  way  so 
full,  in  all  the  steps  of  it,  of  the  spiiit  and  practice 
of  the  courts  of  the  Inquisition,  that  one  is  tempted 
to  think  that  the  methods  taken  in  it  wei*e  suggest- 
ed by  one  well  studied,  if  not  practised  in  them.'' 
Dr.  Owen,  who  was  acquainted  with  Baillle,  writ- 
ing to  a  friend  in  Scotland  before  his  death,  said  of 
him,  ^^  You  have  truly  men  of  great  spirit  among 
you ;  there  is,  for  a  gentleman,  Mr.  Baillie  of  Jer- 
viswood,  a  person  of  the  greatest  abilities  I  ever 
almost  met  with.'*  Mr.  Baillie's  family  was  for 
the  time  completely  ruined  by  his  foifeitui*e.  His 
son  George,  after  his  execution,  was  obliged  to 
take  refuge  in  Holland.  He  afterwards  returned 
with  the  prince  of  Orange,  in  1688,  when  he  was 
restored  to  his  estates.  He  married  Grizel,  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Patrick  Hume  of  Polwarth. 

George  BHillie,  Esq.  of  Jerviswoode  and  Mellentain,  (born 
in  1763,  died  in  1841,)  nephew  of  the  seyenth  eari  of  Had- 
dington, had  israe,  1.  George  Baillle  Hamilton,  who  soo- 
oeeded  his  consin  as  tenth  earl  of  Haddington,  (see  page  174 
of  this  volume ;)  2.  Eliza,  bom  m  1803,  married  the  second 
maFqois  of  Breadalbane;  8.  Charles  Baillie,  bom  in  1804^ 
lord-advocate  1858,  a  lord  of  session  1869,  nnder  the  thle 
of  Lord  Jerviswoode,  married,  with  issue ;  4.  Robert,  major 
in  the  army ;  5.  Rev.  John,  a  canon  of  York ;  6.  Captain 
Thomas,  R.N. ;  7.  Mary,  married  George  John  James,  Lord 
Haddo,  eldest  son  of  Geoige,  fourth  earl  of  Aberdeen,  with 
issue;  8.  Georgina,  married  in  1835,  Lord  Polwarth,  with  issue, 
died  in  1859;  9.  Gatherine  Charlotte,  married  in  1840,  fourth 
earl  of  Asbboroham,  with  issue;  10.  Grisel,  bora  in  1822. 

Evan  Baillle,  an  eminent  merchant  of  Bristol,  bora  in  In- 
veraess-shire  in  1742,  died  at  Dodifonr  in  that  county,  in 
June  1835,  left  two  sons,  Colonel  Hugh  Baillie  of  Redcastle 
and  Tarradale,  Ross-shire,  and  James  Evan  Baillie,  Esq.  of 
Culdnthel  and  Glenelg. 

BAILLIE,  John,  of  I^js,  a  distinguished  East 
Indian  officer,  bom  in  Inveimess-shire  in  1773,  ap- 
pointed acadet  on  the  Bengal  establishment  in  1790. 
He  received  the  commission  of  ensign  in  Mai'ch 
1793,  and  of  lieutenant  in  November  1794.  In 
1797  he  was  employed  by  Lord  Teignmouth  to 
translate  from  the  Arabic  language  an  important 
work  on  the  Mohammedan  law,  compiled  by  Sir 


William  Jones.  On  the  first  formation  of  the  col- 
lege of  Fort- Willian^  about  1800,  he  was  appoint- 
ed professor  of  the  Arabic  and  Persian  languages, 
and  of  the  Mohammedan  law  in  that  institution. 
Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  war  with  the 
confederated  Mahratta  chieftains  in  1803,  he  of- 
fered his  services  as  a  volunteer  in  the  field,  and 
proceeded  to  join  the  army  then  employed  in  the 
siege  of  Agra.  His  captain^s  commission  is  dated 
30th  September  1803.  The  precarious  situation  of 
afiairs  in  the  province  of  Bundlecund  requiring  the 
superintendence  of  an  officer,  qualified  to  conduct 
various  important  and  difficult  negotiations,  on 
which  depended  the  establishment  of  the  British 
authority  in  that  province,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  commander-in-chief  to  the  arduous  and  re- 
sponsible office  of  political  agent.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  occupy  a  considerable  tract  of  hostile  conn 
try,  in  the  name  of  the  Peishwa;  to  suppress  a 
combination  of  refractory  chiefs,  and  to  conciliate 
others ;  to  superintend  the  operations,  both  of  the 
British  troops  and  of  their  native  auxiliaries ;  and 
to  establish  the  British  civil  power  and  the  collec- 
tion of  revenue,  in  this  province,  which  was  not 
only  menaced  with  foreign  invasion,  but  distm-bed 
with  internal  commotion.  All  these  objects  were, 
by  the  zeal  and  activity  of  Captain  Baillie,  accom- 
plished within  three  months.  In  a  letter  to  the 
court  of  directors,  it  was  stated  as  the  opinion  of 
the  governor-general  in  council,  that  on  occasion 
of  the  invasion  of  the  province  by  the  troops  of 
Ameer  Khan,  in  May  and  June  1804,  **  the  British 
authority  in  Bundlecund  was  alone  preserved  by 
his  fortitude,  ability,  and  influence."  His  services 
were  continued  in  the  capacity  of  a  member  of  the 
commission  appointed  in  July  1804,  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  affairs  of  Bundlecund;  and  ex- 
ceptuig  the  short  interval  of  the  last  five  montns 
of  1805,  which  he  spent  at  the  presidency,  he 
continued  engaged  in  this  Important  service  until 
the  summer  of  1807.  He  thus  effected  the  peace- 
able transfer  to  the  British  dominions  of  a  terri- 
tory yielding  an  annual  revenue  of  eighteen  lacs 
of  rupees,  ("£225,000  sterling,)  with  the  sacrifice 
only  of  a  jaghire,  ot  little  more  than  one  lac  of 
rupees  per  annum.  In  July  1807,  on  the  Beath  of 
Colonel  Collins,  he  was  appointed  resident  at 
Lucknow,  where  he  remained  till  the  end  of  1815, 


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»nd  in  June  1818,  he  was  placed  on  the  retired 
list.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  in 
the  Bengal  army  in  Januaiy  1811,  and  to  that  of 
lieutenant-colonel  in  July  1815.  After  his  i-ctum 
to  England,  he  was,  in  1820,  elected  M.P.  for 
Hedon,  for  which  he  sat  during  two  pai'liaments, 
until  the  dissolution  of  1830.  In  that  year  he  was 
returned  for  the  Inverness  burghs,  and  I'e-elected 
in  1831  and  1832.  He  had  been  chosen  a  direc- 
tor of  the  East  India  Company  on  the  28th  of 
May  1823.  He  died  in  London,  on  the  20th  April 
1833,  aged  sixty. — Annual  Obituary, 

BAILLIE,  Matthew,  M.D.,  a  distinguished 
anatomist  and  the  iii*st  physician  of  his  time,  was 
born  October  27,  1761,  in  the  manse  of  Shotts, 
Lanarkshii-e.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  James 
Baillie,  D.D.,  then  minister  of  that  pai-ish,  subse- 
quently of  Both  well,  on  the  Clyde,  in  the  same 
county,  and  afterwai'ds  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
nniveraity  of  Glasgow,  a  descendant,  it  is  sup- 
posed, of  the  family  of  Baillie  of  Jerviswood.  On 
his  mother's  side  he  was  also  related  to  eminent 
individuals,  Dr.  William  Hunter  and  Mr.  John 
Hunter,  the  anatomists,  being  her  bi-others ;  while 
his  own  sister  was  the  highly  gifted  and  celebrated 
Joanna  Baillie.  In  1773  he  was  sent  to  Glasgow 
college,  where  he  studied  for  five  years,  and  so 
greatly  distinguished  himself,  that  in  1778  he  was 
removed,  on  Snell's  foundation,  to  Baliol  college, 
Oxford.  In  1688,  Mr.  John  Snell,  with  a  view 
to  support  episcopacy  in  Scotland,  devised  to  trus- 
tees the  estate  of  Uflfton,  near  I^amington,  in 
Warwickshire,  for  educating  in  that  college,  Scots 
students  from  the  university  of  Glasgow.  This 
fund  now  affords  one  hundi*ed  and  thirty -two 
pounds  per  annum  to  each  of  ten  exhibitions, 
and  one  of  these  it  was  young  Baillie's  good  for- 
tune, in  consequence  of  bis  great  attainments,  to 
secure.  At  the  university  of  Oxford  he  took 
his  degrees  in  arts  and  medicine.  In  1780,  while 
still  keeping  his  teims  at  Oxford,  he  became  the 
pupil  of  his  uncles,  and  when  in  London  he  re- 
sided with  Dr.  William  Hunter,  who,  childless 
himself,  seems  to  have  adopted  him  as  a  son,  and 
to  have  fixed  upon  him  as  his  snccessor  in  the  lec- 
ture-room, in  which,  at  this  period,  he  sometimes 
assisted.  Easy  in  his  manners,  and  open  in  his 
communications,  he  soon  became  a  favounte  with 


the  students,  and  greatly  relieved  Dr.  Hunter  of 
the  arduous  task  of  teaching  in  his  latter  ycare. 
The  sudden  death  of  the  latter,  in  March  1783,  soon 
left;  him,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Craickshank,  his 
late  uncle's  assistant,  to  support  the  reputation  o/ 
the  anatomical  theatre,  in  Great  Windmill  Street, 
which  had  been  founded  by  his  uncle.  [Memoirs 
of  Eminent  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  London, 
1818,  p.  37.] 

Dr.  Baillie  began  his  duties  as  an  anatomical 
teacher  in  1784,  and  he  continued  to  lecture,  with 
the  highest  reputation,  till  1799.  In  1787  he  was 
elected  physician  to  St.  George's  Hospital.  In 
1790,  having  previously  taken  his  degree  of  M.D. 
at  Oxford,  he  was  admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
college  of  Physicians.  He  was  also  elected  a  fel- 
low of  the  Royal  Society,  to  whose  Transactions 
he  had  contributed  two  anatomical  papers.  He 
was  also  chosen  president  of  the  new  medical  so- 
ciety. The  subject  of  morbid  anatomy  seems  to 
have  early  attracted  his  attention,  and  the  valna- 
ble  museum  of  his  uncle,  to  which  he  had  so  full 
access,  opened  to  him  an  ample  field  for  its  inves- 
tigation. Before  his  time,  no  regular  system  or 
method  of  an-angement  had  been  pursued  by  ana- 
tomical writere,  which  could  render  this  study  u.se- 
ftil.  By  a  nice  and  accui-ate  observation  of  the 
morbid  appearances  of  every  part  of  the  body,  and 
the  peculiar  circumstances  which  in  life  distinguish 
them,  he  was  enabled  to  place  in  a  comprehensive 
and  clear  compass,  an  extensive  and  valuable 
mass  of  information,  before  his  time  in  a  confused 
and  undigested  state.  In  1795  he  published  his 
valuable  work,  which  acquired  for  him  a  Euro- 
pean fame,  entitled  'Tlie  Morbid  Anatomy  of  some 
of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  Human  Body,' 
which  he  subsequently  enlarged,  and  which  was 
translated  into  French  and  Gennan,  and  has  gone 
through  innumerable  editions.  In  1799  he  com- 
menced the  publication  of  *  A  Series  of  Engrav- 
ings to  illustrate  some  parts  of  Morbid  Anatomy,' 
from  drawings  by  Mr.  Clift,  the  conservator  of 
the  Hunterian  Museum  in  Lincoln's-Tnn -Fields; 
which  splendid  and  useful  work  was  completed  in 
1802. 

In  1800  Dr.  Baillie  resigned  his  office  in  St. 
George's  Hospital,  and  thenceforward  devoted  him- 
self to  general  practice  as  a  physician,  in  which 


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MATTHEW. 


he  was  so  successful  that  he  was  known  in  one 
year  to  have  received  ten  thousand  pounds  in  fees. 
His  work  on  the  Morbid  Anatomy  of  the  Human 
Body  had  placed  his  character  high  as  a  pathog- 
nomic physician,  and  every  difficult  case  in  high 
life  came  under  his  review.  So  fixed  was  bis  rep- 
utation in  public  opinion,  that  even  his  leaving 
London  for  a  period  of  some  months  at  a  time 
made  no  alteration  in  the  request  for  him  at  his 
return— not  usually  the  case  with  the  general  run 
of  his  professional  brethren.  Besides  publishing 
*  An  Anatomical  Description  of  the  Gravid  Ute- 
rus,* he  contributed  many  important  papers  to 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  and  medical  col- 
lections of  the  day.  Having  been  called  in  to 
attend  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  whose  malady 
however  proved  past  cure,  his  mode  of  treatment 
gave  so  much  satisfaction  to  the  family  of  his  royal 
highness,  that  it  is  thought  to  have  paved  the  way 
for  his  being  commanded  to  join  in  consultation 
the  court  physicians,  in  the  case  of  George  the 
Thurd,  during  his  mental  aberration,  and  he  con- 
tinued a  principal  director  of  the  royal  treatment 
during  the  protracted  illness  of  the  king.  Amid 
the  mingled  hopes  and  fears  which  agitated  the 
nation  for  so  long  a  time,  Dr.  Baillie,  from  the 
known  candour  of  his  nature,  was  looked  up  to 
with  confidence  as  one  whose  opinion  could  be  re- 
lied upon.  The  air  of  a  court,  so  apt  to  change 
the  sentiments,  and  cause  the  individual  to  turn 
with  every  political  gale,  was  considered  inca- 
pable of  bending  the  stubbornness  of  his  tried  in- 
tegrity ;  and  it  is  even  said  that  his  opinion  dif- 
fered often  from  that  of  his  more  politic  colleagues. 
[Memoirs  of  Eminent  Physicians  and  Surgeons^  p. 
40.]  His  conduct  seems  to  have  given  such  high 
satisfaction  that  on  the  first  vacancy  in  1810,  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  physicians  to  the  king, 
with  the  offer  of  a  baronetcy,  which  he  declined. 

Dr.  Baillie  died  on  23d  September  1828,  leav- 
ing to  the  London  College  of  Physicians  the  whole 
of  his  extensive  and  valuable  collection  of  prepar- 
ations, with  six  hundred  pounds  to  keep  it  in 
order.  He  had  married  early  in  Ufe  Sophia,  sister 
of  Lord  Denman,  late  lord  chief  justice  of  the 
court  of  Queen's  Bench,  by  whom  he  had  one  son 
and  one  daughter.  His  estate  of  Duntisboume  in 
Gloucestershire  went  to  his  son.     He  left  large 


sums  to  medical  institutions  and  public  charities. 
While  yet  a  young  man,  his  uncle  William  having 
had  an  unfortunate  misunderstanding  with  his 
brother  John  Hunter,  left  at  his  death  the  small 
family  estate  of  Longcalderwood  in  Lanarkshire, 
to  his  nephew,  in  prejudice  of  his  own  brother,  to 
whom  Dr.  Baillie  restored  it,  as  being  of  right  hi.s 
surviving  uncle's. 

The  following  portrait  of  Dr.  Baillie  is  from  a 
rare  print. 


"^''l 


The  leadmg  features  of  Dr.  Baillie's  character 
were  openness  and  candour.  He  never  flattered 
the  prejudices  of  his  patients,  or  pretended  to  a 
knowledge  which  he  did  not  possess.  He  knew  well 
the  ravages  and  consequences  of  disease,  and  how 
difficult  it  is  to  rectify  derangements  of  structure 
when  once  permanently  formed.  Li  money  mat- 
tei*s  his  liberality  was  remarkable.  He  has  often 
been  known  to  return  fees  where  he  conceived  the 
patient  could  not  aflbrd  them,  and  also  to  refuse  a 
larger  sum  than  what  he  considered  wa^  his  due. 

Shortly  after  his  death  an  elegant  tribute  to  his 
memory  was  delivered  to  the  students  of  anatomy 
and  surgery  in  Great  Windmill  Street,  London, 
by  his  eminent  successor  in  that  lecture-school.  Sir 
Charles  Bell:  "Yon,  who  are  just  entering  ou 


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MATTHEW. 


joor  studies,'*  he  said,  ^^  cannot  be  aware  of  the 
importance  of  one  man  to  the  character  of  a  pro- 
fession, the  members  of  which  extend  over  the 
civilized  world.  Ton  cannot  yet  estimate  the 
thousand  chances  there  are  against  a  man  rising 
to  the  degree  of  eminence  which  Dr.  Baillie  at- 
tained; nor  know  how  slender  the  hope  of  seeing 
his  place  supplied  in  our  day.  It  was  under  this 
roof  that  Dr.  Baillie  formed  himself,  and  here  the 
profession  learned  to  appreciate  him.  He  had  no 
desire  to  get  rid  of  the  national  peculiarities  of 
language;  or,  if  he  had,  he  did  not  perfectly  suc- 
ceed. Not  only  did  the  language  of  his  native 
land  linger  on  his  tongue,  but  its  recollections 
clung  to  his  heart;  and  to  the  last,  amidst  the 
splendour  of  his  pi-ofessional  life,  and  the  seduc- 
tions of  a  court,  he  took  a  hearty  interest  in  the 
happiness  and  the  eminence  of  his  original  country. 
But  there  was  a  native  sense  and  strength  of  mind 
which  more  than  compensated  for  the  want  of  the 
polish  and  purity  of  English  pronunciation.  He 
possessed  the  valuable  talent  of  making  an  ab- 
struse and  difficult  subject  plain;  his  prelections 
were  remarkable  for  that  lucid  order  and  clearness 
of  expression  which  proceed  from  a  perfect  con- 
ception of  the  subject;  and  he  never  permitted 
any  vanity  of  display  to  turn  him  from  his  great 
object  of  conveying  information  in  the  simplest 
and  most  intelligible  way,  and  so  as  to  be  most 
useful  to  his  pupils.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  his 
associate  in  the  lectureship  made  his  duties  here 
unpleasant  to  him,  and  I  have  his  own  authority 
for  saying  that,  but  for  this,  he  would  have  conti- 
nued to  lecture  for  some  years  longer.  Dr.  Baillie 
presented  his  collection  of  morbid  specimens  to  the 
College  of  Physicians,  with  a  sum  of  money  to  be 
expended  in  keeping  them  in  order,  and  it  is  rather 
remarkable  that  Dr.  Hunter,  his  brother,  and  his 
nephew,  should  have  left  to  their  country  such 
noble  memorials  as  these.  In  the  college  of  Glas- 
gow may  be  seen  the  princely  collection  of  Dr. 
Hunter;  the  college  of  surgeons  have  assumed  new 
dignity,  surrounded  by  the  collection  of  Mr.  Hun- 
ter— more  like  the  successive  works  of  many  men 
enjoying  royal  patronage  or  national  support,  than 
the  work  of  a  private  surgeon;  and  lastly.  Dr. 
Baillie  has  given  to  the  College  of  Physicians,  at 
least,  that  foundation  for  a  museum  of  morbid 


anatomy,  which  we  hope  to  see  completed  by  the 
activity  of  the  members  of  that  body.  Dr.  Bail- 
lie's  success  was  creditable  to  the  time.  It  may 
be  said  of  him,  as  it  was  said  of  his  uncle  John, 
*  eveiy  time  I  hear  of  his  increasing  eminence  it 
appears  to  me  like  the  fnlfillmg  of  poetical  justice, 
so  well  has  he  deserved  success  by  his  labours  for  the 
advantage  of  humanity.'  Yet  I  cannot  say  that 
there  was  not  in  his  manner  sufficient  reason  for 
his  popularity.  Those  who  have  introduced  him 
to  fiEunili^  from  the  country  must  have  observed 
in  them  a  degree  of  surprise  on  first  meeting  the 
physician  of  the  court.  There  was  no  assumption 
of  character  or  warmth  of  interest  exhibited.  Ho 
appeared  what  he  really  was— one  come  to  be  a 
dispassionate  observer,  and  to  do  that  duty  for 
which  he  was  called.  But  then,  when  he  had  to 
deliver  his  opinion,  and  more  especially  when  he 
had  to  communicate  with  the  family,  there  was  a 
clearness  in  his  statement,  a  reasonableness  in  all 
he  said,  and  a  convincing  simplicity  in  his  manner 
that  had  the  most  soothing  and  happy  influence 
on  minds,  excited  and  almost  irritated  by  suffer- 
ing and  the  apprehension  of  impending  misfortune. 
After  so  many  years  spent  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
most  severe  science — for  surely  anatomy  and  pa- 
thology may  be  so  considered — and  in  the  perfor- 
mance of  professional  duties  on  the  largest  scale, 
— ^for  he  was  consulted  not  only  by  those  who 
personally  knew  him,  but  by  individuals  of  all 
nations, — he  had,  of  late  years,  betaken  himself  to 
other  studies,  as  a  pastime  and  recreation.  Hn 
attended  more  to  the  general  progress  of  science. 
He  took  particular  pleasure  in  mineralogy;  and 
even  from  the  natural  history  of  the  articles  of 
the  Pharmacopoeia  he  appears  to  have  derived  a 
new  source  of  gratification.  By  a  certain  difficulty 
which  he  put  in  the  way  of  those  who  wished  to 
consult  him,  and  by  seeing  them  only  in  company 
with  other  medical  attendants,  he  procured  for 
himself,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  that  leisure 
which  his  health  required,  and  which  suited  the 
maturity  of  his  reputation ;  while  he  intentionally 
left  the  field  of  practice  open  to  new  aspirants. 
When  you  add  to  what  I  have  said  of  the  celebrity 
of  the  uncles  William  and  John  Hunter,  the  ex- 
ample of  Dr.  Baillie,  and  farthci  consider  the 
eminence  of  his  sister  Joanna  Baillie,  excelled  by 


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JOANNA. 


none  of  her  sex  in  any  age,  yon  must  conclade 
with  me  that  the  family  has  exhibited  a  singular 
extent  and  variety  of  talent.  Dr.  Baillie's  age 
was  not  great,  if  measured  by  length  of  years;  he 
had  not  completed  his  sixty-third  year,  bat  bis 
life  was  long  in  nsefulness.  lie  lived  long  enongh 
to  complete  the  model  of  a  professional  life.  In 
the  stndies  of  youth ;  in  the  serious  and  manly 
occupations  of  the  middle  period  of  life;  in  the 
upright,  humane,  and  honourable  character  of  a 
physician  ;  and  above  all  in  that  dignified  conduct 
which  became  a  man  mature  in  years  and  honours, 
be  has  left  a  finished  example  to  his  profession.'' 
[Annual  Reg%$terfor  1823.] 

Dr.  Baillie  would  never  allow  any  likeness  of 
himself  to  be  published.  He  sat  to  Hoppner  for 
his  portrait,  in  order  to  make  a  present  of  it  to  his 
sisters,  but  finding  that  this  picture  had  been  put 
into  the  hands  of  an  engraver,  he  interfered  to 
prevent  its  being  used  by  him,  as  he  exceedingly 
disliked  the  idea  of  seeing  his  face  in  the  print- 
shop  windows.  The  engraving,  however,  was  al- 
ready completed,  and  his  sense  of  justice  would 
not  allow  him  to  deprive  the  engi-aver  of  the  fruits 
of  his  labour.  He  therefore  purchased  the  cop- 
perplate, and  permitted  only  a  few  copies  to  be 
taken  from  it,  which  were  presented  to  friends. 
His  collected  medical  works  were  published  in 
1825,  with  a  memoir  of  his  life  by  James  Ward- 
rop,  surgeon. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Baillie's  works : 

The  Morbid  Anatomy  of  some  of  the  most  Important  PartK 
of  the  Human  Body.  Lond.  1793,  8vo.  Appendix  to  the 
firet  edition  of  the  Morbid  Anatomy.  Lond.  1798,  8to.  2d 
edit,  corrected  and  greatly  enlarged.  1797, 8ro.  7th  edit  1807. 
A  Series  of  Engravings,  tending  to  illustrate  the  Morbid  Ana- 
tomy of  some  of  the  most  Important  Parts  of  the  Hunan 
Body.  Faadc  be.   Lond.  1799, 1802,  royal  4to.  2d  edit  1812. 

Anatomical  Description  of  the  Gravid  Uterus 

Case  of  a  Boy,  seven  years  of  age,  who  had  Hydrocephahu, 
in  whom  some  of  the  Bones  of  the  Skull,  once  firmly  united, 
were,  in  the  progress  of  the  disease,  separated  to  a  consider- 
able distance  from  each  other.    Mod.  Trans,  iv.  p.  1813. 

Of  some  Uncommon  Symptoms  which  occurred  in  a  Case 
of  Hydrocephalus  Intemus.    lb.  p.  9.' 

Upon  a  Strong  Pulsation  of  the  Aorta,  m  the  Epigastric 
Re^on.    lb.  p.  271. 

Upon  a  Case  of  Stricture  of  the  Bectum,  produced  by  a 
Spasmodic  Contraction  of  the  Internal  and  External  Spineta 
of  the  Anus.    Med.  Trans,  v.  p.  136.    1816. 

Some  Observations  respecting  the  Green  Jaundice.  lb.  p. 
143. 

Some  Observations  on  a  Particular  Species  of  Purging. 
a.  p.  166. 


The  Want  of  a  Pericordium  in  the  Human  Body.  Trans. 
Med.  et  Chir.  i.  p.  91.    1793. 

Of  Uncommon  Appearances  of  Disease  in  the  Blood  Ves- 
sels,   lb.  p.  119. 

Of  a  Remarkable  Deviation  from  the  Natural  Structurp,  in 
the  Urinary  Bladder  and  Organs  of  Generation  of  a  Male. 
Trans.  Med.  et  Chir.  i.  p.  189.   1793. 

A  Case  of  Emphysema  not  proceeding  from  Local  Injury, 
lb.  p.  29 

An  Account  of  a  Case  of  Diabetes,  with  an  Examination  of 
the  Appearances  after  Death.     lb.  iL  p.  170.    1800. 

An  Account  of  a  Singular  Disease  in  the  Great  Intestines. 
lb.  p.  144. 

An  Account  of  the  Case  of  a  Man  who  had  no  Evacuation 
in  his  Bowels  for  neariy  fifteen  weeks  before  his  death.  lb. 
p.  179. 

Of  a  Remarkable  Transposition  of  the  Viscera.  Phil. 
Trans.  Abr.  xii.  483.     1788. 

Of  a  Particular  Structure  in  the  Human  Ovarium.  lb. 
635.    1789. 

BAILLIE,  Joanna,  an  eminent  poetess  and 
acknowledged  improver  of  English  poetic  diction, 
sister  of  Dr.  Matthew  Baillie,  the  snbject  of  the 
preceding  memoir,  was  bom  in  1762.  Her  birth- 
place was  the  manse  of  Bothwell,  a  parish  on  the 
banks  of  the  Clyde,  in  the  Lower  ward  of  Lan- 
arkshire, of  which  her  father,  the  Rev.  James 
Baillie,  D.D.,  afterwards  professor  of  divinit}'  in 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  was  at  that  time  min- 
ister. She  was  the  yonnger  of  his  two  danghtei-s. 
Within  earshot  of  the  rippling  of  the  broad  watei-a 
of  the  Clyde,  she  spent  her  early  days.  That 
river,  confined  within  lofty  banks,  makes  a  fine 
sweep  round  the  magnificent  mins  of  Bothwell 
Castle,  and  forms  the  semicircular  declivity  called 
Bothwell  Bank,  that  ^'  blooms  so  fair,''  celebrated 
in  ancient  song ;  *^  meet  nurse  for  a  poetic  child.'' 
In  the  immediate  vicinity  is  '^Bothwell  Brig," 
where  the  Covenanters  were  defeated  in  June 
1679. 

"  Where  Bothwell  Bridge  ooRnecto  the  margin  steep. 
And  Cljde  below  runs  silent,  strong,  and  deep, 
The  hardy  peasant,  bj  oppression  driven 
To  battle,  deem*d  his  cause  the  cause  of  Heaven ; 
Unskilled  in  arms,  with  useless  courage  stood. 
While  gentle  Monmouth  grieved  to  shed  his  blood." 

After  her  father's  death,  her  mother,  who  was 
a  daughter  of  Mr.  Hunter  of  Longcalderwood, 
a  small  estate  in  the  parish  of  East  Kilbride,  in 
the  same  county,  went  there  to  reside,  with  her 
two  daughters,  Agnes  and  Joanna,  but  when 
the  latter  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  Mrs 


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Baillie  removed  with  them  to  London,  to  be 
near  her  son,  Dr.  Mathew  Baillie,  and  ber  two 
brothera.  Dr.  William  Hunter  and  Mr.  John 
Hunter,  the  eminent  anatomists.  In  London  or 
the  neighbourhood  Miss  Baillie  resided  for  the  re- 
mainder of  her  life,  she  and  her  sister  having  for 
many  years  kept  house  together  at  Hampstead. 
The  incidents  of  her  life  ai-e  few,  being  confined 
almost  exclusively  to  the  publication  of  her 
works.  Her  earliest  pieces  appeared  anonymous- 
ly. Her  name  firet  became  known  by  her  dramas 
on  the  Passions.  The  first  volume  was  published 
in  1798,  under  the  title  of  *  A  Series  of  Plays,  in 
which  it  is  attempted  to  delineate  the  stronger 
passions  of  the  mind,  each  passion  being  the  sub- 
ject of  a  tragedy  and  a  comedy.'  In  a  long  intro- 
ductory discourse  on  the  subject  of  the  drama,  she 
explains  her  principal  purpose  to  be  to  make  each 
play  subservient  to  the  development  of  some  one 
particular  passion.  "  I^t,"  she  says,  "  one  simple 
trait  of  the  human  heart,  one  expression  of  pas- 
sion, genuine  and  true  to  nature,  be  introduced, 
and  it  will  stand  forth  alone  in  the  boldness  of 
reality,  whilst  the  false  and  unnatural  around  it 
fades  away  upon  every  side,  like  the  rising  exha- 
lations of  the  morning."  In  thus,  however,  re- 
stricting her  dramas  to  the  illustration  of  only  one 
passion  in  each,  she  excluded  herself  fi'om  the  va- 
ried range  of  character  which  is  necessaiy  to  the 
acting  drama,  and  circumscribed  the  proper  busi- 
ness of  the  piece ;  hence,  her  dramas  are  more 
adapted  for  perusal  than  for  representation.  Nev- 
ertheless, their  merits  were  instantly  acknow- 
ledged, and  a  second  edition  of  this  her  first  vol- 
ume was  called  for  in  a  few  montlis.  In  1802, 
she  published  a  second  volume  of  her  plays.  In 
1804  she  produced  a  volume  of  miscellaneous  dra- 
mas, and  the  third  volume  of  her  plays  on  the 
Passions  appeared  in  1812.  All  these  raised  her 
name  to  a  proud  pre-eminence  in  the  world  of 
literature,  and  she  was  considered  one  of  the  most 
highly  gifted  of  British  poetesses. 

Like  Byron,  however.  Miss  Baillie  eai-ly  came 
under  the  censure  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  but 
she  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  its  upbraidings,  and  halted 
not  in  the  path  which  she  had  traced  out  for  herself, 
at  its  bidding.  Byron's  spii'it  was  aroused,  and  he 
retaliated  in  the  most  bitter  satire  in  the  English 


language ;  lyiiss  Baillie  placed  the  unjust  judgment 
quietly  aside,  and  silently  went  on  her  way  rejoic- 
ing. On  the  appearance  of  her  second  volume  of 
Plays,  a  veiy  unfavourable  opinion  was  expressed 
of  them  in  the  fourth  number  of  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  namely  that  for  July  1803,  and  her  theory 
of  the  unity  of  passion  unequivocally  condemned. 
In  the  thirty -eighth  number,  that  for  Febniary 
1812,  when  the  third  volume  hml  appeared,  the 
reviewer  was  still  more  severe.  Her  views  were 
styled  "narrow  and  peculiar,"  and  her  scheme 
"  singularly  perverse  and  fantastic."  Miss  Bail- 
lie's  plan  of  producing  twin  dramas,  a  tragedy  and 
a  comedy,  on  each  of  the  passions,  was  thoroughly 
disapproved  of  by  Mr.  Jeffrey,  who  appeared  to 
think  that  her  genius  was  rather  lyrical  than  dra- 
matic. In  his  estimation  her  dramas  combined 
the  faults  of  the  French  and  English  schools,  the 
poverty  of  incident  and  unifonnity  of  the  one  with 
the  iiTegularity  and  homeliness  of  the  other,  her 
plots  were  improbable,  and  her  language  a  bad 
imitation  of  that  of  the  elder  dramatists.  In  this 
verdict  the  literary  public  have  not  agreed,  and 
the  bitter  feeling  in  which  the  i-eview  was  written, 
as  in  the  still  more  memorable  case  of  Byron, 
tended  to  defeat  its  own  pui-pose.  It  was  well  re- 
marked by  one  of  the  impartial  critics  of  MLss 
Baillie's  writings,  that  in  her  honourable  pursuit  of 
fame,  she  did  not  "  bow  the  knee  to  the  idolatries 
of  the  day ;"  but  strong  in  the  confidence  of  native 
genius,  she  held  her  undeviating  course,  with  na- 
ture for  her  insti'uctress  and  virtue  for  her  guide. 
Amongst  those  who,  from  their  first  appearance, 
had  expressed  an  enthusiastic  admiration  of  her 
plays  on  the  Passions,  was  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir) 
Walter  Scott,  who,  when  in  London  in  1806,  was 
introduced  to  Miss  Baillie  by  Mr.  Sotheby,  the 
translator  of  Oberon.  The  acquaintance  thus  be- 
gun soon  ripened  into  affectionate  intunacy,  and 
for  many  years  they  maintained  a  close  epistolary 
con'espondence  with  each  other.  Between  these 
two  eminent  individuals,  there  were  in  fact  many 
striking  points  of  i*esemblance.  They  had  the  same 
lyrical  fire  and  enthusiasm,  the  same  love  of  legen- 
dary lore,  and  the  same  attachment  to  the  man- 
ners and  customs,  to  the  hills  and  woods  of  their 
native  Scotland.  Many  of  Scott's  letters  to  her  are 
inserted  in  Lockhart's  Life  of  the  great  novelist. 


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Doling  a  visit  which  Miss  Baillie  paid  to  Scot- 
land in  the  year  1808,  she  resided  for  a  week  or  two 
with  Mr.  Scott  at  Edinbnrgh.  While  in  Glasgow, 
previons  to  her  proceeding  to  that  city,  she  had 
sought  out  Mr.  John  Stmthers,  the  author  of  the 
Poor  Man*s  Sabbath,  then  a  working  shoemaker, 
a  native  of  the  parish  of  East  Kilbride,  whom 
she  had  known  in  his  early  years.  Mr.  Stmthers, 
In  the  memoirs  of  his  own  life  (published  with  his 
poems  in  2  vols,  in  1850),  thus  commemorates 
this  event.  ^*In  the  year  1808  the  author  had 
the  high  honour  and  the  singular  pleasure  of  being 
visited  at  his  own  house  in  the  Gorbals  of  Glas- 
gow by  Joanna  Baillie,  then  on  a  visit  to  her  na- 
tive Scotland,  who  had  known  him  so  intimately 
in  bis  childhood.  He  has  not  forgotten,  and  never 
can  forget,  how  the  sharp  and  clear  tones  of  her 
sweet  voice  thrilled  through  his  heart,  when  at 
the  outer  door  she,  inquiring  for  him,  pronounced 
his  name — far  less  could  he  forget  the  divine  glow 
of  benevolent  pleasure  that  lighted  up  her  thin  and 
pale,  but  finely  expressive  face,  when,  still  hold- 
ing him  by  the  hand  she  had  been  cordially  shak- 
mg,  she  looked  around  his  small,  but  clean  apart- 
ment, gazed  upon  his  fahr  wife  and  his  then  lovely 
children,  and  exclaimed  that  he  was  surely  the 
most  happy  of  poets.*^  Through  Miss  Baillie^s 
recommendation,  Mr.  Scott  brought  Mr.  Sti-uth- 
ers'  *Poor  Man's  Sabbath'  under  the  notice  of 
Mr.  Constable,  the  eminent  publisher,  who  was 
induced  to  bring  out  a  third  edition  of  that  excel- 
lent poem,  consisting  of  a  thousand  copies,  for 
which  he  paid  the  worthy  author  thirty  pounds, 
with  two  dozen  copies  of  the  work  for  himself. 

In  1810,  *The  Family  Legend,'  a  tragedy  by 
Miss  Baillie,  founded  on  a  Highland  tradition,  was 
brought  out  at  the  Theatre  Royal,  Edinburgh. 
That  theatre  was  then  under  the  management  of 
Mr.  Henry  Siddons,  the  son  of  the  great  Mrs. 
Siddons,  who  had  married  Miss  Murray,  the  sister 
of  Mr.  William  Henry  Murray,  his  successor  as 
manager  and  lessee,  and  the  granddaughter  of 
Murray  of  Broughton,  the  secretary  of  the  Pre- 
tender during  the  rebellion  of  1745.  The  Family 
Legend  of  Joanna  Baillie  was  the  first  new  play 
produced  by  Mr.  Siddons,  and  Scott  took  a  great 
interest  in  its  representation.  We  learn  frum 
Lockhart^s  Life  of  Scott  that  he  was  consulted  in 


all  the"  miuutiie  of  the  costume,  attended  every  re- 
hearsal, and  supplied  the  prologue.  The  epilogue 
was  written  by  Henry  Mackenzie.  In  a  letter  to 
the  authoress,  dated  January  30th,  1810,  Scott 
thus  communicates  the  result : 

"  Mt  Deab  Miss  Baillie, — Yon  have  only  to  ima- 
gine all  that  you  could  wish  to  give  success  to  a  play, 
and  yoor  conceptions  will  still  ^1  short  of  the  com- 
plete and  decided  triumph  of  the  Family  Legend. 
The  house  was  crowded  to  a  most  extraordinary  de- 
gree ;  many  people  had  come  from  your  native  capital 
of  the  west;  everything  that  pretended  to  distinction, 
whether  from  rank  or  literature,  was  in  the  boxes,  and 
in  the  pit  such  an  aggregate  mass  of  humanity,  as  I 
have  seldom  if  ever  witnessed  in  the  same  space.  It 
was  quite  obvious  from  the  beginning,  that  the  cause 
was  to  be  very  fairly  tried  before  the  public,  and  that  if 
an3rthing  went  wrang,  no  effort,  even  of  your  numerous 
and  zealous  friends,  could  have  had  much  influence  in 
guiding  or  restraining  the  general  feeling.  Some  good- 
natured  persons  bad  been  kind  enough  to  propagate 
reports  of  a  strong  opposition,  which,  though  I  con- 
sidered them  as  totally  groundless,  did  not  by  any 
means  lessen  the  extreme  anxiety  with  which  I  waited 
the  rise  of  the  curtain.  But  in  a  short  time  I  saw  tliere 
was  no  ground  whatever  for  apprehension,  and  yet  I 
sat  the  whole  time  shaking  for  fear  a  scene-shifter,  or  a 
carpenter,  or  some  of  the  subaltern  actors,  should  make 
some  blunder,  and  interrupt  the  feeling  of  deep  and 
general  interest  which  soon  seized  on  the  whole  pit, 
box,  and  gallery,  as  Mr.  Bayes  has  it.  The  scene  on 
the  rock  struck  the  utmost  possible  effect  into  the  au- 
dience, and  you  heard  nothing  but  sobs  on  all  sides. 
The  banquet-scene  was  equally  impressive,  and  so  was 
the  combat.  Of  the  greater  scenes,  that  between  Lorn 
and  Helen  in  the  castle  of  Maclean,  that  between 
Helen  and  her  lover,  and  the  examination  of  Maclean 
himself  in  Argyle's  castle,  were  applauded  to  the  very 
echo.  Siddons  announced  the  play  ^for  the  rest  of  the 
week,*  which  was  received  not  only  with  a  thunder  o| 
applause,  but  with  cheering  and  throwing  up  of  hats 
and  handkerchiefs.  Mrs.  Siddons  supported  her  part 
incomparably,  althongh  just  recovered  from  the  indis- 
position mentioned  in  my  last.  Siddons  himself  played 
Lorn  very  well  indeed,  and  moved  and  looked  with 
great  spirit.  A  Mr.  Terry,  who  promises  to  be  a  fine 
performer,  went  through  the  part  of  the  Old  Eari 
with  great  taste  and  effect.  For  the  rest  I  cannot  say 
much,  excepting  that  from  highest  to  lowest  they  were 
most  accurately  perfect  in  their  parts,  and  did  their  very 
best.  Malcolm  de  Gray  was  tolerable  but  stickish — 
Maclean  came  off  decently — but  the  conspirators  were 
sad  hounds.  You  are,  my  dear  Miss  Baillie,  too  much 
of  a  democrat  in  your  writings;  you  allow  life,  soul, 
and  spirit  to  these  inferior  creatures  of  the  drama,  and 
expect  they  will  be  the  better  of  it  Now  it  was  ob- 
vious to  me,  that  the  poor  monsters,  whose  moutlis 
are  only  of  use  to  spout  the  vapid  blank  verse  which 
your  modem  playwright  puts  into  the  part  of  the  con- 


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fident  and  subaltum  villain  of  his  piece,  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  the  energetio  and  poetical  diction 
which  even  these  subordinate  departments  abound 
with  in  the  Legend.  As  the  play  greatly  exceeded 
the  usual  length  (lasting  till  half-past  ten),  we  intend, 
when  it  is  repeated  to-night,  to  omit  some  of  the  pas- 
sages where  the  weight  necessarily  fell  on  the  weakest 
of  onr  host,  although  we  may  hereby  injure  the  detail 
of  the  plot.  The  scenery  was  very  good,  and  the  rock, 
without  appearance  of  pantomime,  was  so  contrived 
as  to  place  Mrs.  Siddoi^s  in  a  very  precarious  situation 
to  all  appearance.  The  dresses  were  more  tawdry 
than  I  sliould  have  judged  proper,  but  expensive  and 
showy.  I  have  got  my  brother  John's  Highland  re- 
cruiting party  to  reinforce  the  garrison  of  Inverary, 
and  as  they  mustered  beneath  the  porch  of  the  castle, 
and  seemed  to  fill  the  court-yard  behind,  the  combat 
scene  had  really  the  appearance  of  reality.  Siddons 
has  been  most  attentive,  anxious,  assiduous,  and  do- 
cile, and  had  drilled  his  troops  so  well  that  the  promp- 
ter's aid  was  unnecessary,  and  I  do  not  believe  he 
gave  a  single  hint  the  whole  night;  nor  were  there 
any  false  or  ridiculous  accents  or  gestures  even  among 
the  underlings,  though  God  knows  they  fell  often  far 
short  of  the  true  spirit.  Mrs.  Siddons  spoke  the  epi- 
logue extremely  well:  the  prologue,  which  I  will  send 
you  in  its  revised  state,  was  also  very  well  received. 
Mrs.  Scott  sends  her  kindest  compliments  of  congratu- 
lation ;  she  had  a  party  of  thirty  friends  in  one  small 
box,  which  she  was  obliged  to  watch  like  a  clucking 
hen  till  she  bad  gathered  her  whole  flock,  for  the 
crowd  was  insufferable.  I  am  going  to  see  the  Legend 
to-night,  when  I  shall  enjoy  it  quietly,  for  last  night  I 
was  BO  much  interested  in  its  reception  that  I  cannot 
say  I  was  at  leisure  to  attend  to  the  feelings  arising 
from  the  representation  itself.  People  are  dying  to 
read  it.  If  you  think  of  suffering  a  single  edition  to 
be  printed  to  gratify  their  curiosity,  I  will  take  care  of 
it.  But  I  do  not  advise  this,  because  until  printed  no 
other  theatres  can  have  it  before  you  give  leave.  My 
kind  respects  attend  Miss  Agnes  Baillie,  and  believe 
me  ever  your  obliged  and  faithful  servant, 

Walter  Scott." 

The  Family  liCgend  had  a  mn  of  fonrteen  nights, 
and  was  soon  after  printed  and  published  by  James 
and  John  Ballantyne.  [Lochhcarfs  Life  of  Scott, 
pp.  186,  187.]  It  was  afterwards  brought  out  on 
the  Ivondon  stage,  and  the  authoress  upon  one  oc- 
casion when,  in  the  year  1816,  it  was  performed 
at  one  of  the  London  theatres,  was  accompanied 
to  the  theatre  by  lx)rd  Byron  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Scott,  who  were  then  in  London,  to  witness  the 
representation. 

In  1828  she  published  a  *  Collection  of  Poetical 
Miscellanies,'  which  was  well  received.  It  con- 
tained, with  some  pieces  of  her  own,  Scott's  dra- 


matic sketch  of  Macdnff*s  Cross,  besides  several 
poems  by  Mrs.  Hemans,  some  jeux  d^eiprits  by 
the  late  Catherine  Fanshawe,  and  a  ballad  enti- 
tled Polydore,  originally  published  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Annual  Register  for  1810,  and  written  by 
Mr.  William  Howison,  author  of  an  *  Essay  on 
the  Sentiments  of  Attraction,  Adaptation,  and  Va- 
riety.' 

In  1836,  Miss  Baillie  published  three  more  vol- 
umes of  plays,  all  illustrative  of  her  favourite 
theory.  *'  Even  in  advanced  age,"  says  a  writer 
in  the  North  American  Review  for  October  1835, 
*•*•  we  see  Miss  Baillie  still  tracing  the  fiery  streams 
of  passion  to  their  sources, — searching  into  the 
hidden  things  of  that  dark  mystery,  the  heart, — 
and  arranging  her  startling  revelations  in  the  im- 
posing garb  of  rich  and  classical  poetry."  Among 
the  best  of  her  dramatic  writings  are  the  tragedies 
of  Count  Basil,  and  de  Montfort.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  has  eulogised  ^^  Basil's  love  and  Montfort't 
hate,"  as  something  like  a  revival  of  the  inspired 
strain  of  Shakspeare. 

De  Montfort  was  brought  out  on  the  London 
stage  by  John  Philip  Kemble,  in  1801,  soon  after 
its  publication.  The  great  Mrs.  Siddons  perform- 
ed the  part  of  Lady  .Jane,  and  both  her  acting  in 
the  piece  as  well  as  that  of  her  brother,  Mr.  Kem- 
ble, was  so  powerful  that  it  ought  to  have  sus- 
tained the  play  had  there  been  any  stage  vitality 
in  it.  At  that  period  it  was  acted  for  eleven 
nights.  It  was  then  laid  aside  till  1821,  when  it 
was  again  produced,  to  exliibit  Kean  in  the  prin- 
cipal character ;  but  that  great  actor  declared  that 
though  a  fine  poem,  it  would  never  be  an  acting 
play.  Mr.  Campbell,  In  his  life  of  Mrs.  Siddons, 
records  this  remark,  and  makes  the  following  very 
just  observations:  Miss  Baillie  "brought  to  the 
drama  a  wonderful  union  of  many  precious  requi- 
sites for  a  perfect  tragic  writer ;  deep  feeling,  a 
picturesque  imagination,  and,  except  where  the- 
ory and  system  misled  her,  a  correct  taste,  that 
made  her  diction  equally  remote  fipom  the  stifiiiess 
of  the  French,  and  the  flaccid  flatness  of  the  Ger- 
man school ;  a  better  stage  style  than  any  that 
we  have  heard  since  the  time  of  Shakspeare,  or, 
at  least,  since  that  of  his  immediate  disciples. 
But  to  compose  a  tragedy  that  shall  at  once  de- 
light the  lovere  of  poetry  and  the  populace  is  a 


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prize  in  the  lottery  of  fame,  which  has  literally 
been  only  once  drawn  during  the  whole  of  the  last 
century,  and  that  was  by  the  author  of  Douglas. 
If  Joanna  Baillie  had  known  the  stage  practically, 
she  would  never  have  attached  the  importance 
which  she  does  to  the  development  of  single  pas- 
sions in  single  tragedies ;  and  she  would  have  in- 
vented more  stirring  incidents  to  justify  the  pas- 
sion of  her  characters,  and  to  give  them  that  air 
of  fatality  which,  though  peculiarly  predominant 
in  the  Greek  drama,  will  also  be  found  to  a  certain 
extent,  in  all  successful  tragedies.  Instead  of 
this,  she  contrives  to  make  all  the  passions  of  her 
main  characters  proceed  from  the  wilful  natures  of 
the  beings  themselves.  Their  feelings  are  not  pre- 
cipitated by  circumstances,  like  the  stream  down 
a  declivity,  that  leaps  from  rock  to  rock ;  but  for 
want  of  incident,  they  seem  often  like  water  on  a 
level,  without  a  propelling  impulse."  ILife  of 
Mrs.  Siddonsy  vol.  ii.  p.  254.]  The  style  of  her 
dramas,  however,  is  regular  and  vigorous;  her 
plots,  though  simple,  exhibit  both  originality  and 
carefulness  of  construction ;  and  altogether  her 
plays  display  a  deep  and  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  workings  of  the  human  heart.  The  following 
is  a  portrait  of  Joanna  Baillie  iirom  a  painting  by 
Sir  W.  Newton  • 


As  an  authoress,  the  leading  feature  of  her  ge- 
nius was  simple  greatness.  She  had  no  airs,  arti- 
fice, or  pretension.  Profound  subtlety,  a  deep 
penetration  into  character,  and  a  wonderful  fer- 
tility of  invention,  mark  all  her  dramas.  Her 
touches  of  natural  description,  the  wild  legendaiy 
grandeur  which  at  times  floats  aix>und  her,  the 
candour,  charity,  and  womanliness  of  her  natm'e, 
and  the  strong  yet  delicate  imagery  in  which  she/ 
enshrines  her  thoughts,  with  her  sound  morality 
and  the  simplicity  and  force  of  her  language, 
impart  a  pleasing  charm  to  her  writings,  and  dis- 
tinguish them  from  those  of  all  her  contempora- 
ries. 

Besides  her  dramas,  Miss  Baillie  was  the  au- 
thoress of  various  poems  and  songs,  on  miscellan- 
eous subjects,  which  were  collected  and  published 
in  one  volume  in  1841.  These  are,  in  general, 
remarkable  for  their  truth  and  feeling  and  harmony 
of  diction,  qualities  in  which  she  was  surpassed  by 
few  modern  poets.  Among  the  best  of  her  poems 
are,  one  entitled  "The  Kitten,"  which  first  ap- 
peared in  an  early  volume  of  the  Edinburgh  An- 
nual Register,  and  the  Birthday  address  to  her 
sister.  Miss  Agnes  Baillie,  both  of  which  have  been 
often  quoted.  The  latter  is  equal,  if  not  in  some 
respects  superior,  to  the  fine  lines  of  Cowper,  writ- 
ten "On  receiving  his  Mother's  Picture."  The 
most  popular  of  her  songs  are,  "The  Gowan 
Gutters  on  the  Sward ;"  "  Welcome  Bat  and  Ow- 
let Gray;"  "Good  Night,  Good  Night;"  "It  fell 
on  a  Morning ;"  which  originally  appeared  in  the 
collection  of  Scotch  songs  called  *The  Harp  of 
Caledonia,'  edited  by  John  Struthers,  and  pub- 
lished in  Glasgow  in  1821 ;  "  WooM  and  Married 
and  a' ;"  and  "  Hooly  and  Fairly."  The  two  latter 
were  written  for  Mr.  George  Thomson's  celebrated 
collection  of  Scotch  melodies,  as  was  also  "  When 
white  was  my  o'erlay  as  foam  o'  the  linn,"  a  new 
version  of  "Todlin  Hame."  Her  Scotch  songs, 
distinguished  by  their  simplicity,  their  quiet  pawky 
hnmour,  and  pastoral  tenderness,  are  known  by 
heart  by  all  Scotsmen. 

Miss  Baillie  passed  the  greater  portion  of  her 
life  in  retirement,  and  in  her  latter  years  in  strict 
seclusion,  at  her  villa  at  Hampstead,  where  she 
died  Febniary  23,  1851,  in  her  89th  year,  retain- 
ing all  her  faculties  to  the  last.     Her  sister,  who 


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was  also  a  poetess,  and  who  died  April  27,  1861, 
la  kii'  101  St  year,  always  resided  with  her.  The 
following  lines  are  from  the  beginning  of  an  '  Ad- 
dress to  her  Sister  Agnes,  on  her  Birthday : ' 

"  Dear  Agnea,  gleamed  with  joy  and  d.Hshed  with  teai-s. 
O'er  OS  have  glided  almost  sixty  years, 
Since  we  on  BothwelFs  boony  braes  were  seen, 
By  those  whose  eyes  long  closed  in  death  have  been. 
Two  tiny  imps,  who  scarcely  stooped  to  gather 
The  slender  harebell  on  the  purple  heather ; 
Ho  taller  than  the  foxglove's  spiky  stem, 
That  dew  of  morning  stnds  with  silver  gem. 
Then  every  butterfly  th«t  crossed  our  view 
With  joyful  shout  was  greeted  as  it  flew ; 
And  moth,  and  ladybird,  and  beetle  bright, 
In  sheeny  gold,  were  each  a  wondrous  sight 
Then  as  we  paddled  barefoot,  side  by  side, 
Among  the  sunny  shallows  of  the  Clyde, 
Minnows  or  spotted  parr,  with  twinkling  fin, 
Swimming  in  mazy  rings  the  pool  within, 
A  thrill  of  gladness  through  our  bosoms  sent, 
Seen  in  the  power  of  early  wonderment 
Active  and  ardent,  to  my  fancy's  eye. 
Thou  still  art  young,  in  spite  of  time  gone  by. 
Though  oft  of  patience  brief  and  temper  keen. 
Well  may  it  please  me,  in  life's  latter  scene, 
To  think  what  now  thou  art,  and  long  to  me  hast  been/' 

The  high  literary  fame  which  she  acquired  by  her 
works  never  succeeded  in  drawing  her  generally 
into  society.  Her  life  was  pore  and  virtuous  in 
the  highest  degree,  and  characterised  by  the  most 
consummate  integrity,  kindness,  and  active  bene- 
volence. Gentle  and  unassuming  to  all,  she  pos- 
sessed an  unchangeable  simplicity  of  manner  and 
character,  and  while  she  counted  amongst  her 
friends  most  of  her  contemporaries  celebrated 
for  their  genius  or  their  virtues,  many  foi^eigners, 
fi'om  various  parts  of  Europe,  on  their  coming  to 
England,  sought  introductions  to  her. 

The  series  of  plays  on  the  passions  consists  of 
Count  Basil,  a  tragedy,  portraying  love ;  The 
Trial,  a  comedy;  De  Montfort,  a  tragedy,  de- 
picting hatred,  with  The  Election,  a  comedy; 
Ethelwald,  a  tragedy,  Part  I. ;  the  same,  Part 
II. — both  on  ambition ;  On*a,  a  tragedy  founded 
on  fear ;  The  Dream,  a  tragedy  in  prose,  in  three 
acts ;  The  Siege,  a  comedy  in  five  acts ;  The  Bea- 
con, a  serious  musical  drama  in  two  acts,  the  sub- 
ject hope,  interspersed  with  some  pleasing  songs ; 


Romiero,  a  tragedy ;  Tlie  Alienated  Manor,  a  co- 
i  medy ;  and  Henriqnez,  a  tragedy. 

Her  miscellaneous  plays  are  Rayner,  a  tragedy; 
The  Country  Marriage,  a  comedy;  Constantia 
Paleologus,  or  the  last  of  the  Csesars,  a  tragedy ; 
The  Family  I^egend,  a  tragedy ;  The  Martyr,  a 
drama;  The  Separation,  a  tragedy;  The  Strip- 
ling, a  tragedy,  in  prose ;  The  Phantom,  a  musi- 
cal drama ;  Enthusiasm,  a  comedy ;  Witchcraft,  a 
tragedy  in  prose;  The  Homicide,  a  tragedy  in 
prose,  with  occasional  passages  in  verse;  The 
Bride,  a  drama ;  and  The  Match,  a  comedy. 
None  of  these  are  acting  pieces.  The  Separation, 
and  Henriquez,  one  of  her  series  on  the  passions, 
were  attempted  on  the  London  stage,  but  without 
success. 

Her  Miscellaneous  works  consist  of  Metrical 
Legends,  Songs  and  Poems  on  general  subjects. 
A  volume  of  her  fugitive  verses  was  published  in 
1840.  Many  of  the  early  specimens  of  her  genius 
were  collected  in  this  volume.  Under  the  head  of 
Miscellaneous  were  classed  various  pieces  divided 
into  Songs,  Romantic  and  other  ballads,  and  poems 
of  a  tender  domestic  character.  Among  them 
were  I^rd  John  of  the  East,  Malcolm^s  Heir,  Sir 
Maurice,  the  Moody  Seer,  and  the  tragic  and  ap- 
palling ballad  of  the  Elder  Tree;  also.  Lines  on 
the  Death  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  The  third  portion 
of  the  volume  contained  subjects  of  a  devotional 
character;  some  of  these  it  appears,  as  she  states 
in  her  preface,  were  written  for  **  the  kirk,  at  the 
request  of  an  eminent  member  of  the  Scotch  churchy 
at  a  time  when  it  was  in  contemplation  to  compile, 
by  authority,  a  new  collection  of  hymns  and  sacred 
poetry  for  the  general  use  of  parochial  congrega- 
tions.^* The  plan  meeting  with  opposition  was, 
however,  relinquished. 

A  complete  edition  of  Miss  Baillie^s  works  was 
published  by  Messrs.  A.  Longman  and  Co.,  in 
1851,  soon  after  her  death.  In  this  volume  Is 
inserted  a  poem  entitled  Ahalya  Baee,  which  had 
been  previously  printed  for  private  circulation, 
and  amongst  the  fugitive  verses  are  some  short 
poems  never  before  published.  The  following  is  a 
list  of  her  productions : — 

Series  of  Plays;  in  which  it  is  attempted  to  delineate  the 
Stronger  Pasdons  of  the  Mind,  each  Passion  being  the  sub- 
ject of  a  Tragedy  or  Comedy.  Lond.  1798,  1802,  2  vols.  Sto. 
6th  edit.  1806,  2  vohj.  8vo. '  Vol  iii.  1812,  8vo. 


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MiMeQaneoiu  Plays.    Lond.  1804,  8to.   2d  edit  1806, 8vo. 
The  Familj  I.egend;  a  Tragedj.     1810,  8vo. 
Collection  of  Poetical  Miscellanies.    London,  1828,  8to. 
Additional  Plays  on  the  Passions.     London,  1836,  8ro. 
FogitiTe  Verses,  Miscellaneous  Poems  and  Songs.  London, 
1811,  8to, 
Complete  edition  of  Works.    Londcm,  1851,  Imp.  8vo. 

BAILLIE,  Lady  Grizel,  see  Home,  Lady 
Grizcl. 

BAILZIE,  or  Bailue,  William,  a  physiciau 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  studied  medicme  in  Italy 
with  80  much  reputation  that  he  was  first  made 
rector,  and  afterwards  professor  of  medicine  in  the 
university  of  Bologna,  about  1484.  He  adopted 
the  Galenic  system  in  preference  to  the  Empiric, 
and  wrote  *  Apologia  pro  Galeni  Doctrina  contra 
Empiricos,'  Lyons,  1550.  According  to  Demp- 
ster, he  returned  to  Scotland  and  died  there,  but 
the  date  of  his  death  is  not  recorded.  In  his  Scots 
writers,  Mackenzie  supposes  him  to  be  the  author 
also  of  an  octavo  book,  called  *  De  Quantitate  Syl- 
labarum  Gnecarum  et  de  Dialectis,'  published  in 
1600. 

Badi,  a  surname  derived  from  Jie  Gaelic  word  bane^  sig- 
nifying white,  or  of  a  fair  complexion,  as  Donald  Bane,  who 
usurped  the  Scottish  throne  after  the  death  of  his  brother 
Malcolm  Canmore.  The  name  is  sometimes  spelled  Baine, 
as  in  the  following  instance,  and  sometimes  Bayne,  as  in 
that  of  Bajne,  Alexander,  the  first  professor  of  Scots  Law  in 
the  univerBity  of  Edinburgh,  the  subject  of  a'subseqaent 
notice. 

BAIKE,  James,  A.M.,  an  eminent  minister  of 
the  Relief  communion,  and  one  of  the  fathers  of 
that  church,  was  the  son  of  the  minister  of  Bon- 
hill,  Dumbartonshire,  where  he  was  bom  in  the 
year  1710.  He  received  the  first  part  of  his  edu- 
cation at  the  pai-isli  school,  and  afterwards  studied 
for  the  church  at  the  university  of  Glasgow.  Hav- 
ing been  licensed  to  preach,  he  was  presented  by 
the  duke  of  Montrose  to  the  church  of  Killearn, 
the  adjoining  parish  to  Bonhill.  In  1756  he  be- 
came one  of  the  ministers  of  the  High  church  of 
Paisley,  and  in  the  following  year  he  had  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Witherspoon  for  his  colleague.  He 
was  intimate  with  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
clergymen  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  so 
early  as  1745  his  name  is  mentioned  as  having 
been  warmly  engaged  among  his  parishioners  in 
Killearn,  in  promoting  a  remarkable  revival  of  re- 
ligion in  the  west  of  Scotland  at  that  period. 
While  he  remained  a  minister  of  the  Established 


church,  he  was  a  zealous  defender  of  her  libeity, 
independence,  and  legal  rights,  and  a  determined 
opponent  of  what  he  considered  ecclesiastical  tyr- 
anny. The  conduct  of  the  General  Assembly  in 
1752  in  deposing  the  Rev.  Thomas  Gillespie  of 
Camock,  from  the  office  of  the  ministry,  as  well 
as  some  more  recent  proceedings,  in  his  estima- 
tion infringed  on  the  cause  of  religious  liberty,  and 
had  a  powerful  influence  in  inducing  him  to  resign 
his  pastoral  charge  at  Paisley.  To  this  he  was 
also  led  by  the  following  circumstance :  The  office 
of  session  clerk  of  the  parish  having  become  va- 
cant, a  dispute  occnired  as  to  whether  the  kirk 
session  or  the  town  council  had  the  right  of  ap- 
pointment. The  case  came  to  be  litigated  in  the 
court  of  session,  and  was  finally  decided  in  favour 
of  the  town  council.  Mr.  Baine  took  the  part  of 
the  kirk  session,  his  colleague  of  the  members  of 
the  town  council ;  which  caused  a  painful  misun- 
derstanding between  them.  He  therefore  came  to 
the  resolution  of  resigning  his  charge,  which  he 
did  in  a  lette#to  the  presbytery  of  date  10th  Feb- 
mary  1766,  and  in  consequence  was  cited  to  ap- 
pear before  the  General  Assembly  29th  May  of 
that  year.  Having  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the 
Assembly,  and  been  heard  at  considerable  length 
in  an  elaborate  and  able  defence,  he  was  declared 
by  the  venerable  court  to  be  no  longer  a  minister 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Immediately  after  his 
deposition  Mr.  Baine  published  a  pamphlet  enti- 
tled *  Memoirs  of  modem  Church  Refoimation,  or 
the  History  of  the  General  Assembly,  1766,  with 
a  brief  account  and  vindication  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Relief.*  The  publication  consisted  of  letters  to 
a  reverend  friend,  in  which  he  gave  an  amusing 
account  of  the  procedure  of  the  supreme  ecclesias 
tical  court  in  his  case,  and  indulged  in  some  acri 
monious  remarks  on  the  conduct  of  the  leading 
moderates.  The  pamphlet  b  now  scarce.  He  had 
in  the  meantime  accepted  of  a  charge  under  the 
Relief  body,  then  recently  formed,  and  on  the  13th 
February  1766,  he  was  inducted  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Gillespie,  late  of  Camock,  as  the  minister  of  Col- 
lege Street  chapel,  which  was  the  first  church 
opened  in  Edinburgh  in  connection  with  the  Relief 
presbytery.  Previous  to  his  deposition  by  the 
Established  church  he  is  said,  after  his  admission 
to  South  College  Street  cLapel,  to  have  conducted 


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his  new  congregation  to  the  neighbonrlng  church  of 
Old  Greyfiriars,  at  that  time  nnder  the  pastoral 
care  of  Dr.  Erskine,  in  order  to  partake  of  the  sa- 
crament of  the  Lord*8  sapper. 

Mr.  Baine  had  always  distinguished  himself  by 
testifying  against  whatever  he  considered  to  be  a  vio- 
lation of  public  morality.  Before  he  left  Paisley  he 
published  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Society  for 
the  Refoimation  of  Manners  in  that  town,  instituted 
under  his  auspices,  in  which  he  declared,  in  strong 
terms,  against  the  pi*evailing  vices  of  the  age.  In 
1770  he  published  a  sermon,  entitled  *  The  Tlieatre 
Licentions  and  Perverted,'  which  he  had  preached 
against  Foote's  play  of  *  The  Minor,*  then  acted 
at  Edinburgh,  in  which  the  characters  of  White- 
field  and  other  zealous  ministers,  and  even  reli- 
gion itself,  was  most  unjustly  and  pi-ofanely  ridi- 
culed. To  this  attack  Foote  replied  in  1771  in 
'  An  Apology  for  the  Minor,  in  a  Letter  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Baine.'  In  1777  Mr.  Baine  published  a 
volume  of  sermons,  among  which  is  one  on  the 
subject  of  the  Pastoral  Care,  delivered  in  the 
Low  church  of  Paisley  at  the  admission  of  his 
colleague  in  June  1757.  Mr.  Baine  died  January 
17,  1790,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age.  He  had 
maiTied  the  only  daughter  of  Dr.  Michael  Potter, 
of  Easter  Livelands,  Stirlingshire,  professor  of 
divinity  in  Glasgow  nnivei'sity,  and  son  of  Michael 
Potter,  one  of  the  martyrs  of  the  Bass.  His  eld- 
est son.  Captain  Michael  Bain,  died  a  detenu  in 
France.  His  second  son,  the  Rev.  James  Bain,  a 
probationer  of  the  Established  chui-ch  of  Scotland, 
receiving  episcopal  ordination,  was  appointed  a 
chaplain  in  one  of  the  colonies.  The  third  son. 
Lieutenant-colonel  William  Bain  of  Easter  Live- 
lands,  served  abroad  during  the  American  and 
Continental  ware.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  eld- 
est son,  Edwin  Sandys  Bain  of  Easter  Livelands, 
sergeant  at  law.  A  volume  of  Mr.  Baine's  ser- 
mons was  published  nearly  fifty  years  after  his 
death.  His  talents  and  attainments  were  of  a  high 
order ;  and  his  voice  was  so  musical  that,  while 
minister  at  Killeam,  he  was  popularly  known  by 
the  name  of  **  the  Swan  of  the  West." 

Baibi),  a  soraame  of  ancient  standing  in  Scotland.  Ac- 
cording to  Kisbet,  (Herakby^  toI.  l  p.  314,)  the  familiet  of 
this  surname  have  for  arms,  Gnles,  a  Boar  passant,  Or:  as 
relative  to  the  name.  Tradition  states  that  while  William 
the  Lion  was  banting  in  one  of  the  sooth- west  ooonties,  he 


happened  to  straggle  from  his  attendants,  and  was  alarmed 
bj  the  approadi  of  a  wild  boar,  which  was  slain  by  one  of  his 
retinne  of  the  name  of  Baird,  who  had  hastened  to  his  as- 
sistance. For  this  signal  service  the  king  conferred  upon 
him  large  grants  of  land,  and  assigned  him  the  above  co«« 
of  arms,  with  the  motto  "  Dominos  fedt** 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third,  Robert,  son  of  Wal- 
deve  de  Biggar,  granted  a  charter  to  Richard  Baird,  of  Meikle 
and  Little  Kyp  in  Lanarkshire.  IDabympU's  Colhciiont,  p. 
397.]  Among  the  names  in  the  Ragnum  Roll  of  those  who 
swore  submission  and  fealtj  to  Eang  Edward  the  First  of 
England,  m  1292,  1296,  1297,  &&,  are  Fei^gos  de  Bard,  John 
Bard,  and  Robert  Bard ;  supposed  to  be  of  the  Bairds  of  Kjp 
and  Evandale,  then  a  considerable  famil/  in  Lanarkshire. 
There  is  a  charter  of  King  Robert  the  Bruce  of  the  barony  of 
Cambusnethan  to  Robert  Baird.    [^Haddington's  ColUctimu.'] 

Baird  of  Camwath,  with  three  or  four  other  barons  of  that 
name,  being  convicted  of  a  conspiracy  against  King  Robert  the 
Bruce,  in  a  parliament  held  at  Perth,  were  fiurfeited  and 
put  to  death  in  consequence. 

The  estate  of  Cambusnethan  went  by  marriage,  in  the  reigo 
of  David  the  Second,  to  Sir  Alexander  Stewart,  afterwanL 
of  Damley  and  Crookston,  who,  in  1890,  bestowed  the  lands 
of  Cambusnethan  on  Janet  his  daughter  and  her  husband.  Sir 
Thomas  Somerville  of  Camwath,  created  in  1427  Lord  Soni> 
endlle. 

From  the  Bairds  of  Ordinhivas  in  Ban£bhire,  descendants 
of  the  family  of  Cambusnethan,  came  the  Bairds  of  Auch- 
medden  in  Aberdeenshire,  who  were  long  the  principal  fiunily 
of  the  name,  and  for  several  generations  sheriflb  of  that 
county. 

George  Baird  of  Auchmedden,  who  was  alive  m  1668,  mar- 
ried Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Alexander  Keith  of  Troup,  bro- 
ther of  the  earl  marischaL  His  son  and  successor,  also  named 
George,  married  in  1570,  Lilias,  daughter  and  heir  of  Walter 
Baird  of  Ordinhivas,  and  had  a  numerous  progeny.  The  eld- 
est son,  George  Baird  of  Auchmedden,  was  ancestor  of  the 
Bairds  of  that  place,  now  represented  by  Fraaer  of  Findrach. 
[Burh6*$  Landed  Gentry."] 

The  fourth  son,  James  Baurd,  advocate,  and  one  of  the  com- 
missaiies  of  Edinburgh  in  the  time  of  Charies  the  First,  was 
the  founder  of  the  houses  of  Newbyth  and  SaughtonhaH  He 
married  Bathia,  a  daughter  of  Dempster  of  PiUiver,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons,  John  and  Robot.  John  the  eldest  was 
admitted  advocate  in  June  1647.  At  the  Restoratiim  he  was 
created  a  knight  baronet,  and  made  a  lord  of  session,  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Newbyth.  He  died  at  Edmbuigh,  27th 
April  1698,  in  the  78th  year  of  his  age.  He  collected  the 
decisions  of  the  court  from  November  1664  to  February 
1667,  and  practiques  from  the  former  year  to  1681,  with  an 
Appendix  to  1690,  the  manuscripts  of  which  are  preserved  iu 
the  Advocates*  Library.  [Haig  and  Brtmton^s  Senaion  qf  the 
College  ofJwUce.']  He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Hay  of  linplum,  the  second  son  of  James  lord  Yester, 
and  brotlier  of  John,  first  earl  of  Tweeddale.  By  her  he  had 
Sir  William  Baird  of  Newbyth,  created  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia  in  1696.  The  latter  was  twice  married,  first  to  Helen, 
daughter  of  Su:  John  Gilmour  of  Craigmillar,  president  of  the 
court  of  session,  and  secondly  to  Margaret,  daughter  of  Lord 
Smchur.  His  son,  by  his  first  wife.  Sir  John  Baird  the 
second  baronet,  married  Janet,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Sir 
David  Dalrymple,  advocate,  grandfather  of  the  celebrated 
Lord  Hailes.  Sir  John  diod  in  1746,  without  issue,  when  the 
baronetcy  became  extinct,  but  the  estate  was  entailed  on  hi* 
second  cousin,  William  Baird,  the  father  of  the  celebrated 
Sir  David  Baird. 


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The  jonnger  son  of  James  Bmird,  advocate,  vix.  Sir  Kobert 
Baird,  Knight,  of  Saochtonhall  in  Mid  Lothian,  had,  with 
other  iasne,  James,  his  soooesaor,  created  in  Febroarj  1696, 
a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  William  Baird,  a  merdiant 
and  a  baillie  in  £dinbar^  The  latter  was  the  father  of 
William  Baird,  who  succeeded  his  second  consin  Sir  John 
Baird  in  the  estate  of  Newbyth.  He  married  Alida,  fourth 
daughter  of  Johnston  of  Hiltown,  m  Berwickshure,  by  whom 
be  had  six  sons  and  eight  daughters.  The  gallant  Sir  David 
Baird  was  the  fifth  son. 

The  estate  of  Auchmedden  was  purchased  by  the  third  earl  of 
Aberdeen  ftom  the  Bairds,  on  which,  according  to  a  local  tradi- 
tion, a  pair  of  eagles  which  had  regularly  nestled  and  brought 
forth  their  young  in  the  neighbouring  rocks  of  Pennan,  dis- 
appeared, in  fulfilment  of  an  andent  prophecy  by  Thomas 
the  Bhymer,  that  there  should  be  an  eagle  in  the  crags  while 
there  was  a  Biurd  in  Auchmedden.  It  is  stated  that  when 
Lord  Haddo,  eldest  son  of  the  earl,  married  Christian, 
youngest  daughter  of  William  Baird,  Esq.  of  Newbyth,  and 
sister  of  General  Sir  David  Band,  the  eagles  returned  to  the 
mcks,  and  remained  until  the  estate  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  Hon.  William  Gordon,  when  they  again  fled. 

The  baronetcy  oonferred,  in  1809,  on  General  Sir  David 
Baird  (see  p.  195)  was  inherited  in  1829  by  his  nephew, 
Sir  David,  the  remainder  being,  in  default  of  issue  of  his 
own,  to  the  issue  male  of  his  eldest  brother,  Robert  The 
second  baronet  died  in  1862,  when  his  son,  Sir  David,  be- 
came third  baronet 

BATED,  Sir  David,  Bart.,  K.C.B.,  a  diatin- 
gnisbed  British  commander,  descended,  as  above 
explained,  from  a  junior  bi*anch  of  the  Bairds  of 
Auchmedden,  in  Aberdeenshire,  was  the  fifth  bat 
second  surviving  son  of  WiUlam  Baird,  Esq.,  heir 
by  settlement  of  his  second  cousin,  Sir  John  Baird 
of  Newbyth,  Bart.,  and  was  bom  at  Edinburgh  on 
6tb  December,  1757.  His  biographer  Hook  says 
he  was  bom  at  Newbyth,  but  this  is  a  mistake. 
The  house  in  which  he  first  saw  the  light,  and 
where  he  was  brought  up,  is  situated  in  a  court  at 
the  foot  of  Blair's  close,  Castlehill,  Edinburgh,  at 
one  time  possessed  by  the  ducal  family  of  Gordon, 
and  latterly  by  the  Newbyth  family,  by  whom  it 
was  held  for  several  generations.  [Wiison's  Me- 
morials  of  Edinburgh^  vol.  i.  p.  139.]  His  father 
died  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  he  early 
evinced  an  inclination  for  a  military  life.  He  entered 
the  army  December  16,  1772,  as  an  ensign  in  the 
second  foot.  He  was  then  placed  at  Locie^s  aca- 
demy at  Chelsea,  where  he  remained  some  months, 
actively  improving  himself  in  the  knowledge  of 
military  tactics.  At  Mr.  Lode's  academy,  as  now 
at  the  military  college,  Sandhurst,  the  pupils  were 
subjected  to  all  the  routine  of  military  service. 
One  evening  when  young  Baii-d  was  on  duty  as 
sentry,  one  of  his  comnanions,  considerably  his  se- 


nior, wished  to  get  out,  in  order  to  fulfil  some  en- 
gagement he  had  made  in  London,  and  tried  to 
persuade  Baird  to  permit  him  to  pass.  "No,** 
said  the  gallant  boy,  "  thai  I  cannot  do,  but  if  you 
please  you  may  knock  me  down,  and  walk  out 
over  my  body."  lie  joined  his  regiment  at  Gib- 
raltar in  April  1778.  One  evening  when  he  was 
on  guard,  having  dined  with  some  of  his  brother 
officers,  they  resolved  to  detain  him  with  them, 
and  locked  the  door  of  the  room  to  prevent  his 
visiting  his  sentries  at  the  usual  time.  Baird 
found  remonstrances  in  vain,  but  determined  to 
let  nothing  interfere  with  duty,  he  sprang  to  the 
window,  which  overhung  the  rampart,  and  with 
an  agility  and  dexterity  for  which  he  was  always 
remarkable,  threw  himself  out,  escaped  unhurt, 
and  was  at  his  post  at  the  very  minute  appointed. 
IHooh's  Life  of  General  Sir  David  Baird,  vol.  i.  p. 
2,  Note."]  He  retnmed  with  his  regiment  to  Bri- 
tain in  1776. 

Lord  Madeod,  eldest  son  ot  the  earl  of  Crom- 
arty, having  been,  with  his  father,  engaged  in  the 
rebellion  of  1745,  spent  several  years  in  exile  on 
the  continent ;  and  obtained  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
general  in  the  Swedish  army.  Ultimately,  on  ac- 
count of  his  youth  at  the  time  of  joining  the  Pre- 
tender, he  received  an  unconditional  pardon  for 
his  share  in  the  rebellion,  and  retuming  to  Eng- 
land in  the  year  1777,  he  was  presented  to  George 
the  Tliird,  who  received  him  very  graciously.  At 
the  suggestion  of  Colonel  Duff  of  Muirtown,  who 
had  served  in  Keith's  Highlanders,  and  encouraged 
by  the  favourable  reception  he  had  met  with  in  the 
north,  he  offered  his  sei*vices  to  raise  a  regiment. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  although  without  pro- 
perty or  political  influence,  so  great  was  the  magic 
of  his  name  among  his  clansmen,  that  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty  Highlanders  were  in  a  very  short 
time  raised  and  marched  to  Elgin.  In  addition  to 
these,  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  lowlanders  were 
raised  by  the  Hon.  John  Lindsay,  son  of  the  earl  of 
Balcarres,  David  Baird,  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
James  Fowlis,  and  otherofficers;  besides  thirty -four 
English  and  Irish,  enlisted  In  Glasgow,  making  in 
all  eleven  hundred  men.  The  corps  was  embodied 
at  Elgin,  and  inspected  there  by  General  Skene  in 
April  seventeen  hnndi*ed  and  seventy -eight,  in 
which  yeai'  Baird  obtained  a  lieutenancy,  and  in 


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September  of  the  same  year  he  became  captain  of 
the  grenadiers  in  the  73d  regiment,  then  raised  by 
Lord  Macleod.  With  this  corps,  which  lie  joined 
at  Elgin,  he  embarked  for  Madras,  where  he  ar- 
rived in  Jannary  1780,  and  immediately  entered 
npon  active  service.  This  young  and  nn tried  re- 
giment had  scarcely  arrived  in  India,  when  Hyder 
Ali,  forcing  his  way  through  the  Gants,  at  the  head 
of  100,000  men,  bnrst  like  a  mountain  ton*ent  into 
the  Camatic.  He  had  interposed  his  vast  army 
between  that  of  the  British,  commanded  by  Sir 
Hector  Monro,  and  a  smaller  force  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Baillie,  which  were  endeavouring 
to  form  a  junction.  The  latter  having,  though 
victorious,  sustained  a  serious  loss  in  an  engage- 
ment with  Hyder  All's  troops,  sent  to  the  com- 
mander an  account  of  his  difficult  position,  stating 
that,  from  the  loss  he  had  sustained,  and  his  total 
want  of  provisions,  he  was  equally  unable  to  ad- 
vance or  remain  in  his  then  situation.  With  the 
advice  of  a  council  of  war,  Sir  Hector  judged  the 
only  course  was  to  endeavour  to  aid  Colonel  Bail- 
lie,  with  such  a  reinforcement  as  would  enable  him 
to  push  forward  in  defiance  of  the  enemy.  The 
detachment  selected  for  this  enterprise  consisted 
of  about  1,000  men  under  Colonel  Fletcher;  and 
its  main  force  was  composed  of  the  grenadier  and 
infantry  companies  of  Lord  Macleod's  regiment, 
commanded  by  Captain  Baird.  Hyder  Ali  having 
gained  intelligence  of  this  movement,  sent  a  strong 
body  to  cut  them  off  on  their  way,  but,  by  adopt- 
ing a  long  circuitous  route,  and  marching  by  night, 
they  at  length  safely  effected  a  junction  with  Col- 
onel Baillie.  With  the  most  consummate  skUl, 
however,  Hyder,  determining  that  they  should  never 
return,  prcpai*ed  an  ambuscade;  into  which,  early 
on  the  moniing  of  the  10th  of  September,  they  un- 
warily advanced.  The  enemy,  with  admirable 
coolness  and  self-command,  reserved  their  fire  till 
the  unhappy  British  were  in  the  very  midst  of 
them.  The  army  under  the  command  of  Colonels 
Baillie  and  Fletcher,  and  Captain  Baird,  marched 
in  column.  On  a  sudden,  whilst  in  a  narrow  de- 
file, a  battery  of  twelve  guns  opened  upon  them, 
and,  loaded  with  grape-shot,  poured  in  upon  their 
right  flank.  The  British  faced  about;  another 
battery  opened  immediately  upon  their  rear.  They 
hnd  no  choice  therefore  but  to  advance ;  other  bat- 


teries met  them  here  likewise,  and  in  less  tlian  ball 
an  hour  fifty-seven  pieces  of  cannon,  brought  to 
bear  on  them  at  all  points,  penetrated  into  every 
part  of  the  British  line.  By  seven  o^dock  in  the 
morning,  the  enemy  poured  down  upon  them  in 
thousands:  Captain  Bah'd  and  his  grenadiers 
fought  with  the  greatest  heroism.  Surrounded 
and  attacked  on  all  sides,  by  25,000  cavaby,  by 
thirty  i-egiments  of  Sepoy  infantry,  besides  Hyder's 
European  corps,  and  a  numerous  artillery  playing 
upon  them  from  all  quarters,  within  grape-shot 
distance,  yet  did  this  gallant  column  stand  firm 
and  undaunted,  alternately  facing  their  enemies 
on  every  side  of  attack.  The  French  officers  in 
Hyder's  camp  beheld  with  astonishment  the  Brit- 
ish grenadiers,  under  Captain  Baird's  command, 
performing  their  evolutions  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
tumult  and  extreme  peril,  with  as  much  precision 
coolness,  and  steadiness,  as  if  upon  a  parade 
ground.  The  little  army,  so  unexpectedly  assail- 
ed, had  only  ten  pieces  of  cannon,  but  these  made 
such  havoc  amongst  the  enemy,  that  after  a  doubt- 
ful contest  of  three  hoiurs,  from  six  in  the  morning 
till  nine,  victory  began  to  declare  for  the  British. 
The  flower  of  the  Mysore  cavalry,  after  many 
bloody  repulses,  were  at  length  entirely  defeated, 
with  great  slaughter,  and  the  right  wing,  com 
posed  of  Hyder's  best  forces,  was  thrown  into  dis- 
order. Hyder  himself  was  about  to  give  orders 
for  reti-eat,  and  the  French  officer  who  directed 
the  artillery  began  to  draw  it  off,  when  an  unfore- 
seen and  unavoidable  misfortune  occurred,  which 
totally  changed  the  fortune  of  the  day.  By  some 
unhappy  accident  the  tumbrils  which  contained 
the  ammunition  suddenly  blew  up  in  the  centre  of 
the  British  lines.  One  whole  face  of  theif  column 
was  thus  entii-ely  laid  open,  and  their  aitillery 
overturned  and  destroyed.  The  destruction  of 
men  was  great,  but  the  total  loss  of  their  ammuni- 
tion was  still  more  fatal  to  the  survivors.  Tippoo 
Saib,  the  son  of  Hyder,  instantly  seized  the  mo- 
ment of  advantage,  and  without  waiting  for  orders, 
fell  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  at  the  head  of  the 
Mogul  and  Camatic  horse,  into  the  broken  square, 
which  had  not  had  time  to  recover  its  form  and 
order.  This  attack  by  the  enemy's  cavalry  being 
immediately  seconded  by  the  French  corps,  and 
by  the  first  line  of  infantry,  determined  at  once 


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the  fote  of  oar  unfortunate  army.  After  succes- 
sive prodigies  of  valour,  the  brave  Sepoys  were 
almost  to  a  man  cut  to  pieces.  Colonels  Baillie 
and  Fletcher,  assisted  by  Captain  Baird,  made  one 
more  desperate  effort.  They  rallied  the  Euro- 
peans, and,  under  the  fire  of  the  whole  immense 
artillery  of  the  enemy,  gained  a  little  eminence, 
and  formed  themselves  into  a  new  square.  In 
this  form  did  this  intrepid  band,  though  totally 
without  ammunition,  the  officers  fighting  only 
with  their  swords  and  the  soldiers  with  thehr  bay- 
onets, resist  and  repulse  the  mjrriads  of  the  enemy 
in  thirteen  different  attacks ;  until  at  length,  inca- 
pable of  withstanding  the  successive  torrents  of 
fresh  troops  which  were  continually  pouring  upon 
them,  they  were  fairly  borne  down  and  trampled 
upon,  many  of  them  still  continuing  to  fight  under 
the  very  legs  of  the  horses  and  elephants.  To 
save  the  lives  of  the  few  brave  men  who  survived. 
Colonel  Baillie  had  displayed  his  handkerchief  on 
his  sword,  as  a  flag  of  truce ;  quarter  was  pro- 
mised, but  no  sooner  had  the  troops  laid  down 
their  arms  than  they  were  attacked  with  savage 
fury  by  the  enemy.  By  the  humane  interference, 
however,  of  the  French  officers  in  Hyder*s  ser- 
vice, many  lives  were  saved. 

The  loss  of  the  British  in  this  engagement,  call- 
ed the  battle  of  Perimbancum,  amounted  to  about 
four  thousand  Sex>oys,  and  about  six  hundred  Eu- 
ropeans. Colonel  Fletcher  was  slain  on  the  field. 
Colonel  Baillie,  severely  wounded,  and  several 
other  officers,  with  two  hundred  Europeans,  were 
made  prisoners.  When  brought  into  the  presence 
of  Hyder,  he,  with  true  Asiatic  barbarism,  received 
them  with  the  most  insolent  triumph.  The  Bri- 
tish officers,  with  a  spurit  worthy  of  their  country, 
retorted  with  an  indignant  coolness  and  contempt. 
"Your  son  will  inform  you,"  said  Colonel  Baillie, 
"  that  you  owe  the  victory  to  our  disaster,  rather 
than  to  our  defeat.*^  Hyder  angrily  ordered  them 
from  his  presence,  and  commanded  them  instantly 
to  prison.  Captain  Baird  had  received  two  sabre- 
wounds  on  his  head,  a  ball  in  his  thigh,  and  a 
pike- wound  in  his  arm.  He  lay  a  long  tune  on  the 
field  of  battle,  narrowly  escaping  death  from 
some  of  the  more  ferocious  of  the  Mysore  cavalry, 
who  traversed  the  field  spearing  the  wounded, 
and  at  last  being  unable    to   reach   the  force 


under  Muuro,  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  the 
enemy.  ' 

The  result  of  this  battle  was  the  immediate  re- 
treat of  the  main  army  under  Sir  Hector  Mnnro 
to  Madras.  Colonel  Baillie,  Captain  Baird,  and 
five  other  British  officers,  were  marched  to  one 
of  Hyder's  nearest  forts,  and  afteinvards  remov- 
ed to  Seringapatam,  where  they  were  joined  by 
others  of  theur  captive  countrymen,  and  subjected  to 
a  most  horrible  and  protracted  imprisonment.  It 
was  commonly  believed  in  Scotland  that  Captain 
Baird  was  chained  by  the  leg  to  another  man ;  and 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  writing  in  May  1821  to  his  sou, 
then  a  comet  of  dragoons,  with  his  regiment  in 
Ireland,  when  Sir  David  was  commander  of  the 
forces  there,  says,  "I  remember  a  story  that 
when  report  came  to  Europe  that  Tippoo*s  pris- 
oners (of  whom  Baird  was  one)  were  chained  to- 
gether two  and  two,  his  mother  said,  *  God  pity 
the  poor  lad  that's  chained  to  our  Davie  I ' "  She 
knew  him  to  be  active,  spirited  and  daring,  and 
probably  thought  that  he  would  make  some  des- 
perate effort  to  escape.  But  it  was  not  the  case 
that  he  was  chained  to  another.  On  the  10th  of 
May  all  the  prisoners  had  been  put  in  irons  ex- 
cept Captain  Baird;  this  indignity  he  was  not 
subjected  to  till  the  10th  of  November  following. 
"When  they  were  about,"  says  his  biographer, 
"to  put  the  irons  on  Captain  Baird,  who  was 
completely  disabled  in  his  right  leg,  in  which  the 
wound  was  still  open,  and  whence  the  ball  had 
just  then  been  extracted,  his  friend  Captain  Lu- 
cas, who  spoke  the  language  perfectly,  sprang  for- 
ward, and  represented  in  very  strong  terms  to  the 
Myar  the  barbarity  i>f  fettering  him  while  in  such 
a  dreadful  state,  and  assured  him  that  death  would 
be  the  inevitable  termination  of  Captain  Baird's 
sufferings  if  the  intention  were  persisted  in.  The 
Myar  replied  that  the  Circar  had  sent  as  many 
pairs  of  irons  as  there  were  prisoners,  and  they 
must  be  put  on.  Captain  Lucas  then  offened  to 
wear  two  sets  himself,  in  order  to  save  his  friend. 
This  noble  act  of  generosity  moved  the  compassion 
even  of  the  Myar,  who  said  he  would  send  to  the 
Kellidar,  (commander  of  the  fort,)  to  open  the 
book  of  fate.  He  did  so,  and  when  the  messenger 
returned,  he  said  the  book  had  been  opened,  and 
Captain  Baird*s  fate  was  good ;  and  the  irons  were 


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in  consequence  not  put  on  at  that  time.  Conld 
they  really  have  looked  into  the  volnme  of  fntu- 
rity,  Baird  would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  last 
man  to  be  spared."  [Life  of  Sir  David  Baird, 
vol.  i.  p.  44.]  Each  pair  of  irons  was  nine  pounds 
weight.  Captain  Lucas  died  in  prison.  Captain 
Baird  was  preserved  by  Providence  to  revenge 
the  sufferings  which  he  and  his  fellow-prisoners 
endured  by  the  glorious  conquest  of  Seringapatam 
on  the  4th  of  May,  1799. 

He  remained  a  pHsoner  for  three  years  and  a 
half.  He  and  his  companions  were  only  idlowed 
a  gold  /anam,  value  about  sixpence,  a-day  each, 
to  support  themselves  in  prison,  a  pittance  which 
could  only  purchase  them  the  poorest  necessaries, 
and  Captain  Baird«  on  recovering  from  a  severe 
attack  of  dysentery,  suffered  so  much  fi-om  hunger 
that  he  was  often  tempted  to  snatch  his  neighbour's 
share,  and  ate  with  greediness  whatever  happen- 
ed to  be  left.  On  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  in 
March  1784,  he  and  the  surviving  prisoners  were 
released,  and  in  July  he  joined  his  regiment  at 
Madras.  In  1785  the  number  of  the  regiment  was 
thanged  to  the  7l8t.  It  was  also  called  the  Glas- 
gow Highland  light  infantry,  from  the  success  with 
which  the  recruiting  had  been  carried  on  in  that 
city.  So  destructive  had  been  the  carnage  in  this 
regiment  in  the  short  time  it  had  been  in  India, 
that  it  was  said  Captain  Baird  and  one  sergeant 
were  the  only  two  individuals  belonging  to  the 
original  73d.  In  1787  he  removed  with  his  regi- 
ment to  Bombay.  On  the  5th  of  June  of  that  year 
he  became  migor  of  the  71st,  and  in  October  he 
returned  home  on  leave  of  absence.  In  December 
1790  he  obtained  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  his 
regiment,  the  71st ;  and  in  1791,  on  his  return  to 
India,  he  joined  the  army  under  Marquis  Corn- 
wall is. 

As  commander  of  a  brigade  of  Sepoys,  Colonel 
Baird  was  present  at  the  attack  of  a  number  of 
Droogs,  or  hill  forts,  and  at  the  siege  of  Seringa- 
patam in  February  1792;  and  likewise  at  the 
storming  of  Tippoo  Sultaun's  lines  and  camps  on 
the  island  of  Seringapatam.  In  1793  he  com- 
manded a  brigade  of  Europeans,  and  was  present 
at  the  reduction  of  Pondicherry.  He  was  after- 
wards appointed  to  the  command  at  Tanjore.  On 
the  drafting  of  the  71st  into  other  regiments,  in 


October  1797  he  embarked  at  Madras  for  Europe. 
In  December,  when  he  arrived  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  he  was  appointed  brigadier-genera], 
and  placed  on  that  staff,  in  command  of  a  brigade. 
On  June  18, 1798,  he  was  appointed  major-gen- 
eral, and  returned  to  the  staff  in  India.  In  Janu- 
ary 1799  he  arrived  at  Madras,  in  command  of 
two  regiments  of  foot,  together  with  the  drafts  of 
the  28th  dragoons,  and  on  the  1st  of  February 
joined  the  army  at  Velore,  where  he  was  appoint- 
ed to  the  command  of  the  fii*st  European  brigade. 

On  the  4th  of  May  of  that  memorable  year 
General  Baird  commanded  the  storming  party  at 
the  assault  of  Seringapatam.  One  o^clock  was 
fixed  upon  for  the  assault,  it  being  known  that  the 
natives  usually  sought  shelter  and  repose  from  the 
heat  of  the  sun  at  that  hour.  When  the  precise 
moment  airived,  Baird  ascended  the  parapet  of  tlie 
trenches  in  full  view  of  both  armies,  "  a  mUitary 
figure,"  observes  Colonel  Wilks,  **  suited  to  such 
an  occasion ;"  and,  drawing  his  sword,  and  gal- 
lantly waving  it,  shouted  out,  **  Now,  my  brave 
fellows,  follow  mo,  and  prove  yourselves  worthy 
of  the  name  of  British  soldiers  I"  His  personal  ap- 
pearance added  greatly  to  the  chivalrous  bearing 
of  his  manner.  His  figure  was  tall  and  symme- 
trical; his  countenance  cheerful  and  animated. 
On  his  open  manly  brow  were  legibly  displayed 
the  indications  of  that  lofty  courage,  that  firmness 
of  pui-pose,  and  that  vigour  of  intellect  which  so 
conspicuously  marked  his  whole  career.  Within 
seven  minutes  the  British  flag  floated  from  the 
outer  bastion  of  the  fortress;  and  befcire  night 
Seringapatam  was  in  possession  of  the  besiegers. 
General  Baird,  who  was  undoubtedly  entitled  to 
the  governorship  of  the  town  which  he  had  thus 
taken,  fixed  his  head-quarters  at  the  palace  of 
Tippoo,  who  was  among  the  slain.  He  was  next 
day  abruptly  commanded  to  deliver  up  the  keys  of 
the  town  to  Colonel  Wellesley,  who,  as  it  hap- 
pened, had  no  active  share  in  the  capture,  but  who 
was  appointed  to  the  command  by  his  brother,  the 
governor-general.  "  And  thus,"  said  Baird,  "  be- 
fore the  sweat  was  dry  on  my  brow,  I  was  super- 
seded by  an  inferior  officer ;"  that  **  inferior  offi- 
cer" being  afterwards  the  duke  of  Wellington ! 

In  consequence  of  his  signal  success  on  this  oc- 
casion, he  was  presented  by  the  army,  through 


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195 


SIR  DAVID. 

1 


General  Han-is,  the  coinmander-iu-cliief,  with  the 
state  sword  of  Uppoo  Snltann.  The  field  officers 
under  his  immediate  command  at  the  assault  pre- 
sented him  at  the  same  time  with  a  dress  sword. 
In  1800  he  was  removed  to  the  Bengal  staff. 

In  1801  General  Baird  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  an  expedition  intended  to  act  against 
Batavia,  but  which  was  afterwards  sent  to  Egj'pt. 
In  1802  he  returned  in  command  of  the  Egyptian 
Indian  army  overland  to  India.  In  September  of 
that  year  he  was  removed  to  the  Madras  staff,  and 
commanded  a  large  division  of  the  army  forming 
against  the  Mahrattas.  He  was  afterwards  em- 
ployed in  the  Mysore  country.  In  consequence 
of  the  great  reduction  of  his  division  of  the  army, 
by  the  drafts  made  from  it  by  General  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley,  who  was  employed  in  the  same  ser- 
vice, Greneral  Baird  resigned  his  command  and 
sailed  for  Britain  with  liis  staff,  March  1803.  In 
December  he  obtained  the  royal  permission  to 
wear  the  Turkish  order  of  the  crescent.  In  June 
1804  he  was  knighted  by  patent, 
and,  on  the  18th  of  August  follow- 
ing, became  a  military  companion 
of  the  Bath. 

On  30th  October  1805  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
general,  and  commanded  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Arriving  there  January  5,  1806,  he 
attacked  and  beat  the  Dutch  army 
on  the  8th,  and  on  the  18th  received 
the  surrender  of  the  colony.  He 
remained  in  the  government  of  the 
Cape  till  Januaiy  1807,  when  he 
was  recalled,  and  arrived  in  Britain 
in  March  of  that  year.  On  the  19tli 
July  he  was  transferred  from  the  col- 
onelcy of  the  54th  to  that  of  the 
24th,  and  placed  on  the  foreign  staff 
under  General  Lord  Cathcart.  Al 
the  siege  of  Copenhagen,  where  he 
commanded  a  division,  he  was  slight- 
ly wounded.  He  was  afterwards 
employed  for  a  short  time  in  Ireland, 
with  the  command  of  the  *' drill 
camp'*  there,  and  was  sworn  in  a 
member  of  the  Irish  privy  council. 


Having  been  ordered  to  the  Peninsula,  in  the 
beginning  of  November  1808  he  arrived  at  Co- 
runna,  in  command  of  about  10,000  men,  and 
formed  a  junction  with  the  army  under  General 
Sir  .John  Moore.  In  the  battle  of  Coninna,  Janu- 
ary 16,  1809,  he  commanded  the  first  division  of 
the  army,  and  lost  his  left  arm.  On  the  death  of 
Sir  John  Moore,  he  succeeded  to  the  chief  com- 
mand, and  on  communicating  the  intelligence  of 
the  victory  to  government,  he  received  for  the 
fourth  time  the  thanks  of  parliament,  the  previous 
occasions  being,  for  the  opei-ations  of  the  army  in 
India  in  1799,  for  those  of  Egypt  in  1801,  and  for 
the  Danish  expedition.  On  this  of*«a8ion  also  ho 
received  the  red  riband,  on  being  appointed  a 
knight  grand  cross  of  the  Bath.  On  the  18th  of 
April  he  was  created  a  baronet  by  patent,  and  re- 
ceived a  grant  of  the  most  honourable  armorial 
bearings,  having  relation  to  his  military  transac- 
tions. The  following  is  a  portrait  of  Sir  David 
from  a  painting  by  Sir  Henrv  Raebnm  : 


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196 


PRINCIPAL. 


On  Sir  David's  return  to  Edinburgh  after  the 
Spanish  campaign,  he  called  npon  the  then  pos- 
sessor of  the  mansion  on  the  Castlehill  where  he 
was  bom,  and  requested  to  be  allowed  to  see  the 
house  in  which  he  had  passed  his  infancy,  and  the 
garden  behind,  where  he  said  he  had  spent  many 
happy  days  in  bojrish  amusements.  This  was 
readily  conceded,  and  after  viewing  the  house,  he 
was  conducted  to  the  garden,  where  he  saw  the 
childi'en  of  the  tenant  of  the  house  engaged  in  the 
very  same  species  of  mischievous  sport  which  he 
declared  had  often  been  his  own,  namely,  throw- 
ing stones  and  kail  castocks  down  the  chimneys 
of  the  houses  in  the  Grassmarket  below.  [Cham- 
hers"  Traditions  of  Edinburgh^  vol.  i.  p.  155.] 

Sir  David  married,  4th  August  1810,  Miss 
Campbell  Preston  of  Femtower  and  Lochlane, 
Perthshire,  niece  of  Sir  Robert  Preston,  of  Valley- 
field,  Baronet.  In  1814  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  general.  In  1820  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander of  the  forces  in  Ireland,  and  sworn  of  his 
majesty's  privy  council  there,  and  in  1828  he  be- 
came governor  of  Fort-George  in  Scotland.  He 
died  at  an  advanced  age,  August  18, 1829,  at  his 
seat  of  Femtower  in  Perthshire,  where  he  passed 
the  latter  years  of  his  life,  and  leaving  no  issue,  was 
succeeded  in  the  baronetcy  by  his  nephew.  Captain 
Baird.  His  widow  snr^  ived  till  28th  May  1847. 
A  monument  erected  by  her  on  Tom-a-Chastel,  a 
most  romantic  hill  on  her  estate,  to  the  memory  of 
her  gallant  husband,  is  in  the  form  of  an  obelisk, 
of  Aberdeen  granite,  eighty-two  feet  four  inches 
in  height,  and  an  exact  fac  simile  of  Cleopatra's 
needle;  most  fitting  model  for  the  monument 
of  the  gallant  soldier  who  was  the  first  with  a 
European  army  to  ascend  the  Red  Sea,  cross  the 
desert,  descend  the  Nile,  and  display  the  united 
standards  of  Britain  and  Brama  on  the  shores  of 
Alexandria.     [New  Stat,  Ace.  vol.  x.  p.  741.] 

Sir  David  Baird  was  deservedly  popular  with 
the  army.  Although  a  strict  disciplinarian,  he 
had  the  power  to  an  extreme  degree  of  winning 
the  attachment  and  respect  of  the  men  under  his 
command.  "There  was,"  says  General  Middle- 
more,  who  served  with  him  in  Egypt,  **  something 
about  him  which  gave  at  once  complete  confidence 
in  him :  his  countenance  bespoke  a  mind  spotless 
from  guile  or  subterfiige.    You  felt  that  truth 


beamed  in  all  his  features—it  was  impossible  to 
doubt  him — ^you  might  implicitly  place  your  life, 
and  honour,  and  happiness,  on  his  bare  word. 
He  could  not  deceive ;  and  as  he  was  firm  and  in- 
flexible upon  every  point  of  discipline  and  duty, 
so  was  he  incapable  of  injuring  a  human  being. 
With  the  courage  of  a  hero,  his  heart  was  as  kind 
and  gentle  as  a  woman's."  His  power  over  his 
soldiers,  even  under  the  most  trying  circumstan- 
ces, was  strikingly  exemplified  at  Wallajahbad  in 
1797,  when  the  order  came  for  breakmg  up  the 
71st  regiment,  which  he  had  so  long  commanded, 
and  drafting  the  men  fit  for  service  into  other  regi- 
ments. The  order  was  read  to  the  men  by  the 
adjutant.  Sir  David  being  too  much  afiected  to 
read  it  himself.  "The  effect  produced  by  it," 
says  his  biogi-apher,  "was  beyond  description. 
It  seems  as  if  a  sudden  dismay  had  seized  the 
whole  regiment.  It  was  a  moment  of  trial  in 
which  there  was  something  awful ;  but  Baird,  who 
knew  his  duty,  and  who  always  did  it,  addressed 
the  men  thus :  *  My  poor  fellows — not  a  word — 
the  order  must  be  obeyed.'  And  then,  to  conceal 
emotions  of  which  even  he  need  not  have  been 
ashamed,  he  tumed  round,  and  ordered  the  band 
to  strike  up  the  popular  Scottish  air,  the  choras  of 
which  is  in  these  words — 

The  king  oommands,  and  we^ll  obey, 
Over  the  hills  and  fiir  away." 

He  is  said  himself  to  have  been  passionately  fond 
of  the  native  airs  of  his  country.  He  fre- 
quently spoke,  with  the  most  affectionate  delight, 
of  the  way  in  which  his  mother  used  to  sing  them, 
and  he  had  them  similarly  arranged  for  the  band 
of  his  regiment.  The  IJfe  of  Sir  David  Baird  by 
Theodore  Hook  was  published  at  London  in  1832 
in  two  volumes. 

BAIRD,  George  Husbaio),  the  very  rev., 
D.D.,  principal  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
the  author  and  unwearied  promoter  of  the  scheme 
for  the  education  of  the  Highlanders,  was  bora  in 
1761,  in  the  parish  of  Borrowstounness,  where  his 
father,  a  considerable  proprietor  in  the  county  of 
Stirling,  rented  a  farm  from  the  duke  of  Hamil- 
ton. He  received  the  mdiments  of  his  education, 
fii'st  at  the  parish  school  of  Borrowstounness,  and 
subsequently,  upon  his  father  acquiring  and  re> 


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PRTT^JJIPAL. 


moving  to  the  property  of  Manael,  in  West-Ix)- 
tliian,  at  the  grammar  school  of  Linlithgow.  In 
1773  he  entered  as  a  student  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh  ;  and  while  there,  acquired  the  special 
notice  of  Principal  Robertson,  Professor  Dalzel, 
and  others  of  the  professors,  for  his  diUgence  and 
proficiency.  At  college  he  and  the  late  Professor 
Finlayson,  and  Josiah  Walker,  who  were  fellow- 
stndents  with  him,  associated  for  the  prosecution 
of  studies  beyond  what  was  required  by  the  col- 
lege courses ;  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  make 
himself  master  of  most  of  the  European  languages. 
These  three  young  men,  it  is  stated  in  the  sketch 
of  Baird^s  life  in  Kay^s  Edinburgh  Portraits,  aie 
said  to  have  entered  into  an  agreement  to  promote 
the  advancement  of  one  another  in  life  to  the  ut- 
most of  their  power;  and  though,  it  is  added, 
there  was  a  degree  of  singularity  in  the  compact, 
and  perhaps  no  real  increase  from  it  in  the  dispo- 
sition to  serve  each  other,  it  is  certain  that  indi- 
Tidually  all  the  three  parties  mentioned  could 
ascribe  important  advantages  to  the  good  offices 
of  one  or  other  in  that  association,  one  much  to 
be  commended  and  imitated.  The  reverse  of  such 
conduct,  from  unworthy  feelings  of  envy  and  jea- 
lousy, is  too  often  exhibited  in  after-life  by  those 
who  had  once  been  schoolfellows  and  close  com- 
panions in  their  youth.  In  1784  he  was  recom- 
mended by  Professor  Dalzel  as  tutor  to  the  fam- 
ily of  Colonel  Blair  of  Blair.  In  1786  he  was 
licensed  by  the  presbytery  of  Linlithgow,  and  in 
the  following  year  he  was  ordained  to  the  parish  of 
Dunkeld,  to  which  charge  he  had  been  presented 
by  the  duke  of  Athol,  through  the  influence  of  his 
fi-iend,  Mr.  Finlayson.  At  Dunkeld  he  remained 
for  several  years,  living  as  an  inmate  of  the  duke's 
family,  and  superintending  the  education  of  his 
grace's  three  sons,  the  last  survivor  of  whom  was 
the  late  Lord  Glenlyon.  In  1789  or  1790  he  was 
presented  to  Lady  Tester's  church,  Edinburgh, 
but  at  the  request  of  the  duke  and  duchess  of 
Athol,  he  declined  it.  In  1792  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  New  Greyfriars  church,  Edinburgh ; 
and  at  the  same  time  was  elected  professor  of 
oriental  languages  in  the  university  there.  In 
1793,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Robertson,  he  was, 
when  not  more  than  thirty-three  years  of  age, 
appointed  the  principal  of  the  university. 


As  principal  he  was  once  called  upon  to  exor- 
cise college  discipline  in  the  case  of  three  of  the  stu- 
dents who  afterwards  attained  to  great  distinction, 
which  has  rendered  this  instance  of  the  maintenance 
of  academic  authority  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
the  university.  A  challenge  having  been  sent  to 
one  of  the  professors,  the  parties  implicated  in  this 
misdemeanor,  namely,  Lord  Henry  Petty  (after- 
wards the  marquis  of  Lansdowne),  the  late  Fran- 
cis Homer,  Esq.,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  (now  Lord) 
Brougham,  were  summoned  before  the  Senatus 
Academicus.  The  only  one  who  appeared  was 
Brougham,  and  the  rebuke  of  the  principal  was  at 
once  so  administered  and  so  received,  that  a  friend- 
ship ensued  between  them,  which  was  continued 
long  after  the  former  had  entered  upon  public  life. 
In  1799  Principal  Baird  was  translated  to  the 
New  North  church;  and  in  1801,  on  the  death 
of  Dr.  Blair,  he  was  removed  to  the  High  church, 
where  he  continued  to  officiate  till  his  death. 
He  -married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  El- 
der, Esq.  of  Fometh,  Lord  Provost  of  Edin- 
burgh. His  later  years,  until  prevented  by  the 
infirmities  of  age,  were  principally  occupied  in 
promoting  his  truly  benevolent  and  philanthro- 
pic plan,  for  extending  a  religious  education 
among  the  poorer  classes  of  his  fellow  country- 
men in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  in  May  1824,  he  brought  for- 
ward his  motion  for  increasing  the  means  of  edu- 
cation throughout  Scotland,  but  particularly  in  the 
Highlands  and  Islands,  and  in  large  towns.  The 
Assembly  of  1825  gave  its  sanction  to  the  scheme 
proposed ;  which  mainly  owed  its  success  to  the 
talents,  labour,  industry,  personal  influence,  and 
pious  enthusiasm  of  the  originator  of  the  plan ; 
who  lived  to  see  a  provision  secured,  by  his  exer- 
tions, for  the  Christian  education  of  many  thousand 
children  of  the  poor.  Such  was  his  zeal  to  for- 
ward the  educational  interests,  and  to  improve  the 
moral  condition  of  his  Gaelic  countrymen,  that,  in 
the  autumn  of  1827,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age, 
he  visited  the  Highlands  of  Argyleshire,  the  west- 
em  parts  of  Inverness  and  Ross,  and  the  Western 
Islands,  traversing  the  whole  country  fit>m  Lewis 
to  Kintyi-e.  The  following  year  he  visited  for  the 
same  purposes,  the  North  Highlands,  and  the 


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BATRD. 


198 


BALCANQUAL. 


Islands  of  Orkney  and  Shetland.  Through  his 
means  also,  the  late  Dr.  Andrew  Bell  of  Madras 
bequeathed  £5,000  to  the  scheme  for  education  in 
the  Highlands.  In  1832  the  thanks  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  were  conveyed  to  him  by  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, the  moderator,  in  the  following  terms: — 
**The  benefits  you  have  conferred  on  the  canse  of 
education  in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scot- 
land will  ever  associate  your  name  with  the  whole 
of  that  immense  region,  and  hand  down  your  me- 
moiy  to  distant  ages  as  the  moral  benefactor  of 
many  thousand  families.  I  feel  confident  that  I 
do  not  outrun  the  sympathy  of  a  single  individual 
in  our  church,  when,  in  its  name,  I  oflfer  you,  as 
the  head  of  a  noble  and  national  enterprise,  the 
meed  of  our  united  thanks,  for  the  vigour,  and  ac- 
tivity, anS  the  enthusiasm  wherewith,  at  an  ad- 
vanced period  of  life,  you  have  addi*cssed  yourself 
to  this  great  undertaking,  and  may  now  be  said  to 
have  fully  and  firmly  established  it."  By  his  be- 
nevolent exertions  the  worthy  principal  is  said  to 
have  contributed  much  to  the  fi-eeing  the  minds 
of  the  Highlanders  from  the  supei-stitions  which 
they  were  so  fond  of  cherishing,  and  particularly 
to  the  expulsion  of  the  fairies  from  the  Highland 
hills      A  portrait  of  Principal  Baird  is  subjoined. 


Dr.  Baird  died  on  the  14th  January  1840,  at  his 
residence  of  Manuel  near  Linlithgow,  in  the  79th 
year  of  his  age.  He  was,  when  a  young  man,  a 
correspondent  of  the  poet  Bums,  and  his  name 
appeal's  among  the  list  of  subscribers  to  the  first 
or  Kilmarnock  edition  of  his  poems. — Obituaries 
of  the  time, 

Batxtanquall,  a  surname  derived  originally  from  the 
lands  of  that  name  in  the  parish  of  Strathmiglo,  Fife.  In 
Sibbold^s  List  of  the  Heritors  of  that  comity  (1710)  occurs 
the  name  of  Balcanqohall  of  that  Ilk.  [Hist,  of  F\fe^  Ap- 
pendix.  No.  2.]  The  estate  of  Balcanqoail  afterwards  be- 
longed to  the  Hopes  of  Pinkie. 

One  of  the  first  presbyterian  ministers  of  Edinburgh  wai 
the  Rev.  Walter  Balcanqnall,  the  son  of  Balcanqohall  of 
that  ilk.  Mr.  James  Melville,  in  his  Diary,  mentions  him 
under  date  1574  as  "ane  honest,  vpright  harted  young 
man,  latlie  ehterit  to  that  ministerie  of  Edinbruche.*'  [ife^ 
ville^s  Diary ^  P*  '^1*]  ^i^h  his  colleague  Mr.  James  Law- 
son,  Mr.  Robert  Pont,  Mr.  Andrew  Melville,  and  others,  he 
took  an  active  part  against  the  scheme  of  King  James  for 
re-establishing  the  bishops.  On  the  assembly  of  the  estates 
for  that  purpose  in  1584,  the  king  sent  a  message  to  the 
magistrates  of  Edinburgh  to  seize  and  imprison  any  of  the 
ministers  who  should  venture  to  speak  against  the  proceeding 
of  the  parliament.  Mr.  Walter  Balcanquhall,  however,  as 
well  as  Mr.  Lawson,  not  only  preached  against  these  proceed- 
ings from  the  pulpit,  but  the  former,  with  Mr.  Robert  Pont 
and  others,  appeared  at  the  Gross,  on  the  heralds  proceeding 
to  proclaim  the  acts  passed  in  parliament  afiecting  the  church, 
and  publicly  protested  and  took  instruments  in  the  name  of  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  against  them.  For  this,  he  and  Mr  Lawson 
were  compelled  to  retire  to  England,  [Ibid,  p.  119,]  where 
the  latter  died  the  same  year.  His  will  contained  some 
curious  bequests,  among  others  the  following  to  his  colleague: 
*^  Item,  I  will  that  my  loving  brother  Mr.  James  Cannichaell, 
sail  bow  a  rose  noble  instjuitlie,  and  deliver  it  to  my  deere 
brother  and  loving  fnend,  Mr.  Walter  Balcanquall,  who  hath 
beene  so  carefull  of  me  at  all  times,  and  cheefelie  in  time  of 
this  my  present  sicknesse ;  to  remaine  with  him  as  a  perpetuail 
tokin  and  remembrance  of  my  spedall  love  slid  thankful! 
heart  towards  him."  [Calderwood's  Hist,  vol.  iv.  p.  206.] 
In  the  following  year  Mr.  Balcanquhall  returned  to  his  charge, 
and  on  Sunday,  the  2d  of  January  1586,  he  preached  before 
the  king  **  in  the  great  kirk  of  Edinburgh,"  when  his  mi^esty, 
*'  after  sermoun,  rebooked  Mr.  Walter  pnblictlie  from  his 
seate  in  the  loaft,  and  said  he  would  prove  there  sould  be 
bishops  and  spiritual!  magistrats  endued  with  authoritie  over 
the  ministrie;  and  that  he  (Balcanquhall)  did  not  his  dntio 
to  condemn  that  which  he  had  done  in  parliament."  [lUd, 
491.]  In  December  1596  he  was  again  obliged  to  flee  to 
England,  but  subsequently  retiumed.  After  being  one  of  the 
ministers  of  Edinburgh  for  forty-three  years,  he  died  in 
1616.  Of  his  son,  well  known  as  one  of  the  executors  of  his 
relative  George  Heriot,  a  notice  follows. 

The  surname  of  Balcanquhall  seems  to  have  been  in  course 
of  time  changed  into  Ballingall,  as  more  euphonious. 

BALCANQUAL,  AValter,  an  eminent  Epis- 
copalian divine  of  the  seventeenth  centmy,  the 
don  of  the  Rev.  Walter  Balcauqual,  mentioned 
above,  born  in  Edinburgh  about  1586.    Although 


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his  father  was  a  Presbyterian,  he  himself,  probably 
convinced  by  the  arguments  of  King  James  in  fa- 
vour of  bishops,  preferred  taking  orders  in  the 
Church  of  England.  He  commenced  his  studies 
at  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  where,  in  1609,  he 
took  his  degree  of  M.A.  He  afterwards  entered 
at  Pembroke  Hall,  Oxford,  as  a  bachelor  of  di- 
vinity, and  was  admitted  a  fellow,  September  8, 
1611.  He  was  one  of  the  chaplains  of  James 
YI.  In  1617  he  was  appointed  master  of  the 
Savoy,  in  the  Sti-and,  London;  and  in  1618  he 
was  sent  by  his  majesty  to  the  synod  of  Dort. 
His  letters  concerning  that  assembly,  addressed  to 
Sir  Dudley  Carlton,  may  be  found  in  Mr.  John 
Hales*  'Golden  Remains/  Before  proceeding  to 
the  synod  of  Doi-t,  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D. 
from  the  univeraity  of  Oxfoi-d.  In  March  1624, 
he  obtained  the  deanery  of  Rochester,  and  after- 
wards in  May  1689,  he  was  made  dean  of  Dur- 
ham. On  the  death  of  George  Heriot,  jeweller  to 
the  king,  February  12,  1624,  being  appointed  one 
of  the  three  executors  of  his  last  will,  with  the 
prindpal  charge  of  the  establishment  of  Heriot's 
hospital  at  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Balcanqnal  drew  up 
the  statutes,  which  ai*e  dated  1627,  and  discharged 
the  onerous  trust  imposed  upon  him,  with  much 
ability,  judgment,  and  good  sense.  In  1638  he 
accompanied  the  marquis  of  Hamilton,  the  king's 
commissioner,  to  Scotland,  in  the  capacity  of  chap- 
lain ;  and  his  double  dealing,  on  this  and  subse- 
quent occasions,  rendered  him  obnoxious  to  the 
party  in  both  kingdoms  who  were  struggling  for 
their  religious  rights.  He  is  said  to  have  written 
the  apologetical  narrative  of  the  court  proceed- 
ings, which,  under  tlie  title  of  '  His  Majestie's 
I^rge  Declaration  concerning  the  late  Tumults  in 
Scotland,'  appeared  in  folio  in  1689.  On  July  29, 
1641,  he  and  five  other  gentlemen  were  denounced 
as  incendiaries  by  the  Scottish  parliament.  He 
was  afterwards  exposed  to  much  persecution  from 
the  English  Puritans,  and  after  being  plundered, 
sequestrated,  and  forced  to  fly  from  London,  he 
went  to  Oxfoi-d,  and  for  some  years  shared  the 
waning  fortunes  of  his  sovereign.  He  died  at 
Chirk  castle,  Denbighshhre,  on  Christmas  day, 
1645,  just  after  the  battle  of  Naseby ;  and  a  splen- 
did monument  was  subsequently  erected  to  his 
memory  in  the  parisl  church  of  Chiik,  by  Sir  | 


Thomas  Middleton.— iStei^n's  History  of  Heriofs 
Hospital. 
Dr.  Balcanqual's  works  are  the  following: 

His  Miye8tie*8  Large  DeclaratbD  conoemiog  the  Ute  Tu- 
molts  in  Scotland.    London,  folio,  1639. 

Statates  of  Heriot^s  Hospital  in  Edinburgh.    Edin.  8vo. 

Sernaon  on  Psalm  outL  6.  Lond.  1634,  4to.  On  Matth 
XXL  13.    Lond.  1634. 


Balcarrbs,  earl  of,  a  title  formerij  possessed  hj  a  princi- 
pal branch  of  the  ancient  and  noble  family  of  Lindsay,  and 
now  held  by  the  chief  of  the  name.  [See  LnrDSAT,  surname 
of.]  The  first  of  the  family  of  Balcarres  was  John  Lindsay, 
the  second  son  of  Sur  David  Lindsay  of  Edsell  and  Glenesk  in 
Forfarshire,  ninth  earl  of  Crawford,  who  died  in  1558.  [See 
Crawford,  earl  of.]  John  Lindsay  was  bom  in  1552,  and, 
with  bis  elder  brother  David,  was,  at  the  proper  age,  sent  to 
pursue  his  studies  m  France,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  James 
Lawson,  afterwards  the  well-known  colleague  of  John  Knox 
in  the  ministry  of  Edinburgh.  On  the  troubles  breaking  out 
between  the  Huguenots  and  the  Catholics,  they  were  obliged 
to  fly  from  Paris  at  a  moment's  warning,  leaving  their  books 
behind  them,  and  saving  nothing  but  the  clothes  on  their 
backs.  They  took  refiige  at  first  at  Dieppe,  but  on  the  cap- 
ture of  that  town,  they  passed  over  to  England,  and  ultimately 
went  to  the  university  of  Cambridge.  [JU'vet  qfthe  Lvtdaayt^ 
voL  L  pp.  331, 332.]  In  conformity  with  the  practice  of  the 
age,  whereby  the  nobility  and  barons  took  possession  of  the 
temporalities  which,  before  the  Reformation,  belonged  to  the 
Romish  clergy,  the  revenues  of  the  rectories  of  Menmuir, 
Lethnot,  and  Lochlee,  in  Forfarshbre,  livings  in  the  gift  of  the 
fiunily  of  Edxell,  had  been  settled  upon  John  Lindsay,  while 
yet  a  child,  and  in  consequence  he  took  the  title,  familiar  to 
every  Scottish  antiquary,  of  Parson  of  Menmuir.  He  had 
also  the  teinds,  or  tithes,  of  certain  parishes,  and  a  pension  of 
two  hundred  pounds  annually  out  of  the  bishopric  of  St  An- 
drews, by  writ  under  the  privy  seal,  11th  July  1576;  and 
the  small  estate  of  Drumcaim,  in  Forfarshire,  was  settled 
upon  him.  [Jhid,  p.  334.]  Having  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  the  law,  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of  session,  5th  July 
1581,  before  he  was  tMrty  years  of  age,  when  he  assumed  the 
judicial  title  of  Lord  Menmuir.  Sibbald  styles  him  **  a  wise 
and  teamed  person.**  [BUtory  of  F(/e,  p.  853.]  In  1587 
he  purchased  the  lands  of  Balcarres,  in  the  pariah  of  Kilcon- 
quhar,  Fifeshire,  with  Balneill,  Pitcorthie,  and  other  lands  in 
tiiat  county,  and,  10th  June  1592  he  obtained  a  royal  charter 
xmiting  them  in  a  free  barony  in  his  favour;  an  estate,  which, 
says  Lord  lindsay,  with  the  knds  of  Balmakin  and  Innerdo- 
vat  in  Foriarsbire,  formed  the  original  patrimony  of  the  Bal- 
carres family.  [Lm>€s  of  ike  Lmdsayt^  vol.  i.  p.  337.]  In 
1587,  Lord  Menmuir*s  name  appears  prominently  as  member 
of  different  public  commissions.  He  wss  the  framer  of  the 
acts  passed  in  that  year,  "  anent  the  form  and  order  of  parlia- 
ment," **  anent  the  vote  of  the  barons,**  and  other  acts  which 
modified  the  constitution  of  the  Scottish  parliament  and 
abridged  the  power  of  the  higher  nobility,  in  admitting  the 
lesser  barons  to  a  voice  in  parliament  by  iJieir  commissioners. 
[See  Baron,  title  and  privileges  of.]  In  October  1591,  he 
was  appomted  one  of  the  qoeen*s  four  master  stabulars,  or 
managers  of  her  revenues,  the  three  others  being  Seyton,  af- 
terwards Lord  Chancellor  and  first  earl  of  Dunfermline; 
Elphinstone,  first  lord  Balmerinoch;  and  Hamilton,  first  earl 
of  Haddington.  In  June  1592  Lord  Menmuir  was  appointed 
for  life  "  Master  of  the  Metals**  and  minerals  within  Uie  king- 


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dom,  "  an  appointmenli"  says  Lord  Lindsay,  "  sanctioned  by 
extensive  powers,  and  the  object  of  which  was  the  increase  of 
revenne  to  the  crown,  by  the  exploration  of  the  mineral  wealth 
of  Scotland,  more  espedally  the  gold  mines  of  Crawfordmoor 
on  the  lands  granted  by  the  Lindsays,  above  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before,  to  the  monks  of  Newbattle.  But  this 
resource  was  found  unproductive,  or  at  least  the  necessary 
preliminary  outlay  was  too  expensive."  [Lttw  of  the  lAnd- 
taysy  vol.  L  p.  354.]  In  January  1595  his  lordship  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  eight  commissioners  of  the  exchequer, 
called  the  Octavians,  in  whom  the  control  and  management  of 
the  treasury  and  the  administration  of  public  affairs  were  vested, 
with  unlimited  powers,  after  the  death  of  Chancellor  Hait- 
land.  In  March  of  the  same  year  [1595]  Lord  Menmuir 
was  appointed  lord  keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  and  on  the 
28th  May  1696  secretary  of  state  for  life.  "  In  this  capadty,** 
says  Lord  Lindsay,  quoting  the  Balcarres  papers  in  the  Advo- 
cates^ Library,  "  the  correspondence  and  complicated  negotia- 
tions with  fbrdgn  powers,  for  the  object  of  securing  their  sup- 
port of  James  in  the  event  of  his  succession  to  the  throne  of 
England,  fell  to  the  conduct  and  guidance  of  Lord  Menmuir.** 
[Lives  of  the  Lindtayty  vol.  L  p.  356.]  He  was  the  chief 
confidant  and  adviser  of  the  king  in  his  attempts  to  restore 
episcopacy,  and  in  1596  drow  up  a  "plat,**  or  scheme,  for 
"  planting**  the  whole  kirks  throughout  Scotland  with  perpe- 
tual local  stipends, — a  scheme  which,  according  to  James 
Melville,  who  has  inserted  it  at  full  length  in  his  Diaiy,  [p. 
223,]  "was  thought  the  best  and  maist  exact  that  ever  was 
devisit  or  sett  down,  and  wald,  sum  little  things  amendit, 
baiffbdn  gladlie  receavit  be  the  breithring  of  best  judgment, 
gif  in  the  monethe  of  August  ther  haid  nocht  bein  ane  Act  of 
Esteattis  devysit  anent  the  renewing  of  the  takes  of  teinds  to 
the  present  takismen  for  thair  granting  to  the  perpetuall  plat, 
quhilk  in  efiect  maid  the  teinds  in  all  tyme  cumming  heritable 
to  them;  thir  locall  stipends  and  a  portioun  to  the  king  sett 
asyde  in  ilka  paroche.  To  the  quhilk,  nather  the  kirk  nor 
gentilmen  whase  teinds  was  in  vther  men's  possessioun,  could 
nor  wald  oondisend  to.  And  sa,  as  I  mentioned  befor,  the 
chiefTof  this  wark  gaiff  it  ower  as  a  thing  nocht  lyk  to  be 
done  in  his  dayes."  [MehiUe^s  Diary,  p.  229.]  According 
to  Galderwood,  the  celebrated  fifty-five  "questions,**  as 
they  were  called,  which,  embracing  the  principal  points  in 
dispute  between  Jahies  and  the  clergy,  were  sent  by  the  king 
to  the  different  synods  and  presbyteries,  and  led  to  the  con- 
vention of  a  General  Assembly  at  Perth,  28th  February  1597, 
and  ultimately  to  the  yielding  by  the  clergy  of  most  of  James* 
demands  and  the  re-establishment  of  episcopacy,  were  drawn 
up  by  Lord  Menmuir.  [Lives  of  the  Lrndsays,  vol.  L  p.  366.] 
As  he  had  for  years  suffered  severely  from  the  stone,  his  lord- 
ship designed  to  go  to  Paris,  as  was  then  the  custom,  to  be 
cut  for  the  disease,  and  King  James  accordingly  appointed 
him  ambassador  to  France,  assigning  him  one  hundred  crowns 
monthly  during  his  absence.  Towards  the  end  of  1697  he 
resigned  his  office  of  secretary  of  state,  and  his  place  as  a  lord 
of  session,  the  latter  of  which  was  bestowed  on  his  elder  bro- 
ther Sir  David,  thenceforward  designed  Lord  EdzelL  [See 
Edzrll,  lindsays  of.]  His  own  title  and  rank  as  Lord 
Menmuir  were  continued  to  him  for  life.  Increasing  infirmity 
prevented  his  departure  for  France,  and  he  died  September  8, 
1598,  at  his  house  of  Balcarres  in  Flfeskire,  in  his  forty-sev- 
enth year.  A  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  had  appalled  the 
people  of  Scotland  early  in  that  year,  and  among  other  events 
which  it  was  thought  to  have  portended  was  the  death  of 
Lord  Menmuir,  "for  naturall  iudgment  and  leming,**  says 
James  Melville,  "the  graittest  light  of  the  polede  and  conn- 
sell  of  Scotland.**    [IHarif,  p.  290.]    Besides  the  other  offices 


held  by  him,  he  was  also  chancellor  of  the  university  of  SL 
Andrews. 

Lord  Menmuir  is  commemorated  as  an  able  lawyer  and 
statesman,  a  scholar,  a  man  of  letters,  and  a  poet  He  seems 
to  have  been  acquainted  with  the  French,  Italian,  Spanish, 
and  other  continental  languages,  and  wrote  both  the  Latin 
and  Scottish  fluently  and  vigorously.  He  is  mentioned  wiUi 
praise  as  a  writer  of  "  Epigrams,*'  both  by  Scott  of  Scotstar- 
vet,  and  Sir  William  Alexander,  eari  of  Stirling ;  but  none  of 
them  have  been  preserved.  A  treatise  of  his,  *  De  Jure  An- 
glicano,*  has  also  been  lost  He  was  a  book-collector,  and 
accumulated  numerous  state-papers  and  lettera  by  persona^ 
distinguished  during  the  earlier  parts  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
particularly  those  belonging  to  the  court  of  France,  such  as, 
Catherine  de  Medicis;  Henry  the  Second;  the  celebrated 
Anne,  Constable  de  Montmorency;  Diana  of  Poitien ;  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots;  Margaret  of  France,  duchess  of  Savoy; 
James  the  Fifth  of  Scotland ;  Jeanne  d*Albret,  queen  of  Na- 
varre, and  others.  All  these,  with  othere  of  later  date,  were 
presented,  in  1712,  to  the  Advocate*s  library,  Edinburgh,  by 
Lord  Menmuir*s  great  grandson,  Colin,  third  earl  of  Balcar- 
res, and  have  been  airimged  and  bound  up,  by  Dr.  Irving, 
the  hite  libraiian,  in  nine  folio  volnmes.  Mr.  Miudment,  ad- 
vocate, has  printed  several  of  them  in  the  MisceUtmy  of  the 
Afaidand  Club,  vol.  i.  page  207,  et  seq.,  and  in  the  AncJecta 
Scotica,  2  vols.  8vo,  1836-7.  Much  of  Lord  Menmuir*s  own 
correspondence,  both  in  Latin  and  Scottish,  is  also  preserved 
in  the  public  repoatories  of  Scotland.  Several  of  his  Latin 
letters  are  printed  in  Mr.  Maidroent*s  Letters  and  State  Papers 
during  the  reign  of  King  James  F/.,  Ahbotsfbrd  Club,  page 
18  et  seq.  [See  Lives  qf  the  Lindsays,  vol  L  pp.  875,  376 
and  notes,]  The  family  mansion  of  Balcarres  was  erected  by 
his  lordship  in  1596. 

He  was  twice  married,  first,  in  1581,  to  Marion,  daughter 
of  Alexander  Guthrie,  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  and  widow  cA 
David  Borthwick  of  Lochhill,  Lord  Advocate  firom  1573  to 
1580,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  John  and  David,  and  three 
daughters;  secondly,  to  Dame  Jean  Lauder,  the  dowager 
lady  of  Corstorphin,  who,  described  as  "  a  termagant,**  made 
his  life  very  uncomfortable,  and  was  even  imprisoned  for  her 
violence.  By  this  lady  he  had  no  diOdren.  Catherine,  his 
eldest  daughter,  was  married  first  to  her  cousin  Sir  John 
Lindsay  of  Woodbead  and  Ballinscho,  fourth  son  of  David, 
tenth  eari  of  Crawford,  and  had  a  son.  Colonel  Henry  Lindsay ; 
secondly,  to  John  Brown  of  Fordell,  Perthshire,  to  whom  also 
she  had  issue ;  Margaret,  the  second  daughter,  married  Sir 
John  Strachan  of  Thornton,  and  Janet,  the  youngest,  became 
the  wife  of  Sir  David  Auchmutie  of  Auchmutie. 

John  Lindsay,  Lord  Menmuir's  eldest  son,  died  Portly 
after  himself,  under  age  and  unmarried,  in  January  1601. 

The  second  son,  David,  succeeded  his  brother  when  only 
fourteen  yeare  old.  In  1607,  before  he  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  he  went  to  the  continent,  and  spent  some  years  in  France 
and  elsewhere.  In  1612  he  returned  to  Scotland,  when  he 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  married  Lady  Sophia 
Seyton,  third  daughter  of  Alexander,  first  earl  of  Dunfermline, 
lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland,  and  retiring  to  Balcarres, 
devoted  himself  to  literary  and  scientific  pursuits.  He  is  said 
to  have  had  the  best  library  of  his  time  in  Scotiand.  He  was 
a  laborious  alchemist^  and  "  natural  philosophy,  particDlaHy 
chemistry  and  the  then  fi&shionable  quest  of  the  elixir  vitm, 
and  the  philosopher's  stone,  occupied  much  of  his  attention.** 
[Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  voL  iL  p.  3.]  Ten  volumes  of  tran- 
scripts and  translations  from  the  works  of  the  Bostcruciant 
and  othere  were,  at  one  period,  m  the  library  at  Baloarres, 
written  in  his  own  hand,  of  which  only  four  now  remain. 


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,  He  was  the  oonrespondent  and  friend  of  Dnunmond  of  Haw- 
thorndeo,  and  the  odebrated  Sir  John  Soott  of  Scotstarvet 

On  Charles  the  First's  risit  to  Scotland  in  1683,  Sir  David 
was  created  Lord  lindsaj  of  Balcaires,  27th  Jane  that  year, 
to  him  and  h\s  hmrs  nude  bearing  the  name  of  Lindsaj.  In 
1639,  when  the  Soots  mustered  their  forces  on  Dnnse  Law, 
to  resist  Charles*  attempt  to  overthrow  the  ciTil  and  religious 
liberties  of  Scotland,  Lord  Balcarres  appeared  at  the  head  of 
his  followers  on  the  side  of  the  Covenanters.  The  tieatj  of 
Berwick  brought  a  temporary  peace,  and  Lord  Balcarres  dis- 
banded his  followers.    He  died  at  Balcarres  in  March  1641. 

His  eldest  son,  Alexander,  second  Lord  Balcarres,  raised  a 
troop  of  horse,  constantly  alluded  to  in  the  histories  of  the 
period,  with  which  he  joined  the  Covenanters,  and  was  en- 
gaged at  the  battle  of  Atfbrd  against  the  marquis  of  Montrose, 
3d  July  1645.  After  the  defeat  of  the  Covenanters,  with 
General  Baillie  and  the  earl  of  Argyle,  he  repaired  to  the  par- 
fiamott  of  Stirling,  and  was  favourably  received.  At  the  sit- 
ting of  10th  July,  **the  house,  by  tiier  acte,  ordained  the 
Ijord  Balcarras  good  service  to  hes  countrey  to  be  recordit  in 
the  bookes  of  parliament  to  posterity,  and  a  letter  of  thankes 
to  be  wrettan  from  the  house  to  hhn,  for  hes  worthey  carriage 
and  good  service."  IBalfour's  Atmals,  voL  iii.  p.  295.]  At 
the  battle  of  Osyth,  which  followed,  Balcarres  acted  as  gen- 
eral of  the  horse,  and  on  the  defeat  of  the  Covenanters,  he 
fled  to  West  Lothian,  and  reached  Colinton  the  same  night, 
with  ten  or  twelve  horsemen  only.  On  the  surrender  of  the 
king  to  the  Scottish  army.  Lord  Balcarres  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  sent  by  the  Scottish  parliament  19th  Decem- 
ber 1646,  to  negotiate  with  Charies  on  the  part  of  the  church 
and  parliament  of  Scotland ;  but  as  his  mi^jesty  dedined  the 
terms,  the  Scotch  army  retired  from  England,  after  surren- 
dering him  to  the  English  parliament  In  1648  Lord  Bal- 
carres entered  into  the  engagement  or  league,  which  was 
formed  for  the  rescue  of  the  king,  and  was  appointed  colonel 
of  horse  for  the  shire  of  Fife.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Com- 
mit appointed  to  manage  afikirs  during  the  recess  of  par- 
liament On  the  arrival  of  Charles  the  Second  in  Scotland 
in  1650,  he  waited  upon  his  mtgesty,  by  whom  he  was  grad- 
oudy  received.  After  the  rout  at  Dunbar,  he  formed  a  party 
in  favour  of  the  king,  and  they  soon  became  the  minority  ra 
pariiament  On  the  22d  February  1651,  "My  Lord  Balcar- 
ras," says  Sir  James  Balfour,  *'  gave  his  Miy'estie  a  banquett 
at  his  housse  Qn  Fife),  quher  he  stayed  some  two  homes,  and 
visited  his  ladey  that  then  hiy  in."  [Annalsj  voL  iv.  p.  247.] 
He  was  created  earl  of  Balcarres  by  patent  dated  at  Perth 
9th  January  1651,  appointed  hereditary  governor  of  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  (this  office  was  given  up  to  the  crown  after 
his  death,  by  his  widow,)  and  high  commissioner  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  kirk,  which  met  at  Dundee,  16th  July, 

1651.  ' 

On  Charles's  march  to  Worcester,  he  left  Balcarres,  with 
the  earl  of  Crawford  and  Lords  Marischal  and  Glencaim,  as 
a  committee  of  estates,  in  charge  of  his  affidrs  In  Scotland, 
but  his  lordship  was  soon  obliged  to  take  reiuge  in  the  High- 
knds,  where  he  assumed  the  command  of  the  royalist  troops, 
under  the  king's  commission.  He  had  sold  his  plate  the  pre- 
vious year  for  two  thousand  pounds,  to  defray  ihe  expenses 
of  the  General  Assembly.  To  assist  his  majesty's  interests  in 
the  north,  he  now  mortgaged  his  estates  for  six  thousand 
pounds  more.  [^Lives  of  the  lAndtays^  voL  iL  p.  92.]  Af- 
ter the  defeat  of  the  king  at  Worcester,  Lord  Balcarres  capi- 
tulated, in  December  1651,  to  Cromwell's  officers  at  Forres, 
and,  disbanding  his  foUowers,  settled,  on  the  8th  November 

1652,  with  his  family  at  St  Andrews,  whence  he  kept  up  a 
correspondence  with  lids  exiled  sovereign. 


When  General  Monk  was  recalled  from  Scotland,  Lord 
Balcarres  again  took  arms  in  the  Highlands,  and  in  concert 
with  Athol,  Lorn  (afterwards  the  unfortunate  eari  of  Argyle, 
beheaded  m  1685),  and  the  prindpal  Highland  chiefs,  under 
the  earl  of  Glencaim  as  commander-m-chief,  made  a  last  un- 
availing attempt  to  uphold  the  royal  cause  against  Cromwell 
In  1654  his  estate  was  sequestrated.  He  was  afterwards 
sent  for  by  the  king,  to  consult  as  to  the  position  of  affairs, 
and  accordingly,  with  his  countess,  he  proceeded  to  France. 
He  continued  some  years  with  the  king,  holding  the  office  of 
secretary  of  state  for  Scotland,  and  was  employed  in  various 
political  negotiations  for  the  interest  of  King  Charies.  Lord 
Clarendon,  head  of  the  high  church  party,  once  had  influence 
enough  with  the  king  to  procure  his  d'«ffnigfal  frt>m  the  court 
at  Cologne,  but  he  was  soon  recalled.  In  a  letter  to  Lord 
Arlington,  Charles  thus  expresses  himself,—"  Our  little  court 
are  all  at  variance,  but  Lord  Balcarres  will  soon  return  and 
heal  us  with  his  wisdom."  [Memoirs  ofJame*^  earl  ofBal- 
carre$,  quoted  m  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays^  vol  il  page  106.] 
His  lordship  died  m  exUe  at  Breda,  80th  August  1659,  and 
his  body  havuig  been  brought  to  Scotland,  was  interred  at 
Balcarres.  Cowley,  styled  by  Lord  Lindsay  the  minstrel  of 
the  Cavaliers,  wrote  an  elegiac  poem  upon  his  death,  which 
thus  conclu'les : 

**  His  own  and  coontry't  min  had  not  weight 

Enongfa  to  crusli  his  mighty  mind ; 
He  saw  around  the  hurricanes  of  state. 
Fixed  as  an  isUnd  'gafaist  the  wavee  and  whuL 

Thus  Ucc  the  greedy  sea  may  reach; 

AU  outward  things  are  but  the  beach ; 
A  great  man's  aonl  it  doth  assault  In  vabi ! 
Their  God  himself  the  ocean  doth  restrain 

With  an  imperceptible  chain. 

And  bids  It  to  go  back  again. 

His  wisdom,  Jostlce,  and  his  piety. 

His  courage  both  to  suffer  and  to  die, 

His  vfatoes,  and  his  lady  too, 
Were  things  celestlaL    And  we  see 

In  spite  of  quarrelling  philosophy, 

How  hi  this  case  His  certain  found 
That  heaven  stands  still,  and  only  earth  goes  round  r 

The  first  earl  of  Balcarres  had  married,  in  1640,  the  bdy 
Anna  Mackenzie,  dau^^iter  and  co-heuess  of  Colin,  first  earl 
of  Seafbrth,  and  had  issue  Charles  and  Colin,  who  both  suc- 
ceeded hun  in  the  earldom,  and  three  daughters:  Anne,  who 
died  a  nun ;  Sophia,  a  lady  remarkable  for  her  liveliness  and 
spirit,  who  accomplished  the  escape  of  her  stepfather,  the  earl 
of  Argyle,  frt>m  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  in  1680,  in  the  dis- 
guise of  a  page  holding  up  her  train,  and  who  married  the 
Hon.  Colonel  Charles  Campbell,  Argyle's  third  son  by  his  first 
wife;  and  Harriet,  who  became  the  wife  of  Sir  Duncan 
Campbell,  Baronet,  of  Auchinbreck.  The  countess  of  Bal- 
carres married  a  second  time,  in  1671,  Archibald,  the  unfor- 
tunate earl  of  Argyle,  beheaded  in  1685. 

The  eldest  son,  Charles,  second  eari  of  Balcarres,  did  not 
long  survive  his  father,  dying  unmarried  on  the  15th  October 
1662,  when  only  twelve  years  old,  of  a  disease  of  the  heart. 

The  second  son,  Colin,  succeeded  his  brother.  He  was  an 
episcopalian,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  staunch  adhe- 
rence to  James  the  Seventh.  Lord  Lindsay  relates  that  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  he  went  to  London,  and  was  presented  to  King 
Charles  by  his  cousin  the  duke  of  Lauderdale.  Being  ex- 
tremely handsome,  the  king  was  pleased  with  his  countenance. 
He  said  he  had  loved  his  father,  and  would  be  a  father  to 
him  himself,  and  though  so  young  he  gave  him  the  command 
of  a  select  troop  of  horse,  composed  of  one  hundred  loyal  gen- 


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tleraen  who  had  been  rednoed^to  poverty  during  the  recent 
troables,  and  had  half-a-crown  a-day.  [Ltvet  ofiht  lAndaays^ 
vnl.  iL  p.  120.]  His  m^esty  had  previouslj  settled  on  Ladj 
Balcarres  and  the  longest  liver  of  her  two  sons  a  pennon  of  one 
thousand  pounds  a^year,  on  her  giving  np,  during  their  minori- 
ty, the  patent  of  the  hereditary  government  of  Edinburgh  castle, 
which  had  been  conferred  on  their  father.  Earl  Colin  mar- 
ried early,  and  there  is  a  romance  attending  his  marriage  of  a 
peculiarly  affecting  nature.  The  young  Mademoiselle  Mau- 
ri tia  de  Nassau,  uster  of  Lady  Arlington  and  the  countess  of 
Ossory,  and  daughter  of  Louisa  de  Nassau,  count  of  Bever- 
waert  and  Anvurquerque  in  Holland,  a  natural  son  of  Mau- 
rice prince  of  Orange,  had  fallen  deeply  in  love  with  him,  and 
erelong  the  day  was  fixed  for  their  marriage.  On  this  occa- 
sion, says  Lord  Lindsay,  the  prince  of  Orange,  afterwards 
William  the  Third,  presented  his  faur  kinswoman  with  a  pahr 
of  magnificent  emerald  ear-rings,  as  his  wedding  gift.  On 
the  marriage  daj,  when  the  wedding  party  were  assembled  in 
the  church,  and  the  bride  was  at  the  altar,  to  their  dismay 
no  bridegroom  appeared.  The  earl,  it  seems,  had  forgotten 
the  day  fixed  for  his  marriage,  and  was  found,  in  his  night- 
gown and  slippers,  quietly  eating  his  breakfast  He  hurried 
instantly  to  the  church,  but  in  his  haste  left  the  wedding 
ring  in  his  writing  case.  A  friend  in  the  company  gave  him 
one.  The  ceremony  proceeded,  and  without  looking  at  the 
ring  he  had  received,  he  placed  it  on  the  finger  of  his  fair 
young  bride.  It  was  a  mourning  ring,  with  the  morthead 
and  CTMsed  bones !  On  perceiving  it,  at  the  close  of  the  cer- 
emony, the  countess  fainted,  and  the  evil  omen  made  sUch  an 
impression  on  her  mind  that  she  declared  she  should  die  with- 
m  the  year,  a  presentiment  which  was  too  truly  fulfilled. 
f/Wd,  p.  121.] 

Ailer  the  death  of  his  wife,  Lord  Balcarres  went  to  sea 
with  the  duke  of  York,  and  was  with  his  royal  highness  in 
the  well-fought  battle  of  Solebay,  28th  May  1672.  He  was 
admitted  a  privy  councillor  8d  June  1680,  and  in  1682  be- 
came sheriff  of  Fifeshire.  After  the  accession  of  James  the 
Seventh  he  was  appointed,  8d  September  1686,  one  of  the 
Council  of  Six,  or  commissioners  of  the  treasury,  in  whom 
the  Scottish  administration  was  lodged.  When  the  prince  of 
Orange  prepared  to  invade  Britain,  the  earl  of  Balcarres  and 
his  friend  the  eari  of  Cromarty  proposed  to  the  earl  of  Perth, 
the  chancellor,  with  the  money  then  in  the  Scottish  exche- 
quer, about  ninety  thousand  pounds,  to  levy  ten  battalions  of 
foot,  to  form  a  body  of  four  or  five  thousand  men  from  the 
Highlands,  to  raise  the  arri^  van  and  to  select  about  twelve 
thousand  horse  out  of  them,  and  with  this  force  and  three  or 
four  thousand  regular  troops,  amounting  in  all  to  an  army 
of  about  fifteen  thousand  men,  commanded  by  General  Dong- 
las  and  Lord  Dundee,  to  m»roh  to  York,  and  keep  all  the 
northern  counties  in  order.  This  plan  was  disapproved  of  by 
Lord  Melfort,  sole  secretary  of  state,  who  sent  orders  for  the 
small  army  on  foot  instantly  to  march  into  England,  to  rein- 
force the  English  army.  On  rumours  of  the  landing  of  the 
prince  reaching  Scotland,  Lord  Balcarres  was  sent  by  the 
council  to  London  to  ascertain  the  state  of  matters.  With 
T/)rd  Dundee  he  waited  upon  the  king  a  day  or  two  after 
his  return  finom  his  flight  to  Feversham,  and  was  affection- 
ately received.  At  the  request  of  James  they  took  a  walk 
with  his  majesty  in  the  Mall.  The  king  asked  them  how 
they  came  to  be  with  him,  when  all  the  world  had  forsaken 
him  for  the  prince  of  Orange.  I^ord  Balcarres  said  their 
fidelity  to  so  good  a  master  would  ever  be  the  same,  and  that 
they  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  prince  of  Orange.  Lord 
Dundee  also  made  the  strongest  professions  of  duty.  The 
poor  king  then  demanded,  "  Will  you  two,  as  gentlemen,  say 


yon  have  still  attachment  to  me  ?*  They  both  replied,  "  Sir, 
we  do."  **  Will  yon,**  said  James,  '*  give  me  your  hands  npoo 
it,  as  men  of  honour?**  They  did  so.  **  Well,**  contiiioied 
the  king,  **  I  see  you  are  the  men  I  always  took  you  to  ba 
You  shall  know  all  my  intentions.  I  can  no  longer  remain 
here  but  as  a  cipher,  or  be  a  prisoner  to  the  prince  of  Orange, 
and  you  know  there  is  but  a  small  distanoe  between  the  pri- 
sons and  the  graves  of  kings ;  therefore  I  go  for  France  im- 
mediately. When  there,  you  shall  have  my  instmcdona, — 
yon.  Lord  Balcarres,  shall  have  a  commission  to  manage  my 
civil  affairs,  and  you.  Lord  Dundee,  to  command  my  troopa 
in  Scotland.**    {lAoea  of  the  Lmdsc^s^  roL  il  p.  162. 

After  James  was  gone.  Lord  Balcarres  waited  on  the  prince 
of  Orange,  to  whom  he  was  well  known.  The  prince  said  be 
doubt«d  not  of  his  lordship*s  attachment  to  him  at  the  oon« 
vention.  The  eari  relied,  that  although  he  had  the  utmost 
respect  for  his  highness,  he  could  have  no  hand  in  turning 
out  his  king,  who  had  been  a  kind  master  to  him,  however 
imprudent  in  many  things.  The  prince  twice  thereafter  spoke 
to  him  on  the  same  subject,  but  at  last  told  him  to  bewan 
how  he  behaved  himself,  for  if  he  transgressed  the  law,  hi 
should  be  left  to  it  Lords  Balcarres  and  Dxmdee  then 
returned  to  Scotland,  where,  with  the  archbishop  of  St 
Andrews,  they  received  a  oomnusaon  from  King  James  to 
call  a  new  convention  at  Stirling.  After  Dundee  had  gone 
north  to  raise  forces  in  King  James*  behalf,  the  duke  of  Ham- 
ilton, who  was  president  of  the  parliament,  had  been  invested 
with  full  powers,  to  imprison  suspected  persons,  sent  a  de- 
tachment of  infantry  to  Fife,  to  take  Lord  Balcaires  prisoner. 
He  was  carried  to  Edinburgh,  and  confined  m  the  oonmion 
gaol,  where  at  first  he  had  liberty  to  see  his  friends.  At  the 
first  meeting  of  the  convention,  however,  some  intercepted 
letters,  directed  to  him  by  the  earl  of  Melfort,  were  read ; 
wherein,  after  assurances  of  speedy  relief,  he  expressed  a  wish 
that  some  had  been  cut  off  that  he  and  Lord  Balcarres  had 
often  spoken  off,  and  then  these  things  had  never  happened, 
*'  but  when  we  get  the  power,**  it  was  added,  '*  we  will  make 
these  men  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.**  In  his 
memorial  to  King  James,  Lord  Balcarres  solemnly  denied 
that  he  had  ever  heard  Lord  Melfort  use  any  audi  expres- 
sions, and  in  the  convention  he  was  defended  by  the  duke  of 
Queensbeny,  who  expressed  his  conviction  that  Melfort  had 
written  the  letters  on  purpose  to  injure  Lord  Balcarres,  with 
whom  he  was  on  very  HI  terms.  Influenced  by  the  duke  of 
Hamilton,  however,  the  convention  voted  his  lordship  dose 
prisoner  in  the  tolbooth,  where  he  remained  for  four  months. 
On  the  surrender  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  by  the  duke  of 
Gordon,  he  was  removed  to  that  fortress,  and  not  released  till 
after  the  death  of  Dundee  at  Killiecrankie,  and  oonseqnoit 
dispersion  of  his  army.  When  confined  to  the  castle  be  is 
said  to  have  seen  the  ghost  of  his  finend  Dundee  one  moniing 
at  daybreak.  The  story  is  thus  related.  "The  q>ectre, 
drawing  aside  the  curtain  of  the  bed,  looked  very  stead^stly 
upon  the  ea^,  after  whidi  it  moved  towards  the  mantelpiece, 
remained  there  for  some  time  in  a  leaning  posture,  and  then 
walked  out  of  the  chamber  without  uttering  one  word.  Lord 
Balcarres,  in  great  surprise,  though  not  suspecting  that  whidi 
he  saw  to  be  an  apparition,  called  out  repeatedly  to  his  friend 
to  stop,  but  received  no  answer,  and  subsequently  learned 
that  at  the  very  moment  this  shadow  stood  before  him  Dun- 
dee had  breathed  his  last  near  the  field  of  KHliecrankie.** 
[[jaw's  MemoridU^  Preftdory  Notice  by  C  Kirkpatrick 
Sharpe^  Esq,  p.  xd.  quoted  by  Lord  TJndMy.']  Lord  Balcar- 
res had  no  doubt  been  dreaming  of  Dundee,  and  the  visioo 
which  he  thus  saw  had  been  but  the  vivid  impression  of  his 
di'eam. 


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He  had  no  sooner  regained  his  freedom  than  he  engaged 
deeply  in  the  plot  set  on  foot  by  Sir  James  Montgomery  of 
Skelmody,  for  the  restoration  of  Eiag  James,  and  on  its  dis- 
oovery,  in  1690,  he  thought  it  advisable  to  retire  to  the  con- 
tinent. He  first  went  to  HoUand  to  visit  his  first  wife*s  rek- 
tions,  and  then  proceeded  through  Flanders  in  a  coach  with 
some  firiends  on  his  way  to  France.  At  one  part  of  the 
Journey  he  was  proceeding  on  foot  with  a  guide  through  a 
wood  to  the  next  stage,  when  he  met  with  a  party  of  ban- 
ditti, who  seized  and  robbed  him,  and  were  going  to  kill  him, 
but  on  promising  them  a  good  ransom  they  spared  his  life. 
He  remembered  that  the  Jesuits  had  a  college  at  Douay,  firom 
which  they  were  distant  thirty  miles— they,  he  said,  would 
pay  his  ransom.  The  thieves  agreed  for  one  hundred  pis- 
toles, and  took  his  oath  never  to  discover  them.  The  money 
was  pud,  and  he  got  his  liberty,  and  went  to  tlie  college, 
where  he  found  the  famous  Father  Petre.  The  priests  treat- 
ed him  with  great  kindness,  got  him  dothes,  and  lent  him 
money  on  his  bills.    [Ltve*  qfthe  Lutdsa^^  vol.  iL  p.  176.] 

On  his  arrival  at  St  Germains,  he  waited  on  tiie  exiled 
monarch,  by  whom,  as  well  as  by  the  queen,  he  was  received 
with  great  affection.  He  delivered  to  King  James  the  curi- 
ous memoir,  drawn  up  by  himself,  which,  with  the  title  of 
*  An  Account  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland  relating  to  the  Revo- 
lution of  1688,'  was  published  in  1714  at  London,  and  after- 
wards in  1754  at  Edinburgh;  a  work  which  has  entitled  Lord 
Balcarres  to  a  place  in  Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authars. 
The  manuscripts  from  which  these  editions  were  printed  hav- 
ing been,  in  several  instances,  corrupted  and  interpolated, 
Lord  Lindsay  has  printed  the  Memoir  for  the  Bannatyne 
Club,  for  the  first  time  in  its  original  state. 

L(Hd  Balcarres  remained  for  tax  months  at  St  Germains, 
in  great  familiarity  with  Rmg  James ;  but  his  old  opponent 
Lord  Melfort,  and  the  priests,  becoming  jealous  of  the  favour 
shown  to  him,  artfully  forged  a  calumny  against  him,  and  he 
was  forbid  the  court  He  retired  to  the  south  of  France, 
whence  he  addressed  an  ezpostulatory  letter  to  the  king,  as 
bis  father,  on  a  similar  occanon,  had  done  to  King  Charles 
the  Second  in  his  exile.  James  soon  wrote  to  him,  inviting 
him  back  again,  owning  that  he  had  been  imposed  upon,  but 
the  earl  refused  to  return.  After  passing  a  year  in  France, 
he  went  to  Brussels,  then  to  Utrecht,  and  sending  for  his  wife 
and  family  from  Scotland,  resided  there  some  years  in  tran- 
quillity, m  society  with  Bayle,  Leclerc,  and  other  learned 
men.  He  had  married  a  second  time.  Lady  Jean  Carnegie, 
eldest  daughter  of  David  eari  of  Northesk.  By  this  lady  he 
had  a  daughter,  Anne,  who  became  the  wife  of  Alexander, 
fifth  earl  of  Kellie,  and  after  his  death,  of  James  third  Vis- 
count Kingston,  attainted  after  the  rebellion  of  1715,  and 
whom  also  she  survived.  His  second  countess  died  in  King 
Charies's  reign,  and  he  married  a  third  time.  Lady  Jean  Ker, 
paternally  Drummond,  only  daughter  of  WilKam  earl  of  Rox- 
burgh, youngest  son  of  John  earl  of  Perth,  the  cousin  of  that 
eari  of  Perth  who  was  chancellor  of  Scotland  under  King 
James.  By  this  lady  he  was  father  of  Colin,  Lord  Cummer- 
land,  master  of  Balcarres,  who  died  unmarried  in  November 
1708,  and  Lady  Margaret  Lindsay,  who  married  John  eari  of 
Wigton,  and  had  one  daughter,  married  to  Sir  Archibald 
Primrose. 

Owing  to  his  long  exile,  and  his  carelessness  in  money 
matters,  Lord  Balcarres*  affairs  in  Scotland  fell  into  disorder, 
and  he  found  himself  five  thousand  pounds  in  debt  Many 
applications  were  made  to  King  William  to  permit  him  to  re- 
turn to  Scotiand.  In  Carstares*  State  Papers^  (page  630,) 
will  be  found  a  letter  finom  the  Duke  of  Queensbeny  to  Car- 
stares  (seoretaiy  of  state  for  Scotland),  dated  Holyroodhouse 


81st  August  1700,  recommending  his  behig  allowed  to  return. 
Carstares  hhd  ahvady  spoken  to  King  William  in  Lord  Bal- 
carres* behalf,  His  lordship  had  walked  on  foot,  as  usual,  to 
the  Hague,  to  soKcit  his  favour.  Carstares  told  the  king,  a 
man  he  had  once  favoured  was  in  so  low  a  conation  that  he 
had  footed  it  firom  Utrecht  that  nooming  to  desire  him  to 
speak  for  him.  '*  If  that  be  the  case,**  said  he,  "  let  him  go 
home,  he  has  suffered  enough  already.**  Lord  Balcarres  Ac- 
cordingly returned  to  Scotland  towards  the  end  of  1700,  aftet 
an  exile  of  ten  years.    [J[«pet  of  the  Lindaaj^  vol  n.  p.  190.] 

On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  Lord  Balcarres  went  to 
court,  to  wait  on  her  Miyesty,  and  as  Lord  Lindsay  adds,  to 
negotiate  for  the  interests  of  the  Episcopal  church  of  Scotland. 
The  duke  of  Marlborough,  with  whom  he  had  an  eariy  friend- 
ship, and  who  often  said  he  was  the  pleasantest  c(»npanion 
he  ever  knew,  got  him  a  rent-charge  of  five  hundred  pounds 
a-year,  for  ten  years,  upon  the  crown  lands  of  Orkney,  as  he 
had  lost  his  pensbn  of  a  thousand  pounds  per  annum  at  the 
Revolution.  The  grant,  dated  May  29,  1704,  proceeds  on 
the  consideration  of  Anne,  countess  of  Balcarres,  having  sur- 
rendered the  heritable  right  to  the  government  of  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh.  This  rent-charge  his  necessities  compelled 
him  afterwards  to  sell  Although  admitted  a  privy  councillor 
by  Queen  Anne,  and  talked  of  as  likely  to  be  appointed 
lord-justice-general,  he  held  no  public  office  subsequently  to 
the  Revolution.   IJbid.  page  193.] 

Lord  Balcarres  supported  the  treaty  of  union,  but  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  1715, 1^  old  predilections  for 
the  Stuarts  returned,  and  he  joined  the  standard  of  the  Pre- 
tender. After  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  his  friend  the 
duke  of  Marlborough  interposed  his  good  offices  on  his  behalf, 
and  the  duke  of  Argyle,  by  whose  exertions  principally  the 
rebellion  had  been  suppressed,  being  also  favourable  to  him, 
on  surrendering  he  was  subjected  to  no  other  punishment 
than  being  confined  to  his  own  house,  with  a  single  dragoon 
to  attend  him,  till  the  passmg  of  the  bill  of  indemnity.  His 
latter  years  were  spent  in  retirement  at  Balcarres.  He  was 
fond  of  books  and  added  to  his  library.  He  had  also  a  taste 
for  art,  and  during  his  residence  in  Holland  collected  several 
pictures  of  the  Dutch  school,  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
present  Lord  Balcarres.  He  caused  a  handsome  village  to 
be  built  below  his  house,  which  is  named  after  himself,  Colms- 
burgh,  now  a  burgh  of  barony  under  the  Balcarres  family, 
and  a  thriving  place.  He  died  in  1722,  in  his  seventy-third 
year.  He  had  married,  a  fourth  time.  Lady  Margaret  Camp- 
bell, eldest  daughter  of  James,  second  earl  of  Loudon,  and  by 
her,  besides  several  children  who  died  young,  he  had  four 
who  survived  him,  namely,  two  sons,  Alexander,  fourth  earl 
of  Balcarres,  and  James,  fifth  earl,  and  two  daughters.  Lady 
Eleanor  Lindsay,  married  to  the  Hon.  James  Fraser  of  Lon- 
may,  third  son  of  William,  eleventh  Lord  Salton,  and  Lady 
Elizabeth,  familiarly  called  Lady  Betty  Lindsay,  who  died  at 
Edinburgh,  12th  March,  1744,  unmarried. 

Alexander,  fourth  earl  of  Balcarres,  entered  the  army  at  ap 
early  age,  and  was  first  an  ensign  and  then  a  lieutenant  in 
the  horse  grenadier  guards.  He  next  became  a  captain  in 
Lord  Orimey*s  regiment,  then  stationed  in  Flanders,  in  which 
he  served  fix>m  1707  to  the  end  of  the  war,  was  in  all  the 
battles  and  most  of  the  sieges  during  that  time,  was  wounded 
at  St  Venant,  and  was  looked  upon  by  all  as  an  active,  in- 
trepid and  skilful  officer.  Lord  Lindsay  quotes  a  spirited 
reply  of  his  which  is  still  remembered  and  cited  in  illustration 
of  his  character.  A  portion  of  the  British  army,  in  which  he 
had  a  command,  beneging  a  town  in  Flanders,  was  m  its 
turn  threatened  by  a  superior  force.  As  he  voted  for  perse- 
verance in  the  siege,  he  was  asked,  "  What  then  have  we  to 


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retreat  upon?"  *'  Upon  Heaven ! "  was  hia  replj — iflid  they 
nltimately  took  the  town.  [^Livet  of  the  Lmcbd^y  voL  iL  p. 
202.]  He  was  in  Ireland  with  his  regiment  at  the  time  his 
father  and  brother  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of  1715,  and  their 
participation  in  that  outbreak  made  him  lose  all  expectation 
of  promotion  in  the  army.  He  returned  home,  and,  in  1718, 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  David  Scott  of  Scotstarvet,  in 
Fife.  In  1732  he  was  promoted  to  a  company  in  the  foot 
guards,  the  highest  military  rank  he  ever  attained.  At  the 
general  election  1784,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  re- 
presentative peers  of  Scotland.  He  died  21st  July,  1736. 
By  his  countess,  who  survived  hun  till  4th  September  1768, 
he  had  no  issue,  and  was  consequently  succeeded  by  his  bro- 
ther. 

James,  fifth  earl  of  Balcarres,  was  bom  14th  November, 
1691.  Preferring  the  naval  to  the  military  service,  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  went  to  sea  on  board  the  Ipswich,  commanded 
by  Captain  Robert  Kirkton,  an  excellent  ofScer,  with  whom 
he  remained  five  years,  and  through  whose  means  he  became 
lieutenant  of  the  Portland.  In  that  ship  he  suflered  much 
hardship  for  neariy  three  years,  and  lost  his  health,  which 
obliged  him  to  observe  the  strictest  temperance  in  his  habits, 
and  he  became  so  much  accustomed  to  it  that  he  persevered 
in  it  as  long  as  he  lived.  The  following  characteristic  anec- 
dote is  related  by  Lord  Lindsay :  **  Like  most  other  gay  and 
handsome  young  men,  he  was  fond  of  showing  off  his  natural 
graces  to  the  best  advantage,  and,  on  the  day  appointed  for 
his  examination  as  lieutenant,  he  waited  upon  his  judges  in  a 
rich  suit  of  dothes,  with  red  silk  stockings  and  pink  heels  to 
his  shoes ;  his  examiners  were  a  set  of  rough  seamen  in  sail- 
ors* jackets,  who  abhorred  dandyism.  They  determmed  not 
to  let  him  pass,  and  sent  him  back  to  sea  for  six  months. 
At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  he  reappeared  before  the  nau- 
tical tribunal,  a  wiser  roan — ^in  a  sailor's  dress,  with  a  quid  of 
tobacco  in  his  cheek, — passed  a  most  rigid  examination  with 
great  credit,  and  was  dismissed  with  the  assurance  that  he 
liad  acquitted  himself  equally  to  their  satisfaction  six  months 
before, — *but  we  were  determined,*  said  they,  *  not  to  pass 
you  tin  you  were  cured  of  your  puppyism,  which  will  not  do 
ifor  a  sailor.***  [^Lives  of  Vie  lAndsoffs^  voL  ii.  p.  197.]  His 
ship  being  paid  off  at  the  peace,  he  returned  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five  to  Scotland.  He  opposed  his  father's  inclinations 
to  join  the  Pretender,  but  finding  him  bent  upon  it,  he  re- 
solved to  accompany  him.  He  and  his  friend,  the  Master  of 
Sinclair,  with  the  help  of  others,  levied  three  troops  of  gentie- 
men,  who  acted  as  common  soldiers.  Of  this  body  he  was 
one  of  the  three  captains.  At  the  battle  of  Sherifimuir  five 
squadrons  of  dragoons  ran  away  before  three  squadrons  of 
them.  They  kept  together  and  in  order,  acting  with  the 
greatest  gallantry,  and  when  the  Highlanders  returned  fix>m 
the  puiBiut,  upon  the  left  wing  being  beat,  they  had  these 
sqiuidrons  to  rally  to.  This  saved  the  army,  and  Lord  Mar- 
ischal,  by  order  of  the  eari  of  Marr,  came  to  their  front,  and 
thanked  the  whole  body  for  their  behaviour.  [Lcufy  Anne 
Barnard,  quoted  in  Lives  qfthe  lAndeays,  vol  ii.  p.  198.] 

After  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  he  was  concealed  for 
some  time  in  the  castie  of  Newark,  now  ruinous,  about  three 
miles  from  Balcarres,  and  then  belonging  to  the  Anstruthers. 
One  of  the  young  ladies,  we  are  informed,  concealed  him  in  a 
secret  room  communicating  with  her  apartment,  and  situated 
near  the  leads  of  the  house.  To  furnish  him  with  food  wo- 
man's wit  came  to  her  aid.  She  feigned  a  ravenous  appe- 
tite, the  cravings  of  which  increased  to  such  a  d^ee  that 
she  declared  she  could  not  bear  to  be  seen  eating.  In  conse- 
quence, all  her  meals  were  brought  to  her  room  that  she  might 
eut  by  herself;  and  the  supply  her  pretended  voracity  required 


served  to  satisfy  both.  His  aunt,  the  countess  of  Stair,  repre- 
sented him  to  General  Gadogan  as  drawn  into  the  rebellion  by  his 
father  agiunst  his  will,  and  solidtfid  a  remission  for  him,  which 
was  granted,  at  the  joint  request  of  Gadogan  and  Lord  Stan- 
hope, by  Geoi^  the  First,  who  soon  after  gave  young  Lind- 
say a  lieutenant's  commission  in  the  Royal  North  British 
dragoons,  or  Scots  Grays,  commanded  by  his  uncle.  Sir  James 
Gampbell.  He  was  in  that  station  when  he  succeeded  ae 
Lord  Balcarres,  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  in  1736.  He 
then  went  to  London,  gained  the  good- will  of  the  earl  of  Hay, 
the  brother  of  the  duke  of  Ai^le,  and  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
and  got  the  command  of  a  troop,  with  which  he  proceeded  to 
the  continent.  At  the  batUe  ^  Dettingen,  fought  16th  June 
1743,  he  commanded  one  of  the  squadrons  of  his  regiment, 
and  was  by  some  of  the  generals  recommended  to  George  the 
Second  as  deserving  a  higher  rank.  The  kmg  **fell  into  a 
passion,  and  told  the  nunister  that  he  had  occasion  to  know" 
before  that  no  person  who  had  ever  drawn  his  sword  in  the 
Stuart  cause  should  ever  rise  to  command,  and  that  it  was 
best  to  tell  Lord  Balcarres  so  at  once.**  The  earl,  in  conse- 
quence, resolved  to  quit  the  army,  which  he  did  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Fontenoy,  where  his  gallant  unde,  Sir  James  Camp- 
bdl,  received  a  mortal  wound.  His  lordship  sow  retired  te 
his  seat  at  Balcarres,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  improve- 
ment of  his  estates.  In  the  old  Statistical  account  of  the 
parish  of  Kilconquhar,  Fifeshlre,  he  is  described  as  a  noble- 
man distinguished  by  the  benevolence  of  his  heart,  the  liber- 
ality of  his  sentiments,  and  the  uncommon  extent  of  hit 
knowledge,  particularly  in  history  and  agriculture,  and  ai 
among  the  first  who  brought  farming  to  any  degree  of  per. 
fection  in  this  countiy.  [Stat.  Ace.  vol.  ix.  p.  296.]  When 
almost  sixty  years  of  age,  Lord  Balcarres  married.  He  ha4 
met  at  the  waters  of  Moffat,  Miss  Anne  Dalrymple,  youngesi 
daughter  of  Robert  Daliymple,  of  Gastleton,  knight,  and 
granddaughter  of  the  Hon.  Sir  Hew  Daliymple,  of  North 
Berwick,  knight,  lord  president  of  the  court  of  session.  She 
was  bom  25th  December  1727,  and  married  Lord  Balcarres 
at  Edinburgh  24th  October  1749,  when  only  twenty-two. 
They  had  eight  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  this  lai^  fam- 
ily the  cdebrated  Lady  Anne  Lindsay  or  Barnard  [see  Bar- 
nard, Lady  Anne]  was  the  ddest.  Lord  Balcarres  died  at 
Balcarres,  20th  February  1768,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 

In  his  old  age  he  was  extremely  deaf,  llie  death  of  his 
brother,  in  1736,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  had  so 
nervously  affected  him  that  it  suddenly  deprived  him  of  his 
sense  of  hearing,  which  was  never  restored.  He  wrote  a  Sy»> 
tem  of  Agriculture,  and  Memoirs  of  his  family,  £rom  which 
latter  manuscript  Douglas,  in  his  peerage,  derived  mudi  as* 
sistance  in  drawing  up  his  account  of  the  Balcarres  family 
The  manuscript  was  for  a  time  lost,  but  was  ultimately  recov- 
ered. Lady  Anne  Lindsay  says  it  was  lent  to  the  brother  of 
her  governess,  a  herald  in  the  office  of  the  Lord  lion  of  Soot- 
land,  and  on  his  death  was  sold  among  his  books.  Many 
years  afterwards  it  was  discovered  on  a  stall  by  a  person  who 
bought  it  for  a  shilling,  and  returned  it  to  a  member  of  the 
Balcarres  family.  Lady  Anne  arranged  it  as  well  as  its  state . 
permitted,  but  altered  nothing,  and  wrote  a  preface  to  it  A 
continuation  was  written  by  her  brother,  Alexander,  the  sixth 
eari.  From  this  valuable  family  history  copious  extracts  are 
given  by  Lord  Lindsay  in  his  mteresting  biographical  work. 
Karl  James  was  also  the  author  of  a  poetical  epistie,  addressed 
to  his  wife,  written  after  reading  Thomson*s  Seasons,  **  my 
first,**  he  says,  "and  probably  last  essay  m  poetiy.**  Of 
Thomson  he  says,  "  I  Kved  a  winter  with  the  man  at  Bath ; 
he  had  nothing  amiable  in  his  conversation,  and  I  expected 
litUe  from  his  writings,  and  never  had  before  read  them ;  yet 


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his  Seasons  are  trnlj  poetic, — his  descriptions  beantiftil,  re- 
flections wise.**    [_Lwet  of  ike  JAndtayM^  toL  ii.  p.  275,  and 

His  eldest  son  bat  second  chUd,  Alexander,  the  sixth  earl 
of  Balcarres,  was  born  18th  January  1752,  and  when  fifteen 
yean  of  age  he  entered  the  army  as  an  ensign  in  the  58dfoot, 
and  joined  his  regiment  at  Gibraltar.  He  next  went  to  Ger- 
many, where  he  remained  two  years,  studying  at  the  nniver- 
sity  of  Gottingen.  On  his  retom  he  became,  in  1771,  a  cap- 
tain in  the  42d  or  Royal  Highlanders.  In  1775  he  was 
appointed,  by  purchase,  all  his  commissions  had  been  bought, 
major  of  his  old  raiment,  the  53d,  with  which  he  embarked  for 
Canada,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  war.  In  1777 
he  oonmianded  the  light  infantry  in  the  unfortunate  army 
under  General  Burgoyne,  and  at  the  battle  near  Ticonderago, 
7th  July  of  that  year,  he  was  wounded  in  the  left  thigh. 
Thirteen  balls  passed  throu^  his  jacket,  waistcoat,  and 
breeches,  yet  the  wound  was  slight.  At  the  head  of  his  regi- 
ment of  light  infantry  he  stormed  and  carried  the  lines  of 
Huberton.  On  the  7th  of  October  following,  on  the  fall  of 
the  gallant  brigadier-general  Frazer,  the  command  devolved 
on  Lord  Balcarres,  who  having  previously  fortified  his  battal- 
ion in  a  very  stoong  manner,  at  the  head  of  his  light  infantry 
was  enabled  to  repulse  the  American  army  commanded  by 
General  Arnold,  alUiough  victorious  on  every  other  point  A 
few  days  thereafter,  however,  he  was  forced  to  surrender  with 
the  army,  in  consequence  of  Burgoyne*s  convention  with  Gen- 
eral Gates  at  Saratoga  on  the  thirteenth  October.  He  ob- 
tained his  fibertj  two  years  afterwards,  in  1779,  and  on  his 
return  home  he  married,  at  London,  Ist  June  1780,  his  cou- 
stn-german,  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress,  by  a  second 
marriage,  of  Charies  Dalxymple,  Esq.  of  North  Berwick. 
While  he  remained  a  prisoner  he  had  been  appointed  a  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  24th  regiment,  and  in  Felnruaiy  1782  he 
was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  constituted  lieuten- 
ant-colonel commandant  of  the  second  battalion  of  7l8t  foot, 
tiien  formed  into  a  separate  regiment,  and  called  the  second 
71st  regiment  of  foot. 

At  the  general  election  of  1784,  Lord  Balcarres  was  chosen 
one  of  the  sixteen  representative  peers  of  Scotland.  To  the 
bill  introduced  into  the  house  of  lords  that  year,  for  restoring 
the  forfeited  estates,  he  gave  his  wannest  support  In  an- 
swer to  an  inquiry  of  Lord  Thurlow,  then  lord-chancellor,  as  to 
where  the  persons  to  whom  the  estates  originally  belonged 
had  resided,  and  what  services  they  had  been  engaged  in, 
ance  the  two  rebellions  for  which  their  ancestors  and  them- 
selves bad  suffered,  Lord  Balcarres  made  a  very  eloquent  and 
striking  speed),  in  the  course  of  which  occurred  the  following 
paasage:  **  Banished  thdr  countiy,  their  properties  confis- 
cated, and  impoverished  in  eveiy  thing  but  their  national 
qririt,  they  offned  their  services  to  foreign  princes,  in  whose 
armies  thej  were  promoted  to  important  commands  and 
trusts,  which  they  discharged  with  fidelity ;  but  the  moment 
they  saw  a  prospect  of  return  to  their  friends  and  restoration 
to  the  bosom  of  their  country,  there  was  not  a  man  of  them 
that  hesitated ;  they  resigned  those  hi^  stations,  and  from 
•  bong  general  ofBcen  and  colonels,  accepted  oompahies,  and 
some  even  subaltern  commissions  in  our  service.  They  were, 
mdeed,  returned  to  their  firiends,  and  received  with  open 
orms,  nor,  in  the  course  of  those  twelve  yeare,  was  there  a 
roan  who  had  abandoned  his  chief  because  he  was  poor,  or 
had  deserted  him  because  the  heavy  hand  of  adversity  hung 
over  his  head.  A  lew  more  yean  promoted  them  to  com- 
mands in  the  British  service;  and,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
late  war,  we  again  see  armies  rushing  from  the  Highlands, 
but  not  with  the  same  ideas  that  formerly  animated  them. 


They  had  already  fully  established  their  attachment  to  their 
sovereign,  ^  a  due  regard  to  the  laws  of  their  country. 
They  had  repeatedly  received  the  thanks  of  their  king,  and  of 
the  two  houses  of  parliament;  but  they  now  found  them- 
selves impelled  by  a  further  motive,~they  saw  themselves 
commanded  by  their  former  chieftains, — ^they  hoped  that,  by 
the  e£fusion  of  their  blood,  by  the  extraordinary  ardour  and  zeal 
they  would  show  in  the  service,  they  should  one  day  see  their 
leaders  legally  re-established  in  their  paternal  estates,  and  be 
enabled  to  receive  from  them  those  kindnesses  and  attentions 
which  they  had  so  generously  bestowed  upon  them  in  their 
adversity.  It  was  this  hope,  and  these  ideas  only,  that  put  a 
stop  to  those  emigrations  which  had  almost  depopulated  the 
northern  parts  of  the  kingdom.**  In  reply,  the  lord-chancel- 
lor, after  disclaiming  any  mtention  of  reflecting  on  the  char- 
acten  or  impeaching  the  merits  of  the  gallant  gentiemen  in 
whose  favour  this  act  of  grace  had  been  brought  forward, 
proceeded  to  say,  **  It  was  fortunate  for  those  brave  men  that, 
from  what  he  had  said,  he  had  afforded  an  opportunity  for 
their  merits  to  be  brought  forward  in  a  manner  so  truly  hon- 
ourable to  them,  and  the  best  calculated  to  do  them  the  jus- 
tice they  deserved.  He  rejoiced  that  their  merits  had  now 
received  the  highest  remuneration,  the  praise  of  a  soldier  who 
had  distinguished  himself  so  eminently  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  that  his  ooropetencj  to  distribute  either  censure  or 
approbation  on  military  merit  became  unquestionable,  and 
thence  his  applause  was  an  honour  superior  to  all  reward.  So 
well  satisfied  was  he  with  what  had  fallen  from  the  noble 
lord  on  that  part  of  the  subject,  that  he  declared  he  would 
desire  no  better  proof  of  the  merits  of  the  persons  concerned.** 
This  benevolent  and  important  bill  passed  on  the  18th  of 
August,  1784.  He  was  rechosen  a  representative  Scottish 
peer  at  the  elections  of  1790,  1802, 1806,  and  1807.  He  had 
been  colonel  of  the  6dd  foot  since  the  27th  August,  1789 
and  in  1793  he  had  the  rank  of  major-general 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  that  year,  he  was  appoint- 
ed to  the  civil  government  and  command  of  his  majesty's 
forces  in  the  island  of  Jersey,  in  the  absence  of  Marshal  Con- 
way the  governor.  While  in  that  command  he  undertook 
and  carried  on  the  correspondence  with  the  army  of  La 
Vendee,  and  the  establishment  of  the  lines  of  communications 
with  its  chiefs  and  those  of  the  Chonans,  a  business  on  which 
he  prided  himself,  and  from  which  he  had  great  expectations, 
but  which,  being  mismanaged  at  home,  came  to  nothing. 

In  1794  Lord  Balcarres  was  named  to  the  government  of 
Jamaica,  where  he  arrived  in  April  1795.  Almost  immedi- 
ately after  his  arrival  the  Maroons  broke  out  in  rebellion,  for 
the  suppression  of  which  he  at  once  adopted  the  most  spirited 
and  judicious  measures,  and  was  successful  in  putting  an  end 
to  the  revolt  His  exertions  were  acknowledged  by  the 
House  of  Assembly,  22d  April  1796,  voting  the  sum  of  seven 
hundred  guineas  for  the  purchase  of  a  sword  to  be  presented 
to  him  as  a  testimony  of  the  gratitude  of  the  colony.  In  an- 
swer, his  lordship  congratuli^ed  the  assembly  that  *'  during 
their  contest  with  an  enemy  the  most  ferocious  that  ever  dis- 
graced the  annals  of  history — ^an  army  of  savages,  who  had 
indiscriminately  massacred  every  prisoner  whom  the  fate  of 
war  had  placed  in  their  power^no  barbarity,  nor  a  single  act 
of  retaliation,  had  sullied  the  brightness  of  their  arms.**  In 
1798  he  became  lieutenant-general,  and  in  1801  he  resigned 
his  government  of  Jamaica,  and  returned  to  England,  and  on 
the  25th  September  1803,  he  attained  to  the  full  rank  of  gen- 
eral Having  met  with  an  accident  which  lamed  him  for 
life,  he  resided  in  hb  latter  yeare  at  Haigh  Hall,  near  Wigan, 
in  Lancashu^  the  Haigh  property  being  the  mheritance  of 
his  countess,  on  failure  of  male  issue  in  her  maternal  family, 


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that  of  SU  Robert  Bradshmigb  of  Haigh,  baronet,  ber  ladj- 
abip^s  great-grandfittber.  Besidee  tbe  contumation  of  bis 
father's  Memoirs,  already  mentioned,  Lord  Balcarres  com- 
menced *  Anecdotes  of  a  Soldier's  Life,*  which  be  did  not  fin- 
ish. In  the  third  yolome  of  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays  is 
inserted  an  interesting  selection  from  his  public  despatches 
and  prirate  correspondence  daring  the  Maroon  war.  He  died 
March  27th,  1825.  He  bad  issue,  James  Lord  Lindsay,  tbe 
seventh  earl  of  Balcarres,  three  other  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Tbe  following  anecdote,  related  by  tbe  late  Mr.  James 
Stuart,  younger  of  Duneam,  is  eminently  characteristic  of 
Lord  Balcarres.  Speaking  of  General  Arnold,  tbe  celebrated 
American  ren^ade,  be  says  that  he  "  resided  in  England  af- 
ter the  war,  but  was  treated  tit  various  times  in  a  way  not 
likely  to  lead  others  to  emulate  his  treasonable  conduct.  He 
was  with  the  king  (George  the  Third)  one  day  when  Lord 
Balcarres,  who  had  fought  under  General  Burgoyne  in  tbe 
Saratoga  campaign,  (and  had  been  specially  opposed  to  him 
in  the  action  of  October  7, 1777,  when  his  little  redoubt  saved 
the  British  army,)  was  presented.  Tbe  king  introduced 
them.  *  What,  Sire  !*  said  the  eari,  drawing  up  his  form, 
and  retreating,  *  tbe  traitor  Arnold?  The  consequence  was 
a  challenge  from  Arnold.  They  met,  and  it  was  arranged 
that  the  parties  should  fire  by  signal  Arnold  fired,  and  Ix>rd 
Balcarres,  turning  on  bis  heel,  was  walking  away,  when  Ar- 
nold exclaimed,  *  Why  don't  you  fire,  my  lord?  '  Sir,'  said 
Lord  Balcarres,  lookmg  over  his  shoulder,  *  I  leave  you  to  the 
executioner!'"  [Stuarfs  Thrt€  Ytan  tn  NorOi  Ametricay 
vol  ii.  p.  462.] 

Tbe  Hon.  Robert  Lindsay,  second  son  of  the  fifth  eari  of 
Balcarres,  bom  in  1754,  was  many  years  in  the  dvi  service  of 
the  East  India  Company.  Having  served  bis  time,  he  was 
appointed  to  tbe  snperintendency  of  Sylhet,  in  the  extreme 
north  of  Bengal,  where  be  made  a  large  fortune.  While  still  a 
resident  in  India,  be  purehased  the  estate  of  Leucbars  in  Fife, 
and  on  bis  return  to  Scotland  in  1789  be  bought  from  his 
elder  brother  the  lands  of  Balcarres.  He  married  bis  cousin 
*^Elizabeth,  third  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Dick  of  Preston- 
field,  baronet,  and  had  issue  five  sons  and  four  daugbtera. 
He  wrote  some  interesting  *  Anecdotes  of  an  Indian  Life' 
printed  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Lives  of  tbe  Lindsays. 
He  died  in  1836,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son. 
Colonel  James  Lindsay  of  Balcarres  and  Leucbars,  grenadier 
guards,  colonel  of  tbe  Flfesbire  militia,  and  formerly  member 
of  pariiament  for  Fifeshire.  By  bis  second  wife,  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Coutts  Trotter,  baronet  of  Weetville,  he  bad 
Sir  Coutts  Lindsay,  baronet,  bom  in  1824,  younger  of  Bal- 
carres, author  of  *•  Alfred,  a  Drama,*  and  *  Edward  the  Black 
Prince,  a  Tragedy,*  another  son,  named  Robert,  and  three 
daughters.  Margaret,  tbe  eldest,  married  in  1846  ber  cousin 
Lord  Lindsay,  tbe  author  of  the  lives  of  tbe  Lindsays. 

Three  of  tbe  fifth  earl's  sons,  Colin,  James,  and  John, 
were  officers  in  the  army.  Tbe  Hon.  Colin  Lindsay,  bom  5th 
April  1755,  purchased  an  ensigncy  in  November  1771,  in  the 
4th  regiment  of  fooL  He  embarked  for  America  as  lieutenant 
in  tbe  55tb,  and  was  afterwards  promoted  by  purchase  to  a 
company  in  tbe  73d,  or  Mackenzie  Highlanders.  He  served 
as  captain  of  grenadiers  during  the  greater  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican war,  and  was  in  all  tbe  actions  in  the  West  Indies.  In 
1780  he  was  appointed  major  to  the  second  battalion  of  the 
73d,  and  in  that  capacity  served  at  Gibraltar  during  the  fa- 
mous siege  of  that  fortress.  At  the  peace  of  1783  he  return- 
ed to  England  with  his  regiment,  and  was  promoted  to  tbe 
lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the  46tb.  In  December  1793  he  was 
appointed  aide-de-camp  to  the  king,  with  the  rank  of  colonel 
m  tbe  army.    An  expedition  being  ordered  to  tbe  West  In- 


dies, Colonel  Lindsay  was  early  in  1795  advanced  to  the  ra^^k 
of  brigadier-general,  and  appointed  quarter-master-general  ot 
tbe  forces  there.  He  sailed  with  bis  brother,  tbe  earl  of  Bal- 
carres, then  proceeding  to  Jamaica,  and  landing  at  Barba- 
does  on  12th  March,  was  directed  to  take  the  command  of 
the  troops  in  Grenada,  at  that  time  in  a  dangerous  state,  on 
account  of  tbe  revolt  of  the  Mulattoes  and  Negroes  excited 
by  French  emissaries.  He  marched  from  St  George's  at  four 
in  the  morning  of  the  15tb,  attacked  and  defeated  tbe  insur- 
gents on  the  17tb,  but  fell  a  victim  to  excessive  fiitigae  and 
a  noxious  climate,  deeply  lamented  by  his  brother  officers  and 
tbe  soldiers  under  his  command.  His  death  took  place  22d 
March  1795,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  Ins  age.  He  published 
A  Military  Miscellany;  Extracts  from  Colonel  TempIehoflle*s 
History  of  the  Seven  Years'  War;  bis  Remarks  on  General 
Lloyd;  on  tbe  Substance  of  Armies;  and  on  tbe  March  of 
Convoys :  also  a  Treatise  on  Winter  Posts.  To  which  is  add- 
ed, A  Narrative  of  Events  at  St.  Lude  and  Gibraltar ;  and  of 
John  Duke  of  Marlborough's  March  to  the  Danube;  with  tbe 
Causes  and  Consequences  of  that  Manoeuvre.  Lond.  1793, 
2  vols.  8vo. 

The  next  son,  the  Hon.  James  Stair  Lindsay,  entered  the 
army  in  1774,  as  an  ensign  in  tbe  14th  foot,  then  in  America. 
He  commanded  tbe  grenadiers  of  the  73d  in  tbe  engagement 
with  tbe  French  and  Mobrattas  at  Cuddalore  IStii  June 
1783,  when  be  was  mortally  wounded,  storming  tbe  redonbta 
of  that  place.  He  received  bis  wound  about  three  o'clock 
but  the  attack  and  defence  being  most  vigorous,  be  refused 
to  be  taken  out  of  the  enemies*  Imes,  and  lay  there  till  near 
six,  when  a  French  officer  got  him  a  surgeon.  He  was  car- 
ried prisoner  into  the  fort  and  taken  to  tbe  French  hospital, 
and  humanely  treated.  In  a  few  days  be  died,  22d  June 
1783,  in  tbe  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  unmarried.  General 
Stewart,  in  bis  Sketches  of  tbe  Highlanders,  (vol.  il  p.  163,} 
speaks  of  him  with  great  pnuse.  Part  of  an  unfinished 
Journal  of  the  War  in  tbe  Camatic,  in  which  he  fell,  is  in- 
serted in  the  third  volume  of  the  lives  of  the  Lindsays. 

William,  tbe  next  son,  was  drowned  at  St  Helena,  getting 
into  a  boat  from  tbe  Priam  East  Indiaman,  in  1785,  aged 
twenty-six,  having  been  bom  in  1759. 

His  next  brother,  the  Hon.  Charies  Dalrymple  Lindsay, 
entered  into  holy  orders,  and  became  Insbop  of  ICIdare,  in 
Ireland.  He  was  bom  14tb  December  1760;  studied  at 
Baliol  College,  Oxford ;  had  the  rectory  of  Great  Sutterton 
in  Lincolnshire  conferred  on  him  in  1793 ;  was  consecrated 
bishop  of  Killaloe  and  Kilfenora,  20tb  October  1803,  and  was 
translated  to  the  see  of  Kildare  in  1804.  He  was  also  dean 
of  Christ  Church,  Dublin.  He  married  first  at  Bostoii,  1st 
January  1790,  Elizabeth  only  dangbter  of  Tliomas  Fydell, 
Esq.,  member  of  parliament  for  Boston,  and  by  ber,  who  died 
7tb  February  1797,  be  had  three  sons  and  a  daufi^ter.  He 
married,  secondly,  Catherine,  daughter  of  George  Coussmaker, 
Esq.,  who  brought  him  two  sons.  He  died  8tb  August, 
1846. 

Tbe  Hon.  John  Lindsay,  tbe  ninth  of  the  family,  bom  15th 
May  1762,  had  a  lieutenant's  commission  in  tbe  73d  foot,  in 
December  1777,  and  was  promoted  in  1780  to  a  captaincy  tn 
the  2d  battalion  of  the  73d  regiment  serving  in  India,  in  which 
station  he  continued  fifteen  years.  He  accompanied  Colonel 
Fletcher  and  tbe  troops  detached  to  tbe  support  of  Colcmel 
Baillie,  on  Hyder  Ali's  memorable  invasion  of  the  Camatie, 
and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Mabrattas,  10th  September, 
1780,  after  being  wounded  in  four  places,  and  endured  a  cap- 
tivity of  three  years  and  ten  months  at  Seringapatara,  snfTer- 
ing  tbe  greatest  privations,  and  even  denied  medical  aid. 
His  Journal  of  that  terrible  captivity,  printed  in  the  third 


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volume  of  the  lives  of  the  lindaajs,  has  been  tnilj  deecribed 
48  one  of  the  meet  afiecting  and  interesting  narratives  extant 
At  the  oondnaion  of  the  peaoe  in  March  1784  Captain  Lind- 
saj  and  his  fSBllow-prisonerB  obtained  their  freedom,  and  re- 
joined their  regiments.  He  served  nnder  the  Marquis  Corn- 
wallis  in  1791-2,  and  with  his  firiend  Sir  David  Baird,  was  at 
the  taking  of  Seringapatam,  where  he  had  so  long  been  a 
prisoner.  He  next  served  in  the  war  with  Franoe  in  1798, 
and  returned  to  England  on  his  regmient*s  being  ordered 
home  in  1797.  He  became  major  and  lieutenant- colonel 
of  the  7l8t,  and  quitted  the  army  on  the  peace  in  1801. 
Lord  Lindsay  states  that  in  1822,  when  General  Stewart  of 
Garth  published  his  *  Sketches  of  the  Highlanders,*  Colonel 
Lindsay  and  Sir  David  Baird  [see  life  of  the  latter,  ante,  p. 
191]  were  the  only  survivors  of  the  two  hundred  men  of  the 
flank  companies  of  the  78d  who  had  fought  under  Baillie^s 
command  at  Conjeveram.  [Lhet  of  t^  Lmdtays^  vol  iL  p. 
849.]  He  married,  2d  December  1800,  Lady  Charlotte 
North,  youngest  daughter  of  Frederick  second  eari  of  Guilford, 
and  died  in  1826. 

The  Hon.  Hugh  Lindsay,  the  youngest  son,  bom  80th  Oc- 
tober 1765,  entered  the  navy,  and  after  serving  till  the  cessa- 
tion of  all  promotion  at  the  dose  of  the  American  war,  becanll 
commander  of  an  East  Indiaman,  in  the  service  of  the  East 
India  Company,  and  afterwards  was  a  director  and  chairman 
of  the  Company.  He  married  at  Bargeny  14th  Januaiy 
1799,  Jane,  second  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Alexander  Gordon, 
a  judge  of  the  court  of  session,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Rock- 
ville,  fourth  son  of  William  second  earl  of  Aberdeen,  by  Anne, 
dowager  countess  of  Dumfries  and  Stair,  and  had  issue.  He 
died  2dd  April  1844.  An  interesting  adventure  in  China,  in 
^hich  he  figures  as  the  principal  actor,  will  be  found  in  the 
third  volume  of  the  Lives  of  the  lindsays. 

Besides  Lady  Anne  Barnard,  already  mentioned,  the  fifth 
carl  had  two  other  daughters,  Lady  Margaret  and  Lady  Eliza- 
beth. Lady  Margaret  was  bom  14th  February  1758,  and 
married,  first,  at  Balcarres,  20th  June  1770,  Alexander  For- 
dyce,  Esq.  of  Roehampton  in  Surrey,  banker  in  London,  who 
died  without  surviving  issue,  and  secondly,  in  1812,  Sir  James 
Burgess,  and  died  in  Dublin  in  December  1814.  The  great 
beauty  of  this  lady  was  commemorated  by  Sheridan  while  she 
was  yet  young,  in  the  well-known  lines: 

**  Harked  you  her  eye  of  heavenly  blue. 
Marked  yoo  her  cheek  of  roey  hae; 
That  eye  in  liquid  drcles  rovin;, 
That  cheek  abashed  at  man's  approvtngr: 
The  one  Love's  arrows  darting  roand« 
The  other  blushing  at  the  woand?  ** 

The  youngest  daughter,  Lady  Elizabeth,  bora  11th  October 
1768,  married  24th  July  1782,  Philip  third  earl  of  Hardwicke, 
lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland  from  1801  to  1806,  and  had  issue, 
like  the  rest  of  the  family  she  was  highly  gifted,  and  was  the 
authoress  of  a  beautiful  translation  of  the  *  Gerusalemme  lib- 
erata,*  in  manuscript.  Lord  Lindsay  quotes  an  *  Address  to 
Entick,*  written  in  a  playful  vein,  when  a  mere  girl,  on  the 
fly-leaf  of  Entick*s  grammar,  on  the  occasion  of  an  absurd 
task  having  been  imposed  on  her  by  her  school-mistress ;  also, 
lines  addressed  to  her  eldest  son,  I^rd  Viscount  Royston  on 
his  birthday,  and  sent  to  him  at  Harrow  in  May  1796,  in- 
serted in  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  (vol.  ii.  pages  338  and 
839).  Lord  Royston  was  lost  in  a  storm  off  Lubeck  1st  April 
18(W,  in  his  twenty-fourth  year.  His  *  Remains*  were  pub- 
lished in  one  volume,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Pepys,  now 
oishop  of  Worcester. 
The  venerable  Countess  Dowager  of  Balcarres,  the  mother 


of  this  large  family,  survived  her  husband,  the  fifth  earl,  fifty- 
two  years,  and  died  at  Balcarres  29th  November  1820,  in  the 
ninety-fourth  year  of  her  age. 

James  the  seventh  earl  was  "bom  24th  April,  1783.  He 
had  entered  the  army,  and  was  major  in  the  20th  regiment  ol 
li^t  dragoons,  when  he  quitted  the  service  in  1804.  He 
succeeded  his  father  in  March  1825,  and  was  created  baron 
of  Wigan,  in  the  peerage  of  Great  Britain,  by  patent,  dated 
in  June  1826.  He  married,  21st  November  1811,  the  Hon. 
Maria  Margaret  Frances  Pennington,  only  surviving  child  of 
the  first  Lcnrd  Muncaster,  and  has  issue  four  sons.  His  eld- 
est son,  Alexander  William  Crawford,  Lord  Lindsay,  bom  in 
1812,  is  the  author  of  a  *  Letter  on  the  Evidences  of  Christi- 
anity ;*  *  Letters  on  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land ;'  '  The  History 
of  Christian  Art  ;*  and  ^  The  lives  of  the  Lindsays  ;*  from 
which  latter  work  considerable  assistance  has  been  derived 
in  the  drawing  up  of  this  account  of  the  Balcarres  family 
He  married,  as  already  stated,  his  cousin  Margaret,  eldest 
daughter  of  CoL  Lindsay  of  Balcarres,  and  has  issue. 

On  the  death  of  George,  the  twenty-second  earl  of  Craw- 
ford, in  1808,  Alexander,  sixth  earl  of  Balcarres,  succeeded 
as  twenty-third  earl  of  Crawford,  but  did  not  assume  that 
title.  His  son,  the  seventh  earl  of  Balcarres,  had  the  digni- 
ties of  earl  of  Crawford  and  baron  Lindsay  adjudged  to  him 
by  the  decision  of  the  House  of  Lords,  11th  August  1848, 
[see  Crawford,  earidom  of,  and  Lindsay,  Lord,j  whereby 
he  succeeded  as  twenty-fourth  earl  of  Crawford,  and  takes 
rank  as  the  premier  earl  of  Scotland  in  the  Union  roll  His 
lordship,  who  is  the  acknowledged  chief  of  the  clan  Lindsay, 
also  claims  the  title  of  duke  of  Montrose  (see  that  title), 
conferred  on  David,  fourth  earl  of  Crawford,  by  charters, 
dated  18th  May  1488  and  19th  Sept  1489,  an  older  creation 
than  that  held  by  the  head  of  the  ancient  house  of  Graham. 

The  Balcarres  arms  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  earl  of 
Crawford,  which  see. 

The  following  is  a  representation  of  Balcarres  Craig,  on  the 
east  of  Balcarres  house  in  Fife 


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BALFOUR. 


Balfour,  a  very  andent  Dame  in  Fife,  derived  from  the 
lands  of  Balfonr,  in  the  parish  of  Marldnch,  formerly  belong- 
ing to  a  funily  which  were  long  heritable  sheiiflb  of  Fife. 
Balfonr  castle  was  built  upon  their  ancient  poeseadons,  in  the 
Tale  or  strath  of  the  Orr,  a  tributary  of  the  Leven,  near  their 
confluence.  Bal-orr  is  the  original  name.  The  family  of 
Balfour,  according  to  Sibbald,  possessed  these  lands  as  early 
as  the  reign  of  Duncan  the  First,  IHitL  ofFifi^  p.  866],  and 
assumed  from  them  their  name.  The  first  of  the  funily  in 
Scotland  was  Siward,  supposed  to  have  come  firom  Northum- 
berland, in  the  reign  of  Uiat  monarch.  His  son,  Osulf,  who 
lived  in  the  time  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  was  the  father  of  Si- 
ward,  to  whom  King  Edgar  gave  the  valley  of  Orr,  that  is, 
Strathor  and  Maey,  "  pro  capte  Ottar  Dani.**  Siward*s  son, 
Octred,  witnessed  a  charter  of  David  the  first  about  1141. 
He  was  the  father  of  Su*  Michad  Balfonr,  who  had  two  sons. 
William,  the  eldest,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Balfours  of  Bal- 
four. About  the  year  1196  Sir  Michael  de  Balfour  obtained 
a  charter  from  William  the  Lion,  dated  at  Forfar.  In  1229, 
in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second, 
his  son.  Sir  Ingelramus  de  Balfonr,  sheriff  of  Fife,  was  wit- 
ness to  a  charter  of  confirmation  by  that  monarch  to  the 
monastery  of  Aberbrothock,  of  a  mortification  to  them  by 
Philip  de  Moubray,  *  De  uuo  plenario  tofto  in  Innerkeithing.* 
His  son  Henry  was  witness  to  another  confirmation  by  the 
same  monarch  to  that  monastery  of  a  donation  by  Malcolm 
earl  of  Angus,  *  De  terris  in  territorio  de  Kermuir.*  He  was 
the  father  of  John  de  Balfour,  who,  with  many  of  the  barons 
of  Fifediire,  fell  at  the  sack  of  Berwick  by  Edward  the  First, 
80th  March,  1296.  His  son,  Sir  Duncan  de  Balfonr,  adhered 
to  the  fortunes  of  Sur  William  Wallace,  and  was  slam  12th 
June  1298  at  the  battle  of  Blackironside,  where  the  English, 
under  Sir  Aymer  de  Valence,  earl  of  Pembroke,  were  defeated 
with  great  daughter.  Amongst  others  present  at  the  paiiia^ 
ment  held  at  Cambuskenneth,  6tb  November  1814,  were  David 
de  Balfour  and  Malcolm  de  Balfour,  as  their  seals  are  appended 
to  the  general  sentence  by  that  parliament  of  forfeiture  of  all  the 
rebels.  In  the  parliament  hdd  at  Ayr  in  1815  were  Sir  Michael 
de  Balfour,  sheriff  of  Fife,  and  David  de  Balfonr;  their  seals 
are  appended  to  the  act  of  that  parliament  for  settling  the 
crown.  [7&td  pp.  866,  867.]  Sir  Michael  died  in  1844,  and 
in  1875,  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Robert  the  Second,  his 
eldest  son  and  successor,  Sir  John  Balfour  of  Balfour  died, 
leaving  an  only  daughter,  Margaret,  who  married  Sir  Robert 
de  Bethune,  *  familiaris  regis  Roberti ,  *  as  he  is  styled. 
From  them  the  present  proprietor  of  Balfour,  J.  E.  Drinkwa- 
ter  Bethune,  Esq.,  is  descended.  Several  of  the  other  Fife 
heritors  of  the  name  of  Bethune,  as  the  Bethunes  of  Bandon, 
of  Tarvet,  of  Blebo,  of  Clatto,  of  Craigfudie,  and  of  Kiu- 
gask,  were  also  descended  from  them.  Of  the  most  remarka- 
ble personages  belonging  to  the  Bethunes  of  Balfour  were 
James  Bethune,  archbbhop  of  Glasgow  and  chancellor  of 
Scotland;  his  nephew.  Cardinal  Bethune;  and  the  nephew 
of  the  cardinal,  James  Bethune,  archbishop  of  Glasgow.  [See 
Bbtuunb,  surname  of.]  In  the  house  of  Balfour  are  original 
portraits  of  Cardmal  Bethune,  and  of  Mary  Bethune,  cele- 
brated for  her  beauty,  one  of  the  queen*s  four  Maries. 

Besides  many  illustrious  descendants  in  the  female  line  the 
surname  of  Balfonr  has  been  ennobled  by  three  peerages, 
namely,  the  baronies  of  Burleigh  and  Kilwinning  in  Scotland, 
and  of  Balfour  of  Clonawley  in  Ireland.  In  Sir  Robert 
Sibbald*s  time,  at  the  beginning  of  the  ei^teenth  century, 
there  were  a  greater  number  of  heritors  in  Fife  named  Bal- 
four than  of  any  other  surname.  His  list  contains  no  less 
than  thirteen  landed  proprietors  in  that  county  of  the  name, 
vix.,  the  Balfours  of  Burleigh,  of  Femie,  of  Dunbog,  of  Den- 


mylne,  of  Grange,  of  Forret,  of  Randerston,  of  Rademie,  of 
Nortbbank,  of  Balbiraie,  of  Halbeath,  of  Lawlethan,  and  of 
Banktown.  {EitL  of  FYe,  App.  No.  II.]  In  his  Memoria 
Balfouriema,  he  says  the  £unily  of  Balfonr  is  divided  into 
several  branches,  of  which  those  of  Balgarvie,  Monntwhanney^ 
Denmylne,  Ballovy,  Carriston,  and  Kirkton  are  the  prindpai. 

Sir  John  Balfour  of  Balfonr,  already  mentioned  as  the 
father  of  Margaret  the  wife  of  Sir  Robert  de  Bethune,  had 
an  only  brother,  Adam,  who  married  the  granddaughter 
of  Macduff^  brotiier  of  Colbane,  earl  of  Fife,  and  obtained 
with  her  the  lands  of  Pittencriefil  He  died  of  wounds  re- 
cdved  at  the  battle  of  Durham,  in  1846,  and  was  buried  in 
Mehrose  abbey.  His  son.  Sir  Michad  Balfour,  was  brought 
up  by  his  kinsman  Duncan,  twdfth  eari  of  Fife,  who  in  1353 
gave  in  exchange  for  Pittencrieff  the  mudi  more  valuable 
lands  of  Mountwhanney.  The  countess  Isabella,  daughter  of 
earl  Duncan,  also  be^wed  many  grants  of  land  upon  her 
**  cousin**  Sir  Michael,  who,  at  her  death  without  issoe, 
should  have  succeeded  as  her  nearest  hdr,  but  the  regent  Al- 
bany, the  brother  of  her  second  husband,  obtained  the  earl- 
dom in  virtue  of  a  dispodtion  in  his  &vour  by  the  countess. 
Sir  Michael  died  about  1885.  His  ddest  son,  Michad  Bal- 
four of  Mountwhanney,  had  a  son.  Sir  Lawrence,  of  Strathw 
and  Mountwhanney,  who,  by  his  wife  Maijory,  had  three 
sons :  Geoige,  his  hdr ;  John  of  Balgarvie,  progenitor,  by  his 
son  James,  of  the  Balfours  of  Denmylne,  Forret,  Randerston, 
Tony  and  Boghall,  Kinloch,  &c ;  and  David  Balfour  of  Car- 
raldstone  or  Cairiston.  The  latter  £unily  terminated  in  an 
heiress,  Isabel  Balfour,  who  married  a  younger  son  of  the 
fourth  Lord  Seton,  ancestor  of  the  Setons  of  Carriston. 

James  Balfour,  son  of  Sir  John  Balfour  of  Balgarvy,  in 
1451  obtained  fix>m  King  James  the  Second  the  lands  of 
Denmyhie,  in  the  parish  of  Abdie,  and  county  of  Fife,  ori- 
ginally belonging  to  the  earis  of  Fife,  and  wMch  fell  to  the 
crown  at  the  forfdtnre  of  Murdoch  duke  of  Albany.  This 
James  Balfour  was  dain  at  the  dege  of  Roxburgh,  soon  after 
the  death  of  James  the  Second,  in  1460,  as  appears  from  a 
charter,  granted  by  James  the  Third,  in  favour  of  John  Bd- 
four  his  son,  who  married  Christian  Sibbald,  daughter  of  Pe- 
ter Sibbald  of  Rankdllor,  and  fdl  with  his  sovereign,  James 
the  Fourth,  at  the  battle  of  Flodden,  in  1518.  Patrick  his 
son  was  the  father  of  Alexander  Balfour,  whose  son.  Sir 
Michad  Balfour,  was  knighted  at  Holyroodhouse,  26th  Mardi 
1630,  by  George  Viscount  Dupplin,  chancellor  of  Scotland, 
under  a  special  warrant  from  Charles  the  First,  and  the -same 
year  in  which  his  son  Sir  James  recdved  a  dmilar  honour. 
Sir  Michad  was  comptroller  of  the  household  to  Charies  the 
First,  and  was  equally  distinguished  for  his  military  courage 
and  dvil  prudence.  By  his  wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  James 
Durham  of  Pitkerrow  he  had  five  sons  and  nine  daughters, 
seven  of  whom  were  honourably  married. 

Of  the  ddest  son,  Sir  James  Balfour  of  Kinnaird,  the  cele- 
brated annalist  and  antiquary,  a  life  is  given  bdow. 

The  second  son,  Alexander,  styled  of  Lumbamie,  was  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,  a  man,  says  Sibbdd,  not  more  re- 
spected fi>r  the  dignity  of  his  appearance  than  for  the  wisdom 
and  piety  of  his  life. 

Michael  Balfour  of  Randerston,  the  third  son,  was  emi- 
nently distinguished  for  his  experience  and  skill  in  agrical- 
tund  matters. 

Sir  David  Balfour  of  Forret,  the  fourth  son,  was  admit- 
ted advocate  29  January  1650.  In  1674  he  was  knighted, 
and  nominated  a  judge  in  the  court  of  session.  He  took  his 
seat  on  the  bench  with  the  title  of  Lord  Forret.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  court  of  justid- 
ary.    In  1685  he  was  dected  a  oommisdoner  for  the  county 


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of  Fife  to  the  parHament  which  met  that  year,  choeen  one  of 
the  lords  of  tho  articles,  and  appointed  a  commissioner  for  the 
plantation  of  kirks.  He  died  shortly  after  the  Revolution. 
[Hixig  and  Bnmtom*s  History  of  <Ae  Senator*  of  the  CoUege 
ofJtutiee,  p.  402.]  His  second  son,  James  Balfour,  succeeded 
to  the  lands  of  Randerston. 

A  subsequent  proprietor  of  the  estate  of  Forret,  probably  a 
descendant  of  this  learned  judge,  seems  to  have  entertained  a 
dengn  of  erecting  a  convenient  place  of  refreshment  for  the 
members  of  the  college  of  justice  at  Edinburgh ;  for  in  a  note 
to  Kojf's  Portraits  [vol  L  p.  22]  we  find  the  foUowiug  pass- 
age, winch  is  curious  as  maiking  the  habits  of  the  members 
of  the  bar  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century:  **  In 
the  minutes  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates,  13th  February  1741 
there  is  an  entry  relative  to  a  petition  presented  to  the  Dean 
and  Faculty  by  James  Balfour  of  Forret,  stating  that  he  m- 
tended  to  build  a  cofieehouse  adjoining  to  the  west  side  of  the 
Parliament  House,  *  for  the  oonveniency  and  accommodation 
of  the  members  of  the  college  of  justice,  and  of  the  senators 
of  the  court,*  and  that  he  was  anxious  for  the  patronage  of 
the  society.  He  also  mentioned  that  he  had  petitioned  the 
judges,  who  had  unanimously  approved  of  the  project  A 
remit  was  made  to  the  curators  of  the  library,  and  to  Messrs. 
Cross  and  Barclay,  to  consider  the  petition,  and  report  whe- 
ther it  should  be  granted;  but  nothing  appears  to  have  been 
done  by  the  committee."  The  estate  of  Forret,  which  b  in 
the  parish  of  Logie,  andentiy  belonged  to  the  Ferrets  of  that 
ilk,  a  son  of  which  house,  who  had  been  vicar  of  Dollar,  suf- 
fered martyrdom  on  the  Castlehill  of  Edinburgh  in  1538. 
[See  FoRBKT,  surname  of.]  It  is  now  the  property  of  a 
family  of  the  name  of  Mackenzie. 

Of  Sir  Michael's  youngest  son,  Sir  Andrew  Balfour,  doctor 
of  medicine,  the  distinguished  naturalist  and  scholar,  a  me- 
moir is  given  below. 

The  descendants  of  Sur  James  Balfour,  lyon  king  at  arms, 
continued  long  to  possess  the  lands  of  Denmyhie.  The  family 
is  now  entirely  extinct  in  the  male  line,  and  is  represented  by 
Lord  Belhaven  as  heir  of  line.  [See  Bblhayen,  lord.]  The 
complete  extinction  of  this  family  is  the  more  remarkable,  as 
it  is  stated  by  Sir  Robert  Sibbald  that  Sir  Michael  Balfour 
lived  to  see  three  hundred  of  his  own  issue,  while  Sir  Andrew, 
his  youngest  son,  saw  six  hundred  descendants  from  his  fa^ 
ther.  -  The  ruins  of  the  old  church  of  Abdie,  on  the  western 
shore  of  the  loch  of  lindores,  still  contain  several  monuments 
of  this  family. 

About  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  a  fatal  duel  oc- 
curred between  Sur  Robert  Balfour  of  Denmylne,  and  Sir  James 
MacgiO  of  lindores,  who  were  near  neighbours  and  intimate 
friends.  Sir  Itobert  was  a  young  man  in  his  prime;  Sir 
James  was  much  more  advanced  in  years.  Attended  by  their 
servants,  they  had  both  gone  to  Perth  on  a  market  day,  when 
Sir  Robert  unfortunately  quarrelled  and  fought  with  a  High- 
land gentieman  on  the  street.  Sir  James  came  up  at  the 
time  and  parted  the  combatants.  In  doing  this,  it  is  said, 
he  made  some  observations  as  to  the  superiority  of  the  High- 
lander, which  offended  Sir  Robert,  who,  chafed  and  angry, 
offered  next  to  fight  his  friend.  They  returned  home  toge- 
ther on  the  evening  of  a  long  sunmer  day.  When  at  Gar- 
pow  they  dismounted,  gave  their  servants  their  horses,  and, 
ascending  by  the  road  a  considerable  way  up  the  hills,  they 
stopped  at  a  spot  on  the  slope  of  the  Ochils  where  a  small 
cairn  of  stones,  locally  knoira  by  the  name  of  Sir  Robert's 
Prap,  was  afterwards  raised  to  commemorate  the  event  They 
there  drew  their  swords.  A  shepherd,  who  was  sitting  on  a 
higher  part  of  the  hills,  is  said  not  or/iy  to  have  seeawhat 
took  place,  but  even  to  have  overhsard  what  passed  between 


them.  It  is  said  that  Sir  James  Mac^gill,  who  is  alleged  to 
have  been  by  far  the  more  expert  swordsman  of  the  two,  made 
various  attempts  to  be  reconciled  to  his  angry  friend,  and 
even  after  they  were  engaged,  conducted  himself  for  a  time 
merely  on  the  defimsive.  But  from  the  fury  with  which  Sir 
Robert  fought,  he  was  forced  to  change  his  plan,  and  to  at- 
tack  in  turn.  The  consequence  was  that  Sir  Robert  was  run 
through  the  body,  and  died  on  the  spot,  when  Sir  James 
mounted  and  rode  off,  leaving  his  corpse  to  the  care  of  the 
servants.  It  is  added  that  Sur  James  immediately  afterwards 
proceeded  to  London,  where  he  obtained  a  pardon  from  King 
Charles  the  Second.  Mr.  Small,  in  his  Roman  Antiquities, 
tells  a  foolish  and  very  improbable  story  of  Sir  James  being 
obliged  by  the  king  to  fight  an  Italian  swordsman  then  in 
London,  who  had  previously  acted  the  bully,  but  who  also 
fell  beneath  the  skilful  arm  of  the  Scottish  knight  [^Leigk- 
toris  HisL  <f  F\fey  voL  ii.  p.  178.]  The  fate  of  the  last 
baronet  of  Denmylne  is  equally  remarkable.  He  set  out  on 
horseback  from  his  own  house  to  pay  a  viat  and  neither 
man  nor  horse  was  ever  agam  heard  of.  It  is  supposed  that 
he  perished  in  some  of  the  lochs  or  marshes  with  which  Fife 
then  abounded.  Shortly  after  his  disappearance  Denmylne  was 
purchased  by  General  Scott  of  Baloomie,  the  father  of  the 
duchess  of  Portland  and  the  viscountess  Canning.  These 
Unds  were  pubsequentiy  bought  from  her  grace,  when  march- 
ioness of  Htchfield,  by  the  brother  of  the  pres«[it  proprietor 
Thomas  Watt,  Esq.  of  Denmylne. 

Another  branch  of  the  house  of  Balfour  possesses  the  lands 
of  Balbimie  in  the  parish  of  Markinch,  Fifeshire.  During 
the  reign  of  Malcolm  the  Fourth,  the  lands  of  Balbimie  be- 
longed to  Orm  the  son  of  Hugh,  abbot  of  Abemethy,  tht 
ancestor  of  the  family  of  Abemethy.  [See  Abernethy 
surname  of,  cmte^  p.  14.]  He  exchanged  them  with  Duncai 
earl  of  Fifij,  the  charter  being  conferred  by  William  the 
Lion.  Sibbald  says  that  anciently  these  lands  belonged  to 
a  fiamily  who  took  their  name  from  them,  and  were  de- 
signed Balbimie  of  that  ilk.  About  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth or  beginmng  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  lands 
of  Balbimie  were  purchased  from  the  Balbimies,  who  hold 
them  under  the  earls  of  Fife,  by  George  Balfour,  son  of  Mar- 
tin Balfour  of  Dovan  and  Lalethan,  the  ancestor  of  the  pre- 
sent proprietor.  This  Martin  Balfour  was,  in  1596,  served 
heir  to  his  grandfather  David  Balfour,  in  the  lands  of  Dovan 
and  Lalethan.  He  was  descended  from  Peter  Balfour,  a 
yoimger  son  of  Balfour  of  Balfour,  who,  having  married  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Sibbald  of  Balgonie,  obtained  from  his 
father-in-law  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Dovan  in  the  reign  of 
Robert  the  Third.  The  present  proprietor  of  Balbimie  seems, 
therefore,  to  divide  with  Balfour  of  Femie,  the  representation 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Balfour  of  Balfour. 


Balfour  of  Bitrleioh,  Lord,  an  attainted  barony  in  the 
peerage  of  Scotland,  formerly  held  by  a  branch  of  the  Fife 
family  of  Balfour.  In  1445<-6  Sir  John  Balfour  of  Balgarvie, 
[from  the  Celtic  Bal-garbh^  the  rough  town  or  dwelling,]  had 
a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Burleigh  in  Kinross-shire,  which  were 
erected  into  a  free  barony  in  his  favour,  by  King  James  the 
Second,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign.  He  had  two  sons, 
Michael  and  James.  The  latter  is  said  to  have  been  the  an* 
cestor  of  the  Balfours  of  Denmylne,  Forret,  and  other  families 
of  the  name,  llie  eldest  son,  Michael,  was  the  father  of  Sir 
Michael  Balfour  designed  of  Burieigh,  who,  besides  other 
charters,  had  one  of  the  lands  of  caster  and  wester  Balgarvie, 
on  the  16th  February  1505-6,  and  another  to  himself  and 
Margaret  Musshet  his  wife,  of  the  lands  of  Schanwell,  28tb 
May  1512. 

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His  grandson,  Michael  Balfour  of  Borleigb,  was  served  heir 
to  his  father  in  1642.  He  had  a  charter  of  half  of  the  lands 
of  Kinloch  and  office  of  coroner  of  Fife,  18th  Jnne  1566.  He 
married  Christian,  daughter  of  John  Bethmie  of  Creich,  and 
had  an  only  child,  his  sole  heiress,  Margaret  Balfonr,  who 
married  Sir  James  Balfonr  of  Pittendriech  and  Moontwhan- 
ney,  lord  president  of  the  conrt  of  session,  whose  life  is  given 
below.  Sir  James*  eldest  brother,  Michael  Balfonr  of  Mount- 
whanney,  commendator  of  Melrose,  was  the  progenitor  of 
the  Balfours  of  Trenaby,  in  OrKney. 

Sir  James  had. six  daughters  and  three  sons.  The  eldest 
son,  Sir  Michael  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  had  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Nethertown  of  Auchinhuffis  in  Banifehire,  28th  Oc- 
tober 1577,  and  another  of  the  barony  of  Burleigh,  29th  Oc- 
tober 1606.  By  James  the  Sixth,  he  was  honoured  with  the 
title  of  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  by  letters  patent,  bearing 
date  at  Royston,  in  England,  7th  August  1606,  Sir  Michael 
being  then  James*  ambassador  to  the  duke  of  Tuscany  and 
the  duke  of  Lorraine.  ISibbaUTs  Hist,  of  F\fe^  page  279.] 
He  was  created  a  lord  of  parliament  under  the  same  title  at 
Whitehall  10th  July  1607,  without  any  mention  of  heirs  in 
the  creation.  [CarmichaeVg  TracU.I  His  lordship  was  sub- 
sequently sworn  of  the  privy  coundL  On  7th  Sept.  1614,  a 
charter  was  granted  to  Michael,  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  of 
the  barony  of  Kilwinning,  with  the  title  of  Lord  Kilwinning,  to 
him  and  his  heirs  and  assigns  whatever.  [Dcuglat^  Peerage^ 
vol.  L  page  180.]  His  lordship  married  first,  Margaret  Adam 
son,  and  secondly,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Lnndie  of  Lundie, 
by  whom  he  had  a  daughter  Margaret,  who  succeeded  him  as 
baroness  Balfour  of  Burleigh.  She  married  Robert  Amot,  the 
son  of  Sir  Robert  Amot  of  Femie,  chamberiam  of  Fife.  This 
Robert  Amot  assumed  on  his  marriage  the  name  of  Balfour, 
and  had  the  title  of  Lord  Burleigh,  in  virtue  of  a  letter  from 
the  king.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Scottish  parliament  in  1640, 
the  estates,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  a  commissioner 
from  his  majesty,  appointed  Lord  Burleigh  theur  president, 
and  he  was  continued  in  that  office  in  1641.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  negotiating  the  treaty  of  peace 
with  England  in  1640  and  1641,  and  in  the  latter  year  was 
one  of  the  privy  councillors  constituted  by  parliament.  Dur- 
ing Montrose*s  wars,  he  was  actively  engaged  on  the  side  of 
the  parliament,  and  seems  to  have  acted  in  the  north  as  a 
general  of  the  forces.  In  September  1644  the  marquis  of 
Montrose,  with  an  army  of  about  two  thousand  men,  ap- 
proached Aberdeen,  and  summoned  it  to  surrender,  but  the 
magistrates,  after  advising  with  Lord  Burleigh,  who  then 
commanded  in  the  town  a  force  nearly  equal  in  number  to 
the  assailants,  refused  to  obey  the  summons,  upon  which  a 
battle  ensued  within  half-a-mile  of  the  town,  on  the  12th  of 
that  month,  in  which  Burleigh  was  defeated.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  committee  of  parliament  attached  to  the  army  un- 
der General  Baillie,  which,  through  the  dissensions  of  its 
leaders,  was  totally  routed  by  the  troops  of  Montrose  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Kilsyth  15th  August  1645.  He  opposed  the 
"  engagement**  to  march  into  England  for  the  rescue  of  King 
Charles,  and  was  one  of  those  who  effectually  dissuaded 
Cromwell  from  the  invasion  of  Scotland.  In  1649,  under  the 
act  for  putting  the  kingdom  in  a  poetnro  of  defence.  Lord 
Burleigh  was  one  of  the  colonels  for  the  county  of  Fife,  and  the 
same  year  he  was  nominated  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
treasury  and  exchequer.  He  died  at  Burleigh  10th  August 
1668.  By  his  wife,  who  predeceased  him  in  June  1689  he 
had  four  daughters  and  one  son.  Jean,  the  eldest  daughter, 
married,  in  1628,  David,  second  earl  of  Wemyss,  and  died 
10th  November  1649,  leaving  one  daughter,  Jean,  countess  of 
Angus  and  Sutherland.    Margaret  the  second  daughter,  be- 


came the  wife  of  Sir  James  Crawford  of  Killnmie,  without 
issue.  Isabel,  the  third  daughter,  married  Thomas,  first  Lord 
Ruthven,'  and  had  issue.  The  youngest  daughter,  wboae 
name  is  not  mentioned,  married  her  cousin.  Amot  of  Femie. 

John  Balfour,  third  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  spent  hit 
younger  years  in  France,  where  he  was  wounded.  On  his 
retum  home,  on  passing  through  London,  ho  married,  early 
in  1649,  without  his  father*s  consent,  Isabel,  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Balfour  of  Pitcullo,  lieutenant  of  the  tower  of  Lon- 
don. His  father,  with  the  view  of  having  the  marriage  an- 
nulled, got  it  proposed,  in  a  general  way,  to  the  General  As- 
sembly the  same  year,  but  no  answer  was  given  to  the  appli- 
cation. Lord  Burleigh  died  in  1688,  leaving,  besides  Robert, 
his  heir,  two  other  sons  and  six  daughters.  His  second  son, 
John  Balfour  of  Femie,  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  reign 
of  James  the  Seventh.  He  had  two  sons,  Arthur,  father  of 
John  Balfour  of  Femie,  and  John,  who  succeeded  by  entafl  to 
the  estate  of  Captain  William  Crawford,  whose  name  and 
arms  he  assumed,  and  left  issue.  Henry,  the  third  son  ot 
Lord  Burleigh,  was  styled  of  Dunbog.  He  was  a  mijar  of 
dragoons,  and  one  of  the  representatives  fur  the  county  of 
Fife  in  the  last  parliament  of  Scotland,  in  which  he  warmly 
opposed  the  union.  He  was  the  father  of  Henry  Balfour  of 
Dunbog. 

Robort,  fourth  lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  was,  in  1689, 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  executing  the  office  of 
derk  register.  He  died  in  1718.  His  lordship  nuuried  Lady 
Margaret  Melville,  only  daughter  of  George,  first  eari  of  Mel- 
ville, by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  two  daughters.  Margarrt, 
the  eldest,  died  unmarried  at  Edinburgh  12th  Mardi  1769. 
Mary,  the  younger,  married  in  1714  Brigadier-general  Alexan- 
der Bmce  of  Kennet,  and  died  at  Skene  in  Stirlingshire  7th 
November  1758,  leaving  a  son  and  daughter;  the  fonner  be- 
came a  lord  of  session  under  the  title  of  Lord  Kennet 

Robert  Balfour,  fifth  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh,  was  a  man 
(^  a  most  daring  and  desperate  character.  In  his  eariy  youth, 
while  still  master  of  Burleigh,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  girl  of 
inferior  rank,  whose  name  has  not  been  given,  and  in  conse- 
quence his  father  sent  him  to  the  continent,  in  the  hope  tliat 
travel  would  remove  the  feeling  of  attachment  fbr  her  firom 
his  mind.  Before  setting  out  he  exacted  a  promise  from  the 
girl,  that  she  would  not  marry  any  one  in  his  absence,  de- 
daring  that  if  she  did  he  would  put  her  husband  to  death, 
when  he  came  back.  Notwithstanding  this  threat  she  mar- 
ried Henry  Stenhouse,  a  schoolmaster  at  Inverkdthing,  al- 
though not  without  informing  him  of  the  risk  he  incurred  in 
taking  her.  On  the  retum  of  the  master  of  Burleigh  his  first 
inquiry  was  after  tiie  girl,  and  on  being  inibrmed  of  her  mar- 
riage, with  two  attendants,  he  proceeded  on  horsebadc  directly 
to  the  school  of  Stenhouse,  and  calling  the  unfortunate 
schoolmaster  to  the  door,  he  shot  him  in  the  shoulder,  9ih 
April  1707.  Stenhouse  died  of  the  wound  twdve  days  after. 
Young  Balfour  was  tried  for  the  murder  in  the  High  Court  of 
Justidaiy  4th  August  1709,  when  his  counsel  pleaded  in  de- 
fence that  there  was  no  malice  prepense;  that  the  wound  had 
not  been  in  a  mortal  place  but  in  the  arm,  plainly  showing 
that  the  intention  had  been  to  frighten  or  correct,  not  to  kill ; 
and  lastly,  that  the  libd  had  not  been  that  the  wound  was 
deadly,  on  the  contrary  it  admitted  that  the  deceased  had 
lived  several  days  after  it,  and  the  prisoner  would  prove  ma- 
htm  regimen  and  a  fretful  temper  as  the  immediate  causes  (if 
death.  Notwithstanding  this  ingenious  defence  the  Juir 
found  him  guilty,  and  he  was  sentenced,  29th  November,  to 
be  beheaded  6th  January  1710;  but  a  few  days  before  that 
date  he  escaped  from  prison  by  exchanging  clothes  witii  bis 
dster,  who  was  extremely  like  him.    [Maelaunn^s  Criminal 


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BALFOUR, 


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SIR  JAMES. 


TriaUJ]  He  skulked  ibr  some  time  in  the  neigfabovhood  of 
Borieigfa  Castle,  Kinross-shire,  and  an  ash  tree,  hollow  in  the 
trunk,  was  l<Hig  pointed  oat  as  his  place  of  shelter  and  con- 
ceabnent  From  having  been  often  the  place  of  his  retreat, 
it  bore  the  name  of  Burleigh's  Hole.  After  sustaining  the 
ravages  of  the  weather  for  more  than  a  century,  it  was  com- 
pletely blown  down  in  1822.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1713,  the  title  devolved  on  him,  and  the  next  thing  heard  of 
him  is  his  appearance  at  the  meeting  of  Jacobites  at  Loch- 
maben,  29th  May  1714,  when  the  Pretender's  health  was 
publicly  drunk  by  them  at  the  Cross  on  their  knees,  Lord 
Bnrid^  denouncing  damnation  against  all  who  would  not  drink 
it.  [i2ae*«  Hittory  of  ike  Rebellion,  p.  49.]  He  engaged  in 
the  rebellion  of  1715,  for  whidi  he  was  attainted  by  act  of 
parliament,  and  his  title  and  estate,  which  then  yielded  sis 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  pounds  ft-year,  forfeited  to  the 
crown.  He  died  without  issue  in  1757.  The  representation 
of  the  family  of  Balfour  of  Burleigh  is  claimed  by  Bruce  of 
Keiniet ;  also,  by  Balfour  of  Femie. 

Sir  James  Balfour,  knight,  the  second  son  of  Sir  James 
Balfonr  of  Pittendriech,  by  Margaret  his  wife,  only  child  and 
heir  of  Michael  BaUbur  of  Burleigh,  Esq.,  was  created  by 
James  the  Sixth  in  1619  a  peer  of  Ireland,  under  the  title  of 
Lord  Balfour,  baron  of  Clonawley,  in  the  county  of  Ferman- 
agh. His  lordship  died  October  1634,  when  the  title  appears 
to  have  become  extmct  He  was  buried  at  St  Anne*s,  Black- 
friars,  London.  From  his  brother,  William  Balibur,  who 
settled  in  Irehmd,  are  descended  the  family  of  Townky-Bal- 
four  of  Townleyhall,  in  the  county  of  Louth. 

The  John  Balfour  of  Burley  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novel  of 
Old  Mortality,  was  usually  designed  of  Kinloch.  He  was  the 
principal  actor  in  the  murder  of  Archbishop  Sharp.  His 
estate  was  forfeited,  and  a  reward  of  ten  thousand  marks 
offered  for  himself.  He  fought  both  at  Drumdog  and  at 
Bothwell  Bridge,  and  is  said  to  have  afterwards  taken  refuge 
in  Holland,  where  he  offered  his  services  to  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange. He  is  generally  supposed  to  have  died  at  sea  on  his 
voyage  back  to  Scotland,  immediately  previous  to  the  Revo- 
lution. There  are  strong  presumptions,  however,  for  believ- 
ing that  he  never  left  Scotland,  but  found  an  asylum  in  the 
parish  of  Roseneath,  Dumbartonshire,  under  the  protection  of 
the  Aigyle  fiunily,  and  that  havmg  assumed  the  name  of 
Salter,  his  descendants  continued  there  for  many  generations. 
The  last  of  the  race  died  in  1815.  [iVeto  Stat.  Ace.  of  Scot- 
kmd^  artide  Boieneath,'] 

We  kam  from  Schiller's  History  of  the  Siege  of  Antwerp 
from  1570  to  1580,  that  a  Sir  Andrew  Balfour  and  his  com- 
pany of  Scots  defended  that  city  against  the  Prince  of  Parma. 
The  name  seems  still  to  exist  in  Holland,  for  in  the  Brussels 
papers  of  28th  July  1808,  Lieutenant  -  colonel  Balfour  de 
Burleigh  is  named  Commandant  of  the  troops  of  the  king  of 
the  Netherlands  in  the  West  Indies.— [Note  2,  B.  to  Sootfs 
Old  MartaUtn.'] 

BALFOUR,  Sir  James,  of  Pittendriech,  an 
eminent  lawyer  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a 
eon  of  Sir  Michael  Balfour  of  Mountquhanny  in 
the  parish  of  Kilmany,  Fife.  Being  designed  for 
the  church,  he  studied  both  divinity  and  law,  as 
was  usual  in  those  days.  His  brother  David  was 
one  of  the  murderers  of  Cardinal  Bethune,  and 
he  himself,  after  the  murder,  joined  the  con- 
spirators in  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews.     On  the 


surrender  of  tlie  castle  in  June  1547,  he  was 
put  into  the  same  galley  with  Knox,  and  carried 
prisoner  to  France.  After  bis  return  to  Scotland 
in  1549,  he  abandoned  his  former  friends,  and  de- 
nied that  he  bad  been  in  the  castle  of  St.  Andi-ews 
or  the  French  galleys  at  all,  for  which  Knox  has 
severely  denounced  him  in  his  History.  He  was 
appointed  oflBcial  of  the  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews 
within  the  archdeaconry  of  Lothian ;  and  in  1559, ' 
he  gave  his  active  support  to  the  queen  regent 
against  the  lords  of  the  congregation,  which  led 
,Knox  to  declare  that  ^^of  an  old  professor  he  had 
become  a  new  denier  of  Christ  Jesus  and  mani- 
fest blasphemer  of  his  eternal  verity.'*  [Knox's 
History^  page  173.]  From  this  it  has  been  sup- 
posed that  Balfour  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic. 
He  seems  to  have  been,  with  good  reason,  sus- 
pected of  tampering  with  some  of  the  protestant 
lords,  as  a  boy  of  his  was  taken  with  a  writ 
which  **  did  open  the  most  secret  thing  that  was 
devised  in  the  council,  yfea,  those  very  things  which 
were  thought  to  have  been  known  but  to  very 
few."  [ZWrf.  p.  200.]  He  escaped  the  search  of  the 
reformers  of  Fife  in  February  1560,  when  the  lords 
of  Wemyss,  Seafield  and  others  wei-e  taken  prison- 
ers, and  about  the  same  time  he  was  appointed 
parson  of  Flisk  in  Fifeshire.  Shortly  after  the  re- 
turn of  Queen  Maiy  from  France,  12th  Nov.  1561, 
he  was  nominated  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session 
under  the  title  of  Lord  Pittendriech,  and  two  yeara 
after,  in  1568,  he  was  made  an  ordinary  lord.  In 
1564,  on  the  institution  of  the  Commissary  Court 
at  Edinburgh,  he  became  chief  commissary  with 
a  salary  of  four  hundred  marks.  In  July  1565 
he  was  sworn  of  the  privy  council.  On  the  night 
of  Rizzlo's  murder,  he  was  with  the  queen  at  Ho- 
lyroodhouse,  and  his  enemies  intended  to  have 
hanged  him  at  the  same  time,  but  he  made  his 
escape.  [Keith's  Hist  p.  882.]  He  was  subse- 
quently knighted  by  the  queen,  and  promoted  to 
the  office  of  clerk-i-egister,  in  place  of  Mr.  James 
Macgill.  In  1566  he  was  one  of  the  commission- 
ers for  revising  and  publishing  the  old  laws  called 
Regiam  Majestatem,  (&c.,  and  the  acts  of  parlia- 
ment. [Douglas^  Peerage^  vol.  i.  p.  177.]  He  is 
said  to  have  been  the  original  deviser  of  the  mur- 
der of  Damley,  to  have  framed  the  bond  for  mu- 
tual support  entered  into  by  the  conspirators,  and 


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BALFOUR, 


212 


SIR  JAMES. 


to  have  prepared  the  house  of  the  Kirk  of  Field, 
at  Edinburgh,  which  was  possessed  by  his  bro- 
ther, for  the  receptioQ  of  Damley.  IChalmers* 
Life  of  Mary,  vol.  ii.  p.  25.  —  Laing^s  Dissert. 
vol.  ii.  p.  87.]  It  is  certain  that  on  his  removal 
to  Edinburgh  the  unhappy  Damley  was  "  lodged 
ill  the  mansion  of  the  provost,  or  chief  prebend- 
aiy  of  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Mary  in  the 
Fields,  as  a  place  of  good  air.  This  house  stood 
nearly  on  the  site  of  the  present  north-west 
comer  of  Drammond  Street,  as  is  ascertained 
from  Grordon*s  map  of  the  city  of  Edinburgh  in 
1647,  where  the  rains  are  indicated  as  they  ex- 
isted at  that  period.  It  is  said  to  have  been  se- 
lected by  Sir  James  Balfour,  brother  of  the  pro- 
vost, and  '  the  most  corrapt  man  of  his  age,*  {Ro- 
hertsorCs  Hist  voL  ii.  p.  854,)  as  well  fitted  from 
its  lonely  situation  for  the  intended  murder." 
IWilson^s  Memorials  of  Edinburgh^  vol.  i.  p.  78.] 

Immediately  after  that  dreadful  event,  which 
took  place  9  th  Febraary  1667,  Balfour  was  openly 
accused  of  having  been  accessory  to  it,  and  a  paper 
of  the  following  tenor  was  aflSxed  to  the  door  of 
the  Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh,  on  the  night  of  the 
16th  of  Febraary:  "I,  according  to  the  pi-ocla- 
mation,  have  made  inquisition  for  the  slaughter  of 
the  king,  and  do  find  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  Mr, 
James  Balfour,  parson  ofFlisk,  Mr.  David  Cham- 
bers and  black  Mr.  John  Spence,  the  principal  de- 
visers thereof,  and  if  this  be  not  true  speir  at  Gil- 
bert Balfour."  [Keith's  Hist.  p.  868.]  In  the 
beginning  of  1567  he  had  been  appointed  deputy 
governor  of  Edinburgh  castle,  under  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  who  committed  to  his  care  the  famous 
bond,  signed  by  eight  bishops,  nine  earls,  and  seven 
barons,  declaring  that  ambitious  and  unscrupu- 
lous nobleman  guiltless  of  Damley's  murder  and  a 
suitable  match  for  the  queen,  which  he  afterwards 
used  with  fatal  effect  against  the  regent  Morton. 
According  to  the  enemies  of  Mary  it  was  to  Sir 
James  Balfour  that  Bothwell,  after  Mary^s  sur- 
render at  Carberry,  sent  for  the  casket  said  to 
contain  the  letters  that  formed  the  alleged  evi- 
dence of  her  guilt ;  which  casket  he  delivered, 
but  on  secret  infoimation  furnished  by  him,  the 
messenger  was  seized  by  the  confedei*ated  lords, 
with  whom  he  was  at  the  time  tampering.  [Bu- 
cftanan,  b.  xviii.  p.  51.] 


After  the  imprisonment  of  Mary,  Balfour  sur- 
rendered the  castle  of  Edinburgh  to  the  regent 
Mun-ay,  on  the  following  conditions:  first,  a  par- 
don for  his  share  in  the  king's  murder;  secondly, 
a  gift  of  the  priory  of  Pittenweem,  then  held  by 
the  regent  in  commendam;  thirdly,  an  heritable 
annuity  to  his  son  out  of  the  rents  of  the  priory  of 
St.  Andrews;  and,  fourthly,  a  gift  of  five  hundred 
pounds  to  himself.  These  terms  being  fulfilled, 
the  castle  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  Sir 
William  Earkaldy  of  Grange,  who  was  appointed 
governor.  He  was  continued  in  the  privy  council 
by  the  regent  Murray,  to  please  whom  he  resigned 
his  ofSce  of  clerk  register,  when  Sir  James  Macgill 
was  re-appointed.  For  this  service,  in  December 
of  the  same  year  (1567)  Balfour  received  a  pen- 
sion of  five  hundred  pounds,  and  was  appointed 
president  of  the  court  of  session.  He  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Langside  on  the  side  of  the  regent, 
and  was  instrumental  in  obtaining  the  overthrow 
of  his  former  benefactress.  [MehnUe^s  Memoirs,  p. 
202.]  Seldom  long  constant  to  any  party,  and 
equally  ungrateftil  to  Murray  for  the  honours  con- 
ferred upon  him  as  he  had  been  to  his  hapless 
sister.  Sir  James  Balfour,  during  the  years  1568 
and  1569,  busily  engaged  in  intrigues  in  behalf  of 
Mary,  and  was,  in  consequence,  in  August  of  the 
latter  year,  apprehended  by  the  earl  of  Lennox,  for 
participation  in  his  son's  murder.  He  was,  however, 
set  at  liberty  on  caution,  but  was  never  brought 
to  trial,  having  made  his  peace  with  the  regent 
by  means  of  large  bribes  to  his  ocrvants.  [Ibid, 
p.  221.]  After  the  assassination  of  the  regent  in 
January  1570,  he  openly  joined  the  party  of 
the  queen.  In  Bannatyne's  Journal,  under  date 
April  1570,  there  occurs  the  following  passage: 
"The  quenis  factione,  to  wit  the  Hamiltones, 
Argyle,  Huntlie,  Boyd,  Crawford,  Ogilbie,  and 
Sir  James  Balfoure,  remained  at  Lynlythgow, 
and  there,  after  divers  consultationes,  vnderstand- 
ing  that  the  Englis  armie  was  retired  fiirth  of 
Scottis  boundis,  tuke  baldness  vpon  them  be  oppin 
proclamatione  to  set  vp  the  authoritie  of  that 
murtherer  and  knawin  adultres  called  the  queue, 
and  so  all  farther  conference  betwixt  the  two 
parties  ceased;  for  the  lordis  that  snstened  the 
kingis  querrall  answerit  in  few  wordis,  that  they 
culd  have  no  farther  commoning  with  opin  and 


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periured  traytoris,  as  they  were  everie  one. " 
[Bannatyne's  Journal^  p.  14.]  At  the  time  Mait- 
land  of  Lethington  and  Klrkaldy  of  Grange  main- 
tained the  castle  of  Edinburgh  for  the  queen, 
Balfonr  joined  them,  and  his  name,  with  that  of 
Gilbert  and  Robert  Balfbnr,  occurs  in  a  list  of  per- 
sons forfeited  on  the  dOth  day  of  Angnst  1571. 
llhid.  p.  258.]  By  the  end  of  the  following  year, 
he  made  his  peace  with  the  regent  Morton,  and 
was  a  chief  instrument  in  bringing  aboat  the  paci- 
fication, at  Perth,  between  the  king^s  and  qneen's 
party  in  January  1573,  which,  by  the  submission 
of  all  the  queen^s  lords,  left  Kirkaldy  and  Mait- 
land  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  their  ruthless  enemy, 
Morton.  Bannatyne  says  he  ^^  remaned  not  in 
the  castle  with  the  rest  of  the  traytoris,  albeit  he 
18  als  grit  a  traytor  as  ony  of  thame  all.  He  gave 
in  a  long  scrole  to  the  lordis  of  the  articles  of  the 
parliament,  that  he  might  be  restored  to  all  thingis, 
&c.,  whairwith  mony  sthrreth,  and  in  spedall  the 
bischop  of  Orknay,  now  abbot  of  Halirudhous, 
wha  pix)testit  for  the  copie  of  it;  but  I  hard  no 
word  that  it  was  obteaned.  Sindrie  scroles  were 
gewin  in  vpon  the  said  l^r  James  declaring  his  treas- 
sonable  dealingis  in  tymes  bypast;  notthi»!es  his 
dres  is  made  with  the  regent,  and  he  hes  tane  him 
in  his  protectione."  IBcmnaiyne's  Journal^  p.  440.] 
He  seems  to  have  been  at  this  time  governor  of 
Blackness  castle,  on  the  frith  of  Forth,  and  to  fill 
np  the  measure  of  his  treachery  to  his  former 
friends,  when  Sir  William  Kirkaldy^s  brother,  Sir 
James,  arrived  there  from  France  with  a  supply 
of  money  and  stores  for  the  queen's  service,  he 
received  him  with  due  honour  and  pretended  wel- 
come, but  the  very  night  of  his  guest's  arrival,  he 
placed  him  in  a  dungeon  heavily  chained,  and 
with  the  money  which  Sir  James  Kirkaldy  had 
brought  from  France,  departed  for  Edinburgh  to 
hand  it  over  to  Morton.  He  had  compounded 
with  the  regent  for  his  pardon,  and  was  to  have 
paid  him  a  large  sum  of  money  for  his  composi- 
tion; but,  says  Bannatyne,  *^the  getting  agane 
the  Blacknes,  and  also  Mr.  James  Kirkaldie  payis 
that,  as  is  reported;  for  it  was  affii*med  that  he 
said  to  the  regent,  gif  I  can  get  you  as  gude  (or 
better)  as  my  compositione,  sail  not  I  be  freed 
thereof;  which  the  regent  grantit.  For  as  I  have 
Mud,  it  was  alledgit  that  the  said  Sir  James  had 


written  to  Mr.  James  Kirkaldie,  befoir  his  cumm- 
ing  out  of  France,  to  cum  to  the  Blacknes,  and  not 
to  cum  to  the  north;  becaus  that  gif  the  lord 
Huntlie  had  gottin  the  gold,  he  wald  hald  it  to 
himself,  or  eUs  the  maist  part  thereof,  and  so  give 
to  thame  of  the  castle  what  he  lyked.  But  how- 
soever the  mater  was,  the  said  Mr.  James  come 
and  landit  at  the  Blacknes,  a  little  efter  the  par- 
liament, with  his  cofferis,  thinking  it  had  bene 
sure  for  him  as  befoir;  and  leist  that  ony  thing 
suld  be  knawin,  but  that  it  ware  tane  perforce, 
Sir  James,  or  the  Captane  Alexander  Stewart, 
had  gewin  advertisment  of  the  said  James  cum- 
ing."    [/;&tW.  p.  441.] 

The  regent  Morton,  however,  was  not  disposed 
to  put  his  trust  in  a  man  who  had  betrayed  and 
deserted  both  sides  as  Balfour  had  done,  and  in  the 
following  month  of  February,  a  complaint  against 
him  and  his  brother  for  the  murder  of  Damley  and 
other  grievous  crimes,  which  are  recited  in  full  by 
Bannatyne  in  his  Journal,  [pp.  444 — 455],  was 
read  before  the  lords  of  the  articles  in  parliament ; 
in  consequence  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  make 
his  escape  into  France,  where  he  remained  for  some 
years.  On  the  resignation  of  the  regency  by 
Morton  in  1578,  he  returned  to  Scotland,  and 
joined  the  party  who  watched  for  that  nobleman's 
destruction.  In  1579  Morton  recovered  his  au- 
thority, and  Balfonr  again  fled,  when  the  forfei- 
ture of  1571  was  re-enacted. 

In  1580,  after  James  the  Sixth  had  assumed  the 
reins  of  government,  Balfonr  retunied  to  Scotland 
to  organise  a  plan  for  the  destruction  of  Morton. 
On  the  trial  of  that  nobleman  he  produced  the 
celebrated  bond  already  mentioned,  signed  by  him 
and  others  for  the  support  of  Bothwell,  as  well  as 
other  written  evidence  of  his  guilt,  which  he  had 
so  long  preserved  for  such  an  occasion.  After 
Morton's  death  he  was  restored  against  the  for- 
feiture of  1579,  by  act  of  parliament. 

Sir  James  Balfour  is  supposed  to  have  died  in 
January  1583  or  1584.  He  man-ied  Margaret, 
the  daughter  of  Michael  Balfour  of  Burleigh  and 
Balgarvie,  by  whom  he  acquired  these  lands,  and 
from  him  the  Lords  Balfour  of  Burleigh  were  de- 
scended, as  shown  in  our  account  of  that  family 
inserted  above.  He  is  the  reputed  author  of  the 
well-known  collection  of  decisions  entitled  '  Bal- 


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214 


SIR  JAMES. 


four's  Practicks,  or  a  System  of  the  more  ancient 
Law  of  Scotland,'  a  voluminous  work  which  re- 
mained in  manuscript  until  1754,  when  it  was 
published  by  the  Ruddimans,  in  a  folio  volume  of 
684  pages,  with  a  life  of  Balfour  prefixed  by  Wal- 
ter Goodall.  This  work  continued  to  be  used  by 
practitioners  till  superseded  by  Stair's  Institutes. 
Lord  Hailes  observes  that  Balfour's  work  is  inter- 
polated, for  it  mentions  certain  acts  of  parliament 
and  the  names  of  certain  peers  that  did  not  exist 
till  after  the  death  of  Balfour.  It  is  very  likely 
to  have  been  added  to  after  his  time. 

BALFOUR,  Sir  James,  of  KinnaiM,  Bart.,  an 
eminent  herald,  annalist,  and  antiquary,  eldest 
son  of  Sir  Michael  Balfour  of  Denmylne,  bv  his 
wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  James  Durham  of  Pitker- 
row,  was  bom  about  1600.  He  soon  displayed  a 
capacity  for  study,  and  a  taste  for  poetry.  The 
accompanying  portmit  of  him  is  from  an  original 
picture  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Belhaven. 


r      '     J     

Hid  youthful  efforts  m  verse  were  noticed  with 
commendation  by  the  poet  Leach  or  Leochieus,  in 
his  Strenal  published  in  1626.  He  had  success- 
fully translated  Leach's  Latin  poem,  Pcmthea^  into 
the  Scottish  vernacular ;  and  Sir  Robert  Sibbald, 
who,  in  his  Memoria  Balfimriaim,  gives  an  account 


of  his  life  and  writings,  tells  us  that  he  had  seen  a 
volume  of  Latin  and  Scottish  poems,  written  by 
Balfour,  not  now  extant.  After  some  time  spent 
abroad,  Sir  James,  on  his  return,  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  the  antiquities  of  his  native  coun- 
try. "  It  was,  indeed,  fortunate  for  his  progress," 
says  Sibbald,  "  that  several  learned  men  had  be- 
gun to  illustrate  the  history  of  Scotland.  Of  these, 
Robert  Maule,  commissary  of  St.  Andrews,  had 
engaged  in  a  work  concerning  the  origin  of  our 
nation,  while  David  Buchanan  had  applied  an  ac- 
curate criticism  to  the  older  monuments  of  Scottish 
story.  Mr.  David  Hume  of  Godscroft  had  under- 
taken to  refute  the  objections  against  the  high 
antiquity  of  the  nation ;  the  labours  of  Sir  Robert 
Gordon  of  Straloch  shed  no  inconsiderable  light 
on  the  earlier  history  of  Scotland ;  whUe  Robert 
Johnstone  detailed  the  transactions  of  British 
policy,  in  conjunction  with  those  of  France,  the 
Netherlands,  and  Germany,  from  the  year  1572 
to  the  year  1628.  Mr.  William  Dmmmond  of 
Hawthomden  recorded  the  history  of  the  ^ye 
Jameses ;  Mr.  Guthry,  the  events  which  charac- 
terized the  progress  of  our  civil  war;  and  Mr. 
Wishart,  afterwards  bishop  of  Edinburgh,  com- 
memorated the  actions  of  the  celebrated  marquis 
of  Montrose.  The  geographical  delmeation  of  the 
kingdom  had  been  greatly  advanced  by  the  labours 
of  Timothy  Pont,  son  of  that  eminent  promoter  of 
letters,  Mr.  Robert  Pont.  Sir  Robert  Gordon  of 
Straloch,  his  son  James,  minister  of  Rothiemay, 
and  Sir  John  Scot  of  Scotstarvet,  director  of  the 
chancery,  had  likewise  contributed  many  topogra- 
plucal  descriptions,  and  sundry  maps  of  the  coun- 
ties. The  right  reverend  primate,  John  Spottis- 
wood,  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  had  carried 
down  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  history  of 
Scotland,  from  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
until  the  death  of  James  VI. ;  while  the  history  of 
the  Scottish  Church  had  been  detailed  by  David 
Calderwood,  from  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation  to 
the  year  1625."  In  order  to  prosecute  the  study 
of  heraldry,  Balfour  repaired  to  London,  where  he 
became  acquainted  with  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  also 
with  Sir  William  Segar,  garter  king -at -arms, 
who  obtained  from  the  College  of  Heralds  a  highly 
honourable  testimonial  in  his  favour,  signed  and 
sealed  by  all  the  members  of  that  body.    He  like- 


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215 


SIR  JAMES. 


wise  became  known  to  Roger  Dodsvirortb,  and  Sir 
William  Dugdale,  to  whom  he  commonicated  sev- 
eral cbartersy  and  other  pieces  of  information  re- 
garding Scottish  ecclesiastical  antiquities,  which 
they  inserted  in  their  Monasticon  Anglicanumy 
under  the  title  Cmnobia  ScoHca,  and  which  Balfonr 
afterwards  expanded  into  a  volume,  called  Mon- 
asticon  Scoticum,  Amongst  other  distinguished 
persons  of  his  own  country  whose  fiiendship  he 
enjoyed,  were  Drummoud  of  Hawthomden,  Sir 
Robert  Aytoun,  and  the  earl  of  Stirling.  By  the 
influence  of  the  Viscount  Dupplin,  chancellor  of 
Scotland,  he  was  in  June  1630  created  lord  lyon 
king-at-arms,  having  some  days  previously  been 
knighted  by  the  king.  In  December  1633  he  was 
created  a  baronet.  On  the  occasion  of  the  coro- 
nation of  Charles  I.  at  Edinburgh  that  year.  Vis- 
count Dupplin  was  created  e#rl  of  Kinnoul ;  and 
of  this  nobleman  Sur  James  in  his  Annals  tells  the 
following  curious  anecdote :  The  king  in  1626  had 
commanded,  by  a  letter  to  his  privy  council,  that 
the  archbishop  of  St.  Andi*ews  should  have  pre- 
cedence of  the  chancellor;  to  which  the  latter 
would  not  submit.  **  I  remember,"  8a3r8  Balfour, 
*'  that  K.  Charles  sent  me  to  the  lord  chancellor 
on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  in  the  morning,  to 
show  him  that  it  was  his  will  and  pleasure,  bot 
onlie  for  that  day,  that  he  wold  cecd  and  give  way 
to  the  archbishop ;  but  he  returned  by  me  to  bis 
Majestie  a  very  bmske  answer,  which  was,  that 
he  was  ready  in  all  humility  to  lay  his  office  doune 
at  his  Majestie's  feet ;  bot  since  it  was  bis  royal 
will  he  should  enjoy  it  with  the  knowen  privileges 
of  the  same,  never  a  stoled  priest  in  Sco&and 
sliould  sett  a  foot  before  him,  so  long  as  his  bloode 
was  bote.  Quben  I  had  related  his  answer  to  the 
kiuge,  he  said,  *  Weel,  Lyone,  lett's  goe  to  busi- 
ness ;  I  will  not  medle  farther  with  that  old  can- 
kered gootish  man,  at  quhose  hand  ther  is  nothing 
to  be  gained  but  soure  words.* "  Though  a  staunch 
Presbyterian,  when  the  civil  wars  broke  out.  Sir 
James  inclined  to  the  cause  of  the  king,  but  took 
no  part  in  the  contest.  He  was,  nevertheless,  de- 
prived by  Cromwell  of  his  office  of  lyon  king-at- 
arms.  Living  in  retirement  at  Falkland  palace, 
or  at  his  own  seat  of  Kinnaird,  he  collected  many 
manuscripts  on  the  art  of  heraldry,  and  wrote 
several  treatises  on  that  subject,  some  of  which 


are  now  in  the  Advocates*  Libraiy,  while  others 
were  dispersed,  or  destroyed  by  the  English  in  the 
capture  of  Perth,  in  1 651,  to  which  city  he  had 
caused  them  to  be  conveyed.  Sibbald  gives  a  cata- 
logue both  of  his  original  treatises  and  of  the  manu- 
scripts which  he  was  at  such  pains  to  collect.  [3/6- 
moria  Baifouriana^  pp.  19 — 83.]  For  illustrating 
Scottish  history,  he  investigated  all  the  chartei-s, 
public  registers,  and  monastic  chartularies  and 
chronicles  he  could  procure,  and  he  was  able  to 
form  a  large  collection  of  these  documents.  He 
formed,  at  considerable  expense,  a  library  of  most 
valuable  books,  and  particularly  rich  in  Scottish 
history,  antiquities,  and  heraldry.  He  likewise 
collected  and  arranged  ancient  coins,  seals,  and 
other  reliques  of  the  olden  time,  and  wrote  a  book 
of  epitaphs  and  inscriptions  on  the  monuments  of 
monasteries  and  parish  churches.  He  left  several 
abridgments  of  the  books  of  Scone,  Cambusken- 
neth,  and  others,  and  extracts  from  the  histories 
of  John  Major,  Hector  Boethius,  Lesly,  and  Bu- 
chanan. His  literaiy  correspondence  was  exten- 
sive with  those  of  his  contemporai'ies  who  were 
eminent  either  as  historians  or  historical  anti- 
quarians, particulariy  Robert  Manle,  Henry  Maule 
of  Melgnm,  David  Buchanan,  Sir  Robert  Gordon 
of  Straloch,  Mr.  Roger  Dodsworth,  Sir  William 
Dugdale,  and  Drummond  of  Hawthomden.  At 
the  request  of  Sir  John  Scott  of  Scotstarvet  he 
contributed  not  a  little  to  the  geographical  illus- 
tration of  the  kingdom.  He  drew  up  an  accurate 
description  of  the  shire  of  Fife,  including  obser\^a- 
tions  on  its  antiquities,  and  the  genealogies  of  its 
principal  families,  and  he  bad  begun  to  compile 
a  geographical  description  of  the  whole  of  Scot- 
land, the  manuscript  of  which  was  of  so  much  use 
to  the  Dutch  geographer,  Bleau,  that  he  dedicated 
to  Sir  James  Balfour  the  map  of  Lorn  in  his  The- 
atrum  Scotia^  appending  to  it  an  engraving  of  his 
arms.  Besides  his  various  treatises  on  heraldry, 
he  wrote  annals  of  the  life  and  reign  of  James  I. 
and  II.,  and  memorials  of  the  reigns  of  James 
III.,  James  IV.,  and  James  V.,  and  Mary.  The 
reign  of  James  VI.  he  treated  at  greater  length. 
He  also  wrote  an  account  of  the  kings  of  Scotland 
from  Fergus  I.  to  Charles  I.,  and  the  annals  of 
Scotland  in  two  volumes,  the  first  extending  from 
the  accession  of  Malcolm  111.  to  the  death  of 


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SIR  ANDREW. 


James  VL,  and  the  second  from  the  accession  of 
Charles  I.  to  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  reign. 
When  it  became  necessary  to  form  a  separate 
establishment  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was 
also  steward  or  seneschal  of  Scotland,  Sir  James 
deemed  it  proper  to  inquire  into  the  amount  of  the 
revenue  to  which  the  hereditary  princes  of  Scot- 
land were  entitled,  as  well  as  the  extent  of  their 
privileges ;  and  among  his  manuscripts  is  one  with 
the  following  title : — '  The  True  present  State  of 
the  Principality  of  Scotland,  with  the  Means,  how 
the  same  may  be  most  conveniently  Increased, 
and  Augmented ;  with  which  is  joyned,  Ane  Sur- 
vey, and  brief  Note  from  the  Publick  Registers  of 
the  Kingdom  of  certain  Infefitments  and  Confir- 
mations given  to  Princes  of  Scotland,  and  by  them 
to  their  Vassals,  of  diversse  Baronies  and  Lands 
of  the  Princlpalitie,  since  the  15  year  of  the  Reign 
of  King  Robert  III.*  To  natural  history  he  like- 
wise gave  his  attention,  and  composed  in  Scots  an 
alphabetical  treatise  on  gems.  He  also  wrote  in 
Latin,  an  account,  collected  from  various  authors, 
of  the  frauds  practised  in  the  imitation  of  precious 
stones.  He  died  in  February  1657.  He  is  usu- 
ally styled  of  Kinnurd,  having,  in  1631,  obtained, 
in  favour  of  himself  and  his  spouse,  a  grant  of  the 
lands  and  barony  of  that  name  in  Fife.  He  was 
four  times  manied ;  first,  on  21st  October  1630, 
to  Anna,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Alton  of  that  ilk, 
by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  six  daughters, 
and  who  died  August  26th,  1644;  2dly,  to  his 
cousin,  Jean  Durham,  daughter  of  the  laird  of 
Pitkerrow,  who  died  without  issue,  19th  July, 
1645;  3dly,  to  Margaret,  only  daughter  of  Su* 
James  Amot  of  Femie,  by  whom  he  had  three 
sons  and  three  daughters ;  4thly,  to  Janet,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  William  Auchinleck  of  Balmanno,  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters.  The  family,  as  stat- 
ed above,  is  now  extinct  in  the  male  line.  From 
his  collection  of  MS.,  preserved  in  the  Advocates* 
Library,  his  *  Annals  and  Short  Passages  of  State,' 
were  published  by  Mr.  James  Haig  in  1824,  in 
four  volumes  octavo. 

BALFOUR,  Sir  Andrew,  Bart.,  an  eminent 
physician  and  botanist,  and  founder  of  the  botanic 
garden  of  Edinburgh,  the  brother  of  the  preceding, 
and  fifth  and  youngest  son  of  Sir  Michael  Balfoui- 
of  Denmylne,  was  bom  there  January  18,  1630. 


His  education  was  superintended  by  his  brother, 
Sir  James,  the  famous  antiquary,  who  was  thirty 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  birth.  He  took  his 
degree  of  A.M.  at  the  univei*sity  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  about  1650  removed  to  London,  where  he 
prosecuted  his  medical  studies  under  the  celebrated 
Harvey,  and  other  eminent  practitioners.  He 
afterwards  went  to  Blois,  in  France,  to  see  the 
botanical  garden  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  then 
kept  by  his  countryman.  Dr.  Morison.  After  re- 
maining some  time  at  Paris,  he  completed  his  edu- 
cation at  the  university  of  Caen,  where,  Septem- 
ber 20,  1661,  he  received  his  degrees  of  bachelor 
and  doctor  of  medicine.  On  his  return  to  London, 
Charles  the  Second  appointed  him  travelling  tutor 
to  the  young  earl  of  Rochester,  whom  he  in  vain 
endeavoured  to  reclaim.  In  his  last  illness  his 
lordship  expressed  |is  obligations  to  Dr.  Balfour, 
for  the  good  instructions  he  had  received  from  him. 
After  spending  four  years  on  the  continent,  they 
returned  in  1667.  Dr.  Balfour  afterwards  com- 
menced practice  as  a  physician  at  St.  Andrews. 
In  1670  he  removed  to  Edinburgh,  where,  among 
other  improvements,  he  introduced  the  manufac- 
ture of  paper  into  Scotland.  Having  a  small  bo- 
tanical garden  attached  to  his  house,  chiefly  fur- 
nished by  seeds  sent  by  his  foreign  correspondents, 
he  raised  there  many  plants,  till  then  unknown  in 
this  country.  His  friend  and  botanical  pupil,  Mr. 
Patrick  Murray  of  Livingstone,  had  formed  at  his 
seat  a  botanic  garden,  containing  one  thousand 
species  of  plants ;  and,  after  his  death.  Dr.  Bal- 
four transferred  his  collection  to  Edinburgh  ;  and, 
joining  it  to  his  own,  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
first  public  botanic  garden  in  Scotland ;  for  which 
the  magistrates  of  the  city  allotted  a  piece  of 
ground  near  the  foot  of  Leith  Wynd,  and  adjacent 
to  Trinity  Hospital,  taken  down  in  1845  for  the 
convenience  of  the  North  British  railway.  Here 
the  Botanic  garden  continued  till  1767,  when, 
by  the  exertions  of  Dr.  Hope,  a  subsequent  pro- 
fessor of  botany,  it  was  removed  to  a  piece  of 
ground  between  Leith  and  Edinburgh,  on  the  west 
side  of  Leith  Walk.  [See  Hope,  John.]  This 
place  was  abandoned  in  1822  for  a  more  suitable 
situation  at  Inverleith  Row,  where  the  Edinburgh 
Botanical  Garden  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion. 


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ROBERT. 


Dr.  Balfour  was  created  a  baronet  by  Charles 
the  Second.  He  has  the  merit  of  being  the  first 
who  introdaced  the  dissection  of  the  human  body 
into  Scotland ;  and,  with  Sir  Robert  Sibbald,  he 
planned  the  Royal  College  of  physicians,  of  which 
society  he  was  elected  the  first  president.  On  the 
publication  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  by  the  college  in 
1686,  the  whole  arrangement  of  the  materia  medi- 
ca  was  committed  to  his  care.  Shortly  before  his 
death  he  projected  the  foundation  of  an  hospital  in 
Edinburgh,  which  is  now  the  Royal  Infirmary. 
He  died  in  1694,  bequeathing  his  museum  to  the 
University.  He  never  appeared  as  an  author,  but 
in  1700  his  son  published  a  series  of  the  familiar 
letters  which  he  had  addressed  to  Mr.  Murray  of 
Livingstone.  The  great  merits  of  Sir  Andrew 
Balfour  as  a  naturalist,  physician,  and  scholar,  are 
commemorated,  not  only  by  Sir  Robert  Sibbald, 
in  the  Memoria  Balfauriana,  and  elsewhere ;  but 
also  more  recently  by  Professor  John  Walker,  in 
his  Essays  on  Natural  History. 

BALFOUR,  Robert,  a  distinguished  scholar, 
and  philologist,  principal  of  Guienne  college,  Bor- 
deaux, about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  supposed  to  have  been  bom  about  the 
year  1550.  As  he  left  his  native  country  young, 
very  little  is  known  regarding  him.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  derived  his  lineage  from  the  Bal- 
garvie  branch  of  the  Fifeshire  family  of  Balfour, 
but  in  his  Commentary  on  Cleomedes  [p.  196]  he 
has  himself  stated  that  he  was  a  native  of  Forfar- 
shire. He  studied  first  at  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews,  and  aftei-wards  repairing  to  France,  he 
became  a  student  in  that  of  Paris,  where  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  ability  with  which  he 
publicly  maintained  certain  philosophical  theses 
against  all  oppugners.  He  was  subsequently  in- 
vited to  Bourdeanx,  by  the  archbishop  of  that  see, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  college  of  Guienne. 
The  precise  date  of  his  appointment  to  a  profes- 
sor's chair  is  unknown,  but  it  appears  from  a  let- 
ter from  Yinetus  to  George  Buchanan,  of  date  9th 
June  1581,  that  he  must  have  been  previous  to 
that  year  professor  of  the  Greek  language  and 
mathematics.  He  was  subsequently  appointed 
principal  of  the  college  of  Guienne,  an  ofiice  which 
he  filled  with  much  prudence  and  reputation.  He 
is  thought  to  have  succeeded  to  the  priucipalship 


on  the  death  of  Yinetus,  14th  May  1586.  His  ear- 
liest publication  was  an  edition,  the  first  that  ap- 
peared,  of  the  ancient  history  of  the  famous  coun- 
cil held  at  Nice,  in  the  year  325,  the  author  of 
which  was  Crclasins,  a  native  of  Cyzicus,  a  city  of 
Mysia,  who  became  bishop  of  CsBsarea  in  Pales- 
tine. This  work  appeared  in  1599,  in  8vo.  HU 
next  undertaking  was  an  edition  of  the  Meteora 
of  Cleomedes,  with  a  copious  and  elaborate  com- 
mentary, published  at  Bourdeaux  in  1605,  4to. 
'*  His  work,"  says  Dr.  Irving,  "was  commended 
by  men  eminent  for  their  learning,  and  his  com- 
mentary continues  to  be  held  in  such  estimation 
that  it  has  been  reprinted  within  a  very  recent 
period  in  an  edition  of  Cleomedes  published  by 
Professor  Bake  of  Leyden."  ILives  of  Scottish 
Writersy  vol.  i.  p.  243.]  Balfour's  last  and  great- 
est work  was  his  Commentary  on  Aristotle.  The 
first  volume,  containing  an  exposition  of  the  Or- 
ganon,  or  treatises  i-elating  to  the  science  of  logic, 
was  published  in  1616.  The  second  volume,  com- 
prising a  similar  exposition  of  the  ethics,  appeared 
in  1620,  when  the  author  must  have  been  up- 
wards of  seventy  years  of  age.  The  date  of  his 
death  has  not  been  ascertained.  He  was  living 
in  1625.  "  Balfour,"  says  Dr.  Lrving,  from  whose 
life  of  him  these  particulars  have  been  gleaned, 
"  left  behind  him  the  character  of  a  learned  and 
worthy  man.  His  manners  are  represented  as 
very  pleasing ;  and  he  is  particularly  commended 
for  his  kindness  to  his  connti-ymen,  many  of  whom 
at  that  period  wandered  on  the  continent  in  quest 
of  learning,  or  learned  employment.  The  only 
fault  imputed  to  him  by  one  biographer,  \_D.  Bu- 
chananus  de  Scn'ptoribus  Scotis^  p.  129,]  is  his 
zealous  adherence  to  the  Romish  faith.  This  spe- 
cies of  zeal  he  has  testified  by  introducing  into  his 
commentary  on  the  Categories  of  Aristotle,  a  de- 
fence of  the  astounding  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion.  As  a  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which  he 
was  held,  it  may  be  stated  that  Francois  de  Foix 
de  Candale,  bishop  of  Aire,  who  died  in  the  year 
1594,  bequeathed  to  him  the  mathematical  part  of 
his  library."  ILives  of  Scottish  Writers^  vol.  i.  p. 
244.]  Morhof  mentions  Balfour  as  a  celebrated 
commentator  on  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  and 
Dempster  says  he  was  "  the  PhoBuix  of  his  age ;  a 
philosopher  profoundly  skilled  in  the  Greek  and 


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BALFOUR. 


218 


BALFOUR. 


J^tiii  languages ;  a  mathematician  worthy  of  be- 
ing compared  with  tlie  ancients;  and  to  those 
qualifications  he  joined  a  wonderful  suavity  of 
manners,  and  the  utmost  warmth  of  affection  to- 
wards his  countrymen."  His  writings  display  an 
extent  of  erudition  which  reflects  honour  on  the 
literary  history  of  his  country.  His  edition  of 
Cleomedes,  in  particular,  is  spoken  of  in  high 
I     tei-ms  of  praise  by  the  ei-udite  Barthius. 

The  following  are  the  titles  of  Balfour's  works : 

Versio  et  Notao  ad  Gelasium  Cyzicenam  de  Cntns  Conrilii 
Kicsni  et  versio  ad  Theodonim  Presb.  de  Incarnatione  Do- 
mini.   Par.  1699,  8vo. 

Vermo  et  Comm.  ad  Cleomedis  Meteora.    Burd.  1605,  4to. 

Commentarins  R.  Balford  in  Organum  Logicom  Aristotelis. 
Bnrd.  1616,  2  vols.  4to. 

Comm.  in  Organum  Aristotelis.    Bard.  1618,  fol. 

Commentarii  in  iEthica  Aristotelis.     Par.  1620,  4to. 

BALFOUR,  James,  of  Pilrig,  near  Edinburgh, 
an  ingenious  writer,  was  admitted  an  advocate, 
November  14,  1730,  but  never  had  much  practice 
at  the  bar.  In  1787,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Bayne, 
professor  of  Scots  law  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, he  and  Mr.  John  Erskine  of  Camock,  ad- 
vocate, were  presented  by  the  faculty  of  advocates 
to  the  patrons  of  the  vacant  chair,  who  elected 
^Ir.  Erskine,  afterwards  author  of  the  '  Institute 
of  the  Law  of  Scotland.'  Balfour  was  subse- 
quently appointed  sheriff-substitute  of  the  county 
of  Edinburgh.  Having  a  taste  for  philosophical 
science,  he  early  opposed  the  speculations  of 
David  Hume,  particularly  in  two  treatises,  which 
he  published  anonymously,  the  one  entitled  *A 
Delineation  of  Morality,'  and  the  other  '  Philoso- 
phical Dissertations.'  With  these  Hume,  though 
they  combated  his  own  views,  was  so  much 
pleased,  that,  on  the  15th  March  1753,  he  wrote 
the  author  a  letter  requesting  his  friendship  as  he 
was  obliged  by  his  civilities.  On  the  28th  An- 
gust  1754  Balfour  was  elected  professor  of  moral 
philosophy  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  In 
1764,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  William  Kirkpatrick, 
professor  of  public  law  in  that  university,  he  re- 
ceived a  royal  commission  to  succeed  him.  In 
1768  he  published  at  Edinburgh  his  former  lec- 
tures under  the  title  of  '  Philosophical  Essays,'  in 
which  he  subjected  to  a  rigorous  examination 
Lord  Kames'  Essays  on  Morality  and  Natural 
Religion.    In  the  spring  of  1779  he  resigned  the 


chair  of  public  law.     He  died  at  Pilrig,  6th  March 
1795,  aged  92,— (Botcer^s  Hist,  of  the  Unwerstfy  of 
Edinburgh^  vol.  ii.  page  374.) 
The  following  are  his  publications : 

Philosophical  Essays.    Edin.  1768,  8to. 
Philosophical  Dissertations.    Edin.  1782,  8to. 
Of  Matter  and  Motion;   Of  Liberty  and  Necessity;    On 
the  Foundation  of  Moral  Obligation ;  Nature  of  the  Soul  &c 

BALFOUR,  Alexander,  a  miscellaneous  wri- 
ter, a  native  of  the  parish  of  Monikie,  Forfeuvhire, 
was  bom  March  1,  1767.  His  parents  belonged  to 
the  humbler  rural  class ;  and  being  a  twin,  he  wa& 
taken  under  the  protection  of  a  friend  of  the  fam- 
ily, to  whom  he  was  indebted  for  support  in  hit 
early  years.  He  received  but  a  scanty  education, 
and  when  very  young  was  apprenticed  to  a  weaver  j 
notwithstanding  which,  he  taught  a  school  in  hb  | 
native  parish  for  several  years.  At  the  age  oi 
twenty- six,  he  became  clerk  to  a  merchant  and 
manufacturer  in  Arbroath.  The  following  year  he 
married.  He  made  hi.^  first  essays  in  composition 
when  only  twelve  years  of  age,  and  at  a  more  ma- 
ture age  he  contributed  occasional  verses  to  the 
British  Chronicle  newspaper,  and  to  Dr.  Ander- 
son's *Bee.'  In  1793  he  contributed  several  pieces 
to  the  Dundee  Repository,  and  not  a  few  to  the 
Aberdeen  Magazine  in  1796.  Four  years  after  his 
removal  to  Arbroath  he  changed  his  situation,  and 
two  years  after,  on  the  death  of  his  first  employer, 
he  carried  on  the  business  in  partnership  with  his 
widow.  On  her  retirement,  in  1800,  he  assumed 
another  partner,  and  having  obtained  a  government 
contract  to  supply  the  navy  with  canvas,  he  was 
in  a  few  years  enabled  to  purchase  considerable 
property.  During  the  war  with  France  he  exhi- 
bited his  patriotism  by  inseHing  in  the  Dundee 
Advertiser  a  succession  of  loyal  poems  and  songs, 
most  of  which  were  republished  in  London,  and 
some  of  the  latter  set  to  music  and  sung  at  places 
of  public  entertainment.  To  the  Northern  Min- 
strel, published  at  Newcastle,  he  contributed  about 
twenty  songs,  and  furnished  several  pieces  to  the 
Literary  Mirror,  published  at  Montrose.  The  ac- 
count of  Arbi-oath  in  Dr.  Brewster's  Encyclopedia 
was  written  by  him,  and  he  also  contributed  seve- 
i-al  papers  to  Tilloch's  Philosophical  Journal. 

In  the  year  1814  he  removed  to  Trottick,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Dundee,  to  assume  the  manage- 


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219 


BALGONTE. 


mcut  of  a  branch  of  a  London  house,  which  was, 
in  the  succeeding' year,  suddenly  involved  in  bank- 
ruptcy ;  and^was  obliged  to  accept  of  the  situation 
of  manager  of  a  manufacturing  tstaiMkhment  at 
Balgonie  in  Fife,  where,  upon  a  limited  aalary,  he 
continued  for  three  years.  In  October  1818,  prin- 
cipally on  account  of  his  childi-en,  he  removed  to 
Kdinburgh,  and  was  employed  as  a  clerk  by  Mr. 
Blackwood  the  publisher.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
months  he  was  seized  with  paralysis,  and  in  June 

1819  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  employment. 
For  ten  years  thereafter  he  spent  his  days  in  a 
wheel-chair,  and  devoted  himself  entirely  to  liter- 
ature. Li  1819  he  published  a  novel,  called 
^Campbell,  or  the  Scottish  Probationer,'  which 
was  well  received.  At  the  close  of  the  same  year 
he  brought  out  an  edition  of  the  poems  of  his  de- 
ceased friend,  Richard  Gall,  with  a  memoir.    In 

1820  he  published  a  volume,  entitled  '  Contempla 
tion,  and  other  Poems.*  About  the  same  time  he 
began  to  contribute  to  Constable's  Edinburgh 
Magazine,  tales,  sketches,  and  poems,  descriptive 
of  Scottish  rural  life,  which  he  continued  to  do  till 
the  close  of  that  work  in  1826.  One  poetical  se- 
ries, entitled  ^Charactera  omitted  in  Crabbe's 
Parish  Register,'  was  so  favourably  received,  that 
he  was  induced  to  republish  it  in  one  volume  in 
1825.  In  1822  he  began  to  write  novels  for  the 
Minerva  Press  of  I^ndon ;  the  first  of  which,  in 
three  volumes,  was  called  ^The  Farmer's  Three 
Daughters.'  His  second,  which  was  by  far  the 
best,  appeared  in  1823,  also  in  three  volumes, 
and  was  entitled,  *The  Foundling  of  Glenthom, 
or  the  Smuggler's  Cave.'  In  1827,  Mr.  Joseph 
Hume,  M.P.,  presented  a  number  of  his  works  to 
the  premier,  Mr.  Canning,  and  a  donation  of  one 
hundred  pounds  was  obtained  for  him  from  the 
Treasury,  in  consideration  of  his  talents  and  mis- 
fortunes. His  latest  work  was  a  novel,  entitled 
*  Highland  Mary,'  in  four  volumes,  which,  like  his 
other  novels,  was  distinguished  for  the  most  touch- 
ing pathos.  He  contributed  till  his  death  to  the 
periodicals  of  the  day,  and  wrote  largely  in  particu- 
lar for  the  '  Edinburgh  Literary  Gazette,'  a  publi- 
cation long  since  discontinued,  lie  died  on  Sept. 
12, 1829.  A  posthumous  volume  of  his  remains 
was  published  under  the  title  of  *  Weeds  and  Wild 
Flowers,'  with  a  Memoir  by  Mr.  D.  M.  Moir. 


Balfour's  works  are : 

Campbell;  or,  the  Scottish  Probationer,  8  vols.  8vo.  Ed- 
inburgh, 1819. 

Contemplation,  and  other  Poems,  1  vol.  Svo.    Edin.,  1820. 

Hm  Faonar's  Three  Danghters.  A  Korol,  8  vols,  8vo. 
London,  1822. 

The  Foundling  of  Glenthom,  or  the  Smuggler*8  Cave,  a 
Romance,  8  vols.  8vo.     London,  1823. 

Characters  omitted  in  Crabbers  Parish  Register,  1  vol.  8vo. 
Ediubuigh,  1826. 

Highland  Mary,  a  Novel,  4  vols.     Edinburgh,  1827. 

Weeds  and  Wild  Flowers,  posthumous,  with  a  Memoir 
1  vol  8vo.     Edinburgh,  1830. 

Baloohtb,  Baron,  a  title  of  the  earl  of  Leven  and  Mel- 
ville, conferred  in  1641,  on  his  ancestor,  General  Alexander 
Leslie,  commander  of  the  Scots  army  at  Dunse  Law  in  May 
1639.  [See  Leven  and  Mklvtllb,  earl  of.]  The  lands  of 
Balgonie,  in  the  parish  of  Marldnch,  Fife,  originallj  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Sibbald.  [See  Sibbald,  surname  of.]  Sir 
Andrew  Sibbald  of  Balgonie,  sheriff  of  Fife,  in  1457,  and 
again  in  1466,  had  an  only  daughter,  Helen,  who  married 
Robert  Lundin,  second  son  of  Sir  John  Lnndin  of  Lundin. 
Their  son.  Sir  Robert  Lundin  of  Balgonie,  was  lord  high  trea- 
surer of  Scotland.  His  descendant,  Robert  Lundin,  sold  the 
lands  of  Balgonie  in  the  sixteenth  century,  to  General  Alex- 
ander Leslie,  the  first  earl  of  Leven,  whose  first  title  was  Lord 
Balgonie,  as  already  stated.  They  continued  in  possession  of 
the  Leven  family  till  1823,  when  they  were  purchased  for  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  four  thousand  pounds,  by  James  Bal' 
four,  Esq.  of  Whittingham,  brother  of  the  late  General  Bal- 
four of  Balbimie.  Balgonie  castle,  on  the  south  bank  of  tho 
river  Leven,  is  of  great  antiquity.  The  following  woodmit 
representation  of  it  is  from  Natte*s  Scotia  Depida: 


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Bauol,  or  Balliol,  the  name  of  a  Norman  baron,  whose 
descendant  was  declared  king  of  Scotland  in  1292.  He  was 
possessor  of  Balleul,  Harcourt,  and  other  manors  in  Norman- 
dy, from  the  former  of  which  he  derived  his  name.  His  son. 
Guy  de  Baliol,  came  over  to  EngUnd  with  the  Ck>nqueror*s 
son,  William  Rufos,  who  appointed  him  lord  of  the  forest  of 
Teesdale  and  Marwood,  and  bestowed  on  him  the  lands  of 
Middlcton  and  Biwell  in  Northumberland.  He  had  also 
lands  in  Yorkshire.  His  son,  Bernard  de  Baliol,  built  the 
strong  castle  on  the  Tees,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  called 
Bernard  Castle,  and  was  forced  by  David  the  First  of  Scot- 
land, in  1135,  to  swear  fidelity  to  Matilda.  Previous  to  the 
battle  of  the  Standard,  in  1138,  the  English  sent  Robert 
de  Bruce  and  Bernard  de  Baliol  to  the  Scottish  army  un- 
der David  the  Furst,  to  endeavour  to  procure  peace,  but 
the  proposal  was  rejected  with  disdain,  when  Bruce  re- 
nounced the  homage  which  he  had  performed  to  David  for 
a  barony  in  Galloway,  and  Baliol  also  gave  np  the  fealty, 
sworn  to  Matilda  three  years  before.  Adhering  to  the  for- 
tunes of  King  Stephen,  Baliol  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Lincoln,  with  that  monarch,  2d  February  1141.  On 
the  incursion  into  Northumberland  of  the  Scots  in  1174,  he 
was  among  the  Yorkshire  barons  who,  with  Robert  de  Stutte- 
ville,  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Alnwick  castle,  then  besieged 
by  the  Scottish  king.  During  their  hurried  march  a  dense  fog 
arose,  and  the  more  cautious  advised  a  retreat,  when  Baliol 
exclaimed,  "  You  may  retreat,  but  /  will  go  forward  alone, 
and  preserve  my  honour.*'  In  consequence  they  all  advanced, 
and  the  returning  light  enabled  them  to  desciy  the  battle- 
ments of  Alnwick  castle.  William,  the  Scottish  king,  was 
then  in  the  fields  with  a  slender  train  of  sixty  horsemen.  At 
the  head  of  these,  however,  he  instantly  charged  the  new 
comers,  whose  force  was  much  larger.  Being  overpowered, 
and  unhorsed,  he  was  made  prisoner  by  Baliol,  and  sent 
first  to  the  castle  of  Richmond  and  afterwards  to  Falaise  in 
Normandy.  [Hailet*  Arnialt,  vol  L  p.  115.]  This  feudal 
chief  married  Agnes  de  Pinkeny.  His  son,  Eustace  de  Bal- 
iol, was  tlie  father  of  Hugh  de  Baliol,  who,  in  1216,  was 
joined  with  Philip  de  Hulcotes  in  defence  of  the  northern  bor- 
ders, and  when  Alexander  the  Second  of  Scotland  had  sub- 
dued the  whole  of  Northumberland,  these  two  barons  held 
out  stoutly  all  the  fortresses  upon  the  line  of  the  Tees,  parti- 
cularly that  of  Bernard  castle,  the  seat  of  the  Baliol  family, 
which  was  assaulted  by  Alexander,  and  before  which  Eu- 
stace de  Vesd,  the  husband  of  his  illegitimate  sister,  Mar- 
garet, was  slain.  Hugh  de  Bailors  eldest  son,  John  de  Baliol, 
was  one  of  the  magnates  of  Henry  the  Third  of  England, 
whose  cause  he  strenuously  supported  in  his  struggles  with 
his  barons.  He  was  possessed  of  great  wealth,  having  thirty 
knights*  fees,  equal  to  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  modem 
money.  He  married  Devorgilla,  one  of  the  three  daughters 
and  00 -heiresses  of  Allan,  lord  of  Galloway,  by  Margaret, 
eldest  daughter  of  David,  earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  in  right 
of  his  wife  he  had  large  possessions  in  Scotland,  and  was  one 
of  the  Regents  during  the  minority  of  Alexander  III.  In  1263 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  one  of  the  colleges  at  Oxford,  which 
was  completed  by  his  widow,  and  still  bears  his  name.  He 
died  in  1268.  His  son,  John  de  Baliol,  became  temporaiy 
king  of  Scotland,  by  the  award  of  Edward  the  First  Of  this 
John  de  Baliol  a  notice  is  given  below. 

Alexander  de  Baliol,  the  brother  of  John,  kii^  of  Scots, 
being  in  the  retinue  of  Antony  Beck,  the  celebrated  bishop  of 
Durham,  in  the  expedition  of  Edward  the  First  to  Flanders, 
was  restored  to  all  his  brother*s  lands  in  Scotland  m  1297, 
and  on  26th  September  1300,  he  was  summoned  by  writ  to 
parliament  till  the  8d  November  1306,  under  the  title  of 


Baron  BalioL  He  married  Isabell,  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Richard  de  Chilham,  and  widow  of  David  de  Strathbogie 
earl  of  Athol,  by  whom  he  obtained  for  life  the  castie  and 
manor  of  Chilham  in  the  county  of  Kent.  Dying  without 
issue,  the  barony  of  Baliol  in  consequence  became  extinct 

There  were  several  collateral  branches  of  the  name  of  Baliol 
in  Scotland,  whose  names  appear  as  donors  and  witnesses  in 
the  cloister  registers.  In  the  Ragman  Roll,  also,  four  or  five 
of  them  are  mentioned.  One  of  these,  Alexander  de  Balliolo, 
Camerarius  Sootiie,  was  baron  of  Cavers  in  Teviotdale.  As 
chamberlain  of  Scotland  he  has  a  place  in  the  Lives  of  the 
Officers  of  State,  (page  266.)  The  name  of  Baliol  is  supposed, 
{Nesbifs  Heraldry^  voL  L  p.  178,)  to  have  been  changed  to 
Baillie,  [see  Baiixib,  surname  of,  antCy  p.  173,]  having  be- 
come odious  in  Scotland. 


BALIOL,  John,  some  time  king  of  Scotland, 
was  the  son  of  John  de  Baliol  of  Bemai-d  castle, 
county  of  Durham,  the  founder  of  Baliol  college, 
Oxford,  as  already  stated,  by  his  wife,  the  Lady 
Devorgilla,  granddaughter  of  David,  earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon, and  is  supposed  to  have  been  bom  about 
1260.  On  the  death,  in  1290,  of  Margaret  the 
"  Maiden  of  Norway,"  granddaughter  of  Alexan- 
der the  Third,  no  less  than  thirteen  competlton 
came  forward  for  the  vacant  throne  of  Scotland. 
Of  these,  John  de  Baliol  and  Robert  de  Biiice, 
lord  of  Anuandale,  were  the  principal.  Baliol 
claimed  as  being  great-grandson  to  the  earl  of 
Huntingdon,  younger  brother  of  William  the  Lion, 
by  his  eldest  daughter,  Margaret ;  and  Bruce  as 
grandson  by  his  second  daughter,  Isabella ;  that  is, 
the  former  as  direct  heir,  and  as  nearest  of  right, 
and  the  latter  as  nearest  in  blood  and  degree.  Ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  succession  which  are  now 
established,  the  right  of  Baliol  was  preferable; 
but  the  protest  and  appeal  of  the  seven  earls  of 
Scotland  to  Edward,  brought  to  light  by  Sir  Fran- 
cis Palgrave,  shows  that  in  that  age  the  order  of 
succession  was  not  ascertained  with  precision,  and 
that  the  prejudices  of  the  people  and  even  the 
ancient  laws  of  the  kingdom  favoured  the  claims 
of  Bruce,  and  to  this  circumstance  the  unhappy 
results  which  followed  may  in  a  great  measure  be 
attributed.  The  competitors  agreed  to  refer  their 
claims  to  the  arbitration  of  Edward  the  First  of 
England,  who  straightway  asserted  and  extended 
bis  daim  of  feudal  superiority  to  an  extent  never 
attempted  by  any  of  his  predecessors.  He  met 
the  Scottish  nobility  and  clergy  at  Norham  on  the 
10th  May,  1291,  and  required  them  to  recognise 
his  title  as  lord  paramount.     At  their  request  he 


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BALIOL, 


221 


JOHN. 


granted  them  a  term  of  three  weeks  in  order 
that  thej  might  consult  together,  at  which  period 
he  required  them  to  retun  a  definitive  answer.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  commanded  his  barons  to  as- 
semble at  Norham  with  all  their  forces,  on  the  Sd 
June.  On  the  2d  he  gave  audience  to  the  Scots  in 
an  open  field,  near  Upsettlington,  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Tweed,  opposite  to  the  castle  of  Nor- 
ham, and  within  the  territory  of  Scotland.  At 
this  assembly  eight  of  the  competitors  for  the 
crown  were  present,  who  all  acknowledged  Ed- 
ward as  lord  paramount  of  Scotland,  and  agreed 
to  abide  by  his  decision.  Bruce  was  among  them, 
but  Baliol  was  absent.  The  next  day  Baliol  ap- 
peared, and  on  being  asked  by  the  chancellor  of 
England  whether  he  was  willing  to  make  answer 
as  the  others  had  done,  aHier  an  affected  pause, 
he  pronounced  his  assent. 

Edward,  going  beyond  his  mere  claim  as  over- 
lord or  superior  of  Scotland,  now  brought  forward 
a  right  of  property  in  the  kingdom,  and  demanded 
to  be  put  in  possession  of  it,  on  the  specious  pre- 
text that  he  might  deliver  it  to  him  to  whom  the 
crown  was  found  justly  to  belong.  Even  this 
strange  demand  was  acceded  to,  all  the  competi- 
tors agreeing  that  sasine  of  the  kingdom  and  its 
fortresses  should  be  given  to  Edward.  On  the 
llth,  therefore,  the  regents  of  Scotland  made  a 
solemn  surrender  of  the  kingdom  into  Edward's 
bands,  and  the  keepers  of  castles  surrendered  their 
castles.  The  only  demur  was  on  the  pai*t  of  Gil- 
bert de  Umfraville,  earl  of  Angus,  who  would  not 
give  up  the  castles  of  Dundee  and  Foifar,  with- 
out a  bond  of  indemnification.  [See  ante^  page 
127.]  Edward  immediately  restored  the  custody 
of  the  kingdom  to  the  regents,  Eraser,  bishop  of 
St.  Andrews,  Wishart,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  John 
Comyn  of  Badenoch,  and  James,  the  steward  of 
Scotland.  The  final  hearing  of  the  competition 
took  place,  on  the  17th  November  1292,  in  the 
hall  of  the  castle  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  when 
Edward  confirmed  the  judgments  of  his  commis- 
sion and  parliament  by  giving  judgment  in  his 
favour.  On  the  19th  the  crown  was  formally 
declared  to  belong  to  him,  and  the  next  day  he 
swore  fealty  for  it  to  Edward  at  Norham.  On 
the  80th  of  the  same  month,  Baliol  was  crowned 
at  Scone,  and  being  immediately  recalled  to  Eng- 


land, was  compelled  to  renew  his  homage  to  Ed- 
ward at  Newcastle.  In  the  course  of  a  yeai, 
Baliol  was  four  times  summoned  to  appear  before 
Eklward  in  the  parliament  of  England.  Roused 
by  the  indignities  heaped  upon  him  while  there, 
he  ventured  to  remonstrate,  and  would  consent  to 
nothing  which  might  be  construed  into  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  English 
parliament.  Having,  on  the  2dd  October,  1295, 
concluded  a  treaty  with  Philip,  king  of  France, 
Baliol,  who  at  times  was  not  without  spirit,  which, 
however,  he  wanted  firmness  to  sustain,  solemnly 
renounced  his  allegiance  to  Edward,  and  obtained 
the  Pope's  absolution  from  the  oaths  which  he  had 
taken.  Edward  received  the  intelligence  of  his 
renunciation  with  contempt  rather  than  with  an- 
ger. "The  foolish  traitor,"  said  he  to  BalioFs 
messenger,  "  since  he  will  not  come  to  us,  we  will 
go  to  him.''  With  a  large  army  he  immediately 
marched  towards  Scotland.  In  the  meantime,  a 
small  party  of  Scots  crossed  the  borders,  and  plun- 
dered Northumberland  and  Cumberland.  They 
took  the  castle  of  Werk,  and  slew  a  thousand  of 
the  English.  King  Edward,  on  the  other  hand, 
having  taken  Berwick,  put  all  the  garrison  and  in- 
habitants to  the  sword.  The  Scots  army  were  de- 
feated at  Dunbar,  28th  April,  1296,  and  the  castles 
of  Dunbar,  Edinburgh,  and  Stirling  falling  into 
Edward's  hands,  Baliol  was  obliged  to  retire  beyond 
the  river  Tay.  On  July  10, 1296,  in  the  churchyard 
of  Stracathro,  near  Monti-ose,  in  presence  of  An- 
thony Beck,  bishop  of  Durham  and  the  English 
nobles,  he  surrendered  his  crown  and  sovereignty 
into  the  hands  of  the  English  monarch,  and  was 
divested  of  everything  belonging  to  the  state  and 
dignity  of  a  king.  He  was  thereafter,  with  his 
son,  sent  to  London,  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower, 
where  he  remained  till  July  20,  1299,  when,  on  the 
intercession  of  the  Pope,  he  and  his  son  were  de- 
livered up  to  his  legate.  "Thus  ended,"  says 
Lord  Hailes,  "  the  short  and  disastrous  reign  of 
John  Baliol,  an  ill-fated  prince,  censured  for  doing 
homage  to  Edward,  never  applauded  for  asserting 
the  national  independency.  Yet,  in  his  original 
offence  he  had  the  example  of  Bruce ;  at  his  revolt 
he  saw  the  rival  fondly  combating  under  the  ban- 
ners of  England.  His  attempt  to  shake  off  a  for- 
eign yoke  speaks  him  of  a  high  spirit,  impatient  of 


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BALTOL, 


222 


EDWARD. 


injuries.  He  erred  in  enterprising  beyond  lila 
strength ;  in  the  cause  of  liberty  it  was  a  meritor- 
ious error.  He  confided  in  the  valour  and  unani- 
mity of  his  subjects,  and  in  tlie  assistance  of 
France.  The  efforts  of  his  subjects  were  languid 
and  discoi-dant ;  and  France  beheld  his  ruin  with 
the  indifference  of  an  unconcerned  spectator." 
Baliol  retired  to  his  estates  in  France,  where  he 
died  in  1314.  The  following  is  a  cast  of  the  seal 
of  John  Baliol,  while  king  of  Scotland,  from  An- 
dei*son's  Diplomata  Scotiffi : 


During  the  subsequent  contest  in  Scotland  under 
Wallace,  the  assertors  of  the  national  independence 
maintained  the  rights  of  Baliol,  and  Wallace,  so 
long  as  he  held  authority,  acted  as  governor  of  the 
kingdom  under  him  and  in  his  name.  To  the 
unpopularity  of  the  family  and  of  Baliol's  bro- 
ther, who  had  taken  part  with  Edward,  may  in 
part  be  attributed  the  partial  support  which  the 
great  patriot  received  in  his  struggle.  For  the  rest 
of  his  life,  John  Baliol  resided  as  a  private  man 
in  France,  without  interfering  in  the  affaire  of  Scot- 
land. Some  writers  say  that  he  lived  till  he  was 
blind,  which  must  have  been  the  effect  of  some 
disease  and  not  of  old  age,  as  he  could  not  have 
been,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  above  fifty -five 
years  old  at  the  utmost.  He  manned  Isabel, 
daughter  of  John  de  Warren,  earl  of  Suirey.  The 
Scots  ati^xed  the  contemptuous  epithet  of  Toom 


Tabard  (empty  jacket)  to  Baliol,  their  temporary 
lung.—DalrytnpU's  Annah  of  Scotland^  vol.  L 

BALIOL,  Edwabd,  eldest  son  of  the  preceding, 
succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  to  his  esUtes 
hi  France,  where  he  resided  in  a  private  manner 
for  several  years.  In  1324  he  was  invited  over 
by  Edward  the  Second  of  England,  to  be  brought 
forwai-d  as  a  rival  to  Robert  the  Brace,  and  iu 
1327,  at  the  request  of  Edward  the  Third,  he 
again  visited  England  with  the  same  object.  His 
first  active  appearance  on  the  scene  was  on  the 
following  occasion :  Some  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
barons  possessed  estates  in  Scotland,  which  were 
forfeited  during  the  war  with  England.  By  the 
treaty  of  Northampton  in  1828,  whereby  the  in- 
dependence of  Scotland  was  secured,  their  estates 
in  that  country  were  I'estored  to  the  English  bar- 
ons. Two  of  these,  Thomas  Lord  Wake,  and 
Henry  de  Beaumont,  having  in  vain  endeavoured 
to  procure  possession,  joined  Baliol,  when,  after 
the  death  of  Brace,  he  resolved  to  attempt  the  re- 
covery of  what  he  considered  his  birthright.  Id 
Caxton's  Chronicle  it  is  stated,  that  in  1381,  hav- 
ing taken  the  pai-t  of  an  English  servant  of  uis 
who  had  killed  a  Frenchman,  Baliol  was  himself  im- 
prisoned in  France,  and  only  released  on  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Lord  de  Beaumont,  who  advised 
him  to  come  over  to  England,  and  set  up  his  claim 
to  the  Scottish  crown.  King  Edward  did  not 
openly  countenance  the  enterprise.  With  three 
hundred  men  at  arms,  and  a  few  foot  soldiers, 
Baliol  and  his  adherents  sailed  from  Ravenspur 
on  the  Humber,  then  a  port  of  some  importance, 
but  overwhelmed  by  the  sea  some  centuries  smce, 
and  landing  at  Kinghorn,  August  6,  1882,  defeated 
the  earl  of  Fife,  who  endeavoured  to  oppose  them. 
The  army  of  Baliol,  increased  to  three  thousand 
men,  marched  to  Forte viot,  near  Perth,  whero 
they  encamped  with  the  river  Eara  in  front.  On 
the  opposite  bank  lay  the  regent  of  the  kingdom, 
the  earl  of  Mar,  with  upwards  of  thirty  thousand 
men,  on  Dupplin  Moor.  At  midnight,  the  Eng- 
lish force  forded  the  Eara,  and  attacking  the 
sleeping  Scots,  slew  thirteen  thousand  of  them, 
including  the  eai'ls  of  Mar  and  Moray.  Baliol 
then  hastened  to  Perth,  where  he  was  unsuccess- 
fully besieged  by  the  earl  of  March,  whose  force 
he  dispersed.    On  the  24th  of  September,  1382. 


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BALIOL. 


223 


BALLANTYNE 


Edward  Baliol  was  crowned  king  at  Scone.  On 
the  10th  of  February  1333,  he  held  a  parliament 
at  fidinbargh,  consisting  of  what  are  known  as 
the  disinherited  barons,  with  seven  bishops,  in- 
cluding both  WilUam  of  Dunkeld,  and  it  is  said 
Mauiice  of  Dunblane,  the  abbot  of  Inchaffray, 
who  there  agreed  to  the  humiliating  conditions 
proposed  by  Edward  the  Third.  His  good  for- 
tune now  foi'sook  him.  On  the  16th  December, 
within  three  months  after,  he  was  suiprised  in 
his  encampment  at  Annan  by  the  young  earl  of 
Moray,  the  second  son  of  Randolph,  the  late  re- 
gent, Archibald  Douglas,  brother  of  the  good 
lord  James,  Simon  Eraser,  and  others  of  the  he- 
roes of  the  old  war  of  Scotland's  independence, 
and  his  army  being  overpowered,  and  his  brother 
Henry,  with  many  of  his  chief  adherents,  slain,  he 
escaped  nearly  naked  and  almost  alone  to  England. 
Having  on  the  23d  of  November  preceding  sworn 
feudal  service  to  the  English  monarch,  the  latter 
marched  an  army  across  the  borders  to  his  assist- 
auce,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Scots  at  Halidon  Hill, 
July  19,  1333,  again  enabled  Baliol  to  usui-p  for  a 
brief  space  the  nominal  sovereignty  of  Scotland. 
The  following  is  a  cast  of  the  seal  of  Edward 
Baliol  from  Anderson's  Diplomata  Scotise : 


He  now  renewed  his  homage  to  Edwaid  HI., 
and  ceded  to  him  the  town  and  county  of  Berwick, 
with  the  counties  of  Roxburgh,  Selkirk,  Peebles, 


Dumfries,  and  the  Lothians,  in  return  for  the  aid 
he  had  rendered  him.  In  1334  he  was  again  com- 
pelled to  fly  to  England.  In  July  1335  he  was 
restored  by  the  arms  of  the  English  monarch.  In 
1338,  being  by  the  regent,  Robert  Stewart,  closely 
pressed  at  Perth,  where  this  restless  intruder,  sup- 
ported by  the  English  interest,  held  his  nominal 
court,  he  again  became  a  fugitive.  After  this  he 
made  several  attempts  to  be  re-established  on  the 
throne,  but  the  nation  never  acknowledged  him ; 
their  allegiance  being  rendered  to  David  the  Se- 
cond, infant  son  of  Robert  the  Brace.  At  Inst, 
worn  out  by  constant  fighting  and  disappointment, 
in  1356  he  sold  his  claim  to  the  sovereignty,  and 
his  family  estates,  to  Edward  the  Third,  for  five 
thousand  merks,  and  a  yearly  pension  of  two  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  with  which  he  retired  into 
obscurity,  and  died  childless  at  Doncaster  in  1363 
With  him  ended  the  line  of  BsMol.^Ti/tler's  His- 
tory qfScotian  '. 

BxLLAitTYNB,  a  name  variously  written  Ballenden,  Bellen- 
den,  and  Ballentyn,  and  the  same  as  Bannatyne,  [see 
BAifNATYNE,  surname  of],  originally  derived  from  the  lands 
of  Bellenden  in  Selkirkshire.  Of  this  surname  the  family  of 
Ballenden  or  Bellenden  of  Aachinonl,  in  the  county  of  Edin- 
burgh, was  at  one  period  the  most  distinguished,  a  descend- 
ant of  which  became  in  1661  Lord  Bellenden  of  Brougbton,  a 
title  afterwards  merged  in  that  of  the  Duke  of  Roxburgh. 
[See  Bellenden,  Lord.] 

BALLANTYNE,  James,  an  eminent  printer, 
was  the  son  of  a  respectable  shopkeeper  in  Kelso, 
where  he  was  bom  in  the  year  1772.  He  was 
educated  at  the  grammar  school  of  his  native  town, 
and  in  1783  he  first  became  acquainted  with 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  then  attended  the  public 
school  of  Kelso,  for  a  few  weeks,  while  on  a  visit 
to  his  aunt,  during  the  vacation  of  the  Edinburgh 
High  school.  He  was  early  bound  apprentice  to  a 
solicitor  at  Kelso,  and  in  1795  commenced  practice 
there,  but  not  meeting  with  clients,  in  the  follow- 
ing summer,  though  not  brought  up  to  the  printing 
business,  he  conmienced  as  printer  in  his  native 
town,  and  stalled  the  Kelso  Mail  newspaper  with 
success.  He  had  the  merit  of  being  the  first  to 
introduce  an  improved  style  of  printing  into  Scot- 
land ;  and  the  works  which  issued  from  his  press 
in  a  provincial  town,  for  elegance  and  accuracy, 
w^ere  unequalled  at  the  time  in  this  countiy. 
Among  the  earliest  of  these  was  the  first  great 
work  of  his  friend  Sii*  Walter  Scott,  *  The  M in- 


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BALLANTYNE, 


224 


JOHN. 


strclsy  of  the  Scottish  Border,'  which  was  printed 
at  the  Ballantyne  press,  Kelso.  About  the  end  of 
1802,  chiefly  by  the  advice  of  Scott,  he  was  in- 
duced to  remove  to  Edinburgh,  where  the  distinc- 
tion he  had  already  acquh*ed  in  the  trade  procured 
for  him  ample  employment.  In  1805,  shortly  after 
the  publication  of  the  '  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,' 
needing  a  supply  of  money  to  enable  him  to  carry 
on  his  inci'easing  business,  he  applied  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  from  whom  he  had  previously  received  a 
loan,  for  another  advance,  when,  on  consideration 
of  being  admitted  a  partner,  to  the  extent  of  a 
third  sharer  in  the  business,  Scott  embarked  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  in  the  concern.  His 
inci-easing  business  as  a  printer  did  not  preclude 
his  editing  the  Edinburgh  Weekly  Journal^  of  which 
he  and  his  brother  became  the  proprietors  in  1817, 
and  which  was  conducted  by  him  with  spirit,  in- 
telligence, and  good  taste.  In  this  paper  first  ap- 
peared the  celebrated  letters  of  Sir  Malachi  Mala-- 
growther  on  the  currency.  In  dramatic  literature, 
especially,  Mr.  Ballantyne's  taste  was  excellent, 
and  his  graceful  and  discriminating  ciiticisms  in 
the  Weekly  Journal  were  much  esteemed  at  the 
time.  His  friendship  with  Sir  Walter  Scott,  which 
began  when  they  were  boys  at  school,  lasted  un- 
diminished during  their  lives.  He  was  the  pnnter 
of  all  the  productions  of  the  author  of  Waverley, 
and  often  judiciously  suggested  corrections  on  the 
manuscripts,  or  the  proofs  of  his  works,  which 
that  great  writer  did  not  disdain  to  adopt.  In 
1816,  he  married  a  Miss  Hogarth,  the  daughter  of 
a  wealthy  farmer  in  Berwickshire,  the  sister  of 
George  Hogarth,  Esq ,  anthor  of  a  *  History  of 
Music'  He  then  lived  in  St.  John  Street,  Can- 
ongate,  at  no  great  distance  from  his  printing 
establishment,  at  St.  Paul's  Work.  Mrs.  Ballan- 
tyne  died  in  1829,  leaving  him  a  large  family  of 
children.  In  January  1 826,  the  company  of  which 
he  was  the  head  were  unfortunately  involved  in 
the  bankruptcy  of  Messrs.  Constable  &  Co.,  pub- 
lishers, when  their  liabilities  amounted  to  one 
hnndred  and  two  thousand  ponnds.  Mr.  Ballan- 
tyne  died  January  17,  1838,  having  survived  his 
illustrious  friend  the  author  of  Waverley  only 
about  four  months.  Shortly  before  his  death  he 
published  an  affecting  statement,  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed his  wish  to  bo  restored  to  that  degree  of 


health  which  would  enable  him  to  do  some  justice 
to  the  character  of  the  great  man  who  had  gone 
before  him.  In  private  life  Mr.  Ballantyne  was 
distinguished  for  the  urbanity  of  his  manners,  the 
kindness  of  his  disposition,  and  for  his  social  qua- 
lities. He  possessed  in  a  high  degree  an  acute 
observation  of  men  and  manners,  with  great  liter- 
ary knowledge,  and  ample  stores  of  anecdote, 
which  rendered  him  a  pleasing  and  instructive 
companion.  He  is  described,  however,  as  having 
been  a  man  of  indolent  habits,  and  not  a  little  ad- 
dicted to  the  pleasures  of  the  table. — Lockharfs 
Life  ofScoU, 

BALLANTYNE,  John,  bookseller  and  pub- 
lisher, a  younger  brother  of  the  preceding,  was 
bom  at  Kelso,  in  the  year  1774,  and  like  his  bro- 
ther, was  also  a  schoolfellow  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
When  the  Kelso  MaH  was  started  by  his  brother, 
he  assisted  in  ^vriting  for  it.  He  was  oiiginaUy 
intended  for  his  father's  business,  namely,  that  of 
a  small  merchant,  or  shopkeeper,  in  Kelso,  and 
was  sent,  while  very  young,  to  London,  where  h« 
spent  some  time  in  the  banking  house  of  Messrs. 
Currie.  On  his  return  to  Kelso,  the  department 
in  his  father's  business  which  more  immediately 
devolved  upon  him  was  the  tailoring  one.  In 
1805,  the  business  having  fallen  off,  he  disposed 
of  his  goods  to  pay  his  debts,  and  followed  his 
brother,  Mr.  James  Ballantyne,  to  Edinburgh. 
He  was  taken  into  his  counting-house  as  clerk,  at 
a  salary  of  two  hundred  pounds  per  annum,  whUe 
his  father,  who  had  accompanied  him,  was  also 
employed  about  the  printing-ofSce.  In  1808,  on 
some  temporary  disagreement  between  Sir  Walter 
Scott  and  his  publishers,  Constable  and  Co.,  John 
Ballantyne  became  a  partner  with  Scott  in  the 
firm  of  Ballantyne  and  Co.,  booksellers  and  pub- 
lishers, Hanover  Street.  Among  the  first  of  the 
(I works  published  by  the  new  firm  was  *The  Lady 
of  the  Lake.'  In  1813  he  engaged  also  in  the 
profession  of  an  auctioneer  of  works  of  art,  libra- 
ries, &c.,  having  taken  premises  in  Princes  Street 
for  the  pui-pose.  He  held  till  his  death  the  office 
of  bookseller  to  the  king  for  Scotland.  When  the 
earlier  Waverley  novels  were  in  course  of  printing 
Mr.  John  Ballantyne  was  intrusted  with  the  man- 
agement of  their  publication.  Some  of  these  cele- 
brated works  he  published  himself.  He  also  bronght 


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oat  two  periodical  publications,  ^The  VisioDary,' 
and  '  The  Saleroom,^  written  chiefly  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  who  edited  for  him  the  works  of  Beanmont 
and  Fletcher,  which  were  pablished  at  John  Bal- 
lantyne^s  risk.  He  was  himself  the  aathor  of  two 
thin  Tolnmes,  entitled  *The  Widow's  Lodgings,* 
which,  though  described  as  "wretched  trash," 
reached  a  second  edition.  Possessing  good  natu- 
ral talents,  with  great  powers  of  wit  and  hnmour, 
he  was  in  company  one  of  the  most  amusing  of 
story-tellers,  and  could  relate  an  anecdote  with  a 
gusto  and  effect  peculiar  to  himself.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  of  a  quick,  active,  and  in- 
trepid disposition,  very  fond  of  field  sports,  and  a 
eapital  mimic.  From  his  volatility  and  light- 
heartedness.  Sir  Walter  Scott  bestowed  on  him 
the  soubriquet  of  Rigdumfnnnidos.  The  follow- 
ing instance  of  his  benevolence  of  disposition  is 
related  in  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott.  He  remarked 
one  day  to  a  poor  student  of  divinity  who  was  at- 
tending his  auction,  that  he  looked  as  if  he  were 
in  bad  health.  The  young  man  assented,  with  a 
sigh.  "  Come,"  said  Ballantyne,  "  I  think  I  ken 
the  secret  of  a  sort  of  draft  that  would  relieve  you — 
particularly,"  he  added,  handing  him  a  check  for 
£5  or  £10,  "  particularly,  my  dear,  if  taken  on  an 
empty  stomach."  His  health  having  been  seri- 
ously affected,  with  the  view  of  amendment  he 
travelled  for  some  time  on  the  continent.  On  his 
return  he  retired  to  a  seat  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Kelso,  and  when  there  he  commenced  the  pub- 
lication of  a  beautiful  edition  of  the  British  novel- 
ists, entitled  '  Ballantyne's  Novelist's  Library,' 
edited  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  furnished  biogra- 
phical prefaces  to  the  different  authors.  This 
work  was  printed  and  published  for  Mr.  Ballan- 
tjrne's  sole  benefit.  A  severe  attack  of  asthma 
confined  him  to  the  house  for  some  weeks.  He 
died  in  his  brother's  house,  St.  John  Street,  Edin- 
burgh, on  the  16th  of  June,  1821,  aged  47,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Canongate  churchyard.  He  had 
been  married  at  an  early  age  to  Miss  Parker,  a 
relative  of  Dr.  Rutherford,  but  had  no  family. 

BALLANTYNE,  John,  the  Rev.,  author  of 
*  An  Examination  of  the  Human  Mind,'  was  born 
at  South  Piteddie,  in  the  parish  of  Kinghom,  Fife, 
on  the  8th  May  1778.  He  received  his  early  ed- 
Dcation  at  a  school  in  the  village  of  rx>chgelly, 


and  in  1795  became  a  student  in  the  university  of 
Edinburgh.  Although  his  parents  belonged  to  the 
Established  church,  he  himself  became  a  member 
of  the  Secession,  and  attended  the  divinity  hall 
under  the  superintendence  of  Professor  Lawson  of 
Selkirk.  During  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  he 
was  engaged  in  teaching  a  school,  first  at  Loch- 
gelly,  and  afterwards  in  Edinburgh.  After  being 
licensed,  he  received  a  call  from  Stonehaven  in 
Kincardineshire,  and  from  another  congregation,  but 
accepted  that  of  the  former.  He  was  ordained  in 
1805.  His  congregation  being  small,  he  had  am- 
ple leisure  to  attend  to  his  literary  pursuits.  He 
had  early  made  choice  of  metaphysical  science  as 
a  subject  of  study,  and  in  1828  he  published  his 
metaphysical  speculations  in  a  thick  octavo  vol- 
ume, entitied  *An  Examination  of  the  Human 
Mind,'  a  work  of  great  labour  and  of  considerable 
merit.  He  had  previously  contributed  a  paper  on 
the  subject  of  church  extension  to  the  Christiai^ 
Recorder,  Glasgow,  a  religious  periodical,  and  in 
1824  he  published  anonymously  a  pamphlet  en- 
titied ^  A  Comparison  of  Established  and  Dissent- 
ing Churches,  by  a  Dissenter,'  i%markable  as  be- 
ing the  first  of  that  long  series  of  publications  on 
the  voluntary  question  with  which  the  press  after- 
wards teemed  from  the  pens  of  the  Scotch  dissent- 
ing clergy.  After  the  controversy  had  fairly  been 
entered  upon,  he  was  induced  to  remould  and 
greatly  to  enlarge  this  work,  which,  in  its  new 
and  improved  form,  was  published,  in  1830,  with 
his  name.  Mr.  Ballantyne  died  5th  November 
1830,  in  the  52d  year  of  his  age  and  the  25th  of 
his  ministry.  He  left  sufficient  materials  to  make 
another  volume  of  his  great  metaphysical  work, 
but  the  sale  of  the  first  volume  was  so  much  in- 
jured by  the  connexion  of  his  name  with  the  vol- 
untary church  controversy,  that  no  encouragement 
was  given  to  proceed  with  the  farther  publication 
of  the  work.  The  first  volume,  however,  is  com- 
plete in  itself. — M^KerrowU  Hist,  of  the  Secession 
Church. 

BALLENDEN,  or  Bellendbn,  John,  see 
Bellenden,  John. 

BALMER,  Robert,  D.D.,  an  eminent  divine 
of  the  United  Secession  church,  was  bom  Novem- 
ber 22, 1787,  at  Ormiston  Mains,  in  the  parish  of 
Eckford,  Roxburghshire.  His  father,  Thomns 
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Balmer,  was  a  land-steward,  fii*st  at  Ormiston, 
and  afterwards  at  Crailinghall.  His  mother,  Mar- 
garet Biggar,  was  a  grand-daughter  of  the  James 
Biggar  mentioned  in  the  Autobiography  of  the 
venerable  Boston  of  Ettrick,  as  an  elder.  Both 
parents  were  distinguished  for  their  piety.  They 
belonged  however  to  different  denominations,  his 
father  being  a  member  of  the  Antiburgher  congre- 
gation at  Morebattle,  while  his  mother  adhered  to 
the  congregation  at  Jedburgh  connected  with  the 
Burgher  Synod.  Robert  was  the  eldest  of  their 
family.  In  infancy  he  was  a  feeble  and  sickly 
child,  but  as  soon  as  he  began  to  speak,  he  was 
quick  to  learn,  and  eager  to  inquire.  It  is  related 
of  him  that  even  in  childhood  he  was  punctual  in 
his  morning  and  evening  devotions,  unequalled  in 
getting  hymns  and  passages  of  scripture  by  heart, 
and  restless  till  he  had  learnt  the  lessons  required 
of  him.  In  his  eighth  year  he  had  the  measles, 
and  from  that  time  he  began  to  enjoy  generally  good 
health.  When  he  was  about  three  yeare  of  age,  his 
parents  removed  to  Upper  Cralling,  whei*e  he  was 
first  sent  to  a  school,  taught  by  a  female.  He  left 
this  school  in  November  1796,  to  attend  one  at 
Crailing  Mill,  where  he  continued  for  half  a  year, 
but  in  that  time  he  made  considerable  progress  in 
his  education.  His  father  died  when  he  was  about 
ten  years  of  age.  He  had  been  in  easy  circum- 
stances for  his  station  in  life,  and  had  saved  a 
little  money.  With  the  interest  received  from  this, 
And  the  profits  of  a  small  shop  which  she  opened  at 
Eckford  Moss,  his  mother  was  enabled  to  maintain 
herself  and  her  children  respectably.  When  Robert 
was  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  the 
grammar  school  of  Kelso,  then  under  the  charge  of 
Mr.  Dymock,  afterwards  Dr.  Dymock  of  Glasgow 
high  school,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Bibliotbeca 
Classica.  Among  othei*s  of  his  class-fellows  at  the 
school  at  Kelso,  with  whom  he  continued  on  terms 
of  intimacy  in  after  life,  was  the  late  Thomas  Prin- 
gle,  author  of  African  Sketches  and  other  poems. 
He  entered  the  university  of  Edinburgh  in  the  ses- 
sion of  1802-3,  and  studied  there  during  four  ses- 
sions before  going  to  the  divinity  hall.  In  the  au- 
tumn of  1806,  after  undergoing  an  examination  by 
the  Associate  Synod  of  Selkirk,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  study  of  divinity  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  George 
Lawson,  then  the  professor  of  this  branch  of  learn- 


ing appointed  by  the  Associate  Synod.  The  atten- 
dance on  the  hall  at  Selkirk  continued  only  during 
two  months  in  the  end  of  summer  and  beginning 
of  autumn,  and  during  the  winters  of  his  residence 
in  Edinburgh,  he  also  attended  the  divinity  hall 
in  the  university  of  that  city,  then  presided  over 
by  William  Ritchie,  D.D.,  and  completed  there 
the  course  of  study  required  for  receiving  licence 
in  the  Established  Chm*ch  of  Scotland.  In  the 
course  of  his  attendance  on  Dr.  Ritchie^s  class,  he 
obtained  a  prize  for  the  best  essay  "  on  the  char- 
acter of  Moses  as  a  legislator."  During  his  aca- 
demical course,  Mr.  Balmer  supported  himself  by 
teaching.  He  was  firet  employed  in  the  family  of 
a  farmer  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jedburgh.  He 
afterwards  taught  a  school  at  Barnyards  in  the 
palish  of  Kilconquhar,  Fifeshire,  from  which  place 
he  removed  to  take  charge  of  the  tuition  of  the 
family  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Douglas  of  Galashiels,  and 
a  select  number  of  pupils  who  were  educated  along 
with  them.  He  was  subsequently  tutor  in  the 
family  of  Mr.  Scott  of  Sin  ton.  It  was  not  till 
nearly  two  yeai*s  after  he  had  finished  his  theolo- 
gical studies  that  he  could  make  up  his  mind  to 
assent  to  the  formula  of  the  Secession  Church,  and 
become  one  of  its  preachers.  But  being  allowed 
to  make  certain  explanations  as  to  his  views,  he 
was  on  the  4th  August,  1812,  licensed  to  preach 
the  gospel  by  the  Secession  Presbytery  of  Edin- 
burgh. In  the  course  of  a  few  months  after,  he 
received  calls  from  the  congregations  of  Lochwin- 
noch,  Leslie,  Ecclefechan,  and  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed.  He  gave  his  preference  to  the  latter  town, 
and  was  ordained  to  the  charge  of  the  Associate 
congi-egation  there,  on  the  23d  Mai*ch  1814.  He 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  movement  towards 
union  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Secession 
Church,  and  was  moderator  of  the  Associate  Sy- 
nod at  its  last  meeting  as  a  separate  body  from  the 
General  Associate  Synod,  in  September  1820.  He 
was  called  to  London,  to  supply  the  late  Dr. 
Waugh^s  pulpit  on  two  occasions,  the  first  in  1819, 
and  the  second  in  1823,  and  both  times,  on  his 
i*etum  home,  he  spent  a  few  days  with  the  late 
Robert  Hall  of  Leicester,  whom  he  admired  as  the 
greatest  of  contemporary  writers.  On  Mr.  HalPs 
death  he  committed  to  writing  his  recollections  of 
his  conversations  with  him,  which  have  been  pub- 


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lished.  In  1826  Mr.  Balmer  married  Miss  June 
Scott,  daughter  of  Mi*.  Alexander  Scott,  of  Aber- 
deen, and  sister  of  the  late  John  Scott,  author  of 
'  Visits  to  Paris,'  and  the  original  editor  of  the 
London  Magazine,  who  died  of  a  wound  which  he 
had  received  in  a  duel.  On  the  agitation  of  the 
voluntary  question,  which  began  in  April  1829, 
Mr.  Balmer  agreed  with  those  who  hold  that  all 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  civil  power  in  the 
establishment  and  support  of  religious  institutions, 
is  unscriptural  and  unwarrantable.  He  spoke  at 
a  voluntary  meeting  at  Jedburgh,  but  took  no 
other  active  part  in  the  controversy.  On  the 
death  of  Dr.  Dick,  Mr.  Balmer  was,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  United  Associate  Synod,  in  April  1834, 
elected  by  a  large  majority,  professor  of  pastoral 
theology  in  the  Secession  church,  while  the  Rev. 
Alexander  Duncan  of  Mid-Calder,  was  chosen 
professor  of  systematic  theology;  but  by  a  subse- 
quent arrangement  sanctioned  by  the  Synod,  Mr. 
Duncan  and  Mr.  Balmer  exchanged  professorships, 
the  latter  being  transferred  to  the  chair  of  sys- 
tematic theology.  A  small  sum  of  fifty  pounds 
annually  was  assigned  to  each  of  these  appoint- 
ments, not  in  name  of  remuneration,  but  merely  to 
defray  necessary  expenses.  The  change  of  residence, 
at  first  to  Glasgow,  and  afterwards  to  Edinburgh, 
during  the  eight  weeks  that  the  session  continued, 
was  conducive  to  his  general  health,  and  his  eye- 
sight, which  from  application  had  become  greatly 
weakened,  was  so  much  improved  that  he  was 
induced  to  continue  permanently  in  the  professor- 
ship, having  at  one  time  entertained  thoughts  of 
resigning  it.  In  the  spring  of  1840,  the  university 
of  St.  Andrews  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.D.  In  1843,  Dr.  Balmer  took  part 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  large  meeting  held  in 
Edinburgh,  in  commemoration  of  the  bicentenary  of 
the  Westminster  Assembly.  The  speech  delivered 
by  nim  on  that  occasion  on  the  principles  of  Chris- 
tian union,  not  only  received  the  marked  approval 
and  eulogy  of  the  chairman,  Dr.  Chalmers,  but 
suggested  to  John  Henderson,  Esq.,  of  Park,  the 
idea  of  doing  something  whereby  such  union  might 
be  promoted,  and  ultimately  led  to  the  publication 
of  the  Essays  on  Christian  Union,  by  ministers  of 
different  denominations,  of  which  Dr.  Balmer's 
formed  the  second.    Hence  originated  the  Evan- 


gelical Alliance,  now  a  strong  and  influential  reli- 
gious confederacy.  In  the  controversy  which  for 
some  years  agitated  the  Secession  church  in  relation 
to  the  extent  of  the  atonement,  Dr.  Balmer  was 
towards  the  close  of  his  life  an  object  of  suspicion 
to  his  brethren,  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  his  senti- 
ments. To  use  his  own  words,  "  he  believed  the 
atonement  to  be,  in  one  view,  universal,  to  have 
removed  all  legal  obstacles  to  the  salvation  of  aU, 
and  to  have  laid  a  foundation  for  the  universal 
calls  and  invitations  of  the  gospel.  -  He  held  at  the 
same  time  the  doctrine  of  election."  "  Whatever 
was  peculiar,"  says  his  biographer,  "  in  the  senti- 
ments of  Dr.  Balmer  on  this  subject,  he  did  not 
bring  it  forward  so  as  to  unsettle  the  minds  either 
of  the  students  under  his  cai*e,  or  of  the  member? 
of  his  congregation,  in  regard  to  the  received  doc- 
trine of  the  Secession  Cliurdi."  In  the  beginning 
of  1842,  a  bookseller  belonging  to  his  congi*ega 
tion,  having  formed  the  design  of  reprinting  that 
portion  of  PolhilFs  Treatise  on  the  Divine  Will 
which  relates  to  the  extent  of  the  atonement,  ap- 
plied to  him  to  introduce  the  essay  with  a  few 
prefatoiy  remarks.  That  preface  did  not  give  sat- 
isfaction to  those  who  held,  in  the  strictest  sense, 
the  articles  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  which  speak 
of  redemption  as  purchased  only  for  the  elect;  and 
at  the  meeting  of  Synod  in  May  1843,  the  brethren 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  his  views,  sought  a  con- 
ference with  him,  that  they  might  hear  any  explana- 
tions which  he  chose  to  give.  At  a  nr.eeting  of 
Synod  in  the  following  October,  the  question  be- 
came again  the  subject  of  discussion,  on  two  over- 
tures being  brought  up  from  the  Presbytery  of 
Paisley  and  Greenock ;  and,  after  Dr.  Balmer,  in 
a  speech  of  two  hours'  duration,  had  unfolded  his 
views,  with  perfect  candour  and  explicitness,  the 
S3i)od  agreed  to  a  finding  to  the  effect  that,  on 
explanation,  supposed  diversities  of  sentiment,  in 
a  great  measure,  disappeared,  and  that  scriptural 
harmony  prevailed  among  the  brethren.  At  the 
same  time,  it  was  recommended  that  the  use  of  the 
expressions,  universal  atonement  on  the  one  hand, 
and  limited  atonement  on  the  other,  should  be 
avoided,  on  account  of  their  liableness  to  be  mis- 
apprehended. Tlie  matter  came  again  before  the 
Synod  in  May  1844,  but  they  adhered  to  their 
former  decision.    Dr.  Balmer  did  not  long  survive 


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BALMERINO. 


the  settleitaent  of  this  painful  business,  as  he  died 
on  the  morning  of  Monday,  July  1,  1844.  Tlie 
following  is  a  portrait  of  this  eminent  professor  of 
the  Secession  Church  • 


At  the  commencement  of  his  last  illness,  which 
was  influenza  caused  by  a  cold  caught  while  ab- 
sent from  home,  he  was  able,  with  an  effort,  to 
correct  the  final  proof  sheet  of  his  essay  *  On  the 
Scriptural  Basis  of  Union  among  Christians.'  He 
published  little  during  his  lifetime.  A  volume 
of  his  sermons  was  issued  by  ministers  of  the  As- 
sociate Synod  in  1819,  for  the  benefit  of  the  stu- 
dents' library,  to  which  any  profits  arising  fi-om  its 
sale  were  to  be  applied.  He  was  the  author  of  *  Ob- 
servations on  the  Character  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry 
Belfrage  as  an  Author,'  fnmished  at  the  request 
of  the  editora  of  the  Memoir  of  that  eminent  min- 
ister and  pleasing  writer ;  an  Addi*ess  to  Elders, 
and  some  funeral  Sermons.  He  contributed  at 
one  time  some  reviews  to  the  Theological  Maga- 
zine, and  other  religions  publications.  His  Aca- 
demical Lectures  and  Pulpit  Discoui-ses  were  pub- 
lished, posthumously,  in  2  vols,  in  1845 ;  with  a 
memoir  prefixed,  from  which  have  been  chiefly 
derived  the  materials  for  this  sketch  of  his  life. 

Baijierino,  Baron,  a  title  formerly  possessed  by  a  branch 
of  the  Elphinstone  family,  first  bestowed  in  1603,  on  the 
Hon.  Sir  James  Elphinstone,  knight,  third  son  of  Robert, 


third  Lord  Elphinstone,  by  his  spouse  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Dnimmond  of  Inverpeffrey,  [see  Elphinstokb, 
surname  of]. 

The  Balmerino  branch  of  the  Elphinstones  were  singulariy 
unfortunate.  The  history  of  no  family  in  the  Scottish  peer- 
age was  marked  by  so  many  vidautudes.  Out  of  the  six 
lords  Balmerino,  to  which  number  the  line  extended,  three 
were  condemned  to  death,  and  the  kst  lord  was  pablidy  be- 
headed as  a  traitor. 

The  first  Lord  Balmerino,  previous  to  his  deration  to 
the  peerage,  was  designed  of  Innemochtie,  and  under  that 
designation,  was  appointed  a  lord  of  session,  4th  March, 
1586.  In  1595  he  was  constituted  one  of  the  dght  commis- 
sioners of  the  treasury,  called  fi?om  their  number  Octarians, 
who  were  intrusted  with  the  management  of  the  public  re- 
venue, and  who  became,  fit)m  their  office,  exceedingly  unpop- 
ular ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  intended  victims  to  the  fuiy  of 
the  people,  in  the  remarkable  riot  in  Edinburgh,  in  December 
1595,  which  afterwards  cost  the  dty  so  much.  In  1598  he 
w:is  appointed  secretary  of  state,  and  on  the  20th  Februaiy 
1604,  he  was  created  a  peer  of  parliament  by  the  title  of  bar- 
on Balmerinodi,  in  Fifeshire.  On  the  1st  of  March  1605  he 
was  constituted  president  of  the  court  of  session.  In  his  lat- 
ter years  he  fell  into  disgrace  with  the  king,  owing  to  the  fol- 
lowing drcumstanoe:  In  1599,  while  secretary  of  state,  he 
had  drawn  up  a  letter  in  the  name  of  James  VL,  addressed 
to  the  Pope,  Clement  VIII.,  requesting  a  cardinal*s  hat  for 
his  kinsman,  Chisholme,  bishop  of  Vaison,  in  order  that  ha 
might  manage  the  correspondence  between  the  courts  of 
Rome  and  Uolyroodhouse,  and  shuffling  it  in  among  other 
papers  lying  for  the  king's  signature,  it  was  subscribed  by  his 
majesty  without  his  noting  the  contents,  or  observing  to  whom 
it  was  addressed.  The  letter  was  transmitted  to  Rome,  and 
the  deceit  was  not  finally  discovered  till  1608,  five  years  after 
James*  accession  to  the  throne  of  England,  when  Lord  Bal- 
merino was  sent  for  to  London  to  explain  the  transaction. 
Having  confessed  his  guilt  he  was  removed  to  Scotland  by 
land,  under  a  guard,  and  imprisoned  at  Falkland.  He  was 
tried  at  St  Andrews,  and  being  found  guilty  of  treason,  was 
sentenced  to  be  beheaded.  The  execution  of  the  sentence, 
however,  was  ddayed,  and  in  October  1609  a  warrant  passed 
granting  him  liberty  of  free  ward  in  Falkland,  and  one  mile 
round  that  place.  Afterwards  he  obtained  permission  to  re- 
tire to  his  own  house  of  Balmerinoch,  where  he  died  in  1612. 
It  was  thought,  however,  that  in  this  he  was  but  made  the 
scapegoat  of  James  VI.,  who  was  believed  to  have  been  privy 
to  the  writing  of  the  letter,  with  the  view  of  rendering  the 
English  Catholics  favourable  to  his  accession  to  the  English 
throne.  James*  double  dealing  was  a  strong  feature  in  his 
character.  By  his  first  wife,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Mentdth  of  Carse,  his  lordship  had  a  son,  John,  second  Lord 
Balmerino.  His  second  wife,  Marjory,  daughter  of  Hugh 
Maxwell  of  Tealing,  brought  him  a  son,  James,  created  in 
December  1607  Lord  Coupar,  and  two  daughters,  Anne,  mar- 
ried to  Andrew,  first  Lord  Eraser,  and  Maiy,  who  became  the 
wiie  of  John  Hamilton  of  Blair. 

John,  second  Lord  Balmerino,  was  restored  to  blood  and 
to  the  peerage  by  letter  under  the  great  seal,  4th  August, 
1613,  his  father  having  died  under  attainder.  He  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  opposition  which  he  displayed  in  par- 
liament in  1688,  to  the  act  establishing  the  royal  prerogativB 
of  imposing  apparel  on  churchmen.  A  petition  to  the  king, 
on  the  part  of  Uie  opposition,  having  been  drawn  up  by  Wil- 
liam Haig,  a  lawyer,  who  had  been  solidtor  to  James  VI.,  a 
copy  of  it  was  shown  to  Charles,  who  signified  his  displeasure 
at  the  measure  so  strongly  that  the  intention  of  preaentine  it 


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BALNAVES. 


iris  abandoned.  Lord  Balmerino  had  unfortunately  re- 
tained a  duplicate  of  it,  and  having  interlined  it  in  some 
places  with  his  own  hand,  he  showed  it  to  one  John  Dun- 
more,  a  notary  in  Dundee,  his  confidential  agent,  who  was 
allowed  to  take  it  home  with  him  under  the  strictest  injunc- 
tions of  secrecy.  The  latter,  however,  gave  a  copy  of  it  to 
Peter  Hay  of  Naughton,  in  Fife,  who  bore  no  goodwill  to 
Lord  Balmerino,  and  he  immediately  carried  it  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  St  Andrews.  That  prelate,  thinking  the  petition 
was  sent  about  for  subscription,  hurried  with  it  to  London, 
and  kid  the  matter  before  the  king.  Lord  Balmerino  was, 
in  consequence,  on  the  10th  June  1634,  examined  before  the 
privy  council  concerning  this  paper,  and  afterwards  committed 
to  dose  confinement  in  Edinburgh  castle.  He  was  subse- 
quently brought  to  trial,  for  having  divulged  and  dispersed  a 
dangerous  and  seditious  libel,  as  the  petition  was  styled,  and 
concealing  and  not  revealing  the  author  thereof,  and  being 
found  guilty  by  a  majority  of  one,  sentence  of  death  was  pro- 
nounced upon  him.  The  earl  of  Traquair,  who  was  then 
chancellor,  apprehensive  of  the  vengeance  of  the  populace,  if 
the  sentence  was  carried  into  execution,  hastened  to  London, 
and  procured  a  pardon,  though  it  was  not  till  November  1635 
that  Lord  Balmerino  was  set  at  liberty.  His  lordship  en- 
tered warmly  into  the  views  of  the  covenanters,  and  assisted 
them  not  only  with  his  advice  and  personal  exertions,  but 
also  with  large  sums  of  money,  to  the  injury  of  his  paternal 
inheritance.  On  the  18th  August  1641  he  was  nominated 
president  of  parliament,  on  the  17th  September  a  privy  coun- 
cillor, and  on  the  13th  November  following  an  extraordinary 
lord  of  session.  He  died  of  apoplexy  on  the  28th  February 
1649,  and  was  buried  in  the  vaulted  cemetery  of  the  Logan 
&mily,  adjoinmg  to  the  old  church  of  Restalrig,  but  according 
to  Scott  of  Scotstarvet,  his  body  was  disinterred  in  1650  by 
Cromwell's  soldiers,  while  searching  for  leaden  coffins,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  bullets,  and  thrown  into  the  street.  He 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Ker  of  Femyhirst, 
and  sister  of  the  notorious  Gar,  earl  of  Somerset.  His  name 
has  found  a  place  in  Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors, 

Lord  Balmerino's  Speech  on  the  Army,  describmg  their 
Conspirades,*  having  been  published  in  1642,  4to. 

John,  third  Lord  Balmerino,  the  son  of  the  second  lord, 
bom  18th  February  1623,  on  succeeding  to  the  title,  found 
his  a£fair8  in  great  disorder.  He  was  also  engaged  in  several 
lawsuits,  and  was  obliged  to  dispose  of  almost  the  whole  of 
his  landed  property.  For  his  compliance  with  the  ruling 
powers  during  the  usurpation,  and  for  non -conformity,  he 
was  fined  in  the  sum  of  X6,000  Scots,  by  the  earl  of  Middle- 
t<m*s  paiiiament  in  1662.  He  died  10th  June  1704,  aged  82. 
By  his  wife,  I^dy  Margaret  Campbell,  only  daughter  of  John, 
earl  of  Loudon,  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland,  he  had  John, 
fourth  Lord  Balmerino,  and  three  other  children,  who  died 
in  infiucy. 

John,  fourth  Lord  Balmerino,  bom  26th  December  1652, 
was  styled  by  Lockhart  in  his  Memours,  as  **  perhaps  one  of 
the  best  lawyers  in  the  kingdom,  and  veiy  expert  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Scottish  constitution."  He  was  admitted  a 
privy  councillor  16th  August  1687,  succeeded  his  father  in 
1704,  and  strenuously  opposed  the  Union.  At  the  general 
election  in  1710,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  sixteen  represen- 
tatives of  the  Scottish  peerage ;  the  same  year  he  was  ap- 
p<nnted  general  of  the  mint,  and  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Edin- 
borgfa,  and  in  1711  he  was  named  one  of  the  commissioners 
for  executing  the  office  of  lord  chamberlain.  He  was  also  one 
of  the  lords  of  police.  In  1713  he  was  rechosen  a  represen- 
tative peer.  On  the  accession  of  George  I.  he  was  removed 
from  ail  his  offices,  and  no  longer  elected  one  of  the  sixteen 


peers.  Notwithstanding  this  harsh  treatment  he  oontinoed 
faithful  to  the  house  of  Hanover  during  the  rebellion  of  1715 
He  afterwards  lived  retired,  and  died  at  his  house  at  Leith, 
Idth  May  1786,  aged  84.  By  his  first  wife,  Lady  Christian 
Montgomery,  thud  daughter  of  Hugh,  seventh  earl  of  Eglin- 
tonn,  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  eldest  son, 
Hugh,  master  of  Balmerino,  an  officer  in  the  army,  was  killed 
at  the  siege  of  Lisle  in  1708.  His  second  son,  John,  succeed- 
ed him  as  fifth  Lord  Balmerino.  By  his  second  wife,  Anne, 
daughter  of  Arthur  Ross,  the  last  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews, 
he  had  the  unfortunate  Arthur,  sixth  and  last  Lord  Balmerino. 
and  another  son  and  a  daughter,  who  both  died  unmarried. 

John,  fifth  Lord  Balmerino,  bora  24th  November  1675, 
applied  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was  admitted  advocate 
in  1703.  In  June  1714,  a  few  weeks  before  the  death  of 
Queen  Anne,  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of  session,  and  took 
his  seat  on  the  bench  as  Lord  Coupar.  [See  Coupab,  Bar- 
on.] He  died  at  Leith,  5th  January  1746,  aged  71,  and 
having  no  issue  by  his  wife,  Lady  Elizabeth  Carnegie,  daugh- 
ter of  David,  fourth  earl  of  Northesk,  he  was  succeeded  in 
both  his  tiUes  of  Balmerino  and  Coupar  by  his  half-brother, 
Arthur,  nxth  and  last  Lord  Balmerino,  for  a  notice  of  whoso 
life  see  Elphinstonb,  Aktuub. 

The  Lords  Balmerino  were  superiors  of  the  district  of  Cak 
ton  in  Edinburgh.  The  town  coundl  purchased  the  superi- 
ority firom  the  last  representative  of  that  noble  family,  who 
presented  the  old  Calton  burying-ground  to  his  vassals,  and 
it  is  said  offered  them  the  whole  hill  for  £40. — [  Wilsmi't 
Memorials  of  Edinburgh^  vol  il  p.  133.]  The  house  of  the 
Lords  Balmerino  in  Ldth  was  at  the  comer  of  Coatfidd  Lan« 
in  the  Kirkgate,  and  here  the  third  Lord  Balmerino  recdved 
Charles  II.  on  his  landing  in  Leith,  29th  July  1650. 


Balnaves,  a  surname  which,  according  to  one  tradition, 
was  derived  from  the  high  mountain  Bennevis,  (the  Hill  of 
Heaven,)  in  the  south-west  extremity  of  Inverness -shire,  near 
which  those  who  bore  the  name  are  said  to  have  lived.  Ac- 
cording to  another  traditbn  the  name  arose  firom  one  Nevoy 
or  Nevay  plilying  well  at  the  football  before  one  of  our  kings, 
when  the  latter  called  out,  '^  wed  ballad,  Nevoy,**  hence  the 
surname  Balnaves ;  in  accordance  with  which  some  persons 
of  the  name  have  a  football  for  crest,  with  the  motto,  Forti- 
tudme  et  velocikUe.  An  old  family,  Balnaves  of  Cambody, 
had  for  crest  a  hand  holding  a  football,  with  the  motto,  Hinc 
origo.    [Nitbet^B  Eeraldty,  vol.  L  p.  20.] 

BALNAVES,  Henry,  of  HaUhill,  one  of  the 
promoters  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  was 
bom  at  Kirkcaldy,  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Fifth 
After  a  com*se  of  study  at  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews,  it  is  stated  that,  while  yet  a  boy,  he 
travelled  to  the  continent,  and  hearing  of  a  fi*ee 
school  at  Cologne,  procured  admission  into  It,  and 
received  a  liberal  education.  While  on  the  conti- 
nent he  imbibed  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 
On  his  retuiii  to  Scotland  he  studied  the  law,  and 
was  for  some  time  a  procurator  at  St.  Andrews. 
On  SI  St  July,  1538,  James  the  Fifth  appointed 
him  a  lord  of  session ;  and  on  10th  August  1539 
he  obtained  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Hallhill,  in 
the  parish  of  Collessie,  Fife,  to  himself  and  Chris- 


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HENRY. 


taue  Schemes  his  wife.  [Diplomata  Regia^  vol.  vii. 
p.  176.]  He  was  afterwards  employed  by  the 
earl  of  Arran  when  governor  of  the  kingdom,  on 
whose  appointment  to  the  regency  he  became  sec- 
retaiy  of  state ;  and  is  said  by  Sir  James  Melville 
to  have  been  veiy  instrumental  in  getting  passed 
the  celebrated  act  of  parliament  inti'oduced  by 
Lord  Maxwell,  by  which  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  the  "vulgar  toung"  was  permitted.  In  1542 
he  was  depute  keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  and  in 
1543  he  was  chosen  by  parliament  one  of  the  am- 
bassadors to  Heniy  the  Eighth,  sent  with  their  in- 
structions with  regard  to  the  proposed  man*iage  of 
the  infant  queen  Mary  to  Edward  the  young  prince 
of  Wales.  In  this  embassy  he  was  joined  with 
Sir  James  Learmonth  the  treasurer,  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton  of  Sanquhar.  They  set  off  from 
Edinburgh  23d  March,  1543  [Sadler's  State  Pa- 
persy  vol.  i.  p.  90],  and  the  treaties  of  peace  and 
marriage  were  finally  arranged  on  the  Ist  of  July. 
But,  shortly  after,  on  the  return  of  the  governor 
Arran  to  the  popish  faith  and  his  reconciliation 
with  Cardinal  Bethnne,  Balnaves  was  dismissed 
from  all  his  offices,  in  consequence  of  his  protestant 
principles  and  his  favouring  the  English  alliance. 
In  November  of  this  same  year  (1543),  with  the  earl 
of  Rothes  and  Lord  Gray,  he  was  apprehended  at 
Dundee  by  the  regent  and  cardinal,  and  confined 
in  the  castle  of  Blackness  until  May  following, 
when  they  were  restored  to  liberty,  in  consequence 
of  the  arrival  of  Henry's  fleet  in  the  Fiith  of  Forth. 
In  1546,  after  the  murder  of  Cai'dinal  Bethnne, 
he  joined  Norman  Leslie,  and  the  others,  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Andrews,  for  which  he  was  declared  a 
traitor  and  forfeited,  although  he  was  not  actually 
concerned  in  the  deed.  While  his  friends  were 
besieged  in  the  castle,  he  was  sent  as  their  agent 
to  England,  for  assistance,  and  in  February  1547, 
a  month  after  the  death  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  he 
received  from  the  guardians  of  Edward  the  Sixth 
considerable  sums  of  money  and  provisions  for 
them.  IFoedera,  vol.  xv.  p.  133.]  He  himself 
obtained  a  pension  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  pounds,  from  lady  day  (25th  March)  that  year; 
at  the  same  time,  he  became  bound  that  Leslie  and 
his  associates  should  do  what  they  could  to  deliver 
the  young  queen  Mary  and  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
drews into  the  hands  of  the  English.     When  that 


fortress  at  last  surrendered,  he  was  conducted 
with  the  othere  to  France,  and  confined  in  the 
French  galleys  at  Rouen.  On  this  occasion  it  was 
that  the  popish  party  in  Scotland  shouted  for  joy 
in  the  streets ; 

•*  Ye  priests,  content  ye  nou ; 
Ye  priests,  content  ye  nou ; 
For  Normand  and  bis  companie 
Hae  fill'd  the  gaUeys  fon ! " 

During  his  confinement  at  Rouen,  he  wrote  what 
Knox  terms  "  a  comfortable  treatise  of  justifica- 
tion," which,  after  being  revised  by  Knox,  who 
prefixed  a  recommendatory  dedication,  was  pub- 
lished in  1584,  under  the  title  of  *  The  Confession 
of  Faith,  &c.,  compiled  by  M.  Henry  Balnaves,  of 
Hallhill,^  &c.,  as  given  in  full  after  this  article. 
Dr.  M*Crie  speaks  of  a  London  edition  of  the 
same  date,  but  this  is  evidently  a  mistake. 

In  1556,  the  forfeiture  which  Balnaves  had  in- 
cun*ed  was  removed,  when  he  returned  to  Scot- 
land, and  in  1559,  "  the  year,"  according  to  Pit- 
scottie,  "  of  the  uproi*e  about  religion,"  he  took  a 
leading  part  for  the  congregation.  In  August  of 
that  year  he  was  secretly  despatched  to  solicit  the 
assistance  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  envoy,  Sir  Ralph 
Sadler,  at  Berwick,  and  obtained  from  him  a  pro- 
mise of  an  aid  of  two  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
On  the  11th  February  1563  he  was  reappointed  a 
lord  of  session,  and  in  December  of  that  year 
named  one  of  the  commissioners  for  revising  the 
Book  of  Discipline.  On  the  trial  of  Bothwell  for 
the  murder  of  Damley  in  1567,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  four  assessors  to  the  earl  of  Argyle,  the 
lord  justice  general,  and  in  the  following  year,  he 
and  Buchanan  accompanied  the  regent  Murray 
when  he  went  to  York,  to  attend  the  inquiry,  by 
English  and  Scottish  commissioners,  into  the  al- 
leged guilt  of  the  unfortunate  Queen  Mary.  In 
requital  for  his  various  services,  he  received  the 
lands  of  Letham  from  the  regent.  He  retired 
from  the  bench  previous  to  October  1575,  and  died 
at  Edinburgh,  according  to  Dr.  Mackenzie,  in 
1579.  We  learn  from  Calderwood's  History  and 
Sadler's  State  Papers  that  he  raised  himself,  by 
his  talents  and  probity,  from  an  obscure  station  to 
the  first  honom-s  of  the  state,  and  was  justly  re 
gai'ded  as  one  of  the  principal  supporters  of  the 


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BANFF. 


refonned  cause  in  Scotland.  He  is  described^  by 
John  Knox  as  a  veiy  learned  and  pious  man,  and 
Sir  James  Melville  characterizes  Lim  as  "  a  godly, 
learned,  wise  and  long-experimented  counsellor." 
[^Melville's  Memoirs^  p.  27.]  A  short  ballad,  sign- 
ed Balnaves,  in  Ramsay's  Evergreen,  entitled 
'  Advice  to  a  headstrong  Youth,'  and  beginning, 

*^  0  gallandis  all,  I  cry  and  cali," 

has  been  attributed  to  him ;  but  in  our  estimation 
without  sufficient  grounds.  On  the  faith  of  it, 
however,  he  has  obtained  a  place  in  Irving's  *  Lives 
of  Scottish  Poets.'  [Vol.  ii.  p.  136.]  His  estate 
of  Hallhill  he  disponed  to  Sir  James  Melville, 
third  son  of  Sir  John  Melville  of  Raith,  and  bro- 
ther of  Su:  RoboA't  Melville  of  Murdocairnie,  fii*st 
Lord  Melville.  It  remained  the  property  of  his 
descendants  till  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second, 
i!ihen  it  was  purchased  by  the  earl  of  Melville. 
The  house  of  HaUhill  has  long  been  taken  down, 
and  its  site,  with  a  portion  of  the  estate,  is  includ- 
ed within  the  parks  round  Melville  House. 

The  following  is  the  title  of  Balnaves'  treatise 
on  Justification  above  referred  to : 

The  Confession  of  Faith,  oonteining  how  the  troubled  man 
shoold  seeke  refuge  at  his  God,  therto  led  by  faith;  &c. 
CompOed  by  M.  Henry  Balnanes,  of  Halhfll,  and  one  of  the 
Lords  of  Session  and  Ck>ansell  of  Scotland,  being  as  prisoner 
within  the  old  pallaice  of  Roane,  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord 
1548.  Direct  to  his  faithfull  brethren,  being  in  Eke  trouble 
or  more,  and  to  all  true  professours  and  fauourers  of  the  syn- 
cere  worde  of  God.    Edinb.  1584,  8vo. 


Balvaird,  Barok,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  con- 
ferred, 17th  November  1641,  on  the  Rev.  Andrew  Murray, 
who  was  settled  minister  of  Abdie  in  Fife  in  1618,  second  son 
of  David  Murray  of  Balgonie  and  Agnes  his  wife,  a  daughter 
of  Moncrieffe  of  Moncrieffe.  In  1631,  on  the  death  of  Sir 
David  Murray  of  Gospertie,  first  viscount  of  Stormont,  the 
minister  of  AMie  succeeded  to  the  baronies  of  Amgask  and 
Rippo.  He  was  knighted  at  the  coronation  of  Charles  the 
First  in  Scotland  m  1633,  and  in  1636  he  had  a  charter  of 
the  lands  of  Pitlochie,  *'  Domino  Andrea  Murray  de  Balvaird 
inilitL"  In  1638  he  was  a  member  of  the  famous  General 
Assembly  which  met  at  Ghisgow,  of  which  the  Rev.  Alexan- 
der Henderson  was  moderator,  and  by  his  sound  judgment, 
authority  and  moderation,  he  assisted  greatly  in  allaying  the 
beats  and  differences  which  arose  among  the  members.  He 
was  in  consequence  favourably  represented  to  the  king  by  the 
Marquis  of  Hamilton,  his  majesty's  high  commissioner.  The 
same  year  he  was  deprived  of  the  church  of  Abdie  in  conse- 
quence of  the  moderation  of  his  .views.  Charles  the  First 
afterwards  created  him  a  peer  by  the  title  of  Lord  Balvaird. 
[^Dou^hs'  Peerage,  vol.  ii.  p.  542.]  He  was,  however,  pro- 
hibited by  the  Assembly  from  bearing  improper  titles.  On 
the  death  of  the  second  Viscount  Stormont  in  March  1642,  he 
succeeded  to  tiie  lands,  lordship,  and  barony  of  Stormont, 


while  the  title  of  Viscount  Stormont  went  to  the  second  eari 
of  Annandale  of  the  name  of  Murray.  Lord  Balvaird  died  oq 
the  24th  of  September  1644.  By  his  wife,  Lady  Elizabetli 
Camegy,  fifth  daughter  of  the  first  earl  of  Southeak,  he  had 
five  sons  and  three  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  David,  second 
Lord  Balvaird,  succeeded  to  the  titles  of  Viscount  Stormont 
and  Lord  Scone,  on  the  death  of  James,  earl  of  Annandale,  in 
1658,  and  the  title  of  Lord  Balvaird  thenceforth  became 
merged  in  that  of  Viscount  Stormont  [See  SroKMOirr, 
Viscount.] 

The  Hon.  James  Murray,  M.D.,  the  third  son  of  the  first 
Lord  Balvaird,  was  a  physician  of  great  reputation  and  learn- 
ing. The  fourth  son.  Sir  John  Murray  of  Drumcurnie,  was 
appointed  a  lord  of  session  in  October  1681,  and  sat  in  the 
Scottish  parliament  as  oce  of  the  commissioners  for  the  county 
of  Perth,  in  1685  and  1686.  By  the  royal  commissioners  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of  the  articles  in  April  1686, 
and  in  July  1687  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of  justiciary.  At 
the  Revolution  in  1688  he  lost  all  his  offices.  The  Hon. 
William  Murray,  the  fifth  son,  was  an  advocate  at  the  Scotch 
bar,  and  became  very  eminent  in  his  profession. 


Bakff,  Baron,  a  titie  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  confer- 
red by  Charles  the  First  by  patent,  dated  at  Nottingham, 
81st  August  1642,  on  Sir  George  Ogilvy  of  Dunlugns,  a  de 
scendant  of  a  younger  branch  of  the  noble  family  of  Airlie. 

Sir  Walter  Ogilvy  of  Auchleven,  second  son  of  Sir  Waltei 
Ogilvy  of  Lintrathen,  high  treasurer  of  Scotland,  (who  died 
in  1440— see  article  Airub,  ante,  page  31,)  married  in  1437 
Margaret,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  John  Sinclair  of  Desk- 
ford  and  Findlater,  and  had  two  sons,  Sir  James  Ogilvy,  ancestoi 
of  the  earls  of  Findlater  [see  Fun>LATKK,  earl  of],  and  Sir 
Walter  Ogilvy  of  Boyne,  ancestor  of  the  Lords  Banff.  The 
latter,  by  his  marriage  with  Margaret,  second  daughter  and 
co-heiress  of  Sir  James  Edmonstone  of  Edmonstone,  obtained 
half  of  the  lands  of  Tulliallan  in  Perthshire,  and  of  the  thane- 
dom  of  Boyne  in  Banffshire,  and  by  excambion  with  Elizabeth 
Blackader,  the  elder  sister  of  his  wife,  and  her  husband,  Pat- 
rick Blackader,  the  other  half  of  that  thanedom  was  obtained 
by  him,  in  right  of  his  wife,  in  exchange  for  her  half  of  Tulli- 
allan, 25th  February  1486.  The  name  of  Banff,  by  which 
the  family  was  afterwards  ennobled,  seems  to  be  derived  firom 
the  andent  thanedom  of  Boyne.  In  some  old  charters  the 
town  of  Banff  is  spelled  Bomeffe  and  Bameje.  The  district 
of  Boyne  has  probably  received  its  name  firom  a  conspicuous 
mountain  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cullen  called  the  Binn. 

Sir  Walter  had  three  sons,  viz.  George,  ancestor  of  the 
Ogilvies  of  Boyne,  Rothiemay  and  Inchmartyne;  Walter 
Ogilvy  of  Dunlugus,  progenitor  of  the  Banff  family,  and  Sir 
William  Ogilvie  of  Stratheam,  appointed  high  treasurer  ot 
Scotiand  by  John  duke  of  Albany,  governor  of  the  kingdom, 
who  granted  him  a  charter  of  the  lordship  of  the  forest  of 
Boyne,  6th  February  1516.  [Crawfor^t  Officers  of  State, 
p.  370.]  By  his  wife,  Alison  Rule,  Sir  William  Ogilvy  had 
a  son,  John  Ogilvy  of  Stratheam,  afterwards  designed  of 
Camousie. 

The  second  son  above  mentioned.  Sir  Walter  Ogilvy  of 
Dunlugus,  held  the  office  of  provost  oi  Banff.  He  had  a 
charter  firom  his  nephew,  John  Ogilvy  of  Stratheam,  of  cer- 
tain lands  in  Invemcss- shire,  Camousie  in  Banffshire,  and 
Monycabock  in  Aberdeenshire,  dlst  March  1531.  He  died 
29th  November  1558,  and  was  bmied  in  the  church  of  Banff; 
where  a  monimient  was  erected  to  his  memoiy.  By  his  wife, 
Alison  Hume,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Sir  Patrick  Hume  of 
Fastcastle,  he  got  a  considerable  estate.    He  had  two  sons. 


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George  and  Walter,  and  a  daughter,  married  to  Sir  Alexan- 
der Fraser  of  Philorth. 

The  eldest  son,  Sir  George  Ogilvy  of  Donlugus,  mamed 
Beatrix  Seton,  foorth  daughter  of  George  fifth  Lord  Seton, 
and  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  latter  married  to 
William  Forbes  of  Tolqohonn.  He  acquired  the  thanedom  of 
Boyne  from  the  elder  branch  of  his  family,  and  had  a  charter 
of  all  the  lands  of  that  thanedom,  20th  March  1575.  George, 
his  second  sou,  was  the  father  of  Sir  George  Ogilvy,  first 
baronet  of  Gamousie,  so  created  24th  April  1626. 

The  eldest  son.  Sir  Walter  Ogilvy  of  Banflf  and  Dunlugus, 
married  Helen,  daughter  of  Walter  Urquhart  of  Cromarty, 
and  had  two  sons,  and  a  daughter,  Beatrix,  married  to  Alex- 
ander Seton  of  Pitmedden. 

Sir  Geoige  Ogilvy,  the  eldest  son,  was  the  first  Lord  Banff. 
He  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  dOth  July  1627. 
During  the  civil  wan  he  adhered  to  the  royal  cause,  and 
after  the  army  of  the  Covenanters  had  been  expelled  from 
Aberdeen  by  the  Gordons,  15th  May  1639,  when  it  was  pro- 
posed by  Gordon  of  Straloch,  the  historian,  and  Burnet  of 
Craigmylle,  a  brother  of  the  laird  of  Leys,  who  were  both 
peaceably  inclined,  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  the  earl 
marischal  at  Dunnottar,  Sir  George  Ogilvy  would  not  listen 
to  the  proposal,  but  addressing  Stndoch  he  said,  **  Go,  if  you 
will  go ;  but  pr'ythee,  let  it  be  as  quarter-master,  to  inform 
the  earl  that  we  are  coming.**  He  distinguished  himself  in 
the  action  against  the  Covenanters  under  the  earl  of  Montrose 
at  the  Bridge  of  Dee  on  the  19th  of  June  [Spalding's  EtMtory^ 
vol.  L  p.  248].  After  the  defeat  of  the  Royalists  there  he  re- 
tired to  England,  and  in  1640  his  houses  and  lands  were 
pluhdered  by  the  Covenanters.  In  1642,  as  aheady  stated, 
for  his  faithful  services  King  Charles  created  him  a  peer  of 
Scotland,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Banfi^  to  him  and  his  hein 
male  for  ever,  bearing  the  name  and  arms  of  Ogilvy.  His 
l(Hdship  died  11th  August  1663.  He  was  twice  married :  first 
to  Margaret,  daughter  of  Alexander  Irvine  of  Drum,  by  whom 
ne  had  a  daughter  Helen,  married  to  the  second  earl  of  Airlie; 
and  secondly  to  Mary  Sutherland,  a  daughter  of  Dufibs,  by 
whom  he  had  a  son,  George,  second  Lord  Banff,  and  two 
daughters,  who  were  both  married. 

George,  second  Lord  Banff,  married  Agnes  Falconer,  only 
laughter  of  the  first  Lord  Halkerston,  and  had  two  sons, 
George,  third  lord  Banff,  and  Sur  Alexander  Ogilvy,  of  Foiglen, 
and  four  daughters.  According  to  Douglas  [Peerage,  vol.  L 
p.  193],  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy,  the  second  son,  became  an 
advocate,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  this  on  record.  [Haig 
and  BrwUofCe  Senators  of  the  College  of  Jtatice,  p.  483.] 
He  was  created  a  baronet  29th  June  1701,  and  in  1702  he 
was  elected  member  of  the  Scots  parliament,  for  the  burgh  of 
Banff,  and  continued  to  sit  in  it  till  the  Union.  In  June 
1703  he  and  Lord  Belhaven  wove  ordered  into  custody  for 
some  improper  expressions  in  parliament,  and  on  the  SOth  of 
the  same  month,  on  presenting  a  petition  acknowledging 
their  offence,  they  were  brought  to  the  bar  of  the  house,  by 
the  ofiioer  of  the  guard,  and  after  makmg  a  proper  apology 
to  the  commissioner  and  the  estates,  were  rest(»red  to  their 
places.  On  the  25th  March  1706  Sir  Alexander  was  ap- 
pointed a  lord  of  session,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  23d  July 
following,  under  the  judicial  title  of  Lord  Forglen.  The  same 
year  he  was  constituted  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the 
treaty  of  union,  which  he  steadily  supported  in  parliament. 
He  died  3d  March  1727.  He  was  twice  married,  and  by  his 
first  wife,  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  John  Allardice  of 
Allardice,  in  the  county  of  Kincardine,  he  had  three  sons  and 
four  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  George,  died  before  liim,  as 
did  also  his  second  son   Alexander,  but  the  eldest  son  of 


the  latter,  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy,  baronet,  became  seventh 
lord  Banff 

In  Fountainhall^s  Dedsions,  under  date  March  28,  1685, 
there  is  reported  a  curious  case,  in  which  Sir  Alexander  For- 
bes of  Tolquhoun  pursued  Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Forglen,  for 
taking  away  a  gilded  Mazer  cup  out  of  his  house,  ret  rm- 
dicatione  for  restitution,  or  for  the  value.  After  the  exami- 
nation of  witnesses,  who  proved  nothing,  it  was  discovered 
that  Tolquhoun  himself  had  some  years  ago  given  in  this  cup 
to  a  goldsmith  in  Aberdeen  to  be  mended,  and  he  having  for- 
gotfit  was  lying  there  unrelieved,  for  Tolquhoun*s  not  paying 
half-a-crown  for  it.  The  lords  getting  notice  of  this,  pro- 
ceeded to  advise  the  case.  Tolquhoun  by  a  bill  had  craved 
delay,  till  witnesses  were  examined  as  to  who  had  given  the 
cup  to  the  goldsmith,  seeing  that  Forglen  might  have  shuffled 
it  in  there,  but  the  lords  rejected  the  bill,  and  assoilzied  For- 
glen, ordaining  Tolquhoun  to  pay  a  thousand  merks  of  ex- 
penses, and  allowing  Forglen  to  pursue  him  for  defamation. 
In  the  following  April  Ogilvy  brought  an  action  against 
Forbes  for  defamation  of  character  before  the  privy  council, 
who  fined  him  in  twenty  thousand  merks,  the  half  to  go  to 
the  king,  and  the  other  half  to  the  pursuer,  and  ordained  the 
defender  to  crave  pardon  of  the  lords  of  session.  Forbes  ob- 
tained a  letter  from  the  king  to  the  privy  council,  remitting 
the  one  half  of  the  fine,  but  the  lords  of  session,  on  reconsid- 
ering the  case,  ordered  the  other  half  to  be  pud  to  Foi^en. 

The  second  Lord  Banff  died  in  1668,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  eldest  son  George,  third  lord,  a  Roman  Catholic.  In 
1705  he  renounced  popery,  and  a  curious  letter  on  the  subject 
firom  his  lordship  and  Mr.  William  Hunter,  minister  of  Banflf 
who  married  his  daughter,  to  Mr.  Carstares,  will  be  found  L 
the  Carstares*  State  Papers,  736.  Having  signed  the  for- 
mula subjoined  to  the  act  of  parliament  for  preventing  the 
growth  of  popeiy,  hia  lordship  took  his  seat  in  the  last  pariia- 
ment  of  Scotland  on  the  first  day  of  its  last  session,  Sd  Octo- 
ber 1706.  He  voted  with  ministers  on  every  question  in 
support  of  the  treaty  of  union,  and  his  share  of  the  twenty 
thousand  pounds  distributed  on  the  occasion  amounted  only 
to  eleven  pounds  two  shillings.  [Camwatk*e  Memoirs^  pw 
415.]  Had  he  been  a  little  more  hard  to  win  he  would 
doubtless  have  got  more.  His  lordship  was  burnt  to  death 
in  the  castle  of  Inchdrewer,  about  four  miles  from  the  town 
of  Banff,  under  very  suspicious  circumstances,  in  November 
1713.  "  It  is  said  that  he  had  gone  for  some  time  to  Ireland, 
engaged  probably  in  some  of  the  intrigues  then  carrying  on  in 
behalf  of  the  Pntender;  and  it  was  suspected  that  the  per- 
sons in  whose  charge  he  had  left  the  castle,  having  pillaged 
some  of  his  valuable  property,  murdered  him  immediately 
after  his  return,  and  set  his  apartment  on  fire  for  the  sake  of 
concealment.  By  some,  it  seems,  the  event  was  viewed  as 
a  judgment  on  his  apostacy,  and  particularly  with  regard  to 
some  threats  used  by  him  of  burning  the  Protestants.**  [Neto 
Stat  Ace.  Bca^fihire,  vol.  xiiL  p.  31.]  He  married  Lady 
Jean  Keith,  third  daughter  of  William  seventh  earl  Marischal, 
and  had  a  son,  George,  fourth  Lord  Banff,  and  a  daughter, 
who  was  twice  married,  the  second  time  to  the  above-men- 
tioned Rev.  William  Hunter. 

George,  the  fourth  lord,  died  m  1718.  He  married,  11th 
January  1712,  Helen  daughter  of  Sir  John  Lauder  of  Foun- 
tainhall,  baronet,  a  lord  of  session,  l^  whom  he  had  two 
sons,  John  George,  fifth  lord,  bom  18th  February  1717,  and 
Alexander,  sixth  lord,  a  posthumous  son,  being  bom  in  1718. 
Her  ladyship  married  a  second  time  James  Hay,  second  son 
of  Hay  of  Rannes,  by  whom  she  had  three  sons,  and  died  22d 
October  1743. 

John  George,  the   fifth  Lord  Banff,   was  unfortonatolv 


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GEORGE. 


drowned  29th  July  1738,  when  bathing  with  Lord  Deakford, 
tflerwarda  sixth  Mii  of  Findlater,  after  dinner  at  the  Black 
Kocks  near  CoUen.  He  had  a  short  time  previonslj  married 
^lary  daughter  of  Captain  James  Ogilvy,  but  had  no  issue. 

His  brother  Alexander  succeeded  him  as  sixth  Lord  Banff. 
He  had  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  royal  navy  13th  February 
1741,  and  was  commander  of  the  Hastings  man  of-war  in 
1745^  and  1743,  when  he  captured  a  valuable  outward  bound 
Spanish  register  ship,  a  Spanish  privateer  of  twenty  guns, 
and  a  French  polacre  with  a  rich  cargo,  and  other  vessels. 
In  1745  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Tilbury, 
and  <Ued,  unmarried,  at  Lisbon  in  November  1746,  in  the 
29th  year  of  his  age.  His  personal  property  was  bequeathed 
to  his  brothen-uterine  the  Hays,  while  his  title  and  estate 
were  inherited  by  his  cousin.  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Forglen, 
grandson  of  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy,  Lord  Forglen. 

Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy,  seventh  Lord  Banff,  succeeded  his 
grandfather  in  his  estate  and  baronetcy  in  1727;  and  in  1746 
he  succeeded  his  cousin  as  already  stated  in  the  Banff  peer- 
age. He  married,  2d  April  1749,  Jean  daughter  of  William 
Misbet  of  Dirieton,  and  by  her  had  four  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters, the  eldest  of  whom,  Jane,  was  married  to  Sir  George 
Abercromby  of  Bidcenbog,  baronet. 

The  eldest  son,  Alexander,  having  died  young  m  1763, 
William,  the  second  son,  became,  on  the  death  of  his  father, 
1st  December  1771,  eighth  and  last  Lord  Banffl  He  was  an 
officer  in  the  Inniskillen  dragoons,  and  served  on  the  conti- 
nent under  the  duke  of  Yoik.  He  died,  unmarried,  at 
Forglen,  4th  June  1803,  when,  all  his  brothers  being  dead 
without  issue,  his  estates  went  to  his  sister,  the  Hon.  Lady 
Abercromby,  and  the  title  became  dormant  The  Hon.  Lady 
Abercromby  died  in  1838,  and  was  succeeded  by  her  son  Sir 
Robert  Abercromby  of  Bu-kenbog  and  Forglen,  baronet.  The 
title  of  Lord  Banff  is  claimed  by  Sir  William  Ogilvie  of  Cor- 
nousie,  baronet. 


Banvattne,  in  old  writings  spelled  Benachtyne,  and  Ban- 
nachtyne,  a  surname  supposed  originally  to  have  been  the 
lame  as  Ballantyne. 

The  most  ancient  families  of  the  name  were  the  Banna- 
tynes  of  Corhouse,  of  Newtyle,  descended  from  the  former; 
James  Bannatyne  of  Newhall,  son  of  the  laird  of  Newtyle, 
Forfarshire,  appointed  a  lord  of  session  14th  Februiuy, 
1626;  died  1636;  of  Camys,  now  Kames,  in  the  Island 
of  Bute;  and  of  Kelly,  founded  by  a  second  son  of  that 
family.  By  charters  and  bonds  of  manrent  the  Bannatynes 
may  be  traced  as  in  possession  of  Kames  early  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  when  it  is  supposed  that  Kames  castle,  a 
smgle  tower,  which  was  long  the  residence  of  the  family,  was 
built.  A  tumulus  on  the  side  of  a  small  stream  near  the 
Point  House,  Bothesay,  is  shown  where  a  bloody  battle  took 
place  between  the  Bannatynes  of  G[ame8  and  the  Spences  of 
North  Kames.  The  castle  was  formerly  surrounded  by  a 
ditch,  which  was  filled  up,  and  a  modem  house  added  to  the 
tower  by  the  late  Lord  Bannatyne,  of  whom  a  notice  is  given 
below,  and  who  sold  the  estate  to  Mr.  James  Hamilton, 
writer  to  the  signet.  Although  the  Bannatynes  are  no 
longer  in  possession  of  Kames,  their  name  b  perpetuated 
as  having  once  been  connected  with  Bute  in  the  village  of 
Port  Bannatyne,  about  3  miles  from  Bothesay.  Con- 
uected  with  the  ancient  family  of  Bannatyne  of  Kames  was 
George  Bannatyne,  the  collector  of  our  Scottish  poetry,  the 
subject  of  the  foUowmg  notioe,  whose  father,  Mr.  James 
Bannatyne,  a  writer  in  Edinburgh,  possessed  the  estate  of 
Kirkton  of  Newtyle,  in  Forfarshire,  the  manor  house  of  which 
was  called  Bannatyne  H(  use.    He  was  a  man  of  some  emi- 


nence m  his  profession,  and  held  the  office  of  Tabular,  or 
Keeper  of  the  Rolls,  to  tlie  Court  of  Session,  in  which  his 
second  but  then  eldest  living  son,  Thomas  Bannatyne,  who 
became  a  lord  of  session,  under  the  designation  of  Lord  New- 
tyle, was  conjoined  with  him  as  his  successor  by  royal  precept 
May  2, 1583.  The  father,  James  Bannatyne,  died  in  1683. 
The  son,  Thomas  Bannatyne,  was  bom  on  the  last  day  oi 
August,  1540,  and  appears  for  the  first  time  as  justice-depute, 
17th  February,  1572.  On  the  20th  April,  1577,  he  was  ap- 
pointed an  ordinary  lord  of  session  in  place  of  Sir  John  Bel- 
lenden  of  AuchinouL  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
opening  pariiament,  18th  November,  1583,  and  also  in  August 
1584.  On  the  18th  November,  1583,  he  was  appomted  by 
his  colleagues  on  tho  bench  their  collector  for  the  following 
year  "  of  the  fourtie  shillings  quhilk  sdi  be  givin  them  be 
the  parties  pleyand  before  them,  quha  tynes  the  plcy  the  time 
of  the  giving  of  the  saids  lords  decret  of  dempnation  or  absol- 
vitor," [^Books  o/ Sederunt,']  a  tax  which  the  Court  had  been 
authorised  to  levy  by  an  act  of  parliament  passed  a  short  time 
before.  Lord  Newtyle  died  13th  August,  1591.  [^ffaig  ana 
BnuUoiCM.  Senators  of  the  College  of  Jtutice^  p.  164.]  In 
1596  his  son,  Mr.  James  Bannatyne,  was  retoured  his  heir  in 
the  Unds  of  Kirkton  of  Newtyle,  with  the  brewhouse  and 
comteind,  and  half  of  the  barony  of  Balmaw,  which  before 
the  Reformation  belonged  to  the  abbey  of  Lindores,  having 
been  granted  to  that  monastery  by  Alexander  the  Third,  along 
with  some  other  territorial  grants.  These  properties  belong 
now  to  Lord  Wharacliffe. 

BANNATYNE,  George,  the  collector  of  the 
national  poetry  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, and  whose  name  has  been  adopted  by  a 
distlngolshed  Scottish  litei*ary  club,  founded  hy 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  1823,  was  bom  February  22, 
1545.  His  father,  the  above-mentioned  James 
Bannatyne  of  the  Kirktown  of  Newtyle,  Forfar- 
shire, by  his  wife,  Kathciine  Taillefer,  had  twenty- 
three  children,  and  George  was  the  seventh  child. 
He  was  brought  up  to  trade,  but  it  does  not  appeal 
at  what  particular  time  he  began  to  be  engaged  in 
business,  nor  what  branch  of  business  he  pursued. 
His  famous  collection  was  written  in  the  months 
of  October,  November,  and  December,  in  his  re- 
tii'ement  in  Bannatyne  House,  Forfarshire,  dur- 
ing a  pestilence  which  raged  in  Edinburgh  in  the 
latter  part  of  1668.  "  Bannatyne's  Manuscript," 
says  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  a  memoir  of  him,  which 
he  wrote  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  "  is  in  a  folio 
form,  containing  upwards  of  eight  hundred  pages, 
vei7  neatly  and  closely  written,  and  designed,  as 
has  been  supposed,  to  be  sent  to  the  press.  The 
labour  of  compiling  so  rich  a  collection  was  under- 
taken by  the  author  during  the  time  of  pestilence 
in  the  year  1568,  when  the  dread  of  infection  com- 
pelled men  to  forsake  their  usual  employments, 
which  could  not  be  conducted  without  admitting 


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—     i      ! 


the  ordinary  promiscuous  intercourse  between  man 
and  his  kindred  men.  In  this  dreadful  period, 
when  hundi-eds,  finding  themselves  surrounded  by 
danger  and  death,  renounced  all  care,  save  that 
of  selfish  precaution  for  theii*  own  safety,  and  all 
thoughts  save  apprehensions  of  infection,  George 
Bannatyne  had  the  courageous  energy  to  form  and 
execute  the  plan  of  saving  the  literature  of  a  whole 
nation ;  and  undisturbed  by  the  universal  mourn- 
ing for  the  dead,  and  general  fears  of  the  living, 
to  devote  himself  to  the  task  of  collecting  and  re- 
cording the  triumphs  of  human  genius ;  thus,  amid 
the  wreck  of  all  that  was  mortal,  employing  him- 
self in  presei-ving  the  lays  by  which  immortality 
is  at  once  given  to  others,  and  obtained  for  the 
Avriter  himself."  Many  of  the  productions  of  the 
**Makkaris"  of  ancient  days  would  have  perished 
had  not  George  Bannatyne  thus  rescued  them 
fix)m  oblivion.  On  the  north  side  of  Bannatyne 
house,  there  is  a  capacious  circular  turret,  which 
is  believed  to  have  been  Mr.  Bannatyne's  study, 
while  engaged  in  this  laborious  but  interesting 
task. 

In  October  1587  Bannatyne  was  admitted  a 
merchant  and  guild  brother  of  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh. .  Sir  Walter  Scott  conjectures  that,  as 
usual  in  a  Scottish  burgh,  his  commerce  was  gen- 
eral and  miscellaneous.  In  a  few  years,  we  are 
fuither  told,  he  had  amassed  a  considerable  capi- 
tal, "  which  he  employed  to  advantage  in  vaiious 
money-lending  transactions."  Bannatyne  died 
some  time  previous  to  1608.  He  had  married  Is- 
obel  Mawchan  or  Maughan,  relict  of  Baillie  Wil- 
liam Nisbet,  who  brought  him  a  son  and  a  daugh- 
ter. The  son  died  young.  His  daughter  was 
married,  in  her  16th  year,  to  George  Foulis  of 
Woodhall  and  Ravelstone,  whose  grandson,  Wil- 
liam Foulis  of  Woodhall,  bestowed  the  valuable 
collection  of  Scottish  poetry  left  by  George  Ban- 
natyne on  the  Hon.  William  Carmichael  of  Skir- 
ling, advocate,  brother  of  the  eai-1  pf  Hyndford. 
Allan  Ramsay  afterwai-ds  selected  from  it  materials 
for  his  *  Evergreen.'  In  1770  Lord  Hailes  pub- 
lished a  more  accurate  selection  from  it.  In  1772 
the  Bannatyne  Manuscript  was  presented  by  the 
third  eaii  of  Hyndford  to  the  Advocates'  Library, 
in  which  it  is  now  preserved.  Bannatyne  himself 
wrote  one  or  two  pieces  pf  original  poetry,  but 


these  are  of  no  great  merit.  The  club  that  bears 
his  name  was  instituted  in  1823  for  the  publication 
of  works  illustrative  of  the  history  and  antiquities 
of  Scotland.  Of  this  club  Sir  Walter  Scott  was 
president,  and  he  regularly  took  the  chair  on  their 
anniversaiy  dinners  from  1823  to  1831.  For  their 
first  dinner  on  March  9,  1823,  he  composed  an 
excellent  song,  (now  inserted  among  his  poems,) 
which  was  sung  by  Mr.  James  Ballantyne,  book- 
seller, and  heartily  chorased  by  the  company : — 

**  Aiisist  me,  je  friends  of  old  books  and  old  wine, 
To  sing  in  the  praises  of  Sage  Bannatyne, 
Who  left  such  a  treasure  of  old  Scottish  lore, 
As  enables  each  age  to  print  one  volume  more, 
One  volume  more,  mj  friends,  one  volume  more, 
Well  ransack  old  Bannj  for  one  volimie  more. 

BANNATYNE,  Richard,  secretary  to  John 
Knox,  and  compiler  of  *  Memoriales  of  Transac- 
tions in  Scotland  from  1569  to  1673,'  was,  it  is 
satisfactorily  ascertained,  a  person  of  respectability 
and  learning,  and  much  esteemed  by  the  great 
reformer,  whose  friendship  and  confidence  he  en- 
joyed till  his  death.  Very  little  is  known  coa» 
ceruing  him.  It  appears  probable  that  he  was  a 
descendant  of  the  family  of  which  George  Banna- 
tyne was  a  cadet.  It  is  uncertain  whether  he 
belonged  to  the  profession  of  the  law,  or  was  a 
licentiate  of  the  church.  In  the  prefatory  notice 
to  Mr.  Pitcaim's  edition  of  the  '  Memoriales,' 
printed  in  1836  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  which 
contains  all  the  particulars  of  Richard  Bannatyne's 
life  that  can  now  be  obtained,  and  to  which  we 
have  been  indebted  for  these  details,  there  occurs 
the  following  passage :  "  There  is  no  reason  for 
supposing  that  Bannatyne  had  ever  been  em- 
ployed as  an  authorized  reader  or  catechbt  under 
John  Knox.  Although  the  first  minister  of  Edin- 
burgh would  most  likely  require  the  services  of 
such  an  individual,  to  aid  him  in  overtaking  the 
laborious  but  important  duties  of  parochial  visita- 
tion and  catechising,  &c.,  yet  it  is  not  known  that 
Knox  availed  himself  of  the  continued  personal 
assistance  and  services  of  any  other  person  than 
Richard  Bannatyne.  But  at  the  same  time  it 
ought  to  be  remarked,  that  in  the  course  of  the 
*  Memoriales,'  notice  is  repeatedly  taken  of  Richard 
Bannatyne  having  made  appearances  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  and  before  the  Kirk  Session  of 


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RICHARD. 


Edinburgh,  during  the  illness  or  absence  of  John 
Knox;  and  that  he  was  permitted  to  address 
these  coni*ts  as  a  'prolocutor'  or  speaker ;"  which 
he  could  only  have  done  in  the  capacity  of  a  mem- 
ber, or  law-agent  appearing  on  behalf  of  another. 
At  the  first  Greneral  Assembly  held  after  the  death 
of  Knox,  which  took  place  in  November  1572, 
Richai'd  Bannatyne  presented  a  petition,  or  "  sup- 
plication," praying  that  he  should  be  appointed  by 
the  church  to  put  in  order,  for  their  better  preser- 
Tation,  the  papers  and  scrolls  left  to  him  by  the 
reformer.  The  Assembly  agreed  to  his  request, 
and  granted  him  '*  the  summ  of  foui*ty  pounds,  to 
be  payed  off  the  1572  years  crope,"  for  so  doing. 
About  1575,  after  he  had  completed  the  task  as- 
signed to  him,  Richard  Bannatyne  became  clerk 
to  Mr.  Samuel  Cockbum,  of  Tempill,  or  Tempill- 
hall,  advocate,  in  whose  service  he  remained  for 
thirty  ycai-s,  and  whom  he  appointed  joint  execu- 
tor of  his  last  will  and  testament  with  his  only 
brother,  James  Bannatyne,  merchant  in  Ayr.  To 
his  master's  daughter,  Alice,  he  left  a  legacy  of 
two  hundred  merks,  besides  smaller  gifts  to  his 
domestics.  Richard  Bannatyne  died  September  4, 
1605.  Of  the  *  Memoriales'  there  ai-e  two  MSS. 
extant,  understood  to  be  transcripts  of  the  origi- 
nal; one  in  the  library  of  the  university  of  Edin- 
Durgh,  and  the  other  in  the  Advocates'  Library. 
From  the  latter  Sir  John  Graham  Dalzell,  pub- 
lished, in  1806,  an  octavo  volume,  entitled  *  Jour- 
nal of  the  Transactions  in  Scotland,'  which  excited 
great  interest  from  the  historical  value  of  the  con- 
tents. The  university  transcript  having  been 
afterwards  discovered,  Mr.  Pitcaum  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  collating  the  two  with  each  other, 
whereby  he  was  enabled  to  produce  the  first  com- 
plete edition  of  Bannatyne's  work  which  has  yet 
appeared.  The  following  graphic  and  interesting 
notice  of  Richard  Bannatyne,  which  records  also 
one  of  the  latest  appearances  in  the  pulpit  of  John 
Knox,  is  taken  from  the  Diary  of  Mr.  James  Mel- 
i  ville,  1556—1601,  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1829. 
"  The  town  of  Edinbruche  recouered  againe,  and 
the  guld  aud  honest  men  therof  retoumed  to  thair 
housses.  Mr.  Knox,  with  his  familie,  past  hame 
to  Edinbruche;  being  in  Sanct  Andros,  he  was 
verie  weak.  I  saw  him  every  day  of  his  doctrine 
go  hulie  and  fear,  with  a  furring  of  martriks  about 


his  neck,  a  staff  in  the  an  hand,  and  guid  godlie 
Richard  Ballanden,  his  servand  haldin  vpe  the 
vther  oxtar,  from  the  Abbay  to  the  paroche  klrke, 
and  be  the  said  Richart  and  another  servant, 
lifted  vpe  to  the  pulpit,  whar  he  behouit  to  lean 
at  his  first  ontrie ;  bot  or  he  haid  done  with  his 
sermont,  he  was  sa  active  and  vigorous,  that  he 
was  lyke  to  ding  that  pulpit  in  blads,  and  file  out 
of  it!  Sa,  soone  efter  his  coming  to  Edinbruche,  he 
becam  unable  to  preatch ;  and  sa  instituting  in  his 
roum,  be  the  ordinar  calling  of  the  kiik  and  the 
congregation,  Mr.  James  Lawsone,  he  tuk  him 
to  his  chamber,  and  most  happelie  and  comforta- 
blie  departed  this  lyff."     [Melville's  Diary,  p.  26.] 

The  scene  that  took  place  just  before  Knox 
breathed  his  last,  in  which  Bannatyne  acted  a  pro- 
minent part,  is  thus  described  by  Calderwood, 
(vol.  iii.  p.  237)  :  "  About  five  houres  he  sayeth  to 
his  wife,  *  Goe,  i-ead  where  I  cast  my  first  anker ;' 
and  so,  she  read  the  17th  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  Johne;  and,  after  that,  some  ser- 
mons of  Mr.  Calvin's  upon  the  Ephesians.  About 
halfe  houre  to  tenne  they  went  to  the  ordinar 
prayer,  which  being  ended,  Doctor  Preston  said 
unto  him,  '  Sir,  heard  yee  the  prayers?  *  He  an- 
swered, ^I  would  to  God  that  yee  and  all  men 
heard  them  as  I  heard:  I  praise  God  for  that 
heavenlie  sound.'  Then  Robert  Campbell  of  Kln- 
zeancleucho  sitteth  donn  before  him  on  a  stoole, 
and  incontinent  he  sayeth,  ^Now,  it  is  cornel'  for 
he  had  given  a  long  sigh  and  sob.  Then  said 
Richard  Bannatyne  to  him,  *  Now,  Sir,  the  time 
yee  have  long  called  to  God  for,  to  witt,  an  end 
of  your  battel),  is  come,  and  seeing  all  natnrall 
powers  faile,  give  us  some  signe  that  yee  remem- 
ber upon  the  comfortable  promises  which  yee  have 
oft  shewed  unto  us.'  He  lifted  up  his  one  hand, 
and  incontinent  therafter  randered  his  spirit,  about 
eleven  houres  at  night." 

Bannatyne's  attachment  to  the  refoimer,  and 
high  appreciation  of  his  chai*acter,  are  well  illus- 
trated in  the  following  anecdote.  When  Knox 
was  accused  by  Robert  Hamilton  of  St.  Andrews, 
of  being  *^as  great  a  murtherer  as  any  Hamilton 
in  Scotland,  and,  therefore,  suld  not  ciy  out  so 
fast  against  murtherei*s,  he  being  privy  to  an  at- 
tempt to  assassinate  Damley  at  Perth,"  he  chal- 
lenged the  accuser  to  make  good  his  charge,  and 


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BANNERMAN. 


Hamilton  at  ouce  retracted  it.    Upon  wliich  Ban- 
natyne  said  to  him,  ^^  Gif  I  knew  my  maister  to 
'  be  sic  a  man,  I  wold  not  serve  bim  for  all  the  geir 
in  Sanct  Andrews." 

BANNATYNE,  Sir  William  Macleod,  Knt., 
one  of  the  senatora  of  the  College  of  Justice,  was 
bom  January  26, 1743.  lie  was  the  son  of  Mr. 
Roderick  Macleod,  writer  to  the  signet,  and 
through  his  mother  he  succeeded  to  the  estate  of 
Kames  in  the  island  of  Bute,  when  he  assumed 
the  name  of  Bannatyne.  His  aunt,  Lady  Clan- 
ranald,  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London, 
for  having  afforded  protection  to  Prince  Charles 
during  bis  wanderings,  after  the  battle  of  CuUo- 
den.  Being  of  a  gay  and  easy  disposition,  he  had 
not  been  many  years  in  possession  of  Kames, 
when  he  was  obliged  to  part  with  it,  and,  as 
already  stated,  it  was  purchased  by  Mr.  James 
Hamilton,  writer  to  the  signet.  He  received  a 
liberal  education,  and  was  admitted  advocate, 
January  22,  1766.  While  at  the  bai*  he  deserv- 
edly acquired  the  character  of  a  sound  and  able 
lawyer.  Among  his  intimate  friends  were  Blair, 
Mackenzie,  Cullen,  Erskinc,  Abercromby,  and 
Ci*aig.  He  was  a  contributor  to  the  Mirror  and 
I>ounger,  and  was  the  last  survivor  of  that  illus- 
trious band  of  men  of  genius  who  shed  so  bright  a 
lustre  on  the  periodical  literature  of  Scotland, 
about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  private 
life,  his  benevolent  and  amiable  qualities  of  heart 
and  mind,  and  his  rich  store  of  literary  and  histo- 
rical anecdote,  endeared  him  to  a  numerous  and 
highly  distinguished  circle  of  friends.  On  the 
death  of  I>ord  Swinton,  in  1799,  he  was  promoted 
to  the  bench,  and  took  his  seat  as  Lord  Banna- 
tyne, on  the  16th  May  of  that  year.  He  retired 
in  1823,  when  he  had  the  honour  of  knighthood 
conferred  upon  him.  He  died  at  Edinburgh,  No- 
vember 30,  1833,  in  his  91st  year.  Although  as 
a  speaker  Lord  Bannatyne  was  perspicuous  and 
distinct,  his  judicial  remarks  when  written  by 
himself,  from  his  parenthetical  style,  were  exceed- 
ingly involved  and  confused.  Nevertheless,  his 
decisions  were  sound,  and  his  legal  opinions  had 
always  due  weight  with  his  brethren  on  the  bench. 
The  Highland  Society  was  originated  by  him  and 
some  other  patriotic  gentlemen  in  1784,  and  he 
was  an  original  member  of  the  Bannatyne  Club. 


He  had  collected  a  valuable  library,  rich  in  hisio- 
rical,  genealogical,  and  antiquarian  works,  and  at 
its  sale,  which  took  place  25th  April,  1834,  six 
months  after  his  decease,  a  set  of  the  Bannatyne 
publications  was  purchased  for  Sir  John  Hay,  bar- 
onet, of  Smithfield  and  Haystown,  for  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  pounds  sterling.  It  wanted, 
however,  one  or  two  of  the  "Garlands."  Tlie 
following  is  a  likeness  of  Lord  Bannatyne  taken 
by  Kay  in  1799 


^. 


His  mansion,  Whiteford  House,  near  the  bottom 
of  the  Canongate  of  Edinburgh,  became  a  type- 
foundry  after  his  death. 

Banmerman,  a  samame  denved  from  the  office  of  banner- 
bearer  to  the  king.  Those  of  this  name  held  that  office  dar- 
ing the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  and  carried  for  arms  a 
banner  displayed.  Boece  states  that  once  when  King  Mal- 
colm the  Third  had  advanced  against  the  rebels  in  Moray,  he 
who  bore  the  royal  banner  showing  a  want  of  courage  the 
king  took  the  banner  from  ^lim  and  gave  it  to  Sir  Alexander 
Carron,  the  ancestor  of  the  noble  family  of  Scrimzeour,  vis- 
counts and  earls  of  Dundee,  afterwards  hereditaiy  standard 
bearers.  In  this  story,  the  first  part  of  which  at  least  is 
somewhat  doubtful,  Buchanan  follows  Boece,  but  an  inter- 
polated passage  of  Fordun  [Book  L  p.  285]  places  this  event, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  ori^  of  the  Scrimzeours,  in  ihe  reign 
of  Alexander  the  Furst  [See  ante^  p.  54.]  The  former  ban- 
ner-bearer and  his  successors,  according  to  Sir  George  Mao- 
kenzie,  in  his  genealogical  account  of  the  families  of  Scotland, 
were  ordained  to  bear  in  their  crest  of  arms  a  banner  with  iih 


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BARBOUR, 


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JOHN. 


•Uff  broken.  In  consequence  thej  ceased  to  carry  any  arms 
at  aU  for  several  centories;  but  ultiinately  aasnmed  those  of 
Forbes,  with  some  difierence,  because  of  their  frequent  alli- 
anoes  with  persous  of  that  surname.  In  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  Bannerman  of  Waterton,  thereafter 
of  Elsick,  began  to  use  the  old  coat  of  arms  of  the  Banner- 
mans,  without  the  mark  of  dishonour.  [NiAet 9- Heraldry^ 
▼oL  il  p.  86.] 

In  1589  Alexander  Bannerman  of  Waterton  was  sheriff- 
depute  of  Aberdeen.   [Scotstarvefs  CoUecHoM^  p.  184.1 

Margaret,  a  daughter  of  Bannemuui  of  Elsick,  married,  23d 
NoTember  1608,  George  Gordon  of  Haddo,  ancestor  of  the 
earls  of  Aberdeen. 

On  28th  December  1682,  the  ancestor  of  the  family  of 
Bannerman  of  Elsick,  whoee  seat  is  Crimonmogate,  Aber- 
deenshire, was  created  a  baronet  of  Noya  Scotia,  for  his 
attachment  to  the  cause  of  Charles  the  Second.  His  second 
son,  George  Bannerman  of  Dunboig,  was  admitted  advocate 
14th  February  1671,  and  on  16th  January  1684  he  was  ap- 
pointed solicitor  to  King  Charles  the  Second.  He  married 
Elixabeth  Oliphant,  daughter  of  the  Uird  of  BachiHon,  and 
died  at  Edmbuigh  20th  November  1691.  He  did  not  take 
the  oaths  to  WilUam  of  Orange,  having  adhered  to  the  exiled 
farailf.  All  the  family  were  Jacobites.  A  younger  brother, 
Mr  Robert  Bannerman,  was  episcopalian  minister  at  New- 
ton, but  lost  his  livmg  in  1689,  for  not  agreeing  with  the 
Revolution.  Another  brother,  Captain  Bannerman,  was  an 
sfficer  in  King  James'  forces. 

The  name  frequently  occurs  in  the  Burgh  records  of  the 
town  of  Aberdeen.  In  1715  Sir  Peter  Bannerman  was  pro- 
vost of  that  city. 

In  1851  Sir  Alexander  Bannerman,  who  from  1832  to  1840 
«nu  M.P.  for  the  city  of  Aberdeen,  was  appointed  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Prince  Edward*s  Island,  and  at  tlie  same  time 
was  knighted.  In  1854  governor  of  the  Bahamas,  and  in 
1857  of  Newfoundland. 


Baxbour,  a  surname  which  there  can  be  no  doubt  origin- 
ated from  the  profession  of  a  barber,  and  seems  to  have  been 
at  one  period  conunon  in  Scotland.  In  1309  King  Robert  the 
Bruce  granted  to  Robert  Barbour  a  charter  of  the  lands  of 
Craigie  in  Forfarshire.  To  this  Robert  Barbour  Dr.  Jamie- 
ton  suggests  the  probability  that  the  poet  Barbour  was  re- 
lated. In  the  borough  rolls  of  exchequer  in  the  year  1328 
occnn  an  order  issued  by  King  Robert  the  Bruce  to  Sir  Alex- 
ander Seaton,  governor  of  Berwick,  for  the  payment  of  a  cer- 
tain sum  of  money  to  a  John  Barbour  or  Barber.  A  person 
of  the  name  of  Andrew  Barbour  possessed  a  tenement  in  the 
Castle  street  of  Aberdeen,  from  which,  in  1850,  a  burgess  of 
that  dty  called  Mathew  Pinchach  had  granted  an  endowment 
to  the  Carmelite  Friars,  as  appears  from  a  charter  given  by 
David  the  Second  to  that  body,  of  the  date  of  1560.  In  this 
eharter  the  name  Barbour  is  curiously  translated  Barbitcmsor. 
[J<mi€9fm*»  Barbour^  page  3.] 

BARBOUR^  Barber,  or  Barbar,  John,  an 
emiDent  historical  poet,  was  bora,  according  to  a 
supposition  of  Lord  Hailes,  about  1316;  other 
authorities  say,  1880.  Aberdeen  is  stated  by 
Hume  of  Godscroft,  Dr.  M^Kenzie  and  others,  to 
nave  been  his  birthplace,  but  the  statement, 
though  extremely  probable,  is  not  fully  authenti- 
cated.   From  the  sameness  of  the  name,  he  is  con- 


jectured by  Dr.  Irving  to  have  been  the  sou  of  the 
above-named  John  Barbour,  llrmng*s  Lives  oftht 
Scotish  Poeis^  vol.  i.  p.  254,]  while  Dr.  Jamie- 
son  suggests  that  the  Andrew  Barbour,  also  above 
mentioned,  was  his  father.  [Jamie$an'$  Batbour^  v. 
i.  p.  8.]  The  latter  is  certainly  the  more  proba- 
ble supposition.  Where  all  is  conjecture,  however, 
without  any  evidence  to  support  it,  Mr.  Pinkerton, 
on  the  other  hand,  prudently  abstains  from  hazard- 
ing a  guess  as  to  either  the  birthplace  or  the  pa- 
rentage of  the  poet.  [PinkertofCs  Barbour^  vol.  i. 
p.  18.]  Tytler  says,  "  there  is  a  presumption  that 
he  was  educated  at  Arbroath,"  [Lives  of  Scottish 
Worthies^  vol.  ii.  p.  159,]  but  he  states  no 
grounds  and  gives  no  authority  for  it.  That  Bar- 
bour received  a  learned  education  is  certain,  being 
intended  for  the  church.  In  1856  he  was  pro- 
moted by  David  the  Second  to  the  archdeaconry 
of  Aberdeen.  In  August  1857,  Edward  the  Third, 
on  the  application  of  his  own  sovereign,  granted 
him  permission  to  visit  Oxford  with  three  scholars 
in  his  company.  The  letter  of  safe-conduct  is 
preserved  in  Rymer's  Fcedera  [vol.  vi.,  p.  81.] 
Although  Warton  supposes,  [History  of  English 
Poetry^  vol.  I.  p.  818,]  and  Tytler  **  pronounces 
with  certainty"  that  he  "studied  in  middle  life  at 
Oxford,"  [Lives  of  Scottish  Worthies,  p.  159,]  there 
is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  pursued  any  regular 
studies  there.  In  September.  1857  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  bishop  of  his  diocese  one  of  the 
commissioners  to  deliberate  at  Edinburgh,  con- 
cerning the  ransom  of  David  the  Second,  then 
a  captive  in  England.  [Fcedera,  vol.  vi.  p.  89.] 
In  November  1864,  he  received  another  permis- 
sion to  pass  through  England,  accompanied  by 
four  horsemen,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  at  Ox- 
ford, or  elsewhere.  It  has  been  conjectured  that 
his  repeated  visits  to  that  university  were  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  books,  and  conferring  with 
learaed  men,  or  perhaps  he  had  the  charge  of 
young  students  whom  he  conducted  to  Oxford,  to 
place  them  under  academical  discipline.  From 
the  terms  of  the  first  recited  passport,  in  which 
three  scholars  in  his  company  are  distinctly  men- 
tioned, this  is  most  likely  to  have  been  the  case. 
In  October  1865  he  appears  to  have  visited  St. 
Denis,  near  Paris,  in  company  with  six  knights 
his  attendants.   The  object  of  their  expedition  haf 


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JOHN. 


been  conjectured  by  Dr.  Irving  to  have  been  of  a 
religious  kind,  for  the  king  of  England  granted 
them  permission  to  pass  through  his  dominions  on 
their  way  to  St.  Denis  and  other  sacred  places. 
[Fadera,  vol.  vi.  p.  478.]  Another  safe-conduct, 
dated  November  1368,  granted  by  Edward  to 
Barbour,  permitted  him  to  pass  through  England, 
with  two  servants  and  their  horses,  on  his  way  to 
France,  for  the  pui-pose  of  studying  there.  In 
February  1373-4  his  name  appears  in  the  list  of 
auditors  of  the  Scottish  exchequer.  Such  are  all 
the  scanty  materials  that  are  known  of  the  life  of 
Barbour. 

His  great  poem  of  '  The  Bruce,  or  the  History 
of  Robert  the  First,  King  of  Scotland,'  was  writ- 
ten at  the  desire,  it  is  said,  of  King  David  the 
Second.  It  was  not  commenced  till  after  the  mid- 
dle period  of  his  life,  and  as  he  himself  infoims  us, 
was  finished  in  1375.  Hume  of  Godscroft  asserts 
that  as  a  reward  for  the  compilation  of  *The 
Bruce,'  he  had  a  yearly  pension  out  of  the  exche- 
quer during  his  life,  which  he  gave  to  the  hos- 
pital at  Aberdeen,  and  that  it  continued  to  be 
paid  in  the  seventeenth  century  [History  of  the 
House  of  Douglas^  p.  30]  ;  but  for  this  there  does 
not  seem  to  be  any  authority.  On  this  subject 
there  appeara  to  be  considerable  confusion  in  the 
statements  of  different  writers.  Dr.  Nicolson, 
without  producing  any  voucher,  affirms  that  he 
received  this  pension  from  King  David  [Scottish 
Historical  Library^  p.  145],  but  King  David  died 
in  1370,  five  years  before  the  poem  was  finished. 
Dr.  Mackenzie  first  states  that  it  was  David  the 
Second,  and  afterwards  that  it  was  Robert  the 
Second  who  conferred  this  pension  on  Barbour. 
[Lives  of  Scots  Writer s^  vol.  i.  pp.  264,  297.]  Dr. 
Irving  says  the  original  source  of  information  on 
the  point  is  evidently  the  passage  in  Godscroft. 
[Lives  of  the  Scottish  Poets,  vol.  i.  p.  256.]  It  is 
known  that  he  had  two  pensions,  one  of  ten  pounds 
Scots  from  the  customs  of  Aberdeen,  limited  to 
his  life,  and  another  of  twenty  shillings  from  the 
rents  of  that  city,  the  latter  of  which,  at  his  death, 
ho  bequeathed  to  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral 
church  of  his  native  city,  for  a  mass  to  be  sung 
for  his  soul's  repose. 

Annexed  is  a  woodcut  of  the  cathedral  of  Aber- 
deen- 


Barbour  died  at  the  end  ot  1395,  at  an  advance/i 
age.  His  celebrated  poem  has  long  been  consid- 
ered valuable  as  an  historical  record.  It  contains 
copious  details  of  the  glorious  exploits  of  Robert 
the  Bruce,  and  his  heroic  companions  in  arms. 
The  first  known  edition  of  *  The  Bruce '  was  pub- 
lishetl  at  Edinburgh  in  1616,  in  12mo,  but  an  ear 
lier  edition  is  believed  to  have  existed.  There 
have  been  about  twenty  editions  in  all ;  the  work 
having  been  several  times  reprinted  both  at  Edin- 
burgh and  Glasgow.  The  best  editions  are  Pin- 
kerton's,  with  notes  and  a  glossary,  printed  from 
a  MS.  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  dated  1489, 
three  volumes  8vo,  London,  1790 ;  and  Dr.  Jam- 
ieson's  4to,  Edinburgh,  1820.  Taking  the  total 
merits  of  this  work  together,  Pinkerton  says  that 
'*he  prefers  it  to  the  early  exertions  of  even  the 
Italian  muse,  to  the  melancholy  sublimity  of  Dan- 
te, and  the  amorous  quaintness  of  Petrai-ca." 
Barbour,  who  was  contemporary  with  Gower  and 
Chaucer,  wrote  better  English  than  either  of  these 
poets;  his  language  being  moi-e  intelligible  to  a 
modem  reader  than  is  that  of  any  one  poet  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  following  affords  a  very 
favourable  specimen  of  his  style,  and  of  his  talent 
at  raral  description : — 

This  was  in  midst  of  month  of  May, 
When  birdis  nng  on  ilku  spray, 
Melland  their  notes,  with  seemly  soun. 
For  softness  of  the  .•(we<!t  seasoon 


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BARCLAY. 


And  learis  of  the  branchis  spreeda, 

And  bloflsomis  bright,  beside  them  breeds, 

And  fieldis  strawed  are  with  flowers 

WeD  sarottring  of  seir  ooloors ; 

And  all  things  worthis,  bljth,  and  gaj. 

Barboni*  was  celebrated  in  his  own  times  for  his 
learning  and  genins ;  but  the  humanity  of  his  sen- 
timents, and  the  liberality  of  his  views,  were  much 
in  advance  of  his  age.  His  description  of  Free- 
dom b  highly  dignified  and  poetical : — 

A !  fredome  is  a  nobil  thing ! 
Fredome  mayss  a  man  to  haiff  Ijking, 
Fredome  all  solace  to  men  giffis 
He  levys  at  ess  that  freely  levys. 
A  noble  hart  may  haiff  nane  ess, 
No  ellys  nocht  that  may  him  pless, 
Gyff  fredome  failythe ;  for  fire  liking 
Is  yeamyt  onr  all  othir  thing. 
Na  he  that  ay  hass  levyt  fre, 
May  nocht  knaw  weill  the  propyrte. 
The  angyr,  na  the  wrechyt  dome 
That  is  cowplyt  to  fool  tbjridome. 
Bot  gyff  he  had  assayit  it. 
Than  all  perquer  he  suld  it  wyt, 
And  sold  think  fi;«dome  mar  to  pr}'S8 
Than  all  the  gold  in  warld  that  is. 

From  some  passages  in  Wyntoun's  Chronicle^  it 
bas  been  conjectured  that  Barbour  also  composed 
a  Genealogical  History  of  the  kings  of  Scotland, 
bat  no  part  of  this  is  known  to  be  extant.  Ac- 
cording to  Tytler  this  formed  two  works,  one  on 
the  Original  of  the  Stewarts,  and  the  other  on  the 
Genealogy  of  King  Bmt. 

Barclay,  the  same  name  as  the  English  Berkeley,  the 
Scottish  Barclays  being  originally  descended  from  Roger  de 
Berkeley,  who  is  s^d  to  have  come  into  £ngUnd  with  Wil- 
Ham  the  Conqueror,  and  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time, 
aasmned  his  surname  from  Berkeley  castle  in  Gloucestershire, 
the  place  of  his  residence  and  possessions. 

During  the  twelfth  century  a  branch  of  the  Berkeley  family 
settled  in  ScotUnd,  and  in  1165  we  find  Walter  de  Berkeley 
chamberlain  of  the  kingdom  ^Crawford's  Officers  of  State, 
page  253].  The  dame  is  of  long  standing  in  Kincardineshire. 
In  the  foundation  charter  of  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath  from 
William  the  Lion  in  1178,  in  conveying  to  that  institution  the 
lands  of  Mondynes,  in  the  parish  of  Fordoun,  it  is  said, 
**  Dedi  etiam  eis  unam  carucatam  terre  in  Monethyne,  super 
aquam  de  Bervyne,  quam  Willus  de  Munfort  et  Umfridus  de 
Berhdey,  et  Waltems  Scotus  et  Alanus,  filius  Symonis,  et 
aim  pro^  homines,  mei  per  preceptnm  meum  eis  mensuraver> 
nnt,** 

The  writer  of  the  account  of  the  Barclays  of  Mathers, 
afterwards  Urie,  in  Nisbet*s  System  of  Heraldry,  doubtless 
one  of  that  family,  desirous  of  making  it  even  more  ancient 


than  the  Conquest,  expresses  his  opmion  that  their  eariy  settle- 
ment in  Scotland  was  before  that  event,  and  that  they  were  not 
of  Norman  race  at  aU.  He  says,  {N%^)et,  vol.  iL  page  245,] 
whether  the  ancient  surname  of  Berkeley  or  Barclay  be  ori- 
ginally of  Caledonian,  British,  or  Saxon  extraction,  is  what 
cannot  now  be  concluded,  but  this  much  is  vouched  that  in 
the  reign  of  William  the  Lion  there  were  four  great  and  emi* 
nent  families  of  that  name  settled  in  Scotland,  namely,  Wal- 
ter  de  Berkeley,  William  de  Berkeley,  Humphrey  de  Berkeley, 
and  Robert  de  Berkeley — the  two  first  having  been  great 
chamberlains  of  the  kingdom.  Walter  de  Berkeley,  the  first 
named,  was  one  of  the  pledges  for  King  William  the  Lion  to 
Henry  the  Second  of  Rngland.  He  left  two  daughters,  one 
of  whom,  Margaret,  married  Sir  Alexander  Seton  of  Seton, 
ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Winton.  This  Walter  de  Berkeley  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  nephew  of  Theobald  de  Berkeley, 
the  progenitor  of  the  Barclays  of  Mathers  in  Kincardineshire, 
who  lived  in  the  reign  of  David  the  First,  and  had  two  sons, 
Humphry  and  John. 

Humphry  the  elder,  designed  of  Gaimtully,  was  a  liberal 
benefactor  to  the  abbey  of  Arbroath,  and  is  undoubtedly 
the  same  who  is  mentioned  in  the  above  dted  charter  of 
William  the  Lion.  On  part  of  his  large  possessions  in 
the"^  Meams,  namely  Balfeith,  Monboddo,  Glenfarquhar, 
&&,  in  the  parish  of  Fordoun,  he  granted  a  donation  to 
the  abbot  and  monks  thereof,  which  was  confirmed  by 
William  the  lion,  and  was  renewed  and  augmented  by  his 
only  chOd  Richenda,  and  her  husband,  Robert,  ancestor  of 
the  earls  of  Glencaum.  This  second  donation  was  confirmed 
by  Alexander  the  Second.  After  the  death  of  her  husband, 
the  monks  prevailed  on  Richenda  to  dispone  these  Unds  to 
them  for  the  third  tune,  which  third  donation  was  confirmed 
by  Alexander  the  Second  at  Aberbrothwick,  7th  March,  1243. 
Humphry's  brother,  John  de  Berkeley,  who  succeeded  him, 
turned  the  abbot  and  monks  out  of  all  the  lands  so  granted 
to  them,  but  was  obliged  to  enter  into  an  agreement  with 
them,  confirmed  by  Alexander  the  Second,  whereby,  in  lieu 
of  what  he  had  thus  dispossessed  them  of^  he  gave  them  the 
mill  of  Conveth,  with  the  appurtenances  thereof,  taking  them 
bound,  at  the  same  time,  to  pay  to  him  and  his  heirs,  in  all 
time  coming,  the  sum  of  thirteen  merks  of  silver  yearly. 

John  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert  de  Berkeley,  and  he 
by  his  son  Hugh  de  Berkeley,  who  obtained  a  charter  from 
King  Robert  the  Bruce  upon  Westerton,  being  lands  lying  near 
the  above  mentioned  mill  of  Conveth.  His  son,  Alexander 
de  Berkeley,  bom  in  1826,  was  the  first  designed  of  Mathers. 
He  obtained  these  lands,  situated  in  the  southern  district  of 
Kincardineshire,  on  his  marriage  with  Katherine,  sister  of 
William  de  Keith,  great  marischal  of  Scotland,  whose  charter 
conveying  them,  dated  in  1351,  is  confirmed  by  King  David 
the  Second,  at  Perth,  18th  March  the  same  year.  He  was 
sucoeeded  by  his  son,  David  de  Berkeley,  whose  grandson, 
also  named  David  de  Berkeley,  was  that  laird  of  Mathers, 
who  with  the  hiirds  of  Lauriston,  Arbuthnott,  Pittarrow  and 
Halkerton,  was  accessary  to  the  sUughter  of  John  Melville  of 
Glenbervie,  sheriff  of  the  Meams  in  the  reign  ef  James  the 
First,  as  formerly  narrated,  and  who  built  the  castle  called 
the  Kaim  of  Mathers.  [See  ante,  page  143,  article  Arbuth- 
nott.] He  married  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Strachan  of 
Thornton  in  the  same  county. 

His  son  Alexander  was  the  first  to  spell  the  family  name 
Barday.  He  was  living  in  1483,  as  appears  by  a  charter 
dated  in  that  year,  granted  to  him  **by  his  kinsman,  William, 
earl  Marischal*'  He  married  Katherine,  daughter  of  Wishart 
of  Pittarrow.  His  son,  David  Barclay  of  Mathers,  married 
Janet,  a  daughter  of  Irvine  of  Dnun.     Their  eldest  son, 


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BARCLAY. 


Alexander  Barclay  of  Mathers,  was  living  in  1497.  He  mar- 
ried Mai^ory,  seoond  daughter  of  James  Anchinleck,  laird  of 
Glenbervie,  the  son  of  John  Anchinledc  of  that  ilk  m  Forfar- 
shire, and  who,  by  marrying  the  only  daughter  of  the  sheriff, 
John  Melville,  killed  by  the  barons  of  the  Meams,  obtained 
his  estate  of  Glenbervie. 

David  Barclay  of  Mathers,  bom  in  1580,  the  fifth  in  descent 
from  this  Alexander  Barclay,  and  the  twelfth  laird  of  Mathers 
of  the  name  of  Barclay,  by  his  extravagance  and  living  much 
at  court,  was  obliged  to  sell  the  estate  first  of  Mathers,  after 
it  had  been  in  possession  of  the  family  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  and  then  the  old  patrimonial  lands,  after  being  in  the 
family  upwards  of  five  hundred  years.  He  married  Elizabeth 
livingston,  daughter  of  Livingston  of  Dunnipaoe,  and  had  a 
daughter,  Anne,  first  married  to  Douglas  of  lllwhilly,  and 
secondly  to  Strachan,  afterwards  bishop  of  Brechin;  and 
several  sons;  of  whom  John  and  Alexander  died  young; 
David  became  his  heir  and  representative;  Robert  was  rector 
of  the  Scots  college  at  Paris,  and  James,  the  youngest,  a  comet 
in  a  troop  of  horse,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Philiphaugh. 

Had  the  last  laurd  of  Mathers  of  this  family,  remembered 
the  advice  of  that  laird,  his  ancestor,  who  first  changed  the 
name  from  Bericeley  to  Barclay,  as  contuned  in  **the  Laird 
of  Mathers*  Testament,'*  the  estate  might  still  have  been  in 
possession  of  his  descendants.  The  yerses  which  pass  under 
this  name  are  as  follows: — 

**  Giff  thou  desire  thy  house  lang  stand, 
And  thy  successors  bmik  thy  land. 
Above  all  things  live  God  in  fear, 
Intromit  nocht  with  wrangousgear, 
Nor  conquess  nothing  wrangously 
With  thy  neighbour  keep  chanty. 
See  that  thou  pass  not  thy  estate; 
Ob^  duly  thy  magistrate: 
Oppress  not,  but  support  the  puire. 
To  help  the  commonweill  take  cuire. 
Use  no  deceit;  mell  not  with  treason. 
And  to  all  men  do  richt  and  reason. 
Both  unto  word  and  deed  be  troe; 
All  kinds  of  wickedness  eschew. 
Slay  no  man,  nor  thereto  consent; 
Be  nocht  crael,  but  patient. 
Ally  ay  in  some  guid  place, 
With  noble,  honest  godly,  race. 
Hate  huirdom,  and  all  vices  flee, 
Be  humble ;  haunt  guid  companye. 
Help  thy  friend,  and  do  nae  wrang. 
And  God  shall  cause  thy  house  stand  lang. 

David,  afterwards  Colonel  David  Barclay  of  Urie,  was  bora 
m  1610.  He  entered  the  army,  and  served  as  a  volunteer 
under  Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden.  Having  attained 
the  rank  of  nuyor,  he  remained  abroad  till  the  dvil  wars 
broke  out  in  his  own  country,  when  he  returned  home  and 
became  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  horse  on  the  side  of  the  long. 
On  the  accession  of  CromweIl*s  party  to  power,  he  retired 
from  active  military  service,  and  in  1647  purchased  the  estate 
of  Urio  in  Kincardineshire,  from  William  earl  MarischaL 
After  the  Restoration  he  was  committed  prisoner  to  Edin- 
burgh Castle  upon  some  groundless  charge  of  hostility  to  the 
government,  but  was  soon  liberated,  through  the  interest  of 
the  earl  of  Middleton,  with  whom  he  had  served  in  the  civil 
war.  During  his  imprisonment  he  was  converted  to  Qua- 
kerism by  the  celebrated  lurd  of  Swinton,  who  was  confined 
•Q  the  same  prison.    [See  Swinton,  surname  of.]    He  mar- 


ried Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Gordon  of  Gordons- 
town,  the  premier  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  well  known 
historian  of  the  house  of  Sutherland,  second  ton  of  the  eari  of 
Sutherland,  and  second  cousin  of  King  James  the  Sixth.  By 
her  he  had  two  daughters,  Lucy  and  Jean,  and  three  ions, 
Robert,  John,  and  David.  Lucy  and  David  died  unmarried. 
Jean  married  Sir  Ewen  Cameron  of  Lochiel,  to  whom  she 
bore  eight  children.  Robert,  the  eldest  son,  who  became 
celebrated  as  the  apologist  for  the  Quakers,  is  afterwards 
noticed.  John,  the  second  son,  settled  in  East  Jersey  in 
America,  where  he  married  and  left  issue. 

In  the  Ragman  Roll,  among  those  who  swore  fealty  to  Ed- 
ward the  First,  in  1296,  occurs  the  txme  of  Patricias  de 
Berkeley.  This  surname  was  then  so  numerous  in  Scotland, 
that  the  different  families  are  not  eaaly  distinguishable.  Be- 
sides the  Barclays  of  Mathers,  there  were  the  Barclays  of 
Towie,  and  those  of  Gartly  or  Garthie,  in  Aberdeenshire;  of 
Collaimie,  in  Fife;  of  Touch,  descended  from  the  latter;  oi 
Johnston,  descended  fix}m  the  family  of  Mathers;  of  Balma 
kcwan,  the  first  of  which  family  was  the  second  son  of  DaviH 
Barclay  of  Johnston ;  and  other  families  of  the  same  name. 

In  the  charters  of  King  William  the  Lion  to  the  abbey  of 
Dunfermline,  amongst  the  witnesses  are  Walter  de  Berkeley 
and  Robert  de  Berkeley.  In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the 
Second,  Malcolm,  earl  of  Angus,  married  the  daughter  of  Sii 
Humphry  Berkeley.  In  the  regbter  of  Arbroath  is  a  chartei 
granted  by  Malcolm,  earl  of  Fife  [who  lived  in  the  reign  o 
Alexander  the  Third],  to  Andrew  de  Swinton,  to  which  Roger 
de  Berkeley  is  a  witness.  In  1284  Hugo  de  Berkeley  war 
JtuHciarius  Laodoma.  His  name  appears  as  a  witness  to 
charter  of  Alexander  the  Thud,  to  the  monks  of  Melrose, 
dated  at  Traqmur  the  12th  December,  in  the  sixteenth  yeai 
of  his  reign.  He  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  Hugo  de  Berke- 
ley who  had  half  of  the  barony  of  Crawfordjohn  in  Lanaric^ 
shire,  and  was  sometimes  designed  of  Crawfordjohn  and  some- 
times of  Kilbimie,  whicli,  in  1471,  went  to  the  Craufurds  by 
marriage.  In  the  register  of  Melrose  (p.  62)  Sir  Walter 
Berkeley,  knight,  sheriff  of  Aberdeen,  is  so  designed  in  a 
charter  of  King  Robert  the  Brace  to  that  town.  His  seal  ot 
arms  was  the  same  with  those  of  the  lords  Berkeley  in  Eng- 
land. 

In  1315,  Sir  David  Berkeley  or  Barclay  of  Cairay-Barday 
in  Fife,  married  Margaret  de  Brechin,  daughter  of  Sir  David 
de  Brechin,  lord  of  Brechin.  He  was  one  of  the  chief  asso- 
ciates of  Robert  the  Brace,  and  was  present  at  most  of  his 
battles,  particularly  Methven,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner. 
IBarbaur^  page  82.]  After  the  successful  issue  of  the  strug* 
gle  he  was  appointed  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Fife.  [SibbaUTs 
Hist,  o/Fi^,  page  288.]  On  the  forfeiture  of  his  brother- 
in-law.  Sir  David  de  Brechin  in  1321  [see  Brbchik,  lord  of}, 
King  Robert  bestowed  upon  him  the  lordship  of  Brechin,  the 
barony  of  Rothiemay,  the  lands  of  Kinloch  and  part  of  Glen- 
esk,  which  had  belonged  to  his  brother-in-law.  He  had  for 
his  paternal  estate  the  barony  of  old  Lindores  and  the  lands 
of  Caimy  of  Fife.  His  strong  castle  stood  near  the  loch  of 
Lindores.  He  gave  to  the  monks  of  Balmerino,  in  pure 
alms,  a  right  of  fishing  in  the  river  Tay.  This  Sir  David 
Barclay,  lord  of  Brechin,  is  also  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  wars  of  King  David  Brace,  to  whom  he  faithfully  ad- 
hered even  when  his  cause  was  the  most  depressed,  and  in 
1341,  by  that  monarch*s  command,  he  seized  Sir  'V\^lliam 
Bullock,  chamberiain  of  Scotland,  suspected  of  treason,  and 
committed  him  to  prison.  Having  slain  John  Douglas,  brother 
of  the  knight  of  liddesdale,  at  Forgywood,  he  was  assassi- 
nated at  Aberdeen  on  Shrove  Tuesday,  1350,  by  John  of  SL 
Michael  and  his  accomplices,  at  the  instigation  of  Williatr 


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Douglas,  knight  of  Liddesdak,  then  a  prisoner  in  England. 
iFordwty  b.  il  p.  848.]  By  Margaret  de  Brechin,  his  wife, 
he  had  Da\nd  his  heir,  and  a  daughter,  Jean,  manied  to  Sir 
David  Fleming  of  Biggar,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter, 
Marion,  the  wife  of  Sir  William  Maule  of  Panmnre. 

The  son,  David,  second  lord  of  Brechin  of  the  name  of 
Barclay,  granted  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Kyndestleth  to 
Hogh  Barclay,  his  cousin,  from  whom  the  Bardays  of  Gol- 
laimie  in  Fife  were  descended.  IDouglas't  Peeragey  vol  L  p. 
245.]  In  13C3  he  granted  a  charter  of  confirmation  of  the 
lands  of  Dnnmure,  lying  in  his  barony  of  lindores,  to  Roger 
Mortimer.  On  10th  Janoaiy  1862-3  he  is  witness  to  a 
charter  of  Sir  Thomas  Bisset  and  Isabel  de  Fife.  In  1364 
he  went  to  the  wars  of  Prussia,  having  obtained  a  safe  con- 
duct from  King  Edward  the  Third  to  pass  throogh  his  domi- 
nions, attended  by  twelve  esquires,  with  their  horses  and  ser- 
vants. The  date  of  his  death  is  unknown.  He  left  one 
daughter,  Margaret,  married  to  Walter  Stewart,  earl  of 
Athole  and  Caithness  and  earl  palatine  of  Strathem,  second 
son  of  King  Robert  the  Second,  by  his  second  wife,  Euphemia 
Ross,  executed  in  April  1487,  for  being  accessary  to  the  mur- 
der of  King  James  the  First.  Just  before  going  to  execution 
he  emitted  a  judicial  declaration  that  the  lordship  of  Brechin 
nad  been  held  by  him  in  courtesy  of  his  wife,  and  that  the 
light  to  that  lordship  after  himself  belonged  to  Sir  Thomas 
Maule  of  Panmure,  nearest  heir  of  his  countess,  in  right  of  his 
grandmother,  daughter  of  Sir  David  Barclay  of  Brechin. 
[Nuhtts  Hercddn/y  vol  ii  p.  81.]  See  Athole,  earls  of, 
anU  p.  163,  and  Panmure,  earls  of. 

The  family  of  Barclay  must  have  possessed  CoUaimie, 
whidi  is  in  the  parish  of  Dunbog,  for  nearly  five  hundred 
years.  In  1457,  David  Barclay  of  CoUaimie  was  one  of  the 
assessors  in  a  perambulation  between  Easter  and  Wester 
Kinghcgm.  [iVis^V  HercMry,  vol  I  p.  126.]  They  also 
possessed  other  large  estates  in  Fifeshire.  In  1656  we  find 
Robert  Barclay  of  Collaimie  served  heir  male  to  his  father. 
Sir  David  Barclay,  knight,  among  others,  in  the  lands  of  Kil- 
maron,  Pitblado,  Hilton,  and  BoghalL  The  Barclays  of 
Collaimie  were  heritable  bailies  of  the  regality  of  Lindores,  an 
office  implying  great  personal  influence  or  high  rank,  while  it 
conferred  dvil  authority  of  the  most  varied  and  extensive  de- 
soiption.  On  the  abolition  of  the  heritable  jurisdictions  in 
1747,  Antonia  Barclay  of  Collaimie  and  Mr  Harry  Barday, 
her  husband,  received  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
pounds  sterling,  as  a  compensation  for  this  office.  The  family 
is  now  extinct,  the  estate  ha^ing  been  sold  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century  to  the  Ute  Dr.  Francis  Balfour  of 
Femie,  In  the  appendix  to  Sibbald*s  History  of  fife  there  is 
a  list  of  natives  of  that  county  who  have  risen  to  eminence  in 
literature  or  science;  among  others  mention  is  made  of  **  the 
famous  William  Barclay  (father  of  John),  professor  of  law  at 
Anglers,  who  derived  his  pedigree  from  Barclay  of  Conaimie." 
Of  this  William  Barclay  a  notice  is  given  below.  Sir  Henry 
Stcuart  Barday,  baronet,  of  Coltness,  eldest  son  of  Henry 
Stenart  Barday,  Esq.  of  Collaimie,  who  was  youngest  brother 
of  the  said  baronet,  succeeded  his  cousin  as  third  baronet  in 
1839.     Died  in  1851.    Baronetcy  extinct 


The  Bardays  of  Pierston  are  an  ancient  family  in  Ayrshire, 
of  distinction  so  early  as  the  twelfth  century.  Sir  Robert 
Barday  of  Pierston,  knight,  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia,  22d  October  1668.  Sir  Robert  Barday,  the  eighth 
baronet,  died  in  1839.  His  grandson.  Sir  Robert  Barday, 
bom  in  1819,  succeeded  as  ninth  baronet. 


The  Bfirdays  of  Ardrossan  were  also  an  old  family  of  Ayr- 


shire. In  1471  the  line  of  this  branch  of  the  Barclays  temii- 
nated  in  an  heiress,  who  married  Malcolm  Craufurd  of  Green- 
ock, the  founder  of  the  family  of  Craufurd  of  Kilbirnie. 

Tlic  Bardays  of  Towie  or  Tolly  in  Aberdeenshire  are  said  to 
have  been  descended  from  John  Berkeley,  son  of  Lord  Berke- 
ley of  Gloucestershire.  He  obtained  a  grant  of  tlie  estate 
of  Tolly  for  his  son  Alexander  Berkdey,  about  1100.  On 
the  front  of  the  old  castle  of  Towie  Barday,  in  the  parish  of 
Turriff,  this  inscription  is  cut  in  stone:  **  Sir  Valter  Bardny 
fonndit  the  Tollie  Mills,  1210."  This  corroborates  the  com- 
mon opinion,  that  com  mills  turned  by  water  were  introduced 
into  Scotland  by  the  Saxon  followers  of  Malcolm  towards  tlio 
end  of  the  deventh  century;  for  had  com  mills  previously 
existed  in  the  country  the  founding  of  a  mill  would  not  have 
been  worth  recording.  [New  Stat,  AcoourU^  vol.  xiL  p.  287.] 
Immediatdy  aboye  the  door  of  the  old  castle  of  Towie  Barclay 
is  the  following  inscription,  "  Sir  Alexander  Barclay,  founda- 
tor,  decessit,  1136.^  It  is  believed,  however,  that  the  castle 
was  not  built  before  1593.  The  Bardays  seem  to  have 
mingled  in  the  firays  of  their  time,  and  are  frequently  men- 
tioned in  Pitcaim^s  Criminal  Trials.  The  estate  remained  in 
the  same  family  till  it  was  sold  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Mait- 
land  Barday  of  Tiliycoultry,  brother  of  the  earl  of  Lauder- 
dale, who  married  Isabd  Barclay,  the  last  heiress,  in  1752, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  Barchy.  Persons  of  the  name  still 
exist  in  the  district  From  this  ancient  family  the  celebrated 
Russian  general.  Field  Marshal  Prince  Barclay  de  Tolly,  who 
died  in  1818,  was  lineally  descended. 

Barclat-Allardice,  the  name  of  a  former  proprie- 
toiL  of  Urie.  The  sumame  of  AUardice  is  derived  from  the 
barony  of  Alrethes,  in  Kincardineshire,  which,  during  the 
rdgn  of  William  the  lion,  bdonged  to  a  family  who  assumed 
its  name,  in  the  course  of  time  softened  into  AUardice.  On 
the  8th  October,  1662,  Sir  John  AUardice  of  AUardice,  the 
then  chief  of  that  andent  family,  married  Lady  Mary  Graham, 
eldest  dster  and  oo-heir  of  WiUiam  Graham,  eighth  earl  of 
Mentdth,  and  second  earl  of  Airth. '  He  died  before  Novem- 
ber 1690,  leaving  four  daughters  and  two  sons.  The  elder 
son,  John  AUardice  of  AUardice,  married,  26th  October, 
1690,  EUzabeth  daughter  of  WiUiam  Barday  of  Balma- 
kewan.  Leaving  no  issue,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother. 
Sir  George  AlUrdice  of  AUardice,  whose  grandson's  only 
daughter,  Sarah-Anne  AUardice,  bom  13th  July  1757,  was 
served  heiress  of  line  of  the  earls  of  Airth  and  Mentdth,  and 
of  David,  earl  palatine  of  Strathem,  son  of  Robert  the 
Second,  king  of  Scotland.  She  married  in  1777  Robert 
Barday  of  Urie,  great-grandson  of  the  famous  apologist  foi 
the  Quakers  (bdng  his  second  wife),  and  in  consequence  ho 
assumed  the  name  of  AlUrdice  in  addition  to  his  owil  Their 
ddest  son.  Captain  Robert  Barday- AUardice,  the  cdebratcd 
pedestrian,  designed  of  Urie  and  AUardice,  became,  in  right  ul 
his  mother,  heir  general  and  heir  of  line  of  the  first  earl  of 
Aurth.  He  was  also  sole  heir  of  the  body  of  Prince  David, 
son  of  Robert  the  Second,  king  of  Scotland.  He  was  born 
25tli  August,  1779,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  1797,  and 
his  mother,  (who  had  married  a  second  time,)  in  1833.  In 
1842  he  published  at  Edinburgh,  in  one  volume,  *  An  Agri- 
cultural Tour  through  the  United  States  and  Canada.*  He 
died  1st  May  1854.  His  only  daughter,  Margaret,  mar- 
ried in  1840  Samuel  Ritchie,  at  one  period  a  private  sol- 
dier. 

BARCLAY,  ALEXi^KDER,  an  elegant  poet  of 
the  16th  centuiy,  is  mentioned  by  Bishop  Bale, 
Q 


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ROBERT. 


Dr.  Bullejn,  UoHinshed,  and  Ritson,  as  a  native 
of  Scotland,  although  Pitts,  Wood,  and  some  other 
English  writers,  claim  him  for  England.  From 
his  writings  it  appears  that  he  spent  some  of  bis 
earlier  days  at  Croydon  in  Snrrej.  About  1495 
he  went  to  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  where,  or  at 
Cambridge,  he  received  his  education,  and  took  the 
degi-ee  of  D.D.  Going  afterwards  to  the  conti- 
nent, he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Dutch,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  and  French  languages.  On  his  re- 
turn to  England  he  entered  the  church,  and  be- 
came chaplain  to  Bishop  Cornish,  who,  in  1508, 
appointed  him  one  of  the  priests  or  prebendaries  of 
St.  Mary,  Ottery,  Devonshire.  Subsequently  he 
became  first  a  Benedictine  monk  of  Ely,  and 
aftei*ward3  a  Fi'anciscan  monk  at  Canterbury. 
On  the  dissolution  of  the  monastenes  in  1589,  he 
became  a  Protestant,  and  was  presented  to  the 
living  of  Great  Baddow,  in  Essex.  In  1546  he 
was  vicar  of  Wokey,  in  Somersetshire,  and  in 
1552  he  became  rector  of  All  Hallows,  Ix)ndou, 
but  did  not  possess  this  living  above  six  weeks. 
He  died  at  a  very  advanced  age  at  Croydon,  Sur- 
rey, in  June,  1552.  Of  his  personal  character 
different  accounts  have  been  given.  Bale,  a  Pro- 
testant, treats  his  memory  with  indignity,  and 
charges  him  with  living  a  scandalous,  and  licen- 
tious life;  while  Pitts,  a  Roman  Catholic,  assures 
us  that  he  directed  his  studies  to  the  service  of 
religion,  and  employed  his  time  in  reading  and 
writing  the  lives  of  the  saints.  As  an  improver  of 
English  literature  he  is  entitled  to  grateful  com- 
memoration; and  his  industiy  in  enriching  the 
language  with  translations,  written  in  a  purer  style 
than  belonged  to  that  period,  is  much  commended. 
His  chief  production  is  a  satire,  entitled  *  The  Ship 
of  Fools,'  partly  a  translation  and  partly  an  imita- 
tion of  a  German  poem  by  Sebastian  Brandt, 
called  Navts  Stvltifera^  printed  in  1497.  He 
also  translated  Sallnst's  History  of  the  Jugnr- 
thine  War,  published  in  1557.  Among  his  other 
publications  is  an  English  translation  of  the  '  Mir- 
rour  of  Good  Manners,^  a  treatise  compiled  in 
Latin  by  Dominyque  Mancjm,  for  the  use  of  the 
^*  jnvent  of  England.*'  His  Eclogues  are  the  ear- 
liest specimens  of  pastoral  poetry  in  the  English 
language.  IMackenzie's  Scots  Writers.']  The  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  bis  principal  works 


The  Castell  oi  Labour,  wherein  b  Rychesse,  Vertne,  and 
Honour;  an  allegorical  Poem,  in  seven  line  stanzas,  trana- 
lated  from  the  French.    Printed  by  Wynken  de  Wonle,  1506. 

Certain  Kgloges,  contaming  the  Miseries  of  Conrts  and 
Courtiers,  five  in  number,  in  English  verse,  from  iEneas  Syl- 
vius* Miserae  Curialium.  Lond.  1508,  fol.  1509,  1548, 
1670,  4to. 

Stultifera  Nauis,  qua  Omnium  Mortalium  narratur  Stultitia, 
&c  The  Ship  of  Fooles,  wherem  is  shewed  the  foUy  of  all 
states,  with  diuers  other  Workes  adioyned  to  the  same,  veiy 
profitable  and  frnitfiil  for  all  men.  This  edition  has  the 
Latin  version  of  James  Lodier,  pupil  of  Brandt,  the  Author 
who  first  transUted  it  from  the  German,  and  also  the  English 
transbtions  of  Barclay.  To  which  is  annexed,  The  Mirrour 
of  Good  Manners,  containing  the  four  cardinal  vertues;  com- 
piled, in  Latin,  by  Dominike  Mansoin,  and  translated  into 
Englishe,  by  Alexr.  Barclay.  English  and  Latin.  Also  cer- 
ta}'ne  Egloges  of  Alex.  Barclay.  Imprented  in  the  cyte  of 
London,  in  Fletestre  (te),  at  the  signs  of  $aynte  Geoige,  by 
Richard  Pynson,  to  his  cost  and  charge.  Ended  the  year  of 
our  Sauior  m.d.ix.  foL  Lond.  1570,  folio,  printed  bj  Ca- 
wood,  J. 

The  Introductory  to  Write  and  to  Pronounce  Frenclie. 
London,  1521,  folio. 

The  Famous  Chronicle  of  Warre,  whyche  the  Bomaynet 
hadde  agaynst  Jugurth,  vsurper  of  the  kyngedome  of  Nomidie : 
whiche  Chronicle  is  compiled  in  Latin  by  the  renowned  Ro- 
mnyne,  Salluste;  and  translated  mto  Englishe  by  Syr  Alex- 
ander Baiklaye,  prieste;  nowe  perused  and  oonected  by 
Thomas  PaynelL     London,  1557,  8vo. 

A  Right  Fruitful  Treatise,  entituled,  the  Myrror  of  Good 
Manners,  contaynynge  the  iiii  vertues  called  Cardynall,  com 
pyled,  m  Latyn,  by  Dominike  Mancyn,  and  translated  uiU. 
Englishe.    Printed  by  Pynson,  no  date.  fol. 

A.  B.  his  figure  of  our  Mother  Holy  Churcbe  oppressed  by 
the  Frenche  king.    4to.    Pynson. 

BARCLAY,  Robert,  of  Urie,  the  Apologist 
for  the  Quakers,  was  bom  December  23, 1648,  at 
Goi-donstown,  shire  of  Moray,  or,  according  to  one 
authority,  at  Edinburgh,  but  this  is  incorrect. 
His  father,  as  already  stated,  was  Colonel  David 
Barclay,  the  son  of  the  last  laird  of  Mathers,  and 
his  mother,  Catherine  Gordon,  was  the  daughter 
of  Sir  Robert  Gordon  of  Goi-donstown,  baronet. 
He  was  the  eldest  of  three  sons.  After  receiv- 
ing the  rudiments  of  education  in  his  native  coun- 
try, his  father  sent  him  to  Paris,  to  study  under 
the  direction  of  his  uncle,  the  principal  of  the 
Scots  college  there.  His  deportment  and  chai*acter 
so  endeared  him  to  his  uncle  that  he  offered  to 
make  him  his  heir,  and  to  settle  a  large  estate 
immediately  upon  him  if  he  would  remain  in 
France,  an  offer  which  he  at  once  reject^.  Hav- 
ing by  his  uncle's  influence  become  a  Roman 
Catholic,  he  was  immediately  recalled  home.  In 
1666  his  father  embraced  the  peculiar  principles  of 
the  Quakers;    and  two  years  afterwards  young 


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Barclay  adopted  the  same  doctrines,  aud  soon  dis- 
tingaished  himself  bj  his  talents  and  zeal  in  their 
vindication.  This  change  had  not  been  produced 
without  a  degree  of  thought  and  investigation 
almost  beyond  his  yeai-s,  for  he  was  not  then  nine- 
teen. It  also  gave  a  decided  bias  to  his  future 
studies.  He  learned  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  lan- 
guages, being  already  proficient  in  Latin  and  French, 
and  to  his  other  acquirements  he  added  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  and  a  know- 
ledge of  ecclesiastical  history.  Andrew  JaflFray, 
one  of  the  Friends,  thus  writes  of  him : — "  A  little 
after  his  coming  out  of  the  age  of  mmority,  as  it  is 
called,  he  was  made  willing,  in  the  day  of  God's 
power,  to  give  up  his  body  as  a  sign  and  wonder 
to  this  generation,  and  to  deny  himself  and  all  in 
him  as  a  man  so  far  as  to  become  a  fool,  for  His 
sake  whom  he  loved,  in  going  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes  through  the  chief  streets  of  the  city  of  Aber- 
deen, besides  some  services  at  several  steeple 
houses,  and  some  sufferings  in  prison  for  the 
truth's  sake." 

His  first  treatise,  written  with  great  vigour,  was 
published  at  Aberdeen  in  1670.  It  was  entitled 
*  Truth  cleared  of  Calumnies,'  in  answer  to  a  book 
against  the  Quakers,  by  the  Rev.  William  Mit- 
chell. The  same  year  he  wrote  an  appendix  entitled 
^  Some  things  of  weighty  concernment  proposed  in 
meekness  and  love,  by  way  of  queries,  to  the  seri- 
ous consideration  of  the  inhabitants  of  Aberdeen, 
which  also  may  be  of  use  to  such  as  are  of  the  same 
mind  with  them  elsewhere  in  the  world.'  A  re- 
l)ly  to  the  *  Truth  cleared  of  Calumnies'  was  writ- 
ten by  Mitchell,  to  which  Barclay  rejoined  with  a 
treatise  under  the  title  of  *  William  Mitchell  un- 
masked, or  the  staggering  instability  of  the  pre- 
tended stable  Christian  discovered,  his  omissions 
observed,  and  weakness  unvailed,"  &c.  In  1673 
he  published  ^A  Catechism  and  Confession  of 
Faith,'  explanatory  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Quak- 
ers. The  design  of  this  work  was  to  prove  that 
Quakerism  was  the  perfection  of  the  reformed  re- 
ligion, and  that  protestants  as  they  receded  fi-om 
it  were  so  far  inconsistent  with  themselves,  and 
approached  to  popery.  His  next  treatise,  pub- 
lished in  1674,  entitled  *The  Anarchy  of  the 
Ranters  and  other  Libertines,  the  Hierarchy  of 
the  Romanists,  and  other  pretended  Churches, 


equally  refused  and  i*efuted,'  &c.,  was  intended  to 
mark  the  distinction  between  the  rationalists  of 
his  sect,  and  the  enthusiasts;  but  some  senti- 
ments concerning  church  discipline  which  it  con- 
tained, involved  him  in  disputes  with  some  of  his 
own  brethren,  and  he  aftenvards  published  a  vin- 
dication of  this  work.  His  publications,  which 
were  numerous,  involved  him  in  various  contro- 
versies with  the  students  of  Aberdeen  and  others. 
His  great  work,  considered  the  standard  of 
Quakerism,  ■  entitled  *An  Apology  for  the  true 
Christian  Divinity,  as  the  same  is  held  forth  and 
preached  by  the  people  called  in  scorn  Quakers,' 
appeared  in  1675.  It  was  written  and  published 
in  I^tin,  "  for  the  information  of  strangers,"  but 
the  author  himself  translated  it  into  English,  **  for 
the  benefit  of  his  countrymen."  The  'Apology' 
was  preceded  by  his  *  Theses  Theologicae,'  printed 
in  Latin,  French,  Grcrman,  Dutch,  and  English, 
and  addressed  to  the  clergy  generally  throughout 
Europe,  requesting  their  examination  and  judg- 
ment. In  his  principal  work  he  attempts  to  prove 
that  there  is  an  internal  light  in  man,  which  is 
better  fitted  to  guide  him  aright  in  i-eligious  mat- 
ters than  even  the  Scriptures  themselves,  the 
genuine  doctrines  of  which  may  be  rendered  un- 
certain by  various  readings  in  different  manu- 
scripts, and  the  fallibility  of  translators  and  inter- 
preters. "Whence,"  he  says,  "we  may  very 
safely  conclude  that  Jesus  Christ,  who  promised 
to  be  always  with  his  children,  to  lead  them  into 
all  truth,  to  guard  them  against  the  devices  of  the 
enemy,  and  to  establish  their  faith  upon  an  un- 
moveable  rock,  left  them  not  to  be  principally 
ruled  by  that  which  was  subject,  in  itself,  to  many 
uncertainties,  and  therefore  he  gave  them  his  Spirit 
as  their  prindpal  guide,  which  neither  moths  nor 
time  can  wear  out,  nor  transcribers  nor  translator 
corrupt ;  which  none  are  so  young,  none  so  illiterate, 
none  in  so  remote  a  place,  but  they  may  come  to  be 
reached,  and  rightly  informed  by  it."  In  a  dedi- 
catory address  to  Charles  the  Second,  he  pleads  for 
toleration  to  the  new  sect  in  the  following  empha- 
tic terms: — "Thou  hast  tasted  of  prosperity  and 
adversity ;  thou  knowest  what  it  is  to  be  banished 
thy  native  country,  to  be  overruled  as  well  as  to 
rule,  and  sit  upon  the  throne ;  and  being  oppress- 
ed, thou  hast  reason  to  know  how  hateful  the 


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ROBERT. 


oppressor  is  to  God  and  man.  If,  after  all  these 
warnings  and  advertisements,  thou  dost  not  turn 
unto  the  Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  but  forget  him 
who  remembered  thee  in  thy  distress,  and  give  up 
thyself  to  lust  and  vanity,  surely  great  will  bo  thy 
condemnation."  The  Apology  was  reprinted  at 
Amsterdam,  and  translated  into  the  German, 
Dutch,  French,  and  Spanish  languages.  It  re- 
ceived many  answers,  as  it  was  not  conceived 
difficult  to  overturn  its  strange  and  unusual  the- 
ories. Barclay's  name  as  the  apostle  of  the 
Quakers  was  now  extensively  known,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  celebrated  William  Penn  and  (Jeorge 
Fox  he  travelled  into  England,  Holland,  and 
Germany,  disseminating  the  principles  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends,  and  was  everywhere  received 
with  great  respect.  About  the  end  of  1677  he 
addressed  an  Epistle  and  *  Friendly  advice^  on 
public  affairs  to  the  ministers  of  the  different 
states  of  Europe  then  assembled  at  Nlmeguen. 
At  this  period  a  severe  persecution  raged  against 
the  Quakers,  and  in  that  year  Barclay,  bis  father, 
and  many  others  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  were  im- 
prisoned at  Aberdeen,  at  the  instigation  of  Arch- 
bishop Sharp,  with  whom  he  remonstrated  by  an 
excellent  letter  on  the  occasion.  By  the  inteipo- 
sition  of  Elizabeth,  the  princess  palatine  of  the 
Rhine,  who  respected  the  Quakers,  and  corre- 
sponded with  both  Penn  and  Barclay,  he  was 
soon  liberated ;  and  he  even  acquired  the  favour 
»f  the  court.    - 

In  1679,  Charles  the  Second,  who,  it  is  probable, 
considered  him  a  harmless  enthusiast,  granted  him 
a  charter  under  the  great  seal  erecting  his  lands 
of  Urie  into  a  fi-ee  barony;  and  in  1682,  the 
proprietors  of  East  Jersey,  in  North  America, 
appointed  him  governor  of  that  province,  bestow- 
ing npon  him  5,000  acres  of  land  above  his  pro- 
prietary share ;  but  he  never  went  out,  having  the 
power  to  nominate  a  deputy.  The  last  of  his  pro- 
ductions was  a  long  letter  in  Latin,  addressed  to 
a  person  of  quality  in  Holland,  *  On  the  Possibility 
and  Necessity  of  an  Inward  and  Immediate  Re- 
velation,' written  in  1676,  but  not  published 
till  1686.  From  that  year  till  his  death,  ex- 
cepting on  one  or  two  occasions,  he  may  be  said 
to  have  lived  in  retirement  at  Urie,  where  he  died, 
August  3,  1690,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his 


age.  His  death  was  occasioned  by  a  violent  fever 
which  attacked  him  immediately  after  his  return 
from  a  religious  visit  to  some  parts  of  Scotland. 

Bai'clay  possessed  great  natural  abilities,  which 
were  much  improved  by  the  superior  classical  edu- 
cation he  had  received ;  these,  joined  to  a  strong 
undei'standing,  with  a  high  degree  of  enthusiasm, 
and  much  activity  and  energy,  admirably  fittt-d 
him  for  the  extraordinary  career  which  he  pur- 
sued. He  had  been  several  times  in  prison ;  but 
this  did  not  damp  his  ardour,  or  hinder  him  from 
vindicating  his  opinions,  and  making  proselytes  on 
all  occasions  that  offered.  In  his  moral  character 
he  was  free  from  every  reproach,  and  his  temper 
was  so  well  regulated  that  he  was  nev^r  seen  in 
Unger.  Besides  the  works  above-named,  he  wrote, 
while  imprisoned  in  Aberdeen,  a  treatise  'On 
Universal  Love.'  He  had  mai-ried,  in  February 
1670,  Christian  MoUison,  the  daughter  of  a  mer 
chant  in  Aberdeen,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons 
and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  survived  him  for 
fifty  yeara.  His  second  son,  Mr.  David  Barclay, 
a  mercer  in  Cheapside,  successively  entertained 
the  three  first  Greorges,  kings  of  England,  when 
they  visited  the  city  on  Lord  Mayor's  day.  From 
this  gentleman  are  descended  the  Barclays  of  Bury 
Hill  in  Surrey. 

Barclay  himself  had  a  high  opinion  of  James 
the  Second  of  England,  who,  on  his  accession, 
had  gi-anted  toleration  to  the  Quakers.  In 
1688,  shortly  before  that  infatuated  monarch's 
dethronement,  being  at  court  one  day,  ho  was 
standing  with  his  Majesty  at  a  window,  when  the 
king  observed,  that  *'  the  wind  was  then  fair  for 
the  prince  of  Orange  to  come  over."  Barclay  re- 
plied, ''It  was  hard  that  no  expedient  could  be 
found  to  satisfy  the  people."  On  which  the  king 
said,  "  He  would  do  any  thing  becoming  a  gen- 
tleman, except  parting  with  liberty  of  conscience, 
which  he  never  would  do  whilst  he  lived."  Tliat 
liberty  of  conscience  which  he  claimed  for  him- 
self, he  unrighteously,  as  well  as  unwisely,  denied 
to  others.  An  account  of  the  life  and  writmgs  of 
Barclay,  the  Apologist,  was  published  in  1802,  in 
12mo,  by  Joseph  Gumey  Be  van,  one  of  the  soci- 
ety of  Friends. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Robert  Barclay's 
works : 


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WILLIAM. 


Trnth  cleared  of  CalumnicSf  wherein  a  book,  entitled,  A 
Dial(^ne  between  a  Quaker  and  a  Stable  Christian,  (printed 
at  Aberdeen,  and,  npon  good  gronnd,  judged  to  be  writ  bj 
William  Mitchel,  a  preacher  near  by  it,  or  at  least  that  he  had 
a  chief  hand  in  it,)  is  examined,  and  the  disingennity  of  the 
Author,  in  his  representing  the  Quakers,  is  discoyered;  here 
b  also  their  case  truly  stated,  cleared,  demonstrated,  and  the 
Objections  of  their  opposcrs  answered  according  to  truth, 
scripture,  and  right  reason;  to  which  are  snbjomed,  Queries 
to  the  Inhabitants  of  Aberdeen,  which  might  also  be  of  use  to 
such  as  are  of  the  same  mind  with  them  elsewhere  in  the 
worid.    Aberd.  1670. 

William  Mitchell  unmasked,  or  the  Staggering  instability 
of  the  pretended  Stable  Christian  discovered;  his  omissions 
obserred,  and  weakness  unvailed,  &c     1671. 

Seasonable  warning  and  serious  exhorti^on  to,  and  expos- 
tulation with,  the  inhabitants  of  Aberdeen,  concerning  thb 
present  dispensation  and  day  of  God*s  living  visitation  towards 
them.     1672. 

A  Catechism  and  Confesnon  of  Faith,  approved  of,  and 
agreed  to  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  patriarchs,  prophets, 
and  apostles,  Christ  himself  chief  speaker  in  and  among  them, 
which  containeth  a  true  and  faithAil  acconnt  of  the  principles 
and  doctrines  which  are  most  surely  believed  by  the  churches 
of  Christ  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  who  are  reproachfully 
called  by  the  name  of  Quakers,  yet  are  found  in  the  one  faith 
with  the  primitive  church  and  saints,  &c     1678. 

The  Anarchy  of  the  Ranters  and  other  Libertines,  &c.   1674. 

Theses  Theologicse.    Lond.  1675,  8vo. 

Theologian  vere  ChristiansB  Apologia.  Amst  1676,  4to. 
Loud.  1729,  8vo. 

An  Apology  for  the  true  Christian  Divinity,  as  the  same  is 
held  forth  and  preached  by  the  people  called,  in  scorn,  Quakers, 
being  a  full  Explanation  and  Vindication  of  their  Principles 
vid  Doctrines,  by  many  Arguments  deduced  firom  Scripture 
•nd  right  resson,  and  the  testimonies  of  famous  Authors 
both  ancient  and  modem,  with  a  full  Answer  to  the  strongest 
Objections  usually  made  against  them;  presented  to  the 
King;  written  and  published,  in  Latin,  for  the  information  of 
Strangers,  by  Robert  Barclay;  and  now  put  into  our  own 
I^anguage,  for  the  benefit  of  his  Countrymen.  Lond.  1676, 
1 678, 1701,  8vo.,  1786,  8vo.  Birm.  by  Baskcrville,  1765, 4to 
Printed  in  Latin.  Amst  1676,  4to.  Translated  into  Spa- 
nish, by  Ant.  de  Alvarado,  1710,  8vo. 

Treatise  on  Universal  Love.     1677. 

Apology  for  the  true  Christian  Divinity  indicated.  Ix)nd. 
1679,  4to. 

Vindication  of  his  Anarchy  of  the  Ranters.    1679. 

The  Pos«bility  and  Necessity  of  the  Inward  and  Immediate 
Revelation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  towards  the  foundation  and 
ground  of  true  Faith,  proved  in  a  Letter  written  in  Latin  to  a 
person  of  Quality  in  Holland,  and  now  also  put  into  English* 
1686. 

A  true  and  Faithful  Account  of  the  most  material  Passages 
of  a  Dispute  between  some  Students  of  Divinity  (so  called), 
of  the  Univcrnty  of  Aberdeen,  and  the  People  called  Quakers, 
held  in  Aberdeen,  in  Scotland,  in  Alexander  Harper  his  dose, 
(or  yard),  before  some  hundred  of  Witnesses,  upon  the  14th 
day  of  the  second  month,  called  April,  1675,  there  being  John 
Ijttley,  Aleximder  Sherreff,  and  Paul  Gellie,  Master  of  Arts, 
opponents;  and  defendants,  upon  the  Quakers*  part,  Robert 
Barclay  and  George  Keith  *  Preses  for  moderaUng  the  meet- 
ing, chosen  by  them,  Andrew  Thomson,  Advocate;  and  by 
the  Quakers,  Alexander  Skein,  sometime  a  Magbtrate  of  the 
City:  published  for  preventing  misreports,  by  Alexander 
Skein,  John  Skein  Alexander  Harper,  Thomas  Merser,  and 


John  Cowie.  To  which  is  added,  Robert  Barclay*!!  OfTer  U 
the  Preachers  of  Aberdeen,  renewed  and  re-inforced. 

Quakerism  Confirmed;  being  an  answer  to  a  pamphlet  by 
the  Aberdeen  Students,  entitled  Quakerism  Canvassed,  writ- 
ten in  conjunction  with  George  Keith.     Aberdeen.     1676. 

An  Epistle  of  Love  and  Friendly  Advice  to  the  Ambassa^ 
dors  of  the  se%-eral  Princes  of  Europe  met  at  Nimeguen,  to 
consult  the  peace  of  Christendom  so  far  as  they  are  concerned. 
Written  in  Ijitin,  but  published  also  in  Engl'ish  for  the  bene- 
fit of  his  countrymen.    1677. 

Works.    I^nd.  1692,  foL 

BARCLAY,  William,  a  learned  civilian,  de- 
scended from  the  family  of  Barclay  of  Collairney, 
in  Fife,  was  born  in  Aberdeenshire  in  1546.  He 
was  related  to  the  earl  of  Huntly,  Ogilvy  of  Find- 
later,  Lesley  of  Balqnhain,  and  other  persons  of 
distinction.  He  was  educated  in  tlie  university  of 
Aberdeen,  and  in  his  youth  he  frequented  the 
court  at  Holyrood.  His  prospects  of  preferment 
in  Scotland  being  blighted  with  the  dethronement 
of  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  and  his  adherence  to  the 
Elomish  faith,  following  the  example  of  many  other 
Scottish  youth  at  that  period,  he  went,  in  1573,  to 
France,  and  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  the 
study  of  jui-isprudence.  Repairing  to  the  univer- 
sity of  Bourges,  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Cuja- 
cius,  Donellus,  and  Contins,  three  celebrated  pro- 
fessore  of  law.  He  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
laws  in  that  university.  The  duke  of  Lorraine 
had  recently  founded  the  university  of  Pont-a- 
Mousson,  and  Barclay,  on  the  recommendation  of 
his  uncle  Edmund  Hay,  the  Jesuit,  Its  first  rector, 
was  appointed  in  1578  the  first  pi-ofessor  of  civil 
law  in  that  institution.  The  duke  also  made  him 
dean  of  the  law  faculty,  counsellor  of  state,  and 
master  of  requests.  In  1581  Barclay  married 
Anne  de  Malleville,  a  lady  of  Ix)rraine,  by  whom 
he  bad  one  son,  John  (the  subject  of  the  next 
aiticle),  whom  the  Jesuits  endeavoured  to  seduce 
into  their  society ;  but  this  being  opposed  by  his 
father,  they  influenced  the  duke  against  him,  and 
in  1603,  he  resigned  his  chair  and  quitted  I-K)rraine. 
Barclay's  first  and  largest  work,  written  in  liatin, 
as  all  his  works  were,  was  a  treatise  on  regal 
power,  in  which  hcf  zealously  contends  for  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  It  was  printed  in  the  year 
1600,  with  a  dedication  to  the  French  king,  Henry 
the  Fourth.  The  first  two  books  are  directed 
against  the  famous  dialogue  of  his  countryman 
Buchanan;  the  thurd  and  fourth  against  the  ^Vin- 
diciae  contra  TjTannoj,'  written  by  Hubert  J^n 


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JOHN. 


guet  under  the  assumed  name  of  Stephanos  Junius 
Brutus;  and  the  last  two  against  a  treatise  of  Jean 
Boucher,  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  who  rendered 
himself  notorious  for  his  seditious  audacity  during 
the  unhappy  ascendant  of  the  League.  This  vol- 
ume, says  Dr.  Ii-ving,  ought  to  contain  a  curious 
portrait  of  the  author,  wiiich,  liowever,  is  very 
seldom  to  be  found.  On  each  side  of  it  wei'e  dis- 
played the  blazouings  of  eight  di£fcrent  families, 
with  which  Barclay  is  supposed  to  have  been  con- 
nected. PAceeding  to  London,  he  was  graciously 
received  by  James  the  Sixth,  who  is  said  to  have 
offered  him  a  place  in  the  council  with  a  pension, 
on  condition  of  his  renouiicing  the  Romish  religion, 
which  he  declined  to  do,  and  in  1604  he  returned 
to  France.  The  professorehip  of  civil  law  at  the 
university  of  Angers  being  vacant,  he  was  offered 
that  chair,  and  having  accepted  it  on  an  engagement 
for  five  years,  by  a  decree  of  the  university,  of  date 
7th  February  1606,  he  was  confirmed  in  the  rank 
of  dean  or  first  professor.  In  this  univereity  he 
taught  with  high  reputation.  Anxious  to  support 
the  dignity  of  his  office  he  carried  his  taste  for  ex- 
ternal pomp  to  an  unusual  extent.  When  he 
went  to  the  university  -  hall  to  lecture,  he  was 
dressed  in  ^^  a  rich  robe,  lined  with  ermine,"  with 
a  massy  chain  of  gold  about  his  neck,  having  his 
son  on  bis  right  hand,  preceded  by  one  servant, 
and  followed  by  two  othera  bearing  his  train! 
His  elaborate  commentary  on  the  titles  of  the 
Pandects,  *De  Rebus  creditis,*  and  *De  Jure- 
lurando,*  appeared  in  1605,  dedicated  to  King 
James.  Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year  he 
died  at  Angers,  before  he  had  completed  the  age 
of  sixty.  A  treatise  on  the  power  of  the  pope, 
which  he  left  in  manuscript,  was  published  by  his 
son,  four  yeai-s  after  his  decease.  In  this  work, 
which  excited  a  strong  sensation  at  the  time  of  its 
appearance,  he  proves  that  the  pope  has  no  author- 
ity over  sovereigns  in  temporal  mattei*s.  llrving's 
Lives  of  Scottish  Writers,  vol.  i.] 

The  following  is  a  list  of  William  Bai-clay's 
works: 

De  Regno  et  Regali  Potestate,  adversus  Buchauuinm, 
Brutom,  Boucherium,  et  reliquos  Monarchomachos,  libri  sex. 
Parifflis  1600.  4to.    Hanov.  1612,  8vo. 

Comm.  in  Tltnloa  Pandectarum  de  Rebus  Greditis  et  de 
Jure;*irando.    Par.  1605,  8vo. 

De  Potestate  Papas,  quatenus  in  Reges  et  Piincipes  secn- 
laros  Jus  et  Imperium  habeat.     Liber  posthomus.     Francf. 


1609.  Hanoviae,  1611,  8vo.  Franc  1613,  1621.  The 
same  in  English.  Lond.  1611,  4to.  Item  de  Regno  t 
Regali  Potestate,  adversus  Buchanannm,  Bnitum  et  reliqucs 
Monarchomachos;  libri  vL    Uanov.  1617,  12mo. 

BARCLAY,  John,  author  of  Argenis,  son  of 
the  preceding,  by  Anne  de  Malleville,  his  wife,  was 
born  at  Font>a-Mousson,  January  28,  1582;  and 
although  not  a  native  of  Scotland,  is  usually  iu- 
cluded  in  Scottish  Biographies.  He  was  educated 
in  the  College  of  the  Jesuits  in  his  native  town, 
and  made  so  rapid  a  progress  in  his  studies  that  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  published  Annotations  ou 
the  Thebais  of  Statius.  The  early  indications  of 
genius  which  he  displayed  induced  the  Jesuits  to 
solicit  him  to  enter  into  their  order.  His  rejection 
of  their  offers,  in  which  he  was  countenanced  bv 
his  father,  was  the  cause  of  their  quitting  Lorraine 
in  1603.  He  accompanied  his  father  to  London, 
and  dedicated  to  James  the  Sixth  the  first  part  of 
his  *■  Euphormionis  Lusini  Satyricon,*  a  Latin 
romance  of  a  half-political,  half-satirical  nature, 
printed  at  London  the  same  year,  which  is  parti- 
cularly severe  upon  the  Jesuits.  He  went  with 
his  father  to  Angers,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1604 
he  sent  his  ^  Kalendse  Januaiis,'  as  a  poetical 
offering  to  King  James.  He  returned  to  London 
in  1605,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  preferment 
at  court;  but  after  a  farther  residence  of  twelve 
months,  being  disappointed,  he  removed  to  Paris, 
where  he  married  Louise,  daughter  of  Michael 
Debonnaire,  "  Tr^orier  des  vieilles  bandes."  Dur- 
ing his  residence  at  Paris  he  published  there  the 
second  part  of  his  ^  Satyricon,^  dedicated  to  the 
earl  of  Salisbury,  and  at  Amsterdam  a  brief  nar- 
rative of  the  Gunpowder  plot,  in  Latin.  In  1606 
he  fixed  his  abode  in  London.  In  1609  he  pub- 
lished his  father's  able  work,  *  De  Potestate  Pap»,* 
to  which  he  prefixed  a  preface  of  nine  pages, 
which  concluded  with  an  intimation  of  his  purpose 
to  defend  his  father's  memory  against  any  attack. 
Cardinal  Bellannin  having  published  a  ti-eatise 
against  it,  he  issued  in  1612  a  large  quarto 
volume  in  answer,  entitled  *  Pietas,*  being  in  de* 
fence  of  his  father's  work.  In  1610  he  published 
at  London  an  apology  for  his  *  Satyricon,'  which 
had  excited  so  many  censures  that  he  found  it 
necessary  to  attempt  some  explanations.  In  1614 
appeared  his  '  Icon  Animarum,'  formmg  the  fourth 
part  of  his  *  Satyricon.'    The  object  of  this  work  L» 


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BARCLAY, 


247 


JOHN. 


to  give  a  delineatiou  of  the  genius  and 
manners  of  the  different  nations  of  Enrope, 
with  remarks  on  the  various  tempera  ot 
men,  and  he  has  not  forgotten  to  extol  the 
genius  and  character  of  the  people  of 
Scotland,  tlie  land  of  his  fathera. 

About  the  end  of  1615,  Barclay  quitted 
London,  with  his  family,  and  pi-oceeded  to 
Paris,  but  having  been  invited  to  Rome  by 
Pope  Paul  the  Fifth,  he  there  fixed  his 
residence  in  the  beginning  of  1616.  With 
the  view  of  recommending  himself  to  the 
heads  of  the  church,  he  published  in  1617, 
his  next  work,  '  Parienesis,'  or  an  exhor- 
tation to  Sectaiiaus.  lie  received  much 
civility  at  Rome,  and  in  particular  was 
kindly  treated  by  Cardinal  BelUrmin. 

It  was  at  Rome  that  he  wrote  his  cel- 
ebrated Latin  romance,  entitled '  Ai'genis/ 
and  while  the  printing  of  the  first  edition 
was  going  on  at  Paris,  the  author  died  at 
Rome,  of  the  stone,   August  21,  1621, 
aged  39.     His  Argenis  was  published  at 
Paris  soon  after  his  death.    It  is  a  political  alle- 
gory, containing  allusions  to  the  state  of  Europe 
at  the  time,  and  especially  France  during  the  civil 
wars  of  the  seventeenth  century.    The  style  has 
received  the  commendations  of  the  greatest  schol- 
ars, and  the  work  has  been  translated  into  the 
English,  French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  and 
even  into  the  Polish,  Swedish,  Icelandic,  and  other 
languages.     The  first  English  veraion  was  pub- 
lished by  Sir  Robert  Le  Grys  and  Thomas  May, 
Esq.,  London,  1628,  4to.    Another  by  Kingsmill 
Long,  E^q.,  appeared  at  London  in  1636.     A 
tliird,  under  the  title  of  *  The  Phoenix,  or  the  His- 
tory of  Polyarchus  and  Argenis,*  by  Clara  Reeves, 
authoress  of  the  *  Old  English  Baron,'  appeared  in 
1772,  in  4  volumes  12mo,  being  that  lady's  first 
work.    Argenis  was  a  special  favourite  with  Car- 
dinal de  Richelieu  and  with  Liebnitz.     Cowper 
styles  it  "the  best  romance  that  ever  was  written." 
In  the  notes  to  Mai-mion  Su*  Walter  Scott  has 
quoted  a  singular  story  of  romantic  chivalry  from 
the  Satyricon  of  Barclay. 

Tlie  following  is  a  woodcut  of  John  Barclay, 
from  a  portrait  prefixed  to  a  French  edition  of  his 
'Argenis,*  of  date  1625* 


The  disposition  of  Bai-clay  was  of  a  melaiiclioly 
cast,  his  mornings  were  m^terruptedly  devoted 
to  study,  and  his  aflenioons  were  occupied  in  cul< 
tivating  a  small  garden.  He  was  afflicted  witii 
that  passion  for  tulips  which  at  that  time  over- 
spread Europe,  and  which  is  known  under  the 
name  of  the  Ttdipo-mania,  He  *^  had  it  to  that 
excess,**  says  Lord  Hailes,  who  wrote  a  sketch  of 
his  life,  "  that  he  placed  two  mastiffs  as  sentinels 
in  his  garden;  and  rather  than  abandon  his  fa- 
vcmrite  flowers,  chose  to  continue  his  residence  in 
an  ill-aii*ed  and  unwholesome  habitation.**  Be- 
sides the  works  above  mentioned,  Barclay  left  an 
unpublished  History  of  tiie  Conquest  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Franks,  and  some  fragments  of  a  General 
History  of  Europe.  He  had  four  children  in  all, 
a  son  and  two  daughtera  boni  in  London,  and  a 
son  born  in  Rome.  His  elder  son  is  said  to 
have  obtained  a  rich  benefice  from  Pope  Urban 
the  Eighth.  One  of  his  sons,  like  his  father,  was 
a  writer  of  Latin  veraes,  and  in  1652  he  printed  an 
elegy  at  Paris.  Barclay's  wife,  from  excess  of  affec- 
tion, sometimes  annoyed  him  with  her  jealousy 
There  was  somethingromanticinherfcelings  regard- 
ing him.    After  his  death  she  erected  a  monument, 


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BARCLAY, 


248 


WILLIAM. 


Ti-itli  his  bust  in  marble,  at  the  church  of  St.  Lo- 
renzo, on  the  road  to  Tivoli ;  but  on  learning  that 
Cardinal  Barberini  had  there  put  up  a  similar 
monument  in  honour  of  his  preceptor,  she  said, 
*'  My  husband  was  a  man  of  family,  and  famous 
in  the  literary  world  ;  I  will  not  suifer  him  to  re- 
main on  a  level  with  a  base  and  obscure  peda- 
gogue I"  and  indignantly  caused  her  husband^s 
bust  to  be  removed.  [Irving^s  Lives  of  Scottish 
Writers^  vol.  i.] 
The  following  is  a  list  of  John  Barclay's  works : 

Not»  in  Statii  Thebaidem.    Mosaponti,  1601,  8vo. 

Series  Patcfacti  Diviiiitus  Paricidn,  contra  Maximam  R^m 
regnamqne  Brittanijc  cogitati  et  instructi.     1606. 

Apologia  pro  se.    Par.  1610,  12mo. 

Pietas,  sive  Publics  pro  regibos  ac  principibos,  et  privatse 
pro  Gul.  Barclaio  parente  YindidiB,  adversns  Bellannlnnni. 
Paris,  1612,  4to. 

Icon  Aniinorum,  qos  est  quarta  Pars  Satyrid.  Lond.  1614, 
8vo.  1625, 1 2mo.  cum  Notis  A.  Buclmeri.  Dresd.  1680,  8vo. 
Satyricon  cum  dave.  Leyd.  1623,  12nio.  In  Partibus  v. 
cum  duvc.  Amst  1629, 12mo.  Oxon.  1634, 12mo.  Amst 
1658,  12mo.  Idem,  cum  Notis,  in  quatnor  partes  priores  et 
scxta  parte  anctum  cui  titulus;  alithophilus  castigatus.  Lugd. 
Bat  1674,  8vo. 

Poematum  libri  duo.  London,  1615,  4to.  His  Latin 
poems  are  also  inserted  in  the  Delitis  Poetarum  Scotomm. 

Paronesis  ad  Sectarios  de  vera  Ecdesia  Fide  ac  Beligione. 
Rome,  1617,  8vo.    Col.  1625, 12mo. 

Satyricon  cum  dave  et  conspiratio  Anglicans.  Ozf.  1634, 
12mo. 

Argenis.  Par.  1621,  8vo.  In  French,  1622,  8vo.  In 
English.  Lond.  1625,  4to.  In  Latin.  Lugd.  Bat  Elzev. 
1627,  1650,  12mo.  Amst  1658,  12mo.  By  Sir  Robert  1^ 
Giys  and  Tho.  May  W'ith  cuts.  1628,  4to.  Oxf.  1634, 
8vo.  In  English,  by  K.  Long  Lond.  1636,  4to.  Amst 
Klzev.  1655,  12mo.  New  English  Translation,  entit  The 
Phoenix;  or  the  History  of  Polyarchus  and  Argenis.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Latin  by  a  Lady.  1772,  4  vols.  l2mo.  La 
suite  et  continuation  de  VArgenis  en  iz.  HvTes;  sc  Aigenidis 
pars  altera.   Par.  1625, 8vo.   Idem,  Latine.   Franc.  1626, 8vo. 

Argenis  «t  Satyricon,  cum  dave  et  Alithophili  veritatis  La- 
crymc  Lugd.  Bat  1627, 12mo.  Elzev.  1630, 2  vols.  Ea- 
dem,  cum  notis  et  continuatione,  Th.  BugnatiL  Lugd.  Bat 
1664,  2  vols.  8vo.  Camb.  1673,  8vo.  Cum  figuris.  Amst 
1703. 

BARCLAY,  William,  M.D.,  often  confounded 
with  the  eminent  civilian  of  the  same  name,  to 
whom  he  was  related,  was  the  brother  of  Sir  Pa- 
trick Barclay  of  Tolly,  and  was  bora  about  1570. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Louvain,  under 
the  celebrated  scholar,  Justus  Lipsius,  to  whom 
he  addressed  several  letters,  which  have  been 
printed.  Lipsius  had  such  a  high  opinion  of  him 
that  he  is  recorded  to  have  said,  that  if  **  he  were 
dying,  he  knew  no  person  on  earth  he  would  leave 
his  pen  to  but  the  doctor."    [Callirhoe^  or  the 


Nymph  of  Aberdene^  edition  Aberdeen,  1670.] 
Barclay  describes  himself  as  A.M.  and  M.D.,  but 
where  he  took  those  degrees  we  are  not  informed. 
Having  been  appointed  a  professor  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Paris,  he  taught  humanity  there  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  acquired  considerable  reputation 
by  his  talents  and  learning.  He  afterwards  re- 
turned to  Scotland,  where  he  appears  for  a  time 
to  have  followed  the  medical  profession,  but  soon 
went  back  to  France,  and  resumed  his  former  oc- 
cupation at  Nantes  in  Bretagne.  Dr.  Irving  says 
that  it  may  be  inferred  from  Dempsters  brief  no- 
tice that  Barclay*s  reason  for  again  leaving  his 
native  country  was  that  his  situation  was  rendered 
uncomfortable  in  consequence  of  his  adherence  to 
popery.  [Irmng*s  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers^  vol. 
i.  p.  231.]  According  to  Dempster,  at  the  time 
of  his  writing,  Barclay  was  residing  in  Scotland^ 
and  pursuing  the  practice  of  physic  He  is  con- 
jectured to  have  died  about  1630.  His  principal 
tract,  called  *  Nepenthes,  or  the  Vertves  of  Ta- 
bacco,'  was  published  at  Edinburgh,  in  1614,  in 
8vo.  It  is  now  exceedingly  rare,  and  has  been 
reprinted  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Miscellany  ol 
the  Spalding  Club  fi-om  the  copy  in  the  Advo- 
cates' Library.  Added  to  this  treatise  arc  six 
little  poems  addressed  to  some  of  his  friends  and 
kinsmen,  all  in  praise  of  tobacco.  He  also  wrote 
*  Callg-hoe,  commonly  called  the  well  of  Spa,  or 
the  Nymph  of  Aberdene  resuscitated ;'  Apobatu- 
rum,  or  last  farewell  to  Abeixieen,  of  which  no 
copy  is  now  known  to  exist;  some  Latin  poems  in 
the  *  Delltiae  Poetarum  Scotorum,'  besides  a  Com- 
mentary on  the  Life  of  Agricola  by  Tacitus,  and 
other  Latin  works. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works,  from  Dr. 
Ii-ving's  *  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers,'  vol.  i.  p.  232 : 

Oratio  pro  Eloquentia.  Ad  v.  d.  Ludovicum  Servinnm, 
Sacri  Consistorii  R^i  Consiliarium,  et  in  amplissimo  Senatu 
Parisiensi  Regis  Advocatum.    Paris,  1598,  8vo. 

G.  Coraelii  Taciti  Opera  quae  ezstant,  ad  exemplar  quod 
J.  Upsius  quintum  recensuit.  Seorsim  excusi  oommentarii 
ejusdcm  Lipsii,  meliores  plenioresque,  cum  curis  secnndis,  et 
auctariolo  uon  ante  adjecto.  Gnil.  Bardayus  Praemetia 
quaedam  ex  Vita  Agricolae  libavit.  Adjecd  sunt  indices 
aliquanto  ditiores.  Paris,  1599,  8vo. — Menage  and  Bayle 
have  ascribed  these  Praemetia  to  the  dvilian,  and  the  same 
error  has  been  committed  by  other  writers. 

Nepenthes,  or  the  Vertves  of  Tabacca  By  William  Bar- 
day,  Mr.  of  Art,  and  Doctor  of  Phyncke.  Edinb.  1614,  8vo. 
— This  tract  is  dedicated  to  the  author^s  nephew,  Patrick,  thr 


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BARCLAY, 


249 


JOHN. 


son  and  beir  of  Sir  Patrick  Barclay  of  Tolly;  and  the  dedica- 
tion Ib  preceded  by  **  A  merie  Epistle  of  the  Author  to  the 
Printer,**  who  is  no  dther  than  <*  good  Master  Hart** 

Calliihoe,  commonly  called  the  Well  of  Spa,  or  the  Nymph 
of  Aberdene,  resuacitat  by  William  Barclay,  Mr.  of  Art,  and 
Doctor  of  Phyack.  What  Diseases  may  be  cared  by  drinking 
of  the  Well  of  Spa  at  Aberdene,  and  what  is  the  true  nse 
thereof.  As  it  was  printed  by  Andro  Hart  Anno  Domini 
1615,  and  now  reprinted  at  Aberdene  by  lohn  Forbes, 
yomiger.  Printer  to  the  Town  and  Universitie,  Anmo  Domini 
M.  DC.  LXX.,  8vo. 

Guil  Barclay],  Arooemomm  Artiom,  et  Medidnte  Docto- 
ris,  Judidun  de  Certamine  G.  Eglisemmii  cam  G.  Buchanano, 
pro  Digoitate  Paraphraseos  Psalmi  diiL  Non  violandi 
3fanes,  A^jecta  sont,  Eglisemmii  ipttam  Judidam,  at  editum 
fuit  Londini,  typis  EduarcU  Aldsi,  an.  Dom.  1619;  et,  in 
gratiam  stodiosae  juventatis,  cjosdem  Psalmi  elegans  Para- 
phrasis  Thomae  Rha>di.  Ix>nd.  1620,  8to. — Dr.  Eglisham, 
like  a  faur  as  well  as  a  bold  critic,  exhibited  his  own  verses  in 
competition  with  those  of  Buchanan,  and  had  no  reason  to 
congratolate  hmiself  on  tne  issue. 

Gnil.  Barclay ii,  M.  D.  Poemata.  Dditiae  Poeiarttm  Sco- 
foratm,  tom.  L  p.  137. — These  poems  only  occnpy  four  pages 
and  a  half. 

BARCLAY,  John,  founder  of  a  religions  sect 
named  Bereans,  bom  in  1734,  was  the  son  of  Mr. 
Lndovic  Barclay,  fanner,  parish  of  Mnthill,  Perth- 
shire. Being  designed  for  the  chnrch  he  was  sent 
to  St.  Andrews,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  A.M. 
He  attended  the  divinity  class  in  St.  Mary's  Col- 
lege; and  while  there  espoused  and  advocated 
some  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  then  broached  by 
Dr.  Archibald  Campbell,  professor  of  church  his- 
tory in  that  university  ;  the  chief  of  which  was, 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  God  is  de- 
rived from  revelation,  and  not  from  nature.  On 
the  27th  September  1759  he  was,  by  the  presby- 
tery of  Auchterarder,  licensed  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  was  for  some  time  assistant  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Jobson,  Ern^.  Having  imbibed  some  of  the 
sentiments  of  Mr.  John  Glas,  minister  of  Tealing, 
the  founder  of  the  Glasites,  he  was  obliged  to 
quit  Errol.  In  June  1763  he  became  assistant  to 
Mr.  Anthony  Dow,  minister  of  Fettercaim,  where 
lie  remained  for  nine  years,  and  where  he  was 
very  popular  as  a  preacher.  In  1766  he  published 
part  of  a  Paraphrase  of  the  whole  Book  of  Psalms, 
which  he  had  composed,  accompanied  with  ^A 
Dissertation  on  the  best  means  of  interpreting 
that  portion  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture.*  From 
Ills  peculiar  views,  the  pi*esbytei*y  of  Fordoun,  in 
consequence  of  this  publication,  cited  him  to  ap- 
pear at  their  bar,  where  he  defended  himself  with 
ability  and  success.     He  afterwards  published  a 


small  work,  entitled  '  Rejoice  Evermore,  or  Christ 
All  in  All  ;*  in  which  he  repeated  those  doctrines 
which  were  deemed  heretical.  In  consequence  of 
this,  the  presbytery  appointed  one  of  their  own 
body  to  read  publicly,  in  the  church  of  Fettercaim, 
a  warning  against  the  dangerous  doctrines  that  he 
preached;  but  without  injuring  his  popularity  or 
usefulness.  In  1769  he  published  one  of  the  larg- 
est of  his  treatises,  under  the  title  of  *  Without 
Faith,  Without  God,  or  an  appeal  to  God  concern- 
ing his  own  Existence.'  In  summer  1769,  he  ad- 
dressed a  letter  on  the  *  Eternal  Generation  of  the 
Son  of  God,'  to  Messrs.  Smith  and  Ferrier,  two 
clerg}'men  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  who  had 
separated  from  it  and  become  Glassites.  In  1771 
he  published  a  Letter  *  On  the  Assurance  of  Faith ;' 
and  also  a  *  Letter  on  Prayer,'  the  latter  addressed 
to  an  Independent  congregation  in  Scotland.  On 
the  death  of  Mr.  Dow  in  1772,  the  presbytery  of 
Fettercairn  prohibited  Mr.  Barclay  from  preaching 
in  the  kirk  of  Fettercaim ;  and  they  refused  him 
the  usual  certificate  of  character  on  quitting  their 
bounds.  Having  in  consequence  left  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  he  went  to  Newcastle,  and  was  ordained 
there  Oct.  12,  1773.  He  afterwards  proceeded  to 
Edinburgh,  where  a  congregation  holding  his  pecu- 
liar sentiments  had  been  formed,  and  he  was  their 
"pastor  for  about  three  years.  Subsequently,  in 
order  to  disseminate  his  piinciples,  he  repaired  to 
London,  where  he  preached  for  nearly  two  years. 
He  ahso  preached  at  Bristol,  and  other  places  in 
England.  The  name  of  Bereans  was  voluntarily 
assumed  by  his  folIowei*s,  to  distinguish  them  from 
other  Christian  sects,  and  took  its  origin  from  the 
Jews  of  Bcrea,  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, chap.  xvii.  verae  11,  as  being  "more  noble 
than  those  in  Tliessalonica,  in  that  they  received 
the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  and  searched 
the  Scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things  were 
so."  At  Edinburgh  Mr.  Barclay  published  an 
edition  of  his  works  in  three  vols.  In  1788  he 
broughl  out  a  small  work  for  the  use  of  the  Bcrcan 
churches,  entitled  *The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
Paraphrased,'  with  a  collection  of  Psalms  and 
Songs  fix)m  his  other  works.  He  died  of  apoplexy, 
on  the  29th  of  July,  179S.— Scots  Magazine. 

BARCLAY,  John,  M.D.,  a  distinguished  ana- 
tomist, the  nephew  of  John  Barclay  the  Berean, 


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BARCLAY. 


250 


BARGENY. 


was  born  in  1760.  He  was  a  native  of  Cairn  in 
Perthshire,  where  his  father  was  a  farmer.  He 
first  stQcUed  divinity  at  St.  Andrews,  and  was  by 
the  presbytery  of  Danlceld  licensed  as  a  preacher. 
In  1789  he  repau^  to  Edinburgh  in  the  capacity 
of  tutor  to  the  family  of  Sir  James  Campbell  of 
Aberuchill,  baronet,  and  abandoning  the  clei-ical 
profession  began  to  study  medicine  at  the  nniver- 
sity  of  Edinburgh,  particularly  turning  his  atten- 
tion to  anatomy,  both  human  and  comparative, 
lie  became  assistant  to  Mr.  John  Bell,  and  in 
1796  took  the  degiee  of  M.D.  He  afterwards 
studied  for  some  time  under  the  late  Dr.  Marshall 
of  London,  an  eminent  teacher  of  anatomy  in 
Thavies  Inn.  In  November  1797  he  began  his 
career  as  an  anatomical  lecturer  in  Edinburgh. 
In  1803  he  published  a  Nomenclature^  with  the 
view  of  rendering  the  language  of  anatomy  more 
accurate  and  precise ;  but  although  this  work  dis- 
played much  talent  and  learning,  it  was  not  gener- 
ally adopted.  In  the  following  year,  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that 
attendance  on  his  lectures  should  qualify  for  passing 
at  Surgeon's  Hall,  and  in  1815  he  was  admitted  a 
licentiate  of  the  Royal  College  of  Pliysicians,  and 
a  resident  fellow  the  following  year.  In  1808  he 
published  a  ^  Treatise  on  the  Muscular  Motions  of 
the  Human  Body.*  In  1812  appeared  his  'De- 
scription of  the  Arteries  of  the  Human  Body.' 
Ilis  last  publication  was  an  ^Enquiry  into  the 
Opinions,  Ancient  and  Modern,  concerning  Life 
and  Organization.*  In  consequence  of  the  de- 
clining state  of  his  health,  in  1825  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  Dr.  Robeii;  Knox,  at  the 
time  Conservator  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons, 
lie  died  at  Edinburgh,  August  21,  1826.  He 
had  married  in  1811  Eleonora,  daughter  of  his  for- 
mer patron.  Sir  James  Campbell  of  Aberuchill, 
baronet,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue.  This  lady 
afterwards  married  Mr.  Charles  Oliphant,  writer 
to  the  signet.  Dr.  Barclay's  introductory  lectures, 
revised  by  himself  before  his  death,  containing  a 
valuable  abridgment  of  the  history  of  anatomy, 
wei*e  published  by  Su*  George  Ballingall,  M.D., 
after  his  decease.  The  article  Physiology,  in  the 
tliu'd  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  was 
written  by  Dr.  Barclay.  It  was  piincipally  on 
his  recommendation  that  the  Highland  Society  of 


Scotland  established  a  veterinary  school  in  Edin- 
burgh. His  anatomical  collection,  now  known  as 
the  Barclayan  Museum,  was  bequeathed  to  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  that  city,  in  which 
a  bust  of  him,  by  Joseph,  has  been  placed. 
Subjoined  is  a  list  of  his  works: 

A  New  Anatomical  Nomenclature,  relating  to  the  terma 
whidi  are  expressiTe  of  Poution  and  Aspect  in  the  Animal 
System.    Edin.  1803,  8vo. 

The  Muscular  Motion  of  the  Human  Body.  Edinburgh, 
1808,  8vo. 

Description  of  the  Arteries  of  the  Human  Body.  Edm. 
1812, 12mo. 

An  Enquiry  into  the  Opmions,  ancient  and  modem,  con- 
cerning Life  and  Organization.    Edinburgh,  1822,  8to. 

Introductory  Lectures  to  a  course  of  Anatomy,  with  a  Me- 
moir of  the  Author,  by  George  Ballingall,  M.D.  Edinbuigb, 
1827,  8vo. 


Baboknt,  Baron,  a  title  (now  dormant)  in  the  peerage  of 
Scotland,  first  conferred,  in  1639,  on  Sir  John  Hamilton  of  Car- 
riden,  only  son  of  Sir  John  Hamilton  of  Letterick,  natural 
son  of  John  first  marquis  of  Hamilton.  The  father  of  the 
first  peer  had  obtained  a  legitimation  under  the  great  seal 
22d  December  1600,  and  acquired  considerable  estates  in  the 
counties  of  Ayr  and  Lanark.  Among  the  rest  he  had  char- 
ters of  Bargeny,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  Ken- 
nedys, Carlok,  and  other  lands  in  Ayrshire,  23d  December 
1681.  From  the  former  his  son,  the  first  lord,  took  his 
designation.  This  peerage  was  created  with  limitation  to 
the  heuB  male  of  tlie  first  lord's  body.  In  1648  Lord  Bar- 
geny accompanied  the  duke  of  Hamilton,  in  his  unfortunate 
expedition  into  England,  and  was  excepted  by  Cromwell  out  of 
his  act  of  grace  and  pardon,  12tb  April,  1654*  He  died  April 
1658.  He  married  Lady  Jean  Douglas,  second  daughter  of 
William  first  marquis  of  Douglas,  and  had  two  sons  and  fire 
daughters. 

The  elder  son,  John,  second  Lord  Bargeny,  was  served 
heir  to  his  father  17th  October,  1662.  His  liberal  principles 
made  him  obnoxious  to  the  ministry  of  Charles  the  Second, 
and  he  was  imprisoned  in  Blackness  castle  in  November  1679. 
From  thenoe  he  was  removed  to  Edinburgh,  and  indicted  for 
high  treason,  for  having  compassed  the  life  of  the  duke  of 
Lauderdale  and  others  of  the  nobility,  encouraged  rebellion 
to  the  sovereign,  and  openly  declaimed  against  episcopacy, 
then  the  established  religion  in  SooUand.  From  want  of 
evidence,  however,  this  indictment  was  not  brouglit  to  triaL 
A  letter  from  the  king,  dated  11th  May  1680,  was  laid  before 
his  privy  council  in  Scotland,  bearing  that  his  migesty  had 
received  a  petition  from  Lord  Baigeny,  representing  his  fa- 
therms  loyalty  and  sufierings,  and  declaring  his  innocence  of 
the  crimes  hud  to  his  charge :  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  released,  on  finding  security  to  stand  trial,  in  fifty  thou- 
sand merks.  After  being  sot  at  liberty  he  discovered  that 
Cunningham  of  Mountgrennan  and  his  servant,  two  of  the 
prisonera  taken  at  Bothwell-bridge,  were  suborned  by  Sir 
Charles  Maitland  of  Hatton  and  Sir  John  Dalrymple,  to  give 
false  evidence  against  him.  Their  depositiona,  which  also  af- 
fected the  duke  of  Hamilton,  were  prepared  beforehand,  and 
they  were  promised  a  share  of  the  confiscated  estates;  but 
when  the  trial  approached,  their  consciences  revolted  against 
the  crime.  Lord  Bargeny*s  evidence  was  ready  to  be  pro- 
duced before  parliament,  28th  July  1681,  but  the  duke  of 


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BARNARD, 


251 


LADY  ANNE. 


York  interpofied  to  prevent  inquiry.  lAndenon'i  History  of 
tht  Ilouat  of  Hamilton,  p.  218.]  His  lordship  entered  beart- 
iij  into  the  Revolution,  and  in  1689  he  raised  a  regiment  of 
six  hundred  foot  for  the  publior  service.  He  died  25th  May 
1693.  He  was  twice  married,  first,  to  Lady  Margaret  Cun- 
ningham, second  daughter  of  William  ninth  earl  of  Glencaim, 
lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland,  and  had  issue  two  sons- and 
a  daughter;  the  latter,  named  Nicolas,  married  to  Sir  Alexr 
ander  Hope  of  Kerae,  baronet ;  secondly,  in  1676,  to  Lady 
Alice  Moore,  dowager  countess  of  Clanbrassil,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  first  eari  of  Drogheda,  by  whom  he  had  no 
children.  His  eldest  son,  John,  Master  of  Bargeny,  died  be- 
fore his  fiitber.  He  married,  19th  June  1688,  Jean,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Robert  Sinclair  of  Longformacus,  baronet,  and  had 
ooe  daughter,  Joanna,  heiress  of  Bargeny,  married,  in  1707, 
to  Sir  Robert  Dalrymple  of  Gastleton,  knight 

The  younger  son,  William,  succeeded  his  father  in  1693, 
and  became  third  Lord  Bargeny.  He  took  the  oaths  and  his 
seat  in  the  Scotch  parliament  9th  ftlay  1695,  and  exerted 
himself  in  opposition  to  the  treaty  of  Union  m  1706.  He 
died  about  1712.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Maiy,  eld- 
est daughter  of  Sir  William  Primrose  of  Camngton,  sister  of 
the  firrt  Viscount  Primrose,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  the 
Hon.  Grizel  Hamilton,  married  15th  February  1713  to  Tho- 
mas Buchan  of  Caimbulgh,  advocate ;  and  secondly,  to  Mar- 
garet, eldest  daughter  of  Robert  Dnndas  of  Amiston,  a  lord 
of  session,  sister  of  the  first  Freadent  Dundas,  by  whom  he 
liad  a  son, 

James,  fourth  Lord  Bargeny,  bom  29th  November  1710. 
He  succeeded  his  fiiUier  in  1712.  and  completed  his  education 
by  visiting  foreign  countries,  as  appears  from  Hamilton  of 
Bangour's  epitaph  on  the  companion  of  his  travels,  who, 

**  With  kind  Bargeny,  laiUiful  to  his  word. 
Whom  heaven  made  good  and  social,  though  a  lord, 
The  cities  viewed  of  many-langnaged  men.  * 

His  lordship  died  unmarried  at  Edinburgh,  28th  March, 
1786,  in  the  26th  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried,  5th  April, 
in  the  Abbey-church  of  Holyrood-house.  The  title  has  re- 
mained dormant  ever  since.  A  competition  arose  for  the 
estate,  between  first,  the  children  of  Joanna.  Lady  Dahrym- 
ple,  only  daughter  of  John,  Master  of  Baigeny;  secondly, 
the  children  of  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Budian  of  Caimbulgh,  daugh- 
ter of  the  third  lord;  and  thirdly.  Sir  Alexander  Hope  of 
Kerse,  son  of  the  Hon.  Nicolas  Hamilton,  daughter  of  the 
second  lord.  It  was  ultimately  decided  m  the  House  of 
Lords  in  favour  of  the  first,  by  whose  representative,  Henri- 
etta Dnndas  Dabymple  Hamilton,  Duchess  de  Coigny,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Sir  Hew  Dalrymple  Hamilton  of  North  Ber- 
wick, baronet,  it  came  to  be  possessed. 

The  murder  of  the  young  Kennedy  of  Bargeny  by  the  earl 
of  CassiUis  in  December  1601,  led  to  the  dark  and  bloody 
deeds  which  form  the  subject  of  the  Auchindrane  tragedy, 
dramatised  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  included  in  Fltcaira*8 
Criminal  Trials,  arising  out  of  the  feuds  between  the  earls 
of  Cassillis  and  the  lairds  of  Bargeny.  See  Cassiujs, 
eari  of. 

BARNARD,  Lady  Annk,  (born  Lindsay,)  au- 
thoress of  the  beautiful  and  touching  ballad  of 
*  Auld  Robm  Gray,'  was  the  eldest  daughter  of 
the  fifth  earl  of  BalcaiTes,  by  his  Countess  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Robeit  Dalrymple  of  Gastleton, 
knight,  an  account  of  whom  will  be  found  under 


the  Balcarres  branch  of  the  Lindsays  [see  ante^ 
p.  204.]  She  was  bom  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1750.  Her  youth  was  chiefly  spent  at  her  father's 
seat  in  Fife,  varied  by  occasional  visits  to  Edin- 
bm'gh.  At  her  mother's  house  in  that  city  she 
became,  in  early  life,  acquainted  with  all  the  men 
of  chai*acter  and  distinction  of  the  day  in  the 
Scottish  metropolis,  among  whom  were  Hume  the 
historian,  Henry  Mackenzie,  the  author  of  ^  Tiie 
Man  of  Feeling,*  Loi-d  Monboddo,  and  other  emi- 
nent litei*ary  men  of  that  period.  When  Dr. 
Johnson  visited  Edinburgh  hi  1773,  she  also  had 
an  opportunity  of  becoming  known  to  him.  Later 
in  life  she  and  her  sister  Lady  Margaret,  who  had 
been  married  while  veiy  young  to  a  gentleman 
named  Fordyce,  i*e8ided  together  in  London,  her 
sister  being  then  a  widow.  Her  nephew.  Col. 
Lindsay  of  Balcarres,  mentions  that  her  hand  was 
sought  in  marriage  by  several  of  the  fii-st  men  of 
the  laud,  as  her  friendship  and  confidence  wcra  by 
the  most  distinguished  women,  but  her  heart  had 
never  been  captured,  and  she  remamed  single  till 
1793,  when  she  married  Andi*ew  Barnard,  Esq., 
the  son  of  the  bishop  of  Limerick,  an  accomplished 
but  not  wealthy  gentleman,  younger  than  hereelf, 
whom  she  accompanied  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  when  he  went  out  as  colonial  secretaiy  un- 
der Lord  Macartney.  The  journals  of  her  resi- 
dence at  the  Cape,  and  excursions  into  the  interior 
country,  illustrated  with  drawings  and  sketches  of 
the  scenes  described,  are  pi*eseiTed  among  the 
family  MSS.  in  the  library  of  Lord  Balcarres.  A 
few  extracts  from  them,  remarkable  for  a  style  at 
once  lively  and  graphic,  ai*e  printed  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  'Lives  of  the  Lindsays.'  Nine 
years  afterwards  she  retmiied  to  Scotland.  Her 
husband  died  at  the  Cape,  in  1807,  without  issue, 
and,  after  his  death,  Lady  Anne,  and  her  sister 
Lady  Mai'garet,  again  resided  together  in  Berke- 
ley Square,  London,  till  the  latter  was  maiTied, 
for  the  second  time,  in  1812,  to  Su*  James  Bm*- 
gess.  Of  Lady  Margai*et,  who  was  celebrated 
alike  for  her  peraonal  charms  and  mental  accom- 
plishments, an  account  has  been  given  under  the 
Balcarres  branch  of  the  Lindsays,  ante^  p.  207. 
Among  their  familiar  guests  and  friends  in  Lon- 
don were  Bm-ke,  Sheridan,  Wyndham,  Dundas, 
and  the  Prince  ot  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV. 


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BAR^rARD, 


252 


LADY  ANNE. 


The  attachment  of  the  latter  to  Lady  Anne  Bar- 
nard continued  unabated  during  life.  "I  recol- 
lect," says  her  nephew,  Colonel  Lindsay,  "  George 
IV.  sending  for  her  to  come  and  see  liim  when  he 
was  very  ill.  He  spoke  most  affectionately  to  her, 
and  said,  ^  Sister  Anne  (the  appellation  he  usually 
gave  her,)  I  wished  to  see  you,  to  tell  you  that  I 
love  you,  and  wish  you  to  accept  this  golden  chain 
for  my  sake, — ^I  may  never  see  you  again.'"  The 
ballad  of  *  Auld  Robin  Gray '  was  written  by  Lady 
Anne  in  1771,  when  in  her  twenty-first  year,  soon 
after  her  sister's  first  marriage,  and  consequent 
departure  fi*om  the  family  home.  Notwithstanding 
the  popularity  to  which  it  immediately  attained, 
being  translated  into  almost  every  European  lan- 
guage, the  real  author  of  it  long  remaiued  unknown, 
and  it  was  claimed  by  more  than  one  person,  and 
in  particular  by  a  clergyman  residing  on  the  coast. 
It  was  not  till  about  two  years  before  her  death 
that  Lady  Anne  publicly  acknowledged  the  author- 
ship of  this  simple  and  celebrated  ballad.  In  ^  the 
Pirate,'  which  appeared  in  1823,  the  author  of 
AVaverley  compared  the  condition  of  Minna  to 
that  of  Jeanre  Gray,  "  the  village-heroine  in  Lady 
Anne  Lindsay's  beautiful  ballad,"  and  quoted  the 
second  verse  of  the  continuation,  or  second  pait. 
This  induced  Lady  Anne  to  write  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  and  confide  its  history  to  him.  From  her 
characteristic  letter,  dated  July  8,  1823,  the  fol- 
lowing are  interesting  extracts:  "Robin  Gray,  so 
called  from  its  being  the  name  of  the  old  herd  at 
6alcan*es,  was  horn  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
year  1771.  My  sister  Margaret  had  maiTied,  and 
accompanied  her  husband  to  London.  I  was  me- 
lancholy and  endeavoured  to  amuse  myself  by 
attempting  a  few  poetical  trifles.  There  was  an 
English  Scotch  melody  of  which  I  was  passionately 
fond.  Sophy  Johnstone,  who  lived  before  your 
day,  used  to  sing  it  to  us  at  Balcarrcs.  She  did 
not  object  to  its  having  improper  words,  though  I 
did.  I  longed  to  sing  old  Sophy's  air  to  different 
words,  and  give  to  its  plaintive  tones  some  little 
history  of  virtuous  distress  in  humble  life,  such  as 
might  suit  it.  While  attempting  to  effect  this  in 
my  closet,  I  called  to  my  little  sister,  now  Lady 
Ilardwicke,  who  was  the  only  person  near  me,  *I 
have  been  WTiting  a  ballad,  my  dear;  I  am  op- 
pressing my  heroine  with  many  misfortunes.      I 


have  ali-eady  sent  her  Jamie  to  sea,  and  broken 
her  father's  arm,  and  made  her  mother  fall  sick, 
and  given  her  auld  Robin  Gray  for  a  lover ;  but  I 
wish  to  load  her  with  a  fifth  soitow  within  the 
four  lines,  poor  thing!  Help  me  to  one! — *  Steal 
the  cow,  sister  Anne,'  said  the  little  Elizabeth. 
The  cow  was  immediately  lifted  by  me,  and  the 
song  completed.  At  our  fireside,  and  amongst 
our  neighbours,  ^Auld  Robin  Gray'  was  always 
called  for.  I  was  pleased  in  secret  with  the  ap- 
probation it  met  with;  but  such  was  my  dread  of 
being  suspected  of  writing  anything,  perceiving 
the  shyness  it  created  in  those  who  could  ^write 
nothing,  that  I  carefully  kept  my  own  secret.— 
Meantime,  little  as  this  matter  seems  to  have  been 
worthy  a  dispute,  it  afterwards  became  a  party 
question  between  the  sixteenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  '  Robin  Gray'  was  either  a  very  an- 
cient ballad,  composed,  perhaps,  by  David  Rizzlo, 
and  a  great  curiosity,  or  a  very  modem  matter, 
and  no  curiosity  at  all.  I  was  persecuted  to  avow 
whether  I  had  written  it  or  not, — ^where  I  had  got 
it.  Old  Sophy  kept  my  counsel,  and  I  kept  my 
own,  in  spite  of  the  gratification  of  seeing  a  reward 
of  twenty  guineas  offered  in  the  newspapers  to  the 
person  who  should  ascertain  the  point  past  a  doubt, 
and  the  still  more  flattering  circumstance  of  a  visit 
from  Mr.  Jemingham,  secretary  to  the  Antiquarian 
Society,  who  endeavoured  to  entrap  the  truth  from 
me  in  a  manner  I  took  amiss.  Had  he  asked  me 
the  question  obligingly,  I  should  have  told  him  the 
fact  distinctly  and  confidentially.  The  annoyance, 
however,  of  this  important  ambassador  from  the 
antiquaries,  was  amply  repaid  to  me  by  the  noble 
exhibition  of  the  *Ballat  of  Auld  Robin  Gray's 
Courtship,'  as  performed  by  dancing  dogs  under 
my  window.  It  proved  its  popularity  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  and  gave  me  pleasure  while 
I  hugged  myself  in  my  obscurity."  The  following 
were  the  words  with  which  Lady  Anne  closed  the 
interview  with  Mr.  Jemingham,  after  having  been 
subjected  to  a  very  rigid  cross-examination  by 
that  gentleman.  "  The  ballad  in  question,"  said 
she,  "  has  in  my  opinion  met  with  attentions  be- 
yond its  deserts.  It  set  off  with  having  a  very 
fine  tune  put  to  it  by  a  doctor  of  music,  (the  Rev 
William  I-.eeves,  rector  of  Wrington,  who  died  in 
1828,  aged  80;)  was  sung  by  youth  and  beauty 


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BARNARD. 


253 


BARON. 


for  flTe  years  aiid  more,  had  a  romance  composed 
from  it  by  a  man  of  eminence,  was  the  subject  of 
a  play,  of  an  opera,  and  of  a  pantomime,  was  snug 
by  the  nnited  armies  in  America,  acted  by  Punch, 
and  afterwards  danced  by  dogs  in  the  street — ^but 
never  more  honoured  than  by  the  present  investi- 
gation." The  old  air  is  now  only  retained  to  the 
first  verse.  It  belongeil  to  a  song  of  no  great 
delicacy,  called  '  The  Bridegroom  greits  when  the 
sun  gaes  down.' 

Sur  Walter  Scott  printed  in  1824,  in  a  thin  quarto 
volume  for  the  Bannatyne  club,  a  revised  version 
of  *  Auld  Robin  Gray,*  and  two  continuations  by 
tlie  authoress,  sent  to  him  by  her  ladyship  at  his 
request  for  the  purpose.  The  preface  contains  her 
letter  to  him,  explanatory  of  the  origin  of  the  bal- 
lad. The  second  part  was  written  many  yeai*s 
after  the  first,  at  the  request  of  the  countess,  her 
mother,  who  often  said,  "  Annie!  I  wish  you  would 
tell  me  how  that  unlucky  business  of  Jeanie  and 
Jamie  ended."  It  is  far  inferior  to  the  fii-st,  al- 
though it  has  touches  that  are  both  beautiful  and 
characteristic.  In  it  auld  Robin  falls  sick,  con- 
fesses that  it  was  he  who  stole  the  cow,  in  order 
to  oblige  Jeanie  to  marry  him,  then  leaving  all  his 
wealth  to  his  widow,  dies,  and  Jamie  of  course  is 
at  last  married  to  his  Jeanie.  Writing  to  her  lady- 
ship subsequently,  Sir  Walter  Scott  says :  **  I  have 
sometimes  wondered  how  many  of  our  best  songs 
have  been  written  by  Scotchwomen  of  rank  and 
condition.  The  Hon.  Mrs.  Murray,  (Miss  Baillie  of 
Jerviswood  bom)  wrote  the  very  pi^etty  Scots  song, 

*  An  *twere  not  my  heart's  light  I  wad  die,* — 

Miss  Elliot,  of  Minto,  the  verses  to  the  *  Flowers 
of  the  Forest,'  which  begin 

*I  have  heard  a  lilting,*  &c 

Mrs.  Cockbnm  composed  other  verses  to  the  same 
tune, 

*■  I  have  seen  the  smiling  of  fortune  beguiling,*  &c 

Lady  Wardlaw  wrote  the  glorious  old  ballad  of 
*  Hardyknute :' — ^Place  '  Auld  Robin '  at  the  head 
of  this  list,  and  Lquestion  if  we  masculine  wretches 
can  claim  five  or  six  songs  equal  in  elegance  and 
pathos  out  of  the  long  list  of  Scottish  minstrelsy." 
Lady  Anne  Barnard  died  6th  May,  1826,  in 
her  74th  year.    "Her  face,"  says  Mr.  Charles 


Kirkpatrick  Sharpe,  "was  pretty,  and  replete 
with  vivacity;  her  figure  light  and  elegant;  her 
conversation  lively ;  and,  like  the  rest  of  her  fam- 
ily, peculiarly  agreeable.  Though  she  had  wit, 
she  never  said  ill-natured  things  to  show  it ;  she 
gave  herself  no  au^  either  as  a  woman  of  rank,  or 
as  the  authoress  of  Auld  Robin  Gray."  "Her 
stores  of  anecdote,"  says  her  relative  Lord  Lind- 
say, "  on  all  sulyects,  and  of  all  persons,  her  rich 
fancy,  original  thought,  and  ever-ready  wit,  ren- 
dered her  conversation  delightful  to  the  last,  while 
the  kindness  of  her  heart, — a  very  fountain  of  ten- 
derness and  love, — always  overflowing,  and  her 
sincere  but  unostentatious  piety,  divested  that  wit 
of  the  keenness  that  might  have  wounded — it 
flashed,  but  it  was  summer  lightning. "  His  lord- 
ship has  given  ample  extracts  from  her  lively  and 
interesting  sketches  of  the  home- circle  of  her 
youth  in  the  second  volume  of  his  *  Lives  of  the 
Lindsays,'  a  work  from  whence  have  been  derived 
most  of  the  materials  for  this  notice. 

Baron,  [Latm  baro^  or  rir,  a  man,  German  bar,  a  frws 
man,  Spanish  roro,  a  stout  noble  person,]  a  feudal  honour  (»f 
great  antiquity.  Barons  were  those  who  held  their  lands  of 
a  superior  by  militaiy  and  other  services.  For  some  tmie  be- 
fore the  Nonnan  Conquest  this  name  was  commonly  used  in 
France  to  denote  a  person  of  the  first  dignity ;  but  afler  thut 
event  it  was  introduced  into  England,  and  used  to  signify  an 
immediate  vassal  of  the  Crown,  bound  for  his  lands  to  give 
personal  service  to  the  king  in  his  wars,  to  attend  at  his 
court  and  council  when  summoned,  and  to  do  homage  to  him 
and  acknowledge  himself  his  "  man "  or  baron.  The  name 
is  now  used  as  the  title  of  the  lowest  order  of  the  nobility. 

The  feudal  system,  of  which  the  baronage  formed  so  im- 
portant a  part,  and  which  exerted  so  beneficial  an  influence 
on  Scotti^  civilization,  was,  as  exhibited  in  its  most  flour- 
ishing state  during  the  middle  ages,  introduced  into  Scotland 
by  the  Anglo-Norman  adventurers,  (a  term  used  to  distin- 
guish not  only  Normans,  but  French,  Flemings,  and  others 
speaking  the  French  language,  all,  however,  knights  of  re- 
putation,) who  accompanied  David  the  first,  when,  afler 
spending  his  youth  and  receiving  his  education  in  England, 
be,  as  independent  Count  or  Prince  of  Cumbria,  under- 
took the  subjugation  of  the  West  Lothians  and  Galloway,  as 
well  as  afterwards  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  to 
whom  he  granted  lands  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  "  His 
education  and  tastes,"  says  Mr.  Burton,  (/4/e  of  Lord  Lovai, 
page  3,)  "  attached  him  to  the  gallant  race  who,  wherever 
they  went,  were  first  in  arms  and  arts,  and  mingled  the  stern- 
est powers  of  man  with  his  finest  social  enjoyments.  He 
courted  the  presence  of  the  lordly  Normans.  They  had  near- 
ly exhausted  England ;  and  the  new  territory  opened  to 
them,  if  less  rich  and  fertile,  was  still  worth  commanding. 
The  charters  and  other  law  documents  anterior  to  the  war  of 
independence,  are  full  of  high-sounding  Norman  names, 
many  of  which  subsequently  disappeared  from  the  Scottii*h 
nomendature— Morevilles,   De  Viponts,   D'Umfravilles,   De 


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Qulnceys,  D'Angains,  &c."  In  reference  to  this  remark  it 
may  be  stated  that,  except  ecclesiastics,  from  David  Che  First 
downwards,  none  were  admitted  as  witnesses  in  the  royal 
charters  bat  tenants  m  c(^ntef  barons  or  magnates.  "  It  was 
chiefly,**  continues  Mr.  Burton,  **  in  the  fertile  plains  of  the 
south,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  English  border,  that 
they  (the  Anglo-Norman  knights)  were  most  thickly  congre- 
gated ;  but  some  of  them  had  found  their  way  far  north,  to 
the  wild  districts  beyond  the  Grampians,  where  the  greatness 
of  the  estate  was  some  compensation  for  its  barrenness.  But 
wherever  their  lot  was  cast— among  the  Saxons  of  Mid- 
Lothian,  the  Celts  of  Inverness,  or  their  brother  Norsemen  of 
Caithness- -these  heroes,  who  united  the  courage  and  fierce- 
ness of  the  old  sea-king  to  the  polished  suavity  of  the  Frank, 
became  the  lords  of  the  land,  and  the  old  inhabitants  of  the 
soil  became  their  subordinates.**  These  Anglo-Norman  bar- 
ons and  their  successors,  in  the  then  state  of  society  in  Scot- 
land, acquired  powers  and  privileges  of  a  high  order,  and  in 
some  sense,  were  indq>endeiU  even  of  the  monarch  to  whom 
they  owed  their  homage,  and  who  possessed  the  right  of  re- 
sumption of  their  lands.  Partly  by  direct  grants,  but  more 
frequently  by  marriages  with  the  heiresses  of  Celtic  nobles, 
the  entire  nobility  and  great  pait  of  the  baronage  of  the  kingdom 
had  soon  nearly  become  Norman  in  name  as  well  as  in  blood. 

The  powers  of  a  feudal  baron  were  very  great  Within  his 
own  lands  he  had  high  and  even  sovereign  jurisdiction,  both 
civil  and  criminal,  which  in  the  general  sense  he  might  exer- 
cise, either  by  himself  or  by  his  deputy,  called  a  bailie.  His 
criminal  jurisdiction,  in  particular,  was  most  extensive.  Ac- 
cording to  the  laws  ascribed  to  Malcolm  M'Kenneth  (c  13)  it 
reached  to  all  crimes  except  treason,  and  what  lawyers  call 
the  four  pleas  of  the  crown,  namely,  robbery,  murder,  rape, 
and  fire-raising ;  and  even  in  some  cases  he  could  judge  as  to 
the  latter,  and  in  processes  for  breaking  of  orchards,  destroy- 
ing of  green  wood  and  of  planting,  provided  the  ofienders 
were  taken  in  the  fact,  and  in  riots  and  bloodwits,  the  fines 
of  which  he  had  the  power  to  appropriate  to  himself, 
i  Erskme'i  InsHiuies,  Book  I.  Title  iv.  p.  91.] 

Our  parliaments  or  national  councils,  for  the  word  parlia- 
ment was  not  in  use  till  long  after,  consisted  at  first  only  of 
the  king's  barons,  or  fireeholders,  and  under  the  same  appel- 
lation, it  would  seem  that  the  dignified  clergy  were  included, 
on  account  of  their  freeholds.  [£r«ikme*«  InstituUSj  Book  I. 
Title  iii.  p.  60.J  Every  Scottish  baron,  whatever  were  his 
holdings,  if  he  had  a  barony  and  the  power  of  pit  and  gal- 
lows, had  a  right  to  sit  and  vote  in  the  national  council.  Few 
or  none  of  the  smaller  lairds,  however,  availed  themselves  of 
a  privilege  involving  the  obligation  of  distant  journeys  and 
much  expense,  and  the  consequence  was  a  great  accession  of 
[lower  to  the  higher  nobles.  Hence  came  the  distinction  of 
the  greater  and  lesser  barons,  which  was  not  known  in  Scot- 
land till  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  the  First  In 
a  general  council  held  at  Perth,  on  the  1st  March  1427,  an 
act  was  passed  dispensing  with  the  attendance  of  the  lesser 
barons  and  free  tenants  in  parliament,  on  condition  of  their 
electing  from  each  sheriffdom,  in  proportion  to  its  extent, 
two  or  more  commissioners  as  their  representatives.  [Act 
1427.  c  101.]  From  this  dispensation,  however,  the  greater 
barons  were  expressly  excepted.  These  were  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguished from  the  lesser  barons  by  theu*  grants  or  patents 
of  peerage,  whereby  they  were  dignified  by  the  titles  of  duke, 
earl,  or  baron. 

In  England  the  distinction  between  greater  and  lesser  bar- 
ons seems  to  have  arisen  from  the  latter  holding  of  the  former. 
Dngdale  says,  "Those  who  were  the  king's  chief  tenants, 
id  estj  his  principal  freeholders,  had  the  title  of  barones  mofo- 


res.  And  as  they  thus  holding  of  the  Idng  m  ctqnte  by 
barony  were  called  his  barons,  so  had  most  of  the  great  esris, 
in  those  elder  times,  their  great  freeholders  under  them,  whom 
they  also  called  barons,  as  is  evident  by  their  charters,  where- 
in they  usually  wrote  Omnibus  BanmSms  mw,  tam  Fnmds 
quam  Anglicis^  &c.  And  as  these  great  tenants  of  the  king, 
who  had  their  titles  from  their  principal  seats  or  heads  oi 
their  baronies,  were  called  his  barones  nu^ores^  so  were 
his  other  tenants  or  freeholders  who  held  of  him  by  miliUry 
service  m  capite  termed  barones  mmores;  of  which  two 
sorts  of  tenants,  together  with  the  bishops  and  earls,  the  par- 
liaments of  this  realm  did  anciently  consist,  only  the  barones 
mnjores  had  summons  by  several  vmta,  and  the  others,  who 
held  by  military  service  in  capite^  by  one  general  summons 
from  the  sheriff  in  each  county.'*  [Prefaee  to  Baronage^  p.  3.] 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  while  the  English  feudal  barons 
are  frequently  styled  lords  by  the  English  genealogists,  as 
Lord  Percy,  Lord  Neville,  Lord  Mowbray,  &c.,  it  was  not 
usual  so  to  designate  the  Magnates  ScoHa^  or  great  baroos  of 
Scotland,  although  their  tenure,  status,  and  rank  were  pre- 
cisely the  same.  On  this  point  Lord  Lindsay  aptly  remarks: 
"There  might  have  been  differences  in  wealth  and  power, 
but  all  the  magnates,  strictly  speaking,  were  peers.  Neither 
the  Bmces  till  the  marriage  of  the  elder  Brace  with  the  coun- 
tess of  Carrick,  nor  the  Baliols  till  their  elevation  to  the 
throne,  nor  the  High  Stewards  till  after  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  possessed  any  title  higher  than  that  of 
simple  '  Sire,'  or  Seigneur — like  the  De  Conc^  of  France.** 
ILives  of  the  Lindsays,  vol.  L  p.  57.  note.]  It  may  be  add- 
ed, that  of  the  thirteen  competitors  for  the  Scottish  crown, 
on  the  death  of  Margaret  of  Norway,  dght  were  untitled  bar- 
ons, while  two  others  were  styled  lords  of  theur  respective 
possessions,  as  Comyn,  lord  of  Badenoch,  and  Brace,  loni  of 
Annandale. 

In  England  the  barons  ceased  to  be  peers,  unless  so  created, 
during  the  thirteenth  century,  but  in  Scotland,  np  to  the 
year  1687, — in  which  year,  various  acts,  drawn  up  by  Lord 
Menmnir  [see  article  Balgabres,  ante,  p.  199]  were  passed 
for  regulating  the  form  and  order  of  parliament  and  the  vote 
of  the  barons, — the  title  of  baron  was  common  to  all  the 
landed  proprietors  or  lairds,  holding  theu:  lands  directly  of  tlie 
Crown.  As  one  object  of  these  acts  was  to  free  the  barons 
from  their  dependence  on  noblemen,  they  were  bitteriy  op- 
posed by  the  nobility,  headed  by  the  eari  of  Crawford  who,  in 
name  of  his  order,  protested  against  their  receiving  the  small 
barons  to  a  voice  in  parliament  by  their  commiasionerB. 

Under  the  feudal  system,  the  king,  when  he  gave  a  grant 
of  lands  for  military  service,  conferred  on  the  grantee  a  juris- 
diction within  them  of  sheriffiihip,  barony,  or  regality,  and  as 
they  descended  to  his  heirs,  each  new  possessor,  on  inheriting 
the  lands,  doing  homage  for  them,  the  jurisdiction  also  became 
heritable. 

RegaUties  were  feudal  rights  of  land  granted  by  the  king 
tin  Hbertxm  regalitatem.  Those  to  whom  they  were  granted, 
though  sometimes  only  commoners,  were  called  "  lords  of  re- 
gality,** on  account  of  the  high  and  regal  jurisdiction  whidi 
they  conveyed.  The  civil  jurisdiction  of  a  lord  of  r^- 
lity  was  m  all  respects  equal  to  that  of  a  shdriff ;  but  hb 
criminal  was,  as  Erskine  observes,  "  truly  royal.**  He  had, 
says  Burton,  "at  least  as  many  of  the  privileges  of  an 
independent  prince  as  a  Margrave  or  Pfalzgrave.  His 
courts  were  competent  to  try  all  questions,  civil  or  criminal, 
that  of  high  treason  against  the  sovereign  alone  excepted. 
He  appointed  judges  and  executive  officers,  who  were  respon- 
nble  only  to  himself.  He  had  within  his  territory  a  series 
of  municipal  qrstems — corporations  with  thmr  mnnidpa) 


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ofRcere,  privileged  markets,  harbours,  and  iniU&.  with  in- 
ternally administered  regulations  of  police,  applicable  to 
freights  and  measores,  fishing  privileges,  and  other  like  nse- 
fnl  institutions.  He  could  build  prisons  and  coin  money. 
When  any  of  his  people  were  put  on  trial  before  the  king's 
oonrtB  he  oould  *repledge*  the  accused  to  his  own  court, 
cmly  fining  recognizances  to  execute  justice  in  the  matter, — 
a  nominal  check,  which  would  seldom  divert  the  lord  and  his 
*  baillie*  or  judge  from  acting  according  to  then:  own  particu- 
lar views.**  lBwlm'8  L^e  of  Simon  LordLovaty  p.  162.] 
"  An  analogy,**  adds  Mr.  Burton  in  a  note,  **  will  be  seen  be- 
tween the  regalities  and  the  palatinates  created  in  England. 
The  jealousy  with  which  any  dispersal  of  the  privileges  of  the 
Crown  among  the  gr»it  barons  was  watched  in  England 
bronght  back  two  of  the  three  palatinates  to  the  king  at  a 
very  early  period,  while  the  third  (Durham)  being  in  the 
hands  of  a  bishop,  could  not  be  the  means  of  throwing  any 
<langeroua  power  into  the  hands  of  a  particular  house,  and  re- 
mained in  existence  till  the  year  1886.**  Mr.  Riddell,  in  his 
Remarks  on  peerage  law  (p.  67),  observes,  "Although* we 
had,  in  fact,  many  palatinates,  according  to  English  notion, 
that  is  to  say,  fiefs  invested  with  royal  jurisdiction,  yet  the 
term  was  almost  wholly  unknown  in  Scotland.  Only  one 
earidom,  that  of  Strathem,  was  styled  a  palatinate ;  but  what 
the  peculiar  nature  of  the  distinction  was  does  not  appear.** 

Some  ecdesiastics,  as  bishops  and  abbots,  possessed  the 
rights  of  barons,  and  some  of  the  abbeys  had  a  right  of  regal- 
ity over  thdr  lands.  These  hereditary  jurisdictions  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  with  the  lands  to  which  they  were  at- 
tached ;  and  the  regality  of  Dunfermline  abbey  continuing 
attached  to  the  temporal  lordship  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  we  find  the  newspapers,  so  late  as  the  year  1782, 
recording  a  conviction  by  the  judge  of  the  regality,  of  some 
gipsies  who  lived  in  a  cave  and  plundered  the  neighbourhood, 
in  these  terms :  *'  This  day  was  finished  here  a  veiy  tedious 
trial  of  four  gypsies,  (or  gypsies  habit  and  repute,)  strollers, 
or  vagabonds,  which  lasted  between  eighteen  and  nineteen 
boon,  by  the  honoured  Captain  Halkett,  James  Dewar  of 
Laasodie,  and  Henry  Walwood  of  Garvock,  deputies  of  the 
most  honourable  the  marqnis  of  Tweeddale,  as  heritable  bai- 
lie of  the  justiciary  and  reality  courts  of  Dunfermline,  when 
on  a  full  and  phiin  proof,  James  Ramsay,  one  of  the  gang, 
was  sentenced  to  be  hangtd  the  22d  of  March  next,  and  the 
other  three  to  be  whipped,  the  first  Wednesday  of  each 
month,  for  one  half  year,  and  afterwards  to  be  banished  the 
reality  for  ever.**  \  Extract  from  Cakdonian  Mercury^ 
C/tahnert,  p.  246.] 

The  power  which  their  heritable  jurisdictions  conferred  on 
the  greater  barons  became  at  last  formidable  to  the  state,  and 
enabled  some  of  them  openly  to  defy  the  law.  The  histoiy  of 
the  reigns  of  the  first  Jameses  is  but  the  record  of  the  strug- 
gle of  the  Crown  against  tihe  feudal  aristocracy.  Immedi- 
ately upon  the  forfeiture  of  the  eari  of  Douglas,  June  10, 
1455,  an  act  was  passed  whereby  it  was  ordained  that  no  re- 
gality should  be  granted  for  the  future  without  the  authority 
of  parliament ;  and  another  that  no  office  should  be  given 
afterwards  in  fee  or  heritage.  Our  sovereigns,  nevertheless, 
continued  to  make  grants  of  heritable  jurisdictions,  most 
of  which  were  confirmed  by  pariiament;  others,  without 
such  ratification,  were  strengthened  by  the  immemorial  exer- 
dse  of  their  jurisdictions,  till  it  became  at  last  the  general 
opinion  that  those  statutes  of  1455  had  lost  their  authority. 
By  the  treaty  of  Union,  article  20,  all  heritable  offices  and 
jurisdictions  were  reserved  to  the  owners  as  rights  of  proper- 
ty. The  heritable  jurisdictions  in  Scotland  were  finally  abol- 
ished in  1747,  the  holders  of  them  receivmg  compensation  for 


the  same,  parliament  having  voted  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  for  the  purpose.  By  the  act  abol- 
ishing them  (20  George  II.  c  48)  the  dvil  jurisdiction  of  a 
baron  m  Scotland  was  reduced  to  the  power  of  recovering 
from  his  vassals  and  tenants  the  rents  of  his  lands,  and  of 
condemning  them  in  mill  services ;  and  also  of  judging  in 
causes  where  the  debt  and  damages  do  not  exceed  forty  shil- 
lings sterling.  His  criminal  jurisdiction  was,  by  the  same 
statute,  limited  to  assaults,  batteries,  and  other  smaller  of- 
fences, which  may  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  twenty 
shillings  sterling,  or  by  setting  the  offender  in  the  stocks 
(now  disused).  The  obligation  which  was  bng  imposed  by 
the  law  of  Scotland  on  barony  vassals  to  attend  the  baron's 
head  courts  was  about  the  same  time  prohibited. 

The  power  of  the  high  feudal  aristocracy  within  their 
own  territories  was  as  great  as  that  of  the  monarch  himself, 
and  many  of  them,  as  the  Douglases,  the  Lindsays,  the  Ham- 
iltons  and  others,  afiected  a  state  and  magnificence  equal  to 
those  of  the  sovereign.  An  account  of  the  feudal  state  of  one 
of  the  great  barons  will  be  found  under  the  head  of  the  earl 
of  Crawford  as  described  by  Lord  lindsay  [see  Crawford, 
earls  of].  The  picture  drawn  by  him  bears  a  close  resem- 
blance to  the  feudalism  of  England  and  the  continent  "  But,** 
adds  his  lordship,  **  owing  to  the  mixture  of  Celtic  and  Nor- 
man blood,  a  peculiar  element  mingled  from  the  first  in  the 
feudality  of  Scotiand,  and  has  left  its  indelible  impress  on  the 
manners  and  habits  of  thought  of  the  country.  Difierently 
from  what  was  the  case  in  England,  the  Scoto-Norman  races 
were  pecuUariy  prolific,  and  population  was  encouraged  as 
much  as  possible.  This  was  evinced  by  the  ramifying  ten- 
dency of  the  Scotch  Stuarts,  Douglases,  Hamiltons,  Lind- 
says, &c,  as  compared  with  the  Howards,  Percies,  Mowbrays. 
De  Veres,  &&,  many  of  which  houses  have  become  entirely 
extinct,  while  most  of  the  old  Scottish  families  number  their 
hundreds  and  thousands,  in  eveiy  class  and  station  of  life. 
The  eari  or  baron  bestowed  a  fief,  for  example,  on  each  of  his 
four  sons,  who  paid  him  tribute  in  rent  and  service;  each  son 
subdivided  his  fief  again  among  his  own  children,  and  they 
again  among  theirs,  till  the  blood  of  the  highest  noble  in  the 
knd  was  flowing  in  that  of  the  working  peasant,  at  no  remote 
interval  This  was  a  subject  of  pride,  not  shame,  in  Scot- 
hind.**    ILwet  o/ike  Lindaaytj  vol  i.  p.  117.] 

A  BUROH  OF  BARONY  was  a  Corporation  holding  of  a  baron 
within  his  domain  and  governed  by  magistrates,  the  right 
of  electing  whom  was  sometimes  vested  in  the  inhabitants 
themselves  and  sometimes  in  the  baron  their  superior.  The 
ground  granted  to  the  burgh,  and  on  which  it  was  erected, 
continued  as  truly  a  portion  of  the  barony  as  if  it  were  (he 
holding  of  a  single  vassal  When  the  magistrate  who  ruled 
such  a  burgh  was  appointed  by  the  superior  he  was  styled  a 
baron  bailie,  and,  as  the  baron  *s  deputy,  possessed  within  the 
burgh  all  the  rights  belonging  to  the  baron  himself.  This 
was  a  cUiss  of  magistrates  peculiar  to  Scotiand.  The  right  of 
the  barons,  and  some  of  them  of  no  great  note,  to  constitute 
burghs,  and  appoint  magistrates,  or  to  give  authority  to  the 
feuars  or  burgesses  to  elect  their  own  magistrates,  who,  by 
such  authority  only,  were  legally  authorised  to  administer 
justice  and  pass  laws  for  maintaining  peace  and  order  in  the 
buigfa,  is  one  proof  of  the  great  and  peculiar  powers  of  the 
Scottish  aristocracy,  which  distinguishes  Scotland  firom  all 
the  other  nations  of  Europe.  Greenock,  now  a  flourishing 
seaport,  and  the  sixth  town  in  Scotland  in  point  of  popula- 
tion, is  a  case  in  point  In  1685,  being  then  a  mere  village, 
it  was  erected  into  a  bui^h  of  barony  holding  of  John  Shaw, 
proprietor  of  the  barony,  and  till  1741  the  affairs  of  the  burgh 
were  superintended  by  the  superior  or  by  a  baron  bailie  ap- 


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BARTOK. 


—      M 


pointed  by  him.  By  a  charter  dated  in  that  year,  and  by 
another  in  1751,  Sir  John  Shaw,  the  superior,  empowered 
the  feuara  and  subfeoars  to  meet  yearly  for  the  porpose  of 
choosing  nine  fenars  rending  in  Greenock  to  be  managers  of 
the  bni^h  fimds,  of  whom  two  were  to  be  bailies,  one  treas- 
urer, and  six  councillors.  The  last-mentioned  charter  gave 
power  to  hold  weekly  markets,  to  imprison  and  punish  de- 
linquents, to  choose  officers  of  court,  to  make  laws  for  mam- 
taining  order,  and  to  admit  merchants  and  tradesmen  as  bur- 
gesses on  payment  of  a  small  sum.  This  instance  is  one  of 
many  that  might  be  cited  of  the  extent  to  which  the  pure 
feudal  system  had  prevailed,  and  of  its  continuance  in  Soot- 
land  after  it  had  disappeared  everywhere  else  in  Europe.  The 
Burgh  Reform  act  of  1833  put  the  jurisdiction  and  govern- 
ment of  Greenock  on  a  different  footing,  as  it  did  all  the  other 
burghs  of  Scotland. 


Baron,  now  generally  spelled  Barron,  a  surname  derived 
from  the  feudal  title  of  Baron.  A  family  of  this  name  for- 
merly possessed  the  lands  of  Kinnaird  in  Fife.  In  the  time  of 
James  the  Fifth,  Magdalen,  prioress  of  Elcho,  feued  these 
lands  to  Alexander  Leslie,  whose  grand-daughter  and  heir- 
ess married  James  Baron,  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  who  thus 
acquired  the  lands.  Of  this  family  were  two  learned  doctors 
of  divinity,  named  John  and  Robert  Baron.  Tlie  latter  was 
professor  of  theology  in  Marischal  Coll^,  Aberdeen,  and 
the  author  o£  various  philosophical  works.  He  was  elected 
bishop  of  Orkney,  but  died  at  Berwick  in  1639,  before  he 
could  be  consecrated.  The  son  of  Mr.  Baron  disponed  the 
lands  to  Sir  Michael  Balfour  of  Denmiln,  the  father  of  Sir 
James  Balfour,  lord  lyon.  Sir  James  was,  during  his  father's 
life,  invested  with  the  lands  of  Kinnaird,  and  was  always 
designed  of  Kinnaird.    [See  ante,  p.  314.] 

lliere  was  a  family  of  the  name  of  Baron  in  the  dukedom 
of  Florence,  from  Scotland.  The  first  of  them  b  said  to  have 
accompanied  William,  the  brother  of  Achains,  to  assist  Char- 
lemagne in  his  wars,  and  he  settled  in  Italy.  His  family 
continued  for  a  long  time,  but  failed  at  last,  much  regretted 
by  a  Florentine  author,  Ugolinus  Verinius,  {De  Reparatione 
FlorentuB,  lib.  iii.)  in  these  verses 

**  Clara  potensqoe  diu,  sed  nono  est  nulla  BAaosuM 
Extra  progenies,  extremlaqne  orta  BritanDla.** 


Barr,  a  surname  derived  from  the  small  village  of  Barr  in 
the  parish  of  that  name  in  the  district  of  Carrick,  Ayrshire. 
It  b  conjectured  that  the  village  took  its  name  from  its  inac- 
cessibleness,  *^  being  hemmed  m  on  eveiy  side  by  precipitous 
bills,  and  approachable  only  by  rugged  glens  and  across  a 
stream,  which  dwindling  into  a  purling  rill  in  summer,  mshei; 
with  a  torrent's  farj  in  winter,  and  destroys  every  vestige  of  a 
roadway  along  its  gravelly  banks.  The  parish  did,  indeed, 
constitute  a  strong  natural  barrier  between  Galloway  on  the 
south  and  Ayrshire  to  the  north,  and  was  neariy  inaccessible 
till  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.**  [New  Stat. 
AccawU  of  Scotland,  vol.  v.  p.  407.]  The  name  may  also 
have  been  derived,  in  some  instances,  from  the  estate  and 
castle  of  Barr  in  Renfrewshirp,  which  anciently  belonged  to 
a  family  named  Glen.  Sir  Robert  Barr,  a  bui^gess  of  Glas- 
gow, was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  but  the  date  of 
creation  b  not  exactly  known,  and  the  baronetcy  b  extinct. 


Barrkt,  Baron  Barret  of  Newburgh,  a  peerage  of  Scot- 
land now  extinct,  conferred  by  King  Charles  the  First  on  Sir 
Edward  Barret,  knight,  of  Bellhouse  in  Essex,  by  patent 
dated  at  WhitehaU  17th  October  1627,  to  himself  and  the 
legitimate  heirs  male  of  his  body,  bearing  the  name  and  arms 


of  Barret.  Hb  lordship  was  chancelbr  of  the  exchequer  in 
England  from  1635  to  1642.  He  married  Anne,  daughter  of 
Sir  Edward  Gary,  knight,  and  died  in  1644  without  issue, 
when  the  title  became  extinct  Hb  kinsman,  the  Hon.  Rich- 
ard Lennard  of  Horseford,  in  Norfolk,  (youngest  son  of  Rich- 
ard Lord  Dacre,)  to  whom  Lord  Barret  bequeathed  hb  pro- 
perty in  Essex,  took  the  name  of  Barret,  and  was  ancestor  of 
'Iliomas  Bantt  Lennard,  Lord  Dacre,  who  died  in  1786. 


Barry,  a  surname  more  prevalent  in  Ireland  than  in  Eng- 
land or  Scotland,  and  in  the  former  country  ennobled  in  the 
family  of  the  earls  of  Barrymore,  (a  title  now  extinct,)  de- 
scended firom  William  de  Barri,  a  knight  of  Norman  origin. 
Barrie,  the  Scottish  mode  of  spelling  the  name,  b  evidently 
derived  from  the  parish  of  Barrie  in  Forfarshire. 

BARRY,  George,  D.D.,  the  author  of  the 
History  of  the  Orkney  Islands,  a  native  of  Ber- 
wickshire, was  bom  in  1748.  He  studied  for  the 
ministry  at  the  college  of  Edinburgh ;  and  having 
become  private  tutor  to  the  sons  of  some  gentlemen 
in  Orkney,  he  was,  by  their  patronage,  appointed 
second  minister  of  Kirkwall.  About  1796  he  was 
translated  to  the  island  and  parish  of  Shapinshay. 
The  statistical  account  of  his  two  pai-ishes,  insert- 
ed in  Sir  John  Sinclair's  Statistical  Reports,  first 
brought  him  into  notice.  In  consequence  of  bis 
zeal  and  efficiency  in  the  education  of  youth  in 
his  parish,  the  Society  for  Propagating  Christian 
Knowledge  in  Scotland,  about  1800,  elected  him 
one  of  their  members,  and  gave  him  a  superinten- 
dence over  their  schools  at  Orkney.  Soon  after,  the 
university  of  Edinburgh  conferred  upon  him  the  de- 
gree of  D.D.  His  valuable  *  History  of  the  Ork- 
ney Islands,*  comprehending  an  account  of  their 
present  as  well  as  their  ancient  state,  on  which  he 
had  been  engaged  for  some  years,  was  not  pub- 
lished till  after  his  death.    He  died  May  U,  1805. 

BARRY,  Thomas,  Provost  of  Bothwell,  was 
the  author  of  a  Latin  poem  on  the  battle  of  Otter- 
bum,  fought  in  1388,  but  there  is  little  known 
concerning  him. 

Barton,  a  surname  supposed  to  have  heen  originally  de- 
rived from  Bereton,  that  is,  the  farm  of  here  or  barley.  It 
is  the  name  of  numerous  localities  in  England,  as  Barton-on- 
Humber,  and  others,  amounting  to  nearly  forty  in  alL  In 
some  instances  the  name  may  have  been  given  to  a  smaU 
port,  having  a  bar  of  sand  blocking  up  its  entrance,  and  in 
others  applied  to  a  small  enclosure  or  farm  having  a  bar  gate. 
It  b  also  the  name  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  block  and  tackle  of 
great  power. 

Barton  is  properly  an  English  name.  The  Bartons  of  Bar- 
ton Hall  were  an  ancient  family  in  Lancashire,  having  branch- 
es ui  Ireland  and  Scotland.  There  was  also  an  old  family  of 
Barton  of  Smithilb  in  the  same  county,  recorded  in  the  Her- 
ald*8  Visitation  of  1567,  but  subsequently  establbhod  m  ths 
palatinate  of  Chester 


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ANDllEW. 


BARTON,  Andrew,  a  distinguished  uaval  com- 
maoder,  of  the  reign  of  James  the  Fourth,  be- 
longed to  a  family  which,  for  two  generations,  had 
produced  able  and  successful  seamen,  and  were 
intrusted  by  the  king  with  the  principal  authority 
in  all  maritime  and  commei-cial  matters  in  Scot- 
land. To  the  increase  of  his  navy,  and  to  nautical 
afftiirs  in  general.  King  James  paid  particular  at- 
tention, and  the  Bartons  not  only  purchased  vessels 
for  him  on  the  continent,  and  invited  into  Scot- 
land the  most  skilful  foreign  shipbuildei-s,  but  sold 
to  him  some  of  their  own  ships.  In  the  reign  of 
the  fomth  James  the  Scottish  navy  consisted  of 
sixteen  ships  of  war,  besides  one  vessel  called  the 
Great  Michael,  the  largest  then  known  to  be  in  the 
world,  and  which,  as  an  old  author  says,  ^*  cum- 
bered all  Scotland  to  get  her  fitted  out  for  sea." 
The  daring  and  skill  of  the  Bartons,  of  whom  there 
were  three  brothers,  and  of  Andrew  in  particular, 
had  raised  them  to  a  renown  scarcely  inferior  to 
that  of  the  famous  admiral.  Sir  Andrew  Wood 
himself,  who  flourished  in  the  same  reign ;  and  the 
prowess  of  Andrew  Barton  was  put  to  the  proof 
on  the  following  occasion.  A  small  fleet  of  Scot- 
tish merchantmen  had  been  piratically  attacked 
by  some  Dutch  ships,  and  plundered  of  their  car- 
goes, while  the  crews,  after  being  murdered,  were 
thrown  overboard.  Andrew  Barton  was  instantly 
despatched  with  a  squadron  to  take  signal  ven- 
geance on  the  perpetrators  of  this  cruel  deed. 
Many  of  the  pirates  were  captured;  and  the  ad- 
miral commanded  the  hogsheads,  which  were 
stowed  in  the  holds  of  his  vessels,  to  be  filled  with 
the  heads  of  his  prisoners,  and  sent  as  a  present 
to  his  royal  master.  So  early  as  the  year  1476, 
the  ships  belonging  to  the  Bartons  were  plundered 
by  a  Portuguese  squadron,  and  as  the  king  of 
Portugal  refused  to  make  any  amends,  letters  of 
reprisal  were  granted  to  the  Barton  family  by  the 
Scottish  monarch,  authorizing  them  to  take  all 
Portuguese  vessels  which  should  come  in  their 
way,  until,  they  had  fully  indemnified  themselves 
for  their  losses.  The  Portuguese  maiiners,  on 
theur  part,  were  not  slow  to  retaliate,  and  in  1507, 
the  Lion,  commanded  by  John  Barton,  the  father 
of  Andrew,  was  seized  at  Campvere,  in  Zealand, 
and  its  commander  thrown  into  prison.  His  sons 
pi-ocurcd  fi*om  King  James  a  renewal  of  then*  Ict- 


tei*s  of  reprisal,  and  fitted  out  two  strong  ships, 
the  larger  called  the  Lion,  and  the  lesser  the  Jen- 
ny Pirwen,  which  they  placed  under  the  command 
of  Andrew  Bai*ton.  With  these  he  cruised  in  the 
Channel,  intercepting  and  capturing,  at  various 
times,  many  of  the  richly  laden  vessels  returaing 
from  the  Portuguese  settlements  in  India  and 
Africa;  and,  as  Tytler  remarks,  the  unwonted  ap- 
pmition  of  blackamoors  at  the  Scottish  court,  and 
black  empresses  presiding  over  the  royal  tourna-  ' 
ments,  is  to  be  traced  to  the  spirit  and  success  of 
the  Scottish  priyateers.  Not  content,  however, 
with  stopping  the  Portuguese  ships,  and  making 
prizes  of  them,  whenever  they  could,  the  Bartons 
detained  and  searched  English  merchant  vessels 
bound  for  Portugal,  or  coming  from  that  country, 
under  the  pretence  that  they  had  Portuguese  goods 
on  board.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  were 
treated  by  the  English  as  pirates;  and  the  coun- 
cil board  of  England,  at  which  the  earl  of  Surrey, 
(afterwards  created  Duke  of  Norfolk,)  pi-csided, 
was  continually  receiving  complaints  from  the 
sailors  and  merchants,  that  Barton  was  in  the 
practice  of  intercepting  English  vessels,  and  pray- 
ing i*edi*es8.  King  Henry,  not  willing  to  come  to 
a  rupture  with  the  king  of  Scotland,  at  first  paid 
little  attention  to  these  complaints.  The  earl  of 
Surrey,  however,  could  not  conceal  his  indignation, 
and,  on  hearing  of  some  late  excesses  of  the  priva- 
teers, declared  that  ^^  the  narrow  seas  should  not 
be  so  infested  whilst  he  had  an  estate  that  could 
furnish  a  ship,  or  a  son  who  was  able  to  command 
it."  He  accordingly  fitted  out  two  men-of-war, 
which  were  manned  by  well  selected  crews,  ar- 
chers, and  men-at-aims,  and  placed  under  the 
command  of  his  two  sons,  Sir  Thomas  Howard, 
called  by  old  historians  Lord  Howard,  afterwards 
created  earl  of  Sun'ey  in  his  father^s  lifetime,  and 
Sir  Edward  Howard,  afterwards  lord  high  admiral 
of  England.  Having  put  to  sea  he  fell  in  with 
Andrew  Barton  cruising  in  the  Downs,  having 
been  guided  to  his  whereabouts  by  the  captain  of 
a  merchantman  which  Barton  had  plundered  on 
the  previous  day.  This  took  place  in  July,  1511. 
On  approaching  Barton,  the  English  vessels  showed 
no  colours  or  ensigns  of  war,  but  put  up  a  wiL  ^w 
wand  on  their  masts,  that  being  the  emblem  of^i 
trading  vessel.    But  when  Barton  ordered  thcni 


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BARTON, 


258 


ANDREW. 


to  bring  to,  the  English  threw  out  tlieir  flags  and 
pennons,  and  fii-cd  a  broadside.  The  Scotch  ad- 
miral then  knew  that  he  had  English  vessels  to 
contend  with.  Barton  commanded  his  own  ship, 
the  Lion,  to  which  was  opposed  Sir  Tliomas 
Howard ;  his  other  vessel  was  only  an  armed  pin- 
nace, named  the  Union,  called  by  Hall  the  bark  of 
Scotland ;  but  far  from  being  dismayed  at  the  odds 
against  him,  he  engaged  boldly,  and  in  a  rich  dress 
and  bright  annour,  appeared  on  deck,  with  a 
whistle  of  gold  about  his  neck,  suspended  by  a 
golden  chain,  and  encouraged  his  men  to  fight 
valiantly.  A  gold  whistle  was  in  those  days  the 
sign  of  the  oflice  of  high  admiral.  Tlie  battle  that 
ensued  was  most  obstinately  contested.  On  both 
sides  the  most  detennined  valour  was  displayed, 
till  the  Scottish  admiral  was  desperately  wounded. 
It  is  said  that  even  then  this  bold  and  experienced 
seaman  continued  to  encourage  his  men  with  his 
whistle  till  death  closed  his  career. 

In  an  old  ballad,  on  this  seafight,  fought  before 
England  had  a  navy  at  all,  entitled  *  Sir  Andrew 
Barton,'  it  is  related  that 

With  pikes  a»d  gunnes,  and  bowemen  bold. 

The  noble  Howard  is  gone  to  the  sea ; 
With  a  valjant  heart,  and  a  pleasant  cheare, 

Out  at  Thames  mouth  sayled  hee. 
And  days  he  scant  had  saylcd  three 

Upon  the  *  voyage'  he  took  in  hand, 
But  there  he  met  with  a  noble  shipp. 

And  stoutly  made  itt  stay  and  stand. 

"  Thou  must  tell  me,"  I^rd  Howard  sayes, 

"  Now  who  thou  art,  and  what's  thy  name ; 
And  shcwe  me  where  thy  dwelling  is, 

And  whither  bound,  and  whence  thou  came." 
"  My  name  is  Heiirye  Hunt,"  quoth  hee, 

With  a  heav yc  heart,  and  a  carefull  mind ; 
*'  I  and  my  shipp  doe  both  belong 

To  the  Ncwca&tlc  that  stands  upon  Tyne  " 

"  Hast  thou  not  hcird,  now,  Henrye  Hunt, 

As  thou  hast  saylcd  by  daye  and  by  night, 
Of  a  Scottbh  rover  on  the  seas, 

Men  call  him  Sir  Andrew  Barton,  Knight  ?" 
Then  ever  he  sighed,  and  sayd  alas ! 

With  a  grieved  mind,  and  well  away, 
•*  But  over  well  I  knowe  that  wight, 

1  was  his  prisoner  yesterday." 

If  wo  are  to  believe  this  ballad,  Barton *s  ship, 


the  Lion,  was  furnished  with  a  peculiar  conlri- 
vance  suspending  large  weights  or  beams  from  hi*" 
yardarms,  for  the  purpose  of  being  dropped  down 
upon  the  enemy  when  they  should  come  along- 
side. This  was  an  old  stratagem  of  the  Romans, 
which  the  Scottish  admiral  had  adopted  with  great 
success.  Baiton  and  these  beams  arc  thus  de- 
scribed by  the  said  "  Henrye  Hunt :" 

*'  He  is  brasse  within,  and  Steele  without, 

With  beames  on  his  topcastle  stronge, 
And  thirtye  pieces  of  ordinance 

He  carries  on  each  side  alonge , 
And  he  hath  a  pinnace  deerlye  dight, 

St.  Andrewes  crosse  itt  is  his  guide. 
His  pinnace  bearetb  nineacore  men, 

And  fifteen  canons  on  each  side. 

"  Were  ye  twent}'e  shippea,  and  he  but  one, 

I  sweare  by  kirke,  and  bower,  and  hall. 
He  wold  orecome  them  every  one, 

If  once  his  beames  they  doe  downe  falL" 
"  This  is  cold  comfort,**  sayes  my  lord, 

"  To  welcome  a  stranger  on  the  sea, 
Yett  He  bring  him  and  his  shipp  to  shore, 

Or  to  Scotland  he  shall  carry  mcc." 

The  ballad  i>i-occeds  to  relate  that  Henry  Hum 
guided  Howard  to  the  place  whei-e  Barton's  ships 
lay,  and  on  coming  up  with  them,  he  ordered  all 
his  ensigns  to  be  fuiied  : 

"  Take  in  your  ancyents,  standards  eke. 

So  close  that  no  man  may  them  see, 
And  put  me  forth  a  white  wiilowe  wand, 

As  merchants  use  that  sayle  the  sea." 
But  they  stiired  neither  top  or  mast, 

Stoutly  they  past  Sir  Andrew  by ; 
"  What  English  churles  are  yonder,"  he  sayd. 

That  can  so  little  curtesye. 

"  Now  by  the  roodc,  three  years  and  more 

I  have  been  admirall  on  the  sea ; 
And  never  an  English  nor  Portingall 

Without  my  leave  can  passe  this  way." 
Then  called  ho  forth  his  stout  pinnace, 

**  Fetcho  backe  yond  pedUtrs  nowc  to  mee  i 
I  sweare  by  the  masse,  yon  English  churles 

Shall  all  hang  at  my  niaino-mast  tix?e." 

With  that  the  pinnace  itt  shott  off, 

Full  well  Lord  Howard  might  it  ken, 
For  it  stroke  downe  his  foremast  tree 

And  killed  fourteen  of  his  men. 

The  English  commander  then  ordcrcd  his  gui- 


I 


,    I 


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BARTON, 


259 


ANDREW. 


ncr,  "  good  Peter  Simon,"  to  ftre  off  his  ordnancp, 
which  he  did  with  effect ; 

And  he  lett  goe  his  great  gunnes  shott, 

Soe  well  he  settled  itt  with  his  ee ; 
The  first  sight  that  Sir  Andrew  sawe, 

He  sawe  his  pinnace  sunke  i*  the  sea. 

And  when  he  sawe  his  pmnace  sunke, 

Ixvd,  how  his  heart  with  rage  did  swell ! 
"  Nowe  cutt  my  ropes,  itt  b  time  to  be  gon, 

He  fetch  yon  pedlars  backe  myseL" 
When  my  lord  sawe  Sir  Andrewe  looae, 

Within  his  heart  he  was  fall  faine ; 
"  Nowe  spreade  your  ancyenta,  strike  up  drummes^ 

Sound  all  your  trumpetts  out  amaine  !** 

Tlie  English  seem  to  have  been  most  apprehen- 
sive of  the  beams  on  the  yardarms,  but  to  make 
Qso  of  this  contrivance,  it  was  necessary  that  some 
one  should  ascend  the  mainmast;  and  Howai-d 
had  stationed  in  a  proper  place  a  Yorkshire  gen- 
tleman, named  Horseley,  the  best  archer  in  his 
ship,  with  strict  injunctions  to  let  fly  an  arrow  at 
every  one  who  should  attempt  to  go  up  the  rig- 
gings of  Barton's  vessel.  Two  of  Barton's  officei*s, 
named  Gordon  and  James  Hamilton,  the  latter  his 
"  only  sister's  sonne,"  were  successively  killed  in 
the  attempt.  Barton  himself,  confiding  in  the 
strong  armour  which  he  wore,  then  began  to  as- 
cend the  mast.  Lord  Thomas  Howard  called  out 
to  the  archer  to  shoot  true,  on  peril  of  his  life. 
"Were  I  to  die  for  it,"  answered  Hoi-seley,  "I 
have  but  two  arrows  left."  ITie  first  which  he 
shot  bounded  from  Barton's  ai-monr,  without  hurt- 
ing him;  but  as  the  Scotch  admiral  raised  his  arm 
to  climb  higher,  the  archer  took  aim  where  the 
annour  afforded  him  no  pi-otcction,  and  wounded 
him  mortally  through  the  armpit. 

Sir  Andrew  he  did  swarro  the  tree. 

With  right  good  will  he  swarvod  then ; 
Upon  his  breast  did  Horseley  hitt, 

But  the  arrow  bounded  back  agen. 
Then  Horseley  spyed  a  privye  place 

With  a  perfect  eye  m  a  secrette  part ; 
Un-kr  the  spole  of  his  right  arme, 

Hfl  smote  Sir  Andrew  to  the  heart. 

Jumping  upon  deck,  Barton  addressed  his  men : 
**  Fight  on,"  he  said,  "  my  brave  hearts;  I  am  a  lit 
tic  wounded,  but  not  slain.  I  will  but  rest  awhile, 
and  then  rise  and  fight  again;  meantime,  stand 


fast  by  St.  Andrew's  cross ;"  meaning  the  flag  of 
Scotland. 

,  *'  Fight  on,  my  men,"  Sir  Andrew  saves, 

**  A  little  Tm  hurt,  but  yett  not  slaine, 
rie  but  lye  donne  and  bleede  awhlu), 

And  then  Tie  rise  and  fight  agame. 
Fight  on,  my  men,**  Su*  Andrew  saves, 

**  And  never  flinche  before  the  foe ; 
And  stand  fast  by  St  Andrewe*s  cross, 

Untill  you  heare  my  whistle  blow." 

They  never  heard  his  whistlt;  Mow, 

Which  made  their  hearts  waze  sore  adread, 
Then  Horseley  sayd,  "Aboard,  my  lonl, 

For  well  I  wott  Sir  Andrew's  dead.** 
They  boarded  then  his  noble  shipp, 

They  boarded  it  with  might  and  maine. 
Eighteen  score  Scotts  alive  they  found. 

The  rest  were  either  maimd  or  slaine. 

Lord  Howard  tooke  a  sword  m  hand. 

And  off  he  smote  Sir  Andrewe's  head, 
*'  I  must  ha*  left  England  many  a  daye. 

If  thou  were  alive  as  thou  art  dead.** 
He  caused  his  bodye  to  be  cast, 

Over  the  hatchborde  into  the  sea. 
And  about  his  middle  three  hundred  crownes, 

"  Wherever  thou  land  tliis  will  bury  thee." 

Barton's  ship,  the  Lion,  thus  captured,  was  car- 
ried into  the  Thames,  and  became  the  second  man- 
of-war  in  the  Knglisli  navy.  The  Great  Hany, 
which  had  been  built  only  seven  years  before, 
namely  in  1504,  was  properly  speaking  the  first. 
On  this  celebrated  ship  Henry  the  Seventh  ex- 
pended £14,000,  a  gicat  sum  in  those  days,  equi- 
valent to  the  cost  of  a  modern  ship  of  the  line. 
With  that  monarch  the  rise  of  a  i-oyal  navy  in 
England  is  said  to  have  originated.  Before  his 
time,  when  the  king  wanted  a  fleet,  the  five  ports, 
then  the  largest  in  England,  and  still  called  the 
Cinque  Ports,  furnished  a  certain  equipment  of 
ships  and  men ;  vessels  were  also  hired  from  mer- 
chants, and  manned  and  armed  for  war.  Ambi- 
tious of  being  independent  of  the  irregular  navy 
derived  from  such  various  and  uncertain  sources, 
Henry  paid  great  attention  to  the  building  of  large 
ships  exclusively  for  warlike  purposes,  and  he  took 
cai-e  to  keep  them  in  a  highly  efficient  and  pro- 
gressive state.  1  lis  son,  Henry  the  Eighth,  caused 
to  be  constructed  the  then  largest  English  ship, 
called  Henry  Grace  de  Dieu,  or  the  Great  Hany 


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BASSANTIN, 


260 


JAMES. 


after  the  ship  of  the  same  name,  built  by  his  father. 
This  is  said  to  have  beeu  the  first  ship  which  liad 
four  masts,  and  was  considered  the  wonder  of  the 
sixteentli  century. 

Thus  died  Andrew  Barton.  With  King  James 
ho  was  a  personal  favourite,  and  he  sent  a 
herald  to  King  Henry  to  demand  redress  for  the 
death  of  his  ablest  officer,  and  the  loss  of  his  ships; 
but  Henry  returned  no  milder  answer  than  that 
the  fate  of  pirates  ought  never  to  be  a  matter  of 
dispute  among  princes.  He,  however,  after  a 
short  imprisonment  dismissed  Barton's  crew,  with 
a  small  sum  each  to  dcfmy  their  homeward 
charges.  This  affair  was  one  of  the  remote  causes 
of  the  disastrous  battle  of  Flodden,  in  which  James 
the  Fourth  was  slain. — Tytler's  History  of  Scot- 
land, vol.  y.—Scotfs  Tales  of  a  Grandfather,— 
Perqfs  Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry. 

Bassamtin,  a  corruption  of  Bassendean  or  Bassingdene,  a 
surname  derived  from  an  estate  in  the  parish  of  Westmther, 
Berwickshire,  which  seems  at  one  period  to  have  belonged  to 
a  family  of  the  same  name,  and  sabseqnentlj  was  a  vicarage 
belonging  to  the  nans  of  Coldstream.  Soon  after  the  Refor- 
mation, Andrew  Gurrie,  vicar  of  Bassendean,  conveyed  to 
William  Home,  third  son  of  Sir  James  Home  of  Coldenknows, 
**  terras  eoclesiasticas,  mansionem,  et  glebam  vicariie  de  Bas- 
sendene;**  whereupon,  he  obtained  fivm  James  the  Sixth, 
a  charter  for  the  same,  on  the  11th  of  February,  1673-4. 
This  William  was  a  progenitor  of  the  Homes  of  Bassendean, 
the  most  distinguished  of  which  family  was  George  Home  of 
Bassendean,  who  suffered  much  for  his  zealous  attachment  to 
the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  during  the  persecuting 
reigns  of  Charles  the  Second  and  James  the  Seventh,  and 
was  one  of  those  expatriated  Scotsmen  who  brought  about 
the  Revolution  of  1688. 

Of  the  ancient  family  of  Bassantin,  Bassantoun,  or  Bas- 
sendean, was  the  subject  of  the  following  notice : 

BASSANTIN,  James,  an  eminent  astronomer 
and  mathematician,  the  son  of  the  laird  of  Bas- 
sendean, in  Berwickshire,  was  bom  in  the  reign  of 
James  lY.;  and,  after  studying  mathematics  at 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  he  travelled  for  further 
information  9n  the  continent.  He  subsequently 
went  to  Pai'is,  where,  on  a  vacancy  occurring  in 
the  mathematical  chair  of  the  university,  he  was 
elected  professor,  and  he  remained  there  for  some 
years.  He  returned  to  Scotland  in  1562,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  on  his  patrimonial 
estate  of  Bassendean.  The  prevailing  delusion  of 
that  age,  particulai'ly  in  France,  was  a  belief  in 
judicial  astrology.  In  his  way  home  through 
England,  as  we  learn  from  Sir  James  Melville's 


Memoirs,  he  met  with  Sir  Robert  Melville,  tlie 
brother  of  that  gentleman,  who  was  at  that  time 
engaged,  on  the  part  of  the  unfortunate  Mary,  in 
endeavouring  to  effect  a  meeting  between  her  and 
Elizabeth ;  when  he  predicted  that  all  his  efforts 
would  be  in  vain ;  "  for,  fii-st,  they  will  neuer  melt 
togither,  and  next,  thei-e  will  nevir  be  bot  discem- 
bling  and  secret  hattrent  (hati-ed)  for  a  whyle,  and 
at  length  captivity  and  utter  wrak  for  our  Quen  by 
England."  Melville's  answer  was,  that  he  could 
not  credit  such  news,  which  he  looked  upon  as 
"  false,  ungodly,  and  unlawful ;"  on  which  Bas- 
santin replied,  **  Sa  far  as  Melanthon,  wha  was  a 
godly  theologue,  has  declared  and  written  anent  the 
naturall  scyences,  that  are  lawfull  and  daily  red 
in  dyvers  Ciiristian  universities;  in  the  quhllkis,  as 
in  all  othir  aitis,  God  geves  to  some  less,  to  some 
malr  and  clearer  knawledge  than  till  othirs;  be 
the  quhilk  knawledge  I  have  also  that  at  length, 
that  the  kingdom  of  England  sail  of  rycht  fall  to 
the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  that  ther  are  some 
born  at  this  instant  that  sail  bmik  lands  and  heri- 
tages in  England.  Bot,  alace,  it  will  cost  many 
their  lyves,  and  many  bluidy  battailes  will  be 
fouchen  fii*st,  and  the  Spaniailis  will  be  helpers, 
and  will  take  a  pai-t  to  themselves  for  ther  labours." 
The  fii*st  part  of  Bassantin's  prediction,  which  he 
might  very  well  have  hazarded  from  what  he  may 
have  known  of  Elizabeth's  character  and  disposi- 
tion, and  also  from  the  fact  that  Mary  was  the 
next  heir  to  the  English  throne,  proved  true ;  the 
latter  portion  showed,  in  the  result,  how  little  faith 
should  be  placed  in  the  pseudo  -  science  of  as- 
trology, which  is  now  exploded.  Bassantin  was  a 
zealous  protestant,  and  a  supporter  of  the  Regent 
Murray.  He  died  in  1568.  His  principal  work 
is  a  Ti-eatise  or  Discourse  on  Astronomy,  written 
in  French,  which  was  translated  into  Latin  by 
John  Tomaesius,  (M.  de  Toumes,)  and  published 
at  Geneva  in  1599.  He  wrote  four  other  treatises. 
Although  well  versed  for  his  time  in  what  are 
called  the  exact  sciences,  Bassantin  bad  received 
no  pail  of  a  classical  education.  Yossius  observes, 
that  his  astronomical  discourse  was  written  in 
very  bad  Frcnch,  and  that  the  author  knew  *'  nei- 
ther Greek  nor  Latin,  but  only  Scotch."  Bassan- 
tin's  Planetary  System  was  that  of  Ptolemy.  His 
works  contain  a  laborious  collection  of  the  theories 


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261 


BAXTER. 


and  observations  of  preceding  astronomers,  and 
are  monnments  of  his  own  extensive  acquirements. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  them : 

Astronomia  Jacobi  Bossantini  Scoti,  Opus  absolutissimum, 
&0.  In  which  the  Obaervations  of  the  most  expert  Mathe- 
matidans  on  the  Heavens  are  digested  into  order  and  method. 
Latin  and  French.    Geneva,  1599,  fol. 

Paraphrase  de  T  Astrolabe,  avec  une  smplification  de  Tosage 
de  Tastrohibe.    Ljons,  1555 ;  and,  again,  at  Paris,  1617, 8vo. 

Snper  Mathematica  Genethliaca ;  i.  «.  of  the  Calculation  of 
Nativities. 

Arithmetica. 

Mnsica  Secondnm  PLitonem,  or  Mosic  on  the  Principles  of 
the  Platonists. 

De  Mathesi  in  geneie. . 

BASSOL,  John,  the  favourite  disciple  of  Duns 
Scotus,  was  bom,  according  to  Mackenzie,  in  the 
reign  of  Alexander  III.  In  his  younger  years  he 
applied  himself  to  the  study  of  philosophy  and  the 
belles  lettres,  after  which  he  went  to  the  university 
of  Oxford,  where  he  studied  theology  under  Duns 
Scotus;  with  whom,  in  the  year  1304,  he  removed 
to  Paris,  and  studied  for  some  time  in  the  univer- 
sity there.  In  1313  he  entered  the  order  of  the 
Minorites.  Being  afterwards  sent  by  the  general 
of  his  order  to  Rheims,  he  there  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  taught  philosophy 
for  seven  or  eight  years  in  tliat  city.  In  1322  he 
was  sent  to  Mechlin,  in  Brabant,  where  he  taught 
theology.  He  died  thei*e  in  1347.  His  master. 
Duns  Scotus,  had  such  a  high  opinion  of  him,  that^ 
when  he  taught  in  the  schools,  he  usually  said, 
that  "  If  only  Joannes  Basstolis  were  present,  he 
had  a  sufficient  auditory."  The  only  work  he 
i^Tote  was  entitled  '  Commentaria  sen  Lecturae  in 
Qnatuor  Libros  Sententiarum,'  folio,  which,  with 
some  miscellaneous  treatises  in  philosophy  and 
medicine,  was  published  in  Paiis  in  1517.  Bassol 
was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and,  in  lecturing  or 
writing,  he  handled  his  subject  with  so  much  order 
and  method,  that  he  was  styled  Doctor  Ordinatis- 
simusy  or  the  most  orderly  or  methodical  doctor; 
for,  at  that  period,  eminent  scholars  and  divines 
were  distinguished  by  such  titles.  It  was  objected 
to  him,  however,  that,  in  common  with  most  of 
the  schoolmen  of  that  and  the  succeeding  age,  he 
was  too  subtle  and  nice  in  obscure  questions;  for 
they  were  fond  of  proposing  objections  that  could 
never  have  occun*ed  to  any  but  themselves.  So 
subtle,  indeed,  was  one  of  them,  called  '  The  Cal- 


culator,* that  Cai*dan,  an  old  author,  says,  only 
one  of  his  arguments  was  enough  to  puzzle  all 
posterity;  and  that,  when  he  grew  old,  he  wept 
because  he  could  not  understand  his  own  books  I  — 
Mackenzie's  Scots  Writers. 

Bathoatk,  a  somame  derived  from  what  is  now  the  town 
and  parish  of  Bathgate  in  Linlithgowshire.  The  etymology 
of  the  name  itself  is  onoertain.  In  a  grant  by  Malcolm  the 
Fourth  to  the  monks  of  Holyrood  of  the  church  of  Bathgate 
with  a  portion  of  land,  it  is  called  Batket,  and  in  other  char- 
ters and  deeds  of  the  twelfth,  Uiirteenth,  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies, the  name  is  variously  written  Bathket,  Bathgatt,  Bath- 
cat  and  Bathkat  The  barony  of  Bathgate  formed  part  of 
the  dowery  of  Maijory  Bruce,  on  her  marriage  with  Walter, 
High  Steward  of  ScotUnd,  in  1316.  In  the  castle  of  Bath- 
gate, the  said  Walter  died  in  1828,  that  being  one  of  his  chief 
residences. 

BAXTER,  Andrew,  an  ingenious  metaphysical 
writer,  the  son  of  a  merchant  in  Old  Aberdeen, 
was  bom  there  in  1686  or  1687.  He  was  educated 
in  King's  College  in  his  native  city,  and  afterwai'ds 
became  a  private  tutor.  Among  his  pupils  were  the 
Lords  Gray  and  Blantyre,  and  Mr.  Hay  of  Drum- 
melzier.  About  1730  he  published  *  An  Enquiry 
into  the  Nature  of  the  Human  Soul,'  wherein  its 
immateriality  is  evinced  from  the  principles  of  rea- 
son and  philosophy.  Tliis  work,  which  originally 
appeared  without  a  date,  was  praised  in  high  terms 
by  Dr.  Warburton.  In  1741  he  went  abroad  with 
Mr.  Hay,  having  also  the  charge  of  Lord  Blantyre, 
and  remained  for  some  years  at  Utrecht,  his  wife 
and  family  in  the  mean  time  residing  at  Berwick- 
upon-Tweed.  On  the  continent  he  contracted 
a  very  extensive  acquaintance,  and  could  speak 
the  French,  Dutch,  and  Greiinan  languages  fluently. 
He  also  wrote  and  read  the  Italian  and  Spanish. 
It  is  related  of  him,  that,  during  the  whole  of  his 
residence  at  Utrecht,  he  presided  at  the  ordinary 
which  was  frequented  by  all  the  young  English 
gentlemen  there,  with  much  gaiety  and  politeness, 
and  in  such  a  manner  as  gave  general  sntiRfne- 
tion.  In  1747  he  returaed  to  Scotland,  and  re- 
sided at  Whittingham  in  Enst  Lothian,  till  his 
death,  which  took  place  April  28,  1750,  aged 
63.  He*  left  a  widow,  the  daughter  of  a  clergy- 
man in  Berwickshire,  three  daughters,  and  one 
son.  He  wrote,  for  the  use  of  his  pupils,  a  Latin 
treatise,  entitled  *  Matlio,  sive  Cosmotheoria  pu- 
erilis  Dialogus,'  which  he  afterwards  translated 
into  English,  and  published  in  two  vols.  8vo.    In 


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BAYNE, 


262 


ALEXANDER. 


1750  appeared  an  Appendix  to  his  '  Enquiry  into 
the  Nature  of  the  Human  Soul,'  in  which  he  en- 
deavours to  answer  the  objections  that  had  been 
advanced  against  his  notions  of  the  vis  inerticB  of 
matter,  by  Mr.  Colin  Maclaurin,  in  his  'Account 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton^s  Philosophical  Discourses.' 
Hume  also  controverted  his  arguments.  Mr. 
Baxter  dedicated  the  Appendix  to  his  Enquir}'  to 
the  celebrated  John  Wilkes,  whose  acquaintance 
he  had  made  on  the  continent,  and  with  whom  he 
kept  up  a  correspondence  till  within  a  short  time 
before  his  death. — He  left  many  manuscripts  be- 
hind him,  and  would  gladly  have  finished  his  work 
upon  the  human  soul.  "I  own,"  saj's  he,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Wilkes,  "if  it  had  been  the  will  of 
Heaven,  I  would  gladly  have  lived  till  I  had  put 
in  order  the  second  part  of  the  Enquiry,  showing 
the  immortality  of  the  human  soul,  but  infinite 
wisdom  cannot  be  mistaken  in  calling  me  sooner. 
Our  blindness  makes  us  form  wishes."  This,  in- 
deed, he  considered  his  capital  work. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  Andrew  Baxter's  works : 

An  enquiry  into  the  Nature  of  tlie  Human  Soul,  wherein 
its  Immateriality  is  evinced  from  the  Principles  of  Reason 
and  Philosophy.  Lond.  4to.  2d  edit.  1737,  2  vols.  8vo.  Sd 
edit.  1745,  2  vols.  8vo.  An  Appendix  to  the  First  Part  of 
the  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  the  Human  Soul;  wherein  the 
Principles  laid  down  are  cleared  from  some  Objections  started 
against  the  Notions  of  the  Vis  Inertia;  of  Matter,  by  Maclaurin, 
&c  Lond.  1750,  8vo.     Edited  by  J.  Duncan. 

Miitho:  sive  Cosmotheoria  Puerilis  Dialogus.  In  quo 
Prima  Elementa  do  Mundi  online  et  omatu  proponuntur,  &c 
Lond.  1740,  2  vols.  8vo.  This  work  was  afterwards  greatly 
enlarged,  and  published  in  English,  with  the  following  title, 
Matho,  or  the  Cosmotheoria  Puerilis,  in  ten  dialogues;  where- 
in, from  the  Phenomena  of  the  Material  World,  briefly  ex- 
plained, the  principles  of  Natural  Religion  are  deduced  and 
demonstrated.  Lond.  1745,  2  vols.  8vo.  A  third  edition, 
1765,  2  vols.  12mo. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Duncan,  of  South  Warmborough,  published 
The  Evidence  of  Reason,  in  proof  of  the  Immortality  of  the 
Soul,  independent  on  the  more  abstruse  Inquiry  into  the 
Natnre  of  Matter  and  Spirit.  Collected  from  the  MSS.  of 
•Mr.  Baxter.     I^nd.  1779,  8vo. 

BAYNE,  Alexander,  of  Rires,  first  professor 
of  the  mnnicipal  law  of  Scotland,  was  tee  son  of 
John  Bayne  of  Logie,  Fife,  descended  from  the 
old  Fifeshire  family  of  Tulloch,  to  whom  he  was 
served  heir  in  general,  October  8,  1700.  lie 
was  the  representative  of  an  old  family  in  the 
parish  of  Kilconquhar,  and  his  estate  of  Rires 
is  now  possessed  by  his  descendant  Robert  Bayne 
Dalgleish,  Esq.  of  Dnra.     Mr.   Bayue,  on   the 


10th  of  Jniy  1714  was  admitted  advocate.  In 
January  1722  the  Faculty  appointed  him  senior 
curator  of  the  Advocates*  Library,  and,  on  28th 
November  succeeding,  he  was  elected  by  the  town- 
council  to  the  chair  of  Scots  law,  which  in  that 
year  was  first  instituted  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh. In  the  council  register  of  that  date  there 
is  the  following  entry:  "Mr.  Alexander  Bayue 
having  represented  how  much  it  would  be  for  the 
interest  of  the  nation  and  of  this  city,  to  have  a 
professor  of  the  law  of  Scotland  placed  in  the  uni- 
versity of  this  city,  not  only  for  teaching  the  Scots 
law,  but  also  for  qualifying  of  writers  to  his  Ma- 
jesty's Signet;  and  being  fully  apprised  of  the  fit- 
ness and  qualifications  of  Mr.  Alexander  Bayne  of 
Rires,  advocate,  to  discharge  such  a  province ; 
therefore,  the  council  elect  him  to  be  professor  of 
the  law  of  Scotland  in  the  university  of  this  city." 
Although  the  Faculty  of  Advocates  at  first  looked 
coldly  upon  the  erection  of  the  chair  of  Scots  law, 
they  soon  began  to  be  convinced  that  it  was  cal- 
culated to  work  a  beneficial  change  on  the  course 
of  examination  for  the  bai*,  and  on  the  system  of 
legal  study.  In  January  1724  the  Dean  of  Fa- 
culty, Mr.  Robert  Dundas  of  Amiston,  afterwards 
Ix>rd  President  of  the  court  of  session,  proposed 
to  the  Faculty,  that  all  entrants  should,  previous 
to  their  admission,  undergo  a  trial,  not  only  in  the 
civil  law,  as  heretofore,  but  also  in  the  municipal 
law  of  Scotland ;  and  though  this  was  long  resisted, 
it  was  at  length  determined,  by  act  of  sederunt, 
February  28,  1750.  In  the  beginning  of  172C, 
Bayne  retired  from  the  oflSce  of  senior  curator  of 
the  library,  and  the  same  year  he  published  the 
first  edition  of  Sir  Thomas  Hope's  Minor  Practicks, 
a  work  of  great  legal  learning,  which  had  lain 
nearly  a  century  in  manuscript,  to  which  was 
added  by  Professor  Bayne,  '  A  Discourse  on  the 
Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Law  of  Scotland,  and 
the  Method  of  Studying  it.'  In  1731  he  published 
a  small  volume  of  '  Notes*  for  the  use  of  the  stt- 
dents  attending  his  chair,  foimed  out  of  his  lee* 
tures,  and  which  pi-ove  that  he  was  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted not  only  with  the  Roman  jurisprudence, 
but  also  with  the  ancient  common  law.  About 
the  same  time,  he  published  another  small  volume, 
entitled  '  Institutions  of  the  Criminal  Law  of  Scot- 
land,' also  for  the  use  of  his  students.     lie  died  in 


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June  1737,  when  Mr.  Erskine  of  Carnock  was  ap- 
pointed his  successor.  He  had  mnmed  Mary,  a 
yonnger  daughter  of  Anne,  only  surviving  child  of 
Sir  William  Bruce  of  Kinross,  by  her  second  hus- 
band. Sir  John  Carstairs  of  Kilconquhai*,  and  by 
ber  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  One  of 
his  daughters  was  the  first  wife  of  Allan  Ramsay 
the  painter,  son  of  the  author  of  the  Grentle  Shep- 
herd.   Professor  Bayne's  works  are : 

InstitationsoftheCriininfil  Law  of  Scotland.  E<L  1747, 12mo. 
Notes  on  the  Criminal  Law.     1748, 12ino. 
Notes  for  the  Use  of  the  Students  of  the  Municipal  I^w. 
Edin.  1749,  12mo. 


Braton,  surname  of.    See  Bkthunb. 


Bratson,  the  somame  of  a  family  originally  situated  on 
the  West  Marches.  At  the  end  of  the  16th  and  beginning 
of  tlie  17th  centuries  they  acquired  the  lands  of  Kilrie,  Vi- 
carsgrange,  Ghismont,  North  Piteadie,  Powguild,  Balbardie, 
Pitkeanie,  and  others,  in  Fifeahire.  Robert  Beatson,  Esq.  of 
Kilrie,  Royal  Engineen,  nuuried,  1790,  Jean,  only  child  of 
Murdoch  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Roesend  Castle,  BnmtiiilHnd, 
of  the  Caithness  Campbells.  His  grandson,  Alexander  John 
Beatson,  Esq.  of  Rossend,  died  at  Malto  April  8,  186L 

John  Beatson  Bell,  Esq.  of  Glenfarg  and  Kilduncan,  re- 
presents in  the  female  line  a  younger  branch  of  the  family  of 
Vicarsfrrange,  which  acquired  the  lands  of  Mawhill  in  Kin- 
ross-shire, by  marriage  with  the  heiress,  Marie  Grieve. 

Major-general  Alexander  Beatson,  H.E.I.C.S.,  at  one  time 
governor  of  St.  Helena,  was  of  the  Kilrie  family.  For  a 
memoir  of  him  see  Supplement 

BEATSON,  Robert,  of  Vicarsgiange,  LL.D., 
author  of  some  useful  compilations,  eldest  son  of 
David  Beatson  of  Vicarsgrange,  and  of  Jean, 
daughter  of  Robert  Beatson  of  Kilrie,  was  born  at 
Djsart  25th  June  1741.  His  paternal  and  ma- 
ternal grandfathers  were  cousins,  the  one  being 
the  laird  of  Kilrie  and  the  other  of  Vicarsgrange. 
His  grandmothers  were  half  sisters,  daughtei*s  of 
William  Beatson  of  Glasmont,  and  cousins  of  their 
respective  husbands.  lie  obtained  an  ensigncy  in 
1756,  and  the  following  year  accompanied  the  ex- 
pedition to  the  coast  of  France.  lie  aflerwai-ds 
served  as  lieutenant,  in  the  attack  on  Martinique, 
and  the  taking  of  Guadaloiipe.  In  1766,  he  retired 
on  half- pay .  He  obtained  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
the  university  of  Edinburgh.  He  had  commenced 
writing  a  Peerage,  which  he  did  not  live  to  com- 
plete. Part  of  the  material  is  contained  in  one  of 
three  volumes  of  manuscript,  entitled  ^  Beatson's 
Collections,'  in  the  library  of  the  Faculty  of  Ad- 
vocates in  Edinburgh.  He  sold  Vicarsgrange  in 
1787,  and  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life  was 


barrack-master  at  Aberdeen.  He  was  a  fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  died 
January  24,  1818,  aged  87.     His  works  ai*e : 

Political  Index  to  the  Histories  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, or  a  Complete  Register  of  the  Hereditary  Honours, 
Public  Officers,  and  Poi*sons  in  Office,  from  the  earliest 
periods  to  the  present  time.  KUin.«1786,  8to.  The  same. 
Lond.  1788,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Naval  and  Military  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain,  from  tlit 
year  1727  to  the  present  time.  Lond.  1790,  8  vols.  8vo. 
Second  edition,  1804,  6  vols.  8vo. 

A  New  and  Distinct  View  of  the  Memorable  Action  of  the 
27th  July,  1778,  in  which  the  aspersions  cast  on  the  Flag 
Officers  are  sliewn  to  be  totally  unfounded.    1791,  8vo. 

An  Essay  on  the  Comparative  Advantages  of  Vertical  and 
Horizontal  Windmills.    Plates.     Lond.  1798,  8vo. 

A  Chronological  Register  of  both  Houses  of  the  British 
Parliament,  from  the  Union  in  1708,  to  the  Third  Parliament 
of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Irehind  in  1807 
Lond.  1808,  8  vols.  8vo. 

BEATTIE,  James,  LL.D.,  a  distinguished  po- 
et, moralist,  and  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born 
at  Laurencekirk,  Kincardineshire,  October  25th, 
1785.  His  father,  who  kept  a  little  retail  shop  in 
that  village,  also  rented  a  small  farm  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, in  which  his  forefathers  had  lived  for 
many  generations.  He  was  the  youngest  ^n,  and 
bis  father  dying  when  he  was  yet  a  child,  his  elder 
brother  David,  on  whom,  with  his  mother,  the  care 
of  the  family  devolved,  ^aced  him  at  the  village 
school,  where,  as  he  soon  began  to  write  verses,  his 
companions  bestowed  on  him  the  title  of  "The 
Poet."  In  1749  he  was  removed  to  Marischal 
College,  Aberdeen,  where  he  obtained  a  bursary  or 
exhibition.  He  studied  Greek  under  Dr.  Thomas 
Blackwell,  author  of  *The  Court  of  Augustus,' 
and  ^  An  Inquiry  into  the  Life  and  Writings  of 
Homer,*  who  was  the  first  to  encourage  Beattie's 
genius.  He  made  great  progress  in  his  studies, 
and  acquired  that  accurate  and  classical  know- 
ledge for  which  he  was  afterwards  so  eminent. 
In  1753  he  obtained  the  degree  of  A.M.,  and 
having  completed  his  course  of  study,  he  was 
appointed  in  August  of  that  year  schoolmaster 
and  parish  clerk  to  the  parish  of  Fordoun,  at  the 
foot  of  the  Grampians,  six  miles  from  his  native 
village.  It  is  related  of  him  that  he  loved  at  this 
time  to  wander  in  the  fields  duiing  the  night,  and 
watch  the  appearance  of  the  coming  dawn,  feeding 
his  young  dreams  of  poesy  "  in  lone  sequestered 
spots."  His  early  productions,  inserted  in  the 
Scottish  Magazine,  gained  him  some  local  reputn- 


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tion;  and  he  attracted  the  favourable  notice  of 
Mr.  Garden,  advocate,  afterwards  Lord  Garden- 
stone,  then  sheriflf  of  Kincardineshire,  Lord  Mon- 
boddo,  and  othera  in  the  neighbourhood,  who 
invited  him  to  their  houses,  and  with  whom  he 
ever  after  maintained  a  friendly  intercourse.  He 
had  at  one  time  an  intention  of  entering  the 
church ;  and  in  consequence  attended  the  divinity 
class  at  Marischal  College ;  but  circumstances  led 
him  to  change  his  views.  In  1757  a  vacancy 
occurred  in  the  grammar  school  of  Aberdeen,  and 
Beattie  was  induced  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  situation,  but  did  not  succeed.  He  acquitted 
himself  so  well,  however,  that  on  a  second  vacancy 
in  June  1758,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  masters 
of  that  school.  In  1760  he  published  at  London 
a  volume  of  i)oem8  and  translations,  which,  though 
it  met  with  a  favourable  reception,  he  endeavoured 
at  a  future  period,  when  his  fame  was  established, 
to  buy  up  and  suppress.  Some  of  these  will  be 
found  in  the  Appendix  to  Sir  William  Forbes*  Life 
of  Beattie.  By  the  influence  of  the  earl  of  Errol 
and  othera  of  his  friends,  he  was  the  same  year 
appointed  professor  of  moral  philosophy  and  logic 
at  Marischal  college.  Among  his  brother  profes- 
sors in  the  Aberdeen  universities  at  that  time  were 
snch  men  of  genius  and  learning  as  Dr.  Campbell, 
Dr.  Reid,  and  Dr.  Gregoiy.  In  1762  he  wrote 
his  *  Essay  on  Poetiy,'  which  was  published  in 
1776,  with  othera  of  his  prose  works.  In  1765 
he  published  an  unsuccessful  poem  on  'The 
Judgment  of  Paris/  in  quarto.  He  afterwards 
reprinted  it  in  a  new  edition  of  his  poetical  works 
which  appeared  in  1766.  On  the  28th  June 
1767  he  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Dr.  James 
Dunn,  the  Rector  of  the  grammar  school  at  Aber- 
deen, his  union  with  whom  was  not  happy,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  hereditaiy  disposition  to  madness 
on  her  part,  which  made  its  appearance  a  few 
yeare  after  the  marriage,  and  which  subsequently 
caused  her  to  be  put  in  confinement. 

In  1770  appeared  the  work  which  firat  Drought 
Dr.  Beattie  prominently  into  notice,  viz,  *An 
Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Immutability  of  Truth, 
in  opposition  to  Sophistry  and  Scepticism ;'  writ- 
ten with  the  avowed  purpose  of  confuting  the  per- 
nicious doctrines  advanced  by  Hume  and  his  sup- 
portera,  which  at  that  time  were  very  prevalent. 


His  motives  for  engaging  in  this  task  are  fully  ex- 
plained in  a  long  letter  to  Dr.  Blacklock,  which 
will  be  found  in  Forbes'  account  of  his  Life  and 
Writings.  The  design,  he  says,  "  is  to  overthrow 
scepticism,  and  establish  conviction  iu  its  pkce, 
a  conviction  not  in  the  least  favourable  to  bigotrj 
or  prejudice,  far  less  to  a  peraecnting  spirit,  but 
such  a  conviction  as  produces  firmness  of  mind, 
and  stability  of  principle,  in  consistence  with 
moderation,  candour,  and  liberal  inquiry."  This 
work  was  so  popular,  that  in  four  yeare  five  large 
editions  were  sold,  and  it  was  translated  into 
several  foreign  langnages.  The  *  Essay  on 
Truth,'  which  Hnme  and  his  friends  treated  as 
a  violent  personal  attack,  was  intended  to  be 
continued;  but  general  ill  health,  and  an  inveter- 
ate disinclination  to  severe  study,  prevented  him 
from  completing  his  design.  In  the  same  year  he 
published  anonymously  the  Firat  Book  of  *The 
Minstrel,  or  the  Progress  of  Genius,'  4to,  which 
he  had  commenced  writing  in  1766.  This  poem 
was  at  once  highly  successful.  It  was  particularly 
praised  by  Gray  the  poet,  who  wrote  him  a  letter 
of  criticism,  which  is  preserved  in  Forbes'  Life  of 
Beattie.  Shortly  afterwards  he  visited  London, 
and  was  flatteringly  received  by  Lord  Littleton, 
Dr.  Johnson,  and  other  ornaments  of  the  literary 
society  of  the  metropolis.  In  1773  he  renewed 
his  visit;  and  owing  to  the  most  powerful  influ- 
ence exerted  on  his  behalf,  he  obtained  a  pension 
of  £200  a-year,  on  account  of  his  'Essay  on 
Truth.'  George  III.  received  him  with  distin- 
guished favour,  and  honoured  him  with  an  hour's 
interview  in  the  royal  closet,  when  the  queen 
also  was  present.  Among  other  marks  of  respect, 
the  univereity  of  Oxford  conferred  on  him  tie 
degi-ee  of  LL.D.  at  the  same  time  with  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds.  That  great  artist  having  requested 
him  to  sit  for  his  portrait,  presented  him  with  the 
celebrated  painting  containing  the  allegorical 
Triumph  of  Truth  over  Sophistry,  Scepticism, 
and  Infidelity.  He  was  also  pressed  to  enter  the 
Church  of  England  by  the  Archbishop  of  York 
and  the  bishop  of  London,  which  he  declined,  on 
the  ground  chiefly  lest  the  opponents  of  revealed 
religion  should  assert  that  he  was  actuated  by 
motives  of  self-interest.  One  prelate  offered  him 
a  living  worth  nearly  £500  a-year;  which  also  he 


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265 


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refdsed,  ^^  partly,"  he  says,  ^^  because  it  might  be 
construed  into  a  want  of  principle,  if,  at  the  age 
of  38,  I  were  to  quit,  with  no  other  €q>parent 
motive  than  that  of  bettering  my  circumstances, 
that  church  of  which  I  have  Iiitherto  been  a  mem- 
ber."   In  1774  appeared  the  Second  Book  of  the 

*  Minstrel,'  wliich  has  become  one  of  the  stand- 
ard poems  in  onr  language.     A  vacancy  having 
occurred  in  the  chair  of  natural  and  experimental 
phUosophy  in  Edinburgh,  he  was  advised  by  sev- 
eral of  his  friends  to  become  a  candidate;  but 
this  he  declined,  preferring  to  remain  in  Aberdeen. 
In  1777  he  brought  out  by  subscription  a  new 
edition  of  his  *  Essay  on  Truth,'  to  which  were 
added  some  miscellaneous  dissertations  on  ^Po- 
etry and  Music,'  *  laughter  nnd  Ludicrous 
Composition,'  and  '  The  Utility  of  Classical 
Learning.'    In  1788  he  published  '  Disser- 
tations, Moral  and  Criticid,'  4to,  and  In 

1786  'Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion,' 
2  vols.  12mo.  In  1790  he  edited  an  edition 
of  Addison's  papers,  which  appeared  at 
E<linburgh  that  year.  The  same  year  he 
published  the  first  volume  of  his '  Elements 
of  Moral  Science ;'  the  second  followed  in 
1793.  To  the  latter  volume  was  appended 
some  remarks  against  the  continuance  of 
the  slave-trade.  Long  bcfoi*e  the  abolition 
of  that  iniquitous  traffic  was  mooted  in  par- 
liament. Dr.  Beatiie  had  introduced  the 
subject  into  his  academical  course,  with  the 
express  hope  that  the  lessons  of  humanity 
which  he  tanglit  would  be  useful  to  such  of 
his  pupils  as  might  thereafter  proceed  to 
the  West  Indies.     His  last  production  was 

*  An  Account  of  the  Life,  Character, 
and  Writings  of  his  eldest   Son,  James 

Hay  Beattie,'  an  amiable  and  promising  3'oung 
man,  his  assi-stant  in  the  professorship,  who  died 
in  1790,  at  the  age  of  22,  (see  next  article).  This 
great  affliction  was  followed  in  1796  by  the  equal- 
ly premature  death  of  his  youngest  son  Montague, 
in  his  19th  year.  These  bereavements,  with  the 
melancholy  fate  of  his  wife,  quite  broke  his  heart. 
Ix)oking  at  the  corpse  of  his  boy,  he  said,  "  I  am 
now  done  with  this  world ;"  and  although  he  per- 
formed the  duties  of  his  chair  till  a  short  time  pre- 
vious to  his  death,  he  never  again  applied  to 


study ;  he  enjoyed  no  society  or  amusement ;  even 
music,  of  which  he  had  been  passionately  fond, 
lost  its  charms  for  him,  and  he  answered  few  let- 
ters from  his  friends.  Yet  he  would  sometimes 
express  resignation  to  his  childless  condition. 
"  How  could  I  have  borne,"  he  would  feelingly 
say,  '^to  see  their  elegant  minds  mangled  with 
madness  I"  He  had  been  all  his  life  subject  to 
headaches,  which  sometimes  interrupted  his  stu- 
dies ;  but  now  his  spirits  and  his  constitution  were 
entirely  gone. — In  April  1799  he  was  stinick  with 
palsy,  and,  after  some  paralytic  strokes,  he  died 
at  Aberdeen,  August  18,  1803.  Subjoined  is  a 
portrait  of  Dr.  Beattie  from  the  painting  by  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds 


Dr.  Beattie's  metaphysical  writings  are  clear, 
lively,  and  attractive,  but  not  profound,  and  the 
'Essay  on  Truth,'  once  so  much  read  and  ad- 
mired, has  now  fallen  into  comparative  neglect, 
from  its  merits  having  been  much  overrated  at  the 
time  it  appeared.  His  poem  of  the  'Minstrel,' 
his  '  Odes  to  Retirement  and  Hope,'  and  his  '  Her- 
mit,' will  perpetuate  his  name  as  one  of  the  most 
popular  and  pleasing  poets  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  his  philosophical  productions  ai^e  no 
longer  read.    "Of  all  his  poetical  works,"  saya 


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JAMES  HAY. 


Sir  William  Forbes,  **  the  Minstrel  is  beyond  all 
question  the  best,  whether  we  consider  the  plan 
or  the  execution.  The  language  is  extremely  ele- 
gant, the  vei*sit1catlon  harmonious ;  it  exhibits  the 
richest  poetic  imagery,  with  a  delightful  flow  of 
the  most  sublime,  delicate,  and  pathetic  sentiment. 
It  bi*cathe3  the  spirit  of  the  purest  virtue,  the 
soundest  philosophy,  and  the  most  exquisite  taste. 
In  a  word,  it  is  at  once  highly  conceived  and  ad- 
mirably finished."  The  descriptions  of  natural 
scenery  in  this  fine  poem  are  not  exceeded  in 
beauty  by  those  of  any  of  his  contemporaries. 
The  following  stanza  was  declared  by  Gray  to 
be  "  true  poetry :" 

0 !  how  can*8t  thou  renounce  the  boandless  store 

Of  charms  which  Nature  to  her  votary  yields ! 

The  warbling  woodland,  the  resounding  shore, 

Tlie  pomp  of  groves,  and  garniture  of  iieldc; 

All  that  the  genial  ray  of  morning  gilds, 

And  all  that  echoes  to  the  song  of  even, 

All  that  the  monntaiu*8  sheltering  bosom  shields, 

And  all  the  dread  magnificence  of  Heaven ; 

0 !  how  canst  thou  renounce,  and  hope  to  be  forgiven ! 

In  private  life  Dr.  Bcattie  was  a  man  of  amiable 
aud  unassuming  mannei's,*  and  a  wai*m  attach- 
ment to  the  principles  of  morality  and  religion  per- 
vades all  his  writings.  His  life,  by  Sir  William 
Forbes  of  Pitsligo,  baronet,  an  old  and  intimate 
fi'iend  ot  his,  which  appeared  in  two  volumes  4to 
in  1806,  contains  some  interesting  selections  from 
his  private  correspondence.  In  his  latter  yeai*s 
Dr.  Beat  tie  was  assisted  in  the  duties  of  his  pro- 
fessorship by  his  relation,  Mr.  George  Glennie, 
afterwards  D.D  ,  and  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aber- 
deen, who  succeeded  him. 
Subjoined  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Beattie^s  works : 

Original  Poems  and  Translations.  Lond.  and  Edin.  17C1. 
Consisting  partly  of  originals,  and  partly  of  pieces  furmeriy 
printed  in  the  Scots  Magazine. 

The  Judgment  of  Paris ;  a  Poem.    1765,  8vo. 

A  new  edition  of  his  Poems.  Second  edition.  1766,  8vo. 
To  this  edition  he  added  a  Poem  on  the  Talk  of  Erecting  a 
Monument  to  Churchill,  in  Westminster- Hall,  said  by  Sir 
William  Forbes,  to  have  been  first  published  separately,  and 
without  a  name. 

Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Immutability  of  Truth,  in  oppo- 
sition to  Sophistry  and  Scepticism.  1770,  8vo.  Edin.  1771, 
Svo.  1772,  1773.     I^nd.  1774,  Svo.  1776. 

The  Minstrel,  or  the  Progress  of  Genins ;  a  Poem.  Book 
i.  Edin.  1771,  4to.  Book  ii.  Edin.  1774,  4to.  Published 
together,  with  a  few  iuvenile  poems.     1777   2  vols.  12mo. 


Edin.  1803,  4to.  A  new  edition,  with  the  Life  of  the  Author 
by  Alex.  Chalmers,  Esq.  1805,  8vo.  Book  iii.  being  a  con 
tinuation  of  the  Minstrel,  appeared  in  1807,  4to. 

Essays  on  Poetry  and  Music,  as  they  affect  the  mind ;  on 
Laughter  and  Ludicrous  Composition;  on  the  Utility  of 
Classical  f^eaming.    Edin.  1776,  8vo.     Lond.  1779,  8to. 

Dissertations,  Moral  and  Critical,  on  Memory  and  Imagin- 
ation; on  Dreaming;  the  Theory  of  Language ;  on  Fable  and 
Romance ;  on  the  Attachments  of  Kindred  ;  and  Illustrations 
on  Sublimity.    Lond.  1783,  4to. 

Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion  briefly  and  plainly 
stated.    Lond.  1786,  2  vols.  8vo. 

The  Theory  of  Language ;  in  two  parts. 

Elements  of  Moral  Science.  Vol.  i.  1790,  8vo ;  including 
Psychology,  or  Perceptive  Faculties  and  Active  Powers ;  and 
Natural  Theology:  with  two  Appendices  on  the  Incorporeal 
Nature,  and  on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  Second  volume. 
I^nd.  179^,  8vo.  Containing  Ethics,  Economics,  Politics, 
and  Logic 

Remarks  on  some  Passages  on  the  Sixth  Book  of  the  iEneid. 
Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Edin.  1790, 2d  vol.  This  is,  in  fact,  a  disser- 
tation on  the  MjTthology  of  the  Romans,  as  poetically  de- 
scribed by  Virgil,  in  the  episode  of  the  descent  of  ^neas  into 
hell. 

BEATTIE,  James  Hay,  son  of  the  preceding, 
was  bora  at  Aberdeen,  November  6,  1768.  "  He 
had  reached  his  fifth  or  sixth  year,"  says  his  father, 
'^  knew  the  alphabet,  and  coold  read  a  little ;  but 
had  received  no  particular  information  with  respect 
to  the  Author  of  his  being ;  because  I  thought  he 
could  not  yet  understand  such  information;  and 
because  I  had  learat  from  my  own  expenence,  that 
to  be  made  to  repeat  words  not  understood,  is  ex- 
tremely detrimental  to  the  faculties  of  a  young 
mind.  In  a  corner  of  a  little  garden,  without  in- 
forming any  person  of  the  circumstance,  I  wrote 
in  the  mould  with  my  finger  the  thi*ee  initial  letters 
of  his  name;  and  sowing  garden  cresses  in  the 
fuiTows,  covered  up  the  seed,  and  smoothed  the 
ground.  Ten  days  after,  he  came  running  up  to 
me,  and  with  astonishment  in  his  countenance, 
told  me  that  his  name  was  growing  in  the  gai-den. 
I  smiled  at  the  report,  and  seemed  inclined  to  dis- 
regai*d  it ;  but  he  insisted  on  my  going  to  sec  what 
had  happened.  Yes,  said  I,  carelessly,  I  see  it  is 
so;  but  there  is  nothing  in  this  worth  notice; 
it  is  mere  chance,  and  I  went  away.  He  followed 
me,  and  taking  hold  of  my  coat,  said,  with  some 
earnestness.  It  could  not  be  mere  chance,  for  some- 
body must  have  contrived  matters  so  as  to  produce 
it.  So  yon  think,  I  said,  that  what  appeal's  so  re- 
gular as  the  letters  of  your  name  cannot  be  by 
chance?  Yes,  said  he,  with  fii-mness,  I  thhik  so. 
Look  at  yourself,  I  replied,  and  consider  yonr 


111! 


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BEATTIE, 


267 


GEORGE. 


liaud  uud  tiugci*s,  your  legs  aud  feet,  and  otlier 
limbs;  are  they  not  regnlar  in  their  appeai-ance, 
and  useful  to  jou?  He  said  they  were.  Came 
you,  then,  hither,  said  I,  by  chance?  No,  he  an- 
swered, that  cannot  be;  something  must  have 
made  me.  And  who  Is  that  something?  I  asked, 
lie  said,  he  did  not  know.  I  liad  now  gained  the 
p«int  I  aimed  at,  and  saw  that  his  reason  taught 
him,  though  he  could  not  so  express  it,  that  what 
begins  to  be  must  have  a  cause,  and  that  what  is 
formed  with  regulaiity  must  have  an  intelligent 
cause.  I  therefore  told  him  the  name  of  the  Great 
Being  who  made  him  and  all  the  world  ;*  concern- 
ing whose  adorable  nature  I  gave  him  such  infor- 
mation as  I  thought  he  could  in  some  measure 
compreheud.  The  lesson  affected  him  greatly, 
and  he  never  forgot  either  it  or  the  circumstance 
that  introduced  it."  The  first*  rules  of  morality 
taught  him  by  his  father  were  to  speak  truth  and 
keep  a  secret,  and  "  I  never  found,"  he  says, "  that 
in  a  single  instance  he  transgressed  either."  Flav- 
Ing  received  the  mdiments  of  his  education  at  the 
grammar  school  of  Aberdeen,  he  was  entered  at 
the  age  of  13,  a  student  in  the  Marischnl  College, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  dcgi*ee  of  M.A.  in  1786. 
In  June  1787,  when  he  was  not  quite  nineteen,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Senatus  Acadcmicns  of 
Marischal  College,  ho  was  appointed  by  the  king 
assistant  professor  and  successor  to  his  father  in 
the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  and  logic.  In  this 
character,  it  is  stated,  he  gave  universal  satisfac- 
tion, though  so  young.  I  le  was  so  deeply  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  religion,  as  always  to  cairy 
about  with  him  a  pocket  Bible  and  the  Greek  New 
Testament.  He  studied  music  as  a  science,  and 
performed  well  on  the  organ  and  violin,  and  con- 
trived to  build  an  organ  for  himself.  He  early  be- 
gan to  write  poetry,  and  had  he  been  spared,  he 
would  no  doubt  have  proiluced  something  worthy 
of  his  name.  But  his  days  were  numbered.  In 
the  night  of  tiie  30th  November  1789,  he  was 
suddenly  seized  with  fever;  before  moniing  a 
perspiration  ensued,  which  freed  him  from  all  im- 
mediate danger,  but  loft  him  weak  and  languid. 
Tliongh  he  lived  for  a  year  thereafter,  his  health 
rapidly  declined,  and  he  was  never  again  able  to 
engage  much  in  study.  He  died  November  19, 
1790,  in  the  22d  year  of  his  age.    Over  his  grave, 


in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Nicholas,  Aberdeen,  his 
afflicted  father  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory, 
and,  as  already  stated  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Beattie,  his 
writings  in  prose  and  verse  were  published  by  the 
latter  in  1799,  with  a  memoir  of  the  author.  "  His 
life,"  says  Dr.  Beattie  in  a  letter  to  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon,  giving  an  account  of  his  death,  *^  was  one 
uninternipted  exercise  of  piety,  benevolence,  filial 
affection,  and  indeed  every  virtue  which  it  was  in 
his  power  to  practise."  He  was  an  excellent  clas- 
sical scholar,  and  his  tiUents  were  considered  of 
the  highest  onlcr  by  all  who  had  an  opportunity 
of  knowing  him. 

BEATTIE,  George,  author  of  *  John  o'  Arn- 
ha*,'  was  bom  in  the  parish  of  St.  Cyrus,  county 
of  Kincardine,  in  1785.  His  parents  were  respec- 
table, and  he  received  a  liberal  education.  In 
1807  he  commenced  business  as  a  writer  in  Mon- 
trose. His  abilities  soon  brought  him  into  notice. 
He  had  a  strong  turn  for  poetry,  some  pieces  of 
which  have  been  published.  In  September  1823 
a  disappointment  in  love  brought  on  a  depression 
of  spirits,  under  the  influence  of  which  he  deprived 
himself  of  life,  in  the  church-yard  of  St.  Cyrus, 
where  a  tombstone  has  been  erected  to  his  mem- 
ory, with  an  appropriate  inscription.  The  fifth 
edition  of  *  John  o^  AmhaV  a  humorous  and  satir- 
ical poem,  somewhat  in  the  style  of '  Tam  o'  Shan- 
ter,*  appeared  at  Montrose  in  1826 ;  to  which  was 
added  '  The  Murderit  Mynsti-el V  and  other  poems. 
The  opening  lines  of  *The  Murderit  Mynstreli,' 
which  is  in  the  old  Scottish  dialect,  are  very 
fine:— 

How  sweitlie  shonne  the  morning  sunue 

Upon  the  bonnie  Ila^-hoose  o*  Dun : 

Siccan  a  bien  and  lorelie  abode 

Micht  wyle  the  pilgrime  a£f  hia  roade ; 

But  the  awneris*  hcarte  vras  harde  as  stane, 

And  his  Ladye*8  was  harder  still,  1  weene. 

They  nenr  gaue  araous  to  the  poore, 

And  they  tumit  the  wretchit  frae  thair  doore  ^ 

Quhile  the  stminger,  as  he  passit  thair  yett, 

Was  by  the  wardowre  and  tykkes  besett 

Oh !  there  livit  there  ane  bonnie  Maye, 

Mylde  and  sweit  as  the  morning  raye, 

Or  the  gloamin  of  ane  suromeris  daye : 

Hir  haire  was  faire,  hir  eyne  were  blue, 

And  the  djrmples  o*  Inve  playit  round  hir  sweit  inou ; 

Hir  waiste  was  sae  jimp,  hir  anckel  sae  sma, 

Hir  bosome  as  quhyte  as  tlie  new-dnven  sn.iwe 


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BELFRAGE, 


268 


HENRY. 


Sprent  o*er  the  twinne  moantains  of  sweit  Gaterthunnef 

Beamand  mjlde  in  the  rayes  of  a  wynterie  sunne, 

Quhair  the  mjde  of  a  fute  has  niver  bein, 

And  not  a  cloud  tu  the  lift  is  sein  : 

Quhen  the  wynd  is  slomb'ring  in  its  cave, 

And  the  barke  is  sleeping  on  the  wave, 

And  the  breast  of  the  ocean  is  as  still 

As  the  morning  mist  upon  Moiren  Hill. 

Oil  sair  did  scho  rue,  baith  nighte  and  daye, 

Hir  hap  was  to  be  this  Ladye*s  Maye. 

BELFRAGE,  Hknry,  D.D.,  an  eminent  cler- 
gyman of  the  Secession,  and  author  of  several  es- 
teemed religious  works,  fourth  son  of  the  Rev.  John 
Belfrage,  minister  of  the  fii-st  Associate  Congrega- 
tion, Falkirk,  was  bom  there  March  24,  1774. 
He  was  early  intended  for  the  ministry,  and 
received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the 
palish  school  of  his  native  town.  In  November 
1786  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  diligence 
and  application.  He  afterwards  studied  divinity 
at  the  theological  seminary  of  the  Associate 
Synod,  under  the  able  tuition  of  Professor  Lawson 
of  Selkirk.  In  July  1793  he  was  licensed  to  the 
ministry  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  of  Stirling 
and  Falkirk,  and  on  31st  August  following  he 
received  from  his  father's  congregation  a  most 
harmonious  call  to  be  assistant  and  successor. 
He  also  received  a  call  from  Saltcoats  and  I>och- 
winnoch,  but  was  ordained  to  Falkirk,  June  18, 
1794,  when  he  was  little  more  than  twenty  years 
of  age.  He  was  his  father's  colleague  for  four 
years.  His  congregation  was  large,  and  scattered 
over  a  considerable  extent  of  country,  yet  every 
year  he  paid  a  pastoral  visit  to  every  member  of 
it,  and  also  had  regular  diets  of  catechising.  He 
was  likewise  very  punctual  in  attending  the 
Secession  Church  courts.  He  regularly  visited 
the  sick,  and  was  always  ready  to  assist  the  poor. 
On  his  father's  death  he  inherited  the  estate  of 
Colliston  in  Kinross-shire;  and  for  forty -one 
years  he  held  the  ministerial  office  in  the  Secession 
Church  at  Falkirk.  In  the  spring  of  1802  his 
character  as  an  eloquent  and  useful  preacher 
being  established,  he  was  induced  to  visit  London, 
to  supply  for  a  short  time  a  congregation,  then 
vacant,  which  met  in  Miles  Lane,  when  he  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  all  who  heard  him.  In  1814 
he   commenced   that    series  of  devotional    and 


pi*actical  publications  which  entitle  him  to  au 
honourable  place  in  the  list  of  religious  writers, 
and  which,  in  a  collected  form,  amount  to  12 
volumes.  His  first  work,  published  that  year, 
consisted  wholly  of  Sacramental  Addresses.  In 
1817  he  published  *  Practical  Discourses,  intended 
to  promote  the  Happiness  and  Improvement  of 
the  Young.'  In  1818  he  published  a  ^Practiesil 
Catechism,'  with  an  address  to  children,  and 
some  prayers;  in  1821,  a  second  volume  of  Sacra- 
mental Addresses;  in  1822,  '  Sketches  of  Life  and 
Character  from  Scripture  and  from  Observation ;' 
in  1823,*h]s  ^Monitor  to  Families,  or  Discourses 
on  some  of  the  Duties  and  Scenes  of  Domestic 
Life;'  also  'A  Guide  to  the  Lord's  Table.'  his 
writings  procured  for  him,  in  1824,  from  the 
university  of  St.  Andrews,  the  degree  of  D.D.; 
principally  on  the  recommendation  of  Sir  Henry 
Moncreiff  Wellwood,  Bart.,  D.D.,  one  of  the 
ministers  of  Edinburgh.  In  June  1825  he  again 
visited  Ix)naon,  bemg  invited  to  preach  before  the 
London  Missionary  Society.  In  1827  he  published 
a  series  of  Discourses  *  On  the  Duties  and  Con- 
solations of  the  Aged.'  In  September  1828  he 
married  Margaret,  youngest  daughter  of  Richard 
Gardner,  Esq.,  comptroller  of  customs,  Edinburgh. 
In  1829  appeared  his  '  Counsels  for  the  Sanctuary, 
and  for  Civil  Life,'  which  concluded  the  author's 
series  of  illustrations  of  Christian  morality.  In 
1830  he  published  an  Illustration  of  the  History 
and  Doctrine  of  John  the  Baptist.  In  1832 
appeared^iis  *  Practical  Exposition  of  the  Assem- 
bly's Shorter  Catechism;'  and  the  same  year 
a  volume  of  '  Select  Essays,'  religious  and  moral. 
Among  his  other  publications  may  be  mentioned 
the  Life  of  Dr.  AVangh  of  London,  which  went 
through  several  editions.  Besides  those  named, 
he  contributed  a  great  number  of  Essays  and 
Reviews  to  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  and  other 
periodicals.  He  died  September  16,  1835.  Ilia 
Life  and  CoiTCspondence,  compiled  by  the  Rev. 
John  M'Kenx)w  and  the  Rev.  John  Macfarlanc, 
appeared  in  1837  Subjoined  is  a  list  of  Dr. 
Belfrage's  works :  " 

Sacramental  Addressee  and  Meditations  Ist  vol.  pnb- 
lished  in  1814. 

Practical  Disooursesi,  intended  to  promote  the  Happinen 
and  Improvement  of  the  Young.     1817. 

A  Practical  Catechism,  intended  to  exhibit  the  lea^Unn 


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BELHAVEN. 


269 


BELHAVEN. 


facts  and  principles  of  Christianity,  m  connexion  with  their 
moral  bflaeuoe;  to  which  is  added  an  Address  to  Children, 
and  some  prayers  to  guide  the  Devotions  oi  the  Young. 
181S. 

Sacramental  Addresses  and  Meditations;  with  a  few  Ser- 
mons interspersed.    2d  vol.  published  in  1821. 

A  Funeral  Sermon,  entitled  *  The  Feelings  excited  by  De- 
parted Worth:*  preached  to  Queen  Anne-street  congregation, 
Dunfermline,  at  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Husband.  The 
text  is  2  Kings  iL  12.    Published  in  1821. 

Sketches  of  life  and  Character,  from  Scripture  and  from 
Obeervatkm.    1822. 

Monitor  to  Families,  or  Discourses  on  some  of  the  Duties 
and  Scenes  of  domestic  life.    1823. 

A  Guide  to  the  Lord*s  Table,  in  the  Catechetieal  form. 
To  which  is  added  an  Address  to  applicants  for  admission, 
and  some  meditations  to  aid  their  devotions.    1823. 

A  Sermon  preached  before  the  London  Missionary  Sodety, 
on  the  11th  May,  1825.    The  text  is  Isaiah  ix.  6. 

Disoonrsea  on  the  Duties  and  Consolations  of  the  Aged. 
Published  in  1827. 

Counsels  for  the  Sanctuary  and  fbr  Civil  Life.    1829. 

Memoirs  of  the  Rar.  Dr.  Waugh,  of  Well-street,  London. 
This  is  a  joint  production  of  Dr.  Belfrage  and  of  bis  friend 
the  Rev.  James  Hay,  D.D.  of  Kinross.  The  first  edition 
made  its  appearance  in  1880. 

A  Portrait  of  John  the  Baptist;  or  an  lUustratioQ  of  his 
Histoiy  and  Doctrine.    1830. 

Practical  Exposition  of  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism. 
The  first  edition  was  published  in  1832,  in  one  volume.  A 
second  edition,  considerably  enlarged,  was  published  in  1834, 
in  two  volumes.  This  is  a  work  on  which  the  author  bestowed 
considerable  pains.  It  is  replete  with  sound  views  of  Scrip- 
ture truth,  expressed  in  a  pleasing  form. 

Select  Essays  on  various  topics,  Reli^ous  and  Moral   1832. 

A  Biographical  account  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lawson ;  prefixed 
io  a  volume  of  the  Doctor's  discourses,  *0n  the  History  of 
David,'  &C.    Publi^thed  in  1833. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  there  were  found  among  his 
manuscripts,  at  the  period  of  his  death,  two  volumes  of  Lec- 
tures, in  a  state  of  complete  readiness  for  the  press,  which  it 
was  his  intention  to  pubHsh,  but  increasing  debility  prevented 
him  firom  carrying  his  intention  into  efiiect.  There  were  also 
two  small  volumes,  which  he  had  prepared  at  the  request  of 
one  of  his  publishers;  the  one  being  a  series  of  discourses  on 
the  parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins,  and  having  for  its  title,  *  The 
Visible  Church  in  the  Last  Days,'  the  other  consisting  of 
discoonet  on  the  promises,  and  entitled,  *  Christian  Iniftruo- 
tion  in  Hope,  in  Warning,  and  in 'Example.' 


Belhayen  and  Stehtox,  Baron,  a  title  in  the  Scottish 
peerage,  conferred  by  King  Charies  the  First  on  Sir  John 
Hamilton  of  Biel,  eldest  son  of  Sir  James  Hamilton  of 
Broomhin,  in  con^deration  of  hiq  fidelity  to  his  cause,  by  pa- 
tent dated  15th  December,  1647.  The  title  was  derived  fxx)m 
the  vilh^^  of  Belhaven  in  Haddingtonshire.  In  1648  hu 
lordship  accompanied  the  duke  of  Hamilton  in  his  unfortu- 
nate expedition  into  England  to  attempt  the  rescue  of  the 
king,  and  escaped  from  the  rout  at  Preston.  In  1675  he 
rengned  his  title  into  the  haiTds  of  King  Charles  the  Second, 
who.  by  patent,  dated  at  Whitehall,  10th  February  1675, 
conferred  the  peerage  on  him  for  life,  with  remainder,  after 
his  decease,  to  the  husband  of  one  of  his  grand-daughters, 
John  Hamilton,  eldest  son  of  Robert  Hamilton  of  Bam- 
clnith,  one  of  the  principal  clerks  of  council  and  session, 
and  after  the  Revolution  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 


court,  under  the  titie  of  Lord  Pressmannan,  and  to  the 
heirs  male  of  his  body;  which  failing,  to  his  nearest 
heirs  male  whatever.  The  first  Lord  Belhaven  married 
Mai^garet,  natural  daughter  of  James,  second  marquis  of 
Hamilton,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters.  He  died  u* 
1679.  Margaret^  his  eldest  daughter,  married  Sir  Samuel 
Baillie,  younger  of  Lamington,  and  had  issue;  Anne,  the 
second,  became  the  wife  of  Sir  Robert  Hamilton  of  Silverton- 
hill,  and  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  Elizabeth,  Lord 
Belhaven's  youngest  daughter,  was  the  third  wife  of  Alexan- 
der, first  Viscount  Kingston,  but  had  no  issue. 

Of  John  Hamilton,  the  second  Lord  Belhaven,  the  most 
distinguished  of  those  who  have  held  the  tide,  a  notice 
follows. 

John,  third  Lord  Belhaven,  the  eldest  son  of  the  second 
lord,  succeeded  his  father  in  1708,  and  at  the  general 
election  in  1715  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  representa- 
tives of  the  Scottish  peerage.  He  was  about  the  same  time 
appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber  to  George, 
Prince  of  Wales.  At  the  battle  of  Sherifimuir,  13th  Novem- 
ber 1715,  he  commanded  the  East  Lothian  troop  of  horse,  on 
the  side  of  the  government.  In  1721  he  was  appointed 
governor  of  Barbadoes,  and  sailed  for  that  island  on  board 
the  Royal  Anne  galley,  which  was  unfortunately  lost  going 
down  the  Channel,  on  the  Stag  Rocks,  near  the  Lizard  point, 
about  midnight,  17th  November  1721,  when  his  lordship  was 
drowned,  with  the  whole  persons  on  board,  two  hundred  and 
forty  in  number,  with  the  exception  of  two  men  and  a  boy, 
who  drifted  on  shore  on  pieces  of  the  wreck.  He  had  married 
Anne,  daughter  of  Andrew  Bmoe,  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  ■ 
cadet  of  the  family  of  Earishall  in  Fife,  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons  and  one  daughter,  namely,  John,  fourth  Lord  Belhaven; 
Andrew,  an  officer  in  the  army,  died  unmarried  in  1786; 
James,  fifth  Lord  Belhaven;  Robert,  a  mijor  in  the  army  in 
the  expedition  to  Carthagena  under  Lord  Cathcart  in  1741, 
who  also  died  unmarried  in  1743;  and  Margaret,  married  to 
Alexander  Baird,  son  of  Sur  William  Baird  of  Newbyth. 

John,  fourth  Lord  Belhaven,  succeeded  his  father  in  1721. 
He  was  general  of  the  mint,  and  one  of  the  trustees  for  the 
encouragement  and  improvement  of  trade,  manufactures,  and 
fisheries  in  Scotland.  He  died  unmarried  at  Newcastie-upon- 
Tyne,  28th  August,  1764. 

James,  fifth  Lord  Belhaven,  succeeded  his  brother.  He 
was  bred  to  the  law,  and  in  1727  he  became  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  advocates.  In  1733  he  was  appointed  assistant- 
solicitor  to  the  boards  ot  excise  and  customs,  and  on  the  abo- 
lition of  the  heritable  jurisdictions  in  1747  he  was  appointed 
sheriff-depute  of  the  county  of  Haddington.  He  died  at 
Biel,  25th  January  1777. 

The  titie  remained  some  years  subsequently  dormant 
By  virtue  of  an  entail  executed  by  the  second  Lord  Belhaven, 
17th  October  1701,  confirmed  by  tbe  fifth  Iqrd  by  another 
entail  of  14th  May  1765,  the  husbands  of  the  heirs  female 
being  excluded  from  inheriting  the  property,  and  the  whole 
male  descendants  of  the  second  lord's  father.  Lord  Press- 
mannan,  having  entirely  failed,  the  family  estates,  of  great 
value,  devolved  upon  Mrs.  Mary  Hamilton  Nisbet  of  Pen- 
caithmd,  Saltcoats,  and  Dechmont,  wife  of  William  Nisbet, 
Esq.  of  Dirleton.  She  was  accordingly  served  heir  to  James, 
fifth  Lord  Belhaven,  3d  December,  1783.  The  whole  male 
descendants  of  James  Hamilton  of  Bamcleuth,  from  whom 
the  second  lord  sprang,  having  likewise  failed,  the  titie  of 
Lord  Belhaven  and  Stenton  devolved  on  Robert  Hamilton  of 
Wishaw,  he  being  the  nearest  male  heir  existing  in  the  colla- 
teral line  of  John,  second  Lord  Belhaven,  according  to  the 
usual  course  of  descent  established  by  the  law  of  Scotiand. 


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SECOND  LORD. 


Bj  this  course  of  descent,  it  is  settled  that  in  the  case  of  three 
brothers,  should  the  middle  brother  fail,  the  younger,  and  not 
the  older,  is  entitled  to  succeed  as  heir  male. 

The  title  of  Lord  Belhaven  was  assumed  by  William 
Hamilton,  captain  of  the  44th  regiment  of  foot,  lineal  descen- 
dant and  heir  male  of  John  Hamilton  of  Cktltness,  the  eldest 
of  the  three  brothers,  and  he  voted  at  the  general  election  in 
1790  as  Ix>rd  Belhaven.  An  objection  was  taken  to  his  right, 
and  evidence  was  gix'en  that  there  were  male  descendants  of 
the  body  of  William  Hamilton  of  Wishaw,  the  yoimgest  of  the 
three  brothern:  consequently  the  character  of  heir  male 
whatever  of  John,  second  Lord  Belhaven,  the  patentee  of 
1765,  could  not  belong  to  the  gentleman  who  had  assumed 
the  title  and  voted  at  the  election.  This  argument  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Attorney-General,  attending  on  behalf  of  the 
crown,  and  the  Ix)rd»'  Committee  of  Privileges,  on  5th  June 
1793,  unanimously  resolved  that  the  votes  given  at  the  elec- 
tion by  the  said  Captjun  Hamilton,  tmder  the  title  of  Lord 
Belhaven,  were  not  good,  and  this  resolution  was  confirmed 
by  the  house  of  peers.  Soon  after,  \\1lliam  Hamilton  of 
Wishaw,  eldest  son  and  heir  of  Robert  already  mentioned  as 
the  nearest  male  heir,  who  had  died  in  1784,  presented  to  the 
king  a  petition,  claiming  the  title,  honours,  and  dignity  of 
Lord  Belhaven ;  which  petition  was,  as  is  customary,  referred 
to  the  House  of  Peers  and  the  Lords*  Committee  of  Pri\ileges. 
The  claim  was  decided  in  his  favour  in  1799. 

Robert  Hamilton  of  Wishaw,  who,  as  above  explained,  on 
the  death  of  James,  fifth  Lord  Belhaven,  in  1777,  became,  in 
the  legal  course  of  succession,  entitled  to  the  honours,  was  of 
right  the  nxth  I^rd  Belhaven,  but  he  did  not  assume  the 
title.  He  married  at  Edinburgh,  Ist  February  1764,  Susan, 
second  daughter  of  Sir  Michael  Balfour  of  Denmiln,  in  Fife, 
Baronet,  and  by  her,  who  died  9th  January  1789,  he  had 
three  sons  and  five  daughters;  the  younger  children  taking 
the  style  of  Honourable;  as  their  father  was  legally  entitled  to 
the  peemge  of  Belhaven. 

llie  eldest  son,  William,  seventh  I>ord  Belhaven,  was  bom 
13th  January  1765,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  1784,  but 
did  not  assume  the  title  till  the  decision  of  the  house  of  peers 
in  his  favour  in  1799.  His  lordship  was  an  ofiicer  in  the 
third,  or  king's  own  regiment  of  dragoons,  afterwards  colonel 
of  the  Lanarkshire  and  Dumbartonshire  Fendble  cavalry,  and 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Royal  J.Anarkshu'e  Militia.  He  mar- 
ric<l  at  Edinburgh,  dd  March  1789,  Penelope,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Ronald  Macdonald  of  Clanronald  in  Invemess-shire, 
and  had  issue  two  sons  and  five  daughters, 'namely,  Robert 
Montgomery,  eighth  J^rd  Belhaven;  Hon.  William,  East  In- 
dia Company's  service,  bom  in  1797,  married  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Mendes,  widow  of  J.  P.  Mendes,  Esq.,  and  died  in  1838 ; 
Hon.  Penelope;  Hon.  Susan-Mary,  married  16th  November, 
1820,  to  Peter  Ramsay,  Esq.,  Banker,  Edinbnigh;  Hon. 
Flora;  Hon.  Jean,  and  Hon.  Bethia. 

Robert  Montgomery  Hamilton,  eighth  lx)rd  Belhaven,  was 
bom  in  1793,  and  succeeded  his  father,  on  his  death,  in  1814* 
He  was  one  of  the  sixteen  representatives  of  the  Scottish 
peerage,  and  in  1831  was  created  Baron  Hamilton  of  Wishaw, 
ill  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom.  For  many  succes- 
sive years  Lord  High  Commissioner  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  always  reappointed  under  the 
Whig  administration ;  Vice-lieutenant  and  Convener  of  the 
county  of  I^mark.  He  mairied,  in  1816,  Hamilton,  second 
daughter  of  Walter  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Shaw  field,  and  Mrs. 
Mary  Hamilton  of  Pencaitland,  Saltcoats,  &c. ;  without  is- 
sue. Heir  presumptive  to  the  title  believed  to  be  James 
Hamilton,  son  of  the  Hon.  William  Hamilton,  who,  as  al- 
ready stated,  died  in  1838. 


BELHAVEN,  second  Lord,  whose  own  nanie 
was  John  Hamilton,  a  distinguished  patriot,  was 
born  July  5,  1656.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Ro- 
beii;  Hamilton  of  Barncluith,  one  of  the  senators 
of  the  college  of  justice,  under  the  name  of  Lord 
Pressmaunan,  as  stated  above;  and  he  married 
Margaret,  grand-daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Belha- 
ven, who  died  in  1679.  After  his  accession  to  the 
title  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  public  affairs, 
and  soon  became  conspicuous  for  Iiis  opposition  to 
the  tjginnical  measures  of  Charles  the  Second*^ 
government  in  Scotland.  In  the  Scots  parliament 
of  1681,  when  the  act  for  the  test  was  brought 
forward,  Lord  Belhaven  declared  ^^  that  he  saw  a 
veiy  good  act  for  securing  our  religion  from  one 
another  among  the  subjects  themselves;  but  he 
did  not  see  an  act  for  securing  our  religion  against 
a  popish  or  fanatical  successor  to  the  Crown." 
For  these  words,  he  was  committed  piisoner  to 
the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  King's  Advocate 
declared  that  tliere  was  matter  for  an  accusation 
of  treason  against  him.  But  a  few  days  thereafter 
his  lordship  was,  on  his  submission,  restored  to 
liberty. 

After  the  Revolution,  he  attended  the  meeting 
of  the  Scottish  nobility  in  London,  held  In  Januar>' 
1689,  and  concun*cd  in  the  address  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange  to  assume  the  government.  He  was 
present  in  the  subsequent  Convention  of  Estates, 
and  contributed  much  to  the  settling  of  the  Crown 
upon  AVilliam  and  Maty,  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  new  king's  privy  councilloi's  for  Scotland, 
and  appointed  a  Commissioner  for  executing  the 
office  of  lord  register.  At  the  battle  of  Killie- 
crankie,  July  27,  1689,  he  commanded  a  troop  of 
horse.  On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  he  was 
continued  a  privy  councillor,  and  in  1704  was 
nominated  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  trea- 
sury, which  office  he  only  held  a  \'car. 

AVIicn  the  treaty  of  union  with  England  was 
under  discussion,  Lord  Belhaven  was  one  of  those 
who  principally  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
determined  opposition  to  the  measure:  and  his 
nen'ous  and  eloquent  speeches  on  the  occasion  are 
pre^rvcd  in  various  publications.  In  1708,  when 
the  Pretender,  assisted  by  the  Fronch,  attempted 
to  make  a  descent  on  Scotland,  Lord  Belhaven 
was  apprehended  on  suspicion  of  favouring  the  'n- 


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ANDREW. 


vasioD,  and  conveyed  to  Loudon.  I  lis  bigli  spirit 
burst  at  llie  disgrace,  and  he  died  of  inflammation 
of  the  brain,  Jane  21,  1708,  immediately  after  his 
release  from  imprisonment.  A  contemporary 
writer  says  that  he  was  of  a  good  statai*e,  well 
set,  of  a  healthy  constitution,  a  graceful  and  manly 
presence;  had  a  quick  conception,  with  a  ready 
and  masculine  expression,  and  was  steady  in  his 
principles,  both  in  politics  and  religion.  The  fol- 
lomng  is  a  ]K)rtrait  of  his  lordship  from  one  in 
Pinkcrton's  Scottish  Gallciy 


The  following  are  l^ord  Belhaven  s  publications, 
in  virtue  of  which  he  has  been  admitted  intoWal- 
pole's  Royal  and  Noble  Autiiors : 

An  Adnce  to  the  Farmers  of  East  Lothian  to  Cultivate 
and  Improve  their  Grounds. 

His  speech  in  the  Scots  Pairliamcnt  concerning  the  imion, 
published  in  1706 

Memorable  Speeches  in  the  I^st  Parliament  of  Scotland 
1706  reprinted  m  17?3 

BELL,  surname  of,  see  Suppleme.vt. 

BELL,  Andrkw,  D.I),  and  LL.I).,  founder  of 
the  Madras  system  of  education,  born  at  St.  An- 
drews in  1753,  was  educated  in  the  university  there 
Some  part  of  his  early  life  was  spent  in  America, 
and  havingentered  into  holy  orders,  in  1789  he  went 
to  India  as  chaplain  to  the  lion.  E.  I  Company  at 


Fort  -  Grcorge,  and  minister  of  St.  Mary's  at 
Madras.  Whilst  in  this  capacity  he  was  led  by 
cii-cumstances  to  the  formation  of  a  new  and  im- 
proved system  of  education,  the  advantages  of 
which  were  early  acknowledged.  Having  under- 
taken the  superintendence  of  the  Military  Male 
Orphan  Asylum,  which  had  been  instituted  by  the 
Company  at  that  station,  he  introduced  the  plan  of 
mutual  tuition  by  the  scholars  themselves,  and  it 
is  highly  honourable  to  his  character  that  he 
declined  to  receive  the  remuneration  of  1,200 
pagodas  (£480)  allowed  by  the  Company  as  the 
salary  of  the  superintendent ;  the  institution  being 
supported  chiefly  by  voluntary  subscriptions.  It 
was  while  engaged  in  this  pleasing  duty,  that  he 
invented  that  excellent  plan  of  instruction  which 
IS  now  known  by  the  name  of  the  Madras  System 
of  elementary  education.  He  i-etnrned  to  Eng- 
land in  1797,  on  account  of  his  health.  On  leav- 
uig  India,  the  directors  of  the  asylum  passed  a 
resolution  for  providing  him  a  free  passage  home, 
declaring,  at  the  same  time,  that,  **  under  the  wise 
and  judicious  regulations  which  he  had  established, 
the  institution  had  been  brought  to  a  degree  of 
l)erfection  and  promising  utility,  far  exceeding 
what  the  most  sanguine  hopes  could  have  sug- 
gested at  the  time  of  its  establishment ;  and  that 
he  was  entitled  to  their  fullest  approbation  for  his 
zealous  and  disintei-est^d  conduct."  Soon  after 
nis  annval  in  England,  he  published  a  pamphlet, 
entitled  ^An  Experiment  in  Education,  made  at 
the  Male  Asylum  of  Madras ;  suggesting  a  System 
by  which  a  School  or  Family  may  teach  itself, 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  Master  or 
Parent.'  In  1798  his  system  was  adopted  in  St. 
Rotolph's,  Aldgate,  and  in  the  Kendal  Schools  of 
Industry.  The  system,  indeed,  has  been  found  to 
work  so  well  in  practice,  that  it  has  since  been 
adopted  in  every  civilized  nation  in  the  world. 
In  Great  Britain  alone  there  were,  in  1883,  "  ten 
thousand  schools,  without  any  legislative  assist- 
ance, whei'ein  six  hundred  thousand  children  were 
educated  by  voluntary  aid  and  charity ;"  and  the 
number  has  been  every  year  since  then  on  the 
inci*ease.  The  most  gratifying  testimonials  were 
transmitted  to  Dr.  Bell,  in  proof  of  the  excellence 
of  his  plan.  These  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
receiving  not  only  from   the  highest  quarters  iu 


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ANDREW. 


this  country,  but  from  several  governments  and 
learned  bodies  throughout  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America.  A  vast  improvement  in  the  religious 
and  moral  condition  of  the  lower  classes  is  found 
to  take  place  wherever  his  system  is  adopted;  and 
the  labours  of  this  illustrious  individual  well  entitle 
him  to  be  considered  one  of  the  greatest  bene- 
factors of  mankind.  Mr.  Lancaster's  plan  was  not 
propounded  till  tlie  year  1803,  and  in  his  eai-ly 
publications  he  not  only  admitted  the  priority  of 
Dr.  Beirs  system,  but  acknowledged  his  obliga- 
tions to  him  for  some  improvements  which  he  had 
grafted  on  his  own  ;  although  he  afterwards 
endeavoured  to  claim  the  whole  merit  of  the 
invention  to  himself.  The  original  discovery, 
however,  is  now  universally  allowed  to  belong  to 
Dr.  Bell,  "  who,"  in  Lancaster's  own  words,  "  so 
nobly  gave  up  his  time  and  liberal  salary,  that  he 
might  peifect  that  institution,  (the  Male  Asylum 
at  Madras,)  which  flourished  greatly  under  his 
fostering  care."  The  evening  of  Dr.  Bell's  pious 
and  useful  life  was  passed  at  Cheltenham,  where 
his  benevolence  and  many  virtues  gained  him  the 
affection  and  respect  of  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. He  had  amassed  a  lai-ge  fortune,  which, 
with  the  generous  feelings  which  ever  actuated 
him,  he  bequeathed  for  educational  purposes  to 
several  institutions  in  Scotland.  To  his  native 
city  of  St.  Andrews  he  left  £10,000,  besides  a  sum 
of  £50,000  for  the  building  and  endowment  of  a 
new  college  there.  Altogether  he  distributed  no 
less  a  sum  than  £120,000  among  various  national 
institutions  and  public  charities.  The  mastei-ship 
of  Sherbom  Hospital,  Durham,  was  confen-ed  on 
him  by  Bishop  Barrington.  He  was  also  a  fellow 
of  the  Asiatic  Society,  and  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh.  In  1819  he  received  a  Frcbendal 
Stall  at  Westminster.  Among  the  valuable  works 
which,  in  his  later  years,  he  published  on  the  system 
of  education,  were  *  The  Elements  of  Tuition ; 
'The  English  School;'  and  'Mutual  Tuition  and 
Moral  Discipline,  or  a  Manual  of  Instructions  for 
conducting  schools  through  the  agency  of  the 
scholars  themselves,  for  the  use  of  Schools  and 
Families.  With  an  Introductory  Essay  on  the 
Object  and  Importance  of  the  Madras  system  of 
Education,  a  brief  Exposition  of  the  Principles  on 
which  it  is  founded;  and  an  historical  sketch  of  its 


Rise,  Progress,  and  Results.'  The  seventh  edition 
of  the  latter  work  appeared  in  1823.  These  will 
ever  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in  the  educa- 
tional department  of  our  national  literature.  Dr. 
Bell  died  at  Lindsay  cottage,  Cheltenham,  January 
27,  1832,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  committee  of  the  National  Society  for  the 
education  of  the  poor  passed  the  following  resolu- 
tion at  its  first  meeting  after  his  decease :  *'  That 
the  committee  having  learnt  that  it  has  pleased 
Almighty  God  to  remove  from  this  present  life  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Bell,  the  superintendent  of  the  Society's 
schools,  deem  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  pay  a 
public  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  a  man 
who  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  a 
system  of  education,  which,  under  the  divine  bless- 
ing, has  been  productive  of  incalculable  benefits 
to  this  church  and  nation ;  and  that,  as  it  is  un- 
derstood that  his  remains  aro  to  be  interred  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  the  secretary  be  directed  tc 
ascertain  the  day  fixed  for  his  interment,  and 
communicate  the  same  to  the  committee  for  the 
information  of  such  members  as  may  find  it  con- 
venient to  attend."  In  the  funeral  procession  were 
the  carriages  of  the  archbishop  of  Cinterbuiy,  and 
of  several  bishops  and  persons  of  distlncUoa. 
Tlie  following  is  a  list  of  Dr  Bell's  works : 

A  Sermon  on  the  Education  of  the  Poor  on  an  improved 
sjstem.     1807,  8vo. 

An  Experiment  in  Education,  made  at  the  Male  Asylum  of 
Madras;  suggesting  a  system  by  which  a  school  or  family 
may  teach  itself,  under  the  superintendence  of  ths  Master  or 
Parent    London,  1797,  8vo 

An  Analysis  of  the  Experiment  in  Education  made  at  Eg- 
more,  near  Madras,  suggesting  a  scheme  for  the  better  admi- 
nistration of  the  poor  laws,  by  converting  Schools  for  the 
lower  orders  of  youth  into  Schools  of  Industry.  Loud.  1797, 
8vo.    8d.  edit  1807,  8vo. 

Instructions  for  conducting  Schools  on  the  Madras  System. 
Lond.  1799, 12mo.    8d.  edit  1812, 12mo. 

The  Madras  School ;  or  Elements  of  Tuition,  comprising  an 
Analysis  of  an  Experiment  in  Education,  made  at  the  Male 
Asylum,  Madras,  with  its  Facts,  Proofs,  and  Illustrations. 
Lond.  1808,  8vo. 

National  Education;  or,  a  short  account  of  the  Efibrts 
which  have  been  made  to  educate  the  Children  of  the  Poor, 
according  to  the  new  System  of  Education  invented  by  Dr. 
Bell;  including  an  account  of  the  recent  establishment  of  the 
National  Society,  with  a  letter  on  the  subject  of  National 
Education.     1812,  12mo. 

Ludus  Literarius;  or  Elements  of  Tuition.  Part  ilL  1815, 
8vo. 

Brief  Manual  of  Mutual  Instruction  and  Discipline. 

The  English  School 

Mutual  Tuition  and  Moral  Discipline.    7th  edition,  1833. 


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JOTIX. 


BELL,  Benjamin,  an  eminent  surgeon,  the  son 
of  a  respectable  fwmer,  was  born  at  Dumfries  in 
1749.  Ills  father,  Mr.  George  Bell,  liad  in  his 
youth  been  engaged  in  the  Levant  trade;  but, 
having  met  with  serious  losses,  and  been  made 
prisoner  by  the  Spaniards,  on  his  i*etm'n  to  Scot- 
land, he  took  a  farm  in  Eskdalc,  belonging  to  the 
duke  of  Buccleuch,  where  he  lived  to  an  advanced 
age.  Benjamin  received  the  rudiments  of  his  edu- 
cation at  the  grammar  school  of  his  native  town, 
the  rector  of  which  was  Dr.  Geoi-ge  Chapman, 
author  of  an  esteemed  work  on  education,  who 
paid  great  attention  to  the  classical  instruction  of 
his  scholars.  The  estate  of  Blackett  House  in 
Dnmfries-shune,  which  for  several  centuries  had 
belonged  to  his  progenitors,  having  devolved 
on  him  on  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  he 
gave  a  i-emarkable  instance  of  disinterested  ge- 
nerosity by  disposing  of  it,  and  applying  the 
sum  received  for  it  in  educating  himself  and  the 
younger  branches  of  the  family — fourteen  in  num- 
ber. After  serving  his  apprenticeship  to  Mr. 
Hill,  surgeon  and  apothecaiy  in  Dumfries,  in  176G 
he  proceeded  to  Edinburgh,  and  entered  upon  his 
medical  studies.  In  due  time  he  passed  the  usual 
examinations  at  Surgeons*  Hall,  and  was  admitted 
a  member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  Edin- 
burgh. In  1770  he  visited  Paris  and  London,  re- 
maining in  each  capital  for  several  months,  in 
order  to  improve  himself  in  surgery.  In  1772  he 
returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  immediately  com- 
menced his  professional  duties.  Both  as  a  skilful 
operator  and  consulting  surgeon,  his  reputation 
soon  rose  very  high,  and  in  a  short  time  he  was 
established  in  an  extensive  practice.  In  1778  he 
published  the  first  Aolume  of  his  System  of  Sur- 
gery. The  remaining  volumes  appeared  at  inter- 
vals, until  the  whole  work  was  completed  in  six 
volumes  8vo,  in  1788.  For  this  work  there  was 
an  extensive  demand,  and  it  reached  to  seven  edi- 
tions, the  last  of  which  was  much  improved,  and 
had  an  additional  volume.  In  1793  he  published 
a  treatise  on  Gonorrhoea,  and  in  the  year  following 
a  'Treatise  on  Hydrocele,'  but  these  were  never 
very  popular.  He  died  April  4,  1806.  A  portrait 
of  him,  from  a  painting  by  Sir  Henry  Raebum, 
engraved  by  Bengo,  appeared  in  the  Scots  Maga- 
zine for  1801.    The  subjoined  is  from  Kay  : 


He  had  married,  in  1774,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Ro- 
bert Hamilton,  professor  of  divinity  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons. 
Mr.  Robert  Bell,  advocate,  procurator  for  the 
Cliurch  of  Scotland,  was  his  2d  son.  See  Supplk- 
MENT, — Beix,  surname  of.     Dv.  Bell's  works  are* 

Treatise  on  the  Theory  and  .Management  of  Ulcers,  with  a 
Dissertation  on  White  Swellings  of  the  Joints,  and  an  Kssny 
on  the  Surgical  treatment  of  Inflammation  and  its  conse- 
quences.   Edin.  1778,  8vo.    Sd.  edit.  1784,  much  enlarged. 

A  System  of  Surgery.  Edin.  1783,  vol.  I,  8vo.  Vols.  ii. 
and  iii.  1784.  Vol.  iv.  1785,  8vo.  Vol.  v.  1787.  Vol.  vi. 
and  last,  1788,  8vo.  A  new  edition,  1792,  6  vols.  8vo. 
Another  edition,  1796,  7  vols.  8vo. 

Tmtise  on  the  Gonorrhoea  Virulcnta,  and  Lues  Venerea. 
Edin.  1793,  2  vols.  8vo. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Hydrocele,  or  Sarcocele,  or  Cancer,  ami 
other  Diseases  of  the  Testes.     Edin.  179-J,  8vo. 

Three  Essays;  on  Taxation  of  Income;  on  the  National 
Debt;  the  Public  Funds,  &c     Edin.  1799,  8vo. 

Essays  on  agriculture,  with  a  plan  for  tlic  speedy  and  gene- 
ral i)nprovement  of  Land  in  Great  Britain.     Edin.  1802,  8vo. 

Case  of  Epilepsy  considerably  relieved  by  Flowera  of  Zinc. 
Med.  Com.  l  p.  2(»4.     1773. 

Case  in  which  some  of  the  Vertebne  were  found  dissolved, 
lb.  iii.  p.  82.     1775. 

BELL,  John,  of  Antcrmony^  a  celebrated  tra- 
veller, the  son  of  Patrick  Bell,  who  inherited  that 
estate  from  an  honourable  line  of  anccstore,  and  of 
Anabel  Stirling,  daughter  of  Mungo  Stirling  of 
Craigbamet,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Campsic, 

Stirlingshire,  (where  his  paternal  estate  was  situ- 

s 


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JOHN. 


ated,)  in  1691.  Ho  received  an  excellent  educa- 
lion,  and  having  chosen  the  medical  profession,  he 
passed  physician  in  tlie  twenty-third  year  of  his 
age.  He  soon  after  i-csolved  to  travel.  Of  his 
motives  for  doing  so  he  has  himself  infoimed  us,  in 
the  preface  to  his  interesting  book  of  travels,  in 
which  he  says,  *'  In  my  youth  I  had  a  strong  de- 
sire of  seeing  foreign  parts,  to  satisfy  which  incli- 
nation, after  having  obtained,  from  some  persons  of 
worth,  recommendatory  letters  to  Dr.  Areskine, 
chief  physician  and  privy  counsellor  to  the  Czar 
Peter  the  First,  I  cmbaikcd  at  London  in  the  month 
of  July  1714,  on  board  the  Prosperity  of  Ramsgate, 
Captain  Emerson,  for  St.  Petereburg."  On  Bell's 
arrival  he  was  introduced  to  Peter  the  Great,  who 
at  that  very  time  was  preparing  an  embassy  to 
Pei*sia;  and  Dr.  Areskine  having  recommended 
him,  as  one  skilled  in  surgery  and  physic,  to  Ar- 
temy  Petrovich  Valensky,  the  person  chosen  to  go 
to  the  Persian  court  as  Russian  ambassador,  he 
was  immediately  engaged  as  surgeon  and  physi- 
cian to  the  expedition.  On  the  15th  July  1715 
the  embassy  left  St.  Petersburg.  "  Tliat  city," 
he  says,  ^*  which  has  since  grown  so  considerable, 
was  then  in  its  infancy,  having  been  founded  only 
ten  or  eleven  years  before."  They  pi-oceeded  to 
Moscow,  and  thence  to  Caznn,  where  the  severity 
of  the  weather  compelled  them  to  remain  till  June 
4,  1716.  They  next  sailed  down  the  Wolga  to 
Astracan,  and  then  went  by  the  Caspian  sea  to 
Derbent,  and  proceeded  by  Taurus  and  Saba  to 
Ispahan;  where  they  anived  March  13,  1717. 
After  remaining  in  that  city  about  six  months, 
they  set  out  on  their  return  to  St.  Petersburg, 
which  they  reached  December  80, 1718.  In  these 
long  journeys  Bell  found  ample  gratification  for 
his  "  strong  desire  of  seeing  foreign  parts,"  as  well 
as  for  his  spirit  of  adventure ;  and,  accordingly, 
the  account  which  he  published  of  the  places  he 
visited,  and  the  scenes  he  passed  through,  is  full 
of  interest.  At  the  close  of  it  he  informs  his  read- 
ers, that  in  spite  of  the  Swedish  war,  in  which  the 
Czar  was  then  engaged,  the  Russian  capital  had 
been  so  improved  and  beautified  during  his  ab- 
sence, that  he  scarcely  knew  it  again.  On  his 
arrival  ho  learnt,  to  his  great  giief,  that  his  pa- 
tron. Dr.  Areskine,  was  dead ;  but  Peter  the  Great 
being  about  to  send  a  grand  embassy  to  China, 


he  was  recommended  by  Valensky  to  Leoff  Vasi- 
lovich  Ismayluff,  the  ambassador  appointed  to  go 
to  Pekin,  who  readily  engaged  his  services.  They 
departed  from  St.  Petersburg,  July  14,  1719,  and 
travelled  by  Moscow,  and  through  Siberia  and  the 
great  Tartar  deserts,  to  the  celebrated  wall  of 
China,  arriving  at  Pekin  "  after  a  tedious  journey 
of  sixteen  months."  They  quitted  the  Chinese 
capital  March  2,  1721,  and  arrived  at  Moscow 
Januai-y  5,  1722.  His  account  of  this  journey, 
and  pai'ticulaiiy  his  description  of  the  manners, 
customs  and  superstitions  of  the  Chinese,  is  the 
most  intercsting  part  of  his  book.  Peter  the 
Great  having  concluded  peace  with  Sweden,  re- 
solved  to  assist  the  Shah  of  Persia  against  the 
Afghans,  who  had  invaded  his  territories,  and 
seized  upon  Candahar  and  other  provinces  on  the 
fi-ontiere.  In  May  1722,  Bell,  whose  services 
were  engaged  in  this  expedition,  accompanied  the 
Czar  and  his  empress  with  the  army  to  Derbent,  a 
celebrated  pass  between  the  foot  of  the  Caucasus 
and  the  Caspian  sea.  He  returned  to  St.  Peters- 
burg in  December  1722.  During  their  march 
homewaids  the  Russians  were  much  annoyed  by 
the  incessant  attacks  of  the  half-savago  mountain 
tribes ;  and  Peter  and  his  empress  were  frequently 
exposed  to  great  danger  on  the  journey.  In  his 
account  of  this  expedition.  Bell  gives  a  brief  but 
excellent  description  of  Tzercassia,  or  Circassia. 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Bell  revisited  his  paternal  estate 
in  Scotland,  wherc  he  resided  for  some  time,  and 
seems  to  have  retunied  to  St.  Petersburg  about 
1734.  In  1737,  in  consequence  of  the  war  in 
which  Russia  was  then  engaged  with  Turkey,  he 
was  singled  out  as  the  fittest  pei-son  to  go  to  Con- 
stantinople to  treat  of  peace,  the  Czar  wishing  to 
put  an  end  to  hostilities.  This  mission  he  under- 
took at  the  desire  of  Count  Osterman,  grand 
chancellor  of  Russia,  and  of  Mr.  Rondean,  British 
minister  at  the  Russian  court.  Quitting  St.  Pe- 
tersbui-g,  December  6,  1737,  he  arrived  at  Con- 
stantinople with  only  one  seiTant  who  could  speak 
the  Turkhih  language.  He  returned  to  the  Rus- 
sian capital  May  17,  1738.  He  seems  to  have 
afterwards  settled  as  a  merchant  at  Constantino- 
ple, where  he  continued  for  some  years.  About 
1746  he  married  Mary  Peters,  a  Russian  lady,  and 
in  1747  returned  to  Scotland.    The  latter  part  of 


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JOHN. 


his  active  life  was  spent  in  ease  and  affluence  on 
bis  est^ite.  He  is  described  as  a  warm-hearted 
and  benevolent  i)erson ;  and  such  was  his  sincerity 
and  good  faith,  that  he  obtained  from  his  friends 
the  title  of  "  Honest  John  Bell."  He  died  at  An- 
termony,  July  1, 1780,  at  the  age  of  89.  Although 
fond  of  talking  about  his  journeys  and  adventui*es, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  desire  to  pub- 
lish his  travels,  till  urged  to  it  by  one  distinguished 
friend.  In  his  preface,  dated  Oct.  1,  1762,  he  tells 
us  that  about  four  years  before,  "  spending  some 
days  at  the  house  of  a  right  honourable  and  most 
honoured  friend,"  his  travels  became  the  subject 
of  conversation,  and  he  was  pressed  to  prepare  his 
work  for  publication,  which  he  diffidently  consented 
to.  Tlie  work,  under  the  title  of  'Travels  from 
St.  Petersburg  in  Russia  to  Various  Parts  in  Asia,* 
2  vols.  4to,  was  published  by  subscription  in  Glas- 
gow in  1763.  A  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Review 
for  1817,  who  styles  this  work  "  the  best  model 
perhaps  for  travel-writing  in  the  English  language," 
adds  in  a  note : — "  For  many  years  after  Mr.  Bell 
returned  fix)m  his  travels,  he  used  to  amuse  his 
friends  with  accounts  of  what  he  had  seen,  re- 
freshing his  recollection  from  a  simple  diary  of  oc- 
currences and  observations.  The  earl  Granville, 
then  president  of  the  council,  on  hearing  some  of 
his  adventures,  prevailed  on  him  to  throw  his 
notes  together  into  the  form  of  a  narrative,  which, 
when  done,  pleased  him  so  much  that  he  sent  the 
manuscript  to  Dr.  Robertson,  with  a  particular 
request  that  he  would  revise  and  put  it  into  a  tit 
state  for  the  press.  The  literary  avocations  of  the 
Scottish  historian  at  that  time  not  allowing  him 
to  undertake  the  task,  he  recommended  Mr.  Bar- 
ron, a  professor  in  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  and 
on  this  gentleman  consulting  Dr.  Robertson  as  to 
the  style  and  the  book  of  travels  which  he  would 
recommend  him  to  adopt  for  his  guide,  the  histo- 
rian replied,  *Take  Gulliver's  Travels  for  your 
modf.l,  and  you  cannot  go  wrong.'  He  did  so, 
and  'Bcirs  Travels*  have  all  the  simplicity  of 
Gulliver,  with  the  advantage  which  tnith  always 
carries  over  fiction.**  The  latter  part  of  this  stoiy 
is  very  unlikely.  The  simplicity  of  the  style  is  an 
evidence  that  the  book  was  Bell's  own  composi- 
tion. Of  Beirs  work  there  have  been  various  edi- 
tions; and  a  French  translation,  including  a  Jour- 


nal kept  by  M.  de  Lange,  attachd  to  the  embassy 
to  Pekin,  was  published  on  the  continent,  where 
it  became  very  popular.— AT CVi>*5  History  of 
Glasgow. — Quarterly  Review  for  1817. 

BELL,  John,  an  eminent  surgeon  and  anato- 
mist, the  first  who,  in  Scotland,  successfully  ap- 
plied the  science  of  anatomy  to  practical  surgery, 
was  bom  in  Edinburgh,  May  12,  1763.  His  pa- 
ternal grandfather  was  minister  of  Gladsmuir  in 
East  Lothian ;  and  he  was  the  second  son  of  the 
Rev.  William  Bell,  who,  while  very  yonng,  was 
induced  to  become  a  member,  and  afterwards  a 
minister,  of  the  episcopalian  church  in  Edinburgh. 
His  mother  was  Miss  Morrice,  the  grand-daughter 
of  Bishop  White.  There  were  eight  children  of 
the  marriage,  and  of  these  four  distinguished  them- 
selves in  their  respective  professions,  namely,  his 
eldest  brother,  Robert  Bell,  Esq.,  Advocate,  pro- 
fessor of  conveyancing  to  the  Society  of  Writera  to 
the  Signet,  author  of  the  Scots  Law  Dictionary, 
and  of  several  other  works  on  the  law  of  Scotland, 
who  died  in  1816;  John  Bell,  the  subject  of  this 
article;  George  Joseph  Bell,  Esq.,  Advocate,  pro- 
fessor of  the  Scots  law  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, appointed  one  of  the  principal  clerks  of 
Session,  in  1831,  and  author  of  Commentaries  on 
the  Law  of  Scotland,  of  whom  a  notice  immedi- 
ately follows ;  and  Sir  Charles  Bell,  F.R.S.,  Lon- 
don, a  distinguished  anatomist,  a  memoir  of  whom 
is  also  subsequently  given. 

The  following  interesting  anecdote  is  told,  to 
account  for  John*s  being  educated  for  the  medical 
profession.  About  a  month  before  his  birth,  his 
father,  then  69  years  old,  had  submitted  to  an 
operation  for  the  cure  of  stone,  and  his  gratitude 
for  the  relief  he  had  experienced  led  him  to  devote 
to  the  cause  of  medicine,  and  the  benefit  of  mankind, 
the  talent  of  the  son,  bom  while  he  was  recovering 
from  that  severe  malady.  John  Bell,  after  receiv- 
ing his  education  at  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh, 
became  the  pupil  of  the  late  Mr.  Alexander  Wood, 
surgeon  there.  He  entered  on  his  medical  studies 
with  enthusiasm,  and  was  soon  distinguished  for 
his  attainments  both  in  midwifery  and  chemistry. 
The  Edinburgh  university  at  that  period  conld 
boast  of  possessing  some  of  the  most  accomplished 
professors  in  Europe.  Of  these  Dr.  Black,  Dr. 
Cullen,  and  the  second  Dr.  Monro,  were  the  most 


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JOHN. 


eminent.  Bell  stndicd  anatomy  nnder  the  latter, 
and  it  was  >Yliile  attending  his  classes  that  the 
idea  of  teaching  the  application  of  anatomy  to 
surgery,  a  branch  of  medical  instniction  which 
was  overlooked  by  Moni*o,  firat  suggested  itself 
to  him.  Before  entering  on  his  professional 
career,  ho  travelled  for  some  time  in  Russia 
and  the  north  of  Europe.  On  his  retuni  he 
began  to  lecture  on  surgery  and  anatomy.  In 
1790  he  built  a  theatre  in  Surgeons'  Square,  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  carried  on  dissections,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  muscn  n.  This  establishment 
of  a  sepai-ate  school  on  his  part  was  considered  at 
the  time  as  an  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  the 
professors.  In  1793  he  published  the  firet  volume 
of  his  'Anatomy  of  the  Human  Body,'  consisting 
of  a  description  of  the  Bones,  Muscles,  and  Joints. 
In  1797  appeared  the  second  volume,  containing 
the  Heart  and  Arteries;  and  in  1802  the  third 
volume,  containing  the  Anatomy  of  the  Brain,  de- 
scription of  the  course  of  the  Nerves,  and  the  An- 
atomy of  the  Eye  and  Ear.  Being  in  the  habit  of 
introducing  into  his  lectures  remarks  derogatoiy  to 
Dr.  Monro's  eminence  as  an  anatomist,  as  well  as  of 
criticising  severely  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell's  system  of 
surgery,  a  pamphlet  was  publisl^ed  in  1799,  en- 
titled *  Review  of  the  Writings  of  John  Bell,  Esq. 
by  Jonathan  Dawplucker;'  which,  nnder  the  pre- 
tence of  eulogising  the  first  volume  of  his  Anatomy, 
represented  him  as  a  plagiarist,  and  vindicated 
Dr.  Monro  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell  from  his  un- 
favourable observations.  The  author  of  this  pam- 
phlet was  supposed  to  be  some  friend  of  the  latter. 
Mr.  John  Bell  replied  by  publishing  a  second  num- 
ber of  the  Review,  under  the  same  name  of  Jona- 
than Dawplucker,  addressed  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell, 
in  which  he  i*etaliated  in  a  similar  strain  on  the  lat^ 
ter's  system  of  surgery,  which  from  that  time  quite 
lost  its  populai'ity  with  the  students.  In  1796  he 
was  induced,  by  the  increase  of  his  practice,  to 
discontinue  his  lectures,  in  which  his  brother 
Charles  had  been  for  some  time  united  with  him ; 
the  one  taking  the  surgical  and  the  other  the  ana- 
tomical department.  About  this  time  the  dispute 
as  to  the  right  of  the  junior  members  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Suigeons  in  Edmburgh  to  perform  opera- 
tions in  the  Royal  Infirmary,  engrossed  the  medi- 
cal profession  in  that  city  almost  exclusively,  and 


led  to  much  bad  feeUng  among  them.  By  the  new 
system  adopted  in  the  surgical  attendance  at  the 
Infii-mary,  principally  on  the  recommendation  of 
Dr.  Gregory,  Mr.  Bell,  whose  expertnesa  as  an 
operator  was  universally  acknowledged,  was  with 
his  pupils  excluded  from  that  institution.  To  the 
memorial  given  in  by  Dr.  James  Gregory  to  the 
managers  of  the  Infirmary  on  this  occa^iion,  he 
wi-ote  an  answer  which  was  publishe<l  in  1800. 
He  likewise  made  an  appeal  personally  to  the 
boai*d  of  the  Infirmary,  at  the  same  time  produc- 
ing, as  evidence  of  the  utility  and  necessity  of  his 
system  of  teaching,  six  folio  books  filled  with  sur- 
gical drawings  and  cases.  But  his  remonstrance 
proving  ineffectual,  he  brought  the  question  before 
the  courts  of  law,  whether  the  managers  had  the 
power  to  exclude  him  from  the  Infirmary,  and  it 
was  decided  against  him.  In  this  unfortunate 
controversy  both  Dr.  Gregory  and  Mr.  Bell  were 
indefatigable  in  writing  against  each  other;  the 
principal  work  produced  by  Bell  on  the  subject 
being  '  letters  on  Professional  Character  and 
Manners,'  addressed  to  Dr.  Gregory,  and  pub- 
lished at  Edinburgh  in  1810 ;  which  is  conceived 
in  a  tone  of  great  bitterness  and  saixasm.  In 
1798  he  went  to  Yarmouth,  and  passed  some 
weeks  among  the  men  belonging  to  Lord  Duncan's 
fleet  who  had  been  wounded  at  Camperdown; 
applying  himself  with  his  accustomed  activity  to 
the  cure  of  the  sufferei*s.  In  1803,  when  Great 
Britain  was  threatened  by  Buonaparte  with  in- 
vasion, he  made  an  offer  to  government  for  the 
embodying  of  a  coitus  of  young  men  to  be  in- 
stnicted  in  military  surgery,  and  in  the  duties  of 
the  camp  and  hospital,  with  the  view  of  their 
being  of  service  in  defence  of  the  country.  The 
offer  was  first  accepted,  but  subsequently  declined. 
He  now  devoted  himself  with  increased  zeal  to  his 
practice,  which  was  very  extensive,  his  works  and 
his  high  character  as  an  operator  and  consulting 
surgeon  having  made  his  name  celebrated  not  only 
in  Great  Britain,  but  on  the  continent.  In  1805 
he  married  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Congalton,  a  re- 
tired physician  of  Edinburgh,  but  had  no  family. 
Early  in  1816  he  was  thrown  from  hU  hoi-se,  and 
seems  never  to  have  entirely  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  this  accident.  His  constitution  was 
never  very  strong,  and  his  health  having  very 


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much  declined,  he  was  iudoced,  in  the  autumn  of 
tliat  year,  to  travel  on  the  continent.  After  visit- 
ing Paiia  he  proceeded  to  Italy,  and  ultimately 
arrived  at  Rome,  where  he  died  of  dropsy,  April 
15,  1820,  in  the  57th  year  of  his  age.  In  the 
conrac  of  his  last  journey  he  had  made  notes  of 
his  *  Observations  on  Italy,*  which  were  published 
by  his  widow  after  his  decease,  edited  by  the  late 
Bishop  Sandford  of  Edinburgh.  This  work  shows 
that  he  possessed  talents  for  general  literature  of 
a  very  superior  order,  which  required  onl}'  culti- 
vation to  have  made  him  as  eminent  in  this  de- 
partment as  his  professional  attainments  had  ren- 
dered him  distinguished  in  his  own  peculiar  sphere. 

Mr.  Bell  was  under  the  middle  size,  but  ex- 
ceedingly well-proportioned.  He  was  of  a  gener- 
ous disposition,  lively  temperament,  and  indepen- 
dent character.  In  the  fine  arts  his  tastes  had 
been  highly  cultivated.  His  anatomical  drawings 
were  remarkable  for  the  correctness  and  skill  with 
which  they  were  executed.  His  musical  par 
ties  were  celebrated  in  their  day.  Although  his 
income  was  large,  it  was  not  sufficient  for  his  style 
of  living,  which  demanded  an  expenditure  greater 
than  his  resources  could  at  all  times  meet ;  hence 
he  was  sometimes  placed  In  circumstances  of  great 
embarrassment.  Endowed  with  varied  talents, 
and  possessing  great  energy  and  industry,  with 
uncommon  facility  in  communicating  his  ideas, 
and  singular  acuteness  and  discrimination  in  avail- 
ing himself  of  all  knowledge  essential  to  surgical 
science,  this  eminent  man  had  yet  little  acquaintance 
with  the  world,  and  but  small  patience  with  the 
prejudices  which  society  and  the  profession  con- 
tinned  to  retain.  Popular  and  eloquent  as  a 
lecturer,  he  was  an  entertaining  and  instructive 
writer,  and  an  acute  and  powerful  controversialist, 
though  often  severe  and  bitter  in  his  remarks,  even 
beyond  his  intention  and  wish. 

The  following  is  a  catalogue  of  his  works : 

The  Anatomy  of  the  Human  Body;  vol.  i.  containing?  the 
Bones,  Muscks,  and  Joints.  Edin.  1793,  8vo.  Vol.  ii.  con- 
taining the  Heart  and  Arteries.  Edin.  1797,  8vo.  Vol.  iii. 
oontaining  the  anatomy  of  the  Brain,  Description  of  the 
coarse  of  the  Nerves,  and  the  Anatomy  of  the  Eye  and 
Ear,  1803.  Complete  edition,  with  plates  by  Charles  Bell, 
third  edition,  1811,  8vo. 

Engravings,  explaining  the  Anatomy  of  the  Bones,  Bf  oscles, 
and  Joints,  drawn  and  engraved  by  the  Anthor.  Edin.  1794. 
4to.     Second  edition,  1804,  4to.     1813,  4to. 


Engravings  of  the  Arteries,  illustrating  the  second  volume 
of  the  Anatomy  of  the  Human  Body,  royal  4  to,  1801;  3d 
edition,  8vo.  1810. 

Discourses  on  the  Nature  and  Cure  of  Wounds.  Edin. 
1795,  2  vols.  8vo.    3d.  ed.  1812. 

Answer,  for  the  Junior  Members  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  of  Edinburgh,  to  the  Memorial  of  Dr.  James  Gre- 
gory, on  the  Edinbiu^h  Infirmary.     Edin.  1800,  8vo. 

Memorial  concerning  the  Present  State  of  MiHtary  Surgery. 
Edin.  1800,  8vo. 

The  Principles  of  Snrgeiy.  Vol.  i.  of  the  Ordinary  Duties 
of  the  Surgeon ;  containing  the  Principles  of  Surgery  as  they 
relate  to  Wounds,  Uk^rs,  and  Fistulas;  Aneurisms,  and 
Wounded  Arteries;  Fractures  of  the  Limbs;  and  the  Duties 
of  the  MiUtary  and  Hospital  Surgeon ;  with  plates,  accurately 
coloured  from  Nature.  Edin.  1801,  4to.  Vol  ii.  containing 
the  Operations  of  Surgery,  viz,.  The  Anatomy  and  Pathology 
of  the  Skull  and  Brain;  in  the  form  of  Discourses  on  the 
Structure  and  Diseases  of  the  Skull ;  the  Stmcture  and  Dis- 
eases of  the  Brain;  on  Apoplexy,  Palsy,  Hydrocephalus, 
Phrenzy,  the  various  Species  of  Fractures  of  the  Skull,  and 
the  Operation  of  Trepan.  Edin.  1806,  4to.  Vol.  iii.  being 
Consultations  and  Operations  on  the  more  important  Surgical 
Diseases,  containmg  a  series  of  Cases,  calculated  to  illustrate 
chiefly  the  Doctrine  of  Tumours,  and  other  irr^^lar  parts  of 
Surgery:  and  to  instruct  the  young  Surgeon  how  to  form  his 
Prognosis,  and  plan  his  Operations.   37  plates.   Edin.  1 807, 4to. 

Letters  on  Professional  Character  and  Manners,  on  the 
Education  of  a  Surgeon,  and  the  Duties  and  Qualifications  of  a 
Phyncian,  addressed  to  James  Gregory',  M.D.  Edin.  1810, 8vo. 

Observations  on  Italy.  Posthumous  work,  edited  by 
Bishop  Sandford  of  Edinburgh. 

BELL,  George  Joseph,  author  of  *  Priuciples 
of  the  Law  of  Scotland,*  and  other  le^al  works,  a 
brother  of  the  preceding,  was  bom  at  Fountain- 
bridge,  near  Edinburgh,  on  the  26th  of  March, 
1770.  He  was  educated  at  Edinburgh,  and  passed 
advocate  in  1791.  He  early  turned  his  attention 
to  the  study  of  mercantile  law,  a  depai*tnieut  of 
Scottish  jurisprudence  at  that  time  almost  unre- 
garded. His  investigations,  however,  were  not 
limited  to  the  law  of  Scotland,  as  he  applied  his 
powerful  mind  to  the  thorough  iuvestigatiou  of 
the  principles  of  the  mercantile  jurisprudence  of 
the  empire,  the  value  of  which  in  connection  with 
the  growing  commercial  importance  of  Great 
Britain  he  clearly  foresaw.  He  was  ])orhaps  one 
of  the  greatest  masters  of  commercial  jurispru- 
dence generally  that  ever  lived,  and  in  particular 
of  that  department  of  it  relating  to  the  laws  of 
bankruptcy ;  and  the  various  suggestions  for  their 
improvement,  contained  in  his  published  and  un- 
published writings  (which  have  in  great  part  been 
adopted  into  the  legislation  of  the  country),  claim 
the  gratitude  of  posterity.  In  1822  he  was  chosen 
by  tlie  Faculty  of  Advocates  to  fill  the  chair  of 


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SIR  CHARLES. 


Scots  law  in  the  univereity  of  Edinburgh.  As  a 
Lecturer  on  Scots  Law  lie  was  unsui-passed.  His 
style  was  terse  and  lucid  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
In  1823  Mr.  Bell  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
commission  for  inquiring  into  Scottish  judicial  pro- 
ceedings. He  was  selected  by  his  colleagues  to 
draw  up  their  Report;  and  soon  after  he  was 
called  up  to  London  in  order  to  assist  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  I^rds  in  framing  the  bill. 
Subsequently  he  was  named  member  of  a  commis- 
sion to  examine  into  and  simplify  the  mode  of 
proceeding  in  the  court  of  session.  The  report  of 
this  commission  was  the  groundwork  of  the  Scot- 
tish Judicature  Act,  prepared  by  Mr.  Bell,  by 
Avhich  many  important  changes  were  effected  in 
the  forms  of  process ;  the  Juiy  Court,  as  a  sepa- 
rate judicature^  being  abolished,  and  conjoined  with 
the  Court  of  Session. 

In  1831  Mr.  Bell  was  appointed  one  of  the 
principal  clerks  of  session,  and  in  1833  he  was 
named  chairman  of  the  Royal  Commission  to  exa- 
mine into  the  state  of  the  law  in  general.  About 
the  year  1831  he  prepared  a  bill  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Court  of  Bankruptcy  in  Scotland,  and 
in  his  valuable  notes  accompanying  the  Bill  for 
this  Act  he  paved  the  way  for  the  introduction  of 
the  institution  of  Bankruptcy  courts  with  official 
assignees  in  the  United  Empire,  by  which  ali-eady 
some  millions  have  been  saved  to  the  commercial 
world.  He  died  23d  September,  1843.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  list  of  his  works : 

A  Treatise  on  the  Laws  of  Bankruptcy  in  Scotland.  Edin. 
1804,  2  Tols.  8vo.  Enlai^  edition,  with  the  title  Commen- 
taries on  the  Laws  of  Scotland,  and  on  the  principles  of  Mer- 
cantile Jurisprudence,  considered  in  relation  to  Bankruptcy, 
Compositions  of  Creditors,  and  Imprisonment  for  Debt  Edin. 
1810,  4to;  fifth  edition,  1826,  2  vols.  4to. 

Examination  of  the  Objections  stated  against  the  Bill  for 
better  regulating  the  Forms  of  Process  in  the  Courts  of  Scot- 
land.   Edinburj^h,  1825,  8vo. 

Principles  of  the  Law  of  Scotland,  for  the  nse  of  Students 
in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Edin.,  1829,  8vo.  The 
same.     Edin.,  1830, 8vo.    Fourth  edition.    Edin.,  1839,  8vo. 

Illustrations,  from  Adjudged  Cases,  of  the  Principles  of  the 
Law  of  Scotland.    Edin.,  1838,  8  vols.  8vo. 

Commentaries  on  the  recent  Statutes  relative  to  Diligence 
or  Execution  against  the  moveable  Estate;  Imprisonment; 
Cessio  Bonorum,  and  Sequestration  in  Mercantile  Bankruptcy. 
Edin.,  1840,  4to. 

BELL,  Sir  Charles,  a  distinguished  surgeon, 
lecturer,  and  medical  writer,  3'oungest  brother  of 
the  preceding,  and  of  John  Bell  the  celebrated  sur- 


geon, was  bom  in  Edinburgh  in  1778.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  High  School  of  his  native  place,  and, 
while  yet  a  mere  youth,  he  assisted  his  brother  John 
in  his  anatomical  demonstrations,  and  lectured  to 
some  hundreds  of  pupils  on  anatomy.  In  1799  be 
was  admitted  a  member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons, 
Edinburgh.  In  the  year  previous,  he  had  pub- 
lished the  first  part  of  his  ^  System  of  Dissections.* 
He  was  soon  afterwards  appointed  one  of  the  sur- 
geons of  the  Royal  Inflrmaiy,  where,  throughout 
all  his  connection  with  that  hospital,  he  exhibited 
remarkable  skill  as  an  operator.  In  1806  be  left 
Edinburgh  for  London,  the  latter  being  a  wider 
and  more  promising  field  for  professional  exertion. 
In  1811,  he  associated  himself  with  Mr.  James 
Wilson,  in  the  Hunterian  school  of  Great  Wind- 
mill Street,  as  a  lectm-er  on  anatomy  and  surgery, 
and  afterwards  succeeded  to  it  altogether.  Here 
he  officiated  for  some  yeare  with  great  success. 
In  1814  he  was  elected  one  of  the  surgeons  of 
Middlesex  hospital,  where,  from  the  first  week  of 
his  appointment,  he  delivered  clinical  lectures, 
which  were  spoken  of  with  high  approbation  ir 
the  Medical  Gazette,  and  obtained  the  sponta- 
neous recommendation  of  many  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  metro- 
polls.  This  institution  he  raised  to  the  higiiest 
repute,  and  on  retiring  from  it  in  1836,  he  justly 
boasted  of  leaving  it  with  "  full  wards,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  in  thi* 
Funds." 

Having  long  been  anxious  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  subject  of  gun-shot  wounds^ 
he  twice  relinquished  his  engagements  in  Lon- 
don, in  order  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  this  de- 
partment of  practice.  One  of  those  occasions 
was  in  1809,  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Corunna,  vhen  the  wounded,  hurried  home  in 
transports,  were  landed  on  the  southern  coasts 
of  England,  and  the  other  was  after  the  battle 
of  Waterloo,  when  he  repaired  to  Brussels.  Of 
the  former  opportunity  he  particulaily  availed 
himself,  and  published  a  useful  practical  essay 
*0n  Gun-shot  Wounds,' as  an  Appendix  to  his 
'  System  of  Operative  Surgery,*  which  appeared  in 
two  volumes  in  1814.  On  occasion  of  his  profes- 
sional visit  to  Brussels,  after  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo, he  was  put  in  charge  of  an  hospital,  and  af- 


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SIR  CHARLES. 


forded  his  assistance  to  no  fewer  than  300  men. 
•'  Tlie  drawings,"  says  Mr.  Pettigrew,  in  his  Med- 
ical Portrait  Gallery,  "with  which  he  was  thns 
enabled  to  enrich  his  portfolio,  have  been  referred 
to  as  the  finest  specimens  of  water-colouring  in 
the  English  anatomical  school."  In  1812  he  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Snr- 
(reons  of  London.  It  is  related,  that  on  this  occa- 
tion  the  examiners  asked  Mr.  Bell,  with  suitable 
gravity,  what  was  his  opinion  of  the  probable  fate  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte;  and  immediately  on  receiv- 
ing his  answer,  declared  themselves  satisfied  "  with 
the  candidate's  proficiency!" 

Tlie  most  important  of  his  professional  studies 
are  those  which  relate  to  the  '  Ncr\*ons  System,' 
various  papers  on  which  from  his  pen  were  insert- 
ed in  the  *  Philosophical  Transactions,'  the  first  of 
which  appeared  in  1821.  It  was  read  before  the 
Royal  Society,  and  excited  immediate  attention. 
The  main  views  there  laid  down  had  been  printed 
In  a  pamphlet  entitled  *  Idea  of  a  New  Anatomy 
of  the  Brain,'  issued  for  distribution  amongst  his 
friends,  in  1811.  This  was  fortunate  for  Mr.  Bell, 
as  various  persons,  recognising  the  value  of  his 
discovery,  soon  came  forward  to  claim  the  merit 
of  it.  The  discovery  was,  indeed,  a  most  impor- 
tant one,  and  is  thns  explained  by  the  ^-riter  of 
his  biography  in  the  National  Cyclop»dia :  "  Be- 
fore the  time  of  Bell,  all  nerves  were  held  to  be 
alike  in  diaracter,  and  were  considered  simply  to 
give  more  or  less  nervous  susceptibility  to  any  or- 
gan, in  proportion  to  the  numbers  in  which  they 
were  there  distributed.  Bell  discovered,  and  show- 
ed, that  the  nerves  were  natnrally  distinguished 
among  themselves  and  clearly  classified  ;  and  that 
^the  nerves  of  sense  (whether  peculiar  or  general), 
and  those  of  motion,  were  totally  distinct  in  their 
character  and  origin.  He,  in  fact,  laid  bare,  for 
the  first  time,  the  great  fact  of  a  distinction  exist- 
ing in  the  nature  and  quality  of  the  nervous  en- 
ergy, which,  before  his  Discourses,  had  been  all 
huddled  together  under  one  interpretation.  As 
respects  the  body  and  spinal  marrow,  Bell  discov- 
ered a  division  of  the  nerves  perfectly  analogous 
to  that  detected  by  him  in  relation  to  the  brain. 
The  common  nerves  distributed  over  the  animal 
tmnk  fulfil  the  two  grand  functions  of  giving  sen- 
sation and  motion.    On  cutting  a  spinal  nerve, 


the  older  anatomists  found  both  feeling  and  mo- 
tion to  be  lost  by  the  part  which  is  thence  sup- 
plied with  nervous  energy,  and  they  concluded 
that  the  nerve  carried  both  qualities  conjointly. 
But  Bell  looked  deeper  into  the  matter ;  and  he 
was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  that  the  two  roots, 
by  whidi  the  spinal  nerves  are  connected  with  the 
vei-tebral  medulla,  derive  and  bear  from  them  dif- 
ferent qualities — the  anterior  root  conveying  the 
motor  power,  and  the  posterior  that  of  sensation, 
or  the  sensor  power.  Following  up  his  inquiries, 
he  discovered,  likewise,  the  special  nerve  of  respi- 
ration, and  others  with  particular  qualities,  as  to 
which  before  his  time  not  even  a  conjecture  hnd 
been  made.  Before  quitting  this  subject,  in  which 
Bell  may  be  named  as  a  discoverer  equal  even 
with  Harvey,  we  ought  to  point  to  one  of  his  prac- 
tical inferences  from  his  own  views,  which  esta- 
blishes the  existence  of  a  sixth  sense — that  by 
which  we  attain  our  knowledge  of  distance, 
siee,  weight,  form,  texture,  and  resistance  of  ob- 
jects. Two  of  his  essays,  *  On  the  Nervous  Cir- 
cle,' and  *  On  the  Eye,'  have  reference  to  this  the- 
ory. The  basis  of  it  is,  that  the  nerves  of  sensa- 
tion play  the  part  of  reporters  on  the  motor  nerves, 
and  indicate  to  the  central  seats  of  perception  the 
condition  of  things  within  the  infinence  of  these 
nerves,  thus  forming  the  sixth  or  muscular  sense." 

In  1824,  he  was  appointed  senior  professor  of 
anatomy  and  surgery  in  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons,  London,  and  he  subsequently  became  a 
member  of  the  council.  At  the  request  of  Lord 
Brougham,  he  had  written  some  papers  on  the 
animal  economy,  for  *The  Library  for  the  Difl'u- 
sion  of  Useful  Knowledge,'  which  were  published 
in  1828-29,  and  became  deservedly  popular,  par- 
ticularly his  two  dissertations  on  'Animal  Me- 
chanics,' which  had  formed  a  portion  of  his  lec- 
tures at  the'I^ndon  College  of  Surgeons.  He 
afterwards  edited,  conjointly  with  his  lordship, 
the  illustrated  edition  of  'Paley's  Evidences  of 
Natural  Religion,'  published  in  1836. 

On  the  accession  of  William  the  Fourth,  in 
1831,  he  was  one  of  the  five  eminent  men  in 
science  on  whom  the  Guelphic  Order  of  knighthood 
was  confened,  the  others  being  Sir  John  Herschel, 
Sir  David  Brewster,  Sir  John  Leslie,  and  Sir 
James  Ivory.    On  the  establishment  of  the  Jjon- 


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i      I 


(loii  nnivei-sity,  now  Uuivci*sity  College,  in  1826, 
tlie  goveniors  of  tlic  new  institution  offered  to 
place  Sir  Charles  at  the  head  of  their  new  medical 
school.  He  accordingly  delivered  the  general 
opening  lecture  in  this  section  of  the  college,  and 
followed  it  by  a  regular  coni*se  of  characteristic 
lectures  on  Physiology.  In  a  short  time,  how- 
ever, he  gave  in  his  resignation,  and  confined  him- 
self to  his  practice,  which,  though  veiy  extensive, 
was  chiefly  in  nei'vous  affections.  By  his  valuable 
writings,  the  surgical  knowledge  of  his  time  was 
much  advanced,  and  his  discoveries  on  the  nervons 
system  gave  him  a  European  fame. 

Sir  Charles  was  one  of  the  eight  eminent  men 
who  were  selected  to  write  the  celebrated  Bridgc- 
Avater  Treatises,  On  the  Power,  Wisdom,  and 
Goodness  of  God,  as  manifested  in  the  Works  of 
Creation ;  his  contribution  being  on  *  The  Hand, 
its  mechanism  and  vital  endowments,  as  evincing 
design,'  which  was  published  in  1834.  For  this 
^vork  he  received  the  premium  of  one  thonsand 
pounds. 

In  1836  he  was  elected  professor  of  surgery  in 
the  university  of  Edinburgh,  in  the  room  of  Dr. 
Turner,  when  he  removed  to  Edinburgh,  having 
been  absent  from  that  city  thirty  yeare.  His 
opening  lecture  as  surgical  professor  was  numer- 
ously attended  by  professional  and  non-profea- 
Bional  men  of  eminence,  and  he  held  that  chair 
with  great  distinction  till  his  lamented  death, 
llio  only  great  work  which,  in  his  later  years, 
he  was  enabled  to  finish,  was  a  new  edition  of 
his  *  Anatomy  of  Expression,'  lai-gely  increased 
and  improved  by  his  observations  on  an  Italian 
journey  undertaken  by  him  in  one  of  the  intervals 
betwixt  his  sessions  at  college.  Sir  Charles  died 
suddenly  of  an  attack  of  spasms  or  angina  pectoris^ 
to  which  he  was  subject,  on  the  morning  of  April 
28,  1842,  at  Hallow  Park,  neai-  Worcester,  the 
scat  of  Mrs.  Holland,  with  whom  he  and  Lady 
Boll  were  making  a  short  stay  on  their  way  to 
I/Ondon.  His  boly  was  inten-ed  on  the  2d  of 
May  in  Hallow  churchyard.  He  was  a  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Societies  of  London  and  Edinburgh,  and 
a  member  of  some  other  leamed  bodies.  He 
maiTied,  in  1811,  the  second  daughter  of  Charles 
Shaw,  Esq.,  of  Ayr.  His  wife  sui'vived  him.— 
Subjoined  is  a  portrait  of  Sir  Charles : 


The  following  is  a  list  of  Sir  Charles  BelPs 
works 

A  Sy.stem  of  Dissections,  explaining  the  Anatomy  of  the 
Human  Body,  the  manner  of  displaying  the  parts,  and  their 
varieties  in  disease.  Plates.  Lond.  1798,  2  vols.  fol.  2d 
edit,  in  fol.  illustrated  with  engravings.  3d  edit.  1809,  2 
vols.  12mo. 

Engravings  of  the  Arteries,  illnstrating  the  two  vols,  of  Uie 
Anatomy  of  the  Human  Body,  by  John  Bell,  ana  aening  as 
an  introduction  to  the  Surgerj*  of  the  Arteries.  Lond.  1801, 
4  to.     8d  edit.  1813,  8vo. 

The  Anatomy  of  the  Brain  explained,  in  a  aeries  of  En- 
gravings.    Lond.  1802,  4to.  12  plates. 

A  Series  of  Engravings,  explaining  the  course  of  the 
Nen-es.     Lond.  1804,  4to. 

Essays  on  the  Anatomy  of  Expression  in  Painting.  Plates. 
Lond.  1806, 4to.  A  nevi^  and  enlarged  edition  was  pablisbed 
after  his  death*  under  the  title  of  The  Anatomy  and  Philo- 
sophy of  Expression  as  connected  with  the  Fine  Arts.  J>onil., 
1844,  8vo. 

A  System  of  Operative  Surgery,  founded  on  the  basis  of 
Anatomy,  vol.  i.  Lond.  1807,  royal  8vo.  Vol.  iL  1809 
royal  8vo.     2d.  edit.  1814,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Idea  of  a  new  Anatomy  of  the  Brain,  printed  fur  private 
circulation.  1811. 

Account  of  the  Muscles  of  the  Ureter,  with  their  eflfccts  in 
the  irritable  states  of  the  Bladder.  Med.  Chir.  Trans,  tiu 
171.    1812. 

letters  concerning  the  Diseases  of  the  Urethra.  I^nd. 
1810,  8vo. 

Engravings  of  Morbid  Parts.    Lond.  1813,  fol. 

Dissertation  on  Gun-shot  Wounds.   I^nd.  1814, 2  vols.  %\tK 

Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  Human  Body.  3  vols.  18'  6 

Surgical  Observations,  a  Quarteriy  Report  of  Cases  m  Sur- 


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p*i7  treated  in  the  Middlesex  Hospital.  Lond.  1816,  8ra 
4th  Qtuirteriy  Report.    1817,  8vo.     Vol.  ii.  part  i.  1818, 8vo. 

Essay  <«  the  Forces  which  CHrcoUto  the  Blood,  1819. 

Treatise  on  the  Diiieases  of  the  Urethra,  &c,  1820. 

Various  papers  on  the  Nervous  System,  which  originally 
appeared  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions;  commencing  in 
1><-21;  published  separately. 

Illustrations  of  the  Great  Operations  of  Surgery,  Trppnn, 
Hernia,  Ampntation,  Aneoristn,  and  Lithotomy.  liondon, 
1821,  4to. 

Observations  on  the  Injuries  of  the  Spine  and  of  the  Thigh 
Bone,  1824,  4to. 

Exposition  of  the  Natural  System  of  the  Nerves  of  the 
Human  Body,  1824. 

Paley*s  Evidences  of  Natural  Religion,  edited  conjointly 
with  Lord  Brougham.     London,  1886. 

Institutes  of  Surgery.     Edinburgh,  2  vols.,  1838,  12mo. 

Animal  Mechanics;  contributed  to  the  Library  for  the 
Didusion  of  Useful  Knowledge. 

Nen'ous  System  of  the  Human  Body,  1830,  4to,  new  and 
tomplete  edition.     Edinbui^h,  1836,  8vo. 

Bridgewater  Treatise  on  *The  Hand,  its  Mechanism  and 
vital  Endowments,  as  evincing  design.^    I^ondon,  1834. 

Practical  Essays.     Edinboi^gh,  1841,  8vo. 

BELL,  IIbnby,  the  first  snccessful  applier  of 
steam  to  the  purpo.scs  of  navigation  in  Europe, 
was  the  fiftli  son  of  Patrick  Bell,  a  mechanic,  and 
was  bom  at  Torpliichen,  in  llie  county  of  Linlith- 
gow, April  7,  1767.  He  received  what  little  edu- 
cation he  ever  possessed  at  the  parish  school;  and 
in  1780  was  sent  to  learn  the  art  of  a  stone  mason. 
Disliking  this  employment,  in  1783  he  was  bound 
apprentice  to  his  uncle,  a  millwright  in  the  neigh - 
bonrhood.  He  afterwards  went  to  BoiTowstoun- 
ncss,  to  be  instructed  in  ship-modelling;  and  in 
1787  he  engaged  with  Mr.  James  Inglis,  engineer 
at  BelPs  Hill,  with  the  view  of  completing  his 
Knowledge  of  mechanics.  Having  snbseqnently  re- 
paired to  London,  he  was  for  some  time  employed  by 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Rennie.  About  the  year  1790 
lie  returned  to  Glasgow,  and  for  several  yeai-a 
worked  there  as  a  house-carpenter.  In  1808  he 
removed  to  Helensburgh,  nearly  opposite  Green- 
ock, where,  while  his  wife  kept  the  principal  inn, 
he  employed  himself  chiefly  in  pursuing  a  series  of 
mechanical  projects  and  experiments,  which  gen- 
erally ended  in  failure  and  disappointment ;  but  he 
at  last  hit  upon  the  important  discovery  of  the 
successful  application  of  steam  to  the  purposes  of 
navigation.  Dr.  Cleland,  in  his  work  on  Glas- 
gow, states,  that  it  may  be  said,  without  the  hazard 
of  impropriety,  that  he  "  invented"  the  steam-pro- 
pelling sjrstem,  **  for  he  knew  nothing  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  had  been  so  successfully  followed  out 


by  Mr.  Fulton,"  a  Scottish  engineer  in  America, 
who,  on  Oct.  3,  1807,  launched  his  first  steamboat 
on  the  Hudson.  In  1811,  Bell  caused  a  vessel,  40 
feet  in  length,  to  be  built  on  a  plan  entii-ely  his  own, 
which  was  named  ^  the  Comet,*  that  year  being 
remarkable  for  the  appearance  of  a  large  comet. 
He  constructed  the  steam-engine  himself,  and  in 
January  1812,  the  first  trial  in  Europe  of  a  steam - 
vessel  took  place  on  the  river  Clyde.  Dr.  Cleland 
adds,  "  After  various  experiments,  the  Comet  was 
at  length  propelled  on  the  Clyde  by  an  engine  of 
three -hoi*3e  power,  which  was  subsequently  in- 
creased to  six.  Mr.  Bell  continued  t3  encounter 
and  overcome  the  various  and  indescribable  diffi- 
culties incident  to  invention,  till  his  ultimate  suc- 
cess encouraged  others  to  embark  in  similar  under- 
takings." Bell  himself  did  not  realize  any  advan- 
ta<^  from  his  discovery.  In  his  old  age  he  would 
have  been  in  a  very  destitute  condition,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of  Glasgow, 
and  other  places,  who  benevolently  came  to  his 
aid.  A  public  subscription  having  been  entered 
into  on  his  behalf,  a  considerable  sum  was  raised. 
Besides  this,  he  received  from  the  trustees  of  the 
river  Clyde  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  pounds, 
which  he  enjoyed  for  several  yeai-s,  and  the  half  of 
which  at  his  death  was  continued  to  his  widow. 
He  died  at  Helensburgh,  November  14,  1830. 

BELL,  Thomas,  the  Rev.,  author  of  several 
religious  works,  and  father  of  James  Bell,  the 
geographical  writer,  was  l>orn  at  Moffat,  Decem- 
ber 24,  1738.  After  having  studied  at  the  unl- 
vei-sity  of  Edinburgh,  he  was  in  1767  licensed  as 
a  pi-eacher  by  the  presbytery  of  Relief,  and  the 
same  year  became  the  minister  of  the  Relief  con- 
gregation at  Jedburgh.  In  1777  he  obtained  the 
pastoral  charge  of  a  congregation  in  the  Relief 
communion  in  Glasgow,  in  which  city  he  died, 
October  15,  1802.  He  published  in  1780  a  work 
entitled  ^Tlie  Standard  of  the  Spirit  lifted  up 
against  the  Enemy  coming  in  like  a  Flood,'  being 
the  substance  of  several  sermons  preached  at 
Glasgow.  In  1785  appeared  *  A  Proof  of  the  trae 
and  eternal  Godliead  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,*  a 
translation  from  the  Dutch.  He  likewise  tnms- 
lated  a  work  from  the  Latin,  *  On  the  Controver- 
sies agitated  in  Great  Britain  under  the  unhappy 
names  of  Antinomians  and  Neonomians,*   with 


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uotes,  which,  with  ^Sermons  oh  various  iinpor-  | 
taut  Subjects,'  and  '  A  View  of  the  Covenants  of 
Works  and  Grace,'  were  published  at  Glasgow 
after  his  death.  He  left  several  works  in  manuscript. 
BELL,  Jame?,  an  eminent  geographical  writer, 
son  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Jedburgh  in 
1769.  In  1777,  he  removed  with  his  father  to 
Glasgow,  where  ho  received  a  liberal  education, 
and  afterwards  served  his  apprenticeship  to  the 
weaving  business.  In  1790  he  commenced  trade 
on  his  own  account,  as  a  manufacturer  of  cotton 
goods  upon  a  lai'ge  and  respectable  scale,  and  with 
every  prospect  of  success.  In  consequence,  how- 
ever, of  the  mercantile  depression  that  occuiTcd  in 
1793,  Mr.  Bell  was  obliged  to  give  up  business; 
and  he  subsequently  acted  for  a  number  of  years 
as  a  common  warper  in  the  warehouses  of  different 
manufacturers.  About  the  year  1806  he  quitted 
the  warping,  and  became  a  teacher  of  the  classics 
to  young  men  attending  the  university,  which  he 
continued  for  some  years;  he  himself,  with  untir- 
ing zeal,  pursuing  at  the  same  time  a  course  of 
study  in  various  branches,  particuUu'ly  in  history, 
systematic  theology,  and  especially  in  geography. 
About  the  year  1815  he  was  engaged  to  edit  a  new 
edition  of  the  Glasgow  System  of  Geography,  an 
original  work  in  two  volumes,  which  had  met 
with  deserved  encouragement,  and  which  was  now, 
by  his  valuable  additions  and  improvements,  ex- 
tended to  five  volumes.  This  afterwards  formed 
the  basis  of  his  principal  work,  *  A  System  of  Po- 
pular and  Scientific  Geogi-aphy,*  which  was  pub- 
lished at  Glasgow  in  six  vols.  Previous  to  the 
latter  publication  he  had  brought  out  *  Critical 
Researches  in  Geography,'  and  also  an  elegant 
edition  of  Rolliu's  'Ancient  History,'  copiously 
illustrated  with  notes.  Besides  these  works,  he 
had  commenced  preparing  a  general  gazetteer, 
upon  a  new  and  improved  plan.  His  Gazetteer  of 
England  and  Wales  was  m  course  of  publication 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had  resided  for  some 
years  for  the  benefit  of  his  health  at  Lukeston, 
near  Campsie,  where  he  died.  May  8,  1833. 

Bellcndicx,  Baron,  a  dormant  title  in  the  Scotch  peer- 
age smce  the  death  in  1805  of  William,  foorth  duke  of  Rox- 
burgh, seventh  Lord  Bellenden. 

On  the  26th  March,  1499,  Patrick  BcUenden,  the  ancestor 
of  the  Anchlnonl  family,  obtained  a  charter  from  John,  earl 
oi  Morton,  of  the  lands  of  Auchnolnyshill  in  the  comity  of 


Edinburgh,  to  him  and  his  spouse,  Mariota  Donglaa,  and 
their  hdrs.  IDouffkui'  Peerage^  voL  L  p.  209.]  He  had  a  son, 
Thomas,  and  a  daughter,  Catherine.  The  latter  married 
Oliver  Sinclair,  the  favourite  of  King  James  the  Fifth,  and 
general  of  the  Scottish  army  at  the  unfortunate  rout  of  Sol- 
way  in  1542. 

Thomas  Bellenden  of  Auchinoul,  the  son,  succeeded  hti 
father,  and  in  1535  he  was  appomted  by  James  the  Fifth  a 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Session,  which  had  been  instituted  only 
two  years  previously,  his  appointment  taking  place  at  the 
same  time  with  that  of  Mr.  Arthur  Boyoe,  brother  of  Henry 
Boyce,  the  historian.  On  the  10th  September,  1588,  he  was 
appointed  director  of  Chancery,  and  on  26th  December  1539, 
the  king  conferred  on  him  the  office  of  Justice  Clerk,  which 
was  held  after  him  by  both  his  son  and  his  grandson.  In 
January  1541  he  and  Henry  Balnaves  of  Hallhill  were  sent  as 
commistdoners  to  meet  Sir  William  Eure,  the  English  com- 
missioner, for  the  settlement  of  some  of  the  interminable  dis- 
putes of  the  borders.  Writing  to  the  keeper  of  the  privy  seal 
m  EngUnd,  26th  January  of  that  year,  Eure  narrates  some 
conversations  which  he  had  had  with  Bellenden,  conoemini; 
the  court  and  character  of  James  the  Fifth,  and  describes 
him  as  **a  man  of  aged  experience  and  eminent  ability.** 
[PinkeriOfCs  Scotland^  vol.  ii.  p.  240.]  He  died  in  1546, 
leaving  two  sons;  Sir  John  Bellenden  and  Patrick  Bellenden. 
designed  of  Stenhouse  in  Orkney,  sheriff  of  Orkney. 

Sir  John  Bellenden  of  Auchinoul,  the  elder  of  the  two 
brothers,  was  appointed  Justice  Clerk  25th  June  1547,  and 
according  to  Haig  and  Brunton  he  appears  as  an  ordinary 
lord  of  session  for  the  first  time  4th  July  thereafter.  [Semt- 
tan  of  the  CoUege  of  Justice^  p.  91.  J  Douglas,  however, 
states  that  he  was  not  admitted  a  lord  of  session  till  13th 
November  1554.  {Peerage^  vol.  i.  p.  211.]  He  had  a  cliaiter 
to  himself  and  Barbara  Kennedy  his  wife,  of  certain  lands  in 
the  regality  and  barony  of  Broughton,  from  Robert,  comroen- 
dator  of  Holyroodhouse,  1st  May  1559.  He  was  employed 
by  the  queen  regent,  Mary  of  Guise,  as  a  mediator  between 
her  and  the  lords  of  the  Congregation,  but  he  soon  joined  the 
Reformers.  On  the  young  queen  Mary's  arrival  in  Scotland 
in  1561,  he  was,  6th  September  of  that  year,  sworn  a  privy 
councillor.  He  obtained  the  office  of  usher  of  exchequer  81st 
May  1565.  Being  implicated  in  the  assassination  of  Rizxio, 
he  fled  from  Edinburgh,  18th  March  1566,  on  the  approach 
of  Mary  and  Damley  at  the  head  of  an  army,  but  was  shortly 
afterwards  restored  to  favour.  He  carried  Mary's  commands 
to  Mr.  John  Craig  to  proclaim  the  banns  of  marriage  between 
her  miyesty  and  Bothwell,  and  **had  lang  reasoning**  with 
the  kirk,  **  to  induce  them  to  obey  the  royal  orders.**  [^KatKs 
Histf  p.  587.]  Notwithstanding  this,  he  joined  the  associa- 
tion against  the  queen  and  Bothwell,  and  in  consequence,  on 
the  imprisonment  of  Maiy,  he  was  continued  in  his  office. 
Ho  was  also  one  of  the  members  of  the  privy  council  of  the 
regent  Murray,  with  whom  he  was  a  favourite.  He  is  said 
to  have  obtained  the  lands  of  Woodhouaelee  fix>m  Hamilton  of 
Bothwellhaugh,  on  condition  of  his  procuring  for  that  mdivi- 
dual  a  remisaon  for  some  crime  which  he  had  committed,  a 
transaction  which  indirectly  led  to  the  assasanation  of  Mur- 
ray. [See  Stuart,  Jamks,  earl  of  Murray.]  In  the  be- 
ginning of  1573,  Sir  John  Bellenden  was  employed  in  framing 
and  completing  the  well-known  pacification  of  Perth.  Ac- 
cording to  Home  of  Godscrofl,  he  was,  the  same  year,  occu- 
pied in  the  difficult  task  of  convincing  the  General  Assembly, 
on  behalf  of  the  regent  Morton,  that  the  supreme  magistrate 
should  be  the  head  of  the  church  as  well  as  of  the  state. 
The  dispute,  after  being  continued  for  twelve  days,  was  ad- 
journed "till  a  more  convenient  season.**    He  died  bcfon 


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A&ril  1577,  and  Thomas  Bellenden  of  Newtyle  was  appointed 
•  lord  of  session  in  bb  place.  Sir  John  Bellenden  was  twice 
married,  first  to  Barbara,  daughter  of  Sir  Hugh  Kennedy  of 
Gii-vemnains,  bj  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Sir  Lewis  and 
Adam;  and,  secondly,  to  Janet  Seton,  said  to  be  of  the  family 
of  Touch,  and  by  her  he  had  three  daughters;  Elizabeth,  the 
eldest,  married,  first,  James  Lawson  of  Humbie;  secondly, 
Sir  John  Cockbum  of  Onnistoun,  Lord  Justice  Clerk.  Mar- 
garet, the  second  daughter,  married  William  Stewart,  writer 
in  Edinburgh,  and  was  the  mother  of  Sir  Lewis  Stewart  of 
Kirkhill,  the  famous  adTOcate;  Marion,  the  youngest  daugh- 
ter, became  the  wife  of  John  Bamsay  of  Dalbowde,  but  had 
no  issue. 

The  eldest  son.  Sir  Lewis  Bellenden  of  Auchinoul,  was  ap- 
pointed Justice  Clerk  in  1578,  the  year  following  bis  father*8 
death.  He  was  one  of  the  conspiratOTS  in  the  treasonable 
affair  known  as  the  Raid  of  Ruthven,  and  Godscrofl  repre- 
sents him  as  extremely  violent  on  the  occasion,  {p.  866.  J 
He  managed,  however,  to  keep  free  of  the  ruin  in  which  the 
other  conspirators  were  involved,  and  on  the  17th  July  1584, 
he  was  appointed  an  ordinary  lord  of  session,  in  place  of  Sir 
Richard  Maitland  of  Lethingtou.  In  1585  he  was  resident 
in  London  from  James  the  Sixth,  when  he  was  much  in  the 
interest  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  [^Robertson's  History^  vol.  iL  p. 
801.]  He  had  a  principal  share  in  the  downfall  of  Arran, 
and  the  return  of  the  banished  lords,  although  he  had  been 
despatched  by  the  former,  then  ignorant  of  his  intentions,  to 
accuse  the  latter  at  the  court  of  Elizabeth.  He  was  at  Stir- 
ling the  same  year  (1585)  when,  as  had  been  agreed  upon, 
the  banished  lords  surprised  the  kmg  and  Arran  there.  The 
latter  intended  to  have  slain  the  Justice  Clerk,  the  Master  of 
Gray,  and  the  Secretary,  "  but  they  drew  to  their  armes,  and 
stude  on  their  awn  defence.**  In  1589  he  accompanied 
James  on  his  matrimonial  excursion  to  Norway,  and  in  the 
following  spring  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Elizabeth,  probably  to  nqtify  the  nuptials.  Among  other 
charters  of  Unds  which  he  obtained  was  one  of  the  barony  of 
Broughton  and  other  lands  erected  into  a  free  barony,  15th 
August  1591.  He  died  the  same  month  and  year.  By  his 
wife,  Margaret,  second  daughter  of  William,  sixth  lord 
livingstone,  he  bad  Sir  James,  his  heir,  and  Mariota,  mar- 
ried to  Patrick  Murray  of  Fallahill,  ancestor  of  Philiphaugh. 
His  widow  afterwards  married  Patrick  Stewart,  second  eairl 
of  Orkney 

Adam  Bebenden,  the  brother  of  Sir  Lewis,  was  bishop  of 
Aberdeen.  He  was,  first,  minister  of  Falku^  in  1608,  In 
1615  he  was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Dunbbine,  and  in  1635 
WIS  transferred  to  that  of  Aberdeen.  In  1688  be  was  de- 
prived of  his  bishopric,  on  the  overthrow  of  episcopacy  by  the 
Glasgow  Assembly;  after  which  be  retired  to  England,  where 
he  soon  after  died^   [Keith's  Scottish  Bishops^  p.  132.] 

Scott  of  Scotstarve*:  states  that  Sir  John  Bellenden  by  a 
third  marriage  bad  another  son,  named  Thomas,  to  whom  he 
left  the  barony  of  Cariowrie  and  Kilconqnh<nr  in  Fife,  with 
certain  other  lands  about  Brechin,  and  that  he  was 
drowned  in  the  loch  of  Kilconquhar.  [Staggermg  State^ 
p.  131.]  A  Thomas  Bellenden  was  admittea  kv.  ordinary 
lord  of  session  I4th  August  1591,  but  does  net  seem  to 
have  retained  bis  seat  long,  as  his  pbice  was  declared  vacant 
on  the  17th  November  following.  Scotstarvet^s  statement 
is  oidently  a  mbtake,  as  the  oldest  tombstone  in  the  church- 
yard of  Kilconquhar,  bearing  an  inscription,  is  upon  the  grave 
of  William  (not  Thomas')  Bellenden,  hurd  of  Kilconquhar, 
who  was  drowned  while  skating  on  the  loch,  28th  February 
1593,  aged  twenty-eight  years.  [New  Statistical  Account, 
vol.  ii .  p.  3 1 7.  ]    According  to  Scotstarvet,  his  son  dying  young, 


the  estate  went  to  Adam,  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  who  sold  it  to 
Sir  John  Carstairs.  He  says  also  that  Sir  John  Bellenden, 
his  father,  was  archdeacon  of  Murray  and  canon  of  Ross,  but 
this  was  a  different  person  from  Sir  John  Bellenden  of  Auch- 
inoul.   Of  this  John  Bellenden  a  notice  is  given  below. 

Sir  Lewis*  son,  Sir  James  Bellenden  of  Broughton,  married 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Ker  of  Ceasford,  and  sister 
of  Robert  first  earl  of  Roxburgh,  by  whom  be  had  a  son,  Sir 
William,  and  a  daughter,  Margaret,  married  to  the  Hon. 
Henry  Erskine,  third  son  of  John,  seventh  eari  of  Mar  and 
mother  of  David  Lord  Cardroes,  ancestor  of  the  eari  of 
Buchan,  heir  of  line  of  the  Bellenden  family.  Sir  James 
Bellenden  died  8d  November  1606. 

His  son,  Sir  William  Bellenden  of  Broughton,  was  treasurer 
depute  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  During  the  civil 
wars  be  adhered  to  the  royal  cause,  and  was  created  a  peer  by 
patent  dated  at  Whitehall  10th  June  1661,  by  the  title  of 
I.ord  Bellenden  of  Broughton,  and  sworn  a  privy  councillor. 
He  adopted  John  Ker,  fourth  son  of  William,  second  earl  of 
Roxburgh,  and  settled  his  estate  upon  him.  On  the  death  of 
his  lordship,  nnmarried,  in  1670,  Ker  assumed  the  name  and 
arms  of  Bellenden,  and  inheriting  the  estate  and  honours,  be- 
came second  lord  Bellenden.  William,  the  seventh  lord,  suc- 
ceeded, as  heir  of  entail,  to  the  dukedom  of  Roxburgh,  on 
the  death,  without  issue,  of  the  third  duke,  and  on  his  own 
death,  in  1805,  the  title  of  Lord  Bellenden  became  dormant, 
and  is  claimed  by  Mr.  Thomas  Bellenden  Drummond.  [See 
RozBUBOH,  duke  of.] 

The  bart*s  head  carried  by  the  Bellendens  of  Broughton, 
the  armorial  bearing  of  the  abbacy  of  Holyroodhouse,  and  the 
baronies  belonging  thereto,  as  the  Canongate  and  Broughton, 
was  assumed  by  them  on  account  of  the  last  barony. 

BELLENDEN,  or  BALLANDEN,  sometimes 
written  BALLENTYNE,  John,  archdeacon  of 
Moray  and  canon  of  Ross,  often  confounded  with 
Sir  John  Bellenden  of  Auchinonl,  a  distingnished 
lawyer,  referred  to  in  the  above  article,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  a  native  of  the  county  of  Hadding- 
ton or  Berwick,  and  appears  to  have  been  bom 
towards  the  close  of  the  16th  century.  The  exact 
year  of  his  birth  is  uncertain,  and  very  little  is 
known  of  his  pci*sonal  histor}-.  He  received  the 
first  part  of  his  education  at  the  univei-sity  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  a  student  of  his  name,  described 
as  belonging  to  the  Lothian  nation,  was  matri- 
culated la  1508.  He  completed  his  studies  at 
Paris,  and  took  the  degree  of  D.D.  at  the  Sor- 
bonne.  He  returned  to  Scotland  during  the 
minority  of  James  V.,  with  whom  he  became  a 
great  favourite,  and  at  whose  command  he  was 
employed  in  1530  and  in  1531  in  translating  from 
the  Latin  into  the  Scottish  vernacular,  *  The  His- 
tory and  Chroniklis  of  Scotland,'  being  the  first 
seventeen  books  of  Hector  Boece,  which  had  been 
published  in  Paris  in  1526.  Some  writers  assert 
that  he  had  the  superintendence  of  the  education 


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284 


JOHN. 


of  bis  young  sovereign,  but  this  is  evidently  a 
mistake;  his  office  in  the  royal  honsehold  being 
clerk  of  the  accounts.  Tlie  manuscript  copy  of 
liis  translation  was  delivered  to  the  king  in  the 
summer  of  1533.  Into  this  work  he  introduced 
two  poems  of  some  length,  entitled  *  The  Proheme 
of  the  Cosraogmphe,*  which  is  the  most  poetical 
of  his  works,  and  *  The  Proheme  of  the  History/ 
He  closed  the  whole  by  a  pmse  *  Epistil  dircckit 
be  the  Translatoure  to  the  Kingis  Grace.'  Ac- 
cording to  Mackenzie,  this  work  was  printed  in 
1536.  The  book  bears  to  be  "imprcntit  in  Edin- 
burgh be  me,  Thomas  Dauidson,  prenter  to  the 
Kyngis  uobyle  Grace."  An  elegant  edition  of 
this  translation,  edited  by  Mr.  Maitland,  was  pub- 
lished in  1821  by  Mr.  William  Tait  of  Edinburgh. 
Bellenden  seems  to  have  been  dismissed  from 
the  king's  service,  as  we  learn  from  the  Proheme 
of  the  Cosmographe: 

**  And  fyret  occurrit  to  my  remembringi 
How  that  I  wes  in  seraice  with  the  kyng, 

Put  to  his  grace  in  zeri«  tenderest. 
Clerk  of  his  comptis,  thoaclit  I  wes  inding, 
With  hart  and  hand,  and  euery  other  thing 

That  mycht  liyin  pleis  in  ony  manner  best, 

Q^/ull  hie  imuf  me  from  his  seruice  ktst^ 
Be  thaym  that  had  the  court  in  gouermng 

As  bird  but  plomes  heiyit  of  the  nest." 

He  is  supposed  afterwards  to  have  entered  into 
the  service  of  Archibald,  earl  of  Angus,  because  a 
pei-son  of  the  same  name  was  the  earl's  secretary 
in  1528;  but  this  individual  is  stated  by  Hume  to 
have  been  Sir  John  Bellenden,  with  whom  his 
name  has  so  frequently  been  mistaken.  [Ilistoi-y 
of  tJie  Houses  of  Douglas  and  Angus^  p.  258.] 
He  was  soon  afterwards  an  attendant  at  court,  and 
at  the  request  of  the  king  he  translated  the  first 
five  books  of  Llvy's  Roman  History;  and  from 
the  manuscript  copy  preserved  in  the  Advocates' 
Library,  his  version  was  printed  in  1822  by  Mr. 
Maitland.  In  the  treasurer's  book  there  are  va- 
rious entries  of  the  sums  paid  to  Bellenden,  \^  be 
the  Kingis  precept,"  for  these  translations.  He 
seems  to  have  received  in  all  £114;  that  is,  £78 
for  the  translation  of  Boece,  and  £36  for  that  of 
Livy.  Nor  Avas  this  the  whole  of  bis  remunera- 
tion. He  received  from  the  king  the  archdeaconry 
of  Moray,  during  the  vacancy  of  the  see;  and  two 


clergymen,  of  the  names  of  John  Duncan  ami 
Alexander  Harvey,  having  solicited  the  Pope  i» 
favour  of  James  Douglas,  were  convicted  of  trea- 
son, and  their  property  escheated  to  the  Crown. 
The  annual  emoluments  arising  from  the  pension? 
and  benefices  of  Duncan,  who  was  parson  of  Glas- 
gow, and  from  all  the  property  belonging  to  Alex- 
ander Harvey  for  the  two  years  1536  and  1537, 
were  bestowed  upon  Bellenden ;  he  paying  a  com- 
position, for  the  first  gi*aut,  of  350  merks,  and  for 
the  second  of  300.  It  is  supposed  that  about  the 
same  period  he  was  appointed  a  canon  of  Ross. 
In  the  succeeding  reign,  being  strongly  attached 
to  the  Roman  catholic  religion,  he  opposed  the 
progi'css  of  the  Reformation.  Afterwards  quit- 
ting Scotland,  upon  what  account  we  are  not  in- 
formed, he  visited  Rome,  where  he  died  in  1550. 
John  Bellenden  has  been  eulogised  as  one  of  the 
greatest  scholars  of  his  time.  Sir  David  Lindsay, 
in  a  poem  supposed  to  have  been  written  in  the 
year  1530,  thus  mentions  him  * 

*'  Bot  now  of  late  is  starte  up  haistelie 
Ane  cunnyng  dark  quhilk  wrytith  craflelie, 
Ane  plant  of  poetis  callit  Ballendyne, 
Quhose  omat  warkis  my  wit  can  noclit  def\-ne : 
Oct  he  into  the  court  aoctoritie. 
He  will  preccll  Quint}Ti  and  Kennedie." 

Many  of  his  original  compositions  have  been 
lost.  "  He  was  unquestionably,"  says  Dr.  Camp- 
bell, "  a  man  of  great  parts,  and  one  of  the  finest 
poets  his  country  had  to  boast.  So  many  of  his 
works  remain  as  fully  prove  this ;  in  as  much  as 
they  arc  distinguished  by  that  noble  enthusiasm 
which  is  the  vei^  soul  of  poetry."  In  the  '  Pro- 
heme of  the  Cosmographe '  the  principal  incidents 
are  boiTOwed  from  the  ancient  allegory  of  the 
Choice  of  Hercules.  His  poem  entitled  *Vertne 
and  Vyce '  was  also  addressed  to  James  V.  Some 
specimens  of  Bellenden's  style  will  be  found  in 
Carmichael's  'Collection  of  Scottish  Poems.' — 
Irving^s  Scottish  Writers. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works. 

The  History  and  Chronicles  of  Scotland,  oompilit  and  newiy 
correctit  and  amendit  be  the  Rercrend  and  Noble  Clerk.  Mr 
Hector  Boeis,  Chanon  of  Aberdene,  translated,  &c  Edin. 
1536,  fol.  Again  in  1541,  folio,  with  the  following  title.  The 
History  and  Croniklis  of  Scotland,  with  the  Cosmography  and 
Description  thairof.  Compilit  be  the  Noblo  Cleric,  Maister 
Hector  Bocce,  Channon  of  Aberdeene.    Translatit  laitly  in 


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BELLENDEN, 


285 


WILLIAM. 


our  vulgar  and  common  langage,  be  Maister  Johne  Bellendenf 
Arcbedene  of  Murrajr,  and  Cbannon  of  Ross ;  at  tbe  command 
of  the  richt  hie,  richt  excellent,  and  noble  Prince,  James  the 
5th  of  that  name,  king  of  Soottia.  Another,  without  date. 
AU  the  above  were  printed  by  Thomas  Davidson.  The  edi- 
tion of  1821,  edited  by  Mr.  Maitland,  was  in  2  vols.  4to. 

'llie  first  Ave  books  of  the  Roman  Histor}* :  translated  from 
the  Latin  of  Titos  Livius  by  John  Bellenden.  Edinbai^h, 
1822,  4to;  now  first  printed. 

lie  is  likewise  author  of  several  poems  in  MS.  Two  copies 
of  his  unpublished  prolusion  on  the  conception  of  Olirist  are 
to  be  found  in  Bannatyue^s  MS.,  from  which  Allan  Ramsay 
published  his  Evergreen. 

BRLI^NDEN,  William,  an  author  eminent 
for  liis  learning,  was,  in  1602,  professor  of  huma- 
nity in  the  univei*sity  of  Paris;  and,  according  to 
Dempster,  ndvocate  in  the  parliament  thci*e.  He 
appears  to  have  been  tbe  son  of  John  Bellenden 
of  Lasswade,  near  Edinburgh,  and  is  supposed  to 
have  been  bom  between  1550  and  1560.  Demp- 
ster also  states  that  both  Queen  Mary  and  James 
the  Sixth  employed  liim  in  some  diplomatic  ser- 
vices, and  that  the  lattei*  nominated  him  master 
of  requests,  or  examiner  of  petitions.  As  he 
spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  France,  this 
appointment  must  have  been  a  sinecure.  As  he 
practised  at  the  bar,  says  Dr.  Irving,  his  eai'ly 
education  must  have  been  Fi*ench ;  and  as  he  was 
a  regent  or  professor  in  one  of  the  colleges,  he 
may  be  supposed  to  have  adhered  to  the  Popish 
religion.  After  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
which  had  proved  fatal  to  Ramus  and  other  men 
of  learning,  there  pi*obably  had  been  no  Protestant 
professor  in  any  college  in  Paris.  His  nephew, 
William  Bellenden,  was  a  popish  priest.  Anxious 
to  return  to  Scotland,  he  addressed  a  French  letter 
to  the  King,  with  the  object  of  obtaining  some 
regular  establishment  at  court,  but  his  application 
seems  to  have  been  unsuccessful.  His  death  is 
supposed  to  have  taken  place  before  1630. 

Bellenden's  first  work,  published  in  1608,  was 
entitled  '  Ciccronis  Princeps,*  being  a  selection  of 
passages  from  the  works  of  Cicero  on  the  duties 
of  a  prince.  To  this  was  prefixed  an  original 
essay,  entitled  '  Tractatus  de  Processu  et  Sci-ipto- 
ribus  Rci  Politicie.'  His  next  treatise,  entitled 
*  Ciceroub  Consul,  Senator,  Senatusquc  Romanus,' 
consisting,  like  the  former,  of  passages  from  Cicero, 
regarding  the  duties  of  constd,  senator,  and  senate, 
among  the  Romans,  appeared  in  1612,  and  was 
dedicated  to  Hcniy  Prince  of  Scotland  and  Wales. 


The  most  original  of  his  works,  styled  '  De  Statu 
prisci  Orbis  in  Religione,  Re  Politica,  et  Literis,* 
was  pnnted  in  Paris  in  1615,  dedicated  to  Charles 
Prince  of  W^ales,  his  brother  Heniy  being  now 
dead.  1lie  work  describes  the  fii-st  origin  of 
states,  their  progivss  in  politics,  philosophy,  and 
religion,  and  in  what  respects  they  differ  from 
each  other.  These  three  treatises  were,  in  1616, 
collected  into  a  volume,  bearing  the  title  of  '•  Do 
Statu,  Libri  Tres.'  The  last  book  published  by 
himself  consisted  only  of  two  short  Latin  poems. 
He  had  commenced  another  work  of  a  very  elabo- 
rate nature,  intended  to  be  finished  in  three  parts, 
one  of  which  only  was  completed,  under  the  name 
of  *  De  Tribns  Luminibus  Romanorum,'  whom  he 
conceives  to  be  Cicero,  Seneca,  and  the  elder 
Pliny;  it  was  published  in  1633  or  1634,  some 
yeara  after  the  author's  death.  It  extends  to 
824  pages,  closely  printed,  and  gives  a  compre- 
hensive account  of  the  history  of  Rome,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  city  to  the  time  of  Augustus,  in 
the  precise  words  of  Cicero,  as  extracted  from 
his  writings.  From  this  work,  Dr.  Conyers  Mid- 
dleton,  keeper  of  the  library  of  Cambridge  uni- 
versity, borrowed,  without  acknowledgment,  the 
matter  and  aiTangement  of  his  *  Life  of  Cicero;' 
a  barefaced  plagiarism  which  was  deservedly  ex- 
posed by  Warton  and  Dr.  Samuel  Parr ;  the  latter 
of  whom,  in  1787,  brought  out  an  edition  of  Bel- 
lenden's  *  De  Statu,  Libri  Tres,'  with  a  Latin  pre- 
face of  some  length. — Irving' s  Scottis/i  Writers. 

The  following  is  a  catalogue  of  William  Bcllcn- 
den's  writings. 

Ciceronis  Prinoeps.  Paris,  1608.  This  is  a  collection  of 
select  sentences  and  passages  from  Cicero,  comprised  into 
one  body,  consisting  of  Rules  of  Monarchical  Government, 
and  the  Duties  of  the  Prince.  To  the  first  edition  is  pre- 
fixed, Tractatus  de  Processu  et  Scriptoribos  Rei  Politics. 

Ciceronis  Consul,  Senator,  Senatusquc  Romanas.  Paris, 
1612,  8vo.  A  Treatise  on  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the 
Consuls,  and  on  the  constitution  of  the  Roman  Senate. 

De  Statu  Prisci  Orbis  in  Religione,  Re  Politica  et  Literis ; 
Ciceronis  Princeps,  sive  de  statu  Principis  et  Imperii ;  Cicer- 
onis Consul,  Senator,  Senatusquc  Romanas.  Paris,  1615, 
8vo.  This  work  was  immediately  republished  with  his  Tracts, 
De  StHtu  Principis ;  De  Statu  Republican,  et  de  Statu  Orbii». 
Republished  by  Dr.  PaiT  in  1787. 

Two  short  poems,  entitled  Caroli  Primi  et  Henricac  MarisD, 
Regis  et  Regime  Magnaj  Britannia:,  &c.,  EpithaUmium ;  et 
in  ipsas  augustissimas  Nuptias,  ooleberrimamque  Legationem 
eanun  causa  obitam,  &c.,  panegyricum  Carmen,  et  Elogia. 
Paris,  1625,  4to.    Also  republished  by  Dr.  Parr. 

De  Tribns  Luminibtis  Romanonun,  libri  xvi.  seu  Hbtoris 


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BERNARD. 


286 


BERRY. 


Romana,  ex  ipsissimis  Ciceronis,  et  aliorum  vetenim  verbis, 
expressa.    Paris,  1634,  foL    A  posthumous  work. 


Bkl9CU£S,  surname  of,  see  Supplkmknt. 

BERNARD,  abbot  of  Arbroath  in  1303,  the 
fii-st  chancellor  of  Robert  the  Bruce  after  his  ele- 
vation to  the  throne  in  1306,  is  supposed  to  have 
composed  the  remonstrance,  so  remarkable  in  the 
history  of  Scotland,  which,  in  1320,  was  sent  by  the 
Scottish  nobility  to  the  Pope.  He  held  the  gi*eat 
seal  till  his  death  in  1327.  Crawford  supposes 
the  abbot's  surname  to  have  been  Linton. 

Berkirdale,  Lord,  the  second  title  of  the  noble  family  of 
Sinclair,  earls  of  Caithness,  irom  the  district  of  Berriedale  or 
Berrindale  in  Caithness -sliire.    See  Capthness,  earl  of. 

BERRY,  William,  an  ingenious  aitist,  was 
bora  about  the  year  1730.  He  was  bred  to  the 
business  of  a  seal  engraver,  having  served  his  ap- 
prenticeship with  a  Mr.  Bolton  of  EdMburgh.  On 
commencing  business  on  his  own  account,  he  soon 
became  distinguished  for  the  superiority  of  his 
workmanship,  particularly  for  the  elegance  of  his 
designs,  and  the  clearness  and  sharpness  of  his 
mode  of  cutting  coats  of  arms  and  other  devices. 
For  many  years  he  did  not  attempt  any  thing 
higher  in  his  art  than  the  common  routine  of  the 
trade  at  the  time.  His  first  essay  in  the  style  of  the 
antique  intaglios  was  a  head  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
which  he  executed  with  astonishing  precision  and 
delicacy.  Nevertheless,  the  gi'eatcr  part  of  his 
life  was  occupied  in  cutting  armorial  bearings,  as 
he  found  a  greater  demand  in  this  branch  of  the 
art  than  for  fine  heads,  and  there  were  vei*y  few 
that  could  afford  to  pay  the  price.  During  the 
course  of  his  life,  he  did  not  execute  more  than  a 
dozen  heads  in  all,  any  one  of  which  was  suflBcient 
to  insure  him  lasting  fame.  Among  these  were 
Thomson  the  poet,  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Julius  Cassar,  a  young  Hercules,  and 
Hamilton  of  Bangour.  Of  these,  only  two  were 
copies  from  the  antique,  and  they  were  executed 
in  the  finest  style  of  the  art.  Wherever  the^e 
heads  were  known,  they  were  admired  as  superior 
to  anything  produced  in  modem  times.  Piccler, 
a  famous  artist  in  the  same  line  at  Rome,  who  had 
had  more  practice,  was  the  only  person  that  could 
be  compared  to  him;  but  each,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
genius,  gave  the  palm  of  superiority  to  the  other. 


Berry  possessed  not  merely  the  art  of  imitating 
busts  or  figures  set  beforo  him,  but  he  could  exe- 
cute with  fidelity  a  figure  in  relievo,  copied  from  a 
drawing  or  painting  upon  a  flat  surface ;  as  was 
proved  with  the  head  he  executed  of  Hamilton  of 
Bangour,  who  had  been  dead  for  some  years,  and 
which  he  finished  fi*om  an  impeifect  sketch,  being 
all  the  likeness  that  remained  of  him.  Besides 
these  heads  he  executed  some  full-length  figures 
both  of  men  and  other  animals,  in  a  style  of  supe- 
rior elegance.  But  the  interests  of  bis  fiunily 
made  him  pursue  rather  the  more  lucrative  em- 
ployment of  cutting  heraldic  seals,  which  may 
be  said  to  have  been  his  constant  employment 
for  forty  ycai-s.  In  this  depai-tment  he  was, 
without  dispute,  the  first  ai'tist  uf  his  time.  The 
following  anecdote  is  told  of  his  excellence  m 
this  branch  of  ai't :  Henry,  duke  of  Bucdench,  on 
succeeding  to  his  estate,  was  desirous  of  having  a 
seal  cut  with  his  arms,  &c.,  properly  blazoned 
upon  it.  But  as  there  were  no  less  than  thirty- 
two  compartments  in  the  shield,  which  was  of  ne- 
cessity confined  to  a  very  small  space,  so  as  to 
leave  room  for  the  supporters,  and  other  orna- 
ments, within  the  compass  of  a  seal  of  an  ordinary 
size,  he  found  it  a  matter  of  great  difiiculty  to  get 
it  executed.  Though  a  native  of  Scotland  himself, 
his  grace  never  expected  to  find  a  man  of  first 
rate  eminence  in  Edinburgh ;  but  applied  to  the 
most  celebrated  seal  engravers  in  London  and 
Pai'is,  all  of  whom  declined  it,  as  a  thing  exceed- 
ing their  power  to  execute  At  this  the  duke  was 
highly  disappointed :  and  having  expressed  to  a 
gentleman,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  him,  the  vexa- 
tion he  felt  on  this  occasion,  his  visitor  asked  if  he 
had  applied  to  Mr.  BeiTy.  "  No,"  said  his  grace, 
*^  I  did  not  think  I  should  find  any  one  in  Edin- 
burgh who  could  execute  a  task  that  exceeded  the 
powers  of  the  fii*st  artists  in  London  and  Paris." 
The  gentleman  advised  his  grace  to  take  it  to 
Berry,  who,  he  would  undertake,  could  execute  it. 
The  duke  accordingly  went  to  Edinburgh  with  bis 
visitor  next  morning,  and  called  upon  Mr.  Berry, 
whom  he  found,  as  usual,  sitting  at  his  wheel. 
Without  introducing  the  duke,  or  saying  anything 
particular  to  Beiry,  the  gentleman  showed  him  an 
impression  of  a  seal  that  the  duchess  dowager 
had  got  cut  many  years  before  by  a  Jew  in  Lon> 


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dou,  who  was  dead,  and  which  had  been  shown  to 
the  others  as  a  pattern,  asking  him  if  he  could  cut 
a  seal  the  same  as  that.  After  examining  it  a 
little,  Berrj  answered  readily  that  he  could.  Tlie 
duke,  pleased  aud  astonished  at  the  same  time, 
exclaimed,  "Will  you,  indeed!"  Berry,  who 
thought  this  implied  a  doubt  of  his  abilities,  was  a 
little  piqued  at  it ;  and  turning  round  to  the  duke, 
whom  he  had  never  seen  before,  said,  "  Yes,  Sir, 
if  I  do  not  make  a  better  seal  than  this,  I  shall 
take  no  payment  for  it."  His  grace,  highly 
pleased,  left  the  pattern  with  him,  and  went  away. 
The  pattern  seal  contained  indeed  the  various  de- 
vices on  the  32  compartments,  distinctly  enough 
to  be  seen,  but  none  of  the  colours  were  expressed. 
Berry,  in  due  time,  finished  the  seal,  on  which  the 
figures  were  not  only  done  with  superior  elegance, 
but  the  colours  on  every  part  so  distinctly  marked, 
that  a  painter  could  delineate  the  whole,  or  a  her- 
tild  blazon  it,  with  the  most  perfect  accuracy.  For 
(his  extraordinary  exertion  of  talent  he  charged  no 
more  than  thirty-two  guineas,  though  the  pattern 
seal  had  cost  seventy-five !  Notwithstanding  his 
great  talents,  his  unequalled  assiduity,  and  the 
strict  economy  observed  in  his  family,  his  cir- 
cumstances were  far  from  affluent.  He  was  highly 
respected  on  account  of  the  integrity  of  his  char- 
acter, and  his  strict  principles  of  honour.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Andrew  Andei*son  of 
Dressalrig,  by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  family. 
He  died  July  3,  1783,  in  the  53d  year  of  his  age. 

Bethuke,  or  Beaton,  a  sarname  of  French  origin,  which 
belonged  to  an  iUostrioos  house  in  France,  from  which  spmng 
the  duke  de  Snlly  the  celebrated  minister  of  Henry  IV.  It 
was  derived  from  Bethune,  a  town  in  French  Flanders.  The 
Bethones  came  into  England  with  William  the  Conqneror. 
One  of  them  was  the  companion  of  Richard  Coem'  de  Lion, 
on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  and  was  made  prisoner 
along  with  him  by  the  duke  of  Austria.  Duchesne,  in  bis 
^Htstotfe  de  la  Maison  de  Bethune,*  derives  the  Scottish 
branch  finora  a  certain  Jacobin  de  Bethune,  who,  he  says, 
came  to  Scotland  about  1448,  but  there  are  authentic  docu- 
ments to  prove  that  the  family  were  settled  in  tbis  conntiy 
as  early  as  1165.  In  the  end  of  the  reign  of  William  the 
Lion,  or  beginning  of  that  of  his  son,  Alexander  the  Second, 
Robert  de  Beton  is  witness  to  a  charter  by  Rogerus  de  Quin- 
cj,  comes  de  Wincestre  (incorrectly  called  Winton  and  some- 
times Wigton,  in  the  current  genealogies  of  ancient  families), 
constabularius  Scotie,  to  Sejerus  de  Seton,  of  an  annuity  out 
ni  the  miln  and  miln  lands  of  Travement  or  Tranent  In  a 
charter  of  mortification  of  lands  "in  territorio  de  Kermuir" 
(now  Kirriemuir)  in  the  county  of  Angus,  to  the  monks  of 
Aberhrothwick,  David  de  Beton  and  Joannes  de  Beton  are 
wituesses.    It  was  in  that  county  that  the  family  of  the  Be- 


thnnes  then  had  their  principal  possd^ons.  The  chief  of 
them  was  the  laird  of  Westhall,  of  whom  the  rest  are  de> 
scended.  In  the  b^nmng  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  the 
Thu^  about  1250,  Dominus  David  de  Betun  and  Robertus 
de  Betun  are,  with  several  others,  witnesses  to  a  charter  of 
Christiana  de  Valoines,  Lady  Panmnre,  to  John  Lydell,  of 
the  lands  of  Balbanin  and  Panlathine.  Among  those  who 
swore  fealty  to  Edward  the  First  of  England,  and  were  pre- 
sent at  the  discussion  of  the  pleas  for  the  crown  of  Scotland 
betwixt  John  Baliol  and  Robert  Bruce  was  Robert  de  Betune. 
[See  Prymte^s  Histtny] ;  and  amongst  the  seals,  yet  presen-ed, 
that  are  appended  to  Kmg  Edward's  decision,  1292,  is  "  sigil- 
lum  Roberti  de  Betune  de  Scotia,  which  is  a  fesse,  and  on  a 
chief  a  file  of  three  pendants."  Several  of  this  name  are  wit- 
nesses to  charters  by  Duncan  eari  of  Fife. 

David  de  Betun,  miles,  and  Alexander  de  Betun,  were  at 
the  parliament  held  at  Gambuskenneth,  6th  November  1314; 
and  to  the  act  of  forfeiture  passed  m  that  parliament  is  ap- 
pended one  of  their  seals,  which  is  the  same  coat  of  arms  that 
is  on  the  forementioned  seal  of  Robert  de  Betune.  Alexander 
de  Bethune  continued  faithful  to  the  family  of  Bruce,  and 
was  knighted  for  his  valour.  He  was  slam  in  the  battle  of 
Dupplin  12th  August,  1332. 

As  stated  in  the  article  on  the  surname  of  Balfour  [which 
see,  tttUe,  page  208,  first  column],  m  the  fifth  year  of  the 
rdgn  of  Robert  the  Second,  Robert  de  Bethune,  styled 
*'  familiarius  regis,"  a  younger  son  of  the  above-named  Sir 
Alexander,  married  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  John 
Balfour  of  that  ilk,  and  his  son  succeeding  to  the  estate,  the 
£imily  was  afterwards  designed  Bethune  of  Balfour.  Of  that 
family  several  of  the  Fife  heritors  were  descended,  and  James 
Bethune,  archbishop  of  St  Andrews  and  chancellor  of  Scot- 
land ;  his  nephew  Cardinal  Bethune ;  and  the  cardinal's  ne- 
phew, James  Bethune,  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  were  all  sons 
of  this  house  of  Balfour.  Notices  of  these  three  remarkable 
personages  follow  this  article  in  their  order.  In  all  our  his- 
tories the  name  is  incorrectly  spelled  Beaton.  The  descend- 
ants of  the  family  prefer  it  in  its  original  and  more  illustrious 
form  of  Bethune. 

In  the  reign  of  James  the  Fourth,  the  estate  of  Crdch  in 
the  parish  of  that  name  in  Fife  was  acquired  by  Sur  David 
Bethune,  second  son  of  Sir  John  Bethune  of  Balfour  and 
Maijory  Boswell,  daughter  of  the  laird  of  Balmuto.  Sir 
David  was  brought  up  from  his  youth  with  James  the  Fourth, 
who  held  him  m  great  favour.  He  was  first  appointed  comp- 
troller of  the  exchequer,  and  subsequently  lord  high  treasurer 
of  the  kingdom,  which  office  he  retained  till  his  death.  [Oato- 
/onTa  Officera  of  State,  p.  368.]  He  acquired  the  lands  of 
Creich  from  the  Littles  or  liddels,  in  1502.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  Duddingston  of  Sandfbrd  in  Fife.  Janet,  their 
elder  daughter,  from  whom  many  of  the  chief  nobility  and 
gentry  in  Scotland  are  descended,  was  married  first  to  Sir 
Thomas  livmgston  of  Easter  Wemyss,  and  after  his  death 
she  became  the  third  wife  of  James,  the  first  earl  of  Arran 
of  the  Hamiltous,  and  nephew  of  King  James  the  Third. 
Her  eldest  son  by  the  latter  marriage  was  James,  second 
eari  of  Arran  and  duke  of  Chatelherault,  who  became  regent 
of  the  kingdom.  Mary,  the  younger  daughter,  married  Lord 
Lyle.  This  Sir  David  Bethune  was  an  unde  of  the  cardinal, 
being  a  younger  brother  of  his  father,  the  laird  of  Balfour. 

His  son  and  heir,  Sir  John  Bethune,  the  second  proprietor 
of  Creich  of  the  name  of  Bethune,  married  Janet  Hay,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Hay,  provost  of  Dundee,  and  niece  of  the  Uurd  of 
Naughton  in  Fifeshire,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  seven 
daughters.  Janet,  their  eldest  daughter,  married,  first,  the 
laird  of  Cranston,  secondly,  the  laird  of  Cralgmillar,  and 


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tUirdly,  Sir  Walter  Soutt  of  Buccleuch,  ancestor  of  the  dukes 
of  Buocleuch  [see  Bucci.kucii,  duke  of  J.  To  her  hist  hus* 
•bnnd  she  bore  four  daughters.  She  appears  to  have  been  a 
wonum  of  a  masculine  spirit,  as  she  rode  at  the  head  of  the 
clan  when  called  out  to  avenge  the  death  of  Buocleuch. 
"  She  possessed  also,"  sa}-*  Sir  Walter  Scott,  '*  the  hereditary 
abilities  of  her  family  in  such  a  degree  that  the  superstition 
of  the  vulgar  imputed  them  to  supeniatunil  knowledge." 
This  belief  in  her  witchcraft  and  the  spirit  of  faction  led  to 
the  foul  accusation  against  her  of  having  instigated  Queen 
Mary  to  the-  murdm*  of  her  husband.  This  daughter  of  the 
house  of  Cre4ch  bf\s  become  familiarly  known  from  the  pro- 
minent place  ^he  occupies  in  Sir  Walter  Soott*8  poem  of  the 
I^y  of  Uie  Last  Minstrel.  A  copy  of  a  letter  of  hers,  to  the 
queen-regent,  Mary  of  Guise,  is  published  in  the  Mftitland 
Club  Miscellany.  Sir  John  Bethune  was  keeper  of  the  palace 
of  Falkland,  as  his  father  had  been,  and  steward  of  Fife,  dur-^ 
ing  part  of  the  reign  of  Jaines  the  Fifth. 

He  was  succeeded  by  h'ls  eldest  son,  David,  who  died,  un- 
married, in  1539,  when  the  second  son,  Robert  Bethune,  in- 
herited the  family  estate.  The  latter  was  6aHy  attached  to 
tlie  royal  household,  and  attended  the  young  4^oen,  Mary,  to 
France  as  a  page.  On  her  retucD  to  Scotland. in  1561,  he 
was  appointed  master  of  the  hoasehold,  heritable  steward  of 
Fife,  and  keeper  of  Falkland  palace.  He  married  a  French 
lady,  Joanna  Renwall  or  Gryssoneir,  a  maid  of  honour  to  the 
queen.  By  her  he  had  two  sons  aiid  eij^t  dauj[^ters.  His 
eldest  daughter,  Mary  Bethune,  was  one  of  the  queen^s  **  four 
Maries,"  whose  extraordinai^  beanty  has  been  ne.orly  as  much 
celebrated  as  her  own.  An  original  portrait  of  Mary  Bethune, 
m  full  court  dress,  is  stjU  preserved  at  Balfour  house  in  Fife, 
as  is  also  one  of  the  Cardinid.  She  married,  in  1566,  Alex- 
ander Ogilvy  of  Boyne,  the  ^representative  of  an  old  and  re- 
spectable branch  of  the  noUe  family  of  Findlatcr.  Both  she 
and  her  husband  were  ullve  in  1606.  The  marriage  contract 
between  these  parties  has  been  published  by  the  Maitland 
Club,  in  Part  I.  of  their  Miscellany.  It  is  subscribed  by  the 
queen  and  Henry  Damley,  and  by  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Ai^le, 
Bothwell,  Murray,  and  Athol,  as  cautioners  for  the  bride- 
groom ;  by  Ogilvy  himself  as  Boyne  and  by  Mary  Bethune. 
The  signatures  of  the  bride  s  father  and  Blichael  Bcdfour  of 
Burieigh,  his  eautioner,  are  wanting.  The  beauty  of  Mary 
Uethune  has  been  celebrated  by  Oeorge  Buchanan  in  his 

David  Bethune,  the  eldest  son  of  Robert,  succeeded  kim  as 
fifth  proprietor  of  Creich.  He  married  Euphan  P.  B.  Leslie, 
daughter  of  the  eari  of  Rothes,  by  whom  he  had  an  only 
daughter,  but  being  desuous  that  the  estate  of  Creich  should 
continue  to  be  possessed  only  by  those  of  the  name  of  Bethune, 
he  disponed  it  to  his  brother,  James,  parson  of  Roxburgh, 
who  married,  first,  Helen  Leslie,  heiress  of  Kinnaird,  and 
after  her  death,  Margaret  Wemyss,  eldest  daughter  of  David 
Wemyss  of  that  ilk,  from  whom  it  is  said  the  earls  of  Wemyss 
are  descended.  Their  eldest  son  and  grandson  succeeded  to 
the  estate  as  the  seventh  and  eighth  proprietors. 

The  latter,  David  Bethune,  married  Lady  Margaret  Cun- 
ninghame,  third  daughter  of  the  eighth  earl  of  Glencaim ;  but 
she  having  no  family  to  him,  and  his  brother  William  having 
no  male  children,  he  sold  the  estate  of  Creich  to  James  Be- 
thune, then  fiar  of  Balfour,  reserving  to  himself  the  liferent 
of  the  most  part,  and  to  his  lady  the  liferent  of  thirty-two 
chalders  of  victuaL  Lament,  in  hb  Diary  of  Fife,  mentions 
that  this  laird  of  Creich,  soon  after  disponing  his  property, 
died  at  his  dwelling-house  at  Denbough,  4th  March  1660. 
Ihe  estate  was  afterwards  united  to  that  of  Balfour 

During  the  period  in  which  the  Bethunes  of  Creich  flour- 


ished probably  no  fkinily  of  their  rank  in  Scotland  formed  so 
great  a  number  of  matrimonial  connexions  with  the  noble  and 
more  powerful  families  of  the  kingdom  than  did  its  roemlicrs. 

BETHUNE,  BEATON,  or  BETON,  James, 
Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  in  the  reign  of 
James  V.,  was  the  sixth  and  youngest  son  of 
JoIhi  Bethune  of  Balfour,  by  Mary,  daughter  of 
Sir  David  Boswell  of  Balmuto.  Being  a  younger 
brother,  lie  was  early  destined  for  the  church ; 
and,  while  yet  young,  was  by  the  earl  of  Angus 
appointed  provost  of  the  collegiate  church  of 
Bothwell.  lie  i-ecelved  his  first  benefice  in  1503, 
and  next  j-ear  was  advanced  to  the  rich  preferment 
of  abbot  of  DunfeiTriline,  or  Dumfcrling,  as  it  was 
then  called.  In  1505,  upon  the  death  of  his  bro- 
ther, Sir  David  Bethune,  the  king  bestowed  upon 
him  the  staff  of  the  high  treasurer,  and  he 
was  thereafter  considered  one  of  the  principal 
ministers  of  state.  In  1508  he  was  promoted 
to  the  bishopric-  of  Galloway,  and  before  he 
had  held  that  see  a  year,  he  was  made  arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  on  wTiich  he  resigned  the 
ti-easnrer*8  staff,  tJint  he  might  have  more  lei- 
sure to  attend  to  \m  diocese.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  had  any  share  in  the  counsels  that  drove 
King  James  IV.  into  a  war  with  England,  which 
led  to  the  fatal  and  disastrous  battle  of  Floddcii 
Field,  where  that  unfortmiate  monarch  was  slain. 
On  the  king's  death,  the  regent  duke  of  Albany 
appointed  Archbishop  Bethune  to  be  high  chan- 
cellor; and  gave  him  fbr  the  support  of  his  dignity 
the  two  rich  abbeys  of  KHwinning  and  Ar- 
broath«  which  he  held  with  his  archbishopric  in 
commendam;  and  by  this  means  drew  him  over  from 
the  faction  of  the  Douglas  to  his  own  party.  In 
1517,  on  the  duke  of  Albany  going  to  France,  the 
archbishop  was  appointed  one  of  the  governors  of 
Scotland,  but  the  kingdom  was  in  such  confusion, 
that  they  were  glad  to  devolve  their  whole  power 
upon  the  earl  of  Arran.  A  convention  of  estates 
being  summoned  to  meet  at  Edinburgh,  April  29, 
1520,  the  carl  of  Arran,  with  the  chief  of  the 
western  nobility,  assembled  together  in  the  arch- 
bishop's house,  at  the  bottom  of  Blackfriars  Wyud, 
where  they  resolved  to  apprehend  the  eari  of 
Angus,  alleging  that  his  power  was  so  great,  that 
so  long  as  he  was  free,  they  could  not  have  a  free 
parliament.  Angus,  informed  of  their  design,  sent 
his  uncle,  Douglas,  bishop  of  Dunkeld,  to  the 


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archbishop,  offeriDg,  if  he  had  failed  in  any  point 
of  his  duty,  to  submit  hiHiself  to  the  convention 
then  about  to  meet,  and  the  bishop  earnestly  re- 
commended a  compromise  to  prevent  the  efiiision 
of  blood.  Bethune,  who  had  pat  armour  on  under 
his  cassock,  laid  the  blame  wholly  on  the  earl  of 
Arraa,  but  concluded  with  saying,  ^*  There  is  no 
remedy!  Upon  my  conscience,  I  cannot  help  it!" 
And  striking  his  breast  with  his  hand,  to  give  force 
to  his  asseveration,  his  concealed  coat  of  mail  rat- 
tled so  loud  as  to  be  heard  by  Bishop  Douglas, 
who  exclaimed,  **  How  now,  my  lord,  methinks 
your  conscience  clatters;  we  are  priests;  and  to 
put  on  armour,  or  to  bear  arms,  is  not  consistent 
with  our  character,'*  and  so  left  him.  The  two 
factions  having  come  to  an  engagement  in  the 
streets,  Arran's  party  wera  defeated,  when  the 
archbishoii  fled  for  sanctuary  to  the  chmch  of  the 
Blackfriars,  and  was  taken  out  from  behind  the 
altar,  part  of  his  dress  being  torn,  and  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  slain,  had  not  the  bishop  of  Dun- 
kcld  interceded  for  him.  In  1523  he  was  appoint- 
ed archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  by  the  duke  of  Al- 
bany, who  had  returned  from  France  two  years 
before  and  resumed  the  regency.  On  the  abro- 
gation, soon  after,  of  the  regent^s  power  by  par- 
liament, the  earl  of  Angus  having  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  government,  the  archbishop 
was  dismissed  the  court,  and  obliged  to  resign  the 
office  of  chancellor.  When  the  Douglases  were 
driven  from  court,  the  archbishop  came  again  into 
power,  but  did  not  recover  the  office  of  chancellor. 
He  now  resided  principally  at  the  palace  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  at  the  instigation  of  his  nephew, 
the  cardinal,  he  proceeded  violently  to  persecute 
the  protestants,  and  caused  Patrick  Hamilton,  the 
protomartyr  of  Scotland,  a  young  man  of  piety, 
talents,  and  noble  birth,  to  be  burned  to  death. 
The  sentence  was  subscribed  by  the  two  arch- 
bishops, three  bishops,  six  abbots  and  friai*s,  and 
eight  divines.  It  is  stated  that  the  archbishop 
was  himself  averse  to  these  severities,  and  the  fol- 
lowing two  stories  are  told  to  show  that  he  was 
not  naturally  inclined  to  such  proceedings.  It 
happened  that,  at  one  of  the  consultations  of  the 
clergy,  some  vehemently  pressed  for  the  continu- 
ance of  rigorous  measures  against  all  who  preached 
the  reforming  doctrines,  when  one  Mr.  John  Lind- 


say, a  mail  in  great  credit  with  the  archbishop, 
said,  "  If  you  bum  any  more  of  them,  take  my 
advice,  and  bum  them  in  cellars,  for  I  dare  assui-e 
you,  that  the  smoke  of  Mr.  Patrick  Hamilton  has 
infected  all  that  it  blew  upon."  The  other  case 
was  of  a  more  serious  nature.  One  Alexander 
Seton,  a  Black  Friar,  proached  openly  in  the 
church  of  St.  Andrews,  that,  according  to  St. 
Paul's  description  of  bishops,  there  were  no  bishops 
in  Scotland;  which  being  reported  to  the  primate, 
not  in  very  precise  terms,  he  sent  for  Seton,  and 
reproved  him  sharply  for  having  said,  according  to 
his  information,  '^That  a  bishop  who  did  not 
preach  was  but  a  dumb  dog,  who  fed  not  the  flock, 
but  fed  his  own  belly."  Seton  said  that  those 
who  had  reported  this  were  liars,  upon  which  wit- 
nesses were  produced,  who  testified  very  positively 
to  the  words  having  been  uttered.  On  which 
Seton,  in  reply,  delivered  himself  thus:  "My 
lord,  you  have  heard,  and  may  consider,  what 
cars  these  asses  have,  who  cannot  discern  between 
Paul,  Isaiah,  Zechariah,  MaUchi,  and  Friar  Alex- 
ander Seton.  In  timth,  my  lord,  I  did  preach 
tliat  Paul  saith,  it  behovetli  a  bishop  to  be  a 
teacher.  Isaiali  saith,  that  they  that  feed  not  the 
flock  are  dumb  dogs;  and  the  prophet  Zechariah 
saith,  that  they  are  idle  pastors.  Of  my  own  head 
I  affirmed  nothing,  but  declared  what  the  Spirit  of 
God  before  pronounced;  at  whom,  my  lord,  it 
you  be  not  offended,  you  cannot  justly  be  offended 
with  me."  How  much  soever  the  bishop  might  be 
incensed,  he  dismissed  Friar  Seton  without  punish- 
ment, who  soon  after  fled  out  of  the  kingdom. 
The  archbishop  in  future,  instead  of  acting  him- 
self, granted  commissions  to  those  who  were  more 
inclined  to  proceed  against  such  as  preached  the 
doctrines  of  tlie  Reformation,  which  seems  to  justify 
the  remark  of  Spottiswood:  "Seventeen  years," 
says  that  writer,  "  he  lived  bishop  of  this  see,  and 
was  herein  most  unfortunate,  that,  under  the 
shadow  of  his  authority,  many  good  men  were  put 
to  death  for  the  cause  of  religion,  though  he  him- 
self was  neither  violently  set,  nor  much  solicitous, 
as  it  was  thought,  how  matters  went  in  the 
church."  He  had,  in  fact,  committed  the  cha;ge 
of  all  church  matters  to  his  nephew  the  cardinal. 
For  the  promotion  of  learning,  he  founded  the  New 
College  in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  which 


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he  did  not  live  to  finish,  and  to  which  he  left  the 
best  pai-t  of  his  estate,  but,  after  his  death,  it  was 
misapplied,  and  did  not  come,  as  he  intended,  to 
that  foundation.  One  of  the  last  acts  of  his  life 
was  the  being  present  at  the  baptism  of  the  young 
prince,  born  at  St.  Andrews  the  veiy  year  in 
which  he  died.  The  king  retained  to  the  last  so 
great  an  affection  for  the  archbishop,  that  he  al- 
lowed him  to  dispose  of  all  his  preferments  as  he 
thought  proper.  He  died  in  1539,  and  was  inter- 
red in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Andrews,  be- 
fore the  high  altar,  having  held  the  primacy  of 
Scotland  sixteen  years. — Keith's  Scottish  Bishops. 
— Pitscottie's  History. 

BETHUNE,  BEATON,  or  BETON,  David, 
cardinal,  primate,  and  lord  high  chancellor  of 
Scotland,  nephew  of  the  preceding,  was  the  third 
son  of  John  Bethune  of  Balfour,  elder  brother  of 
the  archbishop,  by  Isobel,  daughter  of  David  Mony- 
penny  of  Pitmilly.  He  was  bom  at  the  mansion- 
house  of  Balfour  in  1494,  and  in  October  1611 
became  a  student  at  the  university  of  St.  Andrews. 
He  was  afterwards  sent  to  Paris,  where  he  studied 
theology  and  the  canon  and  civil  laws  for  some 
years.  In  due  time  he  entered  into  holy  orders, 
and  was  preferred  by  his  uncle  to  the  rectory  of 
Campsie  in  Stirlingshire,  in  the  diocese  of  Glas- 
gow. In  1519  the  duke  of  Albany,  regent  during 
the  minority  of  James  V.,  appointed  him  resident 
for  Scotland  at  the  French  court.  In  1523  his 
uncle,  being  translated  from  Glasgow  to  St.  An- 
drews, and  become  primate  of  Scotland,  resigned 
in  his  favour  the  abbey  of  Aberbrothwick,  or  Ar- 
broath, retaining  for  himself  one  half  of  the  rents 
thereof.  On  hi3  return  to  Scotland  in  1525,  he 
took  his  place  in  parliament  as  superior  of  the  ab- 
bey of  Arbroath,  the  yearly  revenues  of  which 
exceeded  £10,000  sterling  of  our  money.  In  Oc- 
tober 1527,  as  we  learn  from  Pitcaim's  *  Criminal 
Trials,'  John  Bethune  of  Balfour,  and  others,  hav- 
ing been  indicted  for  an  assault  upon  the  sheriff  of 
Fife,  and  bail  found  for  their  appearance,  the  ab- 
bot of  Arbroath  became  bound  to  relieve  John 
Wardlaw  of  Torry  of  the  cautionaiy  obligation. 
In  1528  he  was  appointed  by  the  young  king,  to 
whom  he  had  recommended  himself  by  his  address 
and  abilities,  lord  privy  seal,  in  the  place  of  the 
bishop  of  Dunkeld.    He  is  said  to  have  been  the 


adviser  of  James  in  instituting  the  college  of  jnii- 
tice,  or  court  of  session,  in  1580,  the  idea  of  which 
was  suggested  by  the  constitution  of  the  parlia- 
ment of  Paris.  In  February  1533,  Bethune,  now 
prothonotary  public,  was  sent  ambassador  U 
France,  with  Sir  Thomas  Erskine,  to  obtain  a  re- 
newal of  the  ancient  league  between  the  two  na- 
tions, and  to  negotiate  a  marriage  between  James 
and  the  Princess  Magdalene.  His  skilful  pene- 
tration enabled  him  to  transmit  to  James  much 
important  intelligence  respecting  the  plans  of  his 
uncle  Henry  "VTII.,  by  which  he  avoided  a  serious 
quarrel  with  the  English  monarch.  He  returned 
to  Scotland  with  James  Y.  and  his  young  queen, 
whom  he  had  manied  in  France,  January  1, 1537. 
On  Queen  Magdalene's  death,  of  consumption,  on 
the  7th  July  following,  he  was  again  sent  to 
France  to  negotiate  a  second  marriage  of  Jamea 
with  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  widow 
of  the  duke  of  Longueville.  Returning  with  that 
princess,  he  solemnized  the  marriage  in  the  cathe- 
dral church  of  St.  Andrews.  It  is  supposed  that 
when  he  was  in  France  on  this  occasion,  he  pro- 
cured the  papal  bull,  dated  February  12,  1537, 
for  the  erection  of  St.  Mary's  college,  St.  Andrews. 
In  November  of  the  same  year,  Francis  I.  confer- 
red upon  him  all  the  privileges  of  a  native-bom 
subject  of  France,  and  gave  him  the  rich  bishopric 
of  Mirepoix,  in  Languedoc,  to  which  see  be  was 
consecrated  in  the  succeeding  December.  On  his 
return  home,  he  became  coadjutor  to  his  uncle, 
now  much  advanced  in  years,  in  the  see  of  St. 
Andrews.  On  the  28th  of  December  1538,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  king  of  France,  and  in 
consideration  of  his  zeal,  talents,  and  influence  in 
his  native  country.  Pope  Paul  HI.  advanced  him 
to  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal,  by  the  title  of  Cardi- 
nal of  St  Stephen  in  Monte  CceHs;  and  June  20, 
1539,  the  king  of  France  renewed  his  letters  of 
naturalization,  allowing  his  heurs,  though  bom  in 
Scotland,  to  inherit  his  estate  in  that  country. 

In  the  autumn  of  1539,  on  his  uncle's  death,  he 
succeeded  him  in  the  primacy,  and  soon  after  his 
instalment  he  commenced  a  furious  persecution  of 
the  Reformers,  for  the  total  extirpation  of  the 
Protestant  doctrines.  In  order  to  be  invested  with 
supreme  authority  in  all  matters  ecclesiastical,  he 
obtained  from  the  Pope  the  appointment  of  Icgatus 


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tuUuSy  and  legate  a  latere^  in  Scotland.  In  May 
1540,  accompanied  by  the  leading  nobility  and 
clergy,  he  made  a  public  entrance  into  St.  An- 
drews with  great  pomp  and  splendour,  and  from 
his  throne  in  the  cathedral  delivered  a  long  ad- 
dress to  those  assembled,  declaring  the  dangers 
which  threatened  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  fix)m 
the  proceedings  of  Henry  VIII.  in  England,  and 
the  increase  of  heresy  in  Scotland,  which,  he  said, 
had  invaded  the  precincts  of  the  royal  court.  Sir 
John  Borthwick,  provost  or  captain  of  Linlithgow, 
denounced  for  heresy,  whom  he  had  caused  to  be 
cited  to  answer  there  before  him,  not  appearing, 
was  condemned  aQ  a  heretic  and  seditious  incendi- 
ary, his  goods  confiscated,  and  all  intercourse  pro- 
hibited with  him  on  pain  of  excommunication. 
Borthwick  was  accordingly  buraed  in  effigy,  both 
at  St.  Andrews  and  Edinburgh ;  but  he  himself 
had  taken  refuge  in  England,  and  so  escaped  the 
fury  of  the  cardinal.  To  remove  the  odium  of  the 
persecutions,  on  which  he  had  now  entered,  from 
the  clergy,  the  cai*dinal  had  the  address  to  induce 
the  king  to  appoint  a  Court  of  Inquisition  to  inquire 
after  heretics  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  prom- 
bing  him  a  yearly  sum  of  30,000  crowns  of  gold 
Grom  the  clergy,  and  persuading  him  that  he  could 
add  to  his  revenues  at  least  100,000  crowns  per 
annum  more,  by  annexing  the  estates  of  convicted 
heretics  to  the  crown.  Of  this  court  of  inquisition, 
Sir  James  Hamilton*,  natural  brother  of  the  earl  of 
Arran,  was  appointed  Judge ;  but  he  was  the  same 
year  executed  for  high  treason.  The  cardinal  had, 
it  is  said,  prepared  a  black  list,  which  was  pre- 
sented to  the  king,  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  of 
the  chief  nobility  and  gentiy  suspected  of  heresy, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  the  earl  of  Arran ;  but 
the  disastrous  overthrow  of  the  Scots  at  Solway 
Moss  prevented  the  contemplated  prosecutions 
and  confiscations  being  carried  into  execution. 
On  the  king*s  death  at  Falkland  soon  after,  De- 
cember 14,  1542,  the  cardinal,  who,  with  some 
others,  was  with  him  at  the  time  of  his  decease, 
was  accused  of  having  forged  his  will,  by  which 
he  and  the  earls  of  Hnntly,  Argyle,  and  Mwray, 
were  appointed  regents  during  fhe  minority  of 
the  infant  Queen  Mary.  His  scheme  was,  how- 
ever, defeated.  Within  a  week  after,  the  earl 
of  Arran,  being  supported  by  most  of  the  nobi- 


lity, was  proclaimed  regent  and  governor  of  the 
kingdom. 

On  January  20,  1542-3,  the  cardinal  was  ar- 
rested, and  imprisoned  m  the  castle  of  Blackness, 
charged  with  writing  to  the  duke  of  Guise  to 
bring  a  French  army  into  Scotland,  drive  Arran 
from  the  regency,  and  overthrow  the  negotiations 
which  were  then  forming  between  the  English 
monarch  and  the  ruling  party  in  Scotland,  for  a 
maniage  between  the  young  Prince  of  Wales,  af- 
terwards Edward  VI.,  and  the  infant  Queen  of 
Scots.  For  this  charge  Arran  admitted  to  Sir 
Ralph  Sadler,  the  English  ambassador,  that  there 
was  no  evidence;  "but,"  he  said,  "we  have  other 
matters  to  charge  him  with,  for  he  did  forge  the 
late  king^s  testament;  and  when  the  king  was 
even  almost  dead,  he  took  his  hand  in  his,  and 
caused  it  to  subscribe  a  blank  paper;  and,  besides 
that,  since  he  has  been  a  prisoner,  he  has  given 
special  and  secret  command  to  his  men  to  keep 
his  stronghold  and  castle  of  St.  Andrews  against 
us,  which  is  plain  disobedience  and  rebellion." 
The  cardinal's  imprisonment  created  great  con- 
sternation among  the  clergy.  "The  public  ser- 
vices of  religion,"  observes  Mr.  Tytler  in  his  His- 
tory, "were  instantly  suspended,  the  priests  re- 
fused to  administer  the  sacraments  of  baptism 
and  burial,  the  churches  were  closed,  a  universal 
gloom  overspread  the  countenances  of  the  people, 
and  the  country  presented  the  melancholy  appeai-- 
ance  of  a  land  excommunicated  for  some  awful 
crime."  He  was  soon  after  liberated,  and  recon- 
ciled to  his  cousin  the  regent,  who  was  induced 
publicly,  in  the  church  of  the  Franciscans  at  Stir- 
ling, to  abjure  the  protestant  faith,  which  he  had 
for  some  time  professed.  On  the  young  queen's 
coi-onation,  the  cardinal  was  again  admitted  of  the 
council,  and  the  regent  appointed  him  chancellor 
of  the  realm. 

In  January  1545-6,  the  cardinal,  accompanied 
by  the  regent  and  several  of  the  nobility,  made  a 
diocesan  visitation  of  the  counties  under  his  juiis- 
diction,  with  the  object  of  punishing  with  the  ut- 
most severity  all  the  protestants  he  could  find. 
On  his  an-ival  at  Perth,  a  number  of  persons  were 
accused  of  heresy  by  a  friar  named  Spence.  Of 
these,  four  citizens  and  a  woman  were,  on  the  25th 
Januaiy,  cnielly  put  to  death;   the  men  being 


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hanged  and  the  woman  drawned.  The  names  of 
these  martyrs  were,  William  Anderson,  Robert 
Lamb,  James  Ronald,  and  James  Finlayson,  and 
Helen  Stark,  the  wife  of  Finlayson.  The  crime  of 
three  of  the  men  consisted,  according  to  Knox 
and  others,  in  having  ^*  eaten  a  goose  on  Crood 
Friday."  The  woman  was  accused  of  having  re- 
fused to  invoke  the  Virgin  during  her  labour,  de- 
claring that  she  would  direct  her  prayers  to  Grod 
alone  in  the  name  of  Christ.  The  cardinal  is  said 
to  have  witnessed  the  execution  from  a  window  in 
the  Spy  tower,  a  building  in  the  earl  of  GrOwrie*s 
garden.  Some  of  the  citizens  of  Perth  were  ban- 
ished from  the  city.  Lord  Ruthven,  the  provost, 
was  deposed  from  his  office;  and  Charteris  of 
Kinfauns,  a  neighbouring  proprietor,  although  by 
no  means  friendly  to  the  cardinal,  or  averse  to  the 
pi-otestant  doctrines,  appointed  in  his  place.  The 
citizens  of  Perth,  however,  would  not  acknow- 
ledge him  as  provost,  and,  urged  by  the  cardinal 
and  regent  to  take  possession  of  the  city  by  force, 
he  was  compelled  to  retire,  after  a  fight  where 
sixty  of  his  followers  were  slain.  The  cardinal 
and  regent  now  proceeded  towards  Dundee,  where 
the  New  Testament  in  the  original  Greek  had  been 
some  time  taught;  but  within  a  few  miles  of  that 
town,  they  were  stopped  by  the  approach  of  the 
carl  of  Rothes  and  Lord  Gray,  both  noblemen 
favourable  to  the  Reformation,  at  the  head  of  a 
large  body  of  their  armed  retainers.  In  conse- 
quence, they  returned  to  Perth,  where,  by  a  ma- 
noeuvre of  the  cardinal,  both  Rothes  and  Gray, 
who  had  followed  them,  were  arrested  and  lodged 
in  prison.  Rothes  soon  obtained  his  liberty,  but 
Gray  was  not  released  for  some  time.  At  Arbroath, 
whither  the  cardinal  and  his  party  next  went,  he 
succeeded  in  apprehending  a  Black  Friar  named 
John  Rogers,  who  had  been  going  about  preaching 
the  protestant  doctrines,  and  whom  he  confined  in 
the  sea  tower  of  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews.  A  few 
mornings  thereafter  Rogers  was  found  dead  among 
the  rocks  under  the  castle,  as  if  he  had  fallen  and 
broken  his  neck  while  attempting  to  make  his 
escape  during  the  night.  But  there  were  not 
wanting  those  who  stated  and  believed  that  the 
cardinal  had  caused  the  friar  to  be  privately 
murdered,  and  thrown  over  the  wall. 
Shortlv  after  Bethune  presided  at  a  provincial 


council  of  the  clergy  held  in  the  church  of  the 
Black  Friars,  I^nburgh,  when  he  enforced  upon 
them  the  necessity  of  proceeding  vigorously  against 
all  those  who  either  encouraged,  or  were  suspected 
of  encomaging,  the  protestant  doctrines,  at  the 
same  time  recommending  to  them  to  reform  their 
own  lives,  that  no  further  complaints  might  be 
heard  against  the  church.  In  the  midst  of  their 
deliberations,  the  cardinal  received  intelligence 
that  the  celebrated  George  Wishart,  the  most  em- 
inent protestant  preacher  of  his  time,  was  residing 
at  the  house  of  Cockbum  of  Ormiston,  in  Hadding- 
tonshire. A  ti*oop  of  horse  was  immediately 
sent  off  to  secure  him,  but  Cockbum  refusing  to 
deliver  him  up,  the  cardinal  himself  and  the  re- 
gent followed,  blocking  up  every  avenue  to  the 
house,  so  as  to  render  escape  impossible.  The  earl 
of  Bothwell  being  sent  for,  pledged  his  faith  to 
Cockbum,  that  he  would  stand  by  Wishart,  and 
see  that  his  life  and  person  would  be  safe,  on  which 
Wishart  delivered  himself  up;  and  Bothwell  hav- 
ing basely  surrendered  him  to  the  cardinal,  he  was 
conveyed  first  to  Edinburgh  Castle,  and  after- 
wards to  St.  Andrews,  where  he  was  committed  to 
the  castle  prison.  Being  brought  before  the  ec- 
clesiastical ti'ibunal,  he  was  condemned  for  heresy, 
and  burnt  with  great  cmelty.  The  cardinal  and 
other  prelates  witnessed  the  scene  ftt)m  a  window 
in  the  castle,  and,  according  to  Buchanan  and 
others,  the  following  prediction  was  uttered  by 
Wishart  in  the  midst  of  the  tortwing  flames :  "  He 
who  now  so  proudly  looks  down  upon  me  from 
yonder  lofty  place,  (pointing  to  the  cardinal,) 
shall  in  a  few  days  be  as  ignominiously  thrown  down 
as  now  he  proudly  lolls  at  his  ease."  This  crael 
execution  was  conducted  in  defiance  of  a  letter 
which  the  regent  had  written  to  him,  to  stay  the 
proceedings  until  he  should  come  himself  to  St. 
Andrews,  and  threatening  that,  if  he  did  not,  the 
blood  of  Wishart  would  be  required  at  his  hands. 
Wishart  died  with  great  firmness,  constancy,  and 
Christian  courage;  and  his  death  caused  great  ex- 
citement in  the  kingdom,  which,  however,  the 
cardinal,  conceiving  that  he  had  done  a  meritori- 
ous action,  paid  no  attention  to. 

In  April  1646,  shortly  after  the  martyrdom  of 
Wishart,  the  cardinal  proceeded  to  the  castle  of 
Finhaven,  to  the  marriage  of  the  eldest  of  his  iUe- 


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gitimate  daughters  by  Mrs.  Marion  OgiWy,  of  the 
house  of  Airly,  with  whom  he  had  long  lived  in 
scandalous  concubinage,  and  there,  with  infamoas 
effrontery,  married  her  to  the  eldest  son  of  the 
eaii  of  Crawford,  giving  with  her  4,000  merks  of 
dowry.  The  marriage -contract,  subscribed  by 
him,  in  which  he  styles  her  "  my  daughter,"  is  yet 
extant.  In  the  midst  of  the  marriage  rejoicings, 
intelligence  was  received  that  an  English  fleet  had 
appeared  off  the  coast,  and  he  immediately  return- 
ed to  St.  Andrews,  and  began  to  fortify  his  castle, 
but  while  thus  engaged  preparing  against  foreign 
enemies,  he  had  no  suspicion  of  any  at  home.  He 
bad  procured  from  Norman  Leslie,  eldest  son^of 
the  earl  of  Rothes,  a  bond  of  manrent  or  feudal 
service  for  the  estate  of  Easter  Wemyss,  which 
liCslie  had  resigned  to  the  cardinal  on  a  promise 
of  an  advantageous  equivalent.  Demanding  the 
fulfilment  of  the  bargain,  the  proud  priest  refused, 
on  which,  dreading  the  primate^s  vengeance,  Nor- 
man concerted  measures  with  his  uncle,  Mr.  John 
Leslie,  a  violent  enemy  of  the  cardinal,  and  some 
other  persons,  to  cut  him  off.  There  were  very 
few  concerned  in  this  conspiracy,  the  principal 
persons  being  the  two  Leslies,  William  Rirkaldy 
of  Grange,  Peter  Carmichael  of  Fife,  and  James 
Melville  of  Raith,  most  of  whom  had  some  private 
cause  of  wrong  against  the  cardinal.  On  the  28th 
of  May  1546,  Norman  Leslie  entered  St.  Andrews 
with  some  followers,  but  not  so  many  as  to  excite 
suspicion.  The  others  assembled  in  that  city  dur- 
ing the  evening;  Kirkaldy  came  there  on  the  pre- 
vious day ;  John  Leslie  arrived  late,  lest  his  ap- 
pearance should  excite  alarm.  Next  morning 
they  assembled  early  in  the  vicinity  of  the  castle, 
and  on  the  porter  lowering  the  drawbridge,  to  ad- 
mit the  workmen  whom  the  cardinal  had  been 
employing  incessantly  at  the  fortifications,  Nor- 
man Leslie  entered  with  three  men ;  and  while 
speaking  to  the  porter,  as  to  the  hour  when  the 
cardinal  would  be  stirring  and  could  be  seen,  Kirk- 
aldy of  Grange  and  his  party  also  gained  admission 
into  the  court-yard.  John  Leslie  now  appeared 
with  a  few  attendants,  but  when  the  porter  saw 
him  he  suspected  the  design,  and  attempted  to  lift 
the  drawbridge.  He  was  prevented  by  Leslie, 
who  sprang  across  the  gap  with  his  attendants, 
slew  the  porter,  threw  the  body  into  the  foss,  and 


seized  the  keys  of  the  fortress.  The  workmen  and 
domestics,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  individu- 
als, were  then  ejected,  and  being  now  in  full  pos- 
session of  the  fortress,  before  there  was  even  an 
alarm  in  the  town,  they  dropped  the  portcullis,  and 
closed  the  gates.  The  cardinal,  roused  by  the 
noise,  arose  from  his  couch.  According  to  Knox, 
Marion  Ogilvy  had  been  with  him  the  preceding 
night,  and  she  was  "  espy'd  to  depart  from  him  by 
the  privy  postern  that  morning."  Opening  the 
casement,  he  inquired  the  cause  of  the  noise.  A 
voice  answered  him  that  Norman  Leslie  had  taken 
the  castle.  He  ran  to  the  postern,  but  finding  it 
locked,  he  returned  to  his  apartment,  and  seizing 
a  sword,  proceeded  to  barricade  the  door  with  the 
heaviest  furniture,  assisted  by  the  page  or  attend- 
ant who  waited  on  him.  John  Leslie  now  ad- 
vanced to  the  prelate^s  room,  and  demanded  ad- 
mittance. "Who  is  there?"  inquired  the  car- 
dinal. "  My  name  is  Leslie,"  replied  the  assail- 
ant. "Which  of  the  Leslies?"  asked  the  car- 
dinal; "  are  you  Norman? — I  must  have  Norman, 
he  is  my  friend."  "  Content  yourself  with  those 
who  are  here,"  was  the  reply,  "  for  you  will  get 
no  other."  They  then  insisted  that  the  cardinal 
should  open  the  door,  which  he  refused  to  do. 
While  they  were  attempting  to  force  it,  the  prelate 
concealed  a  box  of  gold  under  some  coals  in  a  cor- 
ner of  the  room,  and  then  sat  down  on  a  chair, 
exclaiming  to  those  outside,  "  I  am  a  priest;  I  am 
a  priest."  Finding  them  resolute  to  gain  admit- 
tance, he  at  length  asked  them  if  they  would  save 
his  life.  "  It  may  be  that  we  will,"  replied  John 
Leslie.  "  Nay,"  said  the  cardinal,  "  swear  unto 
me  by  God*s  wounds,  and  I  will  admit  you."  The 
elder  Leslie  now  called  out  for  fire^  the  door  from 
its  strength  resisting  all  their  exertions.  A 
quantity  of  burning  coals  was  brought  to  bum 
the  door,  when  the  cardinal,  or  his  chamberlain, 
seemg  farther  resistance  hopeless,  opened  the 
door,  on  the  strongest  assurances  of  personal 
safety.  On  their  entrance  he  cried  out,  "  I  am 
a  priest,  I  am  a  priest;  you  will  not  slay  me!" 
They  rushed  on  the  cardinal,  and  John  Leslie, 
and  another  conspirator  named  Carmichael,  re- 
peatedly struck  him.  But  Melville  of  Raith,  who 
had  been  intimately  acquainted  with  Wish  art, 
perceiving  them  in  a  furious  passion,  pushed  them 


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BETHUNE, 


294 


CARDINAL. 


aside,  saying,  "  This  work  and  judgment  of  God, 
althongh  it  be  secret,  ought  to  be  done  with  greater 
gi-avity,"  and  presenting  the  point  of  his  sword, 
he  thus  addressed  the  wounded  prelate : — "  Repent 
thee  of  thy  former  wicked  life,  but  especially  the 
shedding  of  the  blood  of  that  notable  instrument 
of  God,  Mr.  George  Wish  art,  who,  although 
the  flame  of  fire  consumed  before  men,  yet  cries 
for  vengeance  upon  thee,  and  we  from  God  are 
sent  to  avenge  it.  Remember  that  neither  the 
hatred  of  thy  person,  the  love  of  riches,  nor  the 
fear  of  thy  power,  moved  or  moveth  me  to  strike 
thee,  but  because  thou  hast  been  an  obstinate  ene- 
my of  Christ  and  the  holy  gospel."  Melville  then 
passed  his  sword  through  the  cardinal's  body  seve- 
ral times,  who  sunk  into  his  chair,  and  saying,  "  I 
am  a  priest,  fie,  fie,  all  is  gone!"  instantly  ex- 
pired. The  alarm  had  by  this  time  been  given  in 
the  town;  the  bells  were  rung,  and  the  citizens, 
headed  by  the  provost,  surrounded  the  entire  wall 
of  the  castle.  "  What  have  you  done  with  my  lord 
cardinal?"  they  clamorously  demanded:  "Have 
you  slain  my  lord  cardinal?  "  They  were  answered 
by  the  conspirators  from  the  battlements,  that  it 
would  be  as  well  to  retura  to  their  houses,  for  the 
man  whom  they  called  the  cardinal  had  received 
his  reward,  and  would  trouble  them  no  more. 
This  reply  having  only  the  more  enraged  them,  they 
were  addressed  by  Norman  Leslie  as  unreasonable 
fools,  who  demanded  an  audience  with  a  dead  man. 
Dragging  the  bleeding  body  of  the  murdered  pri- 
mate to  the  spot,  they  suspended  it  by  a  sheet 
over  the  wall,  by  the  same  window  from  which  he 
had  but  a  short  time  before  witnessed  the  martyr- 
dom of  Mr.  George  Wishart,  exclaiming,  "  There 
is  your  God ;  and  now  that  you  are  satisfied,  get 
home  to  your  houses," — a  command  wUh  which, 
in  horror  and  amazement,  they  eventually  complied. 
The  body  of  the  cardinal  was  salted,  and  after 
being  treated  with  disgusting  indignity,  was  thrown 
into  the  ground-floor  of  the  sea- tower.  His  death 
excited  joy  among  the  Protestants,  and  conster- 
nation among  the  Catholics ;  the  feelings  of  the 
more  moderate  being  well  expressed  m  Sir  David 
Lindsay  of  the  Mount's  oft-repeated  verse 

"  Ab  for  the  cardinal,  I  grant 
He  was  a  man  we  well  might  want — 
God  will  forgire  it  soon 


But  of  a  truth,  the  sooth  to  say 

Although  the  loon  be  well  awajr, 

The  deed  was  foully  done.** 

The  engraving  given  of  Cardinal  Bethune  is 
from  a  rare  portrait  at  St  Mary's  College,  Blairs, 
near  Aberdeen.  With  him  fell  the  last  prop  0/ 
the  papal  church  in  Scotland.  He  understood 
well  the  policy  of  the  courts  of  France  and  Rome, 
and  thought  that  the  interests  of  Scotland  could 
only  be  promoted  in  accordance  with  it.  In  times 
of  danger  he  evinced  resolution  of  mind,  steadi- 
ness of  purpose,  and  a  firm  and  unswerving  at- 
tachment to  the  principles  which  he  conceived  to 
be  Jhe  most  fitted  for  the  prosperity  of  his  native 
country.  He  was  a  man  of  commanding  talents, 
and  a  politician  of  the  highest  order — one  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  the  temper,  influence,  and 
weight  of  the  whole  feudal  nobility  of  Scotland; 
but,  says  Keith,  (Hisi.  p.  45,)  "  it  were  to  be 
wished  the  same  praise  could  be  given  him  with 
respect  to  his  morals.  Mrs.  Marion  Ogilvy,  a 
daughter  of  the  predecessora  of  the  earls  of  Aii-lie, 
bore  htm  several  children  /  some  of  whose  descend- 
ants, both  of  the  male  and  female  line,  are  known 
to  be  persons  of  good  note  in  our  couutiy  at  this 
day."  A  contemporary  writer,  Paulus  Jovius, 
says  of  him :  **  His  pride  was  so  great,  that  he 
quarrelled  with  the  old  archbishop  of  Glasgow 
(Dunbar)  in  his  own  city,  and  pushed  this  quarrel 
so  far  that  then*  men  fought  in  the  very  church. 
His  ambition  was  boundless,  for  he  took  into  his 
own  hands  the  entire  management  of  the  affairs  of 
the  kingdom."  He  was  haughty,  cniel,  licentious, 
and  intolerant  in  the  extreme.  Devoted  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  he  upheld  her  doctrines  by  the 
most  sanguinary  measures.  He  possessed  little 
learning,  and  knew  scarcely  anything  of  the  con- 
trovei-sial  writings  of  the  age.  Dempster  men- 
tions that  he  wrote  *  Memoira  of  his  own  Embas- 
seys;'  a  *  Treatise  on  »St.  Peter's  Supremacy;' 
and  *  Lettei-s  to  several  Pfei-sons,'  of  which  that 
author  obsei-ves  there  are  several  copies  extant  in 
the  national  libraries  at  Paris.  His  great  riches 
he  bequeathed  to  his  natural  children,  having 
three  sons  and  three  daughters.  One  of  his  sons 
became  a*  Protestant ;  his  daughters  were  man*led 
into  families  of  distinction. 
BETHUNE,  James,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow, 


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295 


ALEXANDER. 


a  nephew  of  the  cardinal,  was  odacated  chiefly 
at  Paris.  In  1552  he  was  raised  to  the  archie- 
piscopal  see  of  Glasgow;  and,  according  to  some 
writers,  was  consecrated  at  Rome,  whither  it  is 
conjectured  he  was  sent  to  give  the  Pope  an 
account  of  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Scotland 
after  the  murder  of  his  uncle  the  cardinal.  In 
1557  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  witness  the  marriage  of  the  young  Queen  Mary 
to  the  Dauphin  of  France,  and  was  present  at  the 
ceremony  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Notre  Dame^ 
April  24,  1558.  On  his  return,  he  acted  as  a 
privy  counsellor  to  the  queen-mother,  Mary  of 
Guise,  appointed  regent  by  her  daughter  on  her 
going  to  France.  Owing  to  the  disputes  about 
religion  which  then  agitated  the  kingdom,  and  the 
proceedings  of  the  Reformers,  the  archbishop 
retired  to  France  in  July  1560,  carrying  with  him 
the  treasures  and  records  of  his  archiepiscopal  see, 
and  carefully  deposited  them  in  the  Scots  college 
at  Paris.  On  his  departure  the  protestants  in 
Scotland  appointed  a  preacher  in  Glasgow,  and 
seized  all  the  revenues  of  the  aix^hbishopric.  As 
his  capacity  and  fidelity  were  weU  known  to  the 
queen  his  mistress,  she  resolved,  after  the  death 
of  the  king  her  consort  and  her  return  to  Scot- 
land, to  leave  her  affairs  in  France  in  his  hands. 
Accordingly,  in  1561,  he  was  declared  her  am- 
bassador to  Fi*ance,  and,  in  June  1564,  his  com- 
mission was  renewed.  He  resided  in  Paris  as 
ambassador,  first  from  Queen  Mary,  and  after- 
wards from  King  James,  till  his  death  in  1603, 
enjoying  all  that  time  the  highest  confidence  of 
his  sovereign.  Having  carefully  preserved  Queen 
Mary's  letters,  and  other  papers  communicated  to 
him,  these  would  have  formed  valuable  materials 
for  history,  had  the  greater  part  of  them  not  been 
taken  away  or  destroyed.  While  in  France,  he 
i*eceived  scarcely  any  money  from  Scotland ;  but, 
when  King  James  came  of  age,  he  restored  him 
both  to  the  title  and  revenues  of  his  archbishopric. 
Previous  to  this,  he  had  obtained  several  ecclesi- 
astical preferments  in  France.  He  died  April  24, 
1603,  aged  86.  He  is  represented  as  a  prelate  of 
great  prudence,  moderation,  loyalty,  and  learning. 
He  was  succeeded  in  his  see  by  the  celebrated 
Spottiswood.  According  to  Dempster,  he  wrote 
*A  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Kings;'    *A 


Lamentation  for  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland;  *A 
Book  of  Controversies  against  the  Sectaries;' 
*  Observations  upon  Gratian's  Decretals;'  and 
*A  Collection  of  Scotch  P*roverbs,'  —  none  of 
which  were  ever  printed. — Spottiswoods  History, 
BETHUNE,  Alexander,  a  literary  peasant, 
of  unpretending  worth  and  rare  talent,  was  the 
son  of  an  agricultural  labourer  of  the  same  name, 
and  was  bom  at  Upper  Rankeillor,  in  the  parish 
of  Monimail,  Fifeshhre,  about  the  end  of  July 
1 804.  From  the  extreme  poverty  of  his  parents, 
lie  received  but  a  scanty  education,  having,  up  to 
the  age  of  twenty-two,  been  only  four  or  hve 
months  at  school,  while  his  brother  John,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  following  article,  who  was  a  few  years 
younger,  was  at  school  but  one  day.  To  their 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Alison  Christie, 
they  were  mainly  indebted  for  the  cultivation  of 
those  talents  which  subsequently  obtained  for  them 
a  very  respectable  standing  in  the  literary  world 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  Alexander  was  engaged  in 
the  occupation  of  a  labourer.  He  describes  him 
self  as  having  been  set  to  dig  at  raw  fourteen,  and 
for  more  than  a  year  afterwards,  his  joints,  in 
first  attempting  to  move  in  the  morning,  creaked 
like  machinery  wanting  oil.  Previous  to  this  his 
parents  had  removed  to  the  hamlet  of  Lochcnd, 
near  the  loch  of  Lindores.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  he  enrolled  himself  in  the  evening  classes 
taught  by  the  Rev.  John  Adamson,  afterwards 
of  Dundee,  who  about  1825  kept  a  school  at 
IxKjhend.  With  the  view  of  improving  his  condi- 
tion, he  commenced  learning  the  weaving  business, 
under  the  instruction  of  his  brother,  (see  next  ar- 
ticle,) but  after  expending  all  their  savings  in  the 
purchase  of  the  necessary  apparatus,  they  were 
compelled,  from  the  general  failures  which  took 
place  in  1825  and  following  year,  to  seek  employ- 
ment as  outdoor  labourers,  at  the  rate  of  one  shil- 
ling a-day.  In  1829,  while  employed  in  a  quarry, 
Alexander  was  thrown  into  the  air  by  a  blast  of 
gunpowder,  and  so  dreadfully  mangled  that  those 
who  came  to  his  aid  after  the  accident,  anticipated 
his  speedy  death.  He,  however,  recovered,  and 
in  four  months  after  he  was  able  to  resume  his 
labours.  Three  years  thereafter  he  met  with  an 
accident  of  a  similar  kind,  by  which  he  was  agm 
fearfully  disfigured,  and  from  the  effects  of  which 


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BETHUNE, 


296 


JOHN. 


he  never  altogether  recovered.    His  leisure  hours 
were  diligently  devoted  to  literary  pursuits,  and 
besides  contributing  several  tales  and  other  pieces 
to  the  periodicals  of  the  day,  he  completed  a  se- 
ries of  '  Tales  and  Sketches  of  the  Scottish  Pea- 
santry,' a  work  which,  on  its  publication  in  1838, 
was  justly  admired  for  its  truthfulness  and  vigo- 
I     rous  delineation  of  rustic  character,  as  well  as  for 
;     the  author's  general  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
Tlie  risk  of  the  publication  was  undertaken  by 
i     Mr.  Shortrede,  then  a  printer  in  Edinburgh,  who 
'     gave  for  the  copyright  the  price  of  the  firet  fifty 
copies  sold,  an  airangement  with  which  the  author 
was  perfectly  satisfied. 

His  bix)ther  John  having,  in  the  meantime,  ob- 
tained the  situation  of  overseer  on  the  estate  of 
Inchrye,  he  accompanied  him  as  his  assistant. 
Before  the  end  of  a  year,  however,  that  estate 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  new  proprietor,  and 
their  engagement  came  to  an  end.  As  they  were 
obliged,  at  the  same  time,  to  quit  the  house  at 
Lochend,  which  formed  part  of  the  Inchrye  pro- 
perty, the  brothers  came  to  the  resolution  of  feu- 
ing  a  piece  of  gix)und  near  Newburgh,  and  imme- 
diately set  about  building  a  house  for  themselves. 
In  concert  with  his  brother,  he  had  prepared  a  series 
of  '  Lectures  on  Practical  Economy,'  which  were 
published  in  1839,  but  did  not  meet  with  the  suc- 
cess which  had  been  anticipated.  After  the  death 
of  his  brother  the  same  year  he  undertook  the  re- 
vision of  his  poems,  which  he  published  in  a  vol- 
nme,  with  a  memoir,  and  the  first  impression  of 
seven  hundred  copies  having  been  disposed  of,  a 
second  edition  was  soon  called  for.  A  copy  of 
the  work  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Mrs. 
Hill,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Frederick  Hill,  inspector  of 
prisons,  that  lady  wrote  to  Alexander  Bethune, 
offering  to  use  her  influence  to  procure  him  a  situ- 
ation as  teacher  or  in  some  other  way  connected 
with  the  prisons ;  but  after  a  week's  probation  as 
a  turnkey  at  Glasgow  in  March  1841,  he  declined 
the  proposal,  and  wrote  that  he  did  not  wish  an 
application  to  be  made  for  one  who  had  no  quali- 
fications above  the  average  rate  of  a  common 
labourer.  In  1842  he  visited  Edinburgh,  and  en- 
tered into  arrangements  with  the  Messrs.  Black 
for  the  publication  of  *The  Scottish  Peasant's 
Fhneside,'  which  appeared  early  in  the  following 


year.  Previous  to  this  he  had  been  seized  with  i 
fever,  from  which  he  never  thoroughly  recovered, 
the  disease  merging  into  pulmonary  consumption. 
During  his  partial  recovery,  an  oflfer  was  made  to 
him  to  undeitake  the  editorship  of  the  Dumfries 
Standard,  a  newspaper  then  about  to  be  started ; 
but  after  conditionally  accepting  of  the  situation, 
should  his  health  permit,  he  felt  himself  compelled 
to  abandon  all  hope  of  ever  being  able  to  enter  on 
the  duties  of  editor.  He  died  at  Newburgh  at 
midnight  of  the  13th  June  1843.  Previous  to  his 
death  he  consigned  his  manuscripts  to  his  friend 
Mr.  William  M'Combie,  a  farmer  in  Aberdeen- 
shire, and  like  himself  a  writer  on  social  economy, 
who  in  1845  published  at  Aberdeen  his  Life,  with 
Selections  from  his  Correspondence  and  Literary 
Remains.  In  as  far  as  regards  character  and 
conduct,  Alexander  Bethune  and  his  brother  were 
as  fine  specimens  of  the  Scottish  peasantry  as 
could  anywhere  be  found.  They  were,  in  fact, 
models  of  the  class ;  humble,  without  meanness ; 
frugal.  Industrious,  persevering,  and  unostentati- 
ously religions,  without  bigotry  or  intolerance. 
The  productions  of  his  intellect  caused  him  to  be 
courted  and  esteemed  by  many  in  the  upper  ranks 
of  society.  This,  however,  did  not  make  him 
vain,  or  tura  him  from  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 
He  was,  all  his  life,  a  sturdy  independent  peasant, 
never  ashamed  in  the  least  of  his  calling;  diggmg, 
quanying,  felling  wood,  breaking  stones  on  the 
highway,  or  building  dry-stone  walls,  as  long  as 
he  was  able,  by  his  own  hands,  to  minister  to  his 
own  wants ;  and  on  wet  days  and  intervals  of  lei- 
sure, turning  his  attention  to  literary  composition, 
as  a  relaxation  from  his  ordinary  toil. 

BETHUNE,  John,  the  author  of  several  po- 
ems and  tales,  younger  brother  of  the  preceding, 
was  bom  in  1812,  in  the  parish  of  Monlmail, 
Fifeshire.  At  Martinmas  1813,  his  father  re- 
moved to  a  place  called  Lochend,  near  the  loch 
of  Lindores,  where  the  greater  part  of  John  Be- 
thune's  short  life  was  passed.  He  never  was  but 
one  day  at  school.  He  was  taught  to  read  by  his 
mother,  and  received  lessons  in  writing  and  arith- 
metic from  his  brother,  Alexander  Bethune,  who, 
soon  after  his  death,  published  a  selection  from 
his  poems,  with  a  sketch  of  his  life.  WTien  yci 
scarcely  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  and  his  brother 


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BETHUNE, 


297 


SIR  HENRY. 


earned  their  subiiistence  by  breaking  stones  on  the 
road  between  Lindores  and  Newburgh.  Having 
been  apprenticed  to  the  weaving  business  in  the 
village  of  Collessie,  he  soon  became  so  expert  at 
the  loom,  that  at  Martinmas  1825  he  commenced 
business  on  his  own  account,  in  a  house  adjoining 
liis  father^s,  with  his  brother  as  his  apprentice. 
Bnt,  not  succeeding,  he  and  his  brother  resumed 
their  former  occupation  of  outdoor  labourers. 
Most  of  his  pieces  were  written  amidst  great  pri- 
vations, and,  as  we  are  told  by  bis  brother,  upon 
such  scraps  of  paper  as  he  could  pick  up.  Before 
the  year  1831  he  had  produced  a  large  collection 
of  pieces ;  he  also  wrote  and  planned  a  number  of 
tales,  the  gi'eater  part  of  which  was  left  in  manu- 
script. In  October  1829  he  was  engaged  on  the 
estate  of  Inchrye  as  a  day-labourer;  and  after- 
wards in  1835,  on  the  death  of  the  overseer,  he 
was  appomted  in  his  place,  at  a  salary  of  twenty- 
six  pounds  yearly,  with  fodder  for  a  cow,  when  he 
engaged  his  brother  as  his  assistant.  There  he 
remained  for  one  year.  To  his  brother's  *  Tales 
and  Sketches  of  the  Scottish  Peasantry,*  published 
in  1838,  he  contributed  five  pieces.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  appeared  *  Lectures  on  Practical 
Economy*  by  both  brothers,  on  the  title-page  of 
which  he  designated  himself  a  ^^  Fifeshire  Forest- 
er." Thb  work,  though  designed  to  teach  poor 
people  habits  of  thrift  and  saving,  and  well  spoken 
of  by  the  press,  did  not  succeed  with  the  public, 
as  stated  in  the  life  of  his  brother.  As  a  ^*  Fife- 
shire Forester  *'  he  contributed  a  number  of  poems 
to  the  *  Scottish  Christian  Herald.'  He  also  wrote 
some  pieces  for  the  ^Christian  Instructor.'  In 
1838,  having  received  some  small  remuneration 
for  one  or  two  contributions  to  a  periodical,  and 
finding  his  health  failing  him,  he  determined  to 
give  up  manual  labour,  and  trust  to  his  pen  for 
his  future  support.  He  did  not  long  fish  in  the 
uncertain  waters  of  literature,  as  he  was  cut  off 
by  consumption  on  the  forenoon  of  Sunday  the  1st 
of  September  1839.  He  died  at  the  early  age  of 
27.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  powers  of 
mind.  His  whole  life  seems  to  have  been  a  scene 
of  constant  disappointment  and  suffering,  but  he 
possessed  a  cheerful,  contented  disposition,  and  a 
spuit  of  so  much  independence,  that  when  an 
Edinburgh  friend  offered  to  exert  his  influence  to 


procure  him  a  government  situation,  he  at  once 
declined  it,  choosing  rather  to  support  himaelf  by 
his  own  unaided  industry. 

BETHUNE,  Sir  IIknry  Lindesay,  of  Kil- 
conquhar,  baronet,  a  distinguished  general  in  the 
Persian  service,  was  bom  12th  April,  1787.  He 
was  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  the 
I^rds  Lindsay  of  the  Byres,  who  afterwards  be- 
came earls  of  Crawford  and  Lindsay.  The  im- 
mediate ancestor  of  the  branch  of  the  noble  and 
ancient  house  to  which  he  belonged  was  William 
Lindsay,  second  son  of  Patrick  fourth  Lord  Lind- 
say, who  obtained  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Pyet- 
ston  In  Fifeshire,  in  March,  1529.  The  durect 
line  of  Pyetston  had  failed  towards  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  but  a  younger  branch 
survived  in  the  Lindsays  of  Wormestone,  of  which 
the  subject  of  this  notice  was  the  representative. 
He  was  the  son  of  Mi^or  Martin  Ecdes  Lindesay 
Bethune,  by  the  daughter  of  General  Tovey.  He 
entered  the  military  service  of  the  East  India 
Company  in  early  life,  and  in  it  attained  the  rank 
of  major.  Being  sent  from  Madras  to  Persia  for 
the  purpose  of  instructing  and  assisting  the  cele- 
brated Abbas  Mirza,  crown  prince  of  Persia,  the 
eldest  son  of  Futteh  Ali  Shah,  in  the  organisation 
of  his  artillery,  the  talent,  resolution  and  perse- 
verance exhibited  by  him,  in  the  execution  of  this 
arduous  duty,  gained  him  the  entire  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  prince,  and  his  heroism  and  in- 
trepidity In  the  field  established  his  fame  through- 
out Persia.  An  instance  of  this  is  recited  during 
the  hostilities  with  Russia  which  preceded  the 
peace  negociated  by  Sir  Gore  Ouseley.  Abbas 
Mirza  had  quitted  his  camp  with  his  staff  and 
suite  on  a  shooting  excursion,  taking  with  him  the 
artillery  horses  to  beat  for  game.  The  Russians 
took  advantage  of  his  absence  to  surprise  the 
camp,  and  carry  off  Major  Lindesay's  six  brass 
guns.  Lindesay,  on  his  return,  seeing  with  a  glass 
his  cannon  ranged  in  front  of  the  enemy's  lines, 
instantly  harnessed  his  horses,  and,  galloping 
across  the  intervening  plain  through  the  hostile 
advanced  posts,  cut  down  the  guards,  and  brought 
off  the  guns  in  the  face  of  the  whole  Russian  ar- 
my. Repeated  feats  of  this  daring  character,  his 
lofty  and  commanding  stature,  being  six  feet  seven 
inches  in  height,  and  his  great  personal  strength, 


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BETHUNE, 


298 


SIR  HENRY. 


always  highly  admired  by  Orientals,  justified  the 
epithet- familiarly  applied  to  him  in  the  Persian 
armies,  of  "  Rustum^—the  Hercules  of  ancient 
Persian  story;  while  his  humanity  and  justice, 
and  regular  distiibution  of  pay  to  the  troops  un- 
der his  command — too  often  withheld  or  delayed 
by  native  officers— secured  their  personal  attach- 
ment and  esteem. 

After  a  period  of  about  sixteen  years  thus  use- 
fully spent  in  the  service  of  Persia,  Major  Linde- 
say  returned  to  his  native  country,  where  he  had 
inherited  the  estate  of  Kilconquhar,  in  Fifeshire, 
having  succeeded  his  grandfather,  who  assumed 
the  name  of  Bethune,  by  virtue  of  a  deed  of  entail 
made  by  David  Bethune  of  Balfom-  in  1779.  He 
married,  in  1822,  Coutts,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
late  John  Trotter  of  Dyrham  Park,  county  Herts, 
and  with  her  lived  in  domestic  retirement  till  1834, 
when  the  critical  state  of  affairs  in  Persia  called 
him  once  more  into  active  service. 

On  the  demise  of  Futteh  Ali  Shah,  in  that  year, 
the  throne  devolved  on  Mahomed  -  Mirza,  his 
grandson,  the  son  of  the  gallant  Abbas  Mirza, 
who  had  died  during  his  father^s  lifetime.  But 
Mahomed^s  succession  was  opposed  by  ZuUi  Sul- 
tan, the  younger  brother  of  Abbaj  and  uncle  of 
Mahomed ;  he  raised  the  standai-d  of  revolt,  and 
Persia  was  involved  in  a  civil  war.  Mahomed 
appealed  to  England;  and  Sir  Henry  Bethune 
simultaneously  repaured  to  London,  and  offered 
his  services  to  government.  The  foreign  secre- 
tary, Lord  Palmerston,  accepted  them,  conferred 
on  him  the  local  rank  of  colonel  in  Asia,  and  de- 
spatched him  as  an  accredited  agent  of  the  British 
government.  He  was  received  with  delight  by 
the  Shah,  and  his  arrival  was  instantly  noised 
throughout  Persia.  The  "magical  influence"  of 
the  name  of  "  Lindesay  Sahib,"  still  powerful  after 
80  many  years*  absence,  spread  confidence  through- 
out the  royal  army,  and  consternation  through 
that  of  the  rebel  Zulll  Sultan,  who  set  a  price  of 
four  thousand  tomauns  on  his  head.  Some  diffi- 
culties at  first  arose,  in  consequence  of  Sir  Henry's 
juniority  in  the  service  to  certain  British  officers 
already  high  in  station ;  but  they  were  soon  re- 
moved by  his  nobly  consenting  to  take  an  inferior 
command,  having  solely  at  heart  the  public  inter- 
ests, and  placing  himself  under  the  orders  of  the 


chief  of  those  officers  as  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment. 

An  expedition  was  sent  against  the  rebel  uncle, 
headed  by  Sir  Henry  Bethune,  who  commanded 
the  advanced  guard  of  the  Shah's  army,  and,  by  a 
singularly  rapid  march — or,  as  it  is  described  in  a 
letter  in  the  St.  Petersburg  Gazette,  "dragging 
the  army  after  him" — ^he  surprised,  attacked,  and 
defeated  the  rebel  force,  and  took  Sulli  Sultan 
prisoner,  enabling  the  Shah  to  make  his  trium- 
phal entry  into  Teheran  in  December,  1834.  His 
services  were  acknowledged  by  a  firman  from  the 
Shah,  investing  "  the  high  in  degree  and  rank,  the 
wise  and  prudent,  the  zealous  and  brave,  the  sin- 
cere and  devoted,  the  great  among  Christians, 
Sur  Henry  Bethune,  descended  from  the  Linde- 
says,"  with  the  rank  of  general  and  Ameer-i-Toop 
Kama,  or  master  general  of  artillery;  and  re- 
questing him  to  select  the  best  Arab  horse  in  his 
stables ;  which  being  done,  the  Shah  mounted  the 
fiery  animal,  rode  him  into  Teheran,  and  then 
dismounted,  and  presented  him  to  Sir  Henry. 
The  ministers  and  courtiers,  on  hearing  of  this 
gift,  petitioned  the  Shah  not  to  allow  so  famed 
a  steed  to  leave  the  royal  stud ;  but  the  Shah  re- 
plied, that  he  would  rather  lose  fifty  such  horses, 
if  such  could  be  found,  than  disappoint  Sur  Henry. 
The  Shah  further  conferred  upon  him,  by  a  dis- 
tinct firman,  a  "Medal  of  Fidelity,"  with  five 
others  in  pure  gold,  as  rewards  for  services  ren- 
dered on  particular  occasions,  declaiing,  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  had  surpassed  all  others  in  his 
bravery  in  the  field ;  and  commanding  that  this 
testimony  to  Su*  Henry's  worth  and  good  service 
should  be  inscribed  in  the  books  of  the  records  of 
the  kings  of  Persia. 

Nor  was  the  testimony  of  the  British  envoy. 
Sir  John  Campbell,  less  marked  and  gratifying. 
In  his  despatch  to  Lord  EUenborough,  dated  6th 
May,  1835,  he  refers  to  the  "unbounded  confi- 
dence reposed  in  Sir  Henry  Bethune  by  the  Per- 
sian government,  and  by  the  military  of  all  classes," 
to  the  "fame  which  he  had  acquired  during  his 
former  services  in  Persia,"  to  the  "  very  extraor- 
dinary influence  of  his  name  and  reputation,"  to 
"  his  knowledge  of  the  language  and  of  the  habits 
of  the  people,"  and  to  "  the  successful  result,  be- 
yond what  could  possibly  have  been  anticipated," 


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BETHUNE. 


BINNING. 


of  all  hla  operations,  as  folly  jnstifyiDg  his  (Sir 
John's)  accession  to  the  wish  of  the  Shah  and  the 
conrt  of  Persia,  *^  that  the  direction  of  all  hostile 
operations  should  be  intrusted  to  him."  **His 
proceedings,"  he  states  in  another  letter,  of  the 
80th  April,  1835,  ^^  have  been  energetic  as  well  as 
conciliatory,  and  his  effoii»  have  been  seconded  by 
the  British  officers  attached  to  his  force.  Owing 
to  the  subordination  preserved,  little  or  no  injury 
has  been  done  to  the  country.  The  ryots  (or 
peasantry)  have  appealed  to  him  against  the  op- 
pression of  their  own  native  authorities,  and  have 
duly  appreciated  the  contrast  between  the  conduct 
of  an  army  marching  under  British,  and  one 
marching  under  native  commanders;  and  num- 
berless letters  and  verses  have  been  received  by 
the  Persian  goyemment  in  praise  of  the  English 
name."  We  may  add  to  this  the  following  ex- 
tract from  a  private  letter  from  Persia,  printed  in 
the  United  Service  Gazette : — ^*  Great  is  the  name 
of  Lindesay  in  this  country,  and  great  ought  it  to 
be,  for  certainly  he  was  just  formed  for  service  in 
Persia  in  troubled  times  like  these.  The  confi- 
dence the  soldiers  have  in  him  is  quite  wondciful, 
and  all  classes  talk  of  him  as  if  there  never  had 
appeared  on  eai*th  before  so  irresistible  a  con- 
queror." 

Having  thus  seated  the  son  of  his  eariy  friend 
and  leader  on  the  throne  of  his  grandfather.  Sir 
Henry  Bethune  returned  to  his  native  country  and 
liis  family  in  September  1885.  Soon  after  his  ar- 
rival, he  received  a  letter  from  Lord  Palmerston, 
then  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  in- 
forming him  that  his  Majesty,  the  late  King  Wil- 
liam the  Fourth,  had  conferred  upon  him  the 
honour  of  a  baronetcy,  (7th  March  1836,)  "  as  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  brilliant  and  important  ser- 
vices" which  he  had  performed  in  Persia,  and  in 
accordance  with  a  request  of  Mahomet  Shah,  ex- 
pressed in  a  letter  to  the  king,*  that  his  Majesty 
would  confer  some  rank  upon  Sir  Henry,  **  which, 
in  the  English  State,  may  descend  lineally  to  his 
posterity,  and  always  remain  in  his  family." 

Sir  Henry  Bethune  remained  in  Scotland  till  the 
year  1850,  employing  himself  in  adding  to  and  de- 
corating his  venerable  mansion  of  Kilconquhar— 
celebrated  in  local  story  as  the  scene  of  the  murder 
of  Macduff's  wife  and  children — and  fulfilling  in  other 


respects  the  quiet  and  unostentatious  duties  of  a  \ 
private  country  gentleman.  During  the  last  year  I 
of  his  life,  his  health  having  been  much  shaken,  and 
thinking  that  a  change  of  air  and  a  milder  climate 
might  restore  it,  he  went  to  Persia,  to  the  laud  of 
his  early  exploits  and  affections,  there  to  spend 
the  winter.  He  died  at  Tabrees  on  the  19th  of 
February,  1851,  in  his  sixty- fourth  year — sur- 
rounded by  friends,  even  in  that  distant  clime. 
Nothing  could  exceed  the  marked  kindness  of  the 
Shah  and  the  Ameer  during  his  illness.  The  in- 
terest and  anxiety  of  the  queen-mother  were  not 
less  marked  and  considerate. 

He  was  interred  in  the  churchyard  of  the  Ar- 
menians, with  the  full  service  of  their  church,  and 
with  every  military  honour  which  Persia  could  be- 
stow. The  bazaars  and  the  streets  were  thronged 
with  spectators,  and  the  whole  Christian  popula- 
tion of  Tabrees  attended  the  ceremony.  He  lef^ 
three  sons  and  five  daughters,  and  was  succeeded 
in  his  title  and  estate  by  his  eldest  son.  Sir  John 
Trotter  Bethune. 

BiNNDfO  and  Btres,  Lord,  the  second  title  of  the  earl  oi 
Hftddington,  derived  from  an  ancient  parish  in  the  county  ol 
Linlithgow.    See  Haddington,  earl  of. 

The  somame  of  Binnib  or  Binnt  is  evidently  a  contrac- 
tion of  Binning,  which  appears  to  have  been  originally 
French,  Beniffne  being  the  name  of  several  persons  of  learning 
and  distinction  both  in  France  and  Italy.  The  first  arch- 
bishop of  Dijon  was  named  St.  Benigne.  In  the  county  of 
linlithgow  there  is  an  eminence  called  Binnie  Crag,  which 
rises  to  the  height  of  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
1807,  during  the  wars  of  independence  under  Robert  the  Bruce, 
a  peasant  named  Binny,  styled  the  William  Tell  of  Scotland, 
by  a  successful  stratagem,  obtained  possession  of  the  Castle 
of  Linlithgow,  which  was  held  by  an  English  garrison  under 
Peter  Lubard.  This  daring  exploit  is  thus  related  by  Tytler 
in  his  Histoiy  of  Scotland,  (vol.  L  p.  291)  •  "  Binny,  who  was 
known  to  the  garrison,  and  had  been  employed  in  leading  hay 
into  the  fort,  conmiunicated  his  design  to  a  party  of  Scottish 
soldiers,  whom  he  stationed  in  ambush  near  the  gate.  In 
his  large  wain  he  contrived  to  conceal  eight  armed  men,  cov- 
ered with  a  load  of  hay,  a  servant  drove  the  oxen,  and  Binny 
Iiimself  walked  carelessly  at  his  side.  When  the  portcullis 
was  raised,  and  the  wain  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  gateway, 
interposing  a  complete  barrier  to  its  descent,  the  driver  cut 
the  ropes  which  harnessed  the  oxen ;  upon  which  signal  the 
ruined  men  suddenly  leapt  from  the  cart,  the  soldiers  in  am- 
bush rushed  in,  and  so  complete  was  the  surprise  that  with 
little  resistance  the  garrison  were  put  to  the  sword,  and 
the  place  taken."  According  to  tradition  six  of  the  armed 
men  concealed  in  the  wain  were  Binny*8  sons.  Bruce  re- 
warded the  brave  peasant  with  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Easter 
Binmng,  and  his  descendants  long  survived,  bearing  in  their 
coat  of  arms  a  hay  wain,  with  the  motto,  *'  virtute  doloque.** 

From  the  Binnmgs  of  Easter  Binning  were  descended  the 
Bmnings  of  Wallifoord  and  the  Binnings  of  Carlowryhall, 


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BINNING, 


300 


HUGH. 


both  of  which  b«,ve  been  for  a  long  period  extinct.  In  Wal- 
lifoord*8  charter-chest  Nisbet  states  there  was  a  charter  by 
King  James  the  First  of  the  lands  of  Easter  Binning  to  David 
de  Binning,  upon  the  resignation  of  William  de  Binning,  his 
father.  Sir  Thomas  Hamilton,  the  first  Lord  Binning  and 
Bjres  (created,  in  1619,  earl  of  Melrose,  a  title  which  he  re- 
linquished for  that  of  earl  of  Haddington),  besides  other  lands 
in  Linlithgowshire,  had  charters  of  the  lands  of  West  Birtnj 
and  the  ecdeuastical  lands  of  Easter  Binny,  11th  Not.  1601. 
About  1722,  when  the  first  volume  of  Nisbet*s  System  of 
Heraldry  was  published,  Mr.  Charles  Binning  of  Pilmuir, 
advocate,  was  one  of  his  Majesty*s  solicitors-general.  He  was 
a  younger  son  of  Sir  William  Binning  of  Wallifoord,  sometime 
Lord  Provost  of  Edinburgh. 

BINNING,  Lord,  see  Hamilton,  Charles. 

BINNING,  Hugh,  the  Rev.,  a  preacher  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  of  extraordinary  eloquence 
and  learning,  the  son  of  John  Binning  of  Dalven- 
nan,  a  gentleman  of  landed  property  in  Ayrshire, 
was  bom  about  1627.  His  mother  was  Margaret 
M'Kell  or  M'Kail,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Mathew 
M*Kail,  minister  at  Bothwell,  the  brother  (some 
accounts  say  the  father)  of  Mr.  Hugh  M^Kail,  one 
of  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  and  uncle  to  the 
celebrated  Hugh  M^Eail,  the  young  licentiate  who 
was  executed  at  Edinburgh,  22d  December  1666, 
for  being  concerned  in  the  insurrection  at  Pentland. 
At  the  grammar  school  he  made  so  great  profi- 
ciency in  the  Latin  that  he  outstripped  all  his  fel- 
lows, and  before  he  was  fourteen  years  old  be 
entered  upon  the  study  of  philosophy  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  in  which  he  made  considerable 
progress.  After  taking  the  degree  of  master  of 
arts,  which  he  did  on  the  27th  July  1646,  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  divinity.  A  vacancy  having  oc- 
cuiTcd  in  the  chair  of  philosophy  in  Glasgow  col- 
lege, by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  James  Dalryraple, 
afterwards  Lord  Stair,  who  had  been  his  master, 
Binning  was  induced  to  become  a  candidate,  and 
his  great  acquirements  and  extraordinary  genius 
caused  him  to  be  elected  to  the  vacant  professor- 
ship before  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age.  At  the 
expiration  of  his  third  year  as  professor  of  philo- 
sophy he  received  a  call  from  the  parishioners  of 
Govan,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Glasgow,  to 
be  their  minister,  and  in  January  1650,  he  was 
ordained  to  that  charge.  Soon  after  he  married 
Barbara  (or  Mary)  Simpson,  the  daughter  of  a 
presbyterian  clergyman  in  Ulster,  in  Ireland. 

When  the  unhappy  division  took  place  in  the 
church  into  Rcsolntioners  and  Protesters,  (for  an 


explanation  of  these  terms,  see  life  of  James 
Guthrie,  minister  of  Stirling,)  he  sided  with  the 
latter ;  but  with  the  view  of  bringing  about  a  re- 
conciliation, he  wrote  his  *  Treatise  on  Christian 
Love.'  The  eloquence,  fervour,  and  great  theo- 
logical attainments  he  displayed  in  the  famous 
dispute  which  Oliver  Cromwell  caused  to  be 
held  at  Glasgow,  in  April  1651,  between  bis  own 
Independent  clergymen  and  the  "Scottish  Pres- 
byterian ministere,  astonished  even  the  protector 
himself.  Finding  that  Binning  had  completely 
nonplussed  his  opponents,  Cromwell  asked  the 
name  "of  that  learned  and  bold  young  man.'' 
On  being  told  it  was  Mr.  Hugh  Binning,  he  re- 
plied in  the  tnie  spirit  of  Alexander  with  "the 
Gordian  knot,"  "  He  hath  bound  well,  indeed,  bat 
(putting  his  hand  on  his  sword)  this  will  loose  alt 
again !''  Binning  died  of  consumption  in  1653,  in 
his  26th  year.  He  was  buried  in  the  churchyard 
of  Govan,  whei-e  Mr.  Patrick  Gillespie,  then  princi- 
pal of  the  university  of  Glasgow,  caused  a  monu 
ment  to  be  erected  to  his  memory  with  a  Latin 
inscription.  It  is  a  simple  marble  tablet,  sur- 
mounted with  a  heart,  and  the  emblems  of  mor- 
tality. It  was  placed  in  a  niche  in  the  front  wall 
of  the  old  parish  church ;  but,  in  1826,  when  the 
present  church  was  erected,  it  was  removed  to  the 
vestibule.  The  Inscription  may  be  turned  into 
English,  thus :  "  Mr.  Hugh  Binning  is  buried 
here,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  piety,  eloquence, 
and  learning,  an  eminent  philologist,  philosopher, 
and  theologian ;  in  fine,  a  faithful  and  acceptable 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  who  was  removed  from  this 
world  in  the  26th  year  of  his  age,  and  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  1658.  He  changed  his  country,  not 
his  company,  because  when  on  earth  he  walked 
with  God.  If  thou  wish  to  know  anything  beyond 
this,  I  am  silent  as  to  anything  further,  since  nei- 
ther thou  nor  this  marble  can  receive  it." 

Binning's  miscellaneous  writings,  which  are 
chiefly  of  a  religious  nature,  were  published  in  one 
volume,  in  17S2.  A  selection  from  these,  entitled 
'  Evangelical  Beauties  of  Hugh  Binning,'  with  a 
memoir  of  the  author  by  the  Rev.  John  Brown  of 
Whitburn,  was  published  In  1829.  Binning,  says 
a  reviewer  in  *  The  Edinburgh  Christian  Instruc- 
tor' for  that  year,  was  "a  writer  of  no  common 
order.    There  is  a  depth  and  solidity  of  thinking 


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BINNING, 


301 


BIRNIE. 


Rbont  his  works,  a  richness  of  scriptural  and  pions 
sentiment,  coupled  with  an  exuberance  of  beauti- 
ful and  striking  illustration,  such  as  none  but  a 
very  highly  gifted  and  sanctified  mind  could  com- 
mand. We  see  in  them,  in  fact,  a  delightful 
union  of  true  genius  with  the  most  exalted  piety ; 
of  the  fervour  and  the  flow  of  youth,  with  the 
riper  judgment  and  experience  of  age.  We  are 
not  conscious  of  overrating  his  power,  when  we 
say  that  neither  in  the  richness  of  his  illustrations, 
nor  in  the  vein  of  seraphic  piety  which  pervades 
his  writings,  is  he  at  all  iufe^or  to  Leighton, 
whom,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  he  most  resembles." 
Binning^s  widow  was  afterwards  married  to  one 
Mr.  James  Gordon,  presbyterian  minister  of  Com- 
ber, in  the  county  of  Down,  Ireland.  His  only 
son  John  inherited  the  estate  of  Dalvennan  at  the 
death  of  his  grandfather,  after  whom  he  was 
named ;  but  having  been  engaged  in  the  insurrec- 
tion of  Both  well  Bridge  in  1679,  his  estate  was 
forfeited,  and  he  continued  dispossessed  of  it  till  the 
year  1690,  when  the  forfeiture  and  fines  were  by 
act  of  parliament  rescinded.  It  appears,  however, 
that  one  Roderick  Mackenzie,  who  had  been  a 
depute  advocate  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Sev- 
enth, contrived  to  obtain  possession  of  the  estate, 
on  the  pretext  of  having  advanced  money  for  the 
benefit  of  John  Binning,  far  exceeding  the  value 
of  his  land,  and  that  the  lattei*,  having  fallen  into 
poverty,  taught  a  school  for  some  time.  The 
General  Assembly  showed  kindness  to  him,  on 
different  occasions,  for  his  father's  sake.  In  1702, 
the  commission  of  the  Assembly  being  informed 
by  a  petition  from  himself  of  his  ^^  sad  circumstan- 
ces,** recommended  him  to  the  provincial  synods  of 
Lothian  and  Tweeddale,  and  of  Glasgow  and  Ayr, 
"for  some  charitable  supply."  In  1704  he  ap- 
plied for  relief  to  the  Creneral  Assembly,  and 
stated  that  he  had  obtained  from  the  privy  coun- 
cil a  patent  to  print  his  father's  works,  of  which 
twelve  years  were  then  unexpired,  and  that  it 
was  his  intention  to  publish  them  in  one  volume. 
The  Assembly  recommended  "every  minister 
within  the  kingdom  to  take  a  double  of  the  same 
book,  or  to  subscribe  for  the  same."  They  like- 
wise called  upon  the  different  presbyteries  in  the 
church  to  collect  among  themselves  something  for 
the  petitioner.    The  last  application  he  made  to 


the  Assembly  for  pecuniary  aid  was  in  1717,  when 
be  must  have  been  far  advanced  in  life.  ILife  oj 
Btnmng  pr^ed  to  FtiUarton's  edition  of  hi»  works, 
with  Notes  by  Dr,  LeishmanJ] 

The  following  is  a  catalogue  of  Binniiig's  works, 
all  of  which  were  published  posthumously : 

The  Common  Piindplee  of  the  Christian  Religion  dearlj 
proved  and  singularly  improved;  or  a  practical  catechism, 
wherein  some  of  the  most  concerning  fomidations  of  our  faith 
are  soUdlj  laid  down,  and  that  doctrine  which  is  according  to 
godHnew  is  sweetly  yet  pnngentiy  pressed  home,  and  motft 
aatisfyingly  handled.  Glasgow,  1659,  12mo.  6th  Impres- 
sion, Glasgow,  1666.    Edm.  1672,  l2mo. 

The  Sinner's  Sanctnaxy;  being  finrty  sermons  upon  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Romans,  from  the  first  verse  to  the  six- 
teenth.   Edin.  1670,  4to. 

Fellowship  with  God,  being  twenty-eight  sermons  on  the 
First  Epistle  of  John,  chap.  Ist  and  2d,  verses  1,  2, 8.  Edin. 
1671.    • 

Heart  Humiliation,  or  Miscellany  Sermons,  preached  -  upon 
cnoice  texts  at  several  solemn  occasions.    Edin.  1671,  12mo. 

An  useful  Case  of  Conscience,  learnedly  and  accurately  dis- 
cussed and  resolved,  concerning  associations  and  confederacies 
with  idolaters,  infidels,  heretics,  malignanta,  or  any  other 
known  enemies  of  truth  and  godliness.  1693,  small  4to,  pp.  51 . 
Neither  the  name  of  the  printer,  nor  the  place  where  it  was 
printed,  is  mentioned  in  the  titlepage;  hence,  it  has  been 
questioned  whether  this  was  really  a  work  of  Mr.  Hugh 
Binning,  but  his  own  name  is  given  as  the  author,  and  it 
camiot  reasonably  be  doubted  that  the  Case  of  C<mscience 
was  written  by  him. 

A  Treatise  of  Christian  Love.  John  xiiL  85.  First  printed 
at  Edmburgh  in  1743,  8vo.  pp.  47. 

Several  Sermons  upon  the  most  important  subjects  of  Prac- 
tical Religion ;  first  printed  at  Glasgow  in  1760. 

The  Works  of  the  Rev.  Hugh  Bumrng,  M.  A,  collected  and 
edited  by  the  Rev.  M.  Lebhman,  D.D.  minister  of  the  parish 
of  Govan.  Third  edition,  A  Fullarton  and  Co.  1851.  Imp. 
8vo. 

Binning's  Common  Principles  of  the  Christian  Religion  was 
translated  into  Dutch  by  the  Rev.  James  Coleman  or  Koel- 
man,  minister  at  Sluys  in  Flanders,  and  published  at  Amster- 
dam in  1678,  with  a  Memoir  of  the  Author,  furnished  in  a 
letter  to  him  irom  Mr.  Robert  MacWard,  at  one  time  secre- 
tary to  Mr.  Samuel  Rutherford,  and  afterwards  one  of  the 
ministers  of  GUsgow.  All  the  other  works  of  Binning  which 
were  printed  in  Mr.  Koelinan*s  lifetime  were  also  translated 
by  him  into  the  Dutch  language.  No  fewer  than  four  edi- 
tions of  these  have  been  published  at  Amsterdam. 

BiRNiE,  a  surname  derived  from  a  parish  of  that  name  m 
the  county  of  Elgin.  About  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century  this  parish  was  named  Brenuth,  "  a  name  probably 
derived  from  Brae-nut^  that  is,'  *high  land  abounding  in 
nuts  ;*  for  many  hazel  trees  once  grew  upon  the  sides  of  the 
hills  and  banks  of  the  nvulets,  and  the  general  appearance  of 
the  parish  is  hiUy.  The  natives  pronounce  it  Bunt-^h^ 
that  is,  *  a  village  near  the  bum  or  river.*  This  etymology  is 
descriptive  enough  of  the  particular  place  now  called  Bimie.'* 
lOld  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  vol.  ix.  p.  155.] 

As  a  specimen  of  the  absurd  and  oftentimes  fabulous  ac- 
counts given  by  genealogists  of  the  origin  of  old  families, 
we  find  in  Nisbet^s  Heraldry   (Appendix,  vol  ii.  page  68,) 


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BIRNIE, 


302 


SIR  RICHARD. 


the  following  Sennachy^s  tradition  of  the  origin  of  Che  family 
of  Birnie,  said  to  have  been  formerly  in  the  possession  of  the 
Bimies  of  Brocrahill : — One  Bimie  (an  Irish  word  signifying 
bright^  a  name  bestowed  upon  him  from  his  glittering  ar- 
mour), with  hb  two  sons,  were  in  the  army  of  Kenneth,  the 
Second,  king  of  the  Scots,  raised  to  avenge  the  death  of  his 
father,  Alpin,  by  the  Picts  in  838  or  thereby,  and  when 
pressing  furiously  one  evening  into  the  thickest  of  the  Pictish 
force,  were  all  made  prisoners,  and  chained  by  the  leg  to  a 
stock  of  wood.  To  obtain  their  freedom,  says  the  legend, 
they  cut  off  their  bound  leg,  and  in  the  next  battle  were  ob- 
served— upon  their  remainbg  leg— to  behave  themselves  with 
extraordinary  courage.  In  reward  of  their  valour,  a  barony  of 
lands  near  Elgin  was  bestowed  upon  the  father  by  the  victor, 
which  stiir  bears  his  name.  And  in  confirmation  of  the  fable, 
it  is  gravely  added,  that<— (in  anticipation,  we  suppose,  of  an 
institution  and  of  terms  not  known  in  Scotland  until  centuries 
afterwards)— he  gave  them  for  their  arms  Guies^  in  resem- 
blance of  a  bloody  battle,  a  Fesse,  the  mark  of  honour^  be- 
twixt a  bow  and  arrow  in  full  draught,  and  three  legs  oouped  on 
the  thigh.  It  might  have  been  nearer  the  truth  to  have  conjec- 
tured that  as  Byrne  or  Bimie  is  obviously  derived  from  Biron 
(the  origin  of  the  modem  English  Byron)  pronounced  short 
as  in  France,  Bimie  may  have  been  the  usual  diminutive 
of  Birony,  as  Barry,  from  Bar,  and  that  Buony,  like  Ban^' 
and  others,  may  have  been  the  name  of  some  Anglo-Norman 
follower  of  Malcolm  IV.,  who  received  a  grant  of  lands  in 
Moray  (Elgiu)  on  the  occasion  of  the  conquest  and  transpor- 
tatiou  thence  of  the  native  inhubitanta. 

The  estate  of  Bimie  continued  in  the  possession  of  the 
Bimies  till  about  the  end  of  the  dvil  wars  in  the  mmority  of 
King  James  the  Sixth.  The  last  proprietor  of  this  family 
was  William  Bimie,  who  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Frazer  of  Philorth ;  after  her  husband's  death  she  was  by 
Queen  Mary  made  Mistress  of  the  Mint  Their  only  son,  Mr. 
William  Bimie,  when  he  came  of  age,  and  after  three  years' 
study  abroad,  entered  the  church,  and  on  the  28th  December 
1597,  he  was  presented  by  King  James  the  Sixth,  to  the 
church  of  Lanark.  He  was  also  appointed  by  the  king  a 
member  of  both  the  courts  of  high  oonmi  ission .  It  is  recorded 
of  him  that  "because  of  the  several  quarrels  and  feuds 
amongst  the  gentlemen  of  his  parish,  he  not  only  learnedly 
preached  the  gospel,  but  was  obliged,  many  times,  as  he  well 
could,  to  make  use  of  his  sword.**  He  was  the  author  of  an 
old  and  leamed  work  published  in  Edinburgh  in  1606,  quarto, 
entitled  *  The  Blame  of  Kirk-Buriall,  tending  to  persuade  to 
Cemeterial  Civilitie,'  an  interesting  reprint  of  which  was,  a 
few  years  ago,  made  by  \Villiam  Tumbull,  Esq.,  Advocate. 
In  quaint  but  powerful  language  the  author  inveighs  against 
the  practice  of  burying,  in  the  area  of  churches,  but  delivers 
many  admirable  sentiments  on  the  honour  due  to  the  resting- 
places  of  the  dead.  He  married  Elizabeth,  a  niece  of  Lindsay 
of  Covington,  and  had  issue,  John,  a  merchant,  who  died 
without  heirs  male ;  James,  a  merchant  in  Poland,  afterwards 
secretary  to  John  Cassimir,  king  of  Poland,  who  had  no  male 
issue;  and  Robert,  who,  by  presentation  from  King  Charles 
the  First,  of  date  23d  November  1643,  was  also,  like  his 
father,  made  minister  at  Lanark.  Robert  married  Christian, 
the  daughter  of  Dr.  Patrick  Melville,  professor  of  the  oriental 
languages  at  St  Andrews,  of  the  family  of  Raith,  a  lady  of  so 
great  proficiency  in  the  Hebrew  language,  that  she  was  able 
to  English  it  in  any  part,  even  without  the  points.  They 
bad  issue,  a  son  and  a  daughter.  The  daughter,  Janet,  mar- 
ried John  Irvine  of  Saphock,  ancestor  of  the  Irvines  of  Dram. 
The  son,  John  Bimie,  styled  of  Bimie,  married  Jean,  daughter 
of  James  Hamilton  of  Broomhill,  Bishop  of  Galloway,  second 


son  of  Sir  James  Hamilton  of  Broomhill,  baronet,  a  younger 
brother  of  Lord  Belhaven,  from  whom  the  bishop  seems  to 
have  acquired  the  lands  of  Broomhill  The  bishop  had  two 
sons,  both  of  whom  died  without  issue,  and  the  estate  '' 
Broomhill  came  into  possession  of  his  daughter  Jean  above- 
mentioned,  through  whose  right  it  devolved  upon  the  Bimies 
She  was  succeeded  by  her  eldest  son,  John  Bunie  of 
Broomhill. 

Sir  Andrew  Bimie  of  Saline,  her  second  son,  was  admitted 
advocate  14th  June  1661,  elected  dean  of  faculty  1st  Februaiy 
1675,  and  became  a  lord  of  session,  under  the  title  of  Lord 
Saline,  28th  November  1679.  He  retained  his  seat  on  the 
bench  till  the  Revolution. 

Isabella  Bimie,  his  only  sister,  married  Geoi^  Muiihead  of 
Whitecastle. 

The  estate  of  Broomhill,  which  is  in  the  parish  of  Dalser^ 
Lanarkshire,  renuuned  in  possession  of  the  Bimies  till  about 
1825,  when,  from  the  death  of  the  last  direct  descendant,  a 
lady,  the  estate  was  sold  by  her  heirs  to  James  Brace,  Esq.,  h 
native  of  the  parish,  who  had  retumed  from  India,  with  a 
fortune. 

BIRNIE,  Sir  Richard,  chief  magistrate  of  the 
public  office,  Bow-street,  London,  was  bom  in 
Banff,  of  comparatively  humble  but  respectable 
parents,  about  the  year  1760.  He  was  bred  to 
the  trade  of  a  saddler,  and,  after  serving  bis  ap- 
prenticeship, went  to  London,  and  obtained  a  situ- 
ation as  journeyman  in  the  house  of  Macintosh 
and  Co.,  then  saddle  and  harness  makers  to  the 
royal  family,  in  the  Haymarket  His  application 
and  industry  soon  recommended  him  to  the  favour- 
able notice  of  his  employers,  but  his  subsequent 
advancement  in  life  was  in  some  degree  the  effect 
of  accident.  Upon  one  occasion,  when  both  the  fore- 
man and  the  senior  partner  in  the  firm  were  absent 
on  account  of  illness,  a  command  was  received  from 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV.,  for 
some  one  to  attend  him,  to  take  his  orders  to  a 
considerable  extent;  and  young  Bimie  was  direct- 
ed to  wait  upon  his  Royal  Highness.  The  orders 
of  the  prince  were  executed  so  completely  to  his 
satisfaction,  that  he  afterwards,  on  similar  occa- 
sions, specially  desired  that  "  the  young  Scotch- 
man** should  be  sent  to  him.  At  that  period  Sir 
Richard  occupied  a  furnished  apartment  in  Whit- 
comb  Street,  Haymarket.  By  his  diligence,  per- 
severance, and  honesty,  he  at  length  became  fore- 
man of  the  establishment,  and  eventually  a  partner 
in  the  firm.  Previous  to  the  latter  event,  he  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  lady  to  whom  he 
was  aftenvards  united.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
an  opulent  baker  in  Oxendon  Street,  and  on  mar- 
rying her,  he  received  in  her  right  a  considerable 


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BreNIE. 


803 


BISSET. 


Bom  of  money,  a  cottage  and  a  piece  of  valnable 
land  at  Acton,  Middlesex.  He  then  took  np  house 
in  St.  Martinis  parish,  and  soon  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  activity  in  parochial  affairs.  He  served 
successively,  as  he  has  often  been  heard  exultingly 
to  state,  every  parochial  office,  except  watchman 
and  beadle.  He  was  always  a  warm  loyalist,  and 
during  the  troublesome  times  of  the  latter  part  of 
the  Pitt  administration,  he  gave  a  proof  of  his  de- 
votion to  the  constitution,  by  enrolling  himself  as 
a  private  in  the  Royal  Westminster  Volunteers, 
in  which  corps,  however,  he  soon  obtained  the 
rank  of  captain.  After  serving  the  offices  of  con- 
stable, overseer,  auditor,  &c.  of  the  parish,  he  be- 
came, in  1805,  church  warden.  In  conjunction  with 
his  colleague  in  office,  Mr.  Klaim,  a  silversmith  in 
the  Strand,  and  Dr.  Anthony  Hamilton,  then 
vicar  of  St.  Martin's  parish,  he  founded  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  number  of  almshouses,  together  with 
a  chapel,  called  St.  Martin's  chapel,  for  decayed 
parishioners,  in  Pratt's  Street,  Camden  Town,  aii 
extensive  burying-ground  being  attached  thereto. 
As  St.  Martin's  parish  is  governed  by  a  local  act 
of  parliament,  two  magistrates  require  to  be  resi- 
dent in  the  parish ;  and  at  the  special  request  of 
the  late  duke  of  Northumberiand,  Mr.  Bimie  was 
placed  in  the  commission  of  the  peace.  From  this 
period  he  began  to  give  frequent  attendances  at 
Bow  Street  office,  and  at  the  same  time  employed 
himself  in  studying  the  penal  statutes  and  magis- 
terial practice  in  general.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
sitting  in  the  absence  of  Sir  Richard  Ford,  Mr. 
Graham,  and  other  stipendiary  magistrates  of  the 
day,  and  was  considered  an  excellent  assistant. 
He  was  at  length  appointed  police  magistrate  at 
Union  Hall.  In  February  1820  he  headed  the 
peace  officers  and  military  in  the  apprehension  of 
the  celebrated  Cato  Street  gang  of  conspirators. 
Sir  Nathaniel  Conant,  the  chief  magistrate  at  Bow 
Street,  died  shortly  after,  and  Mr.  Bimie  was 
much  disappointed  at  Sur  Robert  Baker,  of  Marl- 
borough Street,  being  preferred  to  the  vacant 
office,  saying  to  a  brother  magistrate  publicly  on 
the  bench,  while  the  tears  started  from  his  eyes, 
^*  This  is  the  reward  a  man  gets  for  risking  his 
life  in  the  service  of  his  country  I "  He  soon  after- 
wards, however,  attained  what  might  be  fairly 
said  to  be  the  summit  of  his  ambition.    In  August 


1821,  at  the  frineral  of  Queen  Caroline,  Sir  Robert 
Baker  having  declined  to  read  the  riot  act,  which 
Mr.  Bimie  deemed  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the 
riotous  disposition  of  the  mob,  he  took  the  respon- 
sibility upon  himself,  and  read  it  amid  great  tumult. 
Sir  Robert  retired  from  the  chair  immediately 
afterwards,  having  given  great  offence  to  the  min- 
istry by  his  want  of  decision,  and  Mr.  Bimie  was 
appointed  to  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  at  Bow 
Street.  On  the  17th  September  following,  he  re- 
ceived the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  died  April  29, 
1 832,  leaving  a  son  and  two  daughters.  Sir  Richard 
was  an  especial  favourite  with  George  the  Fourth. 
He  was  ever  ready  to  assist  the  needy,  especially 
where  he  discovered  a  disposition  to  industry.  As 
a  magistrate  his  loss  was  severely  felt.  In  all 
matters  of  importance  connected  with  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  the  metropolis,  he  was  for  years 
consulted  by  those  who  filled  the  highest  offices  in 
the  state.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  close  appli- 
cation to  business. 

BissKT,  Btsbt,  or  Bisskrt,  originallj  an  Anglo-Norman 
name,  belonging  to  a  ftunilj  which  came  into  Scotland  about 
the  reign  of  William  the  Firstf  and  settled  in  two  branches, 
the  one  m  the  province  of  Moray,  and  the  other  in  Berwick- 
shire. After  Malcohn  the  Fonrth  had  sabdaed,  in  1160,  the 
tnrbolent  and  rebellions  inhabitants  of  Moray,  and  trans- 
ported to  Galloway  all  who  had  taken  np  arms  against  him, 
which  indnded  the  greater  portion  of  the  population,  he  be- 
stowed their  hinds  upon  strangers ;  and  among  the  new  set- 
tlers, besides  the  earls  of  Fife  and  Stratheam,  and  other 
powerful  families,  were  the  once  potent  Comyns  and  Bisset 
Ostiarii,  who  obtained  large  estates  in  the  province,  especially 
in  that  part  which  now  forms  a  portion  of  InTemess-shire. 

Dugdale,  in  his  Baronage  (vol  L  p.  632),  says  that  the 
first  mention  of  the  name  of  Bibset  in  England  was  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  when  Manser 
Bisset  was  one  of  the  witnesses  to  that  accord  then  made  be- 
twixt Stephen  and  Heniy  duke  of  Normandy,  touching  the 
succesnon  of  the  latter  to  the  crown  of  England.  After  this, 
being  sewer  to  that  king,  he  founded  an  hospital  at  Mayden- 
Bradley,  in  Wiltshire,  for  leprous  women  and  secular  priests. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry,  who,  dying  without 
issue,  another  Henry,  his  nephew,  became  his  heir;  to  whom 
succeeded  John  Bisset,  brother  and  heir  of  William  Bisset. 
This  John,  being  chief  forester  of  England,  was  in  the  great 
tournament  held  at  Northampton  in  1241,  (2dth  Heniy  the 
Third,)  occasioned  by  Peter  de  Savoy  eari  of  Richmond 
against  earl  Roger  Bigod.  On  his  death  he  left  three  daugb- 
ters  but  no  son. 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second  one  Walter  Bisset 
was  a  witness  m  a  charter  by  that  king  to  the  abbacy  of 
Paisley ;  and  also  with  William  Bisset  was  witness  in  another 
charter  of  the  same  monarch  to  the  abbacy  of  Dunfermline. 
By  the  Chartulary  of  Melrose  Walter  Bisset,  in  the  year  1238, 
married  a  daughter  of  Roland,  lord  of  Galloway.  These  poi* 
ties  appear  to  be  of  the  branch  of  the  Bissets  established  in 
Berwickshire,  to  whom  the  following  stoiy  refers : — In  1242 


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BISSET. 


Walter  de  Bisaet  was  accused  of  the  murder  of  Patrick^  sixth 
earl  of  Athol,  at  Haddington.    [See  life  of  Alexander  II., 
ante,  p.  75.]    That  the  murder  might  be  concealed,  the  as- 
sassins set  fire  to  the  house  in  whidi  the  earl  lodged.    The 
murdered  earl  had  been  victor  in  a  tournament  with  Walter 
Bisset,  and  it  is  remarked  by  Mr.  Burton,  [Life  of  Lord  Lovat^ 
p.  5,]  as  probable  that  he  had  no  farther  concern  with  the 
murder  than  his  inability  to  restrain  the  fiery  spirit  of  bis 
Celtic  followers,  burning  for  vengeance.     But  in  this  he  seenns 
to  be  mistaken,  as  the  Berwickshire  Bis- 
sets  were  not  likely  to  have  Celtic  fol- 
lowers, nor  even  those  of  Moray  of  that 
epoch,  most  of  the  native  inhabitants 
having,  as  stated  above,  been  transport- 
ed to  Galloway.    The  Scottish  nobility, 
headed  by  Patrick,  earl  of  March,  and 
instigated  by  David  de  Hastings,  who 
had  married  the  aunt  of  Athol,  raised 
their  followers,  and  demanded  Bisset*s 
life.     Bisset  sought  and  obtained  the 
protection  of  the  king,  Alexander  the 
Second,  who,  however,  could  not  shield 
him  long,  so  powerful  was  the  oombma- 
tion  against  him,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  the  kingdom,  when  his  estates 
were  forfeited,  and  all  his  family  were 
involved  in  his  ruin.    The  Bissets  fied 
to  Ireland,  from  whence  Bisset  him- 
self proceeded  to  England,  and  incited 
Henry    the    Third    to   take   up   arms 
against  the  Scottish  king,  which  led 
to  the  treaty  of  Newcastle,  13th  August  1244.    [See  ante, 
life  of  Alexander  II.,  p.  76.]    Henry  the  Third  bestowed 
upon  Bisset  large  possesuous  in  the  barony  of  Glenarm, 
county  of  Antrim,  Ireland.    In  1316,  after  Edward  Bruce 
had  been  crowned  king  of  Ireland,  and  was  endeavounng  to 
secure  himself  in  that  country,  we  find  one  Hugh  Bisset  men- 
tioned as  having,  with  John  Loggan,  defeated  the  Scottish 
force  in  Ulster  with  considerable  slaughter.    The  castle  Older- 
fleet,  in  the  vicinity  of  Lame,  the  ruins  of  which  still  exist,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  erected  by  one  of  the  Bissets.    The 
monastery  of  Glenarm  was  founded  in  1465.  by  another  of 
them,  named  Robert  Bisset 

About  the  year  1400,  John  Mor  Macdonald  of  Isla,  founder 
of  the  clan  Ian  Vor,  second  son  of  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  and 
Lady  Margaret  Stewart,  daughter  of  King  Robert  the  Second, 
acquired  large  possessions  in  Ulster,  by  his  marriage  with 
Mary  or  Maijory  Bisset,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Bisset,  and 
heiress  of  the  Glens  in  the  county  of  Antrim,  a  district  which 
included  the  baronies  of  Carey  and  Glenarm.  On  his  death 
in  1427,  the  territory  of  the  Glens  was  inherited  by  his  eldest 
son,  Donald,  sumamed  Balloch,  a  celebrated  Highland  chief, 
who,  in  1481,  defeated  the  earls  of  Mar  and  Caithness  at  Inver- 
lochy,  and  who,  having,  by  a  stratagem,  escaped  the  ven- 
geance of  King  James  the  First,  aflerwards  took  so  promi- 
nent a  part  in  the  rebellions  of  John,  earl  of  Ross  and  Lord 
of  the  Isles.  [Gregon/'s  Highlands  and  Isles  ofScotlandj  p. 
61.]  The  footing  which  this  branch  of  the  Macdonalds  thus 
obtained  in  Ulster,  waA,  in  later  times,  improved  by  their  suc- 
cessors, and  thus  it  was  that  the  Macdonells,  earls  of  Antrim, 
became  entitled  to  the  Bissefs  property  in  Ireland. 

The  property  in  Inverness  -  shire  which  aflerwnrds  came 
into  the  possession  of  the  Frasens,  lords  Lovat,  formed  a  por- 
tion of  the  large  territories  in  the  north  of  Scotland  belonging 
to  the  Bisset  family.  John  Bisset,  in  1230,  founded  a  priory 
of  the  order  of  ValUs  CauUum.  or  Val  des  Choux,  in  Ross- 


shire,  which,  from  the  beauty  of  its  ntuation  he  called  Beau- 
lieu,  now  Beauly,  and  which  gave  name  to  the  small  river 
which  flows  past.  A  cut  of  the  ruins  of  this  edifice,  from  the 
rare  work  of  Adam  de  Cardonell,  is  subjoined,  as  they  existed 
in  1788.  It  is  one  of  many  instances  of  Norman,  or  rather 
French,  names,  given  at  this  early  age  to  localities  in  the 
north  of  Scotland.  The  tower  and  fort  of  liovat,  founded  b 
the  same  year,  near  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Beauly,  was 
anciently  the  seat  of  the  Bissets. 


In  1245,  Su-  John  Bisset  of  Lovat  was  imprisoned  m  the 
castle  of  Inverness  for  the  imputed  crimes  of  connection  with 
the  murder  of  the  earl  of  Athol,  and  of  fealtyship  to  the  Lord 
of  the  Isles.  In  1258  Sir  John  Bisset  of  Lovat  mortified  an 
annuity  out  of  his  lands  to  the  bishop  of  Moray.  He  died 
without  heirs  of  his  own  body,  leaving  his  estate  to  his  three 
daughters;  the  eldest  of  whom  married  David  Grabame, 
thereafter  designed  of  Lovat,  as  in  an  agreement  betwixt  him 
and  the  bishop  of  Moray,  concerning  the  fishing  of  the  water  of 
Tom.  The  second  daughter  became  the  wife  of  Sir  William 
Fenton  of  Beaufort,  and  the  third  of  Sir  Andrew  de  Bosoo. 

In  1291,  amongst  the  barons  convened  at  Berwick,  at  the 
desire  of  Edward  the  First  of  England,  as  arbitrators  between 
the  competitors  for  the  crown  of  Scotland,  was  W^illiam  Bis- 
set, probably  the  same  person  who,  in  the  regulations  adopted 
for  the  government  of  Scotland  by  Edward  the  First  in  1304, 
is  mentioned  as  sheriff  and  constable  of  Stirlingshire.  His 
grandson,  Sir  Thomas  Bisset,  lord  of  Upsethjrnton,  became, 
in  1362,  fifteenth  earl  of  Fife,  by  his  marriage,  he  being  her 
third  husband,  with  the  Countess  Isobcl,  eldest  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Duncan  MacDuff,  earl  of  Fife,  she  having  the  earl- 
dom in  her  own  right  Bisset,  on  his  marriage,  reoeivod 
from  David  the  Second  a  charter  granting  to  him  and  his 
heirs  male  by  Isobel,  his  countess,  the  earldom  of  Fife,  with 
all  its  pertinents.  He  died  in  1366,  without  issue,  and  in 
1371  the  countess  resigned  the  earldom  to  Robert  Stuart, 
earl  of  Menteith  and  duke  of  Albany,  the  brother  of  Walter 
Scott,  her  second  husband,  who  died  young,  without  issue. 

In  the  accounts  of  the  High  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  daring 
the  reign  of  James  the  Fifth,  quoted  in  Pitcaim's  Criminal 
Trials  (vol.  i.  parL  L  Appendix,  p.  286),  under  date  Septem- 
ber 25,  1537,  there  is  the  following  entry :  **  Item,  to  James 
BissAT,  Messinger,  to  pas  with  Letteris  to  the  Provest  and 
Bailleis  of  Dundee  and  Sanct  Jonestoune  (Perth)  to  serche 
and  seik  John  Blacat  and  George  Luwett,  suspect  of  the 


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CHARLES. 


hangeing  of  the  Image  of  Sanct  Francis ;  and  to  hia  wage, 

Uabakkuk  Bisset,  writer  to  the  signet,  clerk  to  Sir  John 
Skene,  lord  derk  register  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  is 
the  reputed  author  of  *  Ane  Short  Forme  of  Proces,  presently 
nsed  and  obsen'ed  before  the  Lords  of  Counsell  and  Session/ 
appended  to  Skene's  Scottish  translation  of  the  Begiam  Ma- 
jestatem,  published  in  1609.  This  work  forms  one  of  the  ar- 
ticles in  a  scarce  volume  entitled,  *A  Compilation  of  the 
Forms  of  Process  in  the  Court  of  Session,  during  the  earlier 
periods  after  its  establishment;  with  the  variations  which 
thej  have  since  undergone,  and  likewise  some  ancient  tracts 
concerning  the  manner  of  proceeding  in  Baron  Courts ;  pub- 
lished by  order  of  the  Commisaoners  lately  appointed  by  his 
majesty  for  inquiring  into  the  administration  of  justice  in 
Scotland.*  8vo.  Edinburgh,  1809.  [Piicairn's  Crmmal 
Tiiak.   Vol  L  part  ii.  page  286,  note,] 

BLSSET,  BissAT,  or  Bissart,  Peter,  professor 
of  canon  law  in  the  university  of  Bologna,  in  Italy, 
was  bom  in  the  county  of  Fife,  in  the  reign  of 
James  the  Fifth.  He  stndied  grammar,  philoso- 
phy, and  the  laws  at  St.  Andi*ews,  whence  he  re- 
moved to  Paris ;  and  having  completed  his  edn- 
cntion  in  that  university,  he  went  to  Bologna, 
where  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws, 
and  was  afterwards  appointed  professor  of  canon 
law  in  that  city.  He  continued  there  for  several 
years,  and  died  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1568. 
He  possessed  a  high  reputation  not  only  as  a  civil- 
ian, but  also  as  a  poet,  an  orator,  and  a  philoso- 
pher. Bisset  has  frequently  been  confounded  by 
Scottish  biographical  writers  with  an  Italian  poet 
and  historian  of  the  16th  century,  named  Peter 
Bisari,  who  was  in  Scotland  during  the  regency 
of  the  earl  of  Murray,  and  some  of  whose  minor 
poems  will  be  found  in  6ruter*s  *  DeliciflB  Poeta- 
rum  Italorum.'  A  quarto  work,  entitled  *  Patricii 
Bissarti  Opera  Omnia,  viz.  Poemata,  Orationes, 
Lectiones  Feriales,  et  Liber  de  Irregularitate,'  was 
published  at  Venice  in  1565.  Bisset  is  said  by  a 
recent  biographer  [Chambers^  Scottish  Biography] 
to  have  been  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Bisset  or  Bis- 
sert,  earl  of  Fife  in  the  reign  of  David  the  Second. 
But  this  Is  probably  a  mistake;  or  if  he  were  so,  it 
must  have  been  by  a  previous  marriage,  as  the  Sir 
l*homas  Bisset  who  married  the  widowed  countess 
of  Fife,  and  received  from  the  crown  a  charter 
of  the  earldom  of  Fife,  to  be  held  by  him  and  his 
heirs-male  by  the  countess,  left  no  issue  by  her. 

BISSET,  Charles,  M.  D.,  an  able  medical 
and  military  writer,  the  son  of  an  eminent  lawyer 
and  scholar,  was  born  in  1717  at  Glenalbert,  near 


Dunkeld.  He  studied  medicine  at  the  university 
of  Edinburgh,  and  in  1740  was  appointed  second 
surgeon  in  the  military  hospital,  Jamaica.  During 
the  years  he  passed  in  the  West  Indies,  he  devoted 
his  attention  to  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  dis- 
eases peculiar  to  the  torrid  zone ;  and  the  result 
of  his  inquiries  appeared  at  Newcastle  in  1766,  in 
a  volume  entitled  *  Medical  Essays  and  Observa- 
tions,' the  principal  papers  in  which  treated 
particularly  of  the  diseases  of  that  climate.  In 
1745,  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  he  resigned  his 
situation,  and  returned  to  England.  In  May  1746 
he  purchased  an  ensigncy  in  the  gallant  42d 
regiment ;  when  he  began  to  improve  his  natural 
ingenuity,  by  studying  engineering,  in  which 
department  he  soon  distinguished  himself.  In 
September  1748  the  regiment  was  unsuccessfully 
employed  on  the  coast  of  Brittany,  but  on  the 
commencement  of  the  ensuing  compaign,  it  was 
ordered  for  foreign  service  against  the  French  in 
Flanders.  Some  sketches  made  by  Dr.  Bisset  of 
the  enemy's  approaches  at  the  action  of  Sandberg, 
and  at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  were  presented  by  his 
colonel,  Lord  John  Murray,  to  the  duke  of  Cum- 
berland, the  commander-in-chief,  who  thereupon 
ordered  him  to  attend  the  siege  of  the  latter  place, 
with  the  view  of  keeping  a  regular  journal  of  the 
attack  and  defence ;  when  he  was  frequently  ob- 
served to  walk  on  the  ramparts,  with  the  utmost 
unconcern,  amidst  the  enemy's  shot,  the  more 
nearly  to  observe  the  exact  position  of  the  French 
attacks.  His  journal,  illustrated  with  plans,  was 
duly  forwarded  to  the  duke,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  allied  army,  at  Macstricht.  On  the  recom- 
mendation of  his  royal  highness,  the  duke  of 
Montagu,  then  master-general  of  the  ordnance, 
appointed  him  engineer  extraordinary  to  the 
brigade  of  Engineers.  He  also  at  the  same  time 
received  his  commission  as  lieutenant.  On  the 
conclusion  of  the  war  he  was  placed  on  half-pay, 
when  he  visited  several  of  the  principal  fortified 
places  on  the  continent.  In  1751  he  published 
his  fii-st  work,  being  an  *  Essay  on  the  Theory 
and  Construction  of  Foitifications.'  Having  now 
retired  from  active  service,  he  settled  as  a  phy- 
sician at  the  village  of  Skelton,  in  Cleveland, 
Yorkshire,  where  his  practice  became  very  exten- 
sive. In  1755  appeared  his  'Treatise  on  the 
u 


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Scarvy,'  dedicated  to  the  lords  of  the  admiralty.  In 
1762  he  published  *  An  Essay  on  the  Medical  Con- 
stitutioii  of  Great  Britain,'  inscribed  to  his  friend, 
Sir  John  Pringlo.  In  1765  ho  received  from  the 
univei-sity  of  St.  Andrews  the  degree  of  M.D.  A 
few  years  before  his  death,  he  placed  in  the  library 
of  the  Infirmary  at  I^eds  a  manuscript,  extending 
to  nearly  700  pages,  of  medical  observations,  for 
which  he  received  a  vote  of  thanks.  A  manuscript 
treatise  on  Fortification,  which  he  presented  to 
the  prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV.,  was 
deposited  in  his  royal  highness's  private  libraiy. 
Dr.  Bisset  wrote  also  a  small  treatise  on  Naval 
Tactics,  and  a  few  political  papere  on  subjects  of 
temporary  importance.  He  died  at  Knayton,  near 
Thirsk,  in  May  1791,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age. 
— Gentlemen's  Mag.  vol.  Ixi. 
The  following  is  a  catalogue  of  his  works : — 

Essay  on  the  Theory  and  Construction  of  Fortifications 
London,  1751,  8vo. 

Treatise  on  the  Scorvy,  with  Rem.irks  on  the  Cnrc  of  Scor- 
butic Ulcers ;  designed  chiefly  for  the  use  of  the  BritiBh  Navy. 
I»nd.  1756,  8vo. 

KssAy  on  the  Medical  Constitution  of  Great  Britain;  to 
which  is  added,  Observations  on  the  Weather,  and  the  Dis- 
eases which  appeared  in  the  period  included  between  the  1st 
of  January  1768,  and  the  summer  solstice  17C0.  Together 
i»ith  an  Account  of  the  Throat  Distemper,  and  Miliary  Fever, 
%« hich  were  epidemical  in  1760.  Likewise,  Observations  on 
Anthilmantus,  particulariy  the  Great  Bastard  Black  Helle- 
Dore,  or  Bear's  Foot.     Lond.  1760,  8vo. 

Medical  Essays  and  Observations.  Newcastle  upon  Tyne^ 
1766,  8vo. 

Observations  on  Lymphatic  Incysted  Tumours.  Mod. 
Com.  ix.  p.  244.  1785. 

A  Case  of  an  extraordinary,  irritable,  sympathetic  Tumour. 
Memoirs  Med.  ill  p.  68.    1792. 

Treatise  on  Naval  Tactics. 

BISSET,  James,  an  eccentric  but  ingenious 
artist,  was  bora  in  Perth  about  1742.  When  he 
was  about  fifteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  Biraiing- 
ham,  where  he  resided  for  about  thirty-six  years, 
having  established  there  a  museum  and  shop  for 
the  sale  of  curiosities.  In  1813  he  removed  to 
Leamington,  where  he  had  opened  a  news-room 
and  picture  gallery  the  preceding  year.  His  col- 
lection consisted  principally  of  articles  in  natural 
history,  particularly  birds,  the  costume  and  arms 
of  savage  nations,  models  in  wax  and  rice  paste, 
&c.  In  1814,  we  find  him  styling  himself  Modeller 
to  his  Majesty.  lie  had  a  remarkable  facility  in 
writing  rhymes,  which  he  indulged  in  on  all  occa- 


sions. Even  his  Guides  and  Directories  were  hah 
prose  and  half  verse.  To  the  works  subjoined,  of 
which  he  was  the  author,  might  be  added  a  long 
senes  of  ephemeral  verses,  which  his  loyal  and 
patriotic  muse  poured  forth  on  every  public  occa- 
sion, and  particularly  on  the  periodical  recurrence 
of  the  Shaksperian  jubilee  at  Stratford ;  a  few  of 
which  were  admitted  into  the  pages  of  the  *  Gen- 
tleman^s  Magazine.'  In  a  letter  to  the  editor  of 
that  periodical,  dated  in  1831,  he  said  that  there 
was  not  a  single  newspaper  taken  in,  in  Leaming- 
ton, till  he  established  public  rooms  there.  1 1  is 
mind  was  ever  active  in  suggesting  public  im- 
pi-ovements,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  that  now 
fashionable  and  increasing  watering-place  owes 
much  to  Bisset's  enterprise  and  public  spirit.  He 
collected  many  paintings  of  value,  and  executed 
some  very  good  pieces  himself.  On  his  death,  his 
pictures  were  disposed  of  by  auction.  He  died 
August  17,  1832. 
The  following  are  Bisset's  principal  productions  • 

A  Poetic  Survey  round  Birmingham,  with  a  brief  Descrip- 
tion of  the  dlfTerent  Curiosities  and  Manufactures  of  the  Place, 
accompanied  by  a  Magnificent  Directory,  with  the  names  and 
professions,  &c.,  superbly  engraved  in  emblematical  plates, 
12mo,  1800. 

Songs  on  the  Peace,  1802. 

The  Converts,  a  Moral  Tale,  recommending  the  practice  d 
Humanity,  &c.  8vo,  1802. 

The  Patriotic  Churion,  or  Britain's  Call  to  Glory ;  origina. 
songs  written  on  the  threatened  Invasion.     1804. 

Critical  Essays  on  the  Dramatical  Essays  of  the  Young 
Rosdus;  by  Gentlemen  of  Literary  Talents,  and  Theatrical 
Amateurs,  opposed  to  the  Flypercriticisms  of  Anonymous 
Writers.   Interspersed  with  Interesting  Anecdotes.    8vo,1804. 

Birmingham  Directory,  with  45  Copperplates,  1805. 

A  Guide  to  Leamington,  1814. 

Comic  Strictures  on  Birmingham's  Fine  Arts  and  Conver- 
zationes,  by  an  Old  Townsman,  1829. 

BISSET,  Robert,  a  miscellaneous  writer,  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bisset,  minister  of  Logierait, 
Perthshire,  was  born  about  1759,  and  studied  at 
Edinburgh  for  the  ministry.  Aftei'  taking  the  de- 
gree of  LL.D.,  he  went  to  England,  and  was  first  a 
schoolmaster  at  Chelsea,  near  London,  but  after- 
wards became  a  writer  for  the  press.  He  died  in 
1805,  aged  46.  Besides  a  Life  of  Burke,  in  2 
vols.,  he  published  various  works,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  list- 

Sketch  of  Democracy.     London,  1796,  8vo. 
The  IJfe  of  Edmund  Burke,  &c     Lond.  1798,  8vo. 
Douglas,  or  The  Highlander;  a  Novel.     1800, 4  vols.  12iiia 
The  History  of  the  Reign  of  George  IIL  to  the  tenninatioa 


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-^  the  late  War;  to  which  U  preiixedf  a  View  of  the  progres- 
Mve  Improvement  of  England,  in  Prosperity  and  Strengths 
to  the  aooession  of  his  Majesty.     Lond.  1804,  6  vols.  8vo. 

Modem  Literature.    A  Novel.    1804,  3  vok.  12mo. 

An  edition  of  the  Spectator,  with  lives  of  the  authors,  in  6 
vols. 


Black,  a  name,  lik^  Brown,  White,  &c,  originally  given, 
when  surnames  began  to  be  iirst  used,  which  in  Scotland 
was  not  till  about  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  oentuiy,  to 
peisons  in  the  middle  or  lower  ranks  who  had  no  lands, 
firoro  the  colour  of  the  visage  or  hair,  or  some  peculiarity  in 
I  the  mental  or  personal  character,  and  when  the  surname  was 
I  not  assumed  from  a  trade  or  occupation,  as  Smith,  Cook, 
I  Hunter,  &c,  or  from  the  name  of  the  father,  with  the  addition 
I     of  son,  as  Williamson,  Johnson,  Robertson,  &c. 

BLACK,  Joseph,  M.D.,  the  founder  of  pnea- 
matic  chemistry,  though  not  a  native  of  Scotland, 
was  of  Scottish  descent,  and  long  resided  in  this 
conntiy.  He  was  bom  on  the  banks  of  the  Ga- 
ronne in  France  in  1728.  His  father,  John  Black, 
who  was  a  native  of  Belfast,  but  of  a  Scottish 
family,  had  settled  at  Bordeaux,  as  a  wine  mer- 
chant, and  lived  in  intimacy  with  the  celebrated 
Montesquieu,  who  expressed  his  regret  in  strong 
terms  on  Mr.  Black's  quitting  Bordeaux,  when  he 
retired  from  business,  as  appears  by  several  of  his 
letters.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Robert 
Gordon  of  Hillhead,  Aberdeenshire,  and  by  her 
Dr.  Black  was  nearly  related  to  the  wives  of 
Dr.  Adam  Fergusson  and  Mr.  James  Russell, 
professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh.  In  1740,  when  he  was  twelve 
years  old,  he  was  sent  to  Belfast,  to  receive 
the  rudiments  of  his  education.  In  1746  he  en- 
tered as  a  student  at  the  university  of  Glasgow, 
where  Dr.  Cullen  the  same  year  became  professor 
of  chemistry.  He  prosecuted  his  studies,  particu- 
larly in  physical  science,  with  so  much  assiduity 
and  success  that  he  soon  attracted  the  notice  of 
this  eminent  man,  who  made  him  his  assistant  in 
all  his  chemical  experiments.  In  1751,  having 
chosen  the  profession  of  medicine,  to  complete  his 
medical  studies  he  went  to  the  university  of  Ed- 
inburgh, at  that  time  rising  into  reputation  as  a 
medical  school,  where  in  1754  he  took  the  degree 
of  M.D.  His  inaugural  thcois  on  this  occasion 
was  entitled  ^  De  Acido  a  Cibis  orto,  et  de  Mag- 
nesia Alba,'  in  which  was  contained  an  outline  of 
his  celebrated  discovery  ofjixed  air^  or  carhoiiic 
acid  gas;  which  he  now,  for  the  first  time,  showed 
to  be  the  true  cause  of  the  causticity  of  alkalies. 


This  important  discovery,  with  that  of  hteni  hecU^ 
for  which  we  are  also  indebted  to  Dr.  Black,  laid 
the  foundation  of  modem  pneumatic  chcmistiy, 
which  has  op^ed  to  the  investigation  of  the  phi- 
losopher a  fourth  kingdom  of  nature,  viz.  the  gase- 
ous kingdom.  In  1755  he  published  his  ^  Experi- 
ments on  Magnesia,  Quicklime,  and  other  Alka- 
line Substances,'  which  more  fully  developed 
his  views  on  the  subject  he  had  touched  upon 
in  his  thesis.  His  opinions,  of  course,  gave 
rise  to  considerable  discussion,  particularly  in 
Germany,  but  he  was  enabled  satisfactorily  to 
answer  and  refute  all  objections.  In  1756,  Dr. 
Cullen  having  removed  to  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Black 
was  appointed  his  successor,  as  professor  of  ana- 
anatomy  and  lecturer  on  chemistry,  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Glasgow.  The  former  chair  he  soon  ex- 
changed for  that  of  medicine,  for  which  he  was 
better  qualified.  One  of  his  pupils  at  Glasgow 
was  Watt,  the  celebrated  inventor  of  the  improved 
steam-engine,  who  was  led  by  Dr.  Black's  views 
and  theories  respecting  the  nature  of  steam,  and 
particularly  on  the  subject  of  evaporation,  to  make 
those  great  impi*ovements  which  have  been  of  so 
much  benefit  to  science.  Between  the  years  1759 
and  1763,  Dr.  Black  matured  those  speculations 
on  latent  heat  which  had  for  some  time  engaged 
his  attention.  An  observation  of  Fahrenheit's, 
recorded  by  Dr.  Boerhaave,  that  water  would  be- 
come considerably  colder  than  melting  snow,  with- 
out freezing,  and  would  freeze  in  a  moment  if 
disturbed,  and  in  the  act  of  freezing  emit  many 
degrees  of  heat,  seems  to  have  suggested  to  Dr. 
Black  the  notion  that  the  heat  received  by  ice 
during  its  conversion  into  water  was  not  lost,  but 
was  contained  in  the  water.  The  experiments  by 
which  he  demonstrated  the  existence  of  what  ho 
termed  IcUent  heat  in  bodies  will  be  found  fully  de- 
tailed in  his  ^  Lectures.'  The  result  of  these  he 
first  read,  in  April  1762,  to  a  select  society  in 
Glasgow,  and  afterwards  before  the  Newtonian 
Society  in  Edinburgh.  He  remained  in  Glasgow, 
occasionally  practising  as  a  physician,  till  1766, 
when  Dr.  Cullen  being  appointed  professor  of 
medicine  in  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Black  was  removed 
to  the  chemical  chair  in  that  university,  where  he 
continued  for  about  thirty  years.  He  contributed 
a  paper  to  the  *  Philosophical  Tmnsactions  ot 


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London/ fur  1774,  entitled  ^Observations  on  tlie 
more  ready  freezing  of  water  that  has  been  boiled.' 
The  only  other  paper  written  by  hiin  was  pub- 
lished in  the  second  volume  of  the  *  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh/  being  an  *  An- 
alysis of  the  Waters  of  some  boiling  Springs  in 
Iceland/  in  which  he  found  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  silica.  The  following  portrait  of  Dr.  Black 
is  engi'aved  from  the  painting  by  Sir  Henry  Rae- 
bnrn 


Dr.  Black  was  never  married.  He  long  residcil 
in  the  house  in  Nicholson  Street,  Edinburgh,  which 
now  forms  the  Blind  Asylum.  He  was  simple  in  bis 
habits,  and  very  abstemious  in  his  diet.  Ho  died 
suddenly  November  2G,  1790,  while  sitting  at  table 
with  his  usual  fare,  viz.,  some  bi'ead,  a  few  prunes, 
and  a  measured  quantity  of  milk  diluted  with 
water.  Having  the  cup  in  his  hand,  feeling  the 
approach  of  death,  be  set  it  carefully  down  on  his 
knees,  which  were  joined  together,  and  kept  it 
steady  in  his  hand,  m  the  manner  of  a  person  per- 
fectly at  ease;  and  in  this  attitude  expired,  with- 
out spilling  a  drop,  and  without  a  writhe  in  his 
countenance,  as  if  an  experiment  had  been  wanted 
to  show  to  his  friends  the  facility  with  which  he 
departed.     He  was  in  the  7l8t  year  of  his  age. 


l)v.  Black  was  of  a  cheerful  and  sociable  disposi- 
tion, and,  as  his  mind  was  well  stored  with  infor- 
mation, li£  was,  at  all  times*  an  entertaining  com- 
panion.   His  company  was  therefore  much  conrtnl, 
and  as  his  circumstances  were  afiluent,  he  dedi- 
cated as  much  time  to  the  pleasures  of  society  as 
was  consistent  with  his  avocations.     He  left  the 
principal  part  of  his  fortune,  which  is  said  to 
have  been  considerable,  among  the  children  of  bis 
brothei-s  and  sisters.    After  his  death  his  '  Lectures 
on  Chemistry'  were  published   from  his 
notes  in  2  vols.  4to,  by  his  friend  and  col- 
league, Dr.  Robison,  late  professor  of  natu- 
ril  philosophy  in  the  university  of  Eiliu- 
burgh. — Thomson's  History  of  Chemistry. 
-^Scots  Mag.  for  1803. 

Subjoined  is  a  catalogue  of  the  works  of 
Dr.  Black : 

Kxperiinents  on  Mngnesia  Aibn,  Quick  IJiii€, 
Hiid  other  AlkMliiie  SaUtRnces ;  to  wlitdi  is  adtleti, 
An  Essay  on  Cold,  prodaced  by  Kvaponiting  Fluii*, 
and  some  other  means  of  proihicing  Cold,  l>,v  Dr. 
Cnllen.  Kdinbnrgh,  1776-82,  12mo.  AH  tlieM 
Papers  were  previously  published  in  the  Lattijf 
Piiysical  and  Liternry,  vol.  ii.  p.  167. 

The  Supposed  Effect  of  Boiling  on  Water,  lu 
disposing  it  to  freeze  more  readily ;  aaoertained  by 
Experiment.     Phil.  Tnms.  Abr.  xiii.  610.    177.*». 

An  Analysis  of  the  Waters  of  some  Ilot-Sprin^^ 
m  leelnn.l.  Ed.  Phil.  Trans,  iii.  Part  ii.  96. 
1794. 

I^ecturcH  on  the  Elements  of  Chemistry,  <te- 
livered  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  by  tlie  lata 
Joseph  Black.  M.D.,  now  published  from  liisUaoc- 
i«cript8,  by  John  Robison,  LLD.  Edin.  1803,2 
vols.  4to. 


Blackaddkk,  a  surname  derived  from  lands  on  the  stream 
of  that  name  in  the  Merae  divisioii  of  Berwickshire.  The  true 
meaning  of  the  word  is  Blackwater, — adder^  from  the  Cani- 
bro-British  awedur^  signifying  'a  running  water.*  When 
applied  to  the  stream,  the  word  is  usually  pronounced,  and 
sometimes  written,  BlackaUr. 

There  was  an  ancient  family  named  Blacader,  or  BhuJcad- 
der,  who  possessed  the  lands  of  Tulliallan  in  Perthshire.  The 
ruins  of  the  old  castle  of  TuiliuUan,  which  formerly  bdonged 
to  them,  are  still  standing,  llie  modem  castle  of  that  name 
belongs  to  the  baroness  Keith,  by  marriage  Countes  Fbbaut 
in  France. 

The  original  family  was  Bhickadder  of  that  ilk  in  Berwkk- 
shire,  who  distinguished  themselves  in  the  Border  fends  so 
early  as  the  nunority  of  James  the  Second,  towards  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fifteenth  century.  They  received  the  Unds  whence 
they  derived  their  name  from  that  monarch,  confeiTed  as  a 
reward  for  defending  the  eastern  frontier  against  the  incur- 
aons  of  the  English.  Beatrice,  eldest  daughter  of  one  of  the 
two  portioners  of  Robert  Blackadder  of  Bladcadder,  marrieJ 
John  Home,  fonrtli  of  the  seven  sons  of  Sir  David  Hrn-e 


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•r  Wedderbum,  so  well  known  in  border  song  as  *"  the  seven 
Bfieftrs  of  Wedderbunif**  and  thereby  got  the  estate  of  Black- 
adder. 

ITiis  marriage^  however,  was  brought  about  in  a  very  vio- 
lent manner  on  the  part  of  the  Homes,  with  the  view  of  ac- 
quirifig  the  lands  of  Blackadder,  having,  bj  rapacity  and 
fraud,  appropriated  to  themselves,  in  course  of  time,  the 
greater  part  of  Berwickshire.  The  person  on  whom  James 
the  Second  conferred  the  lands,  and  who  from  them  took 
the  sunianM  of  Blackadder,  as  a  reward  for  military  ser- 
vices, was  named  Cuthbert,  styled  the  ^'Chieflain  of  the 
South "  The  royal  grant  is  dated  in  t4o2.  On  his  ex- 
peditions agiunst  the  English  who  crossed  the  borders  fur 
plunder  he  was  accompanied  by  his  seven  sons  who,  from 
the  darkness  of  their  complexion,  were  called  the  **  Black 
band  of  the  Blackadders."  [  Wriia  of  the  Fantify,  quoted  in 
CrickiofCt  Ltfe  of  the  Rev.  John  Blackadder.^  When  the 
country  required  to  be  put  in  a  posture  of  defence  against  the 
preparations  of  Edward  the  Fourth,  the  Blackadders  raised  a 
body  from  among  their  kindred  and  retainers,  the  Elliots, 
Armstrongs,  Johnstons,  and  other  hardy  and  warlike  border- 
ers to  the  number  of  two  hundred  and  seventeen  men,  all 
accoutred  with  jade  and  spear.  Their  castle,  a  fortress  of 
some  strength,  was  planted  with  artillery,  and  furnished  with 
a  garrison  of  twenty  soldiera.  [Ibid.  Redpatk^i  Border  His- 
tory.'] Cuthbert  and  his  sons  joined  the  train  of  adventurers 
from  Scotland,  who  had  embarked  in  the  wars  of  York  and 
Uncaster,  marshalling  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the 
Red  Rose,  and  fightmg  for  the  earl  of  Richmond,  afterwards 
Ucnry  the  Seventh,  at  Bosworth,  where  the  father  and  three 
if  his  sons  were  left  dead  on  the  fieki.  Andrew,  the  eldest 
of  the  survivmg  brothers,  succeeded  to  the  barony  of  Black- 
adder.  Robert  and  Patrick  entered  into  holy  orders.  The 
former  became  prior  of  Goldingham,  the  latter  was  made  dean 
•f  Dunblane.  The  fourth  brother,  William,  remained  in  Eng- 
Und,  where  he  obtained  a  title  and  opulent  pomessions. 
[Write  of  the  FamUy  of  Blachadder.']  In  memorial  of  their 
services  at  Bosworth,  King  James  granted  the  family  permis- 
sion to  carry  on  their  shield  the  roses  of  York  and  I^ancaster. 
It  was  afterwards  quartered  with  the  house  of  Edmonstone ; 
6eld,  azure;  cheveron,  aigent;  upper  left  hand,  gules;  crest, 
a  dexter  hand  holding  a  broadsword ;  motto,  *■  Courage  helps 
fortune.* 

Andrew  Blackadder,  the  proprietor  of  the  estate,  married  a 
daughter  of  the  house  of  Johnston  of  Johnston,  ancestor  of 
the  earis  of  Annandale,  and  had  two  sons,  Robert  and  Patrick. 
Robert,  the  elder  son,  espoused  Alison  Dougbs,  fourth  daugh- 
ter of  Gcoige,  Mnifter  of  Angus,  and  sist«r  of  Archibald,  earl 
(if  Angus.  He  followed  the  standard  of  the  Douglases  at 
Flodden  in  1513,  and  was  sliun  with  his  father-in-hiw  and 
two  hundred  gentlemen  of  the  name  of  Douglas,  on  that  dis- 
astrous field,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  daughters,  Beatrix 
and  Margaret,  who,  at  the  time,  were  mere  children.  [Red- 
path^i  Border  Hietonf.]  Of  Patrick,  the  younger  son,  de- 
scribed as  a  man  of  chivalry,  who  obtained  by  marriage  the 
estate  of  TullialUn  in  Perthshire,  the  succeeding  paragraph 
gives  an  account.  From  the  unprotected  state  of  Robert's 
daughters,  the  Homes  of  Wedderbum  formed  the  design  of 
seizing  the  lands  of  Blackadder,  and  the  way  in  which  Uiey 
succeeded  in  their  villanous  project  is  but  too  illustrative  of 
the  manners  of  those  rude  times  to  be  omitted,  especially  as 
by  it  the  patrimonial  estate  of  the  Blackadders  was  for  ever 
wrested  from  the  rightful  owners.  They  began  by  cutting  off 
all  within  their  reach,  whose  affinity  was  dreaded  as  an  heredi- 
tary obstacle.  They  attacked  Robert  Blackadder,  the  prior 
of  Coldingham,  at  the  village  of  Lamberton,  while  following 


the  sports  of  the  chase,  and  assassinated  him  and  six  of  his 
attendants.    [lAeUe't  Hist  of  Scotland,  p.  389.    JJietory  oj 
the  Ilomee,']    His  brother,  the  dean  of  Dunblane,  shared  the 
same  fate.    Various  others  were  despatched  in  a  simihir 
manner.    Patrick  Blackadder,  the  cousin  of  the  late  prior, 
endeavoured  to  obtain  the  priory  of  Coldingham;  but  on  the 
active  interference  of  the  Homes,  it  was  bestowed  on  William 
Douglas,  brother  of  the  eari  of  Angus.    They  now  assaulted 
the  castle  of  Blackadder,  where  the  widow  and  her  two  young 
daught«ra  resided.    The  garrison  refused  to  surrender,  but 
the  Homes  succeeded  in  obtaining  possesaon  of  the  fortress, 
and  seized  the  widow  and  her  children,  compelling  them  to 
marriage  by  foroe.    Sir  David  Home  of  Wedderbum  married 
the  widow.      The  two  daughters  were  contracted  to  his 
brothers,  John  and  Robert,  in  1618,  and  as  they  were  then 
only  in  their  eighth  year,  they  were  confined,  by  John  Homo, 
in  the  castle  of  Blackadder  till  they  came  of  age.     [DougUu* 
Peerage,  vol.  ii.  p.  174.]    The  estate,  however,  had  been  en- 
tailed in  the  male  Une,  and  should  have  passed  to  Sir  John 
Blackadder,  then  baron  of  Tnlliallan,  the  cousin  and  tutor  of 
the  ladies,  aa  nearest  heir  of  tailzie:    But  the  Homes,  who 
obtiuned  the  sanction  of  the  earl  of  Angus  to  marry  his 
nieces,  refused  to  quit  possession  of  the  lands,  or  deliver  up 
the  fortress.    Sir  John  applied  to  the  legislature  for  redress 
against  them:  bnt  at  that  period  there  was  no  regular  admi- 
nistration of  justice  in  Scotland,  and  both  parties  had  recourse 
to  the  sword.    During  the  long  minority  of  James  the  Fifth, 
they  were  involved  in  mutual  hostilities.    Sir  John  Black- 
adder  was  beheaded  in  March  1531  for  the  murder  of  James 
Inglis,  abbot  of  Culross,  **  because,  when  he  was  absent  at 
Edinburgh,  the  said  abbot  gave  ane  tack  above  his  head  to 
the  Lord  Erskine  of  the  lands  of  Balgownie.**    Happening  to 
meet  with  him  on  his  return,  he  resolved  to  be  avenged. 
Both  parties  being  of  equal  number,  about  sixteen  horse,  a 
rencontre  took  place,  *■  at  the  Lonhead  of  Roeyth,  near  Culross,* 
which  ended  in  the  slaughter  of  the  abbot     Patrick,  arch- 
deacon of  Glasgow,  succeeded  his  brother  in  Tnlliallan.    He 
held  also,  by  the  king's  spedal  commission,  the  wardenship  of 
Blackadder,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed,  under  warrant 
and  command  from  the  governor  of  Scotland.    While  arch- 
deacon he  had  authority  granted  him  by  the  Pope,  in  1510, 
to  visit  all  kirks  and  monasteries  within  the  bounds  of  the  see 
of  Glasgow.     He  got  also,  in  1521,  the  priory  of  Coldingham, 
(which  William  Douglas  had  forcibly  held,)  by  the  king's  seal, 
with  consent  of  the  duke  of  Albany,  protector  and  governor 
of  Scotland.     In  this  office,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
Adam  Blackadder,  abbot  of  Dundrennan  in  Galloway;  the 
first  worth  two  thousand  pounds,  the  latter  one  thousand 
pounds  a-year.    For  bearing  Sir  Patrick's  expenses  in  travel- 
ling to  France  to  procure  these  appointments  from  Albany, 
who  was  there  at  the  time,  the  said  Adam  botmd  himself  to 
pay  three  thousand  pounds;  for  which  he  gave  in  pledge  two 
massy  silver  cups,  till  the  debt  was  discharged.    [  Write  of 
the  Family^  quoted  in  Crichions  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Black- 
adder,']    Sir  Patrick  renewed  the  process  against  the  Homes, 
for  the  recovery  of  Blackadder.     Under  pretence  of  submitting 
the  dispute  to  friends,  to  have  all  difierences  settled  in  an 
amicable  way,  the  Homes  appointed  a  day  to  meet  Sir 
Patrick  at  Edinbtugh.      Thither  accordingly  he  repaired, 
without  suspicion  of  treachery,  haring  received  warrant  of 
safe  convoy  from  Archibald,  eail  of  Angus,  under  the  great 
seal,  and  accompanied  by  a  small  retinue  of  domestics,  fifteen 
or  sixteen  horsemen,  who  usually  rode  in  his  train,  but  was 
clandestinely  waylaid  by  a  body  of  fifty  horse,  that  lay  in  am- 
bush near  the  Dean,  within  a  mile  of  Edinburgh.    Being  well- 
mounted,  he  made  a  gallant  chnrge,  and  broke  tlirough  the 


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ambuscade,  killing  several  with  his  own  hand.  Overpowered 
with  numbers  he  fled,  taking  the  road  towards  the  West 
Purt,  fiercely  pursued.  On  approaching  the  city,  he  was  sur- 
prised bj  a  fresh  troop  of  horse,  secretly  posted  in  a  hoUoyr, 
where  St.  Cuthbert's  church  now  stands.  These  joining  in 
the  pursuit,  he  made  the  best  of  his  speed  to  gain  the  en- 
trance by  the  Nether  Bow,  or  the  Canongate;  but  before  he 
could  reach  the  ford  of  the  Loch  a  party  of  foot  sallied  out 
from  another  place  of  concealment  to  intercept  him.  Finding 
himself  beset  on  all  hands,  he  ventured  to  take  the  North  Loch, 
near  to  the  place  called  Wallaoe^s  tower  (properly  Well-house 
tower)  on  the  Castle  brae,  when  his  horse  becoming  embog- 
god,  he  and  all  his  attendants  were  basely  murdered.  This 
was  in  the  year  1526.  Hume  of  Godscroft  has  recorded  thb 
affray,  {HisL  of  House  of  Angw^  voL  ii.  p.  86,)  but  he  makes 
the  archdeacon  the  aggressor.  This  was  the  last  attempt 
that  the  Blackadders  made  to  obtain  redress.  The  estate  of 
Blackadder,  of  whidi  they  were  thus  fraudulently  dispos- 
sessed, remained  in  the  family  of  Home.  Both  Hume  and 
Buchanan,  mistakenly,  call  Patrick  archdeacon  of  Dunblane 
instead  of  Glasgow,  and  the  brother  of  Robert  heir  of  Bhick- 
addcr,  whereas  he  was  his  nephew. 

As  above  stated.  Sir  Patrick,  younger  son  of  Andrew 
Blackadder,  acquired  the  Unds  of  Tulliallan  in  Perthshire,  by 
his  marriage  with  Klizabeth,  one  of  the  daughters  and  coheirs 
of  Sir  James  Edmonstone  of  Edmonstone.  Her  dowery  was 
only  half  the  lands,  but  Sir  Walter  Ogilvy,  who  had  married 
bcr  younger  sister,  "  excambed  his  moiety  with  Sir  Patrick, 
in  1493,  for  the  thanedom  of  Boyne.**  Robert  Blackadder, 
his  son,  was,  in  1480,  being  then  at  Rome,  with  a  public 
character  from  King  James  the  Third,  consecrated  bishop  of 
Aberdeen  by  Pope  Sixtus  the  Fourth.  In  1484  he  was 
translated  to  the  bishopric  of  Glasgow.  He  had  so  much  fa- 
vour at  Rome  that  he  obtained  from  the  Pope  the  erection  of 
the  see  of  Glasgow  into  an  archbishopric  He  was  frequently 
employed  in  the  public  transactions  of  Ihe  period  with  the 
English,  and  particularly  in  the  year  1505.  With  the  earl  of 
Both  well,  and  Andrew  Forman,  prior  of  Pittenweem,  be 
negotiated  the  marriage  between  King  James  the  Fourth  and 
Mcjgaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  which  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Soot- 
land  and  England.  He  stood,  likewise,  wit'i  the  eari  of 
Bothwell,  godfather  to  the  young  princ^  who  did  not  long 
survive.  The  archbishop  died  in  1508,  while  on  a  journey  to 
the  Holy  Land.     ^Keith's  Scottuh  Bishops,  p.  254.] 

In  the  Appendix  to  Pitcaim*s  Criminal  Trials,  (vol.  i.  part 
I  page  100,)  under  date  August  18, 1499,  there  is  a  '  Remis- 
non  to  Andro  Blacatar  of  that  Ilk  and  Niniane  Nesbit,  for 
the  forthocht  felony  done  be  thaim  apone  Philip  Nesbit  of 
Wester  Nesbit,  and  Johns,  his  brother,  Patrick  Nesbit  in 
Mongols  Wall,  &c  And  for  the  cruell  slauchter  of  umquhile 
the  said  John  Nesbit,  and  Philip  Nesbit  in  Mongols  Wall, 
apone  forthocht  felony  oommittit:  And  for  the  spulzeing  of 
thair  gudis,  &c  And  of  all  crimes  that  in  onywise  may  be 
imput  to  thaim  for  the  committing  of  the  said  slauchter  and 
forthocht  felony,  in  the  kingis  palace  and  residence,  quhare 
his  hienes  was  personallie  present*  In  the  same  valuable 
work  [^PUcakm^s  Criminal  Trials,  vol  i.,  part  i.,  p.  41]  is 
given  in  full,  a  special  respite,  granted  by  James  the  Fourth, 
on  28th  August,  1504,  in  favour  of  the  *  men,  kin,  tcnentis, 
fuctouris,  and  sen'andis  of  Robert,  archbishop  of  Glasgow, 
(then  about  to  proceed  to  Rome  on  the  kingis  business,)  and 
espedally  fdNr  the  slauchter  of  umquhile  Thomas  RuthiHurde 
withm  the  abbaye  of  Jedworthe.*  Among  the  persons  men- 
tioned in  the  said  *  Respuyt,*  as  taken  under  the  special  pro- 
tection of  the  king  in  the  archbishop's  absence,  are  *  Andro 


Blacader  of  that  ilk,  Schirris  Johne  Forman  of  Rutbirftirde, 
Baldrede  Blacader,  knychtes;  Adam  Blacader,  Charlis  Blac- 
ader, Dame  Elizabeth  Edmonstoune  lady  of  TuUyallane,  Pa- 
trick Blacader  hir  sone  and  aire,  Maigaret  Blacader  lady  of 
Carnschallo,  Johne  Maxwel  hir  sone  and  aire,  Master  Johne 
Blacader,  Persone  of  Kirkpotrick-Flemyng,  Schir  Patrik 
Blacader,  Persone  of  Ranpa^trik,  Robert  Blacader,  sone  and 
apperand  aire  to  Andro  Blacader  of  that  ilk,*  &c 

The  name  properly  should  be  Blackader,  but  according  to 
modem  orthography  it  is  usually  spelled  with  two  ds.  Be- 
sides the  noble  family  of  Angus,  the  house  of  Blackadder  formed 
intermarringes  with  tlie  ftunily  of  Graham,  earls  of  Menteith, 
and  Bruce  of  Clackmannan,  whose  line  still  survives  in  the  earls 
of  Elgin  and  Kincardine.  **  They  espoused  the  part  of  the 
unfortunate  Mary,  and  sided  with  the  cavaliers  in  the  par- 
liamentary wars  of  Charles  the  First.  There  was  a  cadet  of 
this  family  in  the  Spanish  serrice,  under  Ludovic,  eari  ci 
Crawford,  and  another  served  with  Gnstavus  Addphus. 
king  of  Sweden,  in  his  campaigns  f'lr  the  relief  of  the  dis- 
tressed protestants  in  Germany.  One  of  their  last  lineal 
representatives  raised  a  body  of  tnops,  and  joined  the  eari  of 
Glencaim,  who,  with  some  of  the  Highland  chiefs,  in  1653, 
assembled  a  considerable  force  in  the  north  to  repel  the  UBar- 
pations  of  CromwelL"  ICrichton's  LAfe  and  Diary  of  CoL  J. 
Blackadder^  p.  15.] 

The  estate  and  castle  of  Tulliallan  continued  to  be  possessed 
by  the  Blackadders  for  five  generations.  The  next  baroi 
after  Sur  Patrick  was  John.  In  1532  he  undertook  a  pil- 
grimage, probably  to  expiate  his  father's  sacrilege,  and  during 
his  stay  beyond  seas.  King  James  granted  a  warrant  of  protec- 
tion to  all  his  domestics,  tenants  and  vassals.  He  adhered  te 
the  interests  of  the  ill-fated  queen  Mary,  and  an  insuirectioD 
having  taken  place  of  some  of  the  nobles  who  were  discon- 
tented at  her  marriage  with  Damley,  she  addressed  a  lettei 
to  him,  with  her  own  hand,  "  to  meet  her  at  Stirling,  on  the 
ISth  of  August,  1565,  with  his  kin,  friends,  and  household, 
to  pursue  the  rebels,  [as  they  were  called,]  who  had  directei 
their  nuurch  southward.*'  Disagreeing  among  themselves, 
however,  the  insurgent  nobles  durst  not  hazard  an  engage- 
ment with  the  queen's  forces,  but  fled  firom  Edinborgh,  and 
took  their  way  through  Biggar  to  Dumfries,  **  the  Idng  all 
the  while  dogging  them  at  their  heels."  This  was  called  the 
Runaway  Raid,  or  Wild  Goose  Chase.  IHisL  of  ihe  House 
(if  Angus,  vol.  ii  page  155.]  John  Blackadders  son,  Captain 
William  Bhudcadder,  was  with  the  queen's  army  at  Laogside. 
After  that  event  he  was  taken  and  executed,  being  also  ac- 
cused of  having  been  concerned  in  the  murder  of  Damley. 
With  three  others,  he  was  drawn  backward  on  a  cart  to  the 
cross  of  Edinburgh,  and  there  hanged  and  quartered,  on  the 
24th  of  June  1567.  Roland  Bhickadder,  subdean  of  GUsgow, 
was  a  younger  brother  of  John.  The  next  laird  of  TblHalUa 
was  James  Blackadder,  who  married  Alison,  daughter  of 
Brace  of  Clackmannan.  His  only  son  inherited  his  estate 
about  1602.  The  latter  married  Elizabeth  Brace  of  Balfouls, 
by  whom  he  had  Sir  John  Blackadder,  bom  in  1596.  He 
was,  in  1626,  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia — a  dignity 
which  none  of  his  posterity  ever  enjoyed.  Being  of  a  waste- 
ful and  extravagant  turn  he  impoverished  his  estate,  and 
retired  to  the  Continent  He  bore  a  commission  for  some 
time  in  the  French  guards,  and  died  in  America  about  16oL 
He  married  Elizabeth  Graham,  dangliter  of  John,  sixth  eari 
of  Menteith,  and  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  Marriott,  mar- 
ried to  I^urence,  eldest  son  of  Laurence  Oliphant,  Esq.  of 
Condie,  Perthshire. 

To  the  title  of  baronet,  the  Rev.  John  Blackadder,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  immediately  succeeding  menooir,  lived  to  be  the 


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JOHN. 


lioeal  heir,  having  survived  all  nearer  claimants,  but  as  the 
prodigality  of  its  first  possessor  had  redaced  it  to  an  empty 
honour,  it  was  never  assumed  either  hj  himself  or  any  of  his 
descendants.  He  was  of  a  younger  branch  of  the  TuHiallan 
family,  who  possessed  the  lands  and  barony  of  Blairhall,  near 
Cnlross.  His  grandfather,  Adam  Blackadder  of  Blairhall, 
married  Helen,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Robert  Pont,  minis- 
ter of  St  Cnthbert*s,  near  Edinburgh,  and  one  of  the  last  of 
the  clerical  order  that  sat  as  a  Lord  of  Session.  The  only 
fruit  of  this  marriage  was  John,  father  of  the  Rev.  John 
Blackadder,  minister  of  Troqueer.  The  minister  himself  bad 
seven  children,  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 

The  eldest  son,  William,  was  bom  in  1647,  and  studied 
medicine.  In  1665,  he  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Edin- 
buigfa.  He  was  present  at  Bothwell  Brig,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  that  affair.  He  graduated  at  Leyden  in  Holland  in 
1680.  In  1685  he  returned  to  Scotland  with  the  eari  of 
Aigjle  in  his  unfortunate  expedition,  and  was  taken  prisoner 
on  his  landing  at  Kirkwall  in  Orkney.  After  he  had  been 
more  than  a  year  in  prison,  a  remission  came  down  from 
London  in  his  favour,  and  he  was  set  at  liberty,  on  which  he 
proceeded  to  Holland,  where  he  remained  till  1688,  some 
weeks  before  the  prince  of  Orange  came  over.  In  the  month 
of  August  that  year,  he  and  Colonel  Cleland  were  sent  to 
Scotland,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Princess  landing  in  the 
subsequent  November.  Having  imprudently  ventured  up  to 
the  castle  of  Edinbuigh,  to  see  one  Captain  Mackay,  a  patient 
of  his,  he  was  apprehended  by  the  duke  of  Gordon,  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  castle.  Afler  being  subjected  to  several  exami- 
nations before  a  committee  of  the  council,  on  rumours  of  the 
prince  of  Orange's  invasion  reaching  Edinburgh,  he  was  set  at 
liberty,  without  being  put  to  the  torture,  though  it  was  frequently 
threatened.  After  the  Revolution  Dr.  Blackadder  was  ap- 
pointed physician  to  King  William,  and  died,  without  issue, 
about  the  year  1704. 

The  second  son,  Adam,  was  bred  to  the  mercantile  profes- 
aon  in  Stirling,  and  in  the  month  of  November  1674,  while 
yet  an  apprentice,  was,  with  several  others,  apprehended  for 
not  subscribing  the  black  bond,  as  it  was  called,  and  for  at- 
tending conventicles.  His  brother,  Dr.  Blackadder,  presented 
a  petition  to  the  council,  and  after  some  time  obtained  his 
freedom.  He  was  twice  afterwards  imprisoned,  once  in  Fife, 
and  another  time  in  Blackness.  The  latter  was  for  being  at 
his  father's  preaching  at  Borrowstounness,  where  he  baptized 
twenty-six  children.  He  was  afterwards  a  merchant  in  Swe- 
den, where  he  resided  for  about  nine  years,  and  married  a 
Swedish  womAn,  whom  he  converted  from  Lutheranism  to 
Calvinism,  on  account  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  fly  with 
her  from  her  country,  escaping  with  great  difficulty,  it  being 
at  that  time  death  in  Sweden  for  a  native  Swede  to  turn 
either  Catholic  or  Calvinist  About  the  end  of  1684  he  re- 
turned to  Scotland,  and  settled  in  Edinburgh.  He  wrote  an 
account  of  his  father's  sufferings,  which  he  transmitted  to  the 
historian  Wodrow,  and  some  political  tracts  concerning  the 
Darien  expedition,  and  the  state  of  partis  in  Scotland.  The 
late  Mr.  John  Blackadder,  accountant-general  of  excise,  was 
his  grandson. 

Robert,  the  third  son,  studied  theology  at  the  university  of 
Utrecht,  where  he  died  in  1689. 

Thomas,  the  fourth  son,  appears  also  to  have  been  a  mer- 
chant. He  went  to  New  England  shortly  after  his  father's 
imprisonment,  and  died  in  Maryland  before  his  father. 

The  fifth  and  youngest  son  was  named  John  after  himself, 
and  became  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army.  His  Life  and 
Diary,  by  Andrew  Crichton,  the  biographer  of  his  father,  was 
published  at  Edinbuigh  in  1824.    He  was  bom  at  Bamden- 


noch,  in  the  parish  of  Glencaira,  Dumfnes-shire,  September 
14,  1664.  He  very  early  evinced  a  religious  disposition,  and 
at  the  age  of  twelve  b  said  to  have  partaken  of  tlie  Lord's 
Supper.  He  entered  the  army  in  1689,  in  his  twenty -fittn 
year,  as  a  cadet,  at  sixpence  a-day,  in  the  regiment  (now  the 
26th  of  the  Line),  raised  at  the  Re\*olntion  by  the  Cameron - 
ians,  under  the  command  of  tlie  earl  of  Angus,  only  son  of 
the  nuupquis  of  Doughu,  of  which  the  accomplished  soldier 
and  poet,  William  Cleland,  was  the  lieutenant-  coloneL  In 
less  than  two  months  he  became  lieutenant  He  was  engaged 
m  the  affair  at  Dunkeld,  21st  August  1689,  when  the  Camc- 
ronians  were  attacked  by  the  HigfaUmders,  and  in  which  thdr 
galhmt  lieutenafit-colonel,  Cleland.  fell,  an  interesting  account 
of  which,  in  a  letter  to  bis  brother,  written  on  the  spot,  was 
printed  in  the  periodical  papers  of  the  time,  and  is  inserted  in 
Crichton's  Life  and  Diary  of  CoL  Bhwkadder,  (pp.  102—105.). 
On  this  occasion  the  Highlanders,  victorious  at  Killiecrankie  in 
the  previous  month,  were  signally  defeated  and  repulsed.  It 
is  stated  that  an  attempt  was  made  by  Colonel  Cannan,  their 
commander,  to  induce  the  Highlanders  to  renew  their  attack 
on  the  Cameronian  regiment,  but  they  declined,  for  this  res- 
son,  that  although  still  ready  to  fight  with  men,  they  would 
not  again  encounter  devils.  ILife  and  Dianf  of  Colonel 
Blackadder^  p  98.]  Blackadder  afterwards  accompanied  his 
regiment  abroad,  and  gradually  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
colonel.  He  served  vmh  distinguished  honour  under  the  great 
duke  of  Marlborough  in  the  wars  of  Queen  Anne.  He  was 
present  at  the  battles  of  Donawert,  Blenheim,  Kamilies,  and 
most  of  the  engagements  of  that  celebrated  campaign.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1716,  and  died 
deputy-governor  of  Stirling  castle  in  1729.  He  had  the  char- 
acter of  a  brave  soldier  and  a  devout  Christian. 

One  of  Mr.  Blackadder's  daughters  died  young  in  Glencaim 
The  other,  Elizabeth,  married,  in  1687,  a  Mr.  Young,  a  writer 
in  Edinburgh.  Having  fallen  into  difficulties,  he  went  to 
London,  with  a  design  to  improve  his  circumstances.  While 
there  he  wrote  an  excellent  consolatory  letter  to  his  wife  in 
Edinburgh,  which  has  often  been  printed  under  the  title  of 
*  Faith  Promoted,  and  Fears  Prevented,  from  a  proper  view 
of  affliction  as  God's  rod.'  Mrs.  Young  appears  to  have  been 
a  lady  of  remarkable  piety  and  superior  learning.  She  kept 
a  diary  or  '  Short  Account  of  the  Lord's  providence  towards 
her/  which  gives  a  Rimmary  of  the  memorable  events  of  her 
life  from  1700  until  1724.  She  died  in  1782.  The  descend- 
ants of  ber  family  still  survive. — CrickUm's  Memoirs  of  Vie 
Rev.  John  Blackadder, 

BLACKADD£R,  John,  an  emincut  minister  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  was  born  in  1615.  He  was 
the  representative,  as  above-stated,  of  the  Black- 
.addei*s  of  TuUiallan,  and  the  grand  nephew  of  the 
celebrated  topogi-apher  Timothy  Pont.  He  studied 
divinity  in  Glasgow,  under  the  eye  of  his  mother's 
brother,  Principal  Strang  of  that  university.  Having 
been  duly  licensed,  in  1652  he  received  a  call  to  the 
parish  church  of  Troqueer,  in  tlie  neighbourhood 
of  Dumfries.  In  1662,  when  episcopacy  was  at- 
tempted to  be  forced  on  Scotland,  Mr.  Blackadder, 
in  his  sermons  on  several  Sundays,  energetically 
exposed  its  unlawfulness,  and,  to  use  his  own 
phrase,  "entered  his  dissent  in  heaven"  against 


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it.  In  conseqaence  of  this,  and  the  refusal  of  the 
presbytery  of  Dumfries  to  celebrate,  by  order  of 
parliament,  the  anniversary  of  the  Restoration,  he 
and  some  of  his  brethren  wei-e  conducted  to  Edin- 
burgh, by  a  troop  of  fifty  horee  sent  for  the  pur- 
pose; but  after  a  few  examinations,  he  soon  ob- 
tained his  liberty.  An  episcopal  incumbent  hav- 
ing got  possession  of  his  charge,  he  and  his  wife, 
who  was  a  Miss  Haning,  daughter  of  a  merchant 
in  Dumfries,  and  their  numerous  family,  went  to 
reside  at  Caitloch,  in  the  pai-ish  of  Glencaini, 
where  he  occasionally  preached  to  large  assem- 
blages of  people ;  which  coming  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  authorities,  he  was  obliged  once  more  to 
remove.  For  several  years  after  this  he  seems  to 
have  led  a  wandering  life,  preaching  in  the  fields 
wherever  he  could  get  it  done  without  molesta- 
tion. His  exertions  were  not  confined  to  Dum- 
fries-shire  or  Galloway,  but  extended  to  almost 
every  county  south  of  the  Tay.  There  was  scarce- 
ly a  hill,  we  are  told,  a  moor  or  a  glen  in  the 
southern  and  western  districts  of  Scotland,  where 
ho  did  not  hold  a  conventicle,  or  dispense  the  sa- 
crament. In  these  excursions  he  was  frequently 
the  companion  and  coadjutor  of  Welsh,  Peden, 
Cargill,  and  other  undaunted  Covenanters,  who 
in  the  face  of  peril  and  the  sword  unflinchingly 
mniutiuned  the  right  and  the  liberty  of  the  na- 
tional worship. 

In  1670,  having  conducted  divine  worship  at  a 
place  near  Dunfermline,  where  the  people  had 
aimed  themselves  in  self-defence,  he  was  sum- 
moned before  the  privy  council,  but  did  not  obey 
the  citation.  When  the  seai'ch  for  him  had  be- 
come a  little  relaxed,  he  renewed  the  custom  of 
preaching  wherever  opportunity  offered.  On  one 
particular  occasion  he  delivered  a^ermon  at  Kin- 
kell,  near  St.  Andrews;  when,  notwithstanding 
the  injunctions  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  the  people 
all  flocked  to  hear  him.  It  is  stated  that  when 
Sharp  desured  the  provost  to  march  out  the  mili- 
tia, to  dispei'se  the  congregation,  he  was  told  it 
was  impossible,  as  the  militia  had  gone  there  al- 
ready as  worshippei-s.  In  1674  Blackadder  was 
outlawed,  and  a  rcwai*d  of  a  thousand  merks 
offered  for  his  apprehension.  In  1680  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Holland,  and  settled  his  eldest  son 
at   the  university  of  Ley  den,  to  gi-aduate  as  a 


doctor  of  medicine.  After  a  few  months*  ab- 
sence he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  in  1681  waa 
an*ested  in  his  own  house  at  Edinburgh,  and 
confined  in  the  state  prison  on  the  Bass  Rock, 
whei*e  he  remained  about  four  years.  His  health 
being  much  impaired  by  the  dampness  and  close- 
ness of  his  place  of  confinement,  his  fi-iends  applied 
to  government  for  his  liberation ;  but  unwilling  ti 
grant  him  his  release,  it  was  at  first  proposed  to 
remove  him  to  the  jail  either  of  Haddington  or 
Dunbar.  At  length  he  was  offered  his  freedom, 
with  pei-mission  to  reside  at  Edinburgh,  on  condi- 
tion of  his  gi'anting  a  bond  for  five  thousand  merks. 
So  much  delay,  however,  took  place,  that,  before 
he  could  regain  his  liberty,  he  sunk  under  the 
cruel  hardships  to  which  he  was  subjected,  among 
which  "hope  dcfen-ed"  was  not  one  of  the  least. 
He  died  in  the  prison  of  the  Bass  in  December 
1686,  in  his  70th  year,  and  was  buried  in  North 
Berwick  churchyard.  His  cell  in  the  Bass  is  still 
pointed  out  to  the  visitor.  Of  his  children  an  ac- 
count has  been  given  in  the  preceding  article 
Blackadder's  Life,  by  Dr.  Andrew  Crichton,  waa 
published  in  1823. 

BLACKLOCK,  Thomas,  D.D.,  an  ingenious 
poet  and  divine,  the  son  of  poor  but  industrious 
parents,  natives  of  Cumberland,  was  bom  at  An- 
nan,  in  Dumfries-shire,  November  10, 1721.  Be- 
fore he  was  six  months  old,  he  was  deprived  of 
sight  by  the  small-pox.  As  he  gi*ew  up,  his 
father  educated  him  at  home  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  and  read  to  him  instructive  and  entertain- 
ing books,  particularly  the  works  of  Spenser,  Mil- 
ton, Prior,  Pope,  and  Addison.  He  was  also  par- 
tial to  those  of  Thomson  and  Allan  Ramsay.  By 
the  aid  of  some  of  his  companions  who  attended 
the  grammar  school,  and  pitied  his  misfortune,  and 
were  won  by  the  gentleness  of  his  disposition,  he 
acquired  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
tongue.  He  began  to  compose  poetry  when  he 
was  only  about  twelve  years  of  age ;  and  one  of 
his  early  pieces  is  preserved  in  the  collection  pub- 
lished after  his  death.  When  he  was  little  more 
than  nineteen,  his  father,  a  bricklayer,  was  killed  by 
the  falling  of  a  malt  kiln.  Some  of  his  pieces  hav- 
ing, about  a  year  thereafter,  come  into  the  hands 
of  Dr.  John  Stevenson,  an  eminent  physician  in 
Edinburgh,  that  gentleman,  struck  with  his  tal- 


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THOMAS. 


cuts,  took  upon  himseli'  the  charge  of  his  educa- 
tion, and  invited  bira  to  tiiat  city,  where  he  ar- 
rived in  1741.  After  attending  a  gi*ammai-  school 
for  a  short  time,  he  was  eui-ollcd  as  a  student  at 
the  university,  where  he  continued  till  the  year 
1745 ;  when,  in  consequence  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
the  disturbed  state  of  the  metropolis,  he  retired  to 
Dumfries,  to  the  house  of  Mr.  M'Murdo,  who  had 
married  his  sister.  At  the  close  of  the  civil  com- 
motions he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  pursued 
his  studies  at  college  for  six  years  longer,  lie 
not  only  made  considerable  progress  in  the  sci- 
ences, but  obtained  a  thoix>ngh  knowledge  of  the 
Greek,  I^in,  and  French  languages ;  the  latter  of 
which  he  acquired  by  conversation  with  the  lady 
of  Provost  Alexander,  who  was  a  native  of  Fi-ance. 
Although  the  chief  inlets  to  poetical  ideas  were 
closed  to  him,  the  beauties  of  creation  and  all 
external  objects  being  hid  from  his  view,  he  wrote 
poetry,  not  only  with  facility,  but  with  success. 
In  1746  he  published  at  Glasgow  an  8vo  volume 
of  his  poems,  and  in  1754  he  brought  out  at  Edin- 
burgh another  edition,  which  was  very  favourably 
received,  and  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Rev.  Jo- 
seph Spence,  professor  of  poetiy  at  Oxford,  who 
wrote  an  account  of  his  life  and  writings,  with  the 
design  of  introducing  his  name  and  character  to 
the  English  public.  In  1756  a  quarto  edition  of 
his  poems  was  published  in  London  by  subscrip- 
tion, which  yielded  him  a  considerable  sum. 

After  the  completion  of  his  university  course,  he 
began  to  prepare  himself  for  giving  lectures  on 
oratory  to  young  men  intended  for  the  bar  or  the 
pulpit :  but  by  the  advice  of  Hume  the  historian, 
who  interested  himself  warmly  in  his  behalf,  he 
abandoned  the  project,  and  turned  his  attention 
towards  the  church.  Having  devoted  the  usual 
time  to  the  study  of  divinity,  he  was,  in  1759, 
duly  licensed  for  the  ministiy  by  the  presbyteiy  of 
Dumfries.  t)n  the  alarm  of  a  French  invasion,  in 
1761,  he  published  a  discourse  ^  On  the  right  im- 
provement of  Time,*  and  in  the  same  year  he  con- 
tributed some  poems  to  the  first  volume  of  Don- 
aldson's collection  of  original  poems,  published  in 
ICdinburgh.  In  1 762  he  married  Sai-ah,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Joseph  Johnston,  surgeon  in  Dumfries. 
The  earl  of  Selkirk  obtained  for  him  from  the 
Ci-own  a  presentation  to  the  church  of  Kirkcud- 


bright, and  his  ordination  took  place  a  few  days 
after  his  marriage ;  but  his  appointment  was  op- 
posed by  the  parishioners,  and  after  nearly  two 
years*  legal  contention,  he  resigned  his  living,  by 
the  advice  of  his  friends,  for  a  moderate  annuity. 
He  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  1764,  and  added  to 
his  income  by  receiving,  as  boarders  into  his  house, 
a  number  of  young  gentlemen,  whom  he  assisted 
in  theur  studies.  This  system  he  continued  till 
1787,  when  age  and  increasing  infinnities  obliged 
him  to  give  it  up.  In  1766  he  obtained  the  de- 
gree of  D.D.  fi-om  the  Marischal  college,  Aberdeen. 
In  1767  he  published  ^  Paraclesis,  or  Consolations 
deduced  from  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,*  in 
two  dissertations ;  and  in  1768  ^  Two  Discourses 
on  the  Spu'it  and  Evidences  of  Christianity,*  trans- 
lated from  the  French  of  M.  Armand,  minister  of 
the  Walloon  church  in  Hanau.  In  1774  appeared 
his  last  publication,  ^  The  Graham,*  a  heroic  bal- 
lad, in  four  cantos,  intended  to  promote  a  good 
feeling  betwixt  the  inhabitants  of  England  and 
Scotland ;  but  this  poem,  being  considered  of  infe- 
rior merit,  has  been  excluded  from  Mackenzie*3 
collection  of  his  works. 

Dr.  Blacklock  was  one  of  the  first  to  appreciate 
the  genius  of  Bums  the  poet ;  and  it  was  owing  to 
a  letter  from  him  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Laurie,  minister 
of  Loudon,  Ayi-shire,  that  Buras,  in  November 
1786,  relinquished  his  design  of  quitting  his  native 
land  for  Jamaica,  and  trying  his  fortune  in  Edin- 
burgh. On  his  aiTival  in  the  metropolis,  the  doc- 
tor treated  him  with  gi*eat  kindness,  and  intro- 
duced him  to  many  of  his  literary  friends.  **  There 
was,  perhaps,  never  one  among  all  mankind,'* 
says  Heron,  in  a  Life  of  Bums,  in  the  Edinburgh 
Magazine,  ^^wliom  you  might  more  tmly  have 
called  an  angel  upon  earth  than  Dr.  Blacklock. 
He  was  guileless  and  innocent  as  a  child,  yet  en- 
dowed with  manly  sagacity  and  penetration.  His 
heai*t  was  a  perpetual  spi'ing  of  ovei-flowing  benig- 
nity ;  his  feelings  were  all  tremblingly  alive  to  the 
sense  of  the  sublime,  the  beautiful,  the  tender,  the 
pious,  and  the  virtuous.  Poetry  was  to  him  the 
dear  solace  of  perpetual  blindness ;  cheerfulness, 
even  to  gaiety,  was,  notwithstanding  that  irreme- 
diable misfortune,  long  the  predominant  colour  of 
his  mind.  In  his  latter  years,  when  the  gloom 
might  otherwise  have  thickened  aiound  him,  hope, 


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BLACKWELL, 


814 


THOMAS. 


faith,  devotion,  the  most  fervent  and  sublime,  ex- 
alted his  mind  to  heaven,  and  made  him  maintain 
his  wonted  cheerfulness  in  the  expectation  of  a 
speedy  dissolution." 

Dr.  Blaclclocic  died  at  Edinburgh,  July  7,  1791, 
and  was  buried  in  the  ground  of  St.  Cuthbert's 
chapel  of  ease.  A  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory,  with  an  elegant  Latin  inscnption,  fix>m 
the  pen  of  his  friend  and  frequent  correspondent. 
Dr.  Beattie.  Next  to  conversation,  music  was 
his  chief  recreation.  He  was  a  performer  on  sev- 
eral instruments,  particularly  the  flute.  He  gen- 
erally carried  in  his  pocket  a  small  flageolet,  on 
which  he  played  his  favourite  tunes.  He  com- 
posed with  taste ;  and  one  of  his  pieces  in  this 
department  was  inserted  in  the  Edinburgh  Mag- 
azine and  Review  for  1774,  under  the  title  of 

*  Absence,  a  Pastoral,  set  to  Music,  by  Dr.  Black- 
lock.'  He  left  a  great  many  sermons  in  manu- 
script, together  with  a  ti-eatise  on  morals ;  which 
were  never  published.    The  article  *  Blind,'  in  the 

*  Encyclop»dia  Britanuica,'  was  conti-ibuted  by 
him  in  1783.  He  published  in  1756  ^  An  Essay 
towards  a  Univei*8al  Etymology,'  besides  one  or 
two  sermons.  In  1793  appeared  a  quarto  edition 
of  his  poems,  with  his  life  by  Henry  Mackenzie. 
His  attainments  in  science  and  in  general  know- 
ledge, considering  his  blindness,  were  truly  won- 
derful ;  and  ia  all  respects  he  must  be  considered 
one  of  the  most  singular  Hte]*ary  phenomena  that 
has  ever  appeared  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

BLACKWELL,  Thomas,  an  eminent  scholar 
and  author,  was  born  at  Aberdeen,  August  4, 1701. 
His  father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Blackwell,  was  for 
some  time  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aberdeen.  In 
1717  he  was  appointed  principal  of  Marischal  Col- 
lege in  that  city,  and  died  in  1728.  He  bestowed 
the  greatest  attention  on  the  education  of  his  sons, 
Thomas  and  Alexander,  a  notice  of  whom  follows. 
After  receiving  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at 
the  grammar  school  of  his  native  city,  Thomas 
was  sent  to  study  in  Marischal  College,  where  he 
took  the  degi-ee  of  master  of  arts  in  1718.  Being 
deeply  versed  in  the  Greek  language  and  litera- 
ture, he  was,  in  December  1723,  appointed  by  the 
Ciown,  profes^r  of  Greek  in  the  university  where 
he  had  been  educated.  In  1737  he  published  at 
Ixiudon,   without    \i\6  name,   *  An    Inquiry  into 


the  Life  and  Writings  of  Homer,*  8vo ;  *^  a  pro* 
duction,"  says  Dr.  Irving,  ^^  which  displays  more 
cmdition  than  genius,  and  more  affectation  than 
elegance."  In  1748  he  published  anonymously, 
*•  Letters  concerning  Mythology,'  8vo,  which,  saya 
the  same  anthor,  may  be  classed  among  pompom 
trifles.  The  same  year,  on  the  death  of  Principal 
Osbom,  he  was  appointed  principal  of  Marisdial 
College  by  the  Crown,  on  whom  the  patronage  had 
devolved  on  the  forfeiture  of  the  Marischal  family  in 
1716.  Soon  after  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  mer- 
chant in  Aberdeen,  by  whom  he  had  no  children.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  session,  1752,  on  his  re- 
commendation, a  new  oi'der  in  teaching  the  sciences 
was  introduced  into  Marischal  College,  being  that 
now  in  operation ;  the  plan  of  academical  educa- 
tion previously  in  use  being  found  insufficient.  In 
the  same  year  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws, 
and  in  1753  he  published  the  first  volume  of  his 
'Memoii-s  of  the  Court  of  Augustus,'  4to.  Tlie 
second  volume  appeai-ed  in  1755,  and  the  third, 
which  was  posthumous,  and  left  incomplete  by 
the  author,  was  prepared  for  the  pi-css  by  John 
Mills,  Esq.,  and  published  in  1764.  This  work 
was  severely  criticised  by  Dr.  Johnson,  and,  like 
all  BiackwcU's  productions,  is  now  seldom  looked 
into.  On  account  of  declining  health,  Dr.  Black- 
well  was  advised  to  travel,  but  could  proceed  no 
fai'ther  than  Edinburgh,  where  he  died  of  a  con- 
sumptive disease,  March  6,  1757,  in  his  56th  year. 
His  widow  survived  him  for  many  years,  and  in 
1793,  she  founded  a  professorship  of  chemistry  iu 
Mai'ischal  College.  She  also  left  a  pi*cmium  of 
£10  sterling  to  be  annually  given  to  the  person 
who  should  compose  and  deliver  the  best  discourse 
in  the  English  language  upon  a  certain  specified 
subject. — Biog,  -BnV.— Blackwell's  works  are: 

Inqniiy  into  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Homer.  Lond.  1735. 
2d.  edit  1786,  8vo. 

The  Dangers  of  the  Rebellion,  and  oar  happy  Deliverance, 
considered,  and  a  suitable  consequent  behaviour  rcoommcnded. 
Psalm  cxxix.  5.     1746,  4to. 

Proofii  of  the  Inquiry  into  the  Life  and  Writings  jf  Honiec 
Lond.  1747,  8vo. 

Letters  concerning  Mythology.     Lond.  1748,  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Augustus.  Edin.  1763 — 1755,  2 
vols.  4to.  Lond.  1764,  3  vols.  4to.  The  same  work  contin- 
ued and  completed  from  the  Author's  original  papers,  by  John 
Mills,  Esq.,  forming  a  8d  volume.     1764,  3  vols.  4ta 

Letter  to  Mr.  J.  Ames,  relating  to  an  andcnt  Greek  la 
scription.    See  Ardueologia,  vol.  L  p.  333.    1770. 


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ALEXANDER. 


BLACKWEL^  Alexander,  a  man  of  great 
Datural  genius,  and  an  accomplished  Gi'eek  and 
J^atin  scholar,  brother  of  the  preceding,  was  bom 
in  Aberdeen  abont  the  beginning  of  the  eigliteenth 
century.  In  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  7th 
edition,  he  is  stated  to  have  been  the  son  -of  a 
dealer  in  knit-hose  in  Abci*dccn ;  bat  this  is  evi- 
dently a  mistake,  his  father,  as  stated  in  the 
preceding  life,  being  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aber- 
deen, and  principal  of  Marischal  College.  After 
completing  his  academical  edacation  at  Marischal 
College,  he  went  to  Leyden,  where  he  studied  phy- 
sic under  the  celebrated  Boerhaave,  and  took  the 
degree  of  M.D.  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  the  author- 
ess of  the  most  extraordinary  botanical  work  of 
her  day,  was  the  daughter  of  a  stocking  merchant 
in  Aberdeen  of  the  same  name,  and  probably  a 
relative  of  her  hnsband,  to  whom  she  was  secretly 
married;  and  some  accounts  say  that  he  eloped 
witl;  her  to  London ;  but  it  appears  that  he  had 
fii-st  endeavoured  to  establish  a  practice  in  his  na- 
tive city,  and  not  succeeding,  he  removed  to  the 
British  metropolis,  and  became  corrector  of  the 
press  to  Mr.  Wilkins,  a  printer.  He  afterwards 
commenced  the  printing  business  himself  in  the 
Strand;  and  continued  to  carry  it  on  till  1734, 
when,  in  consequence  chiefly  of  an  action  being 
brought  against  him  for  not  having  served  a  regu- 
lar apprenticeship  to  the  trade,  he  became  involved 
in  debt,  and  was  thrown  into  prison.  Luckily  his 
wife  possessed  a  taste  for  the  drawing  and  colour- 
ing of  flowers,  which  she  now  turned  to  account. 
Engravings  of  flowers  were  then  very  rare,  and 
Mrs.  Blackwell  thought  that  the  publication  of  an 
Herbal  might  yield  her  such  a  remuneration  as 
would  enable  her  to  discharge  her  husband's  debts. 
Having  submitted  her  first  drawings  to  Sir  Hans 
Sloane  and  Dr.  Mead,  these  eminent  physicians 
encouraged  her  to  proceed  with  the  work.  She 
also  received  the  kindest  countenance  from  Mr. 
Philip  Miller,  then  well  known  as  a  writer  on  hor- 
ticulture. She  was  also  patronised  by  Mr.  Rand 
of  the  botanical  garden  at  Chelsea,  by  whose  ad- 
vice she,  in  the  year  1735,  took  lodgings  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  this  garden,  for  more  ready  ac- 
cess to  those  flowers  and  plants  which  she  required 
for  her  work,  and  proceeded  to  make  drawings  of 
them,  thereafter  engraving  them  on  copper,  and 


colouring  the  work  herself.  Her  husband  added 
the  Latin  names  of  the  different  plants,  and  a 
brief  description  of  each,  chiefly  taken,  by  permis- 
sion, from  Miller's  ^Botanicum  Officinale.'  The 
first  volume  of  her  Herbal,  containing  262  plates, 
appeared  in  1737;  and  the  second,  with  248 
plates,  in  1739.  It  was  published  in  a  complete 
form,  under  the  title  of  '  A  curious  Herbal,  con- 
taining five  hundred  Cuts  of  the  most  useful 
Plants  which  are  now  used  in  the  practice  of 
Physic,  engraved  on  folio  copperplates,  after  draw- 
ings taken  from  the  Life,  by  Elizabeth  Black- 
well  ;  to  which  is  added  a  short  Description  of  the 
Plants,  and  their  common  uses  in  Physic,'  folio. 
This  work  raised  Mrs.  Blackwell  very  high  in 
public  estimation,  and  by  it«  means  she  was  en- 
abled to  free  her  husband  from  prison.  The  col- 
lege of  physicians,  to  whom  she  was  pennltted  to 
present  in  person  the  fli*8t  volume  on  its  comple- 
tion, not  only  made  her  a  handsome  present,  but 
gave  her  a  testimonial,  signed  by  the  president 
and  censors  of  the  institution,  strongly  recommen- 
datory of  her  work. 

After  his  release,  the  duke  of  Chandos  employed 
Blackwell  to  superintend  some  agricultural  opera- 
tions at  Cannons.  Having  published  a  work  on 
agriculture,  a  copy  of  it  was  transmitted  to  the 
king  of  Sweden  by  his  ambassador  in  this  country; 
in  consequence  of  which  he  was  offei-ed  an  engage- 
ment at  Stockholm,  which  he  accepted.  About 
1740,  leaving  his  wife  and  child  in  Jx)ndon,  he 
sailed  for  the  Swedish  capital.  On  his  arrival  he 
was  orderod  apartments  in  the  house  of  the  prime 
minister,  and  allowed  a  pension.  Having,  during 
a  dangerous  illness  of  the  king,  prescribed  with 
success  for  his  majesty,  he  was,  on  his  recovery, 
appointed  one  of  the  king's  physicians.  At  this 
time  he  was  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  favour  of 
the  court,  and  having  submitted  to  the  king  a 
scheme  for  draining  certain  large  fens  and  marsh- 
es, this  was  tried,  and  found  to  he  successful.  To 
his  wife,  who  was  on  the  point  of  joining  him,  he 
i-emitted  large  sums  of  money ;  but  his  career  in 
Sweden  was  destined  soon  to  come  to  a  fatal  close. 
He  was  aiTCsted  on  suspicion  of  l}eing  concerned 
in  a  plot  with  Count  Tessin  to  overturn  the  gov- 
ernment, and  alter  the  line  of  succession.  After 
being  subjected  to  the  torture,  he  was  tried  before 


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ADAM. 


a  royal  commission,  and  sentenced  to  be  broken 
alive  on  the  wheel,  for  which  beheading  was  after- 
wards snbstituted.  He  was  executed  August  9, 
1748,  protesting  his  innocence  to  the  last.  Hav- 
ing prayed  for  a  short  time,  he  laid  his  head  on 
the  block,  but  in  a  wrong  posture,  on  which,  in 
the  spirit  of  jesting  which  distinguished  Sir  Tho- 
mas More  at  his  execution,  he  excused  himself 
for  his  awkwardness,  as  it  was  his  first  experiment 
in  that  way.  The  date  of  his  wife's  death  is  un- 
known. An  edition  of  her  work  was  published  on 
the  continent. 

BLACKWOOD,  Adam,  a  learned  but  bigoted 
writer  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  distinguished 
himself  as  the  antagonist  of  Buchanan  and  the  de- 
fender of  Queen  Mary,  was  bora  at  Dunfermline 
in  1539.  He  was  the  son  of  William  Blackwood, 
a  gentleman  by  birth,  by  his  wife,  Helen  Reid, 
granddaughter  of  Jolin  Reid  of  Alkenhead,  who 
was  slain  at  Flodden.  Her  uncle,  Robert  Reid, 
bishop  of  Orkney  and  president  of  the  coui-t  of 
session,  bequeathed  eight  thousand  merks  for  the 
foundation  of  a  college  in  Edinburgh,  and  has, 
therefore,  some  claim  to  be  considered  the  founder 
of  that  university.  [See  Reid,  Robert,  an  emi- 
nent prelate.]  Black  wood^s  father  was  slain  in 
battle  before  he  had  reached  his  tenth  year,  and 
his  mother  did  not  long  sui'vive  him.  His  grand- 
uncle,  the  bishop  of  Orkney,  having  undeitaken 
the  charge  of  his  education,  sent  him  at  a  proper 
age  to  the  university  of  Paris.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  he  lost  his  relative  and  benefactor,  who 
died  at  Dieppe,  on  the  15th  September  1558. 
Soon  after,  young  Blackwood  returned  to  Scotland. 
By  the  munificence  of  Queen  Mary,  at  that  time 
residing  with  her  fii*sc  husband,  the  dauphin,  at 
the  court  of  France,  he  was  enabled  to  resume  his 
academical  career  at  Paris.  He  now  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  mathematics  and  philoso- 
phy, and  also  to  the  acquirement  of  the  oriental 
languages.  He  afterwards  attended  a  coui'se  of 
law  at  the  university  of  Toulouse,  where  he  resided 
for  two  years.  On  his  retura  to  Paris  he  sought 
for  employment  as  a  teacher  of  philosophy.  In 
1574  he  published  his  earliest  work,  a  poem  on  the 
death  of  Charles  the  Ninth  of  France,  whose  reign 
has  been  for  ever  rendered  infamous  by  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew.    In  the  following  year 


appeared  his  first  two  books  on  the  connexion  of 
religion  and  goverament.  A  third  book  was  added 
in  1612.  On  the  recommendation  of  James  Be- 
th une,  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  then  living  in  exile 
in  Paris,  Queen  Mary  bestowed  upon  him  the 
office  of  a  counsellor,  that  is,  judge,  of  the  parlia- 
ment of  Poitiers.  The  province  of  Poiton  had 
been  assigned  to  her  for  the  payment  of  her  dow- 
ry, and  her  letters  patent  were  confirmed  by  the 
French  king,  Henry  the  Tliird.  According  to  Dr. 
Mackenzie  [Lives  of  Scots  Writers^  vol.  iii.  p.  488] 
he  was  likewise  appointed  professor  of  the  civil 
law  in  the  univei'sity  of  Poitiers,  but  this  is  evi- 
dently a  mistake.  A  list  of  his  works  is  given 
below.  Among  them  is  his  ^  Apologia  pro  Rcgi^ 
bus,^  which  appeared  in  1581,  intended  as  an  an- 
swer to  the  eloquent  and  masterly  dialogue  of  Ba- 
chanan  on  the  rights  of  the  crown  of  Scotland.  He 
inscribed  his  work  to  the  queen,  who  had  nomi- 
nated him  a  privy  councillor,  and  to  her  son,  af- 
terwards James  the  Sixth.  When  Mary  was  a 
prisoner  in  England,  in  the  hope  of  rendering  her 
some  material  service  during  her  captivity,  he 
made  more  than  one  voyage  to  England ;  and  soon 
after  her  tragical  death  he  published  in  French  a 
long  account  of  her  treatment,  under  the  title  of 
^  Martyre  de  la  Reyno  d^Escosse,^  with  a  zealous 
vindication  of  her  character.  In  this  work  he  bit- 
terly reviles  the  enemies  of  Mary,  not  sparing 
John  Knox  and  Queen  Elizabeth  in  his  wrath ; 
describing  the  former  as  *^a  ti*ue  member  and 
apostle  of  Satan,"  and  recommending  a  general 
crusade  of  Christian  princes  against  the  latter  as 
"  a  foul  murderess."  To  this  work  was  added  a 
collection  of  poems  in  Latin,  French,  and  Italian, 
upon  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  those  on  the  latter  writ- 
ten in  a  style  of  the  most  intense  vituperation. 

In  1604,  Blackwood  again  visited  London,  and 
having  been  presented  to  King  James,  he  wa^ 
honoured  with  a  very  gi*aciou3  reception.  In  1606 
he  published  a  Latin  poem  which  he  had  written 
on  the  accession  of  James  the  Sixth  to  the  throne 
of  England.  He  also  wrote  some  pious  medita- 
tions in  prose  and  verse,  and  projected  a  continu- 
ation of  Boyce's  History  of  Scotland,  which,  from 
his  extreme  and  bigoted  views,  it  is  as  well  that 
he  did  not  live  to  finish.  He  died  in  1613,  in  the 
74th  year  of  his  age,  and  was  iuleiixid  in  St.  Per- 


L 


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BLACKWOOD, 


817 


WILLIAM. 


cliarios*  church  at  Poitiers,  wlierc  a  mnrble  moua- 
meiit,  with  a  long  inscription,  was  erected  to  his 
memory. 

He  had  married  Catherine  Conrtinier,  daughter 
of  tlic  "procureur  dc  roi"  of  Poitiers.  His  wife 
bore  to  him  four  sons  and  seven  daugliters.  One 
of  his  sons  became  a  judge  of  the  same  court.  An- 
other fell  in  battle  during  the  civil  wars  of  France. 
One  of  his  daughters  was  married  to  his  couutiy- 
man,  George  Crichton,  doctor  of  the  canon  law, 
royal  professor  of  Greek  in  the  university  of  Pa- 
ris; after  whose  death,  she  became  the  wife  of 
Francois  de  la  Motlie  le  Vayer.  Of  the  rest  of  the 
family  there  are  no  memorials.  In  France  the 
name  is  Blacvod.  llrving^s  Lives  of  Scottish  Wri- 
ters^ vol.  i.] 

Adam  Blackwood's  works  are : 

Caroli  IX.  Pompa  FanebrU  yeniculis  expressa  per  A.  B. 
J.  C.  [Juris  Gonsalttun.]    Paris,  1574,  8vo. 

De  Vinculo;  seu  Conjnnctione  Religionis  et  Imperii  libri 
doo,  quibos  conjurationum  tradacimtnr  insidisB  fhco  religionis 
adom^ratsD.  Ad  illostrissiinam  serenissimamqne  principem, 
D.  Mariam  Sootis  Reginain,  et  Galliae  Dotariam.  Paris, 
1575,  8vo. 

Apologia  pro  Regibus,  Adversos  Georgii  Bnchanani  Dialo- 
gum,  de  Jore  Regni  apud  Sootos.  Pictavis  15S1, 4to.  Pari- 
siis,  1588,  8ro. 

Martyre  de  hi  Repe  d^Escosse,  Dooariere  de  France;  con- 
tenant  le  Tray  discours  des  tralsons  k  elle  faictes  k  la  suscita- 
tion  d'KUxabet  Angloise,  par  Icquel  lea  mensonges,  calomnies, 
et  fanlaes  accusations  drese^  centre  oeete  tresrertneuse, 
trescatboKqne,  et  treidllastre  princesse  son  eeclarcies,  et  son 
innocence  arer^  This  work  is  said  to  have  been  printed 
^  A  Edimbonrg,  chex  Jean  Nafeild,**  1587,  8vo;  but  this  was 
not  the  case,  and  the  publisher's  name  is  fictitious.  It  was 
reprinted  at  Antwerp  in  1588,  and  again  in  1589.  It  is  to 
be  found  in  the  collection  of  Jebb,  De  Vita  et  Rebus  gestls 
Maris  Scotomm  Reginae  Autores  sedecim,  tom.  iL  p.  175. 
I^ndon,  1725,  2  tom.  foL 

Sanctarum  Precationum  Proemia,  seu  maris,  Ejaculationes 
Aninue  ad  Orandum  se  praeparantis.  Dedicated  to  Arch- 
bishop Bethune  of  Glasgow.  Augustoriti  Pictorium,  1598, 
12mo.    Aug.  Pict  1608,  16to. 

Inangnratio  Jacobi  MagnsB  Britannia  Regis.     Paris,  1606, 

8vo. 

In  Psalmum  Davidis  quinqnagesimum,  ci\jns  iniUum  est. 
Miserere  mei  Deus.  Adnmi  Blacrodaei  Meditatio.  Aug. 
Pict  1608,  16to. 

Varii  generis  Poemata.  Per  Adam.  Bhicrodaemn,  m  Pre- 
sidiili  Pictonnm  Consessu.  et  in  Metropolitano  Decurionnm 
CoUegio  ConsiKarium.    PicUvis,  1609,  16to. 

An  elegant  edition  of  Blackwood*s  works  in  Latin  and 
French,  appeared  at  Paris  in  one  volume,  thirty-one  years 
afler  his  death,  under  the  title  of  *Adami  Blacvodaei,  in 
Curia  PncsidiaU  Pictonum,  et  Urbis  in  Decurionnm  CoUegio, 
Regis  ConsiKarii,  Opera  Omnia,  cum  ejus  Vita,  k  Gabriel 
Naudeo,  Paris,  1644,  4to.  This  volume,  says  Dr.  Irving, 
eontaint  a  portrait  of  the  author  by  Picart  He  i^pears  in 
kia  official  robes. 


BLACKWOOD,  Henry,  physician,  elder  bro- 
ther of  the  preceding,  was,  about  the  year  1661,  a 
teacher  of  philosophy  in  the  university  of  Pari.^, 
wliere  he  had  been  educated.  Having  applied 
liimself  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  taken  the 
degree  of  M.D.,  he  became  dean  of  that  faculty 
and  was  at  one  time  physician  to  the  duke  of  Ix>n- 
gueville.  He  died  about  1613,  at  an  advanced 
age.  He  was  the  author  of  various  medical  and 
philosophical  treatises.  His  son,  who  bore  the  same 
name,  and  followed  the  same  profession,  became 
professor  of  physic  in  the  Royal  College,  and  died 
at  Rouen  in  1634.  According  to  the  Biographie 
Universelle,  (tom.  iv.  p.  649,)  the  younger  Henry 
Blackwood  ^*  ^tait  nn  homme  de  beauconp  de  ta- 
lent, mals  tr^  inconstant,  philosophe,  orateur, 
m^ecin,  soldat,  courtisan,  voyageur,  et  intriguant 
dans  tout  ces  ^tats.**  He  published  an  edition  of 
Hippocratis  Coi  Prognosticoinim  libri  tres,  ad  vet- 
erum  exemplarinm  fidem  emendati  et  recogniti 
Paris,  1626,  24to. 

Another  brother  of  Adam  Blackwood  was  George 
Blackwood,  who  was  also  educated  at  Paris,  and 
taught  philosophy  in  that  city  about  the  year 
1671 ;  but  having  subsequently  entered  into  holy 
orders,  he  obtained  considerable  preferment  in  the 
French  church.  [Irving^s  Lives  of  Scottish  Writeis^ 
vol.  I.  p.  168.] 

BLACKWOOD,  William,  an  eminent  pub- 
lisher, and  founder  of  the  magazine  that  bears  his 
name,  was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  November  20, 1776. 
Hia  parents  were  respectable,  though  in  a  humble 
station ;  and  he  received  an  excellent  education. 
In  1790  he  entered  on  his  apprenticeship  with 
Messrs.  Bell  and  Bradfute,  the  well  known  pub- 
lishers ;  and  while  in  their  employment  he  stored 
his  mind  with  reading  of  all  sorts,  Cf^pecially  Scot- 
tish history  and  antiquities.  In  1797,  after  the 
expiry  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  was  engaged  by 
Messrs.  J.  Mundell  and  Co.,  extensive  booksell- 
ers in  Edinburgh,  to  go  to  Glasgow  to  take  the 
superintendence  of  a  branch  of  their  business  iu 
that  city ;  where,  having  the  sole  charge,  he  ac- 
quired those  habits  of  decision  and  promptitude 
for  which  he  was  so  remarkable.  At  the  end  of  a 
year  he  returned  to  Bell  and  Bradfute,  with  whom 
he  continued  another  year.  In  1799  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  Mr.  Robert  Ross,  bookseller 


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BLACKWOOD. 


318 


BIAIK. 


and  book  aactioneer,  bat  this  connection  being 
dissolved  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  he  went  to 
London,  to  the  shop  of  Mr.  Cnthell,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  old  book  trade. 
In  1804  he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  commenced 
business  on  his  own  account,  on  the  South  Bridge, 
as  a  dealer  in  old  books,  in  which  department  his 
knowledge  was  allowed  to  be  unusually  great. 
lie  soon  after  became  agent  for  several  of  the  Lon- 
don publishers,  among  whom  were  Messrs.  Mur- 
ray, Baldwin,  and  Cadell,  and  also  commenced  pub- 
lishing for  himself.  Among  other  works  brought 
out  by  him  were  'Grahame's  Sabbath,'  *KeiT's 
Voyages  and  Travels,'  18  vols.  8vo,  and  the 
*  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,'  18  vols.  4to.  In  1812 
appeared  his  celebrated  catalogue,  containing  up- 
wards of  fifteen  thousand  books  in  various  lan- 
guages, all  properly  classified,  which,  we  are  told, 
continues  to  the  present  day  to  be  a  standard  au- 
thority for  the  prices  of  old  books.  In  1816  he 
disposed  of  his  extensive  stock  of  classical  and 
antiquarian  books,  and  removed  to  the  New  Town 
of  Edinburgh,  where  he  thenceforth  devoted  his 
energies  to  the  business  of  a  general  publisher.  In 
April  1817  he  brought  out  the  first  number  of 
'  Blackwood's  Magazine,'  which  speedily  acquired 
a  high  character  and  an  extensive  circulation. 
Among  its  fii*st  contributors  were  Mr.  John  Wil- 
son, author  of  *  The  Isle  of  Palms,'  elected  in  1820, 
professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  and  Mr.  John  G.  Lockhart,  Advo- 
cate, afterwards  editor  of  the  *  Quarterly  Review.' 
Mr.  Blackwood  himself  never  wrote  more  than 
two  or  three  articles  for  its  earlier  numbers ;  but 
the  whole  management  and  arrangement  of  the 
magazine  devolved  upon  him,  and  he  executed 
the  editorial  duties  with  unusual  tact,  skill,  and 
vigour.  Besides  the  publications  already  men- 
tioned, he  published  the  principal  works  of  Messrs. 
Wilson,  Lockhart,  Hogg,  Gait,  Moir,  and  other 
distinguished  contributors  to  his  magazine,  as  well 
as  several  of  the  productions  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
He  was  twice  chosen  a  magistrate  of  Edinburgh, 
and  while  in  that  capacity,  he  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  city.  Mr.  Blackwood 
died  at  Edinburgh,  September  16,  1834,  in  the 
68th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man  of  straight- 
forward and  independent  character,  enlarged  un- 


derstanding, and  liberal  disposition.  *^  No  man,' 
says  the  obituary  notice  which  appeai*ed  in  th« 
magazine  after  his  decease,  "  ever  conducted  buH- 
ness  in  a  more  direct  and  manly  manner  than  Mr 
Blackwood.  His  opinion  was  on  all  occasions 
distinctly  expressed ;  his  questions  were  ever  ex- 
plicit; his  answers  conclusive.  His  sincerity 
might  sometimes  be  considered  as  rough,  but  no 
human  being  ever  accused  him  either  of  flattering 
or  of  shuffling ;  and  those  men  of  letters  who  were 
in  frequent  communication  with  him  soon  con- 
ceived a  respect  and  confidence  for  him,  which, 
save  in  a  very  few  instances,  ripened  into  cordial 
regard  and  friendship.  The  masculine  steadiness, 
and  imperturbable  resolution  of  his  character,  were 
impressed  on  all  his  proceedings ;  and  it  will  be 
allowed  by  those  who  watched  him  through  his 
career,  as  the  publisher  of  a  literary  and  political 
miscellany,  that  these  qualities  were  more  than 
once  very  severely  tested.  He  dealt  by  parties 
exactly  as  he  did  by  individuals.  Whether  Lis 
principles  were  right  or  wrong,  they  were  Aw,  and 
he  never  compromised  or  complimented  away  one 
tittle  of  them.  No  changes,  either  of  men  or  of 
measures,  ever  dimmed  his  eye,  or  checked  liis 
courage."  He  left  a  widow,  seven  sons,  and  two 
daughters.  His  two  eldest  sons  succeeded  to  his 
business.  His  third  son  was  an  officer  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Hon.  East  India  Company. — Black- 
woods  M(igazine  for  1834. 

Blair,  a  surname  of  great  antiquity  in  Scotland,  au<i 
like  80  many  others  in  that  kingdom,  is  territorial.  The 
word  Blair  or  Bhr  properly  signifies  a  plain  dear  of 
woods,  bat  the  Celtie  in  general  choosing  such  plaint 
for  their  hostile  encounters,  the  word  came  at  length  to 
signify  a  field  of  battle.  The  family  of  Blair  of  Blair  in 
Ayrshire,  have  maintained  since  the  thirteenth  century  » 
high  position  in  that  county,  and  a  branch  of  it  ncquin^ 
the  Unds  of  Dunskey,  in  Wigtonshure,  by  purchase  in  the 
year  1658.  The  Bhiirs  of  Blair  and  the  Bhurs  of  Balthyock 
in  Pertlishire  long  disputed  the  honour  of  the  chiefship. 
James  the  Sixth,  to  whom  the  pomt  was  referred,  decided 
that  *the  oldest  man,  for  the  time  being,  of  cither  family, 
should  have  the  precedency.*  Both  families  have  bad  several 
considerable  landed  families  descended  from  them.  Thobe 
from  Balthyock  are  settled  m  Perthshire,  Forfarshire,  and 
the  north;  those  from  Bhiir  of  that  ilk  in  the  counties  of  Ayr, 
Wigton,  Renfrew,  &c.,  in  the  south  and  west  Their  arras 
bear  no  affinity,  but  as  it  will  afterwards  appear,  it  does  not 
follow  that  they  may  not  have  descended  from  the  same  stock. 

Of  the  family  of  Blair  of  BUir,  the  first  on  record  wa» 
William  de  Blair,  who,  in  1205,  during  the  reign  of  WiUiarii 
the  lion,  is  mentioned  in  a  contract  of  agreement,  in  thi 
charter  diest  of  the  burgh  of  Irvine,  betwixt  Ralph  de  E|f- 


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BLAIR. 


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BLAIR. 


lingtoon  and  the  vilUige  of  Irvine.  It  is  well-known  that 
many  Normans  and  English  came  into  Scotland  daring  this 
»nd  the  previous  reigns,  who  received  grants  of  lands  from  the 
crown.  The  drcmnstance  of  his  son  being  a  witness  to  a 
royal  charter  (which  only  tenants-in-chief  of  the  crown, 
nobles,  and  ecclesiastics,  were  privileged  to  do),  proves  that 
the  lands  he  held  were  a  royal  fief,  and  his  Norman  surname 
of  William,  which  was  also  that  of  his  son,  never  having  been 
borne  by  natives  in  Scothuid  untU  after  Prince  Henry,  eldest 
son  of  David  I.  had  bestowed  it  upon  his  second  son,  (the 
then  reigning  monarch),  along  with  the  Norman  prefix  de, 
lends  probability  to  the  conjecture  that  William  was  an  Anglo- 
Nonnan  warrior,  on  whom  had  been  bestowed  these  lands  of 
Blair.  He  died  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  II.,  and  lefl  a  son, 
William  de  Blair.  A  William  de  Blair  is  witness  in  a  diar- 
ter  of  King  Alexander  IIL  to  the  abbacy  of  Dunfermline, 
about  the  year  1260,  but  it  is  unoertitin  if  this  la  the  same. 
William  de  Bkir  is  said  to  have  had  two  sons,  Sir  Bryce,  hiit 
heir,  and  Da>id. 

Sir  Biyce,  the  elder  son,  was  treacherously  slain  by  the 
English,  with  other  Ayrshire  barons,  at  Ayr  in  1296.  He 
left  no  issue,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  David  Blair 
or  Blare,  who  was  compelled  to  swear  fealty  to  King  Edward 
I.  of  England,  in  1296,  the  year  of  his  brother's  death.  In 
the  critical  remarks  on  the  Ragman  Roll  (Prynne*s  copy)  he 
is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  progenitors  of  the  family.  Da- 
rid's  son,  Roger  de  Blair  of  that  ilk,  was  a  firm  friend  of 
King  Robert  the  Bruce,  from  whom  he  obtained  a  charter  un- 
der the  great  seal,  *  Rogero  de  Blair,  dilecto  et  fideli  noetro' 
of  four  chalders  of  victual  yearly  out  of  the  lands  of  Bour- 
trees,  in  the  barony  of  Cunningham,  Ayrsliire,  to  him  and 
his  heirs  for  ever.    Roger  died  in  the  reign  of  David  II. 

His  son,  Hngh  de  Blair,  is  said  to  have  succeeded  him.  A 
UugoM  del  Blart^  et  Johne/nUre  tuo^  are  mentioned  in  a 
charter  of  confirmation  during  the  reign  of  David  II.,  to  the 
monastery  of  Kilwinning,  as  witnesses. 

Hugh  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  James  BUir  of  that  ilk, 
an  adherent  of  King  David  Bruce,  from  whom  he  got  a  grant 
of  several  tenements  of  land  about  the  town  of  Ayr,  which 
had  fallen  into  the  king's  hand  by  forfeiture.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  a  charter  under  the  great  seal  from  the  said  King 
David,  dated  at  Edinburgh,  8d  February,  1368,  in  the  89th 
year  of  his  reign.  Robertson,  in  his  *  Ayrshire  Families,*  states 
that  he  had  two  sons,  James,  who  succeeded  him,  and  Sir 
John,  progenitor  of  the  Blairs  of  Adamton,  Ayrshire.  The 
lands  of  Adamton  appear,  from  a  charter  of  David  IL,  to  have 
been  acquih^d  in  or  before  1363,  by  their  father  in  excambion 
with  Sir  Robert  de  Erskine,  for  the  lands  of  Malerbe  and 
others  in  Perthshire.  I1ie  BUirs  of  Adamton  flouriahed  for 
a  long  series  of  years  until  Catherine,  only  daughter  and  heir- 
ess of  David  Blair  of  Adamton,  married,  in  1776,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Maxwell,  baronet,  of  Monreith.  She  sold  Adamton  to 
Robert  Reid,  Esq.,  and  died  in  1798. 

Tlie  next  laird,  James  Blaur  of  that  ilk,  son  of  the  former, 
obtained  a  charter  from  Robert  II.,  dated  8th  May  1875,  con- 
firming a  charter,  granted  to  his  father  by  David  II.,  of  tlte 
lands  of  Corehogyll,  &c.,  in  Dumfnes-shire,  and  another,  of 
*i3d  July,  the  same  year,  of  the  lands  of  Hartwood,  &o.  He 
died  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Fust,  leaving  a  son,  called 
David  l>y  DougUis  m  his  Baronage  (p.  194),  but  his  name  was 
mora  probably  Hugh,  as  Sir  Hugh  Blair  of  that  ilk  appears 
as  witness  to  several  charters  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived, 
the  commencement  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

It  is  supposed  that  he  was  succeeded  by  a  son  of  the  name 
of  James,  and  he  by  his  nephew  (Sir  Hugh*s  grandson),  John 
BUir  of  that  ilk,  who  was  served  heir  to  his  grandfather,  and 


obtained  from  James  the  Third  a  charter,  '  Johanni  Bhiir,  de 
eodem,  ncpoti  et  hairedi  Jacobi,  &c,  terrarum  baronias  de 
Blair,  19  January  1477.*  He  lefl,  with  two  daughters,  Egi- 
dia,  married  to  James  Kennedy  of  the  family  of  CassiUis,  and 
Elizabeth,  married  to  Ninian  Stewart,  of  Bute,  a  son,  John 
Blair  of  that  ilk,  who  married  Lady  Elizabeth  Montgomery, 
fifUi  daughter  of  Hugh  first  eari  of  Eglinton,  and  had  issue 
John  his  heir,  and  Margaret,  married  to  John  Crawford  of  Craw- 
furdhmd.  In  Pitcaim*s  Criminal  Trials,  there  is  an  entry  un- 
der date  May  18,  1545,  the  fourth  year  of  Queen  Mary,  that 
John  Blair  and  Patrick  his  son,  both  then  at  the  horn,  found 
security  to  underly  the  law  for  abiding  from  the  queen*s  ar- 
mies at  Ancrum,  on  the  previous  February  27,  and  Colding- 
ham  on  December  31,  and  from  other  raids. 

John  BUir  of  that  ilk,  his  son,  died  in  the  early  part  of  the 
reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
John  Bliur  of  BUir.  In  the  work  just  quoted,  under  date 
May  21,  1577,  John  Blair  of  that  ilk,  WUliam  Bhur  his 
brother,  Robert  Blair,  brother  of  William  Blair  of  Halie,  with 
twenty-five  others,  their  servants  and  followers,  are  indicted 
for  shooting  with  pbtolets,  following  and  chasing  one  Thomas 
Crawford  and  his  servants,  for  their  sUughter,  upon  fore- 
thought felony.  The  laird  of  Blair,  and  his  brother,  WillUm, 
being  found  guilty,  they  respectively  found  security  to  enter 
their  persons  in  ward  within  the  castle  of  Blackness  by  eight 
o*clock  m  the  evening,  and  not  to  escape  therefrom  until  they 
were  relieved,  John  Blair  under  the  penalty  of  five  thousand 
pounds,  and  William  Blahr,  under  that  of  two  thousand 
pounds.  By  his  wife,  Grizel,  daughter  of  Robert,  third  Lord 
SempiU,  this  John  Blair  of  BUir  had,  with  three  daughters,  five 
sons,  viz.,  John,  who  married  Isobel,  daughter  of  Thomas, 
fifth  Lord  Boyd,  and  who  predeceased  his  father,  leaving  three 
daughtera  all  well  married ;  Bryce,  who  succeeded  to  the  estate 
on  the  death  of  hU  father  in  1609 ;  Alexander,  who  married  Eli- 
zabeth, only  daughter  and  heir  of  William  Cochrane  of  that  ilk, 
when  he  took  his  name  and  arms,  and  thus  became  ancestor 
of  the  noble  family  of  Dundonald,  hU  grandson.  Sir  William 
Cochrane,  knight,  being  created  earl  of  Dundonald  in  1669, 
[See  Dundonald,  earl  of  J;  James;  and  Robert  of  Bogtown, 
father  of  Sur  Adam  Blair  of  Bogtown. 

Bryce  BUir  of  BUur,  the  second  son,  married  Annabell 
Wallace,  and  had  two  sons  and  five  daughters,  the  latter  of 
whom  were  all  well  married.  He  died  4  th  February  1639, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  elder  twin-son,  Sir  Biyce  BUir, 
who  was  knighted  by  Charles  the  Fu^  He  nuurried,  in  1618, 
Marian,  daughter  of  Walter  Dundas  of  Dundas,  and  died  a  few 
months  after  his  father.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John 
Blair,  who  died  soon  after  without  issue,  and  was  succeeded  by 
hU  uncle,  John  Blair,  who  married  Lady  Jean  Cunningham, 
daughter  of  William,  eighth  earl  of  Glencaim,  and  dying  in 
1662,  was  succeeded  by  hU  son,  William  Blair  of  Blahr.  ThU 
gentleman  was  named  by  the  restoration  government  of  Scot- 
land a  member  of  the  Commission  ia  Ayrshhre  for  holding 
courts  on  the  Coveuanters,  but  he  eariy  jouied  the  Revolution 
party,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  estates,  16th 
Maroh  1689,  and  one  of  the  committee  for  settling  the  govern- 
ment Having  raised  a  troop  of  horse  in  support  of  King 
William,  he  marched  with  it  into  Perthshire.  Information  of 
this  having  reached  the  Viscount  Dundee,  then  in  arms  in 
Athol  for  King  James,  he  determined  to  surprise  them,  and 
accordingly  he  left  Athol,  and  proceeded  with  celerity  during 
the  night  towards  Perth,  which  city  he  entered  unawares 
early  next  morning,  and  seized  both  the  lautl  of  BUir  and  the 
Uird  of  Pollock,  who  was  with  him,  and  two  other  officers,  hi 
theur  beds,  and  carried  them  off  prisoners  to  the  Highlands, 
where  the  laird  of  BUir  died  very  soon  after.    He  had  mar- 


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320 


OF  BALTHYOCK. 


lied  Ladj  Margaret  Hamilton,  fourth  daughter  of  William, 
bcoond  duke  of  Hamilton,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 

William  Blair  of  Blair,  who  was  a  commissioner  of  supply 
for  the  county  of  Ayr,  in  the  Convention  parliament  which 
met  in  1689.  He  married  Magdalene  daughter  of  James 
Campbell  of  Cargunnock,  by  whom,  besides  a  daughter, 
Magdalene,  he  had  a  son,  John,  to  whom  he  disponed  his 
estate,  reserving  to  himself  a  liferent.  His  son  predeceased 
him,  unmarried,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister,  Magdalene 
Blair,  who  married  William  Scott,  Esq.,  advocate,  second 
son  of  John  Scott,  Esq.,  of  Mallcny,  in  Mid  Lothian,  (an  an- 
cient branch  of  Bncdench,)  and  had  a  son,  William,  her  heir. 
The  heiress  of  Blair  b  supposed  to  have  died  before  the  year 
1715,  and  Mr.  Scott,  her  widower,  who  had  assumed  the 
name  and  arms  of  Blair,  the  latter  quartered  with  those  of 
Scott,  married,  secondly,  Catlierine,  only  daughter  of  Alex- 
ander Tait,  of  Edinburgh,  merchant,  and  bad  by  her  five  sons 
and  six  daughters.  Hamilton,  the  eldest,  succeeded  his  half- 
brother,  William,  on  the  death  of  the  latter,  unmarried,  in 
1732.  He  had  early  entered  the  army,  and  in  1760  was 
major  of  the  Scots  Greys.  He  married  Jane,  daughter  of 
Sydenham  Williams,  Esq.  of  Herringston,  Dorsetshire,  and 
had  a  son  and  2  dnuglitera.  William  Blair  of  Blair,  his  son. 
succeeded  him  in  1782.  The  latter  married  Bfagdiilene, 
daughter  of  John  Fordyce,  Esq.  of  Ayton,  Berwickshire,  for 
many  years  commissioner  of  the  woods  and  forests  and  land 
revenue,  and  had  5  sons  and  7  daughters.  His  eldest  sons 
having  predeceased  him,  he  was  succeeded  in  1841,  by  his  3d 
son,  William  Fordyce  Blair,  Captain  R  N.  The  latter  married, 
July  23,  1840,  Carol! ne-Isobella,  youngest  dr.  of  John  Sprot, 
Exq  ,  London ;  issue,  2  dr«.,  Mary  and  Caroline-Madalina,  and 
2  sons,  William  Augustus,  bom  June  24. 1848;  and  Frederick 
Gordon,  bom  Nov.  11, 1852.     Mrs.  Blair  died  Oct.  24,  ia57. 


The  ancestor  of  the  Blairs  of  Balthyock,  Perthshire,  was 
Alexander  de  Blair,  who  flourished  in  the  reigns  of  William 
the  Lion  and  liis  son  Alexander  the  Second.  He  married  Ela, 
daughter  of  Hugh  de  Nyden  of  that  ilk,  in  Fifeshire,  and  got 
a  charter  of  the  lands  of »  Konakin  in  Fifeshire,  holding  of  the 
bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  to  which  Malcolm,  seventh  earl  of 
Fife,  and  Duncan  and  David,  his  brothers,  are  witnesses.*  This 
charter  bears  no  date,  but  Malcohn,  seventh  earl  of  Fife,  suc- 
ceeded his  (ather  in  1203,  and  died  in  1229.  A  comparison 
of  dates  makes  it  not  impossible  that  this  Alexander  de 
Blair  may  have  been  a  son  of  William  de  Blair  of  Blair,  in 
which  case  he  appears  to  have  called  his  son  after  the  name 
of  his  grandfather  William.  By  his  mh,  FAa,  he  got  also  a 
part  of  the  lands  of  Nyden  or  Nydie,  which  remained  a  long 
time  in  possession  of  the  Blairs.  The  arms  borne  by  this 
family  may  have  been  those  of  de  Nyden,  as  at  that  period 
they  generally  followed  the  lands,  irrespective  of  the  name 
of  the  possessor.  As  this  fact  has  not  been  hitherto  re- 
cognised by  genealogical  writers,  and  a  contrary  opinion  as 
to  the  connection  of  the  two  families  from  the  one  now  indi- 
cated has,  in  consequence,  been  held,  we  annex  an  instance  in 
illustration  taken  from  that  mteresting  relic  of  chivalry  *  The 
Siege  of  Karlaverock,*  premising  that  what  is  there  said  of 
banners  must  needs  hold  trae  of  family  bearings  in  general, 
masmuch  as  the  banners  formed  their  chief  features  in  such 
bearings.  *  Ralph  de  Monthenner,  a  private  baron,  became 
earl  of  Gloucester  by  marriage  with  Joan,  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward I.,  and  widow  of  Gilbert  de  Clare,  eari  of  Gloucester,  by 
tohich  title  he  was  frequently  summoned  to  parliament.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  siege  of  Caeriaverock,  a.  d.  1300,  he  led 
his  followers,  not  under  his  own  banner  but  under  that  of 
Clare,  the  earl  of  Gloucester,  whiUit  he  was  himself  vested  in  | 


a  surcoat  of  his  patemol  arms,  which  he  also  bore  in  hit 
shield.  On  his  decease,  his  successor  in  the  earidom  (a  un 
of  his  wife  by  her  first  husband)  assumed  the  arms  and  dig- 
nities of  the  estate  of  Clare,  and  Monthermer  was  sum- 
moned in  the  very  next  parliament  as  a  private  baron 
only.  This  practice  probably  contmued— and  in  the  case  ck 
heiresses  particularly — until  quarterings  by  marriage  were  in« 
troduced.*  Alexander  de  Blair's  son,  Sir  William  de  Blair, 
was  steward  of  Fife  under  Alexander  the  Second,  who  confer- 
red on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood.  This  is  instructed 
from  the  chartulary  of  Dunfermline,  where  *  dominus  Wil- 
llelmus  de  Blair,  senschallus  de  Fife,*  is  partioilariy  men- 
tioned in  1235.  He  was  also  a  witness  in  a  charter  of  Mal- 
colm, eighth  earl  of  Fife,  together  with  Andrew,  bishop  of 
Moray,  who  died  in  1242.  He  appears  to  have  died  in  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  King  Alexander  the  Second.  He 
had  two  sons,  Sir  Alexander,  his  heir,  and  Walter,  who  is 
mentioned  in  a  charter  of  Friskln  de  Moravia  in  1260. 

Sir  Alexander  Blair,  the  elder  son,  is  designed  *  dominus 
Alexander  de  Blair,  miles,*  in  a  charter  of  Malcolm,  dgfatb 
eari  of  Fife,  '  de  ecclesia  de  Innerawn,*  &c,  in  or  before  the 
year  126G,  in  which  year  earl  Malcolm  died.  By  his  wife 
Helen,  sister  of  Sir  William  Ramsay,  Sir  Alexander  had  a 
son,  John  Blair,  who  succeeded  bun.  The  son  of  the  lattrr, 
David  de  Blair,  is  said  by  Douglas  in  his  Baronage  (p.  187), 
in  his  fathcr*s  lifetime,  and  when  but  a  young  man,  to  hare 
been,  with  many  of  his  countrymen,  compelled  to  swear  fealty 
to  King  Edward  the  First  of  Engbmd,  when  he  had  overros 
Scotland  in  1296. 

David  de  Blair,  of  the  Balthyock  family,  died  in  the  reign 
of'  David  the  Second.  He  left  two  sons,  Patrick,  the  first 
who  was  designed  of  Balthyock,  and  lliomas,  progenitor  ol 
the  Bliurs  of  Ardblair. 

Patrick  de  Blair,  besides  the  estate  of  Balthyock  in  Perth- 
shire, of  which  he  obtained  a  charter  from  Nicholas  de  Er- 
skine,  lord  of  Kinnoul,  the  superior,  dated  22d  October  1370, 
appeara  from  charters  quoted  by  DougUa,  to  have  posaewd 
also  the  lands  of  Quilt  in  Fife,  and  Balgilloch  or  BalgiUo  in 
Forfarshire.  He  married  the  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Joba 
Ardler  of  that  ilk,  and  died  soon  after  1393. 

His  son,  Thomas  Blair,  second  baron  of  Balthyock.  re- 
ceived a  charter  under  the  great  seal,  from  King  Robert  the 
Third,  of  the  lands  of  Ardblair,  Baldowie,  and  BalgiUo  in  For- 
farshire, dated  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  which  is  1399. 

His  grandson,  Thomas  Bhur  of  Balthyock,  was  one  of  the 
gentlemen  upon  several  inquests  in  settling  the  marches  «f 
the  lands  of  the  abbacy  of  Arbroath  with  their  neighbours  in 
1488  and  1484.  He  died  ia  the  begmning  of  the  reign  of 
James  the  Fourth.  He  had  two  sons,  Alexander  his  heir, 
and  John  of  Balmyle  and  Potento.  Alexander  married  Jean, 
daughter  of  Andrew  third  lord  Gray,  and  had  a  son,  Thomas, 
who  succeeded  him  in  1509. 

In  Pitcaim's  Criminal  Trials,  under  date  March  10,  1540, 
there  is  a  remission  to  *  Thomas  Blaire  of  Bathyok/  for  twa- 
sonably  abiding  from  the  army  at  Solway.  From  nnroerow 
cases  in  the  same  work  it  appeara  that  about  this  period  the 
various  families  of  the  Blaire  of  Balthyock  and  Ardblair,  the 
Charteris  of  Kinfauns  and  Cuthilgurdy,  the  Drammon»j, 
and  other  barons  and  lairds  in  Perthshire,  were  constantly  in- 
volved in  feuds  with  each  other,  and  occasionally  with  bur- 
gesses and  citizens  of  Perth,  and  others.  On  7th  Mareh 
1549,  *  Thomas  Bhire  of  Balthyock,*  Thomas  his  son,  and 
others,  found  security  to  underly  the  law  for  the  slaugh- 
ter of  Sir  Henry  Dempster,  chaplain,  and  six  others.  John 
Blair  of  Ardblair,  Andrew  Blair  and  Thomas  Blair,  hb  sow. 
Peter  Blaur,  Alexander  Blair,  half  brother  to  John  Butter  oi 


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JOHN. 


Gormok,  who  was  also  im).Iicated,  David  Blair  of  Knockma- 
heir,  with  John  and  Patrick  Blair,  his  sons,  and  various  others, 
were,  on  the  3d  Jane  1554,  summoned  for  being  art  and  part 
in  the  slaughter  of  George  Dmmmond  of  Leidcrieff,  and  Wil- 
liam, his  son.  Various  of  the  accused  made  satisfaction  and 
obtained  pardon,  but  Patrick  Blair  in  Ardblair,  and  Robert 
Smyth  in  Oramlochj,  were  beheaded  on  12th  December  there- 
after.  Under  date  May  2, 1 562,  Thomas  Blair,  of  Balthyock, 
Alexander,  William,  and  Patrick  Blair,  his  sons;  Thomas,  hb 
grandson,  and  Alexander  Blair,  tutor  of  Balmyle;  with  forty- 
six  others,  found  sureties  to  appear  for  the  *  crewell  sUuchter 
of  umquil  Alexander  Raa,  bnrges  of  Perthe,  and  diverse  utheris 
crymes  oontenit  in  the  Letteris;*  while  on  the  same  day  John 
Charterisof  Kinfauns,  David,  his  brother,  and  thirty-nine  others, 
found  surety  for  the  convocation  of  various  persons,  to  the  num- 
ber of  twenty-four,  and  coming  upon  Thomas  BUir,  laird  of  Bal- 
thyock, and  his  accomplices,  and  giving  uf  them  injurious  words. 

Thomas  Blair  of  Balthyock,  above  mentioned,  had  two 
sons  and  three  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Alexander  Blair 
of  Balthyock,  is  described  as  a  man  of  parts  and  integrity, 
and  highly  esteemed  by  King  James  the  Sixth,  who,  with  his 
own  hanJ,  wrote  a  friendly  letter  to  him,  18th  September 
1579,  concerning  his  teinds  and  other  affairs  in  his  part  of 
the  country,  wherein  he  expressed  himself  in  the  kindest 
manner,  saying  that  he  confided  chiefly  in  him  for  the  man- 
agement of  all  his  concerns  in  that  neighbourhood.  He  mar- 
ried Elisabeth,  daughter  of  Sur  Laurence  Mercer  of  Aldie,  by 
whom  ho  had  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  the  latter  married 
to  George,  son  and  heir  apparent  of  John  Charteris  of  Kin- 
fauns. 

Ijturence,  his  eldest  son.  died  before  his  father,  leaving  a 
son,  Alexander  Blair,  younger  of  Balthyock,  one  of  the  wit- 
nesses in  the  Gowrie  conspuacy;  his  depomtion  is  given  in 
Pitcaim^s  Criminal  Trials,  vol  ii.  p.  188. 

Thomas,  the  second  son,  married  a  lady  of  rank  in  France, 
and  settled  in  that  country.  His  posterity  retained  the  name 
of  BUir,  and  became  allied  with  some  of  the  most  considera- 
ble families  in  France,  as  De  Gevres,  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  de 
Nonailles,  de  Agrcmont,  de  Champignelle,  de  Brimont,  des  Gil- 
bert, des  Jolly,  de  Fleury,  &c  The  third  son,  Patrick  Blair, 
Aras  progenitor  of  the  BUirs  of  Pittendreich,  Glasclune,  &c 

Sir  Thomas  BUir  of  Balthyock,  the  grandson  of  Laurence 
Blair,  and  son  of  the  above-named  Alexander  Blair,  by  his 
wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Geoi^  Haliburton  of  Pitcur, 
had  the  honour  of  knighthood  conferred  on  him  by  King 
Charles  the  First  He  married  first,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Ayton  of  Ayton,  in  the  county  of  Fife,  by  whom  he 
had  three  sons  and  five  daughters;  secondly,  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Gibson  of  Durie,  relict  of  Su:  ITio- 
mas  Fotheringham  of  Powrie,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue.  He 
died  about  1652,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son.  Sir 
Alexander  BUir.  Andrew,  the  second  son,  obtained  from  his 
father  the  lands  and  estate  of  Inchyra  in  Perthshire,  which 
became  the  title  of  his  family.  John,  the  third  son,  was  de- 
signed of  Balmyle.  Sir  Alexander  married  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Fotheringham  of  Powrie,  heir  of  line  of  that 
family,  and  by  her  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
He  died  in  1692. 

His  eldest  son,  Thomas  Blair,  died  without  issue,  and  was 
succeeded  by  liis  brother  John  BUir,  who  married  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Patrick  Buttei  of  Gonnack,  by  whom  he  had 
only  one  daughter,  Margaret,  his  sole  heiress,  who  succeeded 
to  the  estate  of  Balthyock,  and  in  1728  married  David,  son 
of  Mr.  David  Drummond,  advocate,  who  in  consequence  as- 
sumed the  name  and  arms  of  Blair  of  Balthyock.  He  died 
m  1728,  and  his  son  John  BUir  succeeded  to  the  estate.   The 


latter  married  Patricia,  daughter  of  John  Stevens,  Ktsq.  of 
Edinburgh,  and  had  a  son,  David,  and  five  daughters. 

The  eldest  daughter,  Margaret  BUir,  married  Miyur  John- 
ston, and  had  an  only  daughter  and  heir,  Jemima  Johnston, 
who  became  representative  of  the  family  of  Blair  of  Balthy- 
ock. She  married,  26th  November  lAll,  Adam  Fer^cusson, 
Esq.,  and  had  issue,  Neil-Jaines  Fergusson  of  Balthyock,  and 
six  other  sons. 

BLAIR,  John,  the  chaplain  of  Sir  WilllaiL 
Wallace,  was  bom  in  Fifesliire  in  the  reign  of  Al- 
exander the  Third,  and  was  educated  in  the  same 
school  with  Wallace  at  Dundee.  He  afterwards 
stndied  for  some  time  in  the  university  of  Paris, 
and  became  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  lienedlct 
On  his  return  to  Scotland  he  was  appointed  chap- 
lain to  Wallace,  then  governor  of  the  kingdom, 
whom  he  accompanied  in  almost  all  his  battles, 
and  after  his  cruel  death  wrote  his  life  and  exploits 
in  T^tin  verse,  a  chronicle  from  which  Blind  Harr}* 
derived  most  of  his  materials  for  his  heroic  poiin 
on  Wallace.  Of  this  work,  which  might  have 
been  of  great  value  in  illustrating  the  history  of 
that  troubled  period,  an  inaccurate  fragment  only 
is  left,  which  was  copied  by  Sir  James  Balfour  out 
of  the  Cottonian  library,  and  published  in  1705, 
with  a  commentary,  by  Sir  Robert  Sibbald. 
Hume,  in  his  'Histoiy  of  the  Douglases,'  intro- 
duced a  translation  of  it.  Blair,  who,  on  becom- 
ing a  Benedictine,  adopted  the  name  of  Arnold, 
belonged  to  the  monastery  of  that  order  in  Dun- 
fermline. The  exact  period  of  his  death  is  un- 
known. He  was  the  author  of  anothei*  work,  en- 
titled *De  Liberata  Tyrannide  Scotia,'  which  is  no 
longer  to  be  found. — Mackenzie's  Scots  Writers, 

BLAIR,  Robert,  an  eminent  minister  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  in  the  daj's  of  the  Covenant, 
was  born  at  Irvine,  Ayrshii*e,  in  1593.  He  was 
the  sixth  and  youngest  son  of  John  Blair  of  Win- 
dyedge,  in  that  county,  a  branch  of  the  family  of 
Blair  of  Blair,  and  of  Beatrix  Muir,  of  the  family 
of  Rowallan.  He  studied  at  the  univei-sity  of 
Glasgow,  and  was  for  a  short  time  employed  as 
assistant  to  a  teacher  in  that  city.  In  his  twenty- 
second  year  he  was  appointed  a  regent  or  profes- 
sor in  the  college.  In  1616  he  was  licensed  as  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  Having,  in  1622,  resigned 
his  charge,  in  consequence  of  the  appointment  of 
Dr.  Cameron,  who  favoured  episcopacy,  as  princi- 
pal of  the  university,  he  went  over  to  Ireland,  and 
was  for  some  ycai-s  minister  of  a  presby  teriun  con- 


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f^rcgation  at  Bangor.  The  bishop  of  Down  having 
expelled  hhn  from  his  charge,  he,  with  various 
other  clergymen,  fitted  out  a  ship,  and  set  sail 
with  the  intention  of  emigrating  to  New  Enghuid. 
Being  driven  back  by  a  storm,  Blair  preferred  re- 
turning to  Scotland,  where  he  arrived  at  a  vciy 
critical  period.  He  preached  for  some  time  at 
Ayr,  and  was  afterwaids  settled  by  the  General 
Assembly  at  St.  Andrews.  In  1640  he  accompa- 
nied the  Scottish  ai-my  into  England,  and  assisted 
at  the  negotiations  for  the  peace  of  Rippon.  After 
the  Irish  Rebellion  of  1641,  Blair  again  went  over 
to  Ireland,  with  several  other  clergymen,  the 
Presbyterians  of  that  country  having  solicited  a 
su[)ply  of  ministers  from  the  General  Assembly. 
He  did  not  long  remain  there,  however,  having 
returned  to  St.  Andrews,  where  he  proved  himself 
to  be  a  useful  and  zealous  preacher.  In  1645  he 
was  one  of  the  Scottish  ministei's  who  went  to  New- 
t-iistle  to  reason  with  the  king,  and,  on  the  death 
of  Hendei-son,  he  was  appointed  by  his  majesty 
Ills  chaplain  for  Scotland.  After  the  restoration, 
he  was  subjected,  like  many  other  worthy  men  of 
God,  to  the  pci-secutions  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  and 
for  yeare  had  no  regiUar  place  of  woi-sbip,  but 
preached  and  administered  the  sacraments  wher- 
ever opportunity  offered.  He  was  prohibited  from 
coming  within  twenty  miles  of  St.  Andrews,  and 
during  his  latter  yeai*8,  he  found  a  refuge  at  Meiklc 
Couston,  in  the  parish  of  Aberdour,  where  he  died, 
August  27,  1666.  He  was  buried  in  the  church- 
yard of  that  parish,  where  a  tablet  was  erected  to 
his  memory.  He  was  the  author  of  a  Commentary 
on  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and  of  some  political 
pieces,  none  of  which  have  been  pi*eserved.  His 
descendants,  Robert  Blair,  author  of  *  The  Grave,' 
Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  the  celebrated  sermon  writer,  and 
the  late  Right  Hon.  Robert  Blair,  lord  president 
of  the  court  of  session,  added  fresh  lustre  to  the 
family  imme.—Scots  Worthies. 

BLAIR,  Robert,  the  Rev.,  autlior  of  *The 
Grave,'  a  poem,  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Dn vid 
Blair,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  chaplain 
to  the  king,  and  grandson  of  the  eminent  minister 
of  St.  Andrews  of  the  same  name,  the  subject 
of  the  preceding  notice,  was  born  at  Edinburgh 
in  1699,  and  studied  for  the  church  at  the  uni- 
vereity  of  his  native  city.     After  spending  some 


time  on  the  Continent,  he  was,  on  January  5, 
1731,  ordained  minister  of  Arhelstaneford,  in  East 
Lothian,  where  he  continued  till  his  death.  He 
was  an  anxious  and  animated  preacher,  and  nn 
accomplished  scholar,  and  evinced  a  peculiar  pre- 
dilection for  the  natural  sciences,  particularly 
botany,  in  which  he  was  allowed  to  excel.  He 
carried  on  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  Heniy 
Baker,  F.R.S.,  author  of  several  works  on  the 
microscope.  From  this,  it  should  seem,  that  he 
employed  part  of  his  time  in  optical  researches. 
His  fii-st  poem  (originally  published  in  Dr.  Ander- 
son's collection)  was  one  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  Ml*.  William  Law  of  Elvingston,  in  East  l>o- 
thian,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  whose  danghter,  Isabella,  he 
afterwards  married.  She  was  the  sister  of  Mr 
Law,  who  succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Elvingston, 
and  was  sheriff  of  Haddington  for  fifty  years 
Among  the  most  respected  of  his  friends  was  the 
lamented  Colonel  Gardiner,  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Prestonpans  in  1745 ;  and  who  appenrs 
to  have  been  the  medium  of  his  opening  a  cor- 
respondence with  Dr.  Watts  and  Dr.  Doddridge, 
on  the  subject  of  his  'Gi'ave.'  On  the  25th 
February  1741-2,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Doddridge,  the  following  extract  fi-om  which  con- 
tains some  interesting  information  as  to  the  com- 
position and  publication  of  his  celebrated  poem:— 
'*  About  ten  months  ago,"  he  says,  "  Lady  Frances 
Gardiner  did  me  the  favour  to  transmit  to  me 
some  manuscript  hymns  of  yours,  with  which  1 
was  wonderfully  delighted.  I  wish  I  could,  on 
my  part,  contribute  in  any  measure  to  yom*  enter- 
tainment, as  yon  have  sometimes  done  to  mine  in 
a  very  high  degree.  And  that  I  may  show  how 
willing  I  am  to  do  so,  I  have  desii-ed  Dr.  Watts 
to  transmit  to  you  a  manuscript  poem  of  mine, 
entitled  *The  Grave,'  written,  I  hope,  in  a  way 
not  unbecoming  my  profession  as  a  minister  of  the 
gospel,  though  the  greatest  part  of  it  was  com- 
I>oscd  several  years  before  I  was  clothed  with  so 
sacred  a  character.  I  was  urged  by  some  fiienda 
hei*e,  to  whom  I  showed  it,  to  make  it  public;  nor 
did  I  decline  it,  provided  I  had  tiie  approbation  oi 
Dr.  Watts,  from  whom  I  have  received  many 
civilities,  and  for  whom  I  had  ever  entertained  the 
highest  regard.    Yesterday  I  had  a  letter  fjx)m 


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the  Doctor,  signifying  bis  approbation  of  the  piece 
in  a  manner  most  obliging.  A  great  deal  less 
from  him  would  have  done  me  no  small  lionoui*. 
But  at  the  same  time,  he  mentions  to  me  that  he 
had  offered  it  to  two  booksellers  of  his  acquaint- 
ance, who,  he  tells  me,  did  not  care  to  ran  the 
risk  of  publishing  it.  They  can  scarce  think,  con- 
sidering how  critical  an  age  we  live  in,  with  re- 
spect to  such  kind  of  writing,  that  a  person  living 
three  hundred  miles  from  I^ndon  could  write  so 
as  to  be  acceptable  to  the  fashionable  and  polite. 
Perhaps  it  may  be  so ;  though  at  the  same  time  I 
must  say,  in  order  to  make  it  more  generally  liked, 
I  was  obliged  sometimes  to  go  cross  to  my  own 
inclinations,  well  knowing  that  whatever  poem  is 
written  upon  a  serious  argument,  must,  upon  that 
very  account,  be  undei*  peculiar  disadvantages; 
and,  thei*efore,  proper  arts  must  be  used  to  make 
such  a  piece  go  down  with  a  licentious  age,  whicii 
cares  for  none  of  those  things.  I  beg  pai'don  for 
breaking  in  upon  moments  precious  as  youi*s,  and 
hope  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  give  me  your  opin- 
ion of  the  poem."  The  *  Grave'  was  not  published 
till  after  the  author's  death.  The  first  edition  of 
it  was  printed  at  Edinburgh,  in  8vo,  in  1747. 
It  '*  is  unquestionably,"  says  Pinkerton,  "  the  best 
])iece  of  blank  verse  we  have,  save  those  of  Milton." 

Mr.  Blaur  died  of  a  fever,  February  4,  1746,  in 
rtie  47th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  succeeded  at 
Athelstancford  by  Mr.  John  Home,  author  of 
*  Douglas.'  By  his  wife,  who  sui*vived  him  for 
several  years,  Mr.  Blair  had  five  sons  and  one 
danghtor.  The  late  Robert  Blair  of  Avontoun, 
lord  president  of  the  court  of  session,  of  whom  a 
notice  follows,  was  his  fourth  son.  An  edition 
of  ^  the  Grave,  and  other  poems,  to  which  ai*e  pre- 
fixed some  account  of  the  author's  life  and  obser- 
vations on  his  writings,  by  Robert  Andei'son, 
M.D.,'  was  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1826, 12nio. 

BLAIR,  Hugh,  D.D.,  an  eminent  divine  and 
sermon  writer,  a  great  grandson  of  Robert  Blair, 
minister  of  St  Andrews,  and  a  descendant  of  the 
Blau-s  of  Blair,  was  born  at  Edinbtu-gh,  April  7, 
1718.  His  father,  John  Blair,  cousin  to  the  author 
of  ^  The  Grave,'  was  at  one  time  a  respectable  mer- 
chant in  that  city,  but  afterwards,  from  impaired 
fortune,  he  held  an  office  in  the  Excise.  Hugh,  the 
subject  of  this  article,  was  educated  for  the  church 


at  the  univei-sity  of  Edinbm-gh,  whicli  he  entered 
in  October  1730,  and  spent  eleven  years  in  his 
studies.  In  his  sixteenth  year,  while  attending 
the  logic  class,  an  ^  Essay  on  the  Beautiful,'  writ- 
ten by  him  in  the  usual  course  of  academical  ex- 
ercises, attracted  the  particular  notice  of  Profes- 
sor Stevenson,  who  appointed  it  to  be  read  in 
public  at  the  conclusion  of  the  session,  a  mark  of 
distinction  which  determined  the  bent  of  his  genius 
to  polite  literature.  About  this  time,  for  the  more 
accurate  acquirement  of  knowledge,  he  commenced 
making  regular  abstracts  of  the  most  important 
books  which  he  i-ead,  particularly  in  history ;  and, 
assisted  by  some  of  his  fellow-students,  he  con- 
structed a  veiy  comprehensive  scheme  of  chrono 
logical  tables,  which,  devised  by  him  for  his  own 
private  use,  was  afterwards  improved,  filled  up, 
and  given  to  the  public  by  his  learned  relative,  Dr 
John  Blair,  prebendary  of  Westminster,  (a  notice 
of  whom  is  given  subsequently)  in  his  valuable 
work,  'The  Chronology  and  History  of  the  World.' 
In  1739  Dr.  Blair  took  his  degi*ee  of  M.  A.,  and  in 
October  1741  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  pres- 
bytery of  Edinburgh.  Soon  after  the  earl  of 
Leven  presented  him  to  the  paiish  of  Collessle  in 
Fifeshire,  to  which  he  was  ordained  September  23, 

1742.  In  less  than  ten  months  thereafter  he  was 
elected  second  minister  of  the  Canongate  Church, 
Edinburgh,  to  which  he  was  inducted  July  14, 

1743.  Here  he  continued  eleven  yeai-s.  Not- 
withstanding an  inveterate  burr^  which  somewhat 
impeded  his  pronunciation,  he  soon  became  the 
most  populai*  preacher  of  his  day,  from  the  care 
and  attention  to  style  which  he  bestowed  on  his  dis- 
coui-ses.  In  1745,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  re- 
bellion, he  preached  a  sermon,  strengly  inculcating 
the  principles  of  loyalty  to  the  reigning  family, 
which  was  afterwards  printed.  In  October  1754  he 
was  translated  by  the  town  council  to  Lady  Tes- 
ter's, one  of  the  parish  churches  of  Edlubm*gh.  In 
June  1757  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  the 
university  of  St.  Andrews.  In  June  1758  he  was 
promoted  to  the  High  Chureh  of  Edinburgh,  at  the 
request  of  the  lords  of  session  and  other  distin- 
guished persons  who  officially  sat  in  that  church. 

Hitherto  Dr.  Blair  had  published  nothing  but 
two  occasional  sermons,  some  translations  in  verse 
of  passages  of  Scripture  for  the  psalmody  of  tlie 


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cimrcli,  and  contributed  one  or  two  papers,  among 
which  was  a  review  of  Dr.  Hutchcson's  System  of 
Moral  Philosophy,  to  the  first  Edinburgh  Review, 
begun  in  1755,  two  unmbei's  only  of  which  were 
published.  In  December  11, 1759,  having  obtain- 
ed tlie  sanction  of  the  university,  he  commenced  a 
course  of  lectures  on  literary  composition  in  the 
college,  which  was  so  much  approved  of,  that  the 
town  council,  the  patrons  of  the  university,  agreed 
in  the  following  summer  to  institute  a  rhetoric 
class,  as  a  permanent  pai*t  of  their  academical 
course ;  and  April  7, 1762,  the  king  was  graciously 
pleased,  on  then*  recommendation,  to  erect  and 
endow  a  professorship  of  rhetoric  and  belles  lettres 
in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  appoint  Dr. 
Blair  regius  professor  thereof,  with  a  salary  of 
seventy  pounds.  In  1788,  when  inci*easing  yeara 
obliged  him  to  retire  from  the  duties  of  his  cliair, 
he  published  the  lectures  he  lunl  delivered;  and 
they  were  universally  acknowledged  to  contuin  a 
most  judicious  and  comprehensive  system  of  rules 
for  the  formation  and  improvement  of  stylo  in 
composition. 

His  first  publication  of  importance  was,  *A  Criti- 
cal Dissertation  on  the  poems  of  Ossian,'  defend- 
ing their  authenticity,  which,  published  in  1763, 
was  prodigiously  overrated  on  its  first  appearance, 
being  declared  "  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  critical 
composition  in  the  English  language."  Dr.  Blair 
took  gi'eat  credit  to  himself  for  his  exertions  in 
rescuing  Ossian^s  Poems  fix)m  oblivion.  In  a 
letter  to  Bums,  the  poet,  dated  May  4,  1787,  he 
says :  "  I  was  the  firet  pei-son  who  brought  out  to 
rhe  notice  of  the  world  the  Poems  of  Ossiau,  fii-st, 
by  the  'Fi'agments  of  Ancient  Poetry'  which  I 
[)ublished,  and  afterwards  by  my  setting  on  foot 
I  the  undertaking  for  collecting  and  publishing  ^  the 
Works  of  Ossian ;'  and  I  have  always  considered 
this  as  a  meritorious  action  of  my  life."  We  are 
informed  by  his  biographer,  that  it  was  at  his 
solicitation  and  that  of  Home,  the  author  of  Doug- 
las, that  Mr.  MTherson  was  induced  to  publish 
the  *  Fragments  of  Ancient  Poetry,'  and  that  their 
patronage  was  of  essential  service  in  procuring  the 
subsciiption,  which  enabled  him  to  make  his  tour 
through  the  Highlands  to  collect  the  ti^aditionary 
poetry  which  bears  the  name  of  Ossian's  Poems. 
The  first  volume  of  his  famous  sermons  was 


published  in  the  year  1777.  "  It  was  not  till  that 
yeai',"  says  his  colleague  and  biographer,  Dr.  Fiu- 
layson,  '^  that  he  could  be  induced  to  favour  the 
world  with  a  volume  of  the  sermons  which  had  so 
long  furnished  instruction  and  delight  to  his  own 
congregation.  But  this  volume  being  well  re- 
ceived, the  public  approbation  encouraged  him  to 
proceed ;  tlu*ee  other  volumes  followed  at  difierent 
intervals ;  and  all  of  them  expeiienced  a  degree  of 
success  of  which  few  publications  can  boast.  They 
circulated  rapidly  and  widely  wherever  the  English 
tongue  extends;  and  were  soon  translated  into 
almost  all  the  languages  of  Europe."  Soou  after 
its  firet  publication,  the  first  volume  attracted  the 
notice  of  George  the  Third  and  his  consort ;  a 
portion  of  the  sermons,  it  is  said,  having  been  first 
read  to  their  majesties  in  the  royal  closet,  by  the 
eloquent  earl  of  Mansfield ;  and  the  king  was  so 
highly  pleased  that  by  a  royal  mandate  to  the  ex- 
chequer in  Scotland,  dated  July  25,  1780,  be  con- 
ferred a  pension  of  two  hundred  pounds  a-year  ou 
the  author,  which  continued  till  his  death.  Bos- 
well,  in  his  ^Life  of  Johnson,'  states  that  Dr. 
Blair  ti'ansmitted  the  manuscript  of  his  first  volume 
of  Sermons  to  Mr.  Strahau,  the  king^s  printer  in 
London,  who,  after  keeping  it  for  some  time,  wrote 
a  letter  to  him  discouraging  the  publication.  Mr. 
Strahan,  however,  had  sent  one  of  the  sermons  to 
Dr.  Johnson  for  his  opinion,  and  after  his  letter  to 
Dr.  Blair  had  been  sent  off,  he  received  firom 
Johnson,  on  Christmas  eve,  1776,  a  note  in  which 
was  the  following  paragraph :  *'  I  have  read  over 
Dr.  Blair's  fii*st  seimon  with  more  than  approba- 
tion :  to  say  it  is  good  is  to  say  too  little."  After 
a  conversation  with  Dr.  Johnson  concerning  these 
sermons,  Mr.  Strahan  candidly  wrote  again  to  Dr. 
Blair,  enclosing  Johnson's  note,  and  agreeing  to 
purchase  the  volume,  for  which  he  and  Mr.  Cadell 
gave  one  hundred  pounds.  ITie  sale  was  so  rapid 
and  extensive,  that  the  publbhei*s  made  Dr.  Blair 
a  pi*esent  of  fifty  pounds,  and  afterwai-ds  of  the 
same  sum ;  thus  voluntarily  doubling  the  stipulated 
price.  For  the  second  volume  they  gave  hiui  at 
once  three  hundred  pounds;  and  we  believe  for 
the  othera  he  received  six  hundred  pounds  each. 
A  fifth  volume  was  prepared  by  him  for  the  press, 
and  published  after  his  death,  in  1801,  with  ^  A 
Short  Account  of  his  Life,'  by  James  Finlayson, 


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D.l).  A  larger  Life,  by  Dr.  Hill,  appeared  in 
1807.  Dr.  Blair  died  at  Edinburgh,  December 
27,  1800.  He  was  heard  at  times  to  say  that  **  he 
was  left  the  kst  of  his  contempoi*aries." 

His  celebrated  sermons  wre  little  more  than 
moral  discoaraes,  and  they  never  could  have  at- 
tained their  popularity,  a  popularity  unprecedented 
in  the  history  of  theological  literature,  withont  that 
high  polish  of  stylo  so  peculiar  to  the  author. 
They  are  now  comparatively  neglected.  Nor  can 
wo  wonder  at  this.  In  his  desire  for  elegant  dic- 
tion and  correctness  of  language,  he  was  too  apt 
to  lose  sight  of  the  illustration  of  scriptural  doc- 
trines; and  in  many  instances  the  tniths  of  revela- 
tion were  made  to  give  place  to  cold  and  unsatis- 
fying moral  disqnii^itions.  In  church  politics.  Dr. 
Blair  was  attached  to  the  moderate  party,  bnt  he 


did  not  take  a  prommeut  part  m  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cussions. From  natural  diffidence  he  never  conld 
be  prevailed  upon  to  become  moderator  of  the 
(icneral  Assembly.  He  was  very  fond  of  reading 
novels,  and  was  scrupulously  particular  as  to  his 
di*ess  and  appearance.  He  was  likewise  rather 
vain,  and  not  unsusceptible  of  flatteiy.  One  of 
the  most  effective  sennons  he  ever  delivered  he 
composed  and  preached  in  1790,  when  past  his 


eightieth  year,  in  behalf  of  the  fund  for  the  benefit 
of  the  sons  of  the  clergy.  He  had  married,  in 
April  1748,  his  cousin  Catherine,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  James  Bannatine,  one  of  the  ministers  of 
Edinburgh.  Mre.  Blair  died  in  1795 ;  by  her  he 
had  a  son,  who  died  in  infancy,  and  a  daughter, 
who  lived  to  her  twenty- first  year.  Tlie  above  is 
a  portrait  of  Dr.  Blair,  taken  from  one  by  Kay  in 
1799. 
Dr.  Blair^s  works  are : 

The  Importance  of  Religious  Knowledge  to  Mankind;  a 
Sermon  on  Isa.  xi.  9.     1750,  8vo. 

Dissertations  concerning  the  Antiquity,  &c.,  of  the  Poems 
of  Ossian,  the  son  of  Fin^al,  to  be  found  prefixed  to  the  edi- 
tion of  Ossian's  Poems  of  Fingal,  printed  1762,  4to. 

Sennons.  Edin.  1777-1800,  5  vols.  8vo.  To  vol  v.  ir 
anneze<l,  A  Short  Account  of  the  Ijfe  and  Character  of  the 
Author,  by  J.  Finlayson,  D.D.    Numerous  editions. 

Lectures  on  Rhetoric  and  Belles  Lettres.  Lond.  1783,  2 
vols.  4to.    Numerous  editions. 

The  Compassion  and  Beneficence  of  the  Deity;  a  Sermon 
preached  for  the  benefit  of  the  sons  of  the  clergy  of  the  esta- 
blished Church  of  Scotland.  To  which  is  added,  An  Account 
of  the  Objects  and  Constitution  of  the  Society.  Edin.  1799, 
8vo. 

Sermon  on  the  Duties  of  the  Yonng.  Edin.  1800,  8vo. 
Translated  into  French,  by  Lenoir.     Par.  1811,  12mo. 

Sermons,  with  a  Short  Account  of  liis  Life  and  Character, 
by  .1.  Finlayson.     Lond.  1801,  8vo. 

Adrice  to  Youth,  containing  a  Compendium  of  the  Duties 
of  Human  Ufe,  in  Youth  and  ^Linhood.    1807. 

BLAIR,  Robert,  of  Avontonn,  a  distingnished 
lawyer  and  judge,  fourth  son  of  tiie  author  of 
*Tlie  Grave,*  and  also  a  great-grandson  of  the 
minister  of  St.  Andrews  of  the  same  name,  was 
born  at  the  manse  of  Athelstancford  in  East  Lo- 
thian in  1741,  and  educated  for  the  bar.  After  i-e- 
ceiving  his  elementary  education  at  the  High  school 
of  Edinburgh,  he  entered  the  university,  where, 
among  others,  he  commenced  a  friendship  with 
Henry  Dundas,  afterwards  I-.ord  Melville,  which 
Insted  during  their  lives.  Ho  was  admitted  advo- 
cate in  1764 ;  and  his  great  talents  soon  acquired 
for  him  an  extensive  practice.  He  eai-ly  became 
a  leading  counsel,  and  had  generally  for  his  oppo- 
nent in  Important  cases  the  Hon.  Henry  Ei*skine; 
he  and  Mr.  Blair  being  at  that  time  the  two  most 
eminent  membera  of  the  Scottish  bar.  He  was 
for  several  years  one  of  the  assessors  of  the  city  of 
Edinburgh,  and  an  advocate-depn.te,  and  in  17^9 
he  was  appointed  solicitor-general  for  Scotland. 
In  1801  he  was  unanimously  elected  dean  of  the 
faculty  of  advocjites.    In  1806,  on  the  change  of 


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ROBERT. 


ministry,  lie  was  succeeded  as  8oIicitor-genei*al  by 
the  late  John  Clerk,  afterwards  Lord  Eldin.  On 
this  occasion  he  received  a  polite  apolog}'  from  the 
new  minister,  stating  the  necessity  he  was  under 
of  promoting  his  own  political  friends.  Far  from 
beuig  out  of  temper  at  the  change,  Mr.  Blair 
showed  his  magnanimity  by  offering  his  successor 
the  use  of  his  gown  until  the  latter  should  get  one 
prepared  for  himself.  In  1807,  on  the  return  of 
the  Tories  to  power,  he  was  again  offered  the  soli- 
citor-generalship, but  he  declined  both  this  and  the 
higher  office  of  lord  advocate.  In  1808,  on  the 
resignation  of  Sir  Islay  Campbell,  he  was  ap- 
pointed lord  president  of  the  court  of  session;  and 
his  conduct  as  judge  gave  universal  satisfaction. 
lie  did  not  long  enjoy  that  high  office.  He  died 
suddenly,  May  20,  1811,  aged  68,  only  a  few  day? 
before  his  friend  Lord  Melville,  who  had  come  to 
Edinburgh  to  attend  his  funeral.  On  returning 
from  his  usual  walk  on  the  day  of  his  death,  when 
the  door  of  his  house  in  George's  Square  was 
opened,  he  fell  into  the  aims  of  his  servant,  and 
expired  in  a  few  minutes.  In  an  ably  written 
character  of  President  Blair  which  appeared  in  the 
Caledonian  Mercury,  May  23,  it  is  said; — **0f 
the  fii-st  years  of  his  life,  or  of  the  conrse  of  severe 
study  by  which  he  prepai-cd  himself  to  be  what  he 
became,  little  is  known  beyond  the  circle  of  his 
private  friends;  but  never  surely  was  there  ex- 
hibited upon  the  great  theatre  of  public  business, 
a  more  profound  enidition,  gi*eatcr  power  of  dis- 
crimination, nor  a  more  stem  and  invincible  recti- 
tude, combined  with  a  degree  of  personal  dignity, 
that  commanded  more  than  respect,  even  from  his 
equals.  If  any  one  indeed  were  to  be  selected 
from  many  great  featni'es  as  peculiarly  distinguish- 
ing his  character,  we  should  ceitainly  be  apt  to 
tix  upon  that  innate  love  of  justice,  and  abhor- 
rence of  hiiquity,  without  which,  as  he  himself 
emphatically  declared,  when  he  took  the  chair  of 
the  coui-t,  all  other  qualities  avail  nothing,  or  rather 
they  are  worse  than  nothing,  a  sentiment  that 
seemed  to  govern  the  whole  course  of  his  public 
duty.  In  the  multiplicity  of  transactions,  to 
which  the  extended  commerce  of  the  country 
gives  rise,  cases  must  occur  to  illustrate  the  darker 
side  of  the  human  chai*acter.  Such  questions 
Bcemcd  to  call  forth  nil  hu*  energy,  and  they  who 


heard  the  great  principles  of  integrity  vindicated 
and  enforced,  in  a  strain  of  indignant  eloquence, 
conid  scarce  re^tist  the  impression  that  they  beheld, 
for  a  moment,  the  earthly  delegate  of  Etemnl 
Justice.  During  the  short  period  for  which  his 
lord.ship  filled  the  chair  of  the  court,  it  seemed  to 
be  his  object  to  settle  the  law  of  Scotland  upon 
gi'eat  and  permanent  foundations.  Far  from  seek- 
ing to  escape  from  the  decision  of  points  of  law. 
under  an  affected  delicacy,  which  he  well  knew 
might  be  a  cloak  for  ignorance,  he  anxiously 
dwelt  upon  such  questions ;  and  pointed  them  out 
for  discussion  that,  by  means  of  a  deliberate  judg- 
ment, he  might  fix  a  certain  rule  for  the  guidance 
of  future  times.  With  all  his  knowledge  of  Uw, 
his  opinions  upon  these  subjects  were  formed  with 
singular  caution,  and  what  was  at  first  thrown 
out  merely  as  a  doubt,  was  found,  upon  examina- 
tion, to  be  the  result  of  profound  research,  ma- 
tured by  the  deepest  reflection."  In  *  Peter's  I-.et- 
tere  to  his  Kinsfolk,'  President  Blair  is  thus  refer- 
red to :  "  It  would  appear  as  if  the  whole  of  his 
clear  and  commanding  intellect  had  been  fi*amed 
and  tempered  in  such  a  way  as  to  qualify  him  pe- 
culiarly and  expressly  for  being,  what  the  Stagy- 
rite  has  finely  called  *  a  living  equity ' — one  of  the 
happiest,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  rarest,  of  all  the 
combinations  of  mental  powers.  By  all  men  of 
all  parties  the  merits  of  this  great  man  also  were 
alike  acknowledged,  and  his  memory  is  at  this 
moment  alike  held  in  reverence  by  them  all. 
Even  the  keenest  of  his  political  opponents  (the 
late  Lord  Eldin)— himself  one  of  the  greatest  law- 
yers that  Scotland  ever  has  produced — is  said  to 
have  contemplated  the  superior  intellect  of  Blair 
with  a  feeling  of  respectfulness  not  much  akin  to 
the  common  cast  of  his  disposition.  After  hear- 
ing the  President  overturn,  without  an  effort,  in 
the  course  of  a  few  clear  and  short  sentences,  a 
whole  mass  of  ingenious  sophistry,  which  it  had 
cost  himself  much  labour  to  erect,  and  which  ap- 
peared to  be  regarded  as  insurmountable  by  all 
the  rest  of  his  audience,  this  great  barrister  is  said 
to  have  sat  for  a  few  seconds,  niminating  with 
much  bitterness  on  the  discomfiture  of  his  cause, 
and  then  to  have  muttered  between  his  teeth — 
*  My  man  1  God  Almighty  spared  nae  pains  when 
he  made  yonr  brains  i'    Those  that  have  seen  Mr. 


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BLAIR, 


827 


JOHN. 


Clerk,  and  know  his  peculiarities,  nppi*eciate  the 
value  of  this  compliment,  and  do  not  think  the 
\mss  of  it  because  of  its  coarseness.'^ 

President  Blair  was  an  acconiplistited  scholar, 
8 lid  retained,  at  an  advanced  Hge,  a  keen  relish 
and  fresh  remembrance  of  the  beauties  of  Greek 
and  Roman  literature.     As  a  pleader  he  was  not- 
ed for  a  command  of  sarcastic  wit  and  raillery  ; 
but  he  never  left  the  case  to  seek  fur  opportuni- 
ties to  indulge  in  this  vein,  and  his  wit  was  always 
to  the  point.     He  was  above  the  middle  size,  and 
of  an  erect  and  portly  a.<«pect.     His 
countenance  was  a  very  fine  one, 
expressive  of  dignified  composure ; 
his  eye  in  purticular  was  full  and 
penetrating :  and  on  occtisions  which 
engaged  his  feelings,  it  had  a  slow 
turn  of  emotion  that  was  peculiarly 
noble.     As  a  judge  he  possessed  nil 
the  high  qnalifications  for  discharg- 
ing to  the  best  advantage  the  duties 
of  President  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Justice; — a  profound  and  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  the  law, 
tlie  'purest    honour  and  integi'ity, 
abilities  of  the  liighct<t  class,  a  sound 
and  sagacious  judgment,  uiiweariiMl 
patience  and  assiduity,  candour  ainl 
impartiality  that  were  proof  against 
every  trial,  propriety  and  elevation 
of  feeling  on  all  subjects,  a  frank 
and  liberal  and  independent  tuni  of 
iiitnd,  and  a  generous  contempt  of 
ever3'thing    low    or    disingenuous ; 
these  high  endowments  being  gi*aced 
and  seasoned  by  an  earnest  and  vivid 
elocution,  and  by  a  natural  dignity 
of  manner  and  animated  majesty  of 
countenance,  which  struck  the  evildoer  with  awe, 
and  gave  assurance  of  the  native  worth  and  ener- 
gy of  the  spirit  that  reigned  within.     A  statue  of 
I^rd  President  Blair,  by  Chantr}-,  formerly  in  the 
first  division  of  the  court  of  session,  has  been  re- 
moved to  the  outer  house.     He  married  Isabella, 
youngest  daughter  of  Colonel  Halkett  of  LaMiill, 
Pifeshire,  by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  three 
daughters.     His  eldest  daughter  became  the  wife 
of  Alexander  Maconochie  of  Meadowbank,  ap- 


pointed one  of  the  ioixis  of  session  and  justiciary 
in  1819,  resigned  in  1813.  About  twenty  yeai-s 
previous  to  his  death,  the  Lord  President  pur- 
chased the  small  estate  of  Avontoun  near  Lin- 
lithgow, which  continued  always  to  be  his  favour- 
ite residence,  and  as  he  took  great  pleasure  in 
agricultural  improvements,  he  brought  it  to  the 
highest  state  of  cultivation. 

The  following  porti*ait  of  Lord  President  Blair 
was  taken  in  1799,  and  represents  him  in  the  act 
of  pleading . 


BLAIR,  JoiiN,  LL.D.,  an  eminent  chronolo- 
gist,  and  descendant  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Blair  of  St. 
Andrews,  falls  to  be  noticed  in  connection  with  his 
eminent  relatives  whose  lives  have  now  been  given. 
He  was  bom  at  Ediiiburgh  where  he  was  edu- 
cated. He  afterwards  went  to  London,  and  was 
for  some  time  usher  of  a  school  in  Hedge  Lane, 
having  succeeded  his  friend  and  countryman,  Mr. 
Andrew  Henderson,  author  of  a  History  of  the 
Rebellion  of  1745,  in  that  situation.     In  17«Vi  ho 


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RLAIR, 


828 


JAMES. 


bronght  out  a  valuable  and  comprehensive  work, 
entitled  'The  Chronology  and  History  of  the 
World,  from  the  Ci*eation  to  the  Year  of  Christ 
175?,  Illustrated  in  fifty  six  Tables,*  and  dedicated 
to  Lord  Chancellor  Hardwicke.  It  was  published 
by  subscription,  on  account  of  the  great  expense 
of  the  plates.  In  his  preface  the  author  acknow- 
ledged his  great  obligations  to  the  earl  of  Bath, 
and  announced  some  chronological  dissertations, 
in  which  he  proposed  to  illustrate  the  disputed 
points,  to  explain  the  prevailing  systems  of  chron- 
ology, and  to  establish  the  authorities  upon  which 
some  of  the  particular  eras  depend.  The  hint  of 
this  work  was,  as  we  have  already  shown  in  the 
life  of  his  relative,  Dr.  Hugh  Bhiir,  taken  from  the 
latter's  ingenious  scheme  of  chronological  tables. 
At  this  time  he  seems  to  have  taken  orders  in  the 
Chureh  of  England.  In  January  1756  he  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  Septem- 
ber 1757  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the  princess 
dowager  of  Wales,  and  mathematical  tutor  to  the 
duke  of  York.  In  March  1761,  on  Dr.  Towns- 
hend^s  promotion  to  the  deanery  of  Noi-wich,  Dr. 
Blair's  services  were  rewarded  with  a  prebendal 
stall  at  Westminster.  Six  days  after,  the  vicai-age 
of  Hinckley  happening  to  fall  vacant.  Dr.  Blair 
was  presented  to  it  by  the  dean  and  chapter  of 
AVestminster.  The  same  year  he  was  chosen  a 
follow  of  the  Antiquarian  Society.  In  September 
1763  he  attended  the  duke  of  York  in  a  tour  to 
the  continent,  and  returned  with  him  to  England 
in  1764.  In  1768  he  published  an  improved  edi- 
tion of  his  Chronological  Tables,  which  he  dedi- 
cated to  the  princess  of  Wales.  To  this  edition 
were  annexed  fourteen  maps ;  with  a  dissertation 
prefixed,  on  the  Progress  of  Geography.  In 
March  1771  he  was  transferred  by  presentation 
of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Westminster  to  the 
vicarage  of  St.  Bride's  in  the  city  of  Ix)ndon, 
and  again  in  April  1776,  to  the  rectory  of 
St,  John  the  Evangelist,  Westminster.  He  was 
also  rector  of  Horton  in  Buckinghamshire.  He 
died  of  influenza  June  24,  1782.  While  suffer- 
ing under  this  malady,  he  received  intelligence 
of  the  death  of  his  brother,  Captain  Blair,  in 
the  preceding  April,  and  the  shock  is  supposed 
to  hare  hastened  his  own.  This  able  officer, 
for  his  gallant  conduct  in  the  Dolphin  frigate 


in  the  engagement  with  the  Dutch  on  the  Dog- 
ger Bank,  August  5,  1781,  was  promoted  to  the 
command  of  the  Anson,  a  new  ship  of  64  guns. 
He  distinguished  himself  under  Sir  George  Rod- 
ney, in  the  memorable  sea-fight  with  Count  de 
Grasse,  April  12,  1782,  and  in  this  action  fell 
gloriously  in  the  service  of  his  country.  He  was 
one  of  the  three  to  whom  parliament  on  this  occa- 
sion voted  a  monument.  With  this  brief  notice  of 
Capt.  Blair  we  close  the  series  of  the  descendants  of 
the  worthy  presbyterian  divine.  Dr.  Blair's  *  Lec- 
tures on  the  Canons  of  the  Old  Testament '  were 
published  after  his  death. — ChahMri  Biog,  Dici. 
His  works  nre : 

The  Chronology  and  History  of  the  Worid,  from  the  Crea- 
tion to  the  Year  of  Christy  1758.  lUostntted  in  56  Tables; 
of  which  fonr  are  Introdnctory,  and  contain  the  Centoiies 
prior  to  the  First  Olympiad;  and  each  of  the  remaining  fifty- 
two,  contain,  in  one  expanded  view,  fifty  yean,  or  half  a  cen- 
tury. Lond.  1756,  fol.  The  same  continued  to  1761,  and 
enlarged  and  improved.  Lond.  1768,  fol.  Continued  abo  to 
the  year  1814.     Uhistrated  in  69  Tables. 

Fourteen  Maps  m{  Ancient  and  Modem  Geography,  for  the 
Illustration  of  the  Tables  of  Chronology  and  Hbtoiy.  To 
which  is  prefixed,  A  Dissertation  on  the  Rise  and  Progress  ot 
Geography.    Lond.  1768,  laxge  foL 

The  History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Qeogriphy.  Lond 
1784,  12mo. 

Lectures  on  the  Canons  of  the  Old  Testament,  ctanprehend- 
ing  a  Dissertation  on  the  Septuagint  Version.   Lond.  1785, 4U 

Agitation  of  the  Waters  near  Readmg.  PhiL  Trans.  Abr. 
X.  651.  1756. 

BLAIR,  Jamrs,  an  emiueiit  episcopalian  divine, 
the  projector  of  the  uuiveraity  of  WUliamsbarg  iu 
Virginia,  was  bom  and  edncated  in  Scotland,  but 
the  date  of  his  birth  is  not  mentioned.  Having 
entered  into  holy  ordei*s  sometime  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second,  he  was  dnly  appointed  to  a 
benefice  in  his  native  country ;  but  becoming  dis- 
couraged in  conseqnence  of  the  dislike  manifested 
by  the  Scottish  people  to  the  establishment  of 
episcopacy,  he  resigned  his  living,  and  removed  to 
England.  Being  introduced  to  Dr.  Compton, 
then  bishop  of  London,  that  prelate  prevailed  upon 
him,  in  1685,  to  go  ont  to  Virginia,  as  a  mission- 
aiy,  and  by  his  conduct  and  ministerial  labours  he 
was  eminently  serviceable  in  promoting  the  cause 
of  religion  in  that  colony.  In  1689,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  same  prelate  his  commissary  for  the 
province,  the  highest  office  in  the  churdi  there. 
Finding  that  the  want  of  proper  seminaiies  for  the 
advancement  of  religion  and  learning  proved  a 


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BLAIR. 


329 


SIR  JAMES  iniNTER. 


great  obstacle  to  all  attempts  for  the  propagation 
of  the  gospel,  he  formed  a  design  of  erecting  and 
endowing  a  college  at  Williamsbnrg,  then  the  cap- 
ital of  Virginia,  for  professors  and  students  in 
academical  learning.  With  this  view  he  raised  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  bj  volantar>'  subscrip- 
tion ;  and  in  order  the  more  effectually  to  accom- 
plish his  object,  ho  sailed  for  England  in  1693. 
The  design  met  the  approval  of  King  William  and 
Queen  Mai7 ;  and  a  patent  was  passed  for  erect- 
ing and  endowing  a  college  by  the  name  of  ^^  the 
college  of  William  and  Mary  */^  the  establishment 
of  which  was  aided  by  an  endowment  from  the 
king  of  two  thousand  pounds,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  from  the  royal  domain,  toge- 
ther with  a  tax  of  a  penny  a  pound  on  tobacco 
exported  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  to  other 
plantations,  as  the  American  colonies,  now  form- 
ing the  United  States,  were  then  called.  Of  the 
new  college,  Mr.  Blair  was  appointed  president, 
and  enjoyed  that  office  nearly  fifty  years.  He 
was  also  rector  of  Williamsbnrg,  and  president 
of  the  council  in  that  colony.  lie  wrote  'Our 
Savionr*s  Divine  Sermon  on  the  Monnt  explained, 
and  the  practice  of  it  recommended,  in  divers  ser- 
mons and  discourses/  which  was  published  with  a 
recommendatory  preface,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Watcr- 
land,  in  4  volumes  octavo,  I^ndon,  in  1742.  Mr. 
Blair  die<l  in  1743.— CKriMff*  Hist  of  his  Own 
T^imeMy  vol.  iii,  page  165,  octavo  edition. 

BL.AIR,  Patrick,  an  eminent  physician  and 
botanist,  was  bom,  it  is  supposed,  in  Dundee, 
where  he  practised  physic  and  surgery.  In  the 
year  1706,  having  dissected  an  elephant  belonging 
to  an  exhibition,  which  had  died  in  that  town,  he 
wrote  an  account  of  its  anatomy  and  osteology, 
which  was  published  in  1710  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  Numbers  326  and  327.  Tliis  first 
made  him  known  as  nn  anatomist.  In  a  subse- 
quent number  of  the  Transactions,  he  gave  a  de- 
scription of  the  ossicula  audit  us,  accompanied  with 
engravings.  His  account  of  this  dissection  was 
also  published  separately  in  1711, 4to,  with  figures. 
It  contains  an  accurate  description  of  the  probos- 
cis and  its  muscles,  and  confirms,  according  to 
Haller,  the  opinion  formerly  given  that  the  ele- 
phant has  no  gall-bladder.  In  1715,  when  the 
rebellion  broke  out  in  Scotland,  Dr.  Blair,  being 


of  well-known  Jacobite  principles,  was  for  a  short 
time  imprisoned  on  suspicion.  He  afterwards  re- 
moved to  London,  and  acquired  considerable  repu- 
tation by  some  discourses  on  the  sexes  of  flowci-8, 
which  he  read  before  the  Royal  Society.  He  also 
republished  his  ^  Anatomy  of  the  Elephant.'  In 
1718  he  brought  out  a  volume  of  ^  Miscellaneous 
Observations  on  the  Practice  of  Physic,  Anatomy, 
Surgery  and  Botany,'  in  8vo.  In  1720  he  pro- 
duced the  work  by  which  he  rendered  the  greatest 
service  to  botany,  being  *  Botanical  Essays,'  8vo, 
in  two  parts,  with  illustrations ;  containing  the 
*  Discourses  on  the  Sexes  of  Plants,'  which  he  had 
read  before  the  Royal  Society,  much  enlarged,  and 
published  at  the  request  of  several  of  its  members. 
It  is  divided  into  five  essays.  The  three  first 
treat  of  what  is  peculiar  to  plants,  and  the  two 
last  on  what  is  common  to  them  and  animals.  He 
coufirms  the  arguments  in  favour  of  the  sexes  of 
plants  by  sound  reasoning  and  several  additional 
experiments.  Some  of  his  notions  are  now  aban- 
doned by  botanists ;  but  his  work  contains  infor- 
mation which,  even  at  this  advanced  period  of  the 
science,  is  considered  useful  and  coirect.  Having 
removed  to  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  where  Dr. 
Pulteney  conjectures  he  practised  as  a  physician 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  published  a 
work,  entitled  ^  Pharmaco-Botanologia,  or  an  Al- 
phabetical and  Classical  Dissertation  on  all  the 
British  Indigenous  and  Garden  Plants  of  the  New 
Dispensatory,'  London,  1723-1728.  Tliis  work, 
in  which  he  Introilnced  several  of  the  rarer  plants 
discovered  by  himself  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston, 
came  out  in  decades,  and  extends  only  to  the  let- 
ter H.  He  wrote  various  papers  for  the  Philoso- 
phical Transactions ;  pai-ticularly  a  *  Method  of 
Discovering  the  Virtues  of  Plants  by  their  exter- 
nal Structui-e,'  and  *  Observations  on  the  Genera- 
tion of  Plants.'  The  time  of  his  death  is  not 
known,  but  it  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place 
soon  after  1728. — Pulteney* s  Sketc/ies. 

BLAIR,  Sir  James  Hunter,  Bart.,  an  emi- 
nent banker,  descended  paternally  from  the 
Hunters  of  Hunterston,  in  Ayrshire,  the  second 
son  of  Mr.  John  Hunter  of  Brownhill,  merchant 
in  Ayr,  was  born  there  February  21,  1741. 
In  1756  he  was  placed  as  an  •apprentice  in  the 
banking-house    of   Messrs.    Coutts,    Edinburgh, 


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where  Sir  William  Forbes  was  also  a  clerk.  In 
1763,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Contts,  he  and  Sir 
AVilliam  were  admitted  to  a  share  of  the  business, 
and  ultimately  became  the  principal  partners.  In 
December  1770  he  married  Jane,  eldest  daughter 
of  John  Blair  of  Dunskey,  in  Wigtonshii-e,  in  right 
of  whom  he  acquired,  in  1777,  the  family  estate, 
when  he  assumed  the  name  of  Blair  in  addition  to 
his  own.  The  improvements  which  he  introduced 
on  the  estate  of  Dunskey  were  of  the  most  exten- 
sive and  judicious  kind.  The  writer  of  his  me- 
moir in  the  Edinburgh  Mag.  for  1794,  says,  **  He 
nearly  rebuilt  the  town  of  Portpatrick ;  he  repaired 
and  greatly  improved  the  harbour;  established 
packet  boats  of  a  larger  size  on  the  much  fre- 
quented passage  to  Donaghadee  in  Ireland;  and, 
lastly,  while  the  farmers  in  that  pait  of  Scotland 
were  not  veiy  well  acquainted  with  the  most  ap- 
proved modes  of  farming,  he  set  before  them  a 
successful  example  of  the  best  modes  of  agricul- 
ture, the  greatest  service,  perhaps,  which  can  be 
performed  by  a  private  man  to  his  country."  In 
September  1781  he  was  chosen  M.P.  for  the  city 
of  Edinburgh,  and  at  the  general  election  in  1784 
was  re-elected ;  but  he  soon  resigned  his  seat  in 
favour  of  Sir  Adam  Jergusson,  Baronet.  At 
Michaelmas  1784  he  was  elected  lord  provost  of 
Edinburgh;  and  to  him  that  city  is  indebted  for 
many  improvements,  particularly  the  rebuilding  of 
the  college,  and  the  plan  and  erection  of  the  South 
Bridge,  the  foundation-stone  of  which  was  laid 
August  1,  1785.  lie  was  created  a  baronet  in 
1786,  and  died  at  Harrowgate,  July  1,  1787,  in 
the  47th  year  of  his  age.  He  is  buried  in  the  Grey- 
friars'  churchyai'd,  Edinburgh.  Hunter  Square 
and  Blair  Street,  Edinburgh,  are  called  after  Sir 
James,  and  a  portrait  of  him  in  his  robes  as  lord 
provost  of  that  city,  is  given  in  Kay's  Edinburgh 
Portraits.  He  had  fourteen  children,  twelve  of 
whom  survived  their  infancy.  His  eldest  son,  Sir 
John,  died  in  1800,  unmarried,  when  his  next 
brother,  Sir  David,  succeeded  to  the  title  and 
estate  of  Blairquhan  in  Ayrshire.  The  third  son, 
James,  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Ayrshire  militia, 
inherited  the  estates  of  Dunskey  and  Robertland. 
He  was  for  a  considerable  time  M.P.  for  Wigton- 
shire,  and  died  in  1822,  when  his  next  sui-viving 
brother,  Forbes,  succeeded  to  his  estates.    The 


latter  became  a  candidate,  on  the  conservative 
interest,  for  the  representation  in  parliament,  of 
Edinburgh,  in  the  first  election  after  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  bill,  and  died  soon  after  in  1838. 
His  younger  brother,  Thomas,  an  officer  in  the 
army,  then  became  proprietor  of  Dunskey.  Tliis 
gentleman  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Talavera, 
where  he  was  made  prisoner,  and  detained  in 
Fi-ance  till  the  peace  in  1814.  He  was  a  secoml 
time  wounded  at  the  battle  of  AVaterloo  in  18L5, 
and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  subsequently  served  as  brigadier-general  in 
the  Burmese  war.  Two  views  of  old  Dunskey 
castle  are  given  In  the  second  volume  of  Grose's 
antiquities  of  Scotland,  accompanied  with  a  brief 
description. 

Blane,  the  nrntie  of  a  faunily  in  tlie  county  of  Ayr,  said 
to  be  descended  from  St  Blane,  one  of  the  most  diitin- 
gaiiihed  saints  in  the  Scotch  Calendar.  It  is,  howerer,  more 
probably  territorial,  and  derived  from  lands— of  which  there 
were  many  in  the  west  of  Scotland— bestowed  for  support  of 
an  establishment,  or  a  place  of  worsliip,  called  after  hia  native 

BLANE,  Sir  Gilbert,  of  Blanefield.  bart.,  an 
eminent  physician,  the  fonitli  son  of  Gilbert  Blane, 
Esq.  of  Blanefield,  in  Ayrshire,  an  opulent  merchant 
who  had  been  long  settled  in  London,  was  bom  in 
the  family  mansion  in  the  county  of  Ayr,  Angnsi 
29,  1749.  One  of  his  brothers,  Andrew,  had  stu- 
died for  the  law,  and  became  a  respectable  writer 
to  the  signet  in  Edinburgh.  Gilbert  was  origi- 
nally destined  for  the  church,  and  with  that  ob- 
ject he  stndied  for  five  years  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  which  he  entered  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen ;  but  in  the  course  of  his  academical  career 
his  views  changed,  and  he  resolved  to  study  med- 
icine. He  accordingly  puraned  his  medical  studies 
for  five  years  more,  and  his  character  stood  so 
high  among  his  fellow-students  that  he  was  elect- 
ed one  of  the  presidents  of  the  Medical  Society. 
On  November  25,  1767,  he  was  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Speculative  Society,  then  in  its  infancy. 
The  essays  he  read  to  the  society  during  the  time 
that  he  was  a  member,  were  on  the  following  sub- 
jects:— ^The  Influence  of  situation  on  Character; 
The  comparative  faculties  of  Man  and  other  ani- 
mals; Beauty. 

After  obtaining  his  degree  of  doctor  of  me<li- 
cine,  he  repaired  to  London,  where  he  spent  two 
yeai*s  longer  in  study.     Being  recommended  b> 


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331 


GILBERT. 


Dr.  Cnllcn  to  Dr.  William  Hunter,  at  tliat  time 
the  most  eminent  teacher  of  anatomy  in  I^ndon, 
throngh  his  influence  he  was  appointed  private 
physician  to  the  earl  of  Holdemess.  This  appoint- 
ment inti*oduced  him  to  the  notice  of  many  dis- 
tinguished individuals,  and  among  others  to  Ad- 
miral Sir  George  Rodney,  afterwards  I^rd  Rod- 
ney, who  nominated  him  his  privnte  physician,  in 
which  capacity  he  accompanied  him,  when,  in 
1780,  he  assumed  the  command  of  the  squadron 
in  the  West  Indies.  He  was  present  at  no  less 
than  six  general  engagements  with  that  renowned 
commander.  In  tlie  course  of  the  first  engage- 
ment, every  officer  being  either  killed,  wounded, 
or  employed,  Dr.  Blane  was  intrusted  by  the  ad- 
miral with  the  duty  of  conveying  his  orders  to  the 
officers  at  the  gims,  and  in  one  of  these  dangerous 
missions  he  was  severely  wounded.  As  a  reward 
for  his  services  on  this  occasion,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  admiral,  he  was,  without  going 
throngh  the  subordinate  grades,  appointed  at  once 
physician  to  the  fleet,  a  situation  which  he  held 
till  the  conclusion  of  the  war  in  1783.  He  was 
present  at  the  engagement  between  the  English 
ind  French  fleets,  April  12,  1782,  when  Rodney 
gained  the  celebrated  victory  over  Count  De 
Grasse,  of  which  he  wrote  an  account.  For  this 
victory  Sir  George  Rodney  was  created  a  baix)n  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  under  the  title  of  I^rd  Rod- 
ney. 

While  on  board  the  fleet,  Dr.  Blane  kept  a  reg- 
ular account  of  his  discoveries,  experience,  and 
practice  in  the  service,  which,  with  the  conclusions 
drawn  fi-om  the  returns  of  the  surgeons  of  the 
ships,  he  published,  in  1783,  under  the  title  of 
'Observations  on  the  Diseases  incident  to  Sea- 
men,^ a  work  several  times  reprinted,  with  addi- 
tions. On  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  on  the  unan- 
imous recommendation  of  the  Flag  officers  and 
captains  of  the  West  India  fleet  to  the  board  of 
admiralty,  his  majesty  conferred  on  him  a  pension, 
half-pay  not  being  then  established. 

On  settling  in  I^ndon  as  a  physician,  he  was, 
by  the  influence  of  the  duke  of  Clarence,  after- 
wards William  the  Fourth,  whom  he  had  frc- 
qnently  met  in  the  West  Indies  when  his  royal 
highness  was  serving  as  a  midshipman  on  board 
the  Prince  George,  appointed  physician  extraordi- 


nary to  the  prince  of  Wales.  Soon  after  he  was 
nominated  physician  to  the  Household,  and  in 
1785  he  was  elected  physician  to  St  Thomas'  Hos- 
pital. 

On  the  appointment  of  Earl  Spencer  as  fii*st 
lord  of  the  admiralty,  Dr.  Blane  was  nominatinl 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  sick  and  wounded 
sailors,  the  duties  of  which  important  office  he 
continued  to  execute  till  the  peace  of  Amiens, 
when  a  reduction  of  all  the  naval  establishments 
took  place.  Soon  after  this  his  pension  was  dou- 
bled, on  a  representation  of  the  board  of  admi- 
ralty to  the  king  in  council. 

In  1786  Dr.  Blane  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  in  1788  he  was  chosen  to  de- 
liver the  Croouian  lecture,  when  he  selected  for 
his  subject,  *  Muscular  Motion.'  The  lecture  was 
published  in  1791,  and  reprinted  in  his  *  Select 
Dissertations,'  1822.  He  also  wrote  in  the  year 
1790,  for  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society, 
volume  Ixxx.,  an  essay  on  the  *  Nardus  Indica,' 
or  spikenard  of  the  ancients.  In  1795  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Nav}'  Medical  Board ; 
and  during  the  time  that  Earl  Spencer  remained 
in  office,  with  the  assistance  of  that  nobleman,  he 
effected  the  introduction  into  every  ship,  of  the 
use  of  lemon  juice,  as  a  preventive  and  cure  of 
scurvy.  This  measure  has  had  the  beneficial  ef- 
fect of  almost  completely  eradicating  scurvy  at  sea. 

On 'several  important  occasions.  Dr.  Blane's 
professional  opinion  was  solicited  and  followed  by 
government.  In  conjunction  with  the  king's  phy- 
sicians and  other  leading  characters,  he  was  called 
upon  to  draw  up  the  regulations  on  the  subject  of 
quarantine,  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  act  of 
parliament  on  this  head.  In  the  year  1800,  his 
advice  was  likewise  resorted  to  on  the  pi*oper 
mode  of  accommodating  the  convicts  in  the  hulks 
at  Woolwich,  to  prevent  the  progress  of  infection. 
For  the  same  puipose  he  officially  visited  New- 
gate by  the  authority  of  the  secretary  of  state  for 
the  home  department.  The  army  from  Egypt 
was  transported  to  Britain,  in  the  manner  pointed 
out  by  him,  at  the  desire  of  the  secretary  for  wai 
and  colonies,  to  avoid  the  danger  of  importing  the 
plague  into  this  country.  The  Board  of  Control 
applied  for  his  suggestions,  in  ameliorating  the 
regulations  of  the  medical  sei*vice  in  India ;  :uid 


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382 


Gn.BERT. 


fc!ie  transiwrts  carrying  the  convicts  to  Botany 
Bay  were,  under  his  direction,  fitted  up  so  as  to 
lessen  the  mortality  of  former  voyages,  by  a  fi'ee 
ventilation  and  cleanliness,  which  he  was  called 
upon  to  do  bj'  a  warrant  from  the  home  secretary. 
Daring  the  scarcity  of  1799  and  1800,  his  opinion 
was  requested  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  to  correct  the  popular  prejudices 
then  entertained,  he  published  a  small  ti*act  on  the 
subject  of  forestalling  and  combination.  In  the 
unfortunate  Walcheren  expedition  in  1809,  when 
the  government  were  undecided  what  measures  to 
adopt,  Dr.  Blane  was  despatched  to  give  his  opin- 
ion as  to  the  troops  remaining  on  the  island,  and 
his  report,  which  was  afterwards  published,  made 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  army  physicians,  de- 
teimined  govenmicnt  to  abandon  the  expedition. 
Besides  a  liberal  remuneration  from  government, 
he  received  the  thanks  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
uificially  conveyed  to  him  through  the  war-office. 
In  consequence  of  his  great  merit  and  public  ser- 
vices he  was  created  a  baronet  by  patent,  dated 
December  26,  1812. 

In  1805.  his  private  practice  having  become 
very  extensive,  he  resigned  his  office  of  physician 
to  St.  Thomas'  Hospital ;  and  in  the  fourth  vol- 
ume of  the  *  Ti-ansactions  of  the  Medical  and  Chi- 
rurgical  Society'  he  published  an  *  Exposition  of 
the  prevailing  Diseases  of  the  Metropolis,'  during 
the  twenty  yeara  that  he  had  held  that  situation. 
This  paper  was  reprinted  in  his  '  Select  Disserta- 
tions.' In  1813  he  succeeded  Sir  Heniy  Halford 
as  president  of  the  Medical  and  Chirurgical  So- 
ciety. In  1819  he  published  his  *  Elemeuts  of  Me- 
dical I^gic,'  in  which  he  gives  his  ideas  respecting 
medical  education,  and  certain  topics  connected 
\\ith  it.  This  work  has  reached  several  editions. 
In  1826  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Institute 
of  France.  In  November  1829,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  lords  of  the  admiralty,  he  founded  a  prize 
medal  for  the  best  jounial  kept  by  the  surgeons  of 
the  navy.  The  medal  is  awarded  every  second 
year,  the  Commissioners  selecting  four  journals; 
and  the  president  of  the  college  of  physicians, 
with  the  pi-esident  of  the  college  of  surgeons,  de- 
ciding which  of  such  four  is  best  entitled  to  this 
honorary  distinction.  In  1830,  on  the  accession 
of' King  William  the  Fourth,  he  was  nominated 


first  physician  to  his  majesty.  In  1831  he  pub- 
\hheil  a  ^  Waniing  to  the  British  public  against 
the  alarming  approach  of  the  Indian  Cholera.'  Sir 
Gilbert  was  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians, 
and  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  as  well  a.« 
of  I^ndon,  a  proprietor  of  the  Royal  Institution, 
and  a  meml)er  of  the  Imperial  Society  of  Sciences 
at  St.  Petersburgh.  Having  been  consulted  by 
the  sovereigns  of  Russia  and  Prussia^  and  the 
president  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on  sub- 
jects of  public  police  and  national  interest,  he  re- 
ceived from  the  two  former  gold  medals,  expres- 
sive of  their  high  sense  of  hi»  professional  merit, 
and  from  the  last  a  letter  of  thanks.  His  latter 
years  were  spent  in  retirement  from  professional 
laboni*s.  He  died  June  27, 1834,  in  his  85tli  year. 
Besides  Blanefield  in  the  county  of  Ayr,  Dr. 
Blane  possessed  the  estate  of  Culverlands  in  Berk- 
shire. He  had  married  July  11,  1786,  Elizabetli, 
only  daughter  of  Abraham  Gardner,  merchant,  by 
whom  he  had  six  sons  and  three  daughters.  Ilia 
two  eldest  sons  having  predeceased  him,  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  third  son,  Sir  Hngli  SejTuonr 
Blane,  who  served  with  distinction  at  Waterloo, 
as  an  officer  of  the  third  guards.  One  of  Sir  Gil- 
bert's daughters,  Louisa,  was  accidentally  drowned 
in  a  piece  of  water  on  her  uncle's  estate  at  Wink- 
field  Paik,  August  24,  1813,  aged  19.  His  other 
daughters  died  in  infancy.  Sir  Gilbert  Blanc's 
works  are : 

A  Sliort  Account  of  the  most  effcctiud  Means  of  prewiring 
the  Health  of  Seamen.     Lond.  1780,  4to. 

Obserx-ntions  on  the  Diseases  incident  to  Seamen.  I^ntl 
1 785,  8vo.  3d  edition,  with  corrections  and  additions.  17JW. 
8vo. 

A  I-ccture  on  Muscular  Motion,  read  at  the  Uoyal  Sodety, 
the  13th  and  the  20th  November,  1788.     Lond.  1791,  4to. 

Elements  of  Medical  Logic,  illustrated  by  practical  proofs 
and  examples.     London,  1818. 

Account  of.  a  Case  in  which  Death  was  brought  on  by  a 
Haemorrhage  from  the  Liver.  Trans.  Med.  and  Chir.  n.  p. 
18,  1800. 

On  the  Kflfcct  of  the  Pure  Fixt  Alkalies,  and  of  Lime  Wa- 
ter, in  several  Complaints,     Ibid.  p.  132. 

History  of  some  C.^ses  of  Disease  in  the  Brain,  with  an 
Account  of  the  Appearances  after  Death,  and  some  general 
Observations  on  Complaints  of  the  Head.     Ibid.  p.  192. 

An  Account  of  the  Hurricane  at  Barbadoes  on  the  lOth  of 
October  1780.     Ed.  Phil.  Trans,  i.  Part  First,  30,  1788. 

Facts  and  Obsenrutions  respecting  Intennittont  Fevcra,  and 
the  F^halatioDs  which  occasion  tliein.  Med.  Chir.  Trans,  iil 
1.  1812. 

Olmervations  on  the  comparative  Prevalence,  Mortality, 
and  Treatment  of  diflercnt  Diseases.     Ibid.  iv.  89.   1813. 


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BLANTYRE. 


833 


BLANTYRE. 


Blantykb,  Baron,  a  title  in  tho  peerage  of  Scotland,  pc«- 
spssed  bj  a  branch  of  the  illustrioua  house  of  Stuart  The 
ancestor  of  this  noble  family  was  Sir  Thomas  Stuart  of  Minto, 
who  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  James  the  Thurd. 
He  was  the  third  son  of  Sir  AVilliam  Stuart  of  Dalswinton 
and  Garlics,  progenitor  of  the  earls  of  Gallowaj  [see  Galixj- 
WAY,  earl  of].  Ho  received  from  hb  father  the  lands  of 
Biinto,  Sinlaws,  and  Merbottle  in  Roxburghshire,  of  whicli 
he  had  two  charters  under  the  great  seal,  2d  November  1476, 
and  hy  his  marriage  with  Isabel,  eldest  daughter  and  oo-hcir 
of  Walter  Stewart  of  Arthurly,  of  the  Gastlemilk  familjr,  he 
acquired  extensive  estates  in  the  counties  of  Lanark  and  Ren- 
frew. He  died  ui  1500,  leaving  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. 

"iSir  John,  the  eldest  son,  styled  of  Minto,  married  Janet 
Fleming,  of  Lord  Fleming^s  family,  by  whom  he  had  a  son, 
named  Robert.  Sir  John  had  a  charter  to  himself  and  Janet 
bis  wife,  of  the  barony  of  Minto  and  lands  of  Busby,  which 
had  belonged  to  his  father,  2dd  February,  1502-<8.  He  was 
kiUed  at  the  baUle  of  Flodden,  9th  September,  1513.  WU- 
liam,  the  second  son,  an  eminent  churchman  of  his  day,  was, 
whilst  dean  of  Glasgow,  2d  October,  1530,  appointed  high 
treasurer  of  Scotland,  and  about  the  same  Ume  was  made 
provost  of  linduden,  an  ecclesiastical  title,  under  which  he 
sat  in  parliament,  26th  April  1531.  In  November  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  was  elected  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  and  in  Feb- 
mary  1584,  akmg  with  Sir  Adam  Otterbum  of  Redhall,  his 
Miijesty*s  advocate,  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Engbnd, 
to  treat  of  a  pacification  which  was  happily  concluded.  In 
1537,  he  resigned  the  office  of  high  treasurer,  and  died  17th 
April  1545.  [CravforcTs  Officers  o/Staie,  page  878.] 

Sir  John  Stuart's  son,  Sir  Robert  Stuart  of  Minto,  married 
Janet  Murray,  of  the  house  of  Touchadam  and  Polmaise.  He 
Iiad  four  sons;  Sur  John,  his  heir;  Walter;  Robert,  prior  of 
Wliithom;  and  Malcolm;  and  a  daughter. 

His  eldest  son.  Sir  John  Stuart  of  Mmto,  assisted  at 
the  coronation  of  King  James  tho  Sixth  in  1567.  He  was 
provost  of  Gla^ow,  and  had  the  command  of  tho  castle  of 
that  town.  He  married,  first,  Joanna  Hepburn,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  Matthew,  whose  male  line  became  extinct  in  the 
person  of  Sir  John  Stuart,  who  died  in  the  expedition  to 
Darien  in  1697;  secondly,  Margaret,  second  daughter  of 
James  Stewart  of  Cardonald,  heir  to  her  brother  James,  and 
had  a  son,  Walter,  who  became  first  Lord  Blantyre,  and  four 
daughters. 

Walter  Stuart,  Sir  Julm*s  only  son  by  the  second  marriage, 
and  the  first  Lord  BUmtyre,  was  educated,  along  with  King 
James  the  Sixth,  under  the  eye  of  George  Buchanan,  and 
had  the  prioiy  of  Blantyre  in  Lanarkshire  bestowed  upon 
him  by  that  monarch.  Tlie  name  Bld-an-Ur^  is  Gaelic,  sig- 
nifying *  a  warm  retreat,'  descriptive  of  the  whole  district  of 
BUmtyre,  now  a  parish.  The  priory  was  founded  by  Alexan- 
der the  Second,  sometime  before  1296,  and  the  ruins  still  re- 
mun.  They  are  situated  in  a  most  retired  situation,  on  the 
top  of  a  roA,  which  rises  perpendicularly  from  the  Clyde, 
exactly  opposite  the  noble  ruins  of  Bothwell  Castle.  The  re- 
venues were  in  1561,  £131  6s.  1\A. 

In  1580,  Walter  Stuart  was  nominated  a  *  minion,*  or  gen- 
tleman of  the  king's  bed-chamber,  on  which  occasion  he  was 
designed  commendator  of  Blantyre.  On  14th  November, 
1582,  he  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor,  whereby  he  became 
one  of  the  lords  of  the  secret  council ;  he  was  also  constituted 
keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Thomas 
Buchanan  of  Ibest  ICrawforxTs  Officers  ofStaie^  page  393.] 
The  feuing-ont  of  his  Majesty's  Unds  within  the  regality  of 
Glasgow  having  been  committed  to  his  care,  he  performed  this 


duty  to  good  purpose.  Aocordmg  to  Spottiswood  [Histonfy 
page  348.],  he  was  instrumental  in  procuring  the  pardon  of 
Archibald  Douglas,  titular  parson  of  Glasgow,  for  having  in- 
truded himself  into  the  parsonage.  On  28th  May,  1593,  he 
was  sppointed  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session,  in  the  room 
of  Sir  Thomas  Lyon  of  Auldbar,  and  on  12th  January,  1596, 
he  was  constituted  one  of  the  eight  commissioners  of  the 
treasury  and  exchequer,  called  from  their  number  Octavians, 
to  whom  King  James  intrusted  the  management  of  his  afiairs. 
In  the  distribution  of  offices  which  this  body  made  amongst 
themselves,  be  received  the  office  of  high  treasurer,  which  was 
formally  conferred  upon  him  by  letters  patent,  under  tho 
great  seal,  dated  6th  March,  1596,  with  a  preamble  very  hon- 
ourable to  him.  [CVot^/brcf,  page  395.]  On  this  occasion  he 
resigned  the  custody  of  the  privy  seal  to  Lindsay  of  Balcarres. 

In  the  expediti<m  against  Kmtyre  and  Isla,  resolved  upon 
by  King  James  the  Sixth  in  1596,  under  the  leadership  of  Sir 
William  Stewart  of  Houston,  commendator  of  Pittenweem, 
liord  Bhuityre,  as  high  treasurer,  took  an  active  part  Early 
in  October  he  was  in  the  west,  superintending  the  progress 
made  in  the  preparations  for  it,  and  from  a  letter  addresned 
by  him  to  the  secretary  of  State,  it  appears  that  the  sum  of 
seven  thousand  meriu  were  still  wsnting  to  enable  the  expe- 
dition to  sail.  \^Bdtearres  papers^  quoted  in  Gregortf's  His- 
tory of  ike  Highlands  and  Jsles^  page  268.J  Having  pur- 
chased the  barony  of  Blantyre,  on  18th  January  1598,  he  had 
a  charter  of  it,  as  well  as  of  Wrightslands  and  Cardonald  in 
Renfrewshire,  when  he  was  designated  *  Walter  Lord  BUm- 
tyre, our  treasurer.'  On  17th  May  1699,  he  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  the  king  by  a  decision  in  a  cause  between  Mr. 
Robert  Bruce  and  the  ministers  of  Angus,  and  besides  being 
deprived  of  his  offices  of  treasurer  and  extraordinary  lord  oi 
session,  was  committed  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh. 
According  to  Crawford  he  was  soon  released  and  restored  to 
favour.  In  1604,  he  was  nominated  one  of  the  commissioners 
for  a  proposed  treaty  of  union  with  England,  and  on  10th 
January  1606,  he  was  one  of  the  lords  of  secret  council  who 
assisted,  as  assessors,  at  the  famous  trial  of  John  Welch  and 
the  other  five  ministers  at  Linlithgow,  for  treason,  in  declin- 
ing the  jurisdiction  of  the  privy  council,  and  holding  a  general 
assembly,  after  being  charged  not  to  do  so,  when  they  were 
found  guilty,  and  banished  from  the  kingdom.  On  10th  July 
of  the  same  year  (1606)  he  was  created  a  peer  of  Scotland, 
under  the  title  of  Lord  BUmtyre.  On  the  trial  of  George 
Sprot,  notary  in  Eyemouth,  12th  August,  1608,  for  conceal- 
ment of  Earl  Cowrie's  conspiracy,  he  formed  one  of  the  asses- 
sors, and  on  13th  January,  1610,  he  was  restored  to  his  for- 
mer post  as  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session. 

I^rd  Blantyre  died  8th  March  1617.  He  had  married 
Nicolas,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Somerville  of  Cambusnethan, 
by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  Anne,  married  to  John,  eighth 
Lord  Abemethy  of  Salton,  and  three  sons,  William,  who  suc- 
ceeded him;  James;  and  Walter. 

William,  second  Lord  Blantyre,  married  Helen,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Scott  of  Ardross,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons, 
viz.,  Walter,  Alexander,  and  James;  and  two  daughters, 
Jean  and  Margaret,  the  latter  married,  in  1645,  to  John 
Swinton  of  Swinton,  and  had  issue. 

The  second  eon  of  tho  first  lord,  the  Hon.  Sir  James  Stuart, 
was  named  after  James  the  Sixth,  who  conferred  on  him  the 
order  of  the  Bath.  Some  reproachful  words  having  passed 
between  him  and  Sur  Geoige  Wharton,  son  of  Lord  Wharton, 
a  duel  ensued  at  Islington,  8th  Nov.  1609,  when  both  were 
killed  on  the  spot,  and  two  days  thereafter  they  were  interred 
m  one  grave  m  Islington  churchyard.  The  letters  written 
from  one  to  the  other  previous  to  the  duel  are  printed  in  the 


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BLANTYRE. 


834 


BLANTYRE. 


Gentleman's  Magazine  for  November  18(H)f  from  the  Harleian 
MS.  787,  fol.  596.  The  challenge  was  sent  bj  Sir  George, 
and  accepted  by  Sir  James,  who  thus  wrote :  *'  To  that  end 
1  have  sent  3:0a  tho  length  of  my  rapyer,  which  I  will  nse 
with  a  dagger,  and  so  meet  yoa  at  the  farther  end  of  Isling- 
ton, at  three  of  the  docke  in  the  afternoon."  He  married 
Lady  Dorothy  Uatitings,  second  daughter  of  George,  fourth 
carl  of  Huntingdon,  but  had  no  issue  by  her. 

The  Hon.  Walter  Stuart,  the  third  son  of  the  first  lord,  nnd 
a  doctor  of  medicine,  was  the  father  of  the  celebrated  court 
beauty,  Frances  Theresa  Stuart,  who  became  Duchess  of 
Richmond,  and  of  another  daughter  named  Sophia,  married 
to  the  Hon.  Henry  Bulkeley,  master  of  the  household  to 
Charles  the  Second,  and  also  to  his  brother  James,  fourth  son 
of  lliomas,  first  Viscount  Bulkeley.  Of  the  eldest  daughter, 
the  '  la  belle  Stuart,*  of  Grammont*s  Memoires,  King  Charles 
the  Second  was  supposed  to  have  been  desperately  enamoured, 
aud  that  he  might  be  at  liberty  to  marry  her,  he  is  said  to 
have  entertained  the  design  of  getting  divorced  from  his  queen. 
This  scheme,  however,  was,  to  his  great  indignation,  rendered 
abortive,  by  Miss  Stuart's  privately  marrying  Charles,  fourth 
Duke  of  Richmond  and  I^nnox,  a  match  which  is  thought  to 
have  been  promoted  by  Lord  Clarendon,  to  prevent  the  king 
c:irrying  his  intention  into  effect,  llie  marriage  was  publicly 
declared  in  1667.  In  the  Memoires  de  Grammont  is  a  fine 
portrait  of  this  famous  beauty,  from  an  original  picture  by 
Sir  Peter  liely,  of  which  the  following  is  a  woodcut* 


Chit  ot  oomphment  to  her,  Charles  ordered  her  figure  to  be 
perpetuated  as  Britannia  on  our  copper  coins.  The  youngest 
daughter,  Sophia,  was  tho  mother  of  Anne,  wife  of  James, 
duke  of  Berwick,  natural  son  of  King  James  the  Second,  and 
other  children. 

On  the  death  of  William,  second  Lord  Blantm,  29th  No- 
V(;niber  1638,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son.  Walter, 
Uiii-d  lord,  who  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  WilUam 


Mure  of  Rowallan,  but  had  uo  issue.  He  died  in  OUoIwi 
1641,  when  his  brother,  Alexander,  became  fourth  Lord  BUn- 
tyre.  By  his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Shaw  of 
Greenock,  he  had  a  daughter,  Helen,  married  to  James  Muir- 
head  of  Bredishohu,  and  a  son.  Alexander,  who  sacoeeded 
him  as  fifth  lord. 

The  fifth  ]x>rd  Blantyre  was  very  zealous  for  the  revoJutioiu 
He  raised  a  regiment  to  support  King  William,  from  wboni 
he  received  a  pension.  At  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  9tli 
June  1702,  his  lordship  was  one  of  the  seceding  members  who 
protested  against  its  legality,  and  was  by  them  sent  up  to 
London,  with  an  address  to  Queen  Anne,  containing  the  rea- 
sons of  their  proccdtuv.  This  her  majetity  refused  to  reoeire, 
but  allowed  Lord  Blantyre  to  wait  upon  her.  Hb  lordsliip 
took  the  oaths  and  bis  seat  in  the  Scottish  parliament  Vlth 
July  1703,  the  day  the  act  of  security  was  discussed.  Rar- 
ing given  utterance  to  some  intemperate  and  undutiful  expres- 
sions, in  presence  of  her  m:ijesty*s  advootte,  agauist  the  high 
commissioner,  a  compkunt  was  exhibited  against  him  by  the 
I^rd  Advocate,  and  he  was  in  consequence  placed  in  custody 
by  order  of  the  Lord  High  Constable.  On  the  13th  Augmi 
a  petition  from  his  lordship  was  read,  entreating  the  commis- 
sioner and  the  estates  of  parliament  to  accept  of  his  submis- 
sion and  most  humble  acknowledgments  of  the  expresaons  oi 
whidi  he  had  been  guilty.  On  the  petition  being  read,  bf 
was  ordered  to  the  bar  of  the  house,  to  the  end  that  he  might 
there,  kneeling,  beg  pardon  of  the  commissioner  and  tU 
estates  for  his  said  offence,  pay  a  fine  of  five  thousand  pounds, 
and  continue  in  custody  until  the  fine  be  paid,  or  a  vdid  bond 
be  given  for  the  payment  thereof.  (>n  being  brought  to  the 
bar  accordingly,  the  Ixml  CbanoeUor  decUred  that  the  Com- 
missioner was  pleased  to  dispense  with  his  making  bis 
acknowledgments  on  his  knees,  to  which  the  estates  agreed. 
His  lordship  gave  obedience  to  the  rest  of  the  sentence,  sod 
thereupon  was  dismissed  from  the  bar,  and  allowed  to  take 
his  place.  He  died  20th  June  1704.  Macky  describes  hioi 
as  a  little  active  man,  very  low  in  stature,  shortsighted,  fair 
complexioned,  towards  fifty  years  old.  {^Maciys  Memoin,  p. 
282.]  He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Maigaret,  eldest 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Henderson  of  Fordel,  in  Fife,  baronet, 
without  issue,  and,  secondly,  to  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert 
Hamilton,  Lord  Prcssmennan,  sister  of  John,  second  lord 
Belhaven,  and  by  her  he  had  five  sons,  Walter,  and  Rotert, 
who  both  succeeded  to  the  title;  John,  an  advocate;  Jaiiies 
who  died  at  sea;  and  Hugh;  and  four  daughters. 

The  eldest  son,  Walter,  sixth  Ix>rd  Blantyre,  was  bom  Ut 
j  February  1683.  He  took  the  oaths  and  his  seat  in  the  Soots 
parliament  5th  August  1704,  and  strenuously  opposed  the 
miion,  adhering  to  all  the  protests  against  it.  At  tlie  general 
election  in  1710  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  representatives  ot 
the  Scottish  peerage.     He  died  at  London,  23d  June  1713. 

His  brother,  Robert,  seventh  Lord  Blantyre,  was  a  captain 
in  the  army,  and  fort  major  of  Fort  St  Philip  in  Minorca. 
I  when  the  title  devolved  upon  him.  He  died  at  Lennoxlove, 
a  seat  of  the  family  in  Haddingtonshire,  17tli  November  1743. 
He  married,  first.  Lady  Helen  Lyon,  eldest  daughter  of  John, 
fourth  eari  of  Strathmore,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  who  died 
young;  secondly,  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  William 
Hay  of  Drummelzier,  brother  of  the  first  marquis  of  Tweed- 
dale,  and  by  her  he  had  six  sons;  Walter,  William,  Alexander, 
who  all  succeeded  to  the  title;  John,  died  unmarried;  James, 
captain  in  the  third  regiment  of  foot  guards,  with  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Goiki- 
ford,  in  North  Carolina,  15th  March,  1781;  and  Charles,  in 
the  dvil  service  of  the  Hon.  East  India  company,  a  membrr 
of  the  Supreme  Council  of  Bengal,  particularly  mentioned  in 


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BOECE, 


385 


HECTOR. 


Dironi*8  narrative  of  the  campaign  in  India,  1792,  «£  gi>'ing 
efBciencT  to  the  measures  of  Lord  ComwiUlis  iu  his  campaign 
against  Tippoo;  and  four  daughters. 

Walter,  eighth  Lord  BlantjrOf  resided  much  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  died  unmarried  at  Paris  2l8t  Majr  1751,  in  the 
25th  rear  of  his  age.  Contemporary  accounts  represent  him 
as  a  Tonng  nobleman  of  great  promise,  accomplished  manners, 
and  amiable  character,  and  in  the  Scots  Magazine  for  1751 
are  two  poedcal  tributes  to  his  memory. 

His  next  brother,  William,  ninth  Lord  Blant^rc,  was  a 
eolonel  in  the  service  of  the  states  of  Holland.  He  died,  un- 
married, at  Rrskine,  lOth  January  1776. 

Alexander,  tenth  I^rd  Blantyre,  on  succeeding  to  the  title, 
went  to  reside  at  Endcine  house,  in  Renfrewshire,  the  priiid- 
pa]  seat  of  the  family.  **  He  had,**  says  the  author  of  the 
Old  Statistical  Account  of  that  parish  (vol.  xiz.  page  68), 
**fbr  a  nnnnber  of  years  before  that  time,  been  engaged  in  a 
conise  of  practical  farming  in  East  Lothian,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  had  not  only  acqmred  an  accurate  and  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  general  principles  of  agricultui^,  but  was 
able  to  descend  into  detail,  and  to  direct  and  oversee  every 
minute  operation."  He  died  at  Cliilon,  5th  November,  1788. 
He  had  married  Catherine,  eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Patrick  Lindsay  of  Eaglescaimie,  Haddingtonshire,  an  ancient 
brunch  of  the  noble  family  of  Haly  burton,  and  had  a  daugh- 
ter, bom  26th  December  1775,  married,  5th  October  1809,  to 
Kev.  Dr.  Andrew  Stewart,  minister  of  Bolton,  and  four  sons, 
riz.,  Robert  Walter,  who  succeeded  to  the  title;  Patrick, 
who  inherited  Eaglescaimie,  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  19th 
regiment  of  foot;  William,  captain  in  the  1st  regiment  of 
foot-guards,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  who  served 
in  the  expedition  to  Holland  in  1799 ;  and  Charies,  barrister- 
at-law. 

Robert  Walter,  eleventh  Lord  Blantyre,  was  bora  10th 
June  1777,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  entered  the  amiy,  hav- 
ing obtained  an  ensign's  commission  in  the  dd  regiment  of 
foot-guards  in  1795.  He  was  afterwards  captain  in  the  dlst 
regiment  of  foot,  and  became  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  42d. 
He  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and  was  a  compa- 
nion of  the  Bath.  He  served  in  Holland  in  1799,  in  Egypt  m 
1801,  as  aid-de-camp  to  General  Stuart,  in  the  expedition  to 
Pomerania  and  Zealand  in  1807,  and  with  Lord  Wellington 
in  Spain  and  Portugal  in  1809.  At  the  general  election  of 
1806,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  representatives  of  the 
Scottish  peerage.  He  was  for  some  time  lord-lieutenant  of 
Kenfrewshirc.  After  having  escaped  the  dangers  of  many  a 
bloody  battle-field,  his  lordship  was  accidentally  shot  by  a 
musket  ball  when  looking  from  the  window  of  his  hotel  dur- 
ing the  commotions  at  Brussels,  22d  September,  1830.  He 
married  Frances,  second  daughter  of  the  Hon.  John  Rodney, 
grand-daughter  of  the  celebrated  Admunl  Ix>rd  Rodney,  by 
whom  he  bad  six  sons  and  five  daughters.  His  eldest  son. 
Alexander,  died  young  in  1814,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  liis 
second  son,  Charies  Walter,  twelfth  Lord  Blantyre,  bora  21st 
December  1818.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Grenadier 
Guards.  He  married,  4th  October,  1843,  Lady  Evelyn  Leve- 
ion-Gower,  second  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland,  and 
has  issue  a  son,  Hon.  Walter  Stuart,  bom  at  En^kine  House 
in  1851,  and  sc^'end  daughters. 

BOECE,  BOEIS,  BOYCE,  or  BOETHIUS, 
Hector,  a  celebrated  historian,  was  born  at  Dun- 
dee about  1465,  or,  as  other  accounts  say,  1470. 
He  was  descended  from  an  ancient  family,  who 


had  possessed  the  barony  of  Paiibride,  or  Balbride, 
in  Foifai'shire,  since  the  reign  of  David  the  Second. 
From  the  place  of  his  bii*th  ho  had  the  appellation 
of  Deidonanus,  being  so  styled  in  the  edition  of  his 
histoiy  published  by  Ferrcrius.  After  receiving 
the  rudiments  of  his  education  in  his  native  town, 
and  studying  for  some  time  at  Aberdeen,  he  went 
to  the  univei-sity  of  Paris,  where  he  took  the  de- 
gree of  bachelor  of  divinity.  Having  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  divinity,  philosophy,  and 
history,  he  >vas  in  1497  appointed  professor  of 
philosophy  in  the  college  of  Montagu  in  that  nui- 
versity.  Amongst  other  eminent  persons  with 
whom  he  there  became  acquainted  was  Erasmus, 
who  maintained  a  con*espoudcnce  with  him,  and 
who,  in  one  of  his  epistles,  styles  him  *^  a  man  of 
an  extraordinary  happy  genius,  and  uf  great  elo- 
quence." 

On  the  erection,  in  1600,  of  King's  College, 
Aberdeen,  by  William  Elphinstone,  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  Boece  was  by  that  prelate  invited  back  to 
Scotland,  and  appointed  principal  of  the  new  uni- 
versity, in  which  he  was  also  professor  of  divinity. 
His  sub- principal,  William  Hay,  also  a  native  of 
Forfarshii*e,  and  his  fellow-student  at  Dundee  and 
Paris,  succeeded  him  as  head  of  the  college.  His 
brother,  Arthur  Boece,  chancellor  of  the  cathedral 
of  Brecliin,  was  appointed  professor  of  canon  law, 
and  June  22d,  1535,  became  a  judge  of  the  court 
of  session.  His  talents  and  high  reputation  tend- 
ed very  much  to  the  prosperity  and  success  of  the 
institution.  Besides  being  principal  of  the  college, 
Boece  was  a  canon  of  Aberdeen,  and  i-ector  of  Ty- 
rie,  in  the  same  county.  On  the  death  of  Bishop 
Elphinstone,  in  1514,  Boece  wrote  his  life  in  La- 
tin, with  those  of  his  predecessors  in  the  see  of 
Aberdeen.  This  work,  published,  under  the  title 
of  *  Episcopornm  Murthlacensium  et  Aberdonen- 
sium,*  at  Paris  in  4to  in  1522,  has  been  reprint- 
ed by  the  Bannatyne  Club.  Muithlack  in  Banff- 
shire was  originally  the  seat  of  the  bishops,  before 
it  was  removed  to  Aberdeen ;  which  accounts  for 
the  title  of  the  work.  He  next  wrote,  also  in  La- 
tin, his  more  celebrated  work,  the  History  oi 
Scotland,  introduced  by  a  copious  geographical 
description  of  the  country.  This  work  first  ap- 
peared at  Paris  in  1526,  under  the  title  of  *  Scoto- 
rum  Historia  ab  illius  Gcntis  Originc.'    The  first 


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edition  contained  seventeen  books,  and  ended 
with  the  death  of  James  the  First.  Another  edi- 
tion, containing  the  eighteenth  book,  and  part  of 
the  nineteen  til,  bringing  tlie  Iiistory  down  to  the 
reign  of  James  the  Tliird,  was  pnblished  in  1574 
by  Joannes  Ferrerius,  a  Piedraontese,  who  had 
i-esided  several  yeara  in  Scotland,  and  who  added 
an  appendix  of  thirty-five  pages.  It  was  printed 
at  Lansanne,  and  published  at  Pai'is.  Boece's 
History  was  translated  into  the  Scotch  language 
for  the  benefit  of  James  the  Fifth,  by  John  Bel- 
lenden,  archdeacon  of  Moray,  as  already  stated  in 
the  life  of  that  author.  A  metrical  version  of  it, 
containing  about  seventy  thousand  lines,  done  by 
some  one  whose  name  has  not  been  ascertained,  is 
pi-eserved  in  the  librai^  of  the  univereity  of  Cam- 
bridge. In  1527  James  the  Fifth  bestowed  npon 
Boece  a  pension  of  fifty  pounds  Scots  yearly,  to 
be  paid  by  the  sheriff  of  Aberdeen  out  of  the  royal 
casualties,  until  the  king  should  promote  him  to  a 
benefice  of  a  hundred  merks  Scots  of  yearly  value. 
This  benefice  was  the  i-ectoiy  of  Tyrie,  which  he 
held  till  his  death.  In  1528  Boece  took  the  de- 
gree of  D.D.  at  Aberdeen ;  and  we  learn  from  the 
Burgh  nRecoi*ds  of  that  city,  under  date  5th  Sep- 
tember of  that  year,  that  on  this  occasion  the  ma- 
gistrates voted  him  a  present  of  a  tun  of  wine 
when  the  new  wines  should  arrive,  or  the  sum  of 
twenty  pounds  Scots,  "  to  help  to  by  him  bonatis, 
quhilk  of  thame  he  thinkis  maist  expedient,  at  his 
a  win  plesour.  And  the  said  couusail  to  convein 
this  day  efternowne,  in  the  prowest  innis,  to  se 
and  devise  quhar  this  mony  sal  be  esiast  gotten." 
[Extract  from  Council  Register  of  Aberdeen  pub- 
Ushedfor  the  Spalding  Club,  1898—1570,  p.  121.] 
Boece  died  at  Aberdeen,  it  is  supposed,  about 
the  year  1536,  aged  about  seventy,  and  was  bur- 
ied in  the  chapel  of  the  college,  near  to  the  tomb 
of  Bishop  Elphinstone.  In  the  front  of  the  chapel 
is  his  coat  of  anus,  with  'H.  B.  ob.  1536/  His 
History  of  Scotland,  considering  the  age  in  which 
he  wrote,  is  remarkable  for  its  elegance  and  pu- 
rity of  style,  but  his  credulity  and  fondness  for  the 
niar\ellous  detract  greatly  from  its  value,  and  de- 
prive him  of  all  title  to  be  considered  an  authority. 
He  adopted,  without  inquiry,  and  without  even 
seeming  to  have  any  doubt  of  their  authenticity, 
the  fables  of  the  monastic  chroniclers  that  pi*cced- 


ed  him,  as  well  as  the  no  less  absurd  fictions  and 
traditions  of  his  own  age.  Some  writers  accuse 
him  of  having  Invented  many  details  in  the  earlier 
part  of  his  history ;  but  from  this  charge  of  fabri- 
cation he  has  been  vindicated  by  Mr.  Maitland, 
in  his  biographical  introduction  to  Bellendcn's 
translation.  It  is  enough  that  he  has  to  bear  the 
imputation  of  having  been  the  great  stumbling- 
block  to  a  tinithful  history  of  his  own  times,  for 
his  falsehoods,  after  having  been  once  and  again 
disproved,  come  up  again  fresh,  as  if  uncontradict- 
ed, to  garnish  the  tales  of  the  novelist,  the  tale- 
writer,  and  the  would-be  historian.  In  his  pri- 
vate character  Boece  is  described  as  having  been 
discreet,  generous,  affable,  and  courteous. 

Boece's  works  are  • 

Vit»  Episcoporum  Murtblaoensium  et  AbenJonenshiin 
Paris,  1522,  4to.  He  begins  at  Beanus  the  first  bishop,  and 
ends  with  Gawin  Dunbar.  Reprinted  for  the  Bannat}'De 
Club.    Edinburgh,  1825,  4to. 

Scotorura  Historis  a  prima  gentis  origine.  Libri  xviL  per 
Jodocnm  Badinm,  Asoensium.  Paris,  1526,  fol.  Sootoroo. 
Historiao.  Libri  xix.  cum  oontiiiuatione  Johannis  Ferreri  Fe 
demontaiii.  Paris,  1574,  fol.  A  rare  edition,  llie  same. 
Paris,  1575,  1577,  fuL  In  Eng.  by  B.  Hollinshed.  Lond. 
1587,  foL  The  same  translaatit  laltljr  by  Maister  Johne  Bel- 
lenden,  Archedene  of  Murray,  Channon  of  Rosso;  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  richt  hie  richt  ezoellant  and  noble  I'rinoe  James 
V.  of  that  name,  King  of  Scottis;  and  imprinted  in  Edin- 
burgh, be  Thomas  Davidson,  without  date,  fol. ;  again  1536, 
1541,  this  translation  is  contained  in  17  books,  and  made 
from  the  first  edit,  of  Hector  Boethius,  at  Paris,  1526,  fol. 

Explicatio  quorundara  vocabuloram  ad  cognitionem  dialec- 
tices  conducensium,  et  introductio  ad  logicen  Aristotelis. 
Toleti,  1616,  4U). 


BoouB,  BoAQ,  and  Booo,  varieties  of  a  surname  common 
in  the  south  of  Scotland.  From  its  similarity,  as  used  in  the 
most  ancient  families,  to  the  old  French  name  De  Bogue,  it  is 
probably  of  French  or  Norman  origin.  The  word  Bogue,  io 
old  Norman-French  and  Spanish,  signifies  a  mouth  (Bocca), 
and  is  used  in  Spanish  topography  to  desTibe  a  narrow  chan- 
nel or  passage  of  water,  as  Bogtte  ChitOy  (little  mouth,)  in 
Ix)uisiana.  It  is  met  with  also  in  the  names  of  a  few  places 
in  Scotland,  but  all  in  the  province  of  Moray;  as  iii  the  old 
residence  of  Bog  o*  Gight,  now  Gordon  Castle,  near  the  new 
or  small  mouth  of  the  Spey,  and  which  may  be  the  same  as 
Bogue  Chito,  even  when  pronounced  in  modem  Spanish;  |l 
Boat-of-Bog,  the  vilUge  of  the  old  fenry  at  the  above  mouth 
or  channel  of  the  Spey;  and  perliaps  the  wat^  of  Bogie  itself, 
which  is  not  so  much  a  river  as  a  mouth,  channel,  or  passage, 
by  which  tlie  two  streamlets  Craig  and  Corchinnan,  after  a 
short  course,  reach  the  Devcron.  It  would  almost  appear 
from  this  nomenclature  as  if,  when  Malcolm  IV.  dru^-e  out 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Moray,  and  introduced  a  new 
colony  in  their  stead,  that  these  latter  were  natives  ci 
Toulouse  or  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Pyrenees,  where  the 
Spanish  tongue  was  spoken;  a  circumstance  the  loss  unlikely, 
as  it  was  for  having  served  under  Henry  II.  at  Toulouse,  and 
in  defence  of  that  people  against  the  king  of  France^  that  tb« 


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837 


BORTHWTCK. 


kloravians  profesaed  to  baive  rebelled  agninst  him.  llie  word 
ocean  in  English  in  disemboguej  to  discharge  by  a  month. 
Embogu^  the  opposite  of  this  latter  word,  is  naed  as  a  noon  in 
an  old  writer  (Florian,  in  1618)  in  a  sense  so  rimilar  to  bog 
— which  originally  implied  not  a  soft  mud  bat  a  body,  and 
ifUimes  a  large  body,  of  water,  tnthoui  m  (mtiet^uB  to  sug- 
gest its  being  the  original  of  the  latter  term.  The  subject 
of  the  following  notice  is  the  only  individual  who  has  obtained 
a  place  in  Biography,  but  the  name  is  common  in  old  writings: 

BOGUE,  David,  the  Rev.,  one  of  the  fathers 
and  founders  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
was  bom  at  Hallydown,  parish  of  Coldingham, 
Berwickshire,  February  18,  1750.  He  was  the 
fourth  son  of  John  Bogne,  laird  of  Hallydown,  and 
Margaret  Swanston,  his  wife.  He  commenced  his 
classical  education  at  the  school  of  Eyemouth,  and 
afterwards  studied  for  the  church  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh,  and  in  due  time  was  licensed 
as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  In  1771  he  went  to 
London,  and  was  for  some  time  employed  as  usher 
in  an  academy  at  Edmonton;  afterwards  in  the 
same  capacity  at  Hampstead,  and  ultimately  went 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith's  at  Camberwell,  whom  he 
assisted  also  in  his  ministerial  duties.  He  subse- 
quently became  minister  of  an  Independent  chapel 
at  Gosport.  In  1780,  besides  his  clerical  charge, 
he  undertook  the  duties  of  tutor  to  an  institution 
in  that  town,  for  the  education  of  young  men  des- 
tined for  the  ministry,  in  connection  with  the  In- 
dependent communion.  At  the  same  time,  he 
originated  the  design  of  a  grand  missionary  scheme, 
which  afterwards  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society.  Soon  after  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  British  and 
I  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  the  Religious  Tract 
Society.  To  the  latter  body  he  contributed  the 
first  of  a  scries  of  very  useful  publications.  In 
1796,  he  and  the  Rev.  Greviile  Ewing  of  Glas- 
gow, and  the  Rev.  William  Innes  of  Edinburgh, 
who,  like  himself,  had  left  the  Church  of  Scotland 
and  become  Independent  ministers,  agreed  with 
Robert  Haldane,  E^q.  of  Airthrie,  who  sold  his 
estate  to  furnish  funds  for  the  purpose,  to  go  out 
to  India  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  natives.  The 
East  India  Company,  however,  refused  their  sanc- 
tion to  the  undertaking,  and  the  design  was  in 
consequence  abandoned  ;  providentially  for  them, 
as  a  massacre  of  Europeans  afterwards  took  place 
at  the  exact  spot  which  had  been  fixed  upon  for 

the  missionary  station,  where  a  seminary  was  to 
I. 


have  been  built  for  the  education  of  missionaries 
In  1815  the  Senatus  Academicus  of  Yale  college. 
North  America,  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  ol 
D.D.  Dr.  Bogue  was  in  the  practice  of  making 
an  annual  tour  to  the  country  in  behalf  of  the 
Missionary  Society.  In  one  of  these  journeys,  in 
which  he  had  been  requested  to  assist  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Sussex  Auxiliary  Society,  he  became 
unwell  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Goulty  of 
Brighton;  and  after  a  short  illness,  died  there, 
October  25, 1825,  in  the  75th  year  of  his  age.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  president  of  the  sem- 
inary of  missions  at  Gosport.  He  was  an  emi- 
nently amiable,  energetic,  and  pious  man,  and 
contributed  much  towards  a  revival  of  religious 
feeling  In  the  age  and  body  with  which  he  was 
connected.  His  history  of  Dissenters  is  written 
with  considerable  feeling  of  dislike  to  the  perse- 
cuting party,  as  he  called  them.  It  is  mentioned, 
and  it  is  creditable  to  him,  that  before  his  death 
he  expressed  regret  for  the  harsh  manner  in  which 
he  wrote  respecting  some  members  of  the  English 
church.     His  works  are : 

Reasons  for  seeking  a  Repeal  of  the  Test  Acts,  bj  a  Dis* 
rienter.    London,  1790,  8vo. 

An  Essay  on  the  Divine  Authority  of  the  New  TestMment, 
written  at  the  request  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 
liOndon,  1801,  8vo.  This  work  has  been  translated  into  the 
French,  Italian,  German,  and  Spanish  languages. 

A  Catechism  for  the  use  of  all  the  Churches  in  the  French 
Empire;  from  the  French.    London,  1807, 12mo. 

A  Sermon  preached  before  the  Promoters  of  the  Protestant 
Dissenters,  Grammar  School,  Mill-hill.    Hendon,  1808. 

Discourses  on  the  Millennium. 

History  of  the  Dissenters,  from  the  Revolution  in  1689,  to 
the  year  1808 ;  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Bennet  1809,  3 
vols.  8vo.     Lond.  1812,  4  vols.  8vo.    Another  edition,  1883. 

Sermons  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Grasomer ;  with  a  PrefHce.     1809. 

On  the  6rst  appearance  of  the  Evangelical  Magazine  in  1793, 
Dr.  Bogue  contributed  several  powerful  articles  to  its  columns. 


BoxAE,  a  surname.    See  Supplemknt. 


BoRTHWicK,  Baron,  a  title,  at  present  dormant,  in  the 
peerage  of  Scotland,  formerly  possessed  by  a  family  of  that 
name  in  the  county  of  Edinburgh.  Douglas  is  of  opinion  that 
the  surname  is  local,  assumed  "  from  lands  <fr  that  name  on 
Bortbwick  water,  in  the  county  of  Selkiiic'*  The  name  of 
the  water  of  B»rthwick,  like  that  of  most  streams  in  Scotland, 
is  of  immemorial  antiquity,  and  like  the  similar  one  of  Bor- 
thoc  in  Forfarsiiire,  is  also  of  British  Celtic  origin.  It  is 
said,  but  on  no  reliable  authority,  that  the  ancestor  of  the 
noble  house  of  Borthwick  was  one  Andreas,  a  son  of  the  lord 
of  Burtick  in  Livonia,  who  accompanied  Edgar  Atheling 
And  his  two  sisters,  Margaret,  afterwards  wife  of  Malcolm 
Canmore,  and  Christina,  to  Scotland  in  1067,  and  obtain- 
ing possession  of  some  lands  in  this  country,  settled  here 
V 


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BORTHWICK. 


His  poeteritjf  accordingly,  with  some  small  alteration  in  the 
spelling,  are  stated  to  have  assmned  the  surname  of  Borth- 
wick,  fipom  the  birthplace  of  their  progenitor.  The  territorial 
origin  of  the  name  is,  however,  by  far  the  more  probable  one. 

In  the  reign  of  King  David  the  Second,  Thomas  de  Borth- 
wick  obtained,  probably  by  excambion,  or  exchange  with  his 
patriiAony  of  Borthwick,  some  lands  near  Lauder  in  Berwick- 
shire, from  Robert  Lauder  of  Quarrelwood,  and  in  that  of 
King  Robert  the  Second,  Sir  William  Borthwick  was  posses- 
sor of  the  lands  of  Catkune  in  Edinburghshire,  as  appears  by 
a  charter  dated  in  1378.  These  lands  he  called  Borthwick 
after  his  own  name.  On  the  estate  of  Harvieston  in  the 
parish  of  Borthwick  are  the  ruins  of  a  very  ancient  castle, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  old  castle  of  Catkune,  which  are 
traditionally  assigned  as  the  seat  of  the  family  before  it  be- 
came possessed  of  the  domain  of  Locherworth.  Previous  to 
their  assumption  of  the  title  of  Borthwick  of  that  Ilk,  they 
were  promiscuously  designed  as  of  Catkune,  Legertwood,  and 
Herriot-muir. 

During  the  fifteenth  and  followmg  centuries,  the  lords  of 
Borthwick  had  immense  possessions  and  great  influence  in 
that  portion  of  Edinbtughshire  which  now  forms  the  parish 
of  Borthwick,  a  district  &med  for  its  romantic  scenery. 

The  first  Lord  Borthwick  was  Sir  William  Borthwick  of 
Borthwick,  in  the  reign  of  James  the  First ;  but  previous  to 
him  there  seems  to  have  been  two  persons  of  the  name  of  Sir 
William  Borthwick,  occupiers  of  the  castle  of  Catkune.  A 
Sir  William  de  Borthwick  is  repeatedly  mentioned  by  Rymer 
m  his  Foedera,  vols.  8  and  9;  and  Douglas  (Peerage^  App. 
vol.  ii.  page  65  L)  enumerates  several  grants  of  Und,  charters, 
Rnd  public  appointments  held  by  a  personage  of  this  name. 
About  1887  Su*  William  de  Borthwick  witnessed  a  charter  of 
James,  second  eari  of  Douglas  and  Mar,  of  the  barony  of 
Drumlanrig.  In  the  reign  of  King  Robert  the  Third,  William 
de  Borthwick  obtained,  from  Margaret,  countess  of  Mar  and 
Angus,  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Ludniche  and  Wester  Drum- 
canachy  in  the  barony  of  Kirriemuir,  Forfarshire.  In  Octo- 
ber and  November  1898  Sir  William  of  Borthwic  was  one  of 
the  commisdoners  on  the  part  of  the  duke  of  Rothesay,  to  con- 
clude a  treaty  for  a  truce  and  the  liberation  of  prisoners,  with 
commissioners  on  the  part  of  John,  duke  of  Lancaster,  at 
Haudenstank  and  Glochmjibaneslane.  William  Borthewyk, 
chivaler,  was  a  conunissioner  to  treat  with  the  English  2l8t 
December  1400,  and  had  a  letter  of  safe  conduct  as  such  into 
England,  26th  April  1401.  On  24th  August  1404,  WilUam 
de  Borthwick,  miles,  was  a  commissioner  to  treat  with  the 
English,  and  again  8th  March  and  27th  August  1405.  On 
the  21st  of  September  the  same  year  William  de  Borthwick, 
miles,  was  one  of  the  hostages  fur  the  earl  of  Douglas,  who 
had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Homildon.  On  27th 
April  1409,  a  safe  conduct  was  granted  to  William  de  Borth- 
wick de  Lidgertwood,  knight,  as  a  commissioner  from  Scot- 
land to  England ;  and  William  do  Borthwik,  miles,  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  treat  with  the  English,  2l8t  April 
1410.  Robert^  duke  of  Albany,  granted  a  charter,  dated  4th 
June  of  that  year,  *  dilecto  nostro  Willielmo  de  Borthwick, 
militi,*  of  the  knds  of  Borthwic  and  Thoftcotys  in  Selkirk- 
shuB,  on  the  resignation  of  Robert  Scott,  (probably  a  seoond 
ezcambion  by  which  he  resumed  the  andent  patrimony  of  the 
family).  On  23d  May  and  24th  September  1411,  and  7th 
August  1413,  Sir  William  de  Borthwick  was  a  Commissioner 
for  treating  with  the  English.  William,  dominus  de  Borth- 
wick, in  the  year  1421,  was  one  of  the  hostages  for  the  return 
of  James  the  First,  when  it  was  proposed  that  his  Majesty 
should  visit  Scotland,  31st  May  of  that  year,  on  his  parole. 
A  safiB  conduct  was  gmnted  to  Wilham  de  Borthwic  de  eodem, 


miles,  to  proceed  to  Enghind  as  a  commissioner  to  treat  fu 
the  release  of  Jamek  the  Fint,  12th  May  1423,  and  to  Wil- 
liam de  Borthwick,  dominus  de  Heriot,  to  repair  to  that 
kingdom  to  meet  his  miyesty,  13th  February  1424.  WiDiel- 
mus  Borthwick  ejusdam,  miles,  was  one  of  the  jnxj  on  the 
trial  of  Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany,  in  May  1425. 

Sir  William  Borthwick,  father  of  the  first  Lord  Borthwick, 
besides  his  son,  had  two  daughters ;  Janet,  married,  fint,  to 
James  Douglas,  Lord  Dalkeith,  and  secondly  to  George 
Crichton,  earl  of  Caithness.  The  seoond  daughter  became 
the  wifiB  of  Sir  John  Oliphant 

The  son  appears  to  have  been  created  Lord  Borthwick  be- 
fore 1430, — it  is  supposed  in  1424, — for  in  October  of  the 
former  year,  at  the  baptism  of  the  twin  sons  of  James  thA 
First,  several  knights  wefe  created,  and  among  the  rest  Wil- 
liam, son  and  heir  of  Lord  Borthwick.  In  the  records  there 
is  no  pat«nt  found  constituting  this  peerage.  The  first  L(»d 
Borthwick  was  one  of  the  substituted  hostages  for  the  ran- 
som of  King  James  the  First.  He  was  sent  to  England  16th 
July  1425,  and  remained  there  till  9th  July  1427,  when  an 
order  was  issued  for  his  liberation,  he  being  then  in  the  cus- 
tody of  the  bishop  of  Durham.  By  a  charter  under  the  great 
seal,  of  date  June  2,  1430,  he  obtained  a  license  from  James 
the  Fust,  to  build  a  castle  on  the  spot  called  the  Mote  of 
Lochwarret  or  Locherworth,  which  he  had  bought  from  Sir 
William  Hay.  In  the  description  of  Borthwick  parish  in  the 
new  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland  [vol.  L  p.  162]  it  is 
stated  that  the  family  of  Hay,  afterwards  of  Yester,  ancestor 
of  the  Marquises  of  Tweeddale,  were  at  that  time  occupiers  of 
the  domain  of  Locherworth.  The  Borthwicks  and  the  Hayi 
appear  to  have  thus  been  neighbours,  and  there  is  a  tradition 
relating  to  the  old  castle  of  Catkune,  that  in  consequence  of 
the  then  possessor  of  it,  of  the  Borthwick  family,  having  mar- 
ried a  lady  of  the  fSunily  of  Hay,  the  Hays  consented  to  part 
with  a  portion  of  their  property  to  the  knight  of  Catkune. 
Another  version  of  the  tradition  is,  that  the  lady  bebnged  to 
the  house  of  Douglas.  Lord  Borthwick  erected  a  stately 
castle  on  the  spot  indicated,  and,  under  the  name  of  Borth- 
wick castle,  it  became  the  chief  residence  of  the  family,  ^vuig 
its  name  to  the  parish  in  which  it  is  situated.  "  Like  many 
other  baronial  residences  in  Scotland,  he  built  this  magnifi- 
cent pile  upon  the  very  verge  of  his  own  property.  The  usual 
reason  for  choosing  such  a  situation  was  hinted  by  a  northern 
baron,  to  whom  a  fnend  objected  this  circumstance  as  a  de- 
fect, at  least  an  inconvenience:  *  We'll  brizz  yont*  (Anglic^ 
press  forward,]  was  the  baron's  answer;  which  expressed  the 
policy  of  the  powerful  in  settling  their  residence  upon  the  ex- 
tremity of  their  domains,  as  giAnng  pretext  and  opportunity 
for  nmking  acquisitions  at  the  expense  of  their  neigbboar& 
William  de  Hay,  from  whom  Sir  William  Borthwick  had  ac- 
quired a  part  of  Locherworth,  is  said  to  have  looked  with 
envy  upon  the  splendid  castle  of  his  neighbour,  and  to  have 
vented  his  spleen  by  building  a  mill  upon  the  hmds  of  little 
Locherworth,  inunediately  beneath  the  knoll  on  which  the 
fortress  was  situated,  declaring  that  the  lord  of  Borthwick,  m 
all  his  pride,  should  never  be  out  of  the  hearing  of  the  dack 
of  his  neighbour's  mill.  The  mill,  accordingly,  still  exists,  as 
a  property  independent  of  the  castle."  [^h'<mmcial  AntiqmtkMy 
p.  200.]  The  first  Lord  Borthwick  died  before  1458.  He 
seems  to  have  been  cupbearer  to  William  St.  Clair,  eari  and 
prince  of  Orkney,  founder  of  RoeUn  chapel,  who  maintained 
his  court  at  Roslin  cattle  with  regal  nuignifioenoe.  In  an 
aisle  of  the  old  church  of  Borthwick  may  still  be  seen  two 
monumental  statues,  in  a  recumbent  posture,  of  this  lord 
Borthwick  and  hb  lady.  His  lordship  is  in  full  armour, 
while  his  lady,  a  beautiful  female  figure,  with  a  gentle  and 


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handflome  cast  of  features,  appears  dressed  in  the  foil  robes 
of  her  time.  He  left  two  sons;  William,  his  snooessor,  and 
John  de  Borthwick,  who  acquired  the  lands  of  Crookston,  in 
1446. 

William,  second  Lord  Borthwick,  was,  in  1425,  in  the  life- 
time of  his  father,  and  under  the  appellation  of  WiUidmos  de 
Borthwick,  junior,  ambassador,  with  the  bishops  of  Aberdeen 
and  DunbUne,  and  seven  others,  to  the  court  of  Rome.  He 
had  a  safe  conduct  as  a  oommisnoner  to  treat  with  the  Eng- 
lish, 13th  Julj  1459,  and  on  Ist  September  that  jear  he  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  them  at  Newcastle.  On  24th  September 
1461,  he  bad  a  safe  conduct  as  an  ambassador  to  England, 
and  on  5th  December  1463,  he  had  another.  He  seems  to 
have  died  about  1464.  He  had  a  daughter,  Margaret,  mar- 
ried to  Sir  John  Maxwell  of  Calderwood,  and  three  sons, 
William,  third  Lord  Borthwick;  Sur  Thomas  Borthwick  of 
Coljlaw,  and  James  Borthwick  of  Glengelt. 

His  son,  William,  third  Lord  Borthwick,  sat  in  parliament 
9th  October  1466,  and  14th  October  1467,  and  in  several 
subsequent  parliaments,  down  to  1505.  He  had  a  safe  con- 
duct as  ambassador  to  England  7th  August  1471,  and  again 
an  24th  August  1478.  Sir  William  of  Borthwic,  knight,  his 
son,  appears  as  defender  in  an  action  of  debt,  4th  Jul/  1476, 
when  judgment  was  given  against  him.  Lord  Borthwick 
was  one  of  the  lords  of  article  pro  baronibus,  in  the  parlia- 
ment that  sat  down  at  Edinburgh  4th  October  1479.  Wil- 
liam, Lord  Borthwick,  and  Sir  William  of  Borthwidc,  knight, 
his  son  and  hmr,  had  a  judgment  in  their  favour  16th  October 
of  that  year,  and  of  the  same  date  Sir  William  of  Borthwick, 
knight,  is  sole  defender  in  a  civil  suit.  On  20th  September 
1434,  Lord  Borthwick  was  one  of  the  guarantees  of  a  treaty 
with  Eni^d,  {^FtBdera  xiL  p.  241,]  and  on  SOth  September 
1497,  and  12th  July  1499,  he  was  one  of  the  conservators  of 
a  treaty  with  the  same  power.  [Ibid.  pp.  676  and  726.] 
The  ihbd  Lord  Borthwick  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Flodden, 
9th  September  1513.  He  married  Maryota  de  Hope  Pringle, 
or  Hoppringill,  as  it  was  spelled  in  those  days,  and  with 
several  daughters,  had  two  sons,  William,  his  successor,  and 
Alexander  Borthwick  of  Nenthom. 

William,  fourth  Lord  Borthwick,  immediately  after  the 
I  battle  of  Flodden,  was  appointed  by  the  oouncU  of  the  king- 
dom to  the  command  of  the  castle  of  Stiriing,  which  was 
ordered  to  be  well  fortified,  with  the  important  charge  of  the 
mfant  monarch,  James  the  Fifth.  He  set  his  seal  to  the 
treaty  with  England  7th  October  1517.  IThid.  xiiL  p.  600.] 
The  fourth  lord  died  in  1542.  He  had  married  in  1491, 
Maigaret,  eldest  daughter  of  John,  Lord  Hay  of  Yeeter,  by 
whom,  besides  two  daughters,  he  had  two  sons,  the  master  of 
Borthwick,  who  died  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  and  John, 
fifth  lord. 

John,  fifth  Lord  Borthwick,  opposed  the  Reformation  in 
1560,  saying  that  he  would  believe  as  his  fathers  bad  done 
before  hun.  He  assisted  the  queen  regent  agamst  the  Lords 
of  the  Congregation,  and  died  in  1565.  He  married  Lady 
Isabel  Lindsay,  eldest  daughter  of  David,  seventh  earl  of 
Crawford,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  William,  sixth  Ix)rd  Borth- 
wick, and  a  daughter,  Mariota,  married  to  Andrew  Hop^ 
Pringle  of  Galashiels.  Notwithstanding  his  attachment  to 
the  *  ancient  religion,*  his  servants,  in  1547,  were  guilfy  of  an 
insult  to  a  church  officer,  which  one  would  scarcely  have  ex- 
pected would  have  been  committed  at  Borthwick  castle, 
'ilie  incident,  whimsical  enough  in  its  way,  is  thus  related  by 
Sir  Walter  Soott,  who  has  published  his  authority  in  an  ex- 
tract from  the  Conastory  Register  of  St  Andrews :  **  In  con- 
sequenoA  of  a  process  betwixt  Master  George  Hay  de  Minzeans 
and  the  Lord  Borthwick    letteis  of  excommunication  had 


passed  against  the  latter,  on  account  of  the  contumacy  of 
certain  witnesses^  William  Langlands,  an  apparitor  or  maoer 
[baadarmi]  of  the  see  of  St  Andrews,  presented  these  letters 
to  the  curate  of  the  church  of  Borthwick,  requiring  him  to 
publish  the  same  at  the  service  of  high  mass.  It  seems  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  castle  were  at  this  time  engaged  in  the 
favourite  sport  of  enacting  the  Abbot  of  Unreason,  a  spedef 
of  kiffhjinkt,  in  which  a  mimic  preUte  was  elected,  who,  like 
the  lord  of  Misrule  in  England,  turned  all  sort  of  lawibl 
authority,  and  partioulariy  the  church  ritual,  into  ridicule. 
This  frolicsome  person,  with  his  retinue,  notwithstanding  of 
the  apparitor's  character,  entered  the  church,  seised  upon  the 
primate's  officer  without  heatation,  and  dragging  him  to  the 
mUl-dam,  <m  the  south  side  of  the  castle,  compelled  him  to 
lei4>  into  the  water.  Not  contented  with  this  partial  immer- 
sion, the  Abbot  of  Unreason  pronounced  that  Mr.  WlUiam 
Langlands  was  not  yet  sufficiently  bathed,  and  therefore 
caused  his  assistants  to  lay  him  on  hb  back  in  the  stream, 
and  duck  him  in  the  most  satis&ctoiy  and  perfect  manner. 
The  unfortunate  apparitor  was  then  conducted  back  to  the 
church,  where,  for  his  refreshment  after  his  bath,  the  letters 
of  excommunication  were  torn  to  pieces,  and  steeped  in  a 
bowl  of  wine;  the  mock  abbot  being  probably  of  opinion  that 
a  tough  parchment  was  but  dry  eating.  Langlands  was  com- 
pelled to  eat  the  letters,  and  swallow  the  wine,  with  the  com- 
fortable assurance,  that  if  any  more  such  letters  should  arrive 
during  the  continuance  of  his  office,  they  should  *  a*  gang  the 
same  gait*  ** 

William,  sixth  Lord  Borthwick,  was  a  steady  friend  of 
Queen  Mary.  That  ill-fated  princess  occasionally  visited  the 
castle  of  Borthwick,  and  at  last  took  refuge  in  it  with  Both- 
well,  when  they  were  nearly  surprised  by  the  party  of  Mur- 
ray and  Morton.  Bothwell  escaped  before  their  arrival,  and 
Mary  fled,  two  days  afterwards,  in  men's  apparel 

Lord  Borthwick  married  Grizel,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott  of  Branxholm,  ancestor  of  the  duke  of  Buccleuch, 
by  whom  be  had  two  sons,  William,  master  of  Borthwick,  who 
died  before  his  father,  and  James,  seventh  Lord  Borth- 
wick. On  15th  January  1579-^,  Lady  Borthirick  and 
her  two  sisters  were  made,  at  the  same  time,  the  subjects 
of  legal  prosecution  by  the  dominant  party,  on  account  of 
alleged  gross  irregularity  of  lifio  and  manners.  As  none  of 
these  charges  were  established,  notwithstanding  the  predo- 
minance and  spite  of  the  prosecuting  party,  it  is  possible  they 
were  intended  merely  to  excite  the  popular  odium  against 
Lord  Borthwick  and  the  ladies  of  his  family  as  supporters  of 
the  queen.  But  it  is  a  sad  picture  of  the  state  of  Scotland  at 
the  time,  whether  we  can  suppose  the  accusations  to  be  true 
or  false.  [See  PUccdnCt  Criminal  Trials^  vol.  L  part  iL  pp. 
83  and  34.] 

James,  seventh  Lord  Borthwick,  married  Margaret  Hay, 
eldest  daughter  of  William,  Lord  Hay  of  Yester.  December 
23,  1595,  he  was  charged,  witb  sundry  other  persons,  "  under 
deidly  feud"  with  the  lairds  of  CraigmiUar  and  Bass,  to  ap- 
pear before  the  King  and  Council  *at  Haliruidhous;'  and 
'that  they  keip  thair  ludgeingis  eftir  thiur  cuming,  quhill 
(till)  thay  be  speciallie  sent  for,'  &c.  At  his  apprehension 
for  not  obeying  this  order,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  riot,  for 
on  15th  January  following,  John  Halden,  dagmaker,  and 
others,  were  ordered  to  be  denounced  rebels,  for  not  answer- 
ing ^tuiching  the  riot  committit  be  thame  laitlie,  aganis  the 
Provost  and  Bailleis  of  the  Buigh  of  Edinbui^h,  in  thair  con- 
voy and  taking  to  warde  of  James,  Lord  Borthuik.'  [Ibid. 
pp.  352  and  353.]  July  30, 1603,  Marion  WanUaw,  spouse 
of  John  Kennedy,  gauntlet-maker  in  Edinburgh,  was  dilated 
of  '  airt,  pairt,  red  and  counsall  of  the  murder  committit  be 


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DAVID. 


Williame  Boirthuik,  tutor  of  Boirthoikf  Johne  Boirthuik  his 
brother,  and  utheris,  thair  complices,  in  cuming  to  James 
Fnunmis*  dwelling-house  in  the  Gannogait,  under  scylence  of 
Djcht,  and  strykeing  of  him  nyne  straikis  in  the  body  and 
held,  to  the  effusion  of  his  body,  and  levand  him  for  deid.** 
IJbid,  pp.  862,  853.] 

The  seventh  lord  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John,  eighth 
Lord  Borthwick,  who  married  Lady  Lilias  Kerr,  fifth  daughter 
of  Mark,  first  earl  of  Lothian,  by  whom,  besides  a  daughter, 
he  had  a  son,  John,  ninth  Lord  Borthwick,  bom  9th  February 
1616.  He  adhered  firmly  to  the  royal  cause  during  all  the 
time  of  the  dril  war.  After  the  battle  of  Dunbar  Borthwick 
castle  held  out  against  Cromwell  until  artillery  were  opened 
upon  it;  but  seeing  no  appearance  of  relief,  Lord  Borthwick 
surrendered  on  honourable  terms,  namely,  liberty  to  march 
out  with  his  lady  and  family  unmolested,  and  fifteen  days 
allowed  to  remove  his  effects.  He  married,  2dd  August  1649, 
Lady  Elizabeth  Kerr,  second  daughter  of  William,  third  earl 
of  Lothian,  but  died  without  issue  in  1672. 

From  that  period  till  1762,  the  title  remained  dormant  In 
1727,  Heniy  Borthwick,  descendant  and  heir  male  of  Alex- 
ander Borthwick  of  Nenthom,  second  son  of  the  third  Lord 
Borthwick,  was  served  heir  male  in  general  of  WilUam,  the 
first  lord  Borthwick,  and  in  1734,  he  voted  as  Lord  Borth- 
wick at  the  election  of  a  representative  peer,  and  continued 
to  do  so  at  all  the  subsequent  elections  till  14  th  December 
1761,  when  the  House  of  Lords  made  an  order  on  him  and 
on  several  others  who  had  assumed  dormant  peerages,  not  to 
take  on  them  their  titles  until  the  same  should  be  allowed  in 
due  course  of  law. 

The  above-mentioned  Henry  Borthwick  obtained  the  title 
in  1762,  by  decision  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  was  the  tenth 
Lord  Borthwick.  He  married  at  Edinburgh  5th  March 
1770,  Margaret,  daughter  of  George  Drummond  of  Broich, 
in  Stirlingshire*  but  died,  without  issue,  at  Newcastle,  on 
his  way  to  London,  6th  September  1772,  when  the  title  again 
became  dormant,  and  so  remains.  At  the  time  of  his  death 
his  heir  male,  Archibald  Borthwick,  was  in  Norway.  In 
1807  his  claim  to  the  title,  which  was  before  the  House  of 
Lords,  was  opposed  by  John  Borthwick,  Esq.,  of  Crookston, 
as  descended  through  nine  generations  in  a  direct  male  line, 
from  John  de  Borthwick  of  Crookston,  second  son  of  the 
first  Lord  Borthwick.  Mr  Borthwick  of  Crookston  aoquii^ 
the  property  of  Borthwick  castle  by  purchase.  He  married, 
in  1787,  Grizel,  eldest  daughter  of  George  Adinston,  Esq. 
of  Carcant,  and  left,  at  his  decease,  a  son  and  successor, 
John  Borthwick,  Esq.  of  Crookston  and  Borthwick  castle. 
Various  proceedings  have  taken  place  in  the  case  before  the 
House  of  Lords,  but  as  yet  there  has  been  no  decision. 

James  Borthwick  of  Stow,  a  cadet  of  the  Crookston  family, 
practised  as  a  physician  in  Edinburgh,  and  deserves  notice  as 
having  caused  the  disjunction  of  the  corporation  of  surgeons  from 
that  of  the  barbers,  which  previously  formed  one  corporation. 

A  view  of  Borthwick  castle  is  given  in  Grose^s  Antiquities 
of  Scotland,  and  in  Billings*  Baronial  and  Ecclesiastical 
Antiquities,  vol  i.  It  consists  principally  of  a  vast  square 
tower,  with  square  and  round  bastions  at  equal  distances 
from  its  base.  The  walls  are  tlurteen  feet  thick  near  the 
bottom,  and  towards  the  top  are  gradually  contracted  to 
about  six  feet.  Besides  the  sunk  story,  they  are,  firom  the 
ii4jacent  area  to  the  battlement,  ninety  feet  high,  and  if  the 
roof  is  included,  the  whole  height  will  be  about  one  hundred 
and  ten  feet.  The  great  hall  is  forty  feet  long,  and  so  high 
m  the  roof  that,  says  Nisbet,  "a  man  on  horseback  might 
turn  a  spear  in  it  with  all  the  ease  imaginable."  The  follow- 
ing is  h  woodcut  of  this  once  magnificent  stnicture' 


The  roaster-gunner  of  James  the  Fourth  was  named 
Robert  Borthwick,  and  seven  great  cannons,  cast  by  him, 
called  the  seven  sisters,  were  taken  out  of  the  castle  of  Edin- 
bui^h  to  the  fatal  field  of  Flodden.  Of  this  peraon,  Balfour, 
in  his  Annals,  [vol.  i.  p.  232,]  under  the  year  1509,  has  the 
following  notice:  **Tbis  zeire,  the  king  entertained  one 
Robert  Borthwick,  quho  foundit  and  caste  maney  pices  at 
brasse  ordinance  of  all  sisses,  in  Edinburgh  castle,  all  of  them 
having  this  inscriptione:  ^Machina  sum  Scoto  Borthwick 
fabricata  Roberto.* " 

Among  those  persecuted  by  Cardinal  Bethune,  on  account 
of  their  adopting  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  was  Sir 
John  Borthwick,  who  was  cited  before  the  eodesiasdcal  court 
at  St  Andrews  in  1540  for  heresy.  Thirteen  charges  were 
preferred  against  him,  but  in  particular  that  be  had  disperaed 
heretical  books.  Sir  John  fled  to  England,  and  not  appear- 
ing in  court  when  called,  the  charges  against  him  were  held 
as  confessed.  He  was  condemned  on  the  28th  May  to  be 
burnt  as  a  heretic ;  his  goods  were  confiscated,  his  effigy  was 
burnt  in  the  market-place  of  St  Andrews,  and  all  men  were 
inhibited  from  harbouring  or  protecting  him.  Sir  John  was 
graciously  received  by  Henry  the  Eighth,  and  sent  by  him 
on  a  mission  to  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  to  con- 
cert a  confederacy  between  them,  in  defence  of  the  refonned 
religion. 

BORTHWICK,  David,  of  I^hhiii,  a  learned 
lawyer  and  judge,  was  lord  advocate  of  Scotland 
in  the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  before  which  time 
he  was  usually  designated  **  Mr.  David  Borthwick 
of  Auldistoue.^*  He  was  one  of  the  nine  advocates 
selected  by  the  court  of  session,  on  the  first  March 
1549,  to  plead  "  befoir  thamc  in  all  actions  and 


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caused.*'  Id  1552  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
public  commission  appointed  to  treat  with  the 
English  commissioners  on  border  aflfaira.  In  the 
Bargh  Records  of  Aberdeen  we  find  the  following 
entry  under  date  17th  August,  1562:  '^The  said 
day,  the  prowest,  baillies,  and  counsell  oitlanis 
Patre  Menzes,  thesaurar,  to  send  Maister  Danid 
Borthuilc,  procuratonr  for  the  toun  in  the  caase  of 
varandi»  mowit  aganis  thame  be  William  Forbes, 
to  defend  the  said  mater,  sax  pound  Scottis." 
lExtractsfram  Burgh  Records  of  Aberdeen,  1398 
—1570,  printed  for  the  Spalding  Oub,  p.  846.] 
In  June  1564  he  was  counsel  for  the  magistrates 
and  town-council  of  Edinburgh  in  a  prosecution 
against  them,  and  in  May  1567,  as  counsel  for  the 
earl  of  Bothwell,  he  took  instruments  of  Queen 
Mary*s  pardon  and  forgiveness  of  him  and  his  ac- 
complices for  her  abduction  to  Dunbar,  which  her 
najesty  pronounced  in  court  on  the  12th  of  that 
month.  In  1578,  Borthwick  became,  with  Crich- 
ton  of  Elliock,  father  of  the  admirable  Crichton, 
joint  king's  advocate,  when,  as  was  then  custom- 
ary, he  took  his  seat  as  a  lord  of  session.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  first  who  bore  the  title  of 
"  I^rd  Advocate."  The  salary  of  this  functionar}- 
at  that  period  was  forty  pounds  Scots  yearly,  and 
that  of  a  lord  of  session  amounted  to  about  the 
same  sum,  considered  a  good  deal  of  money  in 
those  days.  Borthwick  died  in  January  1581. 
He  bad  acquired  estates  in  the  counties  of  Ber- 
wick, Haddington,  and  Fife,  in  which,  before  his 
death,  be  bad  infeft  his  son  James,  whose  extra- 
vagance and  improvidence  caused  some  of  them  to 
be  sold  even  in  bis  father's  lifetime.  This  circum- 
stance induced  the  old  gentleman,  on  his  death- 
bed, to  exclaim  bitterly,  "  What  shall  I  say  ?  I 
give  him  to  the  devil  that  doth  get  a  fool,  and 
maketh  not  a  fool  of  him,"  a  saying  that  became 
proverbial,  as  David  Borthwick's  testament. — 
Haig  and  BnmUnCs  Senators  of  College  of  Justice, 
BOSTON,  Thomas,  a  learned  theological  wri- 
ter, author  of  the  '  Fourfold  State,'  the  youngest 
of  seven  sons  of  a  small  landed  proprietor  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Dunse,  was  bom  in  that  town 
March  17, 1676.  His  father  being  confined  in  the 
prison  of  Dunse  for  nonconformity,  when  he  was 
a  little  boy,  took  him  with  him  into  the  prison  to 
keep  him  company,  an  incident  which  left  a  deep 


impression  on  his  mind.  He  received  the  usual 
elements  of  education  at  the  grammar  school  of 
his  native  place,  and  in  1692  went  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  where  he  attended  the  usual 
course  for  three  years,  and  entered  on  the  study  of 
divinity.  In  1696  he  taught  a  school  at  Glen- 
cairn  ;  and  was  then  appointed  tutor  to  Andrew 
Fletcher  of  Aberlady,  a  boy  nine  years  of  age,  but 
was  enabled  to  attend  the  divinity  class  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh.  He  aftei*wards  accompa- 
nied his  pupil  to  the  house  of  Colonel  Bruce  of 
Kennet  in  Clackmannanshire,  who  had  married 
the  boy's  mother,  where  he  remained  for  about  a 
year.  In  June  1697  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  presbytery  of  Dunse  and  Chimside ;  and  in 
September  1699  he  was  ordained  to  the  living  of 
Simprin,  one  of  the  smallest  charges  in  Scotland, 
not  containing  in  his  time  above  ninety  examina- 
ble persons.  It  is  now  united  to  the  parish  of 
Swinton.  In  1700  he  married  Catherine  Brown 
of  Culross,  whom,  in  his  memoirs  of  himself,  he 
describes  as  **  a  woman  of  great  worth ;  a  stately, 
beautiful,  and  comely  personage ;  of  bright  natu- 
ral pai*ts ;  an  uncommon  stock  of  prudence,  and 
of  a  quick  and  lively  apprehension,  and  remarka- 
bly useful  to  the  country  side,  through  her  skill  in 
surgery."  About  this  time  he  first  became  ac- 
quainted with  a  book  which  proved  of  much  ser- 
vice to  him,  and  afterwards  occasioned  a  long  and 
important  controversy  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
entitled  *  The  Marrow  of  Modem  Divinity,'  writ- 
ten by  Edwaid  Fisher,  M.A.,  Oxford,  1627.  It 
had  been  brought  into  his  parish  from  England  by 
one  of  his  parishioners,  who  had  been  a  soldier  in 
the  civil  wars.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Oeneral  Assembly  held  under  Queen  Anne  in 
March  1703,  which  was  suddenly  dissolved  by  the 
commissioner,  the  earl  of  Seafield,  while  discuss- 
ing an  overture  for  preventing  the  marriage  of 
protestants  with  papists.  In  May  1707  he  was 
translated  to  Ettrick,  then  one  of  the  wildest  par- 
ishes in  the  south  of  Scotland,  where  he  remained 
till  his  death. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  imposition  of  the  abjura- 
tion oath,  1712,  he  was  one  of  those  ministers  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  who  refused  to  take  it 
This  oath  was  originally  proposed  by  the  leaders 
of  the  presbyterian  party  to  be  inserted  in  a  bill 


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granting  toleration  to  episcopalian  worship  in 
Scotland,  in  the  expectation  that  by  refasing  to 
take  it  the  indolgence  to  the  episcopalian  clergy, 
who  were  all  Jacobites,  would  be  nullified ;  but 
by  the  counter  policy  of  the  court  party,  it  was 
extended  to,  and  made  obligatory  on,  presbyterian 
ministers  lilcewise.  Their  conscientious  objec- 
tions, however,  were  not  to  the  oath  itself,  but  to 
a  clause  in  it  recognising  the  act  of  succession, 
which  provided  that  the  successors  to  the  crown 
of  Great  Britain  should  be  of  the  communion  of 
the  Church  of  England— a  recognition  which  they 
deemed  inconsistent  with  their  principles.  To 
provide  against  the  worst,  Boston  made  over  to 
his  eldest  son  a  house  in  Dunsc,  which  he  had  in- 
herited fi-om  his  father,  and  assigned  all  his  other 
goods  to  his  precentor,  John  Currie,  so  that  he 
might  elude  the  penalty  of  five  hundred  pounds 
sterling,  which  was  attached  to  the  refusal  to  take 
the  oath  within  a  certain  specified  time ;  but  the 
penalty  was  never  demanded.  Having  devoted 
much  of  his  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew 
accents,  which  he  was  persuaded  are  the  key  to 
the  true  version  of  the  Hebrew  text,  he  wrote  an 
*  Essay  on  the  Hebrew  Accentuation,'  which  was 
not  published  till  1738,  when  it  was  brought  out 
at  Amsterdam  under  the  care  of  the  learned  David 
Mill,  professor  of  oriental  languages  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Utrecht.  His  '  Human  Nature  in  its  Four- 
fold State'  was  at  first  brought  out  in  1720  under 
the  auspices  of  Mr.  Robert  Wightman,  treasurer 
to  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  who  prefixed  a  preface, 
and  added  many  of  his  own  emendations;  but 
these  Mr.  Boston  could  not  agree  to,  and  they 
were  omitted  in  the  second  edition.  Mr.  Boston 
died  May  20,  1732,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age. 
His  works  have  had  a  wide  circulation,  particu- 
larly his  *  Fourfold  State.'  They  were  collected 
into  a  large  folio  volume  in  1768 ;  and  in  1773  his 
*Body  of  Divinity,'  8  vols.  8vo,  was  published 
from  his  manuscripts.  The  most  remarkable  of 
his  posthumous  pieces  is  the  *  Memoirs  of  his 
Life,  Time,  and  Writings,'  written  by  himself,  and 
published  in  one  closely  printed  8vo  volume  in 
1776.  He  was  survived  by  his  wife,  and  by  two 
sons  and  two  daughters,  whose  descendants  still 
remain  near  Ettrick. 
Mr.  Boston's  works  are . 


Hamim  Nature  in  its  Fourfold  State:  Of  Primitive  Inte- 
grity submsting  in  the  Parents  of  Mankind  in  Paradise:  En- 
tire Depravation  subsisting  in  the  Unregenerate :  Begun  Re- 
covery subsisting  in  the  Regenerate:  and  consummate  Hap- 
piness or  Misery  subsisting  in  all  Mankind  m  the  Future 
State.  In  several  Practical  Discourses.  First  published, 
1720.  Numerous  editions  since.  New  edition,  revised  bj 
the  Rev.  Michael  Boston,  the  Author's  grandson.  FaBdric, 
1784,  8vo. 

Collection  of  Sermons.     Edin.  1720. 

Tractatns  Stigmologicus  Hebraw-Bihliciis.  Cum  Prefa- 
tione  D.  MilliL  Amst  1788,  4to.  On  Hebrew  Accent*  A 
very  learned  production. 

Sermons  and  Discourses.     Edin.  1753,  2  vols.  8vo. 

A  View  of  the  Covenant  of  Works,  from  the  Sacred  Re 
cords.    Edin.  1772,  12mo. 

The  Distinguishing  Character  of  True  Believers,  in  17  Dis- 
courses.    Edin.  1773,  12mo. 

Body  of  Divinity.    1773,  8  vols.  8vo. 

Ten  Fast  Sermons.    1778,  8vo. 

Four  Sermons  on  Sacramental  Occasions.     1773,  8vo. 

An  Illustration  of  the  Doctrines  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
with  respect  to  Faith  and  Practice.  In  Sermons.  Edin. 
1773,  8  vols.  8va 

The  Christian  Life  delineated,  in  the  principal  tinier 
thereof,  both  as  to  its  rise  and  progress.  In  2  Disoonraw* 
Edin.  1776,  2  vols.  12mo. 

A  View  of  this  and  the  other  Worid.  In  8  Disconiwi 
Edin.  1775,  8vo. 

Ten  Sermons,  chiefly  relating  to  the  Grounds  of  the  Lord's 
Controversy  with  this  Generation. 

Sermons  on  the  Method  of  Recovery  from  the  Rums  of  the 
Fall,  by  Jesus  Christ 

Sermon  on  the  Sovereignty  and  Wisdom  of  God  in  the 
Afflictions  of  Men,  displayed.  To  which  are  added.  Sermons 
on  the  Nature  of  Churoh  Communion.  Berw.  1785, 12ma 
This  collection  contains  the  well-known  Sermon,  entitled, 
The  Crook  in  the  Lot. 

Memoirs  of  his  life.  Time,  and  Writings,  divided  mto  12 
periods     Written  by  himself.    Edin.  1776,  8vo. 

BOSTON,  Thomas,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Relief  church,  the  youngest  son  of  the  preceding, 
was  bom  April  8, 1713.  He  seems  to  have  been 
very  early  bronght  under  the  influence  of  religions 
impressions,  and  having  made  choice  of  the  min- 
istry, he  pursued  bis  studies  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh.  He  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age 
when  his  father  died,  and  though  his  course  of 
theological  study  was  not  completed,  so  great  were 
his  attainments,  and  such  was  the  desire  of  all 
parties  that  he  should  succeed  his  father  in  the 
parish  of  Ettrick,  that  he  was  licensed  to  preach 
the  gospel,  earlier  than  the  laws  of  the  church  al- 
lowed. His  gifts  as  a  preacher,  we  are  told,  soon 
won  for  him  a  distinguished  reputation.  Mr. 
Bogue  of  Gosport,  who  often  heard  him,  when  he 
was  in  his  prime,  declared  that,  next  to  White- 
field,  Thomas  Boston  was  the  most  commanding 


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343 


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preacher  he  had  ever  heard.  From  Ettrick,  he 
was,  after  several  years,  translated  to  Oxnam,  a 
few  mileB  from  Jedbargb.  Mr.  Boston  entei'- 
tained  strongly  his  fatber^s  sentiments  as  respects 
some  features  of  the  national  establishment,  being 
opposed  to  patronage  and  a  friend  of  free  commn- 
uion,  and  even  in  the  height  of  his  popularity  he 
planned  a  secession  from  the  Church  of  Scotland 
different  from  that  which  had  taken  place  under 
the  Erskines.  On  this  account  he  was  obnoxious 
to  the  ruling  party,  and  in  1751  a  competing  call 
to  Dundee  in  his  favour  was  rejected  as  informal, 
the  magistrates,  with  whom  the  patix>nage  rested, 
having  named  another  candidate.  In  1755,  a 
vacancy  took  place  in  the  church  of  Jedburgh, 
and  the  people  were  anxious  for  Mr.  Boston  to  be 
their  minister.  The  church,  however,  was  in  the 
patronage  of  the  Crown,  and  a  presentation  was 
granted  in  favour  of  Mr.  John  Bonar,  minister  at 
Cockpen  ;  but  so  great  was  the  opposition  to  his 
settlement  that,  on  the  case  being  earned  to  the 
Assembly,  the  Lord  Advocate  deemed  it  wise  to 
depart  from  the  presentation.  Mr.  Douglas  of 
Kenmore,  who  was  still  more  unpopular,  was  next 
presented  to  the  vacant  charge,  and  as  the  Assem- 
bly of  May  1757  peremptorily  ordered  his  settle- 
ment to  be  proceeded  with,  it  was  resolved,  on  the 
part  of  the  townspeople,  to  separate  from  the 
established  church,  and  have  the  minister  of  their 
choice.  They,  therefore,  sent  Mr.  Boston  a  call 
to  be  their  minister,  which  he  accepted  of,  and  in 
the  short  space  of  six  months,  a  place  of  worship 
was  built  for  him  in  the  town  of  Jedburgh.  At 
the  meeting  of  the  established  presbytery  in  that 
town,  on  the  7th  December  1757,  he  formally  de- 
mitted  bis  charge  of  Oxnam,  giving  his  reasons 
for  taking  this  step,  and  two  days  thereafter  he 
was  inducted  into  the  new  church  built  for  him  at 
Jedburgh,  when  at  least  two  thousand  people  were 
present :  on  which  occasion  the  bells  were  rung, 
and  the  magistrates  and  council,  in  their  robes  of 
o£Sce,  walked  in  procession  to  the  meeting-house. 
His  admission  was  performed  by  Mr.  Roderick 
Mackenzie,  an  Independent  minister  from  Eng- 
land, who  was  shortly  to  accept  a  charge  in  the 
same  way,  at  Nigg  in  Ross-shii'e.  After  his  in- 
duction Mr.  Boston  preached  to  crowded  audien- 
ces, and  persons  from  a  great  distance  formed  a 


considerable  portion  of  his  congi-egation.  At  his 
first  dispensation  of  the  sacrament,  the  concourse 
of  people  was  veiy  great.  It  took  place  in  the 
open  air  on  a  little  holm  called  the  Ana,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jed,  and  close  by  the  town  of  Jed- 
burgh. The  scene  was  august  and  most  impres- 
sive. A  touching  incident  marked  his  second  dis- 
pensation of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  had  invited 
to  assist  him  Mr.  Tliomas  Gillespie  of  Dunferm- 
line, who,  in  1752,  when  minister  of  Camock,  had 
been  deposed  for  not  obeying  an  order  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  to  attend  at  the  induction  of  an  un- 
popular minister  to  the  chui-ch  of  Inverkeithiug. 
"  Mr.  Gillespie,"  says  Dr.  Struthers,  in  his  History 
of  the  Relief  Church,  "acceded  to  his  request. 
It  was  not  so  easy  travelling  then  as  now  between 
Dunfermline  and  Jedburgh.  On  Saturday  he  did 
not  arrive ;  on  Sabbath  moniing  he  was  not  come. 
Boston  went  to  the  church,  where  the  sacrament 
was  to  be  dispensed  by  him,  alone.  A  whole 
day's  services  were  before  him ;  and  taking  stran- 
gers along  with  his  own  congregation,  (aged  per- 
sons report  that)  1,800  would  at  times  communi- 
cate with  him.  During  the  morning  prayer,  Mr. 
Boston  heard  the  pulpit  door  open,  and  a  foot 
come  gently  in  behind  him.  It  was  then  the  cns- 
tom  for  the  assistant  minister  to  go  to  the  pulpit 
during  the  action  sermon.  He  could  scarcely  be 
deceived  as  to  his  visitant.  His  prayer  was  speed- 
ily drawn  to  a  close.  Turning  round — it  wets  Mr. 
Gillespie,  In  the  face  of  the  whole  congregation, 
whose  feelings  were  wound  up  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  excitement,  he  gave  him  a  most  cordial  wel- 
come. From  this  time  forward  they  followed 
joint  measures  for  promoting  the  liberty  of  the 
Christian  people,  and  a£fbrding  relief  to  oppressed 
parishes,  though  they  did  not  constitute  them- 
selves into  a  regular  presbytery  till  three  years 
afterwards."  It  was  on  the  22d  October,  1761, 
at  Colingsburgh  in  Fife,  that  Messrs.  Boston  and 
Gillespie,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Collier  of  Colings^ 
burgh,  and  representative  elders  from  the  three 
churches  of  Jedburgh,  Dunfermline,  and  Colings- 
burgh, formed  themselves  into  a  presbytery  for 
the  relief  of  Christians  oppressed  in  their  Christ- 
ian privileges.  The  Relief  church  gradually  ex- 
tended throughout  Scotland  till  1847,  when  it  was 
united  to  the  Secession  church,  and  both  together 


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BOSWELL. 


now  form  the  United  Presbyterian  Synod.  Mr. 
Boston  died  in  1767.  He  was  the  antlior  of  a 
volume  of  essays,  two  of  which  were  published  by 
his  son  after  bis  death,  as  well  as  of  some  well- 
written  prefaces  to  religions  reprints. — Siruthers^ 
History  of  the  Relief  Church. 

BoswELL,  originally  BowHIa,  or  Botvile,  a  snmaine  of  French 
extraction  which  is  found  in  Enghmd  from  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  when  it  was  introdooed  by  Sieor  de  Bosvillef  who 
came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and  had  a  considerable  oom- 
mand  at  the  battle  of  Hastings.  It  is  derived  hi  Sootknd 
from  a  branch  of  the  English  Bosviles,  who  settled  in  North 
Britain  in  the  reign  of  David  the  First,  and  soon  spread  into 
diflferent  parts  of  the  country.  No  connection  can  be  traced 
betwixt  this  name  and  that  of  St  Bosweirs,  a  parish  m  Rox- 
burghshire, for  it  is  ascertained  that  that  place  took  its  name 
from  a  monk  of  Mebose,  called  Boisel,  a  disciple  of  St.  Cnth- 
bert,  who  is  said  to  have  founded  the  church  of  the  parish,  and 
died  many  centuries  before  the  BosviUes  arrived  in  ScoUand. 

Robert  Bosville,  the  ancestor  of  the  Boswells  of  Balmuto, 
in  Fife,  appears  to  have  been  much  about  the  court  of  King 
William  the  Lion.  In  a  charter  of  that  monarch  to  William 
Hay  of  Enrol  in  1188  he  is  a  witness,  as  he  is  in  another  char- 
ter of  the  same  prince  confirming  a  donation  to  the  religious  at 
Coldstream,  in  or  before  1200.  His  name  also  appears  in 
many  other  charters  of  the  same  king.  He  was  proprietor  of 
the  lands  of  Oxmuir  and  others  in  Berwickshire,  which  were 
afterwards  called  BosweU*s  lands,  from  his  name.  This  Ro- 
I>ort  Bosville  wait  the  father  of  Adam  de  Bosville  de  Oxmuir, 
ftc,  who  is  mentioned  in  an  obligation  of  Philip  de  Lochore, 
the  21st  year  of  the  r<sign  of  King  Alexander  the  Second 
(1235).  His  son  and  successor,  Roger  de  Bosville,  got  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Oxmuir  from  that  monarch.  Roger^s 
son,  William  de  Bosville  of  Oxmuir,  Ac.,  was  witness  in  a 
donation  to  the  monastery  of  Soltray  by  Bernard  de  Houden, 
in  the  reign  of  King  Alexander  tiie  Third.  In  1292  this 
William  de  Bosville  was  compelled,  with  other  Scottish  barons, 
to  submit  to  Edward  the  First  of  England,  when  he  overran 
Soothmd  with  his  armies,  and  m  1296  he  was  agam  forced  to 
swear  fealty  to  the  English  king.  His  son,  Richard  Bosville 
of  Oxmuir,  besides  his  estate  in  Berwickshire,  was  proprietor 
of  other  lands  near  Ardrossan  in  Ayrshire,  as  i^ypears  by  a 
charter  under  the  great  seal  from  King  Robert  the  Bruce, 
about  1820.  He  left  two  sons,  William  and  Roger.  William, 
the  eldest,  the  last  of  the  Boswells  of  Oxmuir,  is  mentioned 
as  a  witness  in  charters  of  donatioo  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso 
in  1880,  and  again  in  1845.  In  a  donation  to  the  monastery 
of  Diybuigh,  William  de  Bosville,  designed  *  aldermanus  de 
Roxbuigh,*  is  a  witness,  m  1888. 

Roger  de  Boswdl,  second  son  of  Richard  of  Oxmuir,  was 
the  first  of  the  name  who  settled  in  Fife.  In  the  banning 
of  the  reign  of  King  David  Bruce,  he  married  Mariota,  daugh- 
ter and  oo-heiress  of  Sir  William  Lochore  of  that  ilk,  knight, 
with  whom  he  got  the  half  of  the  barony  of  Auchterderran  in 
that  oounty.  His  son,  John  de  Boswell,  succeeded  him  in  all 
his  Unds.  In  1865  he  obtained  a  safe  conduct  to  Enghmd, 
from  ICng  Edward  the  Third,  and  returned  the  fbUowing 
year.  John  de  Boswell  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir 
Robert  Melville  of  Caimbee.  His  son,  Sir  William  Boswell, 
was  one  of  the  judges  in  a  perambulation  of  the  lands  of 
Kirkness  and  Lochore.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Alexander  Gordon,  brother  of  Umphryd  Jordan  of 
Appicgirth,  with  whom  he  got  some  lands  in  the  constabu- 


lary of  Kmghom.  His  son,  Su-  John  Boswell,  the  first  de- 
signed of  Balgregie,  obtained  the  barony  of  Balmuto,  m  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  oentuiy,  by  his  marriage  with 
Mariota,  daughter  and  oo-heiress  of  Sir  John  Glen,  to  whom 
it  had  previously  belonged. 

This  Sir  John  Boswell,  the  firnt  of  Balmuto,  died  before 
1480,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  David,  who  married  first, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Melville  of  Raith,  by  whom, 
besides  six  daughters,  he  had  two  sons,  David,  his  heir,  and 
Robert,  parson  of  Auchterderran,  a  man  of  great  piety  and 
learning,  who  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  a  hundred  yeari 
David,  the  &ther,  took,  for  his  second  wife,  Isabel,  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Wemyss  of  Ru«s,  relict  of  David  Hay  of 
Naugfaton,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  Isabel,  married  in 
1488  to  Thomas  Lundin,  junior,  of  that  ilk. 

David,  the  elder  son,  had  a  charter  under  the  great  seal 
from  King  James  the  Second,  of  his  father's  lands  of  Glas- 
mont,  in  Fife,  dated  4th  November  1458,  after  which  he  was 
designed  of  Glaamont  as  long  as  be  Uved.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried. By  his  first  wife,  Grizel,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Wemyss 
of  that  ilk,  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  David,  the 
elder  son,  predeceased  his  father.  Alexander,  who  was  after- 
wards knighted,  succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Bahnnto.  By  his 
second  wife,  Lady  Margaret  Sinclair,  daughter  of  William, 
eari  of  Orkney  and  Caithness,  whom  he  married  in  1480,  he 
had  five  sons,  of  whom  Thomas,  the  eldest,  was  the  progeni- 
tor of  the  Boswells  of  Auchinleck,  in  Ayrshire. 

Sir  Alexander  Boswell  of  Balmuto,  the  surviving  son  by 
the  first  marriage,  was  in  great  favour  with  King  James  the 
Fourth,  whom  he  accompanied  to  the  fatal  field  of  Floddea 
together  with  his  brother,  Thomas  Boswell  of  Auchinleck 
and  were  both  left  with  their  royal  master  among  the  shun. 

His  eldest  son,  David  Boswell  of  Balmuto,  was  held  in 
great  estimation  by  King  James  the  Fifth,  Qneeo  Maiy,  and 
King  James  the  Sixth,  fi:om  all  of  whom  he  had  several 
friendly  and  familiar  letters.  He  was  engaged  in  most  of  the 
public  transactions  of  his  time,  and  died,  8th  May,  1582,  id 
the  84th  year  of  his  age.  He  married  Elizabeth,  dan^ter  ol 
Sir  John  Moncrieff  of  that  ilk,  by  whom  he  had  ten  sons  and 
ten  daughters.  George,  his  ninth  son,  was  chirurgeon  to 
King  James  the  Sixth.  His  youngest  son  was  parson  of 
Auchterderran,  and  wrote  a  genealogical  histoiy  of  the  fiunily 
of  Balmuto. 

David,  his  eldest  son,  designed  of  Glaamont,  was  killed,  in 
the  lifetime  of  his  father,  with  his  brother  Robert,  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Pinkie  in  1547,  leaving,  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  dangh- 
ter  of  Sur  David  Wemyss  of  that  ilk,  an  infant  son.  Sir  John 
Boswell,  who  succeeded  his  grandfather,  and  married  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Sir  James  Sandilands  of  St  Monanoe.  Sb 
John  had  four  sons  and  ten  daughters,  and  died  in  1610,  in  the 
64th  year  of  his  age.  He  is  described  as  a  man  of  exoeUeDt 
parts  and  a  great  favourite  with  James  the  Sixth,  finm  whom 
he  had  many  firiendly  letters.  By  one  of  these  it  appears  that 
he  had  lent  his  migesty  one  thousand  merks,  a  little  befbrr 
the  arrival  of  his  queen  from  Denmark;  a  favour  which  is 
acknowledged  in  a  kind  letter  from  the  king  to  Bahnnto, 
dated  at  FalUand,  2d  September,  1589.  At  the  baptism  of 
Prince  Henry  in  1594  the  honour  of  knighthood  was  oonfened 
on  him  and  on  his  eldest  son  by  the  king.  Besides  several 
baronies  of  lands  bestowed  on  his  younger  sons,  and  consider- 
able portions  given  to  his  daughters,  on  their  maniage,  he  left 
a  good  estate  to  his  eldest  son,  Sir  John  BoewelL  The  Utt^ 
married  Janet,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Soott  of  Balweaiy,  am* 
had  seven  sons  and  six  daughters.  Robert  Boswell,  his  fii\t? 
son.  a  miyor  of  horse  in  the  service  of  King  Chaiks  the  Fhst 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Worcester  m  1651. 


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Darid  BoeweU  of  Balmuto,  Yob  eldest  son,  soooeeded,  before 
the  jear  1640.  He  married  Nicholas,  daughter  of  Sir  Peter 
Young  of  Seaton,  afterwards  of  Anldbar,  eleemosiiuuy  to  King 
James  the  Sixth,  bj  whom  he  had  fiye  sons  and  seren  dangh- 
ters.  His  eldest  son,  David,  was  soooeeded,  soon  after  1667, 
bj  his  son.  also  named  David.  The  eldest  son  of  the  latter, 
Andrew  Boswell  of  Balmuto,  by  his  extravagance,  found  him- 
self under  the  neoeeutj  of  dispodng  of  the  estate  of  Balmuto, 
•nd,  aocordmglj,  in  1722,  he  sold  it  to  his  kinsman,  John 
BoeweU,  second  son  of  David  Boswell  of  Anchinleck,  reserv- 
ing to  hunself  and  his  heirs  the  coal  and  all  below  ground, 
sach  as  mines,  minerals,  Ac.  His  son,  David,  representative 
of  the  BoeweHs  of  Babnulo,  enjojed  no  part  of  the  estate, 
except  the  coal,  &c. 

The  estate  of  Auchinleck,  in  Ayrshire,  was  bestowed  by 
Jsunes  the  Fourth  on  Thomas  Boswell,  eldest  son  of  David 
Boswell  of  Balnmto,  by  Lady  Margaret  Sinclair,  as  above- 
mentioned,  he  being  held  in  high  estimation  by  that  monarch. 
He  was  shitn  at  Flodden,  9th  September,  1613.  By  his 
wife,  Annabella,  daughter  of  ^  Hu^  Campbell  of  Loudoun, 
he  had  an  only  son,  David  Boswell  of  Auchinleck.  The  latter 
married  Lady  Janet  Hamilton,  daughter  of  James,  first  earl 
of  Arran,  progenitor  of  the  dukes  of  Hamilton,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  John,  who  was  twice  married,  first,  to 
Christian,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Dalzell  of  Glenae,  progeni- 
tor of  the  earls  of  Oamwath,  and  by  her  he  had  three  sons, 
James,  his  hdr;  John  or  Mungo,  who  received  from  his  &ther 
the  lands  of  Duncansmuir,  and  was  progenitor  of  the  Bos- 
wells  of  Craigston;  and  Robert;  secondly  to  a  daughter  of 
the  lord  Stewart  of  Ochiltree,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  William, 
who  obtained  the  estate  of  Knockroon. 

July  2,  3,  and  4,  1600,  James  Boswell,  fiar  or  younger  of 
Auchinleck,  and  several  other  persons,  were  indicted  for  abid- 
ing from  the  Raid  of  Dumfries,  (»rdained  to  have  convened 
with  Archibald,  eari  of  Angus,  in  the  previous  September.  A 
variety  of  procedure  took  place  in  this  and  other  similar 
cases,  when  some  of  the  parties  were  fined,  others  dischaiged, 
&c  James  Boswell  of  Auchinleck  was  one  of  the  prolocu- 
tors, or  counsel,  for  John  Mure  of  Auchindrane,  when  put  on 
his  trial  for  the  slaughter  of  Su:  Thomas  Kennedy  of  Cuhean, 
June  24, 1602. 

James  Boswell  of  Auchinleck,  eldest  son  of  John,  married 
Marion  Crawford,  a  daughter  of  the  ancient  family  of  Kerse, 
and  had  six  sons  and  several  daughters.  His  three  youngest 
sons  entered  the  service  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  after  fight- 
ing in  his  wars  settled  in  Sweden,  where  their  pesterity  still 
exists.  He  died  in  1618,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest 
son,  David  Boswell  of  Auchmleck,  who  married  Isabel, 
daughter  of  &  John  Wallace  of  Caimhill,  by  whom  he  had 
four  daughters.  David  was  a  fruthful  adherent  of  Charles  the 
First,  and  was  fined  in  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  raerics  for 
refusing  to  take  the  covenant.  He  died  m  1661,  having  set- 
tled his  estate  on  his  nephew  David,  son  of  his  next  brother, 
James  Boswell,  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Sir  James  Cunning- 
hame  of  Glengamock.  His  son,  David  Boswell  of  Auchin- 
leck, the  successor  to  his  uncle,  married  Anne,  daughter  of 
James  Hamilton  of  Dalsiell,  by  whom,  besides  three  daugh- 
ters, he  had  James  his  heir,  and  Robert,  a  writer  in  Edin- 
bm^h,  who,  by  great  diligence  in  lus  profession,  acquued  a 
handsome  fortune,  and  purchased  the  estate  of  Balmuto  in 
Fife,  from  his  kinsman,  Andrew  Boswell,  as  above  mentioned. 

The  son  of  this  Robert,  Claud  Irvine  Boswell,  succeeded  to 
the  estate  of  Bahnnto.  He  was  bora  in  1742,  and  being 
educated  for  tiie  bar,  passed  advocate,  2d  August,  1766.  In 
1780  he  was  appointed  sheriff-depute  of  Fife  and  Kinross, 
and  in  1798  he  became  a  lord-of-session,  under  the  title  of 


Lord  Bahnnto.  He  resigned  his  seat  on  the  bench  in  Janu- 
ary 1822,  and  died  suddenly  22d  July  1824.  He  had  mar- 
ried, in  1783,  Miss  Anne  Irvine,  who,  by  the  death  of  her 
brother  and  grandfather,  became  heuess  of  Kinooussie.  He 
left  one  son  and  two  daughters. 

The  eldest  son  of  the  above  named  David  Boswell  of  Auch- 
inleck, James  Boswell,  who  succeeded  him  in  tiiat  estate,  was 
a  lawyer  of  great  eminence  in  his  day.  He  married,  in  1704, 
Lady  Elixabeth  Bruoe,  daughter  of  Alexander,  second  eari  of 
Kincardine,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  vis., 
Alexander,  his  heir,  afterwards  Lord  Auchinleck ;  John,  doc- 
tor of  medicine,  censor  of  the  royal  college  of  physicians  in 
Edinburgh ;  and  Veronica. 

Alexander,  the  elder  son,  succeeded  to  Auchmleck  on  his 
father's  death  in  1748.  He  was  educated  for  the  bar,  and 
became  a  lord  of  session  and  justiciary.  He  was  a  sound 
scholar,  a  respectable  and  useful  countxy  gentleman,  and  an 
able  and  upright  judge.  On  his  elevation  to  the  bench  in 
1766,  in  compliance  with  Scottish  custom  he  assumed  the 
distinctive  title  of  Lord  Auchinleck.  He  married  Euphemia, 
daughter  of  Colonel  John  Erskine  of  Ahra,  son  of  Sir  Charles 
Erskine  of  the  house  of  Mar,  and  had  James,  his  successor, 
the  biographer  of  Dr.  Johnson,  of  whom  a  memoir  follows; 
John,  an  officer  in  the  army;  and  David  Boswell,  a  merchant 
for  ten  years  in  Valencia  in  Spain,  when  he  adopted  the 
name  of  Thomas,  instead  of  David,  the  Spaniards  having  a 
prejudice  against  that  name,  imagining  that  it  belongs  to  the 
hated  race  of  the  Jews.  On  returning  to  EngUnd  he  was 
employed  in  the  Navy  Office,  and  was  for  twenty  years  at  the 
head  of  the  Prize  department.  He  was  proprietor  of  Crawley 
Grange,  Buckinghamshire,  and  married  Anne  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Green,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Minden, 
and  sister  of  Sir  Charles  Green,  baronet,  leaving,  at  his  de- 
cease, in  1826,  an  only  son,  Thomas  Alexander  Boswell  of 
Crawley  Grange. 

Of  Sir  Alexander  Boswell  and  James  Boswell,  the  two  sons 
of  the  biographer  of  Johnson,  notices  follow  in  their  order. 
Sir  Alexander  was  created  a  baronet  in  1821,  and  was  killed 
in  a  duel  in  1822,  with  Mr.  Stuart,  of  Dunearn,  arising  from 
a  political  dispute.  He  left  a  daughter,  married  in  1826  to 
Sir  William  Francis  Elliot,  baronet,  of  Stobs  and  Wells,  and 
a  son,  James,  who  succeeded  him,  bom  in  December  1806, 
married  in  1830,  Jessie-Jane,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Mont- 
gomery Cunninghame,  baronet,  with  issue  a  daughter.  Hav- 
ing no  sons,  and  Auchinleck  being  stricUy  entailed  in  the 
male  line.  Sir  James  Boswell,  in  the  year  1861,  sought  to 
set  the  entail  aside,  on  the  ground  that  in  the  deed  of  entuil, 
the  first  five  letters  (namely,  *  irred,*)  in  the  word  '  irredeem- 
ably,* in  the  clause  fettering  the  right  of  sale,  were  written 
on  an  erasure,  of  which  no  notice  was  contained  in  the  test- 
ing clause.  In  consequence,  the  judges  of  the  court  of  ses- 
sion declared  that  the  entail  under  which  Sir  James  Boswell 
held  the  lands  and  barony  of  Auchinleck  was  defective  as 
regards  the  prohibition  against  a  sale.  Notwithstanding  all 
the  care  and  anxiety  of  Lord  Auchinleck  and  his  son,  James, 
to  make  the  entail  as  stringentiy  binding  as  possible,  it  was 
thus  set  aside  on  the  ground  stated. 

Sir  James,  the  second  baronet,  was  a  deputy-lieutenant 
of  Ayrshire.  He  died  in  1857,  when  his  title,  in  default  of 
male  issue,  became  extinct 

BOSWELL,  James,  the  friend  and  biographer 
of  Dr.  Johnson,  was  born  at  Edinbui'gh,  October  29, 
1740.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Alexander  Bos- 
well of  Auchinleck,  above  referred  to,  a  lord  of  scs- 


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BOSWELL, 


346 


JAMES. 


Pion  and  justiciary,  under  the  judicial  title  of  Lord 
Auchinleck.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  exem- 
plary piety.  He  received  the  rudiments  of  liis 
education  partly  at  home  under  priyate  tuition, 
and  partly  at  the  school  of  Mr.  Mundell  in  Edin- 
burgh. He  afterwards  studied  civil  law  in  the 
universities  of  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow;  in  the 
latter  of  which  he  became  associated  with  several 
students  from  England.  This  society  confirmed 
his  preference  for  English  manners,  and  his  desire 
to  see  London,  which  he  has  often  been  heard  to 
say  was  originally  derived  from  a  perusal  of  the 
Spectator.  In  1760  he,  for  the  first  time,  visited 
Ix>ndon,  which  he  calls  the  great  scene  of  action, 
of  ambition,  and  of  instruction.  The  circumstan- 
ces of  this  visit  he  used  afterwards  to  detail,  with 
that  felicity  of  narration  for  which  he  was  so  re- 
markable, and  his  fiiend  Dr.  Johnson  advised  him 
to  commit  the  account  to  paper  and  presei*ve  it. 
Boswell  was  intended  by  his  father  for  the  bar, 
but  he  himself  wished  to  obtain  a  commission  in 
tlie  Guai'ds.  Lord  Auchinleck,  however,  having 
signified  his  disapprobation,  be  returned  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  resumed  the  study  of  the  law.  In 
1762  he  revisited  London  a  second  time ;  and  the 
same  year  he  published  the  little  poem  entitled 
'llie  Club  at  Newmarket,  a  Tale.'  In  1763  he 
went  to  Utrecht  to  attend  the  lectures  in  civil  law 
of  the  celebrated  German  Professor  Trotz.  When 
in  London  on  his  way  to  the  continent,  on  May 
16th  of  that  year,  he  had  "  the  singular  felicity,"  to 
use  his  own  words,  "  of  being  introduced  to  Dr. 
Johnson,"  for  whom  he  had  long  entertained  the 
most  enthusiastic  admiration.  He  remained  a 
winter  at  Utrecht,  during  which  time  he  visited 
several  parts  of  the  Netherlands.  He  afterwards 
made  the  tour  of  Europe,  then  deemed  indispen- 
sable to  complete  the  education  of  a  young  gentle- 
man. Passing  from  Utrecht  into  Germany,  he 
pursued  his  route  through  Switzerland  to  Grcneva, 
whence  he  crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy,  having 
visited  in  his  journey  Voltaire  at  Femey,  and 
Rousseau  in  the  wilds  of  Neufchatel.  He  conti- 
nued some  time  in  Italy,  where  he  met  and  associ- 
ated with  Lord  Mount«tuart,  to  whom  he  after- 
wards dedicated  his  ^  Theses  Juridics.'  The  most 
remarkable  incident  in  his  tour  was  his  visit  to 
Corsica,  the  brave  inhabitants  of  which  were  then 


stiniggliug  for  independence  with  the  republic  of 
Genoa.  Mr.  Boswell  travelled  over  every  part  of 
the  island,  and  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  General  Pasquale  de  Paoli,  in  wiiose  palace 
he  resided  during  his  stay  in  Corsica.  He  subse- 
quently went  to  Paris,  whence  he  returned  to 
Edinburgh  in  1766,  and  soon  after  was  admitted 
a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates.  Having 
endeavoured  to  interest  the  Administration  in 
behalf  of  the  Corsican  patriots,  he  had  the  honour 
of  an  interview  with  Lord  Chatham  on  their  ac- 
count. The  celebrated  Douglas  cause  was  at  this 
period  the  subject  of  general  discussion.  Boswell, 
thinking  that  the  public  would  scarcely  have  the 
patience  to  extract  the  real  merits  of  the  case  from 
the  voluminous  mass  of  papers  printed  on  the 
question,  compressed  them  into  a  pamphlet,  enti- 
tled ^  The  Essence  of  the  Douglas  Cause,'  which, 
on  being  published,  was  supposed  to  have  procured 
Mr.  Douglas  the  popularity  he  at  that  time  enjoy- 
ed. In  1768  Mr.  Boswell  published  his  *  Account 
of  Coraica,  with  Memoirs  of  General  Paoli;'  of 
which  Dr.  Johnson  thus  expressed  himself  to  the 
author :  ^^  Your  Journal  is  curious  and  delightful. 
I  know  not  whether  I  could  name  any  narrative 
by  which  curiosity  is  better  excited  or  better  gra- 
tified." The  work  was  very  favourably  received, 
and  was  speedily  translated  into  the  German, 
Dutch,  Italian,  and  French  languages.  In  the 
following  winter,  Mr.  Boswell  wrote  a  Prologue  on 
occasion  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Edinburgh,  being 
opened  by  David  Ross,  Esq.,  the  efiect  of  which 
was  to  secure  to  the  manager  the  uninterrupted 
possession  of  his  patent  till  his  death  in  1790.  In 
1769,  at  the  celebration  at  Stratford-on-Avon  of 
the  jubilee  in  honour  of  Shakspeare,  Mr.  Boswell 
rendered  himself  conspicuous  by  appearing  as  an 
armed  Corsican  chief.  This  year  he  married  his 
cousin,  Margaret  Montgomery,  daughter  of  David 
Montgomery,  Esq.,  related  to  the  illnstrious  fam- 
ily of  Eglintonn,  and  representative  of  the  ancient 
peerage  of  Lyle.  She  was  a  lady  of  good  sense 
and  a  brilliant  understanding.  She  did  not  like 
the  influence  which  Dr.  Johnson  seemed  to  pos- 
sess over  her  husband,  and  upon  one  occasion  said 
with  some  warmth  * — ^'  I  have  seen  many  a  bear 
led  by  a  man,  but  I  never  before  saw  a  man  led 
by  a  bear."    She  died  in  June  1799,  leaving  tuo 


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347 


JAMES. 


sons,  Alexander  and  James,  and  thi*ee  daughters. 
Mr.  Boswell  wrote  an  affectionate  tribate  to  her 
memory. 

In  1773  Mr.  Boswell  and  Dr.  Johnson  made 
their  long  projected  toor  to  the  Hebrides;  on 
which  occasion  Johnson  visited  him  in  Edinburgh, 
a  journey  rendered  memorable  by  the  lirely  and 
characteristic  accounts  which  both  published  of  it. 
He  was  residing  in  James'  Court,  High  Street, 
Edinburgh,  when  he  received  and  entertained  Pa- 
oli,  iu  1771,  and  Dr.  Johnson,  when  the  latter 
visited  him  in  1773. 

In  1782  his  father,  Loixl  Auchinleck,  died,  and 
Mr.  Boswell  succeeded  to  the  family  estate.  In 
1783,  when  the  coalition  ministry  was  driven  from 
office,  he  published  his  celebrated  ^  letter  to  the 
People  of  Scotland,*  which  was  honoured  by  the 
conmiendation  of  Johnson,  and  the  approbation  of 
Mr.  Pitt.  In  the  following  year,  a  plan  having 
been  in  agitation  to  reform  the  court  of  session, 
by  reducing  the  number  of  judges  one- third,  he, 
in  a  *  Second  Letter  to  the  People  of  Scotland,' 
remonstrated  warmly  against  the  measure,  and  it 
was  abandoned.  In  December  1784  he  lost  his 
illustrious  friend  Dr.  Johnson. 

Mr.  Boswell  had  a  fair  shai-e  of  practice  at  the 
Scottish  bar.  He  enjoyed  the  intimate  acquaint- 
ance of  the  most  eminent  of  his  countr}'men ; 
among  whom  may  be  mentioned.  Lord  Karnes, 
Lord  Hailes,  Dr.  Robertson,  Dr.  Blair,  and  Dr. 
Beattie;  but  his  strong  predilection  for  London  in- 
duced him  at  last  to  settle  in  the  metropolis. 

At  Hilary  Term,  1786,  he  was  called  to  the 
English  bar,  and  in  the  ensuing  winter  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  London.  In  1786  he  had  pub- 
lished his  Joui-nal  of  *  A  Tour  to  the  Hebrides  and 
the  Western  Islands,'  which,  among  other  things 
of  interest,  contains  a  lively  and  affecting  account 
of  the  adventures  and  escapes  of  the  young  Pre- 
tender, after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Culloden. 
By  the  interest  of  Lord  Lowther,  he  was  appointed 
recorder  of  Carlisle,  but  owing  to  the  distance  of 
that  town  from  London,  he  resigned  the  recorder- 
ship,  after  holding  it  about  two  years.  From  the 
period  of  his  settling  in  Loudon,  he  devoted  him- 
self, almost  entirely,  neglecting  his  professional 
occujiation  for  its  sake,  to  preparing  for  publication 
the  life  of  the  great  lexicographer,  for  which  he 


had  been  collecting  materials  during  nearly  the 
whole  course  of  their  intimacy.  This  work, 
entitled  'The  Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D., 
appeared  in.  1790,  in  2  vols.  4to,  and  was  received 
by  the  public  with  extraordinary  avidity.  From 
the  stores  of  anecdote  which  it  contains,  and  the 
minute  and  faithful  picture  of  Johnson's  habits, 
manners,  and  conversation,  therein  given,  the  book 
may  fairly  be  considered  one  of  the  most  entertain- 
ing pieces  of  biography  in  the  English  language. 
It  is  valuable  also  as  illustrative  of  the  literary 
history  of  Gi*eat  Britain,  during  the  gi*eater  pai*t 
of  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
work  is  written  with  dramatic  vivacity ;  the  style 
is  simple  and  unaffected ;  notwithstanding  his  en- 
thusiastic admu*ation  of  Johnson,  the  author  is 
free  from  all  attempt  at  imitating  his  majestic 
and  pompous  diction.  The  preparation  of  a  sec- 
ond edition  of  his  great  work,  which  was  after- 
wards published  iu  3  vols.  8vo,  was  his  last  lite- 
rary effort.  Soon  after  his  return  to  London, 
from  a  visit  to  Auchinleck,  he  was  suddenly 
seized  with  ague,  and  the  confinement  to  which 
it  subjected  him  brought  on  the  disorder  that  ter- 
minated in  his  death.  He  died  at  his  house  in 
London,  June  19,  1795,  in  the  55th  year  of  his 
age.    His  portrait  is  subjoined : 


In  his  private  chai-acter  Mr.  Boswell  was  vain 
and  fond  of  distinction.  '*  Egotism  and  vanity," 
he  says,  in  one  of  his  letters  published  in  1785, 
*'are  the  indigenous  plants  of  my  mind:  they 
distinguish  it.     I  may  prune  their  luxuriancy, 


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but  I  most  not  entirely  clear  it  of  them ;  for  tlien 
I  should  be  no  longer  as  I  am,  and,  perhaps,  there 
might  be  something  not  so  good."  His  admission, 
in  1773,  into  the  llteraiy  club,  which  ihen  met  at 
the  Turk^s  Head  in  Grerard  Street,  Soho,  gave  him 
the  opportunity  of  associating  with  Burke,  Crold- 
smith,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Garnck,  and  other 
eminent  persons ;  this,  with  his  passionate  attach- 
ment to  the  society  and  conversation  of  Dr.  John- 
son, induced  him  to  make  frequent  visits  to  London ; 
where  he  assiduously  cultivated  the  acquaintance 
and  friendship  of  every  person  of  any  note  that 
he  could  possibly  obtain  an  inti*oduction  to.  So 
romantic  and  fervent,  indeed,  was  his  admiration 
of  Johnson,  that  he  tells  us,  that  he  added  five 
hundred  pounds  to  the  fortune  of  one  of  his  daugh- 
ters, because,  when  a  baby,  she  was  not  fright- 
ened at  his  ugly  face. 

With  considerable  intellectual  powers,  he  pos- 
sessed a  gay  and  active  disposition,  a  lively  ima- 
gination, and  no  small  share  of  humour.  Yet  he 
was  often  subject  to  depression  of  spirits,  and  he 
has  described  himself  as  being  of  a  melancholy 
temperament.  In  one  of  his  gloomy  intervals  he 
wrote  a  series  of  essays  under  the  title  of  ^  The 
Hypochondriac,'  which  appeared  in  the  London 
Magazine  for  1782,  and  which  he  once  intended 
to  collect  into  a  volume.  Besides  the  pieces  above 
mentioned,  he  published  in  1767  a  collection  of 
*  British  Essays  in  favour  of  the  Brave  Corsicans.* 
His  ardent  character  and  amusing  egotism  may  be 
said  to  have  been  first  publicly  displayed  in  the 
efforts  he  made  in  behalf  of  these  patriotic  island- 
era;  and  his  conduct  in  this  respect  was  so  satis- 
factory to  himself,  that  at  the  Stratford  jubilee  he 
exhibited  a  placard  round  his  hat,  on  which  was 
inscribed  *^  Corsica  Boswell;"  also  in  his  tour  he 
proclaimed  to  all  the  world  that  at  Edinburgh  he 
was  known  by  the  name  of  "Paoli  Boswelll" 
When  General  Paoli,  after  having  escaped  with 
difficulty  from  his  native  isle,  on  its  subjection  to 
the  French,  found  an  asylum  in  London,  Boswell 
gladly  renewed  his  acquaintance  and  fiiendship 
with  the  exiled  chief.  In  politics  he  was,  like  his 
friend  Johnson,  a  staunch  royalist,  and  in  religion, 
a  member  of  the  church  of  England.  He  takes 
care  to  inform  us,  however,  that  he  had  no  intol- 
erant feelings  towards  those  of  a  different  com- 


munion. In  spite  of  his  eccentricities,  he  was  « 
great  favourite  with  his  friends,  and  his  social  dis- 
position, great  conversational  powers,  and  unfail- 
ing cheerfuUiess,  made  him,  at  all  times,  an  ac- 
ceptable companion.  There  have  been  several 
editions  of  his  Life  of  Johnson;  but  the  most 
complete  is  the  one  published  in  1835,  in  ten 
volumes,  by  Mr.  John  Mun-ay,  which  contains 
anecdotes  of  Johnson's  various  biographers,  and 
notes  by  Mr.  Croker,  Mr.  Malone,  and  various 
others.    BoswelPs  works  are . 

Letters  between  Andrew  Erskine  and  Junes  BoswdL 
Lond.  1763,  8vo. 

Essence  of  the  Douglas  Caose;  a  pamphlet     1767. 

Journal  of  a  Toor  to  the  Island  of  Corsica,  with  Memoin 
of  Genera]  PaolL    GUsgow,  1768,  8yo. 

British  Essays  in  favour  of  the  brave  Corncans.  by  sereral 
hands,  collected  and  published.    Lond.  1769,  12mo. 

Decision  upon  the  Question  of  Literary  Property,  in  the 
Cause,  John  Hinton,  Bookseller,  London,  against  Alexander 
Donaldson  and  others,  Edinbuigh.     1774,  4to. 

Letter  to  the  People  of  ScotUnd,  on  the  present  state  of 
the  Nation.    1784,  8vo. 

Letter  to  the  people  of  Scotland,  respecting  the  alannmg 
Attempt  to  infringe  the  Articles  of  the  Union,  and  mtroducr 
a  most  pernicious  Innovation,  by  diminishing  the  Number  d 
the  Lords  of  Session.    Edin.  1785,  8vo. 

The  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
with  an  authentic  Account  of  the  Distresses  and  Escape  of 
the  Grandson  of  King  James  IL  in  the  year  1746.  2d  edition 
revised  and  corrected.    Lond.  1785,  8vo. 

Life  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.,  comprehending  an  Account 
of  his  Studies  and  numerous  Works  in  chronological  order. 
Lond.  1790,  2  vols.  4to. 

A  Series  of  his  Epistolary  Correspondence  and  Convena- 
tions  with  many  eminent  Persons,  and  various  Original  Pieces 
of  his  Composition,  never  before  published.  Lond.  1791,  2 
vols.  4to.    The  same.    Lond.  1798,  8  vols.  8vo. 

BOSWELL,  Sir  Alexander,  Bart.,  a  dis- 
tinguished literary  antiquary,  eldest  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  October  9,  1775,  and  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  family  estate  of  Anchinleck,  in 
Ayrshire.  He  was  educated  at  Westminster 
school,  and  afterwards  went  to  the  university  of 
Oxford.  With  a  lively  imagination,  he  possessed 
a  considerable  fund  of  humour;  and  some  of  bis 
satirical  pieces  in  verse  occasionally  caused  no 
little  excitement  in  his  own  circle.  In  1803  be 
published  a  small  volume,  entitled  *  Songs,  chiefly  in 
the  Scottish  dialect,'  several  of  which  have  taken 
a  permanent  place  among  the  popular  songs  of  his 
native  land;  among  which  may  be  mentioned, 
^  Auld  Gudeman,  ye're  a  Drucken  Carle;*  *  Jenny's 
Bawbee ; '  *  Jenny  Dang  the  Weaver ; '  and  '  Taste 


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Life's  Glad  Moments,'  a  translation  of  the  Ger- 
man song,  *  Freu't  each  des  Libens,'  done  bj  him  at 
Leipzig  in  1795,  and  generally,  though  erroneoosly, 
ascribed  to  Moore.  In  1 810  he  published,  under  an 
assumed  name,  a  poem  in  the  Scottish  vem^ular, 
entitled  *  Edinburgh,  or  the  Ancient  Royalty,  a 
sketch  of  former  Maimers,  by  Simon  Gray;'  in 
which  he  laments  the  changes  that  had  taken  place 
in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants. 
In  1811,  appeared  *  Clan-Alpin's  Vow,*  a  poetical 
fragment,  founded  on  an  event  which  took  place 
on  the  eve  of  the  marriage  of  James  the  Sixth  to 
Anne  of  Denmark.  He  subsequently  established 
a  printing  press  at  Anchinleck,  from  which  he  sent 
forth  various  pieces  in  prose  and  verse.  In  1816 
appeared  *■  Skeldon  Haughs,  or  the  Sow  is  flitted,' 
a  tale,  also  in  Scottish  verse,  founded  on  a  tradi- 
tionary story  regai-ding  an  old  Ayrshire  feud  be- 
tween the  Kennedys  and  the  Crawfords.  In 
August  1821  Mr.  Bos  well  was  created  a  baronet 
of  Great  Britaiu,  as  a  reward  for  his  patriotism 
snd  loyalty. 

During  the  high  political  excitement  which  pre- 
vailed in  Scotland  about  that  period.  Sir  Alexan- 
der, who  was  a  warm  and  active  supporter  of  the 
then  tory  administration,  was  one  of  the  contribu- 
tors to  a  newspaper  published  at  Edinburgh,  called 
*'  The  Beacon ;'  the  articles  in  which,  aimed  at  the 
/eading  men  on  the  Whig  side,  gave  great  offence. 
Some  letters  and  pieces  of  satirical  poetry  of  a 
similar  kind  having  appeared  in  a  paper  styled 
*  The  Sentinel,'  subsequently  published  at  Glasgow, 
these  were  traced  to  him  by  James  Stuart,  Esq., 
younger  of  Duneam,  who  had  been  personally 
attacked,  and  who  in  consequence  sent  a  challenge 
to  Sir  Alexander.  The  parties  met  near  Auchter- 
tool  in  Fife,  March  26, 1822,  the  Hon.  John  Dou- 
glas, brother  to  the  marquis  of  Queensberry,  being 
the  baronet's  second,  and  the  late  earl  of  Rosslyn, 
Mr.  Stuart's,  when  Sir  Alexander  received  a  shot 
m  the  bottom  of  his  neck,  which  shattered  the 
collar-bone,  and  next  day  caused  his  death.  Mr. 
Stuart  was  afterwards  tried  for  murder  by  the 
High  Court  of  Justiciary,  but  acquitted.  [See 
Stuart,  James,  younger  of  Duneam.] 

Sur  Alexander  Bos  well  left  a  widow,  a  son, 
who  succeeded  him,  and  a  daughter.  In  him 
society   was   deprived   of  one   of  its  brightest 


ornaments,  his  country  lost  a  man  of  superior 
abilities,  and  his  family  had  to  mourn  the  be- 
reavement of  a  most  affectionate  husband  and 
father.  He  was  the  possessor  of  the  famous 
"  Anchinleck  Library,"  consisting  of  valuable  old 
books  and  manuscripts,  gradually  collected  by  his 
ancestors;  from  which  in  1804  Sir  Walter  Scott 
published  the  Romance  of  *Sir  Tristram.'  Its 
stores  also  furnished  the  black  letter  original  of  a 
disputation  held  at  May  bole  between  John  Knox 
and  Quentin  Kennedy  in  1562,  which  was  printed 
at  the  time  by  the  great  Reformer  himself,  but  had 
latterly  become  exceedingly  rare.  A  fac- simile 
edition  of  this  curiosity  in  historical  literature  was 
printed  at  Sir  Alexander  Boswell's  expense  in 
1812.  *'  He  was,"  says  Mr.  Croker  in  a  note  to 
Murray's  edition  of  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  **  a 
high-spirited,  clever,  and  amiable  gentleman ;  and 
like  his  father,  of  a  frank  and  social  disposition ;  I 
but  it  is  said,  that  he  did  not  relish  the  recollec-  | 
tions  of  his  father's  devotion  to  Dr.  Johnson ;  but  i 
like  old  Lord  Anchinleck,  he  seemed  to  think  it  a 
kind  of  derogation."  He  sang  his  own  songs  ^vith 
great  spirit  and  effect,  and  had  a  fund  of  amusing 
stories  and  entertaining  anecdote.  Mr.  Lockhart, 
in  his  Life  of  Scott,  relates  that  Sir  Alexander 
had  dined  with  the  author  of  Waverley  only  two 
or  three  days  before  the  fatal  meeting  occurred, 
having  joined  the  party  immediately  after  com- 
pleting the  last  arrangements  for  his  duel.  Seve- 
ral circumstances  of  his  death  are  exactly  repro- 
duced in  the  duel  scene  of  the  novel  of  St.  Ronan's 
Well. 

His  works,  besides  his  fugitive  satirical  pieces, 
are: 

Songs,  chiefly  in  the  Soottiah  dialect    Edin.  1803. 

Edinburgh,  or  the  Ancient  Royalty,  a  Sketch  ol  former 
Manners,  hj  Simon  Gray.    Edin.  1810. 

Clan-A]pin*8  Vow,  a  poetical  fragment.    Edin.  1811. 

Skeldon  Hanghs,  or  the  Sow  is  Flitted,  a  poetical  tale  in 
the  Scottish  language.    1816. 

BOSWELL,  James,  M.A.,  barrister -at -law, 
second  son  of  the  biogi*apher  of  Johnson,  and  bro- 
ther of  the  preceding,  was  bom  in  1778,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Westminster  school.  In 
1797  he  was  entered  of  Brazen-nose  college,  Ox- 
ford, and  subsequently  was  elected  fellow  on  the 
Vinerian  foundation.  He  was  afterwards  called 
to  the  English  bar,  and  became  a  commissioner  : 


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bankrupts.  He  possessed  talents  of  a  superior 
oi-der,  sonnd  classical  scholarship,  and  a  most  ex- 
tensive and  intimate  knowledge  of  onr  early  liter- 
ature. He  was  equally  remarkable  for  his  indus- 
try, judgment,  and  discrimination ;  his  memory 
was  unusually  tenacious  and  accurate,  and  he  was 
always  ready  to  communicate  his  stores  of  infor- 
mation for  the  benefit  of  others.  These  qualifica- 
tions, with  the  friendship  which  he  entertained  for 
him,  induced  the  late  Mr.  Malone  to  select  Mr. 
Boswell  as  his  literary  executor,  and  to  his  care 
he  intrusted  the  publication  of  an  enlarged  and 
amended  edition  of  Sbakspeare^s  Plays,  which  he 
had  long  projected.  This  elaborate  work  was 
completed  in  1821  in  twenty -one  volumes  8vo. 
Mr.  Malone's  papers  were  left  in  a  state  scarcely 
intelligible,  and  no  other  individual  than  Mr.  Bos- 
well could  have  rendered  them  available.  To  this 
edition  the  latter  contributed  many  notes ;  he  also 
collated  the  text  with  the  earlier  copies.  In  the 
first  volume  Mr.  Boswell  stepped  forward  to  defend 
the  literary  reputation  of  Mr.  Malone,  against 
the  severe  attack  which  had  been  made,  by  a 
writer  of  distinguished  eminence,  upon  many  of 
his  critical  opinions  and  statements;  a  task  of 
great  delicacy,  but  which  he  has  performed  in  so 
spirited  and  gentlemanly  a  manner,  that  his  pre- 
face may  be  fairly  quoted  as  a  model  of  contro- 
versial writing.  In  the  same  volume  are  inserted 
the  *  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Malone,^  originally  printed 
by  Mr.  Boswell  for  private  distribution;  and  a 
valuable  Essay  on  the  ^letre  and  Phraseology  of 
Shakspeare ;  the  materials  for  which  wei*e  partly 
collected  by  Mr.  Malone,  but  their  arrangement 
and  completion  were  the  work  of  Mr.  Boswell. 
He  likewise  contributed  a  few  notes  to  his  father's 
Life  of  Johnson,  which  are  quoted  in  Murray's 
edition.  Mr.  Boswell  died  at  his  chambers  in  the 
Middle  Temple,  London,  February  24, 1822,  and 
was  bm-ied  in  the  Temple  church,  his  brother.  Sir 
Alexander,  who  was  so  soon  to  follow  him  to  the 
grave,  being  the  principal  mourner.  He  inherited 
from  his  father  his  love  for  London  society,  his 
conversational  powers,  his  cheerfulness  of  disposi- 
tion, and  those  other  amiable  qualities  which  con- 
tribute to  the  pleasures  of  social  intercourse. 
"  He  was  very  convivial,"  says  Mr.  Croker,  "  and 
in  other  respects  like  his  father,  though  altogether 


on  a  smaller  scale.''  The  brightest  feature  of  his 
character  was  the  goodness  of  his  heait,  and  that 
warmth  of  friendship  which  knew  no  bounds  when 
a  call  was  made  upon  his  services.— 06th<ar»»  of 
the  time. 

BoTHWKLL,  lord  of,  a  title  andenUj  ponessed  bj  the  De 
Moravia  or  Moray  fismilj,  descendants  of  Freskin,  a  persoo 
of  Fkmish  origin,  who  came  to  Scotland  in  the  reign  of  David 
the  Firrt,  and  in  return  for  aaastanoe  rendered  that  monarch 
in  snppresaing  a  rebellion  of  the  inhahitanta,  obtained  a  grant 
of  extensive  lands  in  the  province  of  Moraj.  See  Mora\ia 
DE,  Moray,  or  Murray,  somame  of. 


BoTHWBLL,  lord,  a  title  conferred  by  King  James  the 
Third  on  an  unworthy  favourite,  John,  created  by  him  Sir 
John  Ramsay,  son' of  John  Ramsay  of  Coratoun,  (descended 
from  the  house  of  Camock  in  Fife,  one  of  the  roost  asoeni 
families  of  the  name).  He  was  the  only  one  of  the  farouritet 
who  escaped  being  put  to  death  when  they  were  hanged  over 
Lauder  bridge  by  the  insurgent  nobles,  in  July  1482.  He 
owed  his  safety  to  his  clinging  closely  to  the  person  of  the 
king,  and  to  James  himself  earnestly  pleading  for  him,  on 
account  of  his  youth,  he  being  then  only  eighteen  years  of 
age.  In  the  following  year,  on  the  forfeiture  of  Lord  Crich- 
ton,  grandson  and  successor  of  the  famous  Lord-chanodlor 
Crichton,  for  taking  part  in  the  conspiracy  of  the  duke  o< 
Albany  against  his  brother.  King  James,  his  majesty  bestowed 
on  Sir  John  Ramsay  his  forfeited  estates,  including  Crichton 
castle,  and  the  lands,  barony  and  lordship  of  BoihweU  in 
Lanarkshire,  with  forty  merks  of  land  in  the  barony  of  Money- 
penny.  He  also  raised  him  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  o( 
Lord  Bothwell;  all  which  was  confirmed  by  parliament,  ai 
appears  from  its  records,  16th  February  1483-4.  He  sat  as 
Lord  Bothwell  in  several  pariiaments.  These  honours  heqwd 
upon  a  youth  of  nineteen  years  of  age,  who  had  rendoed  no 
service  to  the  country,  may  well  have  disgusted  the  nobility. 
In  I486,  when  he  was  little  more  than  twenty-two,  he  was 
sent  to  England,  to  negotiate  a  truce  for  three  years,  and  in 
the  following  year  he  was  appointed,  with  the  bishop  of  Aber- 
deen, to  meet  with  the  ambassadors  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  who 
had  arrived  at  Edinbuigh  to  arrange  as  to  a  lasting  peace. 
On  this  occasion  a  marriage  was  proposed  between  various  mem- 
bers of  the  two  royal  houses,  whidi  was  of  course  never  car- 
ried mto  effect,  the  death  of  James  soon  after  putting  an  end 
to  the  project  After  the  murder  of  James  the  Third,  Lord 
Bothwell,  as  a  minion  of  that  weak  monarch,  was  forfeited, 
8th  October  1488,  and  the  lordship  of  Bothwell,  so  impra- 
dently  bestowed  upon  him,  was  conferred  on  Patrick  Hep- 
bum,  Lord  Hales,  who  was  created  eari  of  Bothwell,  on  the 
17th  of  the  same  month.  [See  following  article.]  The  foi^ 
feited  lord  fled  to  England,  where  with  Sir  Thomas  Todd  of 
Shereshaws,  another  banished  favourite  of  the  late  king,  be 
concocted  the  following  scheme  for  raising  money.  Having 
obtained  access  to  Henry  the  Seventh,  they  proposed,  by  the 
assistance  of  their  friends  in  Scotland,  with  whom  they  kept 
up  a  private  correspondence,  to  deliver  the  king  of  Scots  and 
his  brother  into  his  hands,  and  desired  only  some  pecuniary 
aid.  On  April  17,  1491,  indentures  were  entered  into  at 
Greenwich  between  King  Henry  and  '  John  Lord  Bothwell 
and  Sir  Thomas  Thodde  [ToddJ  knight,  of  the  reahn  of  Scot- 
land, as  well  for  and  in  name  of  theimaelves  as  also  of  dyvecs 
others  named  in  the  said  indentures,*  declaring  that  *tbey 
shall  take,  bringe,  and  delyver  into  the  said  king  of  EngUndis 
handes  the  king  of  Scottes  now  reynyn((  and  bis  brother  the 


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EARL  OF. 


dulw  of  Boos,  (Boss)  or  at  the  leste  the  said  king  of  Scotland.* 
In  expectation  of  this  service  King  Henxy  lent  Sir  Thomas 
Todd  the  sum  of  £266  13«.  4d.  sterling,  for  the  repajment  of 
which  at  the  following  Michaebnas,  he  stipolated  that  Sir 
Thomas  should  leave  his  son  and  heir  in  pledge.  [^Rymer's 
Fcddera^  voL  ziL  page  440.]  The  transaction  appears  to 
have  terminated  with  the  peooniarjr  advance,  and  this  singn- 
Ur  agreement  was  never  known  until  Rjmer  published  the 
document  in  171 L 

I^ord  Bothwell  recdved  a  pardon  from  King  James,  and 
retomed  to  Scotland,  but  was  onlj  acknowledged  as  Sir  John 
Ramsay.  Two  letters  from  him  to  the  English  monarch,  the 
first  dated  8th  September  1496,  giving  a  minute  account  of 
the  support  afibrded  bj  King  James  to  Perkin  Warbeck,  are 
quoted  by  Mr.  Hnkerton;  from  which  it  has  been  inferred 
that  Ramsay  acted  as  a  spy  for  Henry  the  Seventh  at  the 
coort  of  his  own  sovereign.  In  both  letters  he  subscribes 
himself  '  Jhone  L.  Bothvalle.'  He  seems,  notwithstanding 
his  acting  the  spy  upon  him,  to  have  become  &  favourite  of 
James  the  Fourth,  for,  on  18th  April  1497,  he  obtained  a 
formal  remission  and  letters  of  rehabilitation  under  the  great 
seal  He  was  not,  however,  restored  to  his  title  and  estates, 
ihe$e  bemg  m  other  handt^  but  he  received  from  the  king,  in- 
stead, charters  of  the  lands  of  Tealing  and  Polgavy  in  Forfar- 
shire, Tarrinzeane  in  Ayrshire,  and  others,  27th  April  1497,  and 
13th  Sept  1498;  of  a  house  and  garden  in  Edinburgh,  80th 
May  1498,  and  of  another  house  there,  6th  November  1600; 
also,  under  the  designation  of  Sir  John  Ramsay  of  Tarrinzean, 
knight,  he  had  a  charter,  to  himself  and  his  heirs,  dated  IStb 
May  1610,  of  the  lands  of  Balmain,  Fasque,  and  others,  in 
the  county  of  Kincardine,  which  were  erected  into  a  free 
barony,  to  be  called  the  barony  of  Balmain.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  1513  King  James  proposed  to  send  him  on  an  em- 
bassy to  Henry  the  Eighth ;  but  although  a  safe  conduct  was 
1^  it  never  took  ei!ect.  Sir  John  Ramsay  died  soon  after, 
leaving  a  son,  William  Rainsay,  who  succeeded  him.  He  was 
the  lineal  ancestor  of  Sir  Alexander  Ramsay  of  Balmain, 
baronet,  M.  P.  for  the  county  of  Kincardine,  who  died  with- 
out issue,  at  his  seat  of  Harlsey,  near  Northallerton,  in  York- 
shire, 12th  February  1806,  in  his  ninetieth  year,  and  who 
vias  succeeded  in  his  estates  by  hu  nephew  Alexander  Bur- 
nett of  Strachan,  second  son  of  his  aster  Catherine,  the  wife 
of  Sir  Thomas  Burnett  of  Leys,  baronet.  On  succeeding  to 
his  nucleus  estates,  Alexander  Burnett  took  the  name  and 
arras  of  Ramsay,  and  was  created  a  baronet  of  Great  Britain 
13th  May  1806.  Dying  in  1810,  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Sir  Alexander  Ramsay  of  Balmain,  baronet  See  Ramsat, 
surname  of. 


Bothwell,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  for- 
merly possessed  by  the  family  of  Hepburn,  and  rendered  re- 
markable in  Scottish  history  by  the  marriage  of  its  possessor, 
the  fourth  earl,  with  the  unfortunate  Mary,  queen  of  Scots. 
[For  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Hepburn,  and  the  different 
branches  of  the  family,  see  Hepburn,  surname  of.]  Patrick 
Hepburn,  third  Lord  Hales,  created  earl  of  Bothwell  in  1488, 
as  above  mentioned,  was  descended  from  one  Adam  Hepburn, 
of  a  Northumberhuid  family,  who,  in  the  reign  of  David  the 
Second,  received  from  the  earl  of  March,  charters  of  various 
Unds  in  Haddingtonshire.  The  eldest  son  of  the  said  Adam 
Hepburn,  Sir  Patrick  Hepbnm  of  Hales,  bom  about  1321, 
appears,  from  the  frequent  mention  made  of  him  in  reference 
to  safe  conducts  into  England  in  Rjrmer^s  /Vsdisra,  to  have 
been  a  person  of  consequence.  His  seal  is  appended  to  the 
act  of  settlement  of  the  crown  of  Scotland,  27th  March  1371, 
the  achievement  being  two  lions  pulling  at  a  rose,  on  a  cher- 


rou,  still  the  arms  of  the  Hepbnms.  At  the  battle  of  Otter- 
bourne  in  1888,  he  and  his  son,  Patrick,  led  on  one  party  of 
the  Soots,  and  prevented  the  banner  of  Douglas  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  English.  By  his  first  wife,  whose  Chris- 
tian name  was  Agnes,  he  was  the  father  of  Patrick  Hepburn, 
younger  of  Hales,  styled  by  Fordun  [ii.  p.  438J  *  miles  mag- 
nanimus  et  athleta  bellicosos.'  On  22d  June,  1402,  during 
the  lifetime  ^  his  father,  on  his  return  from  a  hostile  incur- 
sion into  EngUud,  the  party  which  he  commanded  were  in- 
tercepted by  the  earls  of  March  and  Northumberland  at  West 
Nesbit,  near  Dunse.  An  obstinate  conflict  ensued,  in  which 
the  Scots  had  the  advantage,  but  the  son  of  March  arriving 
with  a  reinforcement,  the  victory  turned  in  favour  of  the 
English.  Young  Hepburn  and  several  other  gentlemen,  with 
the  flower  of  the  youth  of  Lothian,  were  among  the  sUin. 
By  his  wife,  a  daughter  and  co-heir  of  the  family  of  Vaux  or 
de  Vallibus,  Lords  of  Dirieton,  he  had  two  sons.  Sir  Adam 
Hepburn  of  Hales,  the  elder,  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
sent  to  England  in  1428,  to  treat  for  the  release  of  King 
James  the  First  from  captivity.  In  1426  he  was  one  of  the 
principal  persons  arrested  along  with  Murdoch,  duke  of 
Albany.  He  was  afterwards  one  of  the  supplementary  hos- 
tages for  the  security  of  the  payment  of  forty  thousand 
pounds,  for  the  expense  of  King  James  the  First  during  the 
time  he  had  remained  in  captivity  in  EngUnd,  as,  6th  Febru- 
ary 1426-6,  Patrick  de  Hepburn,  William  de  Hepburn,  and 
John  Halyburton,  got  a  safe  conduct  to  England,  to  attend 
on  the  Lord  of  Hales,  then  a  hostage.  [FrnderaS]  He  was 
released  by  order  of  9th  November  1427,  when  William 
Douglas,  lord  of  Dmmlanrig,  was  substituted  in  his  place. 
In  1436,  when  the  estates  of  the  family  of  Dunbar  and  March 
were  seized  by  the  crown.  Sir  Adam  Hepburn  was  sent  with 
the  earl  of  Angus  and  Chancellor  Grichton,  to  take  possession 
of  the  castie  of  Dunbar,  and  after  it  had  been  delivered  up  to 
them,  he  was  left  Constable  of  this  important  fortress.  On 
the  80th  September  1436,  he  assisted  William  Doughis,  earl 
of  Angus,  in  the  conflict  with  Henry  Percy,  earl  of  Northmn- 
berland,  at  Piperden,  or  Pepperdin,  near  Cheviot,  when  Sir 
Robert  Ogle  was  made  prisoner,  with  most  of  his  followers, 
and  on  31st  March  1438,  the  year  after  the  murder  of  James 
the  First,  he  was  one  of  the  oonservators  of  a  truce  with  Eng- 
land. He  had  four  sons:  Sir  Patrick,  his  heir;  William; 
George  Hepburn  of  Whitsome,  Berwickshire,  ancestor  of  the 
Hepbums  of  Riccartoun  and  BUckcastie;  John,  one  of  the 
lords  of  Council  and  Session,  and  bishop  of  Dunblane  firom 
1467  to  1486;  and  two  daughters. 

Sir  Patrick  Hepburn,  the  eldest  son,  as  we  learn  from 
Rymer*s  FcedercL^  was  a  conservator  of  truces  with  England 
on  various  oocasiuns,  and  a  commissioner  for  the  barons  for 
ministering  justice  throughout  the  kingdom  in  time  of  pesti- 
lence, 19th  October,  1466.  In  the  same  year  he  was  created 
a  peer  of  ScotUnd,  by  the  titie  of  Lord  Hales,  under  which 
designation  he  sat  among  the  nobility  in  the  parliament  ot 
16th  October  1467.  His  eldest  son,  Adam,  second  Lord 
Hales,  attached  himself  to  Lord  Boyd  of  Kilmarnock,  and  his 
brother.  Sir  Alexander  Boyd  of  Dunoow,  and  in  1466  was 
engaged  in  their  audacious  enterprize  of  carrying  ofl"  King 
James  the  Third,  then  in  his  thirteenth  year,  from  Linlitligow 
to  Edinburgh.  [See  James  the  Tuiud.]  For  his  share  m 
this  affair  he  obtained  a  remission  from  parliament,  (which, 
as  well  as  the  young  king,  was  entirely  under  the  influence  of 
the  Boyds,)  13th  October  of  that  year,  ratified  under  the  great 
seal,  26th  of  the  same  month.  He  married  Helen,  eldest 
daughter  of  Alexander,  first  Lord  Home,  and  by  her  had  five 
sons;  viz.,  Patrick,  third  Lord  Hales,  and  first  earl  of  Both- 
well;  2d,  Sir  Adam  Hepburn  of  Craigs,  master  of  the  Kings 


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SECOND  EARL  OF. 


stables;  Sd,  George  Hepburn,  provost  of  Bothwell  and  Lin- 
cluden,  abbot  of  Aberbrothwick,  9th  Febmaiy  1603-4,  high 
treasurer  of  Scotland,  1509,  bishop  of  the  Isles,  10th  Maj 
1510,  and  commendator  both  of  Aberbrothwick  and  loolmkill 
in  1512;  slain  at  Flodden,  9th  September  1518;  4th,  John 
Hepburn,  pri)r  of  St.  Andrews,  founder  of  St  Leonardos  col- 
lege in  1512;  and  5tb,  James  Hepburn,  who,  after  being  rec- 
tor of  Dahy  and  Partonn,  was,  in  1515,  elected  abbot  of 
Dunfermline,  and  15th  June  the  same  jear  was  appointed 
lord  high  treasurer.  In  1516  he  was  elected  bishop  of  Moray, 
and  3d  October  of  that  year  he  quitted  the  treasury.  He 
died  in  1525,  and  was  buried  in  Elgin  cathedral 

Patrick  Hepburn,  third  Lord  Hales,  and  first  earl  of  Both- 
well,  in  July  1482,  had  the  command  of  the  castle  of  Berwick, 
when  that  town  was  inrested  by  the  English  army,  under  the 
duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  the  Third,  and  the 
Scottish  king*s  brother,  the  duke  of  Albany.  After  the  exe- 
cution of  the  king*s  favourites  at  Lauder,  the  town  of  Berwick 
surrendered  to  the  English,  but  Lord  Hales,  in  the  castle, 
made  a  brave  defence.  Leaving  four  thousand  men  to  block 
it  up,  the  dukes  of  Gloucester  and  Albany  advanced  to  Edin- 
bui^h,  of  which  city  they  took  possession  without  any  opposi- 
tion. lAbercrombt/'s  Martial  Achievemenig^  vol.  ii.  p.  450. 
See  ante,  p.  44.]  On  20th  September  1434,  Lord  Hales  was 
one  of  the  conservators  of  a  truce  with  England.  The  an- 
nexation by  James  the  Third  of  the  rich  temporalities  of  the 
priory  of  Coldingham  to  the  chapel  royal  of  Stirling,  by  giving 
ofience  to  the  I/>rd  Home  and  his  clan,  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  consider  that  priory  as  very  much  theur  own,  was 
one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  rebellion  which  cost  that 
king  his  life.  Lord  Home  entered  into  a  bond  of  mutual  as- 
sistance with  Lord  Hales,  and  the  Homes  and  Hepbuins  op- 
posed with  violence  the  annexation,  although  an  act  of  par- 
liament had  been  passed  declaring  it  high  treason  to  obstruct 
that  measure.  Lord  Hales  was  a  party  to  the  hollow  pacifi- 
cation entered  into  at  Blackness  in  May  1483,  and  about  the 
same  timer  he  and  several  others  of  the  disaffected  nobles  re- 
ceived from  Heniy  the  Seventh  a  safe  oonduct  to  England 
IFcedera"] ;  but  the  progress  of  events  in  Scotland  prevented 
any  use  being  made  of  it  At  the  battle  of  Sauchiebum, 
then  called  the  battle  of  the  field  of  Stirling,  which  followed, 
[June  11,  1438],  Lord  Hales  led  the  Hepbums  in  the  van- 
guard against  the  army  of  the  king;  and  fifteen  days  there- 
after, on  the  surrender  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  the  custody 
of  that  important  fortress  was  committed  to  him,  with  three 
hundred  marks  of  the  customs  of  that  dty.  He  was  also  ap- 
pointed sheriff-principal  of  the  county  of  Edinburgh,  and 
within  the  constabulary  of  Haddington.  On  10th  Septem- 
ber 1433,  he  received  the  office  of  master  of  the  household, 
and  was  constituted  high  admiral  of  Scotland  for  life.  On 
October  13th  of  the  same  year  he  had  a  charter  of  the  lands 
of  Crichton  castle,  with  lands  in  the  counties  of  Edinbui^h 
and  Dumfries,  and  the  lordship  of  Bothwell  in  Lanarkshire, 
forfeited  by  Sir  John  Ramsay,  Lord  Bothwell,  as  above-men- 
tioned. Four  days  afterwards,  [17th  October  1433,]  the 
young  king,  James  the  Fourth,  erected  the  lordship  of  Both- 
well  into  an  earldom,  and  conferred  it  on  Lord  Hales,  in  full 
parliament,  by  girding  him  with  a  sword.  The  same  day  it 
was  declared  in  parliament  that  he  should  have  the  rule  and 
governance  of  James,  duke  of  Ross,  the  kmg^s  brother.  The 
party  to  which  he  belonged  had  then  the  chief  power  in  the 
state,  and  they  showered  honours  and  offices  on  him  for  the 
important  part  which  he  had  acted  in  the  kte  Revolution. 
On  5th  November  1438,  he  obtained  a  grant  of  the  office  of 
steward  of  Kirkcudbright  and  of  the  keeping  of  Thrief  castle, 
with  the  feus  thereof;   and  29th  May  1439,  he  and  John  | 


Hepburn,  prior  of  St  Andrews,  his  brother,  had  letters  of  t 
lease  of  the  lordship  of  Orkney  and  Zetland,  and  of  the  keep- 
ing of  the  castle  of  Kirkwall,  the  earl,  of  the  same  date,  re- 
ceiving the  office  of  justiciary  and  baUiary  of  that  lordship. 
On  the  6th  July  the  same  year  he  was  constituted  guardian 
of  the  west  and  middle  matches.  March  6th,  1491-2,  on  the 
resignation  of  George  Douglas,  son  and  heir  of  Archibald,  eari 
of  Angus,  he  had  a  charter  of  the  lordship  of  Liddisdale,  with 
the  castle  of  Hermitage,  Angus  obtaining  in  excamlnon,  the 
lordship  of  Bothwell,  which  brought  Bothwell  castle  and  its 
domains  into  the  possession  of  the  Douglases,  an  arrangement 
brought  about  by  the  king  to  prevent  the  house  of  Angiu 
from  becoming  so  powerful  as  the  elder  branch  of  the 
Douglases  had  been.  In  a  pariiament  held  at  Edinbugfa 
18th  May  1491,  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  the  bishop  and 
dean  of  Glasgow,  were  appointed  ambassadors  to  the  comts 
of  France  and  Spain,  to  find  out  a  proper  match  and  nego- 
tiate a  marriage  for  the  king,  and  to  renew  the  ancient  alli- 
ances with  these  states.  The  sum  of  five  thousand  pounds 
was  advanced  for  tneir  expenses.  In  the  pariiament  heki  at 
Edmburgh,  26ta  June  1493,  a  genera,  revocation  was  issued 
of  all  grants  made  during  the  mmority  of  the  king,  from 
which  the  lands  granted  to  the  earl  of  Bothwell  and  Sir  John 
Ross,  knight,  were  specially  excepted.  In  May  1501,  the  earl 
of  Bothwell,  and  Robert,  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  and  Andrew 
Fonnan,  papal  prothonotary,  afterwards  archbishop  of  St  An- 
drews, received  a  safe  conduct  to  England,  which  wss  renewed 
in  the  following  October,  as  ambassadors  fh>m  the  king  of 
Scots,  sent  to  conclude  the  marriage  of  James  the  Fourth  with 
the  Princess  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  the  Seventh. 
The  princess  was  solemnly  married  to  King  James  at  Rich- 
mond, by  proxy,  January  27,  1503,  the  earl  of  Bothwell  being 
his  Miyesty's  representative.  On  her  arrival  in  Scotland  is 
the  following  August,  on  her  near  approach  to  Edinburgh, 
she  was  received  by  the  king,  richly  apparelled  in  doth  of 
gold,  the  earl  of  Bothwell  bearing  the  sword  of  state  before 
him;  and  attended  by  the  prindpal  nobility  of  the  court 
[^Leland's  Collectanea^  vol  iv.  p.  287.]  The  earl  died  soon 
after  1507.  By  Lady  Janet  Douglas,  his  wife,  only  daughter 
of  James,  first  earl  of  Morton,  he  had  issue,  with  three 
daughters,  three  sons,  Adam,  second  eari  of  Bothwell;  Jobo, 
consecrated  bishop  of  Brechin,  firom  1517,  to  August  1553; 
and  Patrick  Hepburn,  who  was  educated  by  his  uncle  John, 
prior  of  St  Andrews,  whom  he  succeeded  in  the  prioiy  in 
1522.  In  1524  he  was  appointed  secretary,  in  which  office 
he  continued  till  1527.  In  1535  he  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  Moray,  and  at  the  same  time  he  hdd  the  abbacy  of  Soone 
in  perpetual  commendam.  When  the  Reformation  took  plaoo 
he  had  the  fate  of  the  other  Popish  prelates,  but  he  kept  pos- 
session of  his  episcopal  palace  till  his  death,  at  Spynie  castle, 
June  20,  1573.  Foreseeing  what  was  coming,  he  feued  oat 
all  the  lands  belonging  to  the  see.  {^Keith's  Scoititk  fiuAopi.] 
This  prelate  had  seven  natural  sons  and  two  natural  daugh- 
ters, legitimations  having  passed  the  great  seal  for  them  in 
1533,  1545,  and  1550. 

Adam  Hepburn,  second  earl  of  Bothwell,  succeeded  his 
father  both  in  his  extensive  possessions  and  in  his  office  of 
high  admiral  of  Scotland.  At  the  disastrous  battle  of  Flod- 
den, 9th  September  1513,  he  commanded  the  reserve,  con- 
sisting of  his  own  followers,  supported  by  those  of  other  chiefs 
connected  with  the  Lothians,  and  advanced  to  support  the 
King's  attack  on  the  English  in  so  gallant  a  style  that 
the  standard  of  the  eai'l  of  Surrey,  the  English  general,  wai 
placed  in  the  utmost  danger.  With  his  sovereign  and  tbe 
greater  part  of  the  chivahy  of  Scotland,  he  fell  on  that  fata) 
field. 


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THIRD  KARL  OP. 


**  TIten  did  bii  Iom  hto  foeman  know. 
Their  king,  their  lorda,  thdr  mlfhtlett  low, 
They  melted  from  the  field,  m  snow, 
When  streams  are  awoln  and  aoutlt  winds  blow, 

DissolTea  in  sUent  dew. 
Tweed's  echoes  beard  the  ceaseless  plash. 

While  many  a  broken  band, 
DlsordCTed,  throui:h  her  currents  dash. 

To  gabi  the  Scottish  land ; 
To  town  and  tower,  to  down  and  dale, 
To  teU  red  Flodd«i*B  dismal  tale, 
And  raise  the  unirersal  walL 
Tradition,  legend,  tune,  and  song. 
Shall  many  an  age  that  wall  prolong: 
Still  from  the  sire  the  son  shall  hear 
Of  the  stem  strife  and  carnage  drenr 

Of  Flodden's  fkUl  field. 
Where  shivered  was  fair  Scotland's  spear, 

And  broken  was  her  shield.** 

Scoffs  MarmioH, 

The  second  earl  of  Boihwell  married  in  1511  Agnes  Stewart, 
natural  daugbter  of  James  eaii  of  Bucban,  brother  uterine  of 
James  the  second,  by  whom  he  had  one  sod. 

Patrick,  third  earl  of  Bothwell,  sncceeded  when  an  infant 
to  the  ^es  and  estates  of  his  family.  In  the  minority  of  the 
king,  James  the  Fifth,  and  the  unsettled  state  of  the  king- 
dom, great  disorders  prevuled  on  the  borders,  which  were 
encouraged  by  the  border  chiefii,  and  the  duke  of  Albany,  on 
assuming  the  regen<7,  did  his  utmost  to  suppress  the  robberies 
and  violations  of  the  law  that  were  continually  taking  place. 
On  April  6, 1528,  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  then  a  jouug  man 
about  sixteen,  and  Patrick  Hepburn,  master  of  Hales,  and 
aereral  others,  their  kinsmen  and  retainers,  received  a  remis- 
sion for  their  treasonably  assisting  George  Lord  Home,  and 
the  deceased  David  Home  of  Wedderbnm,  his  brother,  and  their 
accomplices,  being  at  the  time  the  king's  rebels,  and  at  his 
horn.  Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  he  was,  by  King 
James,  committed  to  prison  for  protecting  marauders  on  the 
borders,  and  after  being  six  months  in  confinement  was  only 
released  on  the  recognizances  of  his  friends  to  the  amount  of 
twenty  thousand  pounds.  In  December  1581,  he  secretly 
passed  into  England,  and  held  a  conference  of  a  treasonable 
nature  with  the  eari  of  KorthnmberUnd.  On  his  return  he 
was,  by  the  king's  orders,  sdzed  and  confined  in  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  where  he  remained  a  considerable  time,  being 
still  there  in  June  1533.  King  James  the  Fifth,  determined 
to  have  peace  on  the  borders,  and  considering  Liddisdale  as  a 
nursery  of  freebooters,  to  be  held  in  order  only  by  the  royal 
power,  in  September  1538  compelled  the  earl  of  Bothwell  to 
resign  it  into  his  hands.  It  would  appear  IPUscotUe'i  Hi»- 
toryy  p.  237]  that  the  earl  was  then  banished  the  kingdom, 
when  he  is  said  to  have  gone  to  Venice.  He  appears  to  have 
returned  to  England  in  1542,  and  to  have  engaged  m  treason- 
able negotiations  with  Henry  the  Eighth.  At  a  parliament  held 
at  Edinburgh,  3d  December  1542,  the  earidom  of  Bothwell, 
and  many  other  estates,  were  annexed  to  the  crown.  The 
eari  returned  to  Scotland  soon  after  the  death,  13th  Decem- 
ber 1542,  of  King  James  the  Fifth.  After  the  arrest  of  Car- 
dinal Bethnne  in  the  succeeding  January,  he  and  the  earls  of 
Hnntly  and  Moray  offered  themselves  as  surety  for  his  ap- 
pearance to  answer  the  charges  against  him,  and  demanded 
that  he  should  be  set  at  libertj,  whidi  was  refused  by  the 
governor,  Arran.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Catholic  lords,  the 
earls  of  Huntly,  Moray,  and  Argyle  being  the  others,  who  met 
at  Perth  a  powerful  body  of  the  barons  and  landed  gentiy, 
and  a  numerous  concourse  of  bishops  and  abbots,  and  des- 
patched a  message  to  the  earl  of  Arran,  by  Reid,  bishop  of 
Orkney,  that  the  cardinal  should  be  set  at  liberty,  and  that 


the  New  Testament  should  not  be  read  in  the  vulgar  tongue  by 
the  people,  which  of  course  could  not  be  listened  to ;  and  being 
charged,  under  the  pain  of  treason,  to  return  to  their  allegiance, 
they  did  not  dare  to  disobey,  but  sent  in  their  adherence  to 
the  governor.  {^Tytler.']  He  was  present  m  parliament  15th 
March  1543,  when  he  instituted  a  summons  of  reduction  of  the 
pretended  resignation  of  the  lordship  of  Liddisdale  and  castle 
of  Hermitage,  said  to  have  been  made  by  him  into  his  nu- 
jesty's  hands.  In  this  suit  he  was  successful,  as  his  estates 
were  restored,  and  when  the  English  ambassador.  Sir  Ralph 
Sadler,  came  to  Scotland  in  that  year,  in  order  to  negotiate  a 
marriage  between  the  infiint  queen  Mary  and  the  yoimg 
prince,  Edward  of  England,  he  found  Bothwell  in  possession 
of  Liddisdale.  Sadler  mentions  him  as  opposed  t«  that 
match  and  devoted  to  the  French  interest  In  one  of  his 
letters,  dated  May  5th  1543,  he  thus  describes  him :  '  as  to 
the  eari  of  Bothwell,  who  hath  the  rule  of  Liddisdale,  I 
think  him  the  most  vain  and  insolent  man  in  the  world, 
full  of  pride  and  folly,  and  here  nothing  at  all  esteemed.* 
[Sacller*s  State  Papen^  vol  I  p.  184.]  In  order  to  embroil 
the  matrimonial  negotiations  with  England,  when  Cardinal 
Bethune  and  the  eari  of  Huntly  assembled  their  forces  in  the 
north,  and  Argyle  and  Lennox  theirs  in  the  west,  Bothwell, 
Home,  and  the  bird  of  Buodeuch  mustered  their  feudal  array 
upon  the  borders.'  [/fru/.  p.  236.]  He  joined  at  Leith  the 
force  of  ten  thousand  men  under  Lennox,  Huntly,  and  Axgyle, 
when  they  marched  to  Linlithgow,  and  obtained  possession  ot 
the  young  queen  and  conducted  her  in  triumph  to  Stirling. 
He  was  one  of  the  principal  nobles  who,  in  Jnpe  1544,  signed 
the  agreement  to  support  the  queen  mother,  Mary  of  Quise, 
as  regent,  instead  of  the  earl  of  Arran.  He  became  the 
rival  of  the  earl  of  Lennox  for  the  himd  of  the  queen 
dowager,  when  both  earis  daily  frequented  the  court,  striv- 
ing in  magnificence  of  apparel  and  in  all  courtly  games, 
to  excel  one  another,  but  finding  at  length  that  this  method 
of  attracting  her  Majesty's  favour  was  somewhat  costly, 
Bothwell  wisely  retired.  He  appears  again  to  have,  for  a 
short  time,  changed  sides,  for  a  summons  was  raised  against 
him  for  treasonably  treating  and  counselling  with  the  king  of 
England  in  December  1542  against  King  James  the  Fifth,  by 
the  great  gifts  and  sums  of  money  received  by  him  fipoin 
Henry  of  England;  for  interoommuning  with  the  earl  of 
Hertford  and  the  English  army,  when  Scotland  was  in 
vaded  in  May  1544,  and  for  imprisoning  Bute  pursuivant, 
in  Haddington,  Crichton  Castle,  and  Linlithgow,  in  July 
of  that  year.  From  this  summons,  however,  he  was  as- 
soilzied in  parliament,  on  12th  December  1544.  It  was 
by  the  treachery  of  this  earl  of  Bothwell  that  in  Janu- 
ary 1546  George  Wishart  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
Cardinal  Bethune.  Wishart  was  in  the  house  of  Ormiston, 
about  eight  miles  from  Edinburgh,  when  the  house  was  sur- 
rounded by  Bothwell  and  a  party  of  armed  men  sent  by  the 
cardinal  to  apprehend  him.  Mr.  Cookbum,  the  proprietor  of 
Ormiston,  at  first  refused  to  open  the  door,  but  finding  it  in 
vain  to  resist,  the  earl  and  a  few  of  his  fbllowers  were  ad- 
mitted. After  some  expostulations  Bothwell  gave  a  promise^ 
confirmed  by  an  oath,  that  he  would  protect  Mr.  Wisharl 
from  the  maKoe  of  the  cardinal,  and  procure  him  a  fair  trial, 
or  set  him  at  liberty;  on  which  Wishart  was  placed  in  his 
hands.  The  earl  carried  his  prisoner  to  his  own  castle  of 
Hales,  and  seemed  at  first  to  have  some  intention  of  perform- 
ing his  promise,  but  by  the  persuasion  of  the  queen  dosrager, 
he  was  soon  prevailed  upon  to  break  it.  As  an  excuse,  on 
the  19th  January,  he  was  brought  before  the  governor  and 
council,  and  commanded,  under  the  highest  penalties,  to 
deliver  up  his  prisoner.  He  complied  with  that  command, 
Z 


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and  conducted  Mr.  Wbhart  to  the  Cfutle  of  Edinburgh, 
whence  he  was  immediatelj  carried  to  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
drews, and  soon  after  martyred.  The  earl  of  Botbwell,  not- 
withstanding this  service,  was  afterwards  again  imprisoned, 
and  not  released  till  after  the  battle  of  Pinkie,  10th  Septem- 
ber 1547.  The  first  use  be  made  of  his  liberty  was  to  wait 
upon  the  duke  of  Somerset,  the  invading  general,  17th  Sep- 
tember. On  that  occasion  he  is  described  as  a  ^  gentleman  of 
a  right  cumly  porte  and  stature,  and  heretofore  of  right 
honourable  and  just  meaning  and  dealing  towards  the  king's 
majesty  (Henry  the  EighUi),  whom,  therefore,  ray  lord's 
grace  did,  according  to  bis  degree  and  merits,  very  firiendly 
welcome  and  entertain.'  Indignant  at  his  long  and  frequent 
imprisonments,  he  appears  now  to  have  wholly  espoused  the 
English  interest,  as  an  instrument,  dated  at  Westminster  3d 
September  1549,  sets  forth  that  King  Edward  had  taken  him 
under  his  protection  and  favour,  granting  him  a  yearly  rent 
of  three  tiiousand  crowns,  and  the  wages  of  a  hundred  horse- 
men, for  the  defence  of  his  person  and  the  annoyance  of  the 
enemy,  and  if  he  should  lose  his  lands  in  Scotland  in  the 
English  king's  service  for  the  space  of  three  years,  promising 
to  give  him  lands  of  similar  value  in  England.  [^Fcedera,  vol. 
lii.  p.  173.]  He  died,  (it  is  supposed  in  exile,)  in  September 
1556.  He  married  Margaret  Home,  siud  to  be  of  the  family 
of  Lord  Home,  and  had  a  son,  James,  fourth  earl  of  Bothwell, 
the  husband  of  Mary,  queen  of  Soots,  and  a  daughter,  Jean, 
married,  first,  4th  January  1562,  to  John  Stewart,  prior  of 
Culdingham,  a  natural  son  of  King  James  the  Fifth,  by  whom 
she  was  the  mother  of  Francis,  earl  of  Bothwell,  of  whom 
afterwards.  She  took  for  her  seoond  husband  John,  master 
of  Caithness. 

James  Hepburn,  fourth  earl  of  Bothwell,  the  unprincipled 
and  ambitious  nobleman  who  became  the  third  husband  of 
Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  was  bom  about  1536,  and  was  served 
heir  to  his  father,  3d  November  1556.  This  *  glorious,  rash, 
and  hazardous  young  man,'  as  he  is  happily  styled  by  Wal- 
singham,  was  destined  to  act  a  principal  part  in  the  history 
of  that  turbulent  period.  Although  a  Protestant,  he  adhered 
to  the  party  of  the  queen  regent,  and  acted  with  vigour 
against  the  I^rds  of  the  Congregation.  On  8th  August  1559, 
along  with  Ker  of  Cessford  and  Maitland  of  Lethington,  he 
was  nominated,  by  commission  from  Frands  and  Mary,  for 
settling  differences  on  the  borders.  In  October  following, 
having  learned  that  Coekbum  of  Onniston  had  received  four 
thousand  crowns  from  Sir  Ralph  Sadler  for  the  use  of  the 
Lords  of  the  Congr^ation,  he  attacked  and  wounded  him, 
and  carried  off  the  money.  Sadler  mentions  that  the  earl  of 
An-an  and  the  Lord  James  Stewart,  afterwards  the  Regent 
Murray,  immediately  went  to  Both  well's  house,  in  the  town 
of  Haddington,  with  two  hundred  horsemen  and  a  hundred 
footmen,  taking  with  them  two  pieces  of  artillery,  in  the 
hope  of  finding  him  there,  but  a  quarter  of  an  hour  previously 
he  had  received  notice  that  troopers  were  entering  the  west 
port  of  the  burgh  in  search  of  him;  on  which  he  fled  down  a 
lane  called  the  Goul,  to  the  Tyne,  and  running  down  the  bed 
of  the  river  for  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  stole  into 
the  house  of  Coekbum  of  Sandybed,  by  the  backdoor,  which 
opened  to  the  riverv  changed  clothes  with  the  turnspit,  whose 
duty  he  performed  in  Sandybed's  kitchen  for  some  days,  till 
he  was  enabled  to  make  his  escape.  In  return  for  his  pro- 
tection, Bothwell  gave  to  Sandybed  and  his  heirs  and  as- 
signeesf  a  perpetual  ground  annual,  as  it  is  called  in  Scotland, 
of  four  bolls  of  wheat,  four  bolls  of  bariey,  and  four  bolls  of 
oats,  to  be  paid  yearly  out  of  his  lands  of  Mainshill,  in  the 
county  of  Haddington.  This  ground  annual  continued  to  be 
paid  to  the  heirs  of  Coekbum  till  about  1760,  when  his  de- 


scendant, George  Cockbnm  of  Sandybed,  who,  on  soooeediDg 
to  the  estate  of  Gleneagles,  in  Perthshure,  took  the  name  of 
Ualdane,  sold  it  and  his  property  of  Sandybed  to  Joha 
Buchan  of  Letham,  and  soon  after  the  latter  sold  and  dis- 
charged this  ground  annual  to  Francis  earl  of  Wemyaa^  then 
proprietor  of  Mainshill.  [^Douglas  Pteragey  edited  by  Wood^ 
vol.  i.  p.  229,  tiote.] 

In  December  1559,  Bothwell  took  the  command  of  the 
French  auxiliaries  in  Scotland.  He  afterwards  went  to 
France,  where,  by  his  dutiful  demeanour  and  zeal  in  her  ser- 
vice, he  recommended  himself  to  the  young  queen,  Mary,  then 
the  wife  of  the  French  king,  Francis  the  Second.  In  1563 
he  returned  to  Sootland.  Immediately  thereafter,  *  great  ex- 
dtcment  was  created  in  Edinburgh,  by  an  act  of  violence  per- 
petrated by  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  with  the  aid  of  the  Marquis 
d'ElboBuf  and  Lord  John  Coldingham.  They  broke  open  the 
doors  of  Cuthbert  Ramsay's  house,  in  St.  Mary's  Wynd,  dur- 
ing the  night,  and  made  violent  entry  in  search  for  his  dangb- 
ter-in-law,  Alison  Craig,  with  whom  the  eari  of  Arran  was 
believed  to  be  enamoured.  A  strong  remonsdranoe  was  pre- 
sented to  the  queen  on  this  occasion,  beseeching  her  to  bring 
the  perpetrators  to  punisliment;  but  the  matter  was  hushed 
up,  with  promises  of  amendment.  Emboldened  by  tbdr 
impunity,  Bothwell  and  his  accomplices  proceeded  to  further 
violence.  They  assembled  in  the  public  streets  during  the 
night,  with  many  of  their  friends.  Gavin  Hamilton,  abbot  of 
Kilwinning,  who  had  joined  the  reforming  party,  resolved  to 
check  them  in  their  violent  proceedings.  He  accordingly 
armed  his  servants  and  retainers,  and  sallied  out  to  oppose 
them,  and  a  serious  affray  took  place,  between  the  Ooes  and 
the  Trone.  The  burghers  were  mustered  by  the  ringing  of 
the  town  bells,  and  rival  leaders  were  sallying  out  to  the  as- 
sistance of  their  fiiends,  when  the  earls  of  Moray  and  Hontly, 
who  were  then  residing  in  the  Abbey,  mustered  their  adhe- 
rents at  the  queen's  request,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  tumult 
Bothwell  afterwards  suooessfully  employed  the  mediation  of 
Knox,  to  procure  a  reconciliati(m  with  Gavin  Hamilton,  the 
eari  of  Arran,  and  others  of  hb  antagonists.'  [  \YiI$om*»  Mt- 
morialt  of  EtHnburghy  vol.  i.  p.  73.]  Soon  after  this  he  was 
banished  the  kingdom  for  being  engaged  in  a  oonspinu^ 
against  the  earl  of  Moray.  He  returned  home  in  1565,  and 
on  May  2d  of  that  year,  he  was  denounced  rebel  and  put  to 
the  horn  for  not  appearing  to  answer  an  indictment  for  high 
treason,  in  conspiring  to  seize  the  queen's  person,  &c.,  baring 
proposed  to  the  earl  of  Arran,  with  whom  he  had  been  lately 
reconciled,  to  carry  off  the  queen  to  the  casUe  of  Dumbvtoa, 
*  and  thair  keep  her  surelie,  or  utherwyse  demayne  hir  person 
at  your  plesour,  quhill  scho  aggre  to  qnhatsumeuir  thii^  ye 
shall  desyre'  [P'UcairfCB  Criminal  Trials^  v.  i.  part  2,  p. 
462];  the  very  method  he  himself  afterwards  adopted  at 
Dunbar,  to  secure  the  queen's  hand.  Arran  revealed  the  plot 
to  the  queen  at  Falkland,  and  on  being  confironted  in  presence 
of  her  migesty  and  the  lords  of  secret  council,  Bothwell  de- 
nied the  allegation,  whereupon  Arran  challenged  him  to  judi- 
cial combat,  and  both  were  committed  to  ^e  castle  of  Edin- 
buigh,  from  which  Bothwell  escaped,  and  was  once  more 
constrained  to  quit  the  kingdom.  On  the  indictment  being 
called  in  court,  Alexander  Hepburn  of  Whitsome,  his  kins- 
man, protested  in  his  name  against  sentence  of  outlawry 
bemg  passed  against  him,  as  he  durst  not  appear  at  that  time 
on  account  of  the  great  convention  of  his  enemies,  by  which 
his  life  was  endangered.  On  the  disgrace  and  expatriation  ol 
the  earl  of  Moray  and  his  friends,  after  the  weak  attempt  at 
insurrection  called  the  '  Roundabout  Raid,'  which  arose  out 
of  their  opposition  to  Mary's  marriage  with  Damley,  Both- 
well  and  other  lords,  foes  to  that  faction,  were  recalled  fxoiP 


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FOURTH  EARL  OF. 


exUe  by  the  queen,  to  strengtben  her  own  partj.  On  Febru- 
ary 22d,  1666,  Bothwell  married  Lady  Jean  Gordon,  daogh- 
ter  of  the  fourth  eari  of  Hnntly.  After  the  aasaasination  of 
Rizzio^  on  the  9th  March  that  year,  he  acquired  an  undue  in- 
fluence over  the  mind  of  the  queen.  It  Lb  stated  by  Pennant 
[Tbyr,  y.  i.  p.  70]  that  he  made  tlie  firrt  impression  on  W 
too  susceptible  heart,  by  once  gaUoping,  in  full  armour, 
down  the  dangerous  steepe  of  the  Galton  hill,  and  leaping  his 
steed  into  the  ring,  while  a  tournament  was  held  in  the  ad- 
joining valley  of  Qnenside.  This,  however,  appears  to  be 
nothing  more  than  a  tradition  of  the  locality.  He  appeared 
to  the  queen  the  only  one  of  the  nobles  who  was  sincerely  at- 
tached to  her,  for  she  had  found  them  all  rude  and  stem,  and 
engaged  in  fierce  and  ambitious  designs  against  her.  Hence, 
besides  his  attractive  manners,  handsome  figure,  and  courtly 
address,  the  ascendancy  which  this  profligate  nobleman  at  this 
time  obtained  over  her.  He  was  appointed  warden  of  the 
Three  Marches,  an  o£Sce  never  before  held  by  one  person, 
created  hi^  admiral,  and  had  a  grant  of  the  abbeys  of  Had- 
dington and  Melrose.  By  his  interest  his  brother-in-law,  the 
eari  of  Hnntly,  was  constituted  high  chancellor  of  the  king- 
dom, and  no  matter  of  importance  was  transacted  without  his 
advice.  When  the  queen*s  attachment  to  Damley  was  con- 
verted into  aversion,  Bothwell's  insinuating  address  and  un- 
remitting assiduity  had  the  effect  intended  on  her  warm  and 
tender  heart,  and  many  instances  of  her  partiality  for  him  are 
given  by  contemporary  historians;  the  most  striking  of  which 
was  the  following:  Having  proceeded  to  liddiadale  to  appre- 
hend some  marauders,  Bothwell  was,  on  7th  October  1566, 
attacked  and  wounded  by  one  of  them.  The  queen  was  then 
at  Jedbun;h  holding  a  Justice  Court,  and  on  hearing  of 
his  wound  she  evinced  her  feelings  for  him  by  riding  from 
that  town  to  Hermitage  Castle,  where  Bothwell  lay,  a  jour- 
ney of  twenty  Scotch  miles,  through  a  countary  then  almoet 
impassable,  and  infested  wttii  banditti.  Finding  that  the  earl 
was  not  dangerously  wounded  she  returned  to  Jedburgh  that 
same  night.  This  rapid  journey  and  the  anxiety  of  her  mind 
on  Bothwell's  account,  threw  her  into  a  fever,  and  her  life 
was,  for  a  short  time,  despairiMi  of.  On  her  recovery,  at- 
tended by  Bothwell,  she  proceeded,  7th  November,  to  Cold- 
ingham,  whence  she  went  to  Dunbar  and  Tantallan,  and  ar- 
rived at  Craigmillar,  17th  of  the  same  month.  In  the  follow- 
mg  December  he  accompanied  her  to  Edinbuii^,  Stirling, 
and  Drymen.  Two  months  afterwards,  namely,  on  the  10th 
of  February,  1567,  occurred  the  murder  of  Damley,  in  which 
Bothwell  was  tlie  prindpal  actor.  He  had  obtained  a  fdtuo- 
tion  for  one  Of  his  menials  in  the  queen's  service,  and  so  was 
enabled  to  obtain  the  keys  of  the  provost  of  St.  Mary's  house 
at  Kiric-of- Field,  where  Damley  was  lodged.  He  imme- 
diately caused  counterfeit  impressions  of  them  to  be  taken. 
lljomg,  V.  ii.  p.  296.]  Shortly  after  nine  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  the  9th  he  left  the  lodgings  of  the  laird  of  Or- 
miston,  (James  Ormiston  of  that  ilk),  in  company  with 
whom  and  several  of  his  own  servants,  his  accomplices  in 
the  dark  transaction  that  was  about  to  ensue,  he  passed  down 
the  Bb^firiars'  Wynd,  entering  the  gardens  of  the  Dominican 
monastery  by  a  gate  opposite  the  foot  of  the  Wynd;  and  by 
a  road  neariy  on  the  site  of  what  now  fonoB  the  High  School 
Wynd,  they  reached  the  poetem  in  the  town  wall,  which  gave 
admission  to  the  lodging  of  Damley.  Bothwell  joined  the 
queen,  who  was  then  visiting  her  husband,  while  his  accom- 
plices were  busy  arranging  the  gunpowder  in  the  room  below, 
and,  after  escorting  her  home  to  the  palace,  he  returned  to 
complete  his  purpose.  [See  Doewnentt  ilhutraiive  of  the 
murder  qf  Damley  in  Pitcairn's  Criminal  Trials^]  A 
loud  explosion,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  shook  the 


whole  town,  and  startled  the  inhabitants  finom  th^  sleep; 
and  at  day  dawn  the  dead  body  of  Damley  and  that  of  his 
page  were  found  lying  in  the  garden.  On  the  21st  of  Febro- 
ary,  the  queen  and  Bothwell  went  to  Seton,  where  they  r»> 
mained  till  the  10th  of  March,  on  which  day  they  returned  to 
Edinburgh.  On  19th  March  Bothwell  was  appointed  gover- 
nor of  Edinburgh  castle,  when  he  nominated  Shr  James  Bal- 
four his  deputy  governor.  [See  ante,  p.  212.]  On  the  24th 
of  the  same  month  he  again  accompanied  the  queen  to  Seton, 
and  on  the  10th  April  they  retumed  to  the  capital  The 
clamours  of  the  people,  and  the  remonstrances  of  the  earl  of 
Lennox,  Damley's  father,  made  it  necessary  for  the  queen  tu 
bring  her  favourite  to  trial;  but  on  the  day  appointed,  Satur- 
day, 12th  April,  Bothwell  appeared  with  such  a  formidable 
retinue  as  overawed  his  accusers.  No  witnesses  were  called 
to  prove  the  guilt  of  such  a  powerful  antagonist,  and  he  was 
in  consequence  acquitted.  Nor  was  this  aU.  At  a  parliament 
held  on  the  19th  he  obtained  the  ratification  of  all  the  posses- 
sions and  honours  which  the  queen  had  conferred  on  him, 
and  was  &rther  appobted  captain  and  keeper  of  the  castle  of 
Dunbar.  But  the  sway  which  he  had  now  acquired  over 
Mary's  mind  was  shown  more  indisputably  by  an  act  in 
favour  of  the  Reformed  religion,  to  which,  at  this  time,  she 
gave  her  full  assent.  Immediately  afterwards,  viz.,  on  the 
20th  April,  Bothwell  invited  several  of  the  nobles  to  an  enter- 
tainment at  his  house,  and  at  a  late  hour,  when  they  were 
excited  with  wine,  he  opened  to  them  his  purpose  of  marrying 
the  queen.  By  mingled  promises  and  threats,  he  prevailed  on 
all  present  to  subscribe  a  paper  or  bond  approving  of  the 
match,  and  engaging  to  support  it,  if  acceptable  to  Mary, 
with  their  united  forces,  lives,  and  fortunes.  Eight  bishops, 
nine  earls,  and  seven  barons,  signed  this  document,  armed 
with  which  Bothwell,  in  accordance  with  his  own  former  ad- 
vice to  the  eari  of  Arran,  resolved  that  she  should  not  have 
the  power  to  refose  him.  On  the  21st  April,  the  queen  went 
to  Stirling  to  visit  her  son;  on  her  return  on  the  24th.  Both- 
well,  at  the  head  of  a  thousand  horse,  met  her  at  Cramond 
Bridge,  and  dispersing  her  slender  train,  conducted  her,  with- 
out the  least  opposition  on  her  part,  to  the  castle  of  Dunbar, 
where  she  remained  for  ten  days,  and  where,  it  is  said,  he 
forcibly  ravished  her.  From  Dunbar  he  conveyed  her  to 
Edinburgh  castle,  and  the  preparations  for  their  marriage 
were  hurried  on  with  indecent  haste.  On  May  8d,  he  was 
divorced  from  his  wife  for  adultery  with  her  maid,  and  on  the 
7th  his  marriage  with  Lady  Jean  Gordon  was  formally  an- 
nulled. On  the  12th  he  was  created  marquis  of  Fife  and 
duke  of  Orkney.  On  the  14th  the  marriage  contract  of  the 
queen  and  Botiiwell  was  signed,  and  on  the  15th  their  nup- 
tials were  pubfidy  solemnized  in  the  chapel  of  Holyrood,  first 
according  to  the  rites  of  the  Protestant  church,  and  after- 
wards, in  private,  in  the  Popish  form,  Adam  Bothwell,  bishop 
of  Orkney,  officiating  at  the  former  ceremony.  That  same 
night  the  distich  of  Orid  IFatH,  book  v.]  was  affixed  to  the 
palace  gate: 

*  Mense  malas  Male  nabere  vulgtu  alt ; ' 

and  from  the  misery  and  ruin  that  sprung  firom  this  fatal 
union,  is  traced  the  vulgar  prejudice  that  still  regards  it  as 
unlucky  to  marry  in  the  month  of  May. 

Bothwell  was  now  anxious  to  secure  the  person  of  the  young 
prince,  for  whose  protection,  almost  as  soon  as  the  marriage 
was  celebrated,  a  considerable  body  of  the  nobles  had  entered 
into  an  association  at  Stirling.  Alarmed  at  this  confederacy 
Mary  issued  a  proclamation  requiring  her  subjects  to  take 
arms  for  her  defence.  On  the  7th  June  Bothwell  and  the 
queen  went  to  Borthwick  castle,  whence  the  former  proceeded 


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BOTHWELL, 


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FOURTH  5ARL  OF. 


to  Melrose,  to  arrange  an  expedition  against  Lord  Home,  and 
then  returned  to  the  queen  at  Borthwick.  On  the  llifa  June 
the  confederated  lords  appeared  suddenly  before  that  strong 
fortress.  Bothwell,  having  timely  warning  of  their  approach, 
escaped  hastily  to  Donbar,  whither  two  days  afterwards  he 
was  followed  by  the  qaeen.  On  the  15th,  exactly  one  month 
after  Queen  Mary*s  fatal  marriage  with  this  nobleman,  the  army 
of  the  queen  and  that  of  the  confederated  lords  met  at  Car- 
b^rry  hUI,  on  the  same  ground  which  the  English  had  poe- 
feased  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie.  The  forces  of  the  queen,  con- 
sisting of  four  thousand  men  of  Lothian  and  the  Merse,  were 
commanded  by  Bothwell,  having  under  lum  the  Lords  Seton, 
Yester,  and  Borthwick,  with  four  barons  of  the  Merse,  viz. 
Wedderbuni,  Langton,  Cumledge,  and  Hirsel ;  and  those  of 
the  Bass,  Waughton,  Ormiston  in  Lothian,  and  Ormiston  of 
that  ilk  in  Tiviotdale.  The  confederate  army  was  led  by  the 
Lord  Home  and  the  earl  of  Morton,  afterwards  regent  Gal- 
lantly arrayed  in  brilliant  armour,  Bothwell  '^showed  himself, 
mounted  on  a  brave  steed  f  and  offered  by  single  combat  to 
decide  the  quarreL  His  proffered  gage  was  eagerly  seized  by 
Kiikaldy  of  Grange,  but  Bothwell  would  not  accept  of  him 
as  an  opponent  as  being  of  inferior  rank  to  himtelf.  He  like- 
wise rejected  Sir  William  Murray  of  Tullibardine,  and  his 
brother,  Murray  of  Purdorvis,  for  tiie  same  reason.  Bothwell 
then  challenged  Morton,  who  accepted  the  challenge,  and  the 
combat  was  appointed  to  take  place  on  foot,  but  old  Lord 
Lmdsay  of  the  Byres  requested  Morton  to  allow  him  to  meet 
Bothwell  instead,  being  his  right  as  next  of  kin  to  the  mur- 
dered Damley.  Morton  consented,  and  Lindsay,  kneeling 
down  before  both  armies,  audibly  implored  the  Almighty 
to  'strengthen  the  arm  of  the  innocent,  that  the  guilty 
might  be  punished.*  Twenty  knights  were  to  attend  on 
each  side,  and  the  lists  were  in  course  of  being  marked 
out,  when  the  other  lords  interdicted  the  combat  Some 
authorities  say  that  Mary,  making  use  of  her  royal  prero- 
gative, prohibited  the  encounter.  She  demanded  a  confer- 
ence with  Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  who  approached  and  knelt 
oefore  her;  and  while  he  was  urging  the  queen  to  separ- 
ate herself  firom  Bothwell,  and  join  the  confederates,  who 
sought  only  the  re  establishment  of  order  and  good  gorera- 
ment,  that  unscrupulous  and  unprincipled  nobleman  secretly 
deared  one  of  his  harquebussiers  to  shoot  him.  The  man 
was  in  the  act  of  levelling  his  piece  at  the  unsuspecting 
knight,  when  the  queen  observed  him;  uttering  a  scream, 
she  threw  herself  before  the  harquebuss,  and  exclaimed  to 
Bothwell  that  surely  he  would  not  disgrace  her  so  far  as  to 
murder  one  to  whom  she  had  promised  protection.  [I^/e  of 
Kirkaldy,  p.  17 L.J  Bothwell  then  took  his  last  farewell  of 
Mary,  and  rode  off  the  field  with  a  few  followers.  For  a 
short  time  he  took  refuge  among  his  vassals  in  the  castle  of 
Dunbar;  then,  equipping  a  few  vessels,  whico,  as  lord  high 
admiral,  he  was  ea^y  enabled  to  do,  he  proceeded  by  sea  to 
the  north,  and  remained  for  sometime  with  the  eari  of  Huntly 
and  his  uncle,  Adam  Hepburn,  bishop  of  Moray.  He  was 
soon,  however,  abandoned  by  them,  when  he  sailed  for  Ork- 
ney. After  in  vun  attempting  to  obtain  admittance  into  the 
castle  of  Kirkwall,  he  plundered  the  town,  and,  retiring  to 
Shetland  with  two  small  vessels,  turned  pirate.  On  ILth 
August  a  commission  was  granted,  by  the  lords  of  the  secret 
council,  to  Kirkaldy  of  Grange  and  Murray  of  Tullibardine, 
to  pursue  him  by  sea  and  land,  with  fire  and  sword.  {^Ander- 
ton*$  CoflecfioM.]  The  laird  of  Grange,  on  board  the  Uni- 
com of  Leith,  was  accompanied  in  the  pursuit  of  the  obnoxious 
earl,  by  Adam  BothweU,  bishop  of  Orkney,  (of  whom  in  next 
article),  although  not  three  months  before  he  had  performed  the 
marriage  ceremony  for  him  and  Mary.   While  pursued  by  KiHc- 


aldy*s  fleet  a  violent  storm  arose,  and  Bothweil^s  ship,  beoooiing 
unmanageable,  was  driven  towards  the  coast  of  Norway,  after 
partmg  company  with  the  other  vessel,  which  contained  bis 
plate,  furniture,  valuables,  and  armour,  brought  from  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh.  [fi^iMff'f  i)ec&iratu>n.]  Off  the  Norwegian 
shore  he  fell  in  with  a  vessel  richly  laden,  and  immediatelj 
attacked  it  After  a  desperate  fight,  despairing  of  vktory, 
he  resolved  to  seek  safety  in  flight,  leaving  his  ship  stranded 
and  bulged  on  a  sandbank.  In  a  small  boat,  alone  and 
unattended,  he  reached  Carmesund,  in  Norway.  Thence 
he  fled  to  Denmark,  where  his  person  being  recognised  be 
was  put  into  close  confinement  in  the  castle  of  Draxboim 
For  eight  years  he  languished  in  captivity,  deprived  of  his 
reason,  and  in  that  unhappy  condition  he  'died  14th  April, 
1578. 

"  A  fiigitive  among  his  own. 
Disguised,  deserted,  desolate— 
A  weed  upon  the  torrent  thrown — 
A  Cain  among  the  sons  of  men— 
A  pirate  oo  the  ocean— then 
A  Scandinavian  captlv«*a  doom. 
To  die  amid  the  dnngeou*t  gloom ! " 

Ddta. 

**  Thus  perished  the  chief  of  the  Hepbums,  whose  sonndini; 
titles  of  *  the  most  potent  and  noble  prince,  James,  duke  ot 
Orkney,'  nuux]uis  of  Fifs,  earl  of  BothweU,  brd  of  Halea,  of 
Oriehton,  Liddisdale,  and  Zetland ;  high  admiral  of  Scotland; 
warden  of  the  three  marches;  high  sheriff  of  Edinburgti, 
Haddmgton,  and  Berwick;  baillie  of  Lauderdale;  govenor 
of  Edinburgh  castle  and  captain  of  Dunbar,  only  served  to 
make  the  scene  of  the  fettered  felon,  expiring  in  the  dungeons 
of  Draxholm,  a  more  striking  example  of  retributive  fate,  and 
of  that  guilty  ambition,  misdirected  talent,  and  insatiable 
pride,  the  effect  of  which  had  filled  all  Europe  with  horror 
and  amazement**  [lAfi  of  Kirhakfy,  p.  191.]  Before  hit 
death,  in  an  interval  of  returning  reason,  the  miserable  Both- 
well  confessed  his  own  share  in  the  murder  of  Damley,  and 
fully  exculpated  Mary  from  any  participation  in  his  crimes. 
He  left  no  issue.  Lady  Jean  Gordon,  his  first  wife,  who  to 
described  as  a  lady  of  great  prudence,  was  afterwards  twice 
married,  first,  on  18th  December  1578,  to  Alexander,  eleventh 
eari  of  Sutherland,  who  died  in  1594;  and  secondly,  to 
Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Boyne.  She  enjoyed  a  jointure  out  of 
Lord  Bothwell's  estates  in  Haddingtonshire,  till  her  death  in 
1629,  in  the  84th  year  of  her  age.  The  eari  of  Bothwell  was 
forfeited  by  the  Scottish  parliament  29th  December,  1567, 
and  thus  the  Hepbums  were  for  ever  deprived  of  the  landed 
property  and  titles  which  they  had  enjoyed  for  so  long  a  pe- 
riod, taking  the  first  rank  among  the  families  of  East  Lothian. 
The  narrative  written  by  the  last  eari  of  Bothwell  of  the 
house  of  Hepburn,  embracing  his  personal  history  after  his 
flight  from  Scotland,  his  adventures  on  the  coast  of  Norway, 
and  imprisonment  in  Denmark,  has  been  privately  printed  fior 
the  Bannatyne  Club  from  the  original  in  the  royal  library  at 
the  castle  of  Drottninghobne  in  Sweden,  and  was  presented 
to  the  members  of  the  club  by  Messrs.  Henry  GodLbnm  and 
Thomas  MaiUand  (Lords  Cockbura  and  Dundrennan),  under 
the  title  of  'Let  Affairet  du  Conte  de  BodweO,  fJa. 
MDXXvni.*  An  English  transition  also  appeared  in  the 
'  New  Monthly  Magazine,*  in  which  periodical  the  authenticity 
of  the  document  is  fully  established.  M.  Mignet,  the  French 
historian,  in  a  Histoiy  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  in  two  vol- 
umes, published  in  1851,  attraipts,  from  a  collection  of  Mary's 
letters  said  to  be  in  the  possession  of  Prince  Labanoi^  and 
certain  Spanish  mannscripts  obtained  by  his  own  reaearob«s 


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BOTrfWELL, 


367 


LAST  EARL  OF. 


m  the  archives  of  Simancu,  to  prove  Marj's  oomplicitj  in 
Darnley's  murder,  but  however  gnilty  as  a  woman  and  fimlty 
as  m  qoeen  she  might  have  been,  and  however  far  led  awaj 
bj  her  passion  for  Bothwell,  we  hesitate  to  betieve  her  so 
ieeplj  criminal  as  to  be  a  consenting  partj  to  the 
tion  of  her  own  hosband. 


The  next  and  last  possessor  of  the  title  of  earl  of  Bothwell 
was  Francis  Stewart,  eldest  son  of  John  Stewart,  prior  of 
Coldinj^iam,  natural  son  of  King  James  the  Fifth,  bj  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Sir  John  Garroichael,  captain  of  Crawford. 
The  prior  obtained  a  legitimation  under  the  great  seal  of  Soot- 
land  7th  Febmary  1551,  and  died  at  Inverness  in  1563,  when  on 
a  northern  drcuit  with  his  brother,  the  eari  of  Moray.  He  had 
married,  4Ui  Jannaiy  1562,  Ladv  Jane  Hepburn,  onlj  daughter 
of  Patrick,  third  eari  of  Bothwell,  and  sister  of  the  turimlent 
eari,  the  murderer  of  Damlev.  This  marriage  was  celebrated  at 
Seton  bouse  in  East  Lothian  with  great  splendour,  Queen  Marj 
honouring  the  nuptials  with  her  presence.  Two  sons  were 
the  issue,  Francis  and  Hercules.  Francis,  the  elder,  was,  by 
the  special  favour  of  King  James  the  Sixth,  in  consideration 
of  his  descent  from  the  Hepbums,  created,  39th  July  1576, 
eari  of  Bothwell,  and  had  a  grant  of  several  lands,  with  the 
offices  of  sheriff-principal  of  the  county  of  Edinburgh  and 
within  the  oonstabulaxy  of  Haddington,  and  lord  high  admbal 
of  Scotland.  He  was  also  appointed  sheriff  of  the  county  of 
Berwick  and  buliaiy  of  Lauderdale.  This  nobleman  rendered 
himself  remarkable  by  his  restless  disposition,  and  his  several 
daring  attempts  to  obtain  possession  of  the  person  of  the 
king.  In  his  youth  he  went  for  a  short  time  to  Franoe, 
but  in  July  1582  he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  soon  took 
part  against  James  Stewart,  eari  of  Arran,  the  most  unprin- 
cipled of  all  the  favourites  of  James  the  Sixth.  In  conjunction 
with  Lord  Home  and  the  laird  of  Ck>wdenknows  he  fortified 
Kelso,  and  bade  defiance  to  Arran's  power.  Having  a  per- 
sonal altercation  with  Sir  William  Stewart,  Arran's  brother,  in 
presence  of  the  king  at  Holyroodhouse,  Stewart  gave  him  the 
lie  in  very  rude  language.  A  few  days  afterwards,  on  the 
30th  July  1588,  they  accidentally  met  in  the  High  Street, 
when  eadi  had  his  retainers  with  him.  A  battle  immediately 
ensued.  Sir  William,  driven  down  the  street  by  the  superior 
numbers  of  his  opponents,  retreated  into  Blackfiriar's  Wynd. 
There  he  was  thrust  through  the  body  by  Bothwell,  and  shun 
on  the  spot  IBtrreTs  Dianfj  p.  24.]  Feuds  of  this  kind 
were  so  common  at  that  turbulent  period  that  little  notice 
seems  to  have  been  taken  of  this  affiray,  and  Bothwell  was 
never  seriously  prosecuted  for  it 

In  1587,  on  the  news  reaching  ScotUmd  of  the  execution  of 
Queen  Mary,  a  strong  desire  was  manifested  to  attack  Eng- 
land, and  avenge  her  death.  Bothwell  refused  to  put  on 
mourning,  and  declared  that  the  best  *  dnie  weed*  was  a  steel 
coat  In  1588,  he  aided  the  Catholic  earls  of  Huntly,  Errol, 
and  Angus,  in  their  rebellion  against  the  king,  and  on  James* 
proceeding  to  the  north  he  threatened  to  ravage  the  borders 
and  compel  his  return,  but  his  forces  gradually  left  him,  and 
when  the  king  came  back  to  Edinburgh  he  threw  himself  on 
his  knees  before  his  migesty  in  the  diancellor's  garden,  and 
was  sent  prisoner  to  Holyrood. 

()n  the  28th  May  1589,  with  the  earls  of  Huntly  and  Craw- 
ford, he  was  brought  to  trial  on  a  charge  of  high  treason  and 
other  crimes,  and  especially  in  tra£Scking  with  strangers,  such 
as  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests,  for  the  overthrow  of  the  pro- 
testant  rdigion.  Bothwell  was  farther  charged  with  having 
received  from  one  Colonel  Semple  a  thousand  crowns,  and 
from  France,  by  the  earl  of  Errol,  the  same  sum,  which  he 
made  use  of  to  raise  soldiers,  without  having  his  mi^esty's 


commission  to  do  so.    They  denied  the  principal  charges 
bat  were  found  guilty  of  treason.    The  king,  however,  would 
not  consent  to  their  execution,  and  the  matter  was  allowed  to 
remam  in  abeyance  for  upwards  of  two  years,  when  the  earls 
of  Huntly  and  Crawford  received  a  fhll  pardon.  IPUcaim^t 
Crimmal  Trials,  vol  L  part  2,  pp.  172-181.J    I^rd  Both- 
well  was  imprisoned  in  Tantallan  Castle,  but  after  a  few 
months  he  was  .released  on  payment  of  a  heavy  fine  to  the 
Crown.    In  October  of  that  year,  when  King  James  went  to 
Denmark  on  his  marriage  expedition,  Bothwell  and   the 
duke  of  Lennox  were  appointed  to  govern  the  kingdom  in  his 
absenoe,  and  it  is  recorded  that  while  they  were  at  the  head 
of  the  government,  *  greater  peace,  tranquillity,  and  justice 
were  not  heard  of  long  before.*    But  on  the  return  of  the  king 
his  troubles  commenced.    In  January  1591,  a  midwife  of  the 
name  of  Agnes  Sampson,  known  as  the  *  wise  wife  of  Keith/ 
and  some  other  persons  were  burnt  at  Edinburgh  for  sorcery 
and  witchcraft     By  some  of  these  persons  the  eari  of  Both- 
well  was  accused  of  having  consulted  them,  in  order  to  know 
the  time  of  the  king's  death,  and  of  having  employed  their 
art  to  raise  the  storms  which  had  detained  him  so  long  in 
Denmark,  as  well  as  endangered  the  lives  of  the  king  and 
queen  during  theur  voyage  to  Scotland  in  the  preoedmg  year. 
Being  in  consequence  dted  to  appear  before  the  Secret  Coun- 
cil, he  obeyed  the  citation.    According  to  Sh:  James  Melville, 
he  voluntarily  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  very  naturally  insisting  that  '  the  devil,  wha  was 
a  Iyer  from  the  beginning,  nor  yet  his  sworn  witches,  aucht 
not  to  be  credited.'    In  the  *  Historic  of  King  James  the 
Sext,'  we  are  told  that  after  appearing  before  the  lords  of  the 
secret  council  he  was  *  committed  to  prison  within  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  till  farther  trial  should  be  taken  of  him.    For 
the  king,  at  the  persuasion  of  Chancellor  Maitland,  suspected 
the  said  Bothwell,  that  he  meant  and  intended  some  evil 
against  his  person,  and  remained  long  constant  in  that  opinion 
divers  years  afler.    The  king  wrote  to  all  the  nolnlity  at 
diverse  times  to  convene  for  his  trial,  but  they  all  disobeyed, 
because  they  knew  that  the  king  had  no  just  oocasion  of  grief 
nor  crime  to  allege  against  him,  but  only  at  the  instigation  of 
Chancellor  Maitland,  whom  they  all  hated  to  the  death  for 
his  proud  arrogance  used  in    Denmark    against  t^e   earl 
Marischal.'    The  latter  was  ambassador  extraordinary  to  the 
Danish  court    After  lying  twenty  days  in  prison,  Bothwell, 
on  the  22d  June  1591,  effected  his  escape  from  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  by  the  agency  of  one  Lauder,  captain  of  the 
watch,  whom  he  gained  over,  and  who  fled  with  him.    On 
this  it  was  resolved  to  put  in  force  his  former  conviction  for 
treason.    On  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  sentence  of  for- 
feiture was  pronounced  against  him  at  the  cross  of  Edinbuigh, 
and  it  was  declared  high  treason  for  any  one  to  '  reset,  supply, 
show  favour,  intercommune,  or  have  intelligence  with  him.' 
The  eari  fled  to  the  borders,  and  assembled  his  retainers, 
under  pretence  of  driving  Chancellor  Maitland  from  the 
king's  councils.    On  the  2d  August  a  proclamation  was  is- 
sued for  the  pursuit  of  the  earl,  and  the  king  resolved  to 
march  against  him  in  person.    On  the  7th,  however,  the  king 
issued  another  proclamation  dispensing  with  the  attendance  of 
those  whom  he  had  summoned  to  arms,  as  he  had  abandoned 
the  proposed  expedition  against  Bothwell.     On  the  27th 
of  December,  the  earl  repaired  to  Edinburgh,  and  being 
favoured  by  some  of  the  king's  attendants,  he  was  admitted 
with  his  followers,  late  in  the  evening,  into  the  courtyard  of 
Holyroodhouse,  in  which  the  king  was  then  residing.    He 
advanced  directly  towards  the  royal  apartments,  the  doors  of 
which  were  instantly  shut    He  attempted  to  force  open 
some  of  them  with  hammers  and  other  weapons,  and  called 


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for  fire  to  burn  others,  but  the  aUnn  being  communicated  to 
the  citj,  the  inhabitants  ran  to  arms.  An  attack  was  also 
made  on  the  queen's  apartments,  on  the  supposition  that  the 
king  vras  there,  but  the  door  of  the  gallery  was  ably  defended 
by  Heniy  Lindsay,  the  master  of  her  majesty's  household,  and 
the  king  was  conveyed  for  safety  to  a  turret  above.  During 
the  fray  a  gentleman  named  Scott,  brother  of  Scott  of  Bal- 
wearie  in  Fife,  was  shot  in  the  thigh,  and  the  king's  master- 
stabler,  named  William  Shaw,  was  killed,  as  was  also  one 
with  him  named  Peter  Shaw.  The  earl  was  a^  lost  repulsed, 
and  made  his  escape  with  difficulty,  but  eight  of  his  men  were 
taken,  and  on  the  following  morning  they  were  hanged  with- 
out trial,  on  a  new  gallows  that  was  erected  opposite  the 
palace  gate  for  the  purpose.  ^Birrers  Diary.']  For  this 
extraordinary  attempt  to  seize  the  king,  Bothwell  and  his 
accomplices,  among  whom  we  find  his  countess,  James 
Douglas  of  Spott,  ArchibaUi  Wauchope,  younger  of  Niddry, 
John  Hamilton  of  Samuelbton,  and  other  country  gentle- 
men, were  attainted  in  parliament,  12th  July  1592.  On  the 
17th  of  the  same  month  he  and  his  partisans  made  another 
desperate  attempt  in  Falkland  palace  to  seize  the  person  of 
the  king,  who,  betrayed  by  some  of  his  courtiers,  and  feebly 
defended  by  otliers,  had  very  nearly  fallen  into  their  hands. 
He  owed  his  safety  to  the  fidelity  and  vigilance  of  Sur  Robert 
Melville,  and  the  irresolution  of  Bothwell's  followers.  Foiled 
in  this  enterprise,  the  earl  fled  to  Fngland,  where  he  was 
taken  under  the  protection  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  His  countess, 
who  had  been  left  in  Scotland,  was  received  into  the  royal 
favour  on  the  17th  of  November,  but  on  the  23d  of  the  same 
month  a  proclamation  was  issued  ordering  that  no  one  *  should 
reset  her,  give  her  entertainment,  or  have  any  commerce  of 
society  with  her  in  any  case.*  This  lady  was  Lady  Mary 
DougUs,  eldest  daughter  of  David,  seventh  earl  of  Angus,  and 
widow  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Buccleuch,  who  died  in  1674. 
All  resetters  and  assisters  of  Bothwell  having  been  ordered  by 
parliament  not  to  approach  nearer  to  the  royal  presence  than 
ten  miles,  and  many  of  them  having  disobeyed,  on  the  8th 
December,  a  warrant  was  issued  to  the  lord  provost  and  ma- 
gistrates of  Edinburgh  to  apprehend  Dame  Margaret  Douglas, 
countess  of  Bothwell,  Archibald  Wauchope,  younger  of  Nid- 
drie,  John  Hamilton  of  Samuelston,  Sir  James  Scott  of  Bal- 
wearie  Andrew  Ker  of  Femiehirst,  Walter  Scott  of  Harden, 
and  several  others,  all  avowed  partisans  of  the  outlawed  earl. 
A  great  variety  of  proclamations  were  at  this  time  issued 
against  Bothwell  and  his  adherents,  and  a  number  of  persons 
were  denounced  rebels  for  resetting  him  and  his  accom- 
plices. The  Criminal  Records  of  the  period  are  full  of  such 
denunciations,  and  even  the  town  of  Kelso  did  not  escape 
prosecution  for  the  same  offence.  On  the  12th  of  May  1598, 
the  inhabitants,  with  only  one  exception,  a  person  named 
William  Lauder,  were  ordered  to  find  security  that  they  shall 
'  satisfy  his  Majesty's  will  in  silver,  providing  the  same  shall 
not  exceed  the  sum  of  two  thousand  merks.'  On  the  17th, 
judgment  was  given  against  tliem,  and  they  were  ordered  to 
pay  a  fine  of  *  seventeen  hundred  merks,  and  to  find  caution  in 
the  Boikis  of  Secret  Coonsall  that  they  shall  not  resett,  sup- 
plie,  or  interoommnne  with  the  said  sometime  earl  or  his 
accomplices,  furnish  them  meit,  drink,  house,  nor  barbery, 
under  whatsoroever  oollour  or  pretence,  under  the  penalty  of 
twa  thousand  punds.'  IPitcairn's  Criminal  Trials^  vol  i. 
part  iLI  On  the  1st  June  of  that  year  (1593)  *  the  sometime 
earl,*  and  four  others,  namely,  Gilbert  Pennycuik,  John 
Rutherford  of  Hunthill,  elder,  Thomas  Rutherford  of  Hunt- 
bill,  younger,  and  Simon  Armstrong,  younger  of  Whitehaugh, 
were  summoned  *for  certane  crymes  of  treasons  and  iese- 
Duyestie,'  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  David  Macgill  and  Mr.  John 


Skene,  '  advocates  to  our  sovereign  lord.'  In  this  summons, 
which  is  a  long  document  in  Latin,  the  invasion  of  the 
palaces  of  Holyroodhouse  and  Falkland,  and  other  matten 
are  all  recapitukted.  On  this  occasion  the  previous  *  sum- 
mons and  executions'  were  produced,  with  letters  <^  rebuui- 
tion,  dated  March  16,  1592-3,  bearing  that  Bothwell  had 
been  *  relaxit  frae  the  process  of  homing  led  against  him.' 
On  the  2lBt  of  July,  the  eari  was  *  called  of  new,'  as  it  is 
termed,  at  the  window  of  the  Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh,  and 
failing  of  course  to  appear,  he  was  solemnly  declared  a  trai- 
tor, his  property  was  confiscated,  and  his  armorial  bearings 
were  torn  by  the  heralds  at  the  Cross  in  the  presence  of  a 
great  number  of  spectators. 

Bothwell  bad  still  many  powerful  friends,  especially  aoiong 
the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  his  own  name  of  Stewart, 
and  it  is  said  that  Queen  Elizabeth  herself  interceded  with 
James  for  his  pardon.  The  repeated  proclamations  against 
him,  in  which  he  and  his  resetters  were  denounced  with 
the  utmost  rigour,  had  excited  a  vast  sympathy  in  his 
favour,  and  many,  especially  the  enemies  of  the  court  fa- 
vourites, viewed  him  as  a  persecuted  individuaL  A  num- 
ber of  hb  friends  held  a  meeting  at  Edinburgh  and  it  was 
resolved  to  take  advantage  of  the  oditun  which  Chanceikv 
MaitUnd  had  recently  incurred,  to  invite  Bothwell  to  appear 
before  the  king,  and  to  '  ofier  himself  to  his  clemency  and 
mercy.'  Accordingly,  he  was  invited  back  to  Scotland  bj 
the  duke  of  Lennox,  the  earl  of  Athole,  and  Lord  Ochiltree, 
all  noblemen  of  his  own  name,  to  whom  he  was  related.  On 
the  24th  July  1593,  only  three  days  after  he  had  been  so- 
lemnly declared  a  traitor,  this  daring  and  rebellious  peer 
seized  the  gates  of  the  palace  of  Holyroodhouse,  and,  ac- 
companied by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Colville,  brother  of  the 
laird  of  Easter  Wemyss,  was  introduced  into  the  royal  apart- 
ments with  a  numerous  train  of  armed  fbllowen.  The  king, 
deserted  by  his  attendants  and  incapable  of  resistance,  called 
to  Bothwell  to  consummate  his  treasons  by  piercing  his  sov- 
ereign to  the  heart ;  but  the  earl  fell  on  bis  knees  and  im- 
plored pardon.  James  yielded  from  necessity  to  his  entrea- 
ties, and  a  few  days  afterwards  he  signed  a  capituIatioD, 
whereby  he  pledged  himself  to  grant  him  a  remission  of  all 
past  offences,  to  procure  a  ratification  of  it  in  parliament,  and 
to  dismiss  Chancellor  Maitland  from  his  councils  and  pre- 
sence. Bothwell,  on  his  part,  promised  to  withdraw  from  the 
court,  and,  *  by  reason  the  original  cause  of  his  trouble  was  the 
suspicion  of  witchcraft,  he  oflered  himself  to  trial  by  whom- 
soever of  his  migesty's  subjects  he  should  please  to  appoint 
upon  the  jury,  and  a  short  day  was  assigned  to  that  effect' 
The  trial  accordingly  took  pUoe  on  10th  August,  when  Both- 
well  was  acquitted  of  consulting  with  witches  against  the 
king's  life.  That  same  night  he  slept  at  Holyroodhoose, 
and  detected  a  plot  for  the  escape  of  the  king  to  Falkland, 
which  he  prevented  from  being  carried  into  efiect,  and 
the  next  day  he  gave  a  banquet  to  his  Migesty  at  his 
house  in  Leith.  He  now  became  the  leader  of  the  Eng- 
lish party  and  of  the  Kirk.  His  enemies.  Lord  Home, 
Chancellor  Maitland,  or  more  properly  Lord  Thirlstane,  the 
Master  of  Ghunmis,  and  Sir  George  Home,  were  banished 
the  court,  and  on  the  26th  July  a  proclamation  was  issued  in 
favour  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  his  countess,  James  Doughis 
of  Spott,  and  others,  charging  the  Ueges  that  *  nane  of  them 
tak  upon  hand  to  slander,  murmur,  reproach,  or  backbite 
the  said  earl  and  his  fiiends.'  His  triumph,  however,  was  of 
short  duration.  On  the  7th  of  September,  at  a  convention  of 
the  nobility  and  othen  at  Stirling,  called  by  the  king,  and 
which  was  attended  only  by  the  duke  of  Lennox,  the  earis  of 
Glencaim,  Mar,  Morton,  and  Montrose,  and  Lords  Hamilton, 


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Lindsay,  and  livingstone,  with  two  or  three  commisfdonerB 
for  the  boroughs,  his  majesty  entered  into  a  Icmg  detail  aboat 
Bothwell  and  his  proceedings,  alleging  that  the  earl  kept  him 
in  thraldom  and  captivity,  that  he  had  been  compelled  to 
grant  him  a  remission  of  his  offences  against  law  and  his  own 
free  will,  and  he  desired  that  thej  should  by  their  general 
votes  acknowledge  the  same.  The  convention,  however, 
ananimonsly  answered  that  *  captive  he  conld  not  be  esteemed, 
seeing  that  since  his  last  talking  with  Bothwell  at  Holyrood- 
house  he  had  been  at  Falkland,  next  at  Edinburgh,  and  last 
of  all  at  extreme  liberty  and  pastime  for  the  space  of  many 
days  in  the  palace  of  Hamilton,  unaccompanied  by  any  sus- 
pected person  on  the  part  of  Bothwell  ;^  and  they  farther  de- 
clared tiiat  they  really  *  could  not  condescend  to  his  majesty 
on  that  point*  All  that  the  king  could  persuade  them  to 
sanction  was  a  declaration,  on  the  13th  of  September,  that 
'his  Highness,  as  a  free  prince,  may  at  his  pleasure  call  sik 
of  his  nobilitie,  counsall,  officers,  and  others  gnde  subjects  as 
his  HTj^ness  has,  or  best  shall  like ;'  and  Bothwell  and  cer- 
tain individuak  were  ordered  not  to  approach  nearer  the  king 
than  ten  miles  without  the  royal  perraismon.  A  memorial 
signed  by  the  king  was  also  transmitted  to  the  earl,  who  was 
then  residing  in  Edinburgh,  intimatmg  tha^  if  he  would  re- 
nounce the  former  conditions  extorted  by  force  in  Holyrood- 
house,  being  a  breach  of  the  royal  prerogative,  a  remission 
would  be  granted  for  all  past  offences,  which  would  be  ratified 
by  the  pariiament  to  be  held  on  the  20th  of  November,  the 
esrl  finding  security  that  he  would  forthwith  retire  out  of  the 
kingdom,  and  remain  *  furth  of  the  same'  during  the  king's 
pleasure.  The  king  at  the  same  time  wrote  to  him  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  prior  of  Blantyre  and  Sir  Robert  Melville,  to  con- 
fer with  them  on  the  subject;  but,  fearing  that  some  plot  was 
concocted  against  him,  his  lordship  sent  an  excuse.  On  the 
11th  October  he  was  served  with  a  summons  to  appear  before 
the  king  and  coundl  on  the  25th,  to  answer  sundry  charges 
of  high  treason ;  and,  having  failed  to  appear,  he  was  de- 
nounced a  rebel.  On  the  11th  of  December  he  was  put  to 
the  horn,  and  repeated  proclamations  were  issued  against 
him.  On  the  day  last  named  Birrel  mentions  that  he  fought 
a  duel  with  Rer  of  Cessford.  Retiring  to  the  borders,  the 
earl  succeeded  in  raising  a  force  of  five  hundred  moss-troop- 
ers, with  which  he  entered  Kelso  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  of 
April,  1694,  and  on  the  following  day  he  marched  to  Dal- 
keith. At  that  time  considerable  excitement  prevailed  in  the 
kingdom,  occasioned  by  some  confespondence  which  had  been 
carried  on  by  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Errol,  and  other  Roman 
Catholic  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  with  Spain,  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  which  was  believed  to  be  the  subversion  of  the  Pro- 
testant religion  in  Scotland,  and  the  restoration  of  popery. 
Of  this  Bothwell  cleverly  took  advantage  to  create  a  feeling 
in  his  favour.  While  at  Dalkeith,  he  issued  a  long  procla- 
mation, in  which  he  made  the  correspondence  with  Spain  a 
prominent  topic  of  grievance.  He  also  addressed  letters  to 
the  English  ambassadors  on  the  subject,  and  one  to  his  *  right 
reverend  and  loving  brethren,'  as  he  calls  them^  '  the  synodal 
assemblie  of  ministers  then  convenit  at  Dunbar.'  On  the  8d 
of  April  he  proceeded  to  Leith  with  between  four  and  five 
hundred  troopers,  accompanied  by  Lord  Ochiltree  and  several 
partisans  of  inferior  rank.  On  hearing  that  the  earl  was  at 
Leith,  the  king  proceeded  to  St  Giles'  church,  and  address- 
ing the  people  he  declared  to  them  that  if  they  would  assist 
hini  against  Bothwell  he  would  banish  all  the  Catholic 
brds.  A  large  body  of  the  citizens  mustered  at  his  call, 
and  headed  by  James  in  person,  marciied  to  Leith.  Both- 
well  had  drawn  up  his  men  in  battle-array  on  the  south-west 
side  of  that  town,  but  as  soon  as  he  perceived  the  force  under 


the  king  advanong  from  Edinburgh,  he  retreated  to  Hawk- 
hill  near  Restalrig  castle,  which  overlooks  Lochend,  and  then 
at  an  easy  pace  he  passed  through  the  village  of  Restalrig, 
and  proceeded  to  the  mill  at  Wester  Duddingstone,  alwut  a 
mile  and  a  half  distant  Thence  he  continued  his  march 
with  the  utmost  leisure  to  the  little  vilUge  of  Niddry  Maris- 
chal,  on  the  property  of  Wauchope  of  Niddry,  whose  eldest 
son  was  one  of  his  chief  supporters,  and  had  been  often  pro- 
secuted on  his  account  Ascending  an  eminence  called  the 
Wowmat,  he  dismissed  his  followers ;  (according  to  Douglas 
they  abandoned  him;)  reserving  only  a  few.  Lord  Home, 
the  Master  of  GUunrais,  and  others,  were  commanded  by  the 
king  to  pursue  the  eari  with  both  horae  and  foot  On  their 
approach  to  Niddry  Green,  they  sent  forward  three  gentle- 
men to  view  the  ground,  but  being  perceived,  the  earl's 
watches  fell  upon  them,  and  compelled  them  to  return  to 
their  friends.  Bothwell  and  his  few  attendants  immediately 
chai^ged  Home  and  Glammis,  with  great  impetuosity,  and 
forced  them  and  their  followers  to  flee  in  every  direction.  He 
pursued  them  till  within  half-a-mile  of  the  spot  where  the 
king  stood.  The  foot  fled  to  the  neighbouring  castle  of 
Craigmillar,  upon  the  field  in  front  of  which  Bothwell  sound- 
ed a  retreat,  in  sight  of  the  king  and  his  supporters,  and 
marched  back  unmolested  to  the  Wowmat,  whence  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Dalkeith,  where  he  remained  during  the  night,  and 
on  the  following  day  betook  himself  to  the  south.  From  BirrerR 
Diary  and  Pitcaim's  Criminal  Trials,  it  appears  that  in  1594, 
several  persons  were  executed  for  receiving  and  entertaining 
Bothwell,  among  whom  was  the  governor  of  Blackness  castle, 
who  was  accused  of  agreeing  with  the  eari  to  receive  the  king 
as  a  prisoner  in  that  fortress.  On  the  16th  SeptemW  the 
same  year  a  proclamation  was  issued,  declaring  it  treasonable 
to  have  any  intercourse  with  his  lordship,  and  on  the  80th  of 
that  month,  another  appeared,  rehearsing  all  his  treasons,  and 
asserting  that  his  *  dissembled  hypocrisy  thir  three  years  past 
had  procured  to  him  the  favour  of  ower  mony  of  people,  by 
the  quhilk  he  was  enabled  to  work  all  thir  insolencies  against 
his  Highness.'  Hb  brother,  Hercules  Stewart,  suffered  on 
the  scaffold  the  same  year. 

Bothwell  fled  to  England,  but  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  James,  obliged  him 
to  leave  her  kingdom.  James  had  also  influence  enough  with 
the  presbyterian  ministers  to  induce  them  to  excommunicate 
him.  After  an  abortive  attempt  to  join  Huntly  and  the 
Catholic  lords  in  another  rebellion,  the  earl  fled  to  Caithness, 
whence  he  was  compelled  to  retire  for  safety  to  France, 
and  afterwards  to  Spain  and  Italy,  where  he  renounced 
the  protestant  faith,  and  lived  many  years  in  obscurity 
and  indigence,  plunging  into  the  lowest  and  most  infam- 
ous debauchery.  He  died  at  Naples,  in  the  year  1624, 
in  great  misery.  Before  engaging  in  his  treasonable  at- 
tempts, he  had  made  over  his  large  estates  to  his  stepson, 
Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Bucdeuch,  in  whose  family  they  re- 
mained long  after  the  earl's  attainder.  Bothwell  had  three 
sons  and  three  daughters.  Francis,  the  eldest  son,  obtained 
a  rehabilitation  under  the  great  seal  of  Scotland  30th  July 
1614,  which  was  ratified  by  act  of  parliament  28th  June 
1683.  The  titles  were  never  restored,  but  according  to  Scott 
of  Scotstarvet,  the  last  earl  of  Bothwell's  eldest  son  received 
from  the  earl  of  Bucdeuch,  by  decret  arbitral  of  Charles  the 
First,  the  extensive  estates  of  his  father,  which  he  sold  to  the 
Winton  family,  having  married  Lady  Isabella  Seton,  only 
daughter  of  Robert  fust  earl  of  Winton.  The  offspring  ot 
this  marriage  was  a  son  and  a  daughter.  The  son  Charles  is 
stated,  on  the  authority  of  Scott  of  Scotstarvet,  to  have  beer, 
a  trooper  in  the  dvil  wars.    He  was  served  heir  to  his  father      | 


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SURNAME  01-. 


in  1647.  His  name  and  that  of  his  sister,  Margaret,  are  en- 
tered in  the  parish  register  of  Tranent,  irom  which  it  appears 
that  he  was  bom  in  April  1618.  John,  the  second  son  of  the 
earl,  was  the  last  oommendator  of  Coldingham,  and  he  got  the 
lands  and  baronies  which  belonged  to  that  prioiy  united  into 
a  baroDj  in  1631.  On  the  2d  June  1638  his  son  Francis  had 
a  charter  of  the  borgh  of  barony  of  Coldingham.  In  the  Me- 
moirs of  Captain  Creighton  I8wi/Vs  Works^  vol.  xiv.  p.  297] 
it  is  stated  that  Francis  Stewart,  grandson  of  the  earl  cdT 
Dothwell,  was  a  private  gentleman  in  the  Horse  Guards  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  by  whom  he  was  made  cap- 
tain of  dragoons,  and  he  commanded  the  cavahry  on  the  left 
in  the  action  agahist  the  Covenanters  at  Bothwell  Bridge  in 
1679.  The  reader  of  Soott*s  works  will  readily  remember  the 
Sergeant  Bothwell  of  Old  Mortautt.  Henry  Stewart, 
the  eari^s  thud  son,  had  also  a  charter  of  the  lorddiip  of  Col- 
dingham in  1621.  Of  the  earl's  three  daughters,  Elizabeth, 
the  eldest,  married  James,  second  son  of  William  first  Lord 
Cranstoun,  and  was  the  mother  of  William  the  third  lord. 
Margaret,  the  second,  became  the  wife  of  Alan,  fifth  Lord 
Cathcart,  witnout  issue;  and  Helen,  the  youngest,  married 
Macfarlane  of  Macfarlane,  by  whom  she  had  several  children. 


The  surname  of  Bothwell  is  of  great  antiquity,  being 
derived  from  the  lordship  of  Bothwell  in  Lanarkshire.  The 
name  Botheville,  Bothel,  Boethwell,  Bothell,  or  Bothwell, 
has  been  supposed  to  have  originated  in  the  Celtic  Both^  an 
eminence,  and  toaUly  a  castle,  the  castle  of  Bothwell  standing 
comudembly  elevated  above  the  Clyde.  A  more  probable  con- 
jecture is,  that  it  is  a  compound  of  the  two  Celtic  words 
Boih^  in  its  signification  of  a  dwelling,  and  ael  or  hjfl,  a  river, 
which  is  strictly  descriptive  of  Bothwell  castle,  as  it  is  also  of 
the  castle  of  Bothell  or  Bothall  in  Northnmbeiiand,  situated 
on  the  Wentsbeck.  In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second 
the  barony  of  Bothwell  was  held  by  Walter  Olifard,  justici- 
ary of  Lotliian,  who  died  in  1242.  The  writer  of  the  gene- 
alogy of  the  Bothwells,  Lords  Holyroodhouse,  in  the  Appendix 
to  *  Nisbet's  System  of  Heraldry,'  (vol.  ii.  p.  242,)  quoting 
the  Chartulary  of  the  Episcopal  See  of  Glasgow,  thinks  it 
highly  probable  that  the  Olifards  got  the  barony  of  Bothwell 
by  the  marriage  of  an  heir  female  of  the  surname  of  Both- 
well.  [See  Oliphaict,  surname  of.]  It  afterwards  passed 
by  marriage  to  the  Morays  or  Murrays.  In  the  time  of  King 
Edward  the  First  it  was  given  to  Aymer  de  Valence,  earl  of 
Pembroke,  appointed  by  him  governor  of  Uie  south  part  of 
Scotland.  Upon  his  forfeiture,  it  was  bestowed  by  King  Ro- 
bert the  Bruce  on  Andrew  Moray,  lord  of  Bothwell,  who 
married  Christian,  sister  of  that  monarch. 

The  ancestor  of  the  noble  family  of  Bothwell,  Lords  Holy- 
roodhouse, was  John  de  Bothwill,  who  received  from  King 
David  the  Second  a  charter  (dated  at  Dundee,  31st  July 
1369),  in  which  he  is  styled  his  beloved  cousin,  of  ten  pounds 
sterling  and  foiu:  chalders  of  grain  yearly,  due  to  the  king 
from  the  thanage  of  Doun  in  Banfishire,  for  his  life,  and  an- 
other 19th  April  1371,  o^'all  his  migesty's  lands  of  the  park 
of  Gargwoll  in  the  same  shire,  also  for  his  life.  The  family 
of  Bothwell  fixed  their  residence  in  Edinburgh,  where  they 
ranked  among  the  principal  citizens,  and  near  which  dty  they 
had  a  considerable  estate  in  lands.  Richard  Bothwell  was 
]nt>vost  of  Edinburgh  in  the  reign  of  King  James  the  Thurd. 
He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Sommerville  of 
Plean  in  Stirlingshire,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a 
daughter.  The  second  son,  Richard  Bothwell,  was  preben- 
dary of  Glasgow  and  rector  of  Ashldrk,  doctor  of  the  civil  and 
canon  laws,  and  provost  of  the  church  of  St  Mary  in  the 
Fields,  within  the  walls  of  the  dty  of  Edinbui^h.    He  was 


director  of  the  Chancery  in  the  reign  of  King  James  the  Fifth, 
by  whom  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of  sesdon,  at  its  first  insti- 
tution, 25th  May,  1532.  On  account  of  bis  advanced  age 
the  king  dispensed  with  his  attendance,  7th  March  1589,  but 
reserved  to  him  his  saUry  and  privileget.  IHaig  and  Bnm- 
iom's  Senators  of  College  of  Jiofice.]  He  died  in  1547. 
The  daughter,  Margaret,  married  Sir  Duncan  Fonester  of 
Garden,  comptroller  to  James  the  Fifth  in  1503. 

Francis  Bothwell,  the  eldest  son,  was  likewise  appomted  a 
senator  of  the  College  of  Justice  on  its  first  institution,  on 
the  temporal  side,  while  his  brother.  Dr.  Richard  BothweD, 
was  named  on  the  spuritnal  dde.  Francis  had  a  diarter  of 
two  pieces  of  waste  ground  in  Edinburgh,  and  served  the 
office  of  provost  of  that  dty  in  1585.  He  married  Janet,  one 
of  the  two  daughters  and  coheirs  of  Patrick  Richardson  of 
Mddrumsbeugh,  burgess  of  Edinbui^,  with  whom  he  got 
lands  in  the  neighbouring  regality  of  Broughtoo.  He  had 
two  sons  and  a  daughter,  namely,  Richard,  provost  of  Edin- 
burgh in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  whose  male  Une  is  extmct, 
and  Adam,  the  celebrated  bishop  of  Orkney,  of  whom  a  no- 
tice follows.  Janet,  the  daughter,  married  Sur  Archibald 
Napier  of  Merchiston,  and  became  the  mother  of  J<^  Ka- 
pler, the  inventor  of  the  logarithms. 

Adam  Bothwell,  the  second  son.  was  preferred  to  the  see 
of  Orkney  by  Queen  Mary,  8th  October  1562,  after  being 
duly  elected  by  the  chapter,  and  on  13th  November  1565,  he 
was  appointed  a  lord  of  sesdon.  He  was  one  of  the  four 
Scottish  bishops  who  embraced  the  Reformation,  and  as  be 
had  in  his  own  person  the  property  of  the  luahopric  of  Ork- 
ney, he  made  an  excambion  of  the  greater  part  of  it  with 
Robert  Stewart,  abbot  of  Holyroodhouse,  one  of  the  nator&l 
brothers  of  the  queen,  for  his  abbey,  which  was  ratified  by  a 
charter  under  Uie  great  seal  of  Scotland,  25th  September 
1569.  He  was  one  of  the  dght  bishops  who  signed  Uie  bond 
granted  by  the  nobility  to  the  earl  of  Bothwdl,  engaging  to 
support  his  marriage  with  Queen  Maiy  (see  cmie,  p.  358), 
and,  as  ah'eady  stated,  he  performed  the  marriage  ceremony 
between  them  according  to  the  rites  of  the  protestant  chorcL 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  desert  the  party  of  the  queen,  and 
only  two  months  after  her  fatal  marriage  with  Bothwell,  h« 
placed  the  crown  on  the  head  of  her  infant  son.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in  December  of  that  same 
year  (1567),  "  the  haiU  kirk  found  that  he  transgressed  the 
act  of  the  kirk  in  manying  the  divorced  adulterer;  and, 
therefore,  deprived  him  of  all  functione  of  the  ministrie,  con- 
forme  to  the  tenor  of  the  act  made  thereupon,  ay  and  whill 
[until]  the  kirk  be  satisfied  of  the  sdander  committed  be 
him."  [Booke  qf  the  Umvertall  Kirk  of  ScoHtmd,  p.  7L] 
In  the  Assembly  hdd  in  July  1568,  the  bishop  made  doe 
*  obedience  and  submisdon,*  and  engaged  *'  upon  some  Son- 
day  to  make  ane  sermone  in  the  kirk  of  Halyrudehouse,  and 
in  the  end  thereof  to  confess  his  ofience  in  marrying  the 
queene  with  the  earle  of  Bothwell,"  whereupon  the  Idrk  re- 
stored him  again  to  the  ministry,  ybid.  p.  104.]  The 
same  year  (15G8)  the  andent  barony  of  Broughton  and  the 
surrounding  lands  comprehended  within  its  jurisdiction,  were 
granted  to  him  by  James  the  Sixth,  but  in  1587  he  sur- 
rendered them  to  the  Crown,  in  favour  of  Sir  Lewis  Bel- 
lenden  of  Auchnoul\  lord-justice  clerk,  llie  bishop  wu 
much  employed  in  matters  of  state,  and  in  September 
1568,  he  accompanied  the  Regent  Moray  to  York  as  one 
of  the  commisdoners  against  Queen  Mary.  For  his  oppo- 
dtion  to  the  Regent  Morton,  he  was  for  a  short  time  im- 
prisoned in  the  castle  of  Stirling.  He  died  23d  August, 
1593,  at  the  age  of  67,  and  was  interred  in  the  nave  of 
the  Abbey  Church  of  Holyrood.  where  a  monument  wit 


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BOTHWELL. 


361 


BOWER. 


erected  to  his  memory.  \_Keith's  Scottiah  BiBhopa."]  Thu 
monament  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  rained  chapel,  attached 
to  the  second  pillar  from  the  great  east  window  that  once 
OT«rlooked  the  hij^  altar.  By  his  wifio,  Margaret,  daughter 
of  John  Mnrray  of  Toochadam,  he  had  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  the  latter  married  to  Sir  William  Sandilands  of  St 
Monance.  A  rignette  view  of  the  bishop's  mansion  in  Byre*8 
Close,  High  Street,  Edinburgh,  (now  the  warehouse  and  pro- 
perty of  Messrs.  Clapperton  and  Ck>.,)  as  seen  from  the  north, 
is  given  in  Wil»orC$  Memorials  of  Edinburgh,  vol.  iL  p.  7. 

A  tradition  exists  that  the  heroine  of  the  touching  ballad, 
named  *  Lady  Ann  Bothwell*s  Lament,*  beginning 

'  Balow,  my  boy,  lie  still  and  sleip! 
It  grieves  me  sair  to  see  thee  weip;* 

was  a  daughter  of  Adam  Bothwell,  bishop  of  Orkney.  Mr. 
Robert  Chambers,  in  his  Scottish  ballads,  speaking  of  this 
pathetic  lament,  has  committed  a  mistake  when  he  says  that 
the  bishop  was  raised  to  a  temporal  peerage,  under  the  tiUe 
of  Lord  Holyroodhonse.  It  was  his  son,  and  not  himself, 
who  was  the  first  Lofd  Holyroodhonse.  His  daughter, 
Anna,  it  is  said,  was  betrayed,  when  very  young,  and  by  the 
aid  of  her  nurse,  into  a  disgraceful  connexion  with  the  Hon. 
Sir  Alexander  Erskine,  third  son  of  John,  seventh  earl  of 
Mar,  of  whom  a  portrait  still  exists  by  Jamieson,  in  which  he 
is  represented  in  a  military  dress,  with  a  cuirass  and  scarf. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his 
time,  with  a  noble  and  expressive  countenance.  The  deser- 
tion of  his  unfortunate  victim  was  believed  by  his  contempo- 
raries to  have  exposed  him  to  the  signal  vengeance  of  heaver. 
He  was  blown  up,  along  with  the  earl  of  Haddington,  and 
about  eighty  other  persons  of  distinction,  in  the  casUe  of 
Dunglas,  Berwickshire,  in  1640,  the  powder  magazine  having 
been  ignited  by  a  servant  boy,  out  of  revenge  against  his  mas- 
ter. In  the  ballad,  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  the 
heroine  herself,  who  was  at  one  time  conjectured  to  have 
been  the  countess  of  Bothwell,  and  at  another  a  Miss  Bos- 
well  of  Auchinleck,  the  followmg  verses  seem  prophetic  of 
his  fate : 

"Balow,  my  boy;  thy  father's  fled, 
When  he  the  thriftless  son  has  play'd. 
Of  vows  and  oaths  forgetfbl,  he 
Prefers  the  wars  to  thee  and  me. 
But  now,  perhaps,  thy  corse  and  mine 
Makes  bbn  eat  aooros  with  the  swine 

"  Yet  I  can't  chase,  bat  ever  will 
Be  loving  to  thy  father  still: 
Where'er  he  gae,  where'er  he  ride, 
My  lave  with  him  doth  sUll  abide. 
In  weel  or  wae,  where'er  he  gae, 
My  heart  can  ne'er  depart  him  trmt. 

**  Then  curse  him  not:  perhaps  now  he, 
Stung  with  remorse,  is  blessing  tliee; 
Perhaps  at  death ;  for  who  can  tell. 
Whether  the  Judge  of  heaven  or  hell 
By  some  proud  foe,  bos  strucic  the  blow 
And  laid  the  dear  deceiver  low. 

"  I  wish  I  were  into  the  bounds 
Where  he  lies  smothered  in  his  wounds- 
Repeating,  OS  he  pants  for  air. 
My  name,  whom  once  he  called  his  fair 
No  woman's  yet  so  fiercely  set, 
But  she'll  forgave,  though  not  forget 

Balow,  my  boy;  lie  still  and  sleip! 

It  grieves  me  snir  to  see  thee  weip." 


These  two  last  verses,  however,  are  not  to  bo  round  in  the 
version  of  the  ballad  in  Bishop  Percy's  collection,  which  dif- 
fers considerably  from  that  in  Chambers'  Scottish  Ballads. 

John  Bothwell,  the  eldest  son  of  the  bishop,  designed  of 
Alhammer,  succeeded  his  fiither  as  oommendator  of  the  abbey 
<^  Holyroodhonse,  and  was  appointed  a  lord  of  sesnon,  2d 
July  1598.  Enjoying  the  favour  and  confidence  of  King 
James  the  Sixth,  he  was  sworn  of  his  privy  council,  and  ac- 
companied him  to  England  in  1603.  On  the  journey  he  re- 
ceived the  keys  of  the  town  of  Berwick,  in  his  majesty's  name. 
He  was  created  a  peer  by  the  titie  of  *  Lord  Halyradhous,'  by 
charter  dated  at  Whitehall,  20th  December  1607.  to  him  and 
the  heirs  male  of  his  body,  whom  failing,  to  the  heirs  male  of 
Adam,  bishop  of  Orkney,  his  father,  whom  failing,  to  his  own 
lawfyl  and  nearest  heirs.  His  lordship  married  Maiy,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  John  Carmichael  of  Carmidiael,  with  whom  he  got 
twelve  thousand  marks  of  portion,  and  died  in  November 
1609,  leaving  an  only  son,  John,  second  Lord  Holyroodhonse, 
who  died,  unmarried,  in  1635.  The  title  remained  dormant 
for  ninety-nine  years. 

William  Bothwell,  third  son  of  Adam  bishop  of  Orkney, 
had  a  son,  Adam  Bothwell,  whose  grandson,  Alexander  Both- 
well  of  Glenonrse,  as  lineally  descended  from  Sir  Richard 
Bothwell,  provost  of  Edinburgh,  the  bishop's  elder  brother, 
served  himself  heir  before  the  sheriffs  of  Edinburgh,  4th  Feb- 
ruary, 1704,  to  his  grandfather,  Adam  Bothwell  of  Whelp- 
side,  grandchild  of  Sir  Francis,  the  provost,  as  also  to  the 
second  Lord  Holyroodliouse.  He  married  Janet,  daughter  of 
John  Trotter  of  Mortonhall,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Henry 
Bothwell  of  Glenoorse,  who  was  served  heir  to  John  Lord 
Holyroodhonse,  8th  February  1734,  and  presented  to  the  king 
a  petition  claiming  the  title.  This  petition  was  by  his  ma- 
jesty's commands  laid  before  the  House  of  Lords,  20th  March 
1734,  but  no  determination  was  ever  come  to  respecting  it 
He  nevertheless  assumed  the  tide,  and  died  in  the  Canon- 
gate,  Edinburgh,  10th  February  1755.  By  his  wife,  Mary 
daughter  of  Lord  Kiel  Campbell  of  Ardmaddie,  second  son  ot 
Archibald  marquis  of  Aigyle,  he  had  five  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. None  of  his  sons  had  male  issue,  and  the  peerage  may 
now  be  said  to  be  extinct 


Bower,  a  surname,  contracted  from  Bowmaker,  originally 
from  England.  In  former  times,  before  the  invention  of  gun- 
powder, a  bowmaker  was  a  very  honourable  and  lucrative 
profession,  and  on  being  assumed  as  a  surname,  it  was  in 
process  of  time  shortened  into  Bower.  There  was.  an  ancient 
family,  Bower  of  Kinnettles  in  Angus,  who,  like  all  of  a  similar 
surname,  carried  bows  in  their  arms  as  relative  to  the  name. 
In  the  accounts  of  the  lord  high  treasurer  of  Scotland,  un- 
der date  2d  December  1682,  there  is  the  following  entry: 
**Item,  to  the  Inglise  (English)  Botcar  for  ane  dozane  of 
bowis  and  six  dosane  of  arrows  deliverit  at  the  kingis  com- 
mand to  Alexander  Canosoune,  and  for  four  dosane  of  arrowis 
deliverit  to  the  kingis  grace  for  his  ane  schuting,  xx  lb."  In 
the  history  of  the  Gowrie  conspiracy  occurs  the  name  of 
James  Bower,  called  Laird  Bower,  a  *  servitor'  of  Logan  of 
Restalrig,  who  was  employed  to  convey  letters  between  Logan 
and  the  earl  of  Gowrie,  and  having  shown  some  of  them  to 
one  George  Sprutt,  a  notary  in  Eyemouth,  the  latter  was  ex- 
ecuted eight  years  afterwards  for  concealment  of  the  plot. 
The  English  name  Bowyer  b  the  same  as  Bower.  Playfair 
conjectures  lAntiquities,  vol.  vi.  p.  436]  that  the  word  is 
composed  of  the  Gothic  word  Boo  or  Bow^  used  to  express 
a  dwelling,  a  farm-house,  or  village,  and  the  Saxon  Er,  an  in- 
habitant, as  Bower  or  Bowyer,  the  inhabitant  of  a  house  or 
village.     In  the  Orkney  islands,  where  the  Gothic  was  lon^ 


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BOWER. 


362 


ARCHIBALD. 


presened  in  greater  puri^  than  anj  other  part,  the  prindpal 
farm-house  on  an  estate  is,  in  manj  instances,  called  a  bow^ 
and  in  Ayrshire  the  tenant  of  a  daiiy  is  called  a  Bower.  The 
English  name  o  "owes,  now  borne  bj  the  earl  of  Strath- 
more,  (see  Strathmorb,  earl  of,)  seems  to  have  been  de- 
rived from  the  same  trade.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the 
6rHt  wife  of  John  Knox  was  named  Marjory  Bowes. 

BOWER,  Walter,  the  continuator  of  Foixiuu's 
ScotichronicoD,  was  born  at  Haddington  in  1385. 
At  the  age  of  18  he  assumed  the  religions  habit, 
and  after  finishing  his  philosophical  and  theologi- 
cal education  he  went  to  Paris,  to  study  the  civil 
and  canon  law.  After  his  return  to  Scotland,  he 
was  unanimously  elected  abbot  of  St.  Colm  in 
1418.  On  the  death  of  Fordun,  the  historian, 
Sir  David  Stewart  of  Rossyth  requested  him  to 
transcribe  and  complete  the  Scotichronicon,  or 
Chronicles  of  Scotland,  whicli  had  been  brought 
down  only  to  the  23d  chapter  of  the  fifth  book. 
Bower  readily  undertook  the  task,  and  instead  of 
executing  a  mere  transcript,  he  inserted  large  in- 
terpolations in  the  body  of  the  work,  and  contin- 
ued the  naiTative  to  the  death  of  James  the  Firat, 
completing  it  in  sixteen  books.  The  materials  for 
this  continuation  had,  however,  principally  been 
collected  by  his  predecessor.  This  work,  the  re- 
sult of  the  joint  laboui-s  of  Fordun  and  Bower,  was 
useful  to  Hector  Boece  in  writing  his  history;  and 
on  the  Scotichronicon  almost  all  the  early  histories 
of  Scotland  are  founded. — Irving's  Scots  Poets. — 
See  Fordun. 

BOWER,  Archibald,  an  author  of  talents 
and  industry,  but  of  very  equivocal  religious  chai*- 
acter,  was  bom  at  or  near  Dundee,  January  17, 
1686.  His  parents  were  respectable  Roman  Ca- 
tholics; and  in  September  1702,  when  he  was 
sixteen  years  of  age,  they  sent  him  to  the  Scots 
college  of  Douay;  whence  he  was  removed  to 
Rome,  and  in  1706  he  was  admitted  into  the  order 
of  the  Jesuits.  After  a  noviciate  of  two  years 
he  went  to  Fano,  where  he  taught  the  classics, 
and  in  1717  he  was  recalled  to  Rome,  to  study 
divinity  in  the  Roman  college.  In  1721  he  was 
sent  to  the  college  of  Arezzo^  and  made  reader  of 
philosophy  and  consultor  to  the  rector  of  the  col- 
lege. He  was  then  removed  to  Florence,  where 
he  made  his  last  vows.  He  afterwards  went  to 
the  college  at  Macerata,  where  he  was  chosen  a 
professor,  and  where,  according  to  his  own  ac- 


count, he  was  a  counsellor  and  secretary  to  the 
court  of  Inquisition.  If  we  are  to  believe  his  own 
statement,  he  here  became  disgusted  at  the  enor- 
mities committed  by  the  Inquisition ;  but  his  ene- 
mies assert  that,  forgetting  his  vows  of  celibacy, 
he  engaged  in  an  amorous  intrigue  with  a  nun,  to 
whom  he  was  confessor.  Certain  it  is  that,  in 
1726,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Macerata  for  Pera- 
gia,  and  from  thence  he  secretly  made  his  escape 
to  England,  where  he  arrived  in  June  or  July  of 
that  year,  after,  by  his  own  account,  meeting  with 
many  extraordinary  adventures,  which  are  to  be 
found  detailed  in  the  Edinburgh  Magazine  for 
1786,  p.  138. 

On  his  ai-rival  in  England,  he  got  introduced  to 
Dr.  Aspinwall,  who,  like  himself,  had  formerly 
belonged  to  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Dr. 
Clark.  After  several  conferences  with  these  gen- 
tlemen, and  some  with  Dr.  Berkeley,  bishop  of 
Cloyne,  then  dean  of  LondondciTy,  he  professed 
himself  a  convert  to  the  Protestant  faith,  quitted 
the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  withdrew  himself  en- 
tirely from  all  connection  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  This  took  place  in  November  1726,  bot 
it  was  not  till  six  years  after  that  he  openly  con- 
fonned  to  the  Church  of  England.  By  Dr.  Aspin- 
walFs  means,  he  became  known  to  many  persons 
of  influence  and  respectability ;  among  others,  he 
was  introduced  to  Dr.  Goodman,  physician  to 
Greorge  the  Firet,  and  by  him  i-ecommended  to 
Lord  Aylmer,  who  wanted  some  one  to  assist  him 
in  reading  the  classics.  The  education  of  two  of 
his  lordship's  children  was  also  confided  to  his 
care.  With  this  nobleman  he  continued  several 
years  on  terms  of  the  greatest  intimacy,  and  was 
by  him  made  known  to  all  his  loi-dship's  connec- 
tions, and  pai'ticularly  to  the  Hon.  Geoi^ge,  after- 
wards Lord  Lyttleton,  who  subsequently  became 
his  warm,  steady,  and  to  the  last,  when  deserted 
by  almost  every  other  person,  his  nnaltemble 
friend.  During  the  time  he  lived  with  Lord  Ayl- 
mer, he  undertook,  for  Mr.  Prevost,  a  bookseller, 
the  *  Historia  Literaria,*  a  monthly  review  of  books, 
the  first  number  of  which  was  published  in  1730. 
In  1735  he  agreed  with  the  proprietors  of  the 
*  Universal  History'  to  write  part  of  that  work, 
and  he  was  employed  upon  it  till  1744,  being  nine 
years.    The  money  he  gained  by  these  occupa- 


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368 


BOYCE. 


tions  he  paid  or  leut  to  Mr.  Hill,  a  Jesuit,  who 
transacted  money  mattei's,  as  an  attorney  ;  and  it 
appears,  from  undoubted  evidence,  that  this  was 
done  by  way  of  peace-oflTering  to  the  society,  into 
which  he  was  re-admitted  about  1744.  Subse- 
quently, repenting  of  the  engagement  he  had  made 
with  his  old  associates,  the  Jesuits,  he  claimed 
and  recovered  the  money  he  had  advanced  to 
them. 

In  1746  he  put  forth  proposals  for  publishing, 
by  subscription,  a  *  History  of  the  Popes  ;*  a  work 
which,  he  says,  he  commenced  some  years  before 
at  Rome,  and  then  brought  it  down  to  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Victor,  that  is,  to  the  close  of  the  second 
centuiy.  In  the  execution  of  this  work  at  that 
period,  he  professes  to  have  received  the  firet  un- 
favourable sentiments  of  the  Pope's  supremacy. 
On  the  13th  of  May  1748  he  presented  to  the  king 
the  first  volume  of  his  *  History  of  the  Popes ;' 
and  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Say,  keeper  of  Queen 
Caroline's  library,  he  was,  through  the  influence 
of  Lord  Lyttleton,  appointed  librarian  in  his  place. 
In  August  1749  he  married  a  niece  of  Bishop 
Nicholson,  and  daughter  of  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  a  younger  son  of  a  gentleman 
in  Westmoreland,  with  whom  he  received  a  for- 
tune of  four  thousand  pounds  steriing.  In  1751 
the  second  volume  of  his  *  History  of  the  Popes' 
made  its  appearance.  His  friend  Lord  Lyttleton 
now  appointed  him  clerk  of  the  buck  warrants, — 
an  office  probably  of  no  great  emolument.  His 
*  History'  was  continued  to  seven  volumes,  but  in 
it  he  displayed  such  a  violent  zeal  against  popery, 
as  exposed  him  to  the  animadversions  of  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  particularly  Alban  Butler,  a 
learned  priest,  who,  in  a  pamphlet  printed  at 
Douay  in  1751,  assailed  the  two  first  volumes  of 
the  *  History  of  the  Popes,*  being  all  which  were 
at  that  period  published.  Unfortunately  for  his 
reputation,  his  money  transactions  and  corre- 
spondence with  the  Jesuits  were  brought  to  light, 
and  notwithstanding  his  spirited  and  confident 
defences,  and  his  denial  upon  oath  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  letters  fully  proved  to  be  his,  he  lost  his 
character  both  as  an  author  and  a  man,  and  was 
generally  believed  by  the  public  to  be  destitute  of 
moral  and  religious  principle.  The  letters  them- 
selves were  published  in  1756  by  Dr.  Douglas, 


afterwards  bishop  of  Salisbury,  with  a  commen- 
tary proving  their  authenticity.  He  scarcely  re- 
tained a  friend  or  advocate,  except  his  patroii, 
Lord  Lyttleton,  who,  by  withholding  his  permis- 
sion, prevented  Gamck  from  making  Bower's 
apostasy  and  double-dealing  the  subject  of  a  stage 
performance,  for  having  mentioned  in  a  contemp- 
tuous manner,  that  eminent  actor  and  his  lady  in 
his  '  Summar}'  View  of  the  Controversy  between 
the  Papists  and  the  Author.'  Bower's  latter  years 
seem  to  have  been  spent  in  virulent  attacks  upon 
his  enemies,  the  Papists,  and  iutvalnly  endeavour- 
ing to  recover  his  reputation,  and  that  of  his  ^  His- 
tory of  the  Popes.'  In  1761  he  appears  to  have 
assisted  the  author  of  ^Authentic  Memoirs  con- 
cerning the  Portuguese  Inquisition,'  in  a  series  of 
letters  to  a  friend,  8vo.  He  died  September  3d, 
1766,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  By  his  will,  which 
does  not  contain  any  declaration  of  his  religious 
principles,  he  bequeathed  all  his  property  to  his 
wife,  who  some  time  after  his  death  published  an 
attestation  of  his  having  died  in  the  Protestant 
faith. 

Bowman,  a  somarae  denved  from  the  ancient  practice  of 
archeiy,  the  bearer  of  a  bow  and  arrows  being  called  a  bow- 
man. The  name  is  properly  English,  though  found  in  Scot- 
land. On  the  29th  December  1572,  one  Janet  Bowman,  oi 
*  Jonet  Boyman,'  as  it  is  spelled  m  the  Criminal  Records,  de- 
scribed as  *  spous  to  William  Steill,'  was  mdicted  for  witch- 
craft, and  being  convicted  was  burnt  at  Edinburgh.  About 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  lands  of  Logic,  in  the  parish 
of  that  name  in  Fife,  were  the  property  of  Walter  Bowman, 
Esq.,  who  long  resided  at  Egham  in  Surrey.  This  gentleman 
executed  a  very  strict  entail  of  the  property,  his  libraty  espe- 
cially being  placed  under  the  most  particular  injunctions 
for  its  preservation.  He  had  travelled  much  on  the  continent, 
and  appears  to  have  collected  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
books  there.  With  many  valuable  editions  of  the  ancient 
classics,  particularly  a  fine  edition  of  Pliny's  Natural  History, 
and  a  splendid  illuminated  edition  of  Ptolemy,  the  library 
contains  a  rich  collection  of  engravings,  a  great  number  oi 
maps  and  charts,  and^a  well-preserved  copy  of  Bleau's  Athts. 
By  the  terms  of  the  entail,  the  heir  is  prohibited  from  lending 
the  books  out;  but  he  is  bound  to  keep  a  suitable  room  for 
them  in  his  house,  and  to  allow  free  access  to  it  to  the  neigh- 
bouring gentlemen,  there  to  read  and  study.  He  is  also 
bound  to  have  a  basin  at  hand,  with  water  and  a  towel,  that 
the  books  may  not  be  soiled  with  unclean  hands.  Women 
and  children  are  expressly  prohibited  from  admission  to  the 
library.   lLeighUm*s  History  of  CoiaUy  qf  Fjfe,  vol.  ii.  p.  60.  | 


BoWMONT,  marquis  of,  the  second  title  of  the  duke  ot 
Roxburghe,  usually  borne  by  the  eldest  son  of  that  nobleman 
[See  EoxBUROHK,  duke  of.  J 

BoYCE,  Boys,* or  Bois,  a  surname  of  French  origin.  It 
was  originally  De  Bois  or  Du  bois,  written  latterly  as  one,  thu« 


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BOYD, 


864 


MARK  ALEXANDER. 


Dubois,  the  name  of  the  well-known  French  cardinal  It  was 
earlj  translated  in  England  into  its  Saxon  sjnonym  of  Wood, 
or  ik  Wood,  as  Anthony  A  Wood,  the  historian  of  Oxford.  But 
in  Scotland  where  the  early  French  prevailed,  long  after  it 
ceased  to  be  the  chicle  of  ^>eech  iu  England,  it  retains  nearly 
lis  original  form.  The  families  of  Boys  in  England,  of  whom 
was  Alderman  Boys,  the  patron  of  the  fine  arts  and  illustra- 
tor of  Shakspere,  is  of  Scotch  extraction.  It  was  fireqnently 
written  in  the  Latin  of  the  middle  ages  as  De  Boeco,  which 
was  at  the  same  time  its  form  in  the  Italian  and  Romanesque 
languages,  both  woi^  implying  precisely  the  same  thing.  In 
the  thirteenth  century  Sir  Andrew  de  Bosco  married  the  third 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Bisset  of  Lovat,  and  with  her,  as  there 
was  no  male  heir,  he  got  the  third  part  of  that  estate.  [See 
ante^  p.  804.]  In  1803,  when  Edward  completed  his  con- 
quest of  Scotland,  th^  castle  of  Urquhart  in  Ross-slure  was, 
by  his  forces,  afber  an  obstinate  siege,  taken  by  storm, 
and  Alexander  de  Bois,  the  governor,  and  every  person 
in  it,  except  his  wife,  who  was  then  pregnant,  were  put 
to  death.  The  child  thus  saved  by  the  pious  scnq^les  of  the 
English  proved  a  boy.,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of 
the  house  of  Forbes.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  by  Boece 
u  sufficiently  ridiculous  as  well  as  improbable,  but  in  the  ear- 
liest forms  of  the  word,  Forbas,  Forbos,  Forbois,  there  are 
nnmistakeable  confirmations  of  the  tradition  of  the  family 
descent,  which  being  then  recent,  and  affecting  his  immediate 
kinsmen,  we  cannot  suppose  Boece,  mendacious  as  he  was 
in  earlier  stoty,  to  have  been  bold  enough  to  invent  in  toto. 
[See  Forbes,  surname  of.]  In  the  *  Historical  and  Critical 
Remarks  on  the  Ragman  Roll,*  it  is  stated  that  de  Boys  was 
a  surname  peculiar  to  a  family  in  Angus,  designed  of  Pan- 
bride,  of  which  the  learned  Hector  Boethios,  Boece,  or  Boyce, 
was  a  son.    See  Boece,  Hector. 


Boyd,  a  surname  of  very  considerable  antiquity  in  Scot- 
land according  to  our  genealogical  writers.  The  first  recorded 
ancestor  of  the  Boyds,  earls  of  Kilmarnock,  was  Simon, 
brother  of  Walter,  the  first  high  steward  of  Scotland,  and 
youngest  son  of  Alan  the  son  of  Flathald  (the  fabulous 
Fleance  of  Shakspere)  who,  following  his  brother  mto  Scot- 
land, witnessed  his  foundation  charter  of  the  monastery  of 
Paisley  in  1160,  and  is  therein  designated  *'frater  Walteri 
filii  Alani,  dapiferi."*  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of 
Robert,  called  Boyt  or  Boyd,  from  his  fair  complexion,  the 
Celtic  word  Buidhe  signifying  fair  or  yellow.  He  died  before 
the  year  1240,  and  from  him  descended  the  various  families 
of  that  name  in  Scotland. 

But  the  account  is  not  without  its  improbabilities.  It  is 
most  unlikely  that  there  were  any  Celtic  people  around  the 
family  of  the  high  steward,  in  those  days,  of  importance  or  in- 
fluence enough  to  bestow  any  appellative  upon  his  nephew,^t 
being  known,  according  to  Lord  Lindsay,  that  the  Norman 
barons  surrounded  themselves  exclusively  with  their  own 
families  and  dependents,  and  in  the  case  of  the  stewards  this 
Is  proved  by  the  De  Nizes — ancestors  of  the  Dennistons— the 
Crocs  or  Croqnes — of  the  Crooks  of  Crookston  and  others, 
who  received  grants  of  land  from  that  fimily,  and  are  named 
in  the  charters  and  other  papers  relative  to  Paisley  abbey  still 
extant.  Still  less  is  it  likely  tiiat  any  appellative  bestowed 
by  a  remote  and  conquered  people  would  have  become  here- 
ditary amongst  those  haughty  diiefs.  The  fondness  of  Scot- 
tish genealogists  for  finding  Celtic  origins  for  Norman  and 
Saxon  names  proceeds  from  an  error  of  the  most  transparent 
character.  Because  Scotland  was  at  one  t\pie  peopled  by  a 
Celtic  race,  they  imagine  that  a  large  proportion  of  that  peo- 
ple must  have  been  inhabiting  the  whole  country  at  the  com- 


mencement of  Scottish  history.  But  it  is  evident  that  the 
region  between  the  Forth  and  Clyde  on  the  north,  and  the 
Tweed  and  Solway  on  the  south,  had,  with  the  exception  of 
Galloway,  by  the  conquest  of  the  Saxons,  and  afterwards  of 
the  Danes  and  Norwegians,  been  for  centuries  previous  to  the 
last  Saxon  conquest,  as  it  is  called,  in  the  possession  of  other 
races,  never  amalgamating  in  any  instance  with  the  Celtic, 
whom  they  must  therefore  have  driven  out  or  retained 
in  a  state  of  slavery.  And  in  the  Inquisition,  as  it  is 
styled,  into  the  lands  which  anciently  belonged  to  the 
bishopric  of  Glasgow,  made  during  the  government  of 
Count  David,  afterwards  David  the  First,  king  of  Scotland, 
when  that  region  was  considered  a  province  of  England— the 
most  ancient  and  authentic  historical  document  extant  of 
native  origin— this  important  fact  is  distinctly  brought  out. 
In  the  names  of  witnesses  cited  in  that  document,  moreover 
consisting  as  they  do  of  judges  of  Cumbria,  or  Lothian,  and 
other  natives,  as  in  all  the  grants  and  writings  of  that  prince 
connected  with  that  district,  there  is  not  a  Celtic  name  to  be 
found,  all  beiag  either  Saxon  or  Norman,  along  with  one  or 
two  Danish  or  Norwe^an  names,  although  this  occurred  at 
a  period  anterior  to  the  settlement  of  Alan,  the  founder  of 
the  Stewards,  in  that  country.  It  is  to  be  noted  still  further 
that  amongst  the  Saxon  names  of  witnesses  occurs  that  of 
Boed  or  Boyd,  as  a  person  of  some  consequence  at  that  time. 
It  may  therefore  be  less  improbable  to  suppose  that  the  name 
is  derived  from  a  descendant  of  this  individual,  and  who  may 
afterwards  have  become  connected  by  marriage  with  the 
family  of  the  Steward. 

The  lands  of  Kilmamock,  Bondington,  and  Hertschaw, 
which  belonged  to  John  de  Baliol,  and  other  lands  in  Ayr- 
shire, were  granted  by  Robert  the  Bruce  to  his  gallant  adher- 
ent. Sir  Robert  Boyd,  the  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  iulmamock. 
See  Kilmarnock,  earls  of. 

The  Boyds  of  Pinkhill,  and  of  Trochrig,  were  descended 
from  Adam  Boyd,  third  son  of  Alexander,  the  second  son  of 
Robert  lord  Boyd,  the  famous  chamberiain  of  Scotland  in  the 
minority  of  James  the  lliizd. 

BOYD,  Mark  Alexander,  an  extraordinary 
genias,  and  eminent  scholar  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, was  the  son  of  Robert  Boyd,  eldest  son  of 
Adam  Boyd  of  Pinkhill,  in  Ayrshire,  brother  to 
Loi-d  Boyd.  He  was  bom  in  Galloway,  Janaary 
13,  1562 ;  and  it  is  i*ecorded  of  him  that  two  of 
his  teeth  were  fully  formed  at  his  birth.  Having 
lost  his  father  early,  he  was  educated,  nnder  the 
superintendence  of  his  uncle,  James  Boyd  of 
Trochrig,  titular  archbishop  of  Glasgow,  at  the 
univei-sity  of  that  city,  where  he  was  equally  con- 
spicuous for  the  quickness  of  his  parts,  and  the 
turbulence  of  his  disposition.  At  that  period  the 
principal  of  Glasgow  college  was  the  celebrated 
Andrew  Melville,  who  sustained  the  discipline  of 
the  university  with  great  vigour  and  address.  In 
Dr.  Ii-ving's  Memoir  of  Melville,  *  Lives  of  Scot- 
tish Writers,*  it  is  stated  that  **  some  of  the  stu- 
dents connected  with  powerful  families  were  guilty 
of  most  flagrant  insubordination,  and  collected  a 


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BOYD, 


365 


MARK  ALEXANDER. 


mixed  mnltitude  to  overawe  the  principal  and  the 
rector.  Two  of  those  delinqaents  were  Mark  Al- 
exander Bojdf  related  to  the  noble  familj  of  thai 
name,  and  Alexander  Cunningham,  related  to  the 
earl  of  Glencairo,  who  both  proceeded  to  acts  of 
outrageous  violence,  and  being  svpperted  by  many 
other  disorderly  youths,  a»  well  as  by  many  ad- 
lierents  of  their  respective  families,  were  at  first 
disposed  to  set  all  academical  authority  at  open 
defiance.  Cunningham,  who  had  assaulted  J. 
Melville  with  a  drawn  sword,  was  finally  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  making  a  public  and  humiliat- 
ing apology,  with  his  feet  as  well  as  his  head  un- 
covered. John  Maxwell,  a  son  of  Lord  Herries, 
had  likewise  been  implicated  in  some  very  disor- 
derly proceedings;  but  when  his  father  was  in- 
formed of  his  conduct,  he  hastened  to  Glasgow, 
aiid  compelled  him  on  his  knees,  and  in  an  open 
area  of  the  college,  to  beg  the  principal's  pardon." 
We  know  not  what  was  Boyd's  punishment,  but, 
impetuous  and  headstrong,  it  is  not  likely  that  he 
would  submit  to  ask  forgiveness.  We  are  told 
that  he  was  of  so  untractable  a  spirit  that  he 
quarrelled  with  his  preceptors,  beat  them  both, 
threw  his  books  into  the  fire,  and  forswore  learn- 
ing for  ever  1  While  yet  a  mere  youth,  he  pre 
sented  himself  at  court,  in  hopes  of  obtaining  ad- 
vancement there,  but  the  violence  of  his  temper 
Involved  him  in  numberless  quurrels,  and  after 
fightmg  a  duel,  his  friends  persuaded  him  to  go 
abroad,  and  follow  the  profession  of  arms.  He 
accordingly  proceeded  in  1581  to  Paris,  where  he 
lost  all  his  money  in  gaming,  which  seems  to  have 
roused  him  at  last  to  i*eflection.  He  now  applied 
himself  to  his  studies  with  all  his  characteristic 
ardour ;  attending  the  lectures  of  sevei'al  profes- 
sors in  the  university  of  Paris.  After  some  time 
he  went  to  the  university  of  Orleans  to  leaiii  the 
civil  law,  under  J.  Robertus,  chiefly  known  for  his 
temerity  in  becoming  the  rival  of  the  celebrated 
Cnjacius.  Boyd  soon  quitted  Orleans  for  Bour- 
ges,  where  Cujacius,  the  principal  civilian  of  the 
age,  delivered  his  lectures.  To  this  professor  he 
recommended  himself  by  writing  some  verses  in 
the  antiquated  Latin  language,  Cnjacius  having  a 
preference  for  Ennius  and  the  elder  Latin  poets. 
The  plague  having  broken  out  at  Bourges,  he  fled 
first  to  Lyons,  and  afterwards  to  Italy,  where  he 


contracted  a  friendship  with  a  person  whom  he 
names  Comeliis  Yams,  who,  finding  that  Boyd 
prided  himself  ob  the  excellence  of  his  Latin  poe- 
try,, addressed  some  verses  to*  him,  in  which  he 
declares  that  he  excelled  Buchanan  and  all  other 
British  poets  in  a  greater  degree  than  Virgil  sur- 
passed Lucretius,  Catullus,  and  all  other  Roman 
poets.  Having  been  seized  with  an  ague,  he  re- 
turned' to  Lyons  for  change  of  air,  about  the  year 
1585.  In  1587  he  served  in  the  French  army 
against  the  Grerman  and  Swiss  mercenaries  who 
had  invaded  France  in  support  of  the  king  of  Na- 
varre ;  and  during  the  campaign  he  was  wounded 
by  a  shot  in  the  ankle.  In  1588  he  went  to  reside 
at  Toulouse,  and  again  applied  himself  to  the  stu- 
dy of  the  civil  law,  under  Roaldes,  an  eminent 
professor.  About  this  period  he  seems  to  have 
written  several  tracts  on  the  science  of  jurispru- 
dence, and  he  even  had  it  in  view  to  compose  a 
system  of  the  law  of  nations.  A  popular  insurrec- 
tion having  taken  place  at  Toulouse,  in  which  the 
first  President  Duranty,  the  Advocate-General 
Dafis,  and  several  other  persons,  were  murdered, 
Boyd  was  thrown  into  prison,  and,  from  the  ha- 
tred of  the  Jesuits,  was  in  great  danger  of  his  life. 
He  obtained  his  liberty,  however,  by  the  interces- 
sion of  some  leanied  men  of  Toulouse,  and  went 
flret  to  Bourdeaux,  and  thence  to  Rochelle.  On 
the  journey  to  the  latter  place,  he  was  attacked 
by  robbera,  when  he  lost  all  the  property  he  had 
with  him.  He  afterwards,  in  consequence  of  the 
climate  of  Rochelle  disagreeing  with  him,  fixed  hij» 
residence  in  Fontenay  in  Poictou,  where  he  de- 
voted much  of  his  time  to  study,  occasionally  re- 
suming the  avocation  of  a  soldier.  About  the 
year  1591  he  seems  to  have  had  an  intention  of 
reading  lectures  on  the  civil  law ;  and  the  heads  of 
his  prelections  on  the  Institutes  of  Justinian  are 
still  preserved  among  his  other  papers  in  the  Ad- 
vocates' Library.  In  1592  a  collection  of  his 
poems  and  epistles  was  printed  at  Antwerp  in 
12mo,  which  he  dedicated  to  James  the  Sixth, 
whom  he  represented  as  superior  to  Pallas  in  wis- 
dom, and  to  Mars  in  arms!  The  dedication  had 
been  originally  intended  for  another  person  who 
had  really  distinguished  himself  in  war,  but  the 
name  was  afterwards  altered,  and  that  of  the 
king  substituted  in  its  place,  while  the  dedicatiou 


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366 


ROBERT. 


itself  was  allowed  to  remain  as  originally  written. 
Boyd*s  own  vanity  was  very  great,  and  it  is  said 
that  he  assnmed  the  name  of  Alexander  from  its 
being  more  pompous  than  his  own  name  of  Mark. 

In  1595,  while  preparing  to  return  to  Scotland, 
he  received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  elder 
brother  William,  for  whom  he  entertained  a  sin- 
cere regard.  On  his  return  home,  after  a  lapse  of 
fourteen  years,  he  undertook  to  accompany  the 
earl  of  Oassillis  in  a  tour  to  the  continent,  as  his 
travelling  preceptor,  and  having  completed  that 
engagement,  he  finally  revisited  his  native  coun- 
try, where  he  died  at  his  father's  seat  in  Ayrshire, 
of  a  slow  fever,  April  10,  1601,  in  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  age:  A  sketch  of  his  life,  written  by 
Lord  Hailes,  was  published  in  1783,  with  a  por- 
trait. Boyd  is  said  to  have  been  able  to  dictate 
at  once,  in  three  diffei-ent  languages,  to  three 
amanuenses.  He  was  the  author  of  Notes  upon 
Pliny,  and  published  an  excellent  little  book,  ad- 
dressed to  Lipsius,  in  defence  of  Cardinal  Bembo, 
and  the  ancient  eloquence.  He  translated  Csssar's 
Commentaries  into  Greek,  in  the  style  of  Herodo- 
tus. He  also  wrote  in  Latin,  epistles  after  the 
manner  of  Ovid,  and  a  work  called  *Hyrani,' 
which  is  not  hymns,  as  might  be  supposed,  but  a 
description  of  different  plants  and  shrubs.  He  left 
many  Latin  poems,  which  have  not  been  printed, 
and  several  manuscripts  on  philological,  political, 
and  historical  subjects,  in  Latin  and  French,  in 
which  he  also  cultivated  poetry.  These  manu- 
scripts, an  exact  list  of  which  is  given  by  Loi*d 
Hailes,  in  his  life  of  Boyd,  are  preserved  in  the 
Advocates*  Library.  His  *Epistol«  Heroidum,' 
and  his  *  Hymni,*  wei*e  inserted  in  the  *  Deliciae 
Poetarum  Scotorum,'  printed  at  Amstei^am,  in 
two  volumes  12mo,  in  1687.  —  Life  by  Lord 
Hailes. 

BOYD,  Robert,  of  Trochrig,  an  eminent  di- 
vine, was  born  at  Glasgow  in  1578.  He  was  the 
son  of  James  Boyd,  titular  archbishop  of  Glasgow, 
and  the  cousin  of  the  subject  of  the  preceding 
notice.  His  mother  was  Margai*et,  daughter  of 
James  Chalmers  of  Gaitgirth,  chief  of  the  name  of 
Chahners.  After  receiving  the  rudiments  of  his 
education  at  a  grammar  school  in  Ayrshire,  he 
went  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  where  he 
took  the  degree  of  master  of  arts ;  studying  philo- 


sophy under  Mr.  Charles  Ferme,  [see  Fekmb  or 
Fairholm,  Charles,]  one  of  the  regents,  as  the 
professors  were  then  called,  and  theology  under 
the  celebrated  Robert  RoUock.  In  1604,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  times,  he  went  to  France, 
where  he  made  great  proficiency  in  learning,  par- 
ticularly in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew.  On  the 
invitation  of  the  university  of  Montauban,  he  be- 
came professor  of  philosophy  there ;  he  also  stud- 
ied divinity,  and  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the 
French  Reformed  Church  at  Verteuil.  In  1606, 
he  was  transferred  to  a  professorship  at  Saumnr, 
where  he  remained  till  1614,  officiating  also  as 
pastor  in  the  church,  and  where  he  maiTied  a  lady 
of  the  family  of  Malivera. 

The  fame  of  his  learning  having  attracted  the 
notice  of  his  sovereign,  James  the  Furst  of  Eng- 
land, his  majesty  sent  for  him,  and  appointed  him . 
professor  of  divinity  and  principal  of  the  university 
of  Glasgow.  He  entered  on  his  new  duties  in 
1615,  and  in  1617,  when  ELing  James  visited 
Glasgow,  Boyd,  as  principal  of  the  college,  deliv- 
ered a  congratulatory  speech,  which,  as  usual  in 
that  age,  was  highly  encomiastic.  As  principal, 
he  was  required  to  teach  alternately  theology  one 
day,  and  Syriac  the  next ;  also  to  preach  on  Son- 
day  in  the  parish  chuix^h  of  Govan,  near  Glasgow, 
the  temporalities  of  the  rectory  and  vicarage  of 
which  had  been  annexed,  with  the  condition  of 
preaching,  to  the  principalis  chair.  Although  he 
had  thus  apparently  not  much  time  to  prepare  his 
lectures,  which  were  delivered  in  Latin,  as  cos- 
tomaiy  at  that  period,  he  "  uttered  them,"  says 
Wodrow,  "  in  a  continued  discourse,  without  any 
hesitation,  and  with  as  much  ease  and  freedom  of 
speech,  as  the  most  eloquent  divine  is  wont  to  de- 
liver his  sermons  in  his  mother- tongue."  Princi- 
pal Baillie,  who  studied  under  Mr.  Boyd,  men- 
tions that,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  years,  the  tears, 
the  solemn  vows,  and  the  ardour  of  the  desires 
produced  by  his  Latin  prayers,  were  still  fresh  m 
his  memory. 

The  attempt  of  the  king  to  assimihite  the  pres- 
byterian  to  the  episcopalian  form  of  chmx^li  gov- 
ernment placed  Principal  Boyd  in  a  very  embar- 
rassed position.  Although  the  son  of  an  archbishop, 
and  connected  with  episcopalian  families,  he  was 
strongly  attached  to  the  pi-csbyterian  church ;  and 


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BOYD, 


867 


ZACHARY. 


finding  that  he  could  not  consistently  with  his 
principles  retain  his  situation,  having  refused  to 
comply  with  the  five  Perth  articles,  he  resigned 
the  principalship,  after  having  held  it  for  seven 
years,  and  retired  to  his  estate  of  Trochrig  in  Car- 
rick,  Ayrshire.  He  was  not,  however,  allowed  to 
remain  long  in  retirement.  In  October  1622,  he 
was  elected  principal  of  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, but  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  epis- 
copacy being  well  known,  his^arrival  in  Edinburgh 
was  the  signal  for  persecution  to  assail  him  on  the 
part  of  the  court.  Scarcely  two  months  after  his 
election  as  principal,  **  upon  the  23d  of  December 
1622,"  says  Calderwood,  "the  provost,  baillies, 
and  counsel  of  Edinburgh,  were  challenged  by  a 
letter  fi*om  the  king,  for  admitting  Mr.  Robert 
Boyde  to  be  principal  of  their  college ;  and  com- 
mandit  them  to  urge  him  to  conforme,  or  to  re- 
move him.  They  sent  to  court  to  the  courteour 
who  sent  the  challenge  in  the  king's  name,  and 
desired  him  to  intreate  the  king  not  to  take  in  ill 
part  Mr.  Robert's  admission,  in  respect  of  his  gifts 
and  peaceable  disposition  "  [CaldertvootTs  His- 
tory,  vol.  vii.  p.  666.]  **  Upon  the  last  of  Januar, 
the  provost,  baillies,  and  counsel  of  Edinburgh 
were  commandit  of  new  again  to  urge  Mr.  Robert 
Boyd  with  conformitie ;  and  if  he  refused,  to  re- 
move hun,  his  wife,  and  familie,  out  of  the  touu. 
The  king's  words,  answeiring  to  their  foi*mer  let- 
ter of  recommendation,  were  these  following :  '  On 
the  contrarie,  we  thinke  his  biding  there  will  doe 
much  evill,  and,  therefore,  as  ye  will  answeir  to 
ns  on  your  obedience,  we  command  you  to  put 
him,  not  onlie  from  his  office,  but  out  of  your 
toun,  at  the  sight  heireof,  unlesse  he  conform  to- 
tallie.  And  when  ye  have  done,  thinke  not  this 
sufficient  to  satisfy  our  wratlie  for  disobedience  to 
our  former  letter.'  Mr.  Robert  was  sent  for  to 
the  counsel.  Tlie  king's  will  was  intimate  to  him, 
which  the  coimsel  said  they  wolde  not  withstand. 
Mr.  Robert  qnitt  his  place,  and  tooke  his  leave." 
llbid.  p.  569.]  He  again  retired  to  his  estate, 
and  was  ordered  to  confine  himself  within  the 
bounds  of  Camck.  He  was  subsequently  minis- 
t4»r  of  Paisley,  but  soon  left  it,  in  consequence  of 
a  disagreement  with  the  countess  of  Abercom, 
who  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic.  He  died  at 
Edinburgh,  whither  he  had  gone  for  medical  ad- 


vice, or,  as  others  say,  at  Trochrig,  January  6, 
1627,  aged  forty-eight.  From  an  original  portrait 
of  Principal  Boyd  in  the  university  of  Glasgow, 
an  engraving  was  published  by  Pinkerton,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  woodcut 


An  interesting  life  of  Robert  Boyd  of  Trochrig, 
from  the  original  manuscript  in  the  Wodrow  col- 
lections in  the  Glasgow  university  library,  was 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  Mait- 
land  Club  of  that  city.    His  works  are : 

A  Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesinna,  written  in 
elegant  Latin,  and  published  nnder  the  title  of  "  Roberti 
Bodii  Scoti,  Pralectiones  m  Epistolam  ad  Ephesios."  Lon- 
don, 1662,  folio;  a  work  which  shows  him  to  have  been  well 
acquainted  with  the  whole  body  of  divinity.  Prefixed  is  a 
Memoir  of  the  Anthor,  by  Dr.  Rivet,  the  errors  in  which 
Wodrow  has  corrected. 

Monita  de  filil  siu  primo  geniti  Institutione,  8vo,  pablishe<i 
in  1701,  from  the  antWs  manuscripts,  by  Dr.  Robert  Sibbald. 

He  also  wrote  some  Latin  poems.  Of  these  the  *  Heca- 
tombe  ad  Christum,'  dedicated  to  his  cousin,  Andrew  Boyd, 
bbhop  of  Argyle,  and  an  ode  to  Dr.  Sibbald,  are  preserved  in 
the  ^DelicisB  Poetarum  Scotorum,'  and  in  the  *Poetarum 
Scotorum  Musie  Sacrse.'  A  laudatory  poem  on  King  James 
by  him  will  be  found  in  Adamson's  *  Muses  Welcome.'  Ex- 
tracts from  his  *  Philotheca,'  a  kind  of  obituary,  which,  with 
sermons  in  English  and  French,  had  remained  in  manuscript 
in  ponession  of  the  family  of  Trochrig,  have  been  printed  in 
the  second  part  of  the  Miscellany  of  the  Bannntyne  Club. 

BOYD,  Zachapy,  an  eniinent  divine  of  tha 


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ZACHARr. 


seventeenth  centttrj,  was  born  before  1590.  He 
was  descended  from  tbe  Boyds  of  Pinkhill  in  Ayr- 
shire, and  was  cousin  of  Mr.  Andrew  Boyd,  bishop 
of  Argyle,  and  of  the  subject  of  the  preceding  ar- 
ticle. After  being  taught  the  rudiments  of  his 
education  at  the  school  of  Krimamock,  he  entered 
upon  his  studies  at  the  umversity  of  Glasgow. 
About  1607  he  went  to  France,  and  became  a 
student  at  the  university  of  Saumur  under  his 
cousin  Robert  Boyd  of  Trochrig.  In  1611  he  was 
appointed  a  regent  in  that  university,  and  is  said 
to  have  declined  the  principalship,  which  was  of- 
fered to  him. 

He  spent  sixteen  years  in  France,  during  four 
of  which  he  was  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  In  1621 
the  persecutions  to  which  the  protestants  in  that 
country  were  subjected  compelled  him  to  i-etura  to 
Scotland.  He  resided  at  first  privately  at  Edin- 
burgh, with  Dr.  Sibbald  the  physician,  and  after- 
wards he  lived  successively  with  Sir  William  Scott 
of  Elie,  and  the  marquis  and  marchioness  of  Ham- 
ilton at  Kinniel.  In  1623  he  was  appointed  min- 
ister of  the  Barony  parish,  Glasgow,  where  he 
continned  till  his  death.  In  1629  he  published 
his  principal  prose  work,  entitled  '  The  Last  Bat- 
tell  of  the  Soule,^  dedicated  to  ^^  the  most  sacred 
and  most  mightie  monarch,"  Charles  the  Firet,  in 
a  prose  address,  and  also  in  a  poetical  one.  These 
were  followed  by  a  dedication  in  French  to  Queen 
Henrietta. 

His  poetical  address,  *  Ad  Carolura  Regem,'  is 
short,  and  may  be  quoted  here : — 

"  This  life,  0  Prince,  ia  like  a  raging  sea, 
Where  firoathy  mounts  are  heaved  up  on  hie; 
Onr  painted  jojs  in  blinks  that  are  fnl  warme, 
Are,  like  raine-bowes,  foremnnere  of  a  storme; 
All  flesh  with  giiefe  is  prickt  within,  without, 
Crownes  cane  cares,  and  compasse  them  about. 
Your  state  is  great,  your  place  is  high :  What  tlien  ? 
God  calls  you  gods,  but  je  shall  die  like  men.** 

Ml*.  Boyd's  feelings  of  loyalty  and  devotion  to 
his  sovereign  were  very  strong.  In  1633,  when 
Charles  the  First  came  to  Scotland  to  be  crowned, 
he  happened  to  meet  his  majesty  the  day  after  the 
coronation  in  tlie  porch  of  Holyrood  Palace,  when 
he  addressed  the  king  in  a  Latin  oration  full  of 
the  most  loyal  and  laudatory  sentiments.  In  1634 
he  was  elected  re  5tor  of  the  university  of  Glasgow ; 


also  in  1635,  and  again  in  1645.  When  tbe  at- 
tempt to  impose  episcopacy  upon  Scotland,  and  the 
violent  and  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  govern 
ment,  led  to  the  signing  of  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,  Mr.  Boyd  and  the  other  members  of 
Glasgow  college  at  first  refused  to  subscribe  it, 
deeming  it  preferable  to  yield  something  to  the 
wishes  of  the  sovereign.  He  afterwards  found  it 
expedient,  with  most  of  his  colleagues,  to  sign  the 
national  document,  tp' which  he  faithfully  adhered; 
although  he  did  not,  like  some  of  his  brother- 
divines,  engage  actively  in  the  subsequent  militaiy 
transactions.  The  fight  at  Newburnford,  August 
28,  1640,  by  which  the  Scottish  army  gained  pos- 
session of  Newcastle,  was  conmiemorated  by  him 
ra  a  poem  of  sixteen  8vo  pages,  but  the  versifica- 
tion of  this  piece  is  veiy  homely,  and  in  some  parts 
it  approaches  even  the  burlesque.  In  1643  he 
published  his  ^Crosses,  Comforts,  and  Councels, 
needfuU  to  be  considered,  and  carefuUie  to  be  laid 
up  in  the  hearts  of  the  Godlie,  in  these  boysterous 
broilesr  and  bloody  times.' 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Scottish  forces  at  Dan- 
bar,  in  September  1650,  Cromwell  visited  Glas- 
gow. Mr.  Boyd  had  the  courage  to  remain,  when 
the  magistrates  and  other  persons  of  influence  had 
left  the  city  v  and,  in  preaching  before  the  protec- 
tor, he  bearded  him  and  his  soldiers  to  their  veiy 
faces.  "  Cromwell,"  says  Baillie,  "  with  the  whole 
body  of  his  army,  comes  peaceably  to  Glasgow. 
The  magistrates  and  ministers  all  fled  away;  I 
got  to  the  isle  of  Cumray  with  my  Lady  Mont- 
gomery, but  left  all  my  family  and  goods  to  Crom- 
well's  courtesy,  which  indeed  was  great,  for  he 
took  such  measures  with  the  soldiers  that  they  did 
less  displeasure  at  Glasgow  than  if  they  had  been 
at  London,  though  Mr.  Zachary  Boyd  railed  on 
them  all  to  their  veiy  face  in  the  High  Church." 
His  allusions  and  reproaches  were  so  bitter,  that 
one  of  Cromwell's  officers,  said  to  be  Tbnrloe  his 
secretary,  is  reported  to  have  asked  the  protector, 
in  a  whisper,  for  pei*mission  "  to  pistol  the  scoun- 
drel."— "No,  no,"  said  Cromwell,  "  we  will  man- 
age him  in  another  way."  He  invited  Mr.  Boyd 
to  dinner,  and  gained  his  respect  by  the  fervour  of 
the  devotions  in  which  he  spent  the  evening,  and 
which,  it  is  said,  continned  till  thi-ee  o'clock  next 
moming  1 


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BOYD, 


369 


ZACHARY. 


Mr.  Boyd  died  abont  the  end  of  1653,  or  the 
beginning  of  1654,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
Donald  Caigili.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  com- 
pleted an  extensive  manoscript  work,  bearing  the 
title  of '  The  Notable  Places  of  the  Scripture  ex- 
pounded/ at  the  conclusion  of  which  is  added, 
"  Hcere  the  author  was  ueere  his  end,  and  was 
able  to  do  no  more,  March  3,  1653." 

He  was  twice  married.  His  fii-st  wife  was 
named  Elizabeth  Fleming,  and  his  second  Marga- 
ret Mure,  the  third  daughter"  of  William  Mure  of 
Glanderston,  Renfrewshire,  who,  surviving  him, 
took  for  her  second  husband  Mr.  James  Durham, 
author  of  the  Commentary  on  the  Revelation.  A 
traditional  anecdote  says  that  when  he  was  mak- 
ing his  will,  his  wife  requested  him  to  leave  some- 
thing to  Mr.  Durham.  "  No,  no,  Margaret,"  was 
his  reply,  "  I'll  lea'  him  naething  but  thy  bonnic 
ser."  Another  version  runs  in  this  sarcastic 
strain,  **ril  lea*  him  what  I  cannot  keep  frac 
him."  Mr.  Boyd  had  amassed  a  considerable 
amount  of  property,  which  he  divided,  by  his  will, 
between  his  widow  and  the  college  of  Glasgow. 
The  sum  he  bequeathed  to  the  college  amounted 
to  twenty  thousand  pounds  Scots,  equal  to 
about  sixteen  hundred  pounds  sterling,  no  small 
sum  in  those  days.  The  college  also  got  his 
library  and  manuscript  compositions.  His  bust, 
with  an  inscription,  commemorative  of  these  dona- 
tions, ornaments  the  gateway  of  the  university, 
and  the  divinity  hall  of  the  college  contains  his 
portrait,  an  eifgi-aving  of  which  is  given  in  Pinker- 
ton's  collection.  On  next  column  is  a  woodcut  of 
it.  During  his  life  he  published  nineteen  works, 
chiefly  of  a  religious  cast,  but  none  of  them  very 
large.  A  list  of  them  is  subjoined.  His  maim- 
script  productions,  eighty -three  in  number,  are 
principally  comprised  within  thirteen  small  4to 
volumes,  written  in  a  very  close  hand,  and  appear 
to  have  been  prepared  for  the  press.  Besides 
these  there  are  three  others  in  manuscript,  entitled 
*  Zion*8  Flowers,  or  Christian  Poems  for  Spiritual 
Edification,'  2  vols.  4to.  ^  The  English  Academic 
containing  Precepts  and  Purpose  for  the  Weal 
both  of  Soul  and  Body,  divided  into  Tliirtie  and 
one  dayes  exercise,*  12mo. ;  and  'The  Four  Evan- 
gels in  English  verse,*  12mo.  These  are  all  de- 
posited in  the  library  of  the  College  of  Glasgow. 


Mr.  Neil,  in  his  life  of  Boyd,  prefixed  to  a 
new  edition  of  his  'Last  Battell  of  the  Soule, 
published  at  Glasgow  in  1831,  says:  —  "Mr. 
Boyd  appeal's  to  have  been  a  scholar  of  very 
considerable  leamhig.  He  composed  in  Latin, 
and  his  qualifications  in  that  language  may  be 
deemed  respectable.  His  works  also  bear  the 
evidence  of  his  having  been  possessed  of  a  criti- 
cal knowledge  of  the  Gi*eek,  Hebrew,  and  other 
languages.  As  a  prose  writer,  he  will  bear  com- 
parison with  any  of  the  Scottish  divines  of  the 
same  age.  He  is  superior  to  Rutherford,  and,  in 
general,  more  grammatically  correct  than  even 
Baillie  himself,  who  was  justly  esteemed  a  very 
learned  man.  His  style  may  be  considered  excel- 
lent for  the  period.  Of  his  characteristics  as  a 
writer,  his  originality  of  thought  is  particularly 
striking.  He  discusses  many  of  his  subjects  with 
spirit  and  ingenuity,  and  there  is  much  which  must 
be  acknowledged  as  flowing  from  a  vigorous  intel- 
lect, and  a  fervid  and  poetical  imagination.  Tliis 
latter  tendency  of  his  genius  is  at  all  times  awake, 
and  from  which  may  be  inferred  his  taste  for  me- 
taphor, and  love  of  colouring,  so  conspicuous  in 
his  writings.    One  of  his  most  popular  attempts  to 

render  himself  seiTiceablc  to  his  country  was  in  pre* 
2  a 


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BOYD, 


870 


ZACHARY. 


paling  a  poetical  version  uf  the  Book  of  Psalms  for 
the  use  of  the  church.    It  had  been  previous  to 

1646  that  he  engaged  in  this,  as  the  Assembly  of 

1647  when  appointing  a  Committee  to  examine 
Hous's  version,  which  had  been  transmitted  to 
them  by  the  Assembly  at  Westminster,  recom- 
mended them  to  avail  themselves  of  the  Psalter  of 
Rowallan,  and  of  Mr.  Zachary  Boyd,  and  of  any 
other  poetical  writers/  It  is  further  particularly 
recommended  to  Mr.  Zachary  Boyd  *  to  translate 
the  other  Scriptural  Songs  in  metre,  and  to  report 
his  travails  therein  to  the  Commission  of  that 
Assembly,  that  after  examination  thereof  they 
may  send  the  same  to  the  pre8b}'terie8,  to  be  there 
considered  until  the  next  General  Assembly.'  Mr. 
Boyd  complied  with  this  request,  as  the  Assembly, 
August  10, 1648,  *  recommends  to  Mr.  John  Adam- 
son  and  Mr.  Thomas  Crawfurd  to  revise  the 
labours  of  Mr.  Zacharj-  Boyd  upon  the  other  Scrip- 
ture Songs,  and  to  prepare  a  report  thereof  to  the 
said  Commission  for  publick  affairs;'  who,  it  is 
probable,  had  never  given  in  any  '  report  of  their 
labours.'  Of  his  vei'sion,  Baillie  had  not  enter- 
tained a  high  opinion,  as  he  says,  *  our  good  friend, 
Mr.  Zachary  Boyd,  has  put  himself  to  a  great  deal 
of  pains  and  charges  to  make  a  Psalter,  but  I  ever 
warned  him  his  hopes  were  groundless  to  get  it 
received  in  our  churches,  yet  the  flatteries  of  his 
unadvised  neighbours  made  him  insist  in  his  fruit- 
less design.'  There  seems  to  have  been  a  party 
who  did  not  undervalue  Mr.  Boyd's  labours  quite 
so  much  as  Baillie,  and  who,  if  possible,  were  deter- 
mined to  carry  their  point,  as,  according  to  Baillie's 
statement,  *  The  Psalms  were  often  revised,  and 
sent  to  presbyteries,'  and,  ^had  it  not  been  for  some 
who  had  more  regard  than  needed  to  Mr.  Zacha- 
ry Boyd's  Psalter,  I  think  they  (that  is,  Rous's 
version)  had  passed  through  in  the  end  of  last  As- 
sembly :  but  these,  with  almost  all  the  references 
from  the  former  Assemblies,  were  remitted  to  the 
next.'  On  23d  November  1649,  Rous's  version, 
revised  and  improved,  was  sanctioned  by  the  Com- 
mission with  authority  of  the  General  Assembly, 
and  any  other  discharged  from  being  used  in  the 
churches,  or  in  families.  Mr.  Boyd  was  thus  de- 
prived of  the  honour  to  which  he  aspired  with 
some  degree  of  zeal,  and  it  must  have  been  to 
liimaelf  and  friends  a  source  of  considerable  dis- 


appointment. Among  other  works,  he  produced 
two  volumes,  under  the  title  of  *  Zion's  Flowers, 
or  Christian  Poems  for  Spirituall  lEkliflcation,'  and 
it  is  these  which  are  usually  shown  as  his  Bible, 
and  have  received  that  designation.  These  vol- 
umes consist  of  a  collection  of  poems  on  select 
subjects  in  Scripture  history,  such  as  that  of  Josi- 
ah,  Jephtha,  David  and  Goliath,  &c.,  rendered 
into  the  dramatic  form,  in  which  various  *  speak- 
ers'  are  introduced,  and  where  the  prominent  &cts 
of  the  Scripture  narrative  are  brought  forward  aod 
amplifled.  We  have  a  pretty  close  -parallel  to 
these  poems  in  the  'Ancient  Mysteries'  of  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  and  in  the  sa- 
cred dramas  of  some  modem  writers."  In  this 
work  there  are  some  homely  and  even  ludicrous 
passages,  but  a  fine  strain  of  devotional  feeliog 
pervades  the  poetry  of  which  the  two  volumes  are 
composed. 

As  a  specimen,  a  portion  of  Abraham's  Solilo- 
quy when  about  to  offer  up  Isaac  as  a  sacrifice, 
may  be  quoted : 

"  That  hiirs  the  place  where,  with  this  bloody  knife, 
I  must  bereave  mine  Isaac  of  his  life; 
That  hill's  the  place,  where  fire  of  flaming  hot 
Shall  Isaac  bam,  when  I  have  cat  his  throat; 
That  hiirs  the  place,  iqipointed  by  and  by, 
Where  8laagbter*d  Isaac  shall  in  ashes  lye; 
That  hill*8  the  pUoe,  where  as  a  sacrifice 
Mine  Isaac  shall  be  tome,  a  bloody  guise; 
That  hnrs  the  place,  where  I  anone  most  spill 
Mine  Isaac's  blood,  and  make  it  downe  to  trill; 
That  hill's  the  place,  whence  fearefull  grief  and  smart 
Shall  rent  m  pieces  my  poor  Sarah's  heart ; 
That  hill's  the  place,  whence  to  the  whirling  pole, 
Shan  now  depart  of  mine  Isaac  the  aoole ; 
That  bill's  the  place,  where  Isaac  by  and  by, 
Burnt  in  a  fire  shall  all  in  ashes  lye. 

But  all  those  thoughts  not  move  or  trouble  mee, 
I  mind  my  Lord  t'obey  most  chearfollie ; 
And  to  doe  more  if  he  command  me  farther, 
Hee  steeles  my  faith  soe  that  I  doe  net  stagger. 
All  one  hand  mercy,  and  might  at  the  other, 
Doe  hmdcr  doubts,  which  here  my  faith  might  smother 
A  Ood  of  mercy  hee  hath  beene  to  me*, 
Him  to  obey  I  will  still  ready  bee. 

To  mee  it  is,  as  a  most  glorious  treasure. 
To  doe  for  God  what  is  to  him  a  pleasare. 
If  for  his  sake  wee  chearfull  beare  a  croflse. 
He  by  his  grace  can  soone  make  up  our  losse 


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BOYD, 


371 


ZACHARY. 


I  of  his  might  or  meroj  doe  not  neede 

To  doubt  hee  can  him  raise  op  from  the  dead. 

My  faith  which  I  as  breast  plate  now  pat  on, 

Is  perell  proof  agamst  affliction. 

God  in  this  sea,  a  pilot  wise,  can  steere, 

Mj  tosaed  pinnace,  to  her  wished  peere. 

At  his  command  lie  doe  as  hee  hath  said. 

With  Isaao^s  blood  I  will  now  glat  my  blade; 

His  6eeh  and  bones  He  on  the  altar  borne. 

When  that  is  done  Fie  to  my  hoose  retnme.** 

Jonah^s  soiiloqay  within  the  whale's  belly  is 
more  graphic,  and  thongh  some  of  the  images  may 
appear  Indicrons,  the  piece  is  marked  by  a  strong 
religious  spirit  which  goes  far  to  redeem  it. 

**  I  did  rebeU;  heere  is  my  day  of  doome, 
Feasts  dainty  seeme  nntill  th»  reckHiing  come ; 
Alas!  too  late  it  now  repenteth  mee 

That  I  refused  to  go  to  Nineve. 

•  ••••• 

Here  apprehended  I  in  prison  ly ; 

What  goods  will  ransom  my  captivity? 

What  hoose  is  this,  whereas  neither  coal  nor  candle, 

Where  I  nothing  hot  gats  of  fishes  handle? 

I  and  my  table  are  both  here  within. 

Where  day  neere  dawned,  where  sonne  did  never  shine. 

The  like  of  this  on  earth  man  never  saw, 

A  living  man  within  a  monstei's  maw. 

Boxied  onder  moontams  which  are  high  and  steep, 

Plong*d  onder  waters  hnndreth  fathoms  deep. 

Not  so  was  Noah  in  his  hoose  of  tree, 

For  throogh  a  window  he  the  light  did  see ; 

He  saOed  above  the  hij^est  waves — a  wonder; 

I  and  my  boat  are  all  the  waters  onder; 

Hee  in  his  ark  might  goe  and  also  oome. 

Bat  I  sit  still  in  soch  a  straitened  roome 

As  is  most  oncoothe,  head  and  feet  together, 

Among  soch  grease  as  would  a  thoosand  smother. 

I  find  no  way  now  for  my  shrinking  hence, 

Bot  heere  to  lie  and  die  for  mine  ofience. 

Eight  prisoners  were  in  Noah*B  hoik  together 

Comfortable  they  were,  each  one  to  other. 

In  all  the  earth  like  onto  me  is  none, 

Far  firom  all  living,  I  heere  lye  alone. 

This  grieves  me  most,  that  I  for  grievoos  sin, 

Inearc*rd  ly  within  this  floating  In; 

Within  this  cave  my  heart  with  griefe  is  gall'd, 

Lord  hears  the  sighes  fix>m  my  heart's  centre  hal*d; 

Thoo  know*st  how  long  I  have  been  in  this  womb, 

A  living  man,  within  a  living  tomb. 

Oh!  what  a  lod^g!  wilt  thoo  m  these  vaolts, 

As  m  a  HeU  most  dark  correct  my  faohs; 

I  neither  kno  when  day  doth  shine,  or  night 

Comes  for  my  rest,  Fm  so  deprived  of  sight, 


Though  that  the  jodgmenfs  oncouth  sore,  I  shar% 
I  of  God's  goodneese  never  will  deepaire.** 

Mr.  Boyd's  printed  works  are: 

A  Clear  Exposition  of  the  Institotion  of  the  Lord's  Sopper. 

A  Compend  of  the  Bible. 

The  Water  of  the  Well  of  Life,  John  6,  v.  85. 

These  three  works  are  mentioned  by  the  anthor  in  his 
MSS.  as  published,  the  latter  printed  at  Glasgow,  May  1660. 

A  Small  Catechism  on  the  Principles  of  Beligion.    ISmo. 

Two  Sermons  for  the  use  of  thoee  who  are  to  come  to  the 
table  of  the  Lord,  with  diverse  prayers,  fit  for  the  necessities 
of  the  Saincts  at  divers  occasions.     Edin.  1629,  8vo. 

Two  Orientall  Pearles — Grace  and  Glory,  the  Godly  man's 
choice,  and  a  oordiall  of  comforts,  for  a  wearied  Soole.  Edin. 
1629,  8vo.  Reprinted  at  Edin.  1718.  Dedicated  to  James, 
Marqois  of  Hamilton,  Ac 

The  Last  Battell  of  the  Soule  in  Death.  Dioided  into 
Eight  Conferences,  whereby  are  shewne  the  dioerse  skirmishes 
that  are  betweene  the  Soole  of  Man  on  his  Deathbedde,  and 
the  enemies  of  oor  saloation.  Carefiillie  digested  for  the 
comfort  of  the  Sicke.  *  I  live  to  die  that  I  may  die  to  live.' 
2  vols.  8vo.  Edin.,  1629.  New  edition,  edited  by  Gabriel 
Neil,  with  a  biographical  sketch  of  the  aothor,  and  some  ao- 
coont  of  his  manoscript  works,  and  portrait,  2  vols,  in  one. 
Gbsgow,  1881,  8vo. 

Oratio  Panegyrica,  Ad  Carol vm  Magna  Britanniie,  Fran- 
cis, et  Uibem.  Kegcm  Dwina  veritatis  propugmUorem, 
halnta  k  Zacharia  Bodio,  Glasgoensis  Ecclesis  Pastore,  horft 
secnndA  pomeridiana  in  Regiaporticu  Ccendbii  iomcta  crucii^ 
17  die  Jomi,  1688,  pridle  illios  diei  qoo  sacrom  Regis  oapot 
dnxit  aoreom  ScotiiB  Diadema. — Regis  ipeios  jossu  pndo 
oommissa,  4to.    Edin.,  1633. 

The  Bahn  of  Gilead  prepared  for  the  Sicke.  The  whole  is 
divided  into  8  parts:  1.  The  Sicke  man's  sore;  2.  The  Sicke 
man's  salve;  8.  The  Sicke  man's  song.    Edin.  1688,  8vo. 

The  Song  of  Moses,  in  6  parts,  Edin.,  1635,  8vo;  ascribed 
to  Mr.  Boyd,  bot  published  withoot  his  name. 

Foor  Letters  of  Comfortes  for  the  Deaths  of  the  Earl  ok 
Haddingtoone  and  the  Lord  Boyd,  with  two  Epitaphs,  Glas- 
gow, 8vo,  1640. 

The  Battell  of  Newbome,  where  the  Scots  armie  obtained  a 
notable  victorie  against  the  English  Papists,  Prelats,  and 
Armmians;  the  28  day  of  August  1640.  Second  Edition. 
Glasgow,  1648,  Svo. 

Crosses,  Comforts,  and  Coonsels,  needM  to  be  conmdered, 
and  carefolly  to  be  laid  op,  m  the  hearts  of  the  godly,  in 
these  boysteroos  broiles  and  bloody  times,  GUsgow,  1648,  8vo. 

The  Garden  of  Zion,  wherein  the  Life  and  Death  of  godly 
and  wicked  men  in  the  Scriptores  are  to  be  scene,  from  Adam 
onto  the  Ust  of  the  Kings  of  Jodah  and  Israel,  with  the  good 
OSes  of  their  life  and  death.  Glasgow,  1644,  8va  Second 
vohime,  containing  the  Bookes  of  Job,  Proverbs,  Ecdesiastea, 
and  the  Song  of  Songs,  all  in  EngUsh  verse,  Glasgow, 
1644,  8vo. 

The  Holie  Songs  of  the  Old  and  New  TAtament,  dedicated 
to  the  Royall  Lady  Mar^.  hb  Mi^estie's  eldest  daoghter, 
Princess  of  Orange,  Glasgow,  1645,  8vo. 

The  Psalmesof  David  in  Meeter,  8d  edition,  Glasgow, 
1646, 12mo. 

Verses  prefixed  to  Boyd  on  the  Ephesians.  London,  1652, 
folio. 

The  Life  of  Robert  Boyd  (mentioned  by  Wodrow). 

Excerpts  from  the  Flowers  of  Zion,  printed  in  Neil's  edition 
of  '*  The  Last  Battell  of  the  Soole  m  Death." 


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BOYLE. 


872 


BREAD ALBANE. 


BoYLB,  originally  Boyvil,  a  aumamo  belonging  to  a  family 
settled  at  an  enrlj  period  in  Ayrshire.  Among  the  barons  of 
that  comity  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  1.  in  1296,  were 
Robert  de  Boyvil  and  Richard  de  Boyvil.  The  latter,  proprietor 
of  the  lands  of  Rnysholm,  in  Dairy,  is  thouglit  to  be  the  ancestor 
of  the  Boyles  both  of  Rnysholm  and  Wamphray  in  Annandale^ 
The  heiress  of  Wamphray,  in  the  reign  of  King  James  IV.,  mar- 
ried a  brother  of  the  house  of  Johnstone.  That  the  Boyles  of 
Kclbam,  which  is  in  the  di»trict  of  Cunningham,  are  of  great 
antiquity,  appears  from  a  charter  in  Anderson*8  Diplomaia 
Scotia.  In  1699,  David  Boyle  of  Kelbum  was  created  Lord 
Boyle,  and  in  1703  earl  of  Glasgow.  See  Glasgow,  earl  of. 
From  the  Boyles  of  Kelbnrn,  the  great  English  Boyles,  who 
became  earls  of  Cork  and  Ossory  in  Ireland,  are  said  to  derive 
their  origin. 

David  Boyle,  lord-jastice-general  of  Scotland,  bom  at  Irvine 
26th  July  1772,  died  at  Shewalton,  Ayrshire,  4th  Februarv 
18ii.3,  was  the  w»oond  son  of  the  Hon.  Patrick  Boyle  of  Shewal- 


ton, and  grandson  of  2d  earl  of  Glasgow.  Passed  advocate  in 
1793,  he  was  appointed  solicitor-general  of  Scotland  and  elected 
M.P.  for  Ayrshire  in  1807;  promoted  to  the  bench  in  Febmarj 
1811;  became  lord-justice-clerk  in  October  of  the  same  year; 
sworn  a  privy  councillor  in  1820,  and  appointed  lord-jnstice- 
general  of  Scotland  in  1841.  These  oflRces  he  resigned  in  May 
1852.  His  eldest  son,  Patrick  Boyle,  Esq.  of  Shewalton, 
passed  advocate  in  1829,  but  never  practised. 


Breadalbanb,  (properly  Buoadalbiii.)  earl  and  mar- 
qnis  of,  the  former  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  and  the 
latter  in  that  of  Great  Britain,  possessed  by  a  branch  of  the 
noble  family  of  Campbell.  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  the  ancestor 
of  the  Breadalbane  family,  and  the  first  of  the  hooae  of  Glen- 
urchy,  was  the  third  son  of  Duncan,  first  Lord  Campbell  of 
Lochow,  progenitor  of  the  dukes  of  Ai^le,  by  Marjorr 
Stewart,  daughter  of  Robert,  duke  of  Albany,  regent  of  Scot- 
land.    In  an  old  manuscript,  preserved  in  Taymouth  castle, 


INTBRIOR  VIKW— TATMOUTH  CASTLE. 


named  '  the  Black  Book  of  TajTnouth,'  (printed  by  the  Ban- 
natyne  Clnb,  1853,)  containing  a  genealogical  account  of 
the  Glennrchy  family,  it  is  stated  that  '*  Duncan  Campbell, 
commonly  callit  Duncan  in  Aa,  knight  of  Lochow  (Uneallie 
descendit  of  a  valiant  man,  snmamit  Campbell,  quha  cam  to 
Scotland  in  King  Malcolm  Kandraoir  his  time,  about  the 
year  of  God  1067,  of  quhom  came  the  house  of  Lochow,) 
flourisched  in  King  David  Bruce  his  dayes.  The  foresaid 
Duncan  in  Aa  had  to  wyfie  Margarit  Stewart,  dochter  to 
Duke  Murdoch  [a  mistake  evidently  for  Robert] ,  en  whom 
he  begat  twa  sones,  the  elder  callit  Archibald,  the  other 
namit  Colin,  wha  was  first  laird  of  Glenurchay."  That 
estate  was  settled  on  him  by  his  father.  It  had  come  into 
the  Campbell  family,  in  the  reign  of  King  David  the  Second, 
by  the  marriage  of  Margaret  Glenurchy  with  John  Campbell ; 
and  was  at  one  time  the  property  of  the  warlike  clan  Mao- 
Gregor,  who  were  gradually  expelled  from  the  territory  by  the 
rival  dan,  Campbell  Sir  Colin  was  bom  about  1400.  He 
was  one  of  the  knights  of  Rhodes,  afterwards  designed  of 
Malta.  The  family  manuscript,  already  quoted,  says  that 
**  throch  his  valiant  actis  and  nianheid  he  was  maid  knicht  in 
the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  quhilk  standcth  in  the  Carpathian  sea 


near  to  Caria,  and  countne  of  Asia  the  less,  and  he  was  three 
snndrie  tymes  in  Rome."  After  the  murder  of  James  the 
First  in  1437,  he  actively  pursued  the  regicides,  and  brooght 
to  justice  two  of  the  inferior  assassins,  named  Chalmets  and 
Colquhoun,  for  which  service  King  James  the  Third  after- 
wards bestowed  upon  him  the  barony  of  Lawen.  He  was 
appointed  guardian  of  his  nephew,  Colin,  first  earl  of  Aiigyle, 
during  his  minority,  and  concluded  a  marriage  between  him 
and  the  sister  of  his  own  second  wife,  one  of  the  three  dangfa- 
ters  and  co-heiresses  of  the  Lord  of  Lorn.  In  1440  be  btult 
the  castle  of  ^ilchum  on  a  projecting  rocky  elevation  at  the 
east  end  of  Lochawe,  under  the  shadow  of  the  majes^  Ben 
Cruachan,  where — now  a  picturesque  ruin, — 


-"  grey  and  stem 


Stands,  like  a  spirit  of  the  past,  lone  old  Kllchuni.** 

According  to  tradition  Kilchum  (properly  Coalchuim)  castle 
was  first  erected  by  his  lady,  and  not  by  himself,  he  being 
absent  on  a  crusade  at  the  time,  and  finr  seven  years  the  prin- 
cipal portion  of  the  rents  of  his  lands  are  said  to  have  been 
expended  on  its  erection.  An  old  legend  connected  with  this 
castle  states  that  once  while  at  Rome,  hanng  been  a  long 


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BREAD  ALBANE. 


373 


BREADALBANE. 


time  from  home.  Sir  Colin  had  a  singular  dream,  for  the  in- 
t«rpretatioD  of  which  he  applied  to  a  monk,  who  advised  him 
instantly  to  return  to  Scotland,  as  a  very  serious  domestic 
calamity  oonld  only  be  averted  by  his  presence  in  his  own 
castle.  He  hastened  immediately  to  Scotland,  and  arrived  at 
a  place  called  Suoooth,  where  dwelt  an  old  woman  who  had 
been  his  nurse.  In  the  disguise  of  a  beggar,  he  craved  food 
and  shelter  for  the  night,  and  was  admitted  to  the  poor 
woman*8  fireside.  From  a  scar  on  his  arm  she  recognised 
him,  and  immediately  informed  him  of  what  was  about  to 
happen  at  the  castle.  It  appeared  that  for  a  long  period  no 
tidings  had  been  received  of  or  from  him,  and  a  report  had 
been  spread  that  he  had  fallen  in  battle  in  the  Holy  Land. 
This  information  surprised  Sir  Colin,  as  he  had  repeatedly 
sent  messengers  with  intelligence  to  his  lady,  and  he  at  once 
suspected  treadiery.  His  suspicions  were  well  founded.  A 
neighbouring  baron,  named  MK>»quadale,  had  intercepted  and 
murdered  all  his  mesBcftgers,  and  having  succeeded  in  convinc- 
ing the  lady  of  the  death  of  her  husband,  he  had  prevailed  upon 
her  to  consent  to  marry  him,  the  next  day  being  that  fixed 
for  their  nuptials.  Early  in  the  morning  Sir  Colin,  still  in 
the  disguise  of  a  beggar,  fet  out  for  his  castle  of  Kilchum ; 
he  crossed  the  drawbridge,  and  undiscovered  entered  the  gates 
of  the  castle,  which  on  this  joyous  occasion  were  open  to  all 
comers.  As  he  stood  in  the  courtyard  one  of  the  servants  of 
the  castle  accosted  him,  and  asked  him  what  he  wanted,  "  To 
have  my  hunger  satisfied  and  my  thirst  quenched,**  was  his 
reply.  Food  and  liquor  were  immediately  placed  before  him. 
Of  the  former  he  partook,  but  he  refused  the  latter,  except 
from  the  hand  of  the  lady  herself.  On  being  informed  of 
this,  she  approached,  and  handed  him  a  cup  of  wine.  Sir 
Colin  drank  to  her  health,  and  dropping  a  ring  into  the  empty 
cop  returned  it  to  her.  On  examining  the  ring,  she  recog- 
nised it  at  once  as  her  own  gift  to  her  husband  on  his  depar- 
ture. Rushing  towards  him  she  threw  herself  into  his  arms. 
The  baron  M^Corquadale  was  allowed  to  depart  in  safety,  but 
was  afterwards  attacked  and  overcome  by  Sir  CoIin*s  son  and 
successor,  who  is  said  to  have  taken  possession  of  his  castle 
and  lands.  Sir  Colin  died  before  June  10, 1478,  as  on  that 
day  the  lords  andlton  gave  a  decreet  in  a  dvil  suit  against 
*t  Doncain  Cambell,  son  and  air  of  umquhUe  Sir  Colin  Cam- 
bell  of  Glenurquha,  knight.**  He  was  interred  in  Argyleshire, 
and  not  as  Douglas  says  at  Finlarig,  at  the  north-west  end  of 
Lochtay,  which  afterwards  became  the  burial  place  of  the 
fiuraly.  He  was  four  times  married.  Nisbet,  giving  as  his 
authority  the  contract  of  marriage  still  extant  in  the  archives 
of  the  Breadalbane  family,  says,  that  his  first  wife  was  Lady 
Mary  Stewart,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Duncan,  earl  of  Len- 
nox, and  that  she  died  soon  after  the  marriage  without  issue, 
but  he  has  evidently  mistaken  the  lady*s  name,  as  the  three 
daughters  of  Duncan,  the  last  earl  of  Lennox,  executed  in 
1425,  none  of  whom  were  named  Mary,  were  all  married  in 
1392,  dght  years  before  Sir  Colin  Campbell  was  bom,  and 
there  never  was  another  earl  of  Lennox  named  Duncan.  His 
second  wife  was  Lady  Margaret  Stewart,  the  second  of  the 
three  daughters  and  co-heupesses  of  John  Lord  Lorn,  with 
whom  he  got  a  third  of  that  lordship,  still  possessed  by  the 
fomily,  and  thenceforward  quartered  the  galley  of  Lorn  with 
his  paternal  achievement  Of  this  lady  there  is  a  portrait  by 
Jamesone  in  the  Breadalbane  collection  at  Taymouth,  an  en- 
graving of  which  is  given  in  Pinkerton's  Scottish  gallery.  By 
her  he  had  a  son.  Sir  Duncan,  who  succeeded  him.  His  third 
wifo  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Robert  Robertson  of  Strowan, 
by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  a  daughter.  John,  the  son,  ac- 
cording to  Kisbet,  [^Heraldry^  v.  ii.  p.  212,]  was  educated  for 
the  church,  and  on  the  demise  of  Angus,  bishop  of  the  Isles, 


was  preferred  to  that  see.  In  1506  he  was  joined  in  commis- 
sion from  the  crown  with  David,  bishop  of  Argyle,  and  James 
Redheugh,  burgess  of  Stiriing,  comptroller  to  the  king,  to  set 
in  tack  the  crown  lands  of  Bute.  He  died  in  1509.  DougUs, 
however,  thinks  the  existence  of  this  John  doubtful.  [Peerage, 
V.  L  p.  234.]  Keith  [CoL  o/ScoUuh  Bishopt,  p.  305]  leaves 
the  surname  blank,  and  says  that  John,  bishop  of  the  Isles, 
was  a  privy  councillor  to  King  James  the  Fourth,  and  from 
that  pripce,  with  consent  of  the  Pope,  he  got,  in  1507,  the 
abbacy  of  loolmkill  annexed  in  all  time  coming  to  the  episco- 
pal see  of  the  Isles.  The  daughter,  Margaret,  married  first 
Archibald  Napier  of  Merchiston,  and  secondly  John  Dickson, 
Ross  Herald.  Sir  Colin*s  fourth  wifo  was  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Luke  Stirling  of  Keir,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  John,  ances- 
tor of  the  earls  of  Loudon  [see  Loudon,  earl  of],  and  a 
daughter,  Mariot,  married  to  William  Stewart  of  Baldoran. 

Sir  Duncan  Campbell,  the  eldest  son,  obtained  the  office  of 
bailiary  of  the  king's  Unds  of  Discher,  Foyer,  and  Glenlyon, 
3d  September  1498,  for  which  office,  being  a  hereditary  one. 
his  descendant,  the  second'earl  of  Breadalbane,  received,  on 
the  abolition  of  the  heritable  jurisdictions  in  Scotland,  in 
1747,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  pounds,  in  full  of  his  claim  for 
six  thousand.  Sir  Duncan  also  got  charters  of  the  king's 
lands  of  the  port  of  Lochtay.  &c,  5th  March  1492;  also  of 
the  lands  of  Glenlyon,  7th  September  1502;  of  Finlarig,  22d 
April  1508,  and  of  other  lands  in  Perthshire  in  May  1508  and 
September  15  tl.  He  fell  at  the  battle  of  Flodden.  He  was 
twice  married.  First,  in  1479,  to  Lady  Margaret  Douglas, 
fourth  daughter  of  Oeorge  fourth  earl  of  Angus,  by  whom  he 
had  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  viz..  Sir  Colin ;  Archibald, 
ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of  Qlenlyon ;  and  Patrick,  of  whom 
nothing  is  known.  The  daughter  married  Toshach  of  Mony- 
vaird  in  Perthshire.  The  second  wife  was  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  Moncrieff  of  Moncrieff  in  the  same  county,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  John,  styled  by  Dongais  bishop  of  the  Isles,  (Keith 
states  that  the  John  Campbell  who  was  bishop  of  the  Isles  in 
1558  and  1560  was  a  son  of  Campbell  of  Calder  in  Nairnshire,) 
and  two  daughters,  Catharine,  married  to  William  Murray  of 
Tullibardin,  and  Annabella,  who  in  1533  became  the  wife  of 
Alexander  Napier  of  Merchiston. 

Sir  Colin,  the  eldest  son,  the  third  laird  of  Glennrohy,  was 
of  great  use  in  assisting  his  cousin,  the  celebrated  Gavin 
DougUs,  to  obtain  possession  of  the  see  of  Dunkeld  to  which 
he  had  been  nominated  in  1515,  in  opposition  to  Andrew 
Stewart,  his  own  brother-in-law,  who  having  procured  him- 
self to  be  chosen  bishop  by  the  chapter,  had  garrisoned  the 
palace  and  the  steeple  of  the  cathedral  with  his  servants. 
This  Sir  Colin  is  mentioned  as  having  "bigget  the  chapel 
of  Finlarig  to  be  ane  burial  for  himself  and  posteritie.** 
He  married  Lady  Marjory  Stewart,  sixth  daughter  of  John 
eari  of  Athol,  brother  uterine  of  King  James  the  Second,  and 
had  three  sons,  viz..  Sir  Duncan,  Sir  John,  and  Sir  Colin, 
who  all  succeeded  to  the  estate.  The  last  of  them.  Sir  Colin, 
became  laird  of  Glenurcby  in  1550,  and  according  to  the 
"Black  Book  of  Taymouth,**  he  "conquessit**  (that  is,  ac- 
quired) "the  superiority  of  M'Nabb  his  haill  landis.'*  He 
was  among  the  first  to  join  the  Reformation,  and  sat  in  the 
parliament  of  1560,  when  the  Protestant  doctrines  received 
the  sanction  of  the  law.  In  1573  he  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  settling  a  firm  and  lasting  government  in  the 
chmxih.  In  the  "  Black  Book  of  Taymouth,**  he  is  repre- 
sented to  have  been  "  ane  great  justiciar  all  his  tyme,  throch 
the  quhilk  he  sustenit  the  deidly  feid  of  the  Clangregor  ane 
lang  space;  and  besides  that  he  causit  execute  to  the  death 
many  notable  lymarris,  he  behiddit  the  laird  of  Maogregor 
himself  at  Kandmoir,  in  presence  of  the  Erie  of  Athol,  the  jus- 


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tice-derk,  and  sundrie  other  nobilmen."  In  1580  he  built 
the  cMtle  of  Balloch,  in  Perthshire,  one  wing  of  which  still 
eontinaes  attached  to  Tajmouth  Castle,  the  splendid  mansion 
of  the  Marquis  of  Breadalbane.  He  also  built  Edinample, 
Another  seat  of  the  family.  Sir  Colin  died  in  1588.  By  his 
wife,  Catherine,  second  daughter  of  William,  second  lord 
Rttthven,  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  Archibald, 
the  fourth  son,  got  part  of  the  baronj  of  Monzie  by  his  mar- 
riage with  Maigaret,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Andrew  Toehach 
of  Monae,  but  had  no  issue.  Beatrix,  the  eldest  daughter, 
married  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Lawers;  Margaret,  the  second, 
married,  in  1574,  James,  seventh  earl  of  Glencaim,  and  had 
issue;  Mary,  the  third,  married  John,  sixth  earl  of  Menteith, 
with  issue;  and  Elizabeth,  the  youngest,  became  the  wife  of 
Sir  John  Campbell  of  Ardkinglass. 

Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of  Glenorchy,  the  eldest  son,  was 
named  by  King  James  the  Sixth,  18th  May  1590,  one  of  the 
barons  to  assist  at  the  coronation  of  his  queen,  Anne  of  Den- 
mark, when  he  was  knighted.  On  the  death  of  Colin,  sixth 
earl  of  Argyle,  in  1584,  he  had  been  nominated  by  that  no- 
bleman's will,  one  of  the  six  guardians  of  the  young  earl,  then 
a  minor,  the  others  being  Dougal  Campbell  of  Auchinbreck, 
John  Campbell  of  Calder,  Sir  James  Campbell  of  Ardkin- 
glass, comptroller  to  the  king,  father  of  the  above-named  Sir 
John,  Archibald  Campbell  of  Loohnell,  and  Neill  Campbell, 
bishop  of  Aigyle.  The  guardians  soon  split  into  rival  factions, 
Glenorchy,  Auchinbreck,  and  Loohnell,  who  was  the  nearest 
heir  to  the  earidom,  being  on  the  one  side,  and  Calder,  Ard- 
kinglass, and  the  bishop  on  the  other.  The  influence  of  the 
three  latter  preponderated,  but  jealousies  soon  broke  out  be- 
tween Ardkinglass  and  Calder,  and  on  the  death  of  the  for- 
mer in  1591,  his  feelings  of  hostility  were  transmitted  to  his 
son  and  successor.  Sir  John,  who  b«dng  of  a  weak  and  vacil- 
lating disposition,  was  easily  induced  by  his  brother-in-law 
Glenurchy  to  enter  into  his  plans.  The  prindpal  administra- 
tion of  the  affiiirs  of  the  earidom  now  centred  in  Calder.  He 
was  supported  by  many  of  the  nobility  connected  with  the 
family  of  Argyle,  and  particularly  by  the  eari  of  Murray,  com- 
monly called  the  "  bonnie  eari,**  who  was  murdered  in  his  own 
house  of  Donnibirsel  in  Fife,  in  February  1592,  by  a  party  of 
the  Crordons,  under  the  command  of  the  earl  of  Huntly.  In 
the  same  month  John  Campbell  of  Calder  was  assassinated 
m  Lorn.  Both  crimes,  by  a  late  disooveiy,  appear  to  have 
been  the  result  of  toe  same  oonspuracy,  in  which  Gleniirohy 
and  other  barons  and  chiefe  in  the  West  Highlands  were  in- 
volved, and  one  object  of  which  was  the  death  ot  the  young 
eari  of  Argyle,  as  well  as  that  of  the  "  bonnie  eari  of  Murray.** 
Gregory  expressly  charges  Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of  Glenurchy 
with  bdng  the  prindpal  mover  in  the  branch  of  the  plot 
which  led  to  the  murder  of  Calder.  **  Glenurchy,**  he  says, 
**  knowing  the  feelings  of  personal  animosity  cherished  by 
Ardkinglass  against  Calder,  easily  prevailed  upon  the  former 
to  agree  to  the  assassination  of  their  common  enemy,  with 
whom  Glenurchy  himself  had  now  an  additional  cause  of 
quarrel,  arising  from  the  protection  given  by  Calder  to  some 
of  the  Clangregor  who  were  at  feud  with  Glenurchy.  After 
various  unsuccessful  attempts,  Ardkinglass  procured,  through 
the  agency  of  John  Gig  CampbeU  of  Cabrachan,  a  brother  of 
Lochnell,  the  services  of  a  man  named  M*Ellar,  by  whom 
Calder  was  assassinated  with  a  hackbut,  supplied  by  Ard- 
kinglass, the  fatal  shot  being  fired  at  night  through  one  of 
the  windows  of  the  house  of  Knepooh  m  Lorn,  when  Calder 
fell,  pierced  through  the  heart  with  three  bullets.  Owing  to 
hii  hereditary  feud  with  Calder,  Ardkinglass  was  generally 
snspected,  and  bdng,  in  consequence,  threatened  with  the 
vengeance  of  the  young  earl  of  Argyle,  Glenurchy  ventured 


to  communicate  to  him  the  plan  fiir  getting  nd  of  the  eari 
and  his  brother,  and  for  assisting  Lochnell  to  seise  the  eari- 
dom. Ardkinglass  refused,  although  repeatedly  urged,  to  be- 
come a  party  to  any  designs  against  the  life  of  the  eail,  pro- 
posing to  make  his  peace  with  Argyle,  by  disclosing  the  full 
extent  of  the  plot  The  inferior  agents,  John  Oig  Campbell 
and  M^Ellar,  were  both  executed ;  nor  could  all  the  influence 
of  Calder*s  relations  or  friends  obtain  the  punishment  of  any 
of  the  higher  parties.  Glenurchy  was  allowed  to  dear  him- 
self of  all  oonoem  in  the  plots  attributed  to  him,  by  his  own 
unsupported  and  extngudicial  denial  in  writing.  He  ofiered 
to  abide  his  trial,  which,  he  well  knew,  the  chancellor,  Thirie- 
stane,  and  the  eari  of  Huntly  were  deeply  interested  in  pre- 
venting.** ^History  oftk»  WuUtm  HigUamdt  amd  Isks,  pp. 
250—263.] 

In  1617  Sir  Duncan  had  the  office  of  heritable  keeper  of 
the  forest  of  Mamlom,  Bendaskeriie,  &o.,  conferTed  upon 
hinu  He  afterwards  obtained  from  King  Charles  the  First 
the  sheriffihip  of  Perthshire  for  life.  He  was  created  a  baro- 
net <^  Nova  Scotia  by  patent,  bearing  date  80th  May  1625. 
Althou^  represented  as  an  ambitions  and  grasping  chancier, 
he  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  who  attempted  to  dvilise  the 
people  on  his  extensive  estates.  He  not  only  set  them  the 
example  of  planting  timber  trees,  fencing  pieces  of  ground  for 
gardens,  and  manuring  their  lands,  but  assisted  and  enooor- 
aged  them  in  their  labours.  One  of  his  regulations  of  police 
for  the  estate  was  '*  that  no  man  shall  in  any  public  boose 
drink  more  than  achofun  of  ale  with  his  neighbour's  wife,  in  the 
absence  of  her  husband,  upon  the  penalty  of  ten  pounds,  and 
atting  twenty-four  hours  in  the  stocks,  toties  qcu)tiee.**  [iV«9 
8taL  Accomt,  voL  x.  p.  464.]  According  to  the  'Blade 
Book  of  Taymouth,*  *' in  the  zdr  of  God  1627,  he  oandt  big 
ane  brig  over  the  watter  of  Lochay,  to  the  great  amtentment 
and  will  of  the  countrie.**  He  died  in  June  1631.  He  was 
twice  married,  first,  in  1574,  to  Lady  Jean  Stewart,  seoend 
daughter  of  John  eari  of  Athd,  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scot- 
land, by  whom  he  had  seven  sons  and  three  danghten*  Ar- 
chibald Campbdl  of  Monzie,  the  fifth  son,  was  ancestor  of 
the  Campbells  of  Monzie,  Lodilane,  and  Fmnab,  in  Perth- 
shire. Jean,  the  eldest  daughter,  married  Sir  John  Camp- 
bell of  Calder,  and  had  issue ;  Arme,  the  second,  married  Sir 
Patrick  Ogilvy  of  Inchmartine,  and  was  mothw  of  the  seoood 
eari  of  Findlater;  Margaret,  the  third,  married  Sir  Alexan- 
der Menxies  of  Weem.  His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth,  only 
dan^ter  of  Patrick  fifth  Lord  Sinclair,  by  whom  he  had  a 
son,  Patrick,  on  whom  his  fiUher  settled  die  lands  of  Edin- 
ample,  and  a  daughter,  Jean,  married  to  John  eari  of  Atbol, 
and  had  issue. 

His  second  son,  Robert,  was  engaged  in  1610  in  the  f)^ 
or  Skirmish  of  Bmtoich,  also  known  as  *  the  Chaae  of  Bane- 
fhty,*  against  the  McGregors.  The  fi^t  appears  to  have 
taken  place  at  Bintoich,  and  the  chase  or  pursuit  to  have 
readied  as  far  as  Ranefray.  The  transaction  is  thus  narrated 
in  *the  Book  of  Taymouth:*  ''Attour«,  Robert  OampbeD, 
second  sone  to  the  Laird  (of  Glenurquhey)  Sir  Duncan,  per- 
sewing  ane  great  number  of  them  (the  Chan  Gr^gor)  thnmgh 
the  countrie,  in  end  overtuik  them  in  Ranefray,  in  the  Brae 
of  Glenurchy;  quhair  he  dew  Duncan  Abrok  Makgregor. 
with  his  son  Gregor  in  Ardohyllie,  Dougall  Makgregor  M*Coal- 
chier  in  Glengyle,  with  his  son  Duncan,  Charies  Makgregor 
(M^Cane  in  Bracklie,  quha  was  prindpallis  in  that  band; 
and  twenty  utheris  of  thdr  oompldses  slain  in  the  chajas.** 
A  contemporary  historian.  Sir  Bobert  Gordon,  in  his  *Histoiy 
of  the  Earldom  of  Sutherland,'  (p.  247,)  says  of  this  aSur, 
that  "  here  (meaning  at  Bintoich)  Robert  Campbell,  the  laird 
of  Glen-Vrquhie  his  sone,  accompanied  with  some  of  the 


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Glanchamnm,  CUoab  (M^Nabs),  aod  CUmronald,  to  the  num- 
ber of  two  himdxed  choeen  men,  fanght  against  three  score  of 
the  Glangregar;  in  which  conflict  tao  of  the  Clangregar  were 
slam,  to  wit,  Doncan  Aoengo,  one  of  tne  chieftanes,  and  his 
son  Dnnoan.  Seaven  gentlemen  of  the  Campbell's  syd  wer 
killed  ther,  thou^^  they  seemed  to  have  the  victorie."  The 
same  Robert  CampbeU,  styled  of  Glenfidloch,  m  January 
1611,  besieged  a  garrison  of  the  Clan  Gregor  in  the  small 
island  of  Vamak,  near  the  western  extremity  of  Lodi  Ka- 
trine, on  its  north  shore,  opposite  Portnellan,  but  he  was 
obliged  to  abandon  the  siege,  owing,  as  stated  in  '  the  Book 
of  Taymouth,*  to  a  stoiin  of  snow.  In  July  1612  several 
of  the  Clan  Gregor  were  hanged  at  the  Bcurough-muir  of  Ed- 
inbaigh  for  the  slan^ter  of  a  bowman  of  the  laird  of  Glen- 
urehy  and  eight  other  persons,  and  sereral  other  crimes,  con- 
sisting of  fire-raising,  theft,  and  intercommuning  with  their 
proscribed  clansmen. 

Sir  Colin  Campbell,  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Duncan,  bom 
about  1677,  succeeded  as  eighth  laird  of  Glenurohy.  little 
is  known  of  this  Sir  Colin,  save  what  is  highly  to  his  honour, 
namely  his  patronage  of  George  Jamesone,  the  celebrated 
portrait  painter.  The  family  manuscript  which  records  the 
genealogy  of  the  house  of  Glenurchy  contains  the  following 
entries,  written  in  1685 : — *'  Item,  the  said  Sir  Colme  Camp- 
pell  gave  unto  Genge  Jamesone,  painter  in  Edinburgh,  for 
Kng  Robert  and  King  David  Bruysses,  kings  of  Scotland,  and 
Charles  I.  king  of  Great  Brittane,  France  and  Ireland,  and 
his  majesties  quein,  and  for  nine  more  of  the  queins  of  Soot- 
land,  their  portraits,  quhilks  are  set  up  in  the  hall  of  Balloch, 
(new  TaynKmth)  the  sum  of  tua  hundreth  thrie  soor  punds. 
—Hair,  the  said  Sir  Coline  gave  to  the  said  George  Jame- 
sone for  the  knight  of  Lochow's  lady,  and  the  first  countess 
of  Argylle,  and  six  of  the  ladys  of  Glenurquhay,  their  por- 
tnuts,  and  the  said  Sir  Coline  his  own  portrait,  quhilks  are  set 
up  in  the  chalmer  of  deas  (principal  presence  room)  of  Bal- 
loch, ane  hundreth  four  scoire  punds.**  The  family  tree  of 
the  house  of  Glen<»chy,  eight  feet  long  by  five  broad,  described 
by  Peimant,  was  also  painted  by  Jamesone.  In  a  corner  is 
inscribed  "The  genealogie  of  the  House  of  Glenurquhie, 
quhairof  is  descendit  sundrie  nobil  and  worthie  houses. 
1635,  Jcuneton  faciebaL**  Sir  Colin  married  Lady  Juliana 
CampbeU,  eldest  daughter  of  Hugh  first  Lord  Loudon,  but 
had  no  issue.  He  died  6th  September  1640,  aged  63.  In 
Pinkerton*s  Scottish  Gallery  are  portraits  of  Sir  Colin  at  the 
age  of  56,  and  of  Lady  JuHana,  his  spouse,  at  the  age  of  52, 
both  taken  from  the  origuud  paintings  in  the  Breadalbane 
collection  at  Taymouth  Castle. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Sir  Robert,  at  first  styled 
of  Glenfalloch,  and  afterwards  of  Glenurchy.  **  In  the  year 
of  God  1644  and  1645,  the  laird  of  Glenurquhay  his  whole 
landb  and  esteat,  betwixt  the  foord  of  Lyon  and  point  of  iis- 
more,  were  burnt  and  destroyit  be  James  Graham,  some  time 
erle  of  Montrose,  and  Alex.  M'Donald,  son  to  CoL  M'Donald 
in  Golesue,  with  their  associattis.  The  tenants  their  whole 
cattle  were  taken  away  be  tiua  enemies ;  and  their  comes, 
houses,  plenishing,  and  whole  insight  weir  burnt;  and  the 
said  Sir  Robert  pressing  to  get  the  inhabitants  repahit,  wairit 
£48  Scots  upon  the  bigwig  of  every  cuple  in  his  Umdis,  and 
als  wairit  seed  comes,  upon  his  own  charges,  to  the  most  of 
his  inhabitants.  The  oooaoon  of  this  maUce  against  Sir  Ro- 
bert, and  his  friends  and  countrie  people,  was,  because  the 
said  Sir  Robert  joinit  in  covenant  with  the  kirk  and  kmgdom 
of  Scotland,  in  maintaining  the  trew  religion,  the  kingis  ma- 
jestic, his  authoritie,  and  laws,  and  libertie  of  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland ;  and  because  the  said  Sir  Robert  altogether  refusit 
U>  assist  the  said  James  Graham  and  Alex.  M'Donald,  their 


malicbus  doings  in  the  kingdom  of  ScotUnd.  So  that  the 
laird  of  Glenurquhay  and  his  countrie  people,  their  loss  within 
Perthshire  and  within  Argyleshire,  exceeds  the  soume  of 
1,200,000  merks.**  Sir  Robert  married  Isabel,  daughter  of 
Sir  Lachlan  Madntosh,  of  Torecastle,  captain  of  the  dan 
Chattan,  and  had  five  sons  and  nine  daughters.  William, 
the  third  son,  was  ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of  Glenfalloch, 
the  representative  of  whom  is  now  the  heir  presumptive  to 
the  Scottish  titles  of  eari  of  Breadalbane,  &c  Alexander,  the 
fourth  son,  got  from  his  father  the  hmds  of  Lochdochart  in 
1648,  and  was  ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of  Lochdochart. 
Duncan,  the  fifth  son,  possessed  Auchlyne,  and  from  him  de- 
scended the  now  deceased  James  Goodlet  Campbell  of  Auch- 
lyne, who  by  his  wife,  a  sister  of  Logan  of  Logan,  had  a  son, 
Hugh  Campbell,  merchant  in  Glasgow.  Margaret,  the  eldest 
daughter,  married  to  John  Cameron  of  Lochid,  was  the  mo- 
ther of  Sir  Ewen  Cameron;  Maiy,  the  second  daughter,  mar- 
ried James  CampbeU  of  Ardkinglass ;  Jean,  the  third,  became 
the  wife  of  Duncan  Stewart  of  Appin ;  Isabel,  the  fourth,  of 
Robert  Irvine  of  Fedderet,  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Irvine  of 
Drum,  and  Julian,  the  fifth,  of  John  Maclean  of  Lochbury. 
The  other  daogbten  were  the  wives  respectivdy  of  Robertson 
of  Jnde,  Robertson  of  Faskally,  Toshach  of  Monyvaird,  and 
Campbell  of  Glenlyon. 

The  eldest  son.  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Glenurchy,  married 
first.  Lady  Mary  Graham,  eldest  daughter  of  William,  earl  of 
Strathem,  Menteath,  and  Airth,  and  had  a  son.  Sir  John, 
first  eari  of  Breadalbane,  and  a  daughter,  Agnes,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Sir  Alexander  Menzies  of  Weem,  baronet 
Sir  John  married,  secondly,  Christian,  daughter  of  John 
Muschet  of  Craighead  in  Menteith,  by  whom  he  had  several 
daughters,  of  whom  are  descended  the  Campbells  of  Stone- 
fldd,  Airds,  and  Ardchattan.  Isabel,  one  of  them,  was  mar- 
ried to  John  Macnachtane,  and  Anne,  another,  to  Robert 
Macnab  of  Macnab,  whom  she  survived,  and  died  at  Loch- 
dochart 6th  September  1765. 

Sir  John  Campbell  of  Glenurchy,  first  earl  of  Breadalbane, 
only  son  of  Sir  John,  was  bora  about  1685.  He  gave  great 
assistance  to  the  forces  collected  in  the  Highlands  for  Charles 
the  Second  in  1658,  under  the  command  of  General  Middle- 
ton.  He  subsequently  used  his  utmost  endeavours  with 
General  Monk  to  dedare  for  a  free  parliament,  as  the  most 
effectual  way  to  bring  about  his  majesty*s  restoration.  He 
served  in  parliament  for  the  shire  of  Argyle.  Bdng  a  prind- 
pal  creditor  of  George,  sixth  earl  of  Caithness,  [see  Catth- 
NE8B,  eari  of,]  whose  debts  are  said  to  have  exceeded  a  million 
of  nuu-ks,  that  nobleman,  on  8th  October  1672,  made  a  dis- 
podtion  of  his  whole  estates,  heritable  jurisdictions,  and  titles 
of  honour,  after  his  death,  in  favour  of  Sir  John  Campbell  of 
Glenurchy,  the  Utter  taking  on  himself  the  burden  of  his 
lordship's  debts,  and  he  was,  in  consequence,  duly  infefted  in 
the  lands  and  earidom  of  Caithness,  27th  February  1673. 
The  earl  of  Cdthness  died  in  May  1676,  when  Sir  John 
Campbdl  obtained  a  patent  creating  him  earl  of  Caithness, 
dated  at  Whitehall,  28th  June  1677.  But  George  SincUir  of 
Keiss,  the  heir  male  of  the  last  earl,  being  found  by  parlia- 
ment entitled  to  that  dignity,  Sir  John  Campbell  obtained 
another  patent,  13th  August  1681,  creating  him  instead,  earl 
of  Breadalbane  and  Holland,  Viscount  of  Tay  and  Paintland, 
Lord  Glenurchy,  Benederaloch,  Ormelie,  and  Wdk,  with  the 
precedency  of  the  former  patent,  and  remainder  to  whichever 
of  his  sons  by  his  first  wife  he  might  deagnate  in  writing,  and 
ultimately  to  his  hein  male  whatsoever.  On  the  aocesdon  ot 
James  the  Seventh,  the  earl  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor. 
At  the  Revolution  he  adhered  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and 
after  the  battle  of  Killiecrankie  and  the  attempted  reduction 


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THIRD  EARL  OP. 


of  tlie  Highlands  by  the  forces  of  the  new  government,  he  was 
empowered  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  the  Jacobite 
chiefs  to  induce  them  to  submit  to  King  William,  and  a  sum 
of  fifteen  thousand  pounds  sterling  was  placed  at  his  disposal 
for  the  purpose  by  his  majesty.  This  negotiation  was  for 
a  time  interrupted,  principally  at  the  instigation  of  Mackian 
or  Alexander  Macdonald  of  Glenooe,  between  whom  and  the 
earl  a  difference  had  arisen  respecting  certain  claims  which 
bis  lordship  had  against  Glencoe's  tenants  for  plundering  hb 
lands,  and  for  which  the  earl  insisted  for  compensation  and  for 
retention  out  of  Glencoe's  share  of  the  money  with  which  he 
had  been  intrusted  by  the  government  to  distribute  among 
the  chiefs.  The  failure  of  the  negotiation  was  extremely  irri- 
titing  to  the  earl,  who  threatened  Glencoe  with  his  vengeance. 
Following  up  this  threat,  he  entered  into  a  correspondence 
with  Secretary  Dalrymple,  the  master  of  Stair,  and  between 
them,  it  is  understood,  a  plan  was  concerted  for  cutting  off 
the  chief  and  his  people.  Whether  the  "  mauling  scheme  ** 
of  the  earl,  to  which  Dalrymple  alludes  in  one  of  his  letters, 
refers  to  a  plan  for  the  extirpation  of  the  tribe,  is  a  question 
which  must  ever  remain  doubtful ;  but  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  if  he  did  not  suggest,  he  was  at  least  privy  to  the 
foul  massacre  of  that  unfortunate  chief  and  his  people,  an 
event  which  has  stamped  an  infamy  upon  the  government  of 
King  William,  which  nothing  can  efface. 

"  Tlie  hand  that  mingled  iu  the  meal. 
At  midnight  drew  the  felon  steel, 
And  gave  the  host's  kind  breast  to  feel 

Meed  for  hia  hoapitality  I 
The  friendly  hearth  which  warmed  that  hand. 
At  midnight  armed  it  with  the  brand. 
That  bade  destruction's  flames  expand 
Their  red  and  fearful  blazonry. 

Tliere  woman's  shriclc  was  lieard  In  vain. 

Nor  infancy's  unpitied  plain. 

More  than  the  warrior's  groan,  oonld  gain 

Respite  flrom  nithleaa  batcher}*  I 
The  winter  wind  that  whistled  shrill. 
The  snows  that  night  that  cloatied  the  hill. 
Though  wUd  and  pitiless,  had  still 

Far  more  than  Soatbem  clemency." 

On  the  29th  April  1695,  upwards  of  three  years  after  the 
massacre,  a  commission  was  issued  to  inquire  into  it.  The 
Commissioners  appear  to  have  discovered  no  cAidenoe  to  im- 
plicate the  earl  of  Breadalbane,  but  merely  say,  in  reference 
to  him,  that  it  "was  plainly  deponed*^  before  them,  that, 
some  days  after  the  slaughter,  a  person  waited  upon  Glenooe's 
sons,  and  represented  to  them  that  he  was  sent  by  Campbell 
of  Balcalden,  the  eari's  chamberlain  or  steward,  and  autho- 
rized to  say  that,  if  they  would  declare,  under  their  hands, 
that  his  lordship  had  no  concern  in  the  massacre,  they  might 
be  assured  the  earl  would  procure  their  "  remission  and  resti- 
tution.** While,  however,  the  Commissioners  were  engaged 
in  the  inquiry  they  ascertained  that,  in  his  negotiations  with 
the  Highland  chiefs,  the  earl  had  acted  in  such  a  way  as  to 
lay  himself  open  to  a  charge  of  high  treason,  in  consequence 
of  which  discovery,  he  was,  10th  June  1695,  committed 
prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh ;  but  he  was  soon  released 
from  confinement,  as  it  turned  out  that  he  had  professed  him- 
self a  Jacobite,  that  he  might  the  more  readily  execute  the 
commission  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted,  and  that  King 
William  hhnself  was  a  party  to  this  contrivance.  When  the 
earl  of  Nottingham,  on  the  part  of  the  English  government, 
wrote  to  Lord  Breadalbane  to  account  for  the  money  he  had 
received  for  the  Jacobite  chiefs,  the  latter  returned  this 
laconic  answer;    ''My  lord,  the   Highlands  are  quiet,  the 


money  is  spent,  and  this  is  the  best  way  of  acconsting  among 
friends.**  When  the  treaty  of  union  was  under  discossioii, 
his  lordship  kept  aloof,  and  did  not  even  attend  parliament. 
At  the  general  election  of  1718,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
sixteen  Scots  representative  peers,  being  then  seventy-eight 
years  old.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  of  1715,  he 
sent  five  hundred  of  his  clan  to  join  the  standard  of  the  Pre- 
tender, and  he  was  one  of  the  suspected  persons,  with  hk 
second  son,  Lord  Glenorchy,  sunmioned  to  appear  at  Edm- 
burgh  within  a  certain  specified  period,  to  give  bail  for  theii 
allegiance  to  the  government,  but  no  farther  notice  was  taken 
of  his  conduct  The  earl  died  in  1716,  in  his  Slst  year. 
Macky  [^Memoirs,  p.  199]  erroneously  styles  him  Afarquis  (rt 
Breadalbane,  and  says,  "  It  is  odds  if  he  live  long  enough  but 
he  is  a  duke.  He  is  of  a  fair  complexion,  and  has  the  gravity 
of  a  Spaniard,  is  as  cunning  as  a  fox,  wise  as  a  so^nt,  and 
as  slippery  as  an  eel.**  His  lordship  married,  first,  at  Lon- 
don, 17th  December  1657,  Lady  Mary  Rich,  third  daugfatei 
of  Henry  first  earl  of  Holland,  who  was  executed  for  his 
loyalty  to  Charles  the  First,  9th  March  1649.  llie  marriage 
is  thus  entered  in  the  renter  of  the  parish  of  St.  Andrews, 
Baynard  Castle: — "  Mr.  John  Campbell  of  Glanorchy,  in  the 
county  of  Perth,  in  the  fuUhn  of  Scotland,  Esqr.,  was  mar- 
ried to  the  Lady  Mary  Rich.**  By  this  lady  he  had  two  sons, 
Duncan,  styled  Lord  Onnelie,  who  survived  his  father,  bat 
was  passed  over  in  the  succession,  and  John,  in  his  father*s  life- 
time styled  Lord  Glenorchy,  who  became  second  earl  of  Bread- 
albane. He  married,  secondly,  7th  April  1678,  Lady  Maiy 
Campbell,  third  daughter  of  Archibald,  Marquis  of  Aigjie, 
dowager  of  George,  sixth  earl  of  Caithness,  and  by  her  had  a^ 
son,  Hon.  Colin  Campbell  of  Ardmaddie,  who  died  in  1708, 
aged  29.  By  a  third  wife  he  had  a  daughter,  Lady  Mary, 
married  to  Archibald  Cockbum  of  Langton. 

John  Campbell,  Lord  Glenorchy,  the  second  son,  bom  19th 
November  1662,  was  by  his  father  nominated  to  succeed  him 
as  second  earl  of  Breadalbane,  in  terms  of  the  patent  confer- 
ring the  titie.  In  1721,  at  the  keenly  contested  election  for 
a  representative  of  the  Scots  peerage,  in  room  of  the  Maiqoif 
of  Annandale  deceased,  his  right  to  the  peerage  was  impugned 
on  the  part  of  his  elder  brother,  on  the  grotmd  that  any  dis- 
position or  nomination  fipom  hb  father  to  the  bonotirs  and 
dignity  of  earl  of  Breadalbane  **  could  not  convey  the  honours, 
nor  could  the  crown  effectually  grant  a  peerage  to  any  perKto 
and  such  heir  as  he  should  name,  such  patent  being  inomsis- 
tent  with  the  nature  of  a  peerage,  and  not  agreeable  to  law, 
and  also  without  precedent.**  [^RobertMon's  Proceedmg$,  p. 
88.J  These  objections  were  overruled.  At  the  genenl  eleo- 
tion  of  1786  his  lordship  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  repre- 
sentative peers,  and  in  1741  was  rechosen.  He  was  lord- 
lieutenant  of  the  county  of  Perth.  He  died  at  Holyroodhooae, 
28d  February  1752,  in  his  ninetieth  year.  He  married,  first. 
Lady  Frances  Cavendish,  second  of  the  five  daughters  of 
Henry,  second  duke  of  Newcastle.  She  died,  without  issue, 
4th  February  1690,  in  her  thirtieth  year.  He  married, 
secondly,  28d  May  1695,  Henrietta,  second  daughter  of  ^ 
Edward  Villiers,  knight,  sister  of  the  first  earl  of  Jeraey,  and 
of  Elizabeth,  countess  of  Orkney,  the  w^it^  but  plain-looking 
mistress  of  King  William  the  Third.  By  his  second  wife  be 
had  a  son,  John,  third  earl,  and  two  daughters,  Lady  Char- 
lotte and  Lady  Henrietta,  who  both  died  unmarried. 

John,  tlurd  earl,  bom  in  1696,  was  educated  at  the  uni- 
ver»ty  of  Oxford,  and  when  veiy  young  he  exhibited  an  turn- 
sual  degree  of  talent  as  well  as  progress  in  his  studies.  In 
1718,  at  the  age  of  twenty- two,  he  was  sent  as  envoy  extra- 
ordinary and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of  Den- 
mark.    He  was  invested  with  the  order  of  the  Bath  at  iti 


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^    MARQUIS  OF. 


reviTal,  in  1725.    At  the  general  election  of  1727  he  was 
ciioeen  member  of  parliament  for  the  borough  of  Saltash  in 
England,  and  in  1734  was  re-elected.    In  December  1731, 
he  was  appointed  ambassador  to  Russia.    In  1741  he  was 
chosen  to  represent  Oxford  in  parliament,  and  spoke  fine- 
qnently  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  support  of  Sir  Robert 
WaIpoIe*s  measures.     On  14th  Maj  1741,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  lords  of  the  admindty,  but  was  removed  firom  that 
board,  19th  March  1742,  on  the  dissolution  of  the  Walpole 
administration.     In  January  1746  he  was  nominated  master 
of  his  majesty's  jewel  office.     In  February  1752  he  succeeded 
his  father,  and  was  elected  a  representative  peer,  9th  July  of 
that  year,  in  the  room  of  the  earl  of  Dunmore,  deceased.    In 
1761,  he  was  appointed  lord  chief  justice  in  eyre  of  all  the 
royal  forests  south  of  the  Trent,  and  he  held  that  office  till 
October  1765.    He  was  constituted  vice-admiral  of  Scotland, 
26th  October  1776.     Ho  died  at  Holyroodhouse,  26th  Janu- 
ary 1782,  in  his  86th  year.    He  married,  first,  in  1721,  Lady 
AmabelU  Grey,  eldest  daughter  and  coheir  of  Henry  duke  of 
Kent,  K.  G.,  and  by  her — ^who  died  at  Copenhagen  in  March 
1727 — he  had  a  son,  Henry,  whose  death  took  place  a  few 
weeks  after  his  mother,  and  a  daughter,  Lady  Jemima  Camp- 
bell, bom  9th  October  1723,  who  succeeded  her  grandfather, 
the  duke  of  Kent,  as  Baroness  Lucas  of  Crudwell  and  Mar- 
chioness de  Grey,  6tli  June,  1740.    This  lady  married,  22d 
May  of  that  year,  Philip,  second  earl  of  Hardwicke,  and  by 
him  had  two  daughters.    The  eldest, 
I^dy  Amabella  Yorke,  who  married 
Lord  Polwarth,  son  of  the  third  earl 
of  Marchmont,  succeeded  her  mother 
RS  Baroness  Lucas  in  1797,  the  title 
of  Marchioness  de  Grey  then  becom- 
ing extinct.     Lord  Breadalbane  mar- 
ried,  secondly,  23d   January    1730, 
Arabella,  third  daughter  and  heiress 
of  John  Pershall,  by  Chariotte,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Lord  Colepepper,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons:  George,  bom    ^ 
in  January  1733,  died  at  MoiTat  in    f 
April  1744,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his   'i 
age ;  and  John,  Lord  Glenorchy,  bom  j 
in  London  26th  September  1738,  died    ■ 
in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  and  with-   { 
out  surviving  issue,  at  Bamton,  in  the 
county  of  Edinburgh,  an  estate  he  had 
recently  purchased,  14th  November, 
177 1 ,  in  the  34th  year  of  his  age.     He 
married  at  London,  26th  September 
1761,  Willielma,  second  and  posthum- 
ous daughter  and  coheir  of  William 

Maxwell  of  Preston,  a  branch  of  the  Nithsdale  family,  and  had 
a  son,  who  died  in  his  infancy.  Of  this  lady,  the  celebrated 
Lady  Glenorchy,  a  memoir  is  given  under  the  head  of  Camp- 
bell, Willielma. 

The  male  line  of  the  first  peer  having  become  extinct  in 
1782,  on  the  death  of  the  third  earl,  the  clause  in  the  patent 
in  favour  of  heirs  general  transferred  the  peerage,  and  the 
vast  estates  belonging  to  it,  to  his  kinsman,  John  Campbell, 
bom  in  1762,  eldest  son  of  Colin  Campbell  of  Carwhin,  de- 
scended firora  Colin  Campbell  of  Mochaster,  (who  died  in  Oc- 
tober 1688,)  second  son  of  Sir  Robert  Campbell  of  Glenurchy. 
The  mother  of  the  fourth  earl  and  first  marquis  of  Breadal- 
bane, was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Archibald  Campbell  of 
Stonefield,  sheriff  of  Argyleshire,  and  sister  of  John  Camp- 
bell, judicially  styled  Lord  Stonefield,  a  lord  of  session  and 
jiuttdary.     He  was  educated  at  Westminster  school ;  and  af- 


terwards resided  for  some  time  at  Lausanne  in  Switzerland. 
In  1784,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  sixteen  representative  peers 
of  Scotland,  and  was  rechosen  at  all  the  subsequent  elections, 
until  he  was  created  a  peer  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  No- 
vember 1806,  by  the  title  of  Baron  Breadalbane  of  Taymouth 
in  the  county  of  Perth,  to  himself  and  the  heirs  male  of  his 
body.  In  1793  he  raised  a  fencible  regiment,  called  the 
Breadalbane  Fendbles,  for  the  service  of  govemment.  It 
was  afterwards  increased  to  four  battalions.  One  of  these 
was  in  July  1795  enrolled,  as  the  116th  regiment,  in  the  reg- 
ular senice,  his  lordship  being  constituted  its  colonel.  He 
was  one  of  the  state  counsellors  of  the  prince  of  Wales  for 
Scotland,  and  ranked  as  major-general  in  the  army  from  25th 
October  1809.  In  1831,  at  the  coronation  of  William  the 
Fourth,  he  was  created  a  marquis  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
under  the  title  of  marquis  of  Breadalbane  and  earl  of  Ormelie. 
In  public  affairs  he  did  not  take  a  prominent  or  ostentatious 
part,  his  attention  being  chiefly  devoted  to  the  improvement 
of  his  extensive  estates,  great  portions  of  which,  being  unfitted 
for  cultivation,  he  laid  out  in  plantations.  In  1805,  he  re- 
ceived the  gold  medal  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  for  his  success 
in  planting  forty-four  acres  of  waste  land,  in  the  parish  of 
Kenmore,  with  Scotch  and  larch  firs,  a  species  of  rather  pre- 
carious growth,  and  adapted  only  to  peculiar  soils.  In  the 
magnificent  improvements  at  Taymouth,  his  lordship  display- 
ed mnch  taste ;  and  the  park  has  been  firquently  described 


as  one  ot  the  most  extensive  ano  beautiful  in  the  kingdom. 
He  married,  2  September,  1793,  Mary  Tumer,  eldest  daughter 
and  coheiress  of  David  Gavin,  Esq.  of  Langton,  in  the  county 
of  Berwick,  by  I^y  Elizabeth  Maitland,  eldest  surviving 
daughter  of  James,  seventh  earl  of  Lauderdale,  and  by  her 
had  two  daughters  and  one  son.  The  elder  daughter.  Lady 
Elizabeth  Maitland  Campbell,  married  in  1831,  Sir  John 
Pringle  of  Stitchell,  baronet,  and  the  younger.  Lady  Mary 
Campbell,  became  in  1819  the  wife  of  Richard,  marquis  of 
Chandofl,  who  in  1889  became  duke  of  Buckingham.  The 
marquis  died,  after  a  short  illness,  at  Taymouth  castle,  on  29th 
March  1834,  aged  seventy-two.  The  whole  of  his  personal 
estate,  exceeding,  it  is  said,  £300,000,  was  directed  by  his  will 
to  accumulate  for  twenty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  period  it 
was  to  be  laid  out  on  estates  to  be  added  to  the  entailed  pro- 
perty, but  his  settlement  was  partly  set  aside  by  the  marquia 


-^^=:=_^JJ 


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BRECHIN. 


of  Chandos  in  right  of  his  wife,  who  obtained  an  affirmance 
by  the  House  of  Peers  of  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Sesrion, 
declaring  that  the  marchioness  and  her  husband,  in  her  right, 
were  entitled  to  demand  leffidm. 

The  marquis*  only  son,  John  Campbell,  eari  of  Ormelie, 
'bom  at  Dundee,  26th  October  1796,  succeeded,  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  to  the  titles  and  estates.  He  married,  23d  No- 
Tember  1821,  Eliza,  eldest  daughter  of  George  Baillie,  Esq. 
of  Jerviswood,  without  issue.  He  represented  Perthshire  in 
the  parliament  of  1832.  In  1884  he  socoeeded  his  father  as 
6th  earl  and  2d  marquis  of  Breadalbane.  In  183S  he  was 
made  a  knight  of  the  Thistle,  and  in  1841  was  elected  Lord 
liector  of  the  university  of  Glasgow.  He  was  Lord*cham- 
berlain  of  the  household  from  July  1848  to  Feb.  1852,  and 
Ngain  from  Jan.  1853  to  Feb.  1858.  He  was  president  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  and  Ix>rd-lieutenanl 
of  Argyleshire.  He  died  Nov.  8,  1862,  when  the  marquisate, 
with  its  secondary  titles,  in  the  peerage  of  the  United  King- 
dom, became  extinct,  and  he  was  succeeded  in  the  Scotch 
titles  by  a  distant  kinsman,  William  John  Lamb  Campbell 
of  Glenfalloch,  Perthshire,  bom  in  1790. 


Brkorin,  a  surname  derived  from  a  lordship  comprising 
the  ancient  town  of  that  name  in  For&ishire.  The  word  has 
been  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  the  Scottish  brachen 
or  breckan^  which  signifies  '  female  fern,'  but  this  seems  not 
very  probable,  as  that  plant  is  by  no  means  abundant  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Its  similarity  to  the  British  name  Breckeinoc 
or  Biycheinog,  Anglicised  into  Brecknock,  or  Brecon,  (an> 
dently  Aberhodni)  the  chief  town  of  Brecknockshire,  which 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  (1188)  and  even  earlier  authorities  de- 
rive from  Brackan,  a  regulus  or  prince  of  that  country,  who 
died  about  the  year  450,  renders  it  probable  that  it  is  likswisa 
called  after  some  individual  of  British  or  Cumbrian  origin  of 
that  name.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that,  being  a  town  of  great 
ecclesiastical  antiquity,  its  round  tower  being  one  of  tbe  oolj 
two  extant  in  Scotland,  and  not  of  later  date  thao  tbe  sixth 
or  seventh  century,  it  may  have  originated  in  a  dmrdi  dedi- 
cated to  the  famOy  of  this  Brackan,  who,  according  to  Giral- 
dus, William  de  Worcester,  and  Leland,  (as  quoted  by  Sir 
Ricbud  C.  Hoare  in  his  annotations  to  the  Itinerary  of  Arch- 
bishop Baldwin,  by  Giraldus,  vol.  i.  p.  61.  London,  1806,) 
had  twenty-four  sons  and  as  many  daughters,  who  all  em- 
braced a  religious  life,  and  were  the  founders  of  numerous 
churches,  and  on  that  account  the  finnily  of  Brackan  are 
stated  in  the  Welsh  Triads  (idem,  p.  60)  to  have  received  the 
appellation  of  the  holy  family,  and  the  hi^est  of  the  three 
holy  families  of  Britain,  on  account  of  hia(Brackan*8)  **  bringing 
up  his  children  and  grandchildren  in  learning,  so  as  to  be  able 
to  show  the  faith  in  Christ  to  the  Cumbrae  or  Cymri,  where  they 
were  without JiuihJ^  The  names  of  his  ohildreo  are  given  by  the 
authors  in  the  quotations  above  referred  to,  and  two  of  them, 
viz..  Saint  Afaneyda,  Aled,  or  Elyned,  a  female  saint  who  suf- 
fered martyrdom,  not  included  in  these  lists,  and  Saint  Canoo, 
who  appears  in  one  of  them,  have  found  places  in  the  Boman 
calender  of  saints.  It  is  singular,  and  may  lend  some  proba- 
bility to  this  conjecture,  that  the  name  oi  lona  appears  in 
two  of  the  lists  referred  to,  as  well  as  Elie  or  Helie,  Maben, 
and  other  names  still  preserved  in  localities  in  Sootiand  con- 
nected with  eodesiastieal  sites. 


Brechin,  lord  of,  a  titie  possessed  by  a  powerful  family  in 
the  thirteenth  century.  Henry  de  Brechin,  natural  son  of 
David,  eari  of  Huntingdon  in  England,  earl  of  Gariooh  and 
Lord  Brechin  in  Scotland,  and  brother  of  King  William  the 
Lion,  obtained  from  his  father  the  lordship  of  Brechin,  whence 


he  took  his  surname.  He  is  witness  to  a  charter  of  Wilfian: 
the  lion  to  Malcolm,  eari  of  Fife,  in  which  he  is  designed, 
*■  Henricus  filius  comitis  D.ivid,  patris  met'  In  a  donation  ci 
his  brother  John,  eari  of  Chester,  to  the  canons  of  St  An- 
drews, he  is  designed,  *  Henricus  de  Brechin,  filius  oomitia 
David,'  and  a  mortification  by  the  same  earl  to  the  abbey  of 
Aberbrothwick,  is  witnessed  by  *  Henrico  de  Brechin,  fratri 
mei.*  By  his  wife,  Julian,  he  had  a  son,  Sir  William  de 
Brechin,  who  founded  the  Maison  Dieu,  or  St.  Mary's  Hospi- 
tal, at  Brechin,  in  1256,  and  confirmed  by  James  the  Third 
in  1477,  for  the  welfare  of  the  sonb  of  William  and  Alexan- 
der, kings  of  Scotland,  John,  earl  of  Chester  and  Huntiog- 
don,  his  unde,  Henry  his  father,  and  Julian  his  mother,  and 
of  his  own  souL  To  the  foundation  charter,  in  which  he  de- 
signates himself  ^\^ielmus  de  Brechin,  filius  Henrid  de 
Brechin,  filius  comitis  David,'  Albinus  bishop  of  Brechin,  Ro- 
bert de  Monte  AltO)  and  several  other  persons  of  note,  are  wit- 
nesses. With  Alexander  Stewart  of  Sootiand  and  Darid  de 
Graham,  he  is  witness  to  a  charter  of  David,  bishop  of  St  An- 
drews, to  the  monks  of  Paisley  in  1247,  in  which  he  is  styled 
*  Willielmo  de  Brechin,  barone  et  milite.'  In  1254  he  was  srbi- 
trator  in  a  dispute  between  Peter  de  Maule,  lord  of  Panmore, 
and  Christina  de  Valoniis,  his  wife,  with  the  abbot  of  Aber- 
brothwick, about  the  marches  of  Aberbrothwick  and  Panmue, 
which  Alexander  Comyn,  earl  of  Bucban,  justiciary  of  Scot- 
land, had  perambulated  by  the  king's  special  command. 
During  the  mmority  of  Alexander  the  Third,  he  was  one  of 
the  heads  of  the  English  party  in  Scotiand,  in  opposition  to 
the  Comyns.  In  1255  he  was  one  of  the  Magnatea  Seotia, 
with  whose  counsel  that  monarch  gave  commission  to  the 
earls  of  Menteith,  Buchan,  and  Mar,  to  treat  with  the  Eng- 
lish. On  the  20th  September  of  that  year,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  regents  of  Scotland  and  guardians  of  the  king  and 
queen,  during  the  king's  minority.  At  the  paiiiament  bald 
at  Scone  5th  February  1283-4,  he  was  among  the  nobles  who 
became  bound  to  acknowledge  Mai^garet  of  Norway  as  ihi 
heir  to  the  crown,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  Alexander  the 
Third  without  issue.  He  appears  to  have  died  soon  after- 
wards. He  married  the  fourth  daughter  of  the  above-nanoed 
Alexander  Comyn,  eari  of  Buchan,  constable  and  justidary  of 
Scotiand,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  named  David,  who  soc- 
oeeded him. 

Sir  David  de  Brechin  was  one  of  the  Scottish  banms  who 
swore  fealty  to  Edward  tiie  First  in  1296,  and  with  othen  be 
was  sammoned  to  attend  that  monarch  into  France,  but  tbe 
same  year  was  allowed  to  oome  to  Scotiand,  upon  giving  his 
obligation  to  return  to  the  service  of  King  Edward.  In  the 
struggle  for  independence  under  Brooe  he  fought  on  the  Eng- 
lish fflde,  and  took  Sir  Alexander  Eraser  prisoner  at  the  battle 
of  Methven  in  1306.  [FoNfeno.]  In  1308  he  was  one  of  King 
Edward  the  Second's  council,  and  recdved  the  circular  letter 
which  he  addressed  to  the  nobles  in  his  interest,  thanking 
them  for  past  services  and  encouraging  them  to  remain 
faithful  to  hinL  He  continued  on  the  English  aide,  with 
his  relations  the  Comyns,  till  after  the  battle  of  Invenuy, 
22d  May  of  that  year,  in  which,  with  John  Comyn,  eari  of 
Buchan,  and  Sir  John  Mowbray,  he  commanded  the  army  op- 
posed to  Brace,  who  gained  a  complete  victory.  He  then  re- 
tired to  his  castie  of  Brechin,  whidi  he  garrisoned,  bat  bong 
besieged,  is  said  to  have  soon  after  made  his  peace  with 
King  Robert  Before  the  dose  of  the  thirteenth  centniy 
he  i^pears  to  have  married  the  sister  of  Robert  Brace,  who 
was  then  in  private  life,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Sir  Da- 
vid de  Brechin,  and  Sir  Thomas  de  Brechin,  the  latter  of 
whom  obtained  from  his  father  the  lands  of  Lumquhat  in 
Fife  INisbet'a  Heraldry,  vol.  L  p.  77.J,  also  a  danghter,  Uar» 


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BRISBANE. 


garat,  married  in  1815  to  Sir  David  de  Barclayf  who  after- 
wards became  possessed  of  the  lordship  of  Brechin. 

The  elder  son,  Sir  David  de  Brechin,  was  called  *  The  Flower 
of  Chivaby/  finom  his  prowess  in  arms.  He  distinguished 
himself  against  the  Saraoens  in  the  Holy  Land,  whither  he 
went  when  very  joong.  He  was  one  of  the  barons  who 
signed  the  bold  letter  to  the  Pope,  6th  April  1320,  in  behalf 
of  Robert  Brooe  and  the  independence  of  Scotland.  Bat  the 
•ame  year  he  was  made  privy  to  the  oonspiraey  of  William 
de  Soolis,  the  oonntess  of  Strathem,  and  others,  against  the 
king  his  unde,  and  fSnr  not  discovering  it,  be  was  tried  m  a 
parliament  held  at  Scone,  in  Aogost  1820,  called  *  the  Black 
Parliament,'  and  sentenced  to  the  death  of  a  traitor.  He  was 
aocordinglj  executed,  with  three  others.  His  faXe  was  much 
deplored,  being,  says  Buchanan,  *  omnium  etatis  sua  jnvenmn 
et  belli  et  pads  artibus  long^  piimns.*  Historians  generally 
have  spoken  of  him  as  being  unjustly  put  to  death,  as,  al- 
though aware  of  the  plot  against  the  life  of  the  king,  he  en- 
tirely disapproved  of  it,  and  notwithstanding  the  plausible 
reasons  to  the  contrary  given  by  Tytler — ^who  sufiers  nothing 
to  the  discredit  of  his  hen>  Bruce  to  pass  uncontested — such 
win  probably  continue  to  be  the  verdict  of  posterity.  *'  There 
b  evidence  in  the  records  of  the  Tower,*"  says  Tytler,  **  that 
both  Soulis  and  Brediin  had  long  tampered  with  England, 
and  been  rewarded  for  their  services.  In  the  case  of  Brechin, 
we  find  him  enjoying  special  letters  of  protection  from  Ed- 
ward. In  addition  to  these  he  was  pensioned  in  1812,  wa£ 
appointed  English  warden  of  the  town  and  oastie  of  Dundee, 
and  employed  in  secret  and  confidential  communications,  hav- 
ing for  their  object  the  destruction  of  his  nude's  power  in 
Scotland,  and  the  triumph  of  the  English  arms  over  his  na- 
tive country.  It  is  certain  that  he  was  a  prisoner  of  war  in 
Scotland  in  the  year  1315,  having  probably  been  taken  in  arms 
at  the  battle  of  Bannockburo.  In  the  five  years  of  gloiy  and 
success  which  followed,  and  in  the  repeated  expeditions  of 
Randolph  and  Douglas,  we  do  not  once  meet  with  his  name, 
and  now,  after  having  been  reodved  into  favour,  he  became 
connected  with,  or  at  leost  connived  at,  a  conspuracy  whidi 
involved  the  death  of  the  king.  Such  a  delinquent  is  little 
entitled  to  our  sympathy.  There  was  not  a  single  favourable 
dicumstance  in  his  case,  but  he  was  young  and  brave,  he  had 
fought  against  the  infidels,  and  the  people  could  not  see  him 
Buffff  without  pity  and  regret"  [History  qf  Scotlandy  v.  I 
p.  871.]  It  is  true,  as  he  says,  that  the  name  of  Sir  David 
de  Brechin  appears  in  connection  with  the  En^h  interest 
during  many  ]Nnevious  years,  but  beddes  that  the  same  occurs 
with  many  of  the  highest  of  the  Scottish  nolulity,  induding 
Randolph  the  nephew  and  afterwards  the  best  commander  of 
Bruce,  there  is  no  evidence  that  this  individual  was  not  Sir 
David  the  &ther  rather  than  Sir  David  the  son.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  the  fkther  made  his  peace  with  Robert  previous 
to  1812,  when  a  Sbr  David  de  Brechin  was  appointed  joint 
warden  with  William  de  Montfichet,  in  the  En^ish  interest, 
of  the  town  and  castle  of  Dundee,  nor  even  in  1815,  when 
a  person  of  that  name  was  a  prisoner  of  war  in  Scotland. 
If  the  unfortunate  sufferer  was,  as  Buchanan  states  and  Tyt- 
ler confirms,  young  and  brave  when  he  died  in  1820,  and  had 
passed  many  years  of  his  Ufe  in  fighting  against  the  Saracens, 
his  absence  firom  the  expeditions  of  Randolph  and  Douglas  may 
be  easily  accounted  for.  A  reason  for  his  death,  which  was 
not  likdy  to  occur  to  Tjrtier,  however,  was  the  fact  that,  both 
by  the  male  and  female  line,  he  was  nearer  to  the  throne  than 
Bruce  himself;  and  as  the  object  of  the  conspiracy  was  to 
place  Soulis  on  the  throne,  instead  of  Bruce,  the  latter  was 
not  likdy  to  allow  any  ordinaiy  scruple  to  interfere  with  the 
opportonity  of  rdieving  himself  of  an  accomplished  gentie- 


man  and  popular  warrior,  who  might  himself  prove  a  danger- 
ous rival  Sir  David's  lands  were  all  given  by  the  king  to 
David  de  Barday,  the  husband  of  Sir  David's  daughter, 
Margaret  de  Brechin,  and  to  Maria,  wife  of  Malise  de  Stra- 
them. His  brother,  Thomas  de  Brechin,  was  involved  in  bis 
Ibrfdture,  he  also  having  been  privy  to  the  conspiracy,  and  his 
lands  of  Lumquhat  in  Fife  were  bestowed  on  John  Ramsay. 
Of  the  Barolats,  lords  of  Brechin,  an  account  has  ahneady 
been  given,  under  the  head  Babolat,  see  ante,  pp.  240, 241. 
rhe  lordship  of  Brechin  was  annexed  to  the  crown  in  1437. 

BRBW8TBR,  surname  of,  see  Supplbmkmt. 

BRiSBAif E,  or  BiRSBANK,  a  sumame  bdonging  to  an  an- 
dent  family  which  appears  to  have  possessed  Bishoptoun  in 
Renfi:ewshire,  holding  of  the  lordship  of  Erskine,  with  lands 
in  the  counties  of  Stirling  and  Ayr,  long  prior  to  the  date  of 
any  diarters  they  have  preserved,  and  now  represented  by  the 
line  of  Brisbane  of  Brisbane  in  Ayrshire,  and  Mackerstoun  in 
Roxburghshire.  One  of  the  earliest  of  the  family  known  in 
histocy  is  supposed  to  have  been  William  Brisbane,  who,  ui 
1882,  was  chancdior  of  Scotland.  [An^  iifMoZt.]  In 
Brisbane  house  in  the  parish  oi  Largs,  Ayrshire,  is  preserved 
an  old  oaken  chur,  with  the  date  1867  and  the  arms  and  ini- 
tials of  the  family  carved  on  the  back.  The  arms  are  three 
cushions  or  woolsacks,  which  should  seem  to  have  been  adopt- 
ed from  the  o£Sce  of  chancellor.  But  if  Crawford  be  cor- 
rect in  his  Histocy  of  Renfrewshire,  where  he  mentions  Bish- 
optoun as  *  the  andent  inheritance  of  the  Brisbanee,  the  chief 
of  that  name,'  in  his  reference  to  *  AQanus  de  Brysbane  filius 
Whelhehni  de  Brysbane,'  who  obtained,  shortiy  after  1884, 
from  Donald  eari  of  Lennox,  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Macher- 
ach  and  Holmedalmar^^ne  in  Stirlingshire,  there  were  Brift- 
banes  of  Brisbane  even  before  the  time  of  this  chancellor. 
Thomas  and  Alexander  Brisbane,  brothers,  are  witnesses  to  a 
diarter,  granted  9th  September  1861,  by  Thomas  eari  of  Mar, 
and  confirmed  by  King  David  the  Second.  Thomas  Brisbane 
is  witness  to  a  charter  by  Robert  duke  of  Albany,  dated  at 
Perth,  22d  September  1409.  Previous  to  that  year  the  £un- 
ily  had  acquired  the  ten  pound  land  of  KilUncraig  and  Gogo 
in  the  parish  of  Largs.  To  these,  several  other  lands  that  be- 
longed to  the  ardibishop  of  Glasgow  and  the  abbey  of  Pais- 
ley, were  afterwards  added,  and  in  1595  the  estate  of  Laigs 
was  erected  into  the  barony  of  Gogoside,  and  the  town  into  a 
burgh  of  barony  called  the  Newton  of  Gogo.  In  1650,  this 
barony,  with  the  lands  of  Noddeadale  and  others,  was  erected 
into  the  barony  of  Noddesdale.  fioon  after,  having  aoqmred 
the  property  of  Over  Kdsoland,  which  had  for  a  long  period 
bebnged  to  the  family  of  Kelso,  the  whole  estate  was,  in 
1695,  by  a  crown  diarter  erected  into  the  barony  of  Brisbane, 
which  thenceforth  became  the  usual  territorial  designation  of 
the  family. 

/lathew  Brisbane  of  Bishoptoun,  the  fifth  proprietor  of 
Bishoptoun  in  a  direct  descent,  fell  at  Flodden,  9th  S^tem- 
ber  1518,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  John  Brisbane, 
whose  son,  also  named  John,  was  dain  at  the  battie  of 
Pmkie,  10th  September  1547.  His  son  John  Brisbane  of 
Bishoptoun,  on  November  9,  1555,  with  Thomas  Brisbane 
his  servant,  William  Brisbane,  servant  of  Lord  Sempill, 
and  six  others,  found  John  Lord  Erskine,  his  superior 
in  the  lands  of  Bishoptoun,  as  surety  or  bail  for  their 
appearance,  to  take  thev  trial  at  the  next  assises  at  Ren- 
firew,  for  ^^hamesucken  at  the  monastery  of  Paisley,''  and 
nratilating  John  Hamilton  of  his  arm.  Robert  Brisbane 
of  Bishoptoun  married,  in  1562,  Janette,  daughter  of  James 
Stewart  of  Ardgowan  and  Blackball,  a  neighbouring  &m- 


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BRISBANE. 


ily  descended  from  King  Robert  the  Third,  and  died  in  1610. 
Hi8  elder  son,  John  Brisbane  of  Bishoptoun,  who  succeeded 
him,  and  died  in  1635,  married,  first,  Anna,  daughter  of  the 
laird  of  Blair,  and,  secondly,  a  daughter  of  Lord  SempilL  His 
eldest  son,  John  Brisbane  of  Brisbane,  had  a  son,  John,  who 
died  before  his  father,  without  male  issue,  on  which  he  en- 
tered into  a  contract  of  marriage,  26th  June  1657,  between 
Klizabeth,  his  eldest  daughter  and  his  nephew  James  Shaw 
of  the  Shaws  of  Ballygellie  in  Irehind,  by  which  the  estate 
was  settled  on  the  heirs  male  of  that  marriage,  James  Shaw 
assuming  the  name  and  arms  of  Brisbane.  On  the  death  of 
his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Shaw  accordingly  became  James 
Brisbane  of  Brisbane.  In  1671  he  acquired  the  lands  of  Over 
Kelsoland,  already  mentioned,  now  forming  part  of  the  estate 
of  Brisbane,  and  about  the  same  period  he  disposed  of  the 
estate  of  Bishoptoun  to  different  people,  to  be  held  in  fen  of 
himself  and  his  heirs.  There  is  a  letter  of  remission  to  this 
James  Brisbane,  from  James  the  Seventh  of  Scotland,  dated 
26th  February,  1686,  for  fines  imposed  on  him  for  any  irre- 
gularity committed  by  his  wife  in  attending  conventicles.  He 
had  issue  John,  his  heir,  two  other  sons,  and  a  daughter. 

John  Brisbane  of  Brisbane,  the  eldest  son,  married  Marga- 
ret, daughter  of  Sir  Archibald  Stewart  of  Blackhall,  and  had 
two  sons  and  four  daughters.  James,  his  heir  and  successor, 
died  without  issue. '  Thomaa,  his  second  son,  married,  in 
1715,  Isabel,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Nicolson  of  Ladykirk, 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  of  whom  John,  the  second  son, 
entered  the  navy,  and  distinguished  himself  in  the  American 
war.  He  attained  the  rank  of  admiral,  and  died  ial807. 
He  married  a  daughter  of  Admiral  Toung,  and,  besides 
daughters,  had  several  sons.  John  Douglaa,  the  eldest,  was 
drowned  on  board  of  one  of  the  French  prizes,  after  Rodney*s 
action  in  1782.  Thomas-Stewart  Brisbane  rose  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army,  and  was  killed  at  St.  Do- 
mingo, in  1795,  while  commanding  a  corps  with  great  dis- 
tinction. A  third  son,  William  Henry  Brisbane,  a  naval 
captain,  was  poisoned  by  the  French  prisoners  at  Gibraltar  in 
1796.  A  fourth  son,  Sir  Charlee  Brisbane,  entered  the  navy 
under  the  auspices  of  his  father,  with  whom  he  served  in  Sir 
George  Rodney's  fleet,  and  was  wounded  in  the  memorable 
engagement  of  the  12th  April  1782.  He  served  with  dis- 
tinction under  Hood  and  Nelson  in  1794-6.  He  was  made 
lieutenant  in  1793,  commander  in  1795,  and  post-captain  in 
1796.  On  his  own  responsibility,  having  a  squadron  under 
his  command  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  Dutch  island  of  Cura- 
90a  in  the  West  Indies,  and  to  ascertain  the  disposition  of 
the  inhabitants,  he  assaulted  it,  and  carried  it  by  coup  de 
mmn,  on  the  Ist  January  1807,  being  himself  the  first  to 
scale  the  walls  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  For  this  gallant  exploit 
he  received  the  gold  medal,  and  was  knighted.  He  was  no- 
minated knight  of  the  Bath  in  1815,  and  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  rear-admiral  in  1819.  This  gallant  officer  died  in 
1829,  leaving  by  his  wife,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Patey,  two 
sons,  one  in  the  army  and  another  in  the  navy,  besides  two 
daughters.  Sir  James  Brisbane,  youngest  son  of  Admiral 
John  Brisbane  above-mentioned,  was  also  a  gall«it  naval 
o£Scer  who  attained  the  rank  of  admiral.  By  his  wife,  only 
daughter  of  John  Ventham,  Esq.  he  left  one  son,  James 
Stewart,  a  commander  R.  N.,  and  two  daughters.  Admiral 
John  Brisbane  had  also  ax  daughters,  five  of  whom  were 
married.  The  third,  Mary,  was  the  mother  of  Lord  Core- 
house,  and  of  the  wives  of  Dugald  Stewart  and  Cuninghame 
of  Liunshaw,  and  of  Count  Purgstall  in  St3rria.  The  fourth, 
Helen,  became  the  lady  of  Sir  Charles  Douglas,  a  distin- 
guished admiral. 

lliomas.  eldest  son  of  Thomas,  the  second  son  ot  John  | 


Brisbane  of  Brisbane,  and  elder  brother  of  Admiral  John 
above  mentioned,  succeeded  his  uncle  James  in  tiie  familj 
estates,  and  was  served  heir  to  him  on  the  15th  September, 
1770.  He  mamed  Eleanora,  daughter  of  Sir  Michael  Brace 
of  Stenhouse,  baronet,  and  had,  with  a  daughter,  Maiy,  two 
sons,  viz.,  Thomas,  his  successor,  and  Michael,  who  went  out 
to  India,  and  died  there  in  the  service  of  the  Honourable  Ev< 
India  Company. 

Sir  Thomas  Makdougall  Brisbane,  a  general  in  the  aimy 
succeeded  his  father  on  his  death  in  1812,  and  in  1819  he 
married  Anna  Maria,  only  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Hay  Mak- 
dougall, baronet  of  Makerstoun,  Roxburghshire,  a  kinsman  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  representative  of  one  of  the  most  in- 
dent families  in  Scotland,  and  on  his  death  he  succeeded,  in 
right  of  his  wife,  to  his  extensive  and  valuable  domains,  wbeo 
he  assumed  the  name  of  Makdougall  before  his  own,  being 
authorized  by  sign  manual,  dated  14th  August  1826.  This 
distinguished  officer  and  astronomer  entered  the  army  as  an 
ensign  in  1790,  when  he  joined  the  38th  regiment  in  Ireland, 
where  he  remained  till  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1793, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy  in  the  53d.  In  the 
spring  of  that  year  he  proceeded  with  his  r^ment  to  Flan- 
ders, and  was  present  with  it  m  all  the  duke  of  York*s  cam- 
paigns, at  the  storming  of  the  French  entrenched  camp  at 
Famars,  the  sieges  of  Valenciennes,  Dunkirk,  Nieupoit, 
Nimeguen,  and  the  sorties  firoin  that  fortress;  also,  in  the 
actions  of  Aswin,  Fremont,  Chateau- Cambresis,  &&,  and  in 
that  of  Toumay,  where  he  was  wounded,  as  well  as  in  the 
affairs  of  Boxtel,  Buren,  Culemburg,  and  Gilder-Matrin.  In 
the  spring  of  1795,  he  returned  to  England  with  his  regiment, 
in  which  he  obtained  a  majority  by  purchase,  and  embarked 
in  the  expedition  under  Sir  Ralph  Aberonombie  for  the  Vifik 
Indies.  In  1796  he  served  at  the  reduction  of  St.  Laos,  the 
siege  and  sortie  of  Mome- Fortune,  and  the  af&urs  of  Chab-)t 
Castries,  and  Vigie ;  also,  in  the  reduction  of  the  island  of  St 
Vincent,  and  in  the  whole  of  the  Caraib  war.  In  1797  b« 
was  at  the  taking  of  the  isUnd  of  Trinidad,  and  commanded 
his  regiment  at  the  siege  of  Porto  Rico.  In  1800  he  became, 
by  purchase,  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  r^ment,  and  in  1801 
he  joined  it  in  Jamaica,  and  commanded  it  till  its  return  tt 
Rnghind  in  1805.  On  its  being  ordered  to  India,  he,  un- 
der medical  advice,  as  labouring  under  a  severe  liver  com- 
plaint, and  being  unable  to  effed;  an  exchange  into  the  gnardx 
or  cavalry,  was  compelled  for  a  time  to  retire  on  half  pay. 
After  serving  two  years  as  adyutaut  general  in  the  Kent  dis- 
trict, he  embarked  for  the  Peninsula  in  1812,  and  thenceforth 
he  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  duke  of  Wellington's  army, 
taking  part  in  almost  all  the  battles  fought  m  Spain,  the 
Pyrenees,  and  the  south  of  France.  He  had  a  cross  and 
one  clasp  for  Vittoria,  Pyrenees,  Nivelle,  Orthea,  and  Tuo- 
louse,  where  he  was  again  wounded.  In  1813  he  received  the 
thanks  of  parliament  for  his  gallant  conduct  in  the  field  of 
Orthes.  The  next  year  he  went  with  the  detachment  of  the 
Peninsular  army  that  was  ordered  to  North  America,  and 
commanded  a  brigade  at  the  aflmirs  of  PUttsburg,  Richlieo, 
&C.  In  1815  he  obtained  the  grand  cross  of  the  Bath,  while 
still  serving  in  America.  On  the  return  of  the  Emperor  Na- 
poleon from  Elba  in  March  of  that  year.  Sir  Thomas  was  re- 
called, and  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo  joined  the  army  in 
Paris  with  twelve  brigades,  comprising  nearly  ten  thousand 
men,  which,  on  being  renewed,  drew  from  the  duke  of  Wel- 
lington the  excUmation.  **'  Had  I  had  these  regiments  at 
Waterloo,  I  should  not  have  wanted  the  Prussians.**  Sir 
Thomas  Brisbane  remained  in  France  during  the  whol««  pe- 
riod that  the  Allies  occupied  the  French  soil,  and  in  the  interim 
was  unanimously  elected  oonesponding  member  of  the  Insti- 


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BRODIE. 


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BRODIE. 


fcute  of  France.  In  1820  he  was  appointed  to  the  staff  in 
Ireland,  and  he  commanded  the  Monster  district  nntil  the 
end  of  that  year,  when  he  was  appointed  governor  of  New 
South  Wales ;  on  this  occasion  he  was  presented  with  the 
freedom  of  the  city  of  Cork.  In  1824  he  received  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  laws  from  the  nniversity  of  Edinboigh.  At  the 
dose  of  1825  he  returned  from  New  South  Wales,  and  in  the 
following  year  he  was  appointed  by  the  duke  of  York  colonel 
of  the  34th  regiment  In  1828  he  was  awarded  a  gold  medal 
by  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society,  for  the  services  he  had 
rendered  to  scienoe,  and  for  having  founded  an  observatory  in 
New  Soath  Wales,  whieh  has  since  been  adopted  by  the  gov- 
ernment, and  is  now  in  active  operation.  In  1831  he  be- 
came a  knight  grand  cross  of  the  Guelphs  of  Hanover.  In 
18.^  be  received  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  civil  law 
from  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  the  same  year  was  elected 
president  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edmbnigh.  In  1888  he  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  A.M.  at  Cambridge,  when  he  was  nomi- 
nated prefident  of  the  British  Association  for  the  followmg 
year.  In  1886  Sir  Thomas  was  created  a  baronet  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  in  1837  he  received  the  grand  cross  of 
the  order  of  the  Bath.  In  1841  he  became  a  general  in  the 
army.  He  was  also  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London. 
Died  27th  January  1860;  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  tlie  son 
of  Admiral  Brisbane. 


Bkodie,  a  surname  belonging  to  an  ancient  funily  in  the 
county  of  Elgin,  the  first  of  which  was  one  Michael,  son  of 
Malcolm,  thane  of  Brothie  and  Dyke  in  the  reign  of  Alexan- 
der the  Third.  This  Michael,  in  1311,  had  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Brodie  from  King  Robert  Bruce,  as  his  father's  heir, 
and  from  the  lands  took  the  surname.  In  ancient  writings 
the  name  is  called  BrothU,  afterwards  softened  mto  Brodie. 
In  the  Gaelic  the  word  Broik  signifies  a  ditch  or  mire,  the 
same  as  dyke  in  Saxon  and  <%tie  in  French ;  and  the  parish 
in  which  the  lands  of  Brodie  are  principally  situated  is  named 
Dyke.  Shaw  in  his  History  of  the  Province  of  Moray y  (p. 
146,  edition  1827,)  says.  "  The  mire,  trench  or  ditch  that  run- 
neth from  the  village  of  Dyke  to  the  north  of  Brodie-house 
seemeth  to  have  given  this  place  the  name  of  Brodie.  Be 
this  as  it  will ;  the  antiquity  of  this  name  appeareth  from  this 
that  no  history,  record,  or  tradition  (that  I  know  of)  doth  so 
much  as  hint  that  any  other  family  or  name  possessed  the 
lands  of  Brodie  before  them,  or  that  they  came  as  strangers 
from  another  country.  I  incline  much  to  think  that  they 
were  originally  of  the  ancient  Moravienses,  and  were  one  of 
those  loyal  tribes,  to  whom  King  Malcolm  the  Fourth  gave 
Unds  about  the  year  1160,  when  he  transplanted  the  Moray 
rebels.  At  that  time  surnames  were  fixed ;  and  the  Macin- 
toshes, Inneses,  Rosses,  then  assumed  their  names,  and  pro- 
bably so  did  the  Brodies ;  and  their  arms  being  the  same  with 
those  of  the  Morays  showeth  that  they  were  originally  the 
same  people.**  In  Austrian  Galicia  is  a  town  of  the  name  of 
Brody,  probably  from  some  peculiarity  in  its  site  similar  to 
that  of  the  estate  of  Brodie  in  the  parish  of  Dyke,  in  Moray. 

The  old  writings  of  the  family  of  Brodie  of  Brodie  were 
either  carried  away  or  destroyed  by  Lord  Lewis  Gordon  (third 
marquis  of  Himtly),  when  he  burnt  Brodie  house  in  1645. 
The  family,  however,  can  be  traced  back  for  five  hundred 
years.  John  de  Brothie  is  mentioned  in  the  Chartulary  of 
Moray,  11th  October  1380,  as  in  attendance  on  the  earl  of 
Mar,  lieutenant  of  the  north,  about  the  year  1376.  Thomas 
de  Brothie  also  appears  in  the  Chartulary  of  Moray,  with  his 
two  sons,  John  and  Alexander,  in  a  negotiation  regarding  the 
ricarage  of  Dyke,  4th  December  1386.  His  younger  son  was 
Ticar  of  Dyke.    Alexander  Bruthie  of  Brothie  was  chief  of 


the  jury  who  served  William  Sutherland  heir  to  Dufiiis,  and 
was  8umm(med  before  the  lords  of  coundl  to  answer  for  his 
verdict,  26th  January  1484.  He  died  m  1491.  John  o^ 
Brodie  is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  the  Chartulary  of  Moray  as 
an  arbiter  in  1492.  He  assisted  the  Mackeniies  against  the 
Maodonalds  at  the  battie  of  Blair-na-park  in  1466,  and  is 
witness  in  an  indenture  between  the  thane  of  Calder  and  the 
baron  of  Kilravock  in  1482.  His  great  grandson,  Alexander 
Brodie  of  Brodie,  John  Hay,  son  of  the  hurd  of  Park,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  other  persons  were,  in  November 
1550,  denounced  rebels  for  not  submitting  to  the  law,  for 
'  umbesetting'  the  way  of  Alexander  Gumming  of  Alter  (Al- 
tyre,)  and  his  servants,  and  for  the  cruel  mutilation  of  one  of 
them.  Hifei  eldest  son,  David  Brodie  of  Brodie,  had  a  chaiter 
from  his  brother  George,  of  the  dominical  lands  of  Brodie, 
29th  May,  1596,  and  his  estate  was  erected  into  the  barony  o^ 
Brodie,  22d  July  1597.  According  to  the  diary  of  his  grand- 
son, afterwards  mentioned,  he  was  bom  in  1553,  and  died  in 
May  1626,  aged  seventy-four.  He  had  six  sons  and  one 
daughter,  of  whom  an  account  is  given  in  Shaw*s  *  History  of 
Moray.'  Alexander,  the  second  son,  purchased  the  lands  of 
Lethen,  Pitgavenie,  and  Kinloss  m  the  counties  of  Nairn  and 
Moray,  and  was  ancestor  of  the  Brodies  of  Lethen  and  Coul- 
mony,  now  represented  by  Mr.  James  Campbell  Brodie. 

His  eldest  son,  also  David  Brodie  of  Brodie,  was  bom  in 
1586,  and  died  22d  September,  1632.  He  married  a  niece  by 
the  mother's  side  of  the  admirable  Crichton.  Alexander 
Brodie  of  Brodie,  the  eldest  son  of  this  marriage,  styled  Lord 
Brodie  as  a  senator  of  the  College  of  Justice,  bom  25th  July 
1617,  sent  to  England,- 1628,  and  succeeded  to  the  estate  in 
1632,  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  piety,  learning,  and  ability. 
His  diary,  containing  the  record  of  his  religious  experience, 
gives  a  curious  account  of  his  life,  and  illustrates  smne  parts 
of  the  history  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Extracts  from 
it  were  published  in  1740.  He  represented  the  county  of 
Elgin  in  the  parliaments  of  1643  and  following  years,  and 
from  the  many  parliamentary  committees  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  he  appean  to  have  been  greatly  in  the  confidence  of 
the  estates.  In  Maroh  1649  he  accompanied  Mr.  George 
Winram,  advocate,  afterwards  a  lord  of  session  under  the 
judicial  title  of  Lord  Libberton,  to  Holland,  when  he  went 
with  the  commissioners  from  parliament  appointed  to  treat 
with  Charles  the  Second,  and  was  appointed  an  ordinary 
lord  of  session  on  22d  June  of  that  year.  He  accepted 
the  situation,  and  gave  his  oath  de  fdeU  adnUmsiratione 
in  presence  of  parliament,  on  the  2dd  July,  but  did  not 
take  his  seat  on  the  bench  till  1st  November  1649. 
Shortiy  afterwards  he  proceeded  to  Breda  to  arrange  with 
Charles  the  Second  as  to  the  conditions  of  nis  retum  to 
Scotland.  He  was  a  member  of  the  various  committees  of 
estates,  appointed  to  rule  in  Scotland  during  the  hitervals 
of  parliament,  and  Commissary-general  to  the  army  in  Octo- 
ber 1650.  In  June  1653,  he  was  dted  to  London  by  Crom- 
well to  treat  of  a  union  between  the  two  kingdoms,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  words  of  his  own  diary,  **  resolved  and  deter- 
mmed  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  to  eschew  and  avoid  em- 
ployment under  Cromwell**  He  accordingly  resisted  all  the 
requests  made  to  him,  to  accept  of  ofiloe  as  a  commissioner 
for  the  administration  of  justice,  until  after  the  death  of  the 
Protector,  but  shortiy  alter  that  event  he  took  his  seat  on  the 
bench  on  the  3d  December  1658.  After  the  restoration  he 
was  fined  £4,800  Soots,  although  the  monies  disbursed  by 
him  at  Breda  had  not  been  yet  repaid.  He  died  in  1679, 
having  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Innes,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  James,  and  a  daughter,  Grizel. 

Joseph,  the  second  son  of  David  Brodie  of  Brodie,  above- 


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mentioned,  and  next  brother  of  Lord  Brodie,  called  "  of  As- 
lisk,**  had«  by  a  daughter  of  Diindas  of  Daddingstone,  two 
sons  who  Bonrived  him;  Geoi^  who  afterwards  sacceeded 
to  the  estate  of  Brodie ;  and  James  of  Whitehall,  who  pm*- 
chased  Coltfield  and  Spynie.  The  latter  married,  in  1698, 
lus  ooonn,  Margaret,  the  sixth  daughter  and  oo-heiress  of 
James  Brodie  of  Brodie,  and  had  a  son,  James  Brodie  of 
Spynie,  advocate,  and  sheriff- depute  of  Moray  and  Nairn 
(died  in  1756),  who  wedded  Emilia  Brodie,  and  had  (with 
three  daughters)  three  sons,  namely,  James,  who  inherited 
Brodie,  upon  the  death  of  his  cousin  Alexander  in  1759; 
George,  a  colonel  in  toe  army;  and  Alexander,  who  made  a 
large  fortune  at  Madras  and  bought  Amhall  in  Kincardine- 
shire. By  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
James  Wemyss  of  Wemyss  castle,  the  latter  had  an  only 
daugihter  and  heiress,  Elizabeth,  married  in  1813  to  George, 
fifth  and  last  duke  of  Gordon,  who  died  in  1836. 

James  Brodie  of  Brodie,  son  of  Lord  Brodie,  born  15th 
September  1637,  succeeded  in  1679.  He  took  to  wife  I^y 
Maiy  Ker,  mster  of  Robert,  firrt  marquis  of  Lothian.  The 
event  is  thus  recorded  in  Lord  Brodie's  diazy,  **28th  July, 
My  son  was  married  with  Lady  Mary  Ker,  and  on  the  dlst 
July  1659,  she  did  subscribe  her  covenant  to  and  with  God, 
and  became  his,  and  gave  herself  up  to  him."  In  1685  the 
Uird  of  Brodie  was  fined  X24,000.  He  died  in  March  1708. 
He  had  nine  daughters,  viz.  Ann,  married  to  Lord  Forbes; 
Catherine,  to  her  cousin,  Robert  Dunbar  of  Grangehill;  Eliz- 
abeth, to  Gumming  of  Altyre;  Grizel,  to  Dunbar  of  Dun- 
phail;  Emilia,  to  Brodie  of  Aslisk;  Maigaret,  to  his  brother, 
Brodie  of  WhitehiU;  Vere,  to  Brodie  of  Muirhouse;  Mary, 
to  Ghivez  of  Muirtown;  and  Henrietta  died  unmarried. 
Having  no  son,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin-german, 
George  Brodie,  (son  of  Joseph  Brodie  of  Aslisk,)  already  men- 
tioned, who  married  Emilia,  fifth  daughter  and  coheiress 
of  his  predecessor,  James  Brodie  of  Brodie.  By  her  be  had 
three  sons  and  two  dan^ters,  and  died  in  1716.  Of  the 
daughters,  Henrietta,  the  elder,  married,  in  1714,  John  Sm- 
dair  of  Ulbster  in  Caithness,  grandfather  of  the  late  Right 
Hon.  Sir  John  Sinclair,  baronet;  Ann,  the  younger,  became 
the  wife  of  George  Monro  of  Novar  in  Ross-shire.  James 
Brodie  of  Brodie^  the  eldest  son,  died  young  in  1720,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother,  Alexander  Brodie  of  Brodie,  bom 
17th  August  1697,  appointed  lord  lyon  king  at  arms  m  1727, 
and  died  in  1754.  By  his  wife,  Maiy  Sleigh,  daughter  of 
Migor  Sleigh,  celebrated  as  well  as  himself  in  various  sonnets 
of  Allan  Ramsay,  he  had  an  only  son,  Alexander,  and  a 
daughter,  Emilia,  married  to  John  Macleod,  younger  of 
Madeod. 

Alexander  Brodie  of  Brodie,  son  of  the  foregoing,  dying  un- 
married in  1759,  was  succeeded  by  his  second  cousin,  James 
Brodie  of  Brodie,  son  of  James  Brodie  of  Spynie  above  men- 
tioned. He  married  Lady  Mai^garet  Duff,  youngest  daughter 
of  William,  first  eari  of  Fife,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and 
three  daughters.  His  wife  was  unfortunately  burnt  to  death 
at  Brodie  house,  24th  April  1786,  and  he  himself  died  17th 
Januaiy  1824.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  talent  and 
scientific  acquirements.  He  especially  distinguished  himself 
as  a  botanist,  and  added  a  number  of  plants  to  the  British 
Flora.  His  elder  son,  James,  was  in  the  civil  service  of  the 
East  India  Company  at  Madras,  and  by  the  upsetting  of  his 
ooat  in  the  surge  along  the  shore,  was  drowned  in  his  father's 
lifetime,  leaving,  by  Ann,  his  wife,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Story  (who  married,  secondly,  Lieut-General  Sir  Thomas 
Bowser,  K.C.B.),  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  William 
Brodie  of  Brodie,  the  eldest,  succeeded  his  grandfather, 
and  became  the  representative  of  one  of  the  most  ancient 


families  m  Europe.  George,  the  second,  in  Uie  MadrhS 
cavalry,  died  in  1826.  Four  of  the  daughters  married  gentle- 
men of  rank  in  the  East  India  Company's  service  during  the 
lifetime  of  their  father,  and  the  eldest  died  in  that  oountiy, 
unmarried,  in  the  same  year  witb  himself. 

The  celebrated  sui^geon.  Sir  Bef^jamin  Collins  Brodie,  Ser- 
jeant surgeon  to  the  queen,  is  descended  from  a  younger 
branch  of  this  ancient  family,  which  settled  m  England  about 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century. 


Broun,  or  Browm,  a  sunuune  common  m  Scotlano,  as 
Browne  is  in  England  and  Ireland,  the  same  as  Bnm  or 
Brvme  in  France.  In  its  first  form  there  is  an  ancient 
family,  the  Brouns  of  Cobtonn,  in  the  county  of  Haddington, 
a  younger  branch  of  which  enjoys  a  baronetcy,  and  according 
to  tradition,  was  founded  soon  after  the  Conquest,  by  a  Frendi 
warrior,  bearing  the  arms  of  the  then  royal  family  of  France, 
with  which  he  claimed  alliance.  In  the  roll  of  Battle  Abbej 
there  is  a  knight  named  Brone  among  the  Norman  adven- 
turers who  accompanied  William  the  Conqueror  into  England, 
but  whether  this  be  the  ancestor  of  any  of  the  innumerable 
families  of  the  name  of  Brown  in  this  countiv,  it  is  imposable 
to  say.  The  name,  doubtless,  in  ancient  times  was  bestowed, 
in  some  instances,  from  the  colour  or  complexion  of  those  who 
adopted  it  as  a  surname. 

Early  in  the  twelfth  century  one  Walterus  le  Bnm  is  found 
flourishing  in  Scotland.  He  was  one  of  the  barons  who 
witnessed  the  inquisition  of  the  possessions  of  the  church  of 
Glasgow  made  by  Earl  David  in  1116,  in  the  reign  of  bis 
brother,  Alexander  the  First. 

Sir  David  le  Brun  was  one  of  the  witnesses,  with  King 
David  the  First,  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  abbey  of 
Holyroodhouse,  18th  May  1128. 

*  A  thowsand  a  hondyr  and  twenty  yhere. 
And  awcbt  to  thai,  to  rekyne  clere, 
Fbandjrd  wes  the  Halyrwd  bows, 
Fra  thine  to  be  relyg>'ow«.* 

Wpntotm. 

He  devised  to  that  abbacy  **  lands  and  acres  in  territories  de 
Cdstonn,"  for  prayers  to  be  said  for  '*  the  soul  of  Alexander 
and  the  health  of  his  son.**  Thomas  de  Broon  is  witness  to 
a  charter  by  Roger  de  Moubray  to  the  predecessor  of  the 
lairds  of  Moncrieff,  in  the  time  of  King  Alexander  the  Second. 

The  name  of  Ralph  de  Broun  appears  in  the  Ragman  Bdl 
as  that  of  one  of  the  barons  of  Scotland  who  swore  fealty  to 
Edward  the  First  at  Berwick,  in  1296. 

Richard  de  Broun,  keeper  of  the  king's  peace  in  Cumber- 
land, was  forfeited  in  the  Black  parliament  in  1320.  He  is 
styled  an  esquire,  snd  was  beheaded,  with  Sir  David  de 
Brechin  and  two  other  knights,  Sir  Gilbert  de  Malherbe  and 
Sir  John  Logic,  for  being  concerned  in  the  oonspiracj  of  de 
Soulis  that  year.    (See  Brechin,  lord  of,  antA,  p.  883.) 

From  King  David  the  Second,  the  family  of  Colstoun  re- 
ceived a  charter,  **Johanni  Broun  filio  David  Broun  de 
Colstoun.** 

William  Broun,  baron  of  Colstoun,  in  the  reign  of  James 
the  First,  married  Margaret  de  Annand,  co-heiress  of  the 
barony  of  Sauohie,  descended  from  the  ancient  lords  of  An- 
nandale. 

Sir  William  Broun  of  Colstoun,  warden  of  the  west  marches, 
commanded  a  party  of  Scots  in  a  oattle  fought  on  what  was 
anciently  a  moor  in  the  parish  of  Domock,  Domfries-shhe, 
against  a  party  of  English,  led  by  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale 
and  Lord  Crosby,  when  the  English  were  defisated,  and  both 
their  commanders  slain.    So  sanguinary  was  the  conflict  that. 


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aoooxdiiig  to  tnditioii,  a  Bpring-well  on  the  spot,  still  called 
Sword  well,  ran  blood  for  three  dajs. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  centuiy  William  Broun  of 
Coktoon  was  lord  director  of  the  court  of  chancery  in  ScotUnd. 

With  other  Haddingtonshire  barons,  the  Brouns  of  Colstoun 
appear  to  have  favoured  the  Homes,  as  on  April  6,  1529, 
precepts  of  remission  were  granted  to  Mr.  WUUam  Broun, 
tutor  of  Odstoun,  and  four  others,  and  to  George  Fawside  of 
that  ilk,  for  their  treasonably  assisting  Geoi^e,  Lord  Home 
and  the  deceased  David  Home  of  Wedderbum,  his  brothers 
and  aooompUces,  being  the  king's  rebels  and  at  hb  horn. 

George  Broun  of  Colstoun,  who  lived  in  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  married  Jean  Hay,  second  dauj^ter 
of  Lord  Teeter,  ancestor  of  the  Marquis  of  Tweeddale.  The 
dowiy  of  this  lady  consisted  of  the  fiunous  *^  Colstoun  pear," 
which  Hugo  de  Gifford  of  Yester,  her  remote  ancestor,  famed 
for  his  necromantic  powers,  described  in  Marmion,  and  who 
died  in  1267,  was  supposed  to  have  invested  with  the  extra- 
ordinaiy  virtue  of  conferring  unfailing  prosperity  on  the 
family  which  possessed  it  Lord  Yester,  in  giving  away  his 
dau^ter,  is  said  to  have  informed  his  son-in-law  that  good 
ss  the  lass  might  be  her  dowry  was  much  better,  because 
while  she  could  only  have  value  in  her  own  generation,  the 
pear,  so  long  as  k  continued  in  the  faffnily,  would  cause  it  to 
flourish  to  the  end  of  time.  Accordingly,  the  pear  has  been 
carefully  preserved,  in  a  silver  box,  as  a  sacred  palladium. 
About  the  seventeenth  century,  the  lady  of  one  of  the  lairds 
of  Colstoun,  on  becoming  pregnant,  felt  a  longing  for  the  for- 
bidden fruit,  and  took  a  bite  of  it  Another  version  of  the 
story  says  that  it  was  a  maiden  lady  of  the  family  who,  out  of 
curiosity,  chose  to  try  her  teeth  upon  it  Very  soon  after, 
two  of  the  best  farms  on  the  estate  wero  lost  in  some  litiga- 
tion, while  the  pear  itself  straightway  became  stone-hard,  and 
so  remains  to  this  day,  with  the  marks  of  the  lady*s  teeth 
indelibly  imprinted  on  it  The  origin  of  this  wondrous  pear 
is,  by  another  tradition,  said  to  have  been  thus: — One  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  Colstoun  family  married  a  daughter  of  the 
above-named  Hugo  of  Yester,  the  renowned  wariook  of 
Gifford,  and  as  the  bridal  party  were  proceeding  to  the 
church,  the  wizard  lord  stopped  beneath  a  pear  tree,  and 
plucking  one  of  the  pears,  handed  it  to  his  daughter,  telling 
her  that  he  had  no  dowry  to  give  her,  but  that  as  long  as  that 
gift  was  kept,  good  fortune  would  never  desert  her  or  her  de- 
scendants. Apart  from  the  snperatition  attached  to  it,  thb 
curious  heiiioom  is  certainly  a  most  wonderful  vegetable  curi- 
osity, having  existed  for  nearly  six  centuries. 

George  Broun,  baron  of  Colstoun,  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  First,  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  David  Murray  of  Stan- 
hope, and  had,  with  a  younger  son,  Geotge  (ancestor  of  the  pre- 
sent baronet  of  Colstoun)  to  whom  he  granted  by  charter  the 
barony  of  Thornydyke,  in  Berwickshire,  an  elder  son.  Sir  Pa- 
trick Broun  of  Colstoun,  who,  m  consequence  of  his  eminent 
services  and  the  fidelity  of  the  ancient  family  he  represented, 
was  (seated  a  knight  and  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  16th  Feb- 
ruary 1686,  with  remainder  of  the  title  to  his  heirs  male  for 
ever.  Sir  George  Broun,  the  second  baronet,  his  son,  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  the  first  earl  of  Cromarty,  and  died  in 
1718;  leaving  an  only  daughter,  who  inherited  the  estate, 
while  the  baronetcy  went  to  the  heir  male.  The  family  thus 
became  split  betwixt  the  heirs  male  and  the  heirs  of  line,  the 
title  devolving  upon  the  Thornydyke  branch,  and  the  estates 
upon  an  heiress,  who  married  George  Broun  of  Eastfield, 
horn  whom  descended  George  Broun  of  Colstoun  judicially 
styled  Lord  CoUitoun,  who  became  a  knrd  of  session  in  1756 
and  died  in  1776 ;  and  the  late  Christian,  countess  of  Dal- 
houaie,  only  child  and  heiress  of  Charies  Broun,  Esq.  of  Col- 


stoun, and  died  22d  February  1889.  The  present  marquis  of 
Dalhousie  (James  Andrew  Broun-Barosay)  in  right  of  his 
mother,  is  the  representative  of  the  elder  branch. 

Sir  George  Broun,  son  of  Alexander  Broun  of  Thornydyke 
castle  and  Bassendean,  Berwickshue,  and  of  a  lady  of  the 
ancient  house  of  Swinton  of  Swinton,  succeeded  his  cousin  as 
third  baronet,  and  dymg  without  male  issue,  his  brother,  Sir 
Alexander,  became  fourth  baronet  He  married  Beatrice, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Swinton,  Lord  Mersington,  and  died 
in  1750.  His  son.  Sir  Alexander,  fifth  banmet,  having  died 
in  1775,  without  male  issue,  the  baronetcy  devolved  upon  his 
cousin,  the  Rev.  Su:  Alexander  Broun,  minister  of  Loohmaben, 
who  decUned  to  take  up  the  title.  He  married  Bobina, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Hugh  M'Bride  of  BeadUnd,  Ayrshire, 
and  died  in  1782.  With  several  daughters  he  had  two  sons, 
via.,  James,  who,  in  1825,  revived  the  title,  and  William,  of 
Newmains,  who  married  and  settled  in  the  island  of  Guernsey, 
where  hb  descendants  are  still  to  be  found. 

Sir  James,  the  seventh  baronet,  left  a  funily  of  four  sons 
and  two  daughten  at  his  death,  80th  Nov.  1844.  His  eklest 
son,  Sir  Richard  Broun,  eighth  baronet,  a  knight  commander 
of  the  order  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  was  secretary  of  the 
Langue  of  that  order  in  England,  and  also  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Baronets  for  Privileges.  He  was  also  secretary  of 
the  Central  Agricultural  Society,  and  the  author  of  various 
works  on  heraldry,  colonisation,  railway  extension,  &c  Bom 
in  1801,  he  died  unmarried  in  Dec  1858.  Before  succeeding  to 
the  baronetcy  he  endeavoured  to  establish  the  right  of  the 
eldest  sons  of  baronets  to  the  title  of  knight,  and  in  1842  as- 
sumed the  title  of  *'  Sir.**  His  brother  Sir  William,  a  solici- 
tor in  Dumfries,  became  ninth  baronet 

BROWN,  James,  an  eminent  lingtilst  and  tra- 
veller, the  son  of  James  Brown,  M.D.,  was  bom 
at  Kelso,  in  the  county  of  Roxburgh,  May  23, 
1709.  He  was  educated  under  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Robert  Friend  at  Westminster  School,  where  he 
was  well  instructed  in  the  classics.  In  the  end  of 
1722  be  went  with  his  father  to  Constantinople; 
and  having  a  great  natural  aptitude  for  the  acquii*e- 
ment  of  languages,  be  obtained  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  Turkish  and  Italian,  as  well  as  the 
modem  Gi*eek.  In  1725  be  returned  home,  and 
made  himself  master  of  the  Spanish  language. 
About  the  year  1782  be  first  started  the  idea  of  a 
London  Directory,  or  list  of  principal  tradera  in 
the  metropolis,  with  their  addresses.  Having  laid 
the  foundation  of  this  useful  work,  he  gave  it  to 
Mr.  Henry  Kent,  a  printer  in  Finch  Lane,  Cora 
hill,  who,  continuing  it  yeai'ly,  made  a  foitone  by  it. 

In  July  1741  be  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
twenty-four  of  the  principal  merchants  of  London, 
members  of  the  Russian  Company,  of  which  Sir 
John  Thompson  was  then  governor,  to  go  to  Per- 
sia, to  carry  on  a  trade  through  Russia,  as  their 
chief  agent  or  factor.  On  29th  September  of  the 
same  year  he  sailed  for  Riga ;  whence  he  passed 


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through  Russia,  and  proceeding  down  the  Volga 
to  Astracan,  voyaged  along  the  Caspian  Sea  to 
Reshd  in  Persia,  where  he  established  a  factoiy. 
He  continued  in  that  country  nearly  four  years ; 
and,  upon  one  occasion,  went  in  state  to  the  camp 
of  Nadir  Shah,  better  known  by  the  name  of  Kouli 
Khan,  to  deliver  a  letter  to  that  chief  from  George 
the  Second.  While  he  resided  in  Persia,  he  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  study  of  the  Pei*sian  language, 
and  made  such  proficiency  in  it,  that,  after  his  re- 
turn home,  he  compiled  a  very  copious  Persian 
Dictionary  and  Grammar,  with  many  cm-ious  spe- 
cimens of  the  Persian  mode  of  writing,  which  he 
left  behind  him  in  manuscript. 

Dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  Russian 
Company  in  London,  and  sensible  of  the  dangers 
to  which  the  factory  was  constantly  exposed  from 
the  unsettled  and  tyrannical  nature  of  the  Persian 
government,  he  resigned  his  charge,  and  returned 
to  England  on  Christmas-day  1746.  In  the  fol- 
.  lowing  year  the  factory  was  plundered  of  property 
to  the  amount  of  eighty  thousand  pounds  sterling, 
which  led  to  a  final  termination  of  the  Persian 
trade.  The  wiiter  of  his  obituary  in  the  *  Gentle- 
man's Magazine*  for  December  1788,  says,  that  he 
possessed  the  strictest  integrity,  unaffected  piety, 
and  exalted  but  unostentatious  benevolence,  with 
an  even,  placid,  and  cheerful  temper.  In  May 
1787  he  was  visited  with  a  slight  paralytic  stroke, 
but  soon  recovered  his  wonted  health  and  vigour. 
Four  days  before  his  death,  he  was  attacked  by  a 
much  severer  stroke,  which  deprived  him,  by  de- 
grees, of  all  his  faculties,  and  he  expired  without  a 
groan,  November  30,  1788,  at  his  house  at  Stoke 
Newington,  Middlesex.  Mr.  Lysons,  in  his  '  En- 
virons,' vol.  iii.,  states,  that  Mr.  Brown's  father, 
wlfo  died  in  1733,  published  anonymously  a  trans- 
lation of  two  *  Orations  of  Isocrates. 

BROWN,  John,  author  of  the  *  Self-Interpi-et- 
ing  Bible,'  the  son  of  a  weaver,  was  bom  in  1722, 
in  the  small  village  of  Carpow,  county  of  Perth. 
His  parents  dying  before  he  was  twelve  yeara  of 
age,  It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he  acquired 
his  education.  "I  was  left,"  he  says,  "a  poor 
orphan,  and  had  nothing  to  depend  on  but  the 
providence  of  God."  He  was  but  a  veiy  limited 
time  at  school.  "  One  month,"  he  says  himself, 
**  without  his    parents'   allowance,   he   bestowed 


upon  Latin."  Nevertheless,  by  his  own  intense 
application  to  study,  befoi-e  he  was  twenty  years 
of  age,  he  had  obtained  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages,  with 
the  last  of  which  he  was  critically  conversant  He 
was  also  acquainted  with  the  French,  Italian,  Ger- 
man, Arabic,  Pereian,  Syriac,  and  Ethiopic.  His 
great  acquisition  of  knowledge,  without  the  assist- 
ance of  a  teacher,  appeared  so  wonderful  to  the 
ignorant  country  people,  that  a  report  was  circu- 
lated far  and  wide  that  young  Brown  had  acquired 
his  learning  in  a  sinful  way,  that  is,  by  intercourse 
with  Satan !  In  early  youth  he  was  employed  as 
a  shepherd.  He  afterwards  undertook  the  occu- 
pation of  pedlar  or  travelling  merchant.  In  1747 
he  established  himself  in  a  school  at  Gaumey 
Bridge,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kinross,  a  place 
celebrated  as  the  spot  where  the  Associate  Presby- 
tery was  first  constituted.  The  same  school  was 
afterwards  taught  by  Michael  Bruce  the  poet. 
Here  Brown  remained  two  yeai-s.  He  subsequent- 
ly taught  for  a  ycai*  and  a  half  another  school  at 
Spital,  near  Linton.  Having  attached  hunself  to 
the  body  who,  in  1733,  seceded  from  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  in  1748  he  entered  on  the  regular 
study  of  philosophy  and  divinity  in  connection  with 
the  Associate  Synod.  In  1750  he  was  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel  by  the  Associate  Presbytery  of 
Edinburgh,  at  Dalkeith  ;  and  soon  after  received  a 
call  from  the  Secession  congregation  at  Stow,  also 
one  nearly  at  the  same  time  from  Haddington.  He 
chose  the  latter,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Haddington  congregation  4th  July  1751.  In  1758 
he  published  an  ^  Essay  towards  an  Easy  Explica- 
tion of  the  Catechisms,'  intended  for  the  use  of  the 
young ;  and  in  1765  his  *  Christian  Journal,'  once 
the  most  popular  of  all  his  works.  In  1768  he  was 
elected  professor  of  divinity  under  the  Associate 
Synod.  This  situation  he  held  for  twenty  years. 
His  '  Self-Intei-preting  Bible,'  by  which  bis  name 
is  best  known,  appeared  in  two  quarto  volumes  in 
1778.  Of  this  popular  and  useful  work  numerous 
stereotyped  editions  have  appeared  both  in  Scot- 
land and  England,  each  having  very  extensive 
circulation,  and  each  successively  improved  m 
foi-m  or  arrangement.  A  recent  one,  with  the 
additions  of  his  grandson,  J.  B.  Patterson,  sur- 
passes all  previous  ones  in  form,  type,  and  iiliis 


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trations.  His  piety  and  learning,  and  fame  as  an 
author,  made  his  name  extensively  known,  not 
only  in  Scotland,  but  in  England  and  America, 
and  in  1784  he  received  a  pressing  invitation  from 
tiie  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  New  York,  to  be 
their  tutor  in  divinity,  which  he  declined.  He 
died  at  Haddington  June  19,  1787.  He  was 
twice  maiTied,  and  had  six  sons  and  one 
daughter.  Tlie  sons  were:  1.  John,  for  many 
years  Burgher  minister  at  Whitburn,  Linlith- 
gowshii'e,  a  memoir  of  whom  is  given  below. 
2.  Ebenezer,  Burgher  minister  at  Inverkeith- 
ing,  whose  apostolic  look  and  person  and  mode 
of  preaching,  are  mentioned  as  most  remark- 
able. 8.  Thomas  Brown,  D.D.,  Burgher  minister 
at  Dalkeith,  and  author  of  an  octavo  volume 
of  sermons.  4.  Samuel,  merchant,  Hadding- 
ton, the  founder  of  itinerating  libraries.  He 
was  the  father  of  Dr.  Samuel  Brown,  an  emi- 
nent chemist,  who  died  young  in  1856.  5.  David, 
bookseller  in  Edinburgh.  6.  Dr.  William  Brown, 
of  Duddingstone,  long  the  secretary  of  the  Scot- 
tish Missionary  Society,  and  the  author  of  a  ^  His- 
tory of  Missions,'  and  of  a  memoir  of  his  father. 
The  only  daughter,  Mrs.  Patterson,  was  the  mo- 
ther of  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  elder  son, 
Jie  Rev.  John  Brown  Patterson,  minister  of  Fal- 
kirk, styled  by  Lord  Cockbum  "  Athenian  Patter- 
son," died  in  his  early  prime.  He  was  the  author  of 
the  memoir  of  his  grandfather,  prefixed  to  Fullar- 
ton's  edition  of  his  *  Self-Inteipreting  Bible.'  The 
younger  sou,  Alexander  Simpson  Patterson,  D.D., 
minister  of  Fi*ee  Hutchesontown  Church,  Glas- 
gow, and  the  author  of  several  theological  works, 
is  editor  of  an  edition  published  in  1858,  of  his 
brother's  fine  characteristic  posthumous  work  on 
our  I-K>rd's  Farewell  Discourse. 
Mr.  Brown's  principal  works  are  . 

A  Dictionarj  of  the  Holy  Bible,  on  the  plan  of  Calmet, 
out  chiefly  adapted  to  common  readers.  2  vols.  8?o,  Edin. 
1769. 

A  General  History  of  the  Christian  Charch ;  (a  very  userul 
compendium  of  church  history,  pHrtly  on  the  plan  of  Mo- 
aheim,  or  perhaps,  rather,  of  Lainpe.)  2  ?ols.  l2mo,  Edtn. 
1771. 

The  Self-Interpreting  Bible.  (This  edition  of  the  Bible  is 
so  called  from  its  marginal  references,  which  are  far  more 
copions  than  in  any  other  edition.  It  has  been  frequently 
reprinted.)    2  vols.  4to,  Edin.  1778. 

A  Compendious  View  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  in 
wen  books.    8vo,  Glasgow,  1782. 


Harmony  of  Scripture  Prophecies,  and  History  of  their 
fulfilment    8vo,  Glas^fow,  1784. 

A  Compendious  History  of  the  Britinh  Churches.  2  vols. 
12mo,  1784. 

His  other  publications  are  as  follows : 

A  Help  for  the  Ip^orant,  being  an  Essay  towards  an  En»j 
Explication  of  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism.  12mo, 
Edin.  1758. 

A  Brief  Dissertation  on  Christ*s  Righteousness,  showing  to 
what  extent  it  is  imputed  to  us  in  Justification.  ]2mo,  Edin. 
1769. 

Two  Short  Catechisms  mutually  connected ;  the  question^ 
of  the  former  being  generally  supposed  and  omitted  in  the 
latter.     12mo,  Edin.  1764. 

The  Christian  Jonmal,  or  common  incidents,  spiritual  in- 
structors.    12mo,  Edin.  1765. 

A  Historical  Account  of  the  Secession  from  the  Church  of 
Scotland.    8vo,  Edin.  1766.    Eighth  edition,  1802. 

Letters  on  the  Constitution,  Discipline,  and  Government  of 
the  Christian  Church.    12mo,  Edin.  1767. 

Sacred  Tropology,  or  a  brief  view  of  the  figures,  and  ex> 
planadon  of  the  metaphors  contained  in  Scripture.  12mo, 
Edin.  1768. 

Religious  Steadfastness  Recommended.  A  Sermon.  12ino, 
Edin.  1769. 

The  Psalms  of  David  in  Metre,  with  notes  exhibiting  the 
connection,  explaining  the  sense,  and  for  directing  and  ani- 
mating the  devotion.     12mo,  Edin.  1776. 

The  Oracles  of  Christ,  and  the  Abominations  of  AnUchrist, 
contrasted.    12mo,  Glasgow,  1778. 

The  absurdity  and  perfidy  of  all  authoritative  toleration  of 
gross  heresy,  blasphemy,  idolatry,  and  popery  in  Britain. 
l2mo,  Glasgow,  1780. 

The  fearful  shame  and  contempt  of  mere  professed  Chris- 
tians, who  neglect  to  raise  up  spiritual  children  to  Jesus 
Christ    Two  Sermons.     12mo,  Glasgow,  1780. 

An  Evangelical  and  Practical  View  of  the  types  and  figures 
of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation.     12mo,  Glasgow,  1781. 

The  Christian,  the  Student,  and  the  Pastor,  exemplified  in 
the  lives  of  nine  eminent  ministers.    Edin.  1782. 

Tlie  Young  Christian  exemplified.     12mo,  Glasgow,  1782. 

The  Necessity  and  Advantage  of  Earnest  Prayer  for  the 
lord's  special  direction  in  the  choice  of  pastors;  with  an 
appendix  of  free  thoughts  concerning  the  transportation  of 
ministers.     Edin.  1788. 

A  Brief  Concordance  to  the  Holy  Scriptures.  18mo,  Edin. 
1783. 

Practical  Piety  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  thirteen  etninent 
Christians.    12mo,  Glasgow,  1783. 

Thoughts  on  the  Travelling  of  the  Mail  on  the  Lord*s  Day. 
12mo,  1786. 

The  Re-Exhibition  of  the  Testimony  defended.  8vo,  Glas- 
gow. 

Devout  Breathings  of  a  Pious  Soul ;  with  additions  and 
improvements.     Edin. 

The  necessity,  seriousness,  and  sweetness  of  Practical  Reli- 
gion, in  an  awakening  call,  by  Samuel  Corbyn;  with  four 
solemn  addresses  to  sinners,  young  and  old. 

The  following  were  published  after  his  death  • 

Select  Remains:  with  some  account  of  his  life.  12mo, 
London,  1789. 

Posthumous  Works.     12mo,  Perth,  1797. 

An  Apology  for  a  more  frequent  administration  of  the  I/>rd*c 
Supper;  with  answers  to  objections.    12mo,  Edin.  1804. 

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BROWN,  John,  a  pious  and  useful  divine, 
eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  by  Iiis  first  wife,  Janet 
Thomson,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Thomson,  mer- 
chant, Musselburgh,  was  bom  at  Haddington, 
24th  July,  1754.  From  his  youth  he  gave  de- 
cided indications  of  piety.  He  was  sent  to  the 
university  of  Edinburgh,  when  he  was  scarcely 
fourteen  years  of  age,  and  about  the  year  1772  he 
entered  on  the  study  of  divinity,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  his  father.  He  was  licensed  to  preach 
the  gospel  by  the  Associate  presbytery  of  Burghers 
at  Edinburgh,  21st  May  1776.  Soon  after,  he  re- 
ceived a  call  from  the  Burgher  congregation  of 
Whitburn,  Linlithgowshire,  and  was  ordained  to 
that  charge,  22d  May  1777.  During  a  long  ca- 
reer of  ministerial  usefulness,  he  maintained  a 
high  degree  of  popularity,  his  preaching  being 
characterized  by  the  simplicity  and  seriousness  of 
his  manner,  and  by  the  highly  evangelical  tone  of 
his  sentiments.  He  exerted  himself  in  promoting 
the  various  religious  institutions  of  the  day,  and 
took 'a  deep  interest  especially  in  the  spiritual  im- 
provement of  the  Highlanders  of  Perthshire. 

When  his  strength  began  to  decline,  his  people 
gave  a  call  to  Mr.  William  Millar,  to  be  his  col- 
league and  successor,  and  he  was  accordingly  or- 
dained as  such  16th  November  1831.  After  the 
ordination,  Mr.  Brown  preached  only  eight  Sab- 
baths. He  was  seized  with  a  severe  paralytic 
attack,  and  after  lingering  for  a  few  weeks,  he 
died  10th  February  1832,  in  the  78th  yeai-  of  his 
age,  and  56th  of  his  ministry. 

Mr.  Brown's  chief  works  are : 

Gospel  Truth  aocnrately  stated  and  illnstrated  by  the  Rer. 
Messrs.  Hog,  Boston,  Erskines,  and  others,  occasioned  bj 
the  republication  of  the  Marrow  of  Modem  Divinity.  12mo, 
1817.    New  and  greatly  enlarged  edition.    Glasg.  1831. 

Notes,  Devotional  and  Explanatory,  on  the  Translations 
and  Paraphrases  generally  used  in  the  Presbyterian  Congre- 
gations in  Scotland.  Published  with  an  edition  of  the  Psalms 
with  his  father's  notes,  in  Glasgow. 

Memorials  of  the  Nonconformist  Ministers  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century,  with  an  Introductory  Essay  by  William  M*Ga- 
Tin,  Esq.  Glasg.  1882.  (This  was  the  last  literary  work  of 
both  the  excellent  men  whose  names  appear  on  the  title-page. 
Mr.  Brown  died  just  before  it  went  to  press,  and  Mr.  M*Ga- 
vin  jnst  as  it  was  leaving  it) 

His  other  minor  works  are : 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  the  late  Rev.  James 
Hervey,  A.M.     1806.  Three  editions. 

A  brief  Account  of  a  Tour  in  the  Highlands  of  Perthshire. 
12mo.  1815. 


Memoirs  of  Private  Christians. 

Christian  Experience ;  or  the  Spiritual  Exercise  of  Emi- 
nent Christians  in  different  ages  and  places,  stated  in  their 
own  words.    18mo,  1825. 

Descriptive  List  of  religious  books  in  the  English  language 
fit  for  general  use.    12mo,  1827. 

Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bradbury.    18mo,  1831. 

He  also  edited  the  following : 

The  Evangelical  Preacher.  A  Select  Collection  of  doc- 
trinal and  practical  Sermons,  chiefly  of  English  divines  of  the 
18th  century.    8  vols.  12mo,  1802—1806. 

A  Collection  of  Religions  Letters  from  books  and  MSS. 
12mo,  1818. 

A  Collection  of  Letters  from  printed  books  and  MSS., 
suited  to  Children  and  Youth.    18mo,  1815. 

Evangelical  Beauties  of  the  late  Rev.  Hugh  Binning,  with 
an  account  of  his  Life.    82mOf  1828. 

Evangelical  Beauties  of  Archbishop  Leighton.  ]2mo«  1829. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Brown,  were  published  Letters  on 
Sanctification,  some  of  which  had  previously  appeared  in  the 
Christian  Repositoiy  and  Monitor,  with  a  Memoir  of  hb  Life 
by  his  son-in-law,  the  Rev.  David  Smith  of  Biggar. 

BROWN,  John,  D.D.,  an  eminent  divine, 
the  son  of  the  subject  of  the  preceding  me- 
mou*,  was  bom  July  12,  1784,  at  the  house  of 
Burnhead,  in  the  parish  of  Whitburn,  Linlith- 
gowshire. Having,  from  early  life,  chosen  the 
ministry  as  a  profession,  in  November  1797, 
he  entered  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  where  be 
studied  for  three  sessions.  In  April  1800,  when 
scarcely  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Elie, 
Fifeshire,  as  a  teacher.  In  the  following  August, 
he  was  examined  by  the  Associate  presbytery  of 
Perth  at  Newburgb,  and  subsequently  entered  the 
divinity  hall  of  that  body  at  Selkirk,  under  Dr. 
Creorge  Lawson,  who  had  succeeded  his  grandfa- 
ther, in  1787,  as  professor  of  divinity  to  the  Seces- 
sion church. 

While  pursuing  his  stndies  for  the  ministry, 
Mr.  Brown  became,  in  April  1808,  a  private 
teacher  in  Glasgow,  and  in  February  1805  he  was 
licensed  at  Falkirk  t«  pi*each  the  gospel  by  the 
Burgher  presbytery  of  Stirling  and  Falkirk.  He 
had  very  soon  calls  to  both  Stirling  and  Biggar, 
and  in  September  1805,  was  appointed  to  the  lat- 
ter place.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he  pro- 
ceeded to  London  for  three  months,  to  supply  the 
pulpit  of  Dr.  Waugh,  Wells  Street,  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 

Mr.  Brown  was  ordained  Burgher  minister  at 
Biggar,  February  6,  1806.  In  1817  he  received  a 
call  to  become  the  minister  of  the  Burgher  church 


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at  North  Leitb,  but  the  Associate  Synod  woald 
not  consent,  at  that  time,  to  his  removal  from 
Biggar. 

On  the  translation,  in  1821,  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Hall  from  Rose  Street  chapel,  Edinburgh,  which 
had  been  built  for  him,  to  a  larger  place  of  wor- 
ship, also  erected  for  him,  in  Bronghton  Place  of 
that  city,  Mr.  Brown  received  a  call  from  the 
Rose  Street  congregation  to  be  his  successor. 
Tliis  call  he  accepted.  On  May  1, 1822,  he  was 
translated  by  deed  of  Synod  to  that  congregation, 
and  on  June  4,  was  admitted  pastor  of  Rose  Street 
church. 

Dr.  Hall  died  November  28,  1826,  and,  on  the 
following  Sabbath,  Dr.  Brown,  preached  his  fh- 
neral  sermon  in  Bronghton  Place  church.  Sub- 
sequently he  received  a  call  from  the  congrega- 
tion, but  was  continued  in  his  own  charge  by  the 
synod  at  their  meeting  in  May  1828.  Having 
received  a  second  call,  he  was  translated  by  the 
Synod  to  Broughton  Place  church,  in  April  1829, 
and  admitted  20th  May  following.  On  the  insti- 
tution of  the  professorship  of  Exegetical  Theology 
by  the  United  Secession  Synod  in  1834,  he  was,  in 
April  that  year,  appointed  to  that  chair,  which  had 
been  reorganized  according  to  a  plan  of  which  he 
was  the  author,  and  in  which  the  fundamental  im- 
portance of  this  study,  which  has  since  impressed 
itself  on  all  Scottish  chorches,  was  for  the  first 
time  recognised. 

In  the  religio  -  political  controversies  of  the 
period,  Dr.  Brown  not  unfrequently  found  himself 
involved,  from  his  fervour  in  the  cause  of  what  he 
conceived  t6  be  the  truth.  The  first  of  these  was 
on  what  was  then  called  the  Apocrypha  question. 
This  controversy  arose  in  consequence  of  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society  having  permitted 
the  Apocrypha  to  be  inserted  in  the  Bible,  and 
ultimately  hinged  upon  ks  sincerity  in  professing 
to  reject  it  from  their  editions  of  that  work.  Dr. 
Andrew  Thomson,  minister  of  St.  George's, 
Edinburgh,  stood  forth  as  the  assailant  of  the 
Society,  his  principal  opponents  being  Drs.  Grey 
and  Brown,  and  his  chief  supporter,  Robeit 
Haldane. 

The  question  as  to  the  lawfulness  and  expe- 
diency of  the  existing  connexion  between  church 
and  State  was  the  next.    It  was  not  a  new  one, 


but  it  now  assumed  a  bolder  and  more  conspicuous 
aspect  than  it  had  ever  before  held,  and  excited 
an  extraordinary  degree  of  ferment  in  the  public 
mind,  in  consequence  of  an  attack  made  upon  its 
lawfulness  on  more  exclusively  scripture  grounds, 
by  a  leading  member  of  Dr.  Brown's  denomina- 
tion. Dr.  Andi*ew  Marshall,  in  a  Sermon  published 
in  May  1829.  In  this  controversy  Dr.  Brown 
took  a  prominent  and  consistent  part.  A  voluntary 
cliurch  association  having  been  formed  in  Edin. 
burgh,  (Dr.  Brown  being  one  of  the  committee,) 
led,  in  February  1838,  to  the  fonnatiou  of 
an  association  at  Glasgow  for  promoting  the  in- 
tei*ests  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  thenceforth 
'*  the  battle  of  Establishments''  waxed  hotter  and 
hotter.  Voluntary  church  associations  and  Church 
Defence  associations  were  foimed  over  the  whole 
kingdom,  and  for  several  years  after,  churchmen 
and  dissenters  no  longer  acted  together  as  breth- 
ren, either  in  religious  societies  or  in  the  social  in- 
tercourse of  private  life. 

A  more  paiufhl  and  trying  ordeal  awaited  Dr. 
Brown.  In  1842,  four  ministers  of  Dr.  Brown's 
denomination  were  expelled  from  the  Synod,  for 
holding  views  subversive  of  the  special  reference 
of  the  atonement  as  held  by  their  body.  At  the 
meeting  of  Synod  in  October  1843,  in  consequence 
of  the  transmission  of  an  overture  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  Paisley,  the  Synod  requested  the  two 
senior  professors,  Drs.  Balmer  and  Brown,  to 
express  their  sentiments  on  the  doctrinal  points, 
regarding  which  difierences  from  the  views  of 
the  body  were  alleged  to  be  held  by  these 
ministers.  This  the  professors  accordingly  did, 
much  to  the  satisfaction,  with  the  conference 
that  followed,  of  the  Synod,  as  stated  in  their 
finding  on  the  occasion.  Subsequently  Dr.  Mar- 
shall published  a  pamphlet  entitled  *  The  Catholic 
Doctrine  of  Redemption  Vindicated,'  in  the  Ap- 
pendix to  which  he  threw  out  certain  imputations 
against  Di-s.  Brown  and  Balmer,  of  which  they 
complained  to  the  Synod.  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  Dr.  Marshall's  statements  into 
consideration,  and  also  the  published  speeches  of 
the  two  professors.  The  result  was  that  Dr. 
Marshall  disavowed  the  Insinuation  that  they 
taught  anything  inconsistent  with  the  standards 
of  the  church,  and  he  spontaneously  intimated  his 


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purpose  to  suppress  tlie  Appendix  altogether. 
But  the  matter  did  not  end  here,  as  it  was  thought 
it  would,  for  Dr.  Mai-shall  returned  to  the 
charge. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  May  1845,  Dr. 
Brown,  bj  the  advice  of  his  presbytery,  presented 
a  complaint  in  reference  to  a  pamphlet  published, 
shortly  before,  by  Dr.  Marshall,  entitled,  ^Re- 
marks on  the  Statements  on  certain  doctrinal 
points  made  before  the  United  Secession  Synod 
at  their  request,  by  the  two  senior  Professors,*  in 
which  he  pronounced  the  doctrine  enunciated  by 
them  to  be  ^^  subverting  the  very  foundation  of  our 
hopes,  entirely  subverting  the  doctrine  of  election, 
rendering  the  gospel  little  more  than  a  solemn 
mockery,"  with  more  to  the  same  effect ;  and  he 
requested  that  the  Synod  would  either  enter  on  the 
investigation  of  these  charges  *^  in  due  form,''  or 
release  him  from  his  pix>fe8Sorial  duties.  The 
Synod,  aftei'  finding  that  Dr.  Brown  had  acted  with 
great  propriety  in  bringing  the  matter  before  them, 
expressed  their  satisfaction  with  the  explanation 
which  he  had  given  in  his  *  Statement '  and  other- 
wise, declaring  also  their  entire  confidence  in  his 
soundness  in  the  faith,  and  thefr  trust  that  he 
would  continue  to  discharge  his  important  func- 
tions with  equal  honour  to  himself  and  benefit  to 
the  church.  In  regard  to  Dr.  Marshall,  they 
found  that  in  his  recently  published  pamphlet  he 
had  reiterated  serious  chaiges,  formerly  brought 
forward  on  insufficient  grounds  against  Dr. 
Bix>wn,  in  a  still  more  offensive  form,  that 
he  ought  to  have  brought  the  matter  before 
the  church  courts  in  the  only  competent  way, 
and  that  he  should,  thei-efore,  be  admonished  at 
the  bar  of  the  Synod.  After  this  decision,  Dr. 
Marshall  intimated  his  intention  of  bnnging  a 
libel  against  Dr.  Brown,  and  another  meeting  of 
Synod  was  appointed  in  July,  that  he  might  have 
the  opportunity  of  producing  his  libel  before  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Divinity  Hall. 

Accordingly,  in  the  following  July,  Dr.  Mar- 
shall, assisted  by  Dr.  Hay  of  Kinross,  presented 
a  libel  against  Dr.  Brown,  being  the  first  prose- 
cution for  heresy  by  libel  that  had  ever  taken 
place  in  the  Synod  of  the  Secession  church.  The 
libel  contained  five  counts,  and  Dr.  Brown  was 
triumphantly  acquitted  on    them    all.    On    the 


whole  case  the  Synod  unanimously  adopted  the 
following  finding : 

"Tlie  Synod  finds  that  there  exists  no  groond  even 
for  suspicion  that  he  holds,  or  has  ever  held,  any  opin- 
ion on  the  points  under  review  inconsistent  with  the 
Word  of  God,  or  the  subordinate  standards  of  this  church. 
The  Synod,  therefore,  dismisses  the  libel ;  and  while  it  sin- 
cerely sympathizes  with  Dr.  Brown  in  the  unpleasant  and 
painful  drourostances  in  which  he  has  been  placed,  it  renews 
the  expresdon  of  confidence  in  him  given  at  last  meetinf^ 
and  entertains  the  hope  that  the  issue  of  this  cause  has  been 
such  as  will,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  restore  peace  and  confi- 
dence thronghout  the  church,  and  termiuHte  the  unhappy 
controversy  which  lias  so  long  agitated  it.'* 

During  the  whole  discussions  in  this  unhappy 
case.  Dr.  Brown  displayed  great  wisdom  and 
Christian  temper,  and  his  own  congregation  sym- 
pathized with  him  most  sincerely  in  the  trying 
and  painful  circumstances  In  which  he  had  been 
placed.  As  a  mark  of  their  affection  and  sym- 
pathy, they  met  in  the  following  September,  and 
presented  him  with  a  valuable  testimonial. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  Peddie,  senior  pastor  of 
Bristo  Street  congregation,  Edinburgh,  llth  Oc- 
tober, 1845,  Dr.  Brown  preached  his  funeral  ser- 
mon to  his  congregation,  which  was  afterwards 
printed.  In  the  movement  for  the  union  of  the 
Secession  and  Relief  bodies,  he  took  a  warm  part 
After  that  work  had  been  accomplished,  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  formed  in  1847,  he 
devoted  his  i*emajning  effoi*ts  to  expository  com- 
ments on  the  Saci*cd  Scriptures. 

In  1856,  on  the  completion  of  the  fiftieth  year 
of  his  ministry,  his  jubilee  was  celebrated.  His 
attached  congregation,  on  that  occasion,  present- 
ed him  with  a  purse  containing  £600  This  noble 
gift  he  at  once  generously  devoted,  with  an  added 
sum,  to  the  formation  of  a  fund  for  the  annual  relief 
of  aged  ministers  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
church. 

The  duties  of  his  professorship  Dr.  Brown  dis- 
charged with  much  enthusiasm  and  assiduity  till 
1857,  when  increasing  infirmities  rendered  him 
unequal  to  the  labours  which  it  imposed.  His 
pulpit  ministrations  he  was  also  compelled  to 
relinquish  at  the  same  time,  but  occasionally, 
when  his  health  permitted,  he  would  appear  in 
public  to  cheer  and  instruct  his  flock. 

For  some  time  he  suffered  severely  fix)m  inter- 
nal pains,  and  it  was  supposed  that  his  liver  was 


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aflfected,  but  latterly  be  enjoyed  a  complete  im- 
munity from  these.  His  personal  appearance, 
wbicb  was  fine  and  dignified,  was,  previously  to 
his  deatli,  greatly  changed,  in  reference  to  which 
be  himself  expressively  said,  "Tlie  Master  chan- 
ges our  countenance,  and  sends  us  away.'' 

Dr.  Brown  died  at  his  house,  Arthur  Lodge, 
Newington,  Edinburgh,  13th  October,  1858,  in 
his  74th  year.  So  Iiigh  was  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held,  that  he  may  be  said  to  have 
had  a  public  funeral.  The  Lord  Provost  and  ma- 
gistrates of  Edinburgh  attended  in  tiieir  official 
robes.  He  was  followed  to  the  grave,  in  the 
I^ower  Calton  burying-ground,  by  his  former  con- 
gregations of  Biggar  and  Rose  Street,  as  well  as 
by  his  people  of  Broughton  Flace^chm*ch,  and  by 
ministers  of  all  denominations.  All  felt  that  a 
good  man  and  ^^  a  prince  in  Israel"  had  been  ga- 
thered to  his  rest.  On  the  Sunday  succeeding  his 
funeral,  his  colleague,  Dr.  Andrew  Thomson,  and 
Dr.  Harper,  North  Leith,  preached  funeral  ser- 
mons in  Broughton  Place  church.  He  was  twice 
married,  first,  to  Jane  Nimmo,  daughtei*  and  sis- 
ter of  two  eminent  physicians  in  Glasgow.  She 
died  in  1816;  and,  secondly,  to  Mai'garet  Fisher 
Crum,  of  the  Thomliebank  family,  descended 
from  Ebenezer  Erskine  and  Mr.  Fisher,  two  of 
the  ^ye  fathers  of  the  Secession.  He  left  three 
sons  and  as  many  daughters.  Two  of  bis  sons 
were  educated  for  the  medical  profession;  Dr. 
John  Brown  of  Edinburgh,  and  Dr.  William 
Brown.  The  third  son  was  but  a  youth  at  the 
time  of  his  father's  death. 

The  influence  of  Dr.  Brown  in  his  own  denomi- 
nation was  very  great.  But  he  was  never  an 
ecclesiastical  leader,  in  the  generally  understood 
sense  of  the  term.  He  had  little  turn  for  the 
platform,  and  he  spoke  but  rarely  in  church 
courts.  In  all  public  questions,  however,  he  took 
a  deep  and  enlightened  interest,  and  when  he  did 
express  his  opinions  on  any  subject,  it  was  with 
an  authority  which  showed  that  he  had  thoix>ugh- 
ly  considered  it,  and  was  familiar  with  all  its 
bearings.  Both  as  a  pi*eacher  and  a  lecturer,  he 
was  an  evangelical  of  the  highest  order,  closely 
resembling  the  founders  of  his  denomination  in  a 
religious  aspect,  vigorous,  pure,  fervent,  manly, 
and  profoundly  pathetic. 


Deemed  the  ripest  Biblical  scholar  of  his  age,  it 
was  only  late  in  life  that  he  became  a  theological 
writer.  He  had  a  magnificent  libi'ary,  probably 
the  largest  clerical  library  in  Scotland,  except  one. 
His  Greek  New  Testaments,  which  he  commenced 
to  hoard  when  he  was  fourteen,  were,  it  is  be- 
lieved, unique  in  number  and  in  quality  for  a  pri- 
vate library,  and  his  Latin  and  French  theological 
authors,  of  the  16th  century,  were  all  but  com- 
plete. He  had  also  a  fine  collection  of  classics, 
which  he  read  to  the  last.  Although  he  taught 
as  a  professor  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  his  se- 
ries of  commentaries,  on  which  his  name  must 
chiefly  rest,  were  published  within  the  last  ten 
years  of  his  life.  The  publication  of  more  than 
ten  octavo  volumes  by  a  man  considerably  above 
sixty  when  he  began,  and  several  of  these  on 
some  of  the  most  difficult  Epistles  of  the  New 
Testament,  is  certainly  something  unusual  in  the 
histoiy  of  literature. 

Dr.  Brown's  more  important  works  are : 

Expository  Diflcourses  on  the  First  Epistle  of  the  Apostle 
Peter.    In  three  volumes.    8vo. 

Discourses  and  Sajings  of  our  Lord  Jettus  Christ :  Illus- 
trated in  a  Series  of  Expositions.  In  three  volumes.  Second 
edition.    8vo. 

An  Exposition  of  our  Lord's  Intercessory  Prayer,  with  a 
Discourse  on  the  Relation  of  our  Lord's  Intercession  to  the 
Conversion  of  the  World.    8vo. 

Besnrreotion  of  Life :  An  Exposition  of  1  Cor.  xv.  With 
a  Discourse  on  our  lord's  Resurrection.    8vo. 

Suflerings  and  Glories  of  the  Messiah  signified  beforehand 
to  David  and  Isaiah ;  An  Exposition  of  Psalm  xviii.  and 
Isaiah  lii.  18 ;  liii.  12.    8vo. 

An  Expoution  of  the  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle  to  the 
Galatians.     8vo. 

He  also  published  the  following  as  separate  Ser- 
mons: 

The  Danger  of  Opposing  Christianity,  and  the  Certainty 
of  its  final  Triumph :  A  Sermon  preached  before  the  Edin- 
burgh Missionary  Society,  on  Tuesday,  2d  April,  1816.     8vo. 

On  the  State  of  Scotland,  in  reference  to  the  Means  of 
Religious  Instruction :  A  Sermon  preaclied  at  the  Opening 
of  the  Associate  Synod,  on  Tuesday,  27tb  April,  1819.    8vo. 

On  the  Duty  of  Pecuniary  Contribution  to  Religious  Pur- 
poses: A  Sermon  preached  before  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  on  Thursday,  May  10, 1821.    Third  edition.    18mo. 

Sermon  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  James  Hall, 
D.D.,  Edinburgh.    8vo.     1826. 

The  Abolition  of  Death :  a  Sermon.    Foolscap  8vo. 

The  Friendship  of  Christ  and  his  People  Indissoluble :  A 
Sermon  on  the  Death  of  the  Rev. .  John  Mitchell,  D.D., 
Glasgow.    8vo. 

Human  Authority  in  Religion  condemned  by  Jesos Christ; 
An  Expository  Discourse.    Foolscap  8vo. 

The  Christian  Ministry,  and  the  Character  and  Destiny  of 
ite  Occupants,  Worthy  and  Unworthy :   A  Sermon  on  the 


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Death  of  the  Ber  Robert  Bulmer,  D.D.,  Berwick.  Second 
edition.    8vo. 

Heaven  :  A  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  James  Ped- 
die,  D.D.,  Edinburgh.    8vo. 

The  Present  Condition  of  them  who  are  "  Asleep  in 
Christ:**  A  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  Hugh  Hengh, 
D.D.,  Glasgow.    8to. 

The  Good  Shepherd :  A  Sermon.    24mo. 

His  smaller  tracts  are  as  follows : 

1.  Ou  the  Bible  Societj  controversy 

Statement  of  the  Claims  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Societj  on  the  Support  of  the  Christian  Public :  With  an 
Appendix.  8vo. 

Remarks  on  Certain  Statements  by  Alex.  Haldane,  Esq., 
in  his  '*  Memoir  of  Robert  Haldane  of  Auchingraj,  and  his 
brother,  James  A.  Haldane.**    8vo. 

2.  On  the  Voluntary  controversy. 

The  Law  of  Christ  respecting  Civil  Obedience,  especially 
in  the  Payment  of  Tribute ;  with  an  Appendix  of  Notes :  to 
which  are  added  Two  Addresses  on  the  Voluntary  Church 
Controversy.    Second  edition,  1838.    Third  edition.    8vo. 

What  ought  the  Dissenters  of  Scotland  to  do  in  the  present 
Crisis?    Second  edition,  8ro.     1840. 

3.  On  the  Atonement  charge. 

Opinions  on  Faith,  Divine  Influence,  Human  Inability,  the 
Design  and  Effect  of  the  Death  of  Christ,  Assurance,  and  the 
Sonship  of  Christ  Second  edition,  with  additional  Notes. 
12mo. 

Statement  made,  April  1,  1845,  before  the  United  Associ- 
ate Presbytery  of  Edinburgh,  on  asking  their  Advice.  Sec- 
ond edition.     12mo. 

Miscellaneous. 

Strictures  on  Mr.  Yates*  Vindication  of  Unitarianism.  8vo. 

Remarks  on  the  Plans  and  Publications  of  Robert  Owen, 
Esq.  of  New  Lanark.    8vo. 

On  Religion,  and  the  Means  of  its  Attainment  Sixth 
edition.     18mo. 

On  Forgetfulness  of  God.    Second  edition.    18mo. 

The  Christian  Pastor*8  Manual ;  a  Selection  of  Tracts  on 
the  Duties,  Difficulties,  and  Encouragements  of  the  Christian 
Ministry.     12mo. 

A  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  a  very  dear  Christian  Friend. 
Third  edition.    18mo. 

Discourses  suited  to  the  administration  of  the  Lord*s  Sup- 
per.   Second  edition.     ]2mo. 

Hints  on  the  Permanent  Obligation  and  Frequent  Observ- 
ance of  the  Lord*8  Supper.    Second  edition.     12mo. 

Hints  on  the  Nature  and  Influence  of  Christian  Hope. 
Post  8vo. 

The  Moamer*s  Friend;  or.  Instruction  and  Consolation 
for  the  Bereaved,  a  Selection  of  Tracts  and  Hymns.  Second 
edition.    82mo. 

The  United  Secession  Church  Vindicated  from  the  Chaige, 
made  by  James  A.  Haldane,  Esq.,  of  Sanctioning  In^scrim- 
mate  Admission  to  Communion.    1889,  8vo. 

On  the  Means  and  Manifestations  of  a  Genuine  Revival  of 
Religion :  an  Address  delivered  before  the  United  Associate 
Presbytery  of  Edinbuigh,  on  November  19, 1889.  Second 
edition.    12mo. 

Hints  to  Students  of  Divinity  \  an  Address  at  the  Opening 
of  the  United  Secession  Theological  Seminary  August  8, 
1841.    Foolscap  8vo. 


Memorial  of  Mrs.  Margaret  Fisher  Brown.     Foolscap  8vt 

Statement  on  certain  Doctrinal  Points;  made  Octobei 
5th,  1843,  before  the  United  Associate  Synod,  at  their  re« 
quest.     12mo. 

On  tlie  Equity  and  Benignity  of  the  Divine  Law.    2iinA. 

Comfortable  Words  for  Christian  Parents  Bereaved  of  Lit- 
tle Children.     Second  edit'ron.     18mo. 

Bamabns,  or  the  Chri^tianly  Good  Man :  in  Three  Dis- 
courses.   Second  edition.    Foolscap  8vo. 

Memoiials  of  the  Rev.  James  Fisher,  Minister  of  the  As- 
sociate (Burgher)  Congregation,  Glasgow;  ProfiosBor  of  Di- 
vinity to  the  Associate  (Burgher)  Synod ;  and  one  of  the 
Four  Leaders  of  the  Secession  from  the  Established  Church 
of  Scotland :  In  a  Narrative  of  his  Life,  and  a  Selection  from 
his  Writings.    Foolscap  8vo. 

Hints  on  the  Lord*s  Supper  and  Thoughts  for  the  Lord's 
Table.     Foolscap  8vo. 

Plain  Discourses  on  Important  Subjects.    Foolscap  8vo. 

Discourses  suited  to  the  Administration  of  the  Lord*s  Sap- 
per.   Third  edition.    8vo. 

The  Dead  in  Christ,  their  State  Present  and  Futnr^  with 
Reflections  on  the  Death  of  a  very  dear  Christian  Friend. 
l8mo. 

He  also  edited  the  following  works,  viz.: 

Mac1aurin*s  Essays  and  Sermons,  with  an  Introductory 
Essay.    Second  edition.     12mo. 

Henry*s  Communicant's  Companion,  with  an  Introductory 
Essay.    Fourth  edition. 

Venn*8  Complete  Duty  of  Man,  with  an  Introductory  Es- 
say.    Second  edition.     12mo. 

Theological  Tracts.  Selected  and  Original.  8  vola  Fools- 
cap 8vo. 

BROWN,  John,  M.D.,  the  founder  of  the  Bru- 
nonian  system  of  medicine,  was  born  in  1785  or 
1786,  either  in  the  village  of  Llntlaws  or  that  of 
Preston,  parish  of  Buncle,  Berwickshire.  His  pa- 
rents, who  were  Seceders,  were  in  the  hnmblest 
condition  of  life,  his  father's  occupation  not  being 
above  that  of  a  day-labourer.  NeverUieless  they 
were  anxious  to  give  their  son  a  decent  and  reli- 
gious education.  It  was  a  frequent  expression  ot 
his  father's,  ^Hhat  he  would  gird  his  belt  the 
tighter  to  give  his  son  John  a  good  education." 
He  early  discovered  uncommon  quickness  of  ap- 
prehension, and  he  was  sent  to  school  to  \euji 
English  much  sooner  than  the  usual  period.  Be- 
fore he  was  five  years  of  age,  he  had  read  through 
almost  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament.  When 
he  was  little  more  than  five  years  of  age,  he  bad 
the  misfortune  to  lose  his  father.  His  mother 
afterwards  married  a  weaver,  by  whose  assistance 
he  was  enabled  to  continue  at  school,  where  be 
was  distinguished  for  his  unwearied  application, 
his  facility  in  mastering  the  tasks  assigned  to  him, 
and  the  retentiveness  of  his  memory.  '  Before  be 
was  ten  years  of  age,  he  had  gone  through  the 


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routine  of  grammar  education  required  previously 
CO  entering  college.  Bat  as  his  mother  conld  not 
afford  to  pnt  him  to  the  university,  he  was  bound 
apprentice  to  a  weaver.  For  this  occupation  he 
had  a  rooted  aversion,  and  Mr.  Cruickshank  kindly 
offered  to  allow  him  to  attend  the  school  gratui- 
tously. •  He  therefore  resumed  his  studies,  with 
the  view  of  ultimately  becoming  a  preacher  of  the 
Secession.  In  a  short  time  he  became  so  neces- 
sary to  his  master,  that  he  was  occasionally  de- 
puted to  instruct  the  younger  scholars. 

At  this  period,  we  are  told,  **  he  was  of  a  reli- 
gious turn,  and  was  so  strongly  attached  to  the 
sect  of  Seceders,  or  Whigs,  as  they  are  called  in 
Scotland,  in  which  he  had  been  bred,  that  he 
would  have  thought  his  salvation  hazarded,  if  he 
had  attended  the  meetings  of  the  established  church. 
He  aspired  to  be  a  preacher  of  a  purer  religion.*' 
A  circumstance  which  happened  about  his  thu- 
teenth  year  had  the  effect  of  making  him  altogether 
relinquish  the  idea  of  becoming  a  seceding  minister. 
Having  been  persuaded,  by  some  of  his  school- 
fellows, to  hear  a  sermon  in  the  parish  church  of 
Duuse,  he  was  in  consequence  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  session  of  the  congregation  of  Seceders 
»o  which  he  belonged,  to  be  rebuked  for  his  con- 
duct, but  his  pride  got  the  better  of  his  attachment 
to  the  sect.  He  resolved  not  to  submit  to  the 
censure  of  the  session,  and  in  order  to  avoid  a 
formal  expulsion,  he  at  once  renounced  their 
authority,  and  professed  himself  a  member  of  the 
established  church.  He  afterwards  acted  for  some 
years  as  usher  in  Dunse  school ;  and  about  the  age 
of  twenty,  was  engaged  as  tutor  to  the  son  of  a 
gentleman  in  the  neighbourhood.  This  situation 
he  left  in  1755,  when  he  went  to  Edinburgh,  where, 
while  he  studied  at  the  philosophy  classes,  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  instructing  his  fellow-students 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages.  He  afterwards 
attended  the  divinity  hall,  and  had  proceeded  so 
far  in  hb  theological  studies  as  to  be  called  upon 
to  deliver,  in  the  public  hall,  a  discourse  upon  a 
prescribed  portion  of  scripture,  the  usual  step  pre- 
liminary to  being  licensed  to  preach. 

About  this  time,  on  the  recommendation  of  a 
fnend,  he  was  employed  by  a  gentleman  then 
studying  medicine  to  translate  into  Latin  an 
inaugural  dissertation.    The  superior  manner  in 


which  he  executed  his  task  gained  him  great  re- 
putation, which  induced  him  to  turn  his  attentfon 
towards  the  study  of  medicine.  Shortly  after 
wards  he  retired  to  Dunse,  and  resumed  his  for- 
mer occupation  of  usher.  At  Martinmas  1759  he 
returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  a  vacancy  happening 
in  one  of  the  classes  of  the  High  School,  he  became 
a  candidate,  but  without  success.  Being  unable 
to  pay  the  fees  for  the  medical  classes,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  college  session  in  that  year, 
he  addressed  an  elegantly  composed  Latin  letter, 
first  to  Dr.  Alexander  Monro,  then  professor  of 
anatomy,  and  afterwards  to  the  other  medical  pro- 
fessors in  the  university,  from  whom  he  imme- 
diately received  gratis  tickets  of  admission  to  their 
different  courses  of  lectures. 

For  two  or  three  years  he  supported  himself  by 
teaching  the  classics ;  but  he  afterwards  devoted 
himself  to  that  occupation  which  is  known  at  the 
university  by  the  name  of  *■  grinding,*  that  is,  pre- 
paring medical  candidates  for  their  probationary 
examinations,  which  in  his  time  were  conducted 
in  Latin.  For  composing  a  thesis,  he  charged  ten 
guineas;  and  for  translating  one  into  Latin,  hii: 
price  was  five.  In  1761  he  became  a  member  o1 
the  Royal  Medical  Society,  where,  in  the  discussion 
of  medical  theories,  he  had  an  opportunity  of  dis- 
playing his  talents  to  advantage.  lie  enjoyed  the 
particular  favour  of  the  celebrated  Cullen,  who  re- 
ceived him  into  his  family  as  tutor  to  his  children, 
and  treated  him  with  every  mark  of  confidence 
and  esteem.  He  even  made  him  assistant  in  his 
lectures — Brown  illustrating  and  explaining  to  the 
pupils  in  the  evening  the  lecture  delivered  by  Dr. 
Cullen  in  the  morning.  In  1765,  under  the 
patix)nage  of  that  eminent  professor,  he  opened  a 
boarding-house  for  students  attending  the  univer- 
sity, the  profits  of  which,  with  those  of  his  profes- 
sional engagements,  enabled  him  to  marry  a  Miss 
Lamond,  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  citizen  of 
Edinburgh.  In  spite  of  all  his  advantages,  how- 
ever, his  total  want  of  economy,  and  his  taste  for 
company  and  convivial  pleasures,  reduced  him,  in 
the  course  of  three  or  four  years,  to  a  state  of  in- 
solvency, and  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  calling 
a  meeting  of  his  creditors,  and  making  a  compro- 
mise with  them. 

With  the  view  of  qualifying  himself  for  an  ana- 


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toinical  professorship  in  one  of  the  infant  colleges 
of  America,  he  at  this  time  devoted  himself  to  ob- 
taining an  intimate  knowledge  of  anatomy  and 
botany ;  bat  Collen,  who  fonnd  him  nsefal  in  con- 
dacting  his  Latin  correspondence,  persuaded  him 
to  relinquish  the  design  of  leaving  Scotland.  Soon 
afterwards  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  vacant 
chair  of  the  theory  of  medicine,  and  was  again 
unsuccessful,  Dr.  Gragory  having  been  appointed. 
On  this  occasion,  an  anecdote  got  into  circulation, 
which,  if  true,  reflects  little  credit  on  his  heretofore 
friend  and  patron,  Dr.  Cullen.  Coming  foi*ward 
without  recommendation,  it  was  reported,  that 
when  the  magistrates,  who  are  the  patrons  of  the 
professorships,  asked  who  this  unfriended  candi- 
date was,  Cullen,  so  far  from  giving  him  his  sup- 
port, observed,  with  a  sarcastic  smile,  "Surely 
this  can  never  be  our  Jock!**  Attributing  his  dis- 
appointment to  the  jealousy  of  Cullen,  Brown  re- 
solved to  break  off  all  connection  with  him. 
This  he  did  after  his  rejection  on  applying  to  be- 
come a  member  of  the  society  which  published  the 
Edinburgh  Medical  Essays,  admission  iuto  which 
Cullen  could  easily  have  procured  him. 

Shortly  after  this  he  commenced  giving  lectui-es 
in  Latin  upon  a  new  system  of  medicine,  which 
he  had  formed  in  opposition  to  Cullen*s  theories, 
and  employed  the  manuscript  of  his  ^Elementa 
Medicinas,'  composed  some  time  previously,  as  his 
text-book.  The  novelty  of  his  doctrines  procured 
him  at  fii*8t  a  numerous  class  of  pupils ;  and  the 
contest  between  his  partisans  and  those  of  his  op- 
ponents was  cai*ried  to  the  highest  possible  ex- 
treme. In  the  Royal  Medical  Society,  the  debates 
among  the  students  on  the  subject  of  the  new  sys- 
tem were  conducted  with  so  much  vehemence  and 
intemperance,  that  they  frequently  terminated  in 
a  duel  between  some  of  the  parties.  A  law  was 
in  consequence  passed,  by  which  it  was  enacted 
that  any  member  who  challenged  another  on 
account  of  anything  said  in  the  public  debates, 
should  be  expelled  the  society.  In  the  autumn  of 
1779  Brown  took  the  degree  of  M.D.  at  the  uni- 
versity of  St.  Andrews,  his  rupture  with  the  pro- 
fessors of  Edinburgh  preventing  him  for  applying 
for  it  from  that  university.  Not  only  the  medical 
professors,  but  the  medical  practitioner,  were  op- 
posed to  his  system,  and  he  was  vis^ited  with  mucli 


rancorous  obloquy  and  misrepresentation  by  hb 
opponent  Dr.  Cullen  and  his  abettors.  The  im- 
prudence of  his  conduct  in  private  life,  and  his  in- 
temperate habits,  gave  his  enemies  a  great  advan- 
tage over  him.  One  of  his  pupils  informed  Dr. 
Beddoes  "  that  he  used,  before  he  began  to  read 
his  lecture,  to  take  fifty  dit>ps  of  laudanum  in  a 
glass  of  whisky,  repeating  the  dose  four  or  five 
times  during  the  lecture.  Between  the  effects  of 
these  stimulants  and  his  voluntary  exertions,  be 
soon  waxe<L;warm,  and  by  degrees  his  imagination 
was  exalted  into  phrensy."    . 

His  design  seems  to  have  been  to  simplify  the 
science  of  medicine,  and*  to  render  the  knowledge 
of  it  easily  attainable.  All  general  or  universal 
diseases  were  reduced  by  him  to  two  great  fami- 
lies or  classes,  the  sthenic  and  the  asthenic ;  the 
former  depending  upon  an  excess  of  excitement, 
the  latter  upon  a  deficiency  of  it.  Apoplexy  is  an 
instance  of  the  former,  common  fever  of  the  latter. 
The  former  were  to  be  removed  by  debilitating, 
the  latter  by  stimulating  medicines,  of  which  the 
most  powerful  are  wine,  brandy,  and  opium ,  the 
stimuli  being  applied  gradually,  and  with  much 
caution.  ^^  Spasmodic  and  convulsive  disorders, 
and  even  hemorrhages,"  he  says  in  his  preface  to 
the  *  Elementa  Medicinae,*  ^*  were  found  to  proceed 
from  debility ;  and  wine  and  brandy,  which  bad 
been  thought  hurtful  in  these  diseasee,  he  fbnnd 
the  most  powerful  of  all  remedies  in  removing 
them."  In  order  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  the 
public  against  the  ^*  Brunonian  system,"  as  it  was 
called,  his  enemies  spread  a  report  that  its  antbor 
cured  all  diseases  with  brandy  and  laudanum,  the 
latter  of  which,  till  the  proper  use  of  it  was  point- 
ed out  by  Dr.  Brown,  had  been  employed  by  phy- 
sicians very  sparingly  in  the  cure  of  diseases. 

In  1780  he  published  his  ^  Elementa  Medicins,* 
which  his  opponents  did  not  venture  openly  to 
refute,  but  those  students  who  were  known  to  re- 
sort to  Dr.  Brown's  lectures  were  marked  out,  and 
in  their  inaugural  dissertations  at  the  college,  any 
allusion  to  his  work,  or  quotation  from  it,  was 
absolutely  prohibited.  ^^  Had  a  candidate,"  sajs 
Dr.  Brown's  son  in  the  life  of  his  father,  prefixed 
to  his  works,  **  been  so  bold  as  to  affirm  that  opi- 
um acted  as  a  stimulant,  and  denied  that  its  pri- 
maiy  action  was  sedative ;  or  had  he  asserted  that 


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BROWN, 


893 


JOHN. 


a  catarrh,  or  a^similar  inflammatory  complaint, 
was  occasioned  by  the  action  of  beat,  or  of  beat- 
ing tbings,  npon  a  body  previously  exposed  for 
some  time  to  cold,  and  that  it  would  give  way  to 
cold  and  antipblogistic  regimen — facts  wbicb  are 
now  no  longer  controverted — be  migbt  bave  con- 
tinned  to  enjoy  bis  new  opinions,  but  would  bave 
been  very  unlikely  to  attain  tbe  object  be  bad  in 
view  in  presenting  himself  for  examination.^*  Tbe 
nnmber  of  students  attending  bis  classes  became 
I     in  consequence  very  much  reduced. 

In  1776  Dr.  Brown  bad  been  elected  president 
of  the  Royal  Medical  Society,  and,  notwithstand- 
ing the  violent  opposition  made  to  bis  system  by 
the  older  physicians,  be  was  again  chosen  to  the 
chair  in  1780.  In  1785  he  instituted  the  Mason 
Lodge  called  the  ^^  Roman  Eagle,'*  with  the  de- 
sign of  preventing,  as  far  as  possible,  tbe  rapid 
decline  of  the  language  and  literature  of  the  an- 
cient Romans.  Several  gentlemen  of  talent  and 
reputation  became  members  of  this  society ;  and 
among  others  the  celebrated  Crosbie,  at  that  time 
one  of  the  chief  ornaments  of  the  Scottish  bar. 
Ilis  motives  in  instituting  this  lodge  have  been 
variously  represented,  and  one  of  his  biograpbei-s 
has  asserted,  it  appears  erroneously,  that  it  was 
with  the  view  of  "  gaining  proselytes  to  his  new 
doctrine.**  The  obligation  signed  by  tbe  members 
of  the  institution  sufficiently  points  out  the  ob- 
jects of  the  association.  Upon  this  occasion  he 
received  the  compliments  of  all  who  wished  well 
to  polite  literature.  At  the  meetings  of  the  insti- 
tution, at  which  nothing  but  Latin  was  spoken. 
Brown  usually  presided,  and  addressed  the  mem- 
bers in  tbe  Latin  language  with  fluency,  purity, 
and  animation.  In  the  same  year  in  which  he 
founded  the  Roman  Eagle  Lodge,  he  published 
anonymously  bis  English  work,  entitled  *  Out- 
lines,* in  which,  under  the  character  of  a  student, 
he  points  out  the  fallacy  of  former  systems  of 
medicine,  and  farther  Illustrates  the  principles  of 
his  own  doctrine.  His  excesses  had  gradually 
brought  him  and  his  system  into  di8Ci*edit  with 
the  public ;  and  at  one  time  his  pecuniary  difficul- 
ties were  so  great,  that  he  was  reduced  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  concluding  a  coui*se  of  lectures  in  pi*ison, 
where  he  had  been  confined  for  debt.  In  this  di;}- 
tressing  situation,  a  one  hundred  pound  note  was 


secretly  conveyed  to  him  fi-om  an  nnknown  per 
son,  who  was  afterwards  traced  to  be  the  late 
generous  and  patriotic  Lord  Gardenstone. 

His  prospects  and  circumstances  becoming  worse 
daily,  in  the  year  1786  be  quitted  his  native  coun- 
try for  London,  hoping  that  his  merit  would  be 
better  rewarded  in  the  capital  of  the  empu*e  than 
it  had  been  in  Edinburgh.  Ho  was  now  in  the 
fifty-first  year  of  his  age,  and  had  a  wife  and  eight 
children  dependent  on  him,  but  his  expectations 
of  success  wei-e  veiy  sanguine.  Soon  after  his  ar- 
rival he  delivered  three  successive  courses  of  lec- 
tures at  the  Devil  Tavern,  Fleet  Street,  which, 
being  attended  only  by  a  few  bearers,  added  little  to 
his  income.  From  Mr.  Johnson,  bookseller,  of  St. 
PauFs  Churchyard,  he  received  a  small  sum  for 
the  fii*st  edition  of  the  translation  of  bis  '  Elementa 
MedicinsB.*  We  learn  from  his  son*s  memoir  of 
his  life,  that  about  this  time,  in  consequence  of  a 
paltry  intrigue,  he  was  deprived  of  the  situation  of 
physician  to  tbe  king  of  Prussia,  that  monarch 
having  written  to  his  ambassador  in  London  to 
find  him  out,  and  send  him  over  to  Berlin,  and 
another  person  of  tbe  name  of  Bi-own,  an  apothe- 
cai*y,  having  gone  to  Piiissia  without  the  ambas- 
sador*s  knowledge.  It  is  also  said  that,  on  a  pi*e- 
vious  occasion,  the  interference  of  his  enemies 
prevented  him  from  obtaining  the  professorship  of 
medicine  in  the  university  of  Padua,  where  his 
system  had  many  adherents,  as  well  as  in  Italy 
generally.  In  Germany,  too,  it  found  much  fa- 
vour, being  propagated  with  great  zeal  by  Girtan- 
ner  and  Weikard.  Having  furnished  his  bouse  in 
Golden  Square  on  credit,  the  broker  from  whom 
he  got  bis  furniture  in  a  few  months  threw  him 
into  the  King's  Bench  prison,  without  any  previ- 
ous demand  for  the  money  due  to  him.  During 
his  confinement  he  was  applied  to  by  a  bookseller, 
named  Mm*i*ay,  for  a  nostrum  or  pill,  for  which 
the  popularity  of  his  name  would  ensure  an  exten- 
sive sale.  As  he  was  only  offered  a  trifle  for  the 
property  of  it,  he  rejected  the  proposal.  Soon 
after  he  was  solicited  by  no  less  than  five  pei-sons 
to  make  up  a  secret  or  quack  medicine,  but  as 
they  could  never  come  to  terms,  he  steadily  re- 
fused all  their  entreaties.  Their  object  was  to 
take  advantage  of  his  necessities,  and  without 
making  him  an  adequate  recompense,  to  extort 


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BROWN, 


894 


JOHN. 


from  bitn  the  possession  of  a  uostrum,  which 
would  have  been  a  fertile  som-ce  of  gain  to  them, 
but  a  disgrace  to  him  as  a  respectable  physician. 
By  the  friendly  assistance  of  a  countr}'man  of  the 
name  of  Miller,  and  the  liberality  of  the  late  Mr. 
Maddison,  stock-bi-oker,  of  Charing  Cross,  he  at 
length  obtained  his  liberty,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1788. 

He  now  applied  himself  with  earnestness  to  ex- 
ecute different  works  which  he  had  planned  while 
in  prison.  Besides  the  translation  of  his  ^Ele- 
menta  Medicinie,'  which  he  had  published,  he 
proposed  among  other  works  to  bring  out  a  new 
edition  of  his  'Observations;'  a  *Ti-eatise  on  the 
Gout,'  for  which  he  was  to  receive  £500  from  a 
bookseller ;  also  a  treatise  on  '  The  Operation  of 
Opium  on  the  Human  Constitution ;'  a  new  edi- 
tion of  the  'Elementa,'  with  additions;  and  a 
'  Review  of  Medical  Reviewers.'  His  prospects 
wei*e  beginning  to  brigliten  and  his  practice  to  in- 
crease, when  a  sudden  stroke  of  apoplexy  at  once 
put  a  period  to  his  life,  and  to  the  illusive  hopes 
of  future  prosperity  which  he  had  been  cherishing. 
Ho  died  October  7,  1788,  in  the  68d  year  of  his 
age ;  having  the  day  preceding  that  of  his  death, 
delivered  the  introductory  lecture  of  a  fourth 
course,  at  his  house  in  Grolden  Square.  He  had 
taken,  as  was  his  custom,  a  considerable  quantity 
of  laudanum  before  going  to  bed,  and  he  died  in 
the  course  of  the  night.  In  1795  Dr.  Beddoes 
published  an  edition  of  his  *  Elements  of  Medicine,' 
for  the  benefit  of  his  family,  with  a  life  of  the 
author.  In  1804  his  eldest  son.  Dr.  William  Cul- 
len  Brown,  published  his  works,  with  a  memoii*  of 
his  father,  in  3  vols.  8vo.  Dr.  Brown's  system 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  great  ingenuity,  but  al- 
though some  of  his  conclusions  have  proved  useful 
in  the  improvement  of  medical  science,  his  opin- 
ions, never  generally  adopted  in  practice,  have 
long  ago  been  abandoned  by  the  profession.  In 
*  Kay's  Edinburgh  Portraits,'  Dr.  Brown  figures 
as  a  very  prominent  character.    His  works  are : 

Elementa  Medidnse.  Edin.  1780,  Sto.  Editio  altera  pla- 
riinmn  emendata  et  integram  demnm  opus  exhibens.  Edin. 
1787,  2  vols.  8vo.    1794,  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  Principles  of  the  Old  System  of  Physic, 
exhibiting  a  Compound  of  the  New  Doctrine.  Containing  a 
new  accoont  of  the  state  of  Medicine,  from  the  present  times 
backward  to  the  restoration  of  the  geniune  learning  in  the 
western  parts  of  Europe.     Edm.  1787,  8vo. 


Elements  of  Medicine,  translated  from  the  Elementa  Medi- 
dnie  Brunonis;  with  large  Notes,  Ulustrations,  and  Com- 
ments, by  the  author  of  the  original  work.  Lond.  1788,  2 
vols.  8vo.  Of  this  a  new  edition  was  published  by  Dr.  Bed- 
does,  revised  and  corrected,  with  a  Biographical  Preface. 
Lond.  1796,  2  vols.  8vo. 

BROWN,  John,  an  ingenious  artist  and  elegant 
scholar,  the  son  of  a  goldsmith  and  watchmaker, 
was  bom  in  1752  at  Edinburgh,  and  was  early 
destined  to  the  profession  of  a  painter.  In  1771 
he  went  to  Italy,  where  for  ten  years  he  improved 
himself  in  his  art.  At  Rome  lie  met  with  Sir 
William  Young  and  Mr.  Towaley,  and  accom- 
panied them  as  a  draftsman  into  Sicily.  Of  the 
antiquities  of  this  celebrated  island  he  took  several 
very  fine  7iews  in  pen  and  ink,  which  wero  exqui- 
sitely finished,  and  preserved  the  appropriate 
chai*acter  of  the  buildings  which  he  intended  to 
represent.  On  his  return  to  Edinburgh  he  gained 
the  esteem  of  many  eminent  pei-sons  by  his  elegant 
manners  and  instructive  conversation  on  Tarions 
sul^ects,  particularly  on  those  of  art  and  music,  of 
botli  of  which  his  knowledge  was  very  extensive 
and  accurate.  He  was  particularly  honoured  by 
the  notice  of  Lord  Monboddo,  who  gave  him  a 
general  invitation  to  his  table,  and  employed  him 
in  making  drawings  in  pencil  for  him. 

In  the  year  1786  he  went  to  London,  where  he 
was  much  employed  as  a  painter  of  small  portraits 
with  black  lead  pencil,  which,  besides  being  cor- 
rectly drawn,  faithfully  exhibited  the  features  and 
chai-acter  of  the  persons  whom  they  represented. 
After  some  stay  in  London,  the  weak  state  of  his 
health,  which  had  become  impaired  by  his  cloise 
application,  induced  him  to  try  the  effects  of  a  sea 
voyage ;  and  he  rotumed  to  Edinburgh,  to  settle 
his  father^s  affairs,  who  was  then  dead.  On  the 
passage  from  London  he  grew  rapidly  worse,  and 
was  at  the  point  of  death  when  the  ship  arrived  at 
Leith.  With  much  difficulty  he  was  conveyed  to 
Edinburgh,  and  placed  in  the  bed  of  his  friend  aud 
brother-artist,  Runciman,  whose  death  occurred  in 
1784.    Here  Brown  died,  September  6,  1787. 

In  1789  his  ^  Letters  on  tlie  Poetry  and  Music 
of  the  Italian  Opera,'  12mo,  with  an  introduction 
by  Lord  Monboddo,  to  whom  they  were  originally 
written,  was  published  for  the  benefit  of  Brown's 
widow.  His  lordship,  in  the  fourth  volume  of  *  The 
Ongin  and  Progress  of  Language,*  speaking  ot 


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895 


THOMAS. 


Mr.  Brown,  says:  *'Tlie  account  that  I  have 
given  of  the  Italian  langoage  is  taken  from  one 
who  resided  above  ten  years  in  Italy ;  and  who, 
besides  understanding  the  language  perfectly,  is 
more  learned  in  the  Italian  arts  of  painting,  sculp- 
ture, music,  and  poetry,  than  any  man  I  ever  met 
with.  His  natural  good  taste  be  has  improved  by 
the  study  of  the  monuments  of  ancient  art  to  be 
seen  at  Rome  and  Florence ;  and  as  beauty  in  all 
(he  arts  is  pretty  much  the  same,  consisting  of 
gnmdenr  and  simplicity,  variety,  decorum,  and  a 
suitableness  to  the  subject,  I  think  he  is  a  good 
judge  of  language,  and  of  writing,  as  well  as  of 
painting,  sculpture,  and  music.**  A  well  written 
character  in  Latin,  by  an  advocate  in  Edinburgh, 
is  appended  to  the  Letters.  Mr.  Brown  left  be- 
hind him  several  very  highly  finished  portraits  in 
pencil,  and  many  exquisite  sketches  in  pencil  and 
pen  and  ink,  which  he  had  taken  of  persons  and 
places  in  Italy.  The  peculiar  chai-acteristics  of 
his  hand  were  delicacy,  correctness,  and  taste, 
and  the  leading  features  of  his  mind  were  acute- 
ness,  liberality,  and  sensibility,  joined  to  a  char- 
acter firm,  vigorous,  and  energetic.  His  last  per- 
formances were  two  exquisite  drawings,  one  from 
Mr.  Townley's  celebrated  bust  of  Homer,  and  the 
other  from  a  fine  original  bust  of  Pope,  supposed 
to  have  been  the  work  of  Rysbrack.  From  these 
two  drawings,  two  beautiful  engravings  were 
made  by  Mr.  Bartolozzi  and  his  pupil  Mi*.  Bovi. 
A  portrait  of  Brown  with  Runciman,  disputing 
about  a  passage  in  Shakspeare^s  Tempest,  the 
joint  production  of  these  artists,  is  in  the  gallery 
at  Dr}'burgh  Abbey. 

BROWN,  Robert,  styled  of  Maikle,  an  emi- 
nent agricultural  writer,  was  bom  in  1757  in  the 
village  of  East  Linton,  Haddingtonshire,  where  he 
entered  into  bustness ;  but  his  natural  genius  led 
him  to  agricultural  pursuits,  which  he  followed 
with  singular  success.  He  commenced  his  agri- 
cultural career  at  Westfortuno,  and  soon  afterwards 
removed  to  Markle.  He  was  intimately  acquaint- 
ed with  the  late  George  Rennie  of  Phantassie,  who 
chiefly  confined  his  energies  to  the  practice  of 
agriculture ;  while  Mr.  Brown  gave  his  attention 
to  the  literary  department.  His  ^Ti-eatise  on 
Rural  Affairs,*  and  his  articles  in  the  Edinburgh 
'Farmer's  Magazine,'  which  he  conducted  for  fif- 


teen years,  evinced  the  soundness  of  his  practical 
knowledge,  and  the  vigour  of  his  intellectual  facul- 
ties. His  best  articles  have  been  translated  into 
the  French  and  Grerman  languages.  He  died 
February  14,  1881,  at  Drylawhill,  East  Lothian, 
in  his  74th  year. 

BROWN,  Thomas,  an  eminent  metaphysician, 
youngest  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Brown,  minister 
of  KJrkmabreck,  in  the  stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright, 
and  of  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Smitli,  Esq.,  Wig- 
ton,  was  bom  at  the  manse  of  that  parish,  Janu- 
ary 9,  1778.  His  father  dying  when  he  was  not 
much  more  than  a  year  old,  his  mother  removed 
with  her  family  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  by 
her  early  taught  the  first  rudiments  of  his  educa- 
tion. It  is  said  that  he  acquured  the  whole  alpha- 
bet in  one  lesson,  and  everything  else  with  the 
same  readiness,  so  much  so,  that  he  was  able  to 
read  the  Scriptures  when  between  four  and  five 
years  of  age.  In  his  seventh  year,  he  was  sent  to 
a  brother  of  his  mother  residing  in  London,  by 
whom  he  was  placed  at  a  school,  first  at  Camber- 
well,  and  afterwards  at  Chiswick.  In  theso  and 
two  other  academies  to  which  he  was  subsequent- 
ly transferred,  he  made  great  progress  in  classical 
literature.  In  1792,  upon  the  death  of  his  uncle. 
Captain  Smith,  he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  and 
entered  as  a  student  at  the  university  of  that  city. 
In  the  summer  of  1798,  being  on  a  visit  to  some 
friends  in  Liverpool,  he  was  introduced  to  Dr. 
CuiTie,  the  biographer  of  Bums,  by  whom  his 
attention  was  first  directed  to  metaphysical  sub- 
jects ;  Dr.  Currie  having  presented  him  with  Mr. 
Dngald  Stewart's  *  Elements  of  the  Philosophy  of 
the  human  mind,*  then  just  published.  The  win- 
ter after,  young  Brown  attended  Mr.  Stewart's 
moral  philosophy  class,  in  the  college  of  Edin- 
bui'gh ;  and  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  lectures 
he  went  forward  to  that  celebrated  philosopher, 
though  personally  unknown  to  him,  and  modestly 
submitted  some  remarks  which  he  had  written  re- 
specting one  of  his  theories.  Mr.  Stewart,  after 
listening  to  him  attentively,  informed  him,  that  he 
had  received  a  letter  irom  the  distinguished  M. 
Prevost  of  Geneva,  containing  similai-  arguments 
to  those  stated  by  the  young  student.  This  proved 
the  commencement  of  a  friendship,  which  Dr 
Brown  continued  to  enjoy  till  his  death 


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THOMAS. 


At  the  age  of  Dineteen,  he  was  a  member  of  tliat 
association  which  included  the  names  of  Brougham, 
Erskine,  Jeflfrey,  Birkbeck,  Logan,  Leyden,  Sydney 
Smith,  Reddie,  and  others,  who  establislied  the 
academy  of  physics  at  Edinburgh,  the  object  of 
which  was,  "  the  investigation  of  Nature,  and  the 
laws  by  which  her  phenomena  are  regulated/* 
From  this  society  originated  the  publication  of  the 
'Edinburgh  Review.'  Some  articles  in  the  early 
numbers  of  that  work,  and  particularly  the  lead- 
ing article  in  the  2d  number,  upon  Kant*s  Philo- 
sophy, were  written  by  Dr.  Brown.  In  1798  he 
published  '  Observations  on  the  Zoonomia  of  Dr. 
Darwin,'  the  greater  part  of  which  was  written  in 
his  eighteenth  year,  and  which  contains  the  geim 
of  all  his  subsequent  views  in  regard  to  mind,  and 
of  those  principles  of  philosophising  by  which  he 
was  guided  in  his  future  inquiries.  In  1799  he 
was  a  candidate  for  the  chair  of  Rhetoric,  and  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Finlayson,  for  that  of  Logic,  but 
in  both  cases  unsuccessfully.  In  1803,  after  at- 
tending the  usual  medical  coui*se,  he  took  his  de- 
gi*ee  of  M.D. 

In  the  same  year  he  published  the  firet  edition 
of  his  poems  in  two  vols.,  written  principally  while 
he  was  at  college.  His  next  publication  was  an 
Examination  of  the  Principles  of  Mr.  Hume  re- 
specting Causation,  which  was  caused  by  a  note 
in  Mr.  Leslie's  Essay  on  Heat ;  and  the  great  mer- 
its of  which  caused  it  to  be  noticed  in  a  very  flat- 
tering manner  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  in  an 
able  article  by  Mr.  Homer.  Pi^ofessor  Stewart 
also  spoke  very  highly  in  favour  of  Dr.  Brown's 
Essay,  and  Sir  James  Mackintosh  has  pronounced 
it  the  finest  model  in  mental  philosophy  since 
Berkeley.  In  1806  he  brought  out  a  second  edi- 
tion of  this  treatise,  considerably  enlarged ;  and 
in  1818  the  third  addition  appeared,  with  many 
additions,  under  the  title  of  *•  An  Inquiry  into  the 
Relation  of  Cause  and  Effect.'  Havmg  commenced 
practice  as  a  physician  in  Edinburgh  he  entered, 
in  1806,  into  partnership  with  the  late  Dr.  Grego- 
ry. Mr.  Stewart's  declining  health  requiring  him 
occasionally  to  be  absent  fi*om  his  class,  he  applied 
to  Dr.  Brown  to  supply  his  place ;  and  in  the  win- 
ter of  1808-9,  the  latter  officiated  for  a  short  time 
as  3^Ir.  Stewart's  substitute.  "  The  moral  philoso- 
phy class  at  this  period,"  says  his  biogi-apher,  Dr 


Welsh,  '*  presented  a  very  striking  aspect.  It 
was  not  a  crowd  of  youthful  students  led  intc 
transports  of  admiration  by  the  ignorant  enthusi- 
asm of  the  moment ;  distinguished  members  of  the 
bench,  of  the  bar,  and  of  the  pulpit,  were  daily 
present  to  witness  the  powers  of  this  rising  philo- 
sopher. Some  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  profes- 
sors were  to  be  seen  mixing  with  the  students, 
and  Mr.  Playfair,  in  particular,  was  present  at 
every  lecture.  The  originality,  and  depUi,  and 
eloquence  of  the  lectures,  had  a  veiy  marked  ef- 
fect upon  the  yonng  men  attending  the  university, 
in  leading  them  to  metaphysical  speculations." 
In  the  following  winter.  Dr.  Brown's  assistance 
was  again  rendered  necessaiy;  and  in  1810,  in 
consequence  of  a  wish  expressed  by  Mr.  Stewart 
to  that  effect,  he  was  officially  conjoined  with  him 
in  the  pi*ofessoi*ship.  In  the  summer  of  1814  he 
concluded  his  poem  called  the  *  Paradise  of  Co- 
quettes,' which  he  published  anonymously  in  Lon- 
don, and  which  met  with  a  favourable  reception. 
In  the  succeeding  year  he  brought  out  another 
volume  of  poetry  under  the  name  of  *  The  Wan- 
derer In  Noi'way.  In  1816  he  wrote  his  '  Bower 
of  Spring,' near  Dunkeld  in  Perthshire.  In  1818 
he  published  a  poetical  tale,  entitled  '  Agnes.'  In 
the  autumn  of  1819,  at  his  favourite  retreat  ui 
the  neighbourhood  of  Dunkeld,  he  commenced 
his  text  book,  a  work  which  he  had  long  medi- 
tated for  the  benefit  of  his  students.  Towards 
the  end  of  December  of  the  same  year  his  health 
began  to  give  way,  and  after  the  recess,  he  was  in 
such  a  state  of  weakness  as  to  be  unable  for  some 
time  to  resume  his  official  duties.  His  ill  health 
having  assumed  an  alarming  aspect,  he  was  ad- 
vised by  his  physicians  to  pi*oceed  to  London,  as 
he  had,  upon  a  former  occasion,  derived  great 
benefit  from  a  sea  voyage.  Accompanied  by  his 
two  sisters  he  hastened  to  the  metropolis,  with  the 
intention  of  going  to  a  milder  climate  as  soon  as 
the  season  allowed,  and  took  lodgings  at  Bromp- 
ton,  where  he  died,  April  2,  1820.  His  remauis 
were  put  into  a  leaden  coffin,  and  removed  to 
Kirkmabreck,  where  they  were  laid,  according  to 
his  own  request,  beside  those  of  his  parents ;  his 
mother,  whom  he  tenderly  loved,  having  died  in 
1817. 
Dr.  Brown  was  rather  above  the  middle  height. 


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BROWN, 


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WILLIAM  LAWRENCE. 


A  portrait  of  him  by  Watson,  taken  in  1806,  is 
said  faithfully  to  preserve  his  likeness.  The  fol- 
lowing woodcut  of  it  is  fram  the  engraving  by  W. 
Walker. 


i^jt^y^^-u-v^^^^    y^  ^^ 


M 


lie  was  distinguished  for  his  gentleness,  kindness, 
and  delicacy  of  mind,  nnited  with  great  indepen- 
dence of  spirit,  a  truly  British  love  of  liberty,  and  an 
ardent  desire  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  virtue, 
and  happiness  among  mankind.  All  his  habits 
were  simple,  temperate,  studious,  and  domestic. 
As  a  philosopher,  he  was  remarkable  for  his  power 
of  analysing,  and  for  that  comprehensive  energy, 
which,  to  use  his  own  woi-ds,  "  sees,  through  a  long 
train  of  thought,  a  distant  conclusion,  and  separat- 
ing, at  every  stage,  the  essential  from  the  accessory 
cii-cumstances,  and  gathering  and  combining  ana- 
logies as  it  proceeds,  arrives  at  length  at  a  system 
of  harmonious  truth."  As  a  poet.  Dr.  Brown 
exhibited  much  taste  and  gracefulness,  but  his 
poetry  is  not  of  a  character  ever  to  become  popular. 
His  lectures,  which  were  published  after  his  death, 
in  four  volumies,  8vo,  have  passed  through  sevei*al 
editions.  An  account  of  his  life  and  writings  was 
published  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  Welsh,  in  one 
volume,  8vo,  in  1825.    His  works  are  • 

Observations  on  the  Zoonomia  of  Erasmus  Darwin,  M.D. 
Ed'tn.  1798,  8vo 


Poems.     Edin.  1804,  2  vols.  12mo. 

Observations  on  the  Nature  and  1  endency  of  Mr.  Humeri 
Doctrine  concerning  the  Relation  of  Cause  and  Effect  Edin. 
1806,  8vo.  8d  edit.,  under  the  title  of  An  Enquuy  into  the 
ReUttion  of  Cause  and  Efiect,  1818. 

A  Short  Criticism  on  the  Terms  of  the  Charges  against  Mr. 
Leslie,  in  the  Protest  of  the  Ministers  of  Edinburgh.   1 806, 8vo. 

Examination  of  some  Remarks  in  the  Reply  of  Dr.  John 
Inglis  to  Professor  Plajfair.    Edin.  1806.^  8vo. 

The  Paradise  of  Coquettes;  a  Poem.  London,  1814.  2d 
edit     Edin.  1818,  8vo. 

The  Wanderer  in  Norway ;  a  Poem.     London,  1815,  8vo. 

The  War  Fiend.     1816. 

The  Bower  of  Spring,  and  other  Poems.   London,  8vo.  1817 

Agnes ;  a  Poem.     1818,  8vo. 

Emily;  and  other  Poems.    2d  edit.  1818,  8vo. 

Lectures  on  the  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind.  4  vols. 
8vo.  Edin.  1820. 

System  of  the  Pliilosonhv  of  the  Human  Mind.  8vo.  Edin. 
1820. 

BRO^T^,  William  Lawrence,  D.D.,  an 
eminent  theological  writer,  the  son  of  the  Rev. 
William  Brown,  a  native  of  Scotland,  minister  of 
the  English  church  at  Utrecht,  in  Holland,  was 
bom  in  that  city,  January  7,  1755.  His  mother 
was  Janet  Ogilvie,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  George 
Ogilvie,  minister  of  Kirriemuir.  Being  Scotch  by 
both  father  and  mother,  his  life  is  usually  given  in 
Scottish  biographies.  In  1757  his  father,  an  emi- 
nent Latin  scholar,  was  appointed  professor  of  ec- 
clesiastical liistor}'  in  the  univei*8ity  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  in  consequence,  returned  to  Scotland  with  his 
family.  After  receiving  the  usual  education  at 
the  grammar  school,  young  Brown,  who  early 
showed  great  quickness,  was,  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
sent  to  the  university,  where  he  devoted  his  atten- 
tion chiefly  to  the  stndy  of  classical  literature, 
logic,  and  ethics.  He  passed  through  his  aca- 
demical course  with  much  credit  to  himself,  having 
received  many  of  the  prizes  distributed  by  the 
chancellor  for  superior  attainments.  After  he  had 
been  five  years  at  the  college,  he  became  a  student 
of  divinity,  and  took  his  degree  of  M. A.  He  at- 
tended the  divinity  class  for  two  years,  and  in 
1774  removed  to  the  university  of  Utrecht,  where 
he  prosecuted  the  study  of  theology,  and  also 
of  the  civil  law.  In  1777,  on  the  death  of  his 
uncle.  Dr.  Robert  Brown,  who  had  succeeded 
his  father  as  minister  of  the  English  church  at 
Utrecht,  the  magistrates  of  that  city,  in  compli- 
ance with  the  wishes  of  the  congregation,  oflfered 
the  vacant  charge  to  his  yoimg  relative,  who 
accepted  it. 


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WILLIAM  LAWRENCE. 


Returning  to  Scotland,  be  was  licensed  and 
ordained  by  the  presbytery  of  St.  Andrews,  and, 
in  March  1778,  he  was  admitted  n^inister  of  the 
English  church  at  Utrecht.  His  congregation, 
though  highly  respectable,  was  not  numerous; 
nevertheless,  he  was  very  assiduous  in  his  prepa- 
rations for  the  pulpit.  To  increase  his  income, 
he  received  pupils  into  his  house;  and  among 
many  other  young  men  of  rank  and  fortune,  Lord 
Dacre  is  mentioned  as  one  of  whom  he  has  spoken 
in  very  favourable  terms.  While  he  remained  at 
Utrecht  he  made  various  excursions  into  France, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland,  thereby  enlarging  his 
sphere  of  knowledge  and  observation,  and  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  the  manners  and  habits  of  our 
continental  neighbours.  On  the  28th  May  1786, 
he  married  his  cousin,  Anne  Elizabeth  Brown,  the 
daughter  of  his  immediate  predecessor,  and  by 
her,  who  was  also  a  native  of  Holland,  he  had  five 
sons  and  four  daughters. 

In  1783,  the  curators  of  the  Stolpian  Legacy  at 
Leyden,  which  is  appropriated  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  theological  learning,  proposed,  as  the 
subject  of  their  annual  prize,  the  Oiigin  of  Evil; 
when  Mr.  Brown  appeared  in  the  list  of  twenty - 
^YQ  competitore.  On  this  occasion  he  received 
the  second  honour,  namely,  that  of  his  dissertation 
being  published  at  the  expense  of  the  trust:  the 
first  prize  being  gained  by  a  learned  Hungarian 
of  the  name  of  Joseph  Paap  de  Fagoras.  Mr. 
Brown's  Essay  was  printed  among  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Society,  under  the  title  of  *  Disputatio  de 
Fabrica  Mnndi,  in  quo  Mala  insunt,  Naturae  Dei 
perfectissim®  hand  repugnante.'  In  1784  the 
university  of  St.  Andrews  conferred  on  him  the 
degree  of  D.D.  On  three  different  occasions,  we 
are  told,  he  obtained  the  medals  awarded  by  the 
Teylerian  Society  at  Haarlem  for  the  best  com- 
positions in  IwAtin,  Dutch,  French,  or  English,  on 
certain  prescribed  subjects.  In  1786  he  obtained 
the  gold  medal  for  his  Essay  on  Scepticism;  in 
1787  the  silver  medal  for  his  dissertation  in  Latin 
on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul;  and  in  1792  the 
silver  medal  again  for  his  Essay  on  the  Natural 
Equality  of  Men.  The  Latin  dissertation  has 
never  been  printed;  but  the  two  English  Essays 
were  published,  the  first  at  London  in  1788,  and 
the  other  at  Edinburgh  in  1793.    A  second  edition 


of  the  latter  work,  the  most  popular  of  all  hii 
publications,  and  which  even  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  British  Government,  appeared  at  Lou- 
don in  the  course  of  the  following  year. 

Previous  to  this  he  had  been  exposed  to  macli 
annoyance  on  account  of  his  attachment  to  the 
Orange  dynasty,  and  had  even  repaired  to  Lou- 
don to  endeavour  to  procure  some  literary  situa- 
tion in  Great  Britain,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
leave  Holland  altogether.  The  armed  interposi- 
tion of  the  Prussians  in  1788  i*estored  his  friends 
to  power  in  that  country,  and  was  the  means  of 
his  appointment  to  a  chaur  in  the  university. 
The  states  and  the  magistrates  of  Utrecht  having 
jointly  instituted  a  professorship  of  moral  philo- 
sophy and  ecclesiastical  history,  selected  Dr. 
Bix)wn  to  fill  the  new  chair.  The  lectures  were  to 
be  in  the  Latin  language,  and  he  had  two  courses 
to  deliver,  to  be  continued  during  a  session  of 
nearly  eight  months,  for  which  he  was  allowed 
only  a  few  weeks  for  preparation.  Such  an  ar- 
duous task  was  very  prejudicial  to  his  health, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  complaints,  from  which 
he  never  fully  recovered.  The  inaugural  oration 
which  he  pronounced  upon  entering  on  his  new 
duties  was  immediately  published  under  the  titli 
of  *■  Oratio  de  Religionis  et  Philosophise  Societate 
et  Concordia  maxime  salutari.'  Traj.  ad  Rhen. 
1788,  4to.  Two  years  afterwai-ds  he  was  nomi- 
nated rector  of  the  university;  and  his  address  oi 
the  occasion,  entitled  *  Oratio  de  Imaginatione,  in 
Vitffi  Institutione  regenda,*  was  published  in  4to, 
1790.  Having  been  offered  the  Gi-eek  professor- 
ship at  St.  Andrews,  he  was  induced  to  decline 
it,  on  the  curators  of  the  university  of  Utrecht 
promising  to  increase  his  salary.  To  his  other 
ofiices  was  now  added  the  professorship  of  the 
law  of  nature,  usually  conjoined  with  the  law  ot 
nations,  and  taught  by  members  of  the  law  faculty. 
During  the  period  of  his  residence  at  Utrecht,  Dr 
Brown  discharged  his  public  duties  with  credit 
and  reputation ;  but  the  war  which  followed  the 
outbreak  of  the  French  revolution  compelled  him 
at  last  to  quit  Holland,  on  the  rapid  approach  of 
the  invading  army  of  France. 

In  the  month  of  January  1795,  during  a  very 
severe  winter,  he,  with  his  wife  and  &Ye  children, 
And  some  other  relations,  embarked  from  the  coa.<«t 


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BROWN, 


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WILLIAM  LAWRENCE. 


of  Holland  in  an  open  boat,  and  landed  in  Eng- 
land after  a  stonny  passage.  In  the  summer  of 
that  year,  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Can^bell,  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  in  Marischal  College^  Aberdeen, 
Dr.  Brown,  principally  through  the  influence  of 
Lord  Ancklaud,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made 
while  ambassador  at  the  Hague,  was  appointed  to 
the  vacant  chair;  and  he  was  soon  afterwards 
nominated  by  the  Crown  principal  of  that  univer- 
sity. On  the  death  of  Dr.  -Campbell  in  the  ensu- 
ing April,  Dr.  Brown  preached  his  funeral  sermon, 
published  at  Aberdeen  in  8vo,  1796.  He  also 
published,  about  this  time,  a  Fast  Sermon,  entitled 
'  The  Influence  of  Religion  on  National  Prospe- 
rity;* and  a  Synod  Sermon,  called  *The  Proper 
Method  of  Defending  Religious  Truth  in  Times  of 
lufldelity.'  He  was  a  sound  and  impressive 
preacher,  and  an  able  and  effective  speaker  on  the 
popular  side  in  the  church  courts. 

In  the  first  Grenerd  Assembly  ot  which  he  was 
a  member,  he  made  a  very  powerful  speech  in  the 
case  of  Dr.  Arnot,  respecting  his  settlement  at 
Kingsbarns,  which  was  afterwards  published.  In 
1800  Dr.  Brown  was  named  one  of  his  Majesty's 
chaplains  in  ordinary  for  Scotland ;  and  in  1804  dean 
of  the  Chapel  Royal,  and  of  the  most  ancient  and 
most  noble  Order  of  the  Thistle.  In  1825  he  was 
appointed  to  read  the  Gordon  course  of  lectures 
on  practical  religion  in  the  Marischal  College. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  West 
Church  in  Aberdeen. 

His  greatest  literary  effort  was  the  essay  which 
obtained  Burnet's  first  prize,  amounting  to  £1,250. 
Tlie  competitors  were  about  fifty  in  number ;  and 
the  judges  were,  Dr.  Gerard,  professor  of  divinity, 
Dr.  Glennie,  professor  of  moi-al  philosophy,  and 
IJr.  Hamilton,  professor  of  mathematics,  all  in  Aber- 
deen. The  second  prize,  amounting  to  £400,  was 
awarded  to  Dr.  Sumner,  bishop  of  Chester.  Dr. 
Brown's  essay  was  published  under  the  title  of  *  An 
Essay  on  the  Existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  pos- 
sessed of  Infinite  Power,  Wisdom,  and  Goodness; 
containing  also  the  Refutation  of  the  Objections 
urged  agamst  his  Wisdom  and  Goodness,'  Aber- 
deen, 1816,  2  vols.  8vo.  In  1826  his  last  work  of 
importance  was  published  at  Edinburgh,  entitled 
*  A  Comparative  View  of  Christianity,  and  of  the 
other  Forms  ot  Religion  which  have  existed,  and 


still  exist,  in  the  World,  particularly  with  regaid 
tO'  their  Moral  Tendency,'  2  vols.  8vo. 

Dir.  Brown  died,  at  four  in  the  morning  of  May 
U,  1830,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age.  For  two 
years  his  i^trength  had  imperceptibly  declined;  and 
although  the  decline  became  rapid  about  a  week 
before  his  decease,  he  did  not  relinquish  his  usual 
employments.  Reduced  as  he  was  to  extreme 
weakness,  he  wrote  pait  of  a  letter  to  two  of  his 
sons  on  the  very  last  day  of  his  mortal  existence ; 
to  his  third  son,  the  Greek  professor  in  Marischal 
college,  he  dictated  a  few  sentences  within  six 
hom-s  of  his  decease.  ^^  To  an  unusual  share  of 
classical  learning,"  says  the  writer  of  his  life  in 
the  ^  EncyclopsBdia  Britannica,'  seventh  edition, 
to  which  we  are  indebted  for  most  of  these  details, 
"  Dr.  Brown  added  a  very  familiar  acquaintance 
with  several  of  the  modem  languages.  Latin  and 
French  he  wrote  and  spoke  with  great  facility. 
His  successive  study  of  ethics,  jurisprudence,  and 
theology,  had  habituated  his  mind  with  the  most 
important  topics  of  speculation,  relating  to  the 
present  condition  of  man,  and  to  his  future  destiny. 
His  political  sentiments  were  liberal  and  expan- 
sive, and  connected  with  ardent  aspirations  after 
the  general  improvement  and  happiness  of  the  hu- 
man race.  His  reading  in  divinity  had  been  very 
extensive ;  and  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
works  of  British  and  foreign  theologians,  paiticu- 
larly  of  those  who  wrote  in  the  Latin  language 
dming  the  seventeenth  century." — His  works  are  • 

Disputatio  de  Fabrica  Mnndi,  in  quo  Mala  insont,  Naturse 
Dei  perfectisamiK  hand  repognante.  Printed  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Stolpian  Societj  at  Leyden,  1784. 

Essay  on  Scepticism,  London,  1788. 

Essay  on  the  Natural  Equality  of  Men ;  Edinburgh  1798. 
2d  edition,  London,  1794. 

Oratio  de  Beligionis  et  Philosophise  Sodetate  et  Concordia 
maxime  Salutari.    An  Inaugural  Oration^  1788,  4to. 

Oratio  de  Imaginatione,  m  Vit»  Institutione  regenda 
1790,  4to. 

Funeral  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Gampbellf  Aberdeen. 
1796. 

The  Influence  of  Religion  on  National  Prosperity,  a  sermon 
preached  on  a  Fast  day.    Aberdeen,  1796. 

The  Proper  Method  ot  Defending  Beligions  Truth  in  times 
of  Infidelity.    A  Synod  sermon.    Aberdeen,  1797. 

Substance  of  a  speech  delivered  in  the  General  Assembl)  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  on  Wednesday  28th  May  1800,  on 
the  question  respecting  the  settlement  at  Kingsbarns  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Arnot,  ProfiBssor  of  Divinity  in  St  Maiy's 
College,  St  Andrews.    Aberdeen,  1800. 

Volume  of  Sermons.     Edinburgh,  1808,  8vo. 


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JAMES. 


An  Essay  on  Sensibility,  a  poem  published  before  he 
quitted  Utrecht 

Philemon,  or  the  Progress  of  Virtue,  a  poem.  Edinburgh, 
1809,  2  vols.  8vo. 

An  Examination  of  the  Causes  and  Conduct  of  the  present 
War  with  France,  and  of  the  most  effectual  means  of  obtain- 
ing Peace.    London,  1798,  8to,  published  anonymously. 

Letters  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Hill,  Principal  of  St  Mary's 
College,  St  Andrews.    Aberdeen,  1801,  8vo. 

Remarks  on  Certain  Passages  of  an  Examination  of  Mr. 
Dugald  Stewart*«  Pamphlet,  on  the  election  of  a  Mathematical 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Aberdeen,  1806, 8vo. 

On  the  Character  and  Influence  of  a  virtuous  king. 

A  Sermon  on  the  Jubilee.    Aberdeen,  1810,  8vo. 

An  Attempt  towards  a  New  Historical  and  Political  Ex- 
planation of  the  Revelations.    1812. 

An  Essay  on  the  Existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  possessed 
of  Inflnite  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Goodness.  Aberdeen,  1816, 
2  vols.  8vo. 

A  Comparative  View  of  Christianity  and  of  the  other 
Forms  of  Reli^on  which  have  existed,  and  still  exist  in  the 
World     Edinburgh,  2  vohi.  8vo. 

Various  detached  sermons  and  tracts. 

BROWN,  Robert,  D.C.L.,  an  eminent  botan- 
ist, see  Supplement. 

BROWNE,  James,  LL.D.,  author  of  the  *  His- 
tory of  the  Highlands  and  of  the  Highland  Clans,' 
was  born  at  Whitefield,  parish  of  Cargill,  Perth- 
shire, in  1793.  His  father  was  a  manufacturer  at 
Cnpai*  Angus,  having  in  his  employment  a  number 
of  weavers.  He  unfortunately  met  with  some  losses 
in  trade,  but  while  in  more  thriving  curcumstances 
lie  had  contrived  to  give  his  son  James  a  good  edu- 
cation. As  he  was  intended  for  the  ministry  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  be  was  sent  to  the  uni- 
versity of  St.  Andrews,  where  he  eaily  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  great  facility  with  which 
he  mastered  the  classics,  as  well  as  for  the  vigour 
and  force  of  his  conversational  talents.  Even  at 
this  period,  he  was  noted  for  a  strong  tendency  to 
romancing,  which,  though  circumscribed  by  his  in- 
tended profession,  could  not  be  altogether  sup- 
pressed, and  formed  by  far  the  most  remarkable 
feature  of  his  character.  After  passing  through  the 
ordinary  literary  and  philosophical  cuiriculum  at 
the  university,  he  entered  on  the  study  of  divinity, 
and  in  due  time  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel. 
His  classical  attainments  having  eminently  fitted 
him  for  a  teacher  of  youth,  he  soon  found  em- 
ployment as  a  tutor  in  several  families  of  distinc- 
tion, with  one  of  whom  be  visited  the  continent. 
On  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  became  assistant 
teacher  of  Latin,  under  Mr.  Dick,  of  the  Perth 
academy,  and,  at  the  same  time,  officiated  as  in- 


terim assistant  to  the  Rev.  Lewis  Dunbar,  min- 
ister of  the  parish  of  KJnnoul  in  Perthshire.  As 
a  preacher,  Browne  was  remai-kable  for  the  vigour 
of  his  language  and  the  enthusiasm  of  his  manner, 
but  his  sermons,  as  we  have  been  informed  by  a 
hearer,  were  but  slenderly  tinged  with  doctrinal 
divinity.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  pub- 
lished, anonymously,  his  '  History  of  the  Liqui- 
sition,'  which  at  one  period  was  rather  a  popular 
book.  In  1817,  on  the  death  of  the  Princess  Char- 
lotte, he  published  the  sermon  which  he  preached 
on  that  mournful  occasion.  He  afterwards  re- 
solved upon  abandoning  the  ministry,  and  pro- 
ceeding to  Edinburgh,  he  shaped  his  studies  for 
the  bar,  while,  for  a  livelihood,  he  devoted  himself 
to  literary  pursuits.  He  passed  advocate  in  the 
year  1826,  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  frpm 
the  univei'sity  of  St.  Andrews.  His  mind,  however, 
was  too  thoroughly  imbued  with  literary  tastes  to 
fit  him  for  success  as  a  lawyer ;  in  fact,  the  entire 
framework  of  his  intellect  had  nothing  in  it  akin 
to  the  dull  precise  foi-mulie  of  legal  pleadings, 
and  although  occupying  the  status  of  an  advo- 
cate, he  fell  back  upon  literature  and  science  as 
his  only  available  source  for  a  subsistence.  He 
was  for  a  considerable  time  editor  of  Constable's 
Magazine,  as  the  Scots  Magazine  was  called,  and 
wrote  largely  for  the  reviews,  magazines,  and 
periodicals  of  the  day,  and  was  always  remarka- 
ble for  his  tendency  to  strong  statement.  In 
one  of  the  numbers  of  Blackwood^s  Magazine  an 
article  appeared,  referring  to  him,  entitled  ^  Some 
passages  in  the  Life  of  Colonel  Cloud,*  which  was 
strikingly  illustrative  of  this  weakness  in  his  char- 
acter. It  was  understood  to  be  from  the  pen  of 
Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd.  In  1827  Dr.  Browne 
was  appointed  editor  of  the  Caledonian  Mercory, 
one  of  the  oldest  of  the  Scottish  newspapers, 
and  while  he  was  so,  he  became  involved  in  a 
controversy  with  Mr.  Charles  M'Laren,  the  editor 
of  the  Scotsman,  which  terminated  in  a  duel  be- 
tween them ;  of  a  bloodless  nature,  however,  as 
both  parties,  after  exchanging  shots,  left  the  field 
unhurt.  In  1826  Dr.  Browne  published  a  12mo 
volume,  entitled  ^Critical  Examination  of  Dr. 
M'Culloch's  Work  on  the  Highlands  and  Western 
Isles.*  It  was  mainly  owing  to  his  articles  in 
the  Caledonian  Mercury,  that  in  1827  the  horrible 


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BRUCE,  OR  DE  BRUS. 


.murders  in  the  West  Fort  were  brought  to  light, 
and  the  wretch  Burke  tried,  condemned,  and  exe- 
cuted. In  1830,  owing  to  some  dispute  with  the 
proprietors,  Browne  left  the  Caledonian  Mercury, 
and  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Daniel  Lizars,  book- 
seller, started  the  North  Briton,  a  twice  a-week 
paper,  which,  though  vigorously  written  and  ably 
conducted,  did  not  long  exist.  He  afterwards  for 
a  short  time  resumed  his  old  post  of  editor  of  the 
Caledonian  Mercury.  Subsequently  he  became 
sub-editor  of  the  seventh  edition  of  the  Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica,  where  he  displayed  much  indus- 
try, and  his  literary  resources  appeared  to  great 
advantage.  To  his  exertions  and  vast  fund  of 
information  on  almost  every  subject,  that  impor- 
tant work  owed  much  of  its  excellence  and  its 
value.  He  wrote  some  elaborate  and  able  articles 
for  it ;  among  the  rest  those  on  the  Army,  Egyp- 
tian Hieroglyphics,  Libraries,  Newspapers,  <&c., 
besides  a  number  of  biographical  articles,  such  as 
that  of  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  &c.  He  likewise  wrote 
two  articles  on  Egyptian  Hieroglyphics  for  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  which  attracted  considerable 
attention  at  the  time,  as  the^  embodied  all  that 
was  then  known  on  the  subject.  His  contributions 
to  the  Edinburgh  Geographical  and  Historical 
Atlas,  a  work  compiled  by  him,  with  David  Bu- 
chanan and  H.  Smith,  which  came  out  in  folio  in 
1835,  as  also  his  contributions  to  the  N(nth  Briton 
newspaper,  were  published  separately.  His  *  His- 
tory of  the  Highlands  and  of  the  Highland  Clans,' 
which  is  in  4  volumes  8vo,  possesses  much  force 
and  vividness  in  its  descriptions,  and  is  marked 
by  all  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  his  style.  In 
politics  Dr.  Browne  was,  throughout  his  career,  a 
consistent  liberal.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  life, 
he  became  a  proselyte  to  popery,  principally 
through  the  influence  of  his  wife,  who  had  been 
educated  in  that  faith.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Stewart  of  Hnntfield,  and  cousin  of  General  Stew- 
art of  Garth.  Dr.  Browne  died  in  1841,  and  was 
buried  in  Duddingstono  churchyard.  A  ciitical 
review  of  Scott's  prose  works,  written  by  him,  was 
posthumously  published.  Notwithstanding  his 
being  endowed  with  a  strong  bodily  constitution, 
he  was,  while  yet,  it  may  be  said,  in  the  prime  of 
life,  worn  out  by  over  mental  exertion,  and  fell 
at  last  a  victim  to  pai'alysis.    It  is  much  to  his 


credit  that  he  was  the  sole  support  of  his  pai-ents 
in  their  old  age.  His  daughter  married  James 
Grant,  at  one  time  an  ensign  in  the  62d  foot,  au- 
thor of  the  •  Romance  of  War,*  and  other  novels. 

Bbucb,  or  as  it  wai  andently  written,  Buus,  the  name  of 
a  family  of  Norman  descent,  which  became  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  in  the  annals  of  Scotland.  The  name,  originally 
Brusi,  bad  its  origin  among  the  Scandinavians  or  Northmen, 
and  appears — through  their  matrimonial  alliances  with  the 
vikingrs  of  Norway,  who  subdued  the  Orkney  islands — in 
connection  with  the  royal  family  of  Scotland  at  a  veiy  eariy 
period  of  its  authentic  history.  Sigurd  the  Stout,  jarl  or  eari 
of  Orkney,  who  mairied  the  daughter  of  Helkolm,  probably 
Malcolm  the  Second,  king  of  Scots,  had  four  sons,  Thorfinn, 
Sumaried,  Bruti,  and  Einar.  Brusi,  the  third  son,  tlie  Ork- 
neyinga  Saga,  as  quoted  in  the  '  Collectanea  de  Rebns  Albani- 
ds,'  printed  for  the  lona  Club,  informs  us,  was  a  veiy  peaceful 
man,  and  clever,  eloquent,  and  had  many  friends.  After 
the  death  of  Sumaried,  disputes  arose  amongst  the  brothers 
about  the  division  <^  his  lands  in  Orkney  and  Caithness,  and 
wars  and  scarcity  ensued,  but  Brusi  was  contented  with  his 
third  of  Orkney,  and  *^  in  that  part  of  the  land  which  Brusi 
had  there  was  peace  and  prosperity.** 

From  a  branch  of  this  family  came,  according  to  Burke, 
Robert  de  Brusi,  a  descendant  of  Einar,  fourth  jarl  of  Orkney, 
brother  of  the  famous  RoUo,  (great-great-grandfather  of  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror,)  who  m  912  acquired  Normandy,  and 
became  its  first  duke.  This  Robert  de  Brusi  built  the  castle  of 
La  Brusee,  now  called  Brix,  in  the  diocese  of  Coutanse,  near 
Volagnes.  By  his  wife,  Emma,  daughter  of  AUin,  count  of 
Brittany,  he  had  two  sons,  AUin  de  k  Brusee,  lord  of  Brusee 
castle,  (married  Agnes,  daughter  of  Simon  Montfort,  earl  of 
Evreux,)  whose  posterity  remained  in  Normandy,  and  Robert 
de  Brusee,  the  ancestor  of  the  Bruses,  and  the  first  of  that 
name  who  appeared  in  England.  He  accompanied  William 
the  Conqueror  there  in  1066,  but  died  soon  after.  By  his 
wife,  Agnes,  daughter  of  Waldonius,  count  of  St  CUir,  he 
had  two  sons,  William  and  Adam,  who  both  attended  their 
father  into  England,  and  acquired  great  possessions,  the  for- 
mer in  Sussez^Surrey,  Dorsetshire,  and  other  counties,  and 
the  hitter  in  Cleveland,  of  which  the  barony  of  Skelton  was 
the  principal  Adam  died  in  1098,  leaving,  by  Emma  bis 
wife,  daughter  of  a  knight  named  Sir  William  Ramsay,  three 
sons,  namely,  Sir  Robert  his  heir;  William,  prior  of  Gnisbum, 
and  Duncan.  After  the  death  of  his  father.  Sir  Robert  liad 
forty-three  lordships  in  the  East  and  West  Ridmgs  of  that 
coxml7,  and  fifty-one  in  the  North  Riding,  whereof  Guisbum 
in  Cleveland  was  one.    [^DugdaU*8  Baronage,  y.  L  p.  447.] 

His  son,  Robert  de  Brus  of  Cleveland,  served  as  a  compa- 
nion in  arms  under  Prince  David,  afterwards  David  the  First 
of  Scotland,  durmg  his  '*  residence,"  says  our  authority,  "  at 
the  court  of  Henry  the  First  of  England;"  but  in  reality, 
and  as  in  all  probability  and  consistency,  during  the  con- 
quest and  a  part  of  the  period  of  his  government  of  Cum- 
bria— the  district  comprising  the  Lothians  and  Galloway 
as  bestowed  on  that  prince  upon  the  death  of  his  brother 
Edgar, — ^and  received  from  him,  along  with  the  hand  of 
a  Udy,  a  native  of  the  land  and  heiress  thereof  as  his 
second  wife,  a  grant  of  the  lordship  of  Annandale,  compris- 
ing all  that  territory  called  in  Norman  French  Estra-hcmmt^ 
*  beyond  or  across  Annent  or  Amnant,'  (afterwards  altered 
into  Strathannan  or  Annandale,)  and  all  the  lands  from 
Estra-nit  (Strathnith)  the  bounds  of  the  property  of  Dunegall, 
(ancestor  of  the  Randolphs,  earls  of  Moray)  into  the  limits 

2o 


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ROBERT. 


«f  Ranulph  de  ^leschines,  then  lord  of  Cumberbindf  with  a 
nght  to  enjoy  hu  castle  there,  with  all  the  customs  appertaining 
to  it.  [Ibid,"]  I1ie  chart«r  by  which  this  lai'ge  domain  was 
conferred  upon  him  established  the  tenure  by  the  sword ;  that 
is,  gave  a  right  to  take  possession  and  retain  by  force  of  anns. 
For  this  princely  gift,  which  he  held  by  the  tenure  of  military 
sennce,  he  did  homage  to  the  Scottish  king.  In  1138,  dm*ing 
the  civil  war  between  King  Stephen  who  had  usurped  the 
throne  of  England,  and  Matilda,  the  rightful  heiress,  niece  of 
the  king  of  Scots,  when  the  latter,  in  support  of  the  claims  of 
his  relative,  had  led  an  expedition  into  England  and  advanced 
as  far  as  Northallerton,  de  Brus  was  sent,  by  the  barons  of 
the  north  of  England,  (who,  if  not  attached  to  the  cause  of 
Stephen,  were  satisfied  it  was  their  safety  to  maintain  it  and 
bad  assembled  a  force  for  that  purpose,)  in  order  to  gam  time 
to  increase  their  strength,  to  negotiate,  or  rather  to  remon- 
strate with  him.  At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  he  had 
renounced  his  allegiance  to  David,  and  resigned  his  lands  in 
Annandale  to  his  son  by  bis  second  marriage.  He  represented 
that  the  English  and  Normans,  against  whom  he  was  then 
arrayed,  had  repeatedly  restored  the  power  and  authority  of 
the  Scottish  monarchs  when  driven  out  by  their  subjects  of  the 
andent  races  of  the  country,  and  that  they  were  more  faithful 
to  the  royal  family  than  were  the  Scots  themselves,  who  re- 
joiced at  this  unnatural  war,  because  it  afforded  them  an  op- 
portunity of  displaying  their  resentment  against  those  who 
had  of:en  frustrated  their  treasonable  devices.  He  dwelt  on 
the  savage  outrages  which  that  portion  of  the  anny,  consisting 
of  native  forces,  had  committed,  urged  him  to  prove  the  truth 
of  his  disavowal  of  them  by  withdrawal,  assured  him  of  the  de- 
termined resistance  of  the  Yorkshire  barons,  and  concluded 
(as  reported  by  their  common  friend  Aldred)  in  the  following 
affectionate  strain : — '^  It  wrings  my  heart,**  sfud  he,  **  to  see 
my  dearest  master,  my  patron,  my  benefactor,  my  friend,  my 
companion  in  arms,  in  whose  service  I  am  grown  old,  thus 
exposed  to  the  danger  of  battle,  or  to  the  dishonom*  of  flight," 
and  then  he  burst  into  tears.  David  also  wept,  but  his  reso< 
lution  to  maintain  the  rights  of  his  sister's  daughter,  to 
whom  as  her  first  subject  he  had  sworn  fealty,  continued 
unchanged.  The  battle  of  the  Standai'd  followed,  llth 
.\ugust,  1138,  in  which  the  anny  of  King  Da^id,  after  a 
partial  snooess  in  tne  first  onset,  was  completely  defeated.  At 
this  famous  battle  de  Brus  took  prisoner  his  second  son,  Robert, 
a  youth  of  fburteen  years  of  age,  who,  being  liegeman  to  the 
Scottish  king  for  the  lands  of  Annandale,  which  had  been 
renounced  in  his  favour  by  his  father,  had  fought  on  the 
Scots  side.  Robert  de  Brus,  first  lord  of  Annandale,  founded 
a  monastery  at  Guisbuni,  now  Guisborough,  in  Yorkshire, 
in  1119,  and  amply  endowed  it  with  lands  and  possessions, 
in  which  he  was  joined  by  Agnes,  his  first  wife,  daughter  of 
Fulk  Paynell,  with  whom  be  got  the  manor  of  Carleton  in 
Yorkshire,  and  Adam  his  son  and  heir.  His  death  took  phtce 
llth  May  1141,  when  his  English  estates  were  inherited  by  his 
eldest  son  Adam,  whose  male  line  terminated  in  Peter  de 
Brus  of  Skelton,  constable  of  Scarborough  castle,  who  died 
18th  September  1271,  leaving  his  extensive  estates  to  four 
sisters,  his  coheiresses,  all  married  to  powerful  English  barons. 
Robert  de  Brus,  his  son  by  the  second  marriage,  inherit- 
mg  Annandale  in  right  of  his  mother  and  by  cession  of  his 
father,  was  by  him,  after  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  sent  pri- 
soner to  King  Stephen,  who  ordered  him  to  be  delivered  up 
to  his  mother.  On  telling  his  father  that  the  people  of  An- 
nandale had  no  wheiiten  bread,  he  conferred  on  him  the  lord- 
sliip  of  Hert  and  the  territory  of  Hertness  in  the  bishopric  of 
Durliam,  to  bold  of  him  and  his  heirs,  lords  of  Skelton.  He 
soon,  however,  returned  to  Scotland,  and  gave  to  the  monas- 


tery of  Guisbum,  founded  by  his  father,  the  churches  of  An-^ 
nand,  Lochmaben,  Kirkpatrick,  Cummertrees,  Rampatrick, 
and  Gretenhon  (or  Graitney,  now  Gretna),  and  entered  into  a 
composition  with  the  bishop  of  Glasgow,  coDceming  these 
churdies,  to  which  that  prelate  laid  daim.  ^  To  show  that 
he  looked  upon  his  chief  settlement  to  be  in  Scotland  he 
quitted  his  father's  armorial  bearings  (ai^nt,  a  lion  rampant, 
gules)  and  assumed  the  coat  a(  Annandale  (or  a  aaltiie  and 
diief  gules.)**  King  William  the  Lion  OMiferred  on  him  by 
a  charter  yet  extant,  dated  at  Lochmaben,  the  grant  of 
Annandale  made  to  his  father  by  David  the  First.  He  and 
his  wife  Euphemia  gave  to  the  monks  of  Holmcultram  the 
fishing  of  Torduff  in  the  Solway  Frith.  He  had  two  sons, 
Robert  and  William. 

Robert,  the  dder  son  and  third  Itml  of  Annandale,  de- 
scribed as  *^  a  nobleman  of  great  valour  and  mai^oanimity,       , 
and  at  the  same  time  pious  and  religious,"  married,  in  1183,     i  { 
Isabella,  a  natural  danglitcr  of  William  the  lion,  by  whom     ' 
he  had  no  iwue.    He  died  before  1191.     His  widow  married, 
a  second  time,  a  baron  named  Robert  de  Ros. 

The  second  son  William  had  a  son  named  Robert,  fourth      I 
lord  of  Annandale,  sumamed  the  noble,  who  took  to  wife     II 
Isobel,  second  daughter  of  David,  earl  of  Huntingdun  and     I 
Chester,  younger  brother  of  William  the  Lion,  and  thus  laid    'I 
the  foundation  of  the  royal  house  of  Bruce.    **  By  this  royal     1 1 
match  the  lords  of  Annandale  came  to  be  amongst  the  gnat-      ! 
est  subjects  in  Europe ;  for,  by  the  said  Isobel  (as  coheiress, 
with  her  two  sisters,  of  her  father's  property,)  Robert,  exdu- 
sive  of  his  paternal  estate  in  both  kingdoms,  came  to  be  pos-      . 
sessed  of  the  manor  of  Writtle  and  Hatfidd  in  Essex,  toge- 
ther with  half  the  hundred  of  Hatfield.    She  likewise  bnnigbt      < 
him  the  castle  of  Kildrammie  and  the  lordship  of  Garioch  in      | 
Aberdeenshire,  and  the  manor  of  Connington  in  Huntingdon-      ! 
shire,  and  Exton  in  Rutlandshire."    He  died  in  1246,  and 
was  buried  with  hb  ancestors  in  the  abbey  of  Goisbom,  ro     i 
Cleveland.  \ 

His  eldest  son,  also  named  Robert,  was  the  competitor  with      | 
John  Baliol  for  the  crown  of  Scotland.     He  died  in  1295. 

Robert  de  Brus,  his  eldest  son,  sixth  lord  of  Annandale, 
and  first  earl  of  Carrick  of  the  name,  f  see  AmrA^rDAiJC,  kxrd     > 
of,  and  Caruick,  earl  of],  maintained  his  pretensions  to  the 
Scottish  throne.    Nevertheless,  he  accompanied  Edward  the      > 
First  into  Scotland,  and  fought  on  the  English  dde  at  the 
battle  of  Dunbar.     He  died  ui  1304. 

His  eldest  son,  Robert  de  Brus,  (as  it  was  written  and  used  ! 
by  all  parties  in  that  Norman  French  which  was  the  spoken 
language  of  Scotland  during  his  lifetime,  but  in  after  ages  | 
not  very  accurately  translated  into  English  as  The  Bnioe,)  the  { 
conqueror  at  Bannockbum,  and  the  restorer  of  the  Scottish  ' 
monarchy,  was  the  seventh  lord  of  Annandale,  and  second  i 
earl  of  Canick  in  right  of  his  mother.  I 

In  the  genealogy  of  the  royal  line  of  Brus,  it  appears  that  i 
there  had  been  nine  persons  in  direct  descent  firom  de  Brus  of  i ' 
Doomesday  Book  to  de  Brus  of  Bannockbum,  the  first  king  of 
the  name,  Indusi\'e,  eight  of  whom  were  named  Robert,  and  one 
William,  the  latter  being  the  grandson  of  the  Norman  knight 
Robert  de  Brus,  and  younger  brother  of  the  third  Robert 

Of  the  lives  of  the  three  last  of  these  Bruoes  as  more  parti- 
cularly connected  with  the  history  of  Scotland,  the  details  are 
more  fully  given  in  theur  order,  as  also  that  of  Edward,  one 
of  the  brothers  of  King  Robert ;  viz. : — 

BRUCE,  or  DE  BRUS,  Robert,  filth  loi-d  of 
Annandale,  is  known  in  history'  us  Bruce  the  Com- 
petitor, to  distinguish  him  fi*om  his  son,  and  liid 


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grandson  the  conqneror  at  Bannockburn.  lie  was 
bom  in  1210,  and  on  the  death  of  Margai*et  of 
Norway  in  1290,  being  then  in  his  eighty-first  year, 
he  became  a  claimant  with  John  Baliol  for  the 
crown  of  Scotland.  [See  Baliol,  John,  p.  220.] 
On  this  occasion,  he  alleged  that  moi-e  than  fifty 
years  before,  or  in  1238,  while  in  the  28th  year  of 
his  age,  when  Alexander  the  Second  was  about  to 
proceed  on  an  expedition  against  the  western  isles, 
and  then  despairing  of  heire  of  bis  own  body,  he 
was  acknowledged  by  that  monarch,  in  presence 
and  with  consent  of  his  barons,  as  the  nearest 
heir  in  blood  to  the  throne,  bnt  the  birth  of  a  son 
to  Alexander  by  his  second  wife,  in  1241,  put  an 
end  at  that  period  to  his  hopes  of  the  succession. 
I^rd  Hailcs  thinks  Bms's  allegation  a  fiction; 
Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  with  fuller  materials,  cer- 
tainly shows  reasons  for  believing  it  coiTCct. 
{Documents  Illustrative  of  Scottish  History^  1837, 
Introduction^  pp.  xxiii — xxix.] 

In  1252,  on  the  death  of  his  mother  the  princess 
Isobel,  he  did  homage  to  Henry  the  Third  as  heir 
to  her  lands  in  England,  and  in  1255  he  was  con- 
stituted sherift  of  Cumberland  and  constable  of  the 
castle  of  Carlisle.  The  same  year,  on  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  regency  of  the  Comyn  party,  which 
was  that  of  the  independent  interest  as  being 
opposed  to  the  English  supremacy  in  Scotland, 
[see  ante,  p.  84,]  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
fifteen  regents  of  the  kingdom,  during  the  mino- 
rity of  the  young  king,  Alexander  the  Third. 
Nine  years  later,  that  is  in  1264,  during  the 
famous  struggle  of  King  Henry  the  Third  with 
his  barons  headed  by  Simon  de  Montfort,  in 
conjunction  with  John  Comyn  and  John  de 
Baliol,  de  Brus  led  a  large  Scottish  force  to  the 
assistance  of  the  English  monarch,  who,  however, 
was  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Lewes,  14th  May 
of  that  year,  when  de  Brus  was  taken  prison- 
er, along  with  Henry  and  his  son.  Prince  Edward. 
After  the  battle  of  Evesham,  5th  August  1265, 
which  retrieved  the  fortunes  of  King  Henry, 
Bruce  was  set  at  liberty,  and  was  reinstated  in 
the  governorship  of  Caiiisle  castle. 

On  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Third  in  1286, 
a  parliament  assembled  at  Scone,  11th  April,  in 
which  a  regency,  consisting  of  six  guardians  of 
the  realm,  was  appointed,  three  for  the  country 


north  of  the  Forth,  namely,  William  Fraser  bish- 
op of  St.  Andrews,  Duncan  earl  of  Fife,  and  Al- 
exander Comyn  earl  of  Buchan;  and  three  for 
the  country  south  of  the  Forth,  namely,  Robert 
Wishart  bishop  of  Glasgow,  John  Comyn  lord  of 
Badenoch,  and  James  the  Steward  of  Scotland. 
Then  properly  may  be  said  to  have  commenced  the 
contest  for  the  succession  to  the  crown,  between  the 
partisans  of  Brus  and  Baliol,  although  these  were 
not  the  only  claimants.  The  heiress  to  the  throne, 
Margaret,  gianddaughter  of  Alexander  and  gi-and- 
niece  of  Edward  the  Fii-st,  was  still  alive  and  in 
Jforway,  but  she  was  an  infant,  and  the  different 
competitoi*8  began  to  collect  theii*  strength  and  in- 
dulge in  ambitious  hopes,  in  the  anticipation  of  a 
straggle  for  the  sovereignty.  The  most  powerful 
of  the  Scottish  barons  met,  September  20,  l'i^86, 
at  Tarnberry,  the  castle  of  Robert  de  Brus,  earl  of 
Carrick  in  right  of  his  wife  (see  the  following  arti- 
cle), son  of  Robert  de  Brus,  the  subject  of  this 
notice,  lord  of  Annandale  and  Cleveland.  They 
were  joined  by  two  powerful  English  barons,  Tho- 
mas de  Clare,  brother  of  Gilbert,  earl  of  Glouces- 
ter, brother-in-law  of  the  lord  of  Annandale,  and 
Richard  de  Bui-gh,  earl  of  Ulster.  Among  those 
assembled  at  Turaberry  were  Patrick,  earl  ot 
Dunbar,  with  his  three  sons;  Walter  Stewart, 
earl  of  Menteith ;  de  Brus^s  own  son,  the  earl  ot 
Carrick,  and  Bernard  de  Bras ;  James,  the  high 
Steward  of  Scotland,  who  had  married  Cecilia, 
daughter  of  Patrick,  earl  of  Dunbar,  with  John, 
his  brother ;  Angus,  son  of  Donald  the  lord  of  the 
Isles,  and  Alexander  his  son.  ''These  barons," 
says  Tytler,  "  whose  infiuence  could  bring  into  the 
field  the  strength  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  west 
and  south  of  Scotland,  now  entered  into  a  bond  or 
covenant,  by  which  it  was  declared  that  they 
would  thenceforth  adhere  to  and  take  part  with 
one  another,  on  all  occasions,  and  against  all  per- 
sons, saving  their  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, and  also  their  allegiance  to  him  who  should 
gain  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  by  right  of  descent 
from  King  Alexander,  then  lately  deceased.  Not 
long  after  this  the  number  of  the  Scottish  regents 
was  reduced  to  four,  by  the  assassination  of  Dun- 
can, earl  of  Fife,  and  the  death  of  the  earl  of 
Bachan ;  the  Steward,  another  of  the  regents,  pur- 
suing an  interest  at  variance  with  the  title  of  the 


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yonng  queen  Joined  the  party  of  de  Brua,  and  tieart- 
bnrnings  and  jealousies  arose  between  the  nobility 
and  the  govemoi-s  of  the  kingdom.  These  soon 
increased,  and  at  length  broke  out  in  open  war 
between  the  parties  of  de  Brus  and  Baliol,  which 
for  two  years  after  the  death  of  the  king  continued 
its  ravages  in  the  country."  l'}-tler  adds  that 
this  war,  hitherto  unknown  to  our  histoiians,  is 
proved  by  documents  of  unquestionable  authority. 
IHist,  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  66,  and  notes.}  It  will 
be  remembered,  although  the  popular  impression 
is  to  the  contrary,  tliat  at  this  period  the  Comyn 
party,  to  which  belonged  John  de  Baliol,  lord  of 
Galloway,  whose  sister  Maijory  was  the  wife  of 
the  Black  Comyn  and  mother  of  the  Red  Comyn 
(afterwards  slain  by  Robert  de  Biiis),  were  and 
had  been  the  constant  supporters  of  the  Scottish 
or  independent  interests,  and  the  de  Brus  paity, 
which  appeared  to  be  the  strongest,  had  all  along 
been  in  alliance  with  England.  A  pleading  of  dc 
Baliol,  in  old  Norman  French,  then  the  language 
of  state  affairs  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  ad- 
dressed to  Edward  the  First,  during  the  suit  for 
the  crown,  and  stating  reasons  why  his  claim  was 
preferable  to  that  of  de  Bms,  is  still  extant.  The 
seventh  and  last  of  these  reasons  is  that  Brus  had 
committed  acts  of  rebellion  against  the  peace  of 
the  realm  duiing  the  regency,  by  assaulting  the 
castles  of  Dumfries,  Wigton,  and  a  place  called 
Bot .  .  .  ,  [the  latter  part  of  the  name  is  obliter- 
ated,] and  expelling  the  troops  of  the  queen  there- 
from. {^Palgrave^s  Documents,  ffc.  Introduction, 
pp.  Ixxx,  Ixxxi.] 

In  the  negotiations  during  the  years  1289  and 
1290,  relative  to  the  proposal  of  a  marriage  be- 
tween the  infant  queen  and  Edward,  the  young 
son  of  Edward  the  First  of  England,  the  lord  of 
Annandale  was  actively  engaged,  and  with  the 
bishops  of  St.  Andrews  and  Glasgow,  and  John 
Comyn,  he  was  one  of  the  Scottish  commissioners 
at  the  conference  at  Salisbury,  who  signed  the 
treaty  there.  Although  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  anxiety  manifested  throughout  these  nego- 
tiations, to  avoid  any  concession  prejudidal  to  the 
independence  of  the  Scottish  crown  was  strongly 
felt  by  the  parties  then  in  power,  yet  it  would  be 
unfair  without  further  grounds  to  infer  that  the 
nobles  who  wore  leagued  against  the  Comyns 


were  not  as  earnest  for  the  same  result.  On  the 
death  of  Margaret,  it  is  well  known  that  King 
Edward  inteifered  in  the  settlement  of  the  suc- 
cession to  the  throne.  Two  of  the  regents,  Wil 
Ham  Eraser  bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  John 
Comyn  lord  of  Badenoch,  had  set  aside  their  col- 
leagues, the  Steward  and  the  bishop  of  Glasgow, 
and  had  taken  into  their  own  hands  the  entire  ad- 
ministration of  the  realm.  It  was  their  policy  to 
appoint  John  de  Baliol  to  the  vacant  throne,  and 
on  the  7  th  October  1290,  before  the  report  of  the 
death  of  the  young  queen  had  been  certainly  con- 
firmed, Eraser  wrote  a  letter  to  King  Edward  re- 
commending Baliol  in  a  particular  manner  to  his 
favour.  By  their  own  authority  the  joint  regents 
had  nominated  sub-guardians  of  the  realm,  and 
delegated  to  them  the  right  of  maintaining  order. 
These  sub-guardians  had,  in  name  of  the  two  re- 
gents, adopted  violent  measures  for  enforcing  their 
authority  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and 
especially  in  Moray.  A  large  portion  of  the  no- 
bles and  community  of  Scotland  were  opposed  to 
the  proceedings  of  the  regents,  and  maintained  the 
right  of  Robert  de  Brus  to  succeed  to  the  crown. 
It  now  appears  that  the  intervention  of  Edward 
the  First  in  the  affairs  of  Scotland,  which  has  been 
so  much  misunderstood  by  historians,  was  cansed 
not  by  the  famous  letter  of  Bishop  Eraser,  as  has 
commonly  been  supposed,  but  by  three  fonnal  and 
regular  appeals  made  to  him  by  three  competent 
parties,  namely  *  the  seven  earls  of  Scotland,*  (see 
ante,  p.  67,)  Donald  earl  of  Mar,  and  Robert  de 
Brus  lord  of  Annandale.  CUiming  it  as  their 
privilege,  by  immemorial  custom,  as  a  peculiar 
estate  in  the  reahn,  to  appoint  a  king,  whenever 
there  was  a  vacancy,  and  to  invest  him  with  the 
royal  authority,  the  seven  earls  came  forward  and 
appealed,  on  the  ground  that  the  regents  were  in- 
fringing, or  intended  to  infringe,  this  their  amsd- 
tutional  franchise.  Donald  eari  of  Mar,  one  of 
the  seven  earls,  appealed  against  the  unconstitu- 
tional appointment  of  sub-guardians,  and  against 
the  damages  done  by  certain  of  these  guardians  in 
the  lands  of  Moray,  and  Robert  de  Brus  lord  of  An- 
nandale appealed  against  the  understood  intention 
of  the  regents  to  appoint  Baliol  to  the  throne,  and 
thus  violate  his  rights,  and  the  rights  of  the  seven 
earls.     [See  Paigrave^s  Documents  lUustrative  of 


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Scottish  History,']  The  consequence  of  these  ap- 
peals was  the  famous  summons  of  the  English 
monarch  that  the  nobility  and  clergy  of  the  Scot- 
tish kingdom  should  meet  him  at  Norham,  in  the 
English  territories,  on  the  10th  of  May  1291. 
Having  accordingly  met  him  at  the  time  and  place 
appointed,  after  declaring  that  he  was  ready  to  do 
justice  to  all  the  competitors,  he  required  them,  in 
the  first  place,  to  acknowledge  him  as  lord  para- 
mount of  the  kingdom.  To  this  unexpected  de- 
mand no  reply  for  a  time  was  given.  At  length 
some  one  observed  that  it  was  impossible  to  give 
an  answer  whilst  the  throne  continued  vacant. 
"  By  holy  Edward,  whose  crown  I  wear,"  said  the 
imperious  king,  ^^  I  will  vindicate  my  just  rights 
or  perish  in  the  attempt.''  He  then  granted  them 
three  weeks  for  deliberation. 

On  the  2d  of  June  the  Scottish  barons  and  cler- 
gy again  met  King  Edward  at  Upsettlington, 
when  eight  competitors  for  the  crown  were  present. 
These  were,  Robert  de  Brus,  lord  of  Annandale ; 
Florence,  count  of  Holland;  John  de  Hastings; 
Patrick  de  Dunbar,  earl  of  March ;  William  de  Ros ; 
William  de  Yesey;  Robert  de  Pinckeny;  and 
Nicholas  de  Soulis.  John  dc  Baliol,  lord  of  Gallo- 
way, attended  next  day.  Tlie  chancellor  of  Eng- 
land, addressing  himself  to  de  Brus,  demanded  whe- 
ther he  acknowledged  Edward  as  lord  paramount 
of  Scotland ;  and  he  expressly  and  publicly  de- 
clared that  he  did.  On  the  same  question  being 
put  to  the  other  competitors,  the  same  answer  was 
given.  Baliol,  on  his  appearance  on  the  following 
day,  after  some  hesitation,  also  acknowledged  the 
same.  These  preliminary  steps  being  taken,  after 
a  full  investigation  of  the  claims  of  all  the  candi- 
dates, Edward,  upwards  of  seventeen  months  af- 
ter the  commencement  of  the  inquest,  pronounced 
in  favour  of  Baliol,  on  the  17th  November  1292. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  in  this  decision 
Edward  was  otherwise  than  influenced  by  a  just 
regard  to  the  true  law  of  succession ;  and  there  are 
many  considerations  that  would  have  induced  him, 
and  he  was  undei-stood  privately  to  incline,  to 
favour  the  cause  of  de  Bnis. 

The  appeals  of  the  Seven  Earls  having,  as  we 
have  seen,  constituted  the  foundation  of  all  the 
proceedings  of  Edward  above  recorded,  it  may  be 
proper  hei-e  to  inquire.  In  what  sense  did  the 


Seven  Earls  and  the  others  appeal  to  Edward? 
Was  it  in  the  sense  m  which  he  accepted  the  ap- 
peal,— ^namely,  as  an  appeal  of  a  portion  of  the 
community  of  Scotland  to  him  as  their  lawful 
superior ;  and  was  the  reluctance  which,  we  are 
informed,  the  Scottish  nobility  and  clergy  exhib- 
ited to  comply  with  his  demand,  that  they  should 
acknowledge  him  as  Lord  Paramount,  the  mere  re- 
luctance of  the  rest  of  the  community  to  give  their 
assent  to  a  proposition  already  virtually  admitted 
by  the  appellants ;  or,  as  possibly  may  have  been 
the  case,  was  it  the  reluctance  also  of  the  appel- 
lants themselves,  to  make  a  formal  and  open  aver- 
ment of  a  proposition  necessarily  implied  m  their 
appeal,  but  which,  as  they  knew  it  to  be  unpopu- 
lar, they  would  have  been  glad  to  escape  avowing 
in  so  express  and  glaring  a  manner,  as  that  in 
which  the  wily  Edward  made  them  do  it  ? 

Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  who,  with  so  much  abi- 
lity, and  with  the  advantage  of  the  additional  light 
afforded  by  the  documents  which  he  has  given  to 
the  world,  has  revived  the  long  obsolete  question 
of  the  English  supremacy  over  Scotland,  holds 
that,  in  appealing  as  they  did  to  Edward,  de  Bi*us 
and  the  Seven  Earls  meant  to  admit  his  title  to 
give  judgment  as  the  lawful  Over-Lord  of  the  Scot- 
tish kmgdom.  They  submitted  to  Edward's  judg- 
ment, he  says,  **  not  as  to  an  arbitrator  selected  to 
determine  a  contested  question,  but  as  to  a  lawful 
superior  whose  protection  and  defence  they  im- 
ploi'ed."  IPalgravey  Documents^  (fc.  Introduction^ 
p.  xxi.]  And  farther  on,  expanding  the  same  re- 
mai*k,  he  says,  "  The  Scottish  writers  upon  Scot- 
tish history,  warmed  by  the  courage  and  heroism 
of  de  Brus  and  Wallace,  as  represented  in  the  po- 
etry and  populai*  legends  and  traditions  of  their 
conntry,  have  characterized  the  repeated  submis- 
sions to  the  English  king  as  acts  of  disgrace,  and 
stains  upon  the  national  honour.  But  the  justice 
of  the  cause  must  be  judged  according  to  the  con 
science  of  the  parties;  and  if  the  prelates,  the 
peers,  the  knights,  the  freeholders,  and  the  bm- 
gesses  of  Scotland,  believed  that  Edward  was  their 
Over- Lord,  it  is  not  their  obedience,  but  the  with- 
drawing it,  that  should  be  censured  by  posterity 
There  is  not  any  reason  for  believing  that, 
until  the  era  of  Wallace,  there  was  any  insincerity 
on  the  part  of  the  noble  Normans,  the  stalwart 


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Flemings,  the  sturdy  Noi-thumbiian  Angles,  and 
the  aboriginal  Britons  of  Strathclyde  and  Reged, 
whom  we  eri'oneously  designate  as  Scots — in  ad- 
mitting the  legal  supremacy  of  the  English  crown, 
until  the  attempts  made  by  Edward  I.  to  extend 
the  incidejits  of  that  supremacy  beyond  their  legal 
bounds  provoked  a  resistance  deserved  by  such 
abuse.'     [Ibid,  pp.  xlii.  xliii.] 

Now,  so  far  as  the  appeals  of  de  Brus  and  the 
Seven  Earls  are  concerned,  it  canuot  be  denied 
but  that  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  is  in  the  right.  The 
language  of  the  appeals  themselves  it  would  be 
difficult  to  iiitei-pret  otherwise  than  as  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  superior  authority  of  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land over  the  Scottish  nation,  although  it  may 
certainly  be  remarked  that  the  writci-s  seem  to 
have  been  studious  to  avoid  any  explicit  statement 
of  that  fact  in  so  many  words.  The  question, 
however,  as  regards  de  Brus,  would  be  set  at  rest, 
if  it  could  be  shown  that  Sir  Francis  Palgi'ave  is 
right  in  supposing  that  the  following  letter,  pub- 
lished by  him  for  the  fii*st  time,  along  with  the 
appeals,  in  the  volume  above  refeii'ed  to,  was 
written  by  de  Brus.  The  letter,  which  is  written 
in  Norman  French,  is  evidently  that  of  a  competi- 
tor for  the  Scottish  crown,  who  wishes  to  ingrati- 
ate himself  with  Edward  by  inordinate  eagerness 
to  admit  his  claim  to  the  feudal  superiority  over 
Scotland.  We  translate  as  literally  as  the  gaps 
will  permit : — "  I  have  heard  from  my  father,  and 
from  ancient  men  of  the  time  of  King  David,  that 
there  was  war  between  the  king  of  England  and 
king  David.  And  in  that  time  that  Northumber- 
land was  lost,  there  was  a  peace  made  between 
the  king  of  England  and  the  king  of  Scotland ; 
to  wit  that,  if  the  king  of  Scotland  should  ever 
in  anywise  refuse  obedience  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, or  to  his  crown,  then  the  Seven  Earls 
of  Scotland  should  be  bound  by  oath  .  .  . 
.  .  to  the  king  of  England,  and  to  his 
crown.     ...    in     ...     Afterwards     .    . 

.  .  obediences  were  made.  But  afterwards 
came  King  Richard,  and  sold  the  homage  of  the 
king  of  Scotland.  .  .  .  We  do  not  think  that 
this  sale  can  be  valid ;  for  well  is  the  king  of  Eng- 
land who  is  so  wise,  and  his  council  also,  able  to 
advise,  whether  the  crown  can  be  dismembered  of 
such  a  member.    And  seeing  that  the  crown  ought 


to  be  kept  entire,  let  it  be  known  to  him  by  Elia:E 
de  Hauville,  that  at  what  hour  he  will  make  hi^ 
demand  regulaily,  I  will  obey  him,  and  will  aid 
him  with  myself,  and  all  my  friends,  and  all  my 
lineage  ...  my  friends  will  do.  And  I  pra> 
your  gi-ace  for  my  right,  and  for  tne  truth  which  I 
wish  to  manifest  before  you;  and  meanwhile  I 
.  .  .  by  speaking  with  the  ancient  men  of  the 
land,  to  find  out  the  evidence  of  your  interests, 
as    .     .     ." 

Sir  Fi-ancis  Palgrave's  statement,  however, 
that  "  the  prelates,  the  peera,  the  knights,  the  finee- 
holdei's,  and  the  burgesses  of  Scotland,  believed 
that  Edward  was  their  Over-lord,"  is  too  sweeping. 
It  ignores  the  fact,  that  a  feeling  had  existed  with 
a  part  at  least  of  the  Scottish  community,  for 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  previous  to  tliis 
memorable  epoch,  of  antipathy  to  this  very  claim 
of  English  supremacy.  There  was  a  gei-rn  and  a 
root  of.  repugnance  to  England  in  the  Celtic  por- 
tion of  the  nation.  But  a  network  of  Norman 
colonization  had  overspread  nearly  the  whole 
British  island,  which  remained  entire  and  con- 
nected throughout  its  whole  length,  so  that  the 
northern  part  of  it,  i.  e.  the  Scoto-Normans,  did 
not  feel  themselves  yet  separated  from  the  sonth- 
em  part  of  it,  i.  e.  the  Anglo-Normans.  Besides 
this,  another  streng  tie  co-operated  in  enabliog 
England  to  grapple  Scotland  towards  herself. 
Tills  was  the  traditional  claun  of  legal  supremacy 
asserted  by  England  over  Scotland,  a  claim  which, 
as  Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  investigations  have  made 
clear,  had,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  a  real  place 
in  the  beUefs  of  the  period.  Edward  the  Fust 
seems  clearly  to  have  believed  that,  in  virtue  of 
certain  old  transactions,  he,  as  king  of  England, 
had  a  claim  upon  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of 
Scotland.  looked  at  from  this  point  of  view, 
therefore,  his  crime  in  the  matter  of  Scotland  may 
have  been,  as  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  calls  it,  a  mere 
attempt  to  ^^  extend  the  incidents  of  his  legal  su- 
premacy beyond  their  legal  bounds."  On  the 
other  hand,  too,  it  seems  pretty  clear  that,  among 
the  Scottish  nobles,  there  was,  during  the  whole 
of  the  period  referred  to,  no  decided  conviction 
that  the  claim  of  English  supremacy  was  illegal  ia 
any  absurd  degree.  The  feelmg  of  at  least  a  por- 
tion of  them,  relative  to  this  claim,  seems  to  have 


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BRUCE,  OR  DE  BRUS, 


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ROBERT 


been  rather  a  desire  to  disencnmber  themselves  of 
it,  than  snch  a  contempt  for  it  as  would  have  been 
inspired  by  a  sincere  belief  that  it  was  the  mere 
pretext  of  an  invader.  Hence  it  is  found  that, 
during  the  whole  of  that  period,  though  inclined 
to  escape  the  claim  of  homage  to  England  when- 
ever they  could,  on  the  least  pressure  they  were 
fonnd  ready  to  yield  to  it. 

The  lordship  of  Annandale  being  held,  as  al- 
ready stated,  by  the  tenure  of  military  service,  to 
avoid  doing  homage  to  his  successful  rival,  Ro- 
bert de  Brus  resigned  it  to  his  eldest  son,  retain- 
ing only  for  himself  his  English  estates.  ^'  I  am 
Bailors  sovereign,  not  Baliol  mine,*'  said  the  proud 
baron,  ^^  and  rather  than  consent  to  such  a  hom- 
age, I  resign  my  lands  in  Annandale  to  my  son, 
the  earl  of  Carrick.**  He  seems  thenceforth  to 
have  lived  in  retirement.  He  died  in  1295,  at  his 
castle  of  Lochmaben,  at  the  age  of  eighty -Ave. 
He  had  married  an  Englishwoman,  Ifsabel,  daugh- 
ter of  Gilbert  de  Clare,  earl  of  Gloucester,  one  of 
the  most  powerful  barons  of  England,  and  by  her 
he  had  Robert  de  Brus,  earl  of  Carrick,  two  other 
sons,  and  a  daughter. 

BRUCE,  or  DE  BRUS,  Robert,  eldest  son  of 
the  competitor,  and  father  of  King  Robert  the 
Bruce,  accompanied  King  Edward  the  First  of 
England  to  Palestine  in  1269,  and  appears  to  have 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  that  mo- 
narch. On  his  return,  he  married,  in  1271,  Mar- 
garet, the  young  and  beautiful  countess  of  Carrick, 
whose  husband,  AdamdeKDconath,  (Kilconquhar?) 
earl  of  Carrick  in  her  right,  was  slain  in  the  Holy 
Land.  By  this  lady,  who  was  the  only  child  of 
Nigel,  earl  of  Carrick  and  lord  of  Tnmberry,  and 
Margaret,  a  daughter  of  Walter,  the  high  steward 
of  Scotland,  de  Brus  had  his  celebrated  son 
Robert,  afterwards  king  of  Scotland;  Edward 
de  Brus,  lord  of  Galloway,  crowned  king  of 
Ireland  in  1316;  three  other  sons  and  seven 
daughters. 

The  circumstances  attending  this  marriage  as 
related  by  our  historians,  are  of  as  singular  and 
romantic  a  character  as  any  in  Scottish  annals. 
One  day  in  the  autumn  of  1271,  while  Martha, 
as  she  is  generally  called,  though  Marjory,  or 
Margaret,  appears  to  have  been  her  proper 
name,  countess  of  Carrick   in  her  own   right. 


was  engaged  in  the  exercise  of  hunting,  sur- 
rounded by  a  retinue  of  her  squires  and  damsels, 
in  the  grounds  adjoining  her  castle  of  Turn- 
berry  in  Ayrshire,  the  i*uins  of  which  still  re- 
main, she  accidentally  met  with  de  Brus,  then 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  who  had  just  returned 
from  the  Holy  Laud,  and  was  passing  on  horse- 
back through  her  domains.  Struck  by  his  noble 
figure,  the  young  countess  invited  the  knight  to 
join  her  in  the  chase  and  to  be  her  guest  for 
a  time.  Aware  of  the  peril  he  encountered  in 
paying  too  much  attention  to  a  ward  of  the  king, 
as  the  countess  was,  de  Brus,  it  is  said,  decline<l 
the  invitation  so  courteously  given,  when,  at  a  sig- 
nal from  the  countess,  her  retinue  closed  in  around 
him,  and  the  lady,  seizing  his  bridle  reins,  led 
him  off,  with  gentle  violence,  to  her  castle  at 
Tumberry.  He  was  thus  constrained  to  pai-take 
of  the  hospitality  of  the  countess,  and,  after  fifteen 
days^  residence  with  her,  he  married  her,  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  relatives  of  either  party  or 
the  consent  of  the  king,  which,  as  she  was  a  ward 
of  the  crown,  ought  to  have  been  previously  ob- 
tained. So  flagrant  a  violation  of  his  feudal  rights 
provoked  even  the  good  tempered  Alexander  the 
Third,  and  the  castle  and  estates  of  the  countess 
were  instantly  seized.  By  the  intercession  of 
friends,  however,  the  king  was  induced  to  par- 
don the  youthful  offendere,  first  inflicting  on  the 
lady  the  payment  of  a  heavy  fine.  Her  husband 
became  in  her  right  earl  of  Carrick,  and  their  eld- 
est son  was  Robert  de  Brus,  the  greatest  of  our 
monarchs,  this  union  being  thus  an  auspicious 
event  for  Scotland.  Such  is  the  tale  told  by 
our  historians,  and  in  most  points  it  is  true, 
but  to  take  away  somewhat  from  its  romance,  one 
account,  which  seems  the  most  probable,  states 
that  de  Brus  had  been  the  companion  in  the  Holy 
Land,  as  well  as  the  fellow-crusader  of  the  lady^s 
first  husband,  Adam  de  Kilconath,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that,  on  the  death  of  the  latter  without 
issue,  he  returned  to  Scotland  with  the  design  of 
marrying  his  widow,  who,  besides  being  young 
and  beautiful,  had  a  proud  title  and  extensive 
estates  to  confer  on  whomsoever  she  bestowed  her 
hand.  His  solitary  ride  through  the  woods  of 
Tumberry  was  thus  not  without  an  object 
AVhen  the  future  monarch  of  Scotland  was  yet  a 


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ROBERT. 


minor,  bis  father,  following  his  grandfather's  ex- 
ample, to  avoid  doing  homage  to  Baliol,  resigned 
to  his  son  the  earldom  of  Oarrick,  which  he  held 
in  right  of  his  wife,  just  then  deceased.  The 
3'0uthfa1  de  Bms,  on  obtaining  the  title  and  lands, 
immediately  swore  fealty  to  Baliol  as  his  lawful 
sovereign.  His  father  shortly  after  retired  to  Eng- 
land, leaving  the  administration  of  the  family 
estates  of  Annandale  also  in  his  hands.  In  1295, 
the  same  year  in  which  the  aged  de  Brns,  the  com- 
petitor, died,  Edward  the  First  appointed  de  Brns 
the  elder,  the  father  of  king  Robert,  constable  of 
the  castle  of  Carlisle.  In  1296,  when  Baliol,  driven 
to  resistance  by  the  galling  yoke  which  Edward 
endeavoured  to  force  upon  him,  (by  attempting  to 
exercise  a  jurisdiction  in  Scottish  affairs  which 
none  of  his  predecessors  had  ever  pretended  to 
possess,)  revolted  from  his  authority,  and,  assisted 
by  the  Comyns,  took  up  arms  to  assert  his  inde- 
pendence, de  Bms  the  elder,  cherishing,  no  doubt, 
the  natural  hope  that  as  the  next  heir  to  the 
throne  he  might,  on  the  event  of  the  overthrow 
and  deposition  of  his  rival,  receive  the  vacant 
crown  from  the  English  monarch,  accompanied 
Edward*s  expedition  into  Scotland,  and  with  his 
party,  which  wm  numerous  and  powerful,  gave 
their  assistance  to  the  English  king.  Our  Scot- 
tish historians  indeed  assert  that  a  promise  to  this 
effect  was  made  to  him  by  Edward,  but  it  receives 
no  countenance  in  English  history,  and  is  quite 
inconsistent  with  what  we  know  of  Edward*s  cha- 
racter or  purposes.  Baliol,  in  consequence,  seized 
upon  the  lordship  of  Annandale,  and  bestowed  it 
on  John  Comyn,  earl  of  Buchan,  who  immediately 
took  possession  of  the  castle  of  Lochmaben. 

After  the  decisive  battle  of  Dunbar,  28th  April 
1296,  In  which  the  Scottish  army  was  defeated, 
and  Baliol  compelled  to  sniTendcr  the  sovereignt}^ 
it  is  said  by  the  writers  referred  to  that  the  elder 
Bruce  reminded  Edward  of  his  promise  to  bestow 
on  him  the  vacant  crown,  and  received  the  follow- 
ing reply:  "Wiat!  have  I  nothing  else  to  do 
than  to  conquer  kingdoms  for  yon?"  But  al- 
though Tytler  does  not  venture  to  omit  this  inci- 
dent, later  writers  have  so  far  treated  it  as  doubt- 
ful as  to  soften  the  request  into  a  simple  applica- 
tion, without  reference  to  any  previous  promise,  a 
mode  of  regarding  it  more  consistent  with  proba- 


bility and  with  the  well  known  character  for  pro- 
bity borne  by  Edward.  [Papers  on  Robert  Bruce 
in  Lowe's  Edinburgh  Magazine^  March  1848,  p 
345.]  After  this  he  seems  to  have  retired  to  hii 
English  estates.  In  1297,  Sir  William  Wallace, 
one  of  the  greatest  heroes  of  which  the  annals  of 
any  nation  can  boast,  nobly  stood  forward  as  the 
defender  of  his  conntry^s  freedom ;  but  his  patriotic 
achievements  failed  to  rouse  de  Bms  from  his  inac- 
tivity, or  to  induce  him  to  consider  Wallace  as  seek- 
ing moitt  than  either  to  restore  Baliol  or  as  aspiring 
to  the  throne  himself.  In  the  fatal  campaign  of 
1298,  which  concluded  with  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Falkirk,  our  Scottish  historians  represent  Bms  the 
son  to  have  accompanied  the  English  monarch, 
and  to  have  fought  in  his  service  against  his  coun- 
trymen. After  a  gallant  resistance,  they  assert  that 
Wallace  was  compelled  to  retreat  along  the  banks 
of  the  Carron,  pursued  by  de  Bms  at  the  head  of 
the  GraUoway  men,  his  vassals.  Here  a  conference 
is  represented  to  have  taken  place  between  the 
two  leaders,  which  ended  in  de  Brusca  resolving 
to  forsake  the  cause  of  Edward. 

Wallace  is  described  as  having  upbraided  de 
Bras  as  the  mean  hireling  of  a  foreign  master, 
who,  to  gratify  his  ambition,  had  sacrificed  the 
welfare  and  independence  of  his  native  land.  He 
is  represented  to  have  urged  him  to  assume  the 
post  to  whid)  he  was  entitled  by  his  birth  and 
fortnne,  and  either  deliver  his  country  from  the 
bondage  and  oppression  of  Edward,  or  gloriously 
fall  in  asserting  its  liberties.  By  Wallace*s  re- 
proaches and  remonstrances,  de  Bms,  it  is  said, 
was  melted  into  tears,  and  swore  to  embrace  the 
cause  of  his  oppressed  country.  Such  is  the  story 
of  Wynton  and  Fordun,  and  of  course  of  Boeoe, 
Blind  Hany,  and  Buchanan,  and  it  may  be  accepted 
as  one  of  the  most  curious  instances  that  could  be 
addnced  of  the  operation  of  the  mythical  or  dra- 
maturgic faculty  to  the  falsification  of  history. 
Not  only  do  the  old  Scottish  writers  make  Brace 
fight  on  Edward's  side  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk, 
but  in  contradiction  to  all  possibility  they  make 
him  and  Anthony  Beck,  bishop  of  Durham,  jointly 
decide  the  fate  of  the  battle  against  the  Scots.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  the  younger  de  Bras  was 
not  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk  at  all,  but,  as  stated 
by  an  author  who  was  in  Scotland  and  with  Ed- 


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BRUCE,  OR  DE  BRUS, 


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ROBERT. 


ward's  force  at  the  time  (Meningford),  he  was 
then  in  gnard  of  the  castle  of  Ayr,  in  the  interest 
of  the  Scottish  caase  maintained  at  Falkirk  by 
Wallace.  Since  this  fact  was  brought  to  light  by 
Lord  Hailes,  writers — induduig  a  recent  translator 
of  Buchanan— have  represented  that  it  was  de  Bras 
the  fatlier  who  was  present  at  Falkirk  and  had  the 
interview  with  Wallace,  but  there  is  no  warrant  in 
the  older  historians  for  this-  transposition  of  tlie 
person  referred  to.  All  early  accounts  state  that 
de  Bras  the  father  ceased  to  take  any  interest  in 
Scottish  affairs  after  the  refusal  of  Edward  to  ac- 
cede to  his  request  for  the  vacant  crown.  It  conld 
not  be  de  Bras  the  elder  who  fought  on  the  nde  of 
Edward  at  Falkirk  at  the  head  of  his  Gralloway 
vassals,  as  the  original  story  has  it,  when  he  had 
no  vassals  in  Galloway,  and  when  all  Galloway 
was  then  in  the  power  of  the  patriots,  with  young 
de  Bras  his  son,  at  the  head  of  his  Carrick  tenan- 
try, as  then*  leader.  The  part  moreover  assigned 
to  young  de  Bims  in  that  fight,  viz.,  the  moving 
behind  the  Scottish  ^  schiltroM^  and  attacking 
them  in  the  rear,  is  precisely  that  described  by  the 
historian  eye-witness  to  have  been  taken  by  Sir 
Ralph  de  Basset,  who  was  second  in:  command  to 
Anthony  a  Beck,  the  warlike  bishop  of  Durham. 
It  was  this  Sir  Ralph,  and  not  young  de  Brus  that, 
as  described  by  Wynton  (who  wrote  110  years 
after  the  event) — 

"  With  Sir  Anton  the  Beck,  a  wiljr  man, 
(Of  Durham  bbhop  he  was  than), 
About  ane  hill  a  well  far  way, 
Oat  of  that  stonr  then  pricked  they. 
Behind  backs  all  sae  fast. 
There  thej  come  on,  and  laid  on  fast ; 
Sae  made  they  the  discomtitDre/' 

It  Is  not  impossible,  therefore,  that  the  whole  story 
may  have  originated  in  a  blunder  in  some  old  docu- 
ment,— a  cii'cumstance  not  uncommon  in  copying 
the  writings  of  that  age,~and  that  Sir  72.  Banet  may 
have  been  misread  or  miscopicd,  as  Sir  R,  Brut,  * 

*  A  singular  instance  of  this  nature  occurs  in  a 
document  referred  to  in  the  next  life,  where  Irvine  is 
rendered  Sir  William  Wallace,  thus  *  Escrit  a  /reun'n,' 
(written  at  Irvine)  for  'escrit  a  Sirewm,*  afierwards 
divided  into  Sire  Wm.,  and  again  elongated  into  Sire 
WUiaume,  as  printed  in  Rymer.  Hailes  naturally  sup- 
posed it  to  mean  Sir  William  Wallace. 


The  famous  meeting,  therefore,  of  de  Brus  with 
Wallace  after  the  battle  of  Falkirk — the  most  ex- 
quisite, it  is  admitted,  of  Scottish  legends— is  a 
mythus,  an  imaginary  fact  or  circumstance,  in 
whieb  the  popular  national  feeling  regarding  the 
two  heroes  has  bodied  itself  forth.  At  the  death  of 
de  Brus  in  1304,  he  transmitted  his  English  estates 
to  his  son,  the  future  king  of  Scotland,  who  was  then 
thirty  years  of  age;  whether,  at  the  same  time,  he 
bequeathed  to  him  a  nobler  legacy,  namely,  that  of 
aton^ent  and  trae  patriotism,  exliorting  him, 
with  his  latest  breath,  to  -avenge  the  injuries  of 
his  suffering  country,  and  to  re-establish  the  inde- 
pendence of  Scotland,  as  is  asserted  by  anthors  in 
connection  with  the  legend  above  refeiTed  to,  is 
more  than  doubtful.  This  at  least  is  clear,  that 
the  cix>wn  of  Scotland,  to  which  both  conceived 
they  had  an  undoubted  right,  was  never  out  of  tiie 
view  of  the  latter,  who,  in  gaining  it,  secured  at 
the  same  time,  the  independence  of  his  kingdom. 

The  following  seal  of  Robert  de  Bras  the  father 
represents  only  the  arms  of  the  ancient  esridom 
of  Cannck : 


lU 


BRUCE,  or  DE  BRUS,  RoBntT,  the  restuie 
of  the  national  monajpchy,  eMfiet  mb  and  second 
child  of  the  prececting,  aad  of  the  Lady  Martha, 
sole  daughter  of  Nigel,  earl  of  Carrick,  was  born 
on  the  11th  of  July  1274.  It  has  been  generally 
believed  that  Turnberry  castle  was  the  place  of 
his  birth,  and  in  his  Ijord  of  the  Isles,  canto  v., 
stanza  33,  Sir  Walter  Scott  assumes  this  to  have 


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been  the  case;  but  there  is  no  evidence  on  the 
subject.  Tradition  on  the  contmry,  if  we  may 
assume  it  to  be  represented  by  the  mendacious 
Boece  {Bellenden's  Translation,  xiv.  5.),  describes 
him  as  "  an  Englishman  bom ; "  and  that  excellent 
authority,  Collins'  Peerage  (article  earl  of  Ayles- 
bury), expressly  states  that  on  his  return  from 
the  Holy  Land,  de  Brus  went  to  reside  in  Eng- 
land. Although,  however,  the  lines  of  welcome 
to  its  halls  on  the  occasion  of  his  return  from 
Rachrine,  described  in  Scott's  poem,  ^ 

*'  Once  more  behold  the  floor  I  trod 
In  tottering  infancy ! 
And  there  the  vaulted  arch  whose  sound 
Echoed  my  jojous  shout  and  bound 
In  boyhood,  and  that  rung  around 
To  youth's  unthinking  glee  I " 

cannot  be  literally  true,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Turnbeny  castle  became  the  abode  of  his  father 
during  a  part  of  his  boyhood,  and  whilst  the 
events,  described  in  the  life  of  bis  grandfather, 
page  403,  as  occumng  there  from  1286  to  1290, 
were  taking  place. 


In  conformity  with  tiie  practice  of  the  bai-ons  j 
of  that  age  to  send  their  children  to  the  household 


of  some  noble,  superior  in  rank,  there  to  acquire 
the  graces  of  society  and  the  art  of  arms,  young 
de  Brus  appears  to  have  been  placed  in  the  house- 
hold of  Edward,  king  of  England,  where  he  was 
trained  in  those  exercises  of  war  and  chivahry  for 
which  he  became  afterwards  so  distinguished. 
That  this  was  the  consequence  of  the  early  friend- 
ship that  existed  between  his  father  and  that 
monarch,  of  which  the  language  of  a  deed  still  ex- 
tant bears  witness,  and  not  because  the  &mily  of 
the  elder  de  Brus  was  considered  as  aliens  to 
Scotland,  appears  from  the  circumstance,  that  his 
grandfather  continued  to  reside  until  his  death  in 
the  ancestral  castle  of  Lochmaben,  and  that  all 
his  sisters,  six  in  number,  were  in  early  life  mar- 
ried to  Scottish  barons.  In  1293,  when  just  en- 
tering his  seventeenth  year,  young  de  Brus  was 
infefted  in  his  mother's  lands,  and  in  the  title  of 
eai'l  of  Carrick,  which  devolved  on  him  through 
her,  lately  deceased,,  and  he  rendered  homage  to 
Balioi  for  the  same  at  his  second  parliament,  held 
at  Stirling  in  August  and  September  of  that 
year.  One  chief  cause  of  this  infeftment  was 
the  unwillingness  of  his  father  to  acknowledge 
the  title  of  Balioi.  At  the  time  this  took 
place,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  Scoto  Chronicle, 
young  Robert  was  "a  young  man  in  King  Ed- 
ward's chamber,''  when  he  was  sent  for  by  his 
father.  He  also  conferred  on  him  the  administra- 
tion of  his  lands  in  Annandale  at  the  same  time. 
In  1294,  on  the  occasion  of  a  war  breaking  out  be- 
tween England  and  France,  a  writ  appears  to  have 
oeen  sent  to  him  as  earl  of  Carrick  by  Edward, 
to  serve  in  person  during  the  expected  campaign, 
out  whether  he  complied  with  it  does  not  appear. 
He  seems  to  have  taken  the  same  part  as  his 
father  in  aid  of  the  English  monarch,  during  his 
invasion  of  Scotland  in  1296,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  revolt  of  Balioi,  which  led  to  their  castle  of 
Ijochmaben  in  Annandale  being  temporarily  seized 
oy  Comyn,  earl  of  Buchan,  leader  of  the  Scottish 
army;  and  after  the  decisive  fight  of  Dunbar, 
28th  April,  he  was  employed  to  receive  for  Ed- 
ward the  submissions  of  his  own  men  of  Carrick. 
In  August  of  the  same  year,  when  Edward  held  a 
parliament  at  Berwick  for  the  settlement  of  Scot- 
land, Bruce,  then  earl  of  Can-ick,  with  the  rest 
of  the  Scots  nobility,  renewed  his  oath  of  homage 


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to  the  English  monarch.  Up  to  and  ever  after 
this  period,  it  is  probable  that  not  only  both  father 
and  sen  but  all  the  Scottish  magnates  of  their 
party,  who  joined  with  them  in  that  act  of  hom- 
age, entertained  the  expectation  that  when  all  was 
tranquilly  settled  in  Scotland,  the  English  king 
would  confer  the  government  of  that  kingdom  as 
a  king-fief  of  his  crown  npon  the  former.  The 
idea  of  his  ruling  it,  even  as  lord  paramount,  ex- 
cept through  the  instrumentality  of  a  native  prince, 
was  in  antagonism  not  only  to  all  historical  pre- 
cedent, but  must  have  been  repugnant  to  every 
feeling  of  nationality  in  their  bosom.  If  so, 
however,  the  establishment  by  Edwaixl,  on  his 
leaving  for  England  later  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  of  the  earl  de  Wai*enne  as  governor  of 
Scotland,  with  Cressingham  and  Ormesby  as 
treasurer  and  justiciary,  proved  the  futility  of 
their  hopes. 

That  young  de  Brus  was  dissatisfied  with  this 
settlement  of  the  kingdom  it  was  but  natural 
to  suppose,  and  on  the  appearance  of  Wallace,  in 
the  following  summer  (1297),  carrying  on  a  private 
warfare  against  the  English  in  the  south-west  of 
Scotland,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  various  chiefs 
in  the  neighbourhood,  his  conduct  became  so  equi- 
vocal, that,  as  Hemingford  relates,  the  English 
wardens  of  the  western  marches  summoned  him 
to  Cailisle  to  renew  his  oath  of  fidelity  to  Edward. 
Probably  being  then  unprepared  to  act  on  the  offen- 
sive, he  proceeded  there  with  his  vassals,  and  took 
a  solemn  oath  on  the  consecrated  host  and  the 
sword  of  Thomas  k  Becket,  to  assist  Edwai'd 
against  the  Scots  and  all  his  enemies.  To  prove 
his  sincerity,  on  his  return  to  Annandale  he  made 
an  inroad  with  his  armed  vassals  upon  the  lands 
of  William  lord  Douglas,  knight  of  Liddesdale, 
one  of  the  insurgent  lords;  and,  after  wasting 
them,  carried  off  his  wife  and  children  to  his  cas- 
tle at  Tumberry. 

No  sooner,  however,  was  the  danger  over  than 
the  correctness  of  their  suspicions  was  mani- 
fested by  his  joining  the  conspiracy  of  the  Scottish 
leaders,  and  attempting  on  his  return  to  Carrick 
to  induce  his  father's  vassals  to  rise  with  him. 
In  this  perhaps  be  was  not  so  much  an  active  as 
a  passive  agent.  The  revolt  against  the  English 
rule  had  become  so  general,  says  Hemingford,  as 


entirely  to  assume  a  national  character,  and  the 
vassals  of  the  barons  could  not  be  restrained  by 
their  chiefs  from  adhering  to  it.  By  opposing  it 
his  own  safety  was  likely  to  be  compromised,  and 
it  seemed  probable  that  all  chance  of  his  claim  to 
the  throne  ever  being  recognised  by  the  nation 
would  be  cut  off.  There  seems  to  have  been 
strong  hopes  held  out  to  him  that  the  insurgents 
would  adopt  his  cause.  It  was  publicly  at  this 
time  reported,  according  to  Hemingford,  that  he 
aspired  to  the  throne.  All  the  leadera  of  the  in- 
surrection, except  Wallace  and  Sir  Andrew  Moray, 
were  those  who  had  invariably  supported  the 
claims  of  his  family.  Wishart,  bishop  of  Glas- 
gow, who  had  counselled  their  rising,  was  his  fii-m 
friend,  and  the  Comyns,  who  wei-e  his  rivals  in 
their  own  right  and  in  that  of  Baliol,  were  with 
their  paitisans  in  confinement  in  England.  The 
men  of  Annandale,  however,  at  first  hesitated, 
asked  a  day  to  consider  the  matter,  and  quietly 
dispersed  to  their  homes  during  the  night.  With 
his  own  vassals  of  Can*ick,  however,  he  took  up 
arms,  and  might,  notwithstanding  of  his  youth, 
have  i-endered  important  sei*vice  to  the  national 
cause,  had  unity  prevailed  in  their  counsels,  and 
had  not  the  English  forces  been  too  active  to 
permit  it.  .  Wallace  had  determined  to  support 
the  cause  of  Baliol.  He  was  the  soul  of  the  party, 
and  not  a  few  of  the  insurgents  joined  in  his  views. 
The  Comyns  also  had  adherents  in  the  camp. 
The  Scottish  foix^es  were  numerous  and  strongly 
posted,  but  their  leaders  were  actuated  by  oppos- 
ing views.  First  one,  then  others  of  them,  left  the 
camp  and  went  over  to  the  English.  Being  thus 
taken  at  disadvantage  by  an  army  under  Sir 
Henry  Percy  and  Sir  Robert  Clifford,  command- 
ing in  Scotland,  the  confederates  were  constrained 
to  yield  upon  conditions  at  Irvine,  on  the  9th  of 
July  1297.  The  document  embodying  their  sub- 
mission has  been  published  in  its  original  Nor- 
man French  by  Sir  F.  Palgrave,  and  is  that  I'e- 
fen-ed  to  in  the  note  in  the  preceding  life  as  having 
contained  an  error  in  transcription.  On  this  oc- 
casion so  much  difficulty  was  felt  by  the  English 
commanders  with  respect  to  de  Brus,  that,  as  ap- 
pears by  another  document  of  the  same  date,  his 
daughter  Marjory,  then  about  four  or  five  years  of 
age,  was  required  to  be  delivered  to  them  as  an 


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hostage,  and  three  magnates,  of  whom  two  were 
parties  to  the  convention,  became  joint  secorities 
for  his  loyalty  "  with  their  lives,  limbs,  and  es- 
tates,^* nntil  that  hostage  should  be  delivered  into 
their  hands.  This  Maijory  was  his  only  child  by 
his  first  marriage  with  the  dau^ter  of  the  eaii  of 
Mar,  who  sui*vived  this  bereavement  only  for  a 
few  months.  The  conduct  of  Wallace  on  this  oc- 
casion shows  a  fierce  and  intractable  disposition. 
Although  included  in  the  capitulation  he  refused 
to  accede  to  its  terms.  Ascribing  the  an'angement 
to  the  counsels  of  Wishart,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  he 
set  fire  to  his  house,  plundered  all  his  goods,  and 
led  his  family  captive.  The  other  barons  honour 
ably  fulfilled  their  engagement. 

In  the  subsequent  sti^uggles  of  Wallace  and  his 
party,  de  Brus  took  no  active  part ;  but  in  1298, 
when  Edward  entered  Scotland  with  a  formidable 
army,  be  shut  himself  up  in  the  castle  of  Ayr, 
and  m^ntained  a  doubtful  neutrality.  After  the 
defeat  of  Wallace  at  Falkirk,  Edward  was  about 
to  attack  the  castle  of  Ayr,  when  de  Brus,  dread- 
ing the  consequences,  razed  it  to  the  ground, 
and  retired  into  the  recesses  of  Carrick.  In  1298, 
when  Wallace  had  resigned  the  regency,  John 
Oomyn  of  Badenoch  and  Sir  John  Soulis  were 
chosen  guardians  of  the  kingdom.  About  a  yeai* 
afterwards,  Lamberton,  bishop  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  the  earl  of  Carrick  then  only  in  his  twenty- 
fifth  year,  were,  by  general  consent,  added  to  the 
number. 

The  conduct  of  de  Brus,  at  this  juncture,  as 
throughout  the  entire  period  prior  to  his  as- 
sumption of  the  crown,  not  being  unde]*stood, 
has  excited  the  wonder  and  regret  of  posterity. 
Supple,  dexterous,  and  accommodating, — now  in 
arms  for  his  country,  and  then  leagued  with  her 
oppressors, — now  swearing  fealty  to  the  English 
king,  and  again  accepting  the  guardianship  of 
Scotland  in  the  name  of  Baliol,  it  seems  to  requu^ 
all  the  energy,  perseverance,  and  consummate 
prudence  and  valour  of  after  years  to  redeem 
his  character  fi-om  the  charge  of  apparent  and 
culpable  weakness.  De  Brus  the  guardian  of 
Scotland  in  the  name  of  Baliol !  says  Lord 
Hailes,  is  one  of  those  historical  phenomena 
which  are  Inexplicable.  Tet  this  conduct  we 
ave    attempted    to    explain,    and   in    part   to 


vindicate,  by  the  peculiarity  of  his  circum- 
stances, which  necessitated  a  course  different 
fi*om  what  he  would  have  chosen.  His  grand- 
&ther,  after  vainly  endeavouring  to  establish  his 
pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Scotland,  had  quietly 
acquiesced  in  the  elevation  of  Baliol.  His  father, 
sometime  earl  of  Carrick,  had  submitted  uniformly 
and  implicitly  to  the  superior  ascendency  of  the 
English  monai-ch.  Bruce,  therefore,  though  con- 
vinced- of  his  right  to  the  Scottish  throne,  and 
determined  to  assert  it,  could  not  in  the  meantime, 
with  decency  or  hope  of  success,  urge  a  claim  in 
liis  own  person.  In  doing  so  he  would  have  had 
te  contend  with  a  rival  who  was  at  that  time 
one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  the  kingdom. 
Baliol  had  renounced  for  ever  all  claim  for  him- 
self, and  his  son  was  in  paptivity ;  but  the  claims 
and  hopes  of  his  family  centred  in  John  Comyn, 
commonly  called  the  Red  Comyn,  the  son  of 
his  sister  Maijory,  who  was  allied  to  many  of 
the  noblest  families  in  Scotland  and  England, 
and  who,  by  the  decision  of  Edward,  possessed, 
in  succession,  a  clear  right  to  the  Scottish  crown. 
Between  the  families  of  Bruce  and  Comyn  there 
had  existed  for  many  years  all  the  jealousy  and 
hatred  which  rival  and  irreconciieable  interests 
could  create.  The  movements  of  both  families, 
not  only  during  the  contests  which  occurred 
between  the  abdication  of  Baliol  and  the  death 
of  Wallace,  but  long  afterwards,  seem  to  have 
been  decided  rather  by  a  regard  to  family  inter- 
ests than  the  good  of  their  country.  They  were 
uniformly  ranged  on  opposite  sides,  witli  the  ex- 
ception of  the  brief  period  now  i-eferred  to,  when 
Bruce  and  Comjm  were  associated  in  the  regency 
of  the  kingdom. 

All  writers  seem  to  think  that  this  coalition  had 
been  mainly  produced  by  a  desire  to  crush  Wal- 
lace, whose  patriotism  and  influence  endangered 
their  common  pretensions,  and  that  that  end  once 
gained  they  returned  to  their  former  course  ot 
factious  opposition  and  strife.  That  the  existence 
on  the  part  of  both  of  this  feeling  is  true,  and  that, 
as  respects  Comyn  at  least,  this  was  the  ruling 
motive,  we  are  not  prepared  to  deny.  It  was  only 
the  leadei-s  of  the  army,  however,  who  refused  to 
serve  under  Wallace.  But  de  Brus  was  not  with 
the  army,  nor  in  communication  with  it,  until  some 


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time  after  the  appointment  of  Comyn  as  gnardian. 
The  battle  of  Falkirk  was  fought  on  22d  Jaly 
1298;  Wallace^s  resignation  followed  immediately 
thereafter,  as  well  as  the  appointment  of  Com}  n 
as  guardian,  whilst  the  first  appearance  of  the 
name  of  de  Bros  in  connection  with  the  office  is  on 
13th  Nov.  1299.  It  has  been  supposed  that  de  Brus 
was  pressed  npon  the  other  guardians  by  Lumber- 
ton,  the  primate,  as  a  condition  of  his  (Lamberton^s) 
accepting  the  same  office,  and  for  the  sake  of  union 
and  conciliation,  and  Lamberton  was  a  fi-iend  of 
Wallace  raised  to  the  primacy  by  the  determined 
will  of  that  patriot  alone.  IPtUgrave  documenUJ] 
A  more  satisfactory  explanation  of  his  conduct  may 
therefore  be  found  in  the  not  improbable  conjecture, 
that  the  regency  of  1299  was  the  result  of  a  com- 
promise in  which  the  claims  of  Baliol,  then  in  hope- 
less captivity  in  England,  were  understood  to  be 
abandoned.  The  joint  guardianship,  whether 
established  *or  not  on  this  understanding,  lasted 
only  for  a  short  time.  Lamberton  and  de  Soulis 
went  over  to  France  as  commissioners,  with  five 
others,  there  to  watch  over  the  national  interests. 
A  cautious  and  far-seeing,  but  selfish  policy, 
must  have  taken  alarm  on  the  prosperous  appear- 
ance which  BalioPs  affairs  soon  afterwards  began 
to  assume,  and  probably  offence  at  the  proceedings 
of  his  representatives  thereupon.  When  the  cause 
of  the  late  imprisoned  and  abdicated  king  was 
taken  up  by  the  courts  of  France  and  Rome ;  when 
the  genuineness  of  the  deed  of  his  resignation  of 
the  throne  was  denied  by  the  Scottish  emissaries 
at  the  latter  court;  when  his  person  was  re- 
leased from  prison,  and  delivered  over  to  the  Pope*s 
nuncio  at  Witsand,  18th  July  1299 ;  and  when  a 
bull  admonitory,  in  his  interest,  was  served  on 
Edward  himself,  by  no  less  a  personage  than  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  (June  1300),  we  find 
that  soon  thereafter,— his  lands  of  Annandale  and 
Carrick  having  in  the  meantime  been  laid  waste 
by  the  army  of  Edward^— de  Brus  once  more  aban- 
doned a  cause  which  had  become  again  not  that  of 
his  country  but  of  his  rival,  and  made  his  peace 
with  Edward,  by  surrendering  himself  to  John  de 
St.  John,  the  English  warden  of  the  western 
marches. 

This  view  of  the  character  of  the  guardianship 
of  de  Brus,  amongst  other  proofs  too  minute  for 


detail,  receives  confirmation  from  the  circumstance 
that  in  the  only  public  transaction  occurring  dur- 
ing its  brief  existence  of  which  authentic  docu- 
ments have  descended  to  us,  namely,  the  adjust- 
ment of  a  truce  with  Edward,  no  mention  is  made 
by  either  party  of  Baliol  as  king  of  Scotland. 
During  the  three  successive  campaigns  which  took 
place  previous  to  the  final  subjugation  of  Scotland 
and  the  submission  of  the  Comyns  in  1304,  de 
Brus  continued  faithful  to  Edward.  In  all  the 
proceedings  which  ensued  upon  that  occasion,  de 
Brus  was  treated  by  Edward  with  favour  and  con- 
fidence, and  the  settlement  of  Scotland  was  ar- 
ranged by  the  English  king  on  the  plan  recom- 
mended by  de  Brus. 

On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1304  he  received 
possession  of  his  lands  in  Annandale  and  in  Eng- 
land, and  became  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the 
northern  barons.  There  is  no  evidence  that  up 
to  the  death  of  Comj'n  in  1305-6  de  Brus  had  en- 
tertained serious  thoughts  of  attempting  to  assert 
his  right  to  the  Scottish  crown.  He  certainly 
was  occupied  in  strengthening  his  friendships  by 
bonds  of  the  character  of  those  that  were  common 
in  that  age,  and  that  with  the  ulterior  object  of 
improving  any  occasion  that  might  arise  for  this 
end.  But  his  knowledge  of  the  character  of  Ed- 
ward, and  the  closeness  with  which  his  proceedings 
were  watched,  were  likely  to  induce  him  to  post- 
pone all  hostile  projects  until  more  favourable 
circumstances  should  arise. 

The  murder  of  John  Comyn,  younger  of  Bade- 
noch,  10th  Februaiy  1305-6,  is  one  of  those  pas- 
sages in  the  obscure  history  of  that  period  which 
has  exercised  the  patience  and  tried  the  candour 
of  historians.  The  contradictory  and  most  impro- 
bable details  of  this  event  given  by  our  Scottish 
historians,  written  as  they  wei*e  long  after  the 
event  took  place,  can  only  be  regarded  as  the 
embodiment  and  embellishment  of  national  tradi- 
tions, and  unfortunately  the  contemporary  writers 
of  England  are  silent  as  to  nearly  all  but  the  fact 
itself,  and  the  accounts  of  later  ones  are  as  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  probability  as  those  of  the  Scot- 
tish. Dismissing  not  a  fbw  particulars  now  proved 
to  be  either  impossible  or  false,  the  circumstances 
which  these  historians  relate  as  having  led  to  and 
accompanied  this  murder  are  as  follows:   Tliat 


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at  a  coiilei*euce  which  took  place  between  the  ri- 
vals at  Stirling,  de  Bms,  after  lamenting  the  misery 
to  which  the  kingdom  was  reduced,  made  to  him 
this  proposal ; — "  Support,"  says  he,  '*  my  title  to 
the  throne,  and  I  will  give  yon  all  my  lands;  or 
bestow  on  me  your  lands,  and  I  shall  support  yonr 
claim;"  that  Comyn  cheerfully  acceded  to  the 
former  alternative,  waiving  his  own  claims  in  fa- 
vour of  his  rival;  that  a  formal  bond  was,  in 
consequence,  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  parties; 
that  do  Brus  i-etmned  to  London,  matters  not  be- 
ing yet  matured  sufficiently  for  open  resistance  to 
the  English ;  and  that  Comyn,  anxious  to  regain 
the  favour  of  Edward,  betrayed  the  plot  to  that 
monarch,  and  transmitted  to  him  the  agreement 
signed  by  de  Brus. 

It  is  added  that  King  Edward,  on  receiving  this 
infoi-mation,  cherishing  the  design  not  only  of 
seizing  his  person,  but  of  involving  him  and  his  bro- 
thers in  one  common  destruction,  was  so  imprudent 
as  to  discover  his  purpose  to  some  of  the  nobles  of 
his  court;  that  that  vei7  night  the  earl  of  Glon- 
cester,  under  pretence  of  repaying  a  loan,  sent  de 
Brus  a  purse  of  money  and  a  pair  of  gilded  spurs — 
a  hint  which  the  latter  understood ;  and,  accom- 
panied by  a  single  attendant,  he  took  horse  and 
escaped  with  all  speed  into  Scotland ;  that  when 
near  the  Solway  sands,  he  met  a  messenger  tra- 
velling alone,  whom  he  I'ecognised  as  a  follower  of 
Comyn;  that  his  suspicions  were  now  awakened, 
and  slaying  the  courier,  he  possessed  himself  of  his 
despatches,  in  which  he  found  further  proofs  of 
Comyn's  treachery,  accompanied  by  a  recommen- 
dation to  Edward  to  put  his  rival  to  instant  death ; 
that  Bruce  proceeded  hastily  on  his  journey,  and 
repairing  to  Dumfries,  requested  a  private  interview 
with  Comyn,  which  was  held  Febraary  4,  1305,  in 
the  church  of  the  Minorite  Friars;  that  at  first  the 
meeting  was  friendly,  and  the  two  barons  walked 
up  towards  the  high  altar  together;  that  Bruce 
accused  his  rival  of  having  betrayed  theur  agree- 
ment to  Edward,—"  It  is  a  falsehood  you  utter," 
said  Comyn  ;  and  Bruce,  without  uttering  a  word, 
drew  his  dagger  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart;  that 
hastening  instantly  from  the  church,  he  rejoined 
his  attendants,  who  were  waiting  for  him  without; 
and  that  seeing  him  pale  and  agitated,  they  eagerly 
inquired  the  cause, — "  I  doubt  I  have  slain  the  red 


Comyn,"  was  his  answer.  "You  doubt!"  cried 
Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick  fiercely,  "  Is  that  a  matter 
to  be  left  to  doubt?  Tse  mak  siccar,"  (I  wih 
make  sure;)  and  rushing  into  the  chmx;h  with  Sir 
James  Lindesay  and  Su*  Christopher  Seton,  they 
found  the  wounded  man,  and  immediately  de- 
spatched him,  slaying,  at  the  same  time,  Sur  Robert 
Comyn,  his  uncle,  who  tried  to  defend  him.  Lord 
Hailes,  however,  investigated  this  obscure  trans- 
action in  1767,  with  his  usual  impartiality  and  dis 
crimination,  and  the  conclusions  at  which  he  arriv- 
ed have  not  been  invalidated  but  rather  confirmed 
by  subsequent  researches. 

We  concur  with  him  in  thinking  it  was  most 
improbable  that  de  Brus  should  have  made  such  a 
proposal  to  Comyn  as  is  there  stated,  or  that 
Comyn  could  suppose  him  to  be  sincere  in  doing 
so.  Fordnn  does  not  say  which  alternative  Comyn 
accepted.  Barbour  makes  the  proposal  to  have 
come  from  Comyn.  The  answer  giveif  by  de  Brut 
was,  "  I  will  take  the  crown ;  it  is  mine  of  right;' 
an  answer  likely  to  revive  the  old  contention. 
Barbour  and  Fordun  represent  the  agreement  to 
have  been  by  indenture,  of  which  each  held  a 
copy  signed  by  the  other — a  most  extraordinary 
cuxmmstauce,  as  they  must  have  called  in  a  third 
party.  Winton,  on  the  other  hand,  describes  K 
as  a  mere  conversation  as  they  were  "  riding  fr^ 
Stirling."  It  is  most  improbable  that  Edward,  ia 
possession  of  such  a  document,  should  have  con- 
cealed or  delayed  his  purpose  of  apprehending  de 
Brus  for  a  single  day.  Barbour  reports  that  on 
receiving  Comyn's  part  of  the  indenture  Edward 
summoned  a  parliament,  at  which  de  Brus  ap- 
peai-ed ; — that  he  there  exhibited  the  indenture, 
and  accused  de  Brus  of  treason; — and  that  de 
Brus  asked  to  look  at  the  paper  till  next  day,  and 
then  disappeared.  Of  course  we  know  there  was 
no  such  parliament,  nor  would  that  be  the  mode 
of  procedure  at  one.  Not  less  unlikely  is  it  that 
Edward  would  in  a  moment  of  unguarded  festivity 
reveal  his  purpose  against  de  Brus,  if  he  was,  as 
is  stated,  anxious  to  secure  his  absent  brother. 
It  is  altogether  incomprehensible  that  the  king's 
son-in-law  Ralph  de  Monthermer,  called  by  cour- 
tesy the  earl  of  Gloucester,  should  have  betrayed 
the  secrets  of  his  sovei-eign  and  benefactor.  Our 
historians  have,  evidently  under  mistake*  meant 


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this  for  the  previous  eaiTs  father,  who  was  a  rela- 
tion of  de  Bras's  mother.  The  purse  of  money  and 
pair  of  gilded  spurs  should  be  *^  twelve  pence  and 
a  pair  of  spnrs,"^  as  in  Fordun,  a  most  mysterious 
and  improbable  restitution  and  mode  of  communi- 
cation of  danger. 

The  whole  antecedents  would  appear  to  be  pre- 
pared, under  the  inventive  powers  of  tradition,  to 
account  for  the  murder  of  Comyn  as  an  act  con- 
templated beforehand,  whereas  it  is  most  evident 
that  it  was  as  unexpected  on  the  part  of  de  Bms 
as  on  that  of  his  victim.  It  was  a  hasty  quarrel 
between  two  proud-spirited  rivals.  De  Brus  had 
made  no  preparations  to  assert  his  pretensions  to 
the  crown,  nor  had  he  a  single  castle  except  Kil- 
drummie  in  Aberdeenshire  at  his  disposal.  Amidst 
a  mass  of  contradictory  improbabilities  one  genu- 
ine public  contemporary  document  is  worth  a 
hundred  conjectures.  In  his  first  public  instni- 
ment  after  the  shiughter  of  Comyn,  King  Edwaid 
expressly  says,  that  he  reposed  entire  confidence 
in  de  Brus  [Farf.  ii.  988].  It  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  he  could  have  done  so,  if  he  were  possessed 
of  written  evidence  to  prove  that  the  intentions  of 
de  Brus  were  hostile.  It  was  as  little  likely  that 
de  Brus  could  have  known  Comyn  was  to  be  pre- 
sent at  Dumfries  as  that  he  would  have  proposed 
a  sanctuary — a  place  so  tremendous  in  the  notions 
of  those  days — for  the  scene  of  action.  It  is  pro- 
bable, however,  that  Comyn  might  have  been  en- 
deavouring to  instil  some  suspicions  into  the  mind 
of  Edward  from  jealousy  of  de  Bms ;  and  indeed 
there  is  a  hint  to  this  effect  given  by  Hemingford, 
the  most  authentic  because  the  best  informed  con- 
temporary, and  that  reports  of  these  might  have 
reached  the  ears  of  de  Brus  or  been  referred  to  by 
Edward  himself.  On  meeting  Comyn,  therefore, 
de  Brus  demanded  a  private  interview  and  an 
explanation.  In  their  converaation  some  hot 
words  took  place,  and  de  Bi-us  struck  Comyn  with 
his  dagger.  The  impetuous  zeal  of  his  followera 
aggravated  the  crime,  and  gave  to  the  whole 
transaction  the  appearance  of  premeditated  assas- 
sination. Such  is  the  conclusion  at  which  we 
have  been  compelled  to  arrive,  after  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  all  the  circumstances  of  an  event 
which  decided  de  Brns's  destiny. 

Two  months  thereafter,  March  27,  Brace,  as 


we  shall  now  call  him,  was  ci*owned  king  at 
Scone.  The  whole  proceedings  indicate  haste  and 
lack  of  preparation.  The  regalia  of  Scotland, 
with  the  sacred  stone  and  the  regal  mantle,  had 
been  carried  off  by  Edward  in  1296 ;  but  on  this 
occasion  the  bishop  of  Glasgow  furnished  from  his 
own  wardrobe  the  robes  in  which  Bruce  was  ar- 
rayed ;  he  also  presented  to  the  new  king  a  ban- 
ner embroidered  with  the  arms  of  Baliol,  which 
he  had  concealed  in  his  treasury.  A  small  circlet 
of  gold  was  placed  by  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews 
on  his  head ;  and  Robert  the  Bruce,  sitting  in  the 
state  chair  of  the  abbot  of  Scone,  received  the 
homage  of  the  few  prelates  and  barons  then  assem- 
bled. The  earl  of  Fife,  as  the  descendant  of  Mac- 
duff, possessed  the  hereditary  right  of  crowning 
the  kings  of  Scotland.  Duncan,  the  then  earl,  fa- 
voured the  English  interest,  but  his  sister  Isabella, 
countess  of  Buchan,  with  singular  boldness  and 
enthusiasm,  repaired  to  Scone,  and,  asserting  the 
privilege  of  her  ancestors,  a  second  time  crowned 
Bruce  king  of  Scotland,  two  days  after  the  former  | 
coronation  had  taken  place.  | 

The  news  of  the  murder  of  Comyn  reached  Ed- 
ward while  residing  with  his  court  at  Winchester, 
whither  he  had  gone  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 
He  immediately  nominated  the  earl  of  Pembroke 
governor  of  Scotland,  ordered  a  new  levy  of  troops, 
and,  proceeding  to  London,  held  a  solemn  enter- 
tainment, in  which  his  eldest  son,  the  prince  of 
Wales,  with  three  hundred  youths  of  the  best  fami- 
ilies  in  England,  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
and,  with  the  khig,  made  a  vow  instantly  to  de- 
part for  Scotland,  and  take  no  rest  till  the  death 
of  Comyn  was  avenged  on  Bruce,  and  a  temble 
punishment  inflicted  on  his  adherents.  The  earl 
of  Pembroke  and  Henry  Percy  having  reached  and 
fortified  Perth,  Bruce,  with  his  smaU  band  of  fol- 
lowers, arrived  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  sent  a 
challenge  to  Pembroke,  whose  sister  was  the  wi- 
dow of  the  i*ed  Comyn,  to  come  out  and  fight  with 
him  on  the  18th  of  June.  Pembroke  returned  for 
answer  that  the  day  was  too  fai*  spent,  but  that  he 
would  meet  him  on  the  morrow.  Satisfied  with 
this  assurance,  Bruce  retreated  to  the  wood  of 
Methven,  where  his  little  army,  towards  the  close 
of  the  day,  was  unexpectedly  attacked  by  Pem- 
broke.   Bruce  made  a  brave  resistance,  and  after 


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being  four  times  unhorsed,  was  at  last  compelled, 
with  about  four  hundred  followers,  to  retreat  into  the 
wilds  of  Athol.  Here  lie  and  his  small  band  for 
some  time  led  the  life  of  outlaws.  Having  received 
intelligence  that  his  joungest  brother  Nigel  had 
arrived  with  his  queen  at  Aberdeen,  he  proceeded 
there ;  and,  on  the  advance  of  a  superior  body  of 
the  English,  conducted  them  in  safety  into  the 
mountainous  district  of  Breadalbane.  The  adven- 
tures through  which,  at  this  period,  the  king  and 
his  follower  passed,  and  the  perils  and  privations 
which  they  endured,  are  mor^  like  the  incidents  of 
romance  than  the  details  of  history.  The  lord  of 
Lorn,  Alexander,  chief  of  the  Macdougalls,  who 
had  married  the  aunt  of  the  red  Comyn,  at  the 
head  of  a  thousand  Highlandei*s,  attacked  the  king 
at  Dairy,  near  the  head  of  Loch  Tay,  in  a  narrow 
defile,  where  Brucc's  cavalry  had  not  room  to  act, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  i-etreat,  figliting  to  the  last. 
At  Craigrostan,  on  the  western  side  of  Benlomond, 
is  a  cave,  to  which  tradition  has  assigned  the  hon- 
our of  affording  shelter  to  King  Robert  Bruce,  and 
his  followers,  after  his  defeat  by  Macdongall. 
Here,  it  is  said,  the  Bruce  passed  the  night,  sur- 
rounded by  a  flock  of  goats ;  and  he  was  so  much 
pleased  with  his  nocturnal  associates  that  he  after- 
wards made  a  law  that  all  goats  should  be  ex- 
empted from  grassmail  or  rent.  Finding  his  cause 
becoming  every  day  more  desperate,  he  sent  the 
queen  and  her  ladies  to  Kildrummie  castle,  under 
the  charge  of  Nigel  Bruce  and  the  earl  of  Athol ; 
while  he  himself,  with  his  remaining  followers, 
amounting  now  only  to  about  two  hnndi-ed,  re- 
solved to  force  a  passage  to  Kintyre,  and  escape 
from  thence  into  the  northern  parts  of  Ireland. 
On  arriving  at  the  banks  of  Loch  Lomond,  there 
appcai*ed  no  mode  of  conveyance  across  the  loch. 
After  much  search.  Sir  James  Douglas  discovered 
In  a  creek  a  crazy  little  boat,  by  which  they  safely 
got  across. 

While  engaged  in  the  chase,  a  resource  to  which 
they  were  driven  for  food,  Bruce  and  his  party 
accidentally  met  with  Malcolm  eaii  of  Lennox,  a 
staunch  adherent  of  the  king,  who,  pursued  by 
the  English,  had  also  taken  refuge  there.  By  his 
exertions  the  royal  party  were  amply  supplied 
with  provisions,  and  enabled  to  reach  in  safety 
the  castle  of  Dunavcrty  in  Blintyre,  where  they 


were  hospitably  received  by  Angus  of  Isla,  Che 
lord  of  Kintyre.  After  a  stay  of  three  days  the 
king  embarked  with  a  few  of  his  most  faithful  ad- 
herents, and,  affcer  weathering  a  dreadful  storm, 
landed  at  the  little  island  of  Rachrlne,  about  four 
miles  distant  fi-om  the  north  coast  of  Ireland.  On 
this  smaU  island  he  remained  during  the  winter. 

In  his  absence  the  English  monarch  j)roceeded 
with  unrelenting  cruelty  against  his  adherents  in 
Scotland.  Nigel  Bruce,  with  those  chiefs  who  bad 
aided  him  in  the  defence  of  Kildrummie  castle, 
which  they  were  compelled  to  surrender,  were 
hurried  in  chains  to  Berwick,  and  immediately 
hanged.  Many  others  of  noble  rank  shared  a 
similar  fate.  Even  the  female  friends  of  Bruce 
did  not  escape  King  Edward's  fury.  The  queeo^ 
tier  daughter  Maijory,  and  their  attendants,  hav 
ing  taken  refuge  in  the  sanctuary  of  St.  Duthac, 
in  Ross-shire,  were  sacrilegiously  seized  by  tbi 
earl  of  Ross,  and  committed  to  an  English  prison. 
The  two  sisters  of  Bruce  were  also  imprisoned. 
The  countess  of  Buchan  was  suspended  in  a  cage 
of  wood  and  iron  from  one  of  the  outer  turrets  of 
the  castle  of  Berwick,  in  which  she  remained  fot 
four  years. 

Bruce's  estates,  both  in  England  and  Scotlaon, 
were  confiscated,  and  he  himself  and  ail  his  ad- 
herents were  solemnly  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope's  legate  at  Carlisle.  Of  these  dure  national 
and  personal  misfortunes,  the  king,  in  his  island- 
retreat,  was  happily  ignorant;  and  he  had  so 
effectually  concealed  himself,  that  it  was  generallj 
believed  that  he  was  dead.  On  the  approach  of 
spring,  1307,  Bruce  resolved  to  make  one  more 
effort  for  the  recovery  of  his  rights.  He  set  sail 
for  the  island  of  Arran,  with  thirty-three  galleys 
and  three  hundred  men.  He  next  made  a  descent 
upon  Carrick;  and,  surprising  at  midnight  the 
English  troops  in  his  own  castle  of  Tnmberry, 
then  held  by  the  Lord  Henry  Percy,  he  put  nearly 
the  whole  garrison  to  the  sword.  He  now  rav- 
aged the  neighbouring  country,  and  levied  the 
rents  of  his  hereditary  lands,  while  many  of  his 
vassals  flocked  to  his  standard. 

Meantime,  an  English  force  of  a  thousand  strong, 
being  raised  in  Northumbedand,  advanced  into 
Ayrshire,  and,  unable  to  oppose  it,  Bruce  retired 
into  the  mountainous  districts  of  Carrick.    Percy 


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soon  after  evacuated  Turnberry  castle,  aud  re- 
turned to  England.  This  success  was  counter- 
balanced by  the  miscarriage  of  the  king^s  brothers, 
Thomas  and  Alexander  Bruce,  who,  with  seven 
hundred  men,  attempting  a  descent  at  Loch  Ryan, 
in  Galloway,  were  attacked  by  Duncan  Macdow- 
all,  a  Celtic  chief,  and  almost  all  cut  to  pieces. 
The  two  brothers  being  taken  prisonera,  were  con- 
veyed to  Carlisle  and  executed. 

AVhile  English  reinforcements  continued  to  pour 
into  Scotland  from  all  quaiters,  Bruce,  shut  up  in 
the  fastnesses  of  CaiTick,  found  himself  with  only 
sixty  men,  the  remainder  having  deserte(f  him  in 
the  belief  that  his  cause  was  hopeless.  Beset  on 
every  side  by  the  English,  he  was  also  exposed  to 
danger  from  private  treacheiy;  and  his  escapes 
were  often  almost  miraculous.  Among  the  most 
inveterate  of  his  foes  were  the  men  of  galloway, 
who,  hoping  to  effect  his  destruction  and  that  of 
all  his  followers,  collected  about  two  hundred  men, 
and  accompanied  by  bloodhounds,  came  to  attack 
his  encampment,  which  was  defended  in  the  rear 
by  a  rapid  mountain  stream,  the  banks  of  which 
were  steep  and  covered  with  wood.  Bruce  re- 
ceived timely  notice  of  his  danger,  and  crossing  the 
sti-eam  at  night,  withdrew  his  men  to  a  swampy 
level  at  a  short  distance  from  the  rivulet,  which 
had  only  one  narrow  ford,  over  which  the  enemy 
must  necessarily  pass.  Commanding  his  soldiers 
to  remain  quiet  and  keep  a  strict  watch,  he  and 
two  followers  went  forward  to  reconnoitre.  The 
pathway  which  led  to  the  ford  could  allow  only 
one  man  at  a  time  to  advance  through  it.  The 
yell  of  a  bloodhound  in  the  distance  told  him  of 
the  approach  of  his  enemies ;  and  in  a  short  space 
he  perceived,  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  the  Gal- 
loway men  on  hoi'seback  on  the  opposite  bank. 
They  soon  passed  the  ford,  and  one  by  one  began 
to  make  their  appearance  np  the  path  to  the  spot 
where  the  king  stood,  calmly  awaiting  their  com- 
ing. On  fii*st  seeing  them,  he  had  sent  off  his  at- 
tendants to  order  his  soldiers  to  advance  instantly 
to  his  relief.  The  foremost  of  his  foes  rode  boldly 
forward  to  attack  the  solitary  individual  who  was 
thus  hardy  enough  to  dispute  the  passage ;  when 
a  thrust  of  Bmce's  spear  laid  him  dead  on  the 
spot.  The  next  and  the  next  shared  the  same 
fate,  and  as  each  fell,  Bruce,  with  his  short  dag- 


ger, stabbed  their  horses;  and  the  dead  bodies 
formed  a  soii;  of  rampart  against  the  othoi's.  At 
length,  the  loud  shout  of  the  king's  followers,  ad- 
vancing to  the  rescue,  with  Sir  Gilbert  de  la  Haye 
at  their  head,  wanied  the  enemy  to  retire,  after 
sustaining  a  loss  of  fourteen  men.  Bruce  was 
shortly  afterwards  rejoined  by  Sir  James  Douglas, 
but  his  whole  force  at  this  time  did  not  exceed  in 
all  four  hundred  men,  with  which  he  resolved  to 
meet  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  and  his  old  enemy 
John  of  Loni,  who,  with  a  superior  army  of  Eng- 
lish cavalry  and  savage  Highlander,  were  ad- 
vancing agamst  him.  Being  attacked  by  the 
English  in  front,  and  at  the  same  time  by  the  men 
of  Lorn  in  the  rear,  Bruce's  little  band  suddenly 
divided  into  small  parties,  and  fled  in  separate 
directions.  Lorn  had  with  him  a  bloodhound 
which  had  once  belonged  to  Bruce  himself,  and 
which  being  now  let  loose,  singled  out  his  master's 
footsteps,  and  followed  on  his  track ;  until,  com 
ing  to  ,a  ininning  stream,  the  king,  who  was  ac- 
companied only  by  a  single  follow**,  plunged  into 
the  water,  and  turning  with  his  companion  into  the 
adjoining  thicket,  continued  his  retreat  in  safety. 
Having  regained  the  place  agreed  upon  as  the 
rendezvous  of  his  followei-s,  that  night  the  ad-  i 
vanced  post  of  the  English  was  surprised  by 
Brace,  and  upwards  of  a  hundred  put  to  the 
sword.  The  earl  of  Pembroke  in  consequence  re- 
tired to  Carlisle. 

Brace  now  ventured  down  upon  the  low  coun- 
try, and  reduced  the  districts  of  Kyle,  Canick,  and 
Cunningham.  Having  received  a  reinforcement 
ii'om  England,  the  eai'l  of  Pembroke  again  advanced 
into  Ayrshire  at  the  head  of  three  thousand  men, 
principally  cavaky,  and  was  met,  May  10,  1807, 
by  Bruce  at  Loudon  Hill,  with  only  six  hundred 
men,  when  the  English  sustained  a  total  defeat. 
It  was  here  that  Brace  fii*st  leai'ned  that  great  les- 
son in  warfare,  which  now  forms  one  of  the  most 
efficient  features  of  modern  strategy,  namely,  that 
a  firm  unflinching  infantry,  drawn  np  in  square, 
can  successfully  resist  the  encounter  of  mounted 
troopers ;  and  this  secret  it  was  the  more  impor- 
tant for  him  to  know,  as  the  English  excelled  in 
cavalry.  Three  days  after,  Bruce  encountered 
Ralph  Montheraier,  earl  of  Gloucester,  and  de- 
feated him  with  gieat  slaughter.  These  successes 
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so  animated  the  Scots,  that  thej  flocked  from  all 
quarters  to  the  national  standard. 

Edward  the  First  at  this  tiino  lay  npon  his 
deathbed  at  Carlisle;  but,  roused  by  intelligence 
of  the  repeated  victories  gained  by  Bruce,  whom 
be  thought  dead  and  Scotland  totally  subdued,  he 
summoned  the  whole  force  of  his  kingdom  to  as- 
semble; and  hanging  up  his  litter,  in  which  he  had 
hitherto  accompanied  his  tix)ops,  above  the  high 
altar  of  the  cathedral  of  Carlisle,  he  mounted  his 
war-horse,  and  attempted  to  lead  his  army  north- 
ward. But  the  hand  of  death  was  upon  him.  In 
four  days  he  had  only  advanced  six  miles,  and  he 
expired  at  Burgh-upon-Sands,  an  obscure  village 
on  the  Borders,  July  7,  1307,  in  the  69th  year  of 
his  age,  and  the  85th  of  his  reign.  With  his  last 
breath  he  directed  that  his  heart  should  be  sent  to 
Jerusalem,  and  that  his  skeleton,  after  the  flesh 
had  been  boiled  from  the  bones,  should  be  carried 
at  the  head  of  the  ai-my,  to  frighten  the  Scots  into 
subjection.  Edwai-d  the  Second  solemnly  swoi-e 
to  observe  the^dying  requests  of  his  father,  but  he 
performed  neither — the  deceased  monarch  being 
buried,  with  his  heart  entire,  and  his  bones  un- 
boiled, at  Westminster.  The  new  king  maiched 
as  far  as  Cumnock  in  Ayrshire,  appointed  the  earl 
of  Pembroke  guardian  of  the  kingdom,  and  then 
hurried  back  to  London. 

Bruce  now  made  an  expedition  into  the  noii;h 
of  Scotland,  and  brought  under  his  dominion  the 
territories  of  Argyle,  and  afterwards  took  the  for- 
tresses of  Inverness,  Forfar,  and  Bi*echin.  Con- 
ducting his  army  into  Biichan,  the  country  of  the 
Comyns,  he  wasted  the  land  with  fire  and  sword, 
and  nearly  depopulated  the  district.  He  soon 
after  stormed  and  demolished  the  castle  of  Aber- 
deen, which  was  held  by  an  English  garrison.  In 
tho  meantime,  Sir  James  Douglas  was  not  idle. 
For  the  third  time  he  took  his  own  castle  of  Doug- 
las, and  reduced  the  whole  forest  of  Selkirk,  be- 
sides Douglasdale  and  Jedburgh,  to  the  subjection 
of  Bruce.'  Bnice  and  his  army  next  attacked  and 
defeated  the  Lord  of  Lorn  at  the  pass  of  Brandir, 
in  the  Western  Highlands,  and  gave  up  his  coun- 
try to  plunder.  The  Lord  of  Lorn  having  taken 
refuge  in  the  castle  of  Dunstafliiage,  was  besieged 
in  that  fortress  and  compelled  to  suiTendcr,  when 
he  swore  fcaltv  to  the  conqueror 


In  Februaiy  1309,  the  clergy  of  Scotland  met 
in  a  provincial  council  at  Dundee,  and  issued  a 
declaration  that  the  Scottish  nation  had  chosen 
for  their  king  Robert  the  Bruce,  who,  through  his 
father  and  gi-andfather,  possessed  an  undoubted 
right  to  the  throne;  and  that  they  willingly  did 
homage  to  him  as  their  sovereign.  Edward  the 
Second,  harassed  by  the  dissensions  of  his  nobility, 
found  it  necessary  to  agree  to  a  truce,  which, 
though  only  of  short  duration,  enabled  Bruce  to 
consolidate  his  power,  and  complete  his  prepara- 
tions for  the  invasion  of  England.  At  the  expiiy 
of  the  truce  he  accoixiingly  advanced  into  Durham, 
laying  waste  the  country  with  fire  and  sword,  and 
giving  up  the  whole  district  to  the  unbridled 
licence  of  the  soldiery.  In  the  same  year,  Edward, 
in  his  tuiTi,  with  an  immense  army,  invaded  Scot- 
land, and  proceeded  as  far  as  Edinburgh,  but  the 
winter  appi*oacliing,  and  finding  that  the  Scots  had 
removed  all  their  provisions  into  the  mountain 
fastnesses,  he  was  compelled  ingloriously  to  retreat 
to  Berwick-upon-Tweed.  After  this  the  Scots, 
now  inm*ed  to  conquest,  again  and  again  broke 
into  England,  ravaging  the  country,  and  driving 
home  the  flocks  and  herds  of  their  enemies.  At 
one  period  Edward  sent  his  favourite  Gaveston, 
earl  of  Cornwall,  with  an  army  into  Scotland,  but 
that  doughty  commander  was  not  the  most  likely 
pei-son  to  vanquish  Robert  the  Bruce  and  his  hardy 
Scots.  The  town  of  Perth,  one  of  the  chief  garri- 
sons of  the  English  in  Scotland,  was  soon  after- 
wards gallantly  stonned,  the  king  himself  being 
the  fii-st  pei-son  who  scaled  the  walls. 

In  harvest  1312,  Bruce  again  invaded  England; 
and  several  towns,  among  which  were  Hexham 
and  Corbrigg,  were  given  to  the  flames.  Although 
repulsed  in  their  assaults  on  Carlisle  and  Bei-wick, 
the  Scots  only  consented  to  a  truce  on  the  imme- 
diate payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money  by  tbe 
clergy  and  inhabitants  of  Durham,  Northumber- 
land, Cumberland,  and  Westmoreland.  The  cas 
tie  of  Linlithgow  was  taken  by  a  countryman, 
named  William  Binnock  or  Biunie,  who,  conceal- 
ing eight  men  in  a  load  of  hay,  with  several  more 
lying  in  ambush  in  the  copsewood  neai'  the  castle 
gate,  suiprised  that  strong  fortress,  and  put  the 
whole  of  the  English  to  the  sword.  The  strong 
border  fortress  of  Roxburgh  was  also  captured  bv 


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Sir  James  Donglas,  and,  about  the  same  time,  the 
eastle  of  Edinbnrgb,  wliich,  from  its  sitnation,  was 
considered  nearly  impregnable,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Randolph,  the  son  of  Isabel  Bmce,  the  king's 
sister.  In  the  same  year,  nearly  all  the  fortresses 
in  the  kingdom  remaining  in  the  possession  of  the 
English,  were  taken,  one  after  another,  by  the 
Scots. 

Brace  himself  had  led  an  expedition  against  the 
Isle  of  Man,  which,  after  having  expelled  the 
poweiful  sept  of  the  Macdowalls,  his  inveterate 
enemies,  he  reduced  to  his  sway.  On  his  return 
home  in  the  autumn  of  1313,  he  found  that  his 
brother,  Edward  Bruce,  was  engaged  in  the  siege 
of  the  castle  of  Stirling,  which  was  held  by  Sir 
Philip  Mowbray  for  the  English.  Mowbray  gal- 
lantly defended  it  for  some  time,  but  as  the  garri- 
son began  to  suffer  from  famine,  he  prevailed  on 
Edward  Bruce  to  agree  to  a  treaty,  by  which  he 
bound  himself  to  surrender  the  castle,  if  it  was  not 
relieved  by  an  English  army  before  the  24th  of 
June  in  the  ensuing  year.  This  agreement  the 
king  of  Scotland  heard  of  with  displeasure;  never- 
theless, as  the  honour  of  his  brother  was  pledged, 
he  resolved  to  abide  by  it.  King  Edward,  on  his 
part,  roused  himself  from  the  lethargy  into  which 
he  had  fallen.  He  reconcUed  himself  for  the  time 
to  his  nobles,  and  summoned  all  his  barons  and 
fieft,  not  only  in  England,  but  in  Ireland  and 
Wales,  to  aid  him  with  all  their  followers;  and  he 
appointed  the  town  of  Berwick-tipou-Tweed  to  be 
the  rendezvous  of  the  forces,  on  the  11th  June. 
The  troops  collected  there  that  day  amounted,  at 
the  lowest  calculation,  to  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
the  most  numerous  and  best  appointed  aimy  that 
had  ever  advanced  against  Scotland.  Of  these  forty 
thousand  were  cavalry,  three  thousand  of  whom 
were  armed,  from  head  to  foot,  in  plate  and  mail. 
To  this  force  Bruce  could  only  oppose  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  men;  but  these  were  hardy,  brave, 
and  experienced  troops,  led  by  the  first  wan-ior  of  his 
age,  and  all  burning  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  their 
country.  The  camp-followers,  baggage-drivers, 
sutlers,  <&c.,  amounted  to  about  fifteen  thousand 
more;  and  these,  though  useless  in  the  field  of 
battle,  were  destined  to  perform  a  signal  service  in 
the  approaching  struggle.  Bruce  judiciously  chose 
his  ground  at  Bannockbuni,  within  four  miles  of 


Stirling.  On  his  left,  where  the  ground  was  bare 
and  open,  and  favourable  for  the  movements  of 
cavaliy,  he  caused  parallel  i-ows  of  pits  to  be  dug, 
each  about  a  foot  in  breadth,  and  about  three  feet 
deep,  which,  after  having  sharp-pointed  stakes 
placed  in  them,  were  carefully  covered  over  with 
sod.  His  brother  Edward  Bruce,  his  nephew 
Randolph,  earl  of  Moray,  Walter,  the  high  stew- 
ard of  Scotland,  and  Sir  James  Douglas,  were  the 
leaders  of  the  principal  divisions.  The  king  him- 
self took  the  command  of  the  reserve,  consisting 
chiefly  of  his  own  vassals  of  Carrick  and  the  men 
of  Argyle,  Kintyre,  and  the  Isles.  The  battle  of 
Bannockbnm  was  fought  on  the  24th  of  June  1314. 
At  the  moment  when  the  English,  vigorously  at- 
tacked by  Bruce  himself  at  the  head  of  the  reserve, 
seconded  by  the  divisions  under  £dwai*d  Bruce, 
Randolph  and  Sir  James  Douglas,  >vere,  through- 
out their  whole  Ime,  thrown  into  confusion,  the 
waggonei-s,  sumpter-boys,  and  followers  of  the 
camp,  having  formed  themselves  into  squadrons, 
with  sheets,  blankets,  &c,  fixed  upon  poles,  to  look 
like  military  banners,  suddenly  appeared  on  the 
snmmit  of  the  Oillleshill,  and  at  once  decided  the 
fortune  of  the  day.  The  already  dispirited  Eng- 
lish, supposing  them  to  be  a  fresh  army  come  to 
the  assistance  of  the  Scots,  threw  down  their 
arms,  and  fled  in  all  directions.  Thirty  thousand 
English  were  left  dead  upon  the  field ;  and  among 
them  were  two  hundred  knights  and  seven  hundred 
esquires.  Twenty-seven  of  the  noblest  barons  of 
England  were  laid  with  their  bannei-s  in  the  dust. 
The  yoimg  earl  of  Gloucester,  the  brave  Sir  Giles 
d'Argentine,  Sir  Robert  Clifford,  and  Sir  Edwai*d 
Mauley,  seneschal  of  England,  were  among  the 
slain.  King  Edward  himself  only  escaped  by  the 
fleetness  of  his  horse.  So  great  was  the  moral  ef- 
fect of  this  memorable  victory,  that,  according  to 
Walsingham,  a  contemporary  English  historian,  at 
this  time  a  hundred  of  his  countrymen  would  have 
fled  from  before  the  face  of  two  or  three  Scotsmen. 
The  day  after  the  battle,  the  castle  of  Stirling 
surrendered,  and  Sir  Philip  Mowbray  entered  into 
the  sei-vice  of  Scotland.  The  earl  of  Hereford, 
escaping  to  the  castle  of  Both  well,  was  i-etained  a 
prisoner  by  Sir  Walter  Fitz-Gilbert,  who  held  it  for 
the  English  king,  but  who,  changing  sides  at  this  cri- 
tical juncture,  received  a  grant  of  lands  and  became 


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the  founder  of  the  noble  honse  of  Hamilton.  For 
the  earl  of  Hereford,  the  wife,  sister,  and  daughter 
of  Bruce,  with  Wishart,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  the 
young  earl  of  Mar,  were  exchanged  by  the  Eng- 
lish, and  restored  to  their  country.  Three  times 
witliin  the  same  year  did  the  victorious  Scots 
invade  England,  ravaging  the  districts  through 
which  they  passed,  and  returning  home  laden 
with  spoil. 

The  Irish  of  Ulster  having  solicited  aid  from  the 
king  of  Scots,  Edward  Bruce  passed  over  to  that 
country,  whither  he  was  soon  followed  by  the  king 
himself,  who,  after  defeating  the  Anglo-Lish,  under 
the  baron  of  Clare,  returned  home  in  safety, 
leaving  his  brother  to  pui-sue  his  projects  of  con- 
quest, till  his  defeat  and  death  in  the  battle  at 
Dundalk  in  1318.  In  the  meantime,  the  war  with 
England  was  renewed,  but  the  events  connected 
with  it  belong  rather  to  histoiy  than  to  the  personal 
details  of  Bruce's  life.  Baffled  in  all  his  attempts 
against  the  Scots,  Edwaixi  the  Second  pi*ocured 
from  the  Pope,  John  the  Twenty-second,  a  bull, 
commanding  a  truce  for  two  yeare  between  Scotland 
and  England.  Two  cardinals  were  intrusted  with 
this  mission,  and  they  also  received  private  author- 
ity from  the  Pope  to  excommunicate  the  king  of 
Scotland,  and  whomsoever  else  they  thought  fit, 
if  necessary.  The  cardinals,  on  their  amval  in 
England,  sent  two  messengers  into  Scotland,  to 
convey  the  apostolic  mandate.  Biiice  listened  with 
attention  to  the  Pope's  message ;  but  when  the 
letters  sealed  and  addressed  *' Robert  Bruce, 
Governor  of  Scotland,"  wei'e  presented  to  him,  he 
firmly  but  respectfully  declined  to  receive  them. 
"These  epistles,"  he  said,  "I  may  not  open  or 
read.  Among  my  barons  there  are  many  of  the 
name  of  Robeii;  Bruce,  and  some  of  them  may 
have  a  share  in  the  government  of  Scotland. 
These  letters  may  possibly  be  intended  for  one  of 
them — they  cannot  be  for  me,  for  I  am  King  of 
Scotland  1"  The  nuncios  attempted  to  excuse  the 
omission,  by  saying,  that  "  the  Holy  Church  was 
not  wont,  during  the  dependence  of  a  controversy, 
to  say  or  do  aught  which  might  prejudice  the 
claims  of  either  contending  party."  The  reply  of 
the  king,  the  nuncios,  with  all  their  sophistry, 
found  it  impossible  to  answer.  "  Since  then,"  said 
he,   "  my  spiritual  father  and  my  holy  mother 


would  not  prejudice  the  cause  of  my  adversary  by 
bestowing  on  me  the  title  of  king  during  the 
dependence  of  the  controversy,  they  ought  not  to 
have  prejudiced  my  cause  by  withdrawing  that 
title  from  me.  It  seems  that  my  parents  are 
partial  to  their  English  son !  Had  you,"  he  added 
with  dignity,  "  presumed  to  present  letters  with 
such  an  address  to  any  other  sovereign  prince,  yon 
might  perhaps  have  been  answered  more  harshly ; 
but  I  reverence  you  as  the  messengers  of  the  Holy 
See."  The  disappointed  nuncios  returned  to  Eng- 
land, upon  which  the  cai*dinals  sent  a  priest, 
named  Adam  Newton,  to  Scotland,  to  proclaim 
the  papal  truce.  He  found  Bruce  encamped  with 
his  army  in  a  wood  near  Old  Cambus,  preparing 
for  the  assault  of  Bei-wick,  which  still  remained  in 
possession  of  the  English.  On  demanding  to  see 
the  king,  he  was  ordered  to  give  what  letters  he 
had  to  the  king's  seneschal,  who  would  deliver 
them  to  his  master.  These,  addressed  as  before, 
were  instantly  returned  to  him  unopened,  with  a 
message  from  Bruce  that  "  he  would  listen  to  no 
bulls  until  he  was  treated  as  king  of  Scotland,  and 
had  made  himself  master  of  Berwick."  The  monk 
was  refused  a  safe  conduct  home,  and,  on  the  road 
to  Berwick,  he  was  attacked  by  four  outlaws,  who 
tore  and  scattered  to  the  winds  his  papers  anu 
credentials,  plundered  him  of  his  bnU  and  the 
gi-eater  part  of  his  clothes,  and  left  him  to  find  his 
way  as  best  he  could. 

Berwick  shortly  afterwards  fell  into  Brace's 
hands,  and,  in  the  spring  of  1318,  the  Scottish 
army  invaded  England  by  Northumberland,  and 
took  several  castles,  returning  home,  "driving 
their  prisoners  like  flocks  of  sheep  before  them." 
Resolved  to  recover  Berwick,  Edward  the  Second, 
on  the  24th  of  July  1819,  invested  that  town  by 
land  and  sea,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  all  his  attacks. 
Douglas,  t(f  create  a  diversion,  invaded  England, 
and  September  20,  defeated  a  large  aiiny  of  priests 
and  rustics  under  the  archbishop  of  York,  at 
Mitton  on  the  river  Swale.  On  account  of  the 
great  number  of  ecclesiastics  who  fell  in  this  battle, 
it  is  known  in  history  as  "  the  Chapter  of  Mittou." 
The  siege  of  Berwick  was  in  consequence  raised; 
and  the  English  king  attempted  in  vain  to  inter- 
cept the  Scottish  army  on  their  homeward  maah. 
Bruce  having  been,  at  the  instigation  of  Edward, 


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excommnnicated  by  the  Pope,  the  estates  of  the 
kingdom,  April  6,  1820,  transmitted  a  spirited 
manifesto  to  his  holiness,  which  caused  him  to 
recommend  to  Edward  pacific  measures,  to  which 
that  ill-fated  monarch  would  not  hearken.  He  led 
a  great  arm}'  into  Scotland  as  far  as  Edinburgh, 
but  Bruce  having  laid  waste  the  whole  countr}*  to 
the  Frith  of  Forth,  his  soldiers  were  in  danger  of 
perishing  for  want  of  provisions.  A  solitary  lame 
bull,  which  they  picked  up  at  Tranent,  was  all  the 
prey  that  they  could  secure  in  their  march.  *'  Is 
that  all  ye  have  got  ?  "  said  the  eail  de  Warenne 
to  the  foi-agere  as  he  eyed  the  sorry  animal :  ''By 
my  faith,  I  never  saw  beef  so  dear ! "  Edward  was 
compelled  to  retreat,  and  on  their  way  back  to 
England,  his  half-famished  soldiei-s  in  revenge 
burned  the  monasteries  of  Drybui*gh  and  Meli-ose; 
after  plundering  the  shrines,  and  murdering  the 
monks. 

Bruce  himself,  subsequently,  at  the  head  of  an 
army,  invaded  England,  and  after  besieging  Nor- 
ham  cattle,  defeated  Edward  once  more  at  Biland 
Abbey,  in  Yorkshire.  A  truce  was  in  consequence 
ratified  between  the  two  kingdoms  at  Berwick, 
June  7,  1323,  to  last  for  thirteen  years.  Brace 
was  now  anxious  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Pope,  and 
accordingly  despatched  Randolph  to  Rome  for  the 
ourpose,  when  his  holiness  agreed  not  to  renew 
nis  former  censures.  In  1827,  on  the  accession  of 
Edward  the  Third  to  the  English  throne,  hos- 
tilities between  the  two  kingdoms  almost  imme- 
diately recommenced ;  but  the  Scots  being  again 
victorious,  the  English  government  were  at  last 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  agreeing  to  a  per- 
manent peace.  After  several  meetings  of  the 
commissioners  of  both  countries,  the  treaty  was 
finally  ratified  in  a  parliament  held  at  Northamp- 
ton, Mareh  4, 1328 ;  the  principal  articles  of  which 
were  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Scot- 
land, and  of  Bruce's  title  to  the  throne,  and  the 
marriage  of  Joanna,  sister  of  the  king  of  England, 
to  David,  the  son  and  heir  of  the  king  of  Scots. 
Bruce's  glorious  career  was  now  drawing  to  a  close. 
This  last  act  was  a  fitting  consummation  of  his 
laboure.  He  had  achieved  liberty,  independence, 
and  peace  for  his  country,  the  three  greatest  bless- 
ings he  could  bequeath  to  it,  and  he  now  prepared 
to  depart  in  peace.    The  hardships  and  sufferings 


which  he  had  endured  had  reduced  his  once  strong 
constitution,  and  he  became  sorely  afflicted  with  a 
disease  in  his  blood,  called  a  leprosy,  which 
brought  on  premature  old  age.  The  last  two 
years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  comparative  seclu- 
sion, in  a  castle  at  Cardross,  on  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Frith  of  Clyde,  where  he  devoted  his  time 
principally  to  the  building  of  siiips,  and  to  aquatic 
and  fishing  excursions,  hawking,  and  other  sports. 
He  was  very  charitable  to  the  poor,  and  kind  and 
courteous  to  all  who  approached  him.  It  is  also 
known  that,  among  other  animals,  he  kept  a  tame 
lion  beside  him,  of  which  he  was  very  fojid.  He 
contemplated  the  approach  of  death  with  calmness 
and  resignation.  The  only  thought  that  troubled 
him  in  his  dying  hours  was,  that  he  was  still  under 
the  excommunication  of  the  church  ;  and  to  make 
all  the  reparation  in  his  power,  he  commissioned 
Sir  James  Douglas  to  carry  his  heart  to  Palestine, 
and  bury  it  in  the  holy  city.  This  great  monarch, 
unquestionably  the  greatest  of  the  Scottish  kings, 
expired  June  7,  1829,  in  the  55th  yeai*  of  his  age, 
and  28d  of  his  reiorn.     His  henrt  was  extracted 


Seal  ot  King  Robert  Bruce. 

and  embalmed,  and  delivered  over  to  Douglas, 
who  was  killed  fighting  against  the  Moors  in 
Spam,  and  the  sacred  relic  of  Bruce,  with  the  body 
of  its  devoted  champion,  was  brought  home,  and 
buried  in  the  monastery  of  Melrose.  Bruce's  body 
was  inten-ed  in  the  Abbey  Church  of  Dunfermline, 


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wliero,  in  the  year  1818,  in  clearing  the  founda- 
tiong  for  a  third  church  on  the  same  spot,  his  bones 
ivere  discovered.  King  Robert  the  Bruce  was 
twice  married ;  first  to  Isabella,  daughter  of  Don- 
ald, tenth  earl  of  Mar,  by  whom  he  had  one 
daughter,  Marjory,  the  wife  of  Walter  the  high 
steward,  whose  son  was  afterwards  Robeit  the  Se- 
cond; and,  secondly,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Aymer  de  Burgh,  earl  of  Ulster,  by  whom  he  had 
David,  who  succeeded  him,  and  two  daughters. 

BRUCE,  Edward,  crowned  king  of  Ireland, 
was  the  brother  of  Robert  the  Bruce,  and  com- 
panion in  many  of  his  exploits.  In  1308. he  was 
sent  by  his  brother,  with  a  considerable  force, 
into  Galloway ,^  to  reduce  that  country  to  subjec- 
tion. He  took  and  dismantled  several  castles  and 
strongholds  held  by  the  enemy;  defeated  tlie 
English  twice,  once  under  Sir  Ingram  de  Umfra- 
vlile,  and  again  under  the  earl  of  Pembroke ;  and, 
after  encountering  and  dispei*sing  a  numerous  army 
of  the  inhabitants  under  Donald  of  the  Isles,  and 
Sir  Roland,  a  Galwegian  chiefs  he  made  himself 
lord  of  Galloway.  He  was  actively  engaged  in  all 
the  scenes  of  strife  and  contention  of  tiiat  eventful 
period.  In  1&13,  after  having  besieged  for  a  long 
time  the  strong  castle  of  Stirling  in  vain,  he  con- 
cluded an  agroement  with  Sir  Philip  de  Mowbray, 
tiie  English  govei*nor,  that  the  castle  should  be 
surrendered,  if  not  relieved  by  Edwai'd  the  Second 
bt^fore  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  at  the 
ensuing  midsummer.  This  agreement  led  to  the 
decisive  victory  of  Bannockbum,  which  secured 
the  independence  of  Scotland,  and,  with  the  sub- 
sequent successes  of  the  Scots,  induced  tlie  Iiisli 
to  solicit  their  aid  against  their  Englisli  oppressoi-s. 
In  1315  a  number  of  the  chieftains  of  Ulster  and 
others  made  an  oifer  of  the  crown  of  Ireland  to 
Edward  Bruce,  on  condition  of  his  assisting  them 
in  expelling  the  English  fix)m  the  island.  Ed- 
ward, though  deficient  in  the  coolness  and  sagacity 
that  distinguished  his  brother,  possessed  a  chival- 
ric  bearing,  and  a  dashing  impetuous  valour,  whToh 
was  not  exceeded  by  any  wamor  of  his  time. 
"This  Edward,"  says  Barbour,  **was  a  noble 
knight,  of  joyous  and  delightful  mannei-s,  but  out- 
rageously hardy  in  his  enterprises,  and  so  bold  in 
what  he  undertook,  that  he  was  not  to  be  deteiTed 
by  any  superiority  of  numbers,  as  he  had  gained 


such  renown  amongst  his  peers,  that  he  was  ac- 
customed veiy  commonly  to  conquer  a  multitude 
of  the  enemy  with  a  handful  of  his  own  men.^* 
He  was  of  a  fierce  disposition,  restlessly  ambitions, 
and  fond  of  dangerous  enterprises.  In  many 
points,  both  of  his  character  and  life,  making  due 
allowance,  of  course,  for  the  difference  of  times,  he 
strongly  resembled  Joachim  Murat,  king  of  Naples. 
Eagerly  embracing  the  offer,  Edward  Bruce  em- 
barked at  Ayr,  in  May  1315,  and  landed  on  the 
25th  of  the  same  month,  near  Carrickfergns,  at  the 
head  of  a  small  army  of  six  thousand  men ;  having 
with  him  as  leaders,  Randolph,  earl  of  Moray,  Sir 
John  Soulis,  Sir  John  Stewart,  Sir  Fergus  of  Ar- 
drossan,  nnd  other  knights.  No  sooner  had  he 
found  a  footing  in  Ireland,  than  he  attacked  the 
English  wherever  he  met  them ;  and  in  spit€  of 
then*  superior  numbers,  was  always  victonous.  He 
soon  made  himself  master  of  the  province  of  Ulster, 
and  was  crowned  king  of  Ireland,  May  2,  1816. 
His  small  army  being  much  reduced  by  the  con- 
stant fighting  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  receiver* 
an  accession  of  force  from  his  brother ;  and  in  th« 
spiing  of  1317,  King  Robert  himself  anived  in 
Ireland  with  reinforcements.  After  gaining  a  vic- 
tory over  the  Anglo-Irish  army  neai*  Carrickfergns, 
and  penetrating  a  considerable  distance  into  the 
country.  King  Robert,  from  the  vast  superiority  of 
numbei-s  of  the  English,  and  the  fickleness  and 
treachery  of  the  Irish,  soon  became  convinced  that 
the  permanent  occupation  of  Ireland  was  imprac- 
ticable, and  returned  to  Scotland.  Edward  Bmce, 
on  his  part,  remained  in  Ulster,  resolved  to  main- 
tain with  his  sword  the  precarious  crown  he  had 
won.  But  his  life  and  conquests  were  terminated 
at  once  by  the  fatal  battle  of  Dundalk,  October  5, 
1317.  The  Scottish  prince,  with  only  two  thou- 
sand men,  resolved  to  encounter  the  English  army, 
which  amounted  to  nearly  forty  thousand  troops. 
On  this  occasion  the  Irish  deserted  their  Scots  al- 
lies, and  retreated  to  a  neighbouring  eminence; 
and  the  English,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
gained  a  complete  victory.  Edward  Bruce  was 
killed  in  an  early  part  of  the  battle.  He  had  been 
singled  out  by  an  English  knight  named  John 
Maupas,  who,  after  a  desperate  hand  to  hand 
combat,  slew  him,  but  not  befoi-e  he  had  hirascli 
received  his  death-wound.    At  the  close  of  the 


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EDWARD. 


battle,  the  bodies  of  the  two  champions  wei*e  found 
lying  stretched  upon  each  other  as  they  had  fall- 
en. The  English  leaders  nngenerously  mangled 
and  divided  the  body  of  Edward  Brace  into  four 
qnarters,  and  preserved  the  hend  in  salt  in  a  little 
kit  or  barrel,  to  be  sent  as  an  appropriate  pi-eseut 
to  the  king  of  England.  But,  according  to  Bar- 
boor,  the  body  thus  ignominiously  treated  was 
that  of  Gilbert  Harper,  a  yeoman  belonging  to 
£dwai*d  Bruce^s  household,  whose  intrepidity  on 
a  former  occasion  had  saved  the  Scots  army  on 
being  surprised  at  Cai-rickfergus ;  and  who,  by  a 
cnstomary  practice  of  those  days,  wore  the  aj-mour 
and  surcoat  of  the  king,  his  master,  on  the  day  of 
buttle,  whilst  Edward  Brace  himself  was  plainly 
dressed,  and  without  any  ornament  or  indication 
of  his  rank.  The  small  remnant  of  the  Scottish 
army,  under  the  command  of  John  Thomson, 
leader  of  the  men  of  Carrick,  retreated  to  Car- 
rickfergus,  whence  they  embarked  for  Scotland. 

From  the  Braces  of  Clackmannan,  whose  direct  male  line 
became  extinct  in  July  1772,  most  of  the  families  of  the 
name  in  Scotland  trace  tiieir  descent.  The  progenitor  of 
that  house  was  Sir  Robert  Brace,  who  obtained  from  King 
DaTid  the  Second  a  charter, — granted  to  his  "  beloved  and 
<iuthfnl  cousin/'  delecto  et  fideli  oonsanguineo  suo  Roberto 
Brais,— of  the  castle  and  manor  of  Clackmannan,  dated  9th 
December  1359.  By  his  wife  Isabel,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert 
Stewart,  ancestor  of  tlie  family  of  Rosythe,  he  had  a  nnmer- 
ons  issne.  He  died  about  1390.  Sir  Robert,  his  eldest  son, 
married  a  daughter  of  Sir  John  Scrirogeour  of  Dndhope,  an- 
cestor of  the  earls  of  Dundee,  and  had  two  sons.  The  elder 
carried  on  the  line  of  the  family.  Thomas,  the  younger,  was 
the  progenitor  of  the  Braoes  of  Kennet  near  Clackmannan, 
which  family  having  terminated  in  a  female,  Margaret,  only 
danghter  of  the  sixth  Brace  of  Kennet,  by  his  wife,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Kinninmount  of  that  ilk  in  Fifeshire,  she  married,  in 
1568,  Archibald  Brace,  son  of  David  Bruce  of  Green,  and 
grandson  of  Sir  David  Brace,  the  sixth  baron  of  Clackman- 
nan. Robert  Brace,  great-grandson  of  this  Archibald,  was 
father  of  David  Brace,  from  whom  the  family  of  Kennet  are 
descended,  one  of  whom,  Robert,  was  a  lord  of  session,  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Kennet  He  was  the  son  of  Alexander 
Brace  of  Kennet,  by  Mary,  second  danghter  of  Robert,  fourth 
Lord  Burleigh.  He  passed  advocate  15th  January  1743,  was 
appointed  pn^essor  of  the  law  of  nature  and  nations  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh,  22d  June  1759;  in  the  following 
year  he  was  constituted  sheriff  depute  of  the  counties  of  SUr- 
Ung  and  Clackmannan,  and  4th  July,  1764,  was  promoted  to 
the  bench,  and  took  his  seat  as  Lord  Kennet  On  the  16th 
November  1769  he  became  a  lord  of  justiciary.  He  died  at 
Kennet  8th  April  1785.  Through  Lord  Kenneths  mother  the 
laird  of  Kennet  claims  the  barony  of  Bnrieigh.  [See  Bal- 
four OF  Burleioh,  I^rd,  ante^  p.  211.  The  Rev.  Alcxnn- 
Jer  Brace  of  Gartlet,  second  son  of  the  above  Robert,  and 
brother  of  David  Brace  of  Kennet,  was  an  eminent  divine. 
His  line  is  now  represented  (1856)  by  William  Downing 
Broee,  F.S.A.  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  barrister-at-law 


Sir  David  Brace,  the  sixth  baron  of  Clackmannan,  was 
father  of  Sir  Edward  Brace  of  Kinloss,  whose  grandson, 
Edward  Brace,  the  celebrated  lawyer,  was  created  in  1602 
Ix>rd  Brace  of  Kinloss.  Thomas  Brace,  the  grandson  of  the 
latter,  was,  in  1633,  created  earl  of  Elgin  in  Scotland,  and 
made  a  baron  of  England  by  the  title  of  Lord  Brace  of 
Whorlton.  [See  Elgin,  earl  of.]  From  Sir  George  Brace  of 
Caraock,  younger  brother  of  the  fir»t  lord  Brace  of  Kinloss, 
the  present  earl  of  Elgin  is  descended  in  a  direct  male  line. 

Henry  Brace,  the  fifteenth  and  last  baron  of  Clackmannan, 
chief  of  the  Braces,  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Alexan- 
der Brace,  Esq.,  of  the  family  of  Newton,  by  whom  he  had 
two  daughters,  who  both  died  in  infancy.  His  own  death 
took  place  in  1772.  His  widow  died  in  1796,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety-five.  In  August  1787  she  was  visited 
by  the  poet  Buras,  accompanied  by  Mr.  M.  Adair,  (after- 
wards Dr.  Adair  of  Hnrrowgate.)  who,  in  his  account  of  the 
excursion,  says,  '*  A  visit  to  Mrs.  Brace  of  Clackmannan,  a 
lady  above  ninety,  the  lineal  descendant  of  that  race  which 
gave  the  Scottish  throne  its  brightest  oraament,  interested 
the  poet*s  feelings  powerfully.  This  venerable  dame,  with 
characteristic  dignity,  informed  me,  on  my  observing  that  1 
believed  she  was  descended  from  the  family  of  Robert  Brace, 
that  Robert  Brace  was  sprang  from  her  family.  Though 
almost  deprived  of  speech  by  a  paralytic  affection,  she  pre- 
served her  hospitality  and  urbanity.  She  was  in  possession 
of  the  hero's  helmet  and  two-handed  sword,  with  which  she 
conferred  on  Buras  and  myself  the  honour  of  knighthood,  re- 
marking that  she  had  a  better  right  to  confer  that  title  than 
$ome  people.^  At  her  death  she  bequeathed  to  the  eari  of 
Elgin,  the  representative  of  her  family,  and  chief  of  the  house 
of  Brace,  the  sword  and  what  was  said  to  have  been  the 
helmet  of  Brace  above  spoken  of.  They  were  long  preserved  in 
the  tower  or  keep  of  Clackmannan,  (the  remains  of  a  castle  of 
King  Robert  Brace,)  a  view  of  which  is  given  in  Grose's 
*  Antiquities  of  Scotland,*  and  are  now  at  Broomhall  in  Fife- 
shire, a  seat  of  the  earl  of  Elgin. 

Sir  Alexander  Brace  of  Airth,  in  the  county  of  Stirling, 
lineally  descended  from  Sir  Robert  Brace,  knight  of  Clack- 
mannan, nLvried  Janet,  daughter  nf  Alexander,  fifth  Lord 
Livingston,  and  had  several  sons.  Sir  John  Brace,  the  eldest 
son,  was  ancestor  of  the  Braoes  of  Airth,  represented  by 
Brace  of  Stenhouse  in  Stirlingshire,  whose  ancestor  was 
created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1629. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Brace,  the  second  son,  whose  life  is  sub- 
sequently given,  became  the  progenitor  of  the  Braces  of  Km- 
naird,  and  also  of  the  Braces  of  Downhill,  in  the  county  of 
I^ndonderry,  Ireland,  on  which  latter  family  a  baronet<7 
wnK  conferred  in  1804. 

Thomas  Bruce,  another  son,  was  ancestor  of  Robert,  Vis- 
count de  Brace  of  Pans. 

BRUCE,  Edward,  an  eminent  lawyer  and 
statesman,  the  second  son  of  Sir  Edward  Brace  of 
Blairhall,  Fifeshii-e,  by  his  wife,  Alison,  daughter 
of  William  Reid  of  Aikenhead,  county  of  Clack- 
mannan, sister  of  Robert,  bishop  of  Orkney,  was 
bom  about  the  year  1549.  He  was  educated 
for  the  law,  and  soon  after  being  admitted  a  mem- 
ber of  the  faculty  of  advocates,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  commissary  court  at  Ed- 
inburgh, in  the  room  of  Robert,  dean  of  Aberdeen, 
I  who  had  been  also  a  lord  of  session,  and  was  su- 


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ROBERT. 


perseded  in  January  1576,  on  account  of  his  *'in- 
liabilitie."  From  the  Pitmedden  manuscript  in 
tlie  Advocates*  Library  we  Icani,  that  on  the  14th 
of  July  1584,  Bruce  appeared  before  the  judges  of 
the  court  of  session,  and  declared,  tli.it  though 
nominated  commissary  of  Edinburgh  in  the  place 
of  the  dean  of  Aberdeen,  he  would  take  no  benefit 
therefrom  duiing  the  life  of  Mr.  Alexander  Sym, 
also  one  of  the  commissaries,  but  that  all  fees  and 
profits  of  the  place  should  accrue  to  the  lords  of 
session.  On  the  27 th  July  1583  he  was  made 
commendator  of  Kinloss,  under  a  resei^vation  of 
the  liferent  of  Walter,  the  abbot  of  Kinloss.  About 
the  same  time  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  deputes 
of  the  lord  justice  general  of  Scotland.  In  1587, 
when  the  General  Assembly  sent  commissionei*s 
to  parliament  to  demand  the  removal  of  the  Tul- 
chan  bishops  from  the  legislature,  Bi-uce  energeti- 
cally defended  the  prelates,  vindicating  their  nght 
to  sit  and  vote  for  the  chnrch ;  and  addressing 
himself  directly  to  the  king,  who  was  present,  he 
complained  that  the  Presbyterian  clergy  having 
shut  them  forth  of  their  places  in  the  church,  now 
wanted  to  exclude  them  from  their  places  in  the 
state.  Mr.  Robert  Pont,  a  Presbyterian  minister^ 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  church,  was  in- 
ternipted  in  his  reply  by  the  king,  who  ordered 
them  to  present  their  petition  in  proper  form  to 
the  lords  of  the  articles.  When  it  came  before 
the  latter  it  was  rejected  without  obsei-vation.  In 
1594  Bruce  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  to  complain  of  the  harbour  affbrded  to 
the  earl  of  Bothwell  in  her  dominions,  when,  ra- 
ther than  deliver  him  up,  she  commanded  the  earl 
to  depai't  the  realm  of  England.  In  1597  Bruce 
was  named  one  of  the  parliamentaiy  ovei'seers  of 
a  taxation  of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  Scots, 
at  that  time  granted  to  James  the  Sixth,  for 
"  Reiking  out  ambassador  and  other  wechty  af- 
fairs ;"  and  on  2d  December  of  that  year  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  lords  of  session.  In  the  sub- 
sequent year  he  was  again  sent  to  England,  to 
obtain  the  queen^s  recognition  of  James  as  her 
successor  to  the  English  throne.  Although  he 
failed  in  the  object  of  his  embassy,  his  skill  and 
address  enabled  him  to  secure  many  of  the  Eng- 
lish nobility  to  his  sovereign's  interest.  In  1601 
he  was  for  the  third  time  despatched  to  England 


with  the  earl  of  Mar,  to  intercede  for  the  earl  of 
Essex,  but  they  did  not  anive  till  after  the  exe- 
cution of  that  unhappy  nobleman.  Not  wishing, 
however,  to  appear  before  Elizabeth  without  an 
object,  the  ambassadoi-s  adroitly  cou verted  their 
message  into  one  of  congratulation  to  the  queen 
on  her  escape  from  the  conspiracy  in  which  Essex 
had  been  engaged.  On  this  occasion  Bruce  did 
not  neglect  his  master's  cause,  having  had  the 
good  foi*tune  to  establish  a  correspondence  between 
James  and  Cecil,  which  contributed  materially  to 
James's  peaceable  accession  to  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land. On  his  return  he  was  knighted,  and  raised 
to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Baron  Bruce  of  Kin- 
loss. Two  yeare  afterwards  he  accompanied  King 
James  to  England,  and  March  3, 1603,  was  nomi- 
nated a  member  of  the  king's  council.  Shortly 
after  he  was  made  master  of  the  rolls,  when  he 
resigned  his  seat  as  one  of  the  lords  of  session. 
He  died  January  14,  1611,  in  the  62d  year  of  bis 
age,  and  was  buried  in  the  Rolls  chapel,  in  Chan- 
cery Lane.  London,  where  a  monument  was  erect- 
ed to  his  memory,  with  his  effigies  in  a  recumbent 
posture,  in  his  robes  as  master  of  the  rolls,  an  en- 
graving of  which  is  inserted  in  Piukerton's  Gallery 
of  Scottish  Portraits,  vol.  i.  He  had  married 
Magdalene,  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Clerk  of 
Balbii-nie,  in  Fife,  some  time  lord  provost  of  Edin- 
burgh, by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 
Through  one  of  his  sons  he  was  ancestor  of  the 
noble  house  of  Aylesbur}'  in  the  British  peei'age, 
and  through  the  other  of  that  of  Elgin  and  Kin- 
cardine in  Scotland.  The  male  lines  of  both 
houses  are  now  extinct.  [See  Elgin,  earl  of.] 
The  daughter  was  the  wife  of  William,  second 
earl  of  Devonshire,  to  whom  King  James,  with 
his  own  hands,  gave  ten  thousand  pounds  as  her 
mai-riage  portion. 

BRUCE,  Robert,  a  distinguished  minister  and 
a  principal  leader  of  the  church  of  Scotland  during 
the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  was  bom,  some  ac- 
counts say  in  1554,  and  others  in  1556,  but  ac- 
cording to  Wodrow,  about  1559.  He  was  the 
second  son  of  Alexander  Bruce  of  Airth,  iu  the 
county  of  Stirling,  by  Janet,  daughter  of  Alex- 
ander fifth  Lord  Livingstone,  and  Agnes,  daaghter 
of  the  second  earl  of  Morton.  By  descent,  he  was 
a  collateral  relation  of  his  great  namesake  Kini; 


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Robert  the  Brnce,  while  James  Bruce  the  Abys- 
{tinian  traveller,  was  his  descendant  in  the  sixth 
^neration.  U  is  father,  a  rude  and  powerful  baron, 
nas  occasionally  engaged  in  feuds  with  his  neigh- 
bours, like  others  of  his  class,  and  we  find  it  re- 
corded in  Bin-el's  Diaiy  (p.  13.)  that  on  the  24th 
November  1567,  at  two  in  the  afternoon  the  laird 
of  Airth  and  the  laird  of  ^^'emyss  met  in  the  High 
Street  of  Edinburgh,  when  they  and  tlieir  follow- 
ei-s  fought  a  bloody  skirmish,  many  being  wounded 
on  both  sides,  with  *  shot  of  pistol.'  The  eldest 
son,  as  he  was  to  inherit  the  family  propeity,  was 
educated  at  home,  but  the  second  son,  being  de- 
signed for  the  law,  after  attending  a  course  of 
philosophy  in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  was 
sent  to  Paris,  where  and  at  the  university  of  Lou- 
vain  in  the  Low  Countries,  he  studied  humanity 
and  the  principles  of  Roman  jurisprudence.  He 
completed  his  education  at  the  univei*sity  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  conducted  for  some  time  his  father  s  af- 
fairs before  the  com*t  of  session,  as  well  as  man- 
aged such  business  as  was  intrusted  to  him  by  his 
friends  and  acquaintances.  ^  His  reputation,'  says 
VVodrow,  *  for  knowledge  in  law  and  practice  was 
so  much  daily  advancing  that  a  design  was  fonned 
to  make  him  one  of  the  senatoi-s  of  the  college  of 
justice;  and  with  this  view  his  father  provided 
him  in  the  lands  and  barony  of  Kinnaird.'  It  is 
stated  that  the  corrupt  system  of  those  days,  which 
extended  even  to  the  court  of  session,  enabled  his 
father  to  secure  for  him  a  judgeship  by  patent. 
He  preferred  however  to  enter  the  ministry,  con- 
trary to  the  wishes  of  his  parents,  and  in  particular 
of  his  mother,  who  only  consented,  after  his  father 
had  given  his  reluctant  peimission,  on  condition 
that  he  relinquished  the  estate  of  Kinnaird,  in 
which  he  had  been  infeft.  *  That,'  he  says,  *  I  did 
willinglie ;  cast  my  clothes  from  me,  my  vaine  and 
glorious  apparell ;  sent  my  horse  to  the  foire,  and 
emptied  my  hands  of  all  impediments.'  [Calder- 
woods  History  of  the  Kith  of  Scotland^  vol.  iv.  p. 
636.]  In  October  1583,  he  went  to  the  university 
of  St.  Andrews,  to  study  theology  under  Andrew 
Melville,  then  professor  of  divinity  in  the  New 
College,  and  continued  there  till  1587.  He  said  to 
Mr.  James  Melville,  one  day  while  walking  with 
him  in  the  fields,  ^  that  ei-e  he  cast  himself  again  in 
that  torment  of  conscience  which  was  layed  on  him 


for  resisting  the  calling  of  God  to  the  studie  of 
theologie  and  ministrie,  he  had  rather  goe  through 
a  fire  of  brimstone  half  a  mile  long.'  \_Ihid.  p.  19.] 
In  the  beginning  of  February  1584,  Andrew 
Melville  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  secret 
council  at  Edinburgh,  for  using  certain  expressions 
in  a  fast-day  sermon,  which  were  held  to  be  se- 
ditious. On  his  appearance  he  denied  the  charge, 
declined  the  authority  of  any  civil  court  in  mattera 
of  religion,  and  appealed  to  a  trial  at  St.  Andrew's 
by  his  brethren,  and  the  testimony  of  his  own  con- 
gregation. The  university  sent  Mr.  Bruce,  then 
a  student  in  theology,  and  Mr.  Robert  Wilkie, 
with  an  attestation  signed  by  thirty  of  that  body, 
declaring  his  innocence.  To  avoid  imprisonment, 
however,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  to  England ;  but 
in  April  1586  was  permitted  to  return  to  St.  An- 
drews, and  while  Bruce  enjoyed  the  advantages  of 
his  lectures  as  theological  professor,  he  seems  to 
have  imbibed  no  small  poition  of  his  indomitable 
spirit.  In  June  1587,  he  accompanied  Melville  to 
Edinburgh,  and  in  the  General  Assembly  which 
met  the  2)th  of  that  month,  and  of  which  Melville 
was  elected  moderator,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
assessors.  He  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missionei-s  to  present  the  acts  and  petitions  of  the 
Assembly  to  the  king  and  parliament.  By  Mel- 
ville he  was  recommended  as  a  fit  person  to  suc- 
ceed the  deceased  Mi\  James  Lawson,  the  succes- 
sor of  John  Knox,  as  one  of  the  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh. He  was  accordingly  chosen  by  the  Assem- 
bly, but  at  first  declined  to  accept  the  charge, 
promising,  however,  to  preach  till  the  next  Synod, 
as  he  preferred  rather  to  go  to  St.  Andrews,  where 
he  had  a  call,  "  for,"  he  says,  "  I  had  no  will  of 
the  court,  for  I  knew  weill  that  the  court  and  we 
could  never  agree."  A  deputation  was,  however, 
soon  sent  to  St.  Andrews,  to  invite  him  back  to 
Edinburgh.  A  few  weeks  after  his  return,  being 
present  at  the  administration  of  the  sacrament,  one 
of  the  ministers  employed  in  the  service  desired 
Mr.  Bruce  to  sit  beside  him,  and  after  having  dis- 
pensed the  ordinance  in  part,  left  the  church,  and 
sent  a  message  to  Mr.  Bruce  to  sen^e  the  rest  of 
the  tables.  Imagining  the  minister  to  have  been 
taken  suddenly  ill,  and  being  pressed  by  many  in 
the  congi'egation  to  undertake  the  service,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  remainder  of  the  dispensation.     He 


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after«vards  accepted  the  charge,  but  would  never 
submit  to  ordination,  deeming  that  he  had  suf- 
ficient warrant,  in  the  unanimous  call  of  the  people 
and  the  approbation  of  his  brethrea,  for  undertak- 
ing the  duties  of  the  ministiy,  and  as  he  had  dis- 
pensed the  sacrament  he  would  not  allow  any  sub- 
sequent  ceremony  to  disannul  that  act. 

On  the  6th  Febniary  1588,  he  was  chosen  mo- 
derator of  an  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly,  called  to  consider  the  great  dangers  to 
the  protestant  faith  and  the  realm,  arising  from 
the  intrigues  of  the  popish  party,  previous  to  the 
threatened  invasion  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  In 
the  ninth  session  the  chancellor,  by  desire  of  the 
king,  appeared  and  accused  James  Gibson  minister 
of  Pencaitland,  of  stating  in  one  of  his  seimons 
that  the  king  had  been  the  real  cause  of  all  the 
evils  brought  upon  the  church  by  his  favourite  the 
earl  of  Arran  ;  and  that,  if  he  persisted  in  his  in- 
jurious measures  he  would  be  ^  like  Jeroboam  the 
son  of  Nebat,  the  last  of  his  race.*  Gibson  was 
cited  before  the  Assembly  in  its  foui*teenth  ses- 
sion, but  not  appearing  when  called  upon  he  was 
judged  contumacious,  and  ordered  to  be  sus- 
pended. This  manifest  yielding  to  the  court  seems 
to  have  been  much  against  the  conscience  of  the 
moderator  Mr.  Bruce,  who  withdrew  himself  when 
the  sentence  was  about  to  be  pronounced,  having 
the  previous  night  been  admonished  in  a  dream 
not  to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  by  a  voice  say- 
ing to  him,  ^'  Ne  intei*sis  condemnationi  servi 
Dei.'*  Mr.  Gibson's  suspension  was  taken  off  by 
the  following  Assembly.  Thenceforward  Bruce's 
name  appears  prominently  in  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  chui-ch,  and  especially  in  those  contests,  for 
supremacy  on  the  one  hand  and  independent  juris- 
diction on  the  other,  that  were  constantly  taking 
place  between  the  king  and  the  clerpy. 

On  the  thanksgiving  day  appointed  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  Spanish  armada,  Mr.  Bruce  preached 
at  Edinbui-gh  from  the  76th  Psalm.  His  two 
sermons  on  this  subject  were  printed  by  Walde- 
grave  in  1591,  and  display  a  strength  of  sentiment 
and  language  seldom  to  be  met  with  in  the  writers 
of  those  times. 

At  this  juncture  there  were  three  parties  in 
Scotland,  namely,  the  popish  faction,  the  chui-ch 
party,  and  the  courtiers.    The  popish  faction  con- 


sisted chiefly  of  the  earls  of  Angus,  Errol,  and 
Huntly,  the  murderer  of  the  "  bonnie  earl  of  Mo- 
ray," and  their  followers,  with  whom  the  turbu- 
lent earl  of  Bothwell,  although  a  protestant,  had 
joined  for  his  own  purposes.  The  party  of  the 
church  included  those  lords  who  had  been  banished 
for  the  raid  of  Ruthven,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  carry  off  the  king,  many  of  whom  had  acted  in 
the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  and  now  depended 
for  support  on  the  English  court.  The  court  party, 
with  the  king  himself  at  its  head,  was  composed 
of  the  secret  favoui*ers  of  episcopacy,  the  titular 
bishops,  and  the  immediate  servants  of  the  crown. 
The  commission  of  the  church,^f  which  Mr.  Bruco 
was  a  principal  member,  was  appointed  at  this 
time  to  meet  weekly,  and  the  popish  party  were 
prosecuted  throughout  the  kingdom  b}'  a  regulariy 
organized  body,  with  the  utmost  severity. 

On  the  17th  Febniary  1589,  the  queen  of  Eng- 
land transmitted  to  King  James  intelligence  of 
the  discovery  of  a  conspiracy  of  the  popish  lords, 
abetted  by  Spain.  Huntly,  Errol,  and  Bothwell, 
who  wero  then  at  court,  wero  immediately  impri- 
soned. Tliey  soon  found  means  of  gaining  the 
king's  pardon,  but  the  churoh  insisted  on  their 
public  repentance,  before  being  admitted  to  favour 
again. 

On  the  22d  October  of  the  same  year.  King 
James  sailed  to  Norway,  to  marry  his  queen,  the 
princess  Anne  of  Denmark.  Previous  to  his  de- 
parture he  constituted  Bnice,  for  whom  he  enter- 
tained feelings  of  blended  respect  and  fear,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  privy  council,  and  desired  him  to  take 
cognizance  of  the  affairs  of  the  country,  and  the 
proceedings  of  the  council,  in  his  absence,  pro- 
fessing that  he  had  more  confidence  in  him  and 
the  other  ministers  of  Edinbui*gh  than  in  all  his 
nobles.  Nor  was  he  disappointed,  for  the  country 
was  never  in  greater  peace  than  whilst  the  king 
was  out  of  the  kingdom  on  this  occasion.  Under 
the  supervision  of  the  clergy,  the  nobles  suspended 
for  the  time  their  feuds  and  faction  fights,  and  the 
people  enjoyed  an  interval  of  repose  from  the  dis- 
orders and  bloodshed  which  usually  distracted  the 
realm.  Desirous  of  gaining  the  good  will  of  the 
clergy,  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  who  with  the  duke  of 
Lennox  had  been  left  joint  governor  of  the  king- 
dom, offered  to  Mr.  Bnice  and  Mr.  Robert  RoUocJl, 


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to  make  his  public  repentance.  Accordingly,  on 
Tuesday  the  9th  of  November,  after  a  seimon  by 
Bruce,  from  2  Timothy  ii.  22—26  (printed  with 
his  other  sermons  in  1591),  the  eai'l  humbled  him- 
self on  his  knees  in  the  High  Chui-ch  (in  the  Little 
Kirk  beforenoon,  and  in  the  Gi'eat  Kirk  afternoon, 
says  Calderwood),  and,  with  tears,  confessed  his 
licentions  and  dissolute  life,  promising  to  prove  ano- 
ther man  in  time  coming;  which,  indeed,  he  proved 
by  becoming  woi-se  instead  of  better.  That  same 
night,  according  to  Calderwood,  or  soon  after,  he 
earned  off  the  earl  of  Gowi*ie*s  daughter  from 
Dirleton,  and  his  evil  courses  were  so  far  from  be- 
ing restrained  that  the  atrocity  of  his  past  conduct 
was  soon  eiiceeded  by  greater  crimes. 

From  Upsal  in  Norway  the  king  wrote  a  fiiend- 
ly  letter  to  Bruce,  thanking  him  for  the  care  he 
had  taken  of  the  peace  of  the  country  in  his  ab- 
sence, and  acknowledging  that  he  was  worthy  of 
the  quarter  of  his  ^^  petite  kingdom.^^  He  subse- 
quently received  two  other  letters  from  his  ma- 
jesty, dated  from  the  castle  of  Croneburg,  1 9th 
February  and  4th  April  1590,  announcing  his  in- 
tention of  returning  home,  which,  in  the  former, 
he  said  would  be  ^*  like  a  thief  in  the  night,"  and 
desiring  him  to  take  order  that  he  and  his  queen 
might  have  a  proper  reception  on  their  amval. 
The  chancellor  Maitland,  who  was  with  the  king, 
also  wrote  him  three  lettci-s  on  state  matters, 
which,  with  the  king's,  are  all  given  in  full  in 
Calderwood's  History. 

On  the  1st  May  1590,  the  king  returned,  with 
his  queen,  at  whose  coronation  in  the  Abbey 
church  of  Holyrootl,  on  Sunday  17th  May,  Messra. 
Bruce,  Lindsay,  Balcanquhnl  and  the  royal  chap- 
lains were  app<^nted  to  assist,  and  Bruce  had  the 
iionour  of  anointing  her  majesty  with  oil.  This 
he  did,  not  as  a  religious  rite  but  a  civil  ceremony. 
On  the  24th  the  king  went  to  the  Great  Kirk  and 
returned  thanks  to  Mr.  Bruce  and  the  clergy  for 
the  religious  and  civil  care  of  his  kingdom  which 
they  had  taken  in  his  absence.  On  the  9th  of  the 
ensuing  June  Bruce  himself  was  married  to  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  James  Douglas  of  Parkhead, 
when  his  father  restored  to  him  his  inheritance  of 
Kinnaird.  His  father-in-law,  Douglas,  some  years 
afterwards  became  known  in  histoi7  as  the  assas- 
sin of  James  Stuart,  earl  of  An-an,  the  former  fa- 


vourite of  King  James,  and  the  inveterate  enemy 
of  the  clergy. 

Next  to  Andrew  Melville,  Bruce  had  the  great- 
est influence  in  the  church,  and  he  at  all  times 
used  the  utmost  boldness  in  his  admonitions  to 
the  king,  both  from  the  pulpit  and  in  his  private 
conferences  with  him.  The  spirit  of  the  age  knew 
not  toleration,  and  the  characteristics  of  the  lead- 
ing clergy  at  this  period  were  a  want  of  charity 
for  those  of  a  different  opinion,  an  uncompromis- 
ing and  contemptuous  public  censure  of  the  sover- 
eign and  the  court,  and  a  constant  dictation  to  the 
civil  government,  in  mattere  of  state  as  well  as  of 
religion,  altogether  unwaiTanted,  and  which  often 
led  to  sedition  and  anarchy.  Austere,  however, 
as  were  their  doctrines,  then*  lives  were  pure  and 
their  motives  upright,  while  the  discipline  which 
they  established  in  Scotland  has  for  long  pi-eservcd 
the  religion  of  our  countrymen. 

From  James^  want  of  due  energy  in  administer- 
ing justice,  the  feuds  and  disorders  of  the  nobility 
and  people  broke  out  again,  after  his  return  from 
Denmark,  with  increased  violence.  On  Sunday, 
6th  June  1591,  the  king  attended  divine  service 
in  the  Little  Kirk,  when  Mr.  Brace  preached  from 
Hebrews  xii.  14,  15.  In  the  courae  of  his  sermon 
he  asked,  *'  What  could  the  great  disobedience  of 
the  land  mean  now,  when  the  king  was  present, 
seeing  some  reverence  was  borne  to  his  shadow 
when  he  was  absent?  It  meant,  he  said,  the 
universal  contempt  of  his  subjects ;  therefore,  he 
counselled  the  king,  to  call  to  God,  before  be  ei- 
ther ate  or  drunk,  that  the  Lord  would  give  him  a 
resolution  to  execute  justice  upon  malefactoi's, 
although  it  should  be  with  the  hazard  of  his  life ; 
which  if  he  would  enterprise  courageously  the 
Lord  would  raise  mapy  to  assist  him,  and  all  these 
impediments  would  vanish  away,  which  are  now 
cast  in  the  way;  otherwise,  he  added,  you  will 
not  be  suffered  to  bi*uik  (enjoy)  your  crown  alone, 
but  every  man  will  liave  one."  [Calderwood^  vol. 
v.  p.  129.]  This  rebuke  rankled  in  the  king^s 
mind,  and  on  the  Tuesday  following,  he  called  the 
ministers  of  Edinburgh  before  him  and  the  court 
of  session,  and  complained  of  these  personal  cen- 
sures from  the  pulpit,  but  without  effect.  The 
ministei-s,  and  particularly  Bruce,  continued  their 
public  exhortations  to  his  majesty,  whenever  oc- 


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casions  arose  to  call  for  tliem,  of  which  numerous 
instances  are  recited  in  Calderwood^s  History  of 
the  Kirk.  The  freedom  with  which  Bruce  op- 
posed the  encroachments,  and  censured  tlie  follies 
and  vices,  of  the  court  had  begun  to  excite  feel- 
ings of  jealousy  and  alarm  in  the  breast  of  the 
king,  and  his  fearless  maintenance  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  tlie  church,  joined  to  his  great 
power  over  the  people,  added  to  his  majesty's 
growing  hatred  of  him. 

On  21st  May  1592,  Mr.  Bruce  was  again  elected 
moderator  of  tlie  General  Assembly.  On  the  5th 
of  the  following  month  parliament  passed  the  long 
and  anxiously  expected  act  by  which  presbyteri- 
anism  was  established  as  the  i^ligion  of  Scotland. 
In  November  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Bruce  and 
other  ministers  were  appointed  a  standing  council 
of  the  church  at  Edinburgh,  to  watch  the  designs 
of  the  papists,  who,  at  that  juncture,  were  pai*ti- 
cularly  active,  arising,  in  a  great  measure,  from 
the  favour  shown  to  the  popish  lords  by  the  king 
himself.  This  council  of  the  clergy  was  viewed 
with  great  dislike  by  James  as  an  encroachment 
on  his  prerogative,  and  in  the  following  December, 
irritated  at  the  opposition  given  by  the  ministers 
to  the  arrival  at  court  of  his  favourite,  Captain 
Stuart,  sometime  earl  of  Arran,  and  the  counten- 
ance supposed  to  be  shown  by  them  to  the  turbu- 
lent earl  of  Bothwell,  after  the  raid  of  Falkland, 
he  sent  for  the  magistrates  and  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  brought  a  special  charge  of  treason 
against  Bruce,  for  harbouring  that  restless  noble- 
man. Bruce  denied  the  charge,  and  demanded 
the  author.  Sevei-al  were  pi-omised,  but  none 
were  given.  On  the  following  Sunday  he  and 
Balcanqnhal,  at  the  request  of  the  king,  warned 
the  people  against  Bothwell  /rom  the  pulpit,  and 
desired  them  not  to  give  him  any  encoui-agement 
or  protection.  On  the  8th  of  the  same  month 
some  of  the  ministers  went  down  to  the  palace  to 
urge  a  proof  of  the  treason  whereof  Bruce  was 
accused.  The  king,  however,  had  had  time  for 
reflection,  and  he  wished  the  matter  passed  over. 
This  would  not  satisfy  the  minicJtei-s,  and  a  day 
was  fixed  for  producing  the  accusers ; — of  whom 
two,  the  Master  of  Gray  and  Mr.  Thomas  Tyrie, 
were  named.  On  Sunday,  the  10th  of  the  same 
month,  Bi-uce,  lecturing  from  1  Samuel  xii.,  said 


that  the  king  was  surrounded  with  Hat's,  and  that 
he  would  discontinue  preaching  until  he  were 
freed  from  that  heinous  accusation  which  had  been 
bronght  against  him,  namely,  that  he  and  others 
had  conspii-ed  to  take  the  crown  off  the  king's 
head,  and  put  it  on  BothwelPs.  The  presbytery, 
the  kirk  session,  and  the  town  council,  as  well  as 
Bruce  himself,  were  urgent  for  a  trial,  and  the 
Master  of  Gray,  mentioned  as  the  principal  ac- 
cuser, indignantly  quitted  the  c^urt,  and  by  letter 
vindicated  Brace  from  the  charge,  offering  *on 
Bruce's  honest  quarrel  in  that  behalf,'  to  fight  any 
man,  except  the  king  himself.  Assuredly,  for 
such  an  unfounded  calumny  the  pusillanimous 
monarch  was  sufficiently  harassed.  On  Thursday, 
the  14th  of  December,  the  day  appointed  for  the 
production  of  the  accusers,  Bruce,  accompanied  by 
the  kirk  session  and  others,  again  proceeded  to  the 
palace,  and  demanded  that  they  should  be  brought 
forward,  but  none  were  forthcoming,  and  the  king, 
who  was  heartily  tired  of  the  whole  business,  and 
^misl3'ked'  that  it  had  been  insisted  on  so  fiir, 
put  them  off  with  fair  promises,  and  so  the  matter 
ended.  On  the  7th  of  the  following  January, 
Brace  exhorted  the  king,  in  his  sermon,  new  to 
execute  justice  impartially,  othenvise,  the  Chron- 
icles, he  said,  will  keep  in  memory  king  James  the 
Sixth  to  his  shame.  After  Bothwell  had  forced 
his  way  into  Holyroodhouse,  in  August  1593,  it  la 
well  known  that  he  got  a  i*emission  for  his  past 
offences  from  the  king,  till  the  tenth  of  November, 
when  the  parliament  should  sit  and  confirm  it. 
An  agreement  was  subsequently  entered  into  be- 
twixt the  king  and  Bothwell,  that  the  former 
might  go  to  Falkland,  or  where  he  pleased,  and 
take  what  persons  be  liked  with  him,  and  the  lat- 
ter should  refrain  from  the  court,  and  in  the  mean- 
time would  not  be  molested.  To  this  agreement 
Bruce  was  a  witness.  In  the  month  of  September, 
however,  the  king,  in  violation  of  it,  published  a 
severe  pi*oclamation  against  Bothwell.  On  tlie 
8th  of  October  the  three  popish  earls  were  excom- 
municated by  the  Synod  of  Fife.  The  king,  not- 
withstanding, continued  to  show  them  counten- 
ance, and  by  his  influence  got  the  act  of  abolition 
passed  in  their  favour.  This  act,  sometimes  called 
the  act  of  oblivion,  allowed  liberty  to  the  accused 
to  pass  freely  among  the  king's  subjects,  on  certain 


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conditions.  Alarmed  at  tbis,  the  fiiends  of  the 
eharch  met,  as  thej  had  long  been  accnstomed  to 
do,  in  the  gallery  of  Brace's  house,  and  ft*amed  a 
petition  to  the  king  that  the  popish  lords  should  be 
closely  committed  to  prison  till  they  made  their  pub- 
lic recantation  Mr.  Bruce,  preaching  before  the 
chancellor,  secretary,  and  justice-clerk,  December 
16th,  said  that  the  king's  reign  would  be  short  and 
troublesome,  if  the  act  of  abolition  wei-e  not  re- 
scinded. In  March  1594,  after  the  forfeiture  of 
Both  well,  and  his  mustering  men  to  appear  in 
arms  against  the  king,  Bruce  told  James  from  the 
pnlpit  that,  however  Bothwell  were  out  of  the 
way,  he  should  never  want  a  particular  enemy  till 
he  fought  the  Lord's  battles  against  the  wicked ; 
that  Lord  Bothwell  had  taken  protection  of  the 
good  cause,  at  least  the  pretence  thereof,  to  the 
king's  shame,  because  he  took  not  upon  him  the 
quarrel,  and  he  understood  not  how  he  could  pursue 
Bothwell,  till  he  had  proven  the  last  band  broken 
and  indenture  betwixt  them,  whereto  he  was  one 
witness.  These  speeches,  says  Calderwood,  galled 
the  king.  On  the  9th  of  April,  Sir  Robert  Mel- 
ville and  the  laird  of  Carmichael  were  sent  by  the 
king  to  the  presbytery  of  Edinburgh,  to  ask  their 
advice  as  to  how  Both  well's  forces  could  be  dis- 
persed. Deeming  this  but  a  snare  the  brethren 
gave  a  general  answer,  and  though  pressed  for  a 
more  particular  one,  they  declined  it.  Sir  Robert 
complained  that  the  nobility  had  left  the  king. 
Mr.  Bruce  said  that  the  king's  doings  and  pro- 
ceedings lost  him  esteem  among  all  his  subjects, 
especially  the  meaner  sort,  who  were  oppressed, 
and  though  the  mlnistiy  should  exhort  them  to 
assist  him,  they  would  not  if  he  amended  not; 
therefore  his  advice  was  that  he  would  turn  and 
repent  of  his  sins. 

The  year  1596  is  marked  by  her  histonans  as 
the  period  when  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Scot- 
land had  attained  to  her  full  glory.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  Mr.  Bruce  was  appointed  by  the 
assembly  to  visit  the  churches  in  the  province  of 
Glasgow,  where  he  was  received  with  the  greatest 
respect  and  honour,  so  high  was  his  reputation  for 
faithfulness,  wisdom,  and  usefulness.  The  king, 
o£fended  at  the  warmth  of  his  reception  in  the 
west,  vowed  he  should  lose  his  head  for  his 
coudnct  in  regard  to  Bothwell.    It  is  i-elatcd  by 


Maxwell,  bishop  of  Ross,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled, 
*The  Burden  of  Issachar,'  published  in  1646,  that 
when  Bruce  returned  to  Edinburgh,  "  entering  the 
Canongate,  King  James,  looking  out  at  his  win- 
dow in  the  palace  of  Holyrood,  with  indignation 
(which  extorted  from  him  an  oath),  said.  Master 
Robert  Bruce,  I  am  sure,  intends  to  be  king,  and 
declare  himself  heir  to  Robert  de  Bruce."  If  this 
be  true,  the  story  told  by  the  same  writer,  and  by 
Spottiswood,  and  repeated  by  all  the  episcopalian 
historians,  as  to  Brace's  saucy  bearing  and  inso- 
lent answers  to  the  king,  in  the  matter  of  the  pro- 
posed recall  of  the  three  popish  earls,  cannot  be 
i-elied  upon.  As  Brace  was,  at  this  time,  entirely 
out  of  favour  at  court,  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that 
he  would  have  been  consulted  by  the  king  on  such 
an  occasion.  He  is  said  to  have  been  sent  for  to 
Holyrood,  and  on  being  ushered  into  the  king's 
bedchamber,  James  opened  unto  him  his  views 
upon  the  English  crown,  and  his  fears  lest  the 
papists  in  Scotland,  of  whom  these  lords  were  the 
chief,  should  join  with  the  Romanists  in  England, 
and  endeavour  to  prevent  his  succession.  He 
proposed,  therefore,  to  pardon  and  recall  them,  in 
order  to  gain  them  to  his  interests.  To  this  Bruce 
is  represented  to  have  answered,  "  Sir,  you  may 
pai*don  Angus  and  Errol  and  recall  them,  but  it  is 
not  fit,  nor  will  yon  ever  obtain  my  consent  to 
pardon  or  recall  Huntly."  Tlie  king  desired  him 
to  consider  the  matter  till  next  day,  but  he  con- 
tinued inexorable,  and  finally  declared  to  the  king, 
*•  Sir,  I  see  your  resolution  is  to  take  Huntly  into 
favour,  which,  if  you  do,  I  will  oppose,  and  you 
shall  choose  whether  you  shall  lose  Huntly  or  me, 
for  both  of  us  you  cannot  keep."  [Spottiswood, 
p.  417.]  We  do  not  believe  the  statement.  The 
crisis  of  the  church's  fate  had  arrived,  and  Brace's 
own  troubles  and  sufferings  were  now  about  to 
commence,  so  that  his  word  had  ceased  to  have 
any  effect  on  the  self-will  and  determination  of 
King  James,  who  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
first  of  his  family  that  aimed,  in  a  systematic 
mannpr,  at  arbitrary  power.  This  he  did  by  en- 
deavouring to  overthrow  tlie  church,  which  had 
proved  such  a  strong  check  upon  his  proceedings. 
The  clergy,  on  their  part,  contended  for  complete 
independence.  On  both  sides  the  encroachment 
was  gi*eat.    The  ministers  were  peipetually  as- 


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serting  the  liberty  of  the  church,  to  whicli  the 
king,  from  the  belief  that  it  inteifered  with  his 
prerogative,  and  the  fi*eedom  and  frequency  of 
their  personal  rebukes,  had  conceived  an  utter 
aversion.  It  is  impossible  to  defend  the  conduct 
of  either  party.  The  popular  impression  has  for 
long  been  against  the  king,  but  whoever  examines, 
with  a  candid  and  impartial  spirit,  the  histories  of 
Knox,  and  Calderwood,  will  readily  discover  that 
the  high-handed  conduct  of  the  clergy  approached 
to  an  intolerable  tyranny.  Charles  the  First  and 
his  two  successors  persecuted  both  the  church  and 
the  people  of  Scotland,  but  his  father  only  opposed  a 
dominancy  on  the  paii;  of  the  clergy  which,  if  not 
thwarted  as  it  was  at  the  outset,  would  in  time 
have  overturned  the  monarchy. 

The  banished  noblemen,  finding  favour  at  court, 
returned  without  formal  leave,  and  to  the  mortifi- 
cation of  the  clergy  and  the  astonishment  of  the 
people,  the  countess  of  Huntly  made  her  way  into 
the  confidence  of  the  queen,  whilst  Lady  Living- 
ston, also  a  papist,  was  intrusted  with  the  care  of 
the  infant  princess.  The  grievances  of  the  church 
were  immediately  carried  to  the  throne,  but  they 
were  heard  with  coldness,  or  dismissed  without  re- 
lief. Bruce  and  Melville  were  appointed  by  the 
Assembly  to  wait  on  the  queen,  and  treat  with  her 
about  the  religious  reformation  of  her  household, 
but  they  were  denied  admittance,  as  she  was  en- 
gaged at  a  dance!  The  ministers  appointed  the 
firat  Sunday  of  December  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
humiliation  for  the  dangers  that  threatened  reli- 
gion. In  the  meantime  one  of  the  ministei's  of  St. 
Andrews,  named  David  Black,  was  cited  by  the 
king,  before  the  privy  council,  for  using  in  a  ser- 
mon certain  expressions,  alleged  to  be  seditions, 
against  the  king  and  queen,  and  against  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Black  declined  the  authority  both  of 
the  king  and  the  privy  council,  till  the  church  first 
took  cognizance  of  the  matter.  The  clergy  sup- 
ported him,  and  the  court  and  the  church  were 
now  at  open  and  irreconcilable  collision  with  each 
other.  The  proceedings  of  the  court  were  sufll- 
ciently  arbitrary.  On  the  16th  December  a  pro- 
clamation was  issued  charging  the  commissioners 
of  the  (jcneral  Assembly  to  leave  Edinburgh, 
which  was  at  once  obeyed,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
16th  another  appeared  commanding  twenty-four 


of  the  citizens  to  depart  from  the  town,  under  pain 
of  treason.  Next  day,  the  famous  17th  December 
1596,  a  tumult  was  suddenly  raised  by  the  popu- 
lace of  Edinburgh,  for  which,  though  mainly  in- 
cited by  the  two  rival  court  parties,  the  Cubicn- 
lars,  or  gentlemen  of  the  bed-chamber,  and  the 
Octavians,  as  the  eight  commissioners  of  the  trea- 
3UI7  were  called,  the  clergy  were  blamed;  and 
his  ms^esty  took  advantage  of  this  unhappy  riot 
to  cany  out  his  designs  for  a  change  in  the  whole 
framework  and  constitution  of  the  church.  On 
the  day  mentioned,  Balcanquhal  preached  from 
the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles\  to  a  numerous  concourse  of 
people,  consisting  of  the  well-affected  citizens  of 
Edinburgh  and  of  such  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
as  supported  the  protestant  cause,  and  after  ser- 
mon, he  requested  those  present  to  assemble  in  the 
east  or  Little  Kirk,  to  consider  how  the  danger 
threatening  religion  might  be  avoided.  At  this 
meeting  Mr.  Bruce  made  an  exhortation,  showing 
the  perils  of  the  church  from  the  return  of  the 
popish  lords,  and  he  desired  all  present  to  hold  up 
their  hands  and  swear  to  defend  the  present  state 
of  religion  against  all  opposers  whatsoever.  A  pe- 
tition to  the  king  was  agreed  to,  praying  that  h'n 
m^esty  would  secure  them  from  the  dangerous  plots 
of  the  papists,  and  that  the  citizens  who  had  been 
banished  without  a  cause,  might  be  put  npon  tbeh 
trial,  or  have  liberty  to  return  to  their  homes.  A 
deputation,  consisting  of  the  Lords  Lindsay  and 
Forbes,  the  lairds  of  Bargeny  and  Balquhan,  two 
bailies  of  Edinburgh,  and  Messra.  Bruce  and  Wat- 
son, was  sent  to  present  the  petition  to  the  king. 
A  minister  named  Cranston,  till  the  return  of  the 
deputies,  read  to  those  assembled  the  history  of 
Haman  and  Mordecai,  and  similar  passages  of 
Scripture.  James  was,  at  the  time,  sitting  with 
his  privy  council  in  the  Tolbooth  adjoinmg  St 
Giles\  in  a  room  above  that  where  the  conrt  of 
session  was  held,  and  on  entering,  Bruce,  address- 
ing him,  said,  "  They  were  sent  by  the  noblemen 
and  barons  convened  in  the  Little  Kirk,  to  bemoan 
the  dangers  threatened  to  religion  by  the  dealings 
that  wei-e  against  the  two  professors.''  The  kmg 
demanded  "What dangers?"  Bmce replied,  "Oui 
best  affected  people  that  tender  religion  are  dis- 
charged of  the  town ;  the  Lady  Huntly,  a  pro- 
fessed papist,  entertained  at  court,  and  it  is  sus- 


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pected  her  hasbaud  i3  not  far  off."  Without 
deigning  a  reply,  the  king  inquired  "who  they 
were  that  dared  to  as8crable  without  his  authori- 
ty?" "Dare!"  said  Lord  Lindsay,  "we  dare 
more  than  that,  and  shall  not  suffer  the  tinith  to 
be  overthrown,  and  stand  tamely  by."  This  lan- 
guage and  the  pressure  of  the  people  into  the 
apartment  alarmed  the  king  for  his  personal  safe- 
ty, for  which  he  was,  at  all  times,  nervously  ap- 
prehensive. He  abruptly  quitted  the  room,  and 
hurried  down  stairs  to  the  hall  where  the  judges 
lat.  The  deputation  returned  to  their  friends, 
and  while  acquainting  them  with  what  had  taken 
place,  the  people  without,  fancying  that  the  min- 
isters were  in  danger,  flew  to  arms,  and  displayed 
the  Blue  Blanket,  the  banner  of  the  city.  The 
uproar  was  increased  by  an  enthusiastic  citizen, 
named  Edward  Johnston,  crying  out,  "  The  sword 
of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  against  the  courtiers, 
enemies  of  the  truth."  ^Balfour's  Annals,  vol.  i. 
p.  400  ]  The  riot  was  at  last  suppressed,  and  the 
king,  highly  incensed  against  the  clergy  and  the 
inhabitants,  retired  next  day  to  Linlithgow,  after 
issuing  a  severe  proclamation,  ordering  all  who 
were  not  indwellers  to  remove  out  of  Edinburgh, 
and  appointing  the  courts  of  justice  to  be  held  at 
Perth.  On  the  pai-t  of  his  brethren,  Bruce  wrote 
a  letter  to  Lord  Hamilton,  requesting  him  to  in- 
tercede with  his  majesty  for  the  ministers,  and  to 
defend  them  against  the  machinations  and  calum- 
nies of  their  enemies,  but  instead  of  doing  so,  that 
nobleman  sent  a  garbled  copy  of  his  letter  to  his 
majesty,  which  much  enraged  him.  On  the  20th 
December  two  proclamations  were  issued,  the  one 
charging  the  four  mmisters  of  Edinburgh  and  some 
special  citizens,  to  enter  in  ward  in  the  castle,  and 
the  other  commanding  them  to  compear  before  the 
council  at  Linlithgow  on  25th  December,  to  an- 
swer for  treasonably  stirring  up  the  tumult  of  the 
17th  of  that  month.  Mr.  Bruce  proposed  to  re- 
main in  the  city  as  he  had  not  mixed  in  the  tu- 
mult, but  his  friends,  convinced  of  his  danger, 
pressed  him  to  withdraw  himself.  He  and  Mr. 
Balcanquhal,  therefore,  retu*ed  into  England,  but 
before  his  departure  he  wrote  a  spirited  declara- 
tion of  his  innocence.  This  characteristic  monu- 
ment of  his  eloquence,  his  independence,  and  his 
injuries,  will  be  found  in  Calderwood.    He  also 


wrote  a  letter  of  bitter  remonstrance  to  Lord 
Hamilton,  renouncing  his  friendship,  and  saying 
that  even  the  earl  of  Hnntly,  his  lordship^s  ne- 
phew, would  not  have  acted  in  the  manner  that 
he  had  done. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months  after,  the  king 
was  reconciled  to  the  city,  and  Mr.  Bruce  obtain- 
ed permission  to  return,  with  the  rest  of  his  bi-e- 
thren.  On  the  24th  April  1597,  they  got  access 
to  the  king,  who  approved  of  their  leaving  the 
country,  and  said  if  they  had  not  fled  he  might 
have  done  that  in  his  fury  which  he  might  have 
afterwai-ds  repented  of.  They  wei-e  not,  however, 
permitted  to  preach  till  the  24th  of  July.  Soon 
after,  Mr.  Bruce  and  his  colleagues  were  ordered 
to  remove  fix>m  Edinburgh  to  any  place  they 
might  select.  They  answered  that  this  was  quite 
contrary  to  the  last  conference  they  had  with  his 
majesty,  and  before  they  would  submit  to  such  an 
ignominy,  they  would  renounce  the  favour  they 
had  obtained,  and  submit  themselves  to  trial, 
though  it  should  bring  their  heads  under  the  axe. 
In  January  1598,  when  the  proposed  appointment 
of  four  new  ministers  to  Edinburgh  came  before 
the  commissioners  of  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Brace 
objected  to  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Peter  Hewatt 
and  Mr.  George  Robertson,  two  of  those  named, 
as  being  too  young  and  not  acceptable  to  the  peo- 
ple. Calderwood  gives  a  detail  of  the  many  turns 
that  took  place  in  this  matter,  which  occasioned 
Mr.  Bi-uce  fresh  trouble  and  perplexity,  and  copies 
his  meditations  on  the  subject  from  his  own  Diary 
or  Journal.  It  was  not  till  the  meeting  of  the 
Dundee  assembly  of  that  year  that  the  king  de- 
clared himself  reconciled  to  Mr.  Bruce  and  the 
other  obnoxious  ministers.  Before  James  was 
brought  to  this  point,  says  Calderwood,  Mr.  Bruce 
offered  five  or  six  times  to  enter  in  wai-d,  and 
abide  the  law  for  the  tumult  of  the  17th  Decem- 
ber. The  king  said  that  were  it  not  for  pleasuring 
the  commissioners  of  the  Assembly,  with  whom  he 
professed  to  take  plain  part,  a  dozen  of  them  had 
trotted  over  Tweed  ere  that  time.  ICalderwood's 
History,  vol.  v.  p.  691.]  In  this  Assembly  Mr. 
Bruce  joined  his  brethren  in  maintaining  that  min- 
isters should  have  no  vote  in  parb'ament,  a  mea- 
sure proposed  by  the  court,  in  order  to  introduce 
bishops  into  the  church.    The  measure  was  car- 


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ried,  as  the  assemblies  were  now  managed  entirely 
by  the  king,  and  even  the  commissioners  of  the 
chnrch  were  all  pi*e-appointed  by  the  court. 

Ill  May  of  the  same  year  (1598)  Mr.  Bruce  was 
admitted  to  the  Little  Kirk  of  Edinburgh.  At 
first  he  refused  the  imposition  of  hands,  thinking 
that  it  would  invalidate  his  foimer  ministry.  The 
king  and  the  commissionei-s  of  the  Assembly, 
who  were  entirely  subservient  to  his  majesty,  in- 
sisted upon  it,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  disputation 
with  them,  the  full  details  of  which  will  be  found 
in  Calderwood's  History,  he  ultimately  submitted 
to  it  as  a  ceremony  not  of  ordination  but  merely 
of  confirmation  and  entry.  His  troubles  however 
did  not  end  there.  The  king  was  determined  to 
cause  him  as  much  annoyance  as  possible,  and 
took  every  opportunity  to  molest  him.  It  really 
looks  as  if  he  had  a  special  delight  in  tormenting 
and  pei'sonally  persecuting  him.  In  January  1599, 
he  was  called  befoi-e  the  council,  with  the  other  min- 
istei*8,  for  their  freedom  in  reproving  the  prevailing 
vices  of  the  time,  and  the  king  vainly  attempted 
to  perauade  them  to  promise  to  obey  ceitain  acts 
of  assembly  passed  according  to  his  own  pmposes, 
and  to  refi'ain  in  future  from  meddling,  in  their 
sermons,  with  any  of  his  laws  or  proceedings.  In 
the  following  month  he  arbitrarily  deprived  Mr. 
Bruce  of  a  pension  which  had  been  conferred  upon 
him  out  of  the  abbey  of  Arbroath,  of  twenty-four 
chaldei*s  of  victual,  by  a  gift  under  the  seals,  for 
his  life,  and  transferred  it  to  Lord  Hamilton,  the 
nobleman  who  had  garbled  ^Ir.  Bruce's  letter,  as 
already  stated.  But  Mr.  Bruce  raised  an  action 
against  his  lordship  before  the  court  of  session, 
and  had  judgment  pronounced  in  his  favour,  in 
spite  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  king  to 
ovei'awe  the  judges.  His  majesty's  wrath'  against 
Mr.  Bruce  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  for  fifteen 
weeks  he  sent  some  Mvolons  message  or  other  to 
him  every  Saturday,  to  disturb  him  in  his  studies, 
so  that  he  was  most  anxious  to  leave  Edinburgh. 
In  the  following  December  the  king  in  the  absence 
of  Bnice  in  the  country,  ordered  the  process  to  be 
revived,  or  as  it  is  technically  called,  *  wakened,' 
in  the  court  of  session,  relative  to  his  pension.  The 
lords  were  threatened  not  to  give  judgment  in  his 
favour,  and  even  the  advocates  were  debarred  fi*om 
pleading  in  his  behalf.     On  his  return  he  went  to 


the  king  to  remonstrate.  **  I  have,"  he  said, 
"your  majesty's  grant,  written  with  your  own 
hand,  wherein  you  were  pleased  to  say  I  deserved 
it,  though  it  had  been  the  quarter  of  your  kingdom ; 
which  I  shall  keep  as  a  monument  to  posterity, 
as  your  majesty  also  bade  me."  The  king  turned 
calm,  and  said,  "Save  my  honour,  Mr.  Robert, 
and  I  shall  not  hurt  you."  "  What  way?"  asked 
Bruce.  "  Come  up  the  morn,"  said  the  king, 
"  submit  to  my  will,  and  render  the  gift."  "  Par- 
don me,"  said  Bruce, "  I  will  not  benefit  my  enemy, 
nor  give  my  right  to  any  subject;  but  if  your  ma- 
jesty will  have  it  to  your  own  use,  I  will  give  up 
my  grant  most  willingly,  providing  you  gratify  not 
my  competitors,  nor  bereave  me  causelessly  of 
my  right,  for  the  pleasure  of  any  other  subject." 
This  the  king  promised.  Next  day,  when  the 
case  was  called  in  the  court  of  session,  Mr.  Bruce 
appeared  for  himself,  and  declai*ed,  "I  had  my 
gift  of  his  majesty's  free  liberality.  If  his  majesty 
think  that  gift  meet  for  his  own  use,  look,  how 
freely  his  majesty  gave  it  me,  I  will  as  freely  ren- 
der it  again.  But  as  for  my  Lord  Hamilton,  or 
any  neighbour  man  of  the  ministry,  I  am  no  way 
obliged  to  them,  so  I  look  that  his  majesty  will 
suffer  me  to  enjoy  my  right  against  them."  But 
the  chancellor,  under  the  contrel  of  the  king,  who 
was  pi-eseut,  refused  Mr.  Bruce's  bill.  The  de- 
creets in  his  favour  were  annulled,  and  the  pen- 
sion was  bestowed  on  the  minister  of  Arbroath. 

In  August  1600,  the  Gowrie  conspii-acy  took 
place,  and  Bruce,  being  unfortunately  for  himself 
and  for  the  chureh,  one  of  those  who  entertained 
doubts  as  to  the  ti-eason  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie, 
(who  had  been  brought  up  under  his  direction,)  and 
his  brother,  refused  to  offer  up  thanks  in  the  pulpit 
for  his  majesty's  dclivemnce  fi-om  the  conspiracy, 
though  he  had  no  objection  to  do  so  in  general 
teims  for  his  preservation  from  danger.  Although 
the  king  himself  had  related  the  stoiy  in  public  at 
the  cross  of  Edinburgh,  Bruce  and  three  of  his 
brethren  absolutely  refused  to  repeat  it  to  their 
congregations.  "  Ye  have  heai-d  me,  ye  have 
heard  my  minister,  ye  have  heard  my  council,  yc 
have  heard  the  yerle  of  Mai%"  exclaimed  the  en- 
raged monareh  with  eagerness,  that  half  betrayed 
the  suspicion  of  his  heai"t.  Tlie  chancellor  in- 
stantly pronounced  a  sentence  dictated  bv  the 


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coancil,  probibidDg  them  from  preachiug  in  the 
kingdom  nnder  pain  of  death.  On  the  day  fol- 
lowing, they  gave  in  a  application,  with  articles 
of  the  extent  to  which  they  were  willing  to  comply, 
but  they  were  ordered  to  beg  the  king^s  pardon, 
believe  the  whole  report,  and  publisb  it  as  troth. 
Still  refusing,  the  ministers  were  summoned  to 
Stirling  for  their  obstinacy.  Mr.  Bmce  offered  to 
publish  it  from  the  pnlpit  as  far  as  he  understood 
the  conspiracy,  and  to  believe  in  it  for  bis  own 
part,  if  Henderson,  the  earl  of  Gowrie's  servant, 
should  confess  at  his  execution  that  he  had  been 
put  into  the  secret  room  to  assassinate  the  king. 
Sir  David  Murray  the  comptroller,  interrupted  him 
by  saying,  "  Will  ye  believe  a  condemned  man 
better  than  the  king  and  council?"  *' My  lord," 
replied  Bruce,  **  if  he  die  penitent  I  will  trust  him. 
If  God  receive  his  soul,  I  think  we  may  receive 
his  testimony."  **  You  will  not  trust  me,  and  the 
noblemen  that  wore  there  with  me,  except  ye  try 
me,"  said  the  king.  **  Will  cannot  be  restrained," 
was  Brnce's  answer.  "  I  may  well  lie  to  you  with 
my  mouth.  I  cannot  trust  but  after  trial."  The 
other  three  ministers,  on  their  submission,  were 
allowed  to  return  to  their  charges,  but  Bruce  was 
ordered  to  enter  into  ward  in  the  tower  of  Airth, 
a  Ibrtress  built  by  his  ancestors,  and  celebrated  in 
popular  tradition  as  the  scene  of  one  of  the  ex- 
ploits of  Wallace.  Thence  he  was  ordered  to 
quit  the  kingdom  on  the  eleventh  of  November, 
and  continue  in  exile  during  the  royal  pleasure. 
*^  A  great  impediment  to  the  course  of  Episcopacy," 
says  Calderwood,  *^  was  thus  removed  out  of  the 
way.  From  that  time,  the  banner  of  the  truth 
was  never  so  bravely  displayed  in  the  pulpits  of 
Edinburgh  as  before." 

Knowing  James*  character  as  he  did,  and  his 
determination  to  get  rid  of  every  one  who  was  at 
all  obnoxious  to  him,  Bruce  might  justly  have 
fancied  that  the  king  had  very  much  exaggerated 
the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  there  was  enough  of  mystery  in  the 
conspiracy  as  described,  to  cause  grave  doubts  to 
be  entertained  regarding  the  exact  truth;  but 
there  can  be  no  question  that  Bruce^s  conduct  in 
stickling  as  he  did,  on  such  a  matter,  gave  the 
king  a  mighty  advantage,  and  tended  to  hasten 
the  overthrow  of  the  church  of  which  he  was  one 


of  the  most  influential  leadera.  His  proscription 
and  banishment,  at  the  time  of  her  greatest  danger, 
removed  a  formidable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  James' 
designs  for  the  full  introduction  of  episcopacy,  and 
proved  fatal  to  the  independence  and  almost  to  the 
existence  of  the  presbyterian  church,  whicli  she 
did  not  recover  till  the  memorable  year  1688,  when, 
as  if  to  prove  how  "  the  whirligig  of  time  brings^ 
about  its  own  revenges,"  one  who  had  been  con- 
veited  by  his  preaching,  the  celebrated  Alexander 
Henderson,  was  the  principal  instrument  of  her 
restoration. 

Bruce  sailed  from  Qneensferry  at  midnight  of 
the  6th  November  (1600)  for  Dieppe  in  Norman- 
dy, where  he  annved  in  five  days.  At  the  moment 
of  his  embarkation,  a  luminous  glow  spread  itself 
over  the  heavens  in  an  unusually  brilliant  manner, 
which  the  people,  ignorant  of  such  phenomena, 
superstitiously  imputed  to  the  divine  approbation 
of  his  conduct.  In  May  of  the  following  year,  the 
Lady  Mar  obtained  a  license  to  Mr.  Bruce  to  go 
to  liOndon  to  confer  with  Lord  Mar  and  Edward 
Bruce,  Lord  Kinloss,  the  king's  ambassador,  who 
had  previously  sent  for  him  twice.  He  accompanied 
his  lordship  to  Berwick,  where  he  remained  till 
October,  when  he  received  his  majesty's  permission 
to  retum  to  Scotland,  though  he  still  refused  to 
proclaim  Gowrie's  treason  fh>m  the  pulpit,  saying 
he  was  not  persuaded  of  it.  He  was  commanded 
to  keep  ward  in  his  own  house  of  Kinnaird,  where 
he  continued  till  15th  January  1602.  He  after- 
wards had  a  conference  with  the  king  at  Brechin, 
and  another  at  Perth,  and  on  June  25th  subscribed 
a  resolution  to  the  cflfect  that  he  was  convinced  of 
his  majesty's  innocence  and  the  guilt  of  the  Ruth- 
vens,  according  to  the  acts  of  parliament.  This, 
however,  he  did  as  a  subject,  not  as  a  minister. 
When  the  commissioners  of  the  church  m*gcd  him 
to  proclaim  his  acknowledgment  of  the  conspiracy, 
and  ask  pardon  for  bis  incredulity,  he  boldly  an- 
swered that  he  could  not  preach  injunctions,  to 
which  the  Scottish  church  had  never  been  accus- 
tomed ;  that  in  the  chair  of  Grod  he  would  preach 
the  words  of  truth  as  the  Spirit  should  direct,  and 
that  he  plainly  saw  thev  were  not  anxious  about 
his  obedience  to  the  act,  but  the  disgrace  of  his 
ministry.     In  consequence  he  was  not  allowed  to 

preach  in  Edinburgh.    The  people  of  his  former 
2e 


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charge  were  most  anxious  to  have  him  back  again, 
and  sent  two  commissioners  to  the  Assembly  which 
met  in  November  1602,  to  desire  that  they  would 
restore  tiim,  one  of  whom  was  the  celebrated 
George  Heriot,  who  was  a  firm  friend  of  Brace. 
After  several  confei-ences,  from  wliich  no  good  re- 
sulted, he  resolved  to  retire  from  the  unequal  con- 
test, and  on  the  25th  Februaiy  1608,  his  chuix^h 
was  declared  vacant  by  the  Assembly.  His  last 
interview  with  King  James  took  place  April  5, 
1609,  at  the  moment  when  his  majesty  was  setting 
ont  for  England,  but  though  very  well  received 
and  rather  as  a  baron  than  a  minister,  there  was 
nothing  said  of  his  being  restored  to  his  chai'ge 
in  Edinburgh.*  After  the  king  had  mounted  his 
horse,  Mr.  Bruce  went  again  to  him,  when  the 
king,  at  paiting,  said,  **Now  all  particulars  are 
passed  between  me  and  you,  Mr.  Robert."  Not- 
withstanding this  gracious  reception,  he  had  re- 
solved that  Bruce  should  never  again  be  a  minister 
of  Edinburgh. 

The  various  conferences  that  took  place  between 
Mr.  Bruce  and  the  king  and  privy  council,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Gowrie  conspiracy,  are  given  in  full 
both  by  Caldei*wood  and  Wodrow.  The  *  Nar- 
rative by  Mr.  Robert  Bruce,  concerning  his 
troubles,'  printed  in  the  Bannatyne  Club  Miscel- 
lany, also  contains  a  considerable  portion  of  them. 
Mi\  Pitcaini,  in  the  second  volume,  and  in  the 
appendix  to  the  third  volume  of  his  *  Criminal 
Trials,'  has  gathered  together  a  valuable  collec- 
tion of  materials  for  illustrating  the  truth  of  this 
famous  conspiracy,  and  with  his  usual  discrimina- 
tion has  done  ample  justice  to  Brace's  chai-acter. 
"  Throughout  the  protracted  controvei*s} ,"  he  says, 
"  between  Brace  and  the  king,  the  latter  obvious- 
ly had  the  worst  of  the  argument,  and  tyrannically 
put  down  his  able  but  dauntless  and  pertinacious 
antagonist  by  a  most  unlawful  stretch  of  arbitraiy 
power,  after  he  had  failed  in  all  his  attempts  at 
foiling  him  with  his  own  weapons." 

Beyond  a  threat  by  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Assembly  to  bring  him  to  trial  for  his  disobedience 
and  distrast  in  the  Gowrie  affair,  he  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  again  disturbed  till  Febraary  27, 
1605,  when  they  summoned  him  to  Edinburgh  to 
hear  himself  formally  deposed.  On  bis  appear- 
ance, after  a  good  deal  of  debate,  they  inhibited 


him  from  preaching.  He  appealed  to  the-Assem- 
bly,  and  still  continued  to  preach.  In  August,  he 
was  ordered  to  Inverness,  under  pain  of  ontlawr}', 
where  for  four  yeare  he  preached  every  Sunday 
forenoon  and  Wednesday  afternoon.  One  day, 
while  passing  through  Fisher  street  in  that  town, 
with  two  of  his  friends,  he  was  shot  at  by  a  gun, 
but  the  ball  fortunately  missed  him.  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  magistrates  of  Aberdeen  he  went  to 
that  city,  where  he  remained  about  a  quarter  of 
a  year,  but  was  aftei-wards  charged  to  retnra  to 
Inverness.  On  a  vacancy  occurring  at  Forres,  he 
preached  thei-e  for  some  months,  at  the  desire  of 
the  magistrates  and  people,  but  subsequently  went 
back  to  Inverness.  In  August  1618,  at  the  solici- 
tation of  his  son,  who  was  then  at  court,  he  re- 
ceived permission  to  return  to  Kinnaird.  He 
preached  for  some  time  at  Stirling  during  a  va- 
cancy. Afterwards  he  obtained  leave  from  tlie 
privy  council  to  retire  to  his  house  at  Monkland, 
but  in  consequence  of  his  preaching  to  those  who 
came  to  hear  him,  he  was,  at  the  instance  of  the 
bishop  of  Glasgow,  obliged  to  return  to  Kinnaird. 
In  16SI,  when  the  Scots  Estates  wci-e  about  to 
ratify  the  celebrated  five  articles  of  Perth,  Bruce 
ventni'ed  to  appear  in  Edinbnrgh,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  a  letter  from  the  king,  he  was  cited  be 
fore  the  council,  and  after  being  questioned,  was 
committed  to  Edinburgh  castle,  whei'e  he  remained 
for  several  months,  after  which  he  was  again  ban- 
ished to  Inveraess.  The  council  wrote  to  the 
king  inteix;eding  for  him  to  be  allowed  to  stay  at 
his  house  of  Kinnaird  till  the  winter  was  past,  but 
his  majesty,  hearing  of  the  crowds  that  flocked  to 
hear  him,  refused  him  any  indulgence,  saying  in 
his  answer,  "  We  .will  have  no  more  popish  pil- 
ginmages  to  Kinnaird,  he  shall  go  to  Inveraess  " 
He  continued  there  till  September  1624,  when  he 
obtained  a  license  to  retnra  to  Kinnaird  about  bis 
domestic  affairs.  In  the  following  Mareh  King 
James  died,  when  the  severity  against  him  was 
much  mitigated,  and  be  was  not  required  to  go 
north  again.  In  1629  Charles  the  Firet  wrote  to 
the  council  to  restrict  him  to  Kinnaird  and  to  two 
miles  around  it.  The  church  of  Larbert,  which 
was  within  his  limits,  having  been  neglected  and 
left  without  a  minister  by  the  bishops,  he  not  only 
repau'ed  it,  but  preached  there  every  Sunday  tc 


li    I 


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SIR  WILLIAM. 


large  congregations.  Amongst  otliera  who  came 
to  hear  him  was  Alexander  Hendei-son,  minister 
of  Leuchars  in  Fife,  who  by  one  of  his  sermons  on 
John  X.  1.,  was  converted  from  episcopacy,  and 
afterwards,  as  above  stated,  took  a  prominent  part 
in  restoring  prcsbyterianism  to  its  former  suprem 
acy.  At  the  celebrated  Shotts  communion  in 
1630  Mr.  Bruce  was  present  and  took  part  in  the 
services.  He  died  August  13,  1631.  On  the 
morning  of  that  day,  having  breakfasted  with  his 
family  in  the  usual  manner,  he  felt  death  approach- 
ing, and  warned  his  children  that  his  Master  called 
him.  He  then  desired  a  Bible  to  be  brought,  and 
finding  that  his  sight  was  gone,  he  i*equested  his 
daughter  to  place  his  hand  on  the  two  last  vei*ses 
of  the  Pipistle  to  the  Romans.  When  his  hand 
was  fixed  on  the  words,  he  remained  for  a  few 
moments  satisfied  and  silent.  He  had  only 
strength  to  add,  "Now  God  be  with  you,  my 
children ;  I  have  breakfasted  with  yon,  and  shall 
sup  to-night  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He 
then  closed  his  eyes,  and  peacefully  expu^.  He 
was  buried  in  the  aisle  of  the  church  of  Larbert ; 
and  Calderwood  says  that  between  four  and  five 
thousand  pei-sons  followed  his  body  to  the  giave. 

Tlie  person  of  Robert  Bruce  was  tall  and  digni- 
fied. His  countenance  was  majestic,  and  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  pulpit  gi'ave,  and  expressive  of 
much  authority.  His  manner  of  deliveij  was  slow 
and  engaging.  In  public  prayer,  which  with  him 
was  always  extemporary,  he  was  short  and  senten- 
tious ;  but  so  emphatic  was  his  language,  so  ardent 
were  his  expressions,  that  he  appealed  to  his  audi- 
ence to  be  inspired.  H is  knowledge  of  the  Scripture 
was  extensive,  and  accurate  beyond  the  attainment 
of  his  age.  His  skill  in  the  languages  and  in  the 
science  of  those  times,  as  well  as  his  acquaintnnce 
with  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  kingdom, 
was  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of  any  of  the 
Scottish  refoimei-s.  Less  violent  than  Melville, 
more  enlightened  than  Knox,  says  a  writer  in  the 
Scots  Magazine,  he  viewed  with  a  brighter  and 
milder  eye  the  united  interests  of  the  church  and 
nation.  His  capacity  for  civil  affaii-s  was  perceived 
and  acknowledged  by  his  sovereign,  and  to  this 
may  be  imputed  his  misfortunes  and  disgrace. 

The  subjoined  portrait  of  ^Ir.  Brace  is  from 
an  engraving  by  J.  Stewart,  from  an  original 


miniature  in  the  possession  of  Bruce  of  Kinnaird, 
prefixed  to  the  Scots  Magazine  for  December  1802. 


His  sci-mons,  of  which  sixteen  were  printed 
during  his  life,  in  two  volumes,  (1590  and  1591) 
display  a  boldness  of  expression,  a  regularity  of 
style,  and  a  force  of  argument  seldom  to  be  found 
in  the  Scottish  writers  of  the  sixteenth  centuiy. 
Being  written  in  the  genuine  Scottish  of  the  time  of 
James  the  Sixth,  a  translation  of  the  two  volumes 
into  English  was  pnblislied  at  London  in  1617,  4to, 
and  is  that  m  hich  for  a  long  time  was  most  com- 
mon in  Scotland.  An  edition  of  his  seimons,  with 
his  life  by  Wodrow,  was  printed  in  one  volume  for 
the  Wodrow  Society  in  1843,  from  the  MS.  in  the 
libraiy  of  the  univereity  of  Glasgow. 

By  his  wife  he  left  a  son,  Robert,  his  succes- 
sor in  the  lands  of  Kinnaird,  and  two  daughtei*s. 

Contemporary  with  the  subject  of  this  notice 
was  another  Robert  Bruce,  a  trafiScking  popish 
priest,  whose  lettere  are,  in  the  '  Scots  Wortliies,* 
most  enoneously  ascribed  to  this  leading  minister 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Scotland. 

BRUCE,  Sir  William,  designed  of  Kinross, 
an  architect  of  eminence  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, was  the  second  son  of  Robert  Bruce,  third 
baron  of  Blairhali,  by  Jean  his  wife,  daughter  of 


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JAMES. 


Sir  John  Preston  of  Valleyficld.  He  was  a  steady 
loyalist,  and,  according  to  Sir  Robert  Donglas, 
naving  got  acquainted  witli  General  Monk,  he 
pointed  oat  to  him  in  snch  strong  terms  the  distress 
and  distractions  of  our  country,  and  the  glory  that 
would  be  acquired  in  restoring  the  royal  family, 
what  the  general  at  last  opened  his  mind  to  him, 
and  signified  his  inclination  to  serve  the  king,  but 
said  it  must  be  done  with  caution  and  secrecy. 
IDougku'  Baronage,  p.  245.]  This,  however,  is 
extremely  unlikely,  as  it  is  well  known  that  Monk 
kept  bis  intentions  closely  concealed  from  every 
one  to  the  veiy  last.  Bruce  had  the  honour,  it  is 
farther  stated,  of  communicating  Monk's  plans  to 
the  king  himself,  in  consequence  of  which,  when 
Charles  the  Second  came  to  the  throne,  he  ap- 
pointed him  clerk  to  the  Bills,  the  very  year  of 
the  Restoration.  Subsequently,  in  consideration 
of  his  great  taste  and  architectural  skill  he  was 
appointed  master  of  the  king's  works  and  architect 
to  his  majesty.  He  acquired  the  lands  of  Balcas- 
kie  in  Fife,  and  was  created  a  baronet  by  his  ma- 
jesty's royal  patent  to  him  and  his  heirs  male, 
21st  April  1668.  From  the  earl  of  Morton  he  ob- 
tained the  lands  and  barony  of  Kinross,  by  which 
he  was  ever  after  designated.  When  after  the 
Restoration  it  was  determined  to  erect  additions 
to  the  palace  of  Holyroodhouse,  Sir  William  Bruce 
designed  the  quadrangular  edifice  as  it  now  stands, 
connecting  it  with  the  original  north-west  towel's, 
now  forming  part  of  the  quadrangle.  In  1685  he 
built  the  mansion-house  of  Kinross,  which  was 
originally  intended  for  the  residence  of  James 
duke  of  York  (afterwards  James  the  Second  of 
England  and  Seventh  of  Scotland)  in  the  event  of 
his  royal  highness  being  prevented  by  the  Exclu- 
sion Bill  from  succeeding  to  the  throne.  In  1702, 
he  designed  Hopetoun  house,  the  seat  of  the  earl  of 
Hopetoun,  in  Linlithgowshire.  Ho  also  designed 
Moncrieffe  house,  Perthshire.  He  died  in  1710. 
Sir  William  Bruce  was  twice  married,  firat  to 
Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Halket  of  Pitfiri'ane, 
Bart.,  and  secondly,  to  Magdalene  Scott.  His 
son.  Sir  John  Bruce,  married  Lady  Christian 
Levcn,  daughter  of  John  duke  of  Rothes,  and  wi- 
dow of  the  third  mai-quis  of  Montrose,  but  died 
without  issue,  when  the  title  devolved  on  his  cou- 
sin. Sir  Alexander  Bruce,  second  son  of  the  fourth 


baix>n  of  Blairhall,  on  whose  death,  as  he  never 
married,  it  became  extinct.  The  estates  went  tc 
Anne,  sister  of  the  second  baronet,  who  married, 
first,  Sii*  Thomas  Hope  of  Craighall,  by  whom  she 
had  three  sons,  and,  secondly.  Sir  John  Carstairsi 
of  Kilconquhar,  and  had  to  him  one  son  and  three 
daughtera.  After  her  death,  this  son  inherited 
the  estates  of  his  grandfather,  Sir  William  Bruce. 
BRUCE,  James,  a  celebrated  traveller,  eldest 
son  of  David  Bruce,  Esq.  of  Kiunaird,  and  of 
Marion  Graham  of  Airth,  was  bom  at  Kinnaird 
House,  in  Stirlingshire,  December  14,  1730.  His 
family  were  descendants  of  a  younger  son,  by  his 
grandmother,  Helen  Binice,  the  heiress  of  Kinnaird, 
of  Robert  de  Bruce,  and  the  estate  had  been  in 
possession  of  her  family  for  upwards  of  three  cen- 
turies. His  grandfather,  David  Hay,  Esq.  of 
Woodcockdale,  changed  his  name  to  Bruce  on 
maiTying  that  lady  and  succeeding  to  Kinnaird. 
At  the  early  age  of  eight  he  was  sent  to  school  in 
London,  and  after  thi-ee  years  spent  there,  he  was 
removed  to  the  celebrated  seminary  at  Harrow- 
on -the-Hill,  in  Middlesex,  where  be  made  great 
proficiency  in  classical  knowledge,  and  where  be 
remained  till  May  1746.  On  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, he  was,  in  the  winter  of  1747,  entered  at 
the  university  of  Edinburgh  as  a  student  of  law ; 
but,  not  liking  the  pursuit,  and  partly  on  account 
of  his  health,  he  soon  went  home,  where  he  took 
great  delight  in  the  sports  of  the  field.  His 
views  being  directed  towards  the  East  Indies,  in 
July  1753  he  went  to  London,  for  the  purpose 
of  soliciting  the  permission  of  the  East  India 
Company,  to  go  out  and  settle  under  their  aus- 
pices as  a  free  trader.  In  the  metropolis  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  Mrs.  Allan,  the  widow  of 
an  opulent  wine-merehant,  whose  daughter,  Adri- 
ana,  he  soon  married,  in  February  1754;  and, 
becoming  a  partner  in  the  business,  was  induced  to 
give  up  his  intention  of  going  to  India.  Mrs. 
Bruce  falling  into  a  consumption,  her  husband  set 
out  with  her  to  the  south  of  France,  in  the  hope 
that  she  would  be  benefited  by  a  residence  there ; 
but  she  died  at  Paris,  within  a  year  of  her  mar- 
riage. Bruce  continued  in  the  partnership,  bot, 
committing  the  principal  management  of  the  busi- 
ness to  another,  he  applied  himself  to  the  acqmro- 
ment  of  the  Spanish  and  Port'iguese  languages. 


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JAMES. 


which  he  learnt  to  speak  with  accuracy  and  ease. 
lu  July  1757  he  proceeded  on  a  journey,  fii-st 
through  Poi*tugal,  and  afterwaixls  through  Spain. 
While  at  Madrid,  he  was  very  anxious  to  explore 
the  collections  of  Arabic  manuscripts,  buried  in 
the  monastery  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  contained  in 
the  library  of  the  Escuinal,  but,  by  the  jealousy 
of  the  government,  was  refused  permission. 

He  afterwards  visited  France  and  the  Nether- 
lands, and  on  receiving  the  intelligence  of  his 
father^s  death,  he  returned  to  Loudon  in  1758. 
Some  of  his  remarks  on  the  countries  through 
which  he  passed  are  quoted  fi\)m  his  manuscript 
journals,  in  his  IJfe  by  Dr.  Murray.  The  family 
estate  to  which  he  succeedexl  yielded  him  an  in- 
come, which,  though  moderate,  was  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  retire  from  the  wine  trade,  which  he 
did  m  1761.  He  now  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  languages  of  the  East,  particularly  the 
Arabic  and  the  Ethiopic ;  and  to  improving  him- 
self in  drawing.  There  being  a  rumour  of  a  war 
between  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  Bruce,  through 
his  friend  Mr.  Wood,  then  under-secretary  of 
state,  obtained  an  introduction  to  Mr.  Pitt,  after- 
wai-ds  Earl  of  Chatham,  to  whom  he  submitted  a 
project  for  a  descent  upon  Spain,  at  Ferrol  in 
Galicia.  He  was  soon  after  infonned  by  Mr. 
Wood,  that  the  minister  intended  to  employ  him 
on  a  particular  service,  and  advised  him  to  settle 
his  affaii-s  iu  Scotland,  and  be  ready  at  a  moment's 
notice.  The  resignation  of  Mr.  Pitt  put  an  end 
to  his  hopes  of  employment  at  that  time.  But  a 
memorandum  of  the  intended  expedition  which  he 
had  drawn  up  for  Mr.  Pitt,  had  been  laid  before 
the  king,  and  was  strongly  recommended  by  Lord 
Halifax.  He  also  received  some  encouragement 
from  Lord  Egremont  and  Mr.  Greorge  Grenville, 
but,  by  the  death  of  the  former,  his  expectations 
were  again  disappointed.  At  the  beginning  of 
1762,  Lord  Halifax,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Wood,  proposed  to  him  a  journey  to  the  coast  of 
Barbary,  with  the  view  of  exploring  the  interior 
of  that  country,  and  making  sketches  of  the 
Roman  antiquities,  which,  according  to  Dr.  Shaw, 
were  to  be  found  there.  In  a  conversation  which 
Bruce  had  with  his  loi-dship,  the  discovery  of  the 
source  of  the  Nile  was  one  of  the  topics  touched 
uix)n,  and  the  adventurous  spirit  of  our  traveller 


was  at  ouce  kindled  mto  enthusiasm  at  the  idea  of 
such  an  enterprise.  To  investigate  those  remains  of 
Roman  art,  and  Gi*ecian  colonization,  which  had 
hitherto  baffled  the  researches  of  modern  travel- 
lers; to  penetrate  to  the  mysterious  sources  of  the 
Nile,  which  Julius  Caosar  had  in  vain  desired  to 
discover,  were  pursuits  worthy  of  his  ambition, 
and  gratifying  to  his  fondest  wishes.  Sweden  had 
just  sent  out  Ilasselquist,  Kalm,  and  others,  pupils 
of  the  great  LinnsBUs,  to  exploi-e  the  most  distant 
iX'gions  of  the  earth.  The  king  of  Denmark  had 
lately  employed  a  company  of  scientific  mission- 
aries, to  investigate  the  ancient  and  present  state 
of  Arabia,  and  other  Eastern  countries.  France 
and  Spam  were  sending  out  philosophers  to  Siberia 
and  Peru,  with  the  object  of  asceitaining,  by  means 
of  an  astronomical  process,  the  precise  figure  of  the 
earth.  The  love  of  science,  and  the  desire  to  pro- 
mote the  civilization  of  mankind,  had  eveiywhcre 
inspired  a  wish  to  prosecute  discoveries;  and 
Bruce,  impelled  by  similar  motives,  and  urged  by 
the  most  generous  ambition,  promptly  acceded  to 
the  proposal  that  was  made  to  him,  and  was 
appointed  consul-general  at  Algiers,  which  at 
that  juncture  became  vacant.  After  being  sup- 
plied with  the  best  instruments  necessary  for  his 
purpose,  he  set  out  for  Italy  through  France.  At 
Rome  he  received  orders  to  proceed  to  Naples,  to 
await  his  Majesty's  commands;  from  Naples  he 
again  returned  to  Rome,  and  proceeding  to  Leg- 
horn, ho  embarked  there  for  Alters,  where  he 
an'ived  March  15,  1763,  taking  with  him  an  able 
Italian  draughtsman.  While  he  remained  in 
Italy,  he  spent  several  months  improving  himself 
iu  the  study  of  drawing  and  of  antiquities.  He 
made  sketches  of  the  temples  at  Paestum,  which 
he  caused  to  be  engraved,  and  intended  to  publish ; 
but  as  he  afterwards  complained  to  his  friend,  Mr.  • 
(subsequently  Sir  Robert)  Strange,  some  one  had 
obtained  access  to  the  engravings  at  Paris,  and 
published  them  by  subscription  at  I^ndon.  He 
spent  about  two  years  at  Algiers,  and,  having  a 
facility  in  acquiring  languages,  he  in  that  time 
qualified  himself  for  appearing  on  any  part  of  the 
continent  of  Africa,  without  the  help  of  an  inter- 
preter. He  also  learned  the  rudiments  of  surgery 
from  the  consulate  surgeon.  A  dispute  with  the 
Dey,  relative  to  Mediterranean  passes,  had  de- 


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438 


JAMES. 


rained  hiin  longer  then  he  expected  at  Algiei*s,  but 
it  was  at  last  adjusted;  and  Bruce  seems  to  have 
throughout  sustained  the  functions  of  his  official 
character  with  spirit  and  firmness.  In  May  1765 
a  suc^ssor  was  appointed,  on  whose  an-ival  he 
proceeded  to  Mahon,  and  tlience  to  Carthage.  He 
next  visited  Tunis,  and  travelled  to  Tripoli  across 
the  Desert.  He  jonmejed  over  the  interior  of 
tliese  states,  and  made  drawings  of  the  architec- 
tural remains  which  he  met  with  in  his  way.  At 
B('ngazi,  a  small  town  in  the  Mediten-anean,  he 
suffered  shipwreck,  and  with  extreme  difficulty 
saved  his  life,  though  with  the  loss  of  all  his  bag- 
gage. He  afterwards  sailed  to  Rhodes  and 
Cyprus,  and,  proceeding  to  Asia  Minor,  travelled 
through  a  considerable  part  of  Syi'ia  and  Palestine, 
visiting  Hassia,  Latikea,  Aleppo,  and  Tripoli,  near 
which  last  city  he  was  again  in  imminent  danger 
of  perishing  in  a  river.  The  niins  of  Palmyi-a  and 
Baalbec  were  next  carefully  surveyed  and  sketched 
by  him,  and  on  his  return  to  England,  his  draw- 
ings of  these  places  were  deposited  in  the  royal 
library  at  Kew ;  "  the  most  magnificent  present  in 
that  line,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "  ever  made  by 
i  subject  to  a  sovereign."  He  published  no  par- 
ticular account  of  these  various  jounieys;  but  Dr. 
Murray,  in  the  second  edition,  introduced  from 
Bruce's  manuscripts  some  account  of  his  travels  in 
Tunis.  In  these  different  journeys  several  yeare 
passed,  and  he  now  prepared  for  the  grand  expe- 
dition, the  accomplishment  of  which  had  ever  been 
near  his  heart,  the  discover)'  of  the  source  of  the 
Nile.  In  the  prosecution  of  that  perilous  under- 
taking, he  left  Sidon,  June  16,  1768,  and  amved 
at  Alexandria  on  the  20th  of  that  month.  He 
proceeded  from  thence  to  Cairo,  where  he  was  in- 
ti-oduced  to  All  Bey,  the  chief  of  the  Mamelukes, 
*from  whom  he  received  letters  to  the  shereef  of 
Mecca,  the  naybe  of  Masuah  or  Masowa,  and  the 
king  of  Sennaar.  He  also  met  at  Cairo  father 
Christopher,  a  Greek  whom  he  had  known  at  Al- 
giers, who  was  now  archimandrite,  under  Mark, 
patriarch  of  Alexandria,  and  was  furaished  by  the 
patriai-ch  with  letters  to  several  Greeks  in  high 
stations  in  Abyssinia. 

On  the  12th  of  December  following  he  embarked 
on  the  Nile,  and  sailed  up  the  river  as  far  as  8y- 
ene,  visiting  in  the  way  the  ruins  of  Tliebes. 


From  the  Nile  he  crossed  the  desert  to  Cosseir 
on  the  Red  Sea,  from  whence  ho  sailed  for  Jidda, 
in  April  1769;  but  instead  of  going  direct,  he 
went  up  the  gulf  to  Tor,  and  thence  along  the 
Arabian  coast  to  Jidda,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
3d  of  May.  There  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
meet  a  number  of  his  own  countrjrmen  from  India, 
ship-captains  and  merchants  in  the  service  of  the 
East  Lidia  Company,  who  paid  him  every  atten- 
tion, and  kindly  exerted  their  influence  with  the 
authorities  on  his  behalf.  Metical  Aga,  the  min- 
ister of  the  shereef  of  Metica,  who  was  originally 
nn  Abyssinian  slave,  interested  himself  warmly  in 
Bruce's  welfare.  He  ordered  one  of  his  confiden- 
tial sei^vants,  Mahomet  Gibberti,  a  native  of  Abys- 
sinia, to  accompany  him  in  his  journey,  and  he 
wrote  to  Ras  Michael,  the  governor  of  Tigre,  at 
that  time  the  most  powerful  chief  in  Abyssinia, 
recommending  the  traveller,  as  an  English  physi- 
cian, to  his  protection. 

In  September  1769  Bruce  sailed  for  Masuah, 
the  maritime  key  of  the  entrance  into  Abyssinia, 
on  the  western  coast  of  the  Red  Sea.  He  was 
detahied  there  for  several  weeks,  exposed  to  great 
danger  of  his  life  by  the  villany  of  the  naybe,  a 
chief  whose  cruelty  and  avarice  caused  him  to  be 
dreaded  by  all  travellers.  After  many  perils  from 
the  fierceness,  the  deceit,  and  the  thievish  rapacity 
of  the  inhabitants,  he  at  last  made  his  way  to  6on- 
dar,  the  capital  of  Abyssinia,  where  he  amved 
about  the  middle  of  February  1770.  At  that  time, 
the  connti-y  was  engaged  in  one  of  the  fiercest  civil 
wars  that  had  ever  wasted  it.  Ras  Michael  and 
the  young  king  were  absent  with  the  army;  but 
Bnice  became  acquainted  with  Ayto  Aylo,  a  man 
of  rank  and  influence;  and  having  been  successful 
in  curing  many  pei-sons  of  the  smallpox,  which 
was  at  that  time  raging  in  the  capital,  he  was  in- 
troduced by  Ayto  to  the  iteghe,  or  queen  dowa- 
ger, and  to  her  beautiful  daughter,  Ozoro  Esther, 
the  wife  of  Ras  Michael,  who,  with  several  of  the 
young  nobility,  became  his  friends  and  protectors, 
and  continued  to  be  so  during  his  stay  in  Abyssi- 
nia. When  Ras  Michael  and  the  young  king  rp- 
turned  to  the  capital,  he  was  presented  to  them, 
and  received  a  veiy  flattering  i*eception.  His  ex- 
pertness  in  horsemanship,  and  his  boldness  and 
intrepidity,  recommended  him  to  the  Abyssiniaua 


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BRUCE, 


439 


JAMES. 


generally,  while  the  king  and  his  minister  con- 
ceived a  warm  partiality  for  him.  The  Alexan- 
drian patriarch  had,  by  a  pastoral  letter,  enjoined 
the  Coptic  and  Greek  Christians,  then  in  Grondar, 
to  pay  him  all  honour  and  homage.  He  endeared 
himself  to  most  of  the  young  nobility  by  instruct- 
ing them  in  some  of  the  military  exercises  of 
Arabia  and  Emx>pe.  High  offices  in  the  couit 
were  offered  for  his  acceptance.  To  obtain  the 
protection  necessary  to  enable  him  to  accomplish 
the  purposes  of  his  journey,  he  accepted  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  small  province,  and  even  enrolled 
himself  among  the  lords  of  the  Bed  Chamber  of 
the  Abyssinian  monarch.  Sevei-al  months  were 
employed  in  attendance  on  the  king,  and  in  an 
nusaccessful  expedition  round  the  lake  of  Dembea. 
He  obtained  at  length  a  feudal  grant  of  the  teni- 
tory  in  wliich  the  fountains  of  the  Kile  had  been 
so  long  hidden ;  and  towards  the  end  of  October 
he  set  out  for  the  sources  of  the  Bahr  el  Azrek, 
which  he  supposed  to  be  the  principal  branch  of 
the  Nile,  though  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that 
the  main  stream  is  the  Bahr  el  Abiail.  At  this 
long-desired  spot,  the  soui-ce.of  the  Nile,  he  ar- 
rived on  the  14th  of  November ;  and  hie  feelings 
on  the  occasion  were  of  a  very  singular  and  mixed 
character.  At  fii-st  he  felt  a  degree  of  exultation 
that  he  had  seen  what,  he  imagined,  no  European 
had  ever  witnessed  before  him ;  but  immediately 
the  most  afflicting  dejection  overpowered  his  spi- 
rits when  he  compared  the  small  benefits  likely  to 
result  from  his  labours,  with  the  difficulties  which 
he  had  ali'eady  experienced,  and  the  dangers  which 
he  had  still  to  encounter.  Having  accomplished 
the  chief  object  of  his  journey,  he  now  directed 
his  thonghts  towards  returning  to  his  native  coun- 
try. He  arrived  at  Gondar,  November  19,  1770, 
but  found  it  was  by  no  means  an  easy  task  to  ob- 
tain peimission  to  quit  Abyssinia. 

The  country  being  distracted  with  a  civil  war, 
several  engagements  took  place  between  the  king's 
troops  and  the  forces  of  the  rebels,  particularly 
three  actions  at  Serbraxos,  on  the  19th,  20th,  and 
28d  of  May,  1771.  In  each  of  them  Mr.  Bruce 
acred  a  prominent  pai*t,  and  for  his  valiant  con- 
duct in  the  second  he  received,  as  a  reward  from 
the  king,  a  chain  of  gold,  consisting  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-four  links.     At  Gondar,   after 


thus  distinguishing  himself,  he  again  earnestly  so- 
licited the  king's  permission  to  return  home,  but 
his  entreaties  were  long  resisted.  His  health  at 
last  giving  way,  fi*om  the  anxiety  of  his  mind,  the 
king  consented  to  his  departure,  on  condition  of 
his  engaging,  by  oath,  to  return  to  Abyssinia  in 
the  event  of  his  recovery,  with  as  many  of  his 
kindred  as  he  could  engage  to  accompany  him. 
After  a  residence  of  nearly  two  years  in  that 
wretched  country,  Mr.  Binice  left  Gondar,  Decem- 
ber 16,  1771.  Convinced  that  if  he  should  again 
put  himself  within  the  power  of  the  naybe  of  Ma- 
suah,  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  escape  so  easily 
as  he  did  before,  he  did  not  attempt  to  return  by 
the  same  route  as  that  by  which  he  had  entered 
Abyssinia.  He  preferred  rather  to  journey  through 
those  deseits,  hitherto  unexplored  by  European 
travellers,  in  which  the  armies  of  the  Persian 
Cambyses  had  perished  in  ancient  times. 

When  he  left  the  capital  of  Abyssinia  he  was 
accompanied  by  many  friends,  at  parting  with 
whom  he  shed  teai-s.  That  province,  of  which  he 
himself  had  been  solicited  to  accept  the  govern- 
ment, was  the  last  within  the  Umits  of  the  Abys- 
sinian empire  through  which  he  had  to  pass.  A 
Moor,  named  Yasine,  who  had  accidentally  been 
the  companion  of  his  journey  on  his  firet  entrance 
into  Abyssinia,  and  who  had  been  appointed  by 
him  deputy -governor  of  the  province,  took  this 
last  opportunity  of  testifying  his  gratitude  to  his 
benefactor,  by  entertaining  him  with  respectful 
hospitality,  and  negotiating  for  his  friendly  treat- 
ment by  the  Arabs,  through  whose  ten'itories  he 
was  next  to  travel.  Committing  himself  to  the 
desert,  he  made  his  way,  in  a  few  days,  to  Teawa, 
where  he  amved,  March  21,  1772.  Canying 
powerful  recommendations  to  the  sheikh  of  this 
place,  Binice  expected  to  be  hospitably  entertain- 
ed, and  to  obtain  fresh  camels,  water,  and  guides; 
but  he  was  miserably  disappoiuted.  The  sheikh 
Fidele  was  one  of  the  most  faithless,  rapacious, 
and  needy  of  all  the  Arabian  chiefs,  and  a  gi'eat 
deal  worse  than  the  naybe  of  Masuah.  Fancying 
that  the  traveller  possessed  immense  riches,  he 
resolved,  either  by  craft  or  violence,  to  make  these 
riches  his  own.  But  Bruce  not  only  refused  to 
comply  with  his  demands,  but  signified  his  deter- 
mination to  resist  force  by  force,  and  secretly 


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BRUCE, 


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JAMES. 


despatched  messeugcrs  to  solicit  assistance  from 
Abyssinia  and  Seunaar.  In  the  meantime  he  was 
supplied  with  lodging  and  entertainment:  the 
sheikhas  own  wives  cooked  his  meals,  and  he  was 
called,  nnder  his  character  as  a  physician,  to  admin- 
ister remedies  to  the  Ai'ab  chief  and  his  family. 
On  one  occasion,  when  the  sheikh  was  nnder  the 
influence  of  intoxication,  he  menaced  the  travoUer 
with  instant  death  unless  he  produced  his  trca-* 
sures;  but  Binice,  who  always  can-ied  aims, 
quickly  overpowered  tlie  treacherous  and  cowai'dl}- 
Arab  by  his  promptness  and  intrepidity.  He  hail 
won  the  favour  of  the  chiefs  daughter,  and, 
wanicd  by  her  and  her  women,  he  was  enabled  to 
guard  himself  against  the  secret  snares  of  the  wily 
sheikh.  At  last  sufficient  protection  amved  for 
him  ;  and  having  predicted  an  eclipse  of  the  moon, 
which  was  exactly  accomplished  on  the  17th  April, 
the  sheikh  was  glad  to  get  rid  of  him.  Camels, 
guides,  water,  and  other  necessaries,  were  now 
readily  supplied;  and  at  parting,  Bruoe,  much  to 
Xlie  sheikh's  astonishment,  bestowed  upon  him  a 
handsome  but  an  ill-desen'ed  remuneration. 

After  encountering  many  perils,  he  aiTived, 
April  29,  at  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Sennaar. 
Here  the  selfish  knavery  of  a  banker,  on  whom  he 
had  an  order  for  a  supply  of  money,  which  he  de- 
clined to  pay,  reduced  him  to  the  necessity  of  dis- 
posing of  the  greater  part  of  the  gold  chain  which 
he  had  earned  by  his  bravery  at  Serbraxos ;  by 
which  he  was  enabled  to  make  preparations  for 
his  dangerous  jouniey  through  the  deserts  of  Nu- 
bia. He  left  Sennaar,  September  5,  and  arrived, 
October  3,  at  Chendi,  which  he  quitted  on  the 
20th,  and  travelled  through  the  desert  of  Gooz,  to 
which  village  he  came,  October  26,  and  left  it 
November  9.  He  then  entei-ed  upon  the  most 
dreadful  and  perilous  part  of  his  jouniey.  He 
and  those  with  him  travelled  in  constant  di*ead  of 
being  suddenly  attacked  and  robbed  by  the  wan- 
dering Arabs.  Their  water  began  to  be  exhausted ; 
theii*  camels  became  lame ;  and  their  own  f^et 
were  lacerated  and  swollen.  To  add  to  their  mis- 
eries, the  direful  simoom,  whose  blast  is  death, 
repeatedly  overtook  them;  and  had  they  not, 
though  with  infinite  difficulty,  avoided  inhaling  its 
poisonous  breath,  they  must  have  all  instantly 
perished.     Gigantic  columns  of  sand  started  sud- 


denly up  in  ranks  before  and  behind,  and  ap- 
proached with  rapid  and  tremendous  movements, 
as  if  to  overwhelm  them.  Even  their  camels,  at 
last  overcome  with  fatigue,  sunk  under  their  bur- 
dens and  expired.  They  were  now  under  the 
necessity  of  abandoning  their  baggage  in  the  de- 
sert ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  describe  the  anguish 
of  Mi\  Brace's  feelings  when  he  saw  himself  ob- 
liged to  relinquish  his  journals,  his  drawings,  his 
collection  of  specimens,  his  precious  Ethiopic 
manuscripts  ;•  every  memorial,  iu  short,  that  could 
testify  to  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  that  he  had 
indeed  travelled  into  Abyssinia,  and  penetrated  to 
the  sources  of  tlie  Nile.  With  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty he  leached  Assouan,  where  he  arrived,  No- 
vember 19.  After  some  days'  rest,  having  pro- 
cured fresh  camels,  he  retm'Ued  into  the  desert 
and  i*ecovered  his  baggage.  He  now  proceeded 
gaily  down  the  Nile  to  Cairo,  where  he  arrived, 
January  10,  1773,  after  more  than  four  years'  ab- 
sence. An  aot  of  kindness  to  one  of  the  officers 
of  Mohammed  Bey,  who  had  by  this  time  sup- 
planted Ali  Bey  in  the  administration  of  the  Egyp- 
tian govei-nment,  proved  the  occasion  of  introduc- 
ing him  to  that  nilcr.  Grrateful  for  the  favours  he 
had  received  fix>m  tiie  servants  of  the  East  India 
Company  at  Jidda,  he  procured  from  Mohammed 
Bey  a  firman,  permitting  British  vessels  beiongmg 
to  Bombay  and  Bengal  to  arrive  at  that  port  with 
their  merchandise,  on  the  payment  of  more  mode- 
rate duties  than  had  ever  before  been  exacted  fi-om 
them  in  any  port  of  the  Red  Sea. 

Thia  was  Bruce's  last  memorable  ti-ansactlon  m 
the  East.  At  Cairo  his  career  was  nearly  finished, 
by  a  disorder  in  his  leg,  occasioned  by  a  worm  in 
the  flesh.  This  accident  kept  him  five  weeks  in 
extreme  agony,  and  his  health  was  not  established 
till  about  a  y^ar  afterwards,  at  the  baths  of  Por- 
retta,  In  Italy.  On  his  rctum  to  Europe,  he  was 
received  with  all  the  admiration  due  to  his  enter- 
prising character.  After  passing  a  considerable 
time  in  France,  particularly  at  Montbard,  with  his 
celebrated  friend  the  Count  de  Buffon,  he  at  last 
arrived  in  England,  which  he  reached  iu  the  sum- 
mer of  1774,  having  been  absent  from  it  about 
twelve  yeai-8. 

His  reception  at  coml  was  very  flattering.  The 
drawings  w  hich  he  presented  to  the  king  were  ac- 


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JAMES. 


cepted  to  enrich  the  collection  of  hid  sovereign  at 
Kew ;  and  his  majesty  bestowed  upon  him,  in  rec 
tiirn,  the  sum  of  two  thousand  poands.    Tliese 
drawings  were  so  exqaisiteiy  beautihii,  that  it  was 
insidiously  stated  tliat  they  were  not  executed,  as 
he  pretended,  by  his  own  pencil.    Dnring  his  hong 
absence,  Iiis  relations  considering  him  dead,  took 
measures  to  possess  themselves  of  his  pro- 
perty.    A  number  of  lawsuits  was  the  ine- 
vitable consequence  of  his  return.    He  was 
also,   soon  after  retiring  to   his^  paternal^ 
estate,  attacked  by  the  ague;  which  he  hixiV 
caught  at  Bengazi,  where  he  had  suffered 
sliipwreck,  and  which  tormented  him  from 
time  to  time  for  sixteen  years.    His  bio^ 
grapher,  Captain  Head,  has  done  justice  to 
^*-  the  steady  courage  with  which  he  encoun- 
tered danger,  and  the  tact  and  judgment 
with  which  he  steered  his  lonely  course 
til  rough  some  of  the  most  barren  and  bar- 
barous countries  in  the  world." 

He  married  a  second  time,  May  20, 177G, 
Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Dundas 
of  Fingask.  By  Mi-s.  Bruce,  who  died  in 
1784,  after  a  long  and  lingering  illness,  ho  had  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  His  ti'avels  were  not 
published  till  1790,  when  they  appeared  in  five 
large  quarto  volumes,  embellished  with  plates  and 
charts,  and  dedicated  to  the  king.  The  work 
abounds  with  adventures  so  extraordinary,  and 
describes  instances  of  perseverance  and  intrepidity 
so  wonderful,  and  gives  such  cunous  accounts  of 
the  manners  and  habits  of  the  people  of  Abyssinia, 
that  it  startled  the  belief  of  many.  The  state- 
ment, in  particular,  that  the  Abyssinians  were  in 
the  practice  of  eating  raw  meat  cut  out  of  a  living 
cow,  was  deemed  altogether  unworthy  of  credit, 
and  set  down  as  a  fabrication  of  the  author's  fer- 
tile imagination.  De  Tott  in  France,  and  Dr. 
Johnson  and  othei-s  in  England,  doubted  the  ac- 
curacy of  many  of  his  statements,  and  treated  his 
pretensions  to  veracity  with  ridicule.  Bruce  was 
vindicated,  however,  by  Dalnes  Barrington,  Sir 
William  Jones,  and  Buffbn ;  and  posterity  has 
done  him  ample  justice.  His  statements  have 
been  verified  and  con-oborated  by  every  traveller 
who  has  since  been  in  or  near  Abyssinia.  From 
his  discoveries,   geography  and   natnrnl  histoiy 


have  derived  considerable  improvements;  and  his 
illustrations  of  some  parts  of  the  sacred  writings 
are  both  original  and  valuable. 

Mr.  Bruce  spent  the  latter  years  of  his  life 
chiefly  at  Kinnaird,  the  mansion-house  of  which 
he  rebuilt,  and  of  which  a  representation  is  an- 
nexed, dividing  his  attention  betwixt  his  museum 


his  booKS,  and  his  rural  improvements.  His  fig- 
ure was  above  the  common  size,  being  upwards 
of  six  feet  high  ;  his  limbs  were  athletic  and  well 
proportioned,  his  complexion  sanguine,  his  coun- 
tenance manly  and  good-hnmoured,  and  his  man- 
ners affable  and  polite.  He  excelled  in  all  per- 
sonal'accomplishments,  and  was  master  of  most 
languages ;  being  so  well  skilled  in  oriental  litera- 
ture, that  he  revised  the  New  Testament  in  the 
Ethiopic,  Samaritan,  Hebrew,  and  Syriac,  adding 
many  useful  notes  and  observations.  The  fii-st 
edition  of  his  work  was  disposed  of  in  a  short  time, 
and  he  was  prepai-ing  a  second  edition  for  the  press 
when  death  interrupted  his  labours.  On  the 
evening  of  April  26,  1794,  on  the  departure  of 
some  company  whom  he  had  been  entertaining  at 
his  house  at  Kinnaii-d,  in  handing  a  lady  to  her 
can-iage,  his  foot  slipped  on  the  stairs,  and  he  fell 
down  headlong.  He  was  taken  up  speechless,  his 
face,  particularly  the  forehead  and  temples,  being 
severely  cut  and  bruised,  and  the  bones  of  his 
hands  broken.  He  remained  in  a  state  of  insensi- 
bility for  eight  or  nine  hours,  when  he  expired  on 
Sunday  April  27,  1794,  in  the  65th  year  of  his 


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442 


MICHAEL. 


age.  Ilia  usual  dress,  when  in  the  country,  was  a 
spotted  flannel  jacket  and  a  turban,  with  a  long 
Btaff  in  his  hand.— Zty^  by  Capt.  Head. 

The  following  is  a  full  length  poitrait  of  him, 
fW>m  an  engraving  by  Kay : 


BRUCE,  Michael,  a  tender  and  ingenious 
poet,  the  fifth  son  of  Alexander  Bruce,  weaver, 
was  born  at  Kinnesswood,  in  the  parish  of  Port- 
moak,  Kinross-shire,  March  27,  1746..  His  mo- 
ther belonged  to  a  family  of  the  same  name  and 
humble  rank  in  the  neighbourhood.  Both  parents 
were  Burgh er-Secedera,  and  were  remarkable  for 
their  piety,  industry,  and  integi-ity.  He  early  dis- 
covered superior  intelligence,  which,  with  his 
fondness  for  reading  and  quiet  habits,  induced  his 
father  to  educate  him  for  the  ministiy.  In  his 
younger  years  he  was  employed  as  a  herd  on  the 
Lomond  Hills.  He  received  the  usual  couree  of 
instruction  at  the  village  school  of  Portmoak,  and 
the  neighbouring  town  of  Kinross.  In  1762  he 
was  sent  to  the  university  of* Edinburgh,  where  he 
apnlied  himself,  durincf  the  four  succeeding  yeai-s. 


with  no  less  assiduity  than  success,  to  the  study  oi 
the  several  branches  of  literature  and  philosophy. 
Before  leaving  home,  he  had  given  evident  signs 
of  a  propensity  to  poetry,  in  the  cultivation  of 
which  he  was  greatly  encouraged  by  Mr.  David 
Arnot,  a  fanner  on  the  banks  of  Loch  I>even,  who 
directed  him  to  the  perusal  of  Spencer,  Shakspeare, 
Milton,  and  Pope,  supplied  him  with  books,  and 
acted  as  the  judicious  guide  and  friendly  counsellor 
of  his  youthful  studies.  Mr.  David  Pearson,  of 
Easter  Balgedie,  a  village  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Kinnesswood,  a  man  of  strong  pai*ts,  and  of  a  seri- 
ous and  contemplative  tuni,  also  contributed,  by 
his  encouragement  and  advice,  to  lead  him  to  the 
study  of  poetry ;  and  the  names  of  these  two  un 
pretending  individuals,  for  their  disinterested  kind- 
ness to  the  friendless  Bruce,  are  worthily  recorded 
in  all  the  memoii*s  of  his  life. 

Soon  after  his  coming  to  Edinburgh,  he  con 
tracted  an  acquaintance  with  Logan,  then  a  stu- 
dent at  the  same  university.  A  congenial  feeling 
and  a  similarity  of  pursuits,  soon  led  these  twv 
poets  to  become  intimate  companions.  When  not 
at  college,  Bruce  endeavoured  to  earn  a  scanty 
livelihood  by  teaching  a  school.  In  1765  he  went 
to  Gainie}"  Bridge,  near  Kinross,  where  he  taught 
the  children  of  some  farmers  in  the  neighbourhood, 
who  allowed  him  his  board  and  a  small  salary. 
This  he  quitted  in  the  summer  of  1766,  in  which 
year  he  entered  as  a  student  in  the  divinity  hall  of 
the  Bnrgher  Synod,  and  removed  to  a  school  at 
Forrest  Mill,  near  Alloa,  in  which  he  appears  to 
have  met  with  less  encouragement  than  he  ex- 
pected. At  this  place  he  wrote  his  poem  of 
*  I^chleven.'  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  **  his 
constitution,"  says  Dr.  Anderson  in  his  Britbh 
Poets,  "  which  was  ill  calculated  to  encounter  the 
austerities  of  his  native  climate,  the  exertions  of 
daily  labour,  and  the  rigid  frngality  of  humble 
life,  began  visibly  to  decline.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  year,  his  ill  health,  aggravated  by  the  indi- 
gence of  his  situation,  and  the  want  of  those  com- 
forts and  conveniences  which  might  have  fostered 
a  delicate  frame  to  maturity  and  length  of  days, 
terminated  in  deep  consumption.  During  the 
winter  he  quitted  his  employment  at  Fondest  Mill, 
and  with  it  all  hopes  of  life,  and  returned  to  his 
native  village,  to  receive  those  attentions  and  con- 


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448 


ARCHIBALD. 


solations  which  his  sitoHtion  required  from  the 
anxiety  of  pai-ental  affection  and  the  sympathy  of 
friendship.*'  He  lingered  through  the  winter,  and 
in  the  spring  he  wrote  the  well-lcnown  and  deeply 
pathetic  elegy  on  his  own  approaching  death ;  be- 
ginning • — 

"  The  spnng  returns;  but  not  to  me  returns 
The  venial  joy  my  better  years  hmve  known , 
Dim  in  my  breut  life's  dying  tuper  bums, 
And  all  the  joys  of  life  with  heaUh  are  flown.** 

This  was  the  last  composition  which  he  lived  to 
finish.  By  degrees  his  weakness  increased,  till  he 
was  gradually  worn  away,  and  he  expired  July  6, 
1767,  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  age. 

Soon  after  his  death  his  poems,  which  are  not 
numerous,  wei-o  revised  and  connected  by  his  friend 
I^gan,  who  published  them  at  Edinburgh  in  1770, 
with  a  preface;  but  in  this  edition  several  other 
)K>ems  were  injudiciously  inserted  to  fill  up  the 
volume,  which  afterwards  led  to  much  uncertainty 
as  to  which  were  really  Bruce's.  The  beautiful 
'  Ode  to  the  Cuckoo,'  the  episode  of  *  Levina,'  in 
the  poem  of  '  Lochleven,'  the  '  Ode  to  Paoli,'  and 
the  *  Eclogue  after  the  manner  of  Ossian,'  which 
are  clearly  ascertained  to  have  been  the  composi- 
tion of  Bruce,  were  subsequently  claimed  by  I-o- 
gan's  biographer  as  his.  Logan  himself,  it  seems, 
put  forth  some  pretensions  to  being  the  author  of 
the  '  Ode  to  the  Cuckoo,*  and  in  July  1782  applied 
for  an  interdict  in  the  court  of  session  against 
John  Robertson,  printer  in  Edinburgh,  and  Wil- 
liam Anderson,  bookseller,  and  afterwards  provost 
of  Stirling,  who  were  about  to  bring  out  an  edition 
of  Bruce's  works,  containing  the  poems  mentioned; 
which  interdict  was  removed  in  the  succeeding 
August,  Mr.  Logan  not  being  able  to  substantiate 
his  pleas.  The  attention  of  the  public  was  called 
to  Michael  Binice*8  poems  by  Lord  Craig,  in  a 
paper  in  the  Mirror  in  1779,  and  they  were  re- 
printed in  1784.  In  1795  Dr.  Anderson  admitted 
the  poems  of  Bruce  into  his  excellent  collection  of 
the  British  poets,  and  prefixed  a  memoir  of  the 
author.  In  1797  a  new  edition,  including  several 
of  Bmce's  unpublished  pieces,  was  published  by 
subscription,  nnder  the  superintendence  of  the 
venerable  principal  Baird,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poet's  mother,  then  in  her  ninetieth  year.    In  1837 


appeared  a  new  edition  of  Bruce^s  poems,  with  a 
life  of  the  author,  fix>m  original  sources,  by  the 
Rev.  William  Mackelvie,  Balgedle,  Kinross-shire, 
which  contains  all  the  information  that  can  now 
be  collected  regarding  the  poet.  In  Dr.  Drake's 
*  Literary  Hours,'  there  is  a  paper  written  with  a 
view  of  recommending  the  works  of  Bruce  to  the 
admirers  of  genuine  poetry  in  England,  as  Lord 
Craig,  in  the  MiiTor,  had  long  before  reconmiended 
them  to  readers  of  taste  in  Scotland.  In  1812  an 
obelisk,  about  eight  feet  high,  was  erected  over 
Brace's  grave  in  Portmoak  churchy ai-d,  bearing  as 
an  inscription  merely  the  wonls — *'  Michael  Brace, 
Bora  March  27,  1746.    Died  6th  July,  1767." 

Bruce's  characteristics  as  a  poet  are  chiefly 
simplicity  and  tenderness.  He  possessed  in  a 
high  degree  judgment,  feeling,  and  sensibility ;  and 
without  much  imagination  or  enthusiasm,  he  is 
always  graceful,  elegant,  and  pleasing.  His 
^  Lochleven,'  the  longest  and  most  elaborate  of  his 
poems,  is  in  blank  verse,  and  shows  considerable 
strength  and  harnxony.  His  *  Sir  James  the  Rose ' 
contains  all  the  attributes  of  the  historical  ballad. 
His  two  Danish  odes  possess  the  trae  fire  of 
poetry,  and  appear  to  have  been  modelled  upon 
the  Norse  odes  of  Gray.  His  song  of  '  Lochleven 
no  more'  is  full  of  a  sad  and  touching  pathos 
which  goes  directly  to  the  heart.  The  *  Ode  to 
the  Cuckoo,'  has  been  characterised  by  no  less  a 
judge  of  literary  merit  than  Edmund  Burke,  as 
"  the  most  beautiful  lyric  in  our  language." 

BRUCE,  Archibald,  the  Rev.,  a  voluminous 
writer,  and  eminent  minister  of  the  Secession 
church,  was  born  at  Broomhall,  near  Denny, 
Stirlingshire,  in  1746.  He  gave  early  indication 
of  decided  piety,  and  even  fi-om  his  boyhood  his 
views  were  directed  to  the  oflSce  of  the  holy  min- 
istry. Having  received  the  elements  of  a  classi- 
cal education  at  a  countiy  school,  he  prosecuted 
the  study  of  the  languages  and  philosophy  at  the 
university  of  Glasgow.  He  studied  divinity  under 
Professor  Moncrieff  of  Alloa,  and  in  August  1768, 
was  ordained  minister  of  the  Associate  (Antibur- 
gher)  congregation  at  Whitburn.  After  the  death 
of  Mr.  Moncrieff  of  Alloa,  in  1786,  he  was  elected 
professor  of  divinity  in  his  room,  by  the  General 
Associate  Synod,  and  continued  to  occupy  the 
chair  till  the  year  1806,  when  he  separated  from 


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444 


ARCHIBALD. 


that  body,  owing  to  his  disapproving  of  tlic  doc- 
trines of  the  *  Narrative  and  Testimony,*  on  the 
subject  of  the  powers  of  the  civil  government  in 
religions  matters.  He  and  tliree  othera  having 
declined  the  authority  of  the  Synod,  and  with- 
drawn from  its  commnnion,  foimed  themselves 
into  what  was  then  called  the  ^'Constitutional 
Associate  Presbytery,"  afterwards  the  "United 
Original  Secedere,"  at  the  formation  of  which  Mr. 
Bruce  presided  as  moderator.  He  disobeyed  the 
summons  of  Synod  to  appear  befoi*e  the  presby- 
tery of  Edinburgh,  and  sentence  of  deposition  was 
accordingly  pronounced  against  him.  Two  of 
those  who  had  joined  with  him,  Mr.  James  Ait- 
ken,  minister  at  Kirriemuir,  and  Mr.  Thomas 
M*Crie,  of  Edinburgh,  afterwards  the  celebrated 
Dr.  M*Crie,  were  also  deposed.  The  fourth,  Mr. 
James  Hog,  minister  at  Kelso,  escaped  deposition, 
by  dying  during  the  progress  of  the  proceedings  in 
the  church  courts  against  him.  The  i-eader  is  re- 
feired  to  the  life,  in  this  collection,  of  Dr.  M'Crle, 
for  the  reasons  of  this  secession.  The  majority  of 
the  Synod  of  Original  Seceders  was  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Assembly  of  1852,  united  to  the  Free  Church 
of  Scotland,  of  which  they  ai-e  now  a  component 
part. 

After  Mr.  Bruce's  separation  fix)m  the  General 
Associate  Synod,  he  continued  to  superintend  the 
tlieological  class  connected  with  the  Constitutional 
Pi-esbytery.  He  died  February  28, 1816.  About 
the  beginning  of  that  year  he  was  seized  with 
occasional  fainting  fits,  which  alarmed  his  friends, 
and  on  the  day  of  his  death,  which  was  the  Lord^s 
day,  he  had  performed  as  usual,  though  somewhat 
indisposed,  the  exercises  of  the  pulpit.  After  re- 
turning home,  and  while  conversing  with  a  mem- 
ber of  his  congregation,  he  almost  instantaneously 
expired,  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan.  He  was 
in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age.  "  He  possessed," 
says  Dr.  M'Crie,  "talents  of  a  superior  order, 
wliich  he  had  cultivated  with  unwearied  industry. 
To  an  imagination  which  was  lively  and  fertile, 
he  united  a  sound  and  coiTect  judgment.  His 
reading,  which  was  various  and  extensive,  was 
conducted  with  such  method,  and  so  digested, 
that  he  could  at  any  time  command  the  use  of  it; 
and  during  a  life  devoted  to  study  he  had  amassed 
a  Steele  of  knowledge,  on  all  the  branches  of  learn- 


ing connected  with  his  profession,  extremely  rare." 
"  He  was  more  qualified  for  writing  than  public 
speaking;  but  though  his  utterance  was  slow,  and 
he  had  no  claims  to  the  attractions  of  delivery,  yet 
his  discourses  from  the  pulpit  always  commanded 
the  attention  of  the  judicious  and  serious,  by  the 
pi-ofound  views  and  striking  illustrations  of  divine 
truth  which  they  contained,  and  by  the  vein  of 
solid  piety  which  ran  through  them.  His  piety, 
his  erudition,  his  uncommon  modesty  and  gentle- 
manly manners,  gained  him  the  esteem  of  all  his 
acquaintance;  and  these  qualities,  added  to  the 
warm  interest  which  he  took  in  their  literary  and 
spiritual  improvement,  made  him  revered  and  be- 
loved by  his  students."  In  a  note  appended  to 
the  Life  of  Dr.  M*Crie,  by  his  son,  the  latter  says, 
"  It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  curious  illustration  of 
the  zeal  with  which  Mr.  Bruce  prosecuted  his  L't- 
erai7  labours,  that  he  brought  a  printer  to  Whit- 
bum,  and  employed  him  exclusively  for  many 
years  in  printing  his  own  publications." 
Of  his  numerous  works  a  list  is  subjoined: 

The  Kirkind,  or  Golden  Age  of  the  Church  of  Scothmd, 
Canto  I.,  a  satire  on  the  reign  of  Moderation,  published  ano- 
njinouslr,  1774.-  This  poem  he  intended  afterwards  to  have 
continued,  but  graver  subjects  prevented  him. 

Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of  Popery,  published 
under  the  assumed  name  of  Calvinus  Minor,  Scoto  Britanno^ 
1780,  a  work  irequentlj  quoted  by  Mr.  M^Gavin  m  *  Tbe 
Protestant,*  as  evincing  much  talent  and  research. 

True  Patriotism^  or  a  Public  Spirit  for  God  and  Religion 
recommended,  and  the  want  of  it  reprehended;  a  Sermon 
preached  before  the  General  Associate  Synod,  on  a  day  ap- 
pointed for  humiliation,  from  the  text,  Judges,  v.  28,  *  Curse 
ye  Meroz,'  &c    1785; 

Annus  Secniaris,  or  the  British  Jubilee,  a  Review  of  an 
Act  of  Assembly,  appointing  the  5th  of  November  1788,  an 
anniversary  thank^ving  in  commemoration  of  tbe  Revolu- 
tion, 1788,  large  8vo.  Ifa  this  work,  which  was  published 
under  the  assumed  name  of  Cidvinus  Presbyter,  the  author 
enters,  at  great  length,  into  the  origin,  progress,  and  tendency 
of  religious  festivals  both  in  ancient  and  modem  times,  and 
seems  to  have  bestowed  a  great  deal  mors  labour  on  the 
subject  than  its  practical  utility  appears  to  have  required. 

The  Catechism  Modernized  and  adapted  to  the  meridian  of 
patronage,  and  late  improvements  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
with  suitable  Creeds  and  Prayers;  a  small  anonymous  trea- 
tise, 1791.  This  was  a  cutting  satire  on  the  chief  promoters 
of  patronage,  in  the  shape  of  a  parody  on  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism,  each  question  in  the  Catechism  having  its 
corresponding  question  in  the  treatise.  The  parody,  it  was 
thought,  was  carried  too  far,  and  in  the  advertisements  of  bis 
publications,  this  treatise  was  never  included. 

Reflexions  on  the  Freedom  of  Writing,  and  Impropriety  of 
attempting  to  suppress  it  by  Penal  Laws,  occasioned  by  a 
proclamation  issued  against  seditious  publications,  1794: 
published  under  the  character  of  a  North  British  Protestant 


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A  reniteutial  Kptstle  and  Humble  Supplication  to  his 
Holineas  the  Pope,  in  the  name  of  the  People  of  Great 
BriUun,  for  a  perfect  recondliation  and  perpetual  allianoe 
with  Rome,  1797;  a  derer  anonymous  poem,  hi  which  he  is 
Teiy  successful  in  exposing  and  ridiculing  the  superstitions  of 
the  Romiah  church. 

Introductory  and  Occasional  Lectures  to  Students,  as  read 
in  the  Theok^cal  Hall  at  Whitburn.  Vol  i.,  1797.  The 
second  volume  was  in  the  press,  and  nearly  ready  for  publica- 
tion, at  the  time  of  Mr.  Bruce*8  death.  It  was  completed 
and  edited  by  Dr.  M*Cne. 

A  TransUtion.  from  the  French,  of  Pictet's  Disoourses  on 
True  and  False  Religion,  witn  a  vindication  of  the  religion 
and  reformation  of  Protestants,  and  an  account  of  the  life  and 
irritings  of  the  author  prefixed,  1797. 

Principal  Differences  between  the  religious  principles  of 
those  called  the  Anti-Government  Party  and  of  other  Presby- 
terians, especially  those  of  the  Secession  in  Scotland,  on  the 
bead  of  magistracy.    A  small  pamphlet,  1797. 

A  Historico-PoIitico-EcclesiastiGd  Dissertation  on  the  su- 
premacy of  dvil  powers  in  matters  of  religion,  1798.  This 
was  a  subject  which,  at  that  period,  was  keenly  agitated  in 
the  Secesdon  Church,  on  the  bringing  forward  their  new 
*  Narrative  and  Testimony.* 

The  same  year  (1798)  he  edited,  from  a  manuscript  in  the 
theological  library  at  Whitburn,  Memoirs  of  the  Public  life 
of  James  Hog  of  Camock,  and  of  the  Ecdesiastical  PkDoeed- 
ings  of  his  Times.  This  interesting  pamphlet  contains  notices 
of  some  of  the  leading  events  in  several  meetings  of  Assembly 
immediatdy  after  the  Revolution. 

A  Review  of  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Assodate 
Synod,  and  of  some  Presbyteries,  in  reference  to  the  Ministers 
who  protested  against  the  impodtion  of  a  new  Testimony. 
One  volume  8vo  of  400  pages. 

Poems,  Serious  and  Amudng,  by  a  Rev.  Divine,  1812. 
In  this  small  volume  are  collected  the  poems  which,  in  the 
course  of  several  years,  he  had  sent  to  the  periodicals  of  the 
day. 

A  critical  account  of  tlie  Life  of  Mr.  Alexander  Moms,  a 
cdebrated  preacher  and  professor  of  theology  in  Geneva  and 
Holland,  with  sdect  Sermons  of  Moms  appended,  translated 
from  the  French  by  Mr.  Bmce,  1813. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  he  was  engaged  in  preparing  for 
publication  a  volume  of  sermons  on  Practical  Subjects. 

Beddes  the  publications  here  noticed,  Mr.  Bmce  wrote 
several  pamphlets  on  questions  that  were  keenly  agitated  in 
his  day,  tihich  were  published  anonymoudy. 

BRUCE,  James,  the  Rev.,  a  miscellanooiiB 
writer,  born  of  parents  in  a  hamble  station  in  life, 
was  a  native  of  the  north-west  part  of  Forfarshire. 
About  the  year  1780  be  was  a  distinguished 
scholar  at  the  university  of  St.  Andrews.  He 
afterwards  removed  to  Cambridge,  where  he  be- 
came a  Fellow  in  Emmanuel  college,  and  took  his 
degree  of  M.A.  He  subsequently  entered  into 
holy  orders  in  England,  where  he  remained  many 
years  in  the  capacity  of  a  curate.  About  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century  be  returned  to 
Scotland,  and  became  a  clergyman  in  the  Scottish 
episcopal  church.    About  the  year  1808  he  began 


to  furnish  i-evicws  for  the  Anti-Jacobin  Magazine 
and  Review,  now  discontinued,  and  to  the  British 
Critic,  two  monthly  publications,  which  were  then 
the  only  periodical  works  which  devoted  any  part 
of  their  space  to  the  interests  of  the  Church  of 
England.  These  two  publications  were  for  a  long 
time  chiefly  conducted  and  supported  by  Mr. 
Bruce,  and  his  friend,  the  late  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
George  Gleig,  bishop  of  Brechin,  and  Primus. 
Notwithstanding  his  talents  and  his  varied  and 
solid  attainments,  Mr.  Bruce  never  rose  to  any 
church  preferment;  but  died  in  the  year  1806  or 
1807,  in  comparative  obscurity  in  London,  after 
leading  a  most  laborious  literary  life.  He  does 
not  appear  however  to  have  published  any  sepa- 
rate work,  except — 

A  Sermon  preached  at  Dundee  on  the  death  of  George 
Teaman,  Esq.,  entitled  The  Regard  which  is  due  to  the  Me- 
mory of  Good  Men,  1803,  8vo. 

Mr.  Brace's  Reviews  extend  from  vol.  xv.  to  vol.  xxii.  of 
the  Anti-Jacobin.  Of  the  foUowing,  among  many  other 
works,  the  criticisms  were  written  by  him : — Overton's  Trae 
Churchman;  Gleig's  Sermons;  AbdoUatipb's  History;  Skin- 
ner's Primitive  Tratli;  Bishop  of  Lincoln's  Charge;  Dau- 
beney*s  Vindide;  Pinkerton's  Geography;  Repton's  Articles; 
Bisset's  History;  Grant's  Poems;  Dialogues,  &c. ;  Godwin's 
life;  Hill's  Synonymes,  a  very  able  and  learned  critique; 
Academicus'  Remarks;  Davis's  Attic  Researches;  Martin's 
Sermons;  Barrow's  Travels;  Remarks  on  Bishop  of  Lincoln's 
Charge;  Hill's  Theological  Institutes;  and  Godwin's  Fleet- 
wood. 

BauitTON,  a  surname  evidently  derived  from  the  lands  oi 
Brufutane  on  Branstane  burn,  a  small  stream  in  Mid  Lothii>n, 
which  separates  the  parish  of  Duddingston  from  Inveresk  and 
IJberton  on  the  south,  and  flows  into  the  Frith  of  Forth  near 
Fisherrow.  The  ruins  of  Branstane  castle  on  the  Esk,  built 
about  1580,  are  of  considerable  extent.  Crichton  of  Bran- 
ston,  the  secret  agent  of  Henry  the  Eighth  in  the  conspiracy 
against  Cardinal  Bethune,  generally  signed  himself  BrowuUm 
in  his  letters. 

BRUNTON,  Mrs.  Mary,  an  ingenious  novelist, 
the  only  daughter  of  Colonel  Thomas  Balfour  of 
Elwick,  was  bom  in  the  Island  of  Burra,  in  Ork- 
ney, November  1, 1778.  Her  mother  was  Frances, 
only  daughter  of  Colonel  Ligonier  of  the  18th 
dragoons,  and  niece  of  field-marshal  the  earl  of 
Ligonier,  to  whose  charge  she  had  early  been  left 
an  orphan.  Under  her  mother's  care,  she  became 
a  considerable  proficient  in  music,  and  an  excel- 
lent French  and  Italian  scholar.  While  yet 
young,  she  evinced  a  strong  partiality  for  the 
perusal  of  works  of  poetry  and  fiction.  In  her 
sixteenth  year  the  charge  of  her  father's  house- 


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GEORGE. 


hold  devolved  upon  licr,  and  from  that  period  till 
her  twentieth  year,  she  had  little  leisui-e  for  self- 
impi-ovement.  When  she  was  only  twenty,  she 
married  the  Rev.  Alexander  Brunton,  then  minis- 
ter of  the  parish  of  Bolton,  near  Haddington, 
afterwards  D.D.,  professor  of  oriental  languages, 
and  librarian  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and 
one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Tron  church  of  that 
crty.  In  the  quiet  of  a  Scottish  manse,  Mi-s. 
Brunton 's  taste  for  books  retumcd  in  all  its 
strength,  and,  under  the  direction  of  her  husband, 
she  pursued  a  course  of  reading  not  only  in  criti- 
cism and  the  belles  lettres,  but  in  philosophy  and 
history.  She  also  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the 
German  language,  and  taught  herself  to  draw. 
At  this  time  she  felt  so  little  inclination  for  com- 
position, that  the  mere  writing  of  a  letter  was  irk- 
some to  her. 

In  autumn  1803,  on  the  removal  of  her  husband 
to  Edinburgh,  she  accompanied  him  ;  and  her  cir- 
cle of  acquaintances  being  now  widened,  she  min- 
gled more  with  people  of  talent  and  distinction  in 
literature  than  she  had  had  the  opportunity  of 
doing  in  East  Lothian.  It  was  chiefly  for  the 
employment  of  accidental  intervals  of  leisui'e,  as 
we  are  informed  by  her  husband,  that  Mrs.  Bnin- 
ton  began  the  writing  of  *  Self- Control ;'  a  consid- 
erable part  of  the  fii*st  volume  of  which  was  fin- 
ished before  she  informed  her  husband  of  her 
project.  This  novel  was  published  at  Edinburgh 
in  1811,  in  two  volumes  ;  it  was  dedicated  to  Miss 
Joanna  Baillie,  and  its  success  was  so  complete, 
that  it  had  not  been  out  above  a  month,  when  a 
second  edition  was  called  for.  The  faults  of  the 
book  were  great ;  but  as  a  first  appearance  it  was 
a  most  promising  perfonnance.  The  beauty  and 
correctness  of  the  style,  the  acutcness  of  observa- 
tion, the  discrimination  of  character,  and  the  lofti- 
ness of  sentiment  which  it  displayed,  were  univer- 
sally acknowledged.  The  work  was  published 
anonymously.  In  December  1814  appeared,  'Dis- 
cipline,' in  three  volumes ;  the  reception  of  which 
was  more  favourable  than  the  author  herself  had 
anticipated.  She  afterwards  designed  a  collection 
of  short  naiTatives,  under  the  title  of  *  Domestic 
Tales.'  The  first  of  these,  the  *  Runaway,'  was  to 
contain  the  story  of  a  truant  boy,  whose  hai*dships 
<;hou1d  teach  him  the  value  of  home ;  with  which 


she  wished  to  blend  some  account  of  the  peculiar 
manners  of  Orkney.  While  arranging  her  plans 
for  this  series  of  tales,  she  commenced  the  story 
of  *  Emraeline,'  the  object  of  which  was  to  show 
how  little  chance  there  is  of  happiness  when  a 
divorced  wife  marries  her  seducer.  This  tale  she 
did  not  live  to  finish. 

In  the  summer  of  1818,  Mi-s.  Bnmton  had  the 
prospect  of  being  for  the  first  time  a  mother ;  bnt 
a  strong  impression  had  taken  possession  of  her 
mind,  that  her  confinement  was  to  prove  fatal. 
Under  this  belief  she  made  every  preparation  for 
death,  with  the  same  tranquillity  as  if  she  had 
been  making  arrangements  for  a  short  absence 
from  home.  The  clothes  in  which  she  was  laid  in 
the  grave  were  selected  by  herself;  she  herself  had 
chosen  and  labelled  some  tokens  of  i-emembrance 
for  her  more  intimate  friends ;  and  she  even  drew 
up  in  her  own  handwriting  a  list  of  the  persons  to 
whom  she  wished  intimations  of  her  death  to  be 
sent.  But  these  gloomy  anticipations,  though  so 
deeply  fixed,  neither  shook  her  foititude  nor  dimin- 
ished her  cheeifulness.  They  altered  neither  her 
wish  to  live,  nor  the  ardour  with  which  she  pro- 
pared  to  meet  the  duties  of  returning  health,  if  re- 
turning health  was  to  be  her  portion.  Her  fore- 
bodings proved  only  too  well-founded.  After 
giving  birth  to  a  still-born  son,  on  the  7th  of  De- 
cember, and  recovering  for  a  few  days  with  a 
rapidity  beyond  the  hopes  of  her  medical  attend- 
ants, she  was  attacked  with  fever,  which  advanced 
with  fatal  violence,  terminating  her  valuable  life 
on  December  19,  1818,  in  the  forty- first  year  of 
her  age.  In  the  spring  of  1819  the  unfinished 
tale  of  *  Emmeline,'  with  some  extracts  from  her 
con*espondence,  and  other  pieces,  was  publislied 
by  her  husband,  who  prefixed  a  brief  but  elegant 
and  affecting  memoir  of  her  life,  to  which  we  arc 
indebted  for  these  detaild. 

BRUNTON,  George,  a  miscellaneous  writer, 
the  eldest  son  of  a  respectable  citizen  of  Edinburgh, 
was  bom  in  that  city,  January  81,  1799.  He  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  his  classical  education  at 
the  Canongate  high  school,  an  institution  now  dis- 
continued. Having  adopted  the  legal  profession, 
he  became  in  1831  an  advocate's  first  derk,  which 
entitled  him  to  practise  as  a  solicitor  before  the 
supreme  couits  of  Scotland.    The  bent  of  hie 


I    ! 


!  i 


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ALEXANDEK. 


genius,  however,  was  towards  literary  pursuits. 
He  wrote  several  articles,  both  in  prose  and  poetry, 
in  the  *  Ediuburgli  Magazine,'  the  '  Scottish  Lite- 
rary Gazette'  and  'Tait's  Magazine.'  In  1834, 
he  became  editor  of  the  'Scottish  Patriot,'  an 
Edinburgh  newspaper,  as  he  had  previously  been 
of  another  called  the  *  Citizen.'  In  conjunction 
with  Mr.  David  Haig,  assistant-librarian  to  the 
faculty  of  advocates,  a  gentleman  distinguished  in 
Scottish  history  and  antiquities,  Mr.  Brunton  pub- 
lished, in  1832,  *  An  Historical  Account  of  the 
Senatoi-s  of  the  College  of  Justice,  from  its  Insti- 
tution in  1532;'  of  which  he  compiled  the  earlier 
portion.  It  had  so  happened  that  at  the  time  Mr. 
Brunton  was  collecting  materials  for  a  similar  work, 
Mr.  Haig  had  been  for  a  year  or  two  previous  en- 
gaged in  an  undertaking  of  the  same  nature.  An 
accidental  conversation  which  the  latter  had  with 
Mr.  Bnmton  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  led  to  a 
discovery  that,  unknown  to  each  other,  both  were 
contemplating  a  work  exactly  the  same,  the  only 
difference  being  in  the  plan  and  arrangement. 
The  result  was,  an  agreement  between  them  to 
combine  their  researches.  About  the  same  time, 
one  of  Mr.  Brauton's  brothers  entered  into  part- 
nership with  the  brother  of  Mr.  David  Haig,  as 
booksellers  and  stationers  in  Edinburgh,  and  with 
a  view  to  promote  the  success  of  their  relatives, 
they  commenced  a  weekly  periodical,  entitled 
*  The  Scots  Weekly  Magazine,'  which  was  exclu- 
sively devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  Scottish  history 
and  antiquities,  and  Scottish  life  and  manners; 
but  which  not  being  successful  was  soon  discon- 
tinued. In  the  beginning  of  April  1836,  Mr. 
Brunton's  declining  health  induced  him  to  proceed 
to  the  Continent,  and  he  died  at  Paris,  June  2  of 
that  year,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  children. 

Brtce,  a  snmame  supposed  to  hare  been  originally  Bruce, 
which  in  eariy  records  is  indifferently  written  Bruis  or 
Bmys.  There  is  one  well  authenticated  instance  in  which 
the  name  of  Bmce  was  chan^  into  Bryce,  by  an  ancestor  of 
the  family  of  Bmce  of  Scoutbush  and  Killroot,  in  the  county 
of  Antrim,  Ireland,  a  scion  of  the  ancient  Scotch  house  of 
Bruce  of  Airth,  being  descended  from  the  Rev.  Edward 
Bruce,  or  Bryce,  younger  brother  of  the  laird  of  Airth,  who 
settled  in  Ireland  about  1608.  The  name  continued  for  a 
long  time  Bryce,  bnt  in  1811,  the  possessor  of  Scoutbush, 
resumed,  by  royal  license,  the  family  name  of  Bruce.  The 
reason  for  changing  the  name  is  thus  descnbed  by  Mrs. 
Bruce^s  grandfather,  in  a  letter  to  bis  son,  relative  to  the 
fiunily  descent,  in  1774-5.     *'  One  of  my  ancestors  had  a  dis- 


pute with  his  chief  who  attacked  him.    He,  according  to  the       i 
laws  of  Scotland,  retreated  as  far  as  wood,  water,  &c.,  would       i 
allow  him,  then  turned  in  his  own  defence  and  killed  bis  chief.       i 
In  those  days,  two  or  three  hundred  years  ago,  the  chie6  had 
great  influence.     He  was  prosecuted  with  great  virulence. 
The  sentence  was,  *  that  he  should  be  either  banished  or      { 
change  his  name.*    He  said  he  had  done  nothing  sinful  or 
shameful  to  fly  his  oomitry,  bnt  put  a  tail  to  the  «  and  made 
it  y;  thus  it  was  Bryce,  bnt  when  my  grandfather  went  to 
Ireland,  he  spelled  his  name  with  an  t,  and  since  it  has  so 
remained.** — Burke. 

Bryce  is  s<Hnetime8  used  as  a  fhrst  or  Christian  name. 
From  1203  to  1222,  ot^  Bryce  or  Bricius,  a  son  of  the  noble      i 
family  of  Douglas,  was  bishop  of  Moray. 

BRYCE,  Alexander,  the  Rev.,  an  eminent 
geometrician,  was  born  at  Boarland,  parish  of 
Kincardine,  in  1713.  lie  received  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  his  education  at  the  school  of  Dounc, 
Perthshire;  and,  after  studying  at  the  university 
of  Edinburgh,  proceeded  to  Caithness,  in  MAy 
1740,  as  tutor  to  a  gentleman's  son.  He  resided 
there  for  three  years,  and  during  that  time,  at  his 
own  expense,  and  in  the  midst  of  much  obstmc- 
tion,  he  completed  a  '  Map  of  the  North  Coast  of 
Britain,  from  Raw  Stoir  of  Assynt,  to  Wick  in 
Caithness,  with  the  Harbours  and  Rocks,  and  an 
account  of  the  Tides  in  the  Pentland  Frith,'  which 
was  published  in  1744  by  the  Philosophical,  after- 
wards the  Royal,  Society  of  Edinburgh.  In  June 
1744  be  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Dunblane;  and,  in  August  1745,  having  re- 
ceived a  presentation  from  the  earl  of  Morton,  he 
was  ordained  in  the  church  and  parish  of  Kirk- 
new  ton,  in  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh.  In  the 
winter  of  1745-46  he  taught  the  mathematical 
classes  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  during  the 
last  illness  of  Professor  Maclauriu.  In  1752,  after 
much  anxious  search,  he  discovered,  among  some 
old  lumber  in  a  garret  at  Stirling,  the  Pint  Jug, 
the  standard,  by  statute,  for  weight  and  for  liquid 
and  dry  measure  in  Scotland,  committed  by  an  old 
act  of  parliament  to  the  keeping  of  the  magistrates 
of  that  burgh.  At  the  request  of  the  magistrates 
of  Edinburgh,  he  afterwards  superintended  the 
adjustment  of  the  weights  and  measures  kept  by 
the  dean  of  guild,  and,  for  so  doing,  was  made  a 
burgess  and  guild  brother  in  1754*  He  wrote 
several  scientiflc  papere,  which  were  published  in 
the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London, 
amongst  which  may  be  mentioned  *An  Account 
of  a  Comet  observed  by  him  in  1766 ;'    *  A  new 


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Method  of  measuring  the  Velocity  of  the  Wind ;' 
and  '  An  Experiment  to  ascertain  to  what  quan- 
tity of  Water  a  fall  of  Snow  on  the  Earth's  Sur- 
face is  equal.'  He  also  contributed  several  papers 
to  Ruddiman's  Weekly  Magazine.  By  the  influ- 
ence of  Stnait  Mackenzie,  lord  privy  seal  of  Scot- 
land, for  whom  he  planned  the  observatoiy  at 
Belmont  castle,  he  was  appointed  one  of  his  ma- 
jesty's chaplains  in  ordinary.  In  1774  the  free- 
dom of  the  town  of  Stirling  was  conferred  on  him, 
in  consequence  of  his  advice  and  assistance  in  sup- 
plying that  town  with  water.  In  1776  he  made  all 
the  requisite  calculations  for  an  epitome  of  the 
solar  system  on  a  large  scale,  afterwards  erected 
by  the  earl  of  Buchan  at  his  seat  at  Kirkhill.  Mr. 
Bryce  died  January  1,  1786. 

BRYDONE,  Patrick,  F.R.S.,  author  of  an 
ingenious  and  entertaining  Tour  in  Sicily  and 
Malta,  the  son  of  a  clergyman  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Dumbarton,  was  bom  in  lf41.  He  re- 
ceived an  excellent  education  at  one  of  the  uni- 
veraities,  and  subsequently  distinguished  himself 
by  his  tours  in  foreign  countries.  About  the  time 
of  his  first  proceeding  to  the  continent,  Dr.  Frank- 
lin's discoveries  in  electricity  had  aroused  the  cu- 
riosity of  scientific  men;  and,  with  the  view  of 
ascertaining  the  precise  state  and  temperature  of 
the  air  on  the  summits  of  the  highest  mountains 
in  Europe,  Mr.  Brydone,  after  providing  himself 
with  the  necessary  instruments,  visited  Switzer- 
land and  Italy,  and  crossed  both  the  Alps  and  the 
Apennines.  In  these  excursions  he  often  wit- 
nessed phenomena  of  a  most  remarkable  nature, 
but  not  uncommon  in  those  regions.  In  1767,  or 
1768,  he  accompanied  Mr.  Beck  ford  of  Somerly, 
in  Suffolk,  in  a  scientific  cxcui-sion  to  the  conti- 
nent. He  next  travelled,  in  1770,  to  Italy,  and 
some  of  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  with 
a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Fullarton,  who  sub- 
sequently commanded  in  India,  and  was  a  commis- 
sioner for  the  government  of  Trinidad.  In  1771 
he  returned  to  England,  and  soon  after  obtained 
an  appointment  under  government.  In  1773  he 
published  his  *Tour  through  Sicily  and  Malta.' 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Societies  of  Ivon- 
don  and  Edinburgh,  and  of  several  other  learned 
bodies.  He  died  at  I^enncl  House,  near  Cold- 
stream, 19th  June  1818.     He  married  the  eldest 


daughter  of  Principal  Robertson,  the  historian. 
His  own  eldest  daughter  was  countess  of  Minto, 
who  died  in  1853.     His  works  are : 

Toot  through  Sicilj  and  Malta,  in  a  series  of  Letters  to 
William  Beckford,  Esq.     Lond.  1773,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Palsy  cured  by  Electricity.   Phil.  Trans.  Abr.  xi.  163.   1 7n7. 

Meteor  observed  at  Tweedmouth.     1772.     lb.  ziiL  415. 

Electrical  Experiments  on  Hair.    lb.  416. 

Fatal  Effects  of  a  Tbnnder  Storm  in  ScutUnd.  lb.  xvl 
186.     1787. 


BuocLBUOH,  duke  of,  in  the  peerage  of  Scothmd,  a  title 
possessed  by  the  distinguished  house  of  Scott,  which  has  bng 
held  a  very  high  rank  in  titles,  worth,  and  importance  in  the 
kingdom,  while  their  territorial  possessions  are  more  exten- 
sive and  valuable  than  those  of  any  other  family  in  Scotland. 
The  history  of  the  earliest  generations  of  the  Bucdeoch  fam- 
ily is  mvolred  in  obscurity.  .  There  is  in  the  poesesnon  of  the 
present  Lord  Polwwrth,  who  is  himself  a  noble  branch  of  the 
Scotts,  a  genealogical  table,  prepared  by  and  holograph  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  of  Abbotaford,  Bart,  in  which  he  traces  the 
origin  and  descent  of  this  family  as  follows : — 

I.  Ucbtred  Fiu-Scott,  or  Filios  Scott,  who  flourished  at 
the  court  of  King  David  I.,  and  was  witness  to  two  charters 
granted  by  him  to  the  abbeys  of  Holyroodhouse  and  Selkirk, 
dated  in  the  years  1128  and  1130.  It  is,  however,  believed 
that  from  the  days  of  Kenneth  III.  the  barony  of  Scotstonn 
in  Peebles-ehire  had  been  possessed  by  the  ancestors  of  this 
Ucbtred,  who,  being  descended  from  Galwegian  forefathers, 
were  called  Scots,  Galloway  being  then  inhabited  by  the  clan 
to  whom  that  name  properly  belonged. 

II.  Richard  Scott,  son  of  Ucbtred,  witnessed  a  cfaartar 
granted  by  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  to  the  abbey  of  Holy- 
roodhouse about  the  year  1158. 

III.  Richard  Scott,  son  of  Richard,  who  married  Alida, 
daughter  of  Henry  de  MoUa,'  with  whom  he  received  lands  is 
Roxburghshhre  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second. 

IV.  William  Scott,  son  of  Richard,  attended  the  court  of 
Alexander  the  Second,  and  witnessed  several  of  bis  cliarterai 

V.  Sir  Richard  Scott,  son  of  William,  married  the  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  Mnrthockstone  of  that  ilk,  in  the  county  of 
Lanark,  by  which  marriage  he  acquired  the  property  of  Mnr- 
thockstone,  now  called  Murdieston.  He  then  assumed  into 
his  arms  "  tlie  bend  of  Murdiestoun,**  and  disposed  thereon 
his  own  paternal  crescents  and  star.  He  swore  fealty  to  Ed- 
ward I  in  1296.  and  died  m  1320. 

VI.  Su*  Michael  Scott  of  Murthockstooe,  son  of  Sir  Rich- 
ard and  the  heiress  of  Murthockstone,  was  a  gallant  warrior, 
who  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Halidon  hill,  19th 
July  1333.  He  was  one  of  the  few  who  escaped  the  carnage 
of  that  disastrous  day ;  but  he  was  slain  in  the  unfortunate 
battle  of  Durham,  thirteen  years  after.. 

In  the  Genealogical  Table  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  from  which 
these  six  generations  of  the  family  are  stated,  it  is  said  that 
this  Sir  Michael  left  two  sons,  "  the  eldest  of  whom  (Robert) 
carried  on  the  family,  the  second  (John)  was  ancestor  of  the 
Scotts  of  Harden.'' 

Robert  Scott  of  Murthockstone  died  before  7th  Dec  1389, 
as  appears  from  a  crown  charter  of  that  date  to  bis  son 
Walter. 

W^alter  Scott  of  Murdieston  and  Rankelbum,  son  of  Robert, 
obtained  a  charter  from  King  Robert  II.  of  the  superioritict  of 
the  barony  of  Kkknrd,  m  the  county  of  Peebles,  dated  7th 
December  1389.     He  was  one  of  the  principal  persons  on  the 


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borders  who  were  bound  to  keep  the  peace  of  the  inarches  in 
1398.  He  is  said  to  have  been  killed  at  the  battle  of  Homil- 
don,  on  14th  Sept.  1402,  bat  this  is  inconsistent  with  an  in- 
Ktmment  entered  in  the  Bncclench  Inventory  by  which  he 
guve  saane  to  Andrew  Ker  of  Altonnbume  of  the  lands  of 
Lurdenlaw,  dated  SOth  July,  1413. 

Robert  Scott  of  Murdieuton  and  Rankelbom,  obtained  a 
charter  from  John  Inglis  of  Manir,  of  the  half  lands  of  Branx- 
bolm,  &C.  dated  at  Manir  kirk,  last  of  January  1420.  This 
appears  to  have  been  the  first  acquisition  by  the  family  of  the 
lands  of  Branxholm.  Robert  died  in  1426,  leaving  two  sons. 
Sir  Walter  his  heir,  and  Stevin  Soott  of  CasUelaw. 

Sir  Walter  $cott  of  Kirkurd,  knight,  the  eldest  son,  had  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Lempetlaw,  within  the  barony  of 
Sprouston,  from  Archibald,  earl  of  Douglas,  on  the  resigna- 
ti<m  of  Robert  Soott  his  father,  dated  2d  July  1426.  He 
likewise  obtained  a  charter  of  the  lands  and  barony  of  Eok- 
ford,  &C.  from  King  James  II.,  dated  3d  May  1437.  He 
exchanged  his  lands  of  Murdieston  in  Clydesdale,  with 
Thomas  Inglis  of  Manir,  for  his  half  of  the  barony  of  Branx- 
holm, (poetically  Branksome,)  in  Roxburghshire,  23d  July 
1446.  According  to  tradition,  Inglis  having  one  day  com- 
plained of  the  usuries  which  his  lands  of  Branxholm  sus- 
tained from  the  inroads  of  the  English  borderers,  Scott  oflered 
him  his  estate  of  Murdieston  in  exchange,  which  was  instantly 
agreed  to,  and  when  the  bai^n  was  completed,  he  drily  ob- 
served that  the  Cumberland  cattle  were  as  good  as  those  of 
Teviotdale.  He  immediately  commenced,  like  a  true  border 
chieftain,  a  system  of  reprisals  upon  the  English,  which  was 
regularly  pursued  by  hi^  descendants  for  several  generations. 
Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Branxholm  was  one  of  the  conservators 
of  truces  with  England  in  1449, 1451, 1453, 1457,  and  1459. 
He  exerted  himself  in  an  eminent  degree  in  suppressing  the 
rebellion  of  the  Douglases  in  1455,  and  was  one  of  the  many 
Scottish  barons  who  rose  upon  the  ruins  of  that  once  potent 
family,  having  obtained  from  James  the  Second  a  grant  of 
their  lands  of  Abbington,  Phareholm,  and  Glendonanrig,  by 
charter,  dated  22d  February,  1458-9.  That  monarch  also 
granted  to  him  and  to  Sir  David  his  son,  the  remaining  half 
of  the  barony  of  Branxholm,  to  be  held  in  blanch  for  the  pay- 
ment of  a  red  rose,  for  their  brave  and  faithful  exertions  in 
favour  of  the  king  against  the  house  of  Douglas.  They  like- 
wise had  conferred  on  them  part  of  the  barony  of  Langholm 
in  the  county  of  Dumfries.  Sir  Walter  established  the  prin- 
cipal residence  of  the  Buccleuch  family  at  Branxholm  castle, 
and  died  sometime  between  1467  and  1470,  possessed  of*  a 
great  part  of  those  pastoral  lands  in  Selkirkshire  and  Rox- 
borghshiro,  which  still  form  a  principal  part  of  the  family 
property.  By  his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Cockbum  of 
Henderland,  in  the  county  of  Peebles,  he  had  two  sons ;  Su: 
David,  his  heir,  and  Sir  Alexander  Scott,  who  was  rector  of 
Wigton,  director  of  the  chanceiy,  and  clei-k  register  of  Soot- 
land,  in  1483.  He  fell  on  the  side  of  James  the  Third  at  the 
battle  of  Sauchiebum,  11th  June,  1488,  leaving  two  sons, 
Walter  and  Adam. 

Sir  David  Scott  of  Branxholm  was  concerned  m  most  of 
the  transactions  of  the  reign  of  James  the  Third,  and  sat  in 
the  parliament  of  1487,  under  the  designation  of  *  dominus  de 
Buccleuch,*  being  the  first  of  the  family  so  designated.  He 
enlarged  and  strengthened  the  castle  of  Branxholm,  which 
Sir  Walter  Scott  has  made  the  principal  scene  of  his  poem  of 
*The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel*  He  was  instrumental  in 
Bnppressing  insurrections  on  the  borders,  and  was  a  conserva- 
tor of  peace  with  England.  He  died  in  March  1492.  By 
bis  wife,  a  daughter  of  Lord  Somerville,  he  had  three  sons 
and  two  daughters.     David,  the  eldest  son,  erroneously  re- 


presented by  the  peerage  writers  to  have  carried  on  the  line  of 
the  family,  predeceased  him  previous  to  March  1484,  without 
issue,  as  did  also  William,  the  second,  and  Robert,  the  third 
son,  the  latter  designed  of  Allanhanch  and  Quhitchester,  who 
deceased  between  1490  and  1492,  leaving  two  sons,  Sir 
Walter  and  Robert  of  Allanhanch. 

Sir  Walter,  the  eldest  sou,  was  served  heir  to  his  grand- 
father. Sir  David,  in  the  lands  of  Branxholm,  &c.,  on  6th  No- 
vember, 1492.  He  accompanied  King  James  the  Fourth  to 
the  battle  of  Flodden  m  1518,  and  was  one  of  the  few  who 
escaped  the  carnage  of  that  fatal  day.  He  died  in  1516. 
By  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Walter  Ker  of  Ceesford, 
widow  of  Philip  Rutherford,  son  and  heu-  of  Rutherford  of 
that  ilk,  he  had  two  sons.  Sir  Walter  and  William  of  Quhit- 
hope,  1515. 

Shr  Walter  Scott  was  served  heir  to  his  father  in  1517. 
He  was  warden  of  the  west  marches,  and  besides  various 
deeds  of  valour  during  the  mmority  of  James  the  Fifth,  is 
celebrated  for  an  abortive  attempt  to  rescue  that  monaroh 
from  the  control  of  the  earl  of  Angus,  when  his  majesty  ac- 
companied that  powerful  and  ambitious  noble,  in  1526,  on  an 
expedition  against  the  turbulent  border  clan  of  the  Arm- 
strongs. James  sent  him  a  secret  message,  complaining  bit- 
terly of  the  durance  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  Douglases, 
and  soliciting  his  aid,  and  as  Angus,  with  the  young  king, 
and  a  considerable  retinue,  was  returning  to  Edinburgh  bj 
Melrose,  **  Walter  Scott  of  Buccleuch  suddenly  appeared  on  » 
neighbouring  height,  (at  Halyden  near  Mehxwe,  18th  Julj 
1526)  and  at  the  head  at  a  thousand  men,  threw  himself  be- 
tween the  earl  of  Angus  and  the  route  to  the  capital  Angus 
instantly  sent  a  messenger,  who  commanded  the  border  chief 
in  the  royal  name,  to  dismiss  his  followers;  but  Scott  bluntly 
answered  that  he  knew  the  king's  mind  better  than  the 
proudest  baron  amongst  them,  and  meant  to  keep  his  ground, 
and  do  obeisance  to  his  sovereign,  who  had  honoured  the 
borders  with  his  presence.  The  answer  was  intended  and 
accepted  as  a  defiance,  and  Angus  mstantl/  commanded  his 
followers  to  dismount  His  brother  George,  with  the  earls  of 
Maxwell  and  Lennox,  forming  a  guard  round  the  young  king, 
retired  to  a  little  hillock  in  the  neighbourhood,  whilst  the 
earl,  with  Fleming,  Home,  and  Ker  of  Cessford,  proceeded 
with  levelled  spears,  and  at  a  rapid  pace,  against  Buccleuch, 
who  also  awaited  them  on  foot  His  chief  followers,  how- 
ever, were  outlawed  men  of  the  borders,  whose  array  ofi*ered 
a  feeble  resistance  to  the  determined  charge  of  the  armed 
knights  belonging  to  Angus;  the  conflict,  accordingly,  was 
short;  eighty  of  the  parly  of  Buccleuch  were  slain;  the  chief 
(wounded)  was  compelled  to  retire,  and  on  the  side  of  the 
Douglases,  the  only  material  loss  was  the  death  of  Ker  of 
Cessford,  a  brave  baron,  who  was  lamented  by  both  parties.'* 
ITytler'tHigtoty  of  Scotland,  vol  v.^»ge  202.^  This  event 
occasioned  a  deadly  feud  betwixt  the  Soots  and  the  Kers, 
which  raged  for  many  years  on  the  borders,  and  caused  much 
bloodshed. 

A  summons  of  treason  was  raised  against  Sir  Walter,  but 
the  king,  after  emancipating  himself  from  the  domineering 
influence  of  the  Douglases,  declared  in  parliament,  6th  Sep- 
tember 1528,  that  he  was  innocent  of  all  the  crimes  imputed 
to  him,  and  ordered  the  summons  to  be  cancelled.  When 
the  property  of  the  earl  of  Angus  was  confiscated.  Sir  Walter 
obtained  a  grant  of  the  lordship  of  Jedburgh  forest  by  charter, 
3d  September  1528.  In  the  followmg  year,  whilst  the  king 
was  executing  summary  justice  upon  Johnnie  Armstrong  and 
the  marauders  of  the  borders,  Sir  Walter,  with  those  of  the 
border  chieftains  under  whose  protection  they  were,  was  im- 
pr«oned  until  after  his  return.      Buccleuch,  having  used 

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satirical  expreesions  against  Henxy  the  Eighth,  became  ex- 
tremely obnoxioas  to  the  £ngliflh,  and  the  eari  of  Northum- 
berland, in  October  1532,  with  fifteen  hondred  men,  ravaged 
and  plundered  his  lands,  and  bamt  Branxholm  castle,  but 
fiuled  in  their  principal  object,  which  was  to  kill  or  take  him 
prisoner.  In  retaliation  Sir  Walter  and  other  border  chiefs 
assembled  three  thousand  men,  and  conducting  them  into 
England,  laid  waste  Northumberland,  as  far  as  the  river 
Beamish,  baffled  and  defeated  the  English,  and  returned  home 
loaded  with  booty.  In  153d,  he  was  summoned  before  the 
justidaxy  at  Edinburgh,  for  alleged  assistance  given  to  Lord 
Dacre  and  Sir  Kerstiall  Dacre,  at  the  time  of  the  burning  of 
Caveris  and  Denholm.  He  appeared  in  court  19th  of  April 
that  year,  and  submitted  himself  to  the  will  of  the  king,  who 
put  him  in  prison.  An  accusation  so  little  consistent  with 
his  uniform  hostuity  towards  the  English,  probably  had  itu 
origin  in  the  feuds  betwixt  the  Scotts  and  the  Kers.  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  notes  to  the  *  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,* 
that  Sir  Walter  was  imprisoned  and  forfeited  in  1535,  for 
levying  war  against  the  Eers;  but  the  assistance  given  to 
the  Dacres  is  the  only  point  insisted  on  in  the  summons 
against  him.  After  the  death  of  James  the  Fifth  he  was  re- 
stored by  act  of  parliament,  15th  March  1542-8,  during  the 
regency  of  Mary  of  Lorraine.  He  distinguished  himself  at 
the  battle  of  Pinkie  in  1547,  but  eventually  lost  his  life  m  a 
nocturnal  rencontre  on  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh  with  a 
party  of  the  Kers,  headed  by  Sir  Walter  Ker  of  Cessford,  on 
4th  October  1552.  He  was  thrice  married,  first,  to  Elizabeth 
Carmichael,  of  the  Hyndford  family,  by  whom  he  had  two 
sons;  secondly,  to  Janet  Ker,  daughter  of  Andrew  Ker  of 
Femiehirst  (contract  dated  January  1530) ;  and  thirdly,  to 
Janet,  daughter  uf  John  Betlinne  of  Creich.  By  the  List  he 
had  two  SODS  and  four  daughters. 

This  lady,  the  heroine  of  *  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel," 
was  a  woman  of  a  masculine  spirit,  as  appears  by  her  riding 
at  the  head  of  her  dan  after  her  husband's  murder,  and  by 
her  efforts  to  avenge  his  death.  Upon  25th  June  1557 
dame  Janet  Bethune,  Lady  Bucdeugh,  and  a  great  number 
of  the  name  of  Scott,  were  ddaitit  (accused)  for  coming  to 
the  kirk  of  St  Mary  of  the  Lowes,  (now  Yarrow)  to  the  num- 
ber of  two  hundred  persons  bodin  in  feir  of  wdre  (arrayed  in 
armour),  and  breaking  open  the  doors  of  the  said  kiric,  in 
order  to  apprehend  the  laird  of  Cranstoun  for  his  destruction. 
On  the  20th  July,  a  warrant  from  the  queen  regent  is  pre- 
sented, dischai^i^ng  the  justice  to  proceed  against  the  Lady 
Bucdeuch  till  a  new  calling.  Before  her  marriage  with  Buc- 
dench  she  is  said  to  have  been  twice  married,  first  to  Sur 
James  Creichton  of  Granston-Riddd,  who  died  about  1539, 
(this  marriage,  however,  is  not  well  authenticated),  and  se- 
condly to  Simon  Preston  of  Craigmillar,  from  whom  she  was 
divorced,  and  on  2d  December  1544,  she  took  for  her  tlurd 
husband  the  laird  of  Bucdeuch.  This  masculine  hidy,  in  the 
superstition  of  the  age,  was  accused  of  admmistering  love 
potions  to  queen  Maiy,  to  make  her  enamoured  of  the  earl  of 
Bothwell,  with  whom  she  herself  is  represented  as  having  car- 
ried on  a  criminal  connexion  after  the  death  of  Bucdeuch. 
One  of  the  pUcards  preserved  in  Buchanan's  Detection  ac- 
cuses of  the  murder  of  Damley  '^the  Erie  Bothwell,  Mr. 
James  Balfour,  the  personn  of  Flisk,  Mr.  David  Chalmers, 
blak  Mr.  John  Spens,  wha  was  prindpal  deviser  of  the  mur- 
der, and  the  queue,  assenting  thairto,  tlirow  the  persuasion 
of  the  Erie  Bothwell,  and  the  witchcraft  of  Lady  Bucdeuch.** 
David,  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Walter,  and  Elizabeth  Car- 
michael, predeceased  his  father  before  1544,  without  issue. 
Sbr  Walter  was  succeeded  in  1552  by  his  second  son,  Sir 
William  Scott  of  Fawsyde,  who  married  Grizel,  second  daugh- 


ter of  John  Bethune  of  Crdch,  the  sister  of  his  fiithei's  third 
wife,  and  by  her  he  had  a  son,  Su:  Walter,  who  was  served 
hdr  to  Sir  Walter  his  grandfather  6th  January  1553. 

This  Sir  William  Scott  signed  the  associatioa  in  sup- 
port of  James  the  Sixth  in  1567,  but  subsequently  joined  the 
party  of  the  unfortunate  Maiy,  and  remained  till  her  death 
one  of  her  meet  zealous  and  conspicuous  adherents.  The  day 
alter  the  regent  Murray  was  assassinated,  he  and  Ker  of  Fer- 
neyhirst,  before  they  could  have  learned  the  fact  by  ordinary 
means,  broke  across  the  English  border,  plundered  and  bunt 
the  country,  and  continued  and  extended  their  depredations 
in  the  hope  of  kindling  a  war  betwixt  the  two  kingdoms. 
Being  asked  how  he  could  venture  upon  such^n  outrage  so 
long  as  the  earl  of  Murray  was  regent,  he  answered,  "  Tush, 
the  regent  is  as  cold  as  my  bridle-bit"  It  would  thus  appear 
that  like  the  Hamiltons  and  other  partisans  of  Maiy,  he 
must  have  been  aware  beforehand  of  the  intended  assassina- 
tion. In  retaliation  the  earl  of  Sussex  and  Lord  Scrope,  by 
order  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  entered  Scotland,  the  one  on  the 
east  and  the  other  on  the  west  and  laid  waste  the  a4Jaoent 
counties  with  fire  and  sword.  The  castle  of  Branxholm  was 
blown  up  by  gunpowder,  and  the  lands  of  the  chief  of  Buc- 
deuch plundered  to  its  very  gates.  As  soon  as  the  English 
had  retired  he  set  about  rebuilding  and  enlai^g  his  castki 
It  was  not  finished,  however,  till  after  his  death,  as  appean  by 
inscriptions  on  its  walls  quoted  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the 
notes  to  *  the  Lay  of  the  Last  MinstreL'  In  the  well-con- 
certed enterprise  against  the  king's  party  in  Stirling,  4th 
September  1571,  when  the  town  was  surprised,  and  the  re- 
gent Lennox  and  several  of  the  chief  nobility  made  prisooers, 
Scott  of  Bucdeuch  was  one  of  the  prindpal  actors;  but  by 
too  long  a  delay  in  leaving  the  place,  the  whole  were  rctseoed, 
except  Lennox,  who  was  killed  in  the  contest,  and  Buakucfa 
who  surrendered  himself  to  the  earl  of  Morton.  He  died  17tl 
April  1574.  By  his  wife.  Lady  Margaret  Dou^as,  eldest 
daughter  of  David,  seventh  eari  of  Angus,  he  had  a  son,  Sii 
Walter,  and  two  daughters. 

His  only  son.  Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Branxhohn,  was  infeft  in 
the  baronies  of  Branxholm,  &&,  as  hdr  to  umqohil  David 
Scott,  his  *'  guidchur's,"  (grandfather)  brother,  on  21st  June 
and  10th  October  1574.  He  reodved  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood from  James  the  Sixth,  by  whom,  in  1590,  <m  the  fidl  of 
his  step-father,  the  eari  of  BothweH*,  [see  Botbwkll,  tax\ 
of^  ante,  p.  360]  he  was  appointed  keeper  of  Liddesdale,  and 
warden  of  the  west  marches.  In  the  following  year  when 
Bothwell  broke  out  into  rebellion  he  expected  the  asastasce 
of  his  stepson,  but  Bucdeuch,  for  his  own  security,  joined 
Ker  of  Cotsford,  Home  of  Broxmouth,  Lauder  of  Bass,  Kfr 
of  Linton,  Douglas  of  Cavers  and  others,  in  a  bond  (recorded 
Aug.  6th  1591)  to  use  their  utmost  endeavours  to  take  Both- 
well,  and  amongst  other  conditions  they  engage  to  "  lay  aside 
all  particular  querrellis,  dddlie  fddis  and  oontrauenaes  stand- 
ing amangis  thame,  and  for  no  caus  sail  schrink  frome  his 
Miyesteis  seruice."  On  the  following  day  he  found  security 
to  leave  the  country  for  three  years,  when  he  retired  to  France, 
and  on  the  29th  was  deprived  of  his  office  of  keeper  of  lid- 
desdale, on  account  of  his  quitting  the  realm.  After  his  re- 
turn a  conunission  was  granted  to  him  and  Lord  Hume,  war- 
den of  the  east  marches,  and  Sir  Robert  Ker,  heir  of  Cessford, 
warden-depute  of  the  middle  marches,  to  convocate  the  lie^ 
within  theur  bounds  to  oppose  the  earl  of  BothwelL  He  sub- 
sequently carried  on  an  active  predatory  warfare  against  the 
English,  and  is  renowned  for  the  singularly  daring  expkit  of 
rescuing  one  of  his  dependents,  known  by  the  name  of  Kin- 
mont  Will,  from  Carlisle  castle  on  April  18th,  1596.  Thif 
achievement  is  the  subject  of  the  ballad  of  Kinmont  Wilhe. 


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inserted  in  the  ^'  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  border.**  On  the 
occasion  of  a  tmce^  as  was  the  costom  of  the  mardies,  of  a 
single  day  for  the  transacting  of  badness,  William  Armstrong, 
a  fUlower  of  Scott,  was  towards  erening  set  upon  and  taken 
prisoner  bj  a  party  of  the  English  whilst  riding  home  alone 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  liddle.  He  was  conveyed  to  the 
casUe  of  Carlisle,  and  bronght  before  Lord  Scrope,  to  whom 
be  comphdned  loudly  of  the  breach  of  the  trooe  in  his  person. 
Buoclench  made  a  regular  application  to  Lord  Scrope  for 
defivery  of  the  priwner,  but  receiring  no  satisfactory  answer, 
he  next  applied  to  Bowes,  the  English  ambassador,  who  ad- 
vised Lord  Scrope  to  liberate  Willie  at  once.  His  lordship 
made  some  excuse  about  advertising  Queen  Elisabeth,  when, 
impatient  of  dehiy,  Buocleuch  sent  him  a  challenge,  which, 
bowerer,  he  declined  to  accept  He  now  resolved  to  attempt 
his  rescue  himself,  although  a  peace  then  subsisted  between 
the  two  countries,  and  he  assembled  two  hundred  chosen 
horsemen.  Their  tiysting  place  was  at  Woodhouselee,  upon 
the  Esk,  the  nearest  point  to  the  castle  of  Carlisle  upon  the 
Scottish  marches,  and  not  above  ten  or  twelve  miles  from 
that  fortress.  The  hour  of  rendezvous  was  after  sunset,  and 
the  night  bemg  dark,  Bucdeuch  and  his  men  arrived  unper- 
ceived  under  the  castle,  where,  failing  to  scale  the  walls,  they 
forced  their  way  through  a  small  postern  into  the  fortress, 
and  with  shouts  and  sound  of  trumpet  relieved  Willie. 

Elixabeth,  highly  indignant  at  this  daring  exploit,  ordered 
her  ambassador  Bowes  to  complam  to  King  James.  Bowes 
made  a  long  speech  in  the  convention  at  Edinburgh,  27th 
May  1596,  and  concluded  by  stating  that  peace  could  no 
longer  continue  between  the  two  kmgdoms,  unless  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott  were  delivered  into  the  queen's  hands  to  be  punished 
at  her  pleasure.  Bucdeuch  answered  that  he  went  to  Eng- 
huid  to  relieve  a  sntrjeot  of  Scotland  nnlawAilly  taken  on  a 
day  of  truce,  and  that  he  committed  no  hostility  nor  offered 
the  least  wrong  to  any  within  the  castle,  yet  he  was  content 
to  be  tried  by  oommisdoners  appointed  by  both  sovereigns. 
To  this,  as  might  be  expected,  Elizabeth  would  not  agree. 
Some  English  borderers  having  crossed  into  Liddesdale  and 
wasted  the  country,  the  chief  of  Bucdeuch  retaliated  by  a 
raid  *  into  England,  in  which  he  not  only  carried  off  much 
spoil,  but  apprehended  thirty-dx  of  the  l^nedale  thieves,  all 
of  whom  he  put  to  death.  In  a  letter  to  Bowes,  printed  in 
the  Foedera,  Elizabeth  expressed  her  indignation  at  this  far- 
ther outrage,  and  there  seems  to  have  been  at  one  time  a 
dedgn  entertained  of  assassinating  a  chieftain  who  had  made 
himsdf  so  formidable  on  the  borders,  to  which,  it  was  alleged, 
Queen  Elizabeth  herself  was  privy.  Matters  were  at  length 
settled  by  commisdoners,  that  delinquents  should  be  delivered 
up  on  both  ddes,  and  that  the  chiefs  themsdvee  should  enter 
into  ward  in  the  oppodte  countries,  till  these  were  given  up 
and  pledges  granted  for  the  maintenance  of  the  future  peace 
of  the  borders.  It  is  said  that  it  required  all  King  James* 
authority  to  induce  Bucdeuch  and  Ker  of  Femiehirst  to  agree 
to  this  arrangement  Bucdeuch  chose  for  his  guardian,  dur- 
ing his  reddence  in  England,  Sir  William  Sdby,  master  of 
the  ordnance  at  Berwick,  and  surrendered  himsdf  into  his 
hands,  7th  October  1597.  He  appears  to  have  remained  in 
England  till  February  1598.  According  to  an  andent  family 
tradition  he  was  presented  to  Elizabeth,  who  asked  him  how 
he  dared  to  undertake  an  enterprise  so  desperate  as  that 
of  attacking  the  castie  of  Carlisle  ?  He  boldly  answered, 
**  What  is  there,  madam,  that  a  man  may  not  dare?**  The 
queen,  it  is  said,  was  struck  with  the  reply,  and  remarked  to 
tlHMO  around  her,  "  This  is  a  man  indeed.  With  ten  thou- 
sand such  men  our  brother  of  Scotland  might  shake  the  firm- 
est throne  in  Europe.**    After  the  succession  of  James  to  the 


English  throne,  Bucdeuch  was  very  active  in  quieting  the 
borders,  and  to  accomplish  this  end  he  raised  a  regiment  of 
the  boldest  and  most  desperate  of  the  borderers,  and  carried 
them  over  to  fight  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  wars  of  Hol- 
land. He  attained  oondderable  renown  as  a  military  com- 
mander under  Maurice  prince  of  Orange,  and  was,  for  his  ser- 
vices and  military  merit,  raised  to  the  peerage  of  Scotland, 
16th  March  1606,  under  the  tiUe  of  Lord  Scott  of  Bucdeuch. 
The  locality  of  the  title  is  in  one  of  the  minor  vales  of 
Selkirkshire,  and  tradition  attributes  its  origin  to  a  recess,  or 
in  modem  Scotch,  a  cleugh  therein.  A  tradition  preserved 
by  Scott  of  Satchells  m  his  True  History  of  the  Right  Hon- 
ourable name  of  Scott,  published  in  1688,  and  quoted  by  Sir 
Walter  Scott  m  the  notes  to  *  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,* 
gives  the  following  romantic  origin  of  the  name  of  Bucdeuch : 
*'  Two  brethren,  natives  of  Galloway,  banished  for  a  riot  or 
insuirection,  came  to  Rankelbum  in  Ettrick  Forest,  where  the 
keeper  recdved  them  joyfully  on  account  of  thdr  skill  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  chase.  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  king  of  Scotland, 
came  soon  after  to  hunt  in  the  royal  forest,  and  pursued  a 
buck  from  Ettrickheuch  to  the  glen  now  called  Buddeuch, 
about  two  miles  above  the  Junction  of  Rankdbum  with  the 
river  Ettrick.  Here  the  stag  stood  at  bay ;  and  the  king  and 
his  attendants,  who  followed  on  horseback,  were  thrown  out 
by  the  steepness  of  the  hill  and  the  morass.  John,  one  of 
the  brethren  from  Galloway,  had  followed  the  chase  on  foot ; 
and  now  coming  in,  seized  the  buck  by  the  horns,  and,  being 
a  man  of  great  strength  and  activity,  threw  him  on  his  back, 
and  ran  with  this  burden  about  a  mile  up  a  steep  hUl,  to  a 
place  called  Cracra-cross,  where  Kenneth  had  halted,  and 
laid  the  buck  at  the  soverdgn's  feet,  who  said, 

**  *  And  for  the  buck  thou  stoutly  brought 
To  us  up  that  steep  heuch. 
Thy  desiguatlon  ever  shall 
Be  John  Scott  iu  Bududeuch.* " 

But  Jamieson  confirms  and  places  beyond  doubt  the  our- 
rectness  of  the  definition  of  the  word  dettgh  given  by  Ruddi- 
man,  viz.  "  a  rock  or  hill,  a  dift  or  diff,  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
clif,^  as  used  at  least  until  long  after  the  origin  of  the  name 
Bucdeuch. 

It  is  synonymous,  or  at  least  then  was,  with  Aeu^A,  a  height 
The  word  bvck  is  also  by  Jamieson  and  Richardson,  derived 
from  the  Teutonic  buck-en^  to  bow,  to  bend,  and  when  used 
as  an  adjective  it  means  of  a  round  or  drcular  shape,  as  bvch- 
basket^  a  round  basket  for  dothes;  hwJ^wheaL,  rounded 
wheat;  bucket^  a  small  round  vessd  for  water.  It  occurs 
also  in  the  Scotch,  as  buckie  shell,  a  round  or  spiral  shell ; 
buckitanej  a  large  round  stone;  and  in  topography  in  the 
Buck  of  the  Cabroch  (in  Aberdeenshire),  a  circular  portion 
of  that  remarkably  deep  and  continuous  hollow  or  delL  The 
word  Bucdeuch,  therefore,  would  appear  to  imply  the  round 
or  drcular  rock  or  hill  which  gives  name  to  the  ravine  in 
question,  and  the  tradition  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  those 
attempts  to  unlock  the  etymology  of  local  names  which,  set- 
ting alike  chronology  and  history',  whether  general  or  family, 
at  defiance,  have  nevertheless  a  plaudble  au*,  and  pass,  because 
unquestioned,  with  the  minority  of  mankind. 

The  first  Lord  Scott  of  Bucdeuch  married  Mary,  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Ker  of  Cessford,  sbter  of  Robert  first  earl  of 
Roxburgh,  and  died  in  1611. 

His  only  son  Walter,  second  lord,  was  created,  16th  March 
1619,  eari  of  Bucdeuch,  with  the  secondary  titie  of  Lord 
Scott  of  Whitohester  and  Eskdale,  with  remainder  to  his 
heirs  male,  and  afterwards  extended  to  heirs  whatsoever,  lie 
had  the  command  of  a  regiment  in  the  service  of  the  states 


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THIRD  DUKE  OF. 


of  Holland  against  the  Spaniards.  He  married  Lady  Marj 
Hay,  fonrtb  daughter  of  Francis,  ninth  earl  of  Errol,  by  whom 
he  had  a  son  Frands  and  two  daoghters.    He  died  in  1683. 

Francis,  second  earl  of  Bucdeuch,  added  Dalkeith  to  the 
family  property,  having  acqaired  it  from  the  Morton  family 
in  1642.  He  was  a  zealous  royalist,  and  on  that  acoonnt  his 
heirs  were  mnlcted  by  Cromwell  in  the  laige  fine  of  fifteen 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  now  equal  to  about  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  He  died  in  1651,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year 
of  his  age.  By  his  countess,  Lady  Margaret  Lesly,  only 
daughter  of  John  earl  of  Rothes,  widow  of  Lord  Balgonie,  he 
had  two  daughters,  Mary  and  Anne. 

The  elder  daughter,  Mary,  succeeded  as  countess  of  Buc- 
deuch in  her  own  right  Being  one  of  the  greatest  matches 
in  the  kingdom,  she  instantly  became,  though  a  mere  child, 
the  object  of  deep  matrimonial  intrigues.  At  the  early  age 
of  eleven  she  was  married  to  Walter  Scott,  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Gideon  Scott  of  Highchester,  of  the  house  of  Harden.  At 
the  time  of  the  marriage  her  husband  was  only  in  his  four- 
teenth year,  and  a  student  at  the  university  of  St  Andrews. 
He  was  afterwards  created  earl  of  Tarras  for  life.  [See  Tar- 
RAS,  earl  of.]  They  were  married  by  Mr.  Hary  Wilkie, 
minister  of  Wemyss,  without  proclamation,  by  virtue  of  an 
order  fix)m  the  presbytery  of  Kirkcaldy.  The  marriage  was 
prindpally  brought  about  by  her  mother,  ♦'a  witty,  active 
woman,**  as  B.  illie  styles  her,  in  reference  to  whom  it  was 
said  that  Monk  *'  governed  ScoUand  through  her.**  [IktUUe's 
JjeUert^  vol.  ilL  p.  438.]  This  marriage  caused  a  great  noise 
at  the  time,  and  became  the  subject  of  discussion  before  the 
provindal  Synod  of  Fife  in  1659,  upon  an  accusation  against 
the  presbytery,  for  granting  a  warrant  for  the  marriage  with- 
out proclamation  of  the  banns.  The  presbytery  was,  how- 
ever, absolved,  because  the  order  was  grounded  upon  an  act 
of  the  General  Assembly,  allowing  such  marriages  in  case  of 
necessity  or  fear  of  rape ;  and  the  Udy's  friends  were  appre- 
hensive of  her  being  carried  off.  On  an  application  to  the 
court  of  session,  by  the  curators  of  the  countess,  she  was  sepa- 
rated firom  her  husband  until  she  should  be  twelve  years  of 
age.  Various  parties  contended  for  the  charge  and  custody 
of  the  youthful  countess  during  this  period,  and  Oliver  Crom- 
well was  even  appealed  to  on  the  subject.  It  was  at  length 
arranged  that  General  Monk  should  be  her  custodier.  His 
residence  was  fixed  at  Dalkeith  House,  of  which,  and  the 
Parks,  he  obtained  a  lease  for  five  years.  Tradition  says  that 
he  phinned  the  Restoration  in  the  rooms  overhanging  the 
river,  still  existing  in  the  House.  During  the  separation  of 
the  countess  from  her  husband,  they  carried  on  a  very  affec- 
tionate correspondence  as  husband  and  wife ;  and  so  soon  as 
she  became  twelve  years  of  age,  to  enable  her  to  contract 
marriage  l^ally,  the  parties  were  remarried.  In  Lamont*s 
Diary,  under  date  18th  June  1660,  it  is  mentioned  that  "  the 
Lady  Baldeuch  took  journey  for  London,  and  while  there  was 
toudied  by  his  majesty  for  the  cmells  in  her  arme.**  The 
countess  died  in  two  years  afterwards  without  issue.  She 
was  succeeded  in  the  titles  and  estates  by  her  only  sister, 

Anne,  countess  of  Bucdeuch,  bom  in  1651,  at  Dundee, 
then  the  place  of  refuge  of  the  prindpal  nobility  about  the 
time  that  it  was  besieged  by  Monk.  This  lady,  who  was 
esteemed  the  greatest  heiress  of  her  time,  was  in  1663,  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  married  to  the  duke  of  Monmouth  (then  only 
fourteen),  son  of  Charles  the  Second,  by  Lucy  Walters, 
daughter  of  Richard  Walters,  Esq.  of  Haverfordwest,  county 
of  Pembroke.  Lament  mentions  that  '*  the  marriage  feast 
stood  at  London  in  the  earl  of  Weyms'  house,  where  his  ma- 
jesty and  the  queen  were  present  with  divers  of  the  court** 
On  his  marriage  Monmouth  assumed  the  name  of  Scott,  and 


himself  and  his  duchess  were,  20th  April  1663,  created  duke 
and  duchess  of  Bucdeuch  and  eari  and  countess  of  Dalkeith, 
with  remainder  to  then-  heirs  male,  in  default  of  which  to  the 
heirs  whatever  descending  firom  the  duke*s  body  socoeeding 
in  the  estate  and  earldom  <iX  Buodeuch.  His  grace*s  honours, 
Scottish  and  English,  were  forfeited  upon  his  execution  15th 
July,  1685.  The  duchess  had  the  liferent  of  the  Scotch  titles 
and  estates  in  terms  of  a  crown  charter  of  r^rant,  Qffooeed- 
ing  on  a  resignation,)  dated  16th  January  1666.  To  prevent 
the  Scotch  tiUes  becoming  extinct  at  her  death,  she  resigned 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  crown ;  and  obtained  a  rcgrant  on 
17th  November  1687  to  herself,  and  afler  her  death  to  James 
earl  of  Dalkeith,  her  eldest  son,  and  his  heirs  male,  and  of  taillie. 
Thb  is  still  the  regulating  grant  of  the  honours  and  estates. 
The  affecting  scene  between  Monmouth  and  his  duchess,  pre- 
vious to  his  execution,  b  well  known.  It  is  said  that  James 
the  Second,  (of  England,  seventh  of  Scotland,)  while  he  rig- 
orously condemned  his  nephew  to  the  block,  entertaineu, 
nevertheless,  a  strong  degree  of  favour  for  the  duchess.  Her 
grace  possessed  great  dedsaon  of  character,  which,  how- 
ever, she  only  displayed  in  the  management  of  her  family, 
and  of  her  great  possessions,  to  which  she  added  consider- 
ably. She  appears  never  to  have  interfered  in  politics,  and 
preserved  the  favour  both  of  James  II.  and  of  William  IlL 
She  added  to  the  present  palace  of  Dalkdth,  and  oc- 
casionally lived  there  in  princely  splendour.  Six  snildren 
were  the  finits  of  the  marriage.  Of  these  twc  were  sons, 
James,  earl  of  Dalkeith,  and  Henry,  created  earl  of  Deloraine 
in  1706.  [See  Deloraine,  earl  of.]  The  duchess  married, 
secondly,  Charles,  third  Lord  Comwallis,  by  whom  she  had 
one  son  and  two  daughters,  and  died  6th  Febmaiy  1732. 
Till  the  day  of  her  death  she  continued  to  keep  up  Uie  state 
of  a  princess  of  the  blood,  bdng  attended  by  pages,  served  on 
the  knee,  and  covered  with  a  canopy  in  her  room,  and  no  one 
was  allowed  to  dt  m  her  presence.  Lady  Margaret  Montgo- 
mery related  that  she  had  dined  with  the  duchess  at  Dalkdth, 
and  bdng  a  relative  was  allowed  a  chair,  but  the  rest  of  the 
guests  stood  during  the  dinner. 

Her  ddest  son,  James  earl  of  Dalkeith,  lived  chiefly  in 
Flanders  during  the  rdgn  of  King  William,  but  returned  to 
Scotland  on  the  accesdon  of  Queen  Anne  in  1702,  and  died 
in  1705,  in  the  thirty-first  year  of  his  age.  He  married  Lady 
Henrietta  Hyde,  second  daughter  of  Lawrence  first  eari  of 
Rochester,  leaving  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  and,  prede- 
ceasing his  mother,  his  ddest  son  Frands  (bom  11th  Janu- 
ary 1695)  became,  at  her  death,  second  duke  of  Bucdeuch. 
In  1743  he  obtained  by  act  of  parliament  a  restoration  of  the 
«arldom  of  Doncaster  and  barony  of  Scott  of  Tyncdale,  two  of 
the  English  honours  of  his  grandfather,  the  duke  of  Monmouth. 
He  married,  first,  5th  April  1720,  Lady  Jane  Douglas,  eldest 
daughter  of  James  second  duke  of  Queensberry,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  Frauds,  earl  of  Dalkdth,  who  predeceased  his 
father,  and  secondly,  Miss  Powdl,  but  by  that  lady  had  no 
issue.  On  the  approach  of  the  Pretender  to  Edinburgh  in 
1745  he  sent  his  tenantry  to  assist  in  defending  the  dty.  He 
died  22d  April  1751.  His  son,  the  earl  of  Dalkdth,  had 
married  Caroline,  eldest  daughter  and  coheiress  of  the  famous 
John  duke  of  Argyle  and  Greenwich,  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons  and  two  daughters.  His  ddest  son,  Henry,  succeeded 
his  grandfather.  One  of  the  daughters,  Frances,  married  to 
Archibald  I/>rd  Douglas,  was  a  posthumous  child. 

Henry,  third  duke  of  Bucdeuch,  was  bom  13th  September 
1746.  In  March  1764  his  Grace  and  his  brother  the  Hon, 
Campbell  Scott  set  out  on  thdr  travels,  accompanied  by  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Adam  Smith.  The  brother  was  assassinated 
on  the  streets  of  Paris  on  the  18th  October  1766,  in  his  nine- 


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I-^ 


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mtuvA  mwcll^0m&  id  mBthviSif. 


m. 


(£imhm  of  ^ntj^an.     fetelr  65  ^ng  dElrgar. 


I*  ^htt,  (ntiqprttir  to  ht)  tduitb  to  ^vkolm  Catnnore,  jihtg  of  Stotlsnb. 

l«r.  DIRJICT  UNE.  to,  LINE  OP  COMYN.  Titular  Earia 

1  2  3  4aE5 


Ferfui, 
F1ntE«ri<m 
reoefd,aboot 

ilta 


WUBuB  Comyn, 

Jortlotaryof 

SootUnd,  beeanM 

EariinUlO* 

inrigfalof 

hit  wife 


onljoiiUd  of 
EmI  Ferfu. 


tbeirBon, 
ConsUble  of 

SootUmd. 
Died  1389. 


John,  his  son, 

CiMUtobleof 

Scotland. 

Died  1813, 

ODder  foifeitare 


L 
brother  of 

John. 

9.  Hcnxydo 

BMomoDt,  in 

rifht  of  his  wif«, 

▲Uea^dof 


II.  Sitbrart,  Jirsi  ^amtlg,  $osaI  ITnu. 
3  8 


Or  AkxAnd«r 

Stewart, 

4Ui  son  of 

Bob«rtIL,b7 

Bissboth  M  ore, 

craatod  1874. 

DM  ISM. 


Sob«t,his 
brother,  DolM 
of  Albany, 
Goreraor  of  Soot- 
land,  rosigned  In 
ftnNur  of 


John,  hU  ■00, 

third  EarL 

DIfld  atVemeaO, 

I4f4. 


m.  Sitamb  ^anrilg,  ybu  of  ^onu 

1  2&3 


Mofdoeh,  John's 
brother,  Duke  of 

Albany. 

Exeeatcd  1435. 

HUe  vested 

in  the  Crown. 


\' 


Jamca  Stewart, 
brother  uterino 

of  James  n., 

2d  son  of 

Stewart  of  Lorn 

and  Qaeen  Jane 

Created  1469. 


X  Atezander, 

hie  iOD. 

Died  lfi05. 

3.  John,  his  son, 

died  without 


lY.  ^itie  of  ^onglas  of  ^oc^ltfaen  anb  SiUiswA  of  ^om. 

4  5  6 


Bobeit,  id  Km 

of  Donglae 

of  LoehleTen, 

in  right  of 

hie  wife 


Christian  Stewart, 

grand-daughter 

of  John, 

thlidEari. 


Jamea,  their  pon, 

died  1601, 

leaving  an  only 

daughter, 


Mary,  Countess 

in  her 

ownTteht, 

m.  Jamee&aktne, 

son  of  7th  e«ri 

of  Mar. 


Y.  tSrskinoe  Qfita  of  par)  anb  Jonglas. 
6  7  8 


JamciBnldne, 

aeo  of  7th  eari  of 

Mar,  ia  right 

ofhiswllk 

Mary. 

nm  i«4a 


u 


VI.  €x»hSait,  ^xm  of  Carbrosf . 
9 


10 


DavM  Stewart, 

hiaaon. 

DiediaW. 


David  Enldoe, 

4th  Lord  Cardroea, 

by  deed  of  io^ 

ceaalon,  execoted 

by.  William, 

elgbthEarl, 


Coofirmei  by 

act  of 

Soots  Parliament, 

169& 

DM174i. 


Henry  David, 

hiaion. 

Dladl7f7 


Jirhtt  of  tvxtnoM,  ton6mtb. 


13 


H«iry  David, 

looefhia  broths 
Hon.  Henry 

BrakfaM. 
Died  1M7. 


David  Stewart, 
hiaaon, 
>orn  1816, 
aiTied,wlth 


ARMORIAL  BBARIHOS  OF  BRSKINB, 
SAKL  OF  BUOHAK. 


Quarttfiogi  t— 1.  for  Earldom  of  Biiehan.    2.  (1  A  4)  for  Mar,  (3  A  S)  for  Emklne.    a.  0  A  4)  for  Stewart  (^  iSi^l 
a  A  S)  Aw  Comyu,  earls  of  Buchaa    4.  for  Fairfiu.    Augmeutailou  for  lordslii|i  ol  Cjsdroaa. 


Coogle 


BUCCLEUCH. 


453 


BUCHAN. 


teenth  year.  His  remains  were  brought  home  by  the  duke, 
and  depodted  in  the  family  vault  at  Dalkeith.  On  his 
|raoe*8  return  he  devoted  himself  principally  to  the  improve- 
ment of  his  vast  estates.  On  the  commencemant  of  the  war 
with  France  in  1778,  he  raised  a  regiment  of  fendbles,  chiefly 
from  among  bis  own  tenantry,  and  by  his  condescen- 
uon  and  kindness  of  manners  and  close  application  to  his 
military  dudes,  he  secured  the  aflection  and  esteem  of  all 
under  hb  command.  He  married,  in  1767,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  the  last  duke  of  Montague,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons 
and  four  daughters,  viz.  George,  who  died  in  infancy ;  Charles 
William  Heniy,  eari  of  Dalkeith;  Henry  James  Montague, 
who  succeeded  as  Lord  Montague  in  1790,  on  the  death  of 
his  grandfather  the  duke  of  Montague,  but  died  in  1845, 
without  male  issue,  when  the  title  became  extinct;  Mary, 
married  to  James  George,  earl  of  Conrtown ;  Elizabeth,  tu  the 
earl  of  Home;  Caroline,  to  the  marquis  of  Queensberxy ;  and 
Harriet,  to  the  sixth  marquis  of  Lothian.  On  the  decease  of 
William  fourth  duke  of  Queensbeny  without  issue,  28d  De- 
cember 1810,  Duke  Heniy  succeeded  to  that  dukedom  [see 
QiTKKNSBERRT,  duke  of  ]  and  to  considerable  estates  in  Dum- 
fnes-shire.  It  was  to  the  influence  of  this  duke  of  Buocleuch 
that  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  indebted  for  his  appomtment,  in 
December  1799,  to  the  office  of  sheriff  depute  of  Selkirkshire, 
and  afterwards,  in  1806,  to  that  of  one  of  the  prindpal  clerks 
of  the  court  of  session.    His  Grace  died  11th  Januaiy  1811. 

His  eldest  son,  Charles  William  Henry,  fourth  duke  of 
Buccleuch  and  sixth  of  Queensbeny,  was  bom  24th  May 
1772,  and  in  1807  was  summoned  to  the  House  of  Peers  as 
Baron  Tynedale.  He  married,  28d  March  1795,  Harriet 
Ratherine  Townshend,  youngest  daughter  of  Thomas  first 
Viscount  Sydney.  Her  grace  died  in  1814.  There  is  a  very 
affecting  correspondence  on  this  event  between  the  duke 
Mud  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  Lockhart's  life  of  the  poet  The 
duke  was  a  constant  friend  and  correspondent  of  Sir  Walter, 
and  at  an  early  period  of  his  difficulties  he  gave  his  name  as 
security  for  a  loan  of  four  thousand  pounds  to  the  embarrassed 
man  of  letters.  He  also  bestowed  on  the  Ettrick  Shepherd 
the  life-rent  of  the  fium  of  Altrive,  on  his  favourite  braes  of 
Yarrow.  By  his  duchess  he  had  two  sons,  Walter  Frauds, 
earl  of  Dalkdth,  who  succeeded  him,  and  Lord  John  Douglas 
Soott,  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  six  daughters.  He  died  at 
Lisbon,  20th  April  1819. 

Walter  Frands  Montague  Douglas  Scott,  filth  duke  of 
Bocdeuch,  and  seventh  of  Queensbeny,  was  bom  25th  No- 
vember 1806;  married,  13th  August  1829,  Lady  Charlotte 
Thynne,  youngest  daughter  of  the  second  marquis  of  Bath, 
with  issue.  His  grace  sits  in  the  House  of  Peers  as  eari 
of  Doncaster.  He  was  lord  privy  seal  from  February  1842  to 
January  1846;  lord  president  of  the  council  from  January  to 
July  1846;  is  lord  lieutenant  of  Mid  Lothian  and  of  Rox- 
burghshire, captain  general  of  the  king's  body  guard  in  Scot- 
hind,  and  high  steward  of  Westminster.  His  grace  presented 
to  the  Bannatyne  Club  an  edition  of  the  Chartulaxy  of  Md- 
rose,  prepared  at  his  own  expense,  containing  a  series  of  an- 
dcnt  charters,  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century, 
highly  interesting  to  the  students  of  Scottish  history,  which 
was  issued  in  1837,  in  2  vols.  4to. 

His  grace  was  educated  at  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge^ 
and  graduated  M.A.  in  1827.  In  1834  he  received  the  de- 
gree of  D.C.L.  from  Oxford,  and  in  1842  that  of  LL.D.  from 
Cambridge.  His  eldest  son,  William  Henry  Walter,  eari  of 
Dalkeith,  was  bom  in  1831 ;  lord-lieut  of  Dumfries-shire, 
1858;  elected  M.P.  for  Mid  Lothian  1853;  subsequently 
re-dected.  In  Sep.  1839,  an  entertainment  was  given  by  his 
tenantry  to  the  duke  at  Branxhoim,  the  andent  seat  of  the 


Buccleuch  family.  A  pavilion  was  erected  on  the  occasion^ 
constructed  in  the  form  of  an  andent  baronial  hall,  and  seated 
to  contain  upwards  of  one  thousand  persons.  The  andent 
war  cry  of  the  dan,  *  Bellenden,*  from  a  phioe  of  that  name 
situated  near  the  head  of  Borthwick  water,  painted  in  bold 
letters,  was  prominent  over  the  seat  of  the  duke.  Of  Branx- 
holm  castle  (celebntted  in  the  poetry  of  Sir  Walter  Scott),  the 
only  portion  remaining  is  pai-t  of  a  square  tower,  which  is 
c6nnected  with  the  present  mandon  house,  the  residence  of 
his  grace's  chamberlain. 

Dalkdth  palace,  the  pnndpal  residence  of  the  family,  has 
twice  in  the  present  century  been  honoured  by  a  visit  firom 
royalty,  viz.,  in  1822,  when  George  the  Fourth  came  to  Soot- 
land,  and  in  September  1842,  when  Queen  Victoria  first 
arrived  in  this  country. 


BucHAN,  andently  BoguHAif  or  Bucquhanb,  a  surname 
originally  derived  from  the  district  of  Buchan,  formerly  a 
county  of  itself,  which  comprises  the  north-eastern  part  of 
Aberdeenshire,  with  part  of  Banffshire.  The  name,  like  that 
of  Bouchaine  in  France,  Buchianioo  in  Naples,  and  some  oth- 
ers, seems  to  have  had  its  origin  from  Bou  or  Boi,  an  old 
French  word  now  only  found  in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese, 
primarily  from  the  Latin  word  6o«,  an  ox,  and  in  reference  to 
the  flesh  of  oxen  or  cattle,  although  the  district  is  now  more 
famed  for  its  com  than  its  cattle.  It  is  probable  that  the 
names  of  many  similar  places  in  England,  as  Bukenham  or 
Buckingham,  &c,  had  the  same  origin.  In  another  form  we 
have  it  in  Buccaneers,  a  Spanish  word  indicating  the  kind  of 
food  {Bwxm^  dried  ox  flesh)  on  which  these  freebooters  of  the 
new  world  almost  exdudvdy  sustained  themadves. 

The  earldom  of  Bucuan,  in  the  Scottbh  peerage,  at  pre- 
sent enjoyed  by  the  Erskine  family,  but  formerly  possessed 
by  the  Comyns,  is  one  of  the  most  andent  in  Scotland. 

The  first  earl  of  Buchan  on  record  was  Fergus,  who  flour- 
ished about  the  time  of  William  the  lion.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  one  of  the  seven  earls  of  Scotland  who,  bdng  dis- 
pleased at  Malcolm  theF'ourth's  serving  under  Henry  the  Seoobd 
of  England  at  Toulouse,  were  disposed  to  seize  his  person 
and  eject  him  from  the  throne  in  the  assembly  at  Perth  in 
1160.  He  had  no  family  name,  but  as  Skene  affirms  that  all 
the  earldoms  of  Scothuid  were  given  by  King  Edgar  to  members 
of  the  royal  family  at  that  time,  it  is  probable  he  was  related 
to  the  line  of  Malcolm  Canmore.  He  is  mentioned  as  having 
made  a  grant  of  a  mark  of  silver  annually  to  the  abbacy  of 
Aberbrothwick,  founded  by  King  William. 

His  only  child  Marjory  or  Margaret,  countess  of  Buchan  in 
her  own  right-,  took  for  her  second  husband,  in  1210,  William 
Comyn,  sheriff  of  Forfar  and  justidary  of  Scotland,  who  be- 
came earl  of  Buchan  in  right  of  his  wife.  He  was  the  third  of 
the  Comyns  in  Scotland,  and  had  been  previoudy  married  to 
a  lady  whose  name  is  not  known,  and  by  whom  he  had  two 
sons,  of  whom  Walter,  the  second  son,  was  earl  of  Mentdth 
(which  title  see).  By  his  second  wife,  the  countess  of  Buch- 
an, he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  to 
William  earl  of  Mar.  He  died  in  1233,  and  was  survived  by 
his  countess. 

Thdr  son,  Alexander  Comyn,  second  earl  of  Buchan  of 
this  name,  acted  a  prominent  part  in  the  busy  reigns  of  Alex- 
ander the  Second  and  Third.  In  1244  he  was  one  of  the 
guarantees  of  the  peace  with  England,  and  in  1251  was  ap- 
pointed justidary  of  Scotland,  but  bdng  one  of  the  Scottish 
party  who  were  obnonous  to  King  Henry  the  Third,  he  was 
removed  from  that  high  office  four  years  afterwards.  In  1257, 
however,  he  was  restored  to  it,  and  hdd  it  till  his  death.    He 


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BUCHAN, 


454 


EARLDOM  OF. 


married  Elizabeth,  seoond  daughter  of  Roger  ae  Qmnci,  eari 
of  Winchester  and  constable  of  Scotland,  on  whose  death,  in 
1264,  without  male  issue,  the  earl  of  Buchan  obtained,  in 
right  of  his  wife,  a  full  share  of  her  father's  estates  in  Gallo- 
way and  in  other  counties;  and  on  the  resignation  of  the 
office  of  constable  by  Margaret  countess  of  Derby,  the  elder 
sister  of  his  wife,  in  1270,  he  became,  in  right  of  the  latter, 
constable  of  Scotland.  He  was  one  of  the  magnates  Scotiss, 
who,  on  5th  February  1284,  engaged  to  maintain  the  succes- 
sion of  the  princess  Margaret  of  Norway  to  the  crown,  on  the 
death  of  her  grandfather,  being  the  first  of  thirteen  earls  pre- 
sent at  the  parliament  held  at  Scone  on  that  day.  In  1286, 
on  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Third,  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  tax  guardians  of  Scotland.  He  died  in  1289,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  John,  also  constable  of  Scotland. 

John,  third  earl  of  Buchan  of  the  Comyn  family,  adhered 
to  the  English  interest,  and  with  a  tumultuous  band  of  fol- 
lowers he  encountered  King  Robert  the  Bruce,  25th  Decem- 
ber 1307,  but  his  troops  fled  at  the  first  onset  of  Bruce's 
army.  In  the  following  year  he  assembled  a  numerous  force, 
but  was  defiBated  by  Bruce,  with  great  slaughter,  at  Inverury, 
22d  May  1808.  Soon  afterwards  he  retired  to  England, 
where  he  died  before  28th  April  1818.  His  wife,  Isabel,  the 
daughter  of  Duncan,  earl  of  Fife,  was  the  high-spirited  lady 
who  pUced  the  crown  on  the  bead  of  Robert  the  Bruce,  as 
referred  to  in  that  article. 

John's  brother  Alexander  was  styled  fourth  earl  of  Buchan, 
and  Henry  de  Beaumont,  an  Englishman  who  manied  Alex- 
ander's eldest  daughter,  Alice,  assumed  the  title  of  fifth  earl 
of  Buchan,  in  right  of  his  wife.    He  died  in  1341. 

In  1371  a  grant  of  this  earldom  was  obtained  from  Robert 
the  Second  by  Sir  Alexander  Stewart,  knight,  his  fourth  son 
by  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  More,  long  mown,  from  his  sav- 
ageness,  by  the  name  of  the  Wolf  of  Badenoch.  He  had  also 
the  earldom  of  Ross  for  life,  in  right  of  his  wife,  Euphame, 
countess  of  Ross,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue,  but  he  left  five 
natural  sons,  Alexander,  earl  of  Mar,  Sir  Anarew,  Walter, 
James  and  Duncan,  from  whom  several  families  of  the  name 
of  Stewart  are  descended.  Having  seized  the  bishop  of 
Moray's  lands  he  was  excommunicated,  and  in  revenge  he,  in 
May  and  June  1390,  burnt  the  towns  of  Forres  and  Elgin, 
with  the  church  of  St  Giles,  the  maison  dieu,  and  the  cathe- 
dral, and  eighteen  houses  of  the  Canons,  for  which  he  did 
penance  in  the  Blackfnar's  church  of  Perth,  before  the  altar, 
and  was  obliged  to  make  full  satisfaction  to  the  bishop.  He 
died  24th  July  1394. 

At  his  death  it  devolved  on  liis  brother  Robert,  duke  of 
Albany,  when  it  was  granted  to  John  Stewart,  his  eldest  son, 
bom  in  1380,  to  whom  bis  father  gave  the  barony  of  Coul 
and  O'Niel  in  Aberdeenshbre,  and  who,  for  his  valour,  was 
sumamed  "  the  brave  John  o'  CouL"  In  1416,  he  was  sent 
to  England  to  complete  the  treaty  for  the  release  of  James 
the  First,  in  which  he  was  unsuccessful.  In  1420,  he  went 
to  France,  at  the  head  of  seven  thousand  Scotch  auxiliaries, 
to  support  the  right  of  Charles  the  Seventh  to  the  French 
crown  against  the  English.  At  the  battle  of  Beaugd  in  An- 
jou,  22d  March  1421,  he  defeated  the  Englbh  under  the 
duke  of  Clarence.  [See  ante^  p.  39.]  He  was  slain  at  the 
battle  of  Vemeuil  in  Normandy,  17th  August  1424.  His 
portrait  will  be  found  at  p.  43.  By  his  wife  Lady  Elizabeth 
Douglas,  seoond  daughter  of  Archibald,  fourth  earl  of  Doug- 
Uis  and  duke  of  Touraine,  he  left  an  only  daughter,  Mai^garet, 
married  to  Greorge,  seoond  Lord  Seton,  and  from  them  were 
descended,  in  a  right  line,  all  the  lords  of  the  now  extinct 
house  of  Seton,  earls  of  Winton  (see  WnrroN,  earl  of). 

The  earldom  of  Ross  which  his  father  had  procured  for  him 


fell  to  the  crown  on  his  death,  but  the  earidom  of  Buchan  de- 
volved on  his  brother  Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany,  at  whose 
execution  in  1425,  it  was  forfeited. 

In  1466,  it  was  bestowed  on  James  Stewart,  SDrnamed 
"  Hearty  James,"  uterine  brother  of  King  James  the  Second. 
He  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  James  Stewart,  the  black 
knight  of  Lorn,  by  Jane,  queen  of  Scotland,  the  widow  of 
James  the  First  In  1471,  on. the  fall  of  Lord  Boyd,  be 
was  constituted  high  chamberlain  of  Scotland,  and  in  1473, 
he  was  sent  ambaasador  to  France,  when  he  obtained  a  safe 
conduct  for  passing  through  England.    He  died  before  1500 

His  son  and  grandson  both  succeeded  as  earla  of  Buchan. 

John,  master  of  Buchan,  eldest  son  of  the  latter,  had,  by 
his  seoond  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Walter  Ogiivie  of 
Boyne,  a  daughter.  Christian  Stewart,  who  succeeded  to  the 
title,  and  by  her  marriage  in  1469  with  Robert  Doogiaa, 
seoond  sou  of  Sir  Robert  Douglas  of  Lochleven,  uterine 
brother  of  the  regent  Moray,  he  became  earl  ot  Buchan,  in 
right  of  his  wife. 

They  had  two  daughters,  and  a  son,  James,  who  became 
fifth  earl  of  Buchan  of  this  family.  He  died  26th  August, 
1601,  aged  21.  By  his  wife,  Margaret,  seoond  daughter  of 
Walter,  first  Lord  Ogilvy  of  Deskford,  he  had  an  only  chiU, 
Mary  Douglas,  countess  of  Buchan,  in  her  own  right,  by 
whose  marriage  with  James  Erskine,  son  of  John,  seventh 
earl  of  Mar,  lord  high  treasurer  of  Scotland,  and  first  Lon) 
Cardross,  [see  Cardboss,  lord,]  this  earldom  passed  into  the 
Mar  branch  of  the  Erskine  family.  Of  this  first  eari  of 
Buchan  of  the  house  of  Erskine,  there  is  a  portrait  in  Smith's 
Iconographia  Sootica,  of  which  tlie  following  is  a  cut: 


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BUCHAN. 


Jmnes  Erakinef  sixth  earl  of  Buchan,  was  one  of  the  lords 
of  the  bedchamber  to  King  Charles  the  First,  and  resided 
ranch  in  England.  He  died  in  1640.  Hb  eldest  son  James, 
seventh  earl,  married  Lady  Marjory  Ramsay,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  first  earl  of  Dalhonsie,  by  whom  he  had  fbnr  daughters 
and  one  son,  William,  who  succeeded  in  October  1664  as 
dghth  earl  of  Buchan.  At  the  reTolution  he  adhered  to  the 
party  of  King  James,  but  falling  into  the  hands  of  King  Wil- 
Barnes  forces,  he  was  conmiitted  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Stir- 
ling, where  he  died  in  1695,  unmarried.  At  his  death,  the 
snooession  to  the  earidom  opened  to  David,  fourth  lord  Gar- 
dross,  eldest  son  of  Henty  the  third  lord;  and  in  the  pariia- 
ment  of  1698  an  act  was  passed  allowing  him  to  be  called  in 
the  rolls  of  parliament  as  earl  of  Buchan. 

Heniy  David,  the  tenth  earl,  nuuried  Agnes,  daughter  of 
Sir  James  Stenart  of  Coltness,  baronet,  and  granddaughter  of 
Sir  James  Stenart,  lord  advocate  to  King  WilUam  and 
Queen  Anne,  popularly  called  Jamie  Wylie;  and  by  him  had, 
with  a  daughter  and  a  son  David,  who  died  young,  David 
Stenart  Erskine,  the  eleventh  earl,  and  his  two  celebrated 
brothers,  the  Hon.  Henry  Erskine,  father  of  the  12th  earl, 
and  Thomas,  created  Lord  Erskine,  lord  chancellor;  notices 
of  whom  are  subsequently  given  in  their  place,  under  the 
bead  of  Erskikb. 

Earl  Henry,  the  father  of  these  three  celebrated  brothers, 
was  a  man  of  infinite  good  nature  and  polite  manners,  but 
ordinaxy  understanding.  In  1745,  when  the  young  Chevalier 
anived  in  Edinburgh,  he  had  a  great  desire  to  be  introduced 
to  him,  but  not  wishing  to  commit  himself  by  joining  the 
standard  of  rebellion,  he,  along  with  his  brother-in-law,  the 
celebrated  Sir  James  Stenart  of  Coltness,  requested  their 
friend  Lord  Elcho,  who  was  Sir  James's  brother-in-law,  and 
one  of  the  prince's  firmest  adherents,  to  take  them,  as  it 
were,  upon  compulsion,  to  the  court  at  Holyroodhouse. 
Nest  day,  therefore,  according  to  concert,  they  were  seized  at 
th0  cross  of  Edinburgh,  by  a  party  under  the  command  of 
dpho,  and  straightway  brought  into  an  ante-chamber  of  the 
palace.  The  prince,  however,  on  the  matter  being  explained 
to  him,  refused  to  see  them,  imless  as  avowed  adherents. 
Sir  James  Steuart  consented,  was  introduced,  and  ruined, 
while  the  earl  of  Buchan,  with  a  low  and  sarcastio  obeisance 
to  Lord  Eldio,  turned  upon  his  heel,  and  left  the  palace.  He 
thus  saved  his  estates  firom  confiscation,  but  unfortunately,  it 
was  only  to  squander  much  of  their  value  in  another  way. 
At  his  death  m  1767  he  left  his  children  little  better  inherit- 
ance than  their  talents,  for  which  they  were  more  indebted  to 
tbdr  mother  than  to  hun. 

Henry  David  Erskine,  twelfth  earl  of  Buchan  of  the  name, 
son  of  the  celebrated  Hon.  Henry  Entkine,  by  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  Qeorgs  Fullerton,  Esq.  of  Broughton  Hall,  died 
in  1857.  Bom  in  1783,  he  was  three  times  married.  His 
eldest  son  Henry,  Lord  Cardross,  died  in  1837,  leaving  a  son, 
bom  in  1884,  and  died  in  1849.  His  second  son,  David  Stuart 
Erskine,  bom  in  1815,  succeeded  as  13th  earl;  married,  with 
issue.  Besides  that  of  Lord  Cardross,  the  earl  also  holds  the 
secondary  title  of  Lord  Auchterhouse,  conferred  in  1606. 

Of  the  principal  families  of  this  name  are  the  Buchans  of 
Auchmaooy,  in  the  parish  of  Logie-Buchan,  Aberdeenshire, 
who  have  been  proprietors  of  that  estate,  as  appears  from 
Robertson*s  Index  of  Scarce  Charters,  since  the  year  1818, 
holding  it  of  the  eari  of  Buchan  until  the  forfeiture  of  the 
Comyns  in  the  reign  of  King  Robert  the  Brace.  In  1508, 
James  the  Fourth  gave  Andrew  Buchan  of  Auchmaooy  a 
new  charter,  and  erected  his  lands  into  a  free  barony,  which 
has  been  inherited  by  his  lineal  male  descendants  ever  smoe. 


The  family  of  Auchmaooy  were  remarkable  for  their  steady 
loyalty  to  the  Stuarts,  and  their  opposition  to  the  Covenant. 
Of  this  family  was  the  celebrated  Major-General  Buchan,  the 
last  officer  who  had  the  chief  command  of  King  Jame8*s 
forces  in  Scotland,  after  the  revolution  of  1688.  He  was  the 
third  son  of  James  Buchan  of  Auchmacoy,  by  Maigaret, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Seton  of  Pitmedden,  and  was  bom 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  He  entered  the 
army  young,  and  after  serving  in  subordinate  ranks  in  France 
and  HolUmd,  he  was  in  1682  appointed  by  Charies  the 
Second  lieutenant- colonel,  and  in  1686,  by  James  the 
Seventh,  colonel  of  the  earl  of  Mar's  regiment  of  foot  in 
Scotland.  He  received  the  thanks  of  the  privy  council  for 
various  services,  and  in  1689  was  promoted  by  King  James 
to  the  rank  of  m^or-general.  After  the  fall  of  the  Viscount 
Dundee  at  KiUiecrankie,  and  the  subsequent  repulse  of  his 
successor.  Colonel  Cannan,  at  Dunkeld,  he  was  appointed  by 
King  James,  who  was  then  in  Ireland,  commander-in-chief  of 
all  the  Jacobite  forces  in  Scotland.  He  took  the  field  in  April 
1690,  and  on  his  arrival  from  Ireland  a  meeting  of  the  chiefs 
and  principal  officers  was  held  at  Keppoch,  to  deliberate  on  the 
course  which  they  ought  to  pursue,  when  it  was  unanimously 
resolved  to  continue  tide  war.  As,  however,  the  labours  of  the 
spring  season  were  not  over,  they  postponed  the  muster  of 
the  clans  till  these  should  be  completed,  and  in  the  meantime 
directed  Major-general  Buchan  to  employ  the  interval  in 
beating  up  the  enemy's  quarters,  along  the  borders  of  the 
lowhmds,  for  which  purpose  a  detachment  of  twelve  hundred 
foot  was  to  be  placed  at  his  disposal  {^Balcarret,']  It  sc 
happened  that  the  general^s  brother,  lieutenant-colonel 
Buchan,  had  joined  the  party  of  the  government,  and  at  this 
time  commanded  King  William's  fbroes  in  the  dty  and  county 
of  Aberdeen,  and  he  was  directed  by  General  Mackay  to 
march  upon  any  point  where  he  could  co-operate  with  Sir 
Thomas  Livingston,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  large  force,  was 
acting  as  a  check  upon  the  movements  of  the  Jacobite  forces 
in  the  Southem  Highlands.  At  Cromdale,  early  in  the  mom- 
ing  of  the  first  of  May  (1690),  Livingston  surprised  and 
defeated  General  Buchan  and  the  forces  under  his  command, 
then  reposing  in  the  low  grounds,  on  the  south  banks  of  fhe 
Spey,  which  gave  rise  to  the  well-known  song  of  *Tlie 
Hangfas  of  Cromdale,'  beginning— 

**  Afl  I  came  in  by  Auchlndown 
A  little  wee  bit  firae  the  town. 
When  to  the  Highlands  I  was  bown, 

To  view  the  haws  o*  Cromdale: 
I  met  a  man  In  tartan  trews, 
I  itpeer*d  at  him  what  was  the  news, 
Quo'  he,  the  Highland  army  rue* 

That  e'er  we  came  to  CromdulA 

We  were  in  bed,  Sir,  every  man. 
When  the  English  host  upon  us  came; 
A  bloody  battle  then  began. 

Upon  the  haws  of  Cromdale. 
The  Englbh  horse  they  were  so  mde. 
They  bathed  their  hoofk  In  Highland  blood, 
But  our  brave  elans  they  boldly  stood, 

Upon  the  haws  of  Cromdale. 

But,  alas!  we  could  no  longer  stay. 
For  o'er  the  hiUa  we  came  away, 
And  sore  we  do  lament  the  day, 

And  view  the  haws  of  Cromdale^** 

The  names  of  Montrose  and  Cromwell  are,  in  the  rest  of  ihe 
song,  by  an  absurd  anachronism,  substituted  for  those  of 


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WILLIAM. 


Buchan  and  Livingstone,  while  some  of  the  clans  enunerated 
were  not  in  the  skirmish  at  aU.  The  poputar  songs  of  a 
country  sometimes  make  sad  havoc  with  fact  and  even  pro- 
bability, as  histoty  is  often  **  made  void  throogh  traditions.^ 

Buchan  afterwards,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  being 
joined  by  Farqnharmn  of  Inverey  with  about  six  hundred  of 
Braemar  Highlanders,  left  the  neighbourhood  of  Abeigeldie, 
where  he  had  been  for  some  time,  and  descended  into  the  low 
parts  of  Aberdeenshire,  Meams,  and  Banff,  but  were  opposed 
by  the  master  of  Forbes  and  Colonel  Jackson,  with  eight 
troops  of  cavalry.  Buchan,  however,  purposely  nuignified 
the  appearance  of  his  forces,  by  ranging  hb  foot  over  a  large 
extent  of  ground,  and  interspersing  hb  baggage  and  baggage 
horses  among  them,  which  inspired  the  Master  of  Forbes  and 
Jackson  ,with  such  dread  that  they  considered  it  prudent  to 
retire  before  a  foe  apparently  so  formidable.  They  accord- 
ingly retreated  to  Aberdeen  at  full  gallop,  a  distance  of  twen- 
ty miles.  Buchan,  who  had  no  immediate  design  upon  Aber- 
deen, followed  them,  and  was  joined  in  the  pursuit  by  some 
of  the  neighbouring  noblemen  and  gentlemen.  The  inhabit- 
ants were  thrown  into  a  state  of  the  greatest  consternation  at 
his  approach,  and  the  necessary  means  of  defence  were  adopt- 
ed, but  Buchan  made  no  attempt  to  enter  the  town,  and 
marched  southward.  On  the  advance,  however,  of  General 
Mackay,  he  crossed  the  hills  to  the  right,  and  proceeded  to 
Inverness,  where  he  expected  the  earl  of  Seafonh*s  and  other 
Highlanders  to  join  him,  when  he  intended  to  have  attacked 
the  town,  but  Seaforth  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  the  gov- 
ernment, and  crossing  the  river  Ness,  Buchan  retired  up  along 
the  north  side  of  the  Loch.  At  length,  unable  to  collect  or 
keep  any  considerable  body  of  men  together,  after  wandering 
through  Lochaber,  he  dismissed  the  few  who  still  remained 
with  him,  and  along  with  Sir  George  Barclay,  and  other  offi- 
cers, took  up  his  abode  with  Macdonell  of  Glengaiy.  After 
the  submission  of  the  Highland  chiefii  to  the  government  of 
King  William,  Buchan  and  Cannan,  with  their  officers,  in  terms 
of  an  agreement  with  the  ruling  powers,  were  transported  to 
France,  to  which  country  they  liad  asked  and  obtained  permis- 
sion from  King  James  to  retire,  as  they  could  no  longer  be  ser- 
viceable to  him  in  Scotiand.  Although  he  had  failed  to  re- 
trieve the  fortunes  of  the  fallen  monarch,  there  are  letters  to 
him  and  other  documents  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Buchan  of 
Auchmacoy,  from  James  himself,  and  his  queen,  their  secre- 
tary Melfort  and  others,  expressive  of  their  undiminished  con- 
fidence in  his  military  skill  and  attachment  to  their  cause 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  1715,  the  marquis  of 
Huntiy  wrote  a  letter  to  General  Buchan,  soliciting  him  to 
join  the  forces  of  the  earl  of  Mar,  and  he  is  supposed,  though 
not  in  command,  to  have  been  present  with  the  marquis  of 
Huntiy *s  troops  at  the  battle  of  Sheriffmuir,  Nov.  18, 1716, 
but  when  the  marquis,  to  save  his  life  and  estates,  withdrew 
from  the  earl  of  Mar's  army,  a  few  days  after,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  general  followed  hb  example,  as  by  a  letter  from 
the  countess  of  Enrol,  dated  15th  May  1721,  it  appears  that 
he  was  still  in  communication  with  the  exiled  family.  Hb 
portrait  b  in  the  house  of  Auchmacoy,  Aberdeenshire. 

A  family  of  the  name  of  Buchan  possesses  the  estate  of 
Kelloe  in  Berwickshire.  Lieut.-general  Sir  John  Buchan, 
son  of  George  Buchan,  Esq.  of  Kelloe,  by  the  daughter  of 
Robert  Dundas,  Esq.  of  Ambton,  who  dbtinguished  himself 
in  the  Peninsular  war,  was,  for  hb  services,  created  a  knight 
commander  of  the  Bath  in  1831.  He  died  in  1850.  For  ad- 
ditional information  as  to  thb  family  see  Supplkmsstt. 

BUCHAN,  WiLLLAjtf,  M.D.,  a  medical  writer 
of  great  popularity,  was  born  in  1729,  at  Ancrum, 


in  Roxbnrghshire.  His  father  possessed  a  small 
estate,  and  in  addition  rented  a  farm  from  the 
duke  of  Roxburgh.  He  was  sent  to  Edinburgh 
to  study  divinity,  and  spent  nine  years  at  the 
university.  At  an  early  period  he  exhibited  a 
mai'ked  predilection  for  mathematics,  in  which  he 
became  so  proficient  as  to  be  enabled  to  givp 
private  lessons  to  many  of  his  fellow-students.  He 
afterwards  resolved  to  follow  the  medical  profes- 
sion, in  preference  to  the  Church.  Before  taking 
his  degree,  he  was  induced  by  a  fellow-student  to 
settle  in  practice  for  some  time  in  Yorkshire.  He 
soon  after  became  physician  to  the  Foundling 
Hospital  at  Ackworth,  in  which  situation  he  ac- 
quired the  greater  part  of  that  knowledge  of  the 
diseases  of  children  which  was  afterwards  pub- 
lished in  his  'Domestic  Medicine,'  and  in  his 
'  Advice  to  Mothers.*  He  retunied  to  Edinburgh 
to  become  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, and  soon  after  married  a  lady  named 
Peter.  On  the  Ackworth  Foundling  Hospital  be- 
ing dissolved,  in  consequence  of  parliament  with- 
drawing its  support  from  it,  Dr.  Buchan  removed 
to  Sheffield,  where  he  appears  to  have  remained- 
till  1766.  He  then  commenced  practice  in  Edin- 
burgh. In  1769  he  published  his  celebrated  work, 
'  Domestic  Medicine ;  or,  the  Family  Physician ;' 
dedicated  to  Sir  John  Pringle,  president  of  the 
Royal  Society.  In  the  composition  of  it  he  is  said 
to  have  been  assisted  by  Mr.  William  SmeUie.  It 
was  published  at  Edinbni'gh  at  six  shiUings ;  and 
so  great  was  its  success,  that,  in  the  words  of  the 
author,  "  the  first  edition  of  ^ve  thousand  copies 
was  entirely  sold  off  in  a  comer  of  Britain,  before 
another  could  be  got  ready."  The  second  edition 
appeared  in  1772,  and  before  the  author's  death 
nineteen  large  editions  had  been  sold.  The  work 
was  translated  into  every  European  language,  and 
became  very  popular,  not  only  on  the  continent, 
but  in  America  and  the  West  Indies.  From  the 
empress  Catherine  of  Russia  the  author  received 
a  large  medallion  of  gold,  with  a  complimentary 
letter.  Many  other  letters  and  presents  from 
abroad  were  also  transmitted  to  him.  Dr.  Buchan 
subsequently  removed  to  London,  where  for  many 
years  he  enjoyed  a  lucrative  practice.  In  his  lat- 
ter years  he  went  daily  to  the  Chapter  Coffee- 
house, St.  Paul's,  where  patients  resorted  to  him. 


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EIJSPETH. 


to  whom  he  gave  advice.  Before  leaving  Eklln- 
bargh  he  delivered  several  courses  of  natural  phi- 
losophy, illustrated  by  an  excellent  apparatus 
bequeathed  to  him  by  his  deceased  friend,  James 
Ferguson,  the  celebrated  lecturer.  On  his  re- 
moval to  London,  he  disposed  of  this  collection  to 
Dr.  Lettsom.  He  died  February  25,  1805,  and 
was  interred  in  the  cloisters  of  Westminster  Ab- 
bey. He  left  a  son,  also  an  eminent  physician 
and  the  author  of  several  medical  works. 
Dr.  Bnchan*s  works  ai'e : 

Domestic  Medicine ;  or  a  Treatise  on  the  Prevention  and 
Core  of  Dieeaaea,  bj  regimen  and  simple  medicines.  Lond. 
1769.    2d  edition,  with  additions.    Lond.  1772,  Svo. 

Cantions  concerning  Cold  Bathing  and  Drinking  Mineral 
Waters ;  being  an  additional  chapter  to  the  9th  edition  of  bis 
Domestic  Medicine.    Lond.  1786,  8va 

Letters  to  the  Patentee  concerning  the  Medical  Properties 
of  Fleecj  Hosiery ;  with  Notes  and  Obsenrations.  8d  edit. 
Lond.  1790,  Sto. 

Observations  on  the  Prevention  and  Core  of  the  Venereal 
Disease ;  intended  to  guard  tbe  ignorant  and  unwary  against 
the  baneful  efiects  of  that  insidions  malady,  Ac  Lond.  1796, 
8vo.    Several  editions. 

Observations  on  the  Diet  of  the  Common  People ;  recom- 
mending a  method  of  living  less  expensive,  and  more  oondudve 
to  health,  than  the  preeent    Lond.  1797,  8vo. 

Advice  to  Mothers  on  the  subject  of  their  own  Health,  and 
on  the  means  of  promoting  the  health,  strength,  and  beauty 
of  the'uro&pring.  Lond.  1803, 8vo.  2d  edit  Lond.  1811, 8\-o. 

The  works  of  his  son,  Alexander  P.  Buchan, 
M.D.,  London,  are: 

Enchiridion  Syphiliticum,  or  Directions  for  the  Conduct  of 
Venereal  Patients.    Lond.  1797,  8vo. 

Practical  Observations  concerning  Sea  Bathmg,  with  Re- 
marks on  the  use  of  the  Warm  Bath.    Lond.  1804,  8vo. 

New  edition  of  Armstrong  on  Diseases  of  Children,  with 
notes.     Lond.  1808,  8vo 

Bionoraia,  or  Opinions  concerning  Life  and  Health.  Lond. 
1811,  8vo. 

New  edition,  being  the  21st,  of  Dr.  Buchan*8  Domestic  Me- 
dicine.   Lond.  1818,  8vo. 

Account  of  an  appearance  off  Brighton  Cliff,  seen  in  the 
ur  by  reflection.    Nic  Jour.  xiv.  840.    1806. 

BUCHAN,  or  Simpson,  Elspbth,  the  found- 
ress of  a  sect,  partly  enthusiastic  mlllenarians,  and 
partly  harmless  fanatics,  was  bom  in  1788.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  John  Simpson,  the  keeper  of 
an  inn,  at  Fetney-Can,  situated  half-way  between 
Banff  and  Portsoy ;  and,  in  her  22d  year,  she  went 
to  Glasgow,  and  entered  into  service.  There  she 
married  Robert  Buchan,  a  potter,  one  of  her  master*s 
workmen,  in  the  delft-work,  Broomielaw,  by  whom 
she  had  several  children.  Although  educated  an 
Episcopalian,  she  adopted,  on  her  marriage,  the 


principles  of  her  husband,  who  was  a  Burgher  Se- 
ceder.  Afterwards,  laying  claim  to  the  gift  of  in- 
spiration, which  she  supported  by  asserting  that 
she  had  had  a  vision  ^*  in  the  fields,"  when  about 
six  or  seven  years  of  age,  and  tliat  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four  "  the  power  of  God  wrouglit  so  power- 
fully upon  her  senses  that  she  could  make  no  use 
of  food  for  weeks,'^  she  began,  sometime  about  the 
year  1779,  to  promulgate  singular  doctrines.  Mr. 
Hugh  White,  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  a  licentiate 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  recently  admitted 
into  connection  with  the  synod  of  Relief  at  Irvine, 
being  called  to  Glasgow 'at  the  April  sacrament  of 
1783,  Mrs.  Buchan  heard  him  preach,  and  being 
much  taken  with  his  discourse,  she  wrote  several 
letters  to  him,  and  a  correspondence  ensued,  which 
terminated,  four  months  afterwards,  in  her  visiting 
him  at  Irvine.  On  her  appearance  there  she  was 
kindly  received,  and  by  her  artful  conversation 
soon  converted  not  only  Mr.  White  but  his  wife 
to  her  own  peculiar  notions,  and  through  him  a 
few  of  his  hearers,  none  of  whom,  however,  were 
of  the  wealthy  of  his  flock.  The  latter  portion 
of  his  congregation,  disapproving  of  their  minister's 
conduct,  brought  him  before  the  presbytery,  who 
after  he  had  disregarded  a  suspension,  and  con- 
tinued to  preach  his  new  doctrines,  were  compelled 
to  depose  him  from  the  office  of  the  ministry.  He 
afterwards  preached,  and  otherwise  laboured  to 
propagate  his  fanatical  tenets,  fii-st  in  a  tent, 
and  subsequently  in  his  own  house.  His  adher- 
ents met  during  the  night,  sung  hymns,  which  was 
a  great  part  of  their  worship,  and  the  uninitiated 
were  instructed  in  the  new  faith  by  their  pretended 
prophetess,  who  signed  her  name  *^  Elspat  Buch- 
an," and,  though  illiterate,  had  some  natural  abil- 
ity. She  gave  herself  out  to  be  the  woman  spoken 
of  in  the  12th  chapter  of  the  Revelation,  and  Mr. 
AVhite  to  be  the  man-child  she  had  brought  forth. 
This  and  some  other  of  her  ravings  brought  upon 
her  and  her  party  the  indignation  of  the  towns- 
people. They  rose,  assembled  round  Mr.  White's 
house,  broke  the  windows,  and  might  have  pro- 
ceeded to  greater  extremities  but  for  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  magistrates.  After  repeated  applica- 
tions to  have  her  proceeded  against  as  a  blas- 
phemer, the  magistrates  thought  it  prudent,  in 
April  1784,  to  dismiss  her  and  several  of  her  ad- 


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herentB  from  the  town.  Tbey  conduct^  her 
safely  without  the  bounds  of  the  borough,  but  at 
parting,  she  and  her  companions  were  pelted  by 
the  youthful  mob  who  were  following  them,  with 
dirt  and  stones.  The  first  night  they  stopped  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Kilmaurs,  and  being  joined 
by  Mr.  White  and  a  few  others  in  the  morning, 
the  whole  proceeded  till  they  came  to  the  parish 
of  Closebum,  Dumfries<shire,  where  they  took  up 
their  abode  for  a  season.  The  farm  of  New  Cam- 
ple in  the  parish  of  Closeburn,  in  the  outhouses  or 
offices  of  which  they  took  up  their  abode,  (now 
called  Buchan  Ha\)  continued  to  be  their  resi- 
dence till  24th  December  of  that  year,  when,  un- 
der a  popular  belief  that  Mra.  Buchan  was  a 
dealer  in  witchcraft,  they  were  assailed  by  a 
mob  of  rustics,  but  were  protected  by  the  sheriff, 
and  forty -two  of  the  rioters  tried  before  him 
for  the  breach  of  the  peace.  The  persons  who 
came  from  Irvine  were  mostly  females,  but  among 
them  were  a  few  men  of  respectable  character  and 
easy  circumstances,  including  a  Mr.  Hunter,  a 
lawyer  and  fiscal  of  that  town.  They  were  joined 
at  New  Cample  by  a  lieutenant  of  marines,  by 
name  Charles  E.  Conyers,  who  resigned  his 
commission,  and  by  a  few  from  the  counties 
on  the  English  boi*der,  but  their  number  never 
amounted  to  more  than  fifty.  Their  proceedings 
and  the  few  conversions  they  made  caused  a  sen- 
sation^ and  they  were  beset  with  letters  inquiring 
into  their  principles  and  views.  They  could  num- 
ber one  countess  at  least  among  their  correspondents, 
besides  several  clergymen  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  they  began  vauntingly  to  publish  their 
correspondence.  They  also  issued  from  the  press 
two  parts  of  a  work  called  '  The  Divine  Diction- 
ary,* containing  their  notions  and  revelations, 
each  accompanied  with  the  following  blasphemous 
attestation : 

"  The  traths  contained  in  this  publication,  the  writer  re- 
ceived from  the  Spirit  of  God  in  that  woman,  predicted  in 
Rev.  xil  1.  though  they  are  not  written  in  the  same  siropli- 
citj  as  delivered — hy  a  babe  in  the  love  of  God,  Hugh 
WHrrs.    Revised  and  approven  of  by  Elspat  Simpson.*' 

Nothing  could  be  more  injurious  to  their  cause 
than  to  write  such  a  book.  So  little  reason  was 
mixed  with  their  madness^  that  it  is  difficult  at 
times  in  its  pages  to  comprehend  their  meaning  or 


to  correctly  grasp  at  their  belief.    It  showed  them 
to  be  Illiterate,  visionary,  and  rhapsodical. 

Their  main  doctrine  was  that  a  coming  of  Christ 
in  person,  or  what  is  called  the  millennium,  was 
Just  at  hand ;  on  which  occurring,  they  would  be 
taken  up  to  meet  him  in  the  air,  transformed  into 
his  likeness,  and  would  reign  with  him  for  a  thou- 
sand years.  They  believed  that  none  of  them 
were  to  taste  of  death ;  that  the  approach  of  the 
Saviour  would  be  hastened  by  their  assuming  the 
position  of  waiters  or  expectants,  and  in  particu- 
lar by  their  living  like  the  angels  in  heaven. 
They  emaciated  their  bodies  by  fasting.  They 
renounced  all  earthly  connections.  Such  of  them 
as  were  in  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife  ceased 
to  know  each  other  as  such.  They  asserted  that 
sin  no  longer  existed  in  their  heart,— that  there 
was  impropriety  in  praying  for  the  pardon  of  sin, 
— that  the  soul  had  no  existence  separate  frt>m 
the  body, — that  at  conversion  a  spiritual  life  was 
infused,  which  consisted  in  rejoicing  in  God,  sing- 
ing hymns,  and  waiting  in  ecstacy  for  the  appear- 
ing of  their  Redeemer.  Mrs.  Buchan  was  not 
only  the  high  priestess  but  the  treasurer  of  the 
party.  She  kept  the  common  stock  of  the  brethren 
and  sisters,  for  they  had  all  things  in  common. 
All  the  funds  they  brought  with  them,  and  they 
were  considerable,  she  contrived  to  get  into  her 
hands.  She  dealt  out  their  food  to  them — and 
that  in  small  portions;  she  led  their  hymns;  she 
poured  out  her  rhapsodies  over  the  Bible;  she 
asserted  herself  to  be  not  only  the  woman  men- 
tioned in  the  Apocalypse,  but  the  mother  of  Christ, 
who  had  been  wandering  in  the  world  ever  since 
his  days,  and  that  she  would  never  die.  Although 
she  had  a  husband  and  son  left  behind  in  Glasgow, 
and  two  daughters  who  were  of  the  party  and 
living  before  her  eyes,  she  asserted,  and  got  her 
followers  to  believe  her,  that  every  thing  was  false 
about  her  parentage,  man-iage,  or  motherhood. 
Notwithstanding  these  absurd  views,  the  Buchanites 
were  temperate,  civil,  and  peaceful  in  a  remarkable 
degree.  The  young  women  particularly  excited 
much  commiseration.  When  the  trial  of  the  riot- 
ters  came  on,  they  would  not  prosecute,  nor  scarcely 
bear  witness  in  refei*ence  to  the  injuries  they  had 
received,  until  the  one  first  called  had  been  impri- 
soned for  suppressing  the  truth. 


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After  the  trial  they  saw  they  could  only  be  in 
safety  by  having  a  little  spot  of  gronnd  they  could 
call  their  own.  Accordingly  tboy  removed  to  the 
neighbonring  county  of  Galloway,  and  pos- 
sessed a  farm  called  Auchencaim,  near  the  vil- 
lage called  *the  Nine-mile  Tollbar.'  Here  they 
remained  until  the  death  of  the  prophetess.  Va- 
rious defections,  however,  took  place.  Tlie  young 
women  were  induced  to  m&ny  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, or  otherwise  returned  into  society.  The 
former  was  even  the  case  with  Mi*s.  Buchan^s 
daughters.  A  few  continued,  however,  until  she 
died  in  May  1791. 

On  her  death -bed,  this  wretched  impostor  called 
her  followers  together,  and  endeavoured  to  cheer 
their  drooping  spirits  by  asserting  that  though  she 
DOW  appeared  to  die,  they  need  not  be  discour- 
aged, for  in  a  short  time  she  would  return  and 
conduct  them  to  the  New  Jerusalem.  After  her 
death,  her  credulous  djsciples  would  neither  dress 
her  corpse  nor  bu^  hen,  untiil  compelled  by  the 
authorities.  The  last  survivor  of  the  sect,  whose 
Dame  was  Andrew  Innes,  died  in  184^8.  He  ha^ 
kept  the  skeleton  of  Mrs.  Bachan  beside  him^  al- 
ways expecting  that  she  would  come  alive  again, 
as  she  had  foretold,  and  carry  all  her  followers  to. 
heaven.  The  Buchanites  were  remarkably  peace- 
able an^t;  industrious,  and  excelled  in  the  manu- 
ractui:e  of  spinning  wheels,  since  superseded  by 
the  spinnjng-jennies  of  the  great  steam-factories. 

BUCHAN,  Peter,  an  industrions  ballad  col- 
lector, see  SurPLEMKHT. 

BfTCHA^TA^,  a  sorname  belonging  to  a  nnmeitms  dan  in  Stir- 
lingsbire,  and  the  countiy  on  the  north  ride  of  Loch  Lomond. 
The  repoted  fimnder  of  the  Bachanans  was  Anaelan,  aon  of 
O'Kjan,  king  of  Ulster  in  Ireland,  who  is  said  to  have  been  com- 
piled to  leave  his  native  conntiy,  bj  the  incorrions  of  the 
Danes,  and  take  refiige  in  ScotUnd.  He  Unded,  with  some  at- 
tendants, on  the  northern  coast  of  Argyleshiie,  near  the  Len- 
nox, about  the  joar  1016,  and  having,  according  to  the  family 
tradition,  in  all  such  cases  made  and  provided,  lent  his  assist- 
ance to  King  Malcobn  the  Second  in  repelling  bis  old  enemies 
the  Danes,  on  two  different  occarions  of  their  arrival  in  Soot- 
land,  he  received  from  that  king  for  his  services,  a  grant  of 
bmd  m  the  north  of  Scotland.  The  improbable  character  of 
this  genealogj  is  manifested  by  its  farther  stating  that  the 
aforesaid  Anselan  married  the  heiress  of  the  hmds  of  Buchan- 
an, a  lady  named  Dennistoan ;  for  the  Dennistonns  deriving 
their  name  from  hmds  given  to  a  family  of  the  name  of  Dan- 
ziel,  [see  Denkistoum,  surname  o^]  who  came  into  ScotUnd 
with  Ahm  the  father  of  the  founder  of  the  abbey  of  Paisley, 
and  the  first  daptfer^  seneschal,  or  steward  of  Scotland,  no 
I  of  that  name  could  have  been  in  Scotland  until  long 


after  the  period  here  referred  to.  It  is  more  probable  that  a 
portion  of  what  afterwards  became  the  estate  of  Buchnnan 
formed  a  part  of  some  royal  grant  as  being  connected  with 
the  esUtes  of  the  earls  of  Lennox,  whom  Skene  and  Naper 
have  established  to  have  been  remotely  connected  with  the 
royal  family  of  the  Canmore  line,  and  to  have  been  in  the 
fint  instance  administrators,  oo  the  part  of  the  crown,  of  the 
lands  which  were  afterwards  bestowed  upon  theno. 

The  name  of  Buchanan  is  territorial,  and  is  now  that  of  a 
parish  in  Stirlingshire,  which  was  anciently  called  Inchcaileocli, 
(*  old  woman^s  ishmd,')  from  an  ishmd  of  that  name  in  Loch 
Lomond,  on  which  in  earlier  ages  there  was  a  nunnery,  and 
latterly  the  parish  church  for  a  century  after  the  Reforma- 
tion. In  1621  a  detached  part  of  the  parish  of  Luss,  which 
comprehends  the  lands  of  the  family  of  Buchanan,  was 
included  in  this  parish,  when  the  chapel  of  Buchanan  was 
used  for  the  only  phu»  of  worship,  and  gave  the  name  to  the 
whole  parish. 

Begarding  the  etymology  of  Buchanan  (or,  as  it  was  for- 
meriy  spelled,  Boucbannane)  the  following  curious  passage 
occurs  in  Bleau's  Atlas,  published  in  HoUand  in  1658 :  **  Bu- 
chanan qui  out  de  belles  Signeuries  sur  la  riviere  d*Anerio  dn 
ooste  du  Midi,  et  sur  le  ko  de  Leimond  duooete  dn  Tocoident, 
Tune  desquelles  appartient  au  chef  de  la  famille,  (jni  s*appelle 
vulgairment  Buchanan,  laquelle  a  donne  le  nom  a  tonte  la 
maison :  le  mot,  qui  signifie  one  possession,  est  compose,  et 
veut  dire  nn  terroir  bas  et  proche  dee  eanx,  car  Much  on 
Buch  signifie  un  lieu  has,  et  Annan  de  Teau ;  et  en  effect  il 
est  ainsi,"  &c.  [Tome  vL  pp.  96,  97.]  We  have  not  a  doubt 
that  the  name  Buchanan  has  the  same  origin  as  the  worxi 
BucHAX  (see  ante,  p.  458),  being  its  diminutive  of  Bnchan- 
ino  or  Bnqubanino,  the  little  Buquhan  or  catUe-growing  dis- 
trict. 

Anselan  (in  the  fiunily  genealogies  styled  the  third  of  that 
name)  the  seventh  laird  of  Buchanan,  and  the  sixth  in  de- 
scent from  the  above-named  Irish  prince,  but  not  unlikely  to 
be  the  first  of  the  name,  which  is  Korman  French,  is  digni- 
fied in  the  same  records  with  the  magniloquent  appellation  ot 
seneechal  or  chamberlain  to  Malcohn  the  first  eari  of  Leve- 
oax  (as  Lennox  was  then  a^ed).  He  and  two  of  his  sons, 
Qilbert  and  Hethlen,  are  witnesses  to  a  charter  granted  by 
the  same  earl  to  Gilmore  son  of  Maoldonich,  of  the  lands  of 
Luss,  in  the  reign  of  King'  Alexander  the  Second,  a  nobleman 
of  no  great  influence  or  power,  descended  fifom  administrators 
of  one  of  the  abthaneships  of  Dull,  or  royal  Unds  reverting  to 
the  crown  by  demise  of  younger  branches,  in  which  charter 
they  are  more  ooireotly  designed  the  earPs  clients  or  vassals. 
In  1225,  this  Anselan  obtained  from  the  same  eari  a  charter 
of  a  small  ishmd  m  Loohlomond  called  Chuieinch,  witnesses 
Dougal,  Gilchrist,  and  Amalyn,  the  earrs  three  brothers,  the 
name  of  which  ishmd  afterwards  became  the  rallying  cry  of 
the  Buchanans.  The  same  AnseUn  is  also  mentioned  as  a 
witness  in  a  charter  granted  by  the  earl  of  Lennox  of  the 
Unds  of  Dahnanoch  in  mortification  to  the  old  church  of  Kil- 
patrick,  by  the  designation  of  Absalon  de  Buchanan,  Absalon 
being  the  same  as  Ansalon.  He  had  three  sons,  vis.  Meth- 
len,  ancestor  of  the  MaoMiUans;  Colman,  ancestor  of  the 
MacCoImans;  and  his  successor  Gilbert 

His  eldest  son,  Gilbert,  or  Gillebrid,  appears  to  have  borne 
the  surname  of  Buchanan.  There  is  a  charter  of  oonfirmation 
of  that  of  Clareinch,  and  some  other  lands  of  Buchanan, 
granted  in  favour  of  this  Gilbert  by  Kmg  Alexander  the 
Second  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  of  our  Lord 
1281.  The  same  Gilbert  is  also  witness  to  a  charter,  by  Mal- 
colm eari  of  Lennox,  to  the  abbot  and  monks  of  Paisley,  dated 
at  Kenfirew  m  1274.    \ChartMiary  of  DumbartoHshire  \ 


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Sir  Manrice  Bocbanan,  grandaon  of  Gilbert,  and  sod  of  a 
chief  of  the  same  name,  receiyed  iirom  Donald  earl  of  Len- 
nox, a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Sallochj,  with  confirmation  of 
the  upper  part  of  the  carrocate  of  Buchanan.  As  his  name 
does  not  appear  on  the  roll  of  parties  who  swore  fealty  to  Ed- 
ward the  First,  his  desoendanta  claim  the  merit  of  his  having 
refused  to  do  so.  To  the  bond  of  fealtjr,  however,  a  Malcolm 
de  Buchanan  attached  his  name.  Sir  Maurice  also  obtained 
a  charter  of  confirmation  of  the  lands  of  Buchanan  from  King 
David  the  Second  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign. 

Allan,  the  second  son  of  the  first  Sir  Maurice,  married  the 
heiress  of  I^enj  of  that  ilk,  descended  from  Gillespie  Moir  de 
Lanj,  supposed  to  have  lived  about  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  ceutuiy.  According  to  a  family  manuscript  pedigree, 
quoted  in  Buchanan  of  Auchmar's  account  of  the  Leny 
branch,  the  eariy  proprietors  of  the  estate  of  Leny  had  no 
charters,  but  carefully  preserved  a  large  sword,  and  one  of 
the  teeth  of  St  Fillan,  the  possession  of  which  was  held  to  be 
a  sufficient  title  to  the  knds.  John,  the  thbd  son,  was  al- 
ways reputed  the  ancestor  of  the  Buchanans  of  Auchneiven. 

Sir  Maurice  de  Buchanan  the  second,  above  mentioned, 
married  a  daughter  of  Menteith  of  Rusky,  and  had  a  son, 
Walter  do  Buchanan,  who  had  a  charter  of  confinnation  of 
some  of  his  lands  of  Buchanan  firoro  Robert  the  Second,  in 
which  he  is  designed  the  king*s  *  consanguineus,*  or  cousin. 
His  eldest  son,  John,  married  Janet,  daughter  and  sole  heir- 
ess of  John  Buchanan  of  I^ny,  fourth  in  descent  from  Allan 
already  noticed.  John,  who  died  befora  his  father,  had  three 
sons,  viz.  Sir  Alexander,  of  whom  next  paragraph ;  Walter, 
who  succeeded  his  father;  and  John,  who  inherited  the  lands 
of  Leny,  and  carried  on  that  family. 

Sir  Alexander  Buchanan,  the  eldest  son,  accompanied  the 
earl  of  Buchan  to  France,  when  he  went  to  assist  the  French 
king  Charles  against  Henry  the  fifth  of  England,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  the  battle  of  Beaug^  in  Normandy,  in 
March  1421.  The  victory  was  principally  owing  to  the  val- 
our of  the  Scots  auxiliaries.  It  is  stated  in  Buchanan  of 
Auchmar*s  account  of  the  martial  achievements  of  the  family 
of  Buchanan  that  it  was  Sir  Alexander  Buchanan  who,  in 
this  battle,  slew  the  duke  of  Glyeuce,  a  feat  commonly  attri- 
buted to  the  earl  of  Buchan.  He  is  said  to  have  pierced  the 
duke  through  the  left  eye  and  brain,  on  which  the  latter  fell, 
when  seizing  his  coronet,  Buchanan  boro  it  off  on  his  spear- 
point.  He  is  also  said  to  have  sold  the  coronet,  which  was 
set  round  with  jewels,  to  Stewart  of  Damley  for  one  thou- 
sand angels  of  gold,  and  that  the  latter  pawned  the  same  to 
Sir  Robert  Houston  for  five  thousand  angels.  Sir  Alexander 
Buchanan  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Verneuil,  on  the  17th  of 
August  of  the  same  year. 

The  armorial  bearings  of  the  Buchanans  lend  countenance 
to  the  assertion  that  Sir  Alexander  Buchanan  assisted  in 
slaying  the  duke  of  Clarence.  The  crest  is  a  hand  holding  a 
ducal  crown.  The  double  treesun  with  Jleurs  de  lu  was 
granted  to  him  by  the  king  of  France.  The  mottoes  **  Audi^ 
ces  Juvo,**  and  **  Clarior  Hinc  Honos,**  an  correspondent  to 
each  other  and  to  the  devices. 

Sir  Alexander  died  unmarried,  and  the  second  son,  Sir 
Walter,  succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Buchanan. 

This  Sir  Walter  de  Buchanan  married  Isabel,  daughter  of 
Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany,  governor  of  ScotUnd,  by  Isabel, 
countess  of  Lennox  in  her  own  right  With  a  daughter, 
married  to  Gray  of  Foulia,  ancestor  of  Lord  Gray,  he  had 
three  sons,  viz.  Patrick,  his  successor;  Maurice,  fzeasnrer  to 
the  princess  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  King  James  the  First, 
and  dauphiness  of  France,  with  whom  he  left  Scotland ;  and 
Thomas,  founder  of  the  Buchanans  of  Carbeth. 


The  eldest  son,  Patrick,  acquired  a  part  of  Strathyre  in 
1455,  and  had  a  charter  under  the  great  seal  of  his  estate  ol 
Buchanan  dated  in  1460.  He  and  Andrew  Budianan  d 
Leny  made^in  1455  mutual  tailzies  of  their  estates  in  favour 
of  one  another,  and  the  heirs  of  their  own  bodies,  paanng 
some  of  their  brethren  of  either  side.  He  married  Galbraith, 
heiress  of  Killeam,  Bamore,  and  Auchenreoch.  He  had  two 
sons  and  a  daughter,  Anabella,  married  to  her  cousin,  James 
Stewart  of  Baldorrans,  grandson  of  Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany 

Their  younger  son,  Thomas  Buchanan,  was,  in  1482, 
founder  of  the  house  of  Dmmakill,  whence,  in  the  third  gen- 
eration, came  the  celebrated  George  Buchanan.  One  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  colleagues  at  the  clerk's  table  of  the  court  of 
session  was  Hector  Macdonald  Buchanan,  Esq.  of  Drumakill, 
**a  frankhearted  and  generous  gentleman,"  says  Lockliart, 
"  not  the  less  acceptable  to  Scott  for  the  Highland  prejudices 
which  he  inherited  with  the  high  blood  of  Clanranald ;  at 
whose  beautiful  seat  of  Ross  priory,  on  the  shores  of  Lochlo- 
mond,  he  was  almost  annually  a  visitor;  a  drcumstance 
which  has  left  numy  traces  in  the  Waveriey  novels.** 

Patrick's  elder  son,  Walter  Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  nuvried 
a  daughter  of  Lord  Graham,  and  by  her  had  two  sons,  Pa- 
trick and  John,  and  two  daughters,  one  of  them  married  to 
the  laird  of  Lamond,  and  the  other  to  the  laird  of  Ardkin- 
glass. 

John  Buchanan,  the  younger  son,  succeeded  by  testament 
to  Menzies  of  Amprior,  and  was  the  facetious  "  King  of  Kip- 
pen,"  and  faithful  ally  of  James  the  Fifth.  The  local  pro- 
verb, **  Out  of  the  world,  and  into  Kippen,"  was  meant  to 
show  the  seclusion  and  singularity  of  this  district  of  Stirling- 
shire, of  which  the  feudal  lord  was  formeriy  styled  King. 
The  name  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  word 
Ceap-beinn,  *  foot  of  the  mountidn,'  and  the  parish  is  partljr 
in  Perthshire.  An  insulated  portion  of  the  latter  county 
about  two  miles  long  and  half-a-mUe  broad,  embraces  tha 
village  of  Kippen.  The  minister's  manse  stands  on  the  east' 
em  boxmdary,  so  that  his  dinner  is  cooked  in  Perthshire  and 
eaten  in  Stirlingshire.  The  way  in  which  the  laird  of  Am- 
prior got  the  name  of  **  King  of  Kippen"  is  thus  related  by  a 
tradition  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  introduced  into  his 
Tales  of  a  Grandfather.  [Hittory  of  Scotland.}—^' ^m^ea 
James  the  Fifth  travelled  in  disguise,  he  used  a  name  which 
was  known  only  to  some  of  his  principal  nobility  and  attend- 
ants. He  was  called  the  Goodman  (the  tenant,  that  is)  of 
Ballengeich.  Ballengeich  is  a  steep  pass  which  leads  down 
behind  the  castle  of  Stirling.  Once  upon  a  time  when  the 
court  was  feasting  in  Stirling,  the  king  sent  for  some  venison 
firom  the  neighbouring  hills.  The  deer  was  killed  and  put  on 
horses'  backs  to  be  transported  to  SUrling.  Unluckily  the) 
had  to  pass  the  castle  gates  of  Amprior,  belonging  to  a  chiei 
of  the  Buchanans,  who  chanced  to  have  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  guests  with  him.  It  was  late,  and  the  company  were 
rather  short  of  victuals,  though  they  had  more  than  enough 
of  liquor.  The  chief,  seeing  so  much  fat  venison  passing  his 
very  door,  seized  on  it,  and  to  the  expostulations  <rf'  the  keep- 
ers, who  told  him  it  belonged  to  King  James,  he  answered 
insolently,  that  if  James  was  king  in  Scotland,  he  (Budian- 
an) was  king  in  Kippen ;  being  the  name  of  the  district  in 
which  Amprior  lay.  On  hearing  what  had  happened  the 
king  got  on  horseback,  and  rode  instantly  from  Stirling  to 
Buchanan's  house,  where  he  found  a  strong  fierce-looking 
Highlander,  with  an  axe  on  his  shoulder,  standing  sentinel  at 
the  door.  This  grim  warder  refused  the  king  admittance, 
saying  that  the  laird  ^  Amprior  was  at  dinner,  and  would 
not  be  disturbed.  *Yet  go  np  to  the  cjmpany,  my  good 
friend,'  sud  the  kmg,  *  and  tell  him  that  the  Goodman  (f 


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BiUlen^ch  is  come  to  feast  with  the  King  of  Kippen.*  The 
porter  went  grumbling  into  the  house,  and  told  his  master 
that  there  was  a  fellow  with  a  red  beard  at  the  gate,  who 
called  himself  the  Goodman  of  Ballengeioh,  who  said  be  was 
onme  to  dine  with  the  King  of  Kippen.  As  soon  as  Bachanan 
heard  these  words,  he  knew  that  the  king  was  come  in  per- 
son, and  hastened  down  to  kneel  at  James's  feet,  and  to  ask 
forgiveness  for  his  insolent  behaviour.  But  the  king,  who 
onlj  meant  to  give  him  a  fright,  forgave  him  freelj,  and,  go- 
ing into  the  castle,  feasted  on  his  own  venison,  which  Buch- 
anan had  intercepted.  Buchanan  of  Amprior  was  ever  after- 
wards called  the  King  of  Kippen.**  He  was  killed  at  the 
baUle  of  Pinkie  in  1347. 

Tbe  elder  son,  Patrick,  who  fell  on  Flodden  field,  during 
his  fatber*s  lifetime,  had  married  a  daughter  of  the  earl  of 
Argjia    She  bore  to  him  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Tbe  younger  son,  Walter,  in  1519  conveyed  to  bis  son  Wal- 
ter, the  lands  of  Spittal,  and  was  thus  the  founder  of  that 
house.  On  the  14th  December  of  that  year,  he  had  a  charter 
from  his  father  of  the  temple-lands  of  £aster-Catter.  In 
1531,  he  had  a  remission  from  James  the  Fifth,  for  seizing 
and  detuning  in  the  castle  of  Glasgow,  John  duke  of  Albany, 
then  governor  of  Scotland.  In  this  deed  he  is  styled  **  Wal- 
ter Buchanan  in  Spittel,**  the  property  of  which  was  then  in 
the  hands  of  his  brother  George  Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  who 
resigned  bis  lands  of  Spittel  of  Easter-Catter  to  Edward,  son 
of  the  said  Walter  Buchanan,  as  appears  by  the  confirmation 
in  favour  of  this  Edward,  by  Gavin,  archbishop  of  Glasgow, 
dated  18tb  September  1531. 

The  elder  son,  George  Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  succeeded  his 
grandfather,  and  was  sheriff  of  Dumbartonshire  at  the  critical 
epoch  of  1561.  He  must  have  succeeded  to  the  estate  when 
very  young,  as  in  the  register  of  the  privy  seal  of  Scotland, 
quoted  in  the  appendix  to  Pitcaim*8  Collection  of  Criminal 
Trials,  under  date  July  11,  1526,  ^ere  is  a  respite  to  George 
Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  and  twenty-two  others,  *'  extract  furtb 
of  the  respitt  of  Johne  erie  of  Levinax,  for  his  tressonabill  as- 
s^ng,  taking  and  with  balding  of  our  souerane  lordis  castle 
and  fiotalice  of  Dumbertene  fra  his  seruandis  keparis  thairof.** 
He  was  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie,  on  the  queen*s  side,  in  1547, 
m  which,  besides  Buchanan  of  Amprior,  many  others  of  the 
name  of  Buchanan  were  slain.  He  was  also  at  the  battle  of 
Langside  fighting  for  Queen  Mary,  in  1568.  On  January 
26,  1598-4,  Robert  Buchanan  of  Spittel,  Mungo  Buchanan  in 
TulKchewne,  and  eight  other  Buchanans,  were  ordained  to  be 
denounced  rebels,  for  not  relieving  George  Buchanan  of  that 
ilk,  of  a  deereet-arbitral,  pronounced  by  Ludovick  duke  of 
Lernox,  upon  a  submission  entered  into  by  the  laird  of 
Fttcbanan,  taking  burden  on  him  for  his  friends,  on  the  one 
part,  and  Allan  or  Aw  lay  M'Caula  of  Ardincaple  and  his 
firiends,  on  the  other  part,  "  be  the  quhilk  decrete,  the  said 
George  has  been  decemit  to  mak  payment  to  the  said  Allane, 
and  vtheris  his  friendis,  of  a  certaine  sowme  of  money,  for 
sum  violence  done,  and  attemptit  agam's  thame  be  the  said 
Geoi^  friendis.**  [Pttowm*s  Triak,  vol.  i  part  iL  p.  306.] 
By  Margaret,  daughter  of  Edmonstone  of  Duntreath,  George 
Buchanan  had  a  son,  John,  who  died  before  his  father,  leav- 
mg  a  son.  By  a  second  lady,  Janet,  daughter  of  Cunning- 
hame  of  Craigans,  he  had  \t^am,  founder  of  the  now  ex- 
tinct house  of  Auchmar.  A  descendant  of  this  bouse,  Wil- 
liam Buchanan  of  Auchmar,  published  at  GUsgow,  m  1723, 
a  quarto  volume  entitled  an  *  Historical  and  Genealogical  es- 
say upon  the  family  and  surname  of  Buchanan,  with  an  En- 
quiry into  the  Genealogy  and  present  state  of  ancient  Scot- 
tish surnames,  and  more  partioilariy  of  the  Highland  Clans.* 
An  octavo  edition  of  the  same  appeared  at  Edinburgh  in 


1775.  In  drawing  up  this  account  of  the  Buchanans,  Auch- 
mar's  work  has  of  course  been  consulted,  but  in  the  eariy 
portion  especially  of  the  genealogies,  we  should  not  be  dis- 
posed to  rely  implicitly  on  its  statements,  either  in  respect  of 
the  name  of  Budianan  or  any  other  of  the  "  andeut  Scottish 
surnames^  which  it  contains. 

John  Buchanan,  above  mentioned  as  dymg  before  bis  fa- 
ther, George  Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  was  twice  married,  first 
to  the  Lord  Livingston*s  daughter,  by  whom  he  had  one  son, 
Geofge,  who  succeeded  his  grandfiither,  and  secondly  to  a 
niece  of  Chisholm,  bishop  of  Dunblane,  and  had  by  her  a 
daughter  nuurried  to  Mr.  Thomas  Buchanan  of  Ibcot,  lord 
privy  seal. 

The  son.  Sir  George  Buchanan,  married  Mary  Graham, 
daughter  of  the  earl  of  Monteith,  and  had,  with  two  daugh- 
ters, a  son.  Sir  John  Buchanan  of  that  Qk,  who  in  1618,  mor- 
tified (or  bequeathed)  six  thousand  pounds  Scots  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  for  maintaining  three  bursars  at  the  study 
of  theology  there ;  and  an  equal  sum  to  the  university  of  St 
Andrews,  for  maintaining  upon  the  interest  thereof,  three 
bursars  at  the  study  of  philosophy  there,  and  constituted  the 
magistrates  of  Edinburgh  managers  or  patrons  of  both  mor- 
tifications. This  on  the  authority  of  Buchanan  of  Auchmar, 
although  Bower  in  his  History  of  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh does  not  mention  any  such  bequest.  Sur  John  married 
Anabella  Erskine,  daughter  of  Adam,  commendator  of  Cam- 
buskenneth,  a  son  of  the  Master  of  Mar.  He  had  a  son, 
George,  his  successor,  and  a  daughter  married  to  Campbell 
of  Rahein. 

Sir  George  Buchanan  the  son  married  Elisabeth  Preston, 
daughter  of  the  laird  of  Craigmillar.  He  was  colonel  of  the 
Stirlingshire  regiment  during  the  whole  of  the  civil  wars  in 
the  reign  of  King  Charles  the  First,  and  was,  with  his  regi- 
ment, at  the  battle  of  Dunbar  m  1650.  He  was  also  at  tbe 
fatal  conflict  of  Inverkeithing  in  the  following  year,  and  with 
Major-general  Sir  John  Brown  of  Fordel,  colonel  of  the  Mid 
Lothian  regiment,  at  the  head  of  their  regiments,  stopped 
the  passage  of  Cromwell*s  troops  over  the  Forth,  for  some 
days.  The  Scots  were,  however,  eventually  defeated  with 
great  loss,  and  Sir  George  Buchanan,  with  Sur  John  Brown 
and  other  officers,  taken  prisoner,  in  which  state  he  died  in 
the  end  of  1651,  leaving,  with  three  daughters,  one  son,  John, 
the  last  laird  of  Buchanan,  who  was  twice  married,  but  had  ' 
no  male  issue.  By  his  second  wife,  Jean  Pringle,  daughter 
of  Mr.  Andrew  Pringle,  a  minister,  he  had  a  daughter  Janet, 
married  to  Henry  Buchanan  of  Leny.  John,  the  last  laird, 
died  in  December  1682.  His  estate  was  sold  by  his  creditors, 
and  purchased  by  the  ancestor  of  the  duke  of  Montrose. 

The  barons  or  lairds  of  Buchanan  built  a  castle  m  Stirlmg- 
shire,  where  the  present  Buchanan  house  stands,  formerly 
called  the  Peel  of  Buchanan.  Part  of  it  exists,  forming  the 
charter-room.  A  more  modem  house  was  built  by  these 
chiefs,  adjoining  the  east  side.  This  mansion  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  first  dake  of  Montrose,  who  made  several 
additions  to  it,  as  did  also  subsequent  dukes,  and  it  is  now 
the  chief  seat  of  that  ducal  family  in  Scotland. 

The  principal  line  of  the  Buchanans  becoming,  as  above 
shown,  extinct  in  1682,  the  representation  of  the  family  de- 
volved on  Buchanan  of  Auchmar.  This  line  became,  in  its 
turn,  extinct  in  1816,  and  in  the  absence  of  other  competi- 
tors, the  late  Dr.  Francis  Hamilton -Buchanan  of  Bardowie, 
Spittal,  and  Leny,  as  heir-male  of  Walter,  first  of  the  family 
of  Spittal,  established  in  1826  his  claims  as  chief  of  the  clan 
Of  this  gentleman,  the  author  of  an  account  of  Nepaul,  and 
other  works  on  India,  a  separate  notice  is  given.  See 
Buchanan,  Hamiltom  Francis. 


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The  last  lineal  male  descendant  of  the  Buchanans  of  Lenj 
was  Henry  Buchanan  about  1723,  whose  daughter  and  heir- 
ess, Catherine,  married  Thomas  Buchanan  of  Spittal,  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Dutch  service,  who  took  for  his  second  wife,  Eliza- 
beth, youngest  daughter  of  John  Hamilton  of  Bardowie,  the 
sole  survivor  of  tier  fumily,  and  by  her  he  had  four  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Their  eldest  son  John,  bom  in  1758,  succeeded  to 
the  estate  of  Bardowie,  and  assumed  the  additional  name  of 
Hamilton,  but  dying  without  mule  issue,  was  succeeded  by  bis 
brother,  the  above  named  Dr.  Francis  Hamilton-Buchanan. 


The  first  of  the  Buchanans  of  Ardocli  whs  WilliHm  Bach- 
duan  who,  in  1693,  acquired  that  estate  in  the  parish  of  Kil- 
maronock,  Dumbartonshire.  He  whs  descended  from  John 
Biiclianaii,  eldest  son  of  the  second  marriage  of  Thomas 
Buchanan  of  Garbeth,  grandson  of  Thomas  Buchanan,  third 
son  of  Sir  Walter  Buchanan,  thirteenth  laird  of  Buchanan. 


The  Buchanans  of  Ardinoonnal  and  Auchintorlie,  in  the 
same  county,  are  also  a  branch  of  the  ancient  house  of  Buch- 
anan of  that  ilk  and  of  Leny.  Of  this  family  was  George 
Buchanan,  a  merchant  in  Glasgow,  and  his  three  brothers, 
Andrew  of  Dnimpeliier,  in  I^iiarkshire ;  Niol,  of  Hillingtoii, 
county  of  Renfrew,  M.P.  for  the  Glasgow  district  of  burghs, 
whose  male  line  is  now  extinct;  and  Archibald  of  Auchin- 
torlie. These  four  brothers  were  the  original  promoters,  in 
1726,  of  the  Buchanan  Society  of  Glasgow,  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  benevolent  institutions  in  the  west  of  Scotland. 
Mary,  their  sister,  married  George  Buchanan  of  Auehintoshen 
in  Dumbartonshire.  The  Drumpellier  branch  of  tlie  Buchanan 
family  is  represented  by  the  descendant  of  Andrew's  second 
son,  Robert  Carriok  Buchanan,  Esq.  of  Drumpellier. 

•— — _  • 

The  name  of  Buchanan  was  at  one  time  so  numerous  in 
heritors  that  it  is  said  that  the  laird  of  Buchanan  could,  in  a 
Bummer*s  day,  call  fifty  heritors  of  his  own  surname  to  his 
house,  upon  any  occasion,  and  all  of  them  might  with  conve- 
nience return  to  thdr  respective  reddoices  before  night,  tlie 
most  distant  of  their  homes  not  being  above  ten  miles  from 
Buchanan  castle. 

In  Pitcaim*s  Criminal  Trials,  vol  ii.  pp.  544 — 567,  is  given, 
under  date  of  May  31, 1608,  the  trial  of  one  Blargaret  Hert- 
syde,  wife  of  John,  afterwards  Sir  John  Buchanan,  a  female 
servant  of  her  majesty,  Anne,  queen  of  Jaines  the  Sixth,  for 
stealing  the  queen*s  jewels.  The  uncommon  nature  of  tlie 
crime,  and  the  interest  of  the  pleadings  induced  him  to  insert 
the  entire  aiguments.  He  remarks  that  the  real  cause  of  the 
criminal  prosecution  of  this  servant  of  the  queen  is  under- 
stood to  have  originated  in  Mrs.  (afterwards  Lady)  Buchan- 
an's being  too  deeply  vened  in  certain  court  intrigues,  and  it 
was  deemed  necessary  to  get  rid  of  her,  even  in  the  face  of 
the  most  strenuous  remonstrances  on  the  part  of  her  miyesty. 
She  was  in  the  following  August  found  guilty,  and  banished 
to  Orkney.  On  this  case,  Balfour  has  the  following  entry  in 
his  Annals,  (voL  U.  p.  26,)  "John  Buchanan  and  his  wyfle, 
Margaret  Hartesyde,  that  had  layim  longe  in  prisson  heire, 
for  the  allegeit  stoaliing  some  of  the  queins  Jewells  (hot  the 
courtiers  talked,  that  it  was  for  revellmg  some  of  the  queins 
socretts  to  the  king,  wich  a  wysse  chalmbermaide  wold  not 
have  done),  was,  by  ane  sentence,  condemned  to  perpetualle 
ezyle,  in  tht  iylandes  of  Orkney,  and  declared  to  be  ane  in- 
famous persons.**  The  sentence  was,  however,  recalled  in  the 
following  November. 

Vohime  third  of  the  same  Collectiofi  contains  the  radict- 
ment  of  several  persons  of  the  name  of  Buchanan,  and  among 
them  Patrick  the  son  of  George  Buchanar  of  Auchmar,  un- 


der date  June  6,  1623,  for  the  slaughter  of  one  Duncac 
M^Fariane,  in  the  preceding  ApriL  The  accused  gave  in  a 
suppticatioo  which  revealed  incidents  of  a  most  horrible  na- 
ture. It  appears  finom  it  that  the  M^Farlanes  had  seized  one 
William  Buchanan,  while  hunting,  and  after  torturing  him 
for  ten  hours  had  barbarously  murdered  him.  His  tongue 
and  entrails  they  cut  out,  and  having  slain  his  dogs,  they 
took  out  the  tongue  and  entrails  of  one  of  them  and  trans- 
ferred them  to  each  other,  and  so  left  him  and  the  dogs  lying 
on  the  earth,  where  they  vrere  not  discovered  for  eight  days 
the  ofience  of  Buchanan  beings  that  he  had  inquired  aftei 
some  goods  said  to  have  been  stolen  by  the  said  Duncan 
M'Farlane;  and  the  latter  having  afterwards  stolen  an  ox 
from  one  of  the  party,  he  was  pursued,  and  firing  his  gun  at 
them  was  slam  in  self-defence.  The  M'Farlanes  on  tb«r 
part  also  gave  in  a  supplication  giving  a  different  complexion 
to  the  case,  and  the  laird  of  Buchanan  came  forward  and 
offered  to  submit  the  matter,  as  it  arose  out  of  the  murder  of 
one  of  his  dan,  to  the  earls  of  Mar,  Menteith,  Wigtoun,  and 
Linlithgow,  but  no  records  remain  as  to  the  result  of  this  ex- 
traordinary case. 

BUCHANAN,  George,  a  distinguished  re- 
former and  Latin  poet,  is  perhaps  the  only  man 
but  one  whom  Scotland  has  ever  produced  who 
was  acknowledged  by  the  acclamations  of  Europe 
to  be  the  princeps — "Poetarum  sui  secuH  facile 
princeps" — the  decidedly  first  in  the  art  he  culti- 
vated, not  only  of  his  country  but  his  age.  Thia 
applies,  however,  only  to  poets  writing  in  Latin  oi 
Greek.  He  was  born  at  Kiilearn  in  Stirlingshire, 
on  the  western  bank  of  the  rivulet  of  Blane,  in 
February  1506. — As  Richai'dson  writes, 

*'  Triumphant  even  the  yellow  Blane, 
Though  by  a  fen  defaced. 
Boasts  that  Buchanan's  eariy  stnun 
Consoled  her  troubled  breast** 

He  belonged  to  a  family  which  was  rather  ancient 
than  rich.  He  was  the  third  son  of  Thomas, 
second  son  of  Thomas  Buchanan  of  Dmmikill, 
who,  having  received  the  farm  of  Moss,  otherwise 
called  Mid-Leowen,  from  bis  father,  was  called 
Thomas  Buchanan  of  Moss.  George's  father 
died  of  the  stone  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  and 
owing  to  the  insolvency  of  his  grandfather  about 
the  same  time,  his  mother,  Agnes,  daughter  of 
James  Hariet  of  Trabrown,  was  left  in  extreme 
poverty,  with  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  Her 
brother,  James  Hariet,  is  said  to  have  sent  him, 
(after  he  had,  according  to  a  doubtful  tradition, 
received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  a  school 
supposed  to  have  been  then  established  at  Kill- 
earn,)  about  1520,  to  Paris,  where  he  improved 


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GEORGE. 


his  knowledge  of  Latiu,  acquired  the  Greek  Ian- 
linage  without  the  aid  of  a  tutor,  and  began  to 
cultivate  hia  poetical  talents.  He  seems  to  have 
possessed  a  knowledge  of  the  Gaelic,  (which  Dr. 
Irving  incorrectly  conjectures  to  have  been  the 
current  speech  of  his  native  district  at  that  peritfd, 
there  being  evidence  that  the  Macfarkuws,  who 
occupied  the  wild  region  of  the  Dumbtrton  High- 
lands in  the  vicinity,  spoke  English  before  his 
time,  although  they  also  we  the  Celtic  to  this 
day,)  for  it  is  related  thai  when  in  France,  having 
met  with  a  woman  who  was  said  to  be  possessed 
with  the  devil,  and  who  professed  to  speak  all 
languages,  be  accosted  her  in  Gaelic,  and  as  nei- 
ther she  nor  her  familiar  returned  any  answer,  he 
entered  a  protest  that  the  devil  was  ignorant  of 
that  tongue,— a  trait  of  humour  in  entire  accord- 
ance with  the  gravity  of  his  after  character.  The 
death  of  his  uncle,  two  years  afterwards,  having  de- 
prived him  of  his  resources,  he  returned  to  Scotland 
in  1522.  It  is  stated  that  at  this  time  his  poverty 
was  so  great  that  in  oi*der  to  get  back  to  his  na- 
tive country,  he  joined  the  corps  then  in  course  of 
being  raised  in  France  as  auxiliaries  to  the  duke 
of  Albany  in  Scotland.  In  1523,  after  a  twelve- 
month spent  at  home  for  the  recovery  of  his  health, 
being  then  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  served 
as  a  common  soldier  with  the  French  auxiliaries, 
and  proceeded  with  them  when,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  regent  Albany  in  person,  they 
marched  across  the  borders,  and  about  the  end  of 
October  of  that  year  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of 
Wark,  fi-om  which  they  were  compelled  to  retreat. 
After  one  campaign  he  became  tired  of  a  military 
life,  and  the  fatigue  and  hardships  he  had  en- 
dured on  this  occasion  so  much  affected  his  health, 
which  in  lib  youth  seems  not  to  have  been  robust, 
that  he  was  confined  to  his  bed  for  the  remaiudei* 
of  the  winter.  The  brief  notice  he  gives  of  this 
in  his  short  biography  of  himself,  would  seem  to 
imply  that  he  considered  this  service  a  useful  part 
of  education.  His  words  are  ^^  studio  rd  mUitaris 
cognosceruUe  m  castra  est  per/ectus,^*  **  The  exer- 
cise which  I  commend  firet,"  says  Milton,  **  is  the 
exact  use  of  their  weapon,  to  guard  and  to  strike 
safely  with  edge  or  point;  this  will  keep  them 
healthy,  nimble,  strong  and  well  in  breath,  is  also 
the  likeliest  means  to  make  them  grow  large  and 


tall,  and  to  inspire  thew  with  a  gallant  and  fear* 
less  courage,  wMefa,  being  tempered  with  season- 
able lectovei  and  precepts  to  them  of  true  fortitude 
and  petience,  will  turn  into  a  native  and  heroic 
valom*,  and  make  them  hate  the  cowardice  of  do- 
ing wix>ng."  Milton  wrote  these  words  about  the 
year  1650,  a  time  when  recent  events  had  given 
him  good  cause  to  appreciate  the  effect  of  such  a 
character  upon  a  nation^s  welfare,  and  to  compre- 
hend the  distinction  between  the  logic  of  the 
schoolmen,  and  the  logic  of  Oliver  Cromwell, 
and  of 

brandSf 

Well  wielded  m  some  hardy  hands, 

And  woonds  by  GalUeans  given. 

In  the  ensuing  spring  Buchanan  and  his  bro- 
ther, Patrick,  entered  students  at  the  university  of 
St.  Andrews,  and  he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor 
of  arts,  October  8,  1525,  at  which  time  he  was  a 
pauper  or  exhibitioner.  In  the  following  summer 
he  accompanied  John  Mair,  or  Major,  then  pro- 
fessor of  logic  in  St.  Salvador's  college,  St.  An- 
drews, to  Palis,  and  became  a  student  in  the  Scot- 
tish college  there.  In  March  1528  he  took  the 
degree  of  M.A.,  and  in  June  1530,  after  being  the 
previous  year  defeated  as  a  candidate,  he  was 
chosen  procurator  of  the  German  Nation,  which 
comprehended  the  students  fi'om  Scotland.  The 
principles  of  Luther  having,  about  this  time,  made 
considerable  progress  on  the  Continent,  Buchanan, 
whose  mind  was  more  embued  with  the  spirit  of 
classical  antiquity  than  with  the  trammels  of  the 
Catholic  church,  readily  adopted  them,  and  be- 
came a  steady  friend  to  the  Reformation.  He  had 
in  1529  received  the  appointment  of  professor  in 
the  college  of  St.  Barbe,  where  he  taught  grammar 
for  three  yeare,  without  deriving  much  i*emunera- 
tion  from  his  labours.  In  an  elegy,  apparently 
composed  about  this  period,  he  paints  in  forcible 
and  gloomy  colours  the  miseries  to  which  the  pro- 
fessors of  humanity  in  Paris  were  then  exposed. 

In  1532,  whilst  at  this  college,  he  became  tutor 
to  Gilbert  Kennedy,  earl  of  Cassillis,  **  a  youth  of 
the  most  promising  talents,  and  of  an  excellent 
disposition,"  then  residing  near  the  college  of  St. 
Barbe,  and  to  his  lordship  he  inscribed  his  first 
work,  being  a  translation  of  the  famous  Thomas 
IJnacrc's  Rudiments  of  Latin  Grammar;  which 


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BUCHANAN, 


464 


GEORGE. 


was  published  in  1533.  He  resided  with  the  earl 
in  France  for  about  five  years,  and  in  May  1537 
he  returned  with  him  to  Scotland. 

*'*'  While  he  was  residing  at  the  earPs  seat  in  the 
country,"  says  his  biogi-apher,  Dr.  Irving,  "he 
composed  a  little  poem  which  rendered  hhn  ex- 
tremely obnoxious  to  the  ecclesiastics,  an  order  of 
men  whom  it  is  generally  hazardous  to  provoke. 
In  this  poem,  which  bears  the  title  of '  Somnium,' 
and  is  a  happy  imitation  of  Dunbar,  he  expresses 
his  own  abhorrence  of  a  monastic  life,  and  stigma- 
tizes the  impudence  and  hypocrisy  of  the  Francis- 
can friars.  The  holy  fathers,  when  they  became 
acquainted  with  this  specimen  of  his  sarcastic  wit, 
speedily  forgot  their  professions  of  meekness,  and 
resolved  to  convince  him  of  his  heterodox  pre- 
sumption in  disparaging  the  sacred  institutions  of 
the  church.  It  has  repeatedly  been  alleged  that 
Buchanan  had  himself  belonged  to  a  religious  or- 
der which  he  has  so  frequently  exposed  with  the 
most  admirable  powers  of  ridicule ;  but  this  seems 
to  have  been  a  tale  fabricated  by  the  impotent 
malice  of  his  theological  enemies.  That  he  had 
actually  assumed  the  cowl,  has  never  been  affirm- 
ed by  any  eai-ly  writer  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
his  history :  it  is  not,  however,  improbable,  that 
during  the  convenient  season  of  his  youthful  mis- 
fortunes, the  friai's  were  anxious  to  allure  so  pro- 
mising a  novice  ;  and  this  suggestion  is  even 
countenanced  by  a  passage  in  one  of  his  poetical 
productions." 

Buchanan  had  determined  to  resume  his  foimer 
occupation  in  France ;  but  King  James  the  Fifth 
retained  him  in  Scotland  in  the  employment  of 
tutor  to  his  eldest  natural  son,  (by  Elizabeth 
Shaw,  of  the  family  of  Sauchie,)  James  Stewart, 
afterwards  the  abbot  of  Kelso,  who  died  in  1548, 
and  not  his  half  brother,  the  famous  earl  of  Mur- 
ray, as  erroneously  stated  in  several  of  his  me- 
moirs. We  learn  from  the  lord  high  treasurer's 
accounts,  quoted  in  the  Appendix  to  the  firat  vol- 
ume of  Pitcaim's  '  Criminal  Trials,'  that,  August 
21,  1537,  Buchanan  was  paid,  by  oi'der  of  the 
king,  twenty  pounds ;  and  the  same  sum  in  July 
1538,  when  he  also  received  a  rich  gown  of  Paris 
black,  with  a  cassock,  on  occasion  of  Maiy  of 
Guise's  public  entry  into  Edinburgh.  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  king,  to  whom  the  incensed  priests 


had  found  means  of  representing  him  as  a  man  of 
depraved  morals  and  dubious  faith,  he  wrote  his 
'  Palinodia'  and  *  Franciscanus,'  the  latter  a  pow- 
erful and  bitter  satire  against  the  Franciscan  fri- 
ars. "  This  production,"  says  Dr.  Irving,  "  as  it 
now  appears  in  its  finished  state,  may  without 
hazard  be  pronounced  the  most  skilful  and  pun- 
gent satire  which  any  nation  or  language  can  ex- 
hibit. He  has  not  ser>'ilely  adhered  to  the  model 
of  any  ancient  poet,  but  is  himself  original  and 
unequalled.  To  a  masterly  command  of  classical 
phraseology,  he  unites  uncommon  felicity  of  rersi- 
fication;  and  his  diction  often  rises  with  his  in- 
creasing indignation  to  majesty  and  splendour. 
The  combinations  of  his  wit  arc  variegated  and 
original;  and  he  evinces  himself  a  most  sagacious 
observer  of  human  life.  No  class  of  men  was 
ever  more  completely  exposed  to  ridicule  and  in- 
famy; nor  is  it  astonishing  that  the  Popish  clergy 
afterwards  regarded  the  author  with  implacable 
hatred.  The  impurities  and  the  absurdities  which 
he  rendered  so  notorious,  were  not  the  spontaneous 
production  of  a  prolific  brain;  their  ignorance  and 
iiTcligion  presented  an  ample  and  inviting  harvest 
Of  the  validity  of  his  poetical  accusations,  many 
historical  documents  still  remain.  Bnchanan  has 
himself  related  in  plain  prose,  that  about  this 
period,  some  of  the  Scottish  ecclesiastics  were  so 
deplorably  ignorant,  as  to  suppose  Martin  Lnther 
to  be  the  author  of  a  dangerous  book,  called  the 
New  Testament." 

The  following  account  and  (in  part)  only  trans- 
lation yet  attempted  of  this  admirable  satire  k 
fi'om  the  pen  of  an  able  but  anonymons  critic,  and 
will  not  be  unacceptable  to  our  readers. 

After  asking  his  friend — 

"  Unde  noTUS  rigor  in  vultu !  tristisque  seven 
Frons  caperata  minis,  tardique  modastia  gressus? 
lUaqne  frenatse  oonstans  custodia  lingiuc  ?  &c" 

He  makes  him  thus  reply — 

**  Oft  musing  on  the  ills  of  human  life, 
Its  baojant  hopes,  wild  fears,  and  idle  strife, 
And  joys  of  hue— how  changeful!  tho'  serene, 
That  flit  ere  you  can  tell  where  they  have  been— 
(Even  as  the  bark,  when  ocean's  surges  sweep. 
Raised  by  the  warring  winds,  along  the  deep. 
Is  headlong  by  the  howling  tempest  driven, 
While  the  staid  pilot,  to  whose  charge  is  given 


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BUCHANAN,                          465                              GEORGE. 

Her  guidance,  skilfully  the  ImIto  applies, 

"  Principio  hue  omnes  tanquam  ad  vivaria  cumiiit. 

And  in  the  tempest^s  face  ahe  fairlj  forward  flics,) 

Quels  res  nulla  domi  est,  quibus  est  irata  noverca. 

]  have  resolved,  my  earthly  wanderings  past,        • 

Quoe  dums  pater,  aut  pUgosi  dextra  magistri. 

In  rest's  safe  haven  to  secure  at  last 

T.^rritat,  aut  legum  timor,  aut  quos  dedita  somno 

Whatever  of  fleeting  life,  by  Fate's  decree, 

Excercet  nullis  Lethcea  ignavia  curis : 

Ere  end  ray  pilgrimage,  remains  to  me,— 

Deinde  quibus  gelidus  arcum  prsecordia  sanguis 

To  give  to  heaven  the  remnant  of  my  days— 

Obstitit  ingenio,  quos  sacro  a  fonte  Camoenoc, 

And  wash  away  in  penitence  and  pmise, 

Quoe  Pallas  Phoebusque  fugat,  quoe  sidere  tono 

Far  from  this  wild  world's  revelry  uncouth,     . 

Aspicit  infausto  voluoer  Tegeaticus  ortu. 

The  sins  and  follies  of  my  heedless  youth. 

0,  blest  and  hallowed  day  1  with  cincture  liound. 

Adde  his,  quos  febris,  quos  vexat  dira  plirenesis,  &c 

Ikly  shaven  head  the  grey  hood  veiling  round, 

St  Frauds,  under  thine  auspicious  name, 

Adjice  prsetcrea  quos  pneceps  alea  nudat, 

1  will  prescribe  unto  this  fleshly  frame 

Quos  Venus  enervat,  Ac" 

{             A  life  astherial,  that  shall  upward  rise, 

j 

j            Aly  heavenward  soul  commercing  with  the  ski<*si. 

lie  rapidly  snms  np  his  sketch  of  the  order,  m    ' 

1            This  is  my  goal— to  this  my  actions  tend— 

of  a  set  of  men 

1             My  resting-place— original  and  end." 

"  Whom  fear,  wrath,  frenzy,  dulness,  sloth,  and  crime, 

1        To  tbis  explanation  of  his  friend's  object,  the 

Ambition,  ruin,  weariness  of  time,                                       ] 

poet  thus  replies — 

Unhappy  love,  home  cbang'd  or  hostile  found. 
And  dark  hypocrisy  together  bound." 

•»  If  'tis  thine  aim  to  reach  the  goal  of  life 

Thro'  virtue's  path,  and,  leaving  childisli  strife, 

In  allnsion  to  this  preclons  collection,  he  ther 

To  free  thy  darkcn'd  mind  from  error's  force, 

makes  the  following  caustic  remarks — 

To  trace  the  laws  of  virtue  to  their  source, 

1            And  nuse  to  heavenly  things  thy  puiged  sight, 

"  Still  deathful  is  the  drug  envenomed  draught, 

I  view  thy  noble  purpose  with  delight ; 

Tho'  golden  be  the  bowl  from  which  'tis  quaflTd : 

But  if  a  shadowy  good  doth  cross  thy  way, 

The  ass,  in  Tyrian  purple  tho'  array'd, 

And  lure  thee,  phantom-like— but  to  betray— 

Is  as  much  ass,  as  asslike  when  he  bray'd ; 

Oh !  while  'tis  time,  restrain  thy  mad  career. 

Still  fierce  will  be  the  lioness— the  fox 

Anu  a  true  friend's  yet  timely  warning  hear; 

Still  crafly— and  still  mild  the  mighty  ox— 

Nor  let  old  error  with  bewildered  eye, 

The  vulture  still  will  whet  the  thirsty  beak— 

Nor  let  the  blind  and  senseless  rabble's  cry, 

The  twittering  swallow  still  will  chirp  and  squeak  . 

More  move  thee  than  stem  reason's  simple  sway, 

Thus  tho'  the  vesture  shine  like  drifted  snow. 

That  points  to  Truth  the  undiscovered  way : — 

The  heart's  dark  passions  lurk  unchang'd  below 

But  deem  not,  that  high  heaven  I  dare  defy 

Nor  when  the  viper  lays  aside  his  skin 
Less  baleful  does  the  venom  woric  within, 

Or  raise  again  vain  war  against  the  sky, 

i 

For,  from  my  earliest  youth  I  have  revcnnl 

The  tiger  finets  against  his  cage's  side 

The  priests  and  holy  fathers,  who  appennui. 

As  wild  as  when  be  roam'd  in  chainless  pride : 

By  virtue's  and  religion's  holy  flame, 

Thus  neither  crossing  mountains  nor  the  main, 

Worthy  a  bright  eternity  of  fame. 

Nor  flyiiig  human  haunts  and  folUes  vain, 

But  seldom  underneath  the  dusky  cowl. 

Nor  the  black  robe  nor  white,  nor  cowl-clad  heau. 

That  shades  the  shaven  head  and  monkish  scowl. 

Nor  munching  ever  black  and  mouldy  bread. 

I  picture  a  St  Paul:  the  priestly  stole 

Will  lull  the  darkly-working  soul  to  rest. 

And  calm  the  tumults  of  the  troubled  breast. 

The  glutton's  and  the  adulterer's  grovelling  Inst, 

For  always,  in  whatever  spot  you  be. 

Like  soulless  brute  each  wallowing  in  the  dust, 

And  the  smooth  hypocrite's  still  smiling  brow. 

Or  near  tiie  sun,  beneath  a  scorching  clime. 

That  tells  not  of  the  villany  bek)w.'» 

Still,  still  will  follow  the  fierce  lust  of  crime- 
Deceit,  and  the  dark  working  of  the  mind. 
Where'er  you  roam  will  not  be  lefl  behind." 

After  some  preliminary  remarks,  the  poet  goes 

on  to  ennmorate  the  various  classes  of  men  who 

The  king  appeai-s  to  have  been  either  unable  or 

compose  this  respectable  body— 

unwilling  to  protect  the  author  of  this  poem  against 
2g 

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BUCHANAN, 


466 


GEORGE. 


the  powerful  aud  vindictive  body  of  men  whom  he 
liad  attacked.  He  was  accordingly  comprehended  in 
the  general  arrest  of  persons  suspected  of  Luther- 
anism,  "and  to  the  eteraal  infamy  of  the  nation," 
says  Dr.  Irving,  "  his  invaluable  life  might  have 
been  sacrificed  to  the  rancour  of  an  unholy  priest- 
hood. After  he  was  committed  to  custody,  Car- 
dinal Beaton  endeavoured  to  accelerate  his  doom 
by  tendering  to  the  king  a  sum  of  money  as  the 
price  of  his  innocent  blood.  *  *  While  his 
keepers  were  fast  asleep,  he  escaped  through  the 
window  of  the  apartment  in  which  he  was  confined, 
and  fled  into  England."  But  his  disastei-s  were 
not  over.  On  the  bordei-s  he  was  molested  by  the 
moss-troopers,  who  at  that  time  had  possession  of 
the  whole  frontier  of  the  two  kingdoms,  and  his 
life  was  again  exposed  to  gi-eat  danger  fi'om  the 
contagion  of  a  pestilential  disease  then  raging  in 
the  north  of  England.  On  reaching  London,  he 
was  entertained  by  Sir  John  Rainsford,  an  Eng- 
lish knight,  to  whom  he  has  gi*atefully  inscribed  a 
small  poem.  He  proceeded  in  the  course  of  the 
same  yeai*  to  Paris ;  and  thence,  on  the  invitation 
of  Andrew  Govea,  a  learned  Portuguese,  who  was 
principal  of  the  college  of  Guienne,  lately  founded 
in  that  city,  to  Bordeaux.  There  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  Latin,  and  taught  with  applause  for  three 
years,  in  which  time  he  wrote  four  tragedies ;  two 
of  which,  entitled  ^Baptistes,'  and  'Jephthes,' 
wero  original,  aud  on  scriptural  subjects,  but  on 
the  Greek  model ;  and  the  other  two  were  trans- 
lations of  the  *  Alcestis  ^  and  the  ^  Medea '  of  Euri- 
pedes.  His  *  Baptistes,'  the  earliest  of  his  dramatic 
compositions,  and  his  translation  of  the  ^  Medea,* 
were  performed  on  the  academical  stage  with  ap- 
plause surpassing  his  expectations.  The  great 
theme  of  the  former  is  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
and  some  of  his  allusions  in  it  bear  ready  applica- 
tion to  the  persecuting  conduct  of  Cardinal  Bea- 
ton. "Buchanan's  tragedies,"  says  a  contempor- 
aiy  critic,  "are  not  considered  among  the  most 
perfect  of  his  compositions.  We  have  no  inten- 
tion here  to  enter  upon  a  criticism  of  them.  It 
may  be  sufficient  to  mention,  as  a  proof  how  little 
he  pi-eserved  the  keqnng  of  his  picture,  that  he 
frequently  alludes  to  the  classical  mythology,  and 
to  things  with  which  the  Hebrews  were  unac- 
quainted.   To  some  of  the  chai*acters  in  J^hthes 


he  gives  Greek  names,  and  the  chorus  speaks  of 
the  wealth  of  Croesus,  who  was  not  bora  till  about 
six  hundred  yeai-s  after  Jephtha.  At  the  same 
time  it  ought  to  be  added,  that  the  language  of 
his  translation  of  the  Medea  appeared  to  his  learned 
contemporaries  so  thoroughly  classical,  that  he 
was  suspected  by  some  of  having  published  in  his 
own  name,  a  genuine  relique  of  antiquity.  This 
we  conceive  to  be  one  of  the  highest  testimonies 
that  could  be  adduced  of  the  classical  purity  of 
Buchanan^s  Latin  style — ^higher  than  any  evidence 
founded  merely  on  the  authority  of  any  modern 
scholar.  In  the  tragedies  of  Buchanan,  repre- 
sented in  the  college  of  Guienne,  the  celebrated 
Michael  de  Montaigne  was  a  fi*equent  performer. 
And  Buchanan  appears  at  one  time  to  have  formed 
a  project  of  composing  a  work  on  education,  in 
which  he  intended  to  exhibit  as  a  model,  the  early 
discipline  of  his  pupil  Montaigne,  a  very  remark- 
able one  (his  fattier  gave  him  an  old  Grerman  pro- 
fessor in  place  of  a  nurse,  that  he  might  learn 
Latin  as  his  mother  tongue — and  he  did  it).  We 
certainly  have  great  doubts  as  to  the  excellence  of 
George^s  scheme  of  education,  nor  do  we  tldnk 
the  world  has  suffered  much  by  the  loss  of  it. 

In  the  Baptistes^  Buchanan  attacks  priestcraft 
as  keenly  as  in  the  Franciscanus^  as  the  following 
terse  and  vigorous  lines  will  amply  testify: — 

Nostriqae  caetns  vititun  id  est  vel  maxiinmn, 
Qni  aanctitatis  plebem  imagine  fallirous: 
PrsBcepta  tuto  lioeat  ut  spemere  Dd ; 
Contra  instituta  nostra  si  qnid  aadeas, 
Conamor  aoro  evertere  adversaries, 
Tollere  veneno,  sabditisqoe  tcstibus 
Opprimere :  falsis  regias  romoribus 
Implemus  aures:  quioquid  animum  offendent, 
Rnmore  falso  ulcisdraur,  et  inoendimus 
Animum  furore  turbidnm,  et  calnmmis 
Annamus  ins  sievientis  impetum. 

One  of  Milton's  biographers  has  ascribed  to  Mil- 
ton, but  without  foundation,  an  English  version  0/ 
the  Baptistes.  This  was  Mr.  Peck  (New  MemouiB 
of  the  Life  and  Poetical  Works  of  Mr.  John  Mil- 
ton. Lond.  1740,  4to,)  who  first  indeed  deckred 
that  the  translation  of  the  Baptistes  under  this 
title  *  Tyrannical  Groverament  Anatomized ;  or, 
a  discourse  concerning  evil  councillors ;  being  the 
Life  and  Death  of  John  the  Baptist,*  was  an  ori- 


i   I 


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glnal  work  of  Mr,  Milton's ;  announcing  it  in  the 
following  terms:  ^His  Baptistes  is  the  sixth  of 
Mr.  John  Milton's  nine  most  celebrated  English 
poems ;  and  one  of  the  hitherto  unknown  pieces 
of  his,  whereof  I  am  now  to  give  an  account.'" 

Buchanan  also  wrote  several  poems  on  various 
subjects,  particularly  one  with  the  object  of  secur- 
ing the  patronage  of  Olivier,  chancellor  of  the 
kingdom,  to  the  college  of  Guienne,  in  which  he 
succeeded.  Besides  these,  he  addressed  a  Sapphic 
ode  to  the  youth  of  Boi*deaux,  with  the  view  of 
recommending  to  them  the  study  of  the  liberal 
arts.  During  his  residence  there,  the  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth  passed  through  Bordeaux,  on 
which  occasion,  in  name  of  the  college,  he  pre- 
sented his  majesty  with  an  elegant  Latin  poem. 

He  was  still,  however,  exposed  to  danger  from 
the  malice  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  who  wrote  to  the 
archbishop  of  Bordeaux  to  have  him  apprehended, 
but  his  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  one  who  was 
friendly  to  the  poet,  and  he  was  suffered  to  remain 
unmolested.  In  1543,  the  plague  having  broken 
out  at  Bordeaux,  he  quitted  that  place,  and  became 
for  some  time  domestic  tutor  to  Montaigne,  then 
ten  years  old,  who  records  the  fact  in  his  Essays. 
In  1544  he  went  to  Paris,  where,  as  one  of  the 
regents  or  professors,  he  taught  the  second  class 
in  the  college  of  the  Cardinal  de  la  Moine,  and 
appears  to  have  remained  there  for  the  next  three 
years.  In  1547  he  accompanied  his  friend,  An- 
drew Govea,  to  Portugal,  and  became  one  of  the 
professors  in  the  univei-sity  of  Coimbra,  then  re- 
cently established,  and  of  which  Govea  was  ap- 
pointed principal.  His  brother,  Patrick  Buchanan, 
was  also  one  of  the  professors;  and  Dempster  says, 
but  not  truly,  other  two  Scotsmen,  John  Ruther- 
ford and  William  Ramsay.  It  was  the  weakness 
of  this  writer  to  magnify  the  learaing  of  our  coun- 
trymen, although  in  that  age  of  strife  and  per- 
secution at  home  they  might  have  been  students 
there.  The  death  of  Grovea,  in  the  ensuing  year, 
left  him,  and  those  of  his  colleagues  who,  like 
himself,  were  foreigners,  at  the  mercy  of  the 
bigoted  priests ;  and  three  of  them  were  subjected 
to  the  discipline  of  a  moderate  confinement  in  the 
dungeons  of  the  Inquisition,  among  whom  was 
Buchanan  himself,  who  was  accused  of  being  an 
enemy  to  the  Romish  faith,  and  of  having  eaten  flesh 


in  Lent,  and  other  equally  heinous  crimes.  After 
being  confined  a  year  and  a  half,  he  was  sent  to  a 
monastery,  with  the  view  of  receiving  edifying 
lessons  from  the  monks,  whom  he  represents  as 
men  by  no  means  destitute  of  humanity,  but  to 
tally  unacquainted  with  I'eligion.  Here  he  con- 
tinued several  months,  and  employed  his  leisui-e 
in  writing  a  considerable  part  of  his  inimitable 
Latin  version  of  the  Psalms ;  not  as  a  penance  as 
has  been  absurdly  stated,  but  for  occupation  and 
his  own  pleasure.  He  obtained  his  liberty  in 
1551,  and  received  a  small  pension  from  the  king, 
but  found  his  situation  extremely  disagreeable. 
In  a  poem  entitled  ^  Desiderium  Lutetias,'  he  ex> 
presses  his  anxious  desire  to  leave  what  he  in 
another  poem  (^  Adventus  in  Galliam')  character- 
ises as 

Jejuna  misene  tesqoa  Lusitanin, 
Glebasqne  tan  tain  fertiles  penuriie, 

and  to  return  to  Paris,  (which  he  represents  undei 
the  allegorical  name  of  Amaryllis),  in  the  follow- 
ing beautiful  lines: — 

0  formosa  Amaiylli,  toa  jam  septima  bnuna 
Mo  procal  aspecta,  jam  septima  detinet  testas: 
Sed  neque  septima  bruma  nivalibus  horrida  uimbis, 
Septima  nee  rapidis  candens  fervoribus  lestas 
Extinxit  yigiles  nostro  sub  pectore  onras. 
Tu  mihi  mane  novo  carmen,  dam  roscida  tondet 
Arva  pecns,  medio  ta  carmen  soils  in  oesto, 
Et  cam  jam  longas  pneceps  nox  ponigit  umbras ; 
Kec  mihi  qoo  tenebris  condit  nox  omnia,  vultus 
Est  potis  occultare  tuos :  te  nocte  sub  atra 
Alloquor  amplector,  falsSqoe  in  imagine  somni 
Gaudia  sollicitam  palpant  evanida  mentcra, 
At  cum  somnus  abit,  &c. 

Buchanan  returned  to  France  by  way  of  Eng- 
land in  the  beginning  of  1553,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  professor  in  the  college  of  Boncourt.  It 
seems  to  have  been  about  this  time  that  he  wrote 
some  of  those  satirical  pieces  against  the  monks 
which  are  found  in  his  'Fratres  FrateiTimi.* 
Having  dedicated,  a  poetical  tribute,  written  on 
the  capture  of  Vercelli  in  1553,  and  also  his  tra- 
gedy of  Jephthes,  published  in  1554,  to  the  Mar- 
shal Comte  de  Brissac,  then  governor  of  the 
French,  dominions  in  Italy,  that  nobleman,  in 
1555,  sent  Buchanan  to  Piedmont,  as  preceptor 
to  his  son,  Timolesse  "de  Cossd.    In  this  capacity 


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ho  continued  for  tive  years,  residing  with  his  pupil 
alternately  in  Italy  and  France.  He  now  devoted 
his  leisure  to  examining  tlie  controversies  on  the 
subject  of  religion  which  then  agitated  Europe. 
He  also  composed  part  of  his  philosophical  poem 
*  De  Sphera,*  and  wrote  his  Ode  on  the  surrender 
of  Calais,  his  Epithalamium  upon  the  mai*riage  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to  the  Dauphin,  and  pub- 
lished the  first  specimens  of  his  version  of  the 
Psalms  and  his  translation  of  the  Alcestis. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  in  France, 
in  1560,  Buchanan  quitted  the  family  of  Brissac, 
and  from  the  alarming  aspect  of  affairs  in  that  coun- 
tiy,  retu rned  to  Scotland.  Tlie  precise  period  of  h is 
return  has  not  been  ascertained ;  but  it  must  have 
been  either  that  year  or  the  following  one,  as  in 
January  1562  he  was  at  the  Scottish  court,  where, 
though  a  professed  adherent  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  he  was  well  received.  In  the  following 
April  we  find  him  officiating  as  classical  tutor  to 
the  queen.  Mary  was  then  in  her  twentieth  year, 
and  a  letter  from  Randolph,  the  English  ambassa- 
dor, states  that  Buchanan  read  with  her  every  af- 
ternoon a  portion  of  Livy.*  With  reference  to 
this  incident  Dr.  Irving  contends  that  Buchanan's 
manners  must  have  been  courteous  and  polished. 
We  own  we  cannot  assent  to  this  opinion.  The 
general  manners  of  the  age  were  not  very  refined. 
But  we  think  there  is  evidence  to  show  that 
George  Buchanan*s  manners  were  coarse  even  for 
his  age.  The  answer,  energetic  but  coarse,  which 
he  is  reported  to  have  made  to  the  countess  of 
Mar,  when  she  demanded  how  he  had  presumed 
to  lay  his  hand  upon  '*  the  Lord's  anointed,"  is 
quite  characteristic  of  the  man.  Dr.  Irving  also 
defends  Buchanan  from  a  more  serious  imputation 
to  which  some  of  his  writings  have  given  rise ;  and 
instances  poets,  both  ancient  and  modem,  who 
protested  with  solemnity  that,  though  their  verses 
were  loose,  their  conduct  was  correct.  The  excuse 
appears  to  us  a  lame  one.  And  this  instance  only 
confirms  our  dislike  to  celibate  schoolmasters. 

In  1563  he  was  appointed  by  parliament  with 

*  '^There  is  with  the  Queene  one  called  Mr.  (xeorge 
Bowhanan,  a  Scottishe  man,  verie  weill  lemed,  that 
was  schollemaster  nnto  Mons.  de  Brisack^s  sone,  very 
godlye  and  honest" — Randolph  to  CecU,  Edin.  Jan. 
30th,  1561. 


others  to  inspect  the  revenues  of,  and  regulate  the 
instruction  at,  the  universities ;  and,  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Church,  which  met  25th  De- 
cember that  year  and  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  revise  '  The  Book  of 
Discipline.'  In  1564  the  queen  conferred  on  him 
for  life  the  temporalities  of  Crossragnell  Abbey, 
then  vacant  by  the  death  of  Quentin  Kennedy, 
which  amounted  annnally  to  the  sum  of  five  hun- 
dred pounds  Scots.  In  1566  he  was  appointed  by 
the  earl  of  Murray,  who,  as  commendator  of  the 
priory  of  St.  Andrews,  held  the  right  of  nominat- 
ing to  that  office,  principal  of  St.  Leonard's  col- 
lege, St.  Andrews,  in  which  capacity  it  appears  to 
have  been  one  of  his  duties  to  read  occasional  lec- 
tures in  divinity.  Although  a  layman,  he  was  as 
one  of  its  members,  on  account  of  his  extraordi- 
nary abilities  and  learning,  chosen  moderator  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  church  which  met  at 
Edinburgh  on  the  25th  of  June  1567. 

It  is  uncertain  at  what  precise  period  his  admi- 
rable version  of  the  Psalms  was  first  printed,  but 
a  second  edition  appeared  ^in  1566.  The  work 
was  inscribed,  in  an  elegant  dedication,  to  Queen 
Mary.  To  the  earl  of  Murray  he  inscribed  his 
'  Franciscanus'  during  the  same  year. 

The  conduct  of  Mary  had  justly  excited  against 
her  the  indignation  of  a  large  portion  of  her  sub- 
jects, and  after  the  murder  of  Darnlcy  and  her 
marriage  to  Both  well,  Buchanan,  who  had  for- 
merly praised  her  immoderately,  now  attacked  her 
in  terms  equally  unmeasured,  heaping  upon  her  all 
the  stores  of  invective  which  his  copious  vocabu- 
lary afforded.  W"e  are  no  admirers  of  that  weak 
and  flagitious  woman;  but  Buchanan  had  been 
treated  by  her  with  courtesy  and  kindness — ^had 
even  received  very  considerable  benefits  at  her 
hands ;  and  assuming  that  his  former  praises  were 
sincerely  bestowed,  because  he  believed  them  mer- 
ited, when  the  object  of  those  praises  had  put  on 
«  character  the  reverse  of  that  for  which  they  were 
intended,  though  neither  his  defence  nor  even  his 
approbation  of  her  new  character  would  by  any 
reasonable  person  have  been  required;  yet  the  ex- 
posure, the  reprobation,  and  the  punishment  of  her 
faults,  her  follies,  and  her  crimes^  would  have 
come  more  becomingly  from  another  hand  than 
his.    He  al^  joined  the  party  of  the  earl  of  Mur- 


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ra3%  whom  be  accompanied  to  the  conference  at 
York  and  afterwards  to  that  at  Hampton  Court. 
At  the  desire  of  the  earl  he  was  prevailed  npon  to 
write  his  famous  '  Detectio  Mariie  Regins,*  which 
was  produced  to  the  Commissioners  at  Westmin- 
8tcr,  and  afterwards  circulated  with  great  industry 
by  the  English  court.  It  was  not,  however,  pub- 
lished till  1571,  a  year  after  the  regent  Murray's 
assassination  by  Hamilton  of  Bothwellhaugh.  On 
that  event  taking  place  he  wi-ote  ^Ane  Admo- 
nitionn  direct  to  the  trew  Lordis,  Mantenaris  of 
the  Kingis  Graces  Authoritie,'  in  whicii  he  ear- 
nestly adjured  those  whom  he  addressed  to  protect 
the  3'oung  king  and  the  children  of  the  late  regent 
fix>m  the  perils  which  seemed  to  await  them. 
About  the  same  time  he  also  wrote  a  satirical 
tract  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  entitled  the  ^Cha- 
moilcon,'  with  the  view  of  exposing  the  vacillating 
policy  and  conduct  of  Secretary  Maitland. 

Shortly  after  the  assassination  of  the  regent, 
and  in  the  same  year  (1570)  Buchanan  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Estates  of  the  realm  one  of  the 
four  preceptors  to  the  young  king,  then  in  his 
fourth  year,  on  whicli  occasion  he  resigned  the 
office  of  principal  of  St.  Leonard's  college.  Vari- 
ous anecdotes  are  told  of  his  severity;  and  the 
impression  he  left  on  the  mind  of  his  pupil  appears 
to  have  been  anything  but  an  agreeable  one. 
Francis  Osborne  [Advice  to  a  Son^  p.  19]  relates 
that  Ring  James  used  to  say  of  a  person  in  high 
place  about  him,  that  he  ever  trembled  at  his  ap- 
proach, it  reminded  him  so  of  his  pedagogue. 
There  is  no  saying  how  far  the  severity  of  the 
pedagogue,  taken  along  with  other  circumstances 
connected  with  his  birth,  may  have  tended  to  pro- 
duce that  extreme  timidity  of  character  which 
marked  the  royal  pedant  through  life.  All  the 
tutor's  pains,  though  they  may  have  forced  into 
him  some  ^^glancings  and  nibblings  of  knowledge," 
did  not,  however,  succeed  in  imparting  any  love 
for  his  principles  of  government.  King  James 
regarded  his  Histoiy  of  Scotland  as  an  infamous 
invective;  and  admonbhed  his  heir-apparent  to 
punish  such  of  his  future  subjects  as  should  be 
guilty  of  retaining  it  in  their  custody.  It  may  be 
said  that  it  wonid  have  been  no  easy  matter  to 
have  made  a  hero,  or  even  an  average  king,  out 
of  such  materials  as  were  to  be  found  in  the  char- 


acter of  James,  from  whatever  parentage  inher- 
ited. Still  we  cannot  help  thinking  that  Buchanan 
must  have  committed  some  grievous  faults  in  hin 
education ;  for  he  evidently  had  it  in  his  power  to 
produce  some  impression — and  the  impression  he 
made  was  entirely  of  the  yenus  pedant.  Homer 
tells  us  that  the  precept  which  Peleus  impre:>:sed 
particularly  upon  his  son  Achilles  was — 

And  the  soits  of  excellence  which  he  sought  after 
were  such  as  might  be  supposed  to  have  been 
pointed  out  to  him  by  his  tutors,  his  father  Pclcns, 
and  the  centaur  Chiron.  James,  too,  had  some 
vague  glimmering  of  an  idea  of  excelling — but  of 
excelling  in  what?  in  writhig  bad  prose  and  woi-sc 
verse — for  we  have  carefully  read  some  of  his 
works,  and  we  cannot  agree  with  his  panegyrists 
that  they  exhibit  any  degree  of  excellence,  except 
perhaps  that  of  producing  a  laugh  by  their  tran- 
scendent absurdity.  As  to  the  "purity  of  style" 
which  some  have  found  in  them,  we  can  only  say 
that  to  us  the  style  or  language  appears  to  be  on 
a  level  with  the  logic,  which  is  of  the  most  despi- 
cable description.  In  short,  James's  idea  of  IiIa 
vocation  was — 

"  To  stick  the  doctor's  chair  into  the  tlirone, 
Give  law  to  words,  or  w.or  witli  words  alone, 
Senates  and  conrts  with  Greek  and  Latin  ruU*. 
And  turn  the  ooundl  to  a  gramraar  school** 

And  a  veiy  poor  grammar  school  it  would  have 
been  of  which  he  was  master.    Not  forgetting  also 

**  The  right  divine  of  kings  to  govern  wrong." 

About  the  ^ame  time  that  he  was  nominated 
preceptor  to  the  king,  Buchanan  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  director  of  the  Chancery,  which  he 
held  but  a  short  time.  Soon  after,  the  office  of 
keeper  of  tlie  privy  seal  was  conferred  on  him. 
This  office,  which  he  held  for  several  yeara,  enti- 
tled him  to  a  seat  in  parliament.  He  likewise  re- 
ceived from  Queen  Elizabeth  a  pension  of  one  hun- 
dred pou  nds  a-y ear.  The  office  of  lord  privy  seal  he 
resigned  in  favour  of  his  nephew  Thomas  Buchan- 
an of  Ibert.  In  1578,  he  was  joined  in  several 
parliamentary  commissions,  legal  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal, and  particularly  in  a  commission  issued  to 
visit  and  reform  the  universities  and  colleges  of 


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L 


the  kingdom.  The  scheme  of  reformation  sug- 
gested, and  afterwards  approved  of  by  parliament, 
wa3  drawn  up  by  him. 

In  his  dialogue  ^  De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos,' 
with  a  dedication  to  King  James,  dated  at  Stir- 
ling, January  10,  1579  (in  which  dedication  he 
certainly  administei*s  a  dose  of  something  very 
like  flattery  to  the  yonng  king,  when  he  tells  him 
that  "  he  perceives  that  by  a  kind  of  natural  in- 
stinct he  abhors  flattery,  the  nurse  of  tyranny"), 
Buchanan  maintains  that  all  power  is  derived 
from  the  people ;  that  it  is  more  safe  to  intrust 
our  liberties  to  the  definite  protection  of  the  laws, 
than  to  the  precarious  discretion  of  the  king ;  that 
the  king  is  bound  by  those  conditions  under  which 
the  supreme  power  was  originally  committed  to 
his  hand ;  that  it  is  lawful  to  resist  and  even  to 
punish  tyrants.  During  the  minority  of  Ring 
James,  several  coins  were  struck  with  a  naked 
sword  on  one  side,  supporting  a  crown  on  its 
point,  and  suiTOunded  with  this  legend,  pro.  me, 
gi,  mereor,  in.  me.  furnished,  it  may  be  inferred, 
by  Buchanan.  The  work  is  exhibited  in  the  form 
of  a  dialogue  between  the  author  and  Thomas  the 
son  of  Sir  Richard  Maitland ;  and  that  his  opin- 
ions were  far  in  advance  of  his  time  appears  from 
the  fact  of  their  being  attacked,  among  others,  by 
his  learned  countrymen  Blackwood,  Winzet,  and 
Barclay,  while  the  work  itself  was  condemned,  in 
1584  by  the  Scottish  parliament,  in  1664  by  the 
privy  council  of  Scotland,  and  In  1683  by  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxfoi-d,  which  in  that  year  doomed 
Buchanan*s  political  works,  with  those  of  Milton, 
Languet,  and  other  dangerous  writers,  to  the 
flames.  In  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age  he 
composed  a  brief  sketch  of  his  own  life.  The  last 
twelve  years  of  his  existence  he  employed  in  writ- 
ing in  Latin  his  History  of  Scotland,  *  Rerum  Sco- 
ticamm  Historia.'  Of  this  work  the  histoiy  of 
the  period  in  which  he  himself  lived  occupies  the 
largest  portion,  and  is  by  far  the  most  interesting. 
More  accurate  infoimation  than  what  was  known 
in  Buchanan*s  time  now  enables  the  reader  to  dis- 
regard the  many  fictions  and  ti-aditions  disfiguring 
the  earlier  portion  of  our  annals,  which  he  has  m- 
troduced  into  his  narrative,  but  in  what  relates  to 
his  own  times  his  recital  of  facts  may  be  consid- 
ered in  general  correct.    He  survived  the  publica- 


tion of  this,  the  greatest  and  the  last  of  his  works, 
scarcely  a  month.  Broken  by  age  and  infirmities, 
he  had  retired  the  preceding  year  from  the  court 
at  Stirling  to  Edinburgh,  resigning  all  his  public 
appointments,  and  calmly  awaiting  death. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  some  of  his  friends 
having  gone  to  the  printing  office  to  look  at  his 
history,  found  the  impression  had  proceeded  as  far 
as  the  passage  relative  to  the  interment  of  David 
Rizzio ;  and  being  alarmed  at  the  boldness  with 
which  the  historian  had  there  expressed  himself, 
they  returned  to  Buchanan's  house,  whom  they 
found  in  bed,  and  stated  to  him  their  apprehen- 
sions that  it  would  give  oflence  to  the  king.  ^'  Tell 
me,  man,"  said  Buchanan,  '^  if  I  have  told  the 
truth."  "  Yes,  Sir,"  replied  his  nephew,  **  I  think 
so."  "  Then,"  rejoined  the  dying  historian,  "  I  will 
abide  his  fend,  and  all  his  kin's.  Pray  to  God  for 
me,  and  let  him  direct  all."  Buchanan  expired  a 
little  after  five  in  the  morning  on  Friday  the  20th 
September  1582,  in  the  77th  year  of  his  age.  He 
was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the  Greyfriars ;  and, . 
says  Dr.  Irving,  "his  ungrateful  country  never 
afforded  his  grave  the  common  tribute  of  a  monu- 
mental stone." 

It  was  unfortunate  for  Buchanan  that  his  coun- 
try's language  was  so  rude  and  unformed  at  tlie 
time  he  wrote,  for  no  writer,  we  apprehend,  can 
hope  to  live,  who  writes  in  any  other  but  his  own 
"  land's  langnage."  But  Buchanan,  if  for  nothing 
else,  cannot  fail  to  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance 
as  a  man  who  beai'ded  kings  when  it  was  some- 
thing to  beard  them ;  and  who,  though  but  a  poor 
scholar,  when  a  scholar  was  little  more  than  a 
despised  menial,  spoke  defiance  with  his  dying 
breath  against  the  whole  race  of  the  Stuart 
kings. 

Take  him  all  in  all,  Buchanan  was  certainly  a 
remai'kable  man.  Of  his  merits  as  a  poet,  an  his- 
torian, and  a  political  writer,  he  has  left  enduring 
memorials  in  his  works.  As  a  philologist  he  was 
consulted  and  his  opinion  respected  by  the  first 
scholars  of  Europe  in  an  age  which  was  fertile  in 
great  scholars.  But,  with  the  exception  of  certain 
jests,  many  of  them  not  of  the  most  refined  na- 
ture, little  or  nothing  is  known  by  most  of  the 
present  generation  of  the  man  or  of  his  writings. 
Even  his  own  countrymen,  if  inquired  of  respect- 


M       I 

I'       ' 

i'       i 


!! 


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BUCHANAN, 


471 


GEORGE. 


ing  him  or  them,  can  reply  only  by  vague  geuer- 
alities. 

His  death  took  place  in  his  house  in  a  close  in  the 
High  street,  Edinburgh,  now  removed,  which  stood 
on  the  site  of  the  west  side  of  Hunter  square,  called 
Rennedy^s  close.  Buchanan^s  residence  was  in  the 
first  court  on  the  left  hand  going  down,  the  close 
having  consisted  of  two  courts  connected  by  a 
narrow  passage,  the  first  house  in  the  turnpike 
and  above  a  tavern.  Finding,  when  on  his  death- 
bed, that  the  money  he  had  about  him  was  not 
suflScieut  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  funeral,  he 
sent  his  servant  to  divide  it  among  the  poor,  add- 
ing,— "  that  if  the  city  did  not  choose  to  bury 
him,  they  might  let  him  lie  where  he  was."  An 
edition  of  his  works  was  published  by  Ruddiman 
at  Edinburgh,  in  2  vols,  folio,  in  1715,  and  ano- 
ther by  Peter  Bui-mann,  Leyden,  in  two  vols.  4to, 
in  1725.  In  the  latter  the  editor,  besides  his  own 
critical  annotations,  incorporated  the  notes,  disser- 
tations, &c.  of  his  predecessor. 

The  subjoined  woodcut  is  from  Visotinti's  Il- 
lustrious Men.  It  represents  him  in  later  life, 
and  being  nearly  contemporary,  is  of  authority. 


Buchanan's  works  ai*e  * 

Rudimenta  Grammatices  Tbomse  Linacri.  ex  Anglico  Scr- 
moDe,  in  Latlnnm  yersa.  Lat.  apud  Ro.  Stephanam,  1550, 
8vo. 

FrancisoaniiB,  et  alia  Poemata.  Basil.  1664,  8ro.  1594, 
8vo.  1609,  8vo.  Lugd.  Bat.  1628,  24ino.  Amst.  24mo. 
Amst.  1G87,  12itio. 

Ane  Admonitione  direct  to  the  tren  Lordis  maintainaris  of 
the  King*8  Grace's  autlioritie.  Printed  at  Stirling,  1671,  by 
Lckprevik,  Timo;  London,  by  J.  I>«y,  1671,  12ino. 

De  Maria  Sootonim  Regina,  totaque  eioa  contra  Regem  con- 
inratione,  foedo  cnm  Bothnelio  adnlterio,  nefaria  in  maritam 
crudelitate  et  rabie  horrendo  inmiper  et  deternmo  eiosdem 
Parricidio  plane  Hiatoria.  No  place,  date,  or  pnnter^a  name, 
12mo. 

The  same  in  the  old  Scottish  dialect,  under  the  title,  Ane 
Detection  of  the  dninges  of  Marie  Qnene  of  Scottes,  toncli- 
and  the  murder  of  hir  Husband,  and  her  oonspiracie,  adnl- 
terie,  and  pretended  marriage  with  the  Erie  Bothwell ;  and 
ane  Defence  of  Uie  treu  Ix>rdi8  mainteiners  of  the  Kingis 
Graces,  action,  and  anthoritie.  Translated  out  of  the  La- 
tine,  qnhilke  was  written  by  G.  B.  No  place,  date,  or  print- 
er*B  name,  12mo.  Both  this  and  the  aliore  are  supposed  to 
have  been  printed  by  John  Day,  1677,  1661.  In  English, 
1689,  8vo. 

TragedisB  Sacne,  Jephthes  et  Baptistes.  Paris,  1564,  4to. 
Franooforti,  1678,  8to.  Geneva,  1693,  8vo.  Amsterdam, 
1660,  8vo. 

Euripidis  Alcestea,  ad  fidem  manuacriptorum  ac  vetemm 
editionum  emendavit  et  Annotationibus  inatruzit  Jaoobus 
Henricus  Monk,  A.M.  Collegii  S.  S.  Triiiitatis  Socius 
et  Grseoarum  Literarum  apud  Cantabrigienses  Professor 
Regius.  Accedit  Georgii  Buchanani  Versio  Metrica.  1816, 
8vo. 

Baptistes,  erroneously  said  to  have  been  translated  by  John 
Milton.  With  Notes,  by  Francis  Peck.  In  Peck's  Memoirs 
of  Milton,  p.  265. 

De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos  Dialogus.  Edin.  1679,  4to. 
1580,  4to.  1580,  small  8vo.  Francf.  1594,  8vo,  and  usu- 
ally appended  to  his  History. 

De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos,  or  Dialogue  concerning  the 
due  priviledge  of  Government  in  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland. 
Printed  in  the  year  1680, 12mo,  and  frequently  with  his  His- 
tory. 

Remm  Scoticarum  Historia,  apud  Alex.  Arbuthnetum. 
Edin.  1582,  folio.  Eadem,  ad  exemplar  Alex.  Arbnthneti. 
Genev.  ut  creditnr,  1683,  folio.  Franc  1594,  8vo.  Ultraj. 
1668,  8vo.  Traj.  ad  Rh.  1697,  8vo.  Remm  Scoticarum 
Historia,  ad  editionem  Fribamii  ezpressa.  Accessemnt  Auc- 
toris  Vita  ab  ipso  scripta,  et  dialogus  de  jure  regni  apud  Sco- 
tos; item  T.  Rnddimani  index.  Edin.  1727,  8vo.  Tlie  same 
in  English,  Lond.  1690,  folio,  by  Will.  Bond.  Und.  1722, 
2  vols.  8vo.  In  English  with  Cuts,  1733,  3  vols.  8vo.  Ap- 
pendix to  the  History  of  Scotland,  with  the  Translation  by 
Bond.  1722,  8  vols.  8vo.  The  14th,  16th,  16th,  17th,  18th, 
and  19th  books  of  his  history  translated  into  English,  and 
published  for  an  original,  under  the  title  of.  An  impartial  Ac- 
count of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland,  from  the  death  of  Kin tr 
James  V.  to  the  tragical  exit  of  the  Earl  of  Murray ;  by  an 
eminent  hand.     Lond.  1705, 8vo. 

Paraphrasis  Psalmorum  Davidis  Poetica,  multoquam  ante- 
hac  castigatior;  authore  Georgio  Buchanano,  Scoto  poetarum 
noetri  sseculi  facile  principe,  ejusdem  Buchanani  Tragoedia, 
que  inscribitur  Jephthes.  Antw.  1667,  8vo.  Lond.  1582, 
16mo.     Paraohrasis  Psalmorum    Dandis  Poetica.     Antw 


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1582f  12ino,  apud  Henr.  Stepbanuin,  1575.  Kadem  cum 
Theodori  fiezie  Psalmorum  Paraplirasi  6  regioiie  oppotiiui. 
Morgiis.  1681,  8vo.  Herbornse,  1604,  12mo.  Idem,  £dln. 
1621, 12mo.  Cum  ecphrasi  Alexandri  Julii  et  notis  variis. 
Edin.  1737, 12mo.     Amst  1650, 12mo.    Nnmerous  editions. 

!>e  Prosodia  Ubellus.    Ediu.  1600, 1689,  12mo. 

Poemata  qun  extant  Lagd.  Bat  apud  Elzev.  1624, 24mo. 
Cum  Argamentia  ongaHs  Psalmis  prsfixis,  opera  Natb.  Chy- 
tRci.    Lond.  1686, 12mo. 

Operam  Poetdcarom,  apud  Pet  Sanctandreanum.  1597, 8vo. 

Sphsera  Poetioe  descripta  com  Supplemento  Pinderi.  Herb. 
1587,  8vo. 

Commentarius  in  Vitam  ejus  ab  ipsomet  Scriptas.  Edin. 
1702,  8vo. 

Fratares  Fraterrimi ;  tbree  booka  of  Epigrams,  and  book  of 
Miscellanies.  In  English  verse,  by  Robert  Monteith.  Edin. 
1708,  8to. 

EpistolaB  ad  viros  sui  secoli  ciariasimos,  eoromqae  ad  iUmn. 
Ix)nd.  1711,  8vo. 

Opera  omnia  recognita  et  notis  illustrata,  curanto  Tboma 
Ruddimano.  Edin.  1715,  2  vols.  fol.  Lagd.  Bat  1725,  2 
vols.  4to. 

A  Censore  and  Examination  of  Mr.  Thomas  Ruddimairs 
Notes  on  Buchanan^s  Works.    Aberdeen,  1753,  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Buchanan,  by  D.ivid 
Irving,  LL.D.  Edin.  1817,  8vo;  originally  published  in  1807. 

BUCHANAN,  David,  a  learned  writer  of  tbe 
seventeenth  century.  Very  little  is  known  with 
certainty  respecting  him.  Sibbald  says  he  was 
descended  from  the  same  family  as  George  Bach- 
anan,  '^  David  Buchananus,  ex  eadem  familia  ori- 
andus,^'  but  on  this  Dr.  IiTing  remai'ks,  **  we 
cannot  discover  his  authority  for  such  a  state- 
ment." If,  however,  Buchanan  of  Auchmai-  is  to 
be  followed,  he  was  the  second  son  of  William 
Buchanan  of  Arnprior,  and  consequently  grand- 
son of  the  first  Buchanan  of  Arnprior,  **  King  of 
Kippen,"  who  was  second  cousin  of  the  gi'cat 
Buchanan.  Irving  further 'says  that  ^^a  student 
named  David  Buchanan  was  admitted  of  St.  Leo- 
nard's College  at  St.  Andrews  in  the  year  1610. 
Ills  identity  with  the  subject  of  this  memoir  may 
perhaps  be  infeiTed,  but  cannot  easily  be  proved." 
He  appeal's  to  have  resided  for  some  yeai*s  in 
Fi*ance,  where  he  published  his  'Historia  Hu- 
niansa  Animse,'  in  1636.  It  is  supposed  that  his 
'•  Histoiie  de  la  Conscience*  was  also  published  at 
Paris  in  1638;  the  place  of  publication,  however, 
is  not  mentioned  on  the  title-page.  On  his  rctui-n 
he  seems  to  have  taken  a  strong  interest  in  the 
events  springing  out  of  the  civil  wai-s.  It  was 
probably  with  a  view  to  iulluence  the  public  mind 
at  this  juncture  that,  in  1G44,  he  brought  out  an 
edition  of  the  History  of  the  Reformation  by  John 
Knox,  adapting  it  to  the  times.     In  this  edition 


he  omitted  the  celebrated  author's  preface,  and 
inserted  one  of  his  own.  Many  years  afterwards 
Mr.  Wodrow,  the  celebrated  historian,  meeting 
in  the  library  of  the  university  of  Glasgow  with  a 
manuscript  copy  of  the  original  work,  presented 
to  that  institution  by  Robeit  Fleming,  the  grand- 
son of  Ejiox,  was  suiprised,  on  collating  it  with 
the  work  issued  by  David  Buchanan,  to  find  vari- 
ous in tei-pola Lions  and  omissions,  of  which  he 
gives  an  account  in  a  letter  to  Bishop  Nicolson, 
published  in  tlie  appendix  to  his  Scottish  Histor- 
ical Library,  No.  vL  Amongst  other  observa- 
tions it  is  stated  that  in  a  note  on  the  margin  ^^Jides 
sit  penes  atdharem,^^  he  appcai-s  to  doubt  a  story 
which  is  inserted  on  his  own  authority.  To  this 
work  a  life  of  Knox  was  prefixed,  in  which  he 
took  as  great  liberties  as  with  the  history. 

In  1646  Buchanan  published  a  work  entitled 
^  Truth  its  ManifeiJt,*  i-clating  to  the  conduct  of  the 
Scottish  nation  during  the  civil  war,  which  ex- 
cited a  gi*eat  sensation.  In  Baillic's  Letters  his 
name  occurs  in  connection,  it  is  probable,  with 
this  publication,  and  the  following  extract  from 
them,  with  its  title  as  given  below,  will  perhaps 
best  explain  its  nature  as  well  as  the  circumstances 
which  called  it  forth.  Writing  to  his  friend  Wil- 
liam Spang,  then  in  Holland,  under  date  April  24, 
1646,  Baillie  says,  speaking  of  the  Scottish  Com- 
missionci's,  ^*  many  of  our  friends  thought  it  neces- 
sare  to  have  our  papers  printed:  among  others,  Mr 
Buchanan,  a  most  sincere  and  zealous  gentleman, 
who  hes  done  both  in  write  and  print,  here  and 
over  sea,  many  singular  services  to  this  parliament, 
to  his  nation,  and  the  whole  cause,  gott  a  copie  of 
our  late  papers  by  his  private  fnendshipc,  and 
hazarded  to  print  them  with  a  preface  of  his  ownc 
and  an  introduction,  both  very  harmless  and  con- 
sonant to  the  three  following  papers  which  we  had 
given  in  to  both  Houses.  In  two  dayes  or  tha'c, 
3  or  4000  of  these  papera  were  sold ;  they  gave 
immediately  to  the  people  so  great  satisfaction 
with  our  proceedings  as  was  marvellous  :  our 
small  friends  were  thereby  so  inflamed  that  they 
carried  fii*st  the  House  of  t^mmons  and  then  the 
House  of  Lords,  albeit  with  the  great  grief  and 
opposition  of  the  better  pairtie  in  botli  Houses,  to 
vote  these  papei'S  false  and  scandalous,  and  as  such 
to  be  burnt  by  the  hand  of  the  hangman ;  the 


i  L_ 
1, 


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BUCHANAN, 


473 


DUGALD. 


publisher,  Mr.  Buchanan,  to  be  ane  inceudaiie 
betwixt  the  two  nations,  and  a  declaration  to  be 
made  for  nndeceaving  of  the  people.  In  all  this 
thej^knew  none  of  us,  they  grounded  the  offence 
oil  the  preface  and  mtroduction,  not  on  our  papers 
thomselfe,  so  we  held  our  peace.  The  burning  of 
the  papers,  and  the  House  of  Commons  declara- 
tion, very  site  and  cunning,  hes  not  yet  done  much 
prejudice  to  us,  only  it  has  made  the  extraordinar 
malice  and  pnde  of  some  men  shyne  more  clearly. 
Mr.  Buchanan  is  gone  to  a  place  safe  enough ;  if 
ho  come  among  yow,  he  is  a  man  worthy  of  great 
honour  for  many  good  services." 

In  the  preface  to  the  *  Truth  its  Manifest,*  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  being  possessed  of  moderate 
means  and  as  being  content  with  little,  **  and  so," 
he  adds,  "  not  I)eiiig  ui*ged  by  a  near  nipping  neces- 
sity, or  imaginary  poverty,  he  dare  be  bold  to  speak 
homo  to  the  point,  and  tell  downright  the  truth 
of  things,  accoi-ding  to  his  best  information." 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  appears  to  have 
been  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Sir  Robert  Gordon 
of  Straloch,  and  was  his  coadjutor  in  his  contribu- 
tions to  Bleau's  Atlas.  [See  Gordon,  Sir  Ro- 
bert of  Straloch.]  According  to  Bishop  Nicolson, 
David  Buchanan  revised  a  great  deal  of  the  first 
projected  draughts  of  the  Thcatrum  Scoti»  in  that 
work,  ^*  but,"  adds  the  bishop,  *^  his  life  ended  be- 
fore the  troubles  [that  is,  before  the  Restoration]  ; 
and  he  ouly  finished  a  very  few  of  the  county  de- 
scriptions." [^Scottish  Historical  Library^  p.  17.] 
In  the  Bannatyne  Miscellany,  (vol.  ii.  p.  889,) 
may  be  found  a  Latin  description  of  the  city  of 
Edinburgh  ascribed  to  David  Buchanan ;  and  it  is 
supposed,  on  good  grounds,  that  he  furnished  to 
the  Theatrum  Scotise  the  passages  relative  to 
Stirlingshire.  According  to  the  same  authority 
(Bishop  Nicolson),  he  had  composed  *^  several 
short  discourses  concerning  the  antiquities  and 
chorography  of  Scotland,"  which,  in  bundles  of 
loose  papci*s,  Latin  and  English,  were  in  safe  cus 
tody  when  the  bishop  wrote,  and  are  sometimes 
quoted  by  him.  It  is  perhaps  of  these  that  Buch- 
anan of  Auchmar  speaks,  when  he  saj-s  that  he 
wi-ote  a  large  Etymologicon  of  all  the  shires,  cities, 
rivers,  and  mountains  in  Scotland,  which  are 
printed,  and  from  which  Sir  Robert  Sibbald  quotes 
some  passages  in  his  History  of  the  shires  of  Stir- 


ling and  Fife,  and  Nicolson  seems  to  refer  to  him, 
when  he  mentions  a  passage  of  David  Buchanan's 
writings  as  being  "  m  noii$  MSS,  p.  D.  R.  iS." 

The  MS.  of  a  work  entitled  'De  Scriptoribus 
Scotis,'  preserved  in  the  Advocates'  Library  and 
in  the  university  library  at  Edinburgh,  is  attri- 
buted to  David  Buchanan,  and  was  for  the  first 
time  printed  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  under  the 
superintendence  of  Dr.  Irving,  in  1837,  in  one 
volume  quarto.  Sir  Robert  Sibbald  states  in  re- 
fei*ence  to  his  *  Historia  Literaria,'  "  The  greatest 
assistance  I  had  is  from  some  manuscripts  of  Mr. 
David  Buchanan,  who  hath  written  upon  our 
learned  men  in  ane  excellent  style  of  Latin." 
IMemoirs  of  the  College  of  Physicians^  p.  27.] 

Buchanan  died  in  August  1652.  The  last  tes- 
tament of  a  David  Buchanan,  supposed  to  be  his, 
is  inserted  in  the  appendix  to  the  'De  Scriptori- 
bus Scotis,*  printed  for  the  Bannatyne  Club. 

The  separate  works  attributed  to  David  Buch- 
anan are : 

Historia  Hnmann  AnimK,  auctore  Davlde  Buchanano  Soo« 
to,  Paris,  1636,  8vo,  a  work  of  about  700  pages.  A  sobse- 
quent  edition  has  the  words,  **  Impeusis  Authoris.  Vcmin- 
dantur  apad  Melcm  Mondiere,"  1638,  8vo. 

L*Histou«  de  la  Conscience,  par  David  Buchanan.  Fut/  le 
tnal,  Fay  U  bien,    1638,  12mo. 

Truth  its  Manifest ;  or  a  short  and  true  Relation  of  divers 
main  Passages  of  things  ( in  some  whereof  the  Scots  are  par- 
ticularly concerned)  from  the  very  first  beginning  of  these 
unhappy  Troubles  to  this  day.  Published  by  authority. 
London,  1645,  8vo.  This  work,  from  the  way  in  which  he 
spoke  of  his  countrymen,  roused  the  ire  of  the  English,  and 
a  little  work  appeared  in  answer,  styled  '  Manifest  Truths ; 
or  an  Inversion  of  Truths  Manifest ;  containing  a  Narration 
of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Scottish  Anny,  and  a  Vindication 
of  the  Parliament  and  Kingdome  of  England  firom  the  false 
and  injurious  Aspersions  cast  on  them  by  the  author  of  the 
said  Manifest :  Published  by  Authoritie.'    Lond.  1616,  4to. 

Life  of  Knox  prefixed  to  the  interpolsted  edition  of  the  iiis- 
tory  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  edited  by  David  Buch- 
anan, and  printed  at  liOudon  1644,  folio,  and  Edin.  1645, 4to. 

De  Scriptoribus  Scotis,  Libri  Duo.  Edinb.  Printed  for  the 
first  tune  for  the  Bannatyne  Club,  1837,  4to. 

Buchanan  of  Auchmar  mentions  a  large  Natural  History 
which  he  had  begun,  but  which  was  not  completed  at  his 
death,  and  therefore  never  printed ;  and  Watt,  in  his  Biblio- 
theca  Britannica  inserts  among  his  works  one  entitled  A  Short 
View  of  the  present  condition  of  Scotland,  London,  1645,  4to. 
Watt's  list,  however,  b  not  otherwise  correct 

BUCHANAN,  Dugald,  an  eminent  Gaelic 
poet,  was  born  in  the  year  1716,  in  the  paiish  of 
Balquldder,  Perthshire.  His  father  was  a  small 
faimer  who  also  rented  a  mill,  and  who  appears 
to  have  given  him  a  better  education  than  wa^ 


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commonly  taught  ia  country  schools.  Having 
been  sent,  at  the  early  age  of  twelve,  to  teach  in 
a  family,  he  was  tainted  by  the  bad  morals  of  his 
associates,  and  fell  into  vice,  of  which  he  after- 
wards deeply  repented.  He  was  afterwards  ap- 
pi*enticed  to  a  house-carpenter  in  Eippen,  whence 
he  removed  to  Dumbarton.  Having  afterwards 
become  a  sincere  Christian,  he  was  appointed 
schoolmaster  and  catechist  at  Kinloch-Rannoch, 
on  the  establishment  of  the  Society  for  Propagat- 
ing Chiistian  Knowledge,  where  he  composed 
those  hymns  which  will  make  his  name  known 
while  the  language  in  which  they  are  written 
endures.  His  mental  powers  were  of  a  high 
order,  and  during  many  yeai-s  he  laboured,  with 
extraordinaiy  zeal  and  devotedness,  in  enlight- 
ening and  instructing  the  inhabitants  of  that 
remote  district.  At  that  period  the  extensive 
tract  of  country  which  surrounds  Loch-Rannoch 
was  under  the  charge  of  but  one  minister,  who, 
in  consequence  of  the  wide  circuits  he  was  ob- 
liged to  make,  could  only  perform  divine  service 
at  the  end  of  the  loch,  where  Buchanan  was  sta- 
tioned, once  in  three  weeks.  On  those  Sabbath 
days,  however,  that  the  clergyman  was  absent, 
Buchanan  used  to  assemble  the  people  together, 
and  after  prayer  and  an  exhortation,  he  read  to 
them  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures.  He  is  said  to 
have  rendered  essential  service  to  the  Rev.  James 
Stewart  of  Killin,  in  translating  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  the  Gaelic  language  ;  and  to  have  ac- 
companied him  to  Edinburgh  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  in  correcting  the  pi-ess.  While  there,  he 
availed  himself  of  the  opportnnity  to  attend  the 
university,  where  he  heard  lectures  on  anatomy, 
and  the  various  departments  of  natural  philoso- 
phy. Some  gentlemen,  struck  by  his  talents, 
endeavoured,  unknown  to  him,  to  procure  him  a 
licence  to  preach  the  gospel ;  but  without  success. 
He  published  his  hymns  about  the  year  1767. 
Of  these  upwards  of  fifteen  editions  have  been 
printed.  He  died  June  2,  1768,  of  fever,  in  the 
fifty-second  year  of  his  age.  **  During  his  illness 
he  was  frequently  delirious,  and  in  that  state 
would  sing  of  the  *Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne.*  In  his  lucid  intervals  be  expressed  his 
full  hope  in  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  and  his 
desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ.    The  people 


of  Rannoch  wished  his  remains  to  be  buried  among 
them,  but  his  relations  carried  the  body  away  to 
their  own  country,  and  he  was  buried  in  the  bury- 
ing-ground  of  the  Buchanans  at  Little  Lenny, 
near  Callander.  In  his  person  he  was  considera- 
bly above  the  middle  size,  and  rather  of  a  dark 
complexion,  but  upon  a  close  inspection  his  coun- 
tenance beamed  affection  and  benevolence.  Among 
his  intimate  acquaintance  he  was  affable,  free, 
jocular  and  social,  and  possessed  much  Interesting 
information  and  innocent  anecdotes,  in  consequence 
of  which  his  company  was  much  sought  after  by 
all  the  families  in  the  country.  In  his  dress  he 
was  plain  and  simple,  wearing  a  blue  bonnet  and 
a  black  di*ess,*over  which  he  generally  wore  a  blue 
great-coat.  After  his  death  his  widow  removed 
to  Ardoch,  where  she  remained  till  the  time  of  her 
death.  He  left  two  sons  and  two  daughtei-s ;  one 
of  the  latter  was  alive  in  1836." 

" '  The  D(ty  of  Judgmenty^  *  says  the  editor  of 
the  Beauties  of  Gaelic  Poetry,  ^^  displays  great 
force  of  imagiuation,  and  fixes  the  mind  on  the 
sublime  and  awful  scenes  of  a  world  brought  to 
an  end,  amidst  the  wreck  of  elements,  and  the 
assemblage  of  the  whole  human  race  to  judgment 

"  *  The  Scuir  is  full  of  good  poetiy,  with  appro- 
priate reflections  on  the  vanity  of  mortal  enjoy- 
ments. It  shows  the  fierce  tyrant  and  the  lowly 
slave — the  hauglity  chief  and  the  humble  tenant — 
the  mighty  warrior  and  the  blooming  vii-gin — the 
mercenary  judge  and  the  grasping  miser — all  re- 
duced to  one  level,  the  grave;  to  feed  the  lowly 
worm  and  the  crawling  beetle. 

^*  ^  The  Dream*  contains  useful  lessons  on  the 
vanity  of  human  pui-suits,  and  the  unsatisfactory 
rewai'ds  of  ambition.  The  following  lines  onglit 
to  be  remembered  by  every  one  who  envies  great- 


*' '  Cha  'n  *eil  neach  o  thrioblaid  saor, 
A'  measg  a*  chinne-daonn*  air  fad 
*S  CO  lionmbor  osna  aig  an  righ, 
Is  afg  a  neach  is  isle  staid.' 

"  *  The  Winter^  begins  with  a  vivid  description 
of  the  effects  of  that  season,  and  the  preparation  of 
men  and  animals  to  provide  food  and  shelter. 
The  poet  then  draws  a  comparison  between  the 
winter  and  tne  decline  of  human  life,  wanting  the 


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old  mau  to  prepare  for  hia  future  state,  as  the  hus- 
bandman prepai-es  food  and  fuel  for  winter — to 
imitate  the  pnident  foresight  of  the  ant  and  the 
bee,  and  not  the  idle  and  improvident  fly,  dancing 
joyously  in  the  sunbeams  till  he  perishes  by  the 
winter's  frost.  This  excellent  poem  is  deservedly 
admired  as  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  didactic 
poetry  in  the  Graelic  language.''  —  Mackenzie's 
Beautiee  of  Gaelic  Poetry,  1841. 

BUCHANAN,  Claudius,  D.D.,  a  divine  dis- 
tinguished by  his  devotion  to  the  diffusion  of 
learning  and  Christianity  in  India,  was  the  son  of 
Alexander  Buchanan,  a  man  of  respectable  learn- 
ing and  of  excellent  Character,  who  was  engaged  in 
various  parts  of  Scotland  as  a  teacher,  and  was 
shortly  before  his  death  appointed  rector  of  the 
grammar  school  of  Falkirk.  He  was  bom  at 
Cambuslang,  in  Lanarkshire,  March  12,  1766. 
His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Claudius 
Somers,  who  had  been  one  of  the  elders  of  the 
church  at  Cambuslang  about  the  period  of  the  ex- 
traordinary occurrences  which  took  place  in  that 
parish  in  1742,  in  consequence  of  the  preaching  of 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Whitefield,  and  retained  ever 
afterwards  a  deep  and  lasting  sense  of  real  reli- 
gion. In  1773  young  Buchanan  entered  the 
grammar  school  at  Inverary  in  Argyleshire,  of 
which  his  father  was  then  master,  where  he  re- 
mained till  1779,  having  made  considerable  profi- 
ciency in  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.  He 
spent  the  vacation  of  that  year  with  a  schoolfel- 
low, John  Campbell,  at  his  father's  estate  of 
Airds  near  the  island  of  Mull,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  (1780),  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen,  he 
became,  according  to  the  practice  still  observed 
among  the  gentry  of  these  parts,  where  parish 
schools  are  distant  and  otherwise  ill-suited,  tutor 
in  the  elementary  parts  of  education  to  the  two 
sons  of  Campbell  of  Dunstaffuage.  Being  by  his 
parents  intended  for  the  ministry  of  the  Chm*ch  of 
Scotland,  in  1782  he  left  the  family  of  Mr.  Camp- 
bell and  went  to  the  university  of  Glasgow,  where 
he  remained  for  two  sessions.  In  1784,  from  what 
cause  does  not  appear,  but  probably  the  want  of 
pecuniary  resources,  he  left  Glasgow,  and  resumed 
private  teaching  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Campbell  of 
Knockmelly  in  Islay,  and  afterwards  at  Carradell 
in  Kintyre.    In  1786  he  attended  with  credit  one 


session  in  the  logic  class,  and  returned  to  Carro- 
dell ;  but  his  studies  were  put  a  stop  to,  by  a  ro* 
mantic  idea  which  he  sometime  before  had  formed 
of  making  a  pedestrian  tour  of  Europe  in  imitation 
of  Oliver  Goldsmith.  His  chief  view  in  this  pro- 
ject was  to  see  the  world,  but  with  an  idea  of 
turning  his  journey  to  literary  account ;  it  might 
have  remained  a  project,  however,  when  an  impru- 
dent attachment  to  a  young  lady  his  superior  la 
burth  and  fortune,  a  visitor  to  the  family  in  Car- 
radell where  he  was  tutor,  hastened  the  execu- 
tion of  the  long-formed  design.  Their  affection 
wafl  mutual,  but  the  disparity  of  their  rank  and 
station  seemed  to  form  an  insuperable  barrier  to 
their  union.  Pretending,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
consent  of  his  parents,  that  he  had  been  invited 
by  an  English  gentleman  to  accompany  his  son 
npon  a  tour  to  the  continent,  he  proceeded  to  Ed- 
inburgh as  if  to  meet  the  party  who  had  engaged 
him,  and  in  August  1787,  putting  on  coarse  cIothe9 
becoming  his  apparent  calling,  that  of  an  itinerant 
musician,  he  left  that  city  with  the  intention  of 
travelling  to  London  on  foot,  and  thence  to^  the 
continent,  carrying  his  violin,  on  which  he  could 
then  play  tolerably  well,  under  his  arm.  He 
called  at  gentlemen's  houses  and  farm-houses, 
playing  reels,  and  he  sometimes  received  five  shil- 
lings, sometimes  half-a-crown,  and  sometimes  no- 
thing but  his  dinner  and  lodging.  On  reaching 
Newcastle,  tired  with  his  journey  and  with  living 
on  charity,  he  resolved  to  proceed  by  sea,  and  ac- 
cordingly embarking  at  North  Shields,  he  aiTived 
in  London  on  the  2d  of  September.  Reflection, 
whetted  by  the  sufferings  and  danger  of  a  veiy 
stormy  voyage,  now  induced  him  to  relinquish  the 
idea  of  going  to  the  continent,  yet  he  continued 
the  delusion  as  respects  his  parents  by  addressing 
all  his  letters  to  his  friends  at  home  from  places 
abroad. 

After  suffering  much  distress,  being  obliged  to 
sell  and  pawn  his  clothes  and  books,  and  often 
wanting  a  dinner,  he  one  day  observed  an  adver- 
tisement in  a  newspaper  for  a  clerk  to  an  attor- 
ney, and  offered  himself,  when  he  was  accepted. 
He  subsequently  obtained  a  better  situation  with 
another  gentleman  in  the  law,  and  was  next  em- 
ployed by  a  solicitor  at  a  salary  not  exceeding 
forty  pounds  per  annum.    At  this  period  he  led 


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CLAUDIUS. 


a  thoughtless  and  somewhat  dissipated  life,  but 
about  three  years  after  he  had  gone  to  London, 
he  began  to  have  serious  impressions,  and  soon 
became  decidedly  religious.  Having  written  an 
anonymous  letter,  describing  his  state  of  mind,  to 
the  Rev.  John  Newton,  minister  of  St.  Mary's 
Woolnoth,  London,  the  friend  of  the  poet  Cowper, 
that  eminent  clergyman  intimated  from  the  pulpit 
his  wish  that  the  writer  should  call  upon  him. 
An  early  interview  accordingly  took  place  between 
them,  and  the  result  was  that  Mr.  Newton  intro- 
duced him  to  a  benevolent  gentleman  of  fortune, 
Henry  Thornton,  Esq.,  who,  in  1791,  generously 
scut  him  at  his  expense  to  Queen's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  distinguished  himself  in  mathe- 
matics, and  received  a  testimonial  from  his  college, 
but  declined  to  take  public  honours.  He  after- 
wards repaid  Mr.  Thornton  four  hundred  pounds 
for  the  four  years  during  which  he  had  maintained 
him  at  college.  He  also  placed  at  Mr.  Thornton's 
disposal  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  support  a 
young  man  of  religious  character  and  good  ability 
in  iJoor  circumstances,  at  the  same  university. 

In  September  1795,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  ordained 
deacon  in  the  Church  of  England,  by  Dr.  Beilby 
Porteous,  then  bishop  of  London,  and  admitted 
curate  to  his  friend  Mr.  Newton.  On  30th  March 
1796,  by  the  influence  of  Mr.  Charles  Grant  (fa- 
ther of  the  late  Lord  Glenelg),  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  chaplains  to  the  Honourable  East  India 
Company,  and  having  received  priest's  orders  from 
the  bishop  of  Loudon,  after  visiting  his  friends  in 
Scotland,  he  sailed  from  Portsmouth  for  Bengal, 
August  11th  of  that  year. 

Soon  after  his  airival,  10th  March  1797,  at  Cal- 
cutta, he  was  appointed  chaplain  at  Barrackpore, 
a  military  station  about  sixteen  miles  above  that 
city,  where,  however,  there  was  no  place  for  pub- 
lic worehip,  nor  was  divine  service  ever  required 
by  the  staff  to  which  he  was  attached,  a  circum- 
stance which  caused  him  much  concern  at  that 
period.  On  the  8d  April  1799  Mr.  Buchanan 
maiTied  Mary,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Richai-d 
AVhish,  then  rector  of  Northwold  in  Norfolk,  who 
with  her  uncle  and  aunt  and  her  eldest  sister  had 
shortly  before  gone  out  to  India.  Mr.  Buchanan 
and  his  friends  had  been  much  disappointed  that 
after  his  an-ival  in  India  no  opportunity  was  for 


some  time  given  to  him  to  promote  the  great  ob- 
ject of  his  thoughts,  the  advancement  of  Christian* 
ity,  but  he  bore  his  seclusion  with  patience,  al- 
though forbidden  by  the  rules  of  the  Company  to 
preach  to  the  Hindoos.  He  soon,  however,  had 
a  way  opened  up  to  him  of  usefulness  beyond  his 
highest  expectations.  Towards  the  close  of  1799 
he  was  Appointed  by  the  earl  of  Momington  (after- 
wards Marquis  Wellesley),  third  chaplain  to  the 
Presidency  at  Calcutta,  and  he  immediately  re- 
moved to  that  city  and  entered  on  his  new  duties. 
In  the  succeeding  February  he  preached  a  sermon 
at  the  new  church  of  Calcutta  before  his  lordship 
and  the  principal  officers  of  the  government,  on 
the  day  appointed  for  a  general  thanksgiving  for 
the  signal  successes  then  recently  obtained.  For 
this  sermon  Mr.  Buchanan  rcceived  the  thanks  of 
the  governor-general  in  council,  with  a  direaiou 
that  it  should  be  printed  and  circulated. 

In  1800,  on  the  institution  of  the  college  of  Fort 
William  at  Calcutta,  founded  by  Lord  Wellesley, 
and  a  sketch  of  the  constitution  of  which  was,  by 
his  lordship's  desu-e,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Buchanan, 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  and  sub- 
sequent conduct  of  that  establishment,  he  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Eng- 
lish classics,  and  vice-provost  of  the  college.  Al- 
ready tolerably  versed  in  the  oriental  languages, 
he  conceived  he  should  best  promote  the  honour 
of  God,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  by  enabling 
every  Hindoo  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  his  own 
tongue ;  and  in  order  to  carry  out  these  views  had 
to  overcome  considerable  opposition.  He  eventu- 
ally succeeded  in  issuing  the  first  versions  of  the 
gospels  in  Pei-sian  and  Hindostnuee,  which  were 
printed  in  India,  as  well  as  other  translations  of 
the  Scriptures.  Although  issued  fi*om  the  college 
of  Fort  William,  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  ex- 
pense of  these  translations  was  borne  by  the  pub- 
lic, the  rcst  being  at  the  private  cost  of  various 
members  of  that  institution,  among  whom  Mr. 
Buchanan  and  the  excellent  provost  held  the  first 
i*ank.  He  took  a  deep  interest  ui  the  moral  and 
intellectual  improvement  of  the  natives  of  India, 
and  with  the  view  of  interesting  the  learned  cor- 
porations of  Britain  in  this  measure,  in  October 
1803  he  despatched  lettei-s  to  the  heads  of  all  the 
difiei-ent  univei'sitics  in  Britain,  and  to  the  head- 


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mastei-a  of  Eton,  Westminster,  Winchester,  and 
the  Charter-house  schools,  with  the  following  pi-o- 
posals,  viz. :  '  For  the  most  approved  essay  in 
English  prose  on  the  best  means  of  extending  the 
blessings  of  civilization  and  tme  religion  among 
the  sixty  millions,  inhabitants  of  Hindostan,  sub- 
ject to  British  authority,'  in  each  university  one 
hundred  pounds.    For  the  best  Euglis^h  poem  on 

*  the  revival  of  letters  in  the  East,'  sixty  pounds. 
For  the  best  Latin  ode  or  poem  on  *  Collegium 
Bengalense,'  twonty-five  pounds;  and  the  same 
sum  for  the  best  Greek  ode  on  Ttptcdu  ^ag.  The 
sum  of  fifty  pounds  each  for  the  best  Latin  and 
Greek  poems  was  olTered  to  the  successful  candi- 
date at  each  of  the  public  schools.  No  less  a  sum 
than  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  was  thus 
appropriated  by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  this  benevolent 
and  patriotic  purpose.  These  proposals  were  ac- 
cepted in  the  summer  of  1804,  by  the  several 
bodies  to  which  they  were  offered,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  university  of  Oxfoixl,  by  which  they 
were  declined  on  the  ground  of  certain  objections 
in  point  of  form.  Of  the  prize  compositions  the 
greater  number  were  afkerwai-ds  published,  as  well 
fl3  a  few  of  those  which  had  been  unsuccessful. 
One  of  these  prize  productions  was  a  poem  on  *the 
restoration  of  learning  in  the  East,'  by  Mr.  Charles 
(jrant,  then  fellow  of  Magdalene  College,  Cam- 
bridge, afterwards  Ix>rd  Glenelg.  In  1805  Mr. 
Buchanan  transmitted  to  England  a  work  called 

*  An  Account  of  the  College  of  PVt  William,'  as 
also  his  interesting  *  Memoir  of  the  Expediency  of 
an  Ecclesiastical  Establishment  for  British  India,' 
a  scheme  which  has  since  been  carried  into  effect 
by  the  appointment  of  bishops  in  India;  both  of 
which  were  published.  The  same  year  his  name 
appears  in  the  list  of  members  of  the  Asiatic  So- 
ciety. 

On  the  4th  of  June  1805,  Mr.  Buchanan  ad- 
dressed proposals  of  second  prizes,  of  five  hundred 
pounds  each,  to  the  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,'  for  compositions  in  English  prose  on 
the  following  subjects,  viz. :  The  probable  design  of 
Divine  Providence  in  subjecting  so  large  a  portion  of 
India  to  the  British  dominion ;  the  duty,  the  means, 
nnd  the  consequences  of  translating  the  Scriptures 
into  the  Oriental  tongues,  and  of  promoting  Chris- 
tian knowledge  in  Asia ;  and,  A  brief  historic  view 


of  the  progress  of  the  gospel  in  different  nations 
since  its  first  promulgation.  He  afterwards  ad- 
dressed a  letter  of  considerable  length  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbuiy,  upon  the  promotion  of 
Christian  knowledge  in  India,  chiefly  with  refer- 
ence to  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  and  the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  oriental  lan- 
guages. He  was  soon  after  appointed  provost  of 
the  college  of  Fort  William,  under  a  new  regulation 
which  admitted  only  of  one  superintending  officer; 
this  appointment,  however,  he  declined  in  favour  of 
his  colleague,  the  Rev.  David  Brown,  the  former 
provost.  The  same  year  (1805)  the  university  of 
Glasgow  conferred  upon  him  the  degroe  of  D,D. 
The  university  of  Cambridge  some  years  after  con- 
ferred on  him  the  same  honour.  So  great  was  his 
anxiety  on  the  subject  of  oriental  translations  of 
the  holy  Scriptui-es,  that  about  this  time  he  trans- 
mitted proposals  to  the  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  that  two  sermons  should  be  preached 
before  each  of  these  learned  bodies  on  that  sub- 
ject, by  such  persons  as  they  should  appoint ;  ac- 
companied with  a  request  that  each  of  the  four 
preachers  would  accept  the  sum  of  thirty  guineas, 
on  condition  of  the  delivery  to  his  agents  of  a 
printed  copy  of  the  sennon  for  the  college  of  Fort 
William.  These  offers  were  in  each  university 
accepted.  He  sent  a  similar  proposal,  with  an 
offer  of  fifty  pounds  for  the  sermon,  to  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
which  was  at  first  accepted,  but  afterwards  re- 
spectfully declined  as  being  considered  irregular. 

In  May  1806  Mr.  Buchanan  set  out  on  a  jour- 
ney to  the  coast  of  Malabar,  and  after  visiting  the 
temple  of  Juggernaut,  he  passed  a  week  with  the 
native  Christians  at  Tanjore,  and  afterwards  visited 
the  Rajah  of  Travancore.  From  the  sea-coast  he 
proceeded  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  to  visit 
the  ancient  Syrian  Christians  who  inhabit  the  hills 
at  the  bottom  of  the  great  mountains  of  Malayala. 
An  account  of  his  journey  was  afterwards  printed 
in  his  Christian  Researches.  In  the  course  of  this 
jouniey  he  was  successful  in  obtaining  Syriac,  He- 
brew, and  Ethiopic  manuscripts  of  great  rarity  and 
value,  which  he  afterwards  presented  to  the  univer- 
sity of  Cambridge.  Previous  to  his  return  to  Cal- 
cutta he  made  an*angements  for  the  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  into  the  native  language  of  Malabar 


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Thus  far  he  had  succeeded  in  his  design,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  extensive  distnbntion 
of  the  holy  Scriptnres  in  their  own  languages 
among  the  native  tribes  of  the  East  which,  in  no 
long  time  after,  "was  to  be  vigorously  prosecuted, 
under  the  auspices  even  of  the  governments  in  In- 
dia, who,  owing  to  a  change  of  policy,  were  at 
that  time,  from  motives  of  shortsighted  political 
expediency,  opposed  altogether  to  the  enlighten- 
ment and  christianization  of  the  Hindoo.  On  his 
i*eturn  to  Calcutta  he  found  that  the  college  of 
Fort  William,  which,  dming  seven  years  of  its 
existence,  had  been  productive  of  benefit  so  im- 
portant to  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company, 
to  oriental  learning,  and  to  religion,  had  been  all 
but  entirely  abolished,  and  his  office  of  vice-pro- 
vost, as  well  as  that  of  provost,  suppressed,  and 
his  labours  and  influence  gi'eatly  diminished.  A 
sketch  of  his  proceedings  on  the  coast  of  Malabai*, 
which,  under  the  title  of  *  Literaiy  Intelligence,' 
he  had  drawn  up,  he  was  obliged  to  print  as  a 
pamphlet,  for  the  governments  of  Calcutta  and 
Madras  refused  to  authorize  its  appearance  in 
the  newspapers  of  these  presidencies,  although  it 
seems  to  have  been  admitted  into  the  Bombay 
Gazette.  Even  the  advertisement  of  a  volume  of 
sermons  which,  after  his  return  to  Calcutta,  he  had 
preached  on  the  prophecies,  having  reference  to 
the  spread  of  the  gospel  among  the  Hindoos,  and 
which  his  congregation  wished  to  have  in  print, 
was  not  only,  by  authority,  refused  insertion  in 
the  goveraroent  Gazette,  the  press  being  at  that 
period  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  governor, 
but  he  was  required,  in  a  letter  fi-om  .the  chief 
secretary,  to  transmit  his  manuscripts  for  the  in- 
spection of  the  government.  It  appears  from  his 
lettera  that  this  hostility  arose  in  part  ft'om  the 
steady  adherence  of  Dr.  Buchanan  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  administration  of  the  marquis  of  Wel- 
le^ley,  and  in  part  from  dislike  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  to  his  evangelical  objects  and  plans. 
This  prohibition  led  to  a  well-timed  and  excel- 
lent memorial  from  him,  on  the  subject  of  the  hos- 
tility to  religion  and  its  progress  in  India  mani- 
fested by  the  government,  which  will  be  afterwards 
noticed. 

While  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Juggernaut,  as 
Gibbon  first  derived  the  idea  of  his  History  of  the 


Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  from  vis 
iting  the  Capitol  at  Rome,  Dr.  Buchanan  con- 
ceived the  design  9f  the  foundation  of  some  great 
literary  Institution,  which  might,  by  means  of 
books,  extend  the  knowledge  of  revealed  religion 
and  aid  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  but 
have  no  connection  with  missions,  and  he  after- 
wards prepared  and  even  printed,  though  by  his 
friends  in  England  it  was  deemed,  in  the  then  un- 
favourable disposition  of  the  Court  of  Directors, 
not  expedient  to  publish,  an  elaborate  plan  of  such 
an  establishment  under  the  title  of  *  The  Christian 
Institution  in  the  East ;  or  the  College  for  trans- 
lating the  Holy  Scriptures  into  the  Oriental 
Tongues.'  The  design  was  but  partially  carrie<i 
into  effect,  and  though  its  failure  is  to  be  regret- 
ted, it  reflects  great  honour  both  on  the  heart  and 
head  of  its  originator,  whose  single  purpose,  dur- 
ing all  his  labours  in  the  East,  was  the  evangeli- 
zation of  the  inhabitants  of  India. 

In  December  1807  he  left  Calcutta,  on  a  second 
visit  to  the  coast  of  Malabar,  on  his  way  to  Eu- 
rope. About  the  middle  of  the  following  August 
he  arrived  in  England,  without  any  thoughts  of 
again  returning  to  India.  In  September  he  has- 
tened to  Scotland  to  visit  his  aged  mother,  and 
during  his  stay  he  preached  in  the  Episcopal  cha- 
pel at  Glasgow.  He  soon  aft;er  went  to  Bristol, 
where,  on  the  26th  February  1809,  he  preached  a 
sermon  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  afterwards  published,  entitled  *  The  Star 
in  the  East.'  This  was  the  first  of  that  series  of 
able  and  well-directed  efforts  by  which,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  resolution  he  had  formed  in  India,  he 
endeavoured  to  cherish  and  extend  the  interest  he 
had  already  excited  for  the  promotion  of  Christi- 
anity in  the  East.  In  April  1809  he  spent  some  * 
days  at  Oxford,  collating  oriental  manuscript  ver- 
sions of  the  Bible.  He  afterwards  visited  the 
duke  of  Marlborough's  library  at  Blenheim,  which 
is  also  rich  in  oriental  manuscripts.  He  next  pro- 
ceeded to  the  university  of  Cambridge,  where  he 
deposited  the  valuable  biblical  manusci'ipts,  twen- 
ty-five in  number,  which  had  been  collected  by 
himself  in  India.  It  was  at  this  time  that  thi^ 
university  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor 
in  divinity. 

Dr.  Buchanan's  first  wife  had  died  at  sea,  op 


I    I 


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her  return  fix)in  England,  whither  she  had  gone 
on  account  of  her  health,  on  the  18tli  June  1805, 
lenving  him  two  daughters;  and  in  Febmary  1810, 
he  maiTied,  a  second  time,  a  daughter  ^  Henry 
Thompson,  Esq.  of  Kirby  Hall^  near  Borough - 
bridge,  in  Yorkshire.  This  lady  died  in  childbirtli 
in  March  1813.  She  was  the  mother  of  two  sons, 
who  both  died  soon  after  their  birth.  After  preach- 
ing for  some  time  in  Welbeck  chapel,  London, 
Dr.  Buchanan  retired  to  Kirby  HaU,  the  seat  of 
Ills  father-in-law,  where  for  a  short  period  he  took 
np  his  residence.  The  latter  part  of  the  year  1810 
was  occupied  in  preparing  for  the  press  his  *  Uni- 
versity Sermons,'  and  his  great  work,  the  *  Chris- 
tian Researches  in  Asia.'  The  sale  of  the  latter 
work  was  extraordinary,  four  editions  being  taken 
off  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  The  labour, 
however,  which  he  had  undergone  in  preparmg 
this  remarkable  volume  for  the  press,  led  to  seri- 
oos  consequences  as  respects  his  health.  In  the 
spring  of  1811,  he  had  been  visited  with  a  slight 
paralytic  stroke  and  temporary  loss  of  speech,  and 
on  account  of  his  state  of  health,  he  proceeded  on 
a  tour  to  Scotland,  and  subsequently  visited  Ire- 
(and  and  Wales.  At  this  time  he  foimed  the  plan 
Df  a  journey  to  Palestine,  but  a  second  stroke  in 
the  following  December,  which  left  him  in  a  state 
of  great  nervous  debiUty,  put  an  end  to  the  pro- 
ject. 

In  April  1813  the  affairs  of  India  came  before 
parliament.  As  already  stated,  previous  to  quit- 
ting Bengal  in  1807,  Dr.  Buchanan  had  addressed 
a  memorial  to  Lord  Minto,  then  governor-general, 
on  the  subject  of  the  hostility  which  had  been 
shown,  since  the  period  of  the  marquis  of  Wel- 
lesley's  administration,  to  tlie  progi-ess  of  the  gos- 
pel in  India.  To  this  memorial  Lord  Minto  did 
not  deign  a  reply,  but  transmitted  it  to  the  Court 
of  Directors  in  England,  accompanied  by  a  com- 
mentary of  his  own,  of  which  Dr.  Buchanan  re- 
mained perfectly  ignorant  till  the  subject  was 
brought  before  parliament,  when,  with  many  other 
documents  relative  to  Christianity  in  India,  it 
was  laid  on  the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
He  had  himself,  however,  sent  a  copy  of  it  at  the 
time,  to  the  Court  of  Directors,  with  a  letter  in 
which  he  expressed  a  hope  that  some  general 
principles  on  the  comparative  importance  of  reli- 


gion m  politteal  relations  in  India,  might  be  esta- 
bMied  at  home,  and  transmitted  to  our  eastern 
governments  for  their  guidance.  This  letter  was 
not  published  with  the  memorial  to  the  governor 
of  Bengal,  nor  does  it  seem  to  have  been  noticed 
by  the  court.  Neither  of  these  addresses,  how- 
ever, though  unacknowledged  at  the  time,  was 
unproductive  of  good.  In  Bengal  a  more  favour- 
able disposition  on  the  part  of  the  government  to- 
wards the  promotion  of  Christianity  appeared 
shortly  after,  and  the  reply  of  the  Directors  to  the 
representations  of  the  governor-general  in  council, 
though  not  friendly  to  Dr.  Buchanan,  was  strongly 
marked  by  those  enlightened  and  liberal  views, 
which  he  had  been  so  anxious  to  see  established 
for  the  guidance  of  our  Indian  governments.  In 
the  course  of  the  debates  which  took  place  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  affaira  of  India,  Dr. 
Buchanan's  name  and  writings  were  frequently 
mentioned,  and  Sir  Henry  Montgomery  and  Mr. 
Lushington  took  it  upon  them  to  deny  many  of 
his  statements  as  to  the  cruel  and  immoral  super- 
stitions of  the  Hindoos.  They  were,  however, 
ably  and  eloquently  replied  to  by  Mr.  Wilbeiforce, 
and  Dr.  Buchanan  himself  addressed  private  let- 
ters to  these  gentlemen  in  answer  to  their  remarks. 
The  account  given  by  him  of  the  atrocities  of  the 
idol -worship  at  Juggernaut  was  also  impugned 
and  attempted  to  be  invalidated  by  Mr.  C.  BuUer, 
M.  P.  for  West  Looe,  who  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Court  of  Directors  on  the  subject.  Dr.  Buch- 
anan immediately  published  a  letter  to  the  Hon. 
East  India  Company  in  reply  to  Mr.  Butler's 
statements,  and  also  his  *  Apology  for  promoting 
Christianity  in  India.'  He  had  previously  pub- 
lished a  work  entitled  *  Colonial  Ecclesiastical 
establishment ;'  being  a  brief  view  of  the  state  of 
the  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  and  of  her  Asiatic 
empire,  in  respect  to  i-eligious  instruction,  pre- 
faced by  some  considerations  on  the  national  duty 
of  affording  it.  He  subsequently  went  to  reside 
first  at  Cheshunt,  afterwards  at  Wormlcy,  and 
latterly  at  Broxboume,  in  Hertfordshire,  where 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  engaged  in  su- 
perintending the  printing  of  an  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  for  the  use  of  the  Syriac  Christians 
residing  on  the  coast  of  Malabar.  He  died  at 
Broxbourne,  February  9,  1816,  at  the  early  age 


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of  48,  and  was  buried  at  Little  Ouseburu  in  Yorli- 
shire,  near  the  remains  of  his  second  wife  and 
two  infant  sous.  A  monumental  inscription, 
written  by  the  Rev.  W.  Richardson  of  York,  re- 
cords in  plain  but  expressive  language  the  lead- 
ing particulars  of  his  life  and  character.  His 
Memoirs,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Pearson,  with  extracts 
from  his  correspondence,  were  published  in  1817 
in  2  vols.;  and  were  republished  in  1834,  in  a  con- 
densed form  by  Dr.  Bickersteth  for  the  Chiistian 
Library,  from  which  the  annexed  portrait  is  taken. 


Dr.  Buchanan *s  works  arc  : 

Memoir  of  the  Expediencrir  of  ah  Ecclesiastical  Establish- 
ment for  British  India,  both  as  the  means  of  perpetuating  the 
Christian  Religion  among  our  own  countrymen,  and  as  a 
foundation  for  the  ultimate  ci\n1ization  of  the  natives.  Lond. 
1806,  4to. 

llie  Star  m  the  East  A  Sermon.  1809.  8tb  edit. 
1813,  8to. 

Three  Sermons  on  the  Jubilee.     1810,  8vo. 

The  Light  of  the  Worid;  a  Sermon.  1810,  8vo.  8d 
edit  1818. 

Christian  Researches  in  Asia ;  with  Notices  of  the  Trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Oriental  languages.  1811, 
8vo.    5th  edit  1813,  8vo. 

The  Three  Eras  of  Light ;  being  two  Discourses  preached 
before  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  a  Sermon  preached 
before  the  Society  for  Missions  to  Africa  and  the  East.  1811, 
8vo.    2d  edit  1818. 

The  Healing  Waters  of  Rethosda;  a  Sermon,  preached  at 
Buxton.     1811. 


Sermons  on  Interesting  Subjects.    Lond.  1812,  8yo. 

A  Brief  View  of  the  Stete  of  the  Colonies  of  Great  Britain, 
and  of  her  Asiatic  Empire,  in  respect  to  religious  instruction. 
Lond.  1818,  8vo. 

An  Address  to  Messrs.  Norton,  Greenwood,  Schnarrv, 
and  Rhenius,  about  to  sail  as  Missionaries  to  TranqueUar. 
1814,  8vo. 

A  Letter  to  the  Hon.  East  India  Company,  in  reply  to  the 
Statements  of  Charles  Buller,  Esq.  M.P.,  ooncemuig  the  idol 
Juggernaut     1818,  8vo. 

An  Apology  for  promoting  Christianity  in  India,  containing 
two  letters  addressed  to  the  Hon.  East  India  Company  con- 
cerning the  idol  Juggernaut ;  and  a  Memorial  presented  to 
the  Bengal  government  in  1807,  in  defence  of  the  Christian 
missionaries  in  India.  Published  by  order  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  To  whicli  are  now  added  Remarks  on  the  Letter 
addressed  by  the  Bengal  government  to  the  Court  of  Direc- 
tors in  reply  to  the  Memorial  With  an  Appendix,  contain- 
ing various  official  papers,  diiefly  extracted  from  the  parlia- 
mentary records  relating  to  the  promulgation  of  Christianity 
in  India.     1813,  8vo. 

The  First  Four  Years  of  the  College  of  Fort  William. 
1814,  4to. 

Memoirs :  by  J.  Pearson.    1817,  2  vols.  8^^o. 

BUCHANAN,  David,  an  enterprising  pablish- 
er  and  printer,  of  whose  ancestry,  any  more  than 
of  others  of  the  same  name  in  this  work,  no  more 
is  known  than  that,  as  bearing  tlie  name  of  a  bar- 
ony^  he  was,  and  must  have  been,  descended  from 
the  ancient  family  of  Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  at 
some  stage,  more  or  less  remote,  of  its  varioos  ram- 
ifications. He  was  bom  in  Montrose  in  1746,  and 
stndied  at  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  where  he 
obtained  the  degree  of  M.A.  He  commenced  the 
art  of  a  printer  in  his  native  town,  at  a  time  when 
that  art  had  made  comparatively  little  progress  in 
the  north  of  Scotland,  and,  indeed,  was  practically 
unknown  in  most  of  the  provincial  towns,  combin- 
ing with  it  the  business  of  publishing,  in  the 
course  of  his  trading  lie  republished  several  stand- 
ard works  in  a  style  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any- 
thing previously  attempted  in  Scotland;  among 
these  were  the  dictionaries  of  Johnson,  Boyer, 
and  Ainsworth ;  the  first  of  which  was  then  ac- 
counted a  great  undertaking.  He  also  printed 
the  first  of  the  small  or  pocket  editions  of  John- 
son's Dictionary,  which  was  abridged  and  prepared 
by  himself;  to  which  may  be  added  a  great  vari- 
ety of  the  English  classics  in  a  miniature  form. 
Being  acquainted  with  the  classics,  he  revised  the 
press  himself,  correcting  previous  errors  and  sup- 
plying omissions  to  the  dictionaries.  Thus  the 
Montrose  press  of  that  day  acquired  a  high  repu- 
tation, and  its  productions  were  extensively  cir- 


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calated.  Mr.  Bachanan  died  in  1812. — Fiamfy 
information, 

BUCHANAN,  David,  eldest  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, a  miscellaneous  writer  of  some  ability, 
was  bom  at  Montrose  in  1779.  His  earliest  essay 
as  a  political  writer  was  in  Cobbett^s  Political  Re- 
gister, being  a  reply  to  certain  theories  advanced  by 
that  politician  on  a  question  in  political  economy. 
He  was  a  contributor  to  the  Edinburgh  Review, 
shortly  after  the  commencement  of  that  periodical, 
but  the  first  literary  effort  of  his  which  attracted 
genei*al  attention  was  a  pamphlet  published  in 
1806  or  1807,  showing  the  inefficiency  of  the  vo- 
lunteer system  of  Pitt.  The  opinions  so  ably  ad- 
vocated in  this  pamphlet  were  supported  by  Mr. 
Wyndham  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  received 
considerable  notice  from  other  public  men  of  the 
day.  At  the  time  Mr.  Buchanan  wrote  this  pam- 
phlet, he  resided  at  Montrose  with  his  father,  but 
encouraged  by  the  promises  and  support  of  a  num- 
ber of  gentlemen  belonging  to  the  liberal  party, 
including  Francis  Jeffrey  and  Francis  Homer,  he 
repaured  to  Edinburgh  about  the  end  of  the  year 
1808,  and  started  a  newspaper  called  the  Weekly 
Register.  This  paper,  although  conducted  with 
much  ability,  did  not  continue  longer  than  a  year. 
The  services  of  Mr.  Buchanan  were  then  transfer- 
red to  the  Caledonian  Mercury,  of  which  paper  he 
was  editor  from  1810  to  1827.  A  vacancy  hav- 
ing, in  the  latter  year,  occurred  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Edinburgh  Courant,  the  editorship  of 
that  paper  was  offered  to  the  subject  of  this  no- 
tice, who  at  once  accepted  of  it.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  Caledonian  Mercury  by  Dr.  James 
Browne,  author  of  the  *  History  of  the  Highlands 
and  of  the  Highland  Clans.'  In  1857  it  came 
under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  James  Robie,  who 
had  for  many  years  conducted  the  Banner  of 
Ulster^  a  Belfast  paper,  and  to  his  exertions  must 
be  attributed  the  popular  character  and  prosperous 
condition  to  which  it  soon  attained. 

About  the  year  1814  Mr.  Buchanan  brought 
out  an  edition  of  *  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations,' 
with  a  Life  and  extensive  notes,  and  a  volume  of 
additional  matter.  He  «lso  edited  an  edition  of 
the  Edinburgh  Gazetteer  in  six  volumes,  and  sup- 
plied a  considerable  portion  of  the  articles  of  that 
work.    A  few  years  before  his  death  he  wrote  a 


small  volume  on  the  principles  of  commercial  tax- 
ation, containing  valuable  matter.  To  the  sev- 
enth edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica, 
he  contributed,  amongst  others,  the  articles  on 
Arabia,  Asia,  Statistics  of  France,  Hindostan,  Si- 
beria, United  States,  and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  as 
well  as  the  article  on  general  Statistics ; — he  also, 
with  Dr.  Browne  and  Mr.  H.  Smith,  compiled  the 
information  contained  in  the  Edinburgh  Geogra- 
phical Atlas,  a  work  published  in  folio,  in  1836. 
Mr.  Buchanan  died  at  Glasgow,  whither  he  had 
gone  on  a  visit  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Duff,  engi- 
neer in  that  city,  on  the  13th  August  1848.  For 
the  last  five  or  six  years  of  his  life,  he  had  suffer- 
ed much  from  disease  of  the  heart,  and  was  at  last 
cut  off  by  it  so  suddenly  that,  only  a  few  hours 
before  lils  death,  he  had  written  a  paper  on  taxa- 
tion for  the  immediately  succeeding  publication  of 
the  Edinburgh  Courant.  He  was  connected  with 
the  newspaper  press  of  Scotland  for  the  long  pe- 
riod of  forty  years.  His  style  of  writing  was 
at  all  times  clear  and  concise.  He  was  a  man 
of  nnobtrusive  habits,  mild  and  gentle  in  his  de- 
meanour, and  held  in  high  respect  by  all  who 
had  an  opportunity  of  forming  an  estimate  of  his 
character. — Family  infomuUion^  and  Obituary  at 
the  time, 

BUCHANAN,  (Hamilton)  Francis,  of  Leny, 
surgeon,  and  author  of  several  works  relative 
to  India,  thii-d  son  of  Thomas  Buchanan  of  Spit- 
tal  (mentioned  in  the  preliminary  notice  of  the 
surname  of  Buchanan,  ante^  p.  462,)  and  Eliza- 
beth Hamilton,  heiress  of  Bardowie,  in  the  county 
of  Lanark,  was  born  at  Branziet,  in  the  parish  of 
Callander,  Perthshire,  February  15th,  1762.  He 
received  the  elementary  parts  of  his  education  at 
Glasgow,  but  studied  for  the  medical  profession  at 
the  university  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  received 
his  degree  in  1783.  Soon  after  he  was  appointed 
assistant  surgeon  on  board  a  man-of-war,  but  af- 
ter serving  for  some  time,  he  was  obliged  to  retire 
from  that  situation  on  account  of  bad  health, 
which  kept  him  for  some  years  at  home.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  gone  out  to  the  East  Indies  some 
time  before  1791,  as  we  find  the  following  refer-  - 
ence  to  him  in  Dr.  Robertson's  account  of  Callan- 
der sent  to  the  editor  in  that  year,  "The  most 
learned  person  who  is  known  to  have  belonged  to 
2h 


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BUCHANAN, 


482 


FRANCIS. 


tliis  parish  is  Dr.  Francis  Bnchauan,  at  present  in 
the  East  Indies.  In  classical  and  medical  know- 
ledge he  has  few  equals,  and  he  is  well  acquainted 
with  the  whole  system  of  nature."  In  1794  he  was 
appointed  surgeon  in  the  East  India  Company's 
sei-vice  on  the  Bengal  establishment,  and  was  sent 
with  Captain  Symes  on  his  mission  to  the  court 
of  Ava  at  Amerapoora  in  1795,  when  the  latter  had 
the  satisfaction  of  concluding  an  advantageous 
treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  Burmese 
emperor,  of  which  he  afterwards  published  an  ac- 
count, under  the  title  of  *  Embassy  to  the  Kingdom 
of  Ava.'  In  the  course  of  his  medical  studies  Dr. 
Buchanan  had  paid  particular  attention  to  botany 
and  the  kindred  branches  of  natural  science,  and 
during  his  voyages  to  and  from,  and  his  stay  in, 
the  Birman  empire,  he  was  enabled  to  make  some 
valuable  collections  of  the  plants  of  Pegu,  Ava, 
and  the  Andaman  islands,  which,  with  several 
drawings,  he  transmitted  to  the  Court  of  Directors 
at  Loudon,  and  by  them  they  were  presented  to 
Sir  Joseph  Banks,  then  president  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  London.  He  was  subsequently  stationed 
for  two  years  at  Luckipore,  near  to  where  the 
Brahmaputra,  the  largest  river  in  India,  joins  the 
Ganges,  the  united  rivers  forming  the  easternmost 
deltoid  branch  of  the  latter,  ten  miles  wide,  and 
falling  into  the  sea  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  At  that 
place  he  principally  occupied  himself  in  describing 
the  fishes  found  in  the  neighbourhood. 

In  1798,  the  board  of  trade  at  Calcutta,  on  the 
recommendation  of  Dr.  Roxburgh,  superintendent 
of  the  botanical  garden  recently  established  in 
that  city,  employed  Dr.  Buchanan  to  visit  the  dis- 
trict and  neighbourhood  of  Chittagong,  or  Chati- 
gong,  on  the  west  border  of  the  Birman  Empire ; 
and  here,  too,  he  collected  numerous  specimens  of 
plants,  which  were,  as  the  previous  ones,  trans- 
mitted to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  extended  his 
knowledge  of  the  natural  history  of  Assam.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  employed  in  describing 
the  fishes  of  the  Ganges,  of  which  he  published  an 
account  in  1822,  with  plates.  His  attainments  in 
the  departments  of  natural  history  and  statistics 
became  so  highly  appreciated  that,  in  1800,  he  was 
chosen  by  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  then  governor- 
general  of  India,  to  examine  into,  and  report  upon, 
the  entire  agricultural  and  manufacturing  systems 


and  products  of  Mysore,  then  recently  acquired  by 
the  British  arms,  as  well  as  those  of  the  adjacent 
province  of  Malabar,  with  suggestions  for  their 
improvement,  as  also  upon  the  general  condition 
of  the  inhabitants  and  the  climate  and  physical 
aspect  of  the  country.  At  that  period  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  English  conquests  made  it  impos- 
sible for  the  local  government  to  find  officers  ver- 
sant  in  the  local  languages  of  their  acquisitions, 
and  Dr.  Buchanan,  whose  labours  had  been  con- 
fined to  the  northern  region  of  the  territories  of 
the  Company,  was  necessarily  unacquainted  with 
the  dialects  of  the  south.  It  was  his  practice  to 
travel  a  certain  distance  every  day,  and  each 
morning  before  setting  out  from  the  place  where 
he  had  rested  during  the  night,  he  assembled  those 
who  resided  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  questioned 
them  on  the  several  points  contained  in  his  in- 
structions. The  answers  were  such  as  suited  the 
hearers  to  give  and  the  interpreter  to  communi- 
cate ;  and  the  patient  and  confiding  Doctor  noted 
all  down  faithfully  in  his  daybook  for  the  use  ot 
the  government.  Thus,  while  everything  that  he 
saw  was  described  perspicuously  and  correctly 
enough,  it  was  not  unfrequently  very  different 
with  what  he  heard.  The  result  of  his  inquuries 
was,  after  his  first  return  to  England,  published 
in  1807,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Court  of  Direc- 
tors, with  the  title  of  *  Travels  in  the  Mysore,*  in 
three  large  quai*to  volumes,  illustrated  with  maps 
and  drawings.  The  work,  from  the  manner  m 
which  the  author  collected  his  information,  is 
more  in  the  nature  of  a  journal  than  a  reg^ar  and 
digested  account  of  Mysore ;  yet,  as  a  writer  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review  for  October  1808  justl> 
remarks,  *^  After  all  the  deductions  that  can  be 
made  from  Dr.  Buchanan's  authority,  his  book 
remains  an  interesting  and  valuable  publication 
relating  to  a  countiy  then  scarcely  known  in  Eu- 
rope. He  has  rendered  an  essential  service  to  the 
Indian  historian  by  collecting  a  variety  of  inscrip- 
tions extant  in  the  temples  of  the  peninsula." 
The  reviewer  sums  up  his  opinion  of  this  work  by 
saying  that  ^^  those  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
peruse  Dr.  Buchanan's  bt>ok  will  certainly  obtain 
a  far  more  accurate  notion  of  the  actual  condition 
and  appearance  of  India,  and  of  its  existing  arts, 
usages,  and  manners,  than  could  be  derived  from 


,!    t 


I    ! 


I'    I 


Digitized  by 


Google 


BUCHANAN, 


483 


FRANCIS. 


all  the  other  books  relating  to  it  in  existence ;  but 
they  will  frequently  be  misled  as  to  its  religion, 
llteratui'e,  and  antiquities,  and  must  submit  to 
more  labour  than  readers  are  usually  disposed  for, 
in  collecting  and  piecing  together  the  scattered 
and  disjointed  fragments  of  information  of  which 
the  volumes  are  composed/' 

In  1802  Dr.  Buchanan  was  appointed  to  accom- 
pany Captain  Knox  on  his  embassy  from  the  gov- 
ernor-general to  Nepaul,  thus  again  changing  the 
scene  of  his  labours  fix)m  the  south  to  the  northern 
part  of  Hindostan.  In  the  course  of  this  journey, 
and  residence  in  Nepaul,  he  made  large  additions 
to  his  collections  of  rare  plants.  A  description  of 
Nepaul,  which  he  wrote  at  this  time,  he  trans- 
mitted to  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  it  remained 
unpublished  till  1819,  after  he  had  retired  from 
the  Company's  service,  and  was  independent  of 
their  smile  or  their  frown,  when  with  fuller  mate- 
rials he  brought  it  out  under  the  name  of  an  '  Ac- 
count of  the  Kingdom  of  Nepaul.*  Notwithstand- 
ing the  researches  of  later  travellers,  Dr.  Buchan- 
an's work  still  remains  the  standard  authority  of 
the  country  of  which  it  treats.  Indeed  it  and 
the  similar  work  of  Colonel  Kirkpatrick  on  the 
same  state  (published  in  1811)  have  furnished 
the  printipal  materials  for  most  of  the  recent 
works  on  that  country.  In  Blackwood's  Maga- 
zine for  July  1862,  there  is  a  review  of  various 
publications,  all  having  reference  to  that  king- 
dom, and  all  published  many  years  subsequent  to 
Dr.  Buchanan's  work,  and  they  are  one  and  all 
stated  to  be  "  very  largely  indebted  to  the  Doctor 
and  the  Colonel,  although  their  authors  rarely 
remember  to  acknowledge  their  obligations."  Such 
a  testimony  is  honourable  to  the  observation  and 
acuteness  of  Dr.  Buchanan,  who  was  among 
the  fii-st  to  visit  and  to  describe  that  remote  re- 
gion of  Hindostan. 

On  his  return  from  Nepaul,  he  was  appointed 
surgeon  to  the  governor -general,  the  Marquis 
Wellesley,  of  the  great  merit  of  whose  adminis- 
tration he  had,  like  his  namesake  Dr.  Claudius 
Buchanan,  formed  a  very  high  estimate.  The 
liberal  and  enlightened  policy  of  that  eminent 
statesman  did  more  for  the  regeneration  and  civi- 
lization of  India  than  did  that  of  any  of  the  gov- 
ernments which,  for  many  years,  had  either  pre- 


ceded or  succeeded  him.  His  wise  and  energetic 
measures,  joined  to  his  selection  and  patronage  of 
men  distinguished  for  their  attainments  and  abil- 
ity, in  the  precise  departments  for  which  they  were 
best  fitted,  enabled  him  to  establish  upon  a  broad 
basis  the  foundations  of  our  vast  and  mighty  em- 
pire in  India.  When  not  occupied  in  official  du- 
ties. Dr.  Buchanan  devoted  much  of  his  leisure 
to  the  superintendence  of  the  menagerie  founded 
at  Calcutta  by  the  marquis,  and  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  animals  which  it  contained.  In  1805, 
on  the  recall,  at  his  own  request,  of  his  noble  pa- 
tron, he  accompanied  him  to  England,  and  in  the 
following  year  he  was  again  sent  out  to  India  by 
the  Court  of  Directors,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  statistical  survey  of  the  territory  under  the  pre- 
sidency of  Fort  William,  which  comprehends  Ben- 
gal Proper,  and  several  of  the  adjoining  districts. 
Several  papers  taken  from  this  survey  were  com- 
municated by  him  to  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society.  After  being  engaged  in 
this  laborious  occupation  for  upwards  of  seven 
years,  he  returned  to  Calcutta ;  and  in  1814,  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Roxburgh,  he  became  superin- 
tendent of  the  botanical  garden  in  that  city,  hav- 
ing been  appointed  successor  to  that  eminent  bot- 
anist by  the  Couit  of  Directors  as  early  as  1807. 

Dr.  Buchanan  had  repeatedly  received  the  pub- 
lic thanks  of  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  of  the 
GrOveiTior-general  in  council,  for  his  useful  collec- 
tions and  his  valuable  information  on  matters 
relative  to  the  different  countries  of  India  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  his  exertions  and  his  inves- 
tigations. The  objects  of  his  ambition  had  now 
been  fiilly  attained  in  India;  his  services  had  been 
not  only  honourably  acknowledged  but  liberally 
rewarded  by  the  East  India  Company;  he  had 
acquired  an  ample  fortune ;  and  he  naturally  felt 
anxious  to  retire  from  the  enervating  influence  of 
an  eastern  climate  and  the  responsibility  and  la- 
bours of  public  service,  to  spend  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  and  enjoy  his  well-earned  wealth  and  repu- 
tation, in  his  native  land.  He  accordingly  left 
Calcutta  in  1815,  and  on  his  arrival  in  London, 
he  presented  to  the  Court  of  Directors  his  collec- 
tions relative  to  India,  consisting  of  drawings,  of 
plants,  minerals  and  drugs,  coins  and  manuscripts, 
as  also  some  papers  on  the  geogiaphy  of  Ava, 


Digiti 


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BUCHANAN. 


484 


BURGH. 


several  genealogical  tables,  and  his  notes  on  natu- 
ral history.  Before  leaving  Calcutta,  probably  on 
aecount  of  his  being  officially  employed  to  prepare 
them,  he  had  been  deprived  by  the  marquis  of 
Hastings,  the  then  governor-general,  of  all  the 
botanical  drawings  which  had  been  made  under 
his  inspection  during  his  last  stay  i)i  India,  and 
which  he  intended  to  have  given,  with  his  other 
collections,  to  the  library  of  the  India  House  in 
I^eadenhall  street,  London.  This  circumstance, 
Dr.  Buchanan  refeiTed  to  in  a  paper  which  he 
contributed  to  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Edinburgh. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  England,  Dr.  Bu- 
chanan proceeded  to  Scotland,  and  spent  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  at  Leny  in  Perthshire,  an 
estate  to  which  his  father  had  succeeded  as  heir  of 
entail,  and  which,  on  the  death  of  his  eldest  bro- 
ther, Colonel  Hamilton  (who  had  taken  his  mo- 
ther's name  on  inheriting  Bardowie),  without 
children,  came  into  his  possession  with  the  other 
family  estates,  when  he  also  assumed  the  name  of 
Hamilton  as  a  prefix  to  his  pateiiial  one.  He 
married  a  Miss  Brock,  and  had  a  son,  John  Ham- 
ilton Buchanan,  who  succeeded  him,  and  a  daugh- 
ter, who  died  young.  In  1821,  whei^tbc  marquis 
Wellesley  was  appointed  lord -lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land, Dr.  Buchanan  was  asked  to  accompany  him 
in  an  official  capacity,  but  he  declined  the  offer  on 
account  of  his  health  and  love  of  retirement.  In 
1826  he  was  appointed  a  deputy  lieutenant  of 
Perthshire.  The  same  year  he  established  his 
claim  to  be  considered  the  chief  of  the  clan  Buch- 
anan [see  ante,  p.  461].  He  devoted  much  of 
his  time  to  the  improvement  of  his  residence  at 
Leny,  and  introduced  into  his  garden  and  grounds 
many  cuiious  plants,  shrubs,  &c.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  several  learned  and  scientific  societies,  and 
a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Societies  of  London  and 
Edinburgh.  He  died  June  15,  1829,  in  the  67th 
year  of  his  age. 

His  works  are : 

A  Jonmey  from  Madras  through  the  countries  of  the 
Mysore,  Canora,  and  Malabar,  performed  under  the  orders  of 
Marquis  Wellesley,  for  the  express  purpose  of  investigating 
the  state  of  Agriculture,  Arts,  and  Commerce;  the  Religion, 
Manners,  and  Customs,-  the  History  natural  and  civil,  and 
Antiquities,  in  the  dominions  of  the  Rajah  of  Mysore,  and 
the  countries  acquired  by  the  Hon.  East  India  company  in 


the  late  and  former  wars,  from  Tippoo  Soltaon.  lUuatnted 
by  a  map  and  numerous  engravings.    Lond.  1807, 8  vols.  4to. 

Account  of  Nepaul  and  of  the  Territories  annexed  to  it  bj 
the  House  of  Goorkha.    4to,  London,  1819. 

A  Genealogy  of  the  Hindoo  Gods.  1819.  This  wotk  ma 
drawn  up  by  Dr.  Buchanan  before  leaving  India,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  an  intelligent  Brahmin. 

An  Account  of  the  Fishes  of  the  Ganges,  with  plates.  1822 

He  also  contributed  largely  to  various  scientific  jounials  of 
the  day,  particularly  those  devoted  to  natural  histoiy. 


BuiST,  a  surname  derived  from  the  old  Scottish  word  bmtt 
or  boigt^  a  small  wooden  box  or  chest,  firom  boceta,  old  Nor- 
man,  a  little  box  of  wood.  Thus,  in  the  aooonnts  of  the  lord 
high-treasurer  of  Scotland,  under  date  October  11,  1540, 
(reign  of  James  the  Fifth)  mention  is  made  of  **  ane  Boist  to 
keip  Hoistis  in,**  that  is,  a  box  to  keep  the  host  or  encharirt; 
also  in  the  indictment  against  Efiy  or  Euphemia  Mackalxane 
for  witcharafl,  &c,  June  9,  1591,  one  of  the  nnmerous 
charges  against  her  was  that  she  had  sent  with  her  servant 
Janet  Drummond,  **  ane  pictouro  of  walx  (wax)  in  ane  bvut'^ 
(box)  to  the  celebrated  witch  Anny  Simpson,  to  be  enchanted 
by  the  devil  [See  PitcatnCs  Crhmnal  Trials,  vol  L  part  L 
page  *306,  and  vol.  L  part  ii.  page  253.'] 


BuxKELL,  BoMKLB,  OT  BuKKiLL,  (probably  finom  ionodSe, 
a  contraction  of  the  Latin  word  bonaadum,  a  little  good  or 
^ft,  and  applied  to  lands  that  may  have  been  bestowed  on 
Home  religious  body  at  an  early  period,)  a  surname  derived 
from  the  lands  of  Bunkle  in  Berwickshire,  the  principal  fam- 
ily of  the  name  bemg  anciently  Bunkle  of  that  ilk  in  that  county. 
The  name  has  been  supposed  to  have  had  some  relation  to  a 
buckle,  as  those  who  bore  it  carried  three  bnckles  in  their 
arms,  but  these  might  have  been  more  likely  the  symbols  of 
the  service  by  which  the  first  grantee  held  the  lands  from  hri 
superior.  Sir  John  Stewart,  second  son  of  Alexander,  high 
steward  of  Scotland,  married  the  heiress  of  Bunkle,  and  there- 
after was  designated  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bonkle.  He  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  Stewarta  earls  of  Angus,  and  one  of  the  oldest 
branches,  after  the  royal  family,  of  the  name.  Bunkle  is  now 
the  name  of  a  parish  in  Berwickshire.  The  name  of  Bcode 
appears  at  an  early  period  in  Pitcaim*s  Crinunal  Trials  as  con- 
nected with  legal  proceedings.    Vol.  i.  p.  158;  vol  iL  p.  417. 


BuROESB,  a  surname  evidently  derived  firom  a  citizen  of  a 
burgh,  possessing  all  the  burgh  privileges.  The  name,  how- 
ever, is  more  English  than  Scotch.  An  andent  family  of 
this  surname  was  long  settled  in  Berkshire,  a  descendant  of 
which,  Sir  James  Bland  Burgess,  was  created  a  baronet  m 
1796. 


Burgh,  a  surname  in  Scotland,  the  same  as  De  Bonrg, 
De  Burgh,  Bourke,  or  Burke  in  Ireland,  and  Bontnighs  in 
England,  derived  from  De  Bourg,  originally  French.  The 
family  of  De  Bourg  or  Burke  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  of 
the  Norman  settlers  in  England,  and  nnder  Strongbow,  the 
prindpal  branch  settled  in  Ireland  in  1169.  In  process  at 
time,  the  name  was  written  Bourk  in  England  and  Ireland, 
.md  in  many  Irish  families  it  is  now  Burke,  but  in  1752,  King 
George  the  Second,  by  letters  under  his  signet  royal  and  sign 
manual,  granted  to  the  earl  of  Clanricarde,  (Uliick  Boorko  of 
London,)  and  Thomas  Bourke  of  Ireland,  and  their  descend- 
ants, fuU  power,  licence,  and  authority,  to  assume  and  use  the 
name  of  De  Burgh.  In  Scotland  the  name  b  limited  and 
never  attained  to  any  (tminenoe. 


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BURNES. 


BURGH,  James,  a  voluminous  writer,  was 
bom  at  Madderty  in  Perthshire  in  1714.  After 
receiving  the  rudiments  of  education  at  the  school 
of  his  native  place,  he  was  sent  to  the  university 
of  St.  Andrews,  with  the  view  of  studying  for  the 
church,  but  bad  health  soon  obliged  him  to  quit 
college.  Having  given  up  all  thoughts  of  becom- 
ing a  clergyman,  he  entered  into  the  linen  trade ; 
which  not  proving  successful,  lie  went  to  England, 
where  he  was  employed  at  first  as  a  corrector  of 
the  press.  About  a  year  afterwards  he  removed 
to  Great  Marlow,  where  he  was  engaged  as  assist- 
ant in  a  free  grammar  school.  It  was  here  that 
he  commenced  author  by  writing  a  pamphlet,  en- 
titled '  Britain*s  Remembrancer,^  published  in  1746, 
which  was  followed  by  various  others.  This  one, 
however,  being  adapted  to  the  feeling  of  the 
times,  went  through  five  editions  in  three  yeare, 
and  was  ascribed  to  some  of  the  bishops.  In  1747 
he  opened  an  academy  at  Stoke  Nowington  in 
Middlesex,  where,  and  at  Newington  Green  in 
the  neighbomrhood,  for  nineteen  years  he  conduct- 
ed his  school  with  great  success.  Having  acquired 
a  competence,  Mr.  Burgh  determined  upon  retir- 
ing from  business,  his  more  immediate  object  be- 
ing to  complete  one  of  his  works  called  '  Political 
Disquisitions,'  the  first  two  volumes  of  which  ap- 
peared in  1774  and  the  thu^  in  1775.  Upon 
quitting  his  school  in  1771,  he  settled  in  Cole- 
brooke  Row,  Islington,  where  he  continued  to  re- 
side till  his  death,  August  26,  1775,  in  the  61st 
year  of  his  age. — Stcn-k's  Biographia  Scotica. 

Mr.  Burgh's  works  (most  of  which  have  long 
since  ceased  to  be  read)  are : 

Britain's  Remembrancer.     Lond.  1745,  1766. 

Thon^ts  on  Edacation.    1747. 

An  Hymn  to  the  Creator  of  the  World.  To  which  was 
added,  in  prose.  An  Idea  of  the  Creator  irom  his  Works.  2d 
edit.  1750,  8yo 

A  Warning  to  Dram  Drinkers.    1751,  12mo. 

The  Free  Enqnirer.  Printed  in  the  General  Evening  Post. 
176a-4. 

An  Essay  on  the  Dignity  of  Human  Nature ;  or,  A  Brief 
Account  of  the  certain  and  established  Means  for  attaining 
the  true  end  of  our  existence.  Lond.  1754,  4to.  Reprinted 
in  2  vols.  8vo. 

The  Art  of  Speaking.  Lond.  1762,  1792,  8vo.  Three 
editions.    Used  mostly  as  a  school-book. 

Crito;  or  Essays  on  Various  Subjects.  1766-7,  2  vols. 
12mo.  2d  vol.  contains,  Essay  on  the  Origin  of  Evil,  and  the 
Rationale  of  Christianity ;  with  one  on  Political  Nature,  and 
^n  the  Difficulty  and  Importance  of  Education. 

The  Constitutionalist.     Printed  in  the  Gazetteer.     1770. 


Political  Disquisitions,  or  an  Inquiry  into  Public  Erron, 
Defects,  and  Abuses.  Illustrated  by,  and  established  upon, 
facts  and  remarks  extracted  from  a  variety  of  authors,  ancient 
and  modem ;  calculated  to  draw  the  timely  attention  of  gov* 
emment  and  people,  to  a  due  consideration  of  the  necessity, 
and  the  means  of  reforming  those  errors,  defects,  and  abuses ; 
of  restoring  the  Constitution,  and  saving  the  State.  1774-^, 
3  vols.  8vo. 

The  Coloniser's  Advocate ;  a  periodical  paper  in  the  Gas- 
etteer. 

Directions,  prudential,  moral,  religious,  and  scientific 
Printed  for  the  sole  use  of  his  pupils.  Pirated  and  sold  by  a 
bookseller  under  the  title  of  Youth's  Friendly  Monitor. 

Burleigh,  lord,  an  extinct  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scot- 
land.   See  Balfour  of  Burlkiou,  lord,  anie^  p.  209. 


BuRNES,  a  surname  which,  like  the  name  of  Bum,  or 
Bums,  has  been  supposed  to  have  been  shortened  from  De 
Bumville,  a  family  of  that  name  havmg  settled  in  Soothind 
m  the  reign  of  David  the  First.  One  of  them  held  the  lands 
of  Brocsmouth  in  East  Lothian  under  William  the  Lion.  As 
the  name  of  De  Bumville  is  not  now  known  in  North  Britain, 
this  derivation  of  the  now  celebrated  name  of  Bums  does  not 
appear  quite  so  fanciful  as  at  first  sight  soems  likely,  but  a 
more  probable  origin  to  the  name  of  Bumes  and  Bums  than 
has  yet  been  brought  forward  has  been  given,  founded  on 
documents  relative  to  the  pedigree  and  name  of  Bumoe,  re- 
gistered in  the  Lord  Lyon's  office  in  Scotland,  on  occasion  of 
Dr.  James  Bumes,  the  eldest  brother  of  the  late  Sir  Alexan- 
der Buraes,  being  appointed  in  1837  a  knight  of  the  Royal 
Hanoverian  Gnelphio  Order. 

The  name  of  Bumes,  it  is  thero  stated,  is  nientioned 
80  early  as  1290,  in  a  bull  of  Pope  Nicholas  the  Fourth,  to 
Edward  the  First  of  England,  in  which  his  holiness  acknow- 
ledges letters  brought  to  him  from  Enghmd,  ^*quas  delecti 
filil  Johannes  de  Bumes  miles,  et  Gulielmus  de  Linoolnia,  tui 
nundi,  preeentarunt;"  and,  in  various  forms  of  orthography, 
the  name  b  found  occasionally  in  the  obscure  records  of  Scot- 
tish history,  till  the  seventeenth  century,  when  it  emei^ges, 
traditionally,  in  connexion  with  the  ancestors  of  Robert  Bums, 
the  national  poet. 

Among  the  documents  furnished  by  Dr.  Buraes,  is  a  letter 
from  John  Bumess  of  Stonehaven,  author  of  *■  Thrummy  Cap,* 
a  tale  in  Scottish  verse,  to  his  kinsman.  Provost  Buraes  of 
Montrose,  the  doctor's  father,  of  date  1824 ;  which  letter  as- 
signs as  the  progenitor  of  the  poef  s  family,  a  fugitive  Camp- 
bell of  Burahouse,  of  the  noble  house  of  Ai^le.  This  it  does  on 
the  authority  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Greig,  Episcopal  minister 
in  Stonehaven,  then  an  old  man,  whose  mother  was  a  Bumess. 

The  Lord  Lyon's  patent  of  arms  to  the  family  of  Bumes  of 
Montrose,  traces  its  descent,  in  consequence,  from  Walter 
Campbell,  the  proprietor  of  a  small  estate  in  Argyleshire,  named 
Bumhouse,  who  fled  to  Kincardineshire  in  the  north  of  Scot- 
land, during  the  civil  wars  of  the  17th  century,  where,  for 
political  reasons  or  personal  concealment,  dropping  the  patro- 
nymic of  Campbell,  he  was  known  only  by  the  name  of  Bum- 
house,  which  he  assumed  in  its  stead ;  hence  the  subsequent  oor- 
mptions  of  the  name  into  Bumess,  Bume8,and,  finally.  Bums 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  in  connexion  with  the  alleged  descent 
of  the  poet's  family  from  the  Campbells,  that  the  famous 
John,  duke  of  Argyle,  after  defeating  the  Pretender's  army  at 
the  battle  of  Sheriffinuir,  in  1715,  carried  on  a  secret  corre- 
spondence with  the  exiled  prince,  under  the  assumed  name  ol 
Bvmw,  as  may  be  seen  in  a  letter  of  Horace  Walpole  to  Sir 
Horace  Mann,  dated  June  80,  1742.    It  may  also  be  stated 


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BURNES, 


486 


SIR  ALEXANDER. 


that  in  Ayrahire,  on  the  road  between  Beith  and  Kilmarnock, 
there  is  a  village  of  the  name  of  Bumhouse. 

In  a  writ  of  privy  seal  by  King  James  the  Fifth,  dated 
Stirling  1528,  there  is  a  John  Humes  described  as  having 
been  ^*  art  and  part  of  the  convocation  and  gadering  of  our 
lieges  in  arrayit  battell  against  omqll  Johne  Erie  of  Caith- 
ness." 

In  a  public  law  document,  dated  at  Edinburgh,  April  1(>37, 
there  is  recorded  as  a  witness  *•  J.  Bumes,*'  residing  at  Thorn- 
ton, in  Kincardineshire,  within  a  few  miles  of  Brawlymuir, 
the  place  from  whence  the  poet's  fanyly  are  known  to  have 
come. 

The  above  named  Walter  of  Bumhouse,  when  forced  to 
abandon  his  native  Argyleshire,  and  wander,  for  refuge,  into 
the  lowlands,  was  accompanied  by  his  only  son,  Walter,  then 
a  boy.  He  settled  in  the  parish  of  Glenbervifi,  and  there  he 
died  in  indigent  circumstances.  His  son  Walter,  being  an 
industrious  youth,  leamed  a  trade,  saved  a  little  money,  mar- 
ried, and  ultimately  took  a  lease  of  the  farm  of  Bogjorgan,  in 
the  same  parish,  where  he  lived  till  his  death. 

Walter  had  four  sons,  the  youngest  of  whom,  James,  was 
bora  in  1656,  and  died  23d  January,  1743,  aged  87  years. 
His  wife,  Margaret  Falconer,  died  December  1749,  aged  90 
vears.  These  dates,  and  many  others  referring  to  the  name 
and  family  history  of  Bumes,  are  found  on  old  tombstones  in 
the  churchyard  of  Glenbervie. 

James  also  had  four  sons.  William,  the  eldest,  succeeded  him 
in  Brawlymuir,  and  on  his  death  James,  the  youngest,  removed 
from  Hawkhill  of  Glenbervie,  to  the  paternal  farm.  The  lat- 
ter had  several  sons,  and  died  in  April  1778,  aged  88  years. 

George  took  the  farm  of  Elf  hill,  in  the  parish  of  Fetteresso; 
and  Robert,  the  grandfather  of  the  poet,  became  the  tenant 
of  the  farm  of  Clochinhill,  in  the  parish  of  Dunnottar. 

He  had  three  sons,  namely,  James,  the  great-grandfather 
of  Dr.  Bumes  and  Sir  Alexander  Bumes,  William,  the  father 
of  the  poet,  and  Robert     He  had  also  four  daughters. 

The  three  brothers  mentioned  above  proceeded  southwards, 
from  the  Meams,  about  1738.  William  the  father  of  the  poet, 
then  in  his  nineteenth  year,  removed  first  to  the  neighbour-^ 
hood  of  Edinburgh,  and  afterwards  went  to  Ayrshire.  James, 
the  elder  brother,  settled  in  Montrose,  where  he  followed  the 
trade  of  a  working  wright,  and  became  a  burgess  and  town 
councillor  of  that  ancient  burgh.     He  died  in  1763,  aged  44. 

His  son  was  also  named  James.  He  spelled  the  name 
Bumess,  and  this  is  the  only  exception  to  the  original  ortho- 
graphy till  the  poet  thought  fit  to  abbreviate  it  into  Bums. 
This  James  Bumes  was  the  relative  to  whom,  on  his  death- 
bed, the  poet  appealed  for  some  pecuniary  assistance,  which 
however  arrived  too  late  for  the  poet  himself;  but  to  his 
widow  and  children  he  showed  through  life  every  mark  of 
kindness. 

James  Bumes,  his  son,  and  second  cousin  of  the  sons  of 
Bums,  was  a  writer  in  Montrose,  and  at  one  period  provost 
of  that  burgh,  and  justice  of  the  peace  for  Forfarshire.  He 
was  also  principal  town  clerk  of  Montrose,  and  held  several 
ofiicial  appointments  in  that  locality.  He  was  bom  in  April 
1780,  and  married  early  in  life,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Adam 
Glegg,  Esq.,  at  one  time  provost  of  Montrose,  and  had  by 
her  six  sons  and  four  daughters.  He  took  a  great  interest  in 
matters  connected  with  his  native  town,  was  an  early  friend 
of  Joseph  Hume,  M.P.,  and  a  reformer  all  his  life.  He  died 
at  Edinburgh  in  1852,  universally  respected.  The  most  dis- 
tinguished of  his  sons  was  the  following: 

BURNES,  Sir  Alexander,  C.  B.,  an  enter- 
prising Eastern  traveller  and  diplomatist,  the  thii'd 


son  of  the  above  named  James  Barnes,  provost 
of  Montrose,  was  bom  in  that  town  May  16,  1806. 
His  great-grandfather  was,  as  we  have  shown,  thp 
brother  of  William  Bumes,  the  father  of  the  poet 
Bnras.  He  was  educated  at  Montrose  academy, 
and  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his  profi- 
ciency. Having  thereafter  obtained  the  appoint- 
ment of  cadet  in  the  Bombay  army,  he  left  school 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  arrived  at  that  presi- 
dency, October  81,  1821.  On  the  25th  of  Decem- 
ber 1822  he  was  appointed  interpreter  in  the  Hin- 
dostanee  language  to  the  first  extra  battalion  at 
Surat,  and  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Persian 
language  soon  after  obtained  for  him,  without  so- 
licitation on  his  part,  from  the  judges  of  the  Sud- 
dur  Adawlut,  the  employment  of  translating  the 
Persian  documents  of  that  court.  His  rise  in  the 
aimy  was  also  rapid.  His  regiment,  the  21st  na- 
tive infantiy,  in  which  he  held  the  rank  of  lien- 
tenant,  having,  early  in  1825,  been  ordered  to 
Bhooj,  he  accompanied  it,  and  during  the  serious 
disturbances  at  Cutch,  in  April  of  that  yeai-,  he 
was  appointed  quaitermaster  of  brigade,  on  which 
occasion  he  gave  early  promise  of  that  energy  and 
decision  which  characterised  his  after  proceedings. 
Although  not  yet  twenty  yeai-s  of  age,  he  was,  in. 
November  of  the  same  year,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  adjutant-general,  Sir  D.  Leighton,  ap- 
pointed Persian  interpreter  to  a  force  of  eight 
thousand  men,  commanded  by  Colonel  M.  Napier, 
of  his  majesty's  6th  foot,  assembled  for  the  inva- 
sion of  Scinde.  In  August  1826  he  was  confirmed 
on  the  general  stafi^  ad  a  deputy-assistant -quarter- 
master-general. At  this  period  he  drew  up  an 
able  and  elaborate  paper  on  the  Statistics  of  Wa- 
gur,  whicli  was  forwarded  to  Government,  in  Jaii- 
uaiy  1827,  by  Colonel  Shnldham,  quartermaster- 
general,  with  many  high  encomiums  on  the  indus- 
try and  research  of  the  reporter,  and  on  the  value 
of  the  information  which  the  document  contained. 
For  this  report.  Lieutenant  Bumes  received  the 
thanks  of  Government,  with  a  handsome  reward 
in  money.  He  had  also  the  high  testimony  of  the 
governor,  Mountstuart  Elphinstone,  in  his  favour. 
In  the  following  year  marks  of  approbation  were 
bestowed  on  him  for  a  valuable  memoir  on  the 
eastem  branches  of  the  delta  of  the  Indus.  In 
addition  to  the  customaiy  forms  of  approbatioiL 


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BURNES, 


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SIR  ALEXANDER 


LieutenaDt  Buriies  was,  on  this  occasion,  compli- 
mented on  the  proofs  which  his  labours  afforded 
of  a  disposition  to  combine  the  advancement  of 
general  knowledge  with  the  exemplary  discharge 
of  his  official  duties.  A  few  months  after,  he  fur- 
nished the  authorities  with  a  Memoir  supplemen- 
tary to  the  report  already  mentioned.  In  the, 
early  part  of  the  same  year  (1828)  he  presented  a 
memorial,  applying  for  permission  to  visit  the 
line  of  country  immediately  beyond  our  northera 
frontier,  lying  between  Mai'war  and  the  Indus, 
including  the  examination  of  the  Loonee  river. 
The  projected  journey  was,  however,  for  a  time 
delayed,  and  on  the  18th  March  he  was  appointed 
assistant  quartermaster-general  to  the  army. 

In  September  1829  he  acted,  in  concert  with 
Major  Holland,  as  assistant  to  the  political  agent 
in  Cutch,  in  prosecution  of  the  survey  of  the  north- 
west frontier,  of  which  an  account,  written  by 
himself,  will  be  found  in  the  Ti*ansactions  of  the 
Royal  Greographical  Society  of  London,  1834.  In 
1830  he  was  appointed  ostensibly  to  take  charge 
of  a  rich  gift,  consisting  of  English  dray-horses, 
sent  by  William  the  Fourth  to  Runjeet  Singh,  the 
ruler  of  Lahore,  but  in  reality  to  acquire  more  ac- 
curate information  as  to  the  geogi-apliy  of  the 
Indus,  which,  although  an  unusual  route,  was  the 
one  selected  on  this  occasion,  the  horses  having 
been  trans-shipped  from  Bombay,  where  they  were* 
lauded,  to  a  port  in  Cutch,  near  the  embouchm-e 
of  that  great  river.  That  a  better  colour  might  be 
given  to  a  deviation  from  the  customary  route,  at 
least  so  far  as  Hyderabad  in  Scinde,  their  capital, 
he  was  intrusted  with  presents  to  the  ameers  of 
Scinde.  A  regular  escort  of  British  troops  was 
declined,  and  a  guard  of  wild  Beluchees  was  found 
sufficient  to  insure  protection,  while  they  permit- 
ted an  intercouree  with  the  natives,  which  a  more 
regular  force  would  have  prevented.  The  expe- 
dition left  Mandavee,  in  Cutch,  on  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary* 1831,  and  arrived  at  Lahore  on  the  18th  of 
July,  Lieutenant  Burnes  having  succeeded  in 
making  a  full  survey  of  the  whole  Indus  delta,  as 
well  as  a  map  of  a  portion  of  its  course. 

After  his  return  from  this  mission,  having  pro- 
posed to  Lord  William  Bentinck,  then  governor- 
general  of  India,  to  undertake,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Indian  government,  an  expedition  into  Cen- 


tral Asia,  the  journey  was  commenced  on  the  2d 
of  January  1832.  The  details  of  this  journey 
have  been  published  in  his  celebrated  *  Travels  to 
Bokhara,'  one  of  the  most  interesting  works  in  the' 
English  language.  To  use  his  own  words,  he  had 
**  retraced  the  greater  paii;  of  the  route  of  the  Ma- 
cedonians;, trodden  the  kingdoms  of  Ponis  and 
Taxiles;  sailed  on  the  Hydaspes;  crossed  the 
Indian  Caucasus,  and  resided  in  the  celebrated 
city  of  Balkh,  from  which  Greek  monaichs,  far 
removed  from  the  academies  of  Corinth  and 
Athens,  had  once  disseminated  amongst  mankind 
a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  of  their  own 
histoiy,  and  the  world."  He  returned  to  Bombay, 
January  18, 1833,  and  soon  after,  he  laid  the  result 
of  his  travels  before  the  govenior-general,  whose 
special  thanks  he  received,  and  his  memoirs  were 
ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Court  of  Direc- 
tors. In  the  following  June  he  received  orders  to 
proceed  to  England  as  the  bearer  of  his  own  de- 
spatches; and  he  amved  in  I^ndon  early  in  Oc- 
tober, the  fame  of  his  adventures  having  long 
preceded  him.  His  reception  at  the  India  House, 
as  well  as  by  the  Board  of  Control,  was  cordial  in 
the  extreme;  and  on  the  30th  of  December  he 
was  introduced  at  couit.  He  afterwards  received 
the  special  acknowledgments  of  the  king,  William 
the  Fourth,  for  the  unpublished  map  and  memoir 
which  he  had  presented  to  his  majesty.  His  cel- 
ebrated work  on  Bokhara  was  published,  at  Lon- 
don, in  the  early  part  of  1834 ;  and  its  success 
was  almost  unprecedented  for  a  book  of  travels. 
Nearly  nine  hundred  copies  were  sold  in  a  single 
day.  Mr.  Murray,  the  publisher,  of  Albemarle 
street,  gave  the  author  eight  hundred  pounds  for 
the  copyright  of  the  first  edition.  It  was  imme- 
diately translated  into  the  German  and  Fi-ench 
languages,  and  Burnes,  in  his  next  visit  to  Cabul, 
in  1837,  found  that  the  Russian  emissaries  had 
been  using  the  French  edition  as  a  handbook  on 
their  way. 

While  in  England,  in  1884,  Burnes  was  made  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  an  honorary 
member  of  several  other  leamed  bodies.  In  May 
of  that  year  he  received,  from  the  Royal  Geogra- 
phical Society,  the  fourth  royal  premium  of  fifty 
guineas  for  his  navigation  of  the  river  Indus,  and 
liis  journey  to  Balkh  and  Bokhara  across  Centra! 


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SIR  ALEXANDER. 


Asia.  At  the  meeting  of  tiie  Royal  Asiatic  Soci- 
ety, on  February  21,  1835,  the  late  earl  of  Mun- 
ster,  vice-president,  in  the  chair.  Lieutenant 
*  Bumes  was  elected  an  honorary  member  for  hav- 
ing "  fixed,  with  accuracy,  the  position  of  Bokhara 
and  Baikh,  and  the  great  Himalayan  mountains, 
and  having  done  more  for  the  construction  of  a 
map  of  those  countries  than  had  been  done  since 
Alexander  the  Great."  On  this  occasion  he  was 
complimented  by  Sir  Alexander  Johnstone,  for 
having  almost  ascertained  a  continuous  route  and 
line  of  communication  between  Western  Asia  and 
the  Caspian  Sea,  as  also  for  his  excellent  diplo- 
matic arrangements  with  the  ameers  of  Singh. 
While  yet  a  mere  youth,  he  had  contributed,  from 
India,  many  valuable  papers  to  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society ;  and  the  museum  of  that  society  contains 
the  Bokhara  cloak  woi*n  by  him  in  his  travels  in 
the  Punjaub.  He  was  also  the  author  of  some 
papei-s  in  the  *  Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  of  London.'  To  the  British  Museum  he 
presented  one  of  the  richest  collections  of  Indian 
coins  in  this  country,  for  which  he  received  a  let- 
ter of  thanks  from  the  tnistees  of  that  national  in- 
stitution. 

After  a  sojourn  of  eighteen  months  in  Great 
Britain,  during  which  time  he  visited  his  native 
town,  Montrose,  Lieutenant  Bumos  left  London 
on  April  5,  1835,  and  reached  India  on  the  1st  of 
June,  through  France  and  Egypt,  and  so  by  the 
Red  Sea  packet.  On  his  arrival  at  Bombay  he 
was  durected  to  resume  the  duties  of  assistant  to 
the  resident  at  Cutch,  Colonel  Pottinger.  In  the 
following  October  he  was  deputed  on  an  important 
mission  to  Hyderabad  in  Scinde,  and,  in  all  the 
momentous  affairs  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and 
in  subsequent  negociations,  he  displaj'ed  his  accus- 
tomed ability  and  judgment,  and  accomplished  the 
most  important  results.  In  November,  1836,  he 
was  intrusted  with  a  mission  to  Dost  Mohammed, 
the  ruler  of  Afghanistan,  with  the  view  of  enter- 
ing into  commercial  relations  with  him ;  and  pro- 
ceeding from  Scinde  through  the  Punjaub,  and  by 
Peshawur  to  Cabul,  he  aiiived  at  the  latter  place 
September  20th,  1837.  Meantime,  Mohammed, 
Shah  of  Persia,  had  besieged  Hei*at  with  an  army 
of  sixty  thousand  men,  and  the  Indian  govern- 
ment had  become  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  Per- 


sia and  Russia  uniting  their  forces  with  those  of 
Afghanistan,  and  making  a  conjoint  attack  on  our 
Indian  empire.  The  Persians,  indeed,  were  forced 
to  retreat  from  Herat,  but  the  presence  of  the 
Russian  agent  Vicovitch,  at  Cabul,  perplexed  and 
alarmed  Buraes,  who  pressed  upon  Dost  Moham- 
med the  propriety  of  dismissing  him,  which  he 
refused  to  do,  but  gave  Bumes  himself  his  dismis- 
sal, April  24,  1838.  On  this  Burnes  was  directed 
to  repair  to  the  governor-general,  then  at  Simla,  and 
he  was  there  in  August  of  that  year.  Here  it  was 
resolved  to  replace  Shah  Shoojah  on  his  throne  at 
Cabul,  a  resolution  which  led  to  the  most  disas- 
trous consequences  to  our  troops  and  to  Bumes 
himself.  Whilst  at  Shikai-poor,  he  received  a  copy 
of  the  London  Gazette,  announcing  his  having 
been  knighted,  and  advanced  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  Indian  army.  He  next  pro- 
ceeded from  Scinde  on  a  politi,cal  mission  into  Bel- 
uchistan,  in  which,  however,  he  failed,  and  in 
April  1839,  he  joined  the  army  at  Quettah.  On 
the  final  restoration  of  the  Shah  Shoojah  to  Uie 
throne  of  Cabul,  in  September  1839,  Sir  Alexan- 
der was  appointed  political  resident  at  that  capital, 
with  a  salarj'  of  tliree  thousand  pounds  a-year. 
The  indiscreet  state  of  security  into  which  the 
British  allowed  themselves  to  fall  on  taking  pos- 
session of  Cabul  was  fatal  to  their  long  continu- 
ance in  that  capital.  In  one  of  the  last  letters 
which  Bumes  wrote  to  his  brother  he  states  that 
he  was  residing  quietly  in  a  little  cottage  in  the 
neighbom'hood  of  Cabul,  in  every  way  as  securely 
as  if  in  the  vicinity  of  Montrose.  But  this  state 
of  things  was  not  to  last.  At  the  very  outset  of 
the  insurrection  which  took  place  in  favour  of  Dost 
Mohammed,  on  the  2d  November  1841,  Colonel 
Bumes  was  slaughtered,  along  with  his  brother 
Charles,  and  seven  other  officers,  in  the  36th  year 
of  his  age.  After  his  death ,  was  published '  Cabool 
being  a  NaiTative  of  a  Journey  to  and  Residence 
in  that  city,  in  the  years  1836-7-8.  By  the  late 
Lieut.-Col.  Sir  Alexander  Bumes.*  London,  8vo. 
Sir  Alexander  Bumes  was  the  first  traveller 
who  opened  the  Indus  to  the  policy  of  England, 
and  extended  his  researches  to  the  shores  of  the 
Oxus,  the  ruins  of  Samarcand,  and  those  remote 
teiTitories  which  have,  within  so  short  a  space  of 
time,  become  the  scene  of  great  political  events, 


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489 


GILBERT. 


and  of  his  own  melancholy  and  untimely  fate. 
His  chief  characteristics  were  intrepidity,  discre- 
tion, and  wonderful  sagacity.  As  a  proof  of  these, 
it  is  narrated  of  him  that  he  dined  one  Christmas 
day,  in  great  state,  with  one  of  the  riyalis,  whose 
watches  he  had  on  that  day  twelvemonth  regu- 
lated, in  the  disguise  of  an  Armenian  watchmaker. 
Had  he  been  discovered,  his  head  would  not  have 
remained  tve  minutes  on  his  shoulders.  His  bix)- 
ther.  Lieutenant  Charles  Bumes,  of  the  17th  regi- 
ment of  native  infantry,  who  was  massacred  with 
him,  was  bom  on  January  12,  1812,  and  appoint- 
ed a  cadet  on  the  Bombay  establishment,  in  1885, 
by  Mr.  Lush,  as  a  compliment  to  the  semces  of 
Sir  Alexander.  Dr.  James  Burnes,  who  was 
created  K.H.  in  1837,  was  long  physician-general 
to  the  Bombay  aimy.  He  is  the  author  of  a 
Narrative  of  a  Visit  to  the  Court  of  Scinde,  and  a 
Sketch  of  the  History  of  Cutch,  8vo,  1881,  and  of  a 
Sketch  pf  the  Hlstoiy  of  the  Knights  Templars, 
1837.  Another  brother,  Mr.  Adam  Bumes,  is  a 
solicitor  of  great  respectability  in  Montrose.  Dr. 
David  Bumes,  physician  in  London,  another  of  the 
brothers,  who  had  preserved  every  letter  which 
Sir  Alexander  had  addressed  to  him  during  twenty 
years,  died  in  Montrose  in  1849. 

Burnet,  or  Burnktt,  originally  Burnard,  a  sarname  of 
Saxon  deriratioD.  Robert  Barnard,  who  settled  in  Teviot- 
dale  aa  earlj  as  1128,  was  the  first  of  the  name  in  Scotland. 
In  the  charter  of  the  foundation  of  the  abbacy  of  Selkirk  by 
Earl  david,  younger  son  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  Robertns  de 
Barnard  is  a  witness,  and  he,  or  his  son  of  the  same  name,  is 
also  witness  in  the  same  prince's  charters,  alter  he  had  be- 1 
come  King  David  the  first 

'  There  are  two  principal  families  of  the  name  in  Scotland, 
namelj,  Bamet  of  Bams,  m  Peebles-shu«,  andentlj  designed 
of  Bometknd,  or  of  that  ilk;  and  Bamet  of  Leys  in  iOncar- 
dmeshire.  Both  daun  the  chiefship.  The  first  profess  to  be 
descended  from  the  above-named  Robertas  de  Barnard,  bnt 
there  is  no  trace  of  them  in  aathentio  history  till  the  year 
1600,  when  retaras  of  the  services  of  the  portion  of  a  widQw 
of  one  nomination  of  tators  to  another  of  the  name  are  extant, 
by  which  it  appears  they  had  borne  for  some  time  the  desig- 
nation of  Baraets  of  Baraetland,  but  having  also  acqoired 
lands  called  Bams,  afterwards  became  designated  as  Bamets 
of  Bams.  Of  this  family  was  descended  Dr.  Alexander  Bur- 
net, archbishop  of  St  Andrews  after  Archbishop  Sharp,  that 
is  from  1679  till  his  death  in  August  1684.  He  bad  pre- 
viously been  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  and  subsequently  anshbidiop 
of  GUsgow,  and  while  in  the  latter  see,  he  preached  a  funeral 
sermon  on  the  death  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose,  from  the 
text,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord,**  published 
at  Ghisgow  in  1678,  4to. 

The  other  principal  family  of  the  name,  Burnett  of  l^ys,  bus 
flourished  for  more  than  five  centuries  in  the  north  of  Scot- 
land.   In  1324,  Alexander  de  Bumard,  ancestor  of  the  Bur- 


netts of  Leys,  obtained  a  charter  from  Robert  the  Bmce  of 
knds  m  the  sliire  of  Kincardme.  The  grandson  of  this  Al- 
exander, John  de  Bumard,  held  the  office  of  king's  macer. 
His  eldest  son,  Robert  Burnett,  was  the  first  that  bore  the 
designation  of  Leys.  Alexander  Bumett,  eleventh  pro- 
prietor of  Leys,  had,  with  seven  daughters,  six  sons.  1.  Al- 
exander, who  predeceased  his  father,  without  issue.  2.  Tho- 
mas, first  baronet  -8.  James,  of  Craigmyle,  progenitor  of 
the  Burnetts  of  Monboddo  and  Kemno.  4.  Robcnl,  Lord  Cri- 
mond,  a  lord  of  session  (1661),  father  of  the  celebrated  Bishop 
Burnet  (see  next  article).  5.  George,  died  unmarried.  6. 
John,  factor  for  the  Scots  at  Campvere. 

The  second  son,  Sir  Thomas,  was  created  a  baronet  of  No- 
va Scotia,  31st  April  1626.  He  was  an  earnest  supporter  of 
the  covenant  The  8d  baronet,  Sir  Thomas,  member  for  Kin- 
cardineshire ui  the  last  Scottish  pariiaroent  was  a  strenuous 
opponent  of  tlie  union.  At  tLe  death  of  Sir  Robert,  6th  bar- 
onet, unmarried,  the  title  devolved  upon  his  cousin,  Su*  Tho- 
mas, 6th  baronet,  eldest  son  of  William  Burnett  of  Criggie, 
2d  son  of  8d  baronet  He  married  Catherine,  sister  of  Sir 
Alexander  Ramsay,  6th  baronet  of  Balmain,  with  issue. 
He  died  in  1788.  His  eldest  son,  Su-  Robert,  7th  baronet, 
an  officer  in  the  Royal  Scots  Fnsileen,  served  throughout  the 
first  American  war,  and  was  taken  prisoner  at  Saratoga,  on 
the  surrender  of  General  Burgoyne  in  1777.  He  died  in  1837. 

His  brother,  Alexander  Bumett  of  Stracban,  2d  son  of  the 
6th  baronet,  assumed  the  name  of  Ramsay,  in  lien  of  his  pa- 
tronymic, Bumett,  and  was  created  a  baronet,  13th  May 
1806,  on  uiheriting  the  estates  of  his  uncle,  Sir  Alexander 
Ramsay,  6th  baronet  of  Balmain.    (See  Ramsay.) 

Sir  Thomas  Burnett,  8th  baronet  of  Leys,  eldest  son  of  7th 
baronet,  died  in  February  1849,  when  his  brother.  Sir  Alex- 
ander, H.LO.S.,  became  9th  baronet,  and  died,  unmarried, 
20th  Maroh  1866.  His  next  brother.  Sir  James  Horn  Bur- 
nett, succeeded  as  10th  baronet 

According  to  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  the  Bumetts  of  Leys, 
in  their  arms  carry  the  hunting  hom,  in  base,  with  a  High- 
lander in  a  hunting  garb  and  a  greyhound,  for  supporters,  to 
show  that  they  are  the  king*s  foresters  in  the  north. 

BURNET,  Gilbert,  D.D.,  a  celebrated  histo- 
I  nan  and  divine,  eldest  son  of  Robert  Burnet,  of 
Crimond,  (see  above,)  was  bom  at  Edinburgh, 
Sep.  18, 1643.  His  father,  who  was  strongly  at- 
tached  to  episcopacy,  was  after  the  restoration 
appointed  one  of  the  lords  of  session  under  the 
title  of  Ix>rd  Crimond.  His  mother,  Rachel  John- 
ston,  was  sister  of  Sir  Archibald  Johnston,  Lord 
Wannston.  His  youngest  brother.  Sir  Thomas 
Burnet,  was  an  eminent  physician  in  Edinburgh. 

Gilbert,  after  being  instructed  by  his  father  in 
Latin,  was  at  ten  years  of  age  sent  to  Mai-ischal 
college,  Aberdeen,  where  he  took  the  degree  of 
M.A.  before  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age.  His 
inclination  at  first  led  him  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  but  he  soon  applied  himself  to  that  of  divin- 
ity,  and  was  licensed  to  preach,  in  1661,  betore 
he  had  reached  his  eighteenth  year,  when  his 
cousin.  Sir  Alexander  Burnet,  oflfered  him  a  bene- 


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GILBERT. 


flco,  which  he  refused,  on  accoaDt  of  his  youth. 
In  1C63,  about  two  years  after  the  death  of  bis 
father,  he  went  for  about  six  months  to  Oxford 
and  Cambridge.  In  1664,  he  made  a  tour  in 
Holland  and  France,  where,  especially  in  the  for- 
mer countiy,  he  acquired  those  pnnciples  of  toler- 
ation in  religious  matters  which  afterwards  distin- 
guished him.  On  his  arrival  in  London,  on  his 
way  home,  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Society. 

On  his  retuni  to  Sco'tland,  he  was,  by  Sir  Ro- 
bert Fletcher,  presented  to  the  parish  of  Saltoun 
in  East  Lothian,  in  1665,  on  which  occasion  he 
received  ordination  from  the  bishop  of  Edinburgh, 
lie  remained  at  Saltoun  for  five  yeara,  and  while 
there  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  pastoral  assi- 
duity. So  great  was  his  generosity  and  self 
denial,  that  of  his  stipend,  all  that  remained  above 
what  was  i*equired  for  his  own  subsistence,  he 
gave  away  in  charity.  A  parishioner  whose  goods 
had  been  seized  for  debt,  once  applied  to  him  for 
some  little  assistance.  He  inquired  how  much  it 
would  take  to  enable  him  again  to  begin  bnsiness, 
and  on  being  told  he  ordered  his  servant  to  give 
him  the  money.  *^  Sir,  said  his  sei-vant,  '^  it  is  all 
the  money  we  have  in  the  house."  "  It  is  well," 
was  the  reply,  "  go  and  pay  it  to  the  poor  man. 
You  do  not  know  the  pleasure  there  is  in  making 
a  man  glad."  Although  he  afterwards  rose  to 
dignity  and  wealth,  he  ever  retained  an  affection- 
ate remembrance  of  the  parishioners  of  Saltoun, 
his  first  cure,  and  on  his  death  he  bequeathed 
twenty  thousand  merks  for  the  benefit  of  that 
parish,  to  be  applied  in  erecting  and  partially  en- 
dowing a  new  schoolhouse,  in  enlarging  a  library 
for  the  use  of  the  parochial  incumbent,  in  clothing 
and  educating  thirty  poor  children,  and  in  reliev- 
ing the  necessities  of  the  parochial  poor.  The 
children  who  continue  to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  be- 
quest are  populai*ly  called  **  bishops,"  and  occupy 
in  the  church  a  gallery  which  bears  the  name  of 
"  the  bishop's  laft." 

While  employed  in  his  ministerial  duties,  Bur- 
net was  not  inattentive  to  the  neglect  and  miscon- 
duct of  many  of  the  clergy  who  had  been  thrust 
into  benefices  after  the  violent  introduction  of 
episcopacy  at  the  Restoration,  and  in  1666  he 
drew  up  and  circulated  in  manuscript,  a  strong 


representation,  or  memorial,  against  certain  abuses 
of  their  authority,  which  he  imputed  to  the  Scot- 
tish bishops.  In  1668  he  was  consulted  by  the 
government  as  to  a  remedy  for  the  disorders  that 
prevailed  in  consequence  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
presbyterian  form  of  church  government,  which 
was  most  in  accordance  with  the  feelings,  the 
rights,  and  the  spirit  of  the  people;  and  at  his 
suggestion  the  expedient  of  an  Indulgence  to  the 
presbyterian  ministera  was,  in  the  following  year, 
adopted.  This,  however,  only  made  matters  worse, 
as  all  compromises  have  inevitably  a  tendency  to 
do.  About  this  time  he  became  acquainted  with 
Anne,  duchess  of  Hamilton,  who  intrusted  him 
with  the  papers  belonging  to  her  father  and  nnde, 
upon  which  he  drew  up  the  *  M€knoirs  of  the  Dukes 
of  Hamilton,'  which  appeared  in  London  in  folio 
in  1677. 

In  1669  he  was  elected  professor  of  divinity  in 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  and  at  the  urgent  re- 
commendation of  Archbishop  Leigh  ton,  whose  ac- 
quaintance he  had  made  in  1662,  he  accepted  of 
the  appointment,  and  removed  to  Glasgow,  where, 
the  same  year,  he  published  his  *  Modest  and  Free 
Conference  between  a  Conformist  and  a  Non- 
Conformist.'  With  Leighton  he  appears  to  have 
lived  upon  terms  of  great  cordiality,  and  to  Bur- 
net the  world  is  indebted  for  a  copious  and  most 
interesting  record  of  the  evangelical  virtues  of 
that  eminent  and  amiable  prelate. 

While  engaged  upon  his  memoirs  of  the  dukes 
of  Hamilton,  he  was  invited  to  London  by  the 
duke  of  Lauderdale,  by  whom  he  was  introduced 
to  the  king.  At  this  time  he  was  offered  his 
choice  of  one  of  four  vacant  Scottish  bishoprics, 
but  he  refused  to  accept  any  of  them.  Soon  after 
his  return  to  Glasgow,  he  married  Lady  Margaret 
Kennedy,  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Cassillis,  a  lady 
of  distinguished  piety  and  knowledge,  whose  senti- 
ments were  strongly  in  favour  of  the  presbyterians. 
A  collection  of  Letters  from  this  lady  to  John 
duke  of  Lauderdale  was  published  at  Edinburgh 
in  1828. 

In  1672  Mr.  Burnet  published  *  A  Vindication 
of  the  Authority,  Constitution,  and  Laws  of  the 
Church  and  State  of  Scotland,'  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  again  offered  a  Scottish  bishopric, 
with  a  promise  of  the  next  vacant  archbishopric 


I     i 


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491 


GILBERT. 


which  he  also  declined.  He  resisted  all  the  efforts 
that  were  made  to  engage  him  in  support  of  the 
oppressive  measures  of  the  court.  In  1678  he  re- 
yisited  London,  when  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
king^s  chaplains  in  ordinary.  In  the  ensuing  year 
he  deemed  it  expedient  to  resign  his  chair  at  Glas- 
gow, when  he  removed  altogether  to  Loudon. 
The  fi-eedom  which  he  used  in  speaking  to  the 
duke  of  Lauderdale,  regarding  the  measures  of  his 
government,  lost  him  the  friendship  of  that  un- 
principled minister;  and  his  opposition  to  the 
popish  designs  of  the  court  caused  his  name  to  be 
struck  out  of  the  list  of  his  majesty's  chaplains. 
In  1675,  on  the  recommendation  of  Lord  HolUs, 
he  was  appointed  preacher  at  the  Rolls  chapel  by 
Sir  Harbottle  Gftmstone,  Master  of  the  Rolls. 
He  was  soon  after  chosen  lecturer  of  St.  Clement 
Danes  In  the  Strand,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
popular  preachers  then  in  the  metropolis.  In 
1679  he  published  the  first  volume  of  his  '  History 
of  the  Reformation,^  which  procured  for  him  the 
thanks  of  both  houses  of  parliament.  The  second 
volume  appeared  In  1681,  and  the  third,  whicli 
contained  a  supplement  to  the  two  former,  in  1714. 

Having  attended  the  sick  bed  of  a  woman  who 
had  been  one  of  the  paramours  of  the  profligate 
earl  of  Rochester,  that  nobleman  sent  for  him, 
and  for  a  whole  winter  held  various  conversations 
with  him  upon  those  topics  with  which  sceptics  and 
men  of  loose  principles  attack  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. The  happy  effect  of  these  conferences,  in 
leading  the  earl  to  a  sincere  repentance,  occasioned 
the  publication  of  Mr.  Burnet's  Interesting  account 
of  the  life  and  death  of  that  nobleman,  published 
In  1680. 

Duriug  the  affair  of  the  popish  plot,  Dr.  Burnet 
was  often  consulted  by  Charles  the  Second  on  the 
state  of  the  nation.  The  king  offered  him  the 
bishopric  of  Chichester,  then  vacant,  "  if  he  would 
entirely  come  into  his  interests,"  but  he  declined 
it  on  such  terms,  preferring  to  remain  true  to  his 
principles.  In  1682  he  published  the  Life  of  Sir 
Mathew  Hale,  and  some  other  works.  About 
this  time  also  he  wi-ote  his  celebrated  letter  to 
King  Charles,  i-eproving  him  in  the  severest  style, 
both  for  his  public  misconduct  and  his  private 
vices.  His  majesty  read  it  twice  over,  and  then 
threw  it  into  the  fii-e.    In  1683,  after  the  execu- 


tion of  Lord  Russell,  whom  he  attended  on  the 
scaffold,  he  was  examined  before  the  House  of 
Commons,  with  regard  to  that  nobleman's  last 
speech,  which  it  was  suspected  he  had  written  for 
him.  In  1683  he  published  a  '  Translation  of  Sir 
Thomas  More's  Utopia,*  and  one  or  two  other 
translations.  In  1684  he  was,  by  mandate  from 
the  court,  discharged  from  his  lecture  at  St. 
Clement  Danes,  and  also  prohibited  from  again 
preaching  at  the  Rolls  chapel.  In  1 685  he  brought 
out  his  *Llfe  of  Dr.  William  Bedell,  bishop  of 
Kilmoi*e.' 

On  the  accession  of  James  II.  and  YII.  to  the 
throne,  he  obtained  leave  to  go  out  of  the  king- 
dom, and  firat  went  over  to  Paris,  but  afterwards 
made  a  tour  In  Italy,  an  account  of  which  he  pub- 
lished in  letters  addressed  to  Mr.  Boyle.  He 
subsequently  pursued  his  travels  through  Switzer- 
land and  Crermany.  Having  arrived  at  Utrecht, 
by  the  Invitation  of  the  prince  of  Orange  he  went 
to  the  Hague,  and  had  a  share  in  the  councils 
concerning  the  affairs  of  England.  He  became  in 
consequence  an  object  of  great  jealousy  to  King 
James,  who  ordered  a  prosecution  for  high  treason 
to  be  commenced  against  him  both  in  England 
and  Scotland ;  but  having  obtained  the  rights  of 
naturalization  In  Holland,  when  James  demanded 
his  person  from  the  States,  they  refused  to  deliver 
him  up.  His  wife.  Lady  Margaret,  being  dead, 
he  about  this  time  married  a  Dutch  lady  of  for- 
tune, of  the  name  of  Mary  Scott,  descended  from 
the  family  of  Buccleuch. 

Dr.  Burnet  had  a  veiy  important  share  in  the 
whole  conduct  of  the  Revolution  of  1688,  the  pro- 
ject of  which  he  gave  early  notice  of  to  the  court 
of  Hanover.  He  accompanied  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange to  England  in  the  quality  of  chaplain ;  and 
he  was  rewarded  for  his  services  with  the  bishopric 
of  Salisbury,  being  consecrated  March  31,  1689. 
In  a  *  Pastoral  Letter'  to  his  clergy,  concerning 
the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  to  King 
William  and  Queen  Mary,  he  maintained  their 
right  to  the  throne  on  the  ground  of  conquest, 
which  gave  so  much  offence,  that,  three  years  af- 
terwards, this  '  Letter'  was  ordered  by  parliament 
to  be  burnt  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hangman 
In  1698  he  was  appointed  preceptor  to  the  duke 
of  Gloucester,  the  son  of  the  princess  (afterwards 


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Qaeen)  Aiine.  On  this  occasion  he  wished  to  re- 
sign his  bishopric,  but  was  prevailed  upon  to  re- 
tain it  at  the  request  of  King  William  himself.  In 
preference  to  all  the  ministers,  he  was  by  the  king 
appointed  to  name  the  princess  Sophia,  Electress 
of  Brunswick,  next  in  succession  to  Queen  Anne, 
ip  the  famous  bill  for  settling  the  succession  to  the 
throne ;  and  in  1701  he  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee to  which  the  bill  was  referred.  Having 
lost  his  second  wife  by  the  smallpox,  in  that  year 
he  married  Elizabeth,  the  widow  of  Robert  Berke- 
ley, Esq.  This  lady  died  in  1709,  leaving  a  pious 
book,  entitled  'Method  of  Devotion.'  In  1699 
he  published  his  *  Exposition  of  the  Thirty- nine 
Articles.*  The  scheme  for  the  augmentation  of 
poor  livings,  out  of  the  first  fruits  and  tenths  due 
to  the  Crown,  originated  with  Bishop  Burnet. 
He  died  17th  March,  1715,  and  was  buried  at  St. 
James',  Clerkenwell,  where  a  monument  is  erect- 
ed to  his  memory.  His  *  History  of  his  Own 
Times  *  was  published  after  his  death  by  his  son, 
Mr.,  afterwards  Sir  Thomas,  Burnet.  Bishop 
Burnet  possessed  a  considerable  share  of  vanity 
and  bustling  offlciousness,  and  seems  not  to  have 
had  the  most  capacious  judgment,  but  these  weak- 
nesses in  his  character  were  amply  compensated 
for,  by  the  excellence  of  his  heart,  by  his  disinter- 
estedness, his  courage  and  his  public  spirit,  and 
by  the  remarkable  ability  which  he  displayed  both 
as  a  divine  and  a  historian.  The  following  is  his 
portrait  : 


Bishop  Burnet's  works  are 

Disoourae  on  the  Memory  of  Sir  Robert  Fletcher  of  Sal- 
toon.    Edin.  1665,  8yo. 

Sermon  preached  before  the  Prince  of  Orange,  on  Dan.  xii. 
a    166a.  4to 


Observations  on  the  First  and  Second  of  the  Canons,  ooni- 
monlj  ascribed  to  the  Holy  Apostles.    Glasg.  1673,  Svo. 

Vindication  of  the  Authority,  Constitution,  and  Laws  of 
the  Church  and  State  of  Sootknd,  in  four  Conferences;  where- 
in the  Answer  to  the  Dialogues  betwixt  the  Conformist  and 
the  Nonconformist  is  examined.    Ghisg.  1673,  Svo. 

The  Mystery  of  Iniquity  unveiled.    Lond.  1672,  Svo. 

A  Rational  Method  of  proving  the  Truth  of  the  Christian 
Religion  as  it  is  professed  in  the  Church  of  England.  Lond. 
1675,  12mo. 

The  Dutiful  Subject ;  a  Sermon  on  Rom.  xiiL  5.  1675,  4  to. 

The  Royal  Martyr  lamented ;  a  Sermon  on  2  Sam,  ii.  12. 
1675,  4to. 

Relation  of  a  Conference  held  about  Religion,  at  London, 
April  3,  1676,  by  Dr.  Stiliiiigfleet  and  Gilbert  Burnet,  with 
some  Gentlemen  of  the  Church  of  Rome.     I»nd.  1676,  Sva 

Subjection  for  Conscience-sake,  asserted  in  a  Sennon. 
Lond.  1675,  4to. 

A  Vindication  of  the  Ordinations  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.   Lond.  1677,  Svo. 

Memours  of  the  Lives  and  Actions  of  James  and  William, 
Dukes  of  Hamilton,  &c,  in  which  an  account  is  given  of  the 
Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Scotland,  with  other 
Transactions,  both  in  England  and  Germany,  from  the  year 
1625  to  1652.     Lond.  1677,  foL 

History  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Lond.  1679-81,  2  vols.  fol.  Vol.  iii.  being  a  Supplement  to 
the  other  two.  Lond.  1715,  3  vols.  fol.  Lond.  1609,  4  vok 
fol.    Abridged.  Lond.  1683,  and  1715,  fbl. 

Letter  to  the  Eari  of  Rochester  as  he  lay  on  his  Death- bed. 
1680,  foL 

The  Life  and  Death  of  John,  Earl  of  Rochester.  1680, 
Svo.   1724,  Svo. 

Fast  Sermon  for  the  Fire  of  I^ndon,  on  Amos  iv.  11, 12. 
1680,  4to. 

Sermon  on  the  Election  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  on  Matth.  xii. 
25.    1681,  4to. 

The  Policy  of  Rome ;  or  the  True  sentiments  of  the  Court 
and  Cardinals  there,  concerning  Religion  and  the  Gospel,  as 
they  are  delivered  by  Cardinal  Falavidni  in  bis  History  oi 
the  Council  of  Trent    Lond.  1681,  8vo. 

Letters  during  the  late  Contest  in  France,  concerning  the 
Regale.    Lond.  1681,  Svo. 

The  last  Confessions,  Prayers,  and  Meditations  of  Lieute- 
nant John  Stem,  delivered  by  him  on  the  Cart,  immediately 
before  his  Execution,  to  Dr.  Burnet ;  together  with  the  hut 
Confession  of  George  Bororky,  signed  by  him  in  the  prison. 
Lond.  1682,  fol. 

History  of  the  Rights  of  Princes  in  dibpoeing  of  Ecclesias- 
tical Benefices  and  Church  Lands.     Lond.  1682,  Sva 

The  Life  of  Sir  Matthew  Hnle,  Knt.  Lord  Chief  Justice  ot 
England ;  Wilmot,  Earl  of  Rochester,  and  Queen  Maiy 
1682,  2  vols.  Svo.    New  edit  1774,  Svo. 

Letter  of  the  Clergy  of  France  to  the  Protestation.  Trans- 
lated and  exammed.    Lond.  1683,  Svo. 

Copies  of  certain  Letters  which  have  passed  between  Spain 
and  England,  in  Matters  of  Religion.     Lond.  1685,  Svo. 

Life  of  William  Bedell,  Bbhop  of  Kilmore.  Lond.  1685 
Svo. 

A  Letter  to  Simon  Lowth,  occasioned  by  his  book  of 
Church  Power.     Lond.  1685,  4to. 

Reflections  on  Mr.  Varillas'  History  of  the  Revolutions 
that  have  happened  in  Europe,  in  Matters  of  Religion,  and 
more  particularly  on  his  ninth  Book  that  relates  to  England. 
Amst  1686,  12mo.  Continuation.  Amst  1687, 12mo.  De- 
fence of  the  same.    Amst  1687, 12mo. 


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Tnyela,  with  his  Answer  to  Bir.  Varillas.    Amst  1686. 

LetterSf  oontaining  an  aocoont  of  what  seemed  most  re- 
markable in  Switzerland,  Italy,  &c    1686,  8to. 

Trarels  throogh  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  some  parts  of 
Germany,  in  the  years  1685-6.    Rott  1687,  8yo. 

Death  of  the  Primitive  Peraecotors,  transUted  from  Lao- 
tantius.    Amst  1687, 12mo. 

Letters  concerning  the  State  of  Italy.    1688,  8yo. 

Reflections  on  Varillas*  Book  of  Heresy,  as  far  as  relates 
to  Enffiah  Matters,  especially  those  of  Wickliff.  Lond. 
1688, 12mo. 

Vindication  of  himself  fix>m  Calumnies,  in  Parllamentum 
Pactficom.    Lond.  1688,  4to. 

The  Case  of  Compnlsion  in  Matters  of  Religion,  stated. 
Lond.  1688,  8vo. 

Sermon  preached  before  the  Prince  of  Orange,  on  Psalm 
cxviil  23.    1688,  8vo. 

An  Exhortation  to  Peace  and  Union ;  a  Sermon  on  Acts 
TiL26.    1689, 4to. 

Christmas  Sermon,  on  1  Tim.  iiL  16.    1689,  4to. 

Eighteen  Papers  relating  to  the  affairs  of  Church  and  State 
during  the  reign  of  King  James  II.    Lond.  1689,  4to. 

A  Letter  to  Mr.  Thevenot,  containing  a  censure  of  Mr.  Le 
Grand*s  History  of  King  Heniy  the  VIII.*s  Divorce,  with  a 
Censure  of  Mr.  De  Meaux*s  History  of  the  Variations  of  the 
Protestant  Churches.    Lond.  1689,  4to. 

Six  Papers,  with  an  Apology  for  the  Church  of  England, 
and  an  Enquiry  into  the  Measures  of  Submission.  Lond. 
1689,  4to. 

Pastoral  Letter  concerning  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  Ring 
William  and  Queen  Mary.    Lond.  1689,  4to. 

Sermons  on  various  Occasions.  London,  1689-94,  4to. 
Glasgow,  1742,  12mo. 

Some  Passages  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  John,  (Wilmot) 
Earl  of  Rochester.    Lond.  1692, 1700,  8vo. 

Discourse  of  the  Pastoral  Care.    Lond.  1692.  4to. 

Letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry,  concerning 
a  book  called.  Specimen  of  some  Errors  and  Defects  in  the 
History  of  the  Reformation.    Lond.  1698,  4to. 

Reflections  on  the  History  of  the  English  Reformation. 
Amst  4to. 

Four  Sermons  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Sarum, 
Lond.  1694,  8vo. 

Essay  on  the  Memory  of  the  late  Queen  Mary,  consort  to 
King  WiUiam  lU.    Lond.  1695,  8vo. 

Animadvernons  on  Mr.  HiU^s  Vindication  of  the  Primitive 
Fathers,  against  Bishop  Burnet    Lond.  1695,  4to. 

Lent  Sermon,  preached  before  the  King,  on  2  Cor.  vL  1. 
1695,  4to. 

Vindication  of  his  Funeral  Sermon  on  Archbishop  TUlotson, 
Lond.  1696,  8vo. 

Thanksgiving  for  the  Peace;  a  Sermon  on  2  Chron.  ix.  8. 
1697,  4to. 

The  time  when  Christianity  was  made  known;  Christmas 
Sermon,  on  GaL  iv.  4.    1697,  4to. 

Lent  Sermon,  on  Ephes.  v.  2.    1697,  4to. 

Exposition  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England.    Lond.  1699,  foL    1700,  1720,  fol. 

Reflections  on  a  Book,  entitled,  The  Rights,  Powers,  and 
Privileges  of  the  English  Convocation,  stated.  Lond.  1700, 
4to. 

Charitable  Reproof;  a  Sermon  on  Pror.  xxvii.  5,  6.    1700. 

Defence,  m  Answer  to  the  Prefatory  Discourse.  Lond. 
1708,  4to. 

On  a  Brief  for  the  Exiles  of  Orange;  a  Sermon  on  1  Cor. 
Eh.26,  27.    1704,  4to. 


Collection  of  Tracts  and  Disooturses,  written  in  the  yean 
1677  to  1704.     1704,  2  vols.  4to. 

Exposition  of  the  Church  Catechism.    Lond.  1710,  8va 

Remarks  on  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury's  Speech  in  relation  to 
the  first  Article  of  Dr.  Sacheverell*s  Impeachment.  Nott. 
1710,  4to. 

Preface  to  the  Introduction  to  the  8d  vol  of  the  History  of 
the  Reformation.    Lond.  1713,  8vo. 

Fourteen  Sermons;  with  an  Essay  towards  a  New  Book  of 
Homilies,  in  Seven  Sermons.    Lond.  1718,  8vo. 

A  Discourse  of  the  Pastoral  Care.    Lond.  1718,  8vo. 

Four  Letters  which  passed  between  him  and  Mr.  Henry 
Dodwell,  published  by  Mr.  Rob.  Nelson.    London,  1718,  8vo. 

Introduction  to  the  3d  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Re- 
formation.   Lond.  1714,  8vo. 

Demonstrations  of  True  Religion,  in  16  Sermons,  at  Boyle*s 
Lecture.    Lond.  1726,  2  vols.  8vo. 

History  of  his  own  Times.  From  the  restoration  of  King 
Charles  II.  to  the  oondnsion  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  at 
Utrecht,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  published  after  his 
death.  Lond.  1724-34,  2  vols.  foL  Another  edit  1725,  6 
vols.  12mo.  The  best  edition  is  that  by  Dr.  Flaxman,  with 
Notes,  Corrections,  and  Memoirs  of  the  Author.  Lond.  1753, 
6  vols.  8vo. 

Letters  between  him  and  Mr.  Hutc-hinson  on  the  founda- 
tion of  Virtue  and  Moral  Goodness.    Lond-  1735,  8vo. 

Abridgement  of  the  Sermons  preached  at  Boyle*s  Lectures. 
Lond.  1787,  4  vols.  8vo. 

Practical  Sermons.    Lond.  1747,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Thoughts  on  Education,  now  first  printed  from  an  original 
Manuscript    1760,  8vo. 

A  Memorial  ofiered  to  her  Royal  Highness  the  Prinoesi 
Sophia,  Duchess-Dowager  of  Hanover;  containing  a  Delinea- 
tion of  the  Constitution  and  Policy  of  England;  with  Anec- 
dotes concerning  Remarkable  Persons  of  that  Time.   1815, 8vo. 

Bishop  Barnet  left  tbi*ee  sons.  William,  his 
eldest  son,  was  educated  as  a  gentleman-common- 
er in  the  nniversitj  of  Cambridge,  and  made 
choice  of  the  profession  of  the  law.  He  was  a 
great  snfferer  in  the  South  Sea  scheme  of  1720, 
and  became  governor,  first  of  New  York  and  New 
Jei-sey,  and  subsequently  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire.  He  died  at  Boston  in  1729. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  tract,  entitled  *  A  View  of 
Scripture  Prophecy.' 

Gilbert,  the  second  son,  was  educated  at  Ley- 
den  and  Oxford  for  the  chnrch.  He  was  made 
king^s  chaplain  in  1718 ;  and  is  said  to  have  been 
a  contributor  to  a  periodical  published  at  Dublin 
in  1725-6-7,  entitled  *  Hibemicus's  Letters,'  and 
also  to  another  called  *The  Freethinker.'  He 
distinguished  himself  as  a  writer  on  the  side  of 
Bishop  Hoadly  in  the  Bangorian  controversy,  and 
was  considered  by  that  eminent  prelate  as  one  of 
his  ablest  defenders.  In  1719  he  published  an 
abridgment  of  the  third  volume  of  his  father's 
History  of  the  Reformation.    He  died  early. 


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Gilbert*8  works  are : 

An  Abridgement  of  the  3d  vol.  of  his  Father's  Histoiy  of 
the  Reformation.     1719. 

The  Generation  of  the  Son  of  Qod  as  taught  in  Scriptore, 
considered.     Lond.  1720,  8vo. 

On  the  Accession;  a  Sermon  on  Dent.  iv.  6 — 8.    1725,  Svo. 

A  Letter  to  the  Rer.  Mr.  Trapp,  occatdoned  by  his  Sermon 
on  the  real  Nature  of  the  Church  and  Kingdom  of  Christ. 

An  Answer  to  Mr.  Law's  Letter  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Bangor. 

A  Full  and  Free  Examination  of  several  Important  Points 
relating  to  Church  Authority,  the  Christian  Priesthood,  the 
Positive  Institutions  of  the  Christian  Religion,  and  Church 
Communion,  in  Answer  to  the  Notions  and  Principles  con- 
tained in  Mr.  Law's  second  Letter  to  the  Lord  Bishop  Bangor. 

The  Free  Thinker,  afterwards  collected  mto  3  vols.    12roOk 

Forty-eight  Practical  Sermons  on  Various  Subjects.  1747, 
2  vols.  8vo. 

Thomas,  the  third  son,  studied  at  Leyden  and 
Oxford,  and  was  destined  for  the  law.  By  his 
dissipation  in  early  life,  he  gave  his  father  mnch 
uneasiness.  In  1712  and  1713,  he  wrote  several 
political  pamphlets  in  favour  of  the  Whigs,  and 
against  the  administration  of  the  last  four  years 
of  Queen  Anne.  One  of  these  caused  his  being 
taken  into  custody  in  January  1713.  One  day 
being  unusually  giave,  his  father  asked  him  what 
was  the  subject  of  his  meditation : — "  A  greater 
work,"  he  replied,  "  than  your  lordship*s  History 
of  the  Reformation."  "What  is  that,  Tom?" 
asked  the  father.  "My  own  refonnation,  my 
lord."  He  afterwards  became  one  of  the  best 
lawyers  of  his  time.  He  was  for  several  years  his 
majesty^s  consul  at  Lisbon ;  and  in  1741  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  judges  of  the  court  of  common 
pleas.  He  also  received  the  honour  of  knighthood, 
and  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society. 
He  died  January  6,  1753.  He  was  introduced  by 
Pope  into  the  Dunciad ;  and  some  poems  of  his 
were  published  in  1777. 

Sir  Thomas  Burnetts  works  are : 

A  Letter  to  the  People,  to  be  left  for  them  at  the  Booksel- 
lers, with  a  word  or  two  of  the  Band-Box  Plot. 

Our  Ancestors  as  wise  as  we,  or  Ancient  Precedents  for 
Modem  Facts,  in  Answer  to  a  Letter  from  a  Noble  Lord. 

Tlie  History  of  Ingratitude^  or  a  Second  Part  of  Ancient 
Precedents  for  Modem  Facts. 

Trath,  if  yon  can  find  it ;  or  a  Character  of  the  present 
Ministry  and  Parliament 

A  certain  Information  of  a  certain  Discourse  that  happened 
at  a  certain  Gentleman^s  House,  in  a  certain  Country,  written 
by  a  certain  Person  then  present,  to  a  certain  Friend  now  at 
London,  from  whence  you  may  collect  the  great  certainty  of 
the  Account 

Some  o^w  Proofs,  by  which  it  appears,  that  the  Pretender 


is  troly  James  the  Third:  tne  whole  of  these  published  in 
1712-18,  anon. 

The  Necessity  of  Impeaching  the  late  Ministry,  in  a  Letter 
to  the  Eari  of  Halifax.     Lond.  1715,  8ro. 

A  Travestie  of  the  First  Book  of  the  Hiad,  under  the  titb 
of  Homerides,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Ducket     1715. 

The  First  Volume  of  his  Father's  Histoiy  of  his  own  Time, 
with  Exphmatoiy  Notes.     1723. 

Some  remarks  in  defence  of  the  preceding.     1732. 

The  Second  Volume  of  his  Father's  History,  to  which  he 
added,  A  Life  of  that  eminent  Prelate.    1734. 

Verses  written  on  sereral  occasions,  between  the  yean 
1712-21.    Lond.  1777,  4to. 

BURNET,  Thomas  (Sir),  an  eminent  physi- 
cian of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  brother  of  the 
celebrated  Bishop  Burnet,  practised  at  Ekiinbnrgh, 
and  had  the  degree  of  M.D.  Very  little  is  known 
concerning  him.  On  the  title-pages  of  his  books 
he  styled  himself  ^Medicus  Regius,  et  Ck>Ilegii 
Regii  Medicorum  Edinbnrgensis  Socius.*  He  was 
a  friend  of  Sir  Robert  Sibbald.  and  joined  with 
him  in  a  formal  declaration  against  some  oppres- 
sive and  unwarrantable  proceedings  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  at  Edinburgh,  in  relation  to  the 
summary  suspension  of  some  of  the  members, 
which  declaration  is  dated  20th  November  1699. 
The  date  of  his  death  is  unknown.  He  left  tw4 
very  useful  works,  the  titles  of  which  are : 

Thesaurus  Medicine  PracticsB  praestantissimoram  obsenra- 
tionibus  coUectus.  Lond.  1673,  4to.  A  collection  from  the 
best  practical  writers,  and  treating  of  410  diseases,  with  tbor 
causes,  signs,  and  methods  of  cure.  In  the  aid  he  gires 
some  account  of  Ruminating  Man.  Of  this  work  twehre  edi- 
tions are  enumerated  by  Haller,  the  last  of  which,  greatly  en- 
Urged  by  the  author,  was  published  at  Genera,  in  1693,  4ta 

Hypocrates  contractus,  in  quo  Hipocratis  omnia  in  brevem 
epitomen  reducta  debentur.  Edin.  8to,  1685.  A  neat  edi- 
tion of  this  work  was  published  at  London  in  1743. 

BURNET,  James,  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a 
learned  and  ingenious  writer,  better  known  by  his 
judicial  title  of  Lord  Monboddo,  son  of  James 
Burnet,  Esq.  of  Monboddo,  and  Elizabeth,  only 
sister  of  Sir  Arthur  Forbes  of  Craigievar,  Bart, 
was  bom  in  1714,  at  the  family  seat  in  Kincar- 
dineshire. He  was  educated  at  home,  under  Dr. 
Francis  Skene,  afterwards  professor  of  philosophy 
in  Marischal  college,  Aberdeen,  and  was  subse- 
quently sent  to  study  at  that  university,  where  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  proficiency  in  ancient 
literature,  the  study  of  which,  in  after  life,  became 
his  ruling  passion.  Being  designed  for  the  bar, 
according  to  the  custom  at  the  time  he  repaired  to 
Holland  to  study  the  civil  law,  and  after  attending 


I    i 


!i  ' 


'I  I 


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for  three  years  the  lectures  in  the  university  of 
Groningen,  be  came  to  Ediuburgh,  where  he  ar- 
rived on  the  forenoon  of  September  7,  1736,  and 
that  night  was  an  involuntary  witness  of  the  fa- 
mous Porteous  Mob.  His  lodgings  were  in  the 
Lawnmarket,  near  the  Bowhead,  and  when  about 
to  retire  to  rest,  his  curiosity  was  excited  by  a 
noise  and  tumult  in  the  street.  In  place  of  going 
to  bed  he  slipped  t^  the  door  half  undressed,  and 
with  his  nightcap  on  his  head.  He  speedily  got 
entangled  in  the  crowd,  and  was  hurried  along 
with  it  to  the  Grassmarket,  where  the  unfortunate 
Captain  Porteous  was  summarily  executed  by  the 
mob.  This  scene  made  so  deep  an  impression  on 
his  mind  as  not  only  to  deprive  him  of  sleep  during 
the  remainder  of  the  night,  but  to  induce  him  to 
think  of  leaving  the  city  altogether.  Being  by 
some  one  who  knew  him  recognised  in  the  crowd, 
in  the  sort  of  disguise  which  his  half  dressed  con- 
dition seemed  to  indicate,  he  was  in  danger  of 
being  brought  into  trouble  for  his  unwilling  share 
in  the  transaction  of  that  memorable  night,  and 
was  only  saved  from  being  implicated  by  being 
able  to  prove  that  he  had  only  that  very  day  ar- 
rived in  Edinburgh  from  pursuing  his  studies  on 
the  continent,  and  consequently  knew  nothing  of 
the  matter  till  borne  away  with  the  crowd,  as 
above  stated.  In  after  life  his  lordship  frequently 
related  this  incident,  and  described  with  much 
force  the  effect  which  it  had  upon  him  at  the 
time. 

He  passed  his  civil  law  examinations  upon  the 
i2th  of  February  1737,  and,  being  found  duly  qua- 
lified, was  admitted  a  member  of  the  faculty  of 
advocates.  His  practice  at  the  bar,  in  course  of 
time,  came  to  be  considerable,  but  he  may  be  said 
to  have  been  first  brought  prominently  into  notice 
in  consequence  of  being  engaged  as  counsel  for  Mr. 
Douglas,  in  the  celebrated  Douglas  cause.  In  his 
client's  behalf  he  went  thrice  to  France  to  assist 
in  leading  the  proof  taken  there.  In  1764  he  was 
appointed  sheriff  of  his  native  county,  Kincardine- 
shire, and  on  the  12th  February  1767,  he  was, 
through  the  interest  of  the  duke  of  Queensberry, 
then  lord -justice-general,  raised  to  the  bench  of 
the  court  of  session,  as  successor  to  Lord  Milton, 
when  he  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  Monboddo. 
His  first  work  was  on  the  *  Origin  and  Progress  of 


Language,'  the  first  volume  of  which  appeared  in 
1771,  the  second  in  1778,  and  the  third  in  1776. 
This  work  was  so  severely  criticised  in  the  *  Edin- 
burgh Magazine  and  Review,'  by  Dr.  Gilbert 
Stuart,  its  editor,  that  it  is  said  the  downfall  of 
that  publication,  from  the  general  offence  which 
the  article  gave,  was  the  consequence.  His  great- 
est work  he  styled  *  Ancient  Metaphysics,'  or  the 
Science  of  Universals,  with  an  appendix,  contain- 
ing an  Examination  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Philo- 
sophy, also  in  8  vols.  4to,-  the  first  published  in 
1778,  and  the  last  in  1799,  only  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore his  death.  Lord  Monboddo  was  an  enthusi- 
astic admirer  of  the  works  of  Plato  and  the  Gre- 
cian philosophers.  He  carried  his  enthusiasm  in 
favour  of  classical  literature  so  far  as  to  get  up 
suppers  in  Imitation  of  the  ancients.  These  he 
called  his  learned  suppers.  He  gave  them  once 
a- week,  and  his  guests  generally  were  Drs.  Black, 
Hutton,  and  Hope,  and  Mr.  William  Smellie, 
printer,  including  occasionally  Mr.  Alexander 
Smellie,  his  son.  His  lordship  was  very  paitial 
to  a  boiled  %q%^  and  often  used  to  say,  "  Show  me 
any  of  your  French  cooks,  who  can  make  a  dish 
like  this." 

Lord  Monboddo's  writings  contain  many  acute 
and  interesting  observations,  but  they,  at  the 
same  time,  exhibit  some  peculiar  and  very  singu- 
lar opinions.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  exist- 
ence of  satyrs  and  mermaids,  and  in  his  disserta- 
tion on  the  ^  Origin  and  Progress  of  Language,' 
he  advanced  some  whimsical  theories,  relative  to 
a  supposed  affinity  between  the  human  race  and 
the  monkey  tribe,  particularly  that  the  former 
"were  originally  gifted  with  tails,"  an  assertion 
which  exposed  him  to  a  good  deal  of  ridicule  on 
the  first  publication  of  that  work.  It  was  in  allu- 
sion to  this  extraoi*dinary  idea  that  Lord  Kames, 
to  whom  he  would  on  a  certain  occasion  have 
conceded  precedency,  declined  it,  saying,  *'  By  no 
means,  my  lord,  you  must  walk  first  that  I  may 
see  your  tail !"  His  patrltnonial  estate  was  small, 
producing  only  during  his  life  about  three  hundred 
pounds  a-year,  yet  he  would  never  raise  his  rents, 
nor  dismiss  a  poor  tenant  for  the  sake  of  obtaining 
an  increase  from  a  new  one.  It  was  his  boast  to 
have  his  lands  more  numerously  peopled  than  any 
estate  of  equal  size  in  the  neighbourhood.    When 


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in  the  country,  during  the  vacation  of  the  court  of 
session,  he  wore  the  dress  of  a  plain  fanner,  and 
lived  on  a  footing  of  familiarity  with  his  tenantry, 
which  greatly  endeared  him  to  them.    His  private 
life  was  spent  in  the  enjoyment  of  domestic  felicity 
and   in  the  practice  of  all   the   social  virtues. 
Though  his  habits  were  rigidly  temperate,  he  took 
great  delight  in  the  convivial  society  of  his  Mends. 
He  was  a  zealous  patron  of  merit,  and  amongst 
those  who  experienced  liis  friendship  was  the  poet 
Bums.    An  annual  journey  to  London  became  a 
favourite  recreation  of  his  during  the  vacations  of 
the  court  of  Session.    He  first  began  the  practice 
in  1780,  and  continued  it  for  many  years,  till  he 
was  upwards  of  eighty  years  of  age.    In  May 
1786,  during  one  of  these  visits  to  the  metropolis, 
he  was  present  in  the  Court  of  fcing's  Bench,  when 
an  alarm  was  raised  that  the  court  room  was  fall- 
ing, and  judges,  lawyers,  and  audience,  rushed 
simultaneously  towards  the  door.     Lord  Mon- 
boddo,  however,  being  short-sighted  and  rather 
deaf,  sat  still  unconcerned;  and  on  being  asked 
why  he  did  not  bestir  himself  to  avoid  being  buried 
in  the  ruins,  coolly  replied,  "  That  he  thought  it 
was  an  annual  ceremony,  with  which,  as  an  alien 
to  the  English  laws,  he  had  nothing  to  do."    He 
performed  all  his  journeys  between  Edinburgh  and 
I^ndon  on  horseback,  with  a  single  servant  at- 
tending him.    A  carriage,  a  vehicle  that  was  not 
in  common  use  among  the  ancients,  he  considered 
as  an  effeminate  conveyance;  to  be  dragged  at  the 
tails  of  horses,  instead  of  being  mounted  on  their 
backs,  seemed  in  his  eyes  to  be  a  ludicrous  degra- 
dation of  the  genuine  dignity  of  human  natui*e. 
On  his  return  from  his  last  visit,  he  became  vei7 
ill  on  the  road,  and  unable  to  proceed,  when,  for- 
tunately, he  was  overtaken  by  his  friend.  Sir  John 
Pringle,  who  prevailed  upon  him  to  travel  the  re- 
mainder of  the  stage  in  a  carriage.    Next  day, 
however,  he  resumed  his  journey  on  horseback, 
and  got  safe  to  Edinburgh,  though  he  was  obliged 
to  proceed  somewhat  «lowIy.    While  in  London 
he  often  went  to  court,  and  the  king  is  said  to 
have  taken  pleasure  in  his  conversation.     He  died 
at  Edinburgh,  May  26,  1799,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  85. 

The  following  is  a  portrait  of  Lord  Monboddo 
by  Kay ; 


\ 


f^. 


In  spite  of  his  eccentricities.  Lord  Monboddo 
was  a  man  of  real  learning  and  ability,  an  acute 
lawyer,  and  an  upright  judge.  He  did  not  gener- 
ally assent  to  the  decisions  of  his  colleagues.  On 
the  contrary,  he  was  often  in  the  minority,  and 
not  unfrequcntly  stood  alone,  and  more  than  onoo 
had  the  gratification  of  having  his  decision  con- 
firmed in  the  House  of  Peers,  when  it  was  directly 
opposed  to  the  unanimous  opinion  of  his  brethren. 
Even  in  his  official  capacity  many  peculiarities 
marked  his  lordship^s  conduct.  Amongst  these 
was  his  never  sitting  on  the  bench  with  the  othei 
Judges,  but  underneath  with  the  clerks ;  but  though 
this  practice  was  said  to  have  been  owing  to  the 
circumstance  of  their  lordships  having  on  one  oc- 
casion decerned  against  him,  in  a  case  when  he 
was  pui'suer  for  the  value  of  a  horse,  and  in  which 
he  pleaded  his  own  cause  at  the  bar,  the  deafness 
under  which  he  laboured  affoi'ds  a  much  more 
satisfactory  reason.  The  first  time  he  sat  there 
was  upon  occasion  of  the  decision  of  the  Douglas 
cause,  when  having  been  originally,  as  mentioned 
above,  the  leading  counsel  on  behalf  of  Mr.  (after- 
wards Lord)  Douglas,  he  felt  a  delicacy  in  giving 
his  opinion  from  the  bench,  and  preferred  deliver- 
ing it  at  the  clerk^s  table.     His  speech  in  favour  o' 


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JAMES. 


the  paternity  is  admitted  to  have  been  the  most 
able  one  on  that  side  of  the  question.  His  char- 
acter is  thus  summed  up  in  the  fii-st  fom*  lines  of 
an  epitaph  written  on  him  by  the  unfortunate 
James  Tytier,  who  had  experienced  his  benevo- 
lence: 

**  If  wisdonif  learning,  worth  demand  a  tear, 
Weep  o*er  the  dust  of  great  Monboddo  here ; 
A  judge  upright,  to  men^  still  inclined, 
A  gcn'rous  friend,  a  father  fond  and  kind.** 

He  married,  about  1760,  the  beautiful  Miss  Far- 
qnharson,  a  relative  of  Mai'shal  Keith,  by  whom 
he  had  a  son  and  two  daughters.  His  wife  died 
in  childbed ;  his  son  died  young,  and  his  second 
daughter  was  cut  off  by  consumption  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty-five.  Her  beauty  was  thus,  in  his 
*  Address  to  Edinburgh,'  celebrated  by  Burns : 

**  Thy  daughters  bright  thy  walks  adorn  I 
Gay  as  the  gilded  summer  sky, 
Sweet  as  the  dewy  milk-white  thorn, 
Dear  as  the  raptured  thrill  of  joy ! 

Fair  Burnet  strikes  th*  adoring  eye, 
HeaTen*8  beauties  on  my  fancy  shine , 

I  see  the  Sire  of  love  on  high, 
And  own  his  work  indeed  divine.** 

And  her  early  death  was  most  touchingly  comme- 
morated by  him,  in  his  *'  Elegy  on  the  late  Miss 
Burnet  of  Monboddo,*  of  which  the  following  are 
the  commencing  verses : 

**  Life  ne*er  exulted  in  so  rich  a  prize 
As  Burnet,  lovely  from  her  native  skies ; 
Nor  envious  death  so  triumphed  m  a  blow, 
As  that  which  laid  the  accomp1bh*d  Burnet  low. 

Thy  form  and  mind,  sweet  maid,  can  I  forget  ? 
In  richest  ore  the  brightest  jewel  set ! 
In  thee,  high  Heaven  above  was  truest  shown, 
As  by  his  noblest  work  the  Godhead  best  is  known. 

In  vain  ye  flaunt  in  summer*s  pride,  ye  groves ; 

Thou  crystal  streamlet  with  thy  flowery  shore, 
Ye  woodland  choir  that  chaunt  your  idle  loves. 

Ye  cease  to  charm— Eliza  is  no  more!  ** 

Bums  was  a  frequent  guest  at  13  John  Street, 
Lord  Monboddo's  town  residence,  during  the  pe- 
ctus stay  in  Ediuburgh  in  1788.  His  lordship's 
eldest  daughter  was  married  to  the  late  Kirkpa- 


trick  Williamson,  Esq.,  formerly  his  derk,  after- 
wards keeper  of  the  Outer  House  rolls. — Scoti 
Magazine  for  1797.— Tjftler's  Life  of  Lord  Kaime». 
— Kay*$  Edinbwrgh  PortraiU. 

BURNET,  Jamks,  a  landscape  painter  of  great 
promise,  fourth  son  of  George  Burnet,  general  sur- 
veyor of  excise  in  Scotland,  and  Anne  Cruikshank, 
his  wife,  was  bom  at  Musselburgh  in  1788.  The 
family  belonged  originally  to  Aberdeen.  He  early 
displayed  a  taste  for  drawing,  and  with  his  brother 
John,  who  is  acknowledged  the  first  modem  en- 
graver in  Europe,  received  instractions  in  the  stu- 
dio of  Scott,  the  landscape  engraver.  He  after- 
wards studied  at  the  Trustees*  academy,  under 
Graham,  and  was  noticed  for  the  natural  truth 
and  beauty  of  his  delineations.  In  1810  he  ar- 
lived  in  London.  *^He  had  sought,*'  says  his 
biographer,  Allan  Cunningham,  **  what  he  wanted 
in  the  academy,  but  found  it  not;  he  therefore 
determined,  like  Gainsborough,  to  make  nature 
his  academy ;  and  with  a  pencil  and  sketch-book 
he  might  be  seen  wandering  about  the  fields  around 
London,  noting  down  scenes  which  caught  his 
fancy,  and  peopling  them  with  men  pursuing  their 
avocations,  and  with  cattle  of  all  colours,  and  in 
all  positions."  His  first  picture  was  *  Cattle  go- 
ing out  in  the  Morning,'  which  was  soon  followed 
by  *  Cattle  returning  Home  in  a  shower.'  The 
latter  placed  him  in  the  first  rank  as  a  pastoral 
painter.  Ten  other  productions  of  his  are  men- 
tioned with  great  praise,  mostly  cattle-pieces. 
Several  of  those  pictures  were  eagerly  sought 
after,  and  purchased  by  difierent  noblemen  at  high 
prices,  others  were  reserved  for  his  relations  and 
friends.  This  promising  young  artist  resided  in 
his  latter  days  near  Lee,  in  Kent,  the  beautiful 
churchyard  of  which  was  one  of  his  favourite  i-e- 
sorts.  He  died  of  consumption,  July  27,  1816, 
aged  28  years,  and  was  buried  at  Lewisham.— 
Allan  CunnhighamLS  Lives  of  Painter $. 

BURNET,  John,  founder  of  the  literary  prizes 
at  Aberdeen,  was  born  in  that  city  in  1729.  His 
father  was  an  eminent  merchant  there,  and  he 
himself,  after  receiving  a  liberal  education,  in  the 
year  1750  commenced  business  on  his  own  account 
as  a  general  merchant.  His  parents  were  of  the 
episcopal  communion,  but  though  educated  in  that 
profession,  and  undoubtedly  a  man  of  piety  and 
2i 


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virtue,  he  himself  never  attended  public  worship ; 
his  religious  sentiments  not  being  in  unison  with 
those  of  any  Christian  church.    Having  acquired 
a  fortune  in  trade,  about  1773  he  and  one  of  his 
brothera,  who  had  then  returned  from  India,  dis- 
charged the  debts  of  theii*  father,  paying  on  his 
account  between  £7,000  and  £8,000.     He  was 
never  mamed,  and  died  November  9,  1784.    His 
email  landed  estate  of  Dens  in  Buchan,  Aberdeen- 
shire, was  inherited  by  his  brother,  and  afterwards 
by  his  nephew.    With  the  exception  of  this  pro- 
perty, and  of  some  moderate  legacies  and  annui- 
ties to  various  relatives,  the  remainder  of  his  for- 
tune was  bequeathed  to  charitable  purposes.    A 
small  portion  he  directed  to  be  set  apart,  annually, 
and  allowed  to  accumulate,  fii-st,  for  two  prizes  on 
subjects  prescribed ;  and,  secondly,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  poor  of  Aberdeen.    This  accumulated  fund 
is  for  ever  to  be  applied  to  its  objects  at  the  end 
of  every  fortieth  year.    The  accumulation  of  the 
first  25  years,  if  not  less  than  £1,600,  was  to  be 
given  thus :  £1,200  for  the  best  essay,  and  £400 
for  the  next  in  merit,  on  '^  the  evidence  that  there 
is  a  Being,  all-powerful,  wise,  and  good,  by  whom 
eveiything  exists ;  and  particularly  to  obviate  dif- 
ficulties regarding  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the 
Deity ;  and  this,  in  the  first  place,  from  consider- 
ations independent  of  written  revelation,  and,  in 
the  second  place,  from  the  revelation  of  the  Lord 
Jesus ;  and  from  the  whole  to  point  out  the  infer- 
ences most  necessary  and  useful  to  mankiifd.*'   The 
premiums  were  to  be  awarded  by  three  judges, 
chosen  by  the  principals  and  professors  of  King^s 
and  Marischal  colleges,  the  established  clergy  of 
Aberdeen,  and  the  trustees  of  the  testator.    These 
prizes  were  first  announced  to  the  public  in  1807, 
and  repeated  notices  were  given  in  the  newspapers 
of  their  amount,  and  the  subject  and  conditions  of 
the  essays,  one  of  which  was  that  they  were  to  be 
given  in  on  1st  January  1814.    On  that  occasion 
the  judges  awarded  the  prizes  in  favour  of  the 
treatises  of  William  Laurence  Brown,  D.D.,  then 
principal  of  Marischal  college,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Bird  Sumner,  of  Eton  college,  afterwards  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  which  have  both  been  pub- 
lished. 

BURNETT,  John,  author  of  a  valuable  trea- 
tise on  various  branches  of  the  Criminal  Law  of 


Scotland,  was  bom  at  Aberdeen  about  1764.  He 
was  the  son  of  William  Burnett,  procurator-at- 
law  in  that  city,  and,  having  been  educated  for 
the  bar,  was  admitted  advocate  December  10, 
1785.  In  1792  he  was  appointed  advocate-depute ; 
and,  in  October  1803,  on  the  resignation  of  Law 
of  Elviugston,  was  created  sheriff  of  Haddington- 
shire. In  April  1810,  on  the  death  of  the  learned 
R.  H.  Cay,  he  was  appointed  judge-admiral  of 
Scotland.  He  was  also  for  some  time  standing 
counsel  for  his  native  city.  He  died  December 
8,  1810,  while  engaged  printing  his  work  on  the 
Criminal  Law. 

Burns,  a  surname  rendered  for  ever  famons  by  its  bemg 
that  of  the  national  poet  of  Scotland,  for  the  origin  of  whicfa 
seeBuRNES. 

BURNS,  Robert,  the  most  distinguished  ot 
the  poets  of  Scotland,  was  bom  January  25, 1759, 
in  a  small  clay-built  cottage,  about  two  miles  from 
the  town  of  Ayr.  His  father,  William  Bumes,  a 
man  of  superior  understanding  and  uncommon 
worth,  was  the  son  of  a  farmer  in  the  county  of 
Kincardine;  and  owing  to  the  reduced  drcum 
stances  of  his  family,  was  obliged  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  his  age,  with  Robert  his  elder  brother,  to 
quit  the  place  of  his  nativity,  to  push  his  fortune 
in  some  other  part  of  Scotland.  *^  On  the  top  of 
a  hill,"  says  Dr.  Irving,  "  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
native  hamlet,  the  two  youthful  adventurers  sep- 
arated from  each  other,  in  an  agony  of  mind  which 
the  uncertainty  of  their  future  destiny  could  not 
fail  to  produce."  On  leaving  Kincardineshire, 
William  Bumes  repaired  to  Edinburgh,  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  that  city  was  employed  as  a  gar- 
dener for  several  years.  He  afterwards  removed 
to  Ayrshire,  where  he  was  engaged  in  a  similar 
capacity  by  the  laird  of  Fairly.  In  the  service  of 
this  gentleman  he  continued  for  two  years,  and 
was  next  employed  by  Mr.  Crawford  of  Doonside. 
From  Dr.  Campbell,  a  physician  in  Ayr,  he  after- 
wards took  a  perpetual  lease  of  seven  acres  of 
land,  with  the  intention  of  converting  the  ground 
into  a  public  garden  and  nursery.  Here  he  erect- 
ed with  his  own  hands  that  little  day-built  cot- 
tage in  which  his  poet-son  was  bom,  and  to  which, 
in  after  times,  crowds  of  enthusiastic  "pilgrims 
frt)m  many  lands"  were  to  repair  to  do  homage  to 
the  genius  of  Scotland's  bard. 


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In  December  1757  William  Bumes  mamed  Ag- 
nes Brown,  who  bore  him  six  children,  and  of 
these  the  poet  was  the  eldest.  Before  he  had  re- 
duced his  ground  to  a  proper  state  of  cultivation, 
he  was  engaged  as  overseer  and  gardener  to  Mr. 
Ferguson,  a  gentleman  who  had  purchased  the 
estate  of  Doonholm,  and  in  consequence  he  seems 
to  have  abandoned  his  project  of  commencing  as  a 
nurseryman. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  his  age,  at  which  time  he 
could  read  tolerably  well,  Robert  was  sent,  with 
his  younger  brother  Gilbert,  to  a  private  school  at 
Alloway  Mill,  about  a  mile  distant  from  his  fa- 
ther's house.  His  first  teacher's  name  was  Camp- 
bell, but  that  gentleman,  within  the  space  of  a 
few  months,  having  been  appointed  master  of  the 
workhouse  at  Ayr,  a  young  man  of  the  name  of 
John  Murdoch  was  engaged  by  the  poet's  father 
and  some  other  cottagers,  to  supply  his  place,  board- 
ing with  each  family  in  turn.  By  Mr.  Murdoch, 
who  aftenv'ards  wrote  an  excellent  account  of  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  he  was  instructed  in  English 
grammar.  Before  he  was  nine  years  old,  his  pro- 
pensity for  reading  was  so  ardent  that  he  perused 
with  enthusiasm  every  book  that  came  in  his  way. 
His  taste  for  poetry  and  romantic  fiction  was  first 
inspired,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  by  the  chimney- 
corner  tales  of  an  old  woman  in  his  father's  family, 
remarkable  for  her  ignorance,  credulity,  and  super- 
stition, whose  memory  was  plentifully  stored  with 
stories  of  the  marvellous.  "  She  had,  I  suppose," 
says  Bums,  writing  in  1787,  "  the  largest  collec- 
tion in  the  country  of  tales  and  songs  concerning 
devils,  ghosts,  fairies,  brownies,  witches,  warlocks, 
spunkies,  kelpies,  elf-candles,  dead-lights,  wraiths, 
apparitions,  cantraips,  giants,  enchanted  towers, 
dragons,  and  other  trumpery.  This  cultivated  the 
latent  seeds  of  poetry;  but  had  so  strong  an  efiect 
on  my  imagination  that,  to  this  hour,  in  my  noc- 
turnal rambles,  I  sometimes  keep  a  sharp  look-out 
in  suspicious  places ;  and  though  nobody  can  be 
more  sceptical  than  I  am  in  such  matters,  yet  it 
often  takes  an  effort  of  philosophy  to  shake  off 
these  idle  terrors." 

When  about  thirteen  years  of  age,  to  improve 
his  writing,  his  father  sent  him  to  the  parish 
school  of  Dalrymple,  week, about  with  his  brother, 
during  a  summer  quarter.    In  1772,  Mr.  Murdoch, 


being  one  of  five  candidates,  was  appointed  liiaster 
of  the  English  school  at  Ayr,  and  during  the  fol- 
lowing year  Burns  went  to  board  and  lodge  at  his 
house,  for  farther  instruction  in  the  principles  of 
grammar.  In  ten  days  after  he  was  called  home, 
to  assist  his  father  with  the  harvest.  In  a  short 
time,  however,  he  returned  to  Ayr,  where  he  re- 
mained only  another  fortnight,  but  during  that 
period  he  commenced  learning  the  French  lan- 
guage, under  Mr.  Murdoch.  On  his  return  home, 
he  continued  the  study  of  it,  during  his  leisure 
hours,  and  made  himself  so  proficient  in  it,  that 
he  could  read  and  understand  any  French  author 
in  prose.  His  fondness  for  Fi*ench  phrases  was 
shown  by  his  frequently  using  them  in  his  letters 
at  this  period  of  his  life.  He  next  began  the  La- 
tin with  the  assistance  of  Mj*.  Robertson,  school- 
master at  Ayr,  and  attempted  it  at  home  without 
the  aid  of  a  master,  but  found  it  so  difficult  to  ac- 
quire that  he  soon  abandoned  it.  He  subsequently 
spent  a  summer  quarter  at  the  parish  school  o 
Kirkoswald,  where  he  acquired  some  knowledge 
in  mensuration,  surveying,  dialling,  &c.,  and  this, 
with  the  brief  interval  that  he  spent  at  Dalrymple, 
was  all  the  school  education  he  ever  received.  In 
his  letter  to  Dr.  Moore  he  expresses  himself  as  hav- 
ing* l>y  reading,  about  this  period  of  his  youth,  the 
lives  of  Hannibal  and  of  Wallace,  been  excited  to- 
wards a  military  life  by  the  former,  and  been  filled 
with  strong  patriotic  emotions  by  the  latter.  At  an 
early  period  he  met  with  the  works  of  Allan  Ram- 
say, and  the  poems  of  Robert  Fergusson,  written 
chiefiy  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  which  tended  to 
give  his  genius  a  bias  towards  poetry,  in  which  he 
soon  surpassed  them  both. 

But  in  knowledge  of  a  different  sort,  the  know- 
ledge of  human  nature,  he  soon  became  consider- 
ably initiated.  At  Kirkoswald,  a  village  on  the 
Carrick  shore,  he  obtained,  by  intercourse  with 
parties  following  a  contraband  trade,  an  insight 
into  the  vices  and  follies  of  mankind,  and  learned 
but  too  well  to  imitate  and  adopt  them,  and  what 
is  worse  to  take  pride  in  them.  He  formed  an 
attachment  with  a  young  girl  of  the  village,  of 
which  he  speaks  as  having  greatly  agitated  him  at 
the  time,  but  of  which  no  permanent  result  appears 
aft;erwai'ds.  "  I  returned  home  from  Kirkoswald," 
says  he,  "  very  considerably  improved.    My  read- 


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ing  was  enlarged  with  the  very  important  addition 
of  Thomson^s  and  Shenstone^s  works.  '  I  had  seen 
homan  nature  in  a  new  phasis,  and  I  engaged 
several  of  my  schoolfellows  to  keep  up  a  literary 
correspondence  with  me.  This  improved  me  in 
composition.  I  had  met  with  a  collection  of  let- 
ters by  the  wits  of  Queen  Anne^s  reign,  and  I 
pored  over  them  most  devoutly.  I  kept  copies  of 
any  of  my  own  letters  that  pleased  me,  and  a 
comparison  between  them  and  the  composition  of 
most  of  my  correspondents  flattered  my  vanity. 
I  carried  this  whim  so  far  that,  though  I  had  not 
three  farthings'  worth  of  business  in  the  world, 
yet  almost  every  post  brought  me  as  many  letters 
as  if  I  had  been  a  broad  plodding  son  of  the  day- 
book and  ledger." 

In  the  year  1766  his  father  obtained  from  Mr. 
Ferguson  a  lease  of  the  farm  of  Mount  Oliphant, 
in  the  parish  of  Ayr,  that  gentleman  advancing 
him  at  the  same  time  one  hundred  pounds  to  stock 
it  with.  Here,  after  the  day's  labour  was  over, 
he  instructed  the  family  himself  in  arithmetic  and 
the  principles  of  i*eligion.  At  this  place  he  conti- 
nued to  struggle  for  the  support  of  his  family  for 
the  space  of  eleven  years.  The  soil  of  the  farm 
was  extremely  barren,  and  this,  with  the  loss  of 
cattle  and  other  accidents,  involved  them  in  great 
poverty.  The  whole  family  were  in  consequence 
obliged  to  toil  early  and  late;  and  Robei*t,  the 
eldest,  thrashed  in  the  bam  at  thirteen  years  of 
age,  and  at  fifteen  was  the  principal  labourer  on 
the  farm.  "This  kind  of  life,"  he  says,  "the 
cheerless  gloom  of  a  hermit,  with  the  unceasing 
moil  of  a  galley-slave,  brought  me  to  my  sixteenth 
year,  a  little  before  which  period  I  firet  committed 
the  sin  of  rhyme.  You  know  our  country  custom 
of  coupling  a  man  and  woman  together  as  partners 
in  the  labours  of  harvest.  In  my  fifteenth  autumn, 
my  partner  was  a  bewitching  creature,  a  year 
younger  than  myself.  I  did  not  know,"  he  adds 
afterwards,  in  language  which  portrays  a  juvenile 
passion  so  truly  that  it  may  serve  for  all  emotions 
of  a  like  nature  in  every  human  being, — "  I  did 
not  know  myself  why  I  liked  so  much  to  loiter 
l)ehind  with  her,  when  returning  in  the  evening 
from  our  labours ;  why  the  tones  of  her  voice  made 
my  heartstrings  thrill  like  an  iEoiiau  harp ;  and, 
particularly,  why  my  pulse  beat  such  a  furious 


ratan,  when  I  looked  and  fingered  over  her  little 
hand  to  pick  out  the  cruel  nettle-stings  and  this- 
tles. Among  her  other  love- inspiring  qualities, 
she  sung  sweetly ;  and  it  was  her  favourite  reel  to 
which  I  attempted  giving  an  embodied  vehicle  in 
rhyme."  A  Miss  E.,  to  whom  he  seems  to  have 
been  seriously  devoted,  escaped  immortality  by 
jilting  him.  Her  very  name  is  unknown ;  but  he 
seems  pretty  soon  to  have  got  over  the  mortifica- 
tion to  his  feelings  caused  by  this  event  The  ob- 
ject of  his  most  fervent  attachment,  however,  was 
Mary  Campbell,  a  simple  Highland  girl,  who  was 
dairymaid  at  Colonel  Montgomery's  house  of  Coils 
field.  He  intended  to  marry  her,  but  she  died  at 
Greenock,  on  her  return  from  a  visit  to  her  rela- 
tions in  Argyleshire.  Their  last  parting  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ajrr  is  described  in  beautiful  lan- 
guage in  his  poem,  beginning — 

"  Ye  banks,  and  braes,  and  streams  around 
The  castle  of  Montgomery." 

The  address  *To  Mary  in  Heaven,'  written  on 
the  anniversary  of  her  death,  is  one  of  the  most 
exquisite  of  his  poems.  In  1777  his  father  re- 
moved to  Lochlea,  a  farm  in  the  parish  of  Tar- 
bolton,  where  Bums  continued  fh>m  his  17th  to 
his  24th  year. 

In  the  year  1780  he  formed  a  kind  of  literary 
institution,  called  the  Bachelor's  Club,  in  a  small 
public  house  in  the  village  of  Tarbolton,  consisting 
of  himself,  his  brother  Gilbert,  and  other  young 
men  of  the  same  condition  of  life,  amongst  whom 
David  Sillar,  who  himself  published  a  volume  of 
poems  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  and  who  is  also 
known  from  two  poetical  epistles  addressed  to 
him  by  Bums,  was  afterwards  admitted.  The 
laws  and  regulations  were  fnmished  by  Bums, 
and  the  last  one  in  particular,  drawn  up  by  him, 
shows  the  characteristics  of  his  mind  at  that  period. 
It  declares  that  every  member  "  must  be  a  pro- 
fessed lover  of  one  or  more  of  the  female  sex,"  and 
that  none  "  whose  only  will  is  to  heap  up  money  " 
can  be  admitted  into  membership.  This  club, 
being  soon  deprived  of  its  most  powerful  member, 
was  not  long  preserved  from  dissolution ;  but  he 
established  a  similar  institution  on  his  removal 
shortly  afterward  to  Mauchline,  which  still  sub- 
sists, and  appeared  in  the  list  of  subscribers  to  the 


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first  or  Kilmarnock  editiou  of  his  works.  Befoi*e 
leaving  Tarbolton,  he  had  become  a  free  mason 
aud  attended  two  lodges. 

He  and  his  brother  Gilbert  had  for  sometime 
held  a  small  portion  of  land  from  their  father,  on 
which  they  raised  flax;  in  disposing  of  which 
Bums  formed  the  idea  of  commencing  flax-dresser, 
and  in  1781  he  joined  a  person  in  the  town  of  Ir- 
vine, to  learn  the  trade.  Abont  six  months  there- 
after the  shop  accidentally  took  fire,  while  he  and 
some  of  his  compiuiions  were  *  giving  a  welcome 
caronsal  to  the  new  year,'  when  the  whole  stock 
was  consumed,  and  he  was  left  without  a  sixpence. 
Unfortunately  his  associates  at  Irvine  were  not  of 
a  character  calculated  to  increase  his  reverence  for 
virtne,  or  to  strengthen  in  his  mind  those  pious 
lessons  which  had  been  early  instilled  into  it  by 
his  parents.  Among  other  intimates  he  numbered 
a  young  sailor  of  a  manly  and  independent  spirit, 
but  whose  laxity  of  moral  principles  exerted  a 
very  deleterious  effect  upon  his  mind  and  conduct. 
"  I  had  pride  before,'*  he  says,  "  but  he  taught  it 
to  flow  in  proper  channels.  His  knowledge  of  the 
world  was  vastly  superior  to  mine,  and  I  was  all 
attention  to  learn.  He  was  the  only  man  I  ever 
saw  who  was  a  greater  fool  than  myself  where 
woman  was  the  presiding  star ;  but  he  spoke  of 
illicit  love  with  the  levity  of  a  sailor,  which  hith- 
erto I  had  regarded  with  horror.  Here  his  friend- 
ship did  me  a  mischief,  and  the  consequence  was, 
that  soon  after  I  resumed  the  plough,  I  wrote  the 
*  Poet's  Welcome ' "  —  that  is,  the  verses  entitled 
^Rob  the  Rhymer's  Welcome  to  his  Bastard 
Child.' 

Meantime,  a  misunderstanding  had  arisen  be- 
tween his  father  and  his  landlord,  respecting  the 
conditions  of  the  lease  of  the  farm  of  Lochlea,  and 
the  dispute  was  referred  to  arbitrators,  whose  de- 
cision involved  his  affairs  in  ruin,  and  he  died  soon 
afterwards  on  the  13th  February,  1784. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  family,  the  two  brothers, 
Robert  and  Gilbert,  now  took  the  farm  of  Moss- 
giel,  near  Mauchline,  belonging  to  the  earl  of 
Loudon,  on  a  sublease  from  Mr.  Gavin  Hamilton, 
writer  in  that  town.  This  farm  consisted  of  a 
hundred  and  eighteen  acres,  and  was  rented  at 
ninety  pounds  a-year.  Each  member  of  the 
family  gave  his  assistance  towards  the  stocking 


and  management  of  the  farm,  and  was  allowed  a 
proportion  of  the  produce  in  the  form  of  stipulated 
wages.  Robert's  amounted  to  the  annual  sum  of 
seven  pounds,  and  such  was  his  fnigality  at  this 
period,  that,  according  to  the  statement  of  his 
brother  Gilbert,  his  expenditure  never,  during  the 
four  years  of  their  residence  at  Mossgiel,  was  al- 
lowed to  exceed  his  income.  **  The  four  years," 
says  Mr.  Lockhart,  in  his  Life  of  the  poet,  "dur- 
ing which  Bnrns  resided  on  this  cold  and  ungrate- 
ful farm  of  Mossgiel,  were  the  most  important  of 
his  life.  It  was  then  that  his  genius  developed  its 
highest  enei'gies;  on  the  works  produced  in  these 
years  his  fame  was  first  established,  and  mnst  ever  ' 
continue  mainly  to  rest;  it  waJ9  then  also  that  his  i 
personal  character  came  out  in  all  its  brightest 
lights,  and  in  all  but  its  darkest  shadows;  and, 
indeed,  from  the  commencement  of  this  period,  the 
history  of  the  man  may  be  traced,  st^p  by  step,  in 
his  own  immortal  writings.  Bums  now  began  to 
know  that  nature  had  meant  him  for  a  poet;  aud 
diligently,  though  as  yet  in  secret,  he  laboured  in 
what  he  felt  to  be  his  destined  vocation.  Gilbert 
continued  for  some  time  to  be  his  chief,  often  in- 
deed his  only  confidant;  and  anything  more  inter- 
esting and  delightful  than  this  excellent  man's 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  poems  included 
in  the  first  of  his  brother's  publications  were  com- 
posed, is  certainly  not  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of 
literary  history." 

While  at  Mossgiel  he  became  acquainted  with 
Jean  Armour,  who  afterwards  became  his  wife. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  man,  a 
master-mason  in  the  village  of  Mauchline,  and  his 
first  meeting  with  her  was  characteristic.  Bums 
was  shooting  by  the  river  side,  and  Miss  Armour, 
described  as  then  "  a  bonny  lively  lass  of  seven- 
teen, with  a  piercing  black  eye,  a  jimp  waist,  and 
a  foot  and  ankle  cast  in  the  most  perfect  mould," 
was  washing  clothes  in  the  Scottish  fashion,  and 
lilting  a  Scottish  song.  The  poet's  dog  ran  over 
the  clothes  in  the  green,  and  the  laughing  damsel 
threw  a  stone  at  him.  *  If  you  liked  me  you  would 
like  my  dog,'  said  Bums ; — and  from  this  simple 
introduction  an  intimacy  took  place  which  haa  an 
important  effect  on  the  future  happiness  of  both. 
Bums  at  this  time  is  represented  to  have  been  "  a 
tall,  coarse-featured  young  man,  with  a  flashing 


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eje,  and  great  colloquial  powers,  frank  and  affable, 
and  a  heai*t  extremely  susceptible  to  tender  emo- 
tions/* Such  a  youth  was  a  dangerous  lover  for 
a  simple  country  maiden  like  Jean  Aimour,  and 
she  soon  found  herself  in  a  state  which  could  no 
longer  be  concealed.  At  this  time  the  circum- 
stances of  the  poet  were  not  in  a  condition  to  per- 
mit of  his  mari7ing.  The  farming  speculation  in 
which  he  and  the  rest  of  the  family  were  engaged 
had  utterly  failed,  and  he  had  resigned  his  share 
in  the  lease,  which  he  tells  us  was  only  nominally 
his.  He  was  anxious,  however,  to  afford  the  only 
reparation  in  his  power  to  Miss  Armour,  and 
agreed  to  make  a  legal  declaration  of  their  having 
been  privately  married,  and  afterwards  embark  for 
the  West  Indies  to  push  his  fortune.  But  to  this, 
her  father,  with  whom  she  was  a  great  favourite, 
would  not  agree.  He  had  not  previously  suspected 
her  real  situation,  but  on  being  informed  of  their 
marriage,  his  distress  was  so  gi'eat  that  he  fainted. 
He  desired  his  daughter  to  cancel  the  marriage- 
lines  with  which  Bums  had  presented  her,  and  in 
the  anguish  of  her  heart  she  obeyed.  Bums,  on 
his  part,  "  offered,"  says  his  brother  Gilbert,  "  to 
stay  at  home  and  provide  for  his  wife  and  family 
by  his  daily  labours.  Even  this  offer  they  did  not 
approve  of;  for  humble  as  Miss  Armour^s  station 
was,  and  great  though  her  impmdence  had  been, 
she  still,  in  the  eyes  of  her  partial  parents,  might 
look  to  a  better  connexion  than  that  with  my 
friendless  and  unhappy  brother,  at  that  time  with- 
out house  or  biding-place."  In  the  distraction  of 
his  mind,  he  wished  to  leave  the  country  as  soon 
as  he  could,  and  accordingly  he  entered  into  an 
agreement  with  a  Dr.  Douglas,  to  go  out  to  Ja- 
maica as  an  assistant  overseer,  clerk,  or  book- 
keeper on  his  estate.  He  had  not,  however,  suffi- 
cient money  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  voyage, 
and  the  vessel  in  which  Dr.  Douglas  was  to  pro- 
cure a  passage  for  him  was  not  expected  to  sail 
for  some  time.  To  procure  a  little  money  to  assist 
him  before  leaving  his  native  land,  he  was  advised 
by  Mr.  Gavin  Hamilton  to  publish  his  poems  by 
subscription.  This  was  the  crisis  of  his  fate — ^the 
tuming-point  in  his  history.  The  suggestion  was 
immediately  acted  upon.  Subscription-bills  were 
issued,  and  the  printing  of  his  poems  commenced 
at  Kilmarnock,  his  preparations  going  on  at  the 


same  time  for  his  voyage  to  Jamaica,  a  voyage 
which  was  never  to  take  place.  "  I  weighed  my 
productions,"  says  Bums,  *^  as  impartially  as  was 
in  my  power.  I  was  pretty  confident  my  poems 
would  meet  with  some  applause :  but  at  the  worst, 
the  roar  of  the  Atlantic  would  deafen  the  voice  of 
censure,  and  the  novelty  of  West  Indian  scenes 
make  me  forget  neglect.  I  threw  off  six  hundred 
copies,  of  which  I  had  got  subscriptions  for 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty.  My  vanity  was 
highly  gratified  by  the  reception  I  met  with  fipom 
the  public ;  and  besides  I  pocketed,  all  expenses 
deducted,  nearly  twenty  pounds.  This  sum  came 
very  seasonably,  as  I  was  thinking  of  indenting 
myself,  for  want  of  money  to  procure  my  passage. 
As  soon  as  I  was  master  of  nine  guineas,  the  price 
of  wafting  me  to  the  torrid  zone,  I  took  a  steerage 
passage  in  the  first  ship  that  was  to  sail  from  the 
Clyde."  He  describes  himself  as  skulking  at  this 
time  from  covert  to  covert,  under  all  the  terrors  of 
a  jail,  as  Jean  Armour  having  become  the  mother 
of  twins,  her  father  had  sent  the  sheriff  officers  to 
apprehend  him  and  force  him  to  find  security  for 
the  maintenance  of  his  twin  childi*en,  and  the 
pai*ish  officers  were  also  after  him  on  the  same 
grounds,  so  that  he  was  literally  hunted  like  a 
paitridge  on  the  mountains.  But  the  day-dawn 
was  at  hand  which  was  to  scatter  the  clouds 
around  his  path,  and  light  him  on  his  onward  way 
to  immortality. 

His  volume  of  poems  was  published  at  Kilmar- 
nock in  1786,  under  the  title  of  ^  Poems  chiefly  in 
the  Scottish  Dialect,*  and  immediately  took  bold 
of  the  national  mind.  *^  No  sooner  had  the  vol- 
ume appeared,"  says  the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  in  his 
characteristic  memoir  of  Bums,  **than  old  and 
young,  grave  and  gay,  high  and  low,  learned  and 
ignorant,  were  alike  delighted,  agitated,  and  trans- 
ported. Shepherds,  ploughboys,  and  maid-ser- 
vants cheerfully  gave  the  last  savings  of  their 
penny  fee,  to  purchase  the  works  of  Robert  Bums, 
and  many  protested  that  they  would  have  given 
the  same  sum  to  have  seen  the  man  who  made 
them  laugh,  cry,  or  feel  with  regard  to  all  things, 
past,  present,  and  to  come,  as  ho  listed."  The 
first  impression  being  speedily  disposed  of,  bis 
friends  advised  him  to  print  a  second,  but  his 
printer  at  Kilmarnock  declined  to  risk  another 


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edition,  unless  the  poet  advanced  the  price  of  the 
paper,  which  he  was  altogether  nnable  to  do.  In 
this  emergency,  Mr.  Ballantjne,  provost  of  Ayr, 
generously  offered  to  advance  the  requisite  sum, 
bat  ere  this,  Bums,  harassed  and  impatient  to  be 
gone,  had  bidden  farewell  to  his  friends,  and  sent 
off  his  chest  by  night,  for  fear  of  its  beiug  arrested, 
to  Greenock,  intending  himself  to  follow  in  a  few 
days,  for  the  purpose  of  embarking  for  Jamaica. 
He  had  also  composed  the  last  song  he  thought 
he  should  ever  measure  in  Caledonia,  *The  gloomy 
night  is  gathering  fast,*  when  his  course  was  sud- 
denly changed,  and  a  bright  but  all  too  brief  gleam 
of  prosperity  shone  out  dazzlingly  on  the  head 
and  the  fortunes  of  Robert  Bui*ns.  Before  leav- 
ing Scotland,  as  he  thought,  for  ever,  he  sent  a 
collection  of  his  poems,  including  several  that  were 
not  published  till  many  years  afterwards,  to  Mrs. 
General  Stewart  of  SUur,  from  the  possession  of 
whose  grandson  they  passed  into  a  private  hand, 
and  were  made  known  to  the  public  in  1852. 
The  collection  is  curious  as  showing  how  much 
the  pieces  were  afterwards  improved  by  re- 
vision. 

A  friend  bad,  in  the  meantime,  been  secretly 
exerting  himself  on  his  behalf,  and  at  the  twelfth 
hour,  ere  its  shadow  had  for  ever  passed  from  the 
dial,  his  exei*tions  were  crowned  with  success. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Laurie,  minister  of  Loudon,  who 
had  been  very  kind  to  Bums,  had  sent  a  copy  of 
his  poems  to  Dr.  Blacklock  of  Edinburgh,  the 
amiable  blind  poet  and  divine,  whom  Dr.  John- 
son, in  his  visit  to  Scotland,  eleven  years  before, 
had  "beheld  with  reverence."  That  gentleman, 
in  acknowledging  the  volume,  highly  commended 
the  poems,  and  concluded  his  letter  with  these 
words : — "  It  has  been  told  me  by  a  gentleman  to 
whom  I  showed  the  performances,  and  who  sought 
a  copy  with  diligence  and  ardour,  that  the  whole 
impression  is  already  exhausted.  It  were  there- 
fore much  to  be  wished,  for  the  sake  of  the  young 
man,  that  a  second  edition,  more  numerous  than 
the  former,  could  immediately  be  printed,  as  it 
appears  certain  that  its  intrinsic  merit  and  the  ex- 
ertion of  the  author's  friends  might  give  it  a  more 
universal  circulation  than  any  thing  of  the  kind 
which  has  been  published  within  my  memory." 
On  receiving  Dr.  Blacklock's  letter,  Dr.  Laurie 


immediately  sent  it  off  by  express  to  Gavin  Ham- 
ilton, who  himself  rode  after  the  bard,  and  deliv- 
ered it  into  his  hand.  Bums  immediately  set  out 
for  Edinburgh,  where  he  anived  in  November 
1786. 

Some  of  his  biographers,  and  amongst  others 
Dr.  Irving  and  Professor  Wilson,  the  latter  in  his 
admirable  vindication  of  the  poet,  have  stated  that 
his  first  journey  to  Edinburgh  was  peiformed  on 
foot.  But  this  is  not  correct,  as  appears  by  a  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Archibald  Prentice,  editor  of  the 
Manchester  Times,  to  the  professor,  dated  March 
8,  1841.  The  father  of  that  gentleman,  a  farmer 
in  Covington  Mains,  and  a  subscriber  for  twenty 
copies  of  the  Kilmarnock  edition  of  the  poems,  had 
been  introduced  to  the  poet,  and  it  was  arranged, 
he  says,  "  that  Bums  should,  on  his  joumey  to 
Edinburgh,  make  the  farm-house  at  Covington 
Mains  his  resting-place  for  the  first  night.  Ail  the 
farmers  in  the  parish  had  read  with  delight  the 
poet's  then  published  works,  and  were  anxious  to 
see  liim.  They  were  all  asked  to  meet  him  at  a 
late  dinner,  and  the  signal  of  his  arrival  was  to  be 
a  white  sheet  attached  to  a  pitch-fork,  and  put  on 
the  top  of  a  com-stack  in  the  barn-yai'd.  The 
parish  is  a  beautiful  amphitheatre,  with  the  Clyde 
winding  through  it,  with  Wellbrae  Hill  to  the 
west,  Tinto  and  the  Culter  Fells  to  the  south,  and 
the  pretty,  green,  conical  hill,  Quothquan  Law,  to 
the  east.  My  father's  stack-yard,  lying  in  the 
centre,  was  seen  from  every  farm-house  in  the 
parish.  At  length.  Bums  arrived,  mounted  on  a 
*  pownie,'  borrowed  of  Mr.  Dahymple,  near  Ayi-. 
Instantly  the  white  flag  was  hoisted,  and  as  in- 
stantly were  seen  the  farmers  issuing  from  their 
houses  and  converging  to  the  point  of  meeting. 
A  glorious  evening,  or  rather  night  which  bor- 
rowed something  from  the  moming,  followed,  and 
the  conversation  of  the  poet  confirmed  and  in- 
creased the  admiration  created  by  his  writings. 
On  the  following  moming  he  breakfasted  with  a 
large  party  at  the  next  farm-house,  tenanted  by 
James  Stodart,  brother  to  the  Stodarts,  the  piano- 
forte-makers of  London ;  took  lunch,  also  with  a 
large  paity,  at  the  Bank,  in  the  parish  of  Cam- 
wath,  with  John  Stodart,  my  mother's  father, 
brother  to  the  late  Robert  Stodart,  of  Queen 
Street,  in  your  ancient  and  magnificent  town; 


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and  rode  into  Edinburgh  that  evening  on  the 

*  pownie,'  which  he  retunied  to  the  owner  in  a  few 
days  afterwards  by  John  Sampson,  the  brother  of 
the  immortalized  *  Tam.'  Mr.  Sampson  took  with 
him  a  letter  to  Mr.  Reid,  in  which  the  poet  ex- 
pressed the  great  pleasure  he  had  experienced  in 
meeting  his  friends  at  Covington. 

"  My  father  was  exactly  the  sort  of  man  to  draw 
forth  all  the  higher  powers  of  Bums'  mind.  He 
combined  physical  with  mental  strength  in  an  ex- 
traordinary degree ;  had  a  great  deal  of  practical 
knowledge ;  had  read  and  thought  much ;  had  a 
high  relish  for  manly  poetry  ;  much  benevolence ; 
much  indignation  at  oppression,  which  nobody 
dared  to  exercise  within  his  reach ;  and  no  mean 
conversational  powers.  Such  was  the  person  to 
appreciate  Burns,  ay,  and  to  reverence  the  man 
who  penned  *  The  Cottar's  Saturday  Night ;'  and, 
accordingly,  though  a  strictly  religious  and  moral 
man  himself,  he  always  maintained  that  the  vir- 
tues of  the  poet  greatly  predominated  over  his 
faults.  I  once  heard  him  exclaim,  with  hot  wrath, 
when  somebody  was  quoting  from  an  apologist, 

*  What !  do  they  apologise  for  him  I  One  half  of 
his  good,  and  all  his  bad,  divided  amang  a  score 
o'  them,  would  make  them  a'  better  men.' 

"  Wlien  a  lad  of  seventeen,  in  the  year  1809, 1 
resided  for  a  short  time  in  Ayrshire,  in  the  hospi- 
table house  of  my  father's  friend,  Reid,  and  sur- 
veyed, with  a  strange  interest,  such  visitors  as 
had  known  Bums.  I  soon  learned  how  to  antici- 
pate their  representations  of  his  character.  The 
men  of  strong  minds  and  strong  feelings  were  in- 
variable in  their  expressions  of  admiration ;  but 
the  prosy,  consequential  bodies  all  disliked  him  as 
exceedingly  dictatorial." 

His  name  had  reached  Edinburgh  before  him, 
and  he  was  now  caressed  by  all  ranks.  In  the 
ninety-seventh  number  of  the  *  Lounger,'  a  weekly 
periodical  then  published  at  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Hen- 
ry Mackenzie  inserted  *An  account  of  Robert 
Bums,  the  Ayrshire  ploughman,  with  extracts 
from  his  poems,'  which  tended  still  farther  to  ex- 
tend his  fame.  In  Ayrehire  he  had  known  Mr. 
Dugald  Stewart,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  in 
the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  had  dined  with 
him  at  his  seat  of  Catrine,  and  by  Mr.  Alexander 
Dalzell  he  had  been  introduced  to  the  earl  of 


Glencaim,  of  whose  generous  friendship  he  alwajra 
spoke  in  enthusiastic  terms.  From  Dr.  Laurie  he 
carried  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Blacklock, 
who  had  been  the  means  of  inducing  him  to  visi' 
Edinburgh.  By  the  exei-tions  of  such  influential 
friends  as  these,  he  was  speedily  introduced  into 
the  literary  and  fashionable  circles  of  the  metro- 
polis, and  he  did  no  discredit,  but  the  contrary,  to 
the  society,  in  every  way  so  new  to  him,  among 
which  he  was  now,  by  a  turn  of  fortune's  wheel,  so 
unexpectedly  placed.  But  yesterday  he  was  a 
homeless,  skulking  fugitive,  without  a  friend  to 
become  security  for  him  to  the  law,  and  cared  for 
by  nobody  except  the  sheriff  and  parish  ofScers 
who  wei-e  in  search  of  him.  To-day,  he  had 
"  troops  of  friends,"  and  was  "  the  cjmosure  of  all 
eyes,"  "  the  observed  of  all  observers."  His  de- 
portment, in  whatever  company  ho  happened  to 
find  himself,  was  manly  and  becoming.  His  un- 
failing good  sense  supplied  all  deficiencies  of  edu- 
cation, and  his  brilliant  conversational  powers 
seem  to  have  strock  every  person  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact  with  as  much  admiration  as  his 
poetry.  Under  the  patronage  of  the  earl  of  Glen- 
cjurn — the  last  who  possessed  the  title,  and  who 
thus  shed  a  parting  ray  of  light  upon  it  to  gild,  as 
it  were,  its  dying  honours, — Principal  Robertson, 
Professor  Dugald  Stewart,  Mr.  Henry  Mackenzie, 
— all  illustrious  and  unfading  names, — and  other 
persons  of  influence  and  standing,  a  new  edition 
of  his  poems  was  published  in  April  1787.  Amid 
all  the  adulation  which  he  at  this  time  received, 
he  ever  maintained  his  native  simplicity  and  inde- 
pendence of  character.  By  the  earl  of  Glencaim 
he  was  introduced  to  the  members  of  the  Caledon- 
ian Hunt,  and  in  gratitude  for  their  kindness,  he 
dedicated  to  them  the  second  edition  of  his  poems, 
in  an  address  which  must  be  familiar  to  every 
reader  of  them.  On  this  his  first  visit  to  Edin> 
burgh,  it  appears  that  he  lodged  with  a  writer's 
apprentice  named  Richmond,  sharing  his  room 
and  bed,  in  the  house  of  Mrs.  Carfrae,  Baxter's 
close,  Lawnmarket,  at  eighteen  pence  a  week. 

Mr.  Dugald  Stewart,  who,  as  already  stated, 
knew  him  in  Ayrshire,  before  the  first  fruits  of 
the  full  measure  of  his  fame  burst  upon  him.  In 
his  letter  to  Dr.  Currie  of  Liverpool,  the  first  bio- 
grapher and  editor  of  Bums,  says  that  "  the  at- 


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tentions  he  received  dui'ing  his  stay  in  Edinburgh, 
fi'om  all  ranks  and  descriptions  of  persona,  were 
Bach  as  wonld  have  tnnied  any  head  bat  his  own. 
I  cannot  say,'^  he  continues,  **  that  I  coidd  per- 
ceive any  anfavoarable  effect  which  they  left  on 
his  mind.  He  retained  the  same  simplicity  of 
manners  and  appearance  which  had  strnck  me  so 
forcibly  when  I  first  saw  him  in  the  country ;  nor 
did  he  seem  to  feel  any  additional  self-importance 
from  the  number  and  rank  of  his  new  acquaintance. 
His  dress  was  perfectly  suited  to  his  statioa,  plain 
and  unpretending,  with  a  sufficient  attention  to 
neatness.  If  I  recollect  right,  he  always  wore 
boots  (by  this  is  meant  top-boots,  for  in  those 
days  Wellingtons  and  Hessians,  the  latter  now 
extinct  in  Britain  at  least,  were  unknown) ;  and 
when  on  more  than  usual  ceremony,  buckskin 
bi*eeches." 

Being  now  enabled  to  see  a  little  more  of  his 
own  country,  than  his  limited  means  had  hitherto 
permitted  him  to  do,  he  resolved  upon  visiting  some 
of  the  pastoral  and  classic  districts  of  Scotland. 
Accordingly,  leaving  ^  the  gay  and  festive  scenes*  of 
Edinburgh,  on  the  sixth  of  May,  after  being  about 
six  months  in  that  city,  he  set  out  on  a  tour  to  the 
south  of  Scotland,  accompanied  part  of  the  way,  by 
the  late  Robert  Ainslie,  Esq.,  writer  to  the  signet, 
one  of  the  young  men  of  literary  tastes  whose  ac- 
quaintance he  had  made  shortly  before.  They 
travelled  on  horseback.  During  this  excursion  he 
was  introduced  to  several  men  of  eminence  In 
theur  station,  and  among  the  rest  to  Mr.  Brydone, 
the  traveller,  to  whom  he  carried  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction from  Mr.  Henry  Mackenzie,  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Somerville  of  Jedburgh,  the  historian,  whom 
he  describes  as  "a  man  and  a  gentleman,  but 
sadly  addicted  to  punning.*'  The  love  of  fun  is 
inherent  in  human  nature,  and  at  a  certain  time 
of  life  is  innocent  and  natural ;  just  as  at  a  parti- 
cular period  of  the  circus  performances,  a  clown, 
the  humblest  of  all  actors,  makes  his  appearance, 
with  his  commonplace  jokes  and  worn-out  witti- 
cisms; and  some  such  association  as  this  must 
have  been  at  the  foundation  of  Dr.  Johnson's 
celebrated  saying,  that  ^  punning  is  the  lowest  of 
all  kinds  of  wit.'  At  Jedburgh,  Burns  was  pre- 
sented with  the  freedom  of  the  town,  an  empty 
honour,  but  the  only  one  which  corporations  have 


it  in  their  power  to  bestow.  Since  the  passing  ot 
the  Burgh  Reform  Act  in  1832,  it  has  scarcely 
any  meaning,  but  in  Bums'  time  it  had  immense 
significance. 

Having  crossed  the  border  into  Northumber- 
land, he  visited  Alnwick  castle;  the  hermitage 
and  old  castle  of  Warksworth ;  Morpeth  and  New- 
castle. In  the  latter  town  he  spent  two  days, 
and  then  proceeded  to  the  south-west  by  Hexham 
and  Wadrue,  to  Carlisle.  He  then  returned  to 
Scotland,  taking  Annan  in  his  way ;  and  thence 
through  Dumfries  and  Sanquhar  to  Mossgiel, 
whero  he  arrived  about  the  8th  of  June,  1787, 
after  an  absence  of  about  seven  busy  and  event- 
ful months.  He  remained  with  his  mother,  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  for  a  few  days,  and,  proceed- 
ing again  to  Edinburgh,  immediately  set  out  on  a 
tour  to  the  Highlands.  Returning  to  Mossgiel, 
he  spent  the  month  of  July  in  the  society  of  his 
relatives.  In  August  he  again  visiteii  the  metro- 
polis, and  accompanied  by  Mr.  Adair,  afterwards 
Dr.  Adair  of  Harrowgate,  he  the  same  month  set 
out  on  another  short  excursion  to  Clackmannan- 
shire, returning  to  Edinburgh  by  Kinross,  Dun- 
fermline and  Queensferry.  When  they  reached 
Dunfermline,  Bums  hastened  to  the  churchyard 
to  pay  his  devotions  at  the  tomb  of  Robert  the 
Bruce,  for  whose  memory  he  had  more  than  com- 
mon veneration.  *^  He  knelt  and  kissed  the  stone," 
says  the  Doctor,  "  with  sacred  fervour,  and  heart- 
ily (8UU8  ut  mos  erat)  execrated  the  worse  than 
Gothic  neglect  of  the  first  of  Scottish  heroes." 
This  neglect  has  been  repaired.  When  the  new 
paiish  church  of  Dunfermline  was  erected  in  1818, 
it  was  made  to  enclose  the  burial-place  of  the 
kings  who  had  been  interred  there,  and  on  this 
occasion  the  tomb  of  the  Bruce  was  opened.  The 
body  of  the  hero  was  found  reduced  to  a  skeleton. 
The  lead  in  which  it  had  been  wrapped  up  was 
still  entire,  and  even  some  of  a  fine  linen  cloth, 
embroidered  with  gold,  which  had  formed  his 
shroud.  His  bones  having  been  placed  in  a  new 
leaden  coffin,  half-an-inch  thick,  seven  feet  long, 
two  feet  five  inches  broad,  and  two  feet  in  depth, 
into  which  was  poured  melted  pitch  to  preserve 
them,  he  was  re-interred  with  much  state  and  so- 
lemnity, by  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer,  many 
distinguished  noblemen  and   gentlemen   of  the 


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county  being  present.  The  pulpit  of  the  new 
church  now  marks  the  spot  where  all  that  remains 
on  earth  of  the  patriot-monarch  is  deposited.  In 
September  of  the  same  year,  the  poet  agam  set 
out  from  Edinburgh  on  a  more  extensive  tour  to 
the  Highlands,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Nicol,  one  of 
the  masters  of  the  High  School  of  that  city,  a  man 
of  congenial  sentiments,  and  the  *  Willie'  of  *  We 
are  na  fon.'  At  Athole  house,  Bums  was  hospi- 
tably entertained  by  the  ducal  family.  Of  his 
behaviour  during  this  visit.  Professor  Walker, 
who  was  then  an  inmate  of  the  dnke*s  family, 
gives  the  following  description.  "My  curiosity 
was  great,"  he  says,  **  to  see  how  he  would  con- 
duct himself  in  company  so  different  from  what  he 
had  been  accustomed  to.  His  manner  was  un- 
embarrassed, plain,  and  firm.  He  appeared  to 
have  complete  reliance  on  his  own  native  good 
sense  for  directing  his  behaviour.  He  seemed  at 
once  to  perceive  and  appreciate  what  was  due  to 
the  company  and  to  himself,  and  never  forgot  a 
pi-oper  respect  for  the  separate  species  of  dignity 
belonging  to  each.  He  did  not  aiTOgate  conver- 
sation, but,  when  let  into  it,  he  spoke  with  ease, 
propriety,  and  manliness.  He  tried  to  exert  his 
abilities,  because  he  knew  it  was  ability  alone  gave 
him  a  title  to  be  there.  The  duke's  fine  young 
family  attracted  much  of  his  admiration ;  he  drank 
their  healths  as  *  honest  men  and  bonnie  lasses,' 
an  idea  which  was  much  applauded  by  the  com- 
pany." At  Athole-house  he  met  for  the  first 
time  Mr.  Graham  of  Fintry,  to  whom  he  was  af- 
terwards indebted  for  his  office  in  the  excise.  He 
afterwards  visited  the  duke  of  Gordon  at  Gordon 
castle,  from  which  he  was  hurried  away  by  the 
petulance  and  false  pride  of  his  companion  Nicol, 
who  took  offence  at  the  poet's  visiting  the  castle 
without  him. 

Returning  to  Edinburgh,  Bums  spent  the  great- 
er part  of  the  ensuing  winter  there,  and  again 
entered  into  the  society  and  dissipation  of  the 
metropolis.  On  the  last  day  of  December  he  at- 
tending a  meeting  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of 
Prince  Charles  Edward,  the  lineal  descendant  and 
unfortunate  representative  of  Scotland's  ill-fated 
race  of  kings,  the  Stuarts ;  and  on  this  occasion 
he  produced  an  ode,  breathing  Jacobite  senti- 
ments throughout.    Prince  Charles  died  the  fol- 


lowing year,  and  thus  for  ever  put  an  end  to  the 
hopes  of  his  adherents.  Among  the  most  pleasing 
incidents  of  his  life  in  Edinburgh  was  his  tracing 
out  the  grave  of  his  predecessor,  Fergusson,  in  the 
Canongate  churchyard,  over  whose  ashes  he  erect- 
ed a  humble  monument.  During  his  residence 
in  Edinburgh  at  this  time  he  resided  with  Mr. 
Cruickshanks,  then  one  of  the  masters  of  the  High 
School,  who  lived  in  St.  James'  Square,  New 
Town,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  in  Creneral's 
Entry,  Potterrow,  Mrs.  M^LiChose,  the  wife  of  a 
gentleman  in  the  West  Indies,  to  whom  bis  *'  Let- 
ters to  Clannda'  are  addressed.  He  was  for  some 
time  at  this  period  lame,  from  a  fracture  or  dislo 
cation  of  his  knee,  and  was  attended  by  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Wood,  the  celebrated  surgeon. 

The  copy  light  of  his  poems  he  had  sold  to  Mr. 
Creech  for  a  hundred  pounds,  but  his  friends  sug- 
gested a  subscription  for  an  edition  for  the  benefit 
of  the  author,  ere  the  bookseller's  right  should 
commence.  Tlus  was  immediately  set  on  foot,  the 
subscription  copy  being  six  shillings.  After  set- 
tling accounts  with  his  bookseller,  in  the  summei 
of  1788,  he  returned  to  Ayrshire  with  nearly 
five  hundred  pounds,  where  he  found  his  brother 
Gilbert,  who  still  possessed  the  farm  of  Mossgiel, 
stmggling  to  support  their  widowed  mother,  three 
sisters,  and  a  brother.  He  immediately  advanced 
them  two  hundred  pounds,  and  with  the  rem^der 
he  took  and  stocked  the  farm  of  Ellisland,  about 
six  miles  above  Dumfries,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nith.  Tlie  relatives  of  his  "  bonny  Jean  "  were 
not  now  so  averse  to  their  union  as  before,  and 
they  were  soon  regularly  married.  Previous  to 
this  event  she  had  again  become  the  mother  of 
twins,  he  being  the  father.  It  was  in  1788 
that  Bums  entered  upon  the  possession  of  Ellis- 
land,  and  this  was  perhaps  for  a  few  months  the 
happiest  period  of  his  life.  But  the  occupation 
of  a  farmer  speedily  lost  all  charm  for  him.  He 
wanted  something  more  stirring  and  active,  and 
on  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Graham  of  Fintry, 
he  was  appointed,  on  his  own  application,  an  offi- 
cer of  excise  for  the  district  in  which  his  farm  was 
situated.  ^*  His  farm,"  says  one  of  his  biographers, 
*^  was,  after  this,  in  a  great  measure  abandoned  to 
servants,  while  he  betook  himself  to  the  duties  of 
his  new  appointment.    He  might,  indeed,  still  be 


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•een  in  the  spring,  directing  his  plough,  a  laboar 
in  which  he  excelled;  or  with  a  white  sheet  con- 
taining his  seed  com  slang  across  his  shoulders, 
striding  with  measored  steps,  along  his  tumed-up 
farrows,  and  scattering  the  grain  on  the  earth. 
But  his  farm  no  longer  occupied  the  principal  part 
of  his  care  or  his  thoughts.  It  was  not  at  Ellis- 
land  that  he  was  now  in  general  to  be  found. 
Mounted  on  horseback  this  high-minded  poet  was 
pursuing  the  defaulters  of  the  revenue,  among  the 
hills  and  vales  of  Nithsdale,  his  roving  eye  wan- 
dering over  the  chaims  of  nature,  and  muttering 
his  wayward  fancies  as  he  moved  along."  When 
he  exclaims  in  one  of  his  songs,  ^  I  hae  a  gnid 
braid  sword,'  we  are  to  understand  him  liter- 
ally. In  the  summer  of  1791  two  gentlemen 
who  came  to  visit  him,  found  him  accoutred  in 
Warlike  trim.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  cap  made 
of  a  fox's  skin ;  and  from  a  belt  which  served  to 
confine  the  wandering  of  a  loose  great  coat,  de- 
pended an  enormous  clayniore.  In  this  garb  he 
stood  on  a  rock  that  projects  into  the  Nith,  and 
amused  himself  with  angling.  After  having  occu- 
pied his  farm  about  three  years  and  a  half,  he 
found  himself  obliged  to  resign  it  to  his  landlord, 
Mr.  Miller  of  Dalswinton.  About  the  end  of  1 79 1 
he  removed  with  his  family  to  Dumfries,  where  on 
a  salary  of  seventy  pounds  per  annum,  being  all 
his  income  as  an  exciseman,  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  Ufe. 

His  fame  was  now  widely  circulated  over  the 
three  kingdoms.  His  name  and  his  songs  had 
become  dear  to  every  Scottish  l>eart,  and  his  com- 
pany was  eagerly  courted  by  all  who  could  ap- 
preciate genius.  Unfortunately,  Bmns  had  not 
the  firmness  to  resist  the  many  temptations  to  dis- 
sipation which  were  thrown  in  his  way,  or  the 
moral  courage  to  refuse  the  constant  invitations 
which  were  sent  to  him;  consequently,  he  was  led 
into  tmbits  of  excess,  which  injured  his  constitu- 
tion,  and,  in  the  intervals  between  his  fits  of  in- 
temperance, caused  him  to  suffer  the  bitterest 
pangs  of  remorse.  At  this  period  many  of  his 
most  beautiful  pieces  were  written,  especially  the 
best  of  his  songs,  which  were  contributed  to  an 
Edinburgh  publication  called  ^  Johnson's  Musical 
I  Museum,'  and  afterwards  to  a  larger  work,  the 
well  known  *  Collection  of  Original  Scottish  Airs,' 


edited  and  published  by  Mr.  George  Thomson. 
To  the  former  work  his  contributions  amounted  to 
no  less  than  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight.  On 
this  point  the  late  Captain  Charles  Gray,  R.  M., 
author  of  *  Lays  and  Lyrics,'  in  one  of  a  series  of 
papers  which  he  contributed  to  the  Glasgow  Citi- 
zen on  the  lyric  poetry  of  Scotland,  has  the  follow- 
ing remarks :  "  None  of  his  numerous  biographers 
hitherto  has  done  him  justice  as  to  the  amount  of 
his  contributions  to  the  ^  Scots  Musical  Museum.' 
Cunie  hints,  cautiously,  that  Bums  ^  contributed 
songs  liberally  to  "  Johnson's  Musical  Museum." ' 
Lockhart,  who  is  always  equal  to  (he  task  when 
dealing  with  the  higher  part  of  our  bard's  biogi*a- 
phy,  fails  when  putting  together  the  lighter  parts  of 
his  materials.  That  he  wished  to  do  every  justice  to 
the  character  of  Bums,  as  a  man  and  a  poet,  is  un- 
questionable;  but  he  lacked  the  necessary  research. 
The  drudgery  overcame  his  diligence ; — hence  his 
account  of  what  Bums  did  for  the  Museum,  is 
very  vague  and  unsatisfactory.  Cromek,  perhaps 
the  most  ardent  admirer  of  the  genius  of  our  poet 
that  ever  was  bom  south  of  the  Tweed,  says, 
^  Bums  contributed,  gratuitously,  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  eighty -four  original,  altered,  and 
collected  songs ; '  and  Allan  Cunningham  states, 
that  he  *  had  seen  one  hundred  and  eighty  trans- 
cribed by  his  own  hand  for  the  Museum.'  It  will 
be  observed,  that  these  statements  are  far  below 
the  mark,  as  Mr.  Stenhouse,  from  whom  our  in- 
formation is  gleaned,  had  a  far  better  opportunity 
of  ascertaining  the  tmth  (the  whole  of  the  mate- 
rials composing  the  Museum  having  passed  through 
his  hands)  than  either  Cromek  or  Cunningham ; 
and  we  learn  fi'om  him  that  Bums  contributed  no 
less  than  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  songs  to 
that  work,  as  has  been  already  stated;  and  we 
take  credit  to  ourselves  for  being  the  first  to  claim 
for  him  the  merit  of  his  collecting  Mid  preserving 
above  fifty  Scottish  melodies.  This  labour  of  love 
alone  would  have  entitled  Burns  to  the  thanks 
and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  had  he  done 
nothing  else ;  but  it  was  lost  in  the  refulgent  blaze 
of  his  native  genius,  which  shed  a  light  on  our 
national  song  that  shall  endure  as  long  as  our 
simple  Doric  is  understood.  In  the  lapse  of  ages 
even  the  lyrics  of  Bums  may  become  obsolete,  but 
other  bards  shall  arise,  animated  with  his  spirit, 


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ROBERT. 


and  reproduce  them,  if  possible,  in  more  than  their 
origlnsd  beauty  and  splendour.  We  bold  our  na- 
tional melodies  to  be  imperishable.  As  no  one 
can  trace  their  origin,  it  would  be  equally  futile  to 
predict  their  end.  Their  essence  is  more  divine 
than  the  language  to  which  they  are  wedded. 
They  can  only  expire  with  the  lilt  of  the  linnet, 
and  the  lay  of  the  laverock — with  the  rich  and 
mellow  strains  of  the  mavis,  and  the  bold  and 
thrilling  notes  of  the  blackbird.  More  than  one 
author  of  the  present  day  has  asserted  that  the 
peasant  muse  of  Scotland  died  with  Robert  Nicholl. 
Such  an  assertion  is  an-ant  nonsense.  But  granted 
that  she 

* died  a  cadger  powsie's  death, 

At  some  dyke-back/ 

is  Nature  unable  to  reproduce  another  great  origi- 
nal mind,  in  the  pastoral  ranks,  when  ages  shall 
have  changed  the  phases  of  society  ?  Why  should 
people  of  liberal  minds  give  way  to  such  narrow 
fancies?  The  peasant  muse  of  Scotland  is  *not 
dead,  but  sleepeth.'  She  will  start  up  in  another 
garb,  and  make  the  '  heights  and  howes,'  the 
'streams  and  bumies'  of  the  land  of  cakes  as 
vocal  as  when  erst  the  Bard  of  Coila 

*  Folio w'd  his  plough  upon  the  mountain  side."  * 

Burns^  promotion  in  the  excise  was  prevented  by 
the  imprudence  of  speech  in  which  he  expressed 
himself  in  approval  of  the  principles  of  the  first 
French  revolution,  and  the  freedom  with  which  he 
declaimed  concerning  the  urgent  necessity  of  a 
radical  reform  in  the  parliamentary  representation 
and  government  of  this  country.  He  even  went 
so  far  as  to  send  four  carronades,  which  he  had 
purchased  at  the  condemnation  and  sale  of  a 
smuggler  brig,  he  had  assisted  in  capturing  in  the 
Sol  way  Firth  in  February  1792,  as  a  present  to 
the  French  convention.  Both  the  present  and  the 
letter  which  accompanied  it  were  intercepted  at 
the  custom-house  of  Dover,  the  guns  retained,  and 
the  letter  transmitted  to  the  Board  of  Excise  in 
Scotland.  The  Board  of  Excise,  in  consequence, 
deemed  it  expedient  to  appoint  a  superior  officer 
to  investigate  his  conduct.  In  an  eloquent  letter 
addressed  to  one  of  their  number,  he  exculpated 
himself  with  becoming  dignity  from  the  charges 
which  had  been  preferred  against  him;  and  the 


officer  who  had  been  commissioned  to  institute  a 
formal  inquiiy,  could  discover  no  substantial 
grounds  of  accusation.  Mr.  Graham  of  Fintry,  in 
whom  he  had  always  found  a  steady  and  zealous 
friend,  was  re^y  on  this  emergency  to  secure 
him  from  the  threatened  consequences  of  his  im- 
prudence ;  but  the  board,  although  they  suffered 
him  to  retain  his  office,  sent  him  an  intimation 
that  his  advancement  must  now  be  determined  by 
his  future  behaviour.  A  report  having  gone 
abroad  that  he  had  been  dismissed  from  the  ex- 
cise, some  gentlemen  proposed  a  subscription  for 
the  relief  of  his  supposed  necessities.  This  benevo- 
lent offer  he  at  once  declined,  and  in  the  letter 
which  conveyed  his  acknowledgments,  he  took 
occasion  to  allude  to  the  reports  which  had  been 
industriously  circulated  to  his  prejudice.  "The 
partiality  of  my  countrymen,'*  he  says  in  a  lofty 
spirit  of  indignation,  "  has  brought  me  forward  as 
a  man  of  genius,  and  has  given  me  a  character  to 
support.  In  the  poet  I  have  avowed  manly  and 
independent  sentiments,  which  I  hope  have  been 
found  in  the  man.  Reasons  of  no  less  weight  than 
the  support  of  a  wife  and  children  have  pointed 
out  my  present  occupation  as  the  only  eligible  line 
of  life  within  my  reach.  Still  my  honest  fame  is 
my  dearest  concern,  and  a  thousand  times  have  I 
trembled  at  the  idea  of  the  degrading  epithets  that 
malice  or  misrepresentation  may  affix  to  my  name. 
Often  in  blasting  anticipation  have  I  listened  to 
some  future  hackney  scribbler,  with  the  heavy 
malice  of  savage  stupidity,  exultingly  asserting 
that  Bums,  notwithstanding  the  fanfarotMde  of 
independence  to  be  found  in  his  works,  and  after 
having  been  held  up  to  public  view,  and  to  public 
estimation,  as  a  man  of  some  genius,  yet,  quite 
destitute  of  resources  within  himself  to  support  his 
borrowed  dignity,  dwindled  into  a  paltry  excise- 
man, and  slunk  out  the  rest  of  his  insignificant  ex- 
istence in  the  meanest  pursuits,  and  among  the 
lowest  of  mankind.  In  your  illustrious  hands,  sir, 
permit  me  to  lodge  my  strong  disavowal  of  such 
slanderous  falsehoods.  Burns  was  a  poor  man 
from  his  birth,  and  an  exciseman  by  necessity; 
but  I  wiU  say  it,  the  sterling  of  his  honest  worth 
poverty  could  not  debase,  and  his  independent 
British  spirit  oppression  might  bend,  but  could 
not  subdue." 


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ROBERT. 


In  1795  Barns  entered  the  ranks  of  the  Dam- 
fries  Volanteers.  Daring  this  year  Mr.  Perry  of 
the  Morning  Chronicle,  offered  him  fifty  poands 
a-year  for  a  poem  weekly  for  that  paper,  which 
woald  have  been  a  handsome  addition  to  his 
income,  bat  from  the  pecaliar  feeling  he  enter- 
tained of  the  sacredness  of  poetry,  probably  fancy- 
ing that  if  he  became,  what  he  so  mach  dreaded, 
^'  the  hireling  of  a  party,*^  his  mnse  woald  refase 
to  give  her  aid,  he  foolishly  declined  the  proposaL 
His  health  was  now  mach  impaired,  and  in  the 
autnnm  of  that  year  he  lost  his  only  daughter, 
which  made  a  deep  impression  apon  him.  Soon 
afterwards  he  was  seized  with  a  rhenmatic  fever. 
Before  he  had  completely  recovered,  he  had  the 
imprudence  to  join  a  convivial  circle,  and  on  his  re- 
turn from  it,  he  caaght  a  cold  which  brought  back 
the  fever  with  redoubled  severity.  He  tried  the 
effect  of  sea-bathing,  but  with  no  durable  success. 
This  ilbiess  was  the  cause  of  his  premature  death, 
which  took  place  July  21,  1796.  On  the  26th  of 
the  same  month,  his  remains  were  interred  with 
military  honours  by  the  Dumfries  Volunteers,  in 
the  South  churchyard  of  Dumfries ;  and  the  cere- 
mony was  rendered  the  more  imposing,  by  the 
presence  of  at  least  ten  thousand  individuals  of  all 
i-anks,  who  had  collected  from  all  parts  of  the 
country.  He  left  a  widow  and  four  sons.  On 
the  day  of  his  interment  Mi's.  Burns  was  delivered 
of  a  fifth  son,  named  Maxwell,  who  died  in  his 
infancy.  An  edition  of  his  works,  in  4  vols.  8vo, 
with  a  Life,  was  published  by  Dr.  Currie  of  Liv- 
erpool in  1800,  for  the  benefit  of  his  widow  and 
family.  Innumerable  other  editions  of  his  poems 
have  since  appeared. 

In  1828  Mr.  Lockhart  published  his  Life  of 
Burns ;  and  a  complete  edition  of  his  Poems  and 
Letters,  in  eight  volumes,  with  a  Life  by  Mr. 
Allan  Cunningham  prefixed,  appeared  in  London 
in  1834.  Besides  these,  an  edition  of  Bums' 
Works  with  a  Life  and  Notes  by  the  Ettrick 
Shepherd  and  the  late  William  Motherwell,  and 
'illusti-ations,  was  published  by  Messrs.  A.  Fullar- 
ton  and  Co.  in  1836. 

Bums  is  the  most  popular  poet  that  Scotland 
ever  produced.  With  his  poems,  all,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  of  his  countrymen,  are  fami- 
liar.    His  principal  characteristics  as  a  lyrical 


poet  were  his  sensibility  and  his  troth ;  and  though 
he  undoubtedly  possessed  more  feeling  than  ima- 
gination, the  range  and  variety  of  his  powers  were 
really  wonderful ;  of  which  '  The  Cottar's  Satur- 
day Night,'  *  Scots  wha  hae,'  *Holy  Willie's 
Prayer,'  *  Tam  o'  Shanter,'  *  Death  and  Dr.  Horn- 
book,' and  *  The  Beggar's  Cantata,'  all  differing  in 
style  and  sentiment,  but  all  unsurpassed  in  their 
way,  are  striking  examples.  His  humour  in  de- 
lineatmg  Scottish  character  and  manners  has  never 
been  equalled ;  and  the  language  of  his  country 
will  be  pei'petuated  in  his  verses  long  after  it  has 
ceased  to  be  spoken,  even  by  the  common  people, 
to  whom  it  is  now  almost  entirely  confined.  His 
songs  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  the  tender, 
humorous,  and  pathetic,  and  the  social  and  heroic. 
Those  of  the  first  class  are  the  most  numerous. 
Bums  was  peculiarly  sensible  to  those  impressions 
which  produce  tender  emotions  in  the  mind,  and 
which  are  ever  awakening  sympathies  of  the  pleas- 
ing or  the  painful.  To  the  beauties  of  nature  he 
was  tremblingly  alive,  but  to  the  grander  and 
moi*e  magnificent  scenes  his  muse  seems  to  have 
paid  little  devotion,  although,  from  the  emotions 
with  which  he  was  inspired  by  the  wUdness  of  a 
tempest  howling  over  a  mountain,  or  raving 
through  the  trees  of  a  forest,  it  might  have  been 
expected  that  his  songs  would  have  more  fre- 
quently depicted  the  grand  or  sublime  in  scenery. 
'*  There  is  scarcely  any  eaithly  object,"  said  Bums, 
"  gives  me  more — I  do  not  know  if  I  should  caH  it 
pleasure — but  something  which  exalts  me,  some- 
thing which  enraptures  me — than  to  walk  in. the 
sheltered  side  of  a  wood  or  high  plantation,  in  a^ 
cloudy  winter  day,  and  hear  the  stoi-my  wind 
howling  among  the  trees,  and  raving  over  the 
plain.  It  is  my  best  season  for  devotion  to  Him 
who,  in  the  pompous  language  of  the  Hebrew  bard, 
'  Walks  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.*" 

Such  scenes  and  objects,  however,  are  not  the 
legitimate  subjects  for  lyric  poetry ;  they  are 
themes  for  a  loftier  muse,  for  a  more  sustained 
effort ;  such  as  the  sublime  ethics  of  Milton,  the 
descriptive  *  Childe'  of  Byron,  or  the  moi*e  bean- 
tifiil  didactic  *  Pleasures '  of  Campbell  and  Rogers. 

In  delineating  all  the  emotions  and  operations 
of  love  Bums  particularly  excelled.  With  a  mas- 
ter's pen  he  painted  its  kindling,  exciting,  and  ever- 


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chaiif(ing  caprices,  as  well  as  its  deeper,  steadier 
and  more  settled  sentiments,  and  displayed  its 
predominating  influence  over  all  other  considera- 
tions where  it  had  taken  full  possession  of  the 
heart.  That  sickly  cast  of  love  which  scarcely 
ever  permits  a  natural  sentiment  to  fall  from  its 
lips  was  not  to  be  found  in  a  single  heroine  of 
Burns :  all  his  females  were  natural,  sincere,  and 
unaffected,  and  the  glorious  stores  of  the  forest, 
the  field,  and  the  mountain  were  plundered  of 
their  beauties  to  adorn  them.  Their  purity  was 
seen  in  the  opening  gowan,  wet  with  the  dew,  and 
their  modesty  beamed  in  the  eye  of  the  violet ; 
tlieir  breath  breathed  in  the  scented  flower  of  the 
hawthorn,  and  their  smile  *^  illumed  the  dark 
prospects  of  life,  as  Aurora  gilded  with  brightness 
the  sky  of  the  morning."  All  nature  acknow- 
ledged subserviency  to  her  own  bard  for  his  ima- 
ges ;  and  her  sweet  and  simple  graces  were  gath- 
ered with  an  eager  hand  to  embellish  her  fairest 
creations.  Diamond  eyes,  ruby  lips,  and  ivory 
teeth,  with  all  their  polish  and  brightness,  were 
tawdry  and  tinsel  similes  of  art,  which  found  no 
favour  in  his  sight.  He  was  the  bard  of  nature, 
and  he  breathed  nothing  but  nature.  He  surveyed 
her  fields  with  the  enthusiasm  of  devotion,  and 
unfolded  their  charms  in  every  vai*ied  and  vivify- 
ing hue.  The  opening  of  spring,  the  luxuriance 
of  summer,  the  golden  plenty  of  autumn,  and  the 
majesty  of  a  Caledonian  winter  spread  their  riches 
before  him.  His  eye  kindled  at  the  contempla- 
tion of  their  individual  enjoyments ;  his  benevo- 
lence sought  to  make  others  participators  of  his 
joy;  his  mind  burned  to  give  utterance  to  his 
feelings,  whilst  poetry  flowed  spontaneously  from 
his  lips,  and  thg  music  of  his  country  waited  on 
his  call  to  follow  his  breathings  wherever  he  went. 
To  use  his  own  expressive  words,  he  tuned  "  his 
wild  artless  notes,  and  sung  the  loves,  the  joys, 
the  rural  scenes,  and  rural  pleasures,  of  his  native 
soil,  in  his  native  tongue;"  and  in  the  nature, 
simplicity,  and  truth  of  his  lays  consist  their  mar- 
vellous power  and  beauty. 

Of  his  personal  appearance  perhaps  the  most 
truthful  as  well  as  most  graphic  description  is  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  was  once  in  his  company  in 
1786-7.  Scott,  who  was  then  a  lad  of  seventeen, 
just  removed  from  the  High  School  to  a  desk  in 


his  father's  office,  was  invited  by  his.  friend  and 
companion,  the  son  of  Dr.  Ferguson,  to  accompa- 
ny him  to  Ms  father's  house  on  an  evening  when 
Bmns  was  to  be  there.  The  two  youngsters  en- 
tered the  room,  sat  down  unnoticed  by  tbeir  seni- 
ors, and  looked  on  and  listened  in  modest  silence. 
Bums,  when  he  came  in,  seemed  a  little  oat  of  his 
element,  and,  instead  of  mingling  at  once  with  the 
company,  kept  going  about  the  room,  looking  at 
the  pictures  on  the  walls.  One  print  particularly 
arrested  his  attention.  It  represented  a  soldier 
lying  dead  among  thcsnow,  his  dog  on  one  side, 
and  a  woman  with  a  child  in  her  arms  on  the 
other.  Underneath  the  print  were  some  lines  of 
verse  descriptive  of  the  subject,  which  Bums  read 
aloud  with  a  voice  faltering  with  emotion.  A  lit- 
tle while  after,  turning  to  the  company  and  point- 
ing to  the  prmt,  he  asked  if  any  one  could  teU 
him  who  was  the  author  of  the  lines.  No  one 
chanced  to  know,  excepting  Scott,  who  remem- 
bered that  they  were  fi*om  an  obscure  poem  of 
Langhorae's.  The  information,  whispered  by 
Scott  to  some  one  near,  was  repeated  to  Bura^ 
who,  after  asking  a  little  more  about  the  matter, 
rewarded  his  young  informant  with  a  look  of  kind- 
ly interest,  and  the  words,  (Sir  Adam  Ferguson 
reports  them,)  "  You'll  be  a  man  yet,  sir."  "  His 
person,"  says  Scott,  in  reference  to  this  interview, 
'^  was  strong  and  robust ;  his  manners  rustic,  not 
clownish ;  a  sort  of  dignified  plainness  and  simpli- 
city, which  received  part  of  its  effect,  perhaps,  from 
one's  knowledge  of  his  extraordinary  talents.  His 
features  are  represented  in  Mr.  Nasmyth's  pic- 
ture, but  to  me  it  conveys  the  idea  that  they  are 
diminished,  as  if  seen  in  perspective.  I  think  his 
countenance  was  more  massive  than  it  looks  in 
any  of  the  portraits.  I  would  have  taken  the  po- 
et, had  I  not  known  what  he  was,  for  a  very  saga- 
cious country  farmer  of  the  old  Scottish  school— 
i.  e.  none  of  your  modem  agriculturists,  who  keep 
labourers  for  their  drudgery,  but  the  douce  gude- 
man  who  held  his  own  plough.  There  was  a 
strong  expression  of  sense  and  shrewdness  in  all 
his  lineaments ;  the  eye  alone,  I  think,  indicated 
the  poetical  character  and  temperament.  It  was 
large,  and  of  a  dark  cast,  and  glowed  (I  say,  lit- 
erally glowed)  when  he  spoke  with  feeling  or  in- 
terest.   I  never  saw  such  another  eye  in  a  human 


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kead,  thoagh  I  have  seen  the  most  distinguished 
men  in  my  time.  His  conversation  expressed 
perfect  self-confidence,  without  the  slightest  pre- 
sumption. Among  the  men  who  were  the  most 
learned  of  their  time  and  country,  he  expressed 
himself  with  perfect  firmness,  but  without  the 
least  intrusive  forwardness ;  and  when  he  differed 
in  opinion,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  it  fiim- 
ly,  yet  at  the  same  time  with  modesty.  I  do  not 
remember  any  part  of  his  conversation  distinctly 
enough  to  be  quoted,  nor  did  I  ever  see  him 
again,  except  in  the  street,  where  he  did  not  recog- 
nise jne,  as  I  could  not  expect  he  should.  He 
was  much  caressed  in  Edinburgh,  but  (considering 
what  literary  emoluments  have  been  since  his  day) 
the  efforts  made  for  liis  relief  were  extremely  tri- 
fling. I  remember  on  this  occasion  I  mention,  I 
thought  Burns*  acquaintance  with  English  poetry 
was  rather  limited,  and  also,  that  having  twenty 
times  the  abilities  of  Allan  Ramsay  and  of  Fer- 
gusson,  he  talked  of  them  with  too  much  humility 
as  his  models ;  there  was  doubtless  national  pre- 
dilection in  his  estimate.** 

Somewhere  about  the  very  day  on  which  the 
Interview  above  referred  to  happened,  Francis 
Jeffrey,  then  a  lad  of  thirteen,  was  going  up  the 
High  Street  of  Edinburgh,  and  staring  diligently 
about  him,  was  attracted  by  the  appearance  of  a 
man  whom  he  saw  standing  on  the  pavement. 
He  was  taking  a  good  and  attentive  view  of  the 
object  of  his  curiosity,  when  some  one  idling  at 
a  shop-door  tapped  him  on  the*  shoulder,  and  said, 
**Ay,  laddie,  ye  may  weel  look  at  that  man! 
That's  Robert  Bums.** 

Of  Bums*  family,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Ro- 
bert, the  eldest  son  of  the  poet,  was  for  twenty-nine 
years  in  the  T^gacy  department  of  the  Stamp  office, 
Somerset  House,  London,  and  afterwards  he  for 
some  years  resided  at  Dumfries,  on  a  retiring  al- 
lowance. He  married  in  London,  but  his  wife 
died  and  is  buried  at  Dumfries.  They  had  one 
daughter,  Eliza  Bums,  who,  under  the  patronage 
of  her  uncle  William,  went  out  to  India,  where 
she  married  an  Iiishman,  (he  surgeon  of  a  regi- 
ment. Her  husband  returned  home  in  bad  health, 
and  died  in  Ireland,  leaving  an  only  daughter. 
William  Nicol  Bums,  the  second  son,  and  James 
Glencaim  Burns,  the  youngest,  both  entered  the 


East  India  Company's  service,  from  which  they 
both  retired,  the  first  as  colonel,  and  his  brother 
as  lieutenant  -  colonel.  The  former  married  in 
India,  but  returned  a  widower,  without  children. 
The  latter  married  twice,  but  was  also  left  a 
widower,  and  the  father  of  two  daughters.  An- 
other of  his  sons  died  in  1803.  The  centenary  of 
Robert  Bums  was  held  throughout  the  civilized 
world  in  January  1859,  with  great  enthusiasm, 
and  an  account  of  the  proceedings  on  the  occasion 
was  soon  after  published  in  an  imperial  8vo  volume 
by  Messrs.  A.  Fullaiton  &  Co. 

Robert  Bums,  the  poet's  eldest  son,  besides 
being  an  excellent  llugnist  and  an  accomplished 
musician,  was  also  himself  a  poet  of  no  mean  merit. 
The  following  little  Scottish  song  written  by  him, 
is  not  unworthy  of  his  gifted  sire : 

PRETTY  MEG,  MY  DEARIE. 

"  Ab  I  gaed  up  the  side  o'  Nith, 

Ae  simmer  morning  early, 
Wi'  gowden  locks  on  dewy  leas, 

The  broom  was  waving  fiurly ; 
Aloft  unseen  in  cloudless  sky, 

The  lark  was  dnging  dearly. 
When  wadin*  through  the  broom  1  spied 

My  pretty  Meg,  my  dearie : 
Like  dawin'  light  frae  stormy  night. 

To  sailor  sad  and  weary, 
Sae  sweet  to  me  the  glint  to  see, 

0*  pretty  Meg,  my  dearie. 

Her  lips  were  like  a  half-seen  rose, 

When  day  is  breaking  paly ; 
Her  een,  beneath  her  snawy  brow, 

like  raindrops  frae  a  lily, — 
Like  twa  young  bluebells  fill'd  with  dew. 

They  glanced  baith  bright  and  clearly; 
Aboon  them  shone,  o*  bonnie  brown, 

The  locks  o*  Meg,  my  dearie. 
Of  a*  the  flowers  in  sunny  bowers, 

That  bloomed  that  mom  sae  cheerie, 
The  furest  flower  that  happy  hoiur, 

Was  pretty  Meg,  my  dearie! 

I  took  her  by  the  sma*  white  hand, — 

My  heart  sprang  in  my  bosom, — 
Upon  her  face  sat  maiden  grace, 

Like  sunshine  on  a  blossom. 
How  lovely  seemM  the  morning  hymu, 

Of  ilka  birdie  near  me; 
But  sweeter  far  the  angel  voice, 

0*  pretty  Meg,  my  dearie. 


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BURNS,  612 

Wliile  summer  light  shall  bless  mj  sight, 

Or  bomiie  broom  shall  cheer  me; 
ril  ne'er  forget  the  mom  I  met 

My  pretty  Meg,  my  dearie!** 

"  The  meeting  described  in  the  song,"  says  the 
author,  "  is  no  fiction,  neither  is  the  heroine  a  fic- 
titious personage, — her  name  is  Margaret  Fullar- 
ton.  If  the  song  has  no  other  merit,  it  at  least 
gives  her  portrait  with  faithful  exactness.  She  is 
besides  of  a  shape  which  is  elegance  and  symmetry 
personified.  She  is  now  (1850),  and  has  long 
been,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Ross,  gardener  at  Mount 
Annan,  and  has  a  family  of  beautiful  children. 
Many  years  ago,  on  a  summer  Sunday  morning, 
myself  and  Mr.  Smith  took  a  walk  up  the  left 
bank  of  the  Nith.  When  we  came  opposite  to 
Ellisland,  we  took  off  our  shoes  and  stockings, 
and  waded  the  water;  when  we  had  passed  Ellis- 
land,  on  our  way  to  Friar's  Carse,  we  met  Miss 
FuUarton  'wadin'  through  the  broom  to  meet  us, 
under  the  exact  circumstances  described  in  the 
song.  The  tune  is  a  composition  of  Neil  Gow. 
He  calls  it  in  his  collection  'AL-s.  Wemyss  of 
Cuttlehill's  Strathspey.'  Every  bar  speaks  the 
rough  and  spiiited  accent  of  the  music  of  the  banks 
of  the  Spey." 

BURNS,  John,  M.D.,  author  of  *The  Princi- 
ples of  Midwifery,'  was  born  in  Glasgow  in  1774. 
His  grandfather,  Mr.  John  Burns,  was  a  teacher 
of  English  in  Glasgow,  and  author  of  'Bums' 
English  Grammar,'  a  popular  school-book  in  the 
west  of  Scotland  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century;  and  his  father  was  the  Rev.  John  Burns, 
D.D.,  for  sixty-nine  years  minister  of  the  Barony 
parish  of  Glasgow.  Dr.  Bums  died  in  1839,  and 
was  known  previously  to  his  death  as  the  "  Father 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  having  lived  to  the 
age  of  96.  At  an  early  age  John,  who  was  his  eldest 
son,  commenced  the  study  of  medicine;  and  was  ap- 
pointed surgeon's  clerk  to  the  Royal  Infirmary  of 
Glasgow,  when  that  institution  was  first  opened 
for  the  reception  of  patients  in  1792.  At  this  time 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  anatomy,  espe- 
cially to  that  depaitment  of  it  styled  relative  or 
surgical  anatomy.  He  afterwards  gave  instruc- 
tion in  it  to  students,  and  was  the  firet  individual 
unconnected  with  any  public  institution  who  pro- 
fessed to  teach  anatomy  in  Glasgow.    His  lecture- 


JOHN. 


I 


ix)om  was  at  the  north-west  comer  of  Virgfnla 
street,  behind  the  present  Union  Bank  of  that 
city.  In  those  days  all  subjects  for  dissection 
were  obtained  by  the  students  robbing  the  church- 
yards. Mr.  Bums  being  detected  in  something  of 
this  sort,  the  magistrates  agreed  to  quash  proceed- 
ings against  him,  on  condition  that  he  gave  up 
lecturing  on  anatomy.  This  he  agreed  to  do,  bat 
his  younger  brother,  Allan,  took  up  the  lectures 
on  anatomy,  while  John  began  to  lecture  on  mid- 
wifery. Their  lecture-room  was  a  brick  flat,  built 
on  the  remains  of  the  old  Bridewell,  on  the  north 
side  of  College  street.  The  brothers  Bums  were 
extremely  popular  as  lecturers :  Allan  was  mono- 
tonous and  unpleasing  as  a  speaker,  but  first-rate 
as  a  demonstrator.  John  was  much  more  agreea- 
ble in  manner.  His  substance  was  excellent,  his 
knowledge  exact,  and  his  views  practical,  while 
his  lectures  were  interspersed  with  jokes  and  an- 
ecdotes, which  quite  captivated  the  students. 

Hitherto  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  not 
known  as  a  practitioner,  and  when  no  lectures  or 
dissections  were  in  hand,  he  was  to  be  found, 
day  after  day,  in  Stirling's  Library,  reading.  On 
being  asked  on  one  occasion,  by  an  acqualhtance, 
what  became  of  his  patients  while  he  sat  there,  he 
answered,  "  I  have  none !"  Mr.  Bums  now  came 
forward  as  a  medical  author.  His  first  work  of 
any  importance  was  the  *  Anatomy  of  the  Gravid 
Uterus,'  which  appeared  in  1799.  This  was  fol- 
lowed in  1800  by  two  volumes  on  *  Inflammation,' 
in  which  he  fii-st  described  a  species  of  cancer,  now 
known  by  the  name  of  fungus  haematodes.  These 
two  works  were  followed  by  others  on  professional 
subjects,  one  of  which,  *The  Principles  of  Mid- 
wifery,' has  been  translated  into  various  European 
languages,  and  has  reached  a  tenth  edition.  At 
an  early  period  of  his  professional  career,  Mr. 
Burns  became  surgeon  to  the  Royal  Infirmary, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  the  nerve  with  which 
he  operated.  He  subsequently  became  the  part- 
ner of  Mr.  Muir,  and,  afl«r  Mr.  Muir's  death,  of 
Mr.  Alexander  Dunlop  —  a  connection  which 
brought  him  speedily  into  excellent  family  prac- 
tice. Nevertheless,  he  continued  to  lecture  on 
midwifery  till  1815,  when  the  Crown  having  insti- 
tuted a  professorship  of  surgeiy  in  Glasgow  uni- 
versity, he  was  appointed  to  that  chair,  in  which 


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he  remained  till  his  death.  Mr.  Burns  bred  his 
son,  Allan,  to  the  medical  profession,  and,  relieved 
by  his  assistance,  he  graduated,  and  having  been 
appointed  physician  to  the  Royal  Infirmary,  was 
a  good  deal  employed  as  a  consulting  physician. 
In  1843,  however,  young  Allan  died  of  the  inter- 
mittent fever  then  prevalent,  after  which  Dr. 
Bums  gave  up  his  practice,  but  continued  the 
duties  of  his  professorship.  In  religion  Dr.  Bums 
was  an  Episcopalian,  having  left  the  church  of  his 
fathers.  He  lived  in  good  style,  and  was  of  a 
cheerful  disposition.  In  person  he  was  under  the 
middle  height,  with  grey  flowing  locks,  and  his 
dress  was  veiy  neat  and  antique.  He  was  a  fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  and  a  member  of 
the  French  Institute.  With  a  niece  Dr.  Burns 
was  unfortunately  lost  in  the  Orion  steamer,  on 
his  return  from  Liverpool,  when  that  vessel  struck 
on  a  rock  near  Portpatrick,  on  18th  June  1850. 
His  eldest  son  John,  a  major  in  the  aimy,  was  liis 
heir. 

There  is  a  fine  portrait  of  Dr.  Bums,  in  the  at- 
titude of  lecturing,  by  Mr.  Graham  Gilbert,  en- 
graved by  Mr.  James  Faed,  from  which  the  sub- 
ioincd  is  a  woodcut : 


Besides  his  valuable  professional  publications, 
he  was  the  author  of  a  work  on  the  evidences  and 
principles  of  Christianity,  which  was  at  fii*st  pub- 
lished anonymously;  and  it  is  related  that  his 
father,  on  reading  it,  expressed  himself  much 
pleased,  and  said  to  his  son,  *^  Ah!  John!  I  wish 
you  could  have  written  such  a  book." 

The  following  are  his  works : 

The  Anatomy  of  the  Gravid  Utenia;  with  Practical  Infer- 
ences relative  to  Pregnancy  and  Labour.     Glasg.  17i>9,  8vo. 

Dissertations  on  Inflammation.  1.  On  the  Laws  of  the 
Animal  Economy.  2.  On  the  histories,  causes,  consequences 
and  cure  of  Simple  Inflammation.  3.  On  the  Phagedenic 
and  some  other  Species  of  Inflammation.  4.  On  the  Spon- 
goid  Inflammation.  5.  On  the  Cancerous  Inflammation.  6. 
On  the  Scrofulous  Inflammation.     Glasg.  1800,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Practical  Ohsen'ations  on  the  Uterine  Haemorrhage,  with 
Remarks  on  the  Management  of  the  Placenta.  Lond.  1807, 
8vo. 

The  Principles  of  Midwifery,  including  the  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children.  Lond,  1809,  8vo.  2d  edit.  1813, 
8vo.  1817,  8vo.  1822,  8vo.  10th  edition,  with  Smellie's 
Obstetric  Plates.    1  vol.  1848. 

Popular  Directions  for  the  Treatment  of  the  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children.     Glasg.  1811,  8vo. 

Principles  of  Christian  Philosophy.     12mo.     Lond.,  1828. 

Principles  of  Surgery.     2  vols.  8vo.     1838. 

BURNS,  Allan,  a  younger  brother  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  at  Glasgow,  September  18,  1781. 
lie  was  early  sent  to  study  for  the  medical  profes- 
sion, and  such  was  his  proficiency,  that  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  was  enabled  to  undertake  the  dii*cc- 
tion  of  the  dissecting-rooms  of  his  brother.  In 
1804,  having  gone  to  London  with  the  view  of 
entering  the  medical  service  of  the  army,  he  re- 
ceived and  accepted  of  the  offer  of  director  of  a 
new  hospital,  on  the  British  plan,  established  Bt 
St.  Petersburg  liy  the  empress  Catherine,  haying 
been  recommended  to  the  Czar  by  his  physician  ; 
and  accordingly  proceedtnl  to  Russia,  wht-re 
he  did  not  remain  above  six  months.  On  his 
leaving  the  Russian  capital,  in  January  1806,  he  re- 
ceived from  the  empress,  in  token  of  her  good  will, 
a  valuable  diamond  ring.  In  the  winter  after  his 
return  to  Glasgow,  he  began.  In  place  of  his  bro- 
ther, to  give  lectures  on  anatomy  and  surgery. 
In  1809  he  published  *  Observations  on  some  of 
the  most  frequent  and  impoitant  Diseases  of  the 
Heart,'  illustrated  by  cases.  In  1812  appeared 
his  second  publication,  entitled  '  Observations  on 
the  Surgical  Anatomy  of  the  Head  and  Neck,'  also 
illustrated  by  cases.  Both  of  these  works,  which 
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embi'Ece  all  his  separate  publications,  are  held  in 
the  highest  estimation  by  the  profession.  Early 
in  1810  his  health  began  to  decline,  and  although 
he  continued  for  two  yeara  longer  to  deliver  lec- 
tures, it  was  often  amid  great  personal  suffering. 
He  died  June  22,  1813. 
The  following  are  his  works : 

Observations  on  some  of  the  most  frequent  and  important 
Diseases  of  the  Heart;  on  Aneurism  of  the  Tboradc  Aorta; 
on  Preternatural  Pulsations  in  the  Epigastric  Regions;  and 
on  the  unusual  origin  and  distribution  of  some  of  the  large 
Arteries  of  the  Human  Body.  Illustrated  by  Gases.  Edin. 
1809,  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  Surgical  Anatomy  of  the  Head  and 
Neck,   niustrated  by  Cases  and  Engravings.    Edin.  1812, 8vo. 

An  edition  of  his  'Surgical  Anatomy  of  the  Head  and 
Neck  ^  was  published  in  America,  with  a  life  of  the  author, 
and  additional  cases  and  observations,  by  Granville  Sharp 
Pattison,  professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  university  of  Maryland. 

Mr.  Bums  also  contributed  to  the  Edinburgh  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal  an  Essay  on  the  Anatomy  of  the  parts  con- 
cerned in  the  operation  for  Crural  Hernia,  and  one  on  the 
operation  of  Lithotomy. 


BuRNTiSLASD,  LoRD,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland, 
conferred,  15th  April  1672,  for  his  life  only,  on  Sur  James 
Wemyss  of  Caskieberry,  the  husband  of  Mai^ret,  countess 
of  Wemfss  in  her  own  right  On  his  death  in  1685,  it,  of 
course,  became  extinct.  His  son  David  succeeded  his  mother 
as  earl  of  Wemyss  in  1705.  [See  Wemtbs,  earl  of.]  The 
ancient  name  was  Bertiland  or  Bryntiland,  now  corrupted 
into  Burntisland. 

BURREL,  or  BUREL,  John,  a  minor  poet, 
who  wrote  a  description  in  vei-se  of  the  entry  of 
Anne  of  Denmark,  the  queen  of  James  the  Sixth, 
into  Edinburgh  in  1690,  preserved  in  Watson's 
Collection  of  Scots  poems,  was  a  burgess  of  Edin- 
bui*gh,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  goldsmith, 
and  one  of  the  priuters  at  the  kiug's  mint^  This 
conjecture  is  strengthened  by  the  minuteness  with 
which  he  dwells  on  the  jewellery  displayed  on  that 
occasion,  when  the  dtizens  of  Edinburgh  put  on 
all  their  finery,  and  had  recourse  to  all  the  usual 
devices  and  allegories  of  the  age,  to  welcome 
home  their  queen.  The  name  of  his  poem,  which, 
though  quaintly  enough  expressed,  is  interesting 
and  curious  as  a^ record  of  the  manners  and  re- 
joicings of  the  period,  is  *  The  Description  of  the 
Qveenis  Maiesties  maist  honourable  entry  into  the 
tovn  of  Edinbvrgh.'  The  display  made  by  the 
citizens  on  this  occasion  is  thus  referred  to : 

"  To  rocreat  hir  hie  renoun. 
Of  curious  things  thair  wes  all  sort. 


The  stairs  and  houses  of  the  toun 
With  tapestries  were  spred  athort, 
Quhair  Hbtones  men  micht  behauld, 
With  Images  and  Anticks  auld." 

And  again, 

*^  All  curious  pastimes  and  oonsaits, 
Cud  be  imaginat  be  man, 
Wes  to  be  seen  on  Edinburgh  gnits, 
Fra  time  that  brauitie  began; 
Ye  might  haif  hard  on  enerie  streit, 
Trim  melodie  and  musick  sweit."* 

He  sums  up  the  in\^^ntory  of  jewellery  exhibited 
on  the  occasion  by  this  expressive  verse : 

"  All  predus  stains  micht  thair  be  sene, 
Qnhilk  in  the  warid  had  ony  name, 
Saye  that  quhilk  Cleopatra  Queene 
Did  swallow  ore  into  hir  wame!  ** 

In  Sibbald*s  Chronicle  of  Scottish  Poetry,  vol 
viii.  p.  465f  this  poem  was  reprinted.  Barrel  was 
also  author  of  another  poem,  entitled  ^  The  Passage 
of  the  Pilgrims,'  inseited  in  Watson's  Collection. 
Dr  Irving  describes  both  poems  as  **  insipid.'' 

Little  is  known  of  Burrel's  personal  history 
Among  the  title-deeds  of  part  of  the  old  property 
at  the  foot  of  Todrick's  Wynd,  Edinburgh,  was 
found  a  disposition  of  a  house  by  ^*  John  Bnrrell, 
Goldsmith,  yane  of  the  printer's  in  his  miyestie's 
cunzie-house,"  1628,  and  he  is  supposed  to  be  the 
same  person. — WilsoiCs  Memorials  of  Edinburgh. 

Bute,  Marquis  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, possessed  by  a  branch  of  the  Stewart  farofly  descended 
from  Su:  John  Stewart,  a  natural  son  of  King  Robert  the 
Second.  The  Scotch  title  is  earl  of  Bute,  and  dates  <»ly 
from  1703.  The  higiier  tiUe  of  marquis  was  conferred  m 
1796,  on  the  fourth  earl,  the  son  of  the  celebrated  prime 
minister  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  George  the  lliird. 

Sir  John  Stewart,  the  founder  of  this  noble  fatiuly,  receivrd 
iirom  his  father,  about  1385,  a  grant  of  lands  in  the  Isle  of 
Bute,  the  ancient  patrimony  of  the  Stewarts,  Malcolm  the 
Second,  sometime  before  the  year  1093  having  granted  Bute  to 
Walter  the  fintt  lord-high-steward  of  Scotiand,  who  gave  it  to 
a  younger  son,  with  whom  and  his  posterity  it  remained  about 
a  century,  when  it  was  re-annexed  to  the  possessions  of  Uie 
lord-high-steward,  by  the  intermarriage  of  Alexander  Stewart 
with  Jean,  daugliter  and  heiress  of  James,  lord  of  Bute.  The 
island  of  Bute  afterwards  became  subject  to  the  Norwegians, 
but  did  not  long  remain  so,  and  it  would  appear  that  on  its 
restoration  to  the  Scottish  crown,  it  reverted  to  the  possesffioo 
of  the  family  of  the  high-steward,  for  in  the  fatal  battle  ck 
Falkirk  betwixt  the  English  and  Scotch  m  1296  the  men  of 
Buteshire,  known  at  that  time  by  the  name  of  the  lord-high- 
steward's  Brandanes,  served  under  Sir  John  Stewart,  and 
were  almost  wholly  cut  off  with  their  valiant  leader 


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THIRD  EARL. 


Along  with  the  lands,  King  Kobert  the  Svcoiid  conibnred 
on  his  son  above  named,  Sir  John  Stewart,  the  hereditary- 
office  of  sheriff  of  Bute  and  Arran.  These  Robert  the  Third 
confirmed  by  charter,  *  dilecto  fratri  noetro,  Joanni  Seneecallo 
de  Bute,'  11th  November  1400.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Sir 
John  Stnart's  mother's  name  was  Leitch.  AJthongh  desig- 
nated *^  Sir**  in  Dmican  Stewart's  History  of  the  Stewarts  and 
bj  peerage  writers,  who  generallj  follow  each  other,  no  autho- 
rity is  given  for  the  title,  and  he  is  not  so  called  in  any  con- 
temporary  document  Of  the  different  varieties  of  spelling  of 
the  name  of  Stewart,  the  Bate  family  have  preferred  Uiat  of 
Stnart,  the  mode  of  orthography  adopted  by  Mary  queen  of 
Scots  on  gcnng  to  France,  there  being  no  io  in  the  alphabet  of 
that  country. 

A  descendant  of  this  Sir  John  Stewart  in  the  seventh  gen- 
oration.  Sir  James  Stuart  of  Bute,  grandfather  of  the  first 
eari,  was  created  a  baronet  by  King  Gharies  the  First,  28th 
March  1627.  He  was  a  firm  adherent  of  that  unfortunate 
monarch,  and  early  in  the  dvil  wars  garrisoned  the  castle  of 
Rothesay,  and,  at  his  own  expense,  raised  a  body  of  soldiers 
in  the  ldng*8  cause.  He  was  appointed  by  his  miges^  his 
lieutenant  over  the  west  of  Sootland,  and  directed  to  take 
possession  of  the  castle  of  Dumbarton.  Two  firigates  were 
sent  to  his  assistance,  but  one  of  them  was  wrecked  in  a 
storm,  and  Su:  James  was  ultimately  obliged  to  retire  to  Ire- 
land, to  avoid  imprisonment.  His  estate  was  sequestrated, 
and  on  recovering  possesson  of  it,  he  was  obliged,  by  way  of 
compromise,  to  pay  a  fine  of  five  thousand  marks,  imposed  by 
parliament  in  1646.  When  Cromwell  obtained  possession  of 
Scotland,  the  castle  of  Rothesay  was  again  taken  out  of  his 
hands,  and  a  military  force  placed  in  it.  Sur  James  was  also 
deprived  of  his  hereditary  office  of  sheriff  of  Bute,  and  declar- 
ed mcapable  of  any  public  trust.  He  died  at  London  in 
1662,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  By  his  wife, 
Isabella,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Dugald  Campbell  of  Auchin- 
breck,  baronet,  he  had  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  His 
eldest  son.  Sir  Dugald  Stuart,  succeeded  him,  and  died  in 
1672,  leaving  a  son,  Sir  James  Stuart,  the  third  baronet  of 
the  fiimily,  and  first  earl  of  Bute. 

Sir  Robert  Stuart  of  TilUecnltry,  the  second  son,  was 
appointed  a  lord  of  session,  25th  July,  1701.  He  was  also  a 
commissioner  of  justidary,  and  was  created  a  baronet  29th 
April  1707.  He  was  member  of  parliament  for  the  county  of 
Bute,  and  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  union,  which  he 
steadily  supported.  In  1709  he  resigned  his  seat  on  the 
bench  in  favour  of  his  nephew  Dugald  Stuart  of  Blau^all, 
the  brother  of  the  following. 

Sir  James  Stuart  of  Bute,  the  third  baronet  of  the  elder 
branch,  succeeded  his  father  in  1672.  On  the  forfeiture  of  the 
eari  of  Argyle  in  1681,  he  was  solidted  by  government  to  take 
the  management  of  the  county  of  Ai^le,  and  in  April  1688  he 
was  appointed  colonel  of  the  militia  of  the  counties  of  Argyle, 
Bute,  and  Dumbarton,  and  in  June  1684  sheriff  of  the  district  of 
Tarbert.  In  the  foHowing  February  he  was  appointed  sheriff 
of  Argyleshire,  and  on  the  25th  March  was  admitted  a  member 
of  the  faculty  of  advocates.  He  supported  the  revolution, 
and  early  dedared  his  adherence  to  King  William  and  Queen 
Mary.  On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne,  at  which  time  he 
was  member  of  the  Scots  parliament  for  the  county  of  Bute, 
he  was  sworn  a  privy  coundllor.  In  1702  he  was  named 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  treat  of  a  union  with  England, 
which  did  not  then  take  effect  By  patent,  dated  at  St 
James',  14th  April  1708,  he  was  created  in  the  peerage  of 
Scotland,  eari  of  Bute,  viscount  of  Kingarth,  Lord  Mount- 
stuart,  Cnmbrae,  and  Inchmamock,  to  himself  and  his  heirs 
male  whatever,  and  took  the  oaths  and  his  seat  as  a  peer  in 


parliament,  6th  July  1704.  He  opposed  the  union  with 
Enghmd,  and  did  not  attend  the  last  Scottish  parliament,  in 
which  the  union  treaty  was  discussed  and  finidly  agreed  to. 
His  lordship  died  at  Bath,  4th  June  1710,  and  was  buried 
with  his  ancestors  at  Rothesay.  His  epitaph  in  Latin  is 
quoted  in  Crawford's  Peerage.  He  was  twice  married,  first 
to  Agnes,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  George  Mackenzie  of  Rose- 
hangh,  Lord  Advocate  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  the  Second 
and  James  the  Seventh. 

James,  the  second  earl  of  Bute,  the  only  son  of  this 
marriage,  inherited,  after  much  litigation,  the  extensive 
estates  of  his  grandfather,  Sur  George  Mackenzie  of  Rose- 
haugh.  After  the  accession  of  George  the  first  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  commissioners  of  trade  and  police  in  Scot- 
land, lord-lieutenant  of  the  oounty  of  Bute,  and  a  lord  of  the 
bed-chamber.  During  the  rebellion  of  1715  he  commanded  the 
Bute  and  Argyle  militia  at  Inverary,  and  prevented  any  out- 
break in  that  part  of  the  country.  He  was  one  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  die  Soots  peerage  at  the  general  dections  of  1715 
and  1722.  He  died  in  January  1723,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three 
years.  He  married  Lady  Anne  Campbell,  only  daughter  of 
Archibald  first  duke  of  Argyle,  and  by  her  (who  afterwards 
married  Fraser  of  Strichen,  in  the  oounty  of  Aberdeen)  he  had 
two  sons  and  four  daughters.  James,  the  second  son,  succeeded 
to  the  huge  estates  of  his  great  grandfather.  Sir  George  Mac^ 
kenzie,  and  assumed  the  additional  surname  of  Mackenzie 
This  gentleman,  who  was  a  member  of  parliament  for  dif- 
ferent places  in  Scotland,  from  1742  to  1784,  was  envoy  ex- 
traordinary to  the  king  of  Sardinia  in  1758,  where  he  lived  in 
a  splendid  style  for  some  years.  In  April  1763,  he  was  con- 
stituted keeper  of  the  privy  seal  of  Scotland,  and  sworn  of 
the  privy  coundL  He  was  deprived  of  the  privy  seal  in  June 
1765,  but  reinstated  in  office  for  life  in  1766.  He  married 
his  cousin.  Lady  Elizabeth  Campbell,  fourth  daughter  of  the 
great  John  duke  of  Argyle  and  Greenwich,  but  had  no  sur- 
viving issue.  Her  ladyship  died  in  July  1799,  and  her  hus- 
band, Mr.  Stuart  Mackenzie,  only  survived  her  about  nine 
months,  dying  of  grief  for  her  loss  6th  April  1800,  in  his 
dghty-second  year.  An  ardi  within  the  rails  of  the  duke  of 
Argyle's  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey  contains  a  bust  of 
Mr.  Stuart  Mackenzie,  by  Nollekens,  and  a  tablet,  with 
mathematical  instruments,  and  an  appropriate  inscription. 
As  he  left  no  male  issue,  the  succession  to  his  Scottish  estates 
fell  to  be  regulated  by  an  entail  executed  by  Sir  George 
Mackenzie  in  1689.  Although  the  latter  was  one  of  the  first 
lawyers  of  his  day,  his  settlements  were  so  ambiguously 
worded  that  they  gave  rise  to  protracted  litigation.  His 
estates  were  daimed  by  the  Hon.  James  Archibald  Stu»rt 
Wortley,  next  brother  of  the  first  Marquis  of  Bute,  and  his 
nephew,  Lord  Herbert  Windsor  Stuart,  second  son  of  the 
Marquis.  The  judgment  of  the  court  of  session  was  in  favour 
of  the  former,  and,  on  appeal,  it  was  affirmed  by  the  House 
of  Lords,  4th  March  1803.    [See  Mackknzib,  Sm  Gbobgr.] 

John,  third  earl  of  Bute,  the  first  and  favourite  minister  of 
George  the  Third,  was  bom  in  the  Parliament  dose,  Edin- 
burgh, May  25, 1718.  The  lofty  old  buildings  in  that  famed 
locality,  which  formed  the  fashionable  flats  of  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century,  where  so  many  of  the  Scots  nobility, 
judges,  and  eminent  citizens  of  the  capital,  at  one  period  re- 
sided,  were  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  of  1824,  and  the  whole 
dose  has  been  remodelled  to  such  an  extent  with  modem  im- 
provements that  it  has  lost  all  its  original  features,  and  to 
complete  the  change  the  good  old  name  of  Close,  which  con- 
nected it  with  St  Giles*  cathedral,  "and  which,**  says  Wil- 
son, **is  pleasingly  assodated  with  the  doistral  courts  of  the 
magnificent  cathedrals  and  abbeys  of  England,  has  been  re- 


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TFIIRD  EARL. 


placed  by  the  modern,  and^in  this  case,  ridicnlons,  one  of 
Square."  [MemoriaU  of  E^nbwrgK,  vol.  i.  p.  118.]  The 
third  earl  of  Bate  received  his  edacation  at  Eton,  and  snc- 
ceeded  his  father  in  1723,  when  he  was  onlv  ten  /ears  old. 
In  April  1737  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  representative  peers 
of  Scotland,  and  re-chosen  at  the  general  elections  of  1761, 
1768,  and  1774.  In  1738,  he  was  made  a  knight  of  the 
Thistle.  On  the  landing  of  the  Pretender  in  Scotland  in 
1745,  th^  earl  proceeded  to  London,  and  ofiered  his  services 
to  the  government  Under  the  act  of  1747,  abolishing  the 
heritable  jorisdictions,  he  had  an  allowance  of  two  thoosand 
pounds  for  the  sheritfship,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-six 
pounds,  nine  shillings  and  threepence  for  the  regality  of 
Bute ;  in  all,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  pounds 
nine  shillings  and  threepence,  -in  full  of  his  claim  of  eight 
thousand  pounds. 

At  an  exhibition  of  private  theatricals  his  lordship  attracted 
the  notice  of  Frederick,  prince  of  Wales,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  invited  to  court,  and,  in  October  1750,  was 
appointed  by  his  royal  highness,  a  lord  of  his  bed-chamber. 
After  the  death  of  the  prince,  he  was,  in  1766,  nommated  by 
the  widowed  princess,  groom  of  the  stole  to  her  son,  the 
young  heir-apparent,  afterwards  George  the  Third.  In  this 
capacity  he  obtained  unbounded  influence  with  the  princess 
of  Wales,  in  consequence  of  which  the  tutors  of  her  son,  the 
earl  of  Haroourt  and  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  resigned  their 
offices,  and  their  snooesaors.  Lord  Waldegrave  and  the  bishop 
of  Lincob,  also  opposed  him  unsnccessfnlly.  Two  days  after 
the  aooeesion  of  George  the  Third  to  the  throne,  in  October 
1760,  Lord  Bute  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor,  and  appointed 
groom  of  the  stole  to  his  mig'esty.  In  March  1761,  on  the 
dismissal  of  the  whig  ministry,  he  resigned  that  office,  and 
was  appointed  one  of  the  principal  secretaries  of  state.  The 
same  year,  on  the  resignation  of  the  princess  Amelia,  be  was 
appointed  ranger  and  keeper  of  Richmond  park,  and  invested 
with  the  order  of  the  garter;  and,  May  29,  1762,  he  was  con- 
stituted first  lord  of  the  treasury.  He  signalized  his  admin- 
istration by  the  patronage  which  he  extended  to  literature, 
and  it  was  by  his  recommendation  that  a  pendon  was  con- 
ferred on  Dr.  Johnson.  Home,  the  author  of  the  tragedy  of 
*  Douglas,*  was  also  indebted  to  him  for  a  place.  His  princi- 
pal measure,  as  prime  minister,  was  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  France,  after  a  sangninaiy  and  expensive  war, 
the  peace  of  Paris  being  concluded  February  10,  1763 ;  but 
the  English  nation,  intoxicated  with  the  successes  which  bad 
crowned  the  British  arms,  disapproved  of  the  treaty,  and  the 
eari  became  so  unpopular  as  a  minister  that  he  and  his  coun- 
try were  attacked  in  the  most  scurrilous  terms  by  Wilkes  and 
other  party  writers,  through  the  medium  of  the  *■  North  Bri- 
ton,* and  similar  unprincipled  publications.  He  was  also 
accused  of  bestowing  many  lucrative  government  offices  on 
his  countrymen,  and  a  popular  odium  was  excited  against 
Scotsmen  in  London,  which  has  long  since  happily  passed 
away.  Even  Dr.  Johnson  himself,  with  all  his  enlaigement 
of  feeling,  was  remarkable  for  the  prejudice  which  be  enter- 
tained against  the  natives  of  Scotland. 

On  8th  April,  1763,  Lord  Bute  suddenly  retired  from  office; 
and  although  he  never  afterwards  openly  interfered  with  pub- 
lic business,  he  retained  the  confidence  of  the  king,  and  was, 
but  without  reason,  suspected  of  exerting  a  secret  influence 
over  the  royal  counsels.  He  was  even  blamed  as  the  author 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  which  kindled  the  first  flame  of  discord 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  North  American  colonies. 
The  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent  in  retirement  chiefly  at  a 
residence  at  Christchurch  m  Hampshire,  in  the  cultivation  of 
literature  and  sdenoe.     He  employed  the  architect  Robert 


Adam  to  build  a  splendid  mansion  for  him  at  Luton  Hoo,  m 
Bedfordshire,  where  he  accumulated  a  valnable  libraiy,  and 
one  of  the  richest  collections  of  paintings,  especially  of  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  schools,  in  the  kingdom.  The  architects 
George  and  Robert  Adam,  and  Joshua  Kirby,  were  all  em- 
ployed and  munificently  encouraged  by  him.  His  favourite 
study  was  botany,  and  he  wrote,  in  nine  vols.  4to,  a  botanical 
work  which  contained  all  the  different  kinds  of  plants  in  Great 
Britain,  and  only  sixteen  copies  of  which  were  printed,  though 
the  expense  exceeded  a  thousand  pounds.  Butea,  a  genus  of 
planta  belonging  to  the  natural  order  Leguminoss,  was  named 
after  him.  In  1765,  nis  lordship  was  elected  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  British  Museum.  He  also  held  the  office  of 
chancellor  of  the  Morischal  college,  Aberdeen,  and  on  the  in- 
stitution of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland  in  1780  be 
was  chosen  theii^  president.  He  was  an  honoraxy  fellow  o^ 
the  Royal  College  of  Phj^sidans  at  Edinburgh,  and  to  him  the 
university  of  that  city  was  indebted  for  its  botanic  garden.  He 
died  at  London,  March  10, 1792.  He  married,  Aug.  24, 1738, 
Mary,  only  daughter  of  Edward  Wortley  Montagu,  M.P,  eldest 
son  of  Sidney  Wortley  Montagu,  second  son  of  Edward  first  eari 
of  Sandwich,  K.  G.  Her  mother  was  the  celebrated  Lady 
Mary  Wortley  Montagu,  whose  own  name  was  Pierrepont,  the 
daughter  of  Evelyn,  first  duke  of  Kingston.  The  countess 
was  bom  at  Pera,  during  her  father*s  embassy  at  Constanti- 
nople, in  February  1718,  and  on  the  death  of  her  father  in 
February  1761,  she  succeeded  to  the  liferent  of  his  vast 
estates  in  Yorkshire  and  Cornwall,  her  brother,  Edward 
Wortley  Montagu,  having  been  dbinherited  on  account  of  the 
eccentricity  of  his  conduct  On  the  3d  April  of  the  latter 
year  she  was  created  a  peeress  of  Great  Britain  by  the  title  of 
baroness  Mountstuart  of  Wortley,  in  Yorkshire,  with  re- 
mainder to  the  heirs  male  of  her  body,  by  her  husband  the 
earl  of  Bute,  and  died  at  Isleworth  6th  November  1794,  in 
her  77tli  year,  having  had  five  sons  and  six  daughters.  The 
eldest  son,  John,  succeeded  as  fourth  earl. 

The  second  son,  the  Hon.  James  Archibald  Stnart,  (Wort- 
ley Mackenzie,)  bom  in  1747,  was  M.P.  ftrom  1768  to  1806, 
during  which  period  he  sat  thrice  for  the  county  of  Bnte.  In 
1779  he  raised  the  ninety-second  regiment  of  foot,  and  on 
27th  December  of  that  year  was  appointed  its  lieutenant- 
colonel  commandant  In  1780  he  proceeded  with  his  regi- 
ment to  the  West  Indies,  where  his  health  was  severely  af- 
fected by  the  extreme  heat  of  the  dimate.  At  the  peace  of 
1788,  the  regiment  was  disbanded.  In  1794  he  succeeded 
his  mother,  the  baroness  Mountstuart,  in  her  extensive  pro- 
perty in  Yorkshire  and  Comwall,  and  in  consequence  aaramed, 
by  sign  manual,  the  sumame  of  Wortley,  17th  January  1795; 
and  six  years  afterwards,  namely  in  1800,  he  also  succeeded 
his  uncle,  the  Right  Hon.  James  Stuart  Mackenzie,  in  hit 
estates  in  Scotland,  his  claim  to  which,  as  already  stated,  was 
confirmed  by  a  final  decision  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in  1808, 
on  which  he  took  the  additional  name  of  Mackenzie  for  himself 
only.  Mr.  Stuart  Wortley  Mackenzie  married  in  1767  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  David  Cnnningfaame  of  Mihiecnug,  in 
AyrBhir^  baronet,  by  Lady  Mary  Montgomery,  daughter  ot 
Alexander,  ninth  earl  of  Eglinton,  by  whom  be  had  issue. 
His  son,  James  Archibald  Stuart  Wortley,  lord  privy  seal, 
and  subsequently  lord  president  of  the  coundU  was  in  1826 
created  Baron  Whamcliiie  in  the  peerage  of  the  United  King- 
dom, and  dying  in  1845  was  succeeded  by  bis  son  John  Stuart 
Wortley,  second  Lord  Whamdifie. 

The  Hon.  Frederick  Stuart,  the  third  son  of  the  third  eari, 
was  M.P.  for  Bute,  and  died  at  London,  17th  May  1802,  in 
the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age,  unmarried. 

The  Hon.  Sir  diaries  Stuart,  the  fourth  son,  a  distingmsbcd 


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general,  was  made  a  knight  commander  of  the  Bath  in  Jan- 
nary  1799,  for  his  conquest  of  Minorca,  in  November  of  the 
preceding  year,  and  died  in  May  1801.  His  eldest  son, 
Charles  Stoart,  for  his  diplomatic  services,  was,  in  January 
1828,  created  Baron  Stuart  de  Rothesay,  in  the  peerage  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  bat  dying  m  1815,  without  issue,  his 
title  became  extinct. 

The  Hon.  William  Stuart,  the  fifth  son,  bom  in  March 
1755,  was  educated  for  the  church  at  Winchester  school,  and 
at  the  anivernty  of  Cambridge,  and  in  1779  was  presented 
by  his  father  to  the  vicarage  of  Luton.  In  1798,  he  was  in- 
stalled a  canon  of  Windsor  and  consecrated  bishop  of  St 
David's,  and  on  25th  November  1800  was  translated  to  the 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Armagh  and  primacy  of  Ireland.  He 
married  8d  May  1796,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Penn,  Ksq., 
proprietor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  left  issue.     He  died  in  1805. 

John,  the  fourth  earl  and  first  marquis  of  Bute,  eldest  son 
of  the  third  earl,  bom  SOth  June  1744,  was  elected  M.P.  for 
B<»siney  in  1766,*  and  rechosen  at  the  general  elections  of 
1768  and  1774.  He  was  created  a  British  peer  by  the  title 
of  Baron  Cardiffe  of  Cardiffe  castle  in  Glamorganshire,  20th 
May  1776,  and  being  one  of  the  auditors  of  imprest,  when 
that  particular  office  was  abolished  in  1782,  as  compensation 
seven  thousand  pounds  a-year  was  settled  on  him  for  life. 
In  1779  he  was  appointed  envoy-extraordinary  and  plenipo- 
tentiary to  Turin,  and  in  1783  ambassador  extraordinary  to 
the  court  of  Madrid.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1792  he 
became  fourth  earl  of  Bute,  and  in  1794  he  succeeded  hb 
mother  as  Baron  Mountstuort.  He  was  created  marquis  of 
Bute,  earl  of  Windsor,  and  Viscount  Mountjoy,  in  the  peerage 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  by  patent  to  him  and  his  heirs  male, 
27th  February  1796.  Being  a  second  time  appointed  ambas- 
sador to  Spain,  he  landed  at  Cadiz,  2dth  May  1795,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Madrid,  where  he  remained  till,  in  consequence  of 
the  prevalence  of  the  French  faction,  the  Spanish  court  de- 
clared war  against  Great  Britain,  5th  October  1796.  His 
lordship  was  a  privy  councillor,  lord  lieutenant,  and  custos 
rotulorum  of  Glamorgansliirc,  and  also  lord-lieutenant  of  the 
county  of  Bute,  keeper  of  Rothesay  castle,  a  trustee  of  the 
British  Museum,  having  been  so  appointed  in  March  1800, 
vice-president  of  the  Welsh  charity,  and  doctor  of  laws.  He 
was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Charlotte-Jane,  eldest 
daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Herbert,  Viscount  Windsor  in 
Ireland,  and  Baron  Momitjoy  in  England,  (who  died  in  1758, 
when  his  titles  became  extinct,)  and  by  her  the  marquis  had 
ten  children. 

The  eldest  sou,  John  Lord  Mountstuart,  bom  25th  Sep- 
tember 1767,  married  12th  October  1792,  Elizabeth,  daughter 
and  sole  heiress  of  Patrick  Crichton,  earl  of  Dmnfries,  and 
died  22d  January  1794.  He  had  two  sons ;  John,  the  elder, 
became  sixth  earl  of  Dumfries,  in  right  of  his  mother,  in 
1803,  [see  Du&ikkies,  earl  of,]  and  succeeded  as  second  mar- 
quis of  Bute,  in  1814.  Ix)rd  Patrick  Stuart,  the  younger,  bom 
20th  May  1794,  a  posthumous  son,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of 
a  marquis'  son  in  1817,  and  is  heir  presumptive  to  the  titles. 

Lord  Herbert  Windsor  Stuart,  the  second  son,  died  in  1825. 
Lord  Evelyn  James  Stuart,  the  third  son,  was  a  colonel  in 
the  army,  and  died  16th  August  1842. 

The  Hon.  Charles  Stuart,  lieutenant  Royal  Navy,  the 
foiuth  son,  was  lost  in  the  Leda  frigate,  going  out  to  the  West 
Indira  11th  December  1795,  in  the  21st  year  of  his  age,  before 
his  father  had  been  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  marquis. 

Lord  Henry  Stuart,  the  fifth  son,  bom  7th  June  1777,  was 
appointed,  1st  March  1805,  envoy  extraordinary  and  plenipo- 
tentiary to  the  court  of  Wurtemberg.  He  married  5th  July 
1802,  Lady  Gertmde  Emilia   Villiers,   only  daughter  and 


heuvss  of  John  eari  of  Grandison  in  Ireland,  by  whom  he  had 
issue.  He  died  m  1809,  m  his  thirty-third  year,  and  his  Udy 
survived  him  only  eleven  days.  His  eldest  son,  Henry  Stuart 
of  Dromana,  county  Waterford,  bom  8th  June  1808,  assumed, 
with  his  brothers  and  sisters,  the  additional  name  of  Villiers, 
and  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom  as 
Lord  Stuart  de  Decies,  in  May  1839. 

Lord  William  Stuart,  the  sixth  son  of  the  first  marquis,  bom 
18th  November  1778,  served  in  the  royal  navy,  in  which  he 
had  the  rank  of  captain  in  1799.  He  commanded  the  Cham- 
pion employed  in  the  blockade  of  Malta,  from  September 
1798  to  September  1800,  and  took  the  Bull-dog,  wliich  he 
carried  from  under  the  batteries  of  Gallipoli,  15th  August 
1801.  Ho  afterwards  commanded  the  Lavinia  frigate,  in 
which  he  rendered  essential  assistance  to  the  members  of  the 
British  factory  at  Oporto,  in  the  protection  of  their  persons 
and  property  on  their  expulsion  from  Portugal  in  1807,  and 
he  received  their  formal  thanks  for  his  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion, conveyed  through  Mr.  Warro  their  consuL  He  married 
in  1806  the  Hon.  Georgina  Maude,  the  daughter  of  Com- 
wallis  Viscount  Hawarden,  and  by  her  had  one  daughter,  who 
died  unmarried,  in  1833. 

Lord  George  Stuart,  the  seventh  son,  bom  at  Turin,  4  th 
March  1780,  was  ahio  in  the  navy,  and  was  singuUu-ly  unfor- 
tunate in  his  experience  of  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  having 
thrice  suffered  shipwreck.  He  was  midsliipman  on  board  the 
Providence,  sloop  of  war.  Captain  Broughton,  on  a  voyage  of 
discovery  in  the  Pacific  ocean,  when  it  was  wrecked  on  a 
coral  reef  near  Formosa,  17th  May  1797.  All  hands,  how- 
ever, were  saved,  and  his  lordship  retumed  to  Enghmd  from 
China  the  same  year.  In  1804  he  was  made  captam,  and 
placed  in  command  of  the  Sheemess  of  44  guns,  employed  in 
the  West  Indies,  when  that  vessel  was  lost  in  a  gale  of  wind 
off  Trincomalee,  in  December  of  that  year,  or  the  following 
January.  On  this  occasion  also  all  the  crew  were  saved.  lu 
1800  he  had  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Major  general  James 
Stewart  (by  whom  he  had  issue),  and  in  1805  his  lordship 
and  his  lady  sailed  from  Penang  in  the  Commerce,  but  that 
vessel  was  lost  in  Madras  Roads  in  December  of  the  same 
year,  when  several  of  those  on  board  were  drowned.  Lord 
George,  however,  and  his  lady  got  safe  on  shore.  He  died  a 
rear-admiral  and  C.  B.,  19th  Februaiy  1841. 

The  first  wife  of  the  marquis  of  Bute  died  28th  January 
1800,  and  he  married,  secondly,  7th  Sept.  the  same  year, 
Frances,  second  daughter  of  the  kte  Thomas  Coutts,  Essq , 
banker  in  London,  sister  of  the  Countess  of  Guilford,  and  had 
issue,  Lady  Frances,  married  to  the  earl  of  Harrowby,  and 
Lord  Dudley  Stuart,  bom  11th  January  1803,  married  a 
daughter  of  Luden  Bonaparte,  prince  of  Canino,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  an  officer  in  the  army,  'llie  marquis  died  at  Geneva, 
16th  November  1814.  and  the  titles  descended  to  hb  grandson. 

John,  second  marquis  of  Bute,  and  sixth  eail  of  Dumfries, 
bom  25th  September  1767,  son  of  John,  Lord  Mountstuart. 
He  had  succeeded  his  maternal  grandfather  as  earl  of  Dum- 
fries, 7th  April  1803.  On  the  26th  August  1 805  he  assumed, 
by  sign  manual,  the  arms  ,and  sumame  of  Crichton,  before 
that  of  Stuart.  He  married  first  in  1818  Marin,  etdebt 
daughter  of  George  Augustus,  third  earl  of  Guilford,  who  died 
in  1841 ;  secondly  in  January  1845,  Sophia  daughter  of  the 
marquis  of  Hastings,  by  whom  he  left,  at  his  death,  18th 
March  1848,  John  Patrick,  7th  earl  of  Dumfries,  6th  earl 
and  dd  marquis  of  Bute,  born  in  1847. 


Butter,  the  sumame  of  an  old  family  who  possess  the 
lands  of  Fascally  in  Perthshire.  The  Butters  of  Gormok 
were  an  older  family  of  the  same  county.     On  August  4, 


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BYRES. 


518 


CADELL. 


1554,  John  Batter  of  Gormok  was  denounced  rebel  and  pat 
to  the  horn  for  not  underlying  the  law  for  art  and  part  of  the 
slaughter  of  George  Drummond  of  Leidcreif,  and  his  son  Wil- 
liam, having  been  involved  in  the  same  feud  with  the  Blairs 
of  Balthjock  and  Ardblair,  which  led  to  this  fatal  result 
[See  ante^  page  320,  second  coL  art.  Blair.]  His  offers  of 
satisfaction  seem  to  have  been  rejected.  [See  PUeainCs  Cri- 
minal Trials^  vol.  i.  part  i.  page  •871.]  On  24th  November 
1598,  Patrick  Butter,  iiar  of  Gormok,  and  thu-ty  other  per- 
sons, were  indicted  and  put  to  the  bom  for  besieging  the 
place  of  Assintullie,  and  taking  prisoner  Andrew  Spalding  of 


Assintullie.  In  1660,  James  Butter,  sheriff-clerk  of  Perth- 
shire, bequeathed  two  fifth  parts  of  the  lands  of  Soones 
Lethendj  to  maintain  four  poor  persons  of  the  burgh  <^  Perth. 


c 


Cadell.  anciently  Cadella,  a  surname  which  has  acquired 
a  high  standing  in  the  literary  history  of  our  country,  from  its 
connexion  with  tlie  publication  of  some  of  the  most  valuable 
and  standard  works  of  modem  times,  and  particularly  the  po- 
pular editions  of  the  writings  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  The  prin- 
cipal family  of  this  name  in  Scotland  is  Cadell  of  Cockenzie, 
now  Tranent,  in  East  Lothian.  The  name  is  supposed  to 
be  originally  Welsh,  but  is  more  likely  to  have  been  of 
French  origin,  and  is  the  same  as  Calder.  [See  Caldeb 
surname  of.] 

CADELL,  Robert,  an  eminent  publisher, 
whose  connexion  with  Sir  Walter  Scott's  works 
will  perpetuate  his  name,  was  born  at  Cockenzie 
on  the  16th  December  1788.  He  was  the  son  of 
Mr.  Cadell  of  Cockenzie  in  East  Lothian,  and 
about  1807  entered  into  the  employment  of  the 
late  Mr.  Archibald  Constable,  the  eminent  pub- 
lisher. About  the  end  of  1811,  he  was  admitted 
into  partnership  with  him,  on  the  retirement  of 
Mr.  A.  G.  Hunter  of  Blackness  from  the  firm. 
The  business  was  for  a  long  penod  extensively 
carried  on  under  the  well-known  firm  of  Constable 
and  Company.  He  mariied  in  1817  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Constable,  who  died  in  a  year  afterwards ; 
and  in  January  1821,  he  manied  Miss  Mylne, 
daughter  of  Mr.  George  Mylne,  accountant  in 
Edinburgh.  By  this  lady,  who  survived  him,  he 
liad  eight  daughters. 

In  1826,  after  the  failure  of  Constable  and  Co., 
Mr.  Cadell  became  the  sole  publisher  of  Scott's 
works.  In  Lockhart's  life  of  his  father-in-law  there 
are  some  very  interesting  notices  relative  to  Cadell's 
connexion  with  the  great  novelist,  who  has  record- 
ed in  his  Diary  that  "  Constable  without  Cadell  is 
like  ^ttin^  the  clock  without  the  pendulum ;  the 


one  having  the  ingenuity,  the  other  the  caution  of 
the  business."  Sir  Walter's  opinion  of  him  is  thus 
favoui*ably  expressed  in  his  Diary,  at  the  time  bis 
publishers  were  about  to  fail : — **  Cadell  came  at 
eight  to  communicate  a  letter  from  Hui-st  and  Ro- 
biiison,  intimating  they  had  stood  the  storm.  I 
shall  always  think  the  better  of -Cadell  for  this— 
not  merely  because  *  his  feet  are  beautiful  upon  the 
mountains  who  brings  good  tidings,'  but  because 
he  showed  feeling— deep  feeling,  poor  fellow.  He, 
who  I  thought  had  no  more  than  his  nnraeration- 
table,  and  who,  if  he  had  his  whole  counting-house 
full  of  sensibility,  had  yet  his  wife  and  children  to 
bestow  it  upon.  I  will  not  forget  this,  if  all  keeps 
right.  I  love  the  virtues  of  rough-and-round  men 
— the  others  are  apt  to  escape  in  salt  rheum,  sal- 
volatile,  and  a  white  pocket-handkerchief." 

A  large  stock  of  Sir  Walter's  works  in  the  hands 
of  his  bankrupt  publishers  was  sold  off  for  half  its 
cost,  a  ch'cumstance  which  created  an  impression 
among  the  London  booksellei's  that  the  value  of 
the  copyrights  had  been  wrought  out.  Mr.  Cad- 
ell, however,  had  a  different  opinion,  and  having 
secured  among  the  members  of  his  own  family 
sufficient  money  to  carry  out  a  scheme  which  he 
had  quietly  matured,  he  first  communicated  it  to 
Mr.  Ballantyne  the  printer,  and  finding  that  he 
coincided  with  him  in  the  calculations  he  had 
made,  they  went  together  to  Abbotsford  to  pro- 
pound it  to  Sir  Walter  Scott.  In  December  1827, 
Mr.  Cadell  became  joint-proprietor  of  the  copy- 
right of  all  Sir  Walter's  works  then  pubUshed. 
Mr.  Lockhart,  in  his  ^  Life  of  Scott,'  thus  details 


Byres,  a  surname  derived  from  a  haronj  in  the  ooontj  of 
Haddington,  which  for  many  c^ituries  belonged  to  the  noble 
family  of  Lindsay,  ancestor  to  the  earls  of  Crawford,  from 
whom  it  was  acquired  about  the  banning  of  the  aeventeenth 
century,  by  the  earl  of  Haddington,  who  is  baron  of  Binning 
and  Byres.  The  barony  is  now  the  property  of  the  eari  of 
Hopetoun.    [See  Lindsay  of  tkb  Bybes,  Lord.I 


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CADELL, 


619 


ROBERT. 


the  circumstances : — *^  The  question  as  to  the  pro- 
perty of  the  *  Life  of  Napoleon,*  and  '  Woodstock,* 
having  now  been  settled  by  the  arbiter,  (Lord 
Newton)  in  favour  of  the  author,  the  relative  af- 
fairs of  Sir  Walter  and  the  creditors  of  Constable 
were  so  simplified  that  the  trustee  on  that  seques- 
trated estate  resolved  to  bring  into  the  market, 
with  the  concurrence  of  Ballantyne*s  trustees, 
and,  without  further  delay,  a  variety  of  very  val- 
uable copyrights.  This  important  sale  comprised 
Scotfs  novels  from  *  Waverley '  to  '  Quentin  Dur- 
ward'  inclusive,  besides  a  majority  of  the  shares 
of  the  poetical  works.  Mr.  Cadell*s  family  and 
private  friends  were  extremely  desirous  that  he 
should  purchase  part  at  least  of  these  copyrights, 
and  Sir  Walter*s  were  not  less  so  that  he  should 
seize  this  last  opportunity  of  recovering  a  share  in 
the  prime  fruits  of  his  genius.  The  relations  by 
this  time  established  between  him  and  Cadell 
were  those  of  strict  confidence  and  kindness, 
and  both  saw  well  that  the  property  would  be 
comparatively  lost  were  it  not  secured ;  that 
henceforth  the  whole  should  be  managed  as  one 
unbroken  concern.  It  was  in  the  success  of  an 
uniform  edition  of  the  Waverley  novels,  with  pre- 
faces and  notes  by  the  author,  that  both  antici- 
pated the  means  of  finally  extinguishing  the  debt 
of  Ballantyne  and  Company ;  and,  after  some  de- 
mur, the  trustees  of  that  house*s  creditors  were 
wise  enough  to  adopt  their  views.  The  result 
was  that  the  copyrights,  exposed  to  sale  for  be- 
hoof of  Constable's  creditors,  were  purchased,  one- 
half  for  Sir  Walter,  the  other  half  for  Cadell,  at 
the  price  of  eiglit  thousand  five  hundred  pounds,  a 
sum  which  was  considered  large  at  the  time. 

Su-  Walter's  Diary,  of  date  December  20, 1827, 
has  the  following  allusion  to  this  event :— 

^^Anent  the  copyrights,  the  ^pock  puds*  were 
not  finghtened  by  our  high  price.  They  came  on 
briskly,  four  or  five  bidders  abreast,  and  went  on 
till  the  lot  was  knocked  down  to  Cadell  at  £8,500; 
a  very  large  sum  certainly,  yet  he  has  been  of- 
fered a  profit  on  it  ali-eady.  Tlie  activity  of  the 
contest  serves  to  show  the  value  of  the  property. 
On  the  whole,  I  am  greatly  pleased  with  the  ac- 
quisition.** ^^Well  might  the  *pock  puddings* 
(the  English  booksellers),**  continues  Mr.  Lock- 
bart,  **  rue  their  timidity  on  this  day ;  but  it  was 


the  most  lucky  one  that  ever  came  for  Sir  Walter 
Scott*s  creditors.  A  dividend  of  six  shillings  in 
the  pound  was  paid  at  this  Christmas  on  their 
whole  claims.  The  result  of  their  high-hearted 
debtor's  exertions  between  January  1826,  and 
January  1828,  was  in  all  very  nearly  £40,000. 
No  literary  biographer,  in  all  likelihood,  will  ever 
have  such  another  fact  to  record.  The  creditors 
unanimously  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  for  the  inde- 
fatigable industry  which  had  achieved  so  much 
for  thehr  behoof.'* 

Into  this  new  enterpiise,  which  was  a  scheme 
of  Mr.  Cadeirs,  he  threw  aU  the  energy  of  his 
character,  his  business  skill,  and  the  zeal  springing 
from  his  enthusiastic  confidence  in  Sir  Walter's 
popularity,"  and  his  own  unbounded  love  and  ven- 
eration for  the  Great  Magician.  The  whole  series 
of  novels  were  republished  in  small  octavo  five- 
shilling  volumes,  neatly  got  up,  with  plates  and 
embellished  title-pages,  and  explanatory  notes  by 
the  author. 

After  the  death  of  Sur  Walter,  a  fresh  arrange- 
ment was  come  to  with  regard  to  the  copyright, 
of  which  Mr.  Lockhart,  in  his  *Life  of  Scott, 
gives  the  following  account : — **  Sliortly  after  Sii 
Walter's  death,  his  sons  and  myself,  as  his  ex- 
ecutors, endeavoured  to  make  such  arrangements 
as  were  within  our  power  for  completing  the  great 
object  of  his  own  wishes  and  fatal  exertions.  We 
found  the  remaining  principal  sum  of  the  Ballan- 
tyne debt  to  be  about  £54,000.  £22,000  had 
been  insured  upon  his  life ;  there  were  some  mon- 
eys in  the  hands  of  the  trustees,  and  Mr.  Cadell 
very  handsomely  offered  to  advance  to  us  the  bal- 
ance, about  £30,000,  that  we  might,  without  fnrther 
delay,  settle  with  the  body  of  creditors.  This  was 
effected  accordingly  on  the  2d  of  Febraary,  1833, 
Mr.  Cadell  accepting,  as  his  only  secwity,  the 
right  to  the  profits  accruing  fi-om  Sir  Walter's  co- 
pyright property  and  literary  remains,  until  such 
times  as  this  new  and  consolidated  obligation 
should  be  discharged.** 

In  May,  1847,  Mr.  Cadell  took  upon  himself  all 
the  remaining  debts  upon  the  estate,  on  the  trans- 
fer to  him  by  the  family  of  their  i-emaining  claim 
over  Sir  Walter's  writings.  This  debt  included 
an  heritable  bond  over  the  lands  of  Abbotsford 
for  £10,000.    This  transaction  Mr.  Lockhart  says 


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CAITHNESS, 


620 


EARLS  OF. 


**  crowned  a  long  series  of  kind  services  to  the 
cause  and  memory  of  Sir  Walter  Scott." 

Mr.  Cadell  died  20th  January  1849.  His  health 
had  been  in  a  declining  state  for  neai-ly  a  year. 
During  the  last  few  months  of  his  life  he  was  in 
treaty  for  the  sale  of  the  entire  copyrights,  which 
were  valued  at  the  enoimous  sum  of  £60,000. 
In  1851,  they  were  purchased  by  Adam  and 
Charles  Black,  publishers  in  Edinburgh.  Mr. 
Cadell  issued  Scott^s  works  in  every  form  and 
shape.  There  was  an  edition  suited  to  eveiy  class 
of  society,  from  the  splendid  Abbotsford,  on  which 
he  spent  about  £40,000,  down  to  the  cheap  people's 
edition  in  parts,  of  which  he  used  to  boast  that 
he  sold  about  70,000  copies.  Sir  Walter's  manu- 
scripts were  preserved  by  him  with  great  care,  and 
it  was  with  pride  that  he  used  to  exhibit  these 
literary  treasures  to  his  friends.  His  taste  was 
sound  and  discriminating,  his  plans  comprehensive 
and  liberal,  and  his  application  unwearied.  His 
punctuality  was  almost  proverbial.  Exactly  at 
nine  o'clock  eveiy  morning,  except  Sunday,  he 
entered  his  carriage  at  Ratho;  and,  along  the 
road  to  Edinburgh,  the  country  people  knew  the 
time  to  a  minute,  by  the  appearance  of  what  they 
called  "  the  Ratho  coach."  The  same  oi*der  and 
regularity  were  conspicuous  at  his  place  of  busi- 
ness in  St.  Andrew's  square,  Edinburgh.  In  the 
beginning  of  1845,  Mr.  Cadell  had  bought  the  estate 
of  Ratho,  where  he  resided  in  his  latter  yeare. 

Caithness,  earl  of,  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  a  title  pos- 
sessed since  1455  by  the  "  lordly  line  of  high  St.  Clair,**  or 
Sinclair.  It  is,  however,  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  has 
been  held  by  di£ferent  families.  It  was  one  of  the  titles  of 
the  ancient  Viidngrs  or  sea  kings.  In  Torfasus*  History  of 
the  Orcades,  a  woik  which  he  compiled  from  the  ancient 
sagas  and  the  Danish  records,  mention  is  made  of  Dongaldns 
earl  or  jarl  of  Caithness  so  far  back  as  the  year  875.  In  the 
*  Islands  Landnamabok,*  quoted  in  the  *  Collectanea  do  Rebus 
Albanicis,*  it  is  stated  that  alter  Thorstein  the  red,  son  of 
Audor  the  wealthy,  had,  in  conjunction  with  earl  Sigurd  the 
rich,  "  conquered  Rateness  and  Sndrland,  Ross  and  Moray, 
and  more  than  the  half  of  Scotland,  Thorstein  reigned  as 
king  over  these  districts  until  he  was  betrayed  by  the  Scotch, 
and  slain  in  battle.  Audur  was  in  Kateness  when  she  heard 
of  her  son  Thoretein^s  death,**  and  flying  to  Orkney,  she 
there  gave  away  in  marriage  Groa,  the  daughter  of  Thorstein 
the  red,  "  to  Dungadr,  jarl  of  Kateness;  and  his  daughter 
Grelauga,  by  her  marriage  with  Thorfinn,  earl  of  Orkney, 
brought  the  former  district  once  more  into  the  possession  of 
these  earls.**  This  was  sometime  after  the  year  920.  In  the 
same  century,  one  Liotus  was  earl  of  Caithness  and  Orkney. 
He  was  probably  a  Norwegian,  and  had  defeated  his  brother 
Scullius  in  battle  in  a  contest  for  the  earldom. 


In  a  charter  of  King  David  the  Furst  to  the  monasteiy  of 
Dunfermline,  in  the  year  1 129,  one  Macwilliaun  is  designated 
earl  of  Caithness. 

Harold  earl  of  Caithness  and  Orkney,  a  powerful  chieftain, 
was  a  good  and  faithful  subject  of  King  William  the  Lion  tUi 
1196,  when  ^ifi  broke  out  into  rebellion.  The  king  marched 
an  army  into  Caithness,  on  which  the  earl  submitted,  but  his 
sons,  Roderick  and  Torphin,  attacking  the  roy^l  troops,  near 
Inverness,  were  defeated,  and  Roderick  slain.  The  following 
year,  the  earl,  instigated  by  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  l^Iached, 
agam  appeared  in  arms,  and  was  encountered  by  the  king's 
forces,  who  defeated  him  and  took  him  prisoner.  On  boing 
led  fettered  before  the  king,  he  ordered  him  to  be  closely  ctm- 
fined  in  a  turret  of  Roxburgh  castle,  where  he  remained  until 
the  king's  anger  was  pacified  towards  him,  when  be  was  di»- 
missed  on  his  humble  submission,  his  son,  Torphin,  having 
surrendered  himself  as  a  pledge  for  his  fidelity.  On  this 
occasion  the  southern  division  of  Caithness,  called  Suth- 
erland, was  taken  from  Harold  IChabnen'  Caledomia,  page 
633]  and  given  to  Hugh  Freskin,  sherif  of  Inverness,  the 
progenitor  of  the  earls  of  Sutherland.  Harold  having  again 
rebelled  soyn  after,  the  king  ordered  Torphin*8  eyes  to  be  put 
out,  and  his  body  otherwise  mutilated,  and  he  died  miserably 
in  prison.  The  earl  himself  died  in  1206.  This  Harold  i* 
said  to  have  murdered  John  bishop  of  Caithness. 

In  1222,  John  earl  of  Caithness  and  Orkney  possessed  these 
earldoms,  when  Adam  bishop  of  Caithness,  a  rigorous  exactor 
of  tithes,  w^as  assaulted  in  his  episcopal  palace  at  Halkirk,  by 
the  people  of  his  diocese,  and  burnt  to  death,  a  monk  who  at- 
tended him,  named  Serlo,  being  at  the  same  time  killed 
The  descent  of  this  Adam,  says  the  Orkneyinga  Saga,  ^  no- 
body knew,  for  the  child  had  been  found  at  the  door  of  some 
church.**  The  men  of  Caithness  thought  him  rather  bard  in 
hb  episoopal  government,  and  chiefly  attributed  that  to  the 
monk  Serlo.  It  was  an  ancient  custom  that  the  bi^op 
should  have  a  spann  of  butter  of  t^venty  cows  from  evoy 
proprietor  in  Caithness.  Bishop  Adam  wanted  to  increase 
this  impost,  and  have  a  spann,  first  of  fifteen,  afterwards  of 
twelve,  and,  these  being  successively  granted,  ultimately  of 
ten  cows.  The  people  complained  to  the  eari  of  the  bishop's 
exactions,  but  he  declined  to  interfere  in  the  dispute,  on 
which,  in  a  highly  excited  state,  they  attacked  the  bishop'.i 
residence.  The  bishop  and  his  followers  were  drinking  in  an 
upper  apartment,  and  when  the  people  came,  the  nicok  wimt 
out  to  the  door,  and  he  was  immediately  hewn  across  the 
coimtenanoe  and  fell  dead  into  the  room.  The  bishop  then 
went  out,  intending  to  make  peace  with  the  people,  but  seiz- 
ing him  they  conveyed  him  to  a  smaller  house  than  his  own, 
and  set  fire  to  it,  when  the  unfortunate  bishop  was  burnt  to 
death.  The  earl,  as  he  had  refused  to  interpose  for  the  preven- 
tion of  this  deed,  was  supposed  to  have  connived  at  it,  and 
he  was,  in  consequence,  deprived  of  his  estate  by  the  king, 
Alexander  the  Second,  but  was  afterwards  permitted  to  re- 
deem it,  on  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  the 
giving  up  the  third  part  of  the  eaurldom.  Eari  John  was 
murdered  in  his  own  house  by  his  servants  in  1231,  and  his 
body  was  consumed  to  ashes  by  way  of  retaliation  for  the 
slaughter  of  the  bishop. 

'^  There  is,**  says  Lord  Hailes  {Annals  of  Scotland^  vol.  I 
p.  48.  nouy,  **  an  obscmity  in  our  histories  concerning  the  earls 
of  Caithness,  which  I  am  not  able  to  dispel.**  This  obscurity 
has  greatly  puzzled  the  peerage  writers  and  genealogists,  who 
are  unable  to  reconcile  certain  discrepancies  in  dates  and  per- 
sons occurring  in  connexion  with  the  earidom.  According  to 
Crawford's  peerage,  Magnus,  second  sou  of  Gilibrede,  eari  of 
Angus,  obtained  this  earldom  from  King  Alexander  the  Se- 


ill 


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'0ms  0f  J^jtotkn]^. 


IV. 


€vtbm  of  €ait^88. 


L  ^mttd  tfHiap  |arls. 


(1)  Caitbiib 


II.  Ibrman  Carb. 

(2)  CARBmnt  AND  Orxhbt. 


in.  Jjfme  of  ^njfQs. 


Prince  David, 
EatI  Palatine  of 
Strathcarn,  eldest 
son  of  Robert  11^ 

created  earl  of 
CfUthoeasearlvin 
lilg  father's  rugn. 


Malcolm, 
his  son. 


John, 

Malcolm's  son, 

died  aboat 

isao. 


IV.  ^al  SUtiawci  ^int. 

2 


Enphemla,  his 
daogfater,  ooiust' 
eea  of  Caithneas, 
redgned  eazldoDi 

infir^onrof 
her  onde  Walter, 

Lord  Breobln. 


Waltttv 

Lord  BreehlAf 

ad  son  of 

BobertIL, 

by  Biiphcimto 

ftOOL 


Masrnas. 

earl  of  Orkney, 

In  right  of  Ills 

wiiiB,  dangfator 

or  sister  of 

lastEarL 


Alan,  bis  ton, 
on  realgnatloa  of 

hlsfklber,!^ 

grant  of  James  I, 

1410.    Kmedin 

baltlel4»L 


Walter,  eari  of 
Ath<d,  resumed 

title  by  reversion 
on  death  of  hia 
SOIL    ForMted 

tm  his  exeoatioB, 
1487. 


Malia&earlof 
Stratbeani, 

In  right  of  Mi 

wUb  Isabella, 
daac^teroT 

BarlMaguiUk 


V.  (tric^oit. 


Bir  George  de 
Criofaton,  eld«r 
son  df  Stephen 

Criohtonof 

Cainia, 
cxeatedl4(l 

Died  141ft. 
ntto  extiiiet. 


William  Shidair, 

3d  eari  of 
Orkney,  created 
eari  of  Caithness 
iiil4&d. 


William,  hit  son, 
on  reaignatloo  of 
his  flithe?  1476, 
slain  at  Flodden 
15181 


YI.  Jj^hu  of  limclair. 

3  4 


John,  bis  son, 
slain  Ui  battle. 


Cleorge, 

bis  son,  died. 

1082. 


George,  his 

grmdseo,  styied 

"•The  Wloked 

Eari."    Died 

1448. 


George,  his 


withotttli 
1478. 


grsat 
died 


£ampbtll. 


VI.  Jpbtt  of  Simlaii  wsiraub. 


Sir  John  Campbell 
of  Glenurchy,  cre- 
ated earl  of  Caith- 
ness 1677.  Belin- 
quiabed  tiUe  1681. 
Created  carl  of 
Breudalbane 
same  year. 


George  Sinclair 
DfKeisa,  grandson 
or6thearl,168L 

Died,  without 
Iasae,16da 


William  Sinclair 
of  Ratter,  6th  in 
descent  from  John 
Masier  of  Caith- 
ness, father  of 
0th  iori,  obtained 
earldom  1772. 
Died  1779. 


John,  his  BtXL 

Died,  without 

ia8ae,178$. 


John  Sinclair 
of  Mey,  great- 
grand-nephew  of 
fifth  eari. 
Died  1705. 


Sir  James 
Sinclair  of  Mey, 
Bart,  10th  Ip 
Uneal  descent 
from  4th  Eari. 
Died  18^ 


Alexander, 

his  son, 
I>lodl765. 


IS.  Alexander 

his  son. 

Died  1855^ 

14.  Jam»,bisson, 

bom  1821. 

Married,  with 


ARMS  OF  SINCLAIR,  EARL  OF  CAITHKKS8. 

Qoarterings:-!.  for  the  Uile  of  Orimev.    2.  8.  and  4,  for  the  tiUe  of  Caithness.    O^er  alJigitized  by 
a  cruM  enffmUod.  dividmir  the  4  ounrtera.  sable,  tor  Sinclair. 


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CAITHNESS, 


521 


EARI.S  OF. 


oond,  in  1222  [if  so,  this  most  have  been  on  the  forfeiture  of 
Eari  John]  on  payment  of  a  yearly  duty  of  ten  pounds  ster- 
ling to  the  king  and  his  successors.  He  had  a  ion,  MalooUn, 
who  succeeded  him,  of  whom  nothing  is  known  but  his  name. 
His  son  John,  earl  of  Caithness,  was  one  of  the  Scottish  no- 
Mes  to  whom  King  Edward  addressed  a  letter  proposing  the 
marriage  of  his  son  to  Margaret  of  Norway,  the  young  queen 
of  Scotland,  dated  at  Brigham,  12tb  March  1269-90.  He 
was  also  one  of  the  peers  who  made  default  when  Baliol  held 
his  first  parliament  at  Scone  10th  February  1292-^  In 
1296  he  swore  fealty  to  Edward  the  First,  but  his  name  does 
nut  occur  in  the  Remaiics  on  the  Kagman  RoU.  He  died 
about  1830.  His  succession  is  inrolved  in  perplexity.  It 
would  appear,  however,  that  this  earl  John  was  succeeded  by 
a  daughter  or  sister,  married  to  Magnus,  earl  of  Orkney,  to 
whom  she  brought  the  earidom  of  Caithness ;  that  Magnus, 
earl  of  Caithness  and  Orkney,  had  two  daughters,  his  heir- 
esses, Margaret,  married  to  Simon  Fraser,  (supposed  to  be 
the  Simon  Fraser  killed  at  Ualidonhill  in  1333,)  and  Isabella, 
married  to  Malise,  earl  of  Stratheam,  who,  in  her  right,  was 
ahio  earl  of  Caithness  and  Orkney,  and  accordingly  was  styled 
earl  of  Stratheam,  Caithness,  and  Oriciiey,  and  that  he  had 
four  daughters,  coheiresses ;  the  eldest,  whose  name  is  not 
given,  married  to  William,  earl  of  Ross;  Isabel,  to  Sir  William 
Sinclair  of  Roslin ;  Matilda,  to  a  person  named  de  le  Arde; 
and  the  youngest,  whose  name  also  has  not  been  recorded,  to 
Reginald  Chene.    IDougUu'  Peerage,  vol.  L  page  293.] 

The  title  was  next  possessed  by  a  branch  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily of  Stewart;  Prmce  David,  earl-palatine  of  Stratheam, 
eldest  son  of  King  Robert  the  Second,  by  his  second  wife, 
Kaphamia  Ross,  having  been  by  his  father  created  earl  of 
Caithness  early  in  his  reign.  In  several  charters  he  is  styled 
earl-palatine  of  Stratheam  and  earl  of  Caithness.  [See 
Stbathearn,  earl  of.]  His  daughter  Euphamia,  countess 
palatine  of  Stratheam,  resigned  the  earldom  of  Caithness  in 
favour  of  her  uncle  Walter,  Lord  Brechin,  second  son  of 
King  Robert  the  Second,  by  Euphamia  Ross,  and  he  accord- 
ingly obtamed  from  King  Robert  the  Third  a  charter  of  the 
earidom  of  Caithness  and  regality  thereof.  On  being  aiUr- 
wards  created  eari  of  Athol,  he  resigned  the  earldom  of 
Caithness  in  favom-  of  his  second  son,  Alan,  who  obtained 
fpim  King  James  the  Furst,  a  grant  of  the  earldom,  dated  at 
^  Perth  15th  May  1430,  to  himself  and  legitimate  heirs  male, 
whom  failing  to  revert  to  his  father,  Walter,  earl  of  Athol. 
The  following  year  Donald  Balloch,  a  near  relation  of  the  po- 
tent lord  of  the  isles,  landed  in  Lochaber,  with  a  considera- 
ble force,  and  ravaged  that  district  in  the  most  relentless 
manner.  To  check  his  ferocity  and  defend  the  western  coast, 
Alan  ^%xi  of  Caithness  and  Alexander  earl  of  Mar  marched 
witb  the  royal  army,  and  met  the  island  warrior  at  the  an- 
cijnt  castle  of  Inverlochy,  near  Fort  William,  in  tlie  county 
of  Inverness.  A  bloody  conflict  ensued,  in  which  the  royal 
troops  were  completely  defeated.  The  earl  of  Caithness  was 
siam ;  acd  sixteen  of  his  personal  attendants,  besides  many 
barons  and  knights,  were  left  dead  on  the  field.  Having  no 
issue,  the  earidom  reverted  to  his  father,  and  on  his  attainder 
for  the  execrable  murder  of  his  nephew.  King  James  the 
First,  in  U37,  it  was  foriieited  and  annexed  to  the  crown. 


The  next  possessor  of  the  title  was  Sir  George  de  Crich- 
ton,  the  elder  of  two  sons  of  Stephen  Crichton  of  Cairns,  of 
the  family  of  Crichton  of  Crichton.  Havuig  acquired  the 
favour  of  King  James  the  Second,  Sir  George  was  constituted 
lord  high  admiral  of  ScoUand,  and  obtained  several  consider- 
able grants  of  hmd  from  that  monarch  in  1450,  1451,  and 


1452,  and  in  the  latter  year  he  was  created  earl  of  Caithness, 
the  honours  being  limited  to  the  heirs  male  of  his  body,  by 
h-s  second  wife,  Janet  Borthwick,  daughter  of  Sir  Wiiham 
Borthwick  of  Borthwick  and  relict  of  James  Douglas,  Lord 
Dalkeith.  He  had  a  daughter  Janet,  who  inherited  the 
lands  of  Bamton,  in  the  county  of  Edinburgh,  and  who  mar- 
ried John  Maxwell,  supposed  to  be  a  younger  son  of  Herbert 
second  Lord  Maxwell,  by  whom  she  had  a  son  George  Max- 
weU.  The  earl  of  Caithness  died  in  1455,  when  the  title  be- 
came extmct,  and  the  large  estates  of  the  earldom,  with  the 
exception  of  Bamton  and  Caims,  appear  to  have  reverted  to 
the  crown. 


The  earldom  was  next,  by  James  the  Second,  conferred, 
28th  August,  1455,  on  William  Sinclair,  third  earl  of  Ork- 
ney [see  Orkmkt,  earl  of],  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland, 
in  compensation,  as  the  charter  t)ears,  of  a  claim  of  right 
which  he  and  his  heirs  had  to  the  lordship  of  Niddesdale. 
He  was  afterwards  designated  earl  of  Orkney  and  Caithness, 
but  after  1471,  in  which  year  he  surrendered  to  King  James 
the  Third  the  earldom  of  Orkney,  ho  was  styled  earl  of  Caith- 
ness aione.  From  him  the  present  branch  of  the  family 
which  now  enjoys  the  title  is  remotely  descended.  He  was 
twice  married,  and  had  a  son  by  each  wife,  botli  named  Wil- 
liam Sinclair.  Passing  by  the  son  of  the  first  marriage,  he 
resigned,  in  1476,  the  earldom  of  Caithness  in  favour  of  his 
son  by  his  second  wife,  Marjory;  and  he,  in  consequence, 
obtiuned  a  charter  of  the  whole  lands  of  the  earldom,  &c.,  to 
him  and  his  heirs  whatsoever,  7th  December  of  that  year. 

William  Sinclair,  the  second  earl  of  this  race,  was  killed, 
with  his  royal  master,  James  the  Thu^,  at  the  battle  of  Flod- 
den  in  1513.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
Keith  of  Inneragy,  by  whom  he  had  two  sous,  John,  his  suc- 
cessor, and  Alexander  Sinclair  of  Stamster. 

John  Sinclair,  the  third  earl,  in  1516  entered  into  bonds  of 
friendship  and  aUiance,  for  mutual  protection  and  support, 
with  Adam,  earl  of  Sutherland,  from  whom,  on  account 
thereof,  he  received  a  grant  of  some  lands  upon  the  east  side 
of  Uie  water  of  UUy ;  notwithstanding  of  which  he  joined  the 
Mackays,  and  other  enemies  of  the  earl  of  Sutherland,  and 
took  part  in  all  the  feuds  and  qnarreb  of  the  country  against 
the  Sutherland  family.  The  earl  of  Sutherland,  in  conse- 
quence, brought  an  action  before  the  lords  of  council  and  ses- 
sion against  the  earl  of  Caithness  to  recover  back  fiDm  him 
the  lands  of  Strathully,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  not  ful- 
filled the  condition  on  which  the  lands  were  granted  to  him. 
There  were  other  minor  pomts  of  dispute  between  the  earls, 
to  get  all  which  determined,  they  both  repaired  to  Edinburgh, 
where,  by  the  advice  of  mutual  friends,  they  referred  the  de- 
cision of  their  differences  to  Gavin  Dunbar,  bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
who  pronounced  his  award  lltli  March  1524,  wluch  put  an  end 
to  all  controversies,  and  made  the  earb  live  in  peace  with  one 
another  ever  afler.  In  1529,  he  and  Lord  Smclair  [see  Sin- 
clair, lord]  invaded  Orkney  with  a  numerous  force,  in  order 
to  assert  some  claim  which  they  professed  to  have  to  the 
Orkney  islands,  arising  out  of  the  renewed  lordship  of  the 
earldom  of  Orkney,  and  were  enconntered  by  the  Orcadians, 
under  the  command  of  James  Smclair,  governor  of  Kirkwall 
castle,  at  Summerdale  or  Bigswell  in  Stenness,  18th  May  of 
that  year,  and  there  they  sustained  a  most  disastrous  and 
signal  defeat,  the  earl  of  Caithness  and  five  hundred  of  his 
followers  being  slain,  and  Lord  Sinclair  and  the  survivors 
taken  prisoners.  In  the  old  Statistical  account  of  Frith  and 
Stenness  a  copy  is  inserted  of  a  nineteen  years'  respite  to 
Edward  Sinclair  and  his  accomplices,  for  art  and  part  of  the 
convocation  and  gathering  of  the  heges  in  umiycd  battle 


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against  mnquhile  John  earl  of  Caithness,  and  for  art  and 
part  of  the  slaughter  of  the  said  earl  and  his  friends.  By 
Elisabeth  his  wife,  daughter  of  William  Sutherland  of  Dnf- 
fos,  he  had  two  sons,  William,  who  appears  to  hare  died  be- 
fore his  father,  and  George,  fourth  earl  of  G^thness. 

The  fourth  earl  was  a  cruel  and  avaricious  nobleman,  who 
scrupled  not  at  the  commission  of  the  greatest  crimes  for  the 
attamment  of  his  purposes.  The  bishop  of  Gaithness  being  in 
banishment  in  England,  the  earl  and  Donald  Maxkaj^  a  chief 
with  whom  he  was  in  terms  of  friendship,  took  possession  of  the 
bishop's  lands,  and  levied  the  rent,  for  the  behoof,  as  they  pre- 
tended of  the  exiled  bishop.  Mackay  possessed  himself  of  the 
castle  of  Skibo,  one  of  the  bishop*s  palaces,  which  he  fortified, 
while  the  earl,  on  his  part,  took  possession  of  the  castle  of  Stra- 
bister,  another  of  the  episcopal  residences.  But  upon  the  re- 
storation of  the  bishop,  both  the  earl  and  Mackay  absolutely  re- 
fused to  surrender  to  him  these,  or  any  other  parts  of  his  pos- 
sessions, or  to  account  to  him  for  the  rents  they  had  collected 
in  his  name.  On  their  refiisal,  the  earl  of  Huntly,  who  was 
at  that  time  lieutenant-general  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  and 
the  earl  of  Sutherland,  summoned  them  to  appear  before 
them  at  Hehnsdale,  to  answer  for  their  intromissions  with  the 
bishop's  rents,  and  for  their  usurpation  of  his  residences, 
llie  earl  munediately  obeyed  the  odl,  and  although  the  river 
of  Helmsdale  was  greatly  swollen  by  recent  heavy  rains,  he, 
in  order  to  show  his  ready  submission,  crossed  it  on  foot,  to 
the  great  danger  of  his  life,  as  the  water  was  as  high  as  his 
breast  Having  made  a  final  and  satisfactory  arrangement, 
the  earl  returned  into  Gaithness.  Mackay  was  committed  a 
prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Foulis. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  queen  regent  at  Inverness,  m  July 
1555,  having  undertaken  a  journey  to  the  north  at  that  pe- 
riod, for  the  represuon  of  the  tumults  and  disorders  then  pre- 
valent, she  was  met  by  the  earls  of  Gaithness  and  Sutherland. 
The  former  had  been  requested  to  bring  his  countrymen  along 
with  him  to  the  court,  and  having  neglected  or  declined  to  do 
so,  he  was  committed  to  prison  at  Inverness,  Aberdeen,  and 
Edinburgh,  successively,  and  was  not  restored  to  liberty  till  he 
had  paid  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  He  obtained  a  re- 
mission under  the  great  seal,  loth  December  1556,  and  had 
two  charters  of  the  office  of  justiciaiy  from  Portinculter  to 
the  PentUnd  Frith,  17th  April  1566  and  14th  Febmaiy 
thereafter,  ratified  in  parliament  19th  April  1567.  On  the 
12th  of  the  latter  mon^  and  year,  he  was  one  of  the  jury  on 
the  trial  of  the  eari  of  Bothwell  for  the  murder  of  Damley, 
and  when  the  verdict  of  acquittal  was  returned,  he  protested 
in  their  name  that  no  crime  should  be  imputed  to  them  on 
that  account,  because  no  accuser  had  appeared,  and  no  proof 
was  brought  of  the  indictment  He  took  notice,  also,  that 
the  9th  instead  of  the  10th  of  February  was  specified  in  the 
indictment,  as  the  day  on  whidi  the  murder  was  committed. 

This  George,  fourtii  earl  of  Gaithness,  had  long  home  a 
mortal  hatred  to  John,  earl  of  Sutherland,  and  it  is  said  that 
he  instigated  his  oousm,  Isobel  Smclair,  wife  of  Gilbert  Gor- 
don of  Gartay,  and  sister  of  William  Sinclair  of  Dumbaith,  to 
poison  the  earl  and  countess,  who  was  near  her  confinement, 
while  at  supper  at  Helmsdale,  in  the  month  of  July  1567. 
Their  only  son,  and  heir,  Alexander  Gordon,  made  a  very 
narrow  escape,  not  having  returned  in  time  from  a  hunting 
excursion  to  join  his  father  and  mother  at  supper.  The  eari 
and  countess  were  carried  next  morning  to  Dunrobin,  where 
they  died  within  five  days  thereafter,  and  to  free  himself  fin>m 
the  imputation  of  being  concerned  in  this  murder,  the  earl  of 
Gaithness  punished  some  of  the  earl  of  SutherlancTs  most 
faithful  servants,  under  the  colour  of  avenging  his  death, 
llie  deceased  earFs  ^ends,  however,  apprehended  Isobel  Sin- 


clair, and  sent  her  to  Edinburgh  for  trial,  but,  after  being 
condemned,  she  died  in  prison  on  the  day  appointed  for  bei 
execution.  During  all  the  time  of  her  iUness  she  ottered  the 
most  dreadful  imprecations  on  the  eari  of  Caithness,  for  hav- 
ing incited  her  to  the  horrid  act  The  eldest  son  of  this  wo- 
man, John  Gordon,  was  the  next  male  heir  to  the  earldom  of 
Sutherland,  after  Alexander,  the  son  of  the  murdered  earl, 
and  happening  to  be  in  the  house  when  his  mother  had  pre- 
pared the  poison,  and  becoming  extremely  thirsty,  he  called 
for  a  drink.  One  of  his  mother's  servants,  not  aware  of  the 
preparation,  presented  to  the  youth  a  portion  of  the  pooooous 
liquid,  which  he  drank.  This  occasioned  his  deaUi  within 
two  dajTS,  a  drcnmstanoe  which,  with  the  appearances  of  the 
body  after  death,  gave  a  due  to  the  discovery  of  hb  mother's 
guilt 

The  earl  of  Gaithness  now  formed  a  design  to  get  the  yomig 
earl  of  Sutherland  into  his  hands,  and  prevailed  upon  Bobot 
Stewart,  bishop  of  Caithness,  to  write  a  letter  to  the  gover- 
nor of  the  castle  of  Skibo,  in  which  the  eari  of  SnUieriand 
resided,  to  deliver  up  the  castle  to  him ;  a  request  with  whidi 
the  governor  complied.  Having  taken  possession  of  the  cas- 
tle, the  earl  carried  off  the  young  man  into  Caithness,  and 
though  only  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  got  him  married  to  Lady 
Barbara  Sinclair,  his  daughter,  then  thirty-two  years  old. 
Mackay  of  Far,  an  ally  of  the  eari  of  Caithness,  was  the  par- 
amour of  this  lady,  and  for  continuing  the  ooimexioa  with 
him,  she  was  afterwards  divorced  by  her  husband.  In  the 
meantune  the  earl  of  Gaithness  fixed  his  residence  at  Dunro- 
bin castle,  in  Sutherlandshire,  the  seat  of  his  miiKR'  soo-in- 
law,  whom  he  treated  with  great  indignity,  and  burnt  all  the 
papers  belonging  to  the  house  of  Sutheriand,  on  which  he 
could  lay  his  hands.  He  expelled  many  andent  families  from 
Sutherland,  put  several  of  the  inhabitants  to  death,  and  ban- 
ished others,  after  disabling  them  in  their  persons,  by  new 
and  unheard  of  modes  of  torture,  and  stripping  them  of  all 
their  possessions.  He  even  entertained  the  intention  of  de- 
stroying the  earl  of  Sutheriand  himself,  and  marrying  Wil- 
liam Sindair,  his  own  second  son,  to  Lady  Margaret  Gordon, 
the  ddest  sister  of  the  earl  of  Sutherland,  but  the  latter  being 
apprised  in  time  of  his  designs,  made  his  escape  from  Dun- 
robin  castle.  In  revenge,  the  eari  of  Caithness  sent  his  eldest 
son,  John  Master  of  Caithness,  snmamed  from  his  great 
strength,  Garrow  [from  the  Gaelic  word  ^orM,  rough  or 
strong]  with  a  large  party  of  followers,  to  attack  Hug^  Mor-^ 
ray  of  Abersoors  and  others  of  that  name,  residing  about  the 
town  of  Dornoch,  who  were  firmly  attached  to  the  family  of 
Sutheriand,  and  who,  after  various  skirmishes,  took  refuge  in 
the  town  and  castle  of  Dornoch,  which  were  besieged  by  the 
Gaithness  men,  and  for  a  while  manfully  defended.  After 
burning  the  Cathedral  and  reducing  the  town,  the  master  at- 
tacked the  castle,  and  the  Murrays  were,  in  the  end,  obliged 
to  capitulate,  and  having  undertaken  to  depart  out  of  Suth- 
erland within  three  months,  they  defivered  three  hostages  for 
fulfilment  of  the  conditions.  The  eari  refused  to  ratify  the 
treaty  conduded  by  his  son,  and  basely  beheaded  the  three 
hostages.  This  took  place  in  1570,  and  in  1576  the  castle  at 
Gimigo,  which  was  at  that  period  the  baronial  residence  ci 
the  earl  of  Caithness,  became  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most 
fearful  atrodties  on  record.  John  Garrow,  the  master  ol 
Caithness,  had  incurred  the  suspidon  and  displeasure  of  his 
father,  the  earl,  on  account  of  Uie  treaty  concluded  with  the 
Murrays,  because  he  did  not,  when  he  had  the  opportunity, 
extirpate  the  whole  inhabitants  of  Dornoch.  While  convers- 
ing with  his  father,  he  was  arrested  by  a  party  of  armed  men, 
who,  upon  a  secret  signal  bemg  given  by  the  earl,  had  rushed 
in  at  the  chamber-door.     He  was  instantly  fettered,  and 


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tlinist  into  a  dark  dungeon  below  the  castle,  in  which  he 
dragged  oat  for  seven  jears  a  wretched  existence.  At  last 
his  keepers,  David  and  Ingram  Sinclair,  relatives  of  his  own, 
determined  to  destroy  him,  and  after  having  kept  hun  for 
some  time  without  food;  they  gave  him  a  large  mess  of  salt 
beef,  and  then  withholding  all  drink  from  him,  left  him  to  die 
of  raging  thirst. 

The  inhuman  earl  died  at  Edinburgh  9th  September  1582, 
and  his  body  was  buried  in  St  Giles*,  where  a  monument 
was  erected  to  his  memory.  His  heart  was  cased  in  lead, 
and  placed  in  the  Sinclair's  aisle  in  the  church  of  Wick, 
where  his  murdered  son  was  interred.  He  had  married  Lady 
Elizabeth  Graham,  second  daughter  of  William  second  earl 
of  Montrofie,  and  had  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  In  an 
mcoision  of  the  earl  of  Sutherland  into  Caithness  in  1588, 
afterwards  mentioned,  one  of  his  followers  having  entered  the 
church  of  Wick,  found  the  leaden  box  which  enclosed  the 
heart  of  the  cruel  earl  of  Caithness,  and  disappointed  in  his 
expectations  of  treasure,  he  broke  the  casket  open,  and  flung 
the  corrupted  heart  to  the  winds.  His  eldest  son,  John  Gar- 
Tow.  had  married  Lady  Jean  Hepburn,  only  daughter  of  P»- 
tricK,  third  eari  of  Bothwell,  sister  of  the  husband  of  Queen 
Maxy,  widow  of  John  prior  of  Coldingham,  and  mother  of 
Francis  the  turbulent  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  had  issue  George 
tlie  fifth  earl  of  Caithness,  three  other  sons,  and  a  daughter, 
married  to  Sir  John  Home  of  Coldingknows. 

George  the  fifth  earl  succeeded  his  grandfather  in  1582. 
He  b^an  his  career  by  avenging  his  father's  death  on  his 
two  murderers.  David  Sinclair,  one  of  them,  resided  at 
Keiss,  and  the  other,  Ingram  Sindair,  at  Wester.  The 
daughter  of  the  latter  was  to  be  married,  and  a  large  psrty 
were  invited  to  the  wedding.  Earl  George  met  David  on  his 
way  to  Winter,  and  ran  him  through  the  body  with  his 
sword.  The  earl  then  rode  over  to  Wester,  and  accosted  In- 
gram as  he  was  playing  at  football  on  the  green.  "  Do  you 
know,"  said  he,  *^  that  one  of  my  corbies,'*  so  he  called  his 
pistols,  *^ missed  fire  this  morning?**  and  drawmg  it  horn  the 
holster  as  if  to  look  at  it,  shot  him  through  the  head.  In 
1583  he  had  a  meeting  with  the  earl  of  Sutherland  at  Elgin, 
in  the  presenoe  of  the  earl  of  Huntly,  and  other  friends,  when 
the  differences  between  the  two  earls  bdng  adjusted,  they 
were  reconciled  for  the  time  to  each  other.  Another  meet- 
ing subsequently  took  place  between  the  two  earls  at  the  hill 
of  Bengrime  in  Sutherland,  when  they  entered  into  a  confed- 
eracy against  the  clan  Gunn.  On  the  19th  May  of  the  same 
year  (1585)  the  earl  of  Caithness  had  a  remission  under  the 
great  seal  to  himself  and  twenty-two  other  persons,  for  being 
art  and  part  in  the  slaughter  of  David  Hume  of  Crewschawis 
and  others.  In  1587  the  old  feud  broke  out  agam  between 
the  rival  houses  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland,  and  both  par- 
ties assembled  their  forces  at  Helmsdale ;  but  by  the  media- 
tion of  mutual  friends  a  truce  was  agreed  upon,  after  the 
expiry  of  which  the  earl  of  Sutherland  invaded  Caithness, 
in  February  1588,  when  great  slaughter  and  spoil  took  place. 
The  town  of  Wick  was  also  pillaged  and  burnt,  but  the  church 
was  preserved.  The  earl  of  Caithness,  shut  up  in  the  castle 
of  Gimigo,  which  was  strongly  fortified,  desired  a  cessation 
of  hostilities,  and  a  conference  with  the  earl  of  Sutherland. 
Another  truce  was  the  consequence,  which,  however,  did  not 
last  long,  and  various  battles,  skirmishes,  and  forays  ensued 
between  the  rival  earls  and  their  followers.  The  earl  of 
Huntly  and  others,  friends  of  the  parties,  in  vain  endeavoured 
to  reconcile  them  effectually,  till  March  1591,  when  the 
earls  met  at  Stnthbogie  and  agreed  to  live  on  terms  of  amity 
in  future;  but  in  the  year  1600,  the  earl  of  Ciuthness,  under 
the  pretence  of  going  on  a  hunting  expedition,  again  invaded 


Sutherland,  and  encamped  near  the  hill  of  Bengrime,  on 
which  the  Sutherland  and  Strathnaver  men  assembled  in 
great  force,  and  marched  against  him.  After  some  messages 
had  passed  between  the  two  earls,  the  army  of  the  earl  of 
Caithness  retired,  and  both  in  a  day  or  two  after  disbanded 
their  forces.  He  made  another  attempt  in  July  1607,  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  Sutherland,  but  was  prevented  from  accom- 
plishing his  purpose  by  the  sudden  appearance  in  Strathully 
of  the  earl  of  Sutherhuid  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force. 
By  the  mediation  of  the  marquis  of  HunUy  the  earls  again 
met  at  Elgin  with  their  mutual  friends,  and  once  more  ad- 
justed their  diffisrenoes.  In  the  following  year,  some  servants 
of  the  eari  of  Orkney,  being  forced  by  stress  of  weather  to 
land  in  his  country,  the  eari  of  Caithness  apprehended  them, 
and  after  forcing  them  to  swallow  a  quantity  of  spirits,  which 
completely  intoxicated  them,  he  ordered 'one  side  of  their 
heads  and  beards  to  be  shaved,  and  compelled  them  to  go  to 
sea,  although  the  storm  had  not  abated.  On  reaching  Ork- 
ney they  complained  to  their  master,  who  immediately  laid 
the  case  before  the  king.  His  majesty  referred  the  matter 
to  his  council  for  trial,  but  the  earls  of  Caithness  and  Orkney 
having  arrived  in  Edinburgh,  they  were  induced  by  their 
friends  to  adjust  the  business  amicably  between  themselves. 

The  criminal  conduct  of  this  earl  of  Caithness  procured 
for  him  the  name  of  "  the  wicked  earl,'*  and  involved  him  in 
constant  quarrels  and  difficulties.  To  recruit  his  exhausted 
resources  he  took  into  his  employment  a  coiner  named  Arthur 
Smith,  who  had  been  tried  and  condemned  to  death  for  coun- 
terfeiting the  coin  of  the  realm,  but  who,  on  the  intercession 
of  Lord  Elphinston,  the  Lord  Treasurer  of  Scodand,  had  ob- 
tained a  pardon.  This  person  continued  in  the  employment 
of  the  eari  of  Caithness  for  seven  or  eight  years.  His  work- 
shop was  under  the  rock  of  castie  Sinclair,  in  a  quiet  retired 
place  called  the  Gote,  to  which  there  was  a  secret  passage 
from  the  earl's  bedchamber.  No  person  was  admitted  to 
Smith's  workshop  but  the  earl,  and  in  a  short  time  Caithnebs, 
Orkney,  Sutherland,  and  Ross  were  filled  with  base  money, 
which  was  first  detected  by  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  brother  of  the 
earl  of  Sutherland,  when  in  Sootiand  in  1611,  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  England  he  made  the  king  acquainted  therewith. 
His  majesty  thereupon  addressed  a  letter  to  the  lords  of  the 
privy  council,  authoridng  them  to  grant  a  commission  to  Sir 
Robert  to  apprehend  Smith  and  bring  him  to  Edinburgh.  In 
the  following  year  Smith  was  apprehended  in  his  own  house 
in  the  town  of  Thurso,  and  in  an  endeavour  to  rescue  him, 
John  Sinclair  of  Stirkage,  nephew  of  the  eari  of  Caithness, 
was  slain,  and  James  Sinclair,  brother  of  the  laird  of  Dun, 
severely  wounded:  and  to  prevent  the  escape  of  Smith  he  was 
at  once  put  to  death  by  those  in  whose  custody  he  was.  The 
earl  of  Caithness,  at  that  time  in  Edinbujfgb,  summoned  the 
leaders  cf  the  parties  who  had  killed  his  nephew  and  wounded 
his  kmsman,  to  appear  at  Edinbtu'gh  and  answer  for  their  con- 
duct. On  the  other  hand  his  son.  Lord  Berriedale,  and  seve- 
ral of  their  followers,  were  prosecuted  by  Sir  Robert  Gordon 
for  resbting  the  king's  commission  and  attacking  those  who 
bore  it  Previous  to  this  affair.  Sir  Robert  Gordon  had  caused 
tha  earl  to  be  denounced  and  proclaimed  a  rebel  to  the  king. 
The  parties  were  ordered  to  appear  before  the  council  at  Ed- 
inbui^h,  and  on  the  day  appointed  they  met  accordingly,  at- 
tended, as  the  custom  then  was,  by  their  respective  friends. 
The  coundl  spent  three  days  in  investigating  the  matter, 
both  parties  being,  in  the  meantime,  boimd  over  in  their  re- 
cognizances to  keep  the  peace,  in  time  coming,  towards  each 
other.  The  privy  coundl  ultimately  granted  a  warrant  for 
deserting  the  criminal  prosecutions,  on  a  submission  being 
entered  into,  July  17, 1612,  between  the  earls  of  Caithness  and 


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EARLS  OF. 


Satherlaud,  of  all  the  matters  in  dispute  between  them.  In 
the  previous  month,  the  earl  created  a  disturbance  on  the 
High  street  of  Edinburgh,  by  assaulting  George  Lord  Gordon, 
and  great  slaughter  might  hare  been  committed  but  for  the 
extreme  darkness  of  the  night,  owing  to  which  the  parties 
could  hardly  distinguish  their  own  friends.  Soon  after  he 
rendered  his  name  for  ever  infamous  by  betraying  his  kins- 
man John  Lord  Maxwell,  then  under  hiding  for  the  murder  of 
Sir  John  Johnstone,  whom  he  lured  to  Castle  Sinclwr,  under 
the  pretence  of  affording  him  shelter  and  secrecy  until  he  could 
conveniently  leave  the  coimtry  for  Sweden.  His  real  motive, 
however,  was  that  he  might  obtain  favour  at  court  by  deliv- 
ering him  up.  The  countess  of  Caithness,  (Lady  Jean  Gor- 
don, only  daughtei'  of  George,  fifth  earl  of  Huntly,)  who  was 
Lord  Maxwell's  cousin,  was  likewise  deceived  by  her  husband, 
naving  been  told  by  him  that  a  report  was  spread  abroad  that 
it  was  already  known  at  court  that  Lord  Maxwell  was  in 
concealment  in  Caithness,  and  that  it  was  necessary  for  their 
mutual  safety  to  set  off  for  Edinburgh,  to  explain  the  matter; 
and  thus  time  would  be  afforded  for  Lord  Maxwell's  escape. 
That  unfortunate  nobleman,  then  in  weak  health,  was  advised 
to  leave  Caithness,  and  pass  through  Sutherland,  that  he 
might  not  be  taken  in  the  territories  of  his  treacherous 
kinsman;  but  so  anxious  were  the  earl's  servants  to  exe- 
cute their  commission  that  Maxwell  was  actually  taken 
within  the  county  of  Ctuthness,  conducted  to  Thurso,  where 
Captain  George  Sinclair,  a  bastard  nephew  of  the  earl,  was 
impatiently  waiting  bis  arrival,  and  carried  back  a  prisoner 
to  Castle  Sinclair,  where  he  had  so  lately  been  a  favoured  and 
honoured  guest  By  command  of  the  lords  of  the  privy  coun- 
cil, Lord  Maxwell  was  shortly  afterwards  delivered  up,  and 
on  21st  May  1613,  was  beheaded  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh. 
In  1614  the  earl  was  appointed  king's  lieutenant  for  quelling 
the  rebellion  of  his  old  enemy,  Patrick,  the  notorious  eari  of 
Orkney,  in  which  he  was  successful,  and  his  despatches  to  the 
king  and  secretary  of  state  are  quoted  in  full  in  the  third  vol- 
ume of  *Pitcaim's  Criminal  Trials,'  pp.  286—292.  He 
seems  to  have  intruded  himself  into  this  commission,  by 
eagerly  volunteering  his  services  to  the  privy  council,  so  as, 
if  possible,  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  sovereign,  by  sup- 
pressing a  rebellion  which  had  excited  the  alarm  even  of  the 
court  of  England.  For  hb  services  he  obtained  a  pension  of 
a  thousand  crowns,  and  shortly  after  his  return  from  his  ex- 
pedition to  Orkney,  he  was  made  one  of  the  lords  of  the  privy 
council  in  Scotland.  His  restless  disposition  and  lawless  pro- 
ceedings, however,  soon  involved  him  in  ruin.  Enraged  at 
the  Lord  Forbes  having  succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  George  Sinclair,  to  his  lands  of  Dunray  and  Dum- 
baith,  he  seized  every  opportunity  of  annoying  him  in  his 
possessions,  by  oppressing  his  servants  and  tenants,  under  the 
pretence  of  discharging  his  duty  as  sheriff,  to  which  office  he 
had  been  appointed  by  the  earl  of  Huntly  on  his  marriage  with 
his  sister.  Complaints  were  made  from  time  to  time  against  the 
earl,  on  account  of  these  proceedings,  to  the  privy  council  of 
Scotland,  who  in  some  measure  afforded  redress;  and  to  protect 
his  tenants  more  effectually.  Lord  Forbes  took  up  hia  temporary 
residence  in  Caithness.  On  this,  the  earl  secretly  instigated 
two  of  the  Clan-Gun  to  bum  the  com  of  William  Innes,  a 
servant  of  Lord  Forbes  at  Sanset  in  Caithness  in  November 
1615;  and  to  remove  suspicion  from  himself  he  industriously 
spread  a  report  that  the  fire-raising  had  been  done  by  the 
tenants  of  Mackay,  the  nephew  of  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  with 
whom  the  Forbeses  were  then  at  feud.  The  matter,  how- 
ever, having  soon  been  disclosed  by  the  Guns,  who  were  the 
actual  perpetrators,  the  earl  was  closely  prosecuted,  and  he 
only  obtained  his  remission,  after  a  long  inten-al,  on  the  fol- 


lowing conditions:  1st,  By  engaging  to  satisfy  his  namerona 
creditors;  2d,  By  resigning  into  the  king's  hands  the  sheriff- 
ship and  justiciary  of  Caithness;  dd,  by  engaging  to  present 
to  justice  the  incendiaries  whom  he  had  employed  to  bum  Uw 
com ;  and,  lastly,  to  resign  to  the  bishop  of  Caithness  die 
house  of  Strabister,  with  certain  feu  lands  of  tiiat  bishopric, 
amounting  to  the  yeariy  value  of  two  thousand  marks  Scots, 
in  augmentation  of  the  bishop's  scanty  revenues.  His  son, 
Lord  Berriedale,  whose  character  was  quite  di£ferent  fitom 
that  of  his  father,  was  imprisoned  for  his  father's  debts  for 
above  five  years,  but  the  earl  himself  obtained  a  *  n^Mrsedene,' 
or  protection  from  legal  diligence  from  the  privy  council 
The  creditors,  however,  apprized  or  sequestrated  all  his  lands. 
He  was  denounced  rebel  in  1621,  and  his  own  son,  Lord  Ber- 
riedale, on  the  suggestion  of  Sir  Robert  Gordon  and  others, 
applied  for  and  obtabed  a  commission  to  pursue  his  father! 
After  his  long  imprisonment  he  was  released  for  that  purpose, 
on  finding  due  caution  to  return  to  ward  after  having  exe- 
cuted his  commission.  In  September  1623,  Lord  Berriedale 
and  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  the  king's  o(Hnmissioners,  having 
taken  the  field  against  the  earl,  he  precipitately  fled  to  Oris- 
ney,  intending  to  go  thence  to  Norway  and  Denmark. 
Castle  Sinclair,  and  his  other  principal  castles,  were  imme- 
diately taken  possession  of  in  the  king's  name;  and  the  com- 
missioners succeeded  in  restoring  peace  to  the  county  of 
Caithness.  He  died  in  comparative  obscurity,  at  Caithness, 
in  February  1643,  at  the  advanced  age  of  78.  During  his 
labt  years  he  received  an  aliment  firom  his  creditors  out  of  bis 
dilapidated  estates.  By  his  countess  he  had  three  sons  and 
one  daughter.  Lady  Anne  Sindair,  married  to  Geoige  thir- 
teenth earl  of  Crawford. 

William  Lord  Berriedale,  the  eldest  son,  appears  to  have 
predeceased  his  father.  By  his  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Henry,  third  Lord  Sinclair,  he  had  a  son,  John,  master  of 
Berriedale,  who  died  of  fever  at  Edinbui^  in  September  1639, 
and  was  buried  in  the  abbey  church  of  Holyroodhouae.  Ut 
had  married  Lady  Margaret  Mackenzie,  eldest  daughter  ot 
Colin,  first  earl  of  Seaforth,  and  had  a  son  George,  who  soo- 
oeeded  his  great-grandfather  as  sixth  earl  of  Caithness.  He 
was  committed  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  24th 
July  1668,  on  account  of  the  slaughter  of  a  soldier  &ent  to 
quarter  for  deficiency  of  cess  and  excise.  He  married  in 
1657  Lady  Maty  Campbell,  third  daughter  of  Archibald,  mar- 
quis of  Argyle,  but  had  no  issue.  Being  deeply  invdved  io 
debt,  in  1672  he  executed  a  disposition  of  his  titles,  estates, 
and  heritable  jurisdictions,  in  favour  of  Sir  John  Campbell  of 
Glenm'chy,  his  principal  creditor,  who,  after  the  death  of  the 
earl,  in  May  1676,  took  possession  of  the  estates,  in  virtue  of 
the  above-mentioned  disposition,  and  in  June  1677  was  cre- 
ated earl  of  Caithness.  On  7th  April  following  he  married 
the  widowed  countess.  His  right  to  the  title  and  estates  was 
disputed  by  George  Sinclair  of  Keiss,  son  of  Francis,  second 
son  of  George,  fifth  earl  of  Caithness,  the  heir  male  of  the 
family,  who,  when  the  new  earl  was  in  London  the  same  year 
(1678)  entered  Caithness  with  an  armed  force,  and  took  vio- 
lent possession  of  the  lands  of  Keis,  Tister,  and  Northfield, 
which  had  been  included  in  the  disposition  of  1672.  Eari 
John,  on  his  return  to  ScoUand,  complained  to  the  privy 
council,  and  an  order  to  the  sheriff  of  Caithness  was,  in  con- 
sequence, issued,  to  call  the  parties  before  him,  and  ascertain 
which  ef  them  had  the  best  right  to  the  lands.  The  sheriff 
decided  in  favour  of  the  earl,  and  charged  George  Sinclair  to 
remove,  but  the  messenger  was  deforced.  To  support  his 
claim  to  the  lands  in  dispute,  earl  John  obtained  an  order 
from  the  privy  council,  7th  June  1680,  to  General  DalzeU,  to 
assist  with  a  partv  of  troops,  and  raising  his  own  friends  and 


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TWELFTFT  EARL. 


followers,  he  marched  from  the  banks  ot  the  Tay  to  beyond 
the  promontory  of  the  Ord.  Keias,  on  his  part,  collected  a 
force  of  four  hundred  men,  and  waited  his  coming  in  the 
burgh  of  Wick.  There  he  plentifully  regaled  his  followers, 
who  had  not  recovered  from  their  revel,  when,  on  13th  July, 
chey  were  informed  that  "  the  Campbells  were  coming**  across 
the  country  towards  them.  Inflamed  with  drink  and  hatred 
of  the  intruders,  the  adherents  of  Keiss  rushed  furiously  upon 
their  assulants,  who  were  strongly  posted  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  bum  of  Altimarlach,  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
river  of  Wick.  A  total  rout  of  Sinclair's  men  immediately 
ensued.  Taming  their  backs,  they  fled  through  the  gully, 
towards  the  river,  and  so  great  were  the  numbers  killed  in 
attemptmg  to  cross,  that,  according  to  tradition,  the  Camp> 
bells,  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  passed  over  diyshod  on  the 
bodies  of  the  slain.  George  SincUir,  thus  deprived  of  his 
lands,  prosecuted  the  more  earnestly  his  claim  to  the  title  of 
esrl  of  Caithness,  and  the  privy  council,  under  a  reference 
from  parliament,  found  that  he  had  a  right  to  that  dignity^ 
and  he  acconUngly  took  his  place  as  a  peer,  15th  July  1681. 
Sir  John  Campbell,  on  being  thus  obliged  to  relinqubh  that 
peerage,  was  created  eari  of  Breadalbane.  [See  Brbadal- 
BANB,  earl  of,  ante,  p.  379.] 

In  November  1680  Qeorge  Sinclair,  earl  of  Caithness,  pre- 
ferred a  complaint  to  the  privy  council  that  Breadalbane  bad 
abused,  to  cmelty  and  oppression,  the  power  which  the  coun- 
cil had  given  him  of  fire  and  sword.  Breadalbane  recrimi- 
nated Against  him  that,  among  many  other  things,  he  had 
wilMly  burnt  the  mansion  house  of  Thurso  east  Both  com- 
plunts  were  remitted  to  the  court  of  justiciary.  In  Decem- 
ber of  that  year  articles  of  treason  were  exhibited  against 
Breadalbane  for  fire-raising,  murder,  treasonable  garrison  of 
houses,  convocation  of  the  lieges,  and  acting  beyond  his  war- 
rant from  council,  but  these  charges  were  not  brought  to  trial. 
In  the  foDowing  August  the  earl  of  Caithness  petitioned  par- 
liament to  put  him  in  repossession  of  his  paternal  estate  of 
Keiss,  Tister  and  Northfield,  and  on  the  28d  September,  the 
privy  council,  to  whom  the  petition  had  been  referred,  found 
that  he  had  been  unwarrantably  deprived  of  these  lands,  and 
therefore  ordained  him  to  be  restored  to  them.  After  the 
death  of  the  earl,  however,  in  1698,  the  earl  of  Breadalbane 
again  obtained  possession  of  Keiss  and  the  other  two  estates 
mentioned,  but  he  was  hated  by  the  Sinclairs,  who  burned 
the  com  and  houghed  the  cattle  of  the  tenants  on  the  estates, 
till  at  last  he  divided  the  whole  of  his  lands  in  Caithness  into 
sixty-two  portions,  great  and  small,  and  sold  them  to  difler- 
ent  persons.  Jane  Sinclair,  sister  and  heiress  of  the  deceased 
eari,  and  the  wife  of  Sur  James  Sinclair  of  Mey,  was  forcibly 
removed  out  of  the  house  of  Keiss,  which  she  possessed  afW 
the  death  of  her  brother,  by  a  writ  of  ejectment  and  a  party 
of  armed  men. 

On  the  death  of  the  seventh  earl,  the  title  devolved  on  the 
heir  male,  John  Sinclair  of  Mey,  the  grandson  of  Sir  James 
Sinclair  of  Murchil,  second  sop  of  John,  master  of  Caithness, 
and  brother  of  the  fifth  earL  John,  who  thus  became  the 
eighth  eari,  took  the  oaths  and  his  seat  in  parliament  25th 
July  1704.  He  died  in  1705,  leaving  by  his  wife,  Janet  Car- 
michael  of  the  Hjmdford  family,  thi'ee  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Alexander,  the  eldest  son,  was  the  ninth  earl  of  Caithness. 
The  Hon.  John  Sinclair  of  Murchil,  or  Murkle,  the  second 
son,  became  a  member  pf  the  faculty  of  advocates  in  1718, 
was  appointed  a  lord  of  session,  8d  November  1783,  and  died 
at  Edinburgh,  5th  June  1755.  He  married  Lady  Anne  Mac- 
kenzie, daughter  of  George,  first  eari  of  Cromarty,  but  had 
no  issue. 

The  ninth  earl  took  the  oaths  and  his  se.it  m  pnrlinment. 


17th  December  1706,  while  the  treaty  of  union  was  before 
the  hotile,  and  voted  against  all  the  articles  of  that  treaty 
discussed  subsequent  to  that  date.  He  possessed  the  title 
sixty  years,  outliving  every  peer  who  had  sat  in  the  Scots 
parliament,  and  died  9th  December  1765,  in  the  8l8t  year  of 
his  age.  He  married  15th  February  1738,  Lady  Margaret 
Primrose,  second  daughter  of  Archibald,  first  earl  of  Rose- 
beny,  and  had  one  child,  Lady  Dorothea  Sinclau*,  married  to 
James,  second  earl  of  Fife,  without  issue.  The  ninth  earl 
had  devised  his  own  estate,  and  that  of  Murkle,  (to  which  he 
had  succeeded  on  his  brother*s  death,)  failing  his  own  heirs 
male  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  brother  Francis,  and  the 
younger  sons,  succesmvely  of  his  daughter,  the  countess  of 
Fife,  if  she  had  any,  to  George  Sinclair  of  Woodhall,  one  of 
the  lords  of  session,  and  his  heirs  male^  his  nearest  lawful 
heir  male  of  line.  A  competition  arose  for  the  landed  pro- 
perty betwixt  the  countess  of  Fife  and  Sir  John  Sinclair  ot 
Stevenson,  nearest  male  heir  of  Une  of  Lord  Woodhall.  The 
court  of  session  preferred  Sir  John  Sinclair,  24th  June  1766, 
and  its  decision  was  afiumed  on  appeal  6th  April  1767. 

The  earidom  of  Caithness  devolved  on  William  Sinclair  ot 
Ratter,  fifth  in  descent  from  Sir  John  Sinclair  of  Greenland, 
thu^  son  of  John,  master  of  Caithness,  the  father  of  the  fifth 
earl.  This  William  Sinclair  was  bom  2d  April  1727,  and 
on  the  death  of  Alexander  the  ninth  earl  in  1765,  he  sued 
out  a  brief  from  the  chancery  for  serving  himself  heir  male 
to  that  earL  One  James  Sinclair  likewise  sued  out  a 
brief  to  the  same  eflect,  .Hud  stated  his  pedigree  to  be  from 
Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Murchil,  second  son  of  John,  master  of 
Caithness.  At  the  peers'  election,  2l8t  August  1766,  the  lat- 
ter claimed  his  place  as.  earl  of  Caithness,  but  was  not  ad- 
mitted by  the  lord  register.  At  subsequent  elections  he  ten- 
dered his  vote,  but  with  the  same  result.  On  the  28th  No- 
vember 1768,  William  Sinclair  of  Ratter  was  served  nearest 
lawfiil  heir  male  to  Alexander,  ninth  earl  of  Caithness.  He 
then  presented  a  petition  to  the  king,  claiming  that  title  and 
dignity,  which  petition  was,  by  his  mtgesty's  command,  re- 
mitted to  the  House  of  Lords :  and  it  w^as  resolved  by  the 
committee  of  privileges,  7th  May  1772,  that  he  had  made  out 
his  right,  and  he  accordingly  became  the  tenth  earl.  He  died 
at  Edinburgh  29th  November  1779,  in  the  53d  year  of  his 
age.  By  bis  countess,  Barbara,  daughter  of  Sinclair  of  Scots- 
calder,  he  had  issue,  John,  eleventh  earl  of  Caithness,  another 
son,  and  two  daughters. 

John,  the  eleventh  earl,  entered  the  army  as  an  ensign  in 
the  17th  foot,  in  September  1772,  and  became  major  of  the 
76th  foot,  29th  December  1777.  He  served  some  years  in 
America,  and  was  wounded  in  the  groin  by  a  musket  hall 
while  reconnoitring  with  Sir  Henry  Clinton  at  the  siege  of 
Charlestown.  He  succeeded  his  father  in  1779,  and  had  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army,  19th  Febraary  1783. 
He  died  suddenly  at  London,  8th  April  1789,  in  the  83d 
year  of  his  age.  His  lands  of  Ratter  and  Hollandmark  were 
brought  to  a  judicial  sale,  and  sold  for  £13,313.  His  brother 
having  died  childless,  the  title  went  to  a  very  distant  branch 
of  the  family.  Sir  James  Sinclair  of  Mey,  the  ninth  in  lineal 
descent  from  George  Sinclair  of  Mey,  third  and  younger  son 
of  the  fourth  carL 

James,  the  twelfth  earl,  was  bom  at  Barrogill  castle,  31st 
October  1766.  He  succeeded  his  father,  Sir  John  Sinclair  ot 
Mey,  baronet,  in  the  baronetcy  in  1774,  (that  title  having 
been  conferred  on  the  family,  2d  January  1631,)  and  became 
twelfth  earl  in  1789,  but  did  not  immediately  assume  the 
title.  His  lordship  was  chosen  one  of  the  ^teen  representa- 
tive Scots  peers,  at  the  general  election  in  1807.  He  was 
lord-lieutenant  of  the  county  of  Calthne<}s   and  Ueutenant- 


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CALDEB. 


colonel  of  the  Ross-shire  militia.  Ue  died  in  October  1828. 
He  nuuried  at  Thurso  castle,  2d  January  1784,  Jane,  second 
daughter  of  General  Alexander  Campbell  of  Barcaldine,  dep- 
uty governor  of  Fort  George,  niece  of  the  late  Sir  John  Sin- 
clair of  Ulbeter.  baronet,  and  had  issue,  John,  Lord  Berrie- 
dale,  who  died  1st  June  1802,  in  his  fourteenth  year;  Alex- 
ander, Lord  Berriedale,  who  succeeded  as  thirteenth  earl ; 
four  other  sons,  and  three  daughters. 

The  thirteenth  earl  was  bom  24th  July  1790.  In  early 
life  he  was  for  some  time  in  the  army  as  ensign  and  lieuten- 
ant in  the  42d  regiment.  Died  in  1855.  He  married,  22d 
November  1818,  Frances  Harriet,  youngest  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  the  Very  Rev.  William  Leigh  of  Ruahall  Hall,  Staf- 
fordshire, dean  of  Hereford ;  issue,  James,  14th  eari,  bom 
16th  Dec  1821,  married  in  1847,  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Sir  George  Richard  Philips,  baronet;  two  other  sons,  one  of 
whom  died  young.  Issue  of  14th  earl,  a  daughter  bora 
1854,  and  a  son,  Lord  Berriedale,  bora  1858. 

The  earldom  of  Caithness,  says  Douglas  in  his  Peerage,  is 
not  in  its  proper  place  in  the  union  roll,  being  postponed  to 
Rothes,  Morton,  Buchan,  Glencaira,  Eglinton,  and  Cassillis, 
although  these  six  were  created  subsequently  to  1455. 


Calder,  an  ancient  surname  assumed  from  the  lands  of 
Calder,  now  Cawdor,  in  Nairashire,  but  derived  originally 
from  the  French  name  of  de  Cadella,  from  which  the  name  of 
Cadell  takes  its  rise,  Hugo  de  Cadella  being  thane  of  Calder 
m  the  reign  of  King  Malcolm  Canmore,  in  whose  restoration 
he  was  veiy  instramental,  and  in  consequence  was  liberally 
rewarded  by  that  monarch.  His  son,  Gilbertus  de  Cadella, 
in  1104  obtained  from  King  Edgar  a  grant  of  the  lands  of 
Calder,  &c.  in  the  county  of  Naira.  His  son,  Alexander, 
who  succeeded  him,  discovered  a  conspnmcy  of  the  Macdonalds, 
Murrays,  and  Cumings,  to  assassinate  King  Alexander  the 
First  at  Bell-Edgar  in  his  expedition  to  the  north,  for  which 
good  service,  that  monarch,  on  his  retura,  confirmed  to  him 
the  thanedom  of  Calder,  in  1112.  For  three  generations  no- 
thing more  appears  on  record  conceraing  the  family  of  Cal- 
der, except  that  in  the  year  1230,  Helen,  a  daughter  of  the 
family,  was  married  to  Scliaw  Macintosh  of  Madntoeh.  In 
1295  Donald,  thane  of  Calder,  was  one  of  the  inquest  on  the 
extent  of  Rilravock  and  Easter  Geddes,  in  the  parish  of 
Naira,  the  property  of  his  neighbour,  Hugh  Rose  of  Kilra- 
vock.  His  supposed  son,  William,  had  a  charter  of  the  Tha- 
nage  from  Robert  L,  1810.  He  had  a  son,  William,  men- 
tioned in  his  father's  lifetime,  1350.  The  next  ascertained 
thane  of  Calder  was  Andrew.  Boece  relates  that  one  Tho- 
mas, a  valiant  knight,  supposed  to  be  thane  of  Calder,  was 
killed  fighting  on  the  side  of  the  Cumyn  &ction  against  the 
regent,  Andrew  de  Moravia,  before  1888,  Robert  Cumyn  and 
William  Cumyn  being  slain  at  the  same  time ;  but  this  seems 
an  invention  of  his  own,  as  no  such  event  is  known  in  his- 
tory. Local  tradition  avers  that  the  thane  Andrew  was  mur- 
dered by  Sir  Alexander  Rait  of  that  ilk,  and  the  lands  of 
Rait  being  forfeited,  were  given  to  the  thane  of  Calder^s 
heir,  in  consideration  of  his  father*s  murder.  His  son, 
Donald,  succeeded  him.  Donald's  son,  William,  succeeded 
in  1442.  In  1454  he  is  designated  by  the  king,  James  IL, 
as  his  loved  familiar  squire,  dUectua  famUiaris  Mcuiifer. 
With  Thomas  Carmichael,  canon  of  Moray,  he  held  the  joint 
office  of  Cn»wn  chamberlain  beyond  Spey.  He  was  the  ori- 
ginal builder  of  the  castie  of  Cawdor.  Tradition  mentions 
another  son,  Hutoheon  or  Hugh,  who  in  1452  attended  Al- 
exander earl  of  Huntly,  the  king's  lieutenant,  in  his  expedi- 
tion against  the  earls  of  Crawford  and  Douglas,  then  in  re- 
iK'llion,  and  Huntly  having  routed  the  forces  of  these  two  earls 


at  the  battie  of  Brechin,  Hutcheon,  being  too  eager  in  Um 
pursuit,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  enemy,  and  brought  to 
Finhaven,  whither  Crawford  had  retired ;  but  he  being  alarmed 
while  at  supper  with  the  news  of  Huntly's  approach,  fled 
with  such  precipitation  that  Hutoheon  and  several  other  pris- 
oners made  their  escape.  Hutcheon  carried  off  the  mlver  cup 
out  of  which  Crawford  drank,  and  presented  it  to  Huntly  at 
Brechin  as  a  sure  evidence  of  Crawford's  flight,  for  which 
service,  says  the  History  of  the  family  of  Gordon  incorrectiy, 
Huntly,  upon  his  retura  home,  gave  him  the  lands  of  Ass- 
wanly,  and  George  duke  of  Gordon  gave  to  his  successor  a 
massy  silver  cup  gilded,  whereon  the  history  of  the  transac- 
tion was  engraved.  From  this  Hutcheon  was  supposed  to 
have  descended  the  family  of  Calder,  baronet  of  Mmrtown 
(see  foUowing  article) ;  but  in  a  note  appended  by  the  late 
Admiral  Sir  Robert  Calder,  baronet,  to  a  copy  of  *  Nisbet's 
Heraldry'  in  the  Advocates'  library,  the  appendix  to  which 
contains  an  account  of  the  family  of  Calder,  it  is  stated  that 
'*  the  Calders  of  Asswanly  are  not  descended  from  Hutcheon, 
second  son  of  Donald  thane  of  Calder,  nor  has  the  grant  of 
the  lands  of  Asswanly  any  reference  to  the  battle  of  Brechin, 
which  was  fought  on  the  18th  May  1452,  twelve  years  sub- 
^uent  to  the  date  of  the  grant  of  the  foresaid  Unds  of  Ass- 
wanly, as  appears  by  a  charter  of  confirmation  from  the  king 
dated  at  Edinburgh  8th  July  14d0,  of  the  grant  of  the  lands 
of  Asswanly,  by  Sir  Alexander  Setonne  to  Hugh  Calder,  son 
and  hehr  of  Alexander  Calder,  and  to  his  spouse  Elizabeth 
Gordonne,  dated  at  Elgin,  the  last  day  of  August  1440." 
This  note  is  dated  Edmburgh,  29th  September  1802,  and  the 
original  charter  was  stated  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  said 
Rear-admiral  Sir  Robert  Calder. 

William,  thane  of  Calder,  in  his  father's  lifetime,  nndrr 
the  name  of  William  de  Calder,  was  a  witness  in  a  charter 
of  confirmation  granted  by  Alexander  earl  of  Roes  to  Sir 
Walter  Innes,  of  the  lands  of  Aberkerder,  dated  22d  Febru- 
ary 1438.  He  went  with  William  eari  of  Douglas,  t4>  the 
Jubilee  at  Rome  in  1450.  [Abercromby^s  Martial  Achieve- 
menta,  vol.  ii.  p.  848,  in  which  he  is  styled  the  lord  Calder.] 
In  1467  Thane  William  attended  parliament  as  proxy  of  the 
earl  of  Ross,  and  died  in  1468.  He  had  a  brother,  Alexan- 
der, who,  (ir  another  brother  whose  name  has  not  been  trana- 
mitted  to  us,  went,  with  several  other  Scots  gentlemen,  to  assist 
Charles  VII.  of  France  against  the  English,  and  firom  him 
is  descended  the  family  of  De  la  Campagna  in  Tonlonae. 
William's  son,  William,  thane  of  Calder,  is  mentioned  among 
the  barons  present  in  parliament  in  1469  and  1471,  and  in 
the  "former  year  he  served  upon  the  assise  which  convicted 
Alexander  Boyd  of  high  treason.  The  thanedom  and  other 
lands  belonging  to  William  were  erected  into  a  fee  barony  in 
his  favour  in  the  year  1476,  and  declared  to  lie  within  the 
shire  of  Nnim,  although  they  are  situated  in  different  sliires. 
He  died  about  1503.  William,  his  eldest  son,  being  lame 
and  inclining  to  enter  the  church,  renounced  his  right  to  the 
estate,  upon  29th  April  1488,  which  his  father  entailed 
on  his  second  son,  John,  and  his  heirs.  Iii  virtue  thereof^ 
John  was  infeft  in  the  year  1493,  and  the  father,  then 
aged,  gave^  up  the  estate  to  him.  He  married,  in  1492, 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Hugh  Rose  of  Kilravock,  and  died 
in  1498.  Two  dnughters,  Janet  and  Mnrrid,  were  bora 
after  his  death.  Janet  died  while  yet  a  mere  child,  and 
Murriel  succeeded  to  the  estate,  in  virtue  of  the  above-men- 
tioned entail. 

Archibald  earl  of  Argyle,  and  Hugh  Rose  of  Kilravock, 
uncle  to  the  young  heiress,  were  appointed  tutors  dative  to 
her  by  King  James  the  Fourth  in  1494,  and  Campbell  of 
Innerliver  was  sent  to  Kilravock  in  1499,  with  sixty  men,  to 


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SIR  ROBERT. 


ONivej  hor  to  Inyerary,  to  be  educated  in  the  family  of  Argyle. 
But  on  their  way  thither  with  the  infant  heiresa,  they  were 
punned  by  Alexander  and  Hugh  Calder,  her  uncles,  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  force.  They  overtook  the  party  of 
Campbell  in  Strathnaim,  on  which  the  latter  sent  her  for- 
ward with  one  of  his  sons  and  a  few  men,  and  the  rest  kept 
the  Calders  in  check,  till  he  was  sure  that  his  young  oliarge 
was  safe  and  at  a  considerable  distance.  He  then,  after  some 
loss  on  both  sides,  followed  and  conducted  her  to  Inverary, 
where  she  was  educated,  and  in  1510,  she  married  Sir  John 
Campbell,  8d  son  of  the  2d  earl  of  Argyle,  and  ancestor  of 
the  earls  of  Cawdor.  [See  Cawdor,  Earl  of.]  The  thanes 
of  Calder,  as  constables  of  the  king's  house,  resided  in  the 
castle  of  Nabm,  and  had  a  countiy-scat  at  what  is  now  called 
Old  Calder,  yestiges  whereof  still  remain.  But  by  a  royal 
license,  dated  6th  August  1454,  they  built  the  present  tower 
of  Calder,  now  Cawdor. 

The  founder  of  the  Calders  of  Muirtoone,  Robert  Calder,  was 
infeft  in  the  lands  of  Asswanly,  as  above  mentioned,  in  1440. 
He  had  two  sons;  the  younger,  James  Calder,  settled  at  Elgin, 
and  had  a  son  who  appears  to  have  been  in  busmess  there 
from  1607  to  1636.  His  son,  Thomas  Calder,  purchased  m 
1639  the  lands  of  Sherif!miln,  near  Elgin.  He  was  provost 
of  El^  in  1665,  and  in  1669  completed  the  building  of  a 
noble  mansion  there.  His  eldest  son,  James  Calder,  laird  of 
Muirtoune,  was  created  a  baronet  of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia, 
5th  November,  1686.  By  his  wife,  Grizzel,  daughter  of  Sir 
Robert  Innes,  Baronet,  of  Innes,  he  had  a  son,  Thomas,  the 
second  baronet,  and  several  other  children.  His  grandson, 
Sir  James  Calder,  the  third  baronet,  married  Alice,  daughter 
of  Admiral  Robert  Hughes,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  and  a 
dan^ter,  the  latter  married  to  Admhral  Roddam  of  Roddam, 
county  <^  Northumberland.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  elder 
son,  Sir  Henry,  a  major-general  in  the  army,  whose  son,  Sir 
Henry  Roddam  Calder,  is  the  fifth  baronet  Su*  Robert  Cal- 
der, the  second  son,  and  unde  of  the  latter,  was  the  distin- 
guished admiral,  a  notice  of  whom  follows. ' 

CALDER,  Sir  Robert,  Bart.,  vice-admiral  of 
the  blae,  second  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Calder  of 
Mairtoane,  was  bom  in  the  family  mansion,  coan- 
ty  of  Elgin,  Jaly  2,  1745.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
be  entered  as  a  midshipman  on  board  of  a  man- 
of-war.  In  1766  he  accompanied  the  Hon.  George 
Faulkener,  as  lieutenant  of  the  Essex,  to  the  West 
Indies.  Some  years  after  he  obtained  the  rank, 
first  of  master  and  commander,  and  then  of  post- 
captain  of  the  navy.  During  the  American  war 
he  was  employed  in  the  Channel  fleet.  In  1782 
he  commanded  the  Diana,  which  was  engaged 
as  a  repeating  frigate  to  Rear-admiral  Kempenfelt, 
who  was  lost  in  the  Royal  George,  in  Spithead 
Roads,  on  the  29th  August  of  that  year.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  war  with  France,  he  was 
appointed  first  captain  to  his  bi'Other-in-law,  Ad- 
miral Roddam,  whose  flag  was  then  flying  on  board 
j  the  Barfleur.  He  afterwards  commanded  the  The- 
seus of  74  guns,  which  formed  part  of  Lord  Howe's 


fleet  in  1794 ;  but  having  been  despatched  with  rear- 
admiral  Montague's  squadron,  to  protect  a  valuable 
convoy  destined  for  the  colonies,  he  did  not  parti- 
cipate in  the  brilliant  victory  of  the  1st  of  June. 

In  1796  he  was  app9inted  by  Sir  John  Jervis, 
afterwards  eai-1  St  Vincent,  captain  of  the  fleet 
under  his  command,  and  accordingly  served  in 
that  capacity  on  board  the  Victory,  off  Cadiz, 
with  a  squadi-on  of  fifteen  sail  of  the  line  and  seven 
frigates.  For  bis  conduct  in  the  battle  off  Cape  St. 
Vincent,  Captain  Calder,  who  was  sent  home  with 
the  despatches,  was  knighted,  and  on  22d  August 
1798,  was  created  a  baronet  of  Great  Britain. 

On  the  14th  February  1799,  he  obtained  his  flag 
as  rear-admiral  by  seniority,  and  April  23, 1804,  he 
was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  vice-admiral  of  the 
white.  While  employed  in  this  latter  capacity,  he 
was  selected,  in  1805,  by  Admiral  Coimwallis,  then 
commanding  the  Channel  fleet,  to  blockade  the 
harbours  of  Ferrol  and  Corunna.  The  force  in- 
trasted  to  him  on  this  occasion  proved  very  inade- 
quate  to  the  service.  He,  however,  retained  his 
station,  notwithstanding  the  manoeuvres  of  the 
Brest  fleet ;  and  on  being  joined  by  rear-admiral 
Stirling,  with  fkve  sail  of  the  line  from  before 
Rochefort,  together  with  a  frigate  and  a  lugger,  he 
proceeded  to  sea  for  the  express  purpose  of  inter- 
cepting the  French  and  Spanish  squadrons  from 
the  West  Indies  under  Admiral  Villeneuve.  They 
soon  after,  near  Cape  Finisterre,  descried  the  com- 
bined fleet,  consisting  of  twenty  sail  of  the  line, 
five  fi'lgates,  and  two  brigs;  while  the  English 
force  amounted  to  no  more  than  fifteen  ships,  two 
fi'lgates,  a  cutter,  and  a  lugger.  In  the  action 
which  ensued,  and  which  continued  for  four  hours, 
two  sail  of  the  enemy's  line,  the  Rafael  of  84,  and 
the  Firme  of  74  guns,  were  captured ;  while  Sir 
Robert  did  not  lose  a  single  sail  of  his  own. 

Ills  success  on  this  occasion  obtained  the  full 
approbation  of  his  commander-in-chief,  who  soon 
affcer  despatched  him,  with  a  considerable  squad- 
ron, to  cruize  off  Cadiz  in  order  to  watch  the 
motions  of  the  enemy ;  but,  in  the  days  when  Lord 
Nelson's  splendid  exploits  led  those  in  power  to 
expect  great  things  from  our  commanders  at  sea, 
so  incomplete  a  victory  even  over  a  superior  fleet, 
did  not  satisfy  parties  at  home ;  and  Sir  Robert 
immediately  demanded  a  court-martial  for  thn 


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DAVID. 


purpose  of  explaining  his  conduct.  The  court 
found  that,  in  spite  of  his  inferior  force,  he  had 
not  done  his  utmost  to  renew  the  engagement, 
and  to  take  and  destroy  every  ship  of  the  enemy, 
and  accordingly  adjudged  him  to  be  severely  re- 
primanded. This  sentence  was  as  harsh  as  it  was 
uni*easonable  and  unmerited,  and  accordingly  it 
waa  condemned  by  the  nation  in  general,  and  the 
admiralty  soon  after  appointed  Sir  Robert  port- 
admiral  at  Portsmouth.  The  hardship  of  his  case 
was  brought  under  the  notice  of  parliament  by  the 
duke  of  Norfolk  and  the  earl  of  Romney.  Sir 
Robert  Calder  died  at  Holt,  in  Hampshire,  Au- 
gust 31,  1818.  He  had  marrietl,  in  May  1779, 
Amelia,  only  daughter  of  John  Mitchell,  Esq.  of 
Bayfield  Hall,  Norfolk,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue, 
and  his  baronetcy  accordingly  became  extinct. 

Galderwood,  a  local  snmame^  derived,  as  well  as  the 
nrer  Calder,  which  flows  into  the  Cljde  at  Bothwell  castle  in 
I^narkshire,  from  an  ancient  lordship  and  manor  of  the  name, 
comprising  also  the  town  and  village  of  Great  and  Little  Cal- 
derwood.  This  estate  was  anciently  possessed  by  the  ances- 
tors of  David  Calderwood,  the  ecclesiastical  historian,  a  notice 
of  whose  life  follows,  but  it  went  out  of  the  family  lonj;  before 
his  birth,  and  the  Calderwoods  were  dispei-scd  some  into  the 
south  of  Scotland,  and  many  to  Ireland. 

The  proprietor  of  Calderwood  appears  to  have  done  homage 
in  129G,  to  Edward  the  First  of  England. 

From  a  genealogical  table  and  notices  by  Mr.  David  Lainjj, 
in  the  eighth  volume  of  the  Wodrow  Society's  edition  of  Cal- 
derwood's  work,  it  appears  that  a  family  of  the  name  of  Cal- 
derwood existed  in  Dalkeith  towards  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century;  that  one  of  that  family  named  James  died  in 
October  1567,  leaving  a  son  called  Alexander  Calderwood,  and 
a  nephew  called  William  Calderwood ;  that  this  William,  as 
stated  in  simdry  instruments  relative  to  a  property  in  Dal- 
keith possessed  by  him  and  them,  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom, 
tli%  eldest,  was  also  called  William  Calderwood,  the  younger 
was  David  the  historian;  that  Alexander  Calderwood,  son 
of  James  and  nephew  to  the  historian,  was  bailie  in  Dal- 
keith, and  commissioner  to  the  parliaments  of  1648,  1649, 
and  March  1661,  and  a  justice  of  peace  1663;  that  he  had 
nine  sons,  of  whom  the  sixth  was  Sir  William  Calderwood, 
bom  1661.  sheriff- depute  of  Edinburgh  from  1696  to  1701, 
knighted  1706,  raised  to  the  bench  as  Lord  Polton  1711,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  73  in  August  1733.  An  account  of  his 
descendants  by  James  Denniston,  Esq.,  is  contained  in  the 
appendix  to  the  Coltness  Collections  of  the  Maitland  Club, 
1842.  It  further  appears  that  besides  William,  and  David 
the  historian,  William  Calderwood  tlie  elder  had  a  younger 
son,  Archibald,  a  commissioner  of  war  in  the  parliament  of 
March  1647,  and  that  two  nephews  of  the  historian,  via. 
David,  an  apothecary  in  Edinburgh,  died  1657,  and  Jmnes 
his  brother,  minister  of  Humbie,  died  1679,  were  the  sons 
of  nis  elder  brother,  William.  Another  near  relative  of 
the  historian  was  Thomas  Calderwood,  styled  merchant,  but 
a  stationer  and  bookseller,  &c,  in,  and  bailie  and  dean  of 
guild  of,  Edinburgh  from  1652  to  1673,  a  commissioner  of 
teiiids  1672.  died  1675,  leaving  two  sons,  William,  minister 


of  Dalkeith,  died  1680,  and  Archibald,  mini.«iter  of  Hdyroud- 
house  Abbey,  died  1681.  The  Calderwoods  of  Polton  are 
now  merged  in  the  family  of  Calderwood- Durham  of  Laigo. 

A  numerous  branch  of  the  Calderwoods  flourished  at  tlie 
same  time  in  Musselburgh,  bat  they  do  not  seem,  says  Mr. 
Laing,  to  have  had  any  immediate  connexion  with  those  ci 
Dalkeith. 

CALDERWOOD,  David,  an  eminent  divine 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  ecclesiastic^  his- 
torian, was  descended  of  an  ancient  family,  which 
at  one  period  possessed  the  estate  of  Calderwood 
in  Lanarkshire.  His  immediate  relatives,  as  above 
shown,  belonged  to  Dalkeith  and  the  neighbour- 
hood, lie  himself  was  bom  in  that  town  in  1575, 
and  received  his  education  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  A.  M.  in 
1598.  Being  early  designed  for  the  ministry,  ho 
applied  with  great  diligence  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  original  tongues,  the  works  of 
the  Fathers,  and  the  best  ftriters  on  church  his- 
tory. About  the  year  1604,  he  was  settled  as 
minister  of  Crailing,  near  Jedburgh,  and  early 
began  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal proceedings  of  the  period.  He  was  one  of 
those  unyielding  presbyterian  ministers  who  sti*en 
uously  opposed  the  designs  of  James  the  Sixth 
for  the  introduction  of  episcopacy  into  Scotland. 
In  1608,  when  Mr.  James  Law,  bishop  of  Orkney, 
made  a  visitation  of  the  presbyteries  of  Merse  and 
Teviotdale,  Mr.  Calderwood,  together  with  George 
Johnston,  minister  of  Ancrum,  declined  his  juris- 
diction by  a  paper  under  their  hand,  dated  May 
6th  of  that  year.  These  two  ministers  had  been 
elected  mombere  of  the  General  Assembly,  but  to 
exclude  them  from  this  and  other  ecclesiastical 
courts,  the  episcopalian  visitor  ordered  them  to  be 
"put  to  the  horn"  the  veiy  same  night.  The  re- 
gistration of  the  writ  in  the  sheriflTs  books  was 
with  great  diflSculty  prevented,  but  in  consequence 
of  Bishop  Law's  information,  the  king  directed  the 
privy  council  to  punish  the  two  refractory  ministers 
in  the  severest  manner.  By  the  intercession,  how- 
ever,  of  the  earl  of  Lothian,  with  the  chanwllor 
and  the  earl  of  Dunbar,  they  were  ordered  to  be 
confined  to  their  respective  parishes,  a  restriction 
which  continued  for  several  years. 

In  February  1610,  King  James  issued  a  com- 
mission under  the  great  seal  of  Scotland,  for  erect- 
ing a  court  similar  to  the  court  of  high  commissiou 


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in  England,  in  each  of  the  two  arclibishoprics  of 
St.  Andrews  and  Glasgow.  ^*  This  commission,** 
says  Calderwood,  '^and  execution  thereof,  as  it 
exalted  the  aspyring  bishops  farre  above  anie  pre- 
lat  that  ever  was  in  Scotland,  so  it  putt  the  king 
in  possessionn  of  that  which  he  had  long  tyme 
hunted  for ;  to  witt,  of  the  royall  prerogative,  and 
absolute  power  to  use  the  bodeis  and  goods  of  the 
subjects  at  pleasure,  without  forme  or  processe  of 
the  common  law."  [CcddenDooiTs  Hist.  vol.  vii. 
p.  62.]  In  May  1617,  the  king  anived  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  the  Scots  pailmment  assembled  on  the 
17th  of  June.  During  its  sitting  the  ministera 
held  several  meetings  in  the  Little  Kirk,  one  or 
more  of  the  bishops  being  always  present.  Their 
chief  consultation  was  about  augmentation  of  sti- 
pends and  provisions  to  ministers.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  when  four  or  five  ministers  were 
deliberating  on  this  subject,  Calderwood  entered, 
and  hearing  Knox,  bishop  of  the  Isles,  make  some 
allusion  to  the  English  convocation,  he  protested 
that  such  a  meeting  should  not  be  acknowledged 
as  a  General  Assembly,  or  any  other  meeting 
equivalent  to  it,  *'  or  anie  wayes  to  be  a  meeting 
answerable  to  the  Convocation  house  of  England 
in  time  of  their  parliaments.'*  He  was  assured 
that  no  alteration  was  to  be  apprehended,  preju- 
dicial to  the  liberties  of  the  kirk,  and  that  the 
bishops  had  faithfully  so  promised.  Of  their  fide- 
lity in  keeping  their  promises,  he  said,  they  had 
had  sufficient  proofs  for  tlie  last  sixteen  years,  and 
he  was  proceeding  to  show  what  had  been  the  en* 
croachmcnts  of  the  bishops,  when  he  was  inter- 
rupted by  Dr.  Whiteford  and  Dr.  Hamilton, 
"  clothed  in  silks  and  satins,"  who  urged  upon  the 
meeting  to  attend  to  the  subject  before  them,  of 
the  plantation  of  kirks  and  the  augmentation  of 
stipends.  Finding  that  they  were  not  disposed 
to  listen  to  his  suggestions,  he  left  the  meeting 
with  the  indignant  remark,  "  It  is  an  absurd  thing 
to  sie  men  sitting  in  silks  and  satins,  and  crying 
povertie,  povertie,  in  the  meane  time  when  puri- 
tie  is  departing.*'     \Ihid,  p.  251.] 

The  two  archbishops,  being  informed  of  what 
had  taken  place,  repaired  to  the  meeting  next  day, 
and  solemnly  declared  that  no  such  innovations 
were  intended,  **  or  els  they  sail  be  content  to  be 
ledd  out  to  the  Mercate  Crosse,  and  be  execute 


on  a  scaffold,"  and  yet,  the  day  following,  an  ar- 
ticle was  passed  among  the  Lords  of  the  Articles 
to  the  effect  that  the  king,  with  the  advice  of  the 
bishops  and  such  a  number  of  the  ministry  as  his 
majesty  might  deem  expedient,  might  frame  new 
laws  for  the  church ;  in  consequence  of  which  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  ministers  assembled  in 
the  music-school,  and  i*esolved  upon  drawing  up 
a  remonstrance  to  be  presented  to  his  majesty  and 
to  parliament.  Two  of  the  Edinburgh  clergy, 
Mr.  Peter  Ewart  and  Mr.  William  Struthers  were 
appointed  to  prepare  it,  and  when  it  was  finally 
revised  and  agreed  to,  Mr.  Archibald  Simson, 
ministei'  of  Dalkeith,  was  du*ected  to  sign  it  as 
clerk  of  the  meeting  in  name  of  the  rest,  and  the 
names  of  the  others,  fifty-five  in  number,  were 
subscribed  in  a  separate  paper,  and  delivered  to 
him  as  his  warrant.  The  clerk  register,  to  whom 
a  copy  of  the  remonstrance  had  been  presented, 
refused  to  read  it  in  parliament,  and  Simson  hav- 
ing been  summoned  before  the  high  commission, 
declined  to  produce  the  list  of  signatures,  and  was 
committed  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh. 
The  list  he  had  intrusted  to  the  master  of  the 
music-school,  Patrick  Henryson,  who  delivered  it 
to  Calderwood.  The  latter  was  therefore  cited  to 
appear  at  St.  Andi-ews  on  the  3th  of  July,  there 
to  exhibit  the  roll  of  names,  and  *^  to  answer  for 
his  mutinous  and  seditions  assistance  to  the  said 
assembly.*'  Ewait  and  Simson  were  summoned 
at  the  same  time,  and  they  all  made  their  appear- 
ance, but  the  examination  was  deferred  till  the 
12th,  that  the  king  might  be  present,  and  take 
pai-t  in  the  proceedings.  Ewart  and  Simson  were 
deprived,  and  the  former  ordered  to  be  confined 
in  Dundee  and  the  latter  in  Aberdeen.  A  long 
account  of  Calderwood's  examination  is  given  in 
his  Histoiy,  vol.  vii.  commencing  at  page  261. 
On  this  occasion  James  endeavoured,  using  alter- 
nately threats  and  cajoleries,  to  prevail  on  him  to 
yield,  and  "  to  come  in  his  will,"  but  he  was  nei- 
ther to  be  overawed  by  any  earthly  authority 
which  he  conceived  to  be  unjustly  exercised,  nor 
induced  by  any  amount  of  wheedling,  to  relinquish 
the  grounds  which  had  brought  him  in  question 
before  the  high  commission.  From  the  pains 
taken  with  him  it  would  appear  that  both  James 

and  the  bishops  thought  him  a  more  dangerous 
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antagonist  than  either  Ewart  or  Simson,  whose 
cases  had  been  so  easily  disposed  of,  as  if  they  had 
had  some  prophetic  warnings  of  the  service  which 
he  was  afterwards  to  do  the  church  by  his  invalu- 
able History.  Finding  him  inflexible,  sentence  of 
suspension  from  the  ministry  till  the  following  Oc- 
tober was  pronounced  against  him,  on  which  he' 
denied  their  power  to  pass  such  a  sentence,  when 
the  king,  having  whispered  something  in  the  eai* 
of  the  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  the  latter  said, 
"  His  majesty  sayeth,  that  if  ye  will  not  be  con- 
tent to  be  suspended  spuitually,  ye  shall  be  sus- 
pended corporally."  Calderwood,  turning  to  the 
king,  undauntedly  replied,  "Sir,  my  body  is  in 
your  majesty*s  hands  to  do  with  it  as  it  pleaseth 
your  majesty ;  but,  as  long  as  my  body  is  free,  I 
will  teach,  notwithstanding  of  their  sentence." 
The  king  demanded  if  he  would  abstain  from 
teaching,  for  a  certain  time,  if  he  should  command 
him  by  his  regal  authority,  as  from  himself.  In 
the  conftision,  being  at  the  time  pestered  with  the 
importunities  of  the  bishops  and  others  beside 
him,  he  answered,  thinking  his  majesty  had  been 
still  urging  obedience  to  the  sentence  of  suspen- 
sion, "I  am  not  muided  to  obey."  The  question 
being  repeated,  and  the  same  answer  given,  the 
king,  in  a  rage,  ordered  him  to  close  confinement 
in  the  tolbooth  of  St.  Andrews,  till  his  farther 
pleasure  were  known.  On  his  way  to  prison,  ac- 
companied by  about  forty  ministers  and  gentle- 
men, in  charge  of  Sir  David  Murray,  Loi*d  Scoon, 
some  one  asked  the  latter,  "Where  away  with 
that  man,  my  lord ?"  "  First  to  the  tolbooth,  and 
then  to  the  gallows,"  he  replied,  probably  antici- 
pating that  Calderwood's  declared  refusal  to  obey 
the  king  himself  would  have  the  latter  result. 
That  same  night,  finding  from  the  statements  of 
those  who  resorted  to  him  in  prison,  that  he  had 
mistaken  the  king*s  meaning,  he  drew  up  a  peti- 
tion to  his  majesty,  offering  to  obey  his  majesty's 
own  commands,  if  set  at  liberty,  in  desisting  to 
preach  for  a  certain  time,  but  refusing  to  acknow- 
ledge the  sentence  of  suspension  pronounced  by 
the  bishops.  Enraged  at  the  distinction,  the  bish- 
ops and  their  favourers  not  only  prevented  the 
king  from  granting  him  his  request,  but  gave  out 
that  he  had  made  a  recantation  of  his  principles. 
By  an  order  of  the  lords  of  secret  council  he  was 


soon  after  removed  to  the  jail  of  Edinburgh,  and 
after  being  there  ten  days,  on  giving  security  (his 
cautioner  was  James  Cranstonn  the  son  of  Lord 
Cranstoun)  to  banish  himself  from  the  kingdom 
before  the  ensuing  Michaelmas,  and  not  to  return 
without  the  royal  license,  he  was  released  from 
prison. 

Hearing  that  the  king  was  about  to  return  to 
England,  and  that'he  was  to  be  in  Cariisle,  he 
accompanied  Lord  Cranstoun  to  that  town,  where 
that  nobleman  pi*esented  to  his  majesty  a  petition 
in  his  favour.  He  offered  himself  as  cautioner 
that,  if  Calderwood  were  allowed  to  remain  in  his 
own  pai'ish,  he  should  not  resort  either  to  presby- 
tery or  any  other  meetings  of  ministers,  either 
public  or  private.  The  king  inveighed  against 
Calderwood,  and  at  last  repelled  Lord  Cranstoun 
with  his  elbow.  On  bidding  good  night,  his  lord- 
ship again  ventured  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  peti- 
tioner. He  entreated  his  majesty  to  permit  him 
to  remain  in  Scotland  till  the  last  day  of  April, 
that  the  winter  season  might  be  over  before  he 
undertook  a  voyage,  and  his  stipend  taken  up,  for 
the  crop  of  that  year.  His  majesty,  however,  was 
not  to  bo  moved.  He  declared  that  it  was  no 
matter  if  he  begged  his  bread,  "he  would  ken 
himself  better  the  next  time,"  and  "as  for  the 
season  of  the  year,  if  he  drowned  in  the  seas,  he 
might  thank  Ood  that  he  had  escaped  a  worse 
death."  Notwithstanding  this  ungracious  reply, 
his  loixlship  still  pressed  his  snit;  but  the  only 
answer  he  received  was,  "  I  shall  advise  with  my 
bishops."  The  king  was  heard  several  times  af- 
terwai-ds  to  call  Calderwood  "  a  refractory  fool," 
and  when  congratulated  by  any  of  the  English 
ministers  on  his  return,  his  common  answer  to 
them  was,  "  I  hope  you  will  not  use  me  so  irrev- 
erently as  one  Calderwood  in  Scotland  did."  Lord 
Cranstonn  subsequently  gave  in  a  petition  to  the 
council  for  an  extension  of  the  time  of  his  depar- 
ture from  the  realm,  but  it  was  referred  to  the 
bishops,  to  whom  also  his  lordship  applied,  and  a 
conference  was  held  with  Calderwood  himself, 
who  made  some  offers  to  the  bishops,  but  they 
were  not  accepted,  and  as  he  could  not  be  pre- 
vailed upon  to  conform  to  the  new  regulations  in 
the  church,  the  application,  like  all  the  rest,  was 
meffectnal.    He  continued,  however,  to  remain  i:i 


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Scotland  for  some  time,  Im'king  principally  in  and 
about  Edinburgh,  and  daring  this  time  he  began 
the  publication  of  his  anonymous  works  in  support 
of  the  presbyterian  cause. 

In  1618,  he  printed  a  Latin  tract  on  the  polity  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  following  year  he 
produced  a  work,  in  English,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  show  the  nullity  of  the  famous  Perth  as- 
sembly of  25th  August  1618,  and  the  unlawfulness 
of  the  five  articles  passed  at  it,  relative  to  kneel- 
ing at  the  sacrament,  the  observance  of  festivals, 
confirmation,  private  baptism,  and  private  com- 
munion. Soon  after  the  publication  of  this  last 
book,  an  attempt  was  made  to  apprehend  him  at 
Edinburgh  in  the  house  of  James  Cathkin,  a  book- 
seller, but  the  officers  found  neither  him  nor  any 
copies  of  his  work.  Calderwood  was,  in  the 
meantime,  concealed  at  Cranstoun,  in  a  secret 
apartment  allotted  to  him  by  Lady  Cranstoun, 
who  rendered  him  many  services.  He  afterwards 
removed  from  one  place  to  another,  till  the  27th 
of  August  1619,  when  he  embarked  at  Newhaven, 
and  sailed  for  Holland,  where,  in  1628,  he  pub- 
lished his  celebrated  controversial  work,  entitled 
*  Altare  Damascenum,'  in  which  he  rigorously  ex- 
amined the  origin  and  authority  of  episcopacy. 
From  Row's  Ecclesiastical  History  it  appears  that 
he  was  known,  while  abroad,  by  the  quaint  title 
of  "  Edwardus  Didoclavius,"  being  an  anagram  on 
his  name.  Latinized. 

During  his  absence  from  his  native  country, 
having  suffered  for  a  long  time  from  illness,  his 
enemies  supposed  him  to  be  dead,  and  one  Pa- 
trick Scott,  a  landed  gentleman  near  Falkland  in 
Fife,  having  wasted  his  estate,  and  anxious  to  re- 
commend himself  at  court,  endeavoured  to  impose 
upon  the  world,  a  recantation  under  his  name, 
with  the  title,  *  Calderwood*s  Recantation ;  or,  a 
tripartite  discourse,  directed  to  such  of  the  minis- 
try and  others  in  Scotland,  that  refuse  conformi- 
tie  to  the  ordinances  of  the  church ;  wherein  the 
causes  and  bad  effects  of  such  separation,  the  legall 
proceedings  against  the  refractarie,  and  nullitie  of 
their  cause,  are  softly  launced,  and  they  lovingly 
invited  to  the  Uniformitie  of  the  Church.  Lond. 
1622,  4to.'  Scott  alleged  to  some  of  his  friends 
that  the  king  had  fnraished  him  with  the  matter, 
and  he  set  it  down  in  form  as  he  i^eceived  it. 


Soon  after,  Calderwood's  ^Altai'e  Damascenum 
appeared,  and  finding  that  he  was  alive,  Scott 
went  over  to  Holland,  and  sought  him  in  various 
towns,  and  especially  in  Amsterdam,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  assassinating  him,  but  he  found  that  Cal- 
derwood had  already  returned  to  Scotland.  ICcU- 
denvood^s  History^  vol.  vii.  page  583.] 

In  1625,  after  the  death  of  King  James,  Calder- 
wood returned  to  Edinburgh.  For  some  years  he 
was  engaged  collecting  all  the  memorials  relating 
to  the  ecclesiastical  affaira  of  Scotland,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Reformation  there  to  the  death 
of  James  the  Sixth.  The  original  MS.  of  his  his- 
tory is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  having 
been  presented  to  that  national  institution  by  the 
author^s  grand-nephew.  Lord  Polton ;  and  abbrevi- 
ated transcripts  of  considerable  portions  of  it  ai*e 
also  to  be  found  in  the  university  library  of  Glas- 
gow, and  in  the  Advocates'  Library.  In  1648  the 
General  Assembly  voted  him  a  yearly  pension  of 
eight  hundred  pounds  Scots  to  complete  the  design. 
An  abridgment  of  it,  entitled  *  The  True  History 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,'  was  printed  in  1646, 
under  the  authority  of  the  General  Assembly.  In 
1688  he  was  settled  as  minister  of  Pencaitland, 
near  Edinburgh.  In  1648,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  Assembly,  with  Henderson  and  Dickson,  one 
of  the  committee  for  drawing  up  the  Dh-ectory  of 
Public  Worehip.  It  was  he  who  introduced  the 
practice  in  church  courts,  now  confirmed  by  long 
usage,  of  dissenting  from  the  decision  of  the  As- 
sembly, and  requiring  the  protest  to  be  entered 
in  the  record.  In  1649  an  act  having  been  intro- 
duced respecting  the  election  of  ministers,  he  pro- 
posed that  the  right  of  electing  should  be  vested 
in  the  presbytery,  leaving  to  the  people  the  power 
of  declaring  their  dissent,  upon  reasons  of  which 
it  should  be  competent  for  the  presby tei^  to  judge ; 
but  this  suggestion  was  not  adopted,  and  accord- 
ing to  Baillie,  "  Calderwood  entered  a  very  sharp 
protestation  against  our  act,  which  he  required  to 
be  registered.  This  is  the  first  protestation  we 
heard  of  in  our  time ;  and  had  it  come  from  any 
other  it  had  not  escaped  censure."  \jBaiUie^s 
Letters^  vol.  ii.  page  840.] 

Calderwood  died  at  Jedburgh  on  29th  October, 
1660.  In  1841,  the  Wodrow  Society,  which  was 
formed  in  Edinburgh  in  that  year,  brought  out 


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the  first  volume  of  his  History  of  the  Kirk  of  Scot- 
land from  the  original  mannscript  preserved  in  the 
Biitish  Mosenm.  Seven  other  volumes  were  pub- 
lished subsequently.  They  were  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Thomson. 

His  works  are  numerous,  and  were  almost  all 
published  without  hm  name.  A  list  of  them  is 
given  at  the  end  of  Dr.  Irving's  life  of  Calder- 
wood,  and  may  be  quoted  as  follows : 

De  Regimine  Ecclesiae  Scoticanae  brevis  Relatlo.  1618, 
gvo. — ^To  this  tract  an  answer  was  published  by  Archbishop 
Spotswood,  under  the  title  of  *  Refutaiio  libelU  de  Regimine 
Ecclesiae  Scoticanae.'  Lond.  1620,  8to.  Calderwood  re- 
plied in  the  Vindiciae  subjoined  to  his  Altare  Damasoenura. 

A  Solvtion  of  Doctor  Resolvtvs  bis  Resolutions  for  Kneel- 
ing. 1619f  4to.  This  is  an  answer  to  a  book  written  by 
David  Lindsay,  D.D.  who  became  bishop  of  Brechin,  and 
afterwards  of  Edinburgh :  *  The  Reasons  of  a  Pastors  Resolu- 
tion, touching  the  reuerend  Recduing  of  the  holy  Oom- 
mvnion.'     Lond.  1619,  8vo. 

Perth  Assembly :  containing,  1.  The  Proceedings  thereof. 
2.  The  Proofe  of  the  Nullitie  thereof.  8.  Reasons  presented 
thereto  against  the  receiving  the  five  new  Articles  imposed. 
4.  The  Oppositenesse  of  it  to  the  Proceedings  and  Oath  of  the 
whole  state  of  the  Land,  an,  1681.  6.  Proofes  of  the  Un- 
lawfnlncsse  of  the  said  five  Articles,  vis.  1.  KneeUng  in  the 
Act  of  Receiving  the  Lords  Supper.  2.  Holy  Daies.  8. 
Bishopping.    4.  Private  Baptisme.    5.  Private  Communion. 

1619,  4to. 

A  Defence  of  our  Arguments  against  Kneeling  hi  the  act 
of  Receiving  the  sacramentall  Elements  of  Bread  and  Wine, 
impugned  by  Mr.  Michelsone.  1620,  8vo.  1638,  8vo.  An 
answer  to  a  book  entitled,  *  The  Lawfvlnes  of  Kneeling  m  the 
act  of  Receiuing  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lordes  Supper.  Writ- 
ten by  M.  lohn  Michaelson,  Preacher  of  Gods  Word  at 
Bvmt-Yland.'    Samct  Andrewes,  1620,  8vo. 

A  Dialogve  betwixt  Ckwmophilus  and  Thoophilus,  anent 
the  urging  of  new  Ceremonies  upon  the  Kiike  of  Scotland. 

1620,  8vo.  Mr.  Laing  says  that  the  author  of  this  dialogue 
was  John  Murray,  minister  of  Lcith  and  Dunfermline. 

The  Speech  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotbnd  to  her  betoved  Chil- 
dren.   1620,  8vo. 
Quaeres  concerning  the  State  of  the  Chvrch  of  Scotland. 

1621,  8vo.    1638,  8vo. 

The  Altar  of  Damascus;  or  the  Patem  of  the  English 
Hierarchie  and  Church-Polide  obtruded  upon  the  Church  of 
Scotland.     1621,  8vo. 

The  Course  of  Conformitie,  as  it  hath  proceeded,  is  con- 
cluded, should  be  refused.  1622,  4to.  According  to  Mr. 
Laing,  the  author  of  this  publication  was  William  Scot,  min- 
ister of  Cupar. 

A  Reply  to  Dr.  Mortons  generall  Defence  of  three  nooent 
Ceremonies;  via.  the  Surplice,  Crosse  in  Baptisme,  and 
Kneelmg  at  the  receiving  of  the  sacramental  Elements  of 
Bread  and  Wme.     1622,  4to. 

A  Reply  to  Dr.  Morton's  partievUr  Defence  of  three  nooent 
Ceremonies;  viz.  the  Surplice,  &a  1623,  4to.— Dr.  Morton, 
who  was  successively  bishop  of  Chester,  Lichfield,  and  Dur- 
ham, had  published  *A  Defence  of  the  Innooencie  of  the 
three  Ceremonies  of  the  Chvrch  of  Enghmd ;  vi*.  the  Sur- 
plice, Crosse  after  Baptisme,  and  Kneeling  at  the  Receiuing 
of  the  blessed  Sacrament.'    Lond.  1619,  4to. 


Altare  Damascenum ;  seu  Politia  Ecdesiae  Angficanae  ol»- 
trusa  Ecclesiae  Scoticanae,  a  fbrmalista  <{Uodam  delineata, 
illnstrata  et  examinata  studio  et  opera  Edwardi  Didoclavii. 
Cui  lods  suis  inserts  Confutatio  Paraeneseos  Tileni  ad  Sootos, 
Genovensis,  ut  ait,  Disdplinae  Zelotas;  et  a^jecta  Epistola 
Hieronymi  Phihidelphi  de  Regunme  Ecclesiae  Scoticanae; 
ejusque  Vindiciae  contra  Calumnias  Johannis  Spotanodi, 
Fani  Andreae  Pseudoarchiepiscopi,  per  anonymum.  1G23, 
4to.  Lugd.  Bat  1708,  4to.— The  application  of  the  title 
may  be  learned  from  2  Kings  zvL  10. 

An  Eshortation  of  the  particular  IGrks  of  Christ  in  Scot- 
land to  their  sister  Kvk  in  Edinburgh.    1624,  8vo. 

An  Epistle  of  a  Christian  Brother,  exhorting  an  other  to 
keepe  himself  undefiled  from  the  present  Corruptions  brought 
in  to  the  Ministration  of  the  Lords  Supper.     1624,  8to. 

A  Dispvte  vpon  Commvnicating  at  ovr  confused  Commun- 
ions.   1624,  8vo. 

The  Pastor  and  the  Prelate ;  or  Reformation  and  Confor- 
mitie shortly  compared  by  the  Word  of  God,  by  Antiquity 
and  the  Proceedings  of  the  ancient  Kirk,  &o.    1628,  4to. 

A  Re-examination  of  the  five  Articles  enacted  at  Perth 
anno  1618 ;  to  wit,  concerning  the  Communicants  Gesture  m 
the  act  of  Reoeaving,  the  Observation  of  FestinaU  Dayes, 
episcopall  Confirmation  or  Bishopping,  the  Administration  of 
Baptisme  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  in  privat  Places. 
1636,  4to. 

The  Re-examination  of  two  of  the  Articlee  abridged ;  to 
wit,  of  the  Commumcants  Gesture  in  the  act  of  Reoeaving, 
Eating,  and  Drinking;  and  the  Observation  of  Festival! 
Dayes.     1636,  8vo. 

An  Answere  to  M.  L  Forbes  of  Corse  his  Peaceable  Warn- 
ing. 1638,  4to.  This  is  an  answer  to  a  tract  written  by  Dr. 
Forbes,  professor  of  divinity  in  King's  College,  Aberdeen: 
*  A  peaceable  Warning  to  the  Subjects  in  Scotland;  given  in 
the  yeare  of  God  1638.'    Aberdene,  4to. 

The  true  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Reformation,  unto  the  end  of  the  Rcigne  of 
King  James  VI.  &a    1678,  foL 

To  this  list  may  be  added — 

*  Parasynagma  Perthenso,'  &«.,  printed  along  with  Andrea* 
Mehini  Musa),  Anno  M.DC.XX.,  4to.  Also  Calderwooirs 
edition  of  *  The  First  and  Second  Booke  of  Discipline,'  printed 
anno  1621,  4to.    And 

The  History  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotiand.  From  Caldcrwood's 
mannscript  volumes  in  the  British  Museum.  Printed  for  the 
Wodrow  Society.    8  vols,  huge  8vo.    EdmbuiKh,  1841-1849. 

Caldwrlt^  a  surname  derived  from  lands  in  Renfrewshire, 
possessed  by  an  ancient  family  of  that  name  for  some  centu- 
ries. Early  in  the  14th  century  Easter  Caldwell  was  obtain- 
ed in  marriage  with  a  danghter  of  the  family  of  Caldwell,  by 
Gilchrist  Mure.  (See  Murb.)  In  1758,  Wester  CaldweU 
was  purdiased  by  Baron  Mure  of  Caldwell. 

John  Caldwell,  bom  at  Prestwick,  Ayrshire,  died  1639,  be- 
came a  merchant  in  Enniskillen.  His  son  was  created  a 
baronet  of  Ireland  23d  June  1688.  The  great-grandson  of 
the  latter,  Sir  James  Csldweli,  was  created  a  count  of  Milan 
in  the  Holy  Roman  empire  in  1749,  and  the  hitter  titie  re- 
mains in  the  family.  The  second  baronet  was  a  distinguidi- 
ed  officer  in  the  Anstrian  service,  and  the  fiflh  was  treasurer- 
general  of  Lower  Canada. 


Callaitder,  a  surname  derived  firom  the  lands  of  Callen- 
dar  m  Stirlingshire,  (supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  cAot/2e-lor, 
wood-hill,)  which  were  bestowed  by  Alexander  the  Second  iu 
1246,  on  one  Malcohn  the  son  of  Duncan,  who  had  received, 


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CALLANDER, 


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JOHN. 


in  1217,  from  Malduin  eari  of  Lennox,  the  lands  of  Glass- 
well,  Kilsyth,  &c,  in  the  same  coontj.  It  is  probable,  how- 
ever, that  it  was  the  British  name  for  the  district  extending 
orer  the  middle  portion  of  the  Forth.  A  Roman  station 
was  at  Galentarra,  supposed  to  be  the  camp  at  Ardoch, 
near  the  village  of  Callander  in  Perthshire,  and  the  army  of 
William  the  (Conqueror  passed  through  CaUantrae  on  then* 
wajr  to  Abemethy  on  the  Tay,  against  Malcolm  Canmore. 
One  of  the  portions  of  the  Scottish  army  under  David  the  First, 
at  the  battle  of  the  Standard  (1188),  were  the  men  of  Callantrae. 
Malcolm  was  succeeded  by  Aluin  de  Galleuter  his  son,  who 
took  his  name,  as  was  usual  in  those  days,  from  his  estate. 
In  the  Kagman  Roll,  among  those  who  swore  fealty  to  Ed- 
ward the  First  in  1292  and  1296,  occur  the  names  of  *■  Joan- 
nes de  Callentar,  mOea,*  and  *  Johannes  de  Callentyr,*  the 
former  being  the  head  of  the  ancient  family  of  the  Callendars 
of  that  ilk,  and  the  latter,  it  is  likely,  a  son  or  nephew.  Pa- 
trick de  Gallendar  of  that  ilk  was  forfeited  by  David  the  Sec- 
ond, for  adhering  to  the  party  of  Edward  BaHol,  upon  which 
Sir  WilHam  Livingston,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Linlithgow 
and  Gallendar,  [see  Liyinoston,  surname  of,]  obtained  the 
estate  of  Gallendar,  by  a  charter,  dated  10th  July  1847,  and 
to  prevent  his  title  to  the  lands  finom  bemg  afterwards  called 
in  question,  he  married  Christian  Gallendar,  the  daughter  and 
hfdress  of  the  said  Patrick.    [See  Gallkndab,  earl  of.] 

CALLANDER,  John,  of  Craigforth,  Stirling- 
sliire,  a  distingnisbed  antiquary,  was  bora  about 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centurj.  Being 
educated  for  the  bar,  he  was  admitted  advocate ; 
but  he  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  time  in  ear- 
ly life  to  classical  studies,  and  was  the  author  of 
various  works,  which  display  great  scholarehip. 
His  first  publication  was  a  translation  from  the 
French  of  M.  de  Brosses,  entitled  ^  Terra  Australis 
Cognita,  or  Voyages  to  the  Southern  Hemisphere, 
during  the  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth,  and  Eighteenth 
Centnries,'  which  appeared  at  Edinburgh  in  1766, 
in  3  vols.  8vo.  In  1779  appeared  at  Glasgow  his 
*  Essay  towards  a  literal  English  Version  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.' 
The  work  by  which  he  is  best  known  was  pub- 
lished at  Edinburgh  in  1782,  in  8vo,  entitled  'Two 
ancient  Scottish  Poems;  the  Gaberlunzic  Man, 
and  Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green,  with  Notes  and 
Observations.'  In  editing  these  ho  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  consulted  the  most  correct  editions ; 
but,  as  regards  the  latter  especially,  gave  *'  such 
readings  as  appeai*ed  to  him  most  consonant  to 
the  phraseology  of  the  sixteenth  century."  In 
April  1781  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Society 
of  Scottish  Antiquaries,  founded  in  the  preceding 
November  by  the  late  earl  of  Buchan,  and  ap- 
pointed secretary  for  foreign  correspondence.  In 
August  of  the  same  year,  he  presented  the  society 


with  five  folio  volumes  of  manuscripts,  entitled 
'  Spicelegia  Antiquitatis  GnecsB,  sive  ex  Veteribus 
Poetis,  Deperdita  Fragmenta;*  and  also  with  nine 
folio  volumes  of  manuscript  annotations  on  Mil- 
ton's Paradise  Lost.  Of  the  latter,  a  specimen, 
containing  his  notes  on  the  first  book,  was  printed 
at  Glasgow,  by  Messrs.  Foulis,  in  1760.  An  ad- 
mirable paper  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  on  these 
annotations,  in  which  Mr.  Callander  was  accused 
of  having  taken,  without  acknowledgment,  the 
greater  part  of  his  materials  from  a  folio  work  on 
the  same  subject,  published  by  Mr.  Patrick  Hume, 
at  London,  in  1695,  led,  on  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
David  Laing,  librarian  to  the  signet  library,  to 
the  appointment,  in  1826,  of  a  committee  of  the 
Society  of  Scottish  Antiquaries  for  the  purpose  of 
examining  the  manuscripts.  Their  report,  pub- 
lished in  the  third  volume  of  the  Ti-ausactions  of 
that  Society,  vindicated  Mr.  Callander  from  the 
charge  of  plagiarising  the  general  plan,  on  the 
largest  portion  of  his  materials,  from  Mr.  Hume's 
work,  but  stated  that  there  are  some  passages 
where  the  similarity  is  so  striking,  that  there  can 
be  no  doubt  of  his  having  availed  himself  of  the 
labours  of  his  predecessor,  and  of  these  he  has 
made  no  acknowledgment. 

In  1778,  Mr.  Callander  printed  in  folio  a  speci- 
men of  a  *  Bibliotheca  Septentrionalis.'  In  1781 
appeared  '  Proposals  for  a  History  of  the  Ancient 
Music  of  Scotland,  from  the  age  of  the  Venerable 
Ossian  to  the  beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Centuiy ;' 
and  the  same  year,  a  specimen  of  a  Scoto-Gothic 
Glossary  is  mentioned  in  a  letter  to  the  earl  of 
Buchan.  But  none  of  these  projected  works  appear  \ 
ever  to  have  been  completed.  Mr.  Callander  died  { 
September  14, 1789.  By  his  wife,  Mary,  daughter  j 
of  Sir  James  Livingstone  of  Westquarter,  Bart.,  he  | 
had  seventeen  ch  ildren.  From  a  little  work,  entitled 
*  Letters  from  Thomas  Percy,  D.D.,  aftei-wards 
bishop  of  Dromore,  John  Callander  of  Craigforth, 
Esq.,  David  Herd,  and  others,  to  George  Paton, 
which  appeared  at  Edinburgh  in  1830,  we  leain 
that  Mr.  Callander  had  a  taste  for  music,  and  was 
an  excellent  performer  on  the  violin,  and  that  in 
his  latter  yeai-s  he  became  very  retired  in  his  hab- 
its, and  saw  little  company,  his  mind  being  deeply 
affected  by  a  religious  melancholy,  which  entirely 
unfitted  him  for  society.    The  estate  of  Craigforth 


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CALLANDER. 


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CALLENDAR. 


originally  belonged  to  Lord  Elphinstone,  but  in 
the  year  1684,  it  was  acquired  by  Mr.  Alexander 
Higgins,  advocate.  That  gentleman,  shortly  after 
his  pnrchase,  became  much  embarrassed,  and  in 
consequence  of  large  sums  of  money  advanced  by 
John  Callander,  the  king's  master  smith  in  Scot- 
land, Mr.  Higgins  conveyed  the  estate  to  him. 
Craigforth  has  since  remained  in  the  possession  of 
his  descendants,  notwithstanding  a  strenuous  effort 
which  was  made  by  Mr.  Higgins  to  regain  it. 
Mr.  Callander,  the  smith,  is  traditionally  said  to 
have  made  the  greater  part  of  his  money  by  a 
mistake  of  some  English  government  officials,  who 
paid  him  a  large  sum  in  pounds  sterling.  Instead 
of  pounds  Scots. 

James  Callander,  bom  in  1745,  the  eldest  son  of 
the  antiquary,  was  a  person  of  some  notoriety  in  his 
day.  He  left  Scotland  when  very  young,  and  re- 
mained upwards  of  twenty  years  on  the  continent. 
In  1810,  on  the  death  of  his  cousin,  Sur  Alexander 
Campbell  of  Ardklnglass,  bart.,  he  succeeded,  as 
lieur  of  entail,  to  that  estate,  on  which  he  dropped 
the  name  of  Callander,  and  assumed  the  name  and 
title  of  Sir  James  Campbell,  baronet.  When  the 
succession  opened  to  him,  he  was  resident  in 
France,  and  being  one  of  those  who  were  detained 
by  Napoleon,  he  sent  a  French  lady,  whose  ac- 
quaintance he  had  formed,  named  Madame  Lina 
Talina  Sassen,  as  his  commissioner  to  Scotland. 
In  the  power  of  attorney  with  which  he  furnished 
her  on  the  occasion,  she  was  designed  his  ^^ beloved 
wife;**  but  when  he  arrived  in  Scotland  himself 
he  disclaimed  the  marriage,  in  consequence  of 
which,  Madame  Sassen  raised  an  action  against 
him.  Although  the  judges  of  the  court  of  ses- 
sion found  the  marriage  not  proven,  they  awarded 
her  a  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling  per 
annum.  On  appeal  to  the  house  of  lords,  how- 
ever, the  judgment  was  reversed.  The  lady  after- 
wards brought  various  actions  against  Sir  James, 
in  the  court  of  session,  having  been  admitted  to 
sue  \n  forma  pauperis^  and  the  superintendence  of 
these  suits  formed  the  occupation  of  her  life; 
they  were  only  terminated  by  the  death  of  the 
parties,  within  a  fortnight  of  each  other.  It  is 
said  that  latterly  Sir  James  offered  her  a  very  lib- 
eral compromise,  which  she  rejected,  as  she  would 
accept  nothing  short  of  a  complete  recognition  of 


all  her  claims.    She  was  a  constant  attendant  in 

the  parliament  house  during  the  sittings  of  the 

court  of  sesfUon.    She  was  little  in  stature,  and  in 

her  youth  had  been  a  pretty  woman.    Sir  James 

died  in  1832.    He  published  Memoirs  of  hb  own 

life  in  2  vols.  8vo.,  a  work  not  remarkable  for  the 

accuracy  of  its  facts. 

Gaixbndar,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Seotland, 
(attainted  in  1716,)  conferred  in  1641  on  the  Hon.  Sir  James 
Livingstone,  third  son  of  Alexander,  first  earl  of  Linlithgow. 
[See  LufLrrHQOW,  earl  of.]  Sir  James,  in  his  yooth,  dis- 
tinguished himself  greatly  in  the  wars  in  Bohemia,  Qennanj, 
Holland,  and  Sweden,  and  on  his  retnm  to  Scotland  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber  to  King 
Charles  the  First,  and  created  Lord  Unngstone  of  Almond, 
by  patent  dated  at  Holjroodhonse  19th  Jane  1683,  to  him 
and  his  heirs  male  for  ever.  On  12th  June  1634  he  had  the 
lordship  of  Gallendar  and  several  other  lands  near  Falkiik 
erected  into  a  free  barony.  In  1640,  when  the  Soots  oore- 
nanters  raised  an  army  to  oppose  die  attempt  of  King  Oharles 
the  First  to  coerce  them  into  his  measores,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  war-committee  lieotenant-general  or  second  in  com- 
mand nnder  General  Alexander  Leslie,  afterwards  created 
earl  of  Leven.  On  the  20th  Augost  the  Soots  army  crossed 
the  Tweed,  the  van  being  led  on  foot  by  the  earl  of  Montrose, 
who  had  not  then  declared  himself  for  the  king.  After  de- 
featmg,  on  the  28th,  a  large  body  of  the  kmg*s  troops  sent  to 
defend  the  fords  at  Newborn  on  the  Tyne,  they  took  posses- 
sion of  Newcastle  and  other  towns,  and  ei^t  oommissjopers 
being  soon  after  sent  to  treat  with  commissioners  on  the  part 
of  the  king,  the  treaty  of  Bipon,  condnded  the  last  day  of 
October,  which  pot  an  end  to  hostilities  for  the  time,  was  the 
consequence.  On  his  return  to  ScotUnd  Montrose  secretlj 
formed  an  association  in  favour  of  the  king,  and  Lord  Almond 
was  one  of  the  first  who  subscribed  the  bond,  at  Cumber- 
nauld, in  July  1641.  He  afterwards  revealed  the  matter  to 
the  earl  of  Argyle,  who  reported  it  to  the  committee  of  par- 
liament, and  the  bond  was  in  consequence  delirered  up  and 
burned.  When  Charles  visited  Scotland  in  August  of  that 
jear,  he  was  pleased  to  create  him  earl  of  Callendar,  Lord 
Livingstone  and  Almond,  by  patent  dated  at  Holyroodhoose, 
6th  October  1641,  to  him  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body.  In 
1648,  when  the  Scots  army  were  about  to  enter  England, 
Lord  Callendar  was  ofiered  his  former  post  of  lieotenant- 
general,  but  he  declined  it.  In  the  following  year,  however, 
he  accepted  the  command  of  five  thousand  covenanters  raised 
to  oppose  Montrose,  who  had  erected  the  royal  standard  at 
Dumfiies.  Montrose,  however,  did  not  wait  for  them,  but  in 
two  days  made  a  precipitate  retreat  to  Carlisle.  Advancing 
into  England,  the  earl  of  Callendar  joined  the  Soots  army 
under  the  earl  of  Leven,  employed  in  the  siege  of  Newcastle, 
which  was  taken  by  storm  in  October  1644.  After  the  king 
had  taken  refoge  in  the  Scots  camp  at  Newark  in  May  1646, 
the  earl  of  Callendar  waited  on  his  miyesty,  by  whom  be  was 
graciously  received.  He  obtained  a  patent,  dated  at  Newark 
22d  July  1646,  granting  to  him,  in  the  event  of  fiuiore  of 
hein  male  of  his  body,  the  power  of  nominating  the  penoo 
who  should  succeed  him  in  his  titles  and  estates,  and  in  de- 
fault of  such  nommation  then  to  devolve  on  Alexander  Liv- 
ingstone, the  son  of  his  brother,  and  his  heirs  of  entaiL  His 
lordship  was  sent  back  to  Edinburgh,  with  a  letter  to  the 
committee  of  estates,  expressive  of  his  majesty^s  reoolution  to 
comply  with  the  wishes  of  hb  Scots  parliament,  but  all  was 


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CAMERON. 


rondered  abortive  by  his  migesty's  dediiung  to  afford  them 
fbU  satiafactkm  in  matters  of  religion.  In  1647  he  waited 
on  the  king  at  London,  and  obtained  from  his  ro^esty  a 
grant  of  the  office  of  sheriff  of  the  coonty  of  Stirling.  In  the 
following  year,  when  the  **  engagement"  for  the  resooe  of  the 
king,  then  a  prisoner  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  was  entered  into, 
the  earl  was,  11th  May  1648,  appointed  lieutenant-general  of 
the  army  raised  for  the  purpose,  being  second  in  command 
cnder  the  dnke  of  Hamilton.  On*this  occaaon,  he  was  at- 
tended by  a  body  of  his  FaUdxk  retainers.  This  army,  amount- 
ing to  about  ten  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  cavalry, 
marched  into  England,  and  on  12th  July  took  Carlisle,  of 
which  place  the  earl  of  Gallendar  was  appointed  governor. 
The  Scots,  however,  were  totally  routed  at  Preston  in  Lanca- 
shire, by  Cromwell,  on  the  I7th  of  August,  when  his  lordship 
escaped  in  disguise  to  Holland.  His  Falkirk  troop  valiantly 
forced  their  way  through  the  victorious  army,  and  on  their 
return  home  they  were  summoned  before  the  congregation,  at 
the  instance  of  the  kirk  session,  and  were  publicly  "  admon- 
ished** for  being  in  what  was  called  "the  late  unlawful  en- 
gagement** The  session  record  contains  the  names  of  seventy- 
seven  of  the  persons  so  dealt  with,  and  among  these  the 
names  of  Sir  William  Livingstone  of  Westquarter,  and  of 
other  gentlemen  appear.  [ATeto  SiatisHcal  Account  of  Scot- 
land, art  Falkirky  p.  6.J  Lord  Callendar  was  one  of  the 
persons  excepted  in  Cromwell*s  act  of  grace  and  pardon.  At 
the  restoration,  having  no  issue  of  his  own,  the  earl  obtained 
a  new  patent,  of  date  2l8t  November  1660,  of  his  titles  and 
estates  in  favour  of  his  nephew,  Alexander  Livingstone,  sec- 
ond son  of  Alexander  second  earl  of  Linlithgow,  and  the  heirs 
male  of  his  body,  which  failing  to  the  second  son  of  George, 
third  eari  of  Linlithgow.  Lord  Callendar  married,  in  1688, 
Margaret,  only  daughter  of  James  seventh  Lord  Yester,  sister 
of  John  first  earl  of  Tweeddale,  and  widow  of  Alexander  first 
eari  of  Dunfermline,  high-chancellor  of  Scotland,  but  her 
ladyship  had  no  children  to  him.  He  died  in  1672,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  nephew  Alexander. 

The  second  eari  of  Callendar  was  a  zealous  covenanter,  and 
a  copy  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  is  still  preserved 
in  Falkirk,  bearing  his  signature,  with  that  of  many  others. 
On  two  different  occasions  the  troops  of  government  took 
possession  of  Callendar  house,  near  FaUdrir,  but  on  the  last 
of  these  in  1678,  a  mob  from  that  town  put  the  intruders  to 
flight  He  married,  in  1668,  Lady  Maiy  Hamilton,  third 
dau^ter  of  the  second  duke  of  Hamilton,  but  by  her  had  no 
issue.  He  had,  however,  a  natural  son,  Sir  Alexander  Liv- 
ingstone of  Glentirran.  The  earl  died  in  1685,  when  the 
titles  and  estates  devolved  on  Alexander  Livingstone,  the 
second  son  of  George  third  earl  of  Linlithgow. 

The  third  eari  of  Callendar  died  in  December  1692,  leaving, 
by  his  wife,  Lady  Ann  Graham,  eldest  daughter  of  James 
second  marquis  of  Montrose,  a  son,  James,  the  fourth  earl, 
and  two  daughters. 

The  fourth  esri  of  Callendar,  on  the  death  of  his  uncle 
George  fourth  eari  of  Linlithgow,  in  August  1695,  succeeded 
to  that  title.  [See  Lucuthoow,  eari  of.]  His  titles  and 
estates  were  forfeited  in  consequence  of  his  engaging  in  the 
rebellion  of  1715.  The  last  earl  of  Callendar  and  Linlithgow 
died  in  exile  on  the  continent  His  estate  of  Callendar  was 
sold  about  1720  to  the  York  Buildings  Company,  whose  af- 
fairs having  become  disordered,  it  was  brought  to  sale  m 
1788,  under  the  authority  of  the  court  of  session,  and  pnr- 
ehnsed  by  William  Forbes,  Esq.,  merchant  in  London,  llie 
titles  both  of  Callendar  and  Linlithgow  are  claimed  by  the 
baronetted  family  of  Livingstone  of  that  ilk  and  Westquarter. 


Camsron,  or  Chamebon ,  the  name  of  a  numerous  family  or 
dan  in  Lochaber,  the  distinguishing  badge  (^  which  is  the  oak. 
Mr.  Skene,  in  his  histoiy  of  the  Highlanders,  appears  to  take  it 
as  an  undoubted  and  established  fact  that  the  Camerons  are 
an  aboriginal  or  Celtic  dan,  but  it  is  not  consistent  with  this 
theory  that  the  Camerons  themselves  have  a  tradition  that 
they  were  descended  from  a  younger 'Son  of  the  royal  family 
of  Denmark,  who  assisted  at  the  restoration  of  Fergus  the 
Second  in  778,  and  that  their  progenitor  was  called  Cameron, 
from  his  crooked  nose,  ("  cam  sAron,"  the  t  in  ikron  being 
silent)  a  surname  which  was  adopted  by  his  descendants,  and 
that  the  name  appears  to  have  been  home  (as  will  appear  in 
the  course  of  the  work)  at  an  early  period  of  history  by  indi- 
viduals in  the  south  and  west 

Notwithstanding,  therefore,  of  this  traditionaiy  <mgin  of 
the  name,  which  is  universally  accepted  by  the  dan,  it  does 
not  seem  improbable  that  it  was  originally  French,  and  not 
disnmilar  to  the  modem  French  name  of  Cambronne.  In 
the  Ragman  Boll  occurs  the  name  of  *  Robertus  de  Cambum, 
dominus  de  Balegrenach,  miles,'  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward 
the  First  of  England,  *  apud  Sanctum  Johannem  de  Perth,* 
22d  July  1296.  There  are  also,  in  the  same  roll,  the  names 
(^  Johannes  Cambrun,  who,  in  other  deeds,  is  designed  *  do- 
minus de  Balygrenoch,'  and  Bobertns  Cambum  de  Bahiely; 
all  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Cameron. 

This  tribe,  firom  its  earliest  histoiy,  had  its  seat  in  Lochaber, 
to  which,  contraxy  to  all  tradition,  they  appear  to  have  come 
from  the  south,  having  obtained  from  Angus  Og,  of  the  family 
of  Islay,  a  grant  of  Lochaber  in  the  reign  of  Bobert  the 
Brace.  Their  more  modem  possessions  of  Lochid  and  Loch- 
arkaig,  situated  upon  the  westem  side  of  the  Lochy,  still 
further  in  the  Cdtic  or  Highland  region,  were  originally 
granted  by  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  to  the  founder  of  the  Clan 
Banald,  from  whose  descendants  they  passed  to  the  Camerons. 
This  dan  originally  consisted  of  three  septs, — ^the  MaoMartins 
of  Letterfinky,  the  MacGillonies  of  Strone,  and  the  MacSor- 
lies  of  Glennevis,  and  the  tradition  is,  that  it  was  by  inter- 
marriage with  the  MacMartins  of  Lctterfinlay  the  ddest 
branch,  that  the  Camerons  of  Lochid  who  bdonged  to  the 
second  branch,  or  the  MacGillonies  of  Strone,  first  acquired 
the  property  in  Lochaber.  Being  the  oldest  cadets  they  as- 
sumed the  title  of  Captain  of  the  Clan  CameroA  Drumnumd 
of  Hawthomden  describes  the  Camerons  as  '*  fiercer  than 
fierceness  itself.** 

The  Camerons  obtained  a  charter  of  the  barony  of  Lodiiel, 
and  the  lands  of  Garbh-dhoch^  in  the  13th  century,  the  first 
of  them  being  styled  "  de  Knoydart'*  They  also  possessed 
extensive  property  around  the  castle  of  Eilean-Donnan,  Boss- 
shire,  of  which  they  were  deprived  through  the  hostility  of 
the  Gordon  family.  The  lands  of  Glenloy  and  Locharkaig 
were  purchased  by  Sir  Ewen  Cameron  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  These,  with  the  barony  of  Lochid  and  a  portion  of  the 
lands  of  Mamore,  are  still  in  possession  of  the  family. 

The  Camerons  of  Lochid  are  a  family  not  only  distinguished 
as  the  head  of  the  dan,  but  by  the  personal  characteristics 
of  many  of  their  chiefo,  of  whom  Sir  Ewen  Cameron  of  Loch- 
id, above  mentioned,  and  his  grandson,  Donald,  "  the  gen- 
tle Lochiel  of  the  '45,'*  are  separately  noticed.  The  family 
of  Cameron  of  Lochiel  are  further  distinguished  by  having 
raised,  and  during  many  years  sustained,  the  79th  regiment 
of  the  line,  known  as  the  Cameronian  Highlanders.  This  oc- 
curred through  the  patriotic  energy  of  Sir  Alan  Cameron  of 
Erroch,  a  cadet  of  that  family,  who  distinguished  himsdf  in 
the  first  American  war.  When  on  detached  service  be  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  immured  for  nearly  two  years  in  the 
common  gaol  of  Philadelphia,  under  the  plea  that  he  had 


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SIR  EWEN. 


been  engaf^  in  exciting  the  native  tribes  to  take  up  arms 
13  favour  of  Great  Brit<un.  In  attempting  to  escape  from 
thi^  confinement,  be  had  both  his  anlcles  broken,  and  he  never 
perfectly  recovered  from  the  painful  effects  of  these  injuries. 
He  was  subsequently  placed  upon  half-pay;  but,  aroused  by 
the  dangers  and  alarms  of  1793,  prindpally  by  his  personal 
influence  over  his  countrymen,  he,  in  little  more  than  three 
months,  at  his  own  expense,  patriotically  raised  the  79th,  or 
Cameron  Highlanders,  of  which  he  was  appointed  first  major- 
commandant  and  afterwards  (January  1794)  lieutenant-ooloneL 

His  regiment  was  afterwards  draughted  into  the  42d  and 
other  regiments.  Sir  Alan  Cameron,  on  his  return  to  Soot- 
land,  was  commissioned  by  the  duke  of  York  to  raise  the 
Cameron  Highlanders  anew,  which  was  done  in  1798  in  little 
more  than  ux  months.  Its  gallant  commander  was  twice 
severely  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Bei^n-op-Zoom  in  1799. 
In  1800  at  Ferrol,  Cadiz,  &c.,  in  1801  in  Kgypt,  in  tlie  de- 
scent upon  Zealand,  in  Sweden  in  1808,  and  aflerwanb  in 
the  Peninsula,  in  the  same  year,  the  Cameron  Uighlanden 
and  their  commander  greatly  distinguished  themselves. 

At  the  battle  of  Talavera  Sir  Alan  had  two  horses  shot 
under  him.  He  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  action  at  Bu- 
saco.  Extreme  ill  health  then  compelled  him  to  retire  from 
active  service.  On  25th  July  1810  Sir  Alan  was  appointed 
a  major-general ;  after  the  peace  a  K.C.B.,  and  on  12th  Au- 
gust 1819  a  lieutenant-general.     He  died  March  9,  1828. 

John  Cameron,  bishop  of  Glasgow  and  chancellor  of  the 
kingdom  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  was  of 
the  family  of  Lochiel.  In  1422  he  was  official  of  Lothian, 
af^rwards  confessor  and  secretary  to  the  earl  of  Douglas. 
In  1424  he  was  provost  of  Lincluden.  and  the  same  year 
"  Secretario  Regis.**  In  February  1425  we  find  him  keeper 
ot  the  great  seal,  and  soon  after  keeper  of  the  privy  seal. 
In  1426  lie  was  elected  bishop  of  GUsgow,  and  in  1428  he 
was  appointed  lord  chancellor,  an  office  which  lie  held  until 
the  end  of  that  reign.  He  built  the  great  tower  at  the 
episcopal  palace  on  which  his  coat  armorial  and  ecclesi- 
astical was  placed.  He  established  two  commissary  courts, 
Hamilton  and  Campsie,  the  jurisdiction  of  which  extended  over 
parts  of  the  counties  of  Dumbarton,  Renfrew,  Stirling,  Lan- 
ark, and  Ayr.  He  is  said  to  have  died  on  Christmas  eve, 
1436,  but  hit  name  appears  in  a  safe  conduct  (inserted  in 
Rymer)  dated  80th  November  1437,  and  his  successor  in  the 
see  of  Glasgow  was  appointed  in  1446. 

Charles  Cameron,  son  of  the  Lochiel  of  the  '45,  was  allow- 
ed to  return  to  Britain,  and  lent  his  influence  to  the  raising 
of  the  Lochiel  men  for  the  service  of  government  His  son, 
Donald,  was  restored  to  his  estates  under  the  genera]  act  of 
amnesty  of  1784.  The  eldest  son  of  the  latter,  also  named 
Donald,  bom  25th  September  1796,  obtained  a  commission 
in  the  Guards  in  1814,  and  fought  at  Waterloo.  He  retuosd 
from  the  army  in  1832,  and  died  14th  December  1858,  leav- 
ing two  sons  and  four  daughters.  Hb  eldest  son,  Donald, 
succeeded  as  chief  of  the  clan  Cameron. 


The  family  of  Cameron  of  Fassifem,  in  Argyleshire,  pos- 
sesses a  baronetcy  of  the  United  Kingdom,  conferred  in  1817 
on  Ewen  Cameron  of  Fassifem,  the  father  of  Colonel  John 
Cameron,  of  the  92d  Highlanders,  slain  at  the  battle  of  Qua- 
tre  Bras,  16th  June  1815,  while  bravely  leading  on  his  men, 
for  that  officer's  distinguished  military  services,  with  two 
Highlanders  as  supporters  to  his  armorial  bearings,  and  sev- 
eral heraldic  distinctions  indicating  the  particular  services  of 
Colonel  Cameron.  On  the  death  of  Sir  Ewen  in  1828,  his 
teoond  son.  Sir  Duncan,  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy. 

General  Sur  Alexander  Cameron,  K.C.B.,  who  died  in  1850 


at  his  seat  of  Inverralort  house,  InveraeM-shire,  was  also  an 
eminent  officer,  having  first  entered  the  army  in  1799,  when 
he  served  under  the  duke  of  York  in  Holland.  He  was  the 
eighth  son  of  Donald  Cameron,  Esq.  of  Muriugan,  by  the 
daughter  of  ^exander  McDonald,  Esq.  ot  Aditrichtan,  and 
was  bom  in  1778.  In  1800  he  was  with  his  Foment  at 
Ferrol ;  in  1801,  in  Egypt,  where  he  was  severely  wounded 
in  the  arm  and  side ;  in  1807  at  Copenhagen ;  in  1808  at 
Vimiera;  in  that  and  the  following  year  in  Spain;  in  1818 
at  Vittoria,  till  wounded ;  and  in  1814  in  Holland.  At  Wa- 
terloo he  was  severely  wounded  in  the  throat  In  1828  he 
was  appointed  deputy-governor  of  St  Mawes,  and  in  1888 
major-general  in  the  army,  in  which  latter  year  he  was  cre- 
ated a  knight  commander  of  the  bath.  In  1846  he  became 
colonel  of  the  74th  foot  He  received  a  medal  and  two  clasps 
for  his  services  in  command  of  the  rifle  brigade  at  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  Badigoz  and  Salamanca,  and  had  a  pension  of  five 
hundred  pounds  a-year  in  consideration  of  his  long  services 
and  wounds.  He  married  in  1818  the  only  daughter  of  C 
McDonnell,  Esq.  of  Barisdale. 

CAMERON,  Sir  Ewkn,  or  Evan,  of  Lochiel, 
a  chief  of  the  clan  Cameron,  distlngaished  for  his 
cliivah-oiis  character,  was  bom  in  February  1629. 
He  was  called  by  his  followers  Mac'onnaili  Dhn, 
or  the  son  of  Black  Donald,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  their  race,  after  his  father  Donald,  the 
chief  who  preceded  him ;  also  Ewen  Dim,  or  Black 
Evan,  from  his  own  dark  complexion.  He  was 
brought  lip  at  Inverary  castle,  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  his  kinsman  the  marquis  of  Argyle,  under 
whose  charge  he  was  placed  in  his  tenth  year,  be- 
ing regarded  as  a  hostage  for  the  peaceable  beha- 
viour of  his  clan.  Argyle  endeavoured  to  instil 
into  his  mind  the  political  principles  of  the  cove- 
nanters, but  it  is  said  that  he  was  converted  to 
the  side  of  the  king  by  the  exhortations  of  Sii 
Robert  Spottiswood,  formerly  president  of  the 
Court  of  Session,  who  had  been  taken  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Pbiliphaugh  in  September  1645,  and  was 
afterwards  executed.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he 
quitted  Inverary  castle,  with  the  declared  inten- 
tion of  joining  the  marquis  of  Montrose,  who, 
however,  liad  previously  disbanded  his  forces,  and 
retired  to  the  Continent.  Although  the  royal 
cause  seemed  lost,  Lochiel  kept  his  clan  in  arms, 
and  was  able  to  protect  his  estate  from  the  incur- 
sions of  Cromwell's  troops. 

In  1652  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  join  the  in- 
surrection under  the  earl  of  Glencaim  when  that 
nobleman  raised  the  royal  standard  in  the  High- 
lands, and  for  nearly  two  years  greatly  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  head  of  his  dan,  in  a  series 
of  encounters   with  General   Lilbume,  Colonel 


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CAMERON, 


687 


SIR  EWEN. 


Morgan,  and  others  of  Cromwell^s  officers.  In  a 
sharp  skirmish  which  took  place  between  Lord 
Glencaim  and  Colonel  Lilbume  at  Braemar,  Lo- 
ehiel  gallantly  maintained  a  pass  with  the  defence 
of  which  he  had  been  intmsted,  and  thereby  saved 
Gleucaim's  army.  His  services  were  rewarded 
by  a  letter  of  thanks  from  Charles  the  Second, 
dated  at  Chantilly,  the  3d  of  November,  1653. 

In  1654  Lochiel  continued  to  aid  Glencaim  in  a 
fresh  insurrection  headed  by  him.  Being  himself 
opposed  to  Morgan,  a  brave  and  enterprising  offi- 
cer, Lochiel  was  often  hard  pressed,  and  some- 
times nearly  overpowered,  but  by  his  courage  and 
presence  of  mind,  he  was  always  able  to  extricate 
himself  from  positions  of  the  utmost  difficulty  and 
danger. 

Monk  was  now  commander-in-chief  of  the  par- 
liamentary forces  in  Scotland,  and  he  resolved  to 
establish  a  garrison  at  Inverlochy,  now  Fort  Wil- 
liam, with  the  view  of  reducing  the  royalist  clans 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Lochiel  lay  in  wait  on  a 
hill  to  the  north  of  the  foi*t,  with  thirty-eight  of 
his  clan,  and  observing  a  body  of  men  about  to 
land  at  a  place  called  Achdalew,  to  cut  down  his 
woods,  and  to  carry  off  his  cattle,  he  proceeded 
along  in  a  line  with  the  vessels,  under  cover  of 
the  woods,  until  he  saw  the  English  soldiers  dis- 
embark, one  hundred  and  forty  of  them  having 
axes,  hatchets,  and  other  working  implements, 
while  the  rest  remained  under  arms,  to  protect 
their  operations.  Notwithstanding  the  disparity 
of  their  forces,  Lochiel  at  once  gave  orders  to  ad- 
vance. He  ordered  his  brother  Allan  to  be  bound 
to  a  tree,  to  prevent  his  taking  any  part  in  the 
conflict,  and  so  not  deprive  his  clan  of  a  chief, 
should  he  himself  be  cut  off.  But  Allan  prevailed 
on  a  little  boy,  who  was  left  to  attend  him,  to  un- 
loose his  cords,  and  soon  plunged  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fight.  The  Camerons  rushed  on  the  ene- 
my, discharged  against  them  a  destructive  shower 
of  shot  and  arrows,  and  befora  they  could  recover 
from  their  surprise  attacked  them  with  their  broad- 
swords. The  combat  was  long  and  obstinate. 
At  last  the  English,  retreating  slowly,  yet  con- 
testing every  step  of  ground,  and  with  their  faces 
towards  their  assailants,  were  giving  way  when 
Lochiel  sent  two  men  and  a  piper  round  the  flank, 
to  sound  the  pibroch,  raise  the  war-cry  of  the 


clan,  and  fire  their  muskets,  as  if  a  fresh  party  of 
Camerons  had  arrived,  hoping  thereby  to  create 
a  panic  among  the  English  soldiers.  But  this 
only  rendered  the  latter  more  desperate,  and  in- 
stead of  throwuig  down  their  arms  they  fought 
more  resolutely  than  before,  as  they  expected  no 
quarter.  They  were,  at  length,  completely  borne 
down,  and  fled,  pursued  to  the  sea,  when  those 
who  had  been  left  in  the  boats  received  the  fugi- 
tives, and  firing  at  the  Camerons  drove  them 
back,  the  chief  himself  advancing  till  he  was  chin- 
deep  in  the  water.  In  the  course  of  the  struggle  an 
English  officer  of  great  size  and  strength  singled 
out  Lochiel,  and  as  they  were  pretty  equally 
matched,  they  fought  for  some  time  apart  from 
the  general  battle.  Lochiel  succeeded  in  knock- 
ing the  sword  out  of  his  adversary's  hand,  but  the 
Englishman  closing  on  him,  bore  him  to  the 
ground,  and  fell  upon  him,  the  officer  being  upper- 
most. The  latter  was  in  the  act  of  reaching  for 
his  sword,  which  lay  near,  but  when  extending 
his  neck  in  the  same  direction,  Lochiel,  collecting 
his  energies,  grasped  his  enemy  by  the  collar,  and 
springing  at  his  throat,  seized  it  with  his  teeth, 
and  gave  so  sure  and  effectual  a  bite  that  the 
officer  died  aUnost  instantly.  Of  the  English  the 
number  killed  in  this  encounter  exceeded  that  of 
Lochiers  men  engaged  in  it,  in  the  proportion  of 
three  to  one,  whilst  only  seven  of  the  Camerons 
feU. 

By  this  and  similar  attacks,  now  on  the  garri- 
son at  Inverlochy,  now  in  conjunction  with  Gen- 
ei*al  Middleton,  he  harassed  the  forces  of  the  Pro- 
tector with  general  success.  After  the  defeat,  of 
Middleton  in  July  1654,  and  his  retreat  to  the 
continent,  Lochiel  was  the  only  chief  who  remain- 
ed opposed  to  Cromwell.  The  English,  desirous 
to  have  peace  with  this  formidable  chief,  made 
various  overtures  to  him  to  that  effect,  but  with- 
out success,  until  he  was  informed  that  no  express 
renunciation  of  the  king's  authority  or  oath  to  the 
existing  government  would  be  required  of  him, 
but  only  his  word  of  honour  to  live  in  peace.  An 
agreement  on  this  basis  took  place  about  tlie  end 
of  that  year.  Reparation  was  made  to  Ix)chiel 
for  the  wood  cut  down  by  the  garrison  of  Inver- 
lochy, and  to  his  tenants  for  all  the  losses  they 
had  sustained  from  the  troops;  while  a  full  in- 


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538 


DONALD. 


demnity  was  granted  for  all  aces  of  depredation 
and  for  all  crimes  committed  by  his  men.  All 
tithes,  cess,  and  public  burdens  which  had  not 
been  paid,  were  remitted  to  his  clan. 

In  1680  the  last  wolf  known  to  have  existed 
wild  in  Great  Britain  was  slain  by  the  hand  of 
this  brave  and  hardy  chief  in  the  district  of 
Lochaber.  In  1681,  when  the  duke  of  York, 
afterwards  James  the  Second,  was  residing  at 
Holyrood,  as  commissioner  to  the  parliament  of 
Scotland,  Lochiel  took  a  journey  to  Edinburgh  to 
solicit  the  pardon  of  one  of  his  clan,  who,  while  in 
command  of  a  party  of  Camerons,  had  fired  by 
mistake  on  a  party  of  Athole  men,  and  killed  sev- 
eral. The  duke  received  him  with  great  distinc- 
tion, and  granted  his  request.  On  this  occasion 
he  was  knighted  by  the  duke.  After  knighting 
him,  the  duke  presented  his  sword  to  Sir  Ewen, 
to  keep  as  a  remembrance. 

In  1689  Sir  Ewen  joined  the  viscount  of 
Dundee  when  he  raised  the  standard  of  King 
James.  General  Mackay  had,  by  the  orders  of 
King  William,  offered  him  a  title  and  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money,  apparently  on  the  condition  of 
his  remaining  neutral,  but  this  offer  he  rejected 
with  disdain.  Though  then  far  advanced  in  years, 
he  distinguiBhed  himself  with  his  usual  heroism, 
and  had  a  conspicuous  share  in  the  victory  at 
Rilliecrankie.  Before  the  battle  commenced  he 
spoke  to  each  of  his  men  individually,  and  took 
their  promise  that  they  would  conquer  or  die.  On 
first  seeing  Dnndee^s  force.  General  Mackay^s  army 
had  raised  a  kind  of  shout,  on  which  Lochiel  ex- 
claimed, ^*  Gentlemen,  the  day  is  our  own;  I  am 
the  oldest  commander  in  the  army,  and  I  have 
always  observed  something  ominous  or  fatal  in 
such  a  dull,  heavy,  feeble  noise  as  that  which  the 
enemy  has  just  made  in  their  shout."  Encouraged 
by  this  prognostication  of  victory,  the  Highlanders, 
with  their  usual  impetuosity,  rushed  on  the  troops 
of  Mackay,  and  in  half  an  hour  gained  the  victory. 

In  this  battle  Lochiel  was  attended  by  the  son 
of  his  foster  brother,  who  followed  him  every- 
where like  his  shadow.  Shortly  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  action  the  chief  missed  this 
faithful  adherent  from  his  side,  and  turning  round 
to  look  for  him,  he  saw  him  lying  on  his  back  in  a 
dying  state,  with  bis  breast  pierced  by  an  arrow. 


With  his  last  breath  he  informed  Sir  Ewen  that 
observing  an  enemy,  a  Highlander,  in  General 
Mackay's  army,  aiming  at  him  with  a  bow  and 
arrow  from  the  rear,  he  sprang  behind  him  to 
cover  him,  and  thus,  like  his  father,  received  io 
his  own  body  the  death- wound  intended  for  his 
chief. 

After  the  battle  of  Killiecrankie,  Sir  Ewen 
Cameron  retired  to  Lochaber,  leaving  the  com- 
mand of  his  men  to  his  eldest  son.  lie  survived 
till  the  year  1719,  when  he  died  at  the  age  of 
ninety.  Notwithstanding  all  the  battles  and  per- 
sonal encounters  in  which  he  had  been  engaged, 
he  never  lost  a  drop  of  blood,  or  received  a  wound. 
He  was  thrice  married,  and  had  four  sons  and 
eleven  daughters.— Stewards  Skeicltes  of  the  High- 
landers and  Highland  Regiments. — Browned  His- 
tory of  the  Highlands  and  Highland  Clans. 

CAMERON,  Donald,  of  Lochiel,  grandson  of 
the  preceding,  is  celebrated  in  history  for  the  im- 
portant part  he  took  in  the  rebellion  of  1745 
Though  called  young  Lochiel  by  the  Highlanders, 
from  his  father  being  still  alive,  he  was  at  that 
period  rather  advanced  in  life.  His  father,  John 
Cameron  of  Lochiel,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Ewen,  had 
joined  the  eari  of  Mar,  when  that  nobleman  raised 
the  standard  of  the  Chevalier  in  1715,  for  which 
he  was  attainted.    He  died  in  Flanders  in  1748. 

Donald,  his  eldest  son,  succeeded,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  attainder  of  his  father,  to  the  estate, 
on  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  in  1719.  He  was 
styled  captain  of  the  clan  Cameron,  a  title  given 
to  the  leader  or  next  in  succession  who  commands 
a  clan  in  absence,  or  during  the  minority,  of  tlie 
hereditary  chief.  Previous  to  the  landing  of  Prince 
Charles  in  the  Highlands,  the  Chevalier  de  St 
Greorge,  sensible  of  the  great  influence  which  young 
Lochiel  possessed  among  the  dans,  had  opened  a 
correspondence  with  him,  and  invested  him  with 
full  powers  to  negotiate  with  his  friends  in  Scotland, 
on  the  subject  of  his  restoration.  He  was  one  of  the 
seven  chiefs  and  noblemen  who,  in  1740,  signed  a 
bond  of  association  to  restore  the  Chevalier.  Upon 
the  failure  of  the  expedition  of  1740  he  had  urged 
the  prince  to  get  another  fitted  out,  but  was  against 
any  attempt  being  made  without  foreign  assistance. 
On  the  prince's  landing,  Lochiel  was  summoned 
with  other  chiefs  to  meet  Charles  at  Borodale 


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CAMERON, 


589 


JOHN. 


As  the  priuce  had  brought  neither  troops  nor  arms 
with  hira,  Lochiel  went  to  the  interview  deter- 
mined to  dissaade  him  from  making  any  rash  at- 
tempt. On  his  way  he  called  at  the  honse  of  his 
brother,  John  Cameron  of  Fassifem,  who,  on  being 
told  the  object  of  his  jonmey,  advised  him  not 
to  proceed  to  Boix>dale,  but  to  impart  his  mind  to 
the  prince  by  letter.  "No,"  said  Lochiel,  "I 
onght  at  least  to  wait  upon  him,  and  give  my  rea- 
sons for  declining  to  join  him,  which  admit  of  no 
reply."  "  Brother,"  said  Fassifem,  "  I  know  you 
better  than  you  know  yourself.  If  this  prince 
once  sets  eyes  upon  yon  he  will  make  you  do 
whatever  he  pleases."  Finding  all  his  arguments 
ineffectual  to  prevail  on  Lochiel  to  take  up  arms 
in  his  cause,  Charles  declared  his  firm  determina- 
tion to  take  the  field,  how  small  soever  might  be 
the  number  of  his  adherents.  "  Lochiel,"  said  he, 
"whoy  my  father  has  often  told  me,  was  our 
firmest  friend,  may  stay  at  home,  and  from  the 
newspapers  learn  the  fate  of  his  prince."  This 
appeal  was  irresistible.  "  No  I"  exclaimed  Lochiel, 
"I'll  share  the  fate  of  my  prince,  and  so  shall 
every  man  over  whom  nature  or  fortune  has  given 
me  any  power."  Had  Lochiel  remained  steadfast 
in  his  determination  not  to  join  the  Pretender 
without  foreign  aid,  the  other  chiefs  would  have 
also  refused,  but  his  yielding  led  to  their  collect- 
ing with  their  followers  round  the  prince's  stand- 
ard, and  thus  he  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
chief  cause  of  the  insurrection  that  followed. 

Although  possessed  of  an  estate  which  at  that 
time  yielded  scarcely  seven  hundred  pounds  a- 
year,  Lochiel  brought  fourteen  hundred  of  his  clan 
into  the  rebellion,  and  during  his  brief  campaign 
he  displayed  much  of  the  heroism  and  bravery  of 
his  grandfather.  Sir  Ewen  Cameron.  He  acquired 
the  respect  of  both  parties,  and  obtained  the  name 
of  the  "  gentle  Lochiel."  On  all  occasions  he  was 
honourably  distinguished  by  his  endeavours  to 
mitigate  the  severities  of  war,  and  deter  the  in- 
surgents from  acts  of  vindictive  violence,  or  insub- 
ordination. As  an  example  to  the  rest  he  even 
ordered  one  of  his  own  men,  caught  in  the  act  of 
theft,  to  be  shot.  He  led  on  his  clan  with  great 
gallantry  at  the  battie  of  Preston,  as  he  subse- 
quently did  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk.  He  accom- 
panied Prince  Charles  in  his  march  into  England 


and  during  the  reti*eat  from  Derby,  and  was  se- 
verely wounded  in  both  ankles  at  the  battle  of 
Culloden,  when  he  was  borne  from  the  field  by  his 
two  henchmen.  After  that  disastrous  defeat,  he 
skulked  in  his  own  country  for  about  two  months, 
and  then  sought  an  asylum  among  the  Braes  of 
Rannoch,  where  he  was  attended  by  Sir  Stewart 
Thriepland,  an  Edinburgh  physician,  for  the  cure 
of  his  wounds.  He  afterwards  lurked  for  some 
time  in  Badenoch  with  Cluny  MacPherson,  and 
some  other  fugitives.  Here  in  the  course  of  his 
wanderings  he  was  joined  by  the  prince,  though 
not  without  great  risk  and  danger  on  both  sides. 
They  took  up,  for  a  tune,  then-  residence  in  a  hut 
called  the  Cage,  curiously  constructed  in  a  deep 
thicket  on  the  side  of  a  mountain  called  Benalder, 
under  which  name  is  included  a  great  forest  or 
chase,  the  property  of  Cluny.  In  this  Cage  they 
lived  in  tolerable  security  and  enjoyed  a  rude 
plenty,  which  the  prince  had  not  hitherto  known 
during  his  five  months'  wanderings.  On  the  20th 
September  1746  two  French  Mgates  having  ap 
peared  off  the  coast,  Lochiel  embarked  along  with 
the  prince,  as  did  nearly  a  hundred  others  of  the 
relics  of  his  party,  and  safely  arrived  in  France, 
where  the  king  gave  him  the  command  of  the 
regiment  of  Albany,  formed  of  his  expatriated 
countrymen,  with  the  power  of  naming  his  own 
officers.  He  was  thus  enabled,  though  his  estate 
was  forfeited,  to  live  according  to  his  rank.  He 
died  in  1748,  and  a  tribute  to  his  memory  ap- 
peared in  the  Scots  Magazine  for  December  of 
that  year.  He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir 
James  Campbell,  fifth  baronet  of  Auchinbreck, 
by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  four  daughters. 
His  eldest  son  Charles,  who  returned  to  Scotland  in 
1759,  obtained  the  restoration  of  the  family  estate, 
which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  descendant. 
CAMERON,  John,  one  of  the  most  famous 
theologians  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  bom, 
of  respectable  parents,  at  Glasgow,  about  1579. 
He  received  his  education  in  his  native  city,  and 
after  completing  the  ordinary  course  of  study,  he 
read  lectures  on  the  Greek  language,  that  is,  he 
taught  Greek,*  in  Glasgow  university,  for  a  year 
In  1600  he  went  to  Bordeaux  in  France,  and  hav- 
ing made  the  acquaintance  of  two  protestant  cler- 
gymen of  that  city,  one  of  whom  was  his  coun* 


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CAMERON, 


540 


JOHN. 


tiyman,  Gilbert  Primrose,  he  was,  through  their 
recommendation,  appointed  a  regent  or  professor 
iu  the  then  newly  founded  college  of  Bergerac,  as 
teacher  of  the  learned  languages.  He  was  so 
deeply  skilled  in  the  Greek  especially,  that  one  of 
his  pupils,  the  learned  Cappel,  affirms  that  he 
spoke  it  with  as  much  fluency  and  elegance  as  any 
other  person  could  speak  Latin.  Soon  after  his 
settlement  at  Bergerac,  he  was,  by  the  duke  de 
Bouillon,  appointed  a  professor  of  philosophy  in 
the  university  of  Sedan,  where  he  remained  for 
two  years.  He  then  resigned  his  professorship, 
and  visited  Paris;  after  which  he  returned  to 
Bordeaux,  with  the  intention  of  studying  for  the 
ministry. 

In  the  beginning  of  1604,  Mr.  Cameron  was 
nominated  one  of  the  students  of  divinity  who 
were  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  protestant 
church  at  Bordeaux,  and  who  for  the  period  of 
four  years  were  at  liberty  to  prosecute  their  studies 
in  any  protestant  seminary.  During  this  time  he 
acted  as  tutor  to  the  two  sons  of  Calignon,  chan- 
cellor of  Navarre.  After  spending  one  year  with 
them  at  Paris,  they  went  to  Geneva,  where  they 
remained  the  next  two  years,  and  thence  removed 
to  Heidelberg,  in  which  city  they  resided  for 
nearly  twelve  months.  A  series  of  theses,  ^  De 
triplici  Dei  cum  Homine  Fcedere,'  which  he  pub- 
licly maintained  in  this  university,  on  4th  April 
1608,  have  been  printed  among  his  works.  In 
the  same  year  a  vacancy  having  occun*ed  in  the 
protestant  church  at  Bordeaux,  by  the  death  of 
one  of  the  ministers,  he  was  recalled  to  that  town, 
and  appointed  colleague  to  his  friend  and  country- 
man Primrose. 

In  1617  two  sea  captains  were  at  Bordeaux 
condemned  to  death  for  piracy;  as  they  professed 
the  reformed  faith,  Cameron  attended  them  in 
their  last  moments,  and  afterwards  published  a 
letter  entitled  ^Constance,  Foy,  et  R^olntion  k 
la  mort  des  Capitaines  Blanquet  et  Gaillard,* 
which  by  the  parliament  of  Bordeaux,  in  its  pop- 
ish animosity  to  protestantism,  was  ordered  to  be 
burnt  by  the  hands  of  the  common  executioner. 
In  the  following  year  he  was  appointed  professor 
of  divinity  in  the  university  of  Saumur,  the  prin- 
cipal seminary  of  the  French  protestants,  where 
he  had  for  a  colleague  Dr.  Duncan,  another  of  his 


learned  countrymen,  who  were  then  very  numerooa 
in  France.  The  high  reputation  which  he  had 
acquired  by  such  of  his  works  as  had  already  been 
published,  was  now  increased  by  his  academical 
lectures.  In  1620  he  engaged  in  a  formal  dispu- 
tation which  lasted  for  four  days,  on  the  doctrines 
of  grace  and  free  wUl,  with  Daniel  menus,  a  na- 
tive of  Silesia,  who  had  adopted  the  theological 
opinions  of  Arminius.  An  account  of  this  Arnica 
Collatio  was  printed  at  Leyden  in  the  subsequent 
year.  The  theological  faculty  of  that  university 
were  not  satisfied  with  some  of  Cameron^s  expla- 
nations; and  when  Rivet,  as  dean  of  the  faculty, 
communicated  to  him  their  dissent,  he  defended 
his  opinions  in  a  brief  answer.  The  civil  wars  in 
Fi*ance  in  1620  had  the  efiect  of  dispersing  nearly 
all  the  students  of  the  university  of  Saumur,  on 
which  Cameron,  with  his  family,  removed  to 
Fngland.  For  a  short  time  he  read  private  lectures 
on  divinity  in  Liondon,  and  in  1622  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  King  James  principal  of  the  university 
of  Glasgow,  in  the  room  of  Robert  Boyd  of  Troch- 
rig,  removed  in  consequence  of  his  firm  adherence 
to  presbyterianism.  Cameron,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  more  inclined  to  favour  episcopacy,  and  it 
seems  that  among  other  doctrines  taught  by  him 
was  the  dangerous  one  of  passive  obedience,  which 
was  n9t  calculated  to  render  him  popular  with  the 
presbyterian  students  of  those  days.  After  teach- 
ing divinity  for  about  a  year,  he  resigned  his  situ- 
ation. According  to  Calderwood,  he  '^was  so 
misliked  by  the  people,  that  he  was  forced,  not 
long  after,  to  remove  out  of  Glasco."  IHtst.  vol 
vii.  p.  567.]  He  returned  to  Saumur,  where  he 
was  only  permitted  to  read  private  lectures. 

The  province  of  Anjou,  in  1623,  made  an  ap- 
plication to  the  national  Synod  of  Charenton,  that 
he  might  be  reinstated  in  his  professorship,  but 
the  king,  in  a  letter  to  the  commissioner  to  this 
synod,  declared  against  his  appointment  to  any 
ministerial  or  academical  office  in  France,  and 
the  request  was,  in  consequence,  not  granted; 
but  on  a  representation  by  Cameron  to  the  same 
synod,  that  he  was  then  without  employment,  and 
destitute  of  any  adequate  means  for  the  suj^rt  of 
his  family,  the  synod  voted  him  a  donation  of  a 
thousand  livres.  In  the  following  year  (1624)  he 
was  permitted  to  accept  of  the  professorship  of 


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CAMERON, 


541 


RICHARD. 


diviuity  in  the  nnivei'sity  of  Moutaubaii,  whither 
oe  removed  before  the  close  of  the  year.  The 
disputes  between  the  protestants  and  romanista 
were  at  this  period  can-ied  very  tilgh,  and  having 
opposed  the  dake  de  Rohan,  who  endeavoored  to 
indace  the  people  of  Montaaban  to  take  up  arms, 
Cameron  was  attacked  in  the  streets  by  an  un- 
known miscreant,  supposed  to  have  been  a  Ca- 
tholic zealot,  and  severely  assaulted;  after  lan- 
guishing for  some  time  he  died  at  Montauban  in 
1626. 

He  was  twice  married.  By  his  first  wife,  Susan 
Bernard  of  Tonneins  on  the  Garonne,  whom  he 
had  married  in  1611,  he  had  a  son,  bom  at  Lon- 
don 10th  May  1622,  and  four  daughters ;  but  the 
son  and  the  eldest  daughter  died  before  their  fa- 
ther. Their  mother  having  died  of  consumption,  he 
married,  secondly,  at  Montauban,  Susan  Thomas, 
with  whom  he  only  lived  a  few  months,  and  who 
had  no  child.  The  maintenance  of  his  surviving 
family  was  undertaken  by  the  protestant  churches 
of  France. 

"  With  respect  to  his  person,"  says  Dr.  Irving, 
in  his  Life  of  Cameron,  **  he  was  of  the  middle 
size,  somewhat  inclining  to  a  spare  habit,  sound 
but  not  robust  in  his  constitution.  His  hair  was 
yellow,  his  eyes  were  brilliant,  and  the  expression 
of  his  countenance  was  lively  and  pleasant.  He 
appeared  to  be  always  immersed  in  deep  medita- 
tion, and  was  somewhat  negligent  in  his  apparel, 
and  careless  in  his  gait ;  but  in  his  manners  he 
was  very  agreeable,  and  although  he  was  not 
without  a  considerable  share  of  irritability  his 
anger  was  easily  appeased,  and  he  was  very  ready 
to  acknowledge  his  own  faults."  llrmng^s  Lives 
ofScotish  Writers,  vol.  i.  page  341.]  **From  this 
distinguished  person,"  he  adds,  "  a  very  consider- 
able party  among  the  French  protestants  derived 
the  name  of  Cameronites.  They  endeavoured  to 
explain  the  doctrine  of  grace  and  free  will  so  as 
to  establish  the  conclusion,  that  no  one  is  abso- 
lutely excluded  from  a  participation  in  the  bene- 
fits of  Christ's  sufferings,  though  all  are  not  en- 
abled to  embrace  the  offered  salvation.  Tlieir 
opinions  on  this  subject  they  attempted  to  recon- 
cile with  those  of  Calvin.  Those  who  held  such 
opinions  were  likewise  denominated  Universalists. 
They  were  sometimes  described  as  Amyraldists, 


from  the  name  of  Amyraut,  who  had  been  Came- 
ron^s  pupil  at  Saumur,  and  was  afterwards  a  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  in  that  university."  [Ibid,  pag«  | 
345.]  In  fact  Amyraut  received  fix)m  Camei-on 
those  peculiar  theories  which  he  developed  in  his 
*  System  of  Universal  Grace.'  Sir  Thomas  Ur- 
quhart  says  that  because  of  his  universal  reading, 
Cameron  was  called  "  The  Walking  Library." 

He  wrote  many  Latin  poems,  which  have  not 
been  preserved.  His  most  considerable  works 
were  published  by  others,  fix)m  copies  taken  by 
his  pupils. 

His  works  may  be  thus  given : — 

Santangelus,  sive  Stelitenticns  in  Eliam  Santangelom  Cau- 
ridicnm.    Rnpel,  16l6,'12ino. 

Traits  aaqael  sont  examines  lee  prejngez  de  oenx  de  Teglise 
Romaine  centre  la  Religion  Reforra^e.    Rochelle,  1617, 12ino. 

Theses  de  Gratia  et  Libero  Artntrio.    Salmor,  1618, 12mo. 

Theses  xUL  TheoL  de  Necessitate  Satisfactionis  Christi  per 
Peccatis.     Salmnr,  1620,  fol. 

Sept  Sermons  sor  le  cap.  vL  de  TEvangile  de  S.  Jean. 
Saam.,  1624«  8vo. 

Defensio  Sententiie  snse  da  Gratia  et  Libero  Arbltrio. 
Salmur,  1624,  8ro. 

An  Examination  of  those  plausible  appearances  which  seem 
most  to  commend  the  Romish  church,  and  to  prejudice  the 
Reformed.  Englished  out  of  French.  Oxf.  1626,  4to.  The 
same  in  French.    Roch.  1617, 12rao. 

Prselectiones  in  selectiora  quaedam  loca  Novi  Testament! 
una  cum  Tractatu  de  Ecclesia,  et  nonnulhs  misoellanlis  opus- 
culis.    Salmur,  1626-1628,  8  vols.  4to. 

Mjrothecium  Evangelicum,  in  quo  aliquot  loca  Not.  Tes- 
tament! explicantur,  una  cum  Spicilecrio  Lud  Cappelli  de 
eodem  Argumento,  cumque  2  Diatribia  m  Mattb.  xr.  6.  De 
ViU  Jephtse.  Gener.  1632,  4to.  et  in  Crit.  Sac.  1660. 
Loud.  1660.    Salmur,  1677,  4to. 

Of  the  Sovereign  Judge  of  Controversies  in  Matters  of  Re- 
ligion.   Oxf.  1628,  4to. 

Opera.  Being  his  collected  theological  works,  with  a 
sketch  of  the  author*s  life  and  character,  written  by  Gappel. 
Genev.  1642,  1658,  foL 

CAMERON,  Richard,  a  zealous  preacher  and 
mai't}T  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  the  son  of  a  small  shopkeeper 
at  Falkland  in  Fife ;  and  at  first  was  schoolmaster 
and  precentor  of  his  native  parish  under  the  epis- 
copalian clergyman.  He  was  afterwards  con- 
verted by  the  field  preachers,  and  persuaded  by 
the  celebrated  John  Welch  to  accept  a  licence  to 
preach  the  gospel,  which  was  conferred  upon  him 
in  the  House  of  Haughhead,  Roxburghshire,  hav- 
ing for  some  time  resided  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try as  preceptor  in  the  family  of  Sir  Walter  Scott 
of  Harden.  From  the  freedom  with  which  he 
asserted  the  spuitual  independence  of  the  Church 


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CAMERON, 


542 


HUGH. 


of  Scotland,  he  excited  the  hostility  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  presby  terian  clergy  who  had  taken  ad- 
vantage of  the  act  of  indalgence  of  1672,  and  in 
1677  he  was  reproved  for  his  boldness  at  a  meet- 
ing of  them  held  at  Edinburgh.  He  afterwards 
went  to  Holland,  where  his  great  zeal  and  ener- 
getic character  made  a  sti-ong  impression  upon 
the  ministers  who  were  then  living  in  exile  in  that 
country.  At  his  ordination,  Mr.  Ward  retained 
his  hand  for  some  time  on  the  young  preacher's 
head,  and  exclaimed,  ^^  Behold,  all  ye  beholders, 
here  is  the  head  of  a  faithful  minister  and  servant 
of  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  lose  the  same  for  his 
Master's  interest,  and  it  shall  be  set  up  before  the 
sun  and  the  moon  in  the  view  of  the  world."  In 
1680  he  returaed  to  Scotland,  and  in  spite  of  the 
severe  measui*es  of  the  government,  immediately 
began  the  practice  of  field  preaching.  The  cruel 
and  tyrannical  proceedings  of  the  executive  against 
him  and  the  small  party  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected, and  who  considered  him  their  head,  led 
him  to  take  a  bold  and  desperate  step.  On  the 
20th  of  June  1680,  in  company  with  about  twenty 
other  persons,  well  armed,  he  entered  the  little 
remote  burgh  of  Sanquhar,  and  made  public  pro- 
clamation at  the  Cross,  that  he  and  those  who 
adhered  to  him  renounced  their  allegiance  to  the 
king,  Charles  the  Second,  on  account  of  his  hav- 
ing abused  the  government ;  at  the  same  time  de- 
claring war  against  him  and  his  brother,  the  duke 
of  York,  whose  succession  to  the  tlirone  they 
avowed  their  resolution  to  resist.  A  reward  of 
five  thousand  merks  was  immediately  offered  by 
the  privy  council  for  Cameron's  head,  and  three 
thousand  merks  for  the  heads  of  the  rest ;  and 
parties  of  soldiers  wei*e  immediately  sent  out  to 
arrest  them.  The  little  band  kept  togctlier  in 
arms  for  a  month  in  the  mountainous  country  be- 
tween Nithsdale  and  Ayrshire.  On  the  20th  of 
July  they  were  surprised  on  Airdsmoss  by  Bruce 
of  Earlshall,  with  a  party-of  horse  and  foot  much 
superior  to  them  in  numbers.  Cameron,  who  was 
believed  by  his  followers  to  have  a  gift  of  pro- 
phecy, is  said  to  have  that  morning  washed  his 
hands  with  particular  care,  in  the  expectation  that 
they  were  immediately  to  become  a  public  specta- 
cle. His  party  at  the  sight  of  the  enemy  gathered 
closely  around  him,  and  he  uttered  a  short  prayer. 


in  which  he  thrice  repeated  the  expression,  **  Lord\ 
spare  the  green,  and  take  tl^e  ripe!"  He  then 
said  to  his  brother,  *^  Come !  let  us  fight  it  out  to 
the  last  1"  After  a  brief  skirmish,  in  which  tbey 
were  allowed  even  by  theur  enemies  to  have  fought 
with  great  bravery,  Bruce's  party,  from  their 
superiority  of  numbers,  gained  the  victory. 

Cameron  was  among  the  slam,  and  his  head 
and  hands,  after  being  cut  off,  were  carried  to 
Edinburgh,  along  with  the  prisoners,  among  whom 
was  the  celebrated  Hackstoun  of  Rathillet.  The 
father  of  Cameron  was  at  this  time  in  prison  for 
nonconformity,  and  the  head  and  hands  of  his  son 
were  shown  to  him  with  the  question,  **  Did  he 
know  to  whom  they  belonged?"  The  old  man 
seized  the  bloody  relics  with  all  the  eagerness  of 
parental  affection,  and,  kissing  them  fervently, 
exclaimed,  **  I  know,  I  know  them ;  they  wre  my 
son's,  my  own  dear  son's ;  it  is  the  Lord ;  good  is 
the  will  of  the  Liord,  who  cannot  wrong  me  or 
mine,  but  has  made  goodness  and  mercy  to  follow 
us  all  our  days."  The  head  and  hands  were  then 
fixed  upon  the  Netherbow  Port,  the  fingers  point- 
ing upward,  in  mocker/ of  the  attitude  of  prayer. 
The  body  was  buried  with  the  rest  of  the  slain  on 
the  spot  where  they  fell  at  Airdsmoss,  where  a 
plain  monument  was  in  better  times  erected  over 
them.  The  small  but  zealous  body  of  presby te- 
rlans  who  adhered  to  Cameron  in  his  life,  were 
from  him  designated  Cameronians;  a  name  which 
is  sometimes  given  to  the  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church. 

CAMERON,  Hugh,  a  pei-son  of  humble  origin, 
yet  deserving  a  place  in  this  work  as  one  of  the 
gieatest  local  benefactors  to  the  Breadalbane 
district  of  Perthshire,  was  born  in  1705,  and 
was  no  more  than  a  country  millwright.  After 
acquiiing  a  knowledge  of  his  business,  he  settled 
at  Shiain  of  Lawers,  where  he  built  the  first  lint- 
mill  that  ever  was  erected  in  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland.  Before  his  time  only  the  distaff  and 
spindle  wei*e  used  for  spinning  lint  and  wool  in 
that  part  of  the  countiy ;  and  he  was  not  only  tbe 
first  who  constructed  spinning-wheels  and  jack- 
reels  in  Bi-eadalbane,  but  he  was  likewise  the  first 
who  taught  the  people  there  how  to  use  them. 
The  number  of  lint-mills  afteiif^'ards  erected  by 
him  throughout  the  Highlands  cannot  be  reckoned 


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Indmi  %uximK^tii  id  J^cMkBitr. 


I. 


Campyi,  fatb  d  fat^ak — ^JfHmilj  trf  ^rg^Ie. 


OBBAT  AVCmOB  OH  FKMALK  UDB. 


DfavBid  O'DwiB,  Locd  of  Loobow.— Clan  CamplMU  itylMl  ftom  hhn  Otol  DkarmkL 
2&8  4  5 


Sir  CoHn,  his  wn, 
knighted  1280, 

styled 

Mm  Chaillan 

More,  slain  la  a 

fradwUh 

LordLorn, 

13M. 


8.  Dnncan,hia 

son.    Reign  of 

Malcolm  IV. 

8.  Colin, 

Duncan's  son. 

Reign  of 

William  the  Lion. 


8 


Sit  Nlel,  Sir 
CoUn's  son, 
died  1316,  murried 
Lady  Mary,  sister 
of  Roliert  Bruce. 
His  brother  Don- 
ald progenitor  of 
Campbells' of 


Gillespie  or 

Archibald,  Colin*8 

son,  mentioned 

In  statutes  of 


Dnnean, 
Gniespic'a  son. 
married  a  daugh- 
ter of  house  of 

Comyn. 

Reign  of 
Alexander  U 


9 


Sir  Colin,  Sir 
Kiel's  eldest  son, 
died  circa  1340. 
His  broUier  John, 
ancestor  of  Camp- 
bells of  Uarbreck, 

Succoth,  and 
other  families  of 
the 


lO&ll 


10.su- Gillespie  or 

Archibald,  Sir 
Colin's  eldest  son. 

11.  Sir  Colin, 
Sir  Gillespie's  son. 
Sir  CoUn's  sticoud 
son,  Colin  Camp- 
bell of 
Ardkinglaai. 


Sir  GUleq>ia. 
DvDcan'saoo. 

Reign  of 
Alexander  m. 


12 


ffir  DoBCSJi  of 

Argyle,8irColin*s 

eldest  son.  Lord 

Campbell,  1445, 

died  1453.   His  3d 

ion.  Sir  Colin  of 

Glennrchy,  anoea. 

tor  of  earls  of 

BreadallwnA. 


CoUn,  Sir  Don- 
can's  grandson, 

created  earl 
ofArgyIel467, 
lord  high  chancel- 
lor of  Scotland 
1483,  m.  Lady 
IsabeUa  Stewart, 
Loo-belressofl 


6&7 


«.  CoUn,6th 
earl's  half  brother, 
lord  high  chan- 
cellor, died  1581 
7.  Archibald, 
eth  earl's  elder 
son,  died  at 
Londmi,  1638, 
aged  61 


2&d 


3.  Archibald, 
his  eldest  son, 
slain  at  Flodden 

1618. 
8.  Colm,  2d  taiYt 
^est  son.  Justice 
general  of  Scot- 
taad,diodl53a 


Cndi  of  ^xgjtk. 


Sir  John  Camp- 
bell, 8d  son  of 
Sd  earl,  ancestor 
of  earls  of 
Cawdor. 


TflixBC(pa$  of  ^xgjj^» 


Archn)ald,8d 
carl's  eldest  son, 
the  flrst  Scots 
noble  who  em- 
braced the  Re- 
formation, • 
died  1558. 


A2tMbald,hla 
■oconeoftba 
lorda  of  the  Con- 
gregation, and 
lord  high  chan- 
cellor, died, 
without  laaoib 
157& 


9UiBiiri. 


Archibald,  7th 
earl's  eldest  son, 

bom  1598, 

8th  earl,  created 

marquis  of  Argyle 

1641,  behead 

166L 


Arehibald, 

the  marquia* 

eldest  son, 

beheadoll68& 


]§vlku  of  ^sgU, 


Archibald,  10th 

eari,  eldest  son 

of  9th,  created 

duke  1701, 

diadnoa 


John.  Itt  dnke' 
•on,  bom  1678, 
commander-in- 


n 


2DE 


Archibald, 
second  duke*! 
brother,  bom 
1682,  eari  of  Islay 
1706.  died,  with- 
out iaane,  176L 


John,  Sd  doket 
oonahi,  aon  of 
Hon.  J<^n  Camp- 
bell of  Mamore, 
2d  son  of  9th  carl, 
bom  169S, 
died  1770 


John,  4th  dnke's 
eldest  son,  bom 

1723,  baron 

Sundridge  (Br. 

Prge)  1766,  field 

marshal  1796, 

di«11806. 


7 

8 

JohnDooglaB 

George  John 

Edward  Henry, 

Dooglaa.  seTcntli 

6th  dnke's  bro- 

dnke's  son, 

bora  1831, 

Lord  John 

P.  C.  1868, 

Campbell  of 

K.T.  185C 

Ardincaple,  bora 

married,  wilh 

Vl"7,diedl847JV 

\^           iM^ML           J 

ARMS  or  CAUFBBLI.,  DUKE  Or  AROTLE. 

-LandAtethananMofCampbeU.    1  and  8  for  lordship  of  Lorn.    BeMnd  tba  ihlild  tba  two  giiai4i|rigM  of 
frsataMMr^rthahoairtiold  and  high  )atUciai7«#8ooilaad.         .  ( 


>giiai49dgMor       ^ 

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CAMPBELL. 


543 


CAMPBELL. 


at  less  than  a  hundred.  In  short,  almost  all  the 
llnt-mllls  in  the  Highlands  of  Perthshire,  and 
many  in  the  counties  of  Inverness,  Caithness,  and 
Sutherland,  were  of  his  erecting.  He  also  con- 
structed the  first  barley-mill  that  was  built  upon 
the  north  side  of  the  Forth,  for  which  he  was 
highly  complimented  by  Maca  Ghlasarich, — Camp- 
bell the  bard, — ^in  a  veiy  popular  song,  called 
^Moladh  di  Eobhan  Camashran  Muilleir  lin,*  that 
is,  ^  A  song  in  praise  of  Hugh  Cameron,  the  lint 
miller.'  This  singular  character  died  in  1817,  at 
the  extraordinary  age  of  112  years.  Though  he 
could  only  be  called  a  country-wright,  he  was  a 
man  of  uncommon  genius,  of  great  integrity,  and 
of  a  very  shrewd  and  independent  mind. 

CAMERON,  William,  the  Rev.,  author  of  the 
excellent  congratulatory  song  on  the  restoration 
of  the  forfeited  estates,  1784,  inserted  in  John- 
son's Musical  Museum,  was  bora  in  1751,  and 
having  studied  for  the  Church  of  Scotland,  was  in 
the  usual  time  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel.  In 
1785  he  became  minister  of  the  parish  of  Kirk- 
ncwton.  His  first  work,  a  *  Collection  of  Poems,' 
printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1780, 12mo,  was  anony- 
mous. In  1781,  along  with  the  Rev.  John  Logan, 
of  Leith,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Morison,  minis- 
ter of  Canisbay,  in  the  county  of  Caithness,  (who 
died  in  1798,)  Mr.  Cameron  rendered  material 
assistance  in  preparing  the  collection  of  Para- 
phrases now  in  use  in  the  Church  of  Scotland.  He 
died  at  the  manse  of  Kirknewton  on  the  17th  of 
November  1811,  in  the  60th  yeai*  of  his  age,  and 
the  26th  of  his  ministry.  A  posthumous  volume 
of  poems  was  published  by  subscription  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1813,  8vo.  His  song,  on  the  restora- 
tion of  the  forfeited  estates,  beginning  "  As  o'er 
the  Highland  hills  I  hied,"  was  adapted  to  the 
fine  old  air,  called  "  The  Haughs  o'  Cromdale." — 
Notes  to  JolmaofCs  Musical  Museum  edited  by  W, 
Stenhouse, 

Camfbei«l,  a  Bomame  of  great  antiqoitj  in  Scotland,  and 
o(  frequent  oocarrenoe  in  Scottish  history.  It  is  stated  bj 
Pinkerton  to  have  been  derived  from  a  Norman  knight,  named 
de  Campo  Bello,  who  came  to  England  with  William  the  Con- 
qoeror.  As  respects  the  latter  part  of  the  statement,  it  is  to 
be  observed  that  in  the  list  of  all  the  knights  wbo  composed 
the  army  of  the  Conqneror  on  the  occasion  of  his  invasion  of 
England,  and  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  Roll  of 
Battle-Abbey,  the  name  of  Campo  Bello  is  not  to  be  found. 
But  it  does  not  follow,  as  recent  writers  have  assumed,  that 
a  knight  of  that  name  may  not  have  come  over  to  England  at 


a  later  period,  either  of  his  reign  or  of  that  his  suoeesson. 
Mr.  Pinkerton  has  associated  with  this  account  of  the  origic 
of  the  name  a  theory  that  the  Campbells  were  not  only  not 
Celts  but  Goths,  in  which,  however,  he  is  assuredly  mistaken. 

It  has  been  aHeged  in  opposition  to  this  account  that  in  the 
oldest  form  of  writing  the  name,  it  is  spelled  Cambel  or  Kam- 
bel,  and  it  is  so  found  in  many  ancient  documents ;  but  these 
were  written  by  parties  not  acquainted  with  the  individuals 
whose  name  they  record,  as  in  the  manuscript  account  of  the 
battle  of  Halidon  Hill,  by  an  unknown  English  writer,  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum ;  in  the  Bagman  Roll,  which 
was  compiled  by  an  English  clerk,  and  in  Wyntoun's  Chronicle. 
There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  at  any  period  it  was 
written  by  any  of  the  family  otherwise  than  as  Cttmpbeii, 
notwithstanding  the  extraordinary  diversity  that  occurs  in  the 
spelling  of  other  names  by  thdr  holders,  as  shown  by  Lord 
Lindsay  in  the  account  of  his  dan,  and  the  invariable  em- 
pk>yment  of  the  letter  p  by  the  Campbells  themselves  would 
be  of  itself  a  strong  argument  for  the  southern  origin  of  the 
name,  did  there  not  exist,  in  the  record  of  the  parliament  of 
Robert  Bruce  held  hi  1820,  the  name  of  the  then  head  of  the 
family,  entered  as  Sir  Nigel  de  Campo  Bello. 

The  writers,  however,  wbo  attempt  to  sustain  the  fabulous 
tales  of  the  sennachies,  assign  a  very  different  origin  to  the 
name.  It  is  personal,  say  they,  "like  that  of  some  others  of 
the  Highland  dans,  being  composed  of  the  words  canj  bent 
or  arched,  and  beul,  month ;  this  having  bc^i  the  most  pro- 
minent feature  of  the  great  ancestor  of  the  dan,  Diarmid 
O'Dwbin,  or  O'Dwin,  a  brave  warrior  celebrated  in  traditional 
story,  who  was  contemporary  with  the  heroes  of  Ossian.  In 
the  Gaelic  language  his  descendants  are  called  Siol  Diarmid, 
the  offspring  or  race  of  Diarmid." 

Besides  the  manifest  improbability  of  this  origin  on  othei 
grounds,  two  considerations  may  be  adverted  to,  each  of  tbem 
condusive. 

First,  It  is  known  to  all  wbo  have  examined  andent  gen- 
ealogies, that. among  the  Cdtic  races  personal  distinctives 
never  have  become  hereditary.  Malcobn  Cantnarej  Donald 
Bcme^  Bob  iSoy,  or  Evan  DAtf,  were,  with  many  other  names, 
distinctive  of  personal  qualities,  but  none  of  them  descended, 
or  could  do  so,  to  the  children  of  those  who  acquired  them. 

Secondly,  It  is  no  less  clear  that,  until  after  what  is  called 
the  Saxon  Conquest  had  been  completdy  effected,  no  heredi- 
tary surnames  were  in  use  among  the  Cdts  of  Scotland,  nor 
by  the  chiefs  of  Norwegian  descent  who  governed  in  Argyle 
and  the  Isles.  This  drcurostance  is  pointed  out  by  Tytler  in 
his  remarks  upon  the  eariy  population  of  Scotland,  in  the 
chapter  in  his  second  volume  of  tiie  History  of  Scotland.  The 
domestic  slaves  attached  to  the  possessions  of  the  church  and 
of  the  barons  have  their  genealogies  engrossed  in  andent 
charters  of  conveyances  and  confirmation  copied  by  him. 
The  names  are  all  Cdtic,  but  in  no  one  instance  does  the  son, 
even  when  bearing  a  second  or  distinctive  name,  follow  that 
of  his  father. 

According  to  the  genealo^sts  of  the  family  of  Argyle,  their 
predecessors,  on  the  female  side,  were  possessors  of  Lochow, 
in  Argyleshire,  as  early  as  404.  In  the  eleventh  century, 
Gillespie  (or  Archibald)  Campbell,  a  gentleman  of  Anglo- 
Norman  lineage,  acquired  the  lordship  of  Lochow,  by  mar- 
riage with  Eva,  daughter  and  bdrcss  of  Paul  0*Dwin,  lord  of 
Lochow,  denominated  Paul  Insporran.  from  his  being  the 
king's  treasurer. 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  of  Lochow,  sixth  m  descent  firom  this 
personage,  distinguished  himself  by  his  wariike  actions,  and 
was  knighted  by  King  Alexander  the  Third  in  1280.  In 
1291  he  was  one  of  the  nominees  on  the  part  of  Robert 


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CAMPBELL. 


Brace  in  the  oonteet  for  the  Scottish  crown.  He  added 
largely  to  his  estates,  and  on  account  of  his  great  prowess  he 
obtained  the  surname  of  More  or  great ;  from  him  the  chief 
of  the  Argyle  family  is  in  Gaelic  styled  Mac  Chaillan  More. 

According  to  the  universally  received  opinion  for  several  cen- 
turies, the  distinctive  Mao  is  understood  to  imply  son,  or  the 
son  of,  and  Mac  Chaillan  would  accordingly  imply  the  son  of 
Chaillan.  But  it  is  not  anywhere  said  or  supposed  that  Sir 
Colin*s  father  or  any  of  his  immediate  ancestors  bore  the 
name  of  Chaillan.  He  is  described  as  Dammut  CoUntu 
Camp-beU  Miles  JUkts  DominuM  GiUaspee  Camp-heL,  in  an 
acquisition  referred  to  in  a  charter  of  the  monks  of  Newbattle 
abbey  of  the  lands  of  Symontoun  in  Ayrshire,  the  reddendo  of 
whidi  Sir  Colin  made  over  to  that  abbey  in  1293.  The  father 
of  this  Gillespie  is  said  to  have  been  Duncan  Campbell,  mar- 
ried to  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Sommerville,  of  the  house  of 
CarawMth,  and  the  father  of  Duncan,  an  Archibald  Camp- 
bell, but  there  is  no  authentic  instance  of  their  being  styled  of 
Lochow.  Other  instances  occur  where  the  prefix  Mac  is  used 
without  signifying  son,  as,  for  example,  in  Macbeth,  who  b 
not  known  to  have  been  the  son  of  Beth,  and  whose  son  Ma- 
doch  did  not  bear  that  name;  and  also  in  the  genealogies  of 
the  Celtic  slaves  already  referred  to  quoted  by  Tytler  in  his 
history,  where  the  word  Mac  occurs  in  the  name  of  a  son 
which  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  his  father.  It  is  also  found 
in  compound  words,  as  Macpherson,  Macfarquharson,  &c., 
where  the  English  word  son  is  also  incorporated.  We  are 
therefore  led  to  look  for  another  explanation  of  this  frequent 
prefix.  It  is  not  found  in  Welsh  names.  In  the  few  Irish 
names  in  which  it  appears,  a  Scotch  origin  can  frequently  be 
traced,  and  it  is  often  used  in  the  form  of  Mag,  as  Magnire, 
Maginnes,  as  it  is  also  along  with  the  C  in  the  Scotch  names 
MacGUshan,  MaoGillivray,  &c.  In  the  oldest  Irish  records 
the  word  Mio  occurs,  and  is  translated  son,  and  this  mic  is 
frequently  found  combined  with  Mac,  as  Mic  Ma&  There  is 
a  curious  instance  in  Irish  history  oS  the  prefix  Mac  being 
employed  to  signify  great  or  big,  as  in  a  chief  in  the  r«gn  of 
Klizabeth,  who  is  said  to  have  been  called  Mao  Manus,  grttU 
handy  from  the  length  of  his  arms.  It  is  not  therefore  im- 
probable that  the  word  mac  or  mag  may  have  originally  been 
a  contraction  of  Magnus,  great  or  big,  employed  in  the  first 
instance  by  the  priests,  the  only  chroniclers  and  namegivers 
m  the  corrapted  Latin  of  those  ages,  either  as  an  independent 
personal  distinctive,  or  to  designate,  among  several  of  the 
same  name,  the  individual  of  greatest  size  and  strength,  and 
which  in  later  ages,  when  surnames  came  into  use,  might  be 
continued  by  their  descendants  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
children  of  others  of  the  same  name,  on  whom  such  a  personal 
distinctive  had  not  been  bestowed.  It  may  be  remarked, 
that  in  this  sense  it  sometimes  occurs  in  British  or  Welsh,  as 
well  as  in  Celtic  or  Irish,  topography,  as  Mackinleith,  the  great 
place  on  the  Leath^  a  hundred  and  town  of  great  antiquity 
in  Montgomeryshire;  Maginnis,  the  great  iiUmd,  the  ancient 
name  of  the  peninsula  between  Lough  Strangford  and  Dun- 
drum ;  also,  corrapted  into  Muck  or  Mug,  as  Mucross,  the 
great  cross;  and  in  composition  as  Carrickmacross,  the  rock 
of  the  great  cross.  It  is  probable  that  it  has  been  used  in 
other  countries  in  composition  of  names,  as  Magellan,  or 
Magalhaen,  the  great  stranger^  the  name  of  the  discovei-er  of 
Cape  Hora. 

On  this  supposition  also  the  word  Mac  Chaillan  appears  to 
be  the  Celtic  orthography,  according  to  their  pronunciation  of 
Mag  Allan  or  Alaine,  the  latter  a  word  whidi  is  not  only  a 
frequent  name  in  the  Romance  language  (with  which  the 
Norman-French,  as  spoken  in  Scotland  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury is  nearly  identified),  but  was  also  used  m  that  language 


to  signify  what  that  word  actually  meant,  via.,  ale(m^u^ 
stranger,  or  alien,  and  Mao  Caillane  would  thus  imply  the  tall 
or  large-bodied  stranger.  The  appellative  mor  or  more, 
although  frequently  used  in  modem  Celtic,  in  a  physical 
sense,  as  great,  was  in  earlier  times  more  properiy  a  distinc 
tive  of  superior  rank,  as  maormor,  the  ancient  name  for  tht 
Pictish  chiefs,  viz.,  chief  of  the  heads  (maora,  or  nu^fors,  a 
corrapted  Gotho-Latin  term,)  of  the  tribes.  This  term  mor 
is  still  preserved  in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages, 
which  are  descended  from  the  Romance,  to  express  such  a  dis- 
tinction of  rank  or  order,  as  alcayde  mor,  the  head  alcade; 
capitain  mor,  head  captain,  an  officer  equivalent  to  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  military  force  in  Portuguese  colonies; 
thesaureiro  mor,  head  treasurer,  &c,  &c.  The  identity  ot 
many  of  the  Romanfeiro  terms  preserved  in  peninsular  lan- 
guages, with  those  occurring  in  the  earliest  forms  of  Celtio 
words,  presents  matter  of  speculation  to  the  philologist  and 
antiquary,  but  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  the  earlier 
prevalence  of  that  tongue  and  its  larger  use  also  in  the  north 
of  Scotland  than  even  the  Saxon  itself,  as  the  conqueron 
under  Canmore  and  his  descendants  were  chiefly  of  that  race, 
and  in  mixing  with  the  natives,  they  may  have  retained  a 
number  of  these  Gotho-Latin  terms  whilst  adopting  along 
with  them  in  the  course  of  that  amalgamation,  the  genentl 
idiom  of  the  conquered  people. 

It  is  therefore  suggested  that  the  Celtic  name  Mao  Chaillan 
Mor,  is  in  reality  a  compound  of  corrapted  Latin  and  Romance 
words  implying  the  great  or  tail  stranger  chief,  a  suggestion 
which  singularly  aids  the  opinion  which,  after  considerable 
attention  to  the  matter,  we  have  formed,  viz.  that  the  first 
of  the  Campbells  or  Campobellos  was  a  military  knight,  one 
of  whose  ancestors  may  have  assisted  Alexander  the  Second 
m  his  conquest  of  Argyle,  and  received,  along  with  the 
Steward  of  Scothwd,  who  obtained  all  Bute  and  Cowal  oo 
the  same  occasion,  the  adjacent  lands  of  Lochow  as  his  fee  or 
reward,  when  these  were  forfeited  by  the  rebellion  or  death  of 
the  original  possessor,  probably  receiving  the  band  of  tht 
daughter  of  the  latter  as  « further  security  for  his  acquisition. 
Whether  this  latter  circumstance  occurred  or  not,  it  was  not 
until  a  later  age,  when  the  fourth  earl  of  Argyle  had  acquired  the 
jurisdiction  over  that  region,  that  the  Norman  bearing  gyronny 
of  eight  for  Campbell,  came  to  be  quartered  in  the  armorial 
bearings  of  the  family,  with  the  galley  having  furied  sails 
oars  in  action,  and  flag  and  pendants  flying  for  the  lordshq>  ol 
the  Isles.  The  surrounding  people,  compelled  to  acquiesce  ia 
this  arrangement,  would  naturally  describe  a  knight,  or  the 
son  of  a  knight,  so  injected  into  their  midst,  by  the  appella- 
tion of  the  great  stnmger  diuf.  In  the  account  given  of  the 
origin  of  the  name  Campbell,  by  Jacob  in  his  English  peer- 
age, under  their  English  title  of  Sundridge,  vol  ii.  p.  C98, 
London,  1767,  there  is  a  statement  apparently  contradictory 
of  the  forcing  theory,  viz.,  that  the  name  Mac  Chilian,  or 
as  rendered  by  him  Mac  Callan,  is  that  of  Sir  Colin  himself, 
'*80  called  by  the  Irish.**  Admitting  this  to  be  the  case, 
although  its  similarity  is  not  apparent,  its  only  effect  would 
be  that  instead  of  the  great  stranger  chirf,  the  distinctive 
Mac  Caillan  More  would  mean  Co^  the  great  or  tail  ch^f. 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  had  a  quarrel  with  a  powerful  neigh- 
bour of  his,  the  Lord  of  Lorn,  and  after  he  had  defeated  him, 
pursuing  the  victory  too  eagerly,  he  was  shun  Qn  1294,  ac- 
cording to  Jacob  in  the  account  referred  to)  at  a  place  called 
the  String  of  Cowal,  where  a  great  obelisk  was  erected  over 
his  grave.  This  is  said  to  have  occasioned  bitter  feuds  be- 
twixt the  houses  of  Lochow  and  Lora  for  a  long  period  of 
years,  which  were  put  an  end  to  by  the  marriage  of  the 
daughter  of  Ergadia,  the  Celtic  proprietor  of  Lorn,  with  Juba 


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CAMPBELL. 


Stewart  of  Innermeath  about  1386.     Sir  Colin  married  a  lady 
of  the  name  of  Sinclair,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons. 

Sir  Kiel  Campbell  of  Lochow,  his  eldest  son,  swore  fealty 
to  Edward  the  First,  but  afterwards  joined  Robert  the  Bruce, 
and  fought  by  his  side  in  almost  every  encounter,  from  the 
defeat  at  Mcthven  to  the  victory  at  Bannockbum.  King 
Robert  rewarded  his  services  by  giving  him  his  sister,  the 
Ijidy  Mary  Bruce,  in  marriage,  and  conferring  on  him  ^he 
lands  forfeited  by  the  earl  of  Athol.  Sir  Kiel,  who  was  also 
styled  Mac  Chaillan  More,  was  one  of  the  commissioners  sent 
to  York  in  1314,  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  the  English.  His 
next  brother  Donald  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Campbells  of 
lioudon.  [See  Loudon,  earl  of.]  His  three  younger  brothers, 
Dugal,  Arthur,  and  Duncan,  all  swore  fealty  to  King  Ed- 
ward in  1296,  but  also  became  devoted  adherents  of  Robert 
the  Bruce,  and  shared  his  favours.  By  his  wife,  the  Lady 
Mary  Bruce,  Sir  Kiel  had  three  sons,  Sir  Colin ;  John,  created 
earl  of  Athol,  upon  the  forfeiture  of  David  de  Strathbogie,  the 
eleventh  earl,  [see  Athol,  earl  of,]  and  Dngal. 

Sir  Colin,  the  eldest  son,  obtained  a  charter  from  his  uncle. 
King  Robert  Bruce,  of  the  lands  of  Lochow  and  Ardscod- 
niche,  dated  at  Arbroath,  10th  February,  1816,  in  which  he 
b  designated  CoUnusJUku  NigeUi  CamM,  mUUis,  In  1816, 
he  accompanied  King  Robert  to  Ireland  to  assist  in  placing 
his  brother,  Edward  Bruce,  on  the  throne  of  that  kingdom. 
Sir  Colin  assisted  the  steward  of  Scotland  in  1334,  in  the 
surprise  and  recovery  of  the  castle  of  Dunoon,  in  Cowal,  be- 
longing to  the  Steward,  but  held  by  the  English  and  the 
adherents  of  Edward  Baliol,  and  put  all  within  it  to  the 
sword,  a  feat  which  gave  the  first  turn  of  fortune  in  favour 
of  King  David  Bruce.  As  a  reward  Sir  Colin  was  made 
*  hereditary  governor  of  the  castle  of  Dunoon,  and  had  the 
grant  of  certain  lands  for  the  support  of  his  dignity.  Wyn- 
toun  states  that  it  was  his  brother  Dugal  who  did  this  ser- 
vice, but  Crawford  has  shown  that  this  is  wrong.  Sir  Colin 
died  alK>ut  1340.    By  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  house  of 


Lennox,  he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter;  namely.  Sir 
Gillespie  or  Archibald;  John,  from  whom  the  Campbells  of 
Barbreck  and  Succoth,  and  other  families  of  the  name,  are 
said  to  be  descended ;  Dugnl,  who  joined  Edward  Baliol,  and 
in  consequence  his  estates  in  Cowal  were  forfeited  by  King 
David  the  Second,  and  given  to  his  eldest  brother;  and  Alicia, 
married  to  Alan  Lauder  of  Hatton. 

The  eldest  son,  Sir  Gillespie  or  Archibald,  who  added 
largely  to  the  family  possessions,  was  twice  married,  first  to 
a  lady  of  the  family  of  Menteith,  and,  secondly,  to  Mary, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Lamont,  and  had  a  son.  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  of  liOchow,  who  married  Margaret  second  daughter 
of  Sir  John  Drummond  of  Stobhall,  sister  of  Annabella,  queen 
of  Robert  the  Third.  He  had  three  sons,  Duncan,  Colin, 
and  David,  and  a  daughter,  married  to  Duncan  Macfarlane 
of  Arrochar.  Colin,  the  second  son,  was  designed  of  Ard- 
kinglass,  and  of  his  family  the  Campbells  of  Ardentinny, 
Dunoon,  Carrick,  Skipnish,  Blythswood,  Shawfield,  Rachan, 
AuchwUlan,  and  Dergachie,  are  brandies. 

Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of  Lochow,  the  eldest  son,  was  one 
of  the  hostages  in  1424,  under  the  name  of  Duncan  lord  of 
Argyle,  for  the  payment  of  the  sum  of  forty  thousand  pounds 
(equivalent  to  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  our  money) 
for  the  expense  of  King  James  the  First  s  maintenance  dur- 
ing his  long  imprisonment  in  England,  when  Sir  Dflncan  was 
foimd  to  be  worth  fifteen  hundred  merks  a-year.  He  was 
the  first  of  the  family  to  assume  the  designation  of  Ai^le. 
By  King  James  he  was  appointed  one  of  his  privy  council, 
and  constituted  his  justiciary  and  lieutenant  within  the  shire 
of  Argyle.  He  became  a  lord  of  parliament  in  1445,  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Campbell.  He  died  in  1458,  and  was  buri- 
ed at  Kilmun.  He  married,  first,  Marjory  or  Mariots  Stew- 
art, daughter  of  Robert  duke  of  Albany,  governor  of  Scotland 
In  Pinkerton's  Scottish  Gallery,  there  are  portraits  of  both 
the  first  Ijord  Campbell  and  his  wife,  of  which  the  following 
are  woodcuts :  2  if 


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FIRST  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


by  his  first  wife  be  had  three  sons,  Celestifie,  who  died  be- 
fore him ;  Archibald,  who  also  predeceased  hinrif  but  left  a  son ; 
and  Colin,  who  was  the  first  of  Glenorchy,  and  ancestor  of 
the  Breadalbane  family,  [see  Bbeadalbanb,  earl  and  mar- 
Quis  of,  ante^  p.  876].  Sir  Duncan  married,  secondly,  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Blackball  and  Auch- 
ingown,  natural  son  of  Robert  the  Tliird,  by  whom,  also,  he 
had  three  sons,  namely,  Duncan,  who,  according  to  Crawford, 
was  the  ancestor  of  the  house  of  Auchinbreck,  of  whom  are 
the  Campbells  of  Glencardel,  Glensaddel,  Kildurkland,  Kil- 
morie.  Wester  Keams,  Kilberry,  and  Dana;  N)el,  progenitor, 
according  to  Crawford,  of  the  Campbells  of  EUengreig  and 
Ormadale ;  and  Arthur  or  Archibald,  ancestor  of  the  Camp-' 
bells  of  Ottar,  now  extinct.  It  is  3aid  that  the  Campbells  of 
Auchinbreck  and  their  cadets,  also  EUengreig  and  Ormadale, 
descend  from  tliis  the  youngest  son,  and  not  from  his  brothers. 

The  first  Lord  Campbell  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson 
Colin,  the  son  of  his  second  son  Archibald.  He  acquired 
pnrt  of  the  lordship  of  Campbell  in  the  parish  of  Dollar,  by 
marrying  the  eldest  of  the  three  daughters  of  John  Stewart, 
third  lord  of  Lorn  and  Innermeath.  He  did  not,  as  is  gen- 
erally stated,  acquire  by  this  marriage  any  part  of  the  lord- 
ship of  Lorn  (which  passed  to  Walter,  brother  of  John,  the 
fourth  Lord  Innermeatii,  and  heir  of  entail),  but  obtained  that 
lordship  ^  exchange  of  the  lands  of  Baldoning  and  Inner- 
doning,  &a  in  Perthshire,  with  the  said  Walter.  In  1457  he 
was  created  earl  of  Argyle.  He  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  negotiating  a  truce  with  King  Edward  the  Fourth 
of  England,  in  1463,  and  in  1465  was  appointed,  with  Lord 
Boyd,  justiciary  of  Scotland,  which  office  he  filled  for  many 
years  by  himself  after  the  fall  of  his  colleague.  In  1470  he 
was  created  baron  of  Lorn,  and  in  the  following  year  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  for  settling  the  treaty  of 
alliance  with  King  Edward  the  Fourth  of  England,  by  which 
James,  prince  of  Scotland,  was  affianced  to  Cecilia,  Edward's 
youngest  daughter.  He  was  also  one  of  the  commissioners 
sent  to  France  to  renew  the  treaty  with  that  crown  in  1484, 
and  he  eventuallv  became  lord-high-chancellor  of  Scotland. 


In  1475  tliis  nobleman  was  appointed  to  prosecute  a  decree 
of  forfeiture  against  John,  earl  of  Ross  and  lord  of  the  Isles, 
and  in  1481  he  received  a  grant  of  many  lands  in  Knapdale, 
along  with  the  keeping  of  Castle  Sweyn,  which  had  previ- 
ously been  held  by  the  lord  of  the  Isles.     He  died  in  1493. 

The  manner  in  which  the  lordship  of  Campbell  and  Cas- 
tJe  Campbell  in  the  parish  of  Dollar  came  into  the  posses- 
ion of  Uie  family  of  Argyle,  is  detailed  in  the  New  Sta- 
tistical Account  of  Scotland  with  considerable  research, 
Isabella  Stewart,  supposed  to  be  the  eldest  daughter  of 
John  third  Lord  Innermeath,  and  first  countess  of  Aigyie, 
inherited  about  1460  one-third  of  the  lands  of  Dollar  and 
Gloom,  supposed  to  be  the  unentailed  portion  of  the  estate  of 
Innermeath,  as  heir-portioner  with  her  two  idsters, — Maigar 
ret,  married  to  Sir  Colin  Campbell  of  Glcnorchie,  ancestor  (A 
the  marquis  of  Breadalbane;  and  Marion,  married  to  Ar- 
thur Campbell  of  Ottar.  The  third  belonging  to  Lady  Camp- 
bell of  Glenorchie,  was  ceded  to  the  Argyle  family  by  her  son 
Duncan  in  a  deed  of  renunciation  still  extant.  How  the 
third  portion  passed  into  the  Argyle  house  does  not  appear ; 
bnt  it  is  all  included  in  a  charter  of  confirmation  by  James 
the  Fourth  of  a  charter  by  the  bishop  of  Dunkeld,  dated  11th 
May  1497.  Muckartshill,  a  barony  to  the  east  of  Dollar, 
appears  about  the  same  period  (1491)  to  have  been  ieoed  by 
Shivaz  bishop  of  St  Andrews  to  the  earl  of  Argyle.  In  1489, 
by  an  act  of  the  Scottish  pariiament  the  name  of  Castle 
Gloom,  its  former  designation,  was  changed  to  Castle  Camp- 
bell. It  continued  to  be  the  frequent  and  favourite  residence 
of  the  family  till  1644,  when  it  was  burnt  down  by  the  Mao- 
leans  in  the  army  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose,  along  with 
every  house  in  Dollar  and  Muckart, — two  houses  only,  and 
these  by  mistake,  escaping  their  savage  farj.  It  was  at 
Castle  Campbell  that  Knox  tells  us  in  his  history  he  viated 
Archibald  the  fourth  earl  of  Argyle,  and  preached  during 
successive  days,  to  him  and  his  noble  relatives  and  friends 
Although  never  repaireil,  the  castle  and  lordship  of  Castle 
Campbell  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Argyle  family 
till  1808,  when  it  was  mh\. 


CAm'LK  GA>1PBI£LL. 


By  iHabel  Stewart,  his  wife,  eldest  daughter  of  John,  lord 
(ff  Lum,  the  first  earl  of  Argyle  had  two  sons  and  seven 
lUughters.  Archibald,  his  elder  son,  became  second  earl,  and 
Thomas,  the  younger,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of 


Lundie  in  Forfarshire.  One  of  his  daughters  was  mameil  to 
Angus  the  young  loixi  of  the  Isles,  and  was  belie\'ed  by  the 
ittlanders  to  have  been  the  mother  of  Angus*  son,  Donald 
Dubh,  who  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  uf  Inchoonnell  from 


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THIRD  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


his  infancy.  Another  daughter  was  married  to  Torquil  Mac- 
leod  of  the  Lewis.  Having  acquired  the  principal  part  of  the 
landed  property  of  the  two  sisters  of  his  wife,  the  first  earl  of 
Argyle  entered  into  a  transaction  with  Walter  Stewart,  Lord 
Lorn,  their  unde,  on  whom  the  lordship  of  Lorn  and  barony 
of  Innermeath,  which  stood  limited  to  heirs-male,  had  de- 
volved, in  consequence  of  which  Walter  resigned  the  lordship 
of  Lorn  in  favour  of  the  earl  of  Argyle,  who  thereupon  added 
the  style  and  designation  of  Lord  Lorn  to  his  other  titles, 
Walter  retaining  the  barony  of  Innermeath,  had  the  title  of 
Lord  Innermeath.     [See  Athol,  earl  of,  tmU,  p.  163.] 

Archibald,  second  eari  of  Argyle,  succeeded  his  father  in 
1493,  and  is  designed  lord- high-chancellor  of  Scotland,  in  a 
charter  to  him  by  Elizabeth  Menteith,  Lady  Rusky,  and 
Archibald  Napier  of  Merchiston,  her  son,  of  half  of  the 
Unds  of  Inchima,  Rusky,  &c,  in  the  county  of  Argyle,  28th 
June,  1494.  The  same  year  he  had  the  ofiioe  of  master  of 
the  household.  Crawford,  in  his  Peerage,  page  17,  says  he 
was  lord-chamberhun  in  1495,  but  his  name  does  not  occur 
as  such  in  Crawford's  Officers  of  State,  and  he  is  not  designed 
lord-chamberlain  in  any  of  the  charters  granted  to  him,  which 
were  numerous,  under  the  great  seal,  from  1494  to  1612.  In 
1499  he  and  others  received  a  commission  from  the  king  to 
let  on  lease,  for  the  term  of  three  years,  the  entire  lordship  of 
the  Isles  as  possessed  by  the  last  lord,  both  in  the  Isles  and 
on  the  mtunland,  excepting  only  the  island  of  Isla,  and  the 
lands  of  North  and  South  Kintyre.  He  also  received  a  com- 
mission of  lieutenandry,  with  the  fullest  powers,  over  the  lord- 
ship of  the  Isles ;  and,  some  months  later,  was  appointed 
keeper  of  the  ca.stle  of  Tarbert,  and  bailie  and  governor  of  the 
king's  lands  in  Knapdale.  In  1504,  when  the  insurrection  of 
*  the  islanders  under  Donald  Dubh,  who  had  escaped  from  pri- 
son, broke  out,  Argyle,  with  Huntly,  Crawford  and  Maris- 
chal,  the  Lord  Lovat,  and  other  powerful  barons,  were  charged 
to  lead  the  royal  forces  against  the  rebels ;  but  the  insurrec- 
tion was  not  finally  suppressed  till  1506.  From  this  period 
the  great  power  formerly  enjoyed  by  the  earls  of  Ross,  lords 
of  the  Isles,  was  transferred  to  the  earls  of  Argyle  and  Huntly ; 
the  formei  having  the  chief  rule  in  the  south  isles  and  adja- 
cent coasts.  [Gregory'i  HigkUmda  and  hies  of  Scotland,'\ 
At  the  fatal  battle  of  Hodden,  9th  September  1513,  his  lord- 
ship and  his  brother-in-law,  the  earl  of  Lennox,  commanded 
the  right  wing  of  the  royal  army,  and  with  King  James  the 
Fourth,  were  both  killed  in  that  sanguinary  engagement,  so 
disastrous  to  Scotland.  By  his  wife,  Lady  Elizabeth  Stewart, 
eldest  daughter  of  John,  first  earl  of  Lennox,  he  had  four 
sons  and  five  daughters.  His  eldest,  Colin,  was  the  third 
earl  of  Argyle.  Archibald,  his  second  son,  had  a  charter  of 
the  lands  of  Skipnish,  and  the  keeping  of  the  castle  thereof, 
&C.,  13th  August  1611.  His  family  ended  in  an  hdr-feroale 
in  the  reign  of  Mary.  Sir  John  Campbell,  the  third  son,  at 
first  styled  of  Lorn,  and  afterwards  (^  Calder,  married  Muri- 
ella,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  John  Calder  of  Calder,  now 
Cawdor,  near  Nairn,  as  previously  mentioned.  [See  Caldkr, 
gumame  of,  anU^  page  627.J 

According  to  tradition,  she  was  captured  in  childhood  by 
Sir  John  Campbell  and  a  party  of  the  Campbells,  while  out 
with  her  nurse  near  Calder  castle.  Her  uncles  pursued  and 
overtook  the  division  of  the  Campbells  to  whose  care  she  had 
been  intrusted,  and  would  have  rescued  her  but  for  the  pre- 
sence of  mind  of  Campbell  of  Inverliver  who,  seeing  their 
approach,  inverted  a  large  camp  kettle  as  if  to  conceal  her, 
and  commanding  his  seven  sons  to  defend  it  to  the  death, 
hurried  on  with  his  prize.  The  young  men  were  all  slain, 
and  when  the  Calders  lifted  up  the  kettle,  no  Muriella  was 
there.    Meanwhile  so  much  time  had  been  gained  that  farther 


pursuit  was  useless.  The  nurse,  at  the  moment  the  child 
was  seized,  bit  ofi*  a  joint  of  her  little  finger,  in  order  to  mark 
her  identity— a  precaution  which  seems  to  have  been  neces- 
sary, from  Campbell  of  Aucfainbreck*s  reply  to  one  who,  in 
the  midst  of  their  congratulations  on  arriving  safely  in  Ar- 
gyle with  their  charge,  asked  what  was  to  be  done  should 
the  child  die  before  she  was  marriageable  ?  **  She  can  never 
die,"  said  he,  **  as  long  as  a  red-haired  lassie  can  be  found  on 
either  side  of  Ix)chawe  !**  From  this  it  would  appear  that 
the  heiress  of  the  Calders  had  red  hair.  The  earl  of  Cawdor 
is  the  representative  of  Sir  John  Campbell  and  his  wife  Mu- 
riella, (see  Cawdor,  earl  of,)  and  the  Campbells  of  Aid- 
chattan,  Airds,  and  Cluny  are  their  collateral  descendants. 
Donald,  the  fourth  son  of  the  second  earl  of  Argyle,  was  ab- 
bot of  Cupar,  and  ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of  Kdthock  m 
Forfarshire. 

Colin  Campbell,  the  third  earl  of  Argyle,  was,  immediately 
after  his  accession  to  the  earldom,  appointed  by  the  council  to 
assemble  an  army  and  proceed  against  LaudUan  Maclean  of 
Dowart,  and  other  Highland  chieftains,  who  had  broken  out 
into  insurrection  and  proclaimed  Sir  Donald  of  Lochalsh  lord 
of  the  Isles.  This  he  was  enabled  to  do  the  more  eflectualiy, 
as  in  anticipation  of  disturbances  among  the  islanders,  he  had 
taken  bonds  of  fidelity  from  his  vassals  and  others  who  had 
attached  themselves  to  the  late  earl  his  father.  Owing  tc 
the  powerful  influence  of  Argyle,  the  insurgents  submitted  to 
the  regent,  after  strong  measures  had  been  adopted  against 
them ;  and,  upon  assurance  of  protection,  he  prevailed  upon 
them  to  appear  at  court,  and  arrange  in  person  the  terms  of 
pardon  and  restoration  to  favour ;  in  consequence  of  which 
considerable  progress  seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  Isles.  Argyle  and  his  followers  took  out  a  remis- 
sion for  ravages  committed  by  them  in  the  isle  of  Bute  in  the 
course  of  the  insurrection,  and  rendered  necessary,  it  may  be 
supposed,  from  some  of  the  rebels  having  thero  found  sheltel 
and  protection.  In  1517  Sir  Donald  of"  Lochalsh  again  ap- 
peared in  arms,  but  being  deserted  by  his  principal  leaders,  he 
effected  his  escape.  His  two  brothers,  however,  were  made  pri- 
soners by  Maclean  of  Dowart  and  Macleod  of  Dunvegan,  who 
had  submitted  to  the  government.  The  services  of  the  earl 
of  Argyle  had  mainly  contributed  to  this  state  of  matters  in 
the  Isles.  He  had,  eariy  in  that  year,  presented  to  the  regent 
and  council  a  petition,  requesting  ^'for  the  honour  of  the 
realm  and  the  commonweal  in  time  coming,"  that' he  should 
receive  a  commission  of  lieutenandry  over  all  the  Isles  and 
adjacent  mainland,  on  the  grounds  of  the  vast  expense  he  had 
previously  incurred,  of  his  ability  to  do  good  service  in  future, 
and  of  his  having  broken  up  the  confederacy  of  the  islanders ; 
which  commission  he  obtained  with  certain  exceptions.  He 
also  cliumed  and  obtained  authority  to  receive  into  the  king's 
favoiur,  all  the  men  of  the  Isles  who  should  make  their  sub- 
mission to  him  and  become  bound  for  future  good  behaviour, 
by  the  delivery  of  hostages  and  otherwise ;  the  last  condition 
being  made  imperatdve,  "  because  the  men  of  the  Isles  are 
fickle  of  mind,  and  set  but  little  value  upon  their  oaths  and 
written  obligations."  Sir  Donald  of  the  Isles,  his  brothers, 
and  the  Clandonald  were,  however,  specially  excepted  from 
the  benefit  of  this  article.  The  earl  likewise  demanded  and 
received  express  power  to  pursue  and  follow  the  rebels  with 
fire  and  sword,  to  expel  them  from  the  Isles,  and  to  use  his 
best  endeavours  to  possess  himself  of  Sir  Donald*s  castle  of 
Strone  in  Lochcarron.  [Gregonfi  Bighhndt  and  Isles  oj 
Scotkmdy  pages  119,  120.]  It  would  appear,  however,  that 
Argyle*s  sen-ices  were  not  treated  with  that  consideration  at 
the  capital  which  he  thought  they  were  entitled  to  receive,  as 
in  1519,  on  his  advice  to  the  council  that  Sir  Donald  should 


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548 


FOURTH  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


be  forfeited  for  high  treason,  meeting  with  some  opposition, 
he  took  a  solemn  protest  before  parliament  that  neither  he 
nor  his  heirs  should  be  liable  for  any  mischiefs  that  might  in 
future  arise  from  rebellions  in  the  Isles ;  as,  although  he  held 
the  office  of  lieutenant,  his  advice  was  not  taken  as  to  the 
management  of  the  districts  committed  to  his  charge,  neither 
had  he  received  certain  supplies  of  men  and  money,  formerly 
promised  him  by  the  regent  for  carrying  on  the  king's  senice 
in  the  Isles.   [^Jbtd.  page  125.] 

In  the  parliament  which  met  at  Edinburgh  26th  Febmary 
1525,  Argyle  was  appointed  one  of  the  four  governors  of  the 
kingdom,  the  duke  of  Albany's  regency,  from  his  continued 
absence  in  France,  having  been  declared  at  an  end.  In  Jan- 
uary 1526,  he  accompanied  the  young  king,  James  the  Fifth, 
against  the  queen-mother  and  the  rebel  lords,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  new  secret  council  appointed  in  that  year. 
For  some  years  the  Isles  had  continued  at  peace,  and  Argyle 
employed  this  interx'al  in  extending  his  influence  among  the 
chiefs,  and  in  promoting  the  aggrandisement  of  his  family 
and  clan,  being  assisted  thereto  by  his  brothers.  Sir  John 
Campbell  of  Galder,  so  designed  after  his  marriage  with  the 
heiress,  and  Archibald  Campbell  of  Skipnish.  ITie  former 
was  particularly  active.  In  1527  an  event  occurred,  which 
forms  the  groundwork  of  Joanna  Baillio's  celebrated  tragedy 
of '  The  Family  Legend,'  acted  at  the  Theatre  Royal,  Edin- 
burgh, with  great  success  in  1810  [see  an/e,  p.  185].  It  is 
thus  related  by  Gregory  :  "  Lauchlan  Cattinach  Maclean  of 
Do  wart  had  married  I^dy  Elizabeth  Campbell,  daughter  of 
Archibald,  second  earl  of  Argyle,  and,  either  from  the  dr- 
cumst«nce  of  their  union  being  unfruitful,  or  more  probably 
owing  to  some  domestic  quarrels,  he  determined  to  get  rid  of 
his  Hife.  Some  accounts  say  that  she  had  twice  attempted 
her  husband's  life ;  but,  whatever  the  cause  may  have  been, 
Maclean,  following  the  advice  of  two  of  his  vassals,  who  ex- 
ercised a  considerable  influence  over  him  from  the  tie  of  fos- 
terage, caused  his  lady  to  be  exposed  on  a  rock,  which  was 
only  visible  at  low  water,  intending  that  she  should  be  swept 
away  by  the  return  of  the  tide.  This  rock  lies  between  the 
island  of  Lismore  and  the  coast  of  Mull,  and  is  still  known 
by  the  name  of  the  *  Lady's  Rock.^  From  this  perilous  situ- 
ation, the  intended  victim  was  rescued  by  a  boat  accidentally 
passing,  and  conveyed  to  her  brother's  house.  Her  relations, 
although  much  exasperated  against  Maclean,  smothered  their 
resentment  for  a  time,  but  only  to  break  out  afterwards  with 
greater  violence ;  for  the  laird  of  Dowart  being  in  Edinhui^h, 
was  surprised  when  in  bed,  and  assassinated  by  Sir  John 
.  Campbell  of  Calder,  the  lady's  brother.  The  Macleans  in- 
stantly took  arms  to  revenge  the  death  of  their  chief,  and  the 
Campbells  were  not  slow  in  preparing  to'  follow  up  the  feud ; 
but  the  government  interfered,  and,  for  the  present,  an  ap- 
peal to  arms  was  avoided."  [Higklandt  and  Isles  qf  Scot- 
land, p.  128.] 

On  the  escape  of  the  king,  then  in  his  seventeenth  year, 
from  the  power  of  the  Douglases,  in  May  1528,  Argyle  was 
one  of  the  first  to  join  his  majesty  at  Stirling.  He  accom- 
panied the  king  to  Edinburgh  on  the  6th  of  the  following 
July,  and  on  the  confiscation  of  the  vast  estates  of  the  Dou- 
glas family,  he  obtmned,  6th  December  1528,  a  charter  of  the 
barony  of  Abemethy,  in  Perthshire,  forfeited  by  Archibald, 
earl  of  Angus.  The  some  year  he  was  appointed  lieutenant 
of  the  borders  and  warden  of  the  marches.  On  the  refusal  of 
the  earl  of  Bothwell  to  lead  the  royal  army  against  the  earl 
of  Angus,  who  had  appeared  in  arms,  and  repeatedly  defeat- 
ed the  king's  forces,  the  task  of  the  expulsion  of  this  formi- 
dable rebel  from  Coldingham,  where  he  had  talcen  up  his 
q'iin*^cr8,  was  committed  to  the  earl  of  Argyle,  who,  with  the 


usbifttanoe  of  the  Homes,  oompelled  him  to  fly  into  EngUuid, 
whence  he  did  not  return  till  after  the  death  of  James.  Ar- 
gyle afterwards  received  an  ample  confirmation  of  the  hered- 
itary sherifl&hip  of  Argylesliire  and  of  the  offices  of  justiciary 
of  Scotland  and  master  of  the  household,  by  which  these 
offices  became  hereditary  in  his  family.  He  hod  the  oommi»- 
sion  of  justice-general  of  Scotland  renewed  2dth  October 
1529.  He  died  in  1530.  In  hb  last  years  he  was  engaged 
in  endeavouring  to  suppress  a  formidable  insurrection  in  the 
South  Isles,  headed  by  Alexander  of  Isla  and  the  Madeona, 
who  i^adily  seized  the  opportunity  to  revenge  the  death  of 
their  late  chief.  The  combhied  clans  made  descents  upon 
Roseneath,  Craignish,  and  other  lands  belonging  to  the 
Campbells,  which  they  ravaged  with  fire  and  sword,  killing 
at  the  same  time  many  of  the  inhabitants.  The  dan  Camp- 
bell retaliated,  by  laying  waste  great  part  of  the  Isles  of 
Mull  and  Tiree  and  the  lands  of  Morvem.  Argyle  demand- 
ed extraordinary  powers  from  the  king  to  enable  him  to  re- 
duce the  Isles  once  more  under  the  dominion  of  the  law,  but 
James  suspecting  his  motives,  resolved  upon  trying  concilia- 
tory measures,  and  offered  pardon  to  any  of  the  island  chiefs 
who  would  submit  to  the  government,  in  which  he  was  sue- 
oessful. 

By  his  countess,  Lady  Jane  Gordon,  eldest  daughter  of 
Alexander,  third  earl  of  Huntly,  the  third  eori  of  Argyle  had 
three  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  latter  married,  first,  to  James 
earl  of  Moray,  natural  son  of  King  James  the  fourth,  and  had 
a  daughter;  and,  secondly,  to  John,  tenth  earl  of  Sutherland, 
without  issue.  His  sons  were,  Archibald,  fourth  earl  of  Ar- 
gyle ;  John,  ancestor  of  the  Campbells  of  LochneU,  of  which 
house  the  Campbdls  of  Balemo  and  Stoncfidd  are  cadets; 
and  Alexander,  dean  of  Moray. 

Archibald,  the  fourth  earl  of  Argyle,  was,  on  his  aooesHion 
to  the  title  in  1580  (not  1533,  as  stated  by  Douglas  in  his 
Peerage  as  the  dote  of  his  fiither*s  death)  appointed  to  all  the 
offices  held  by  the  two  preceding  earls.  In  1531  be  com- 
manded on  expedition  against  the  South  Isles,  while  the  eori 
of  Moray,  nitural  brother  of  the  king,  proceeded  against  the 
North  Isles ;  but  in  both  districts  order  was  soon  restored  by 
the  voluntary  submission  of  the  insurgent  chiefs.  A  snsfn- 
don  had  begun  to  be  entertained  by  some  of  the  memben  of 
the  privy  council,  which  is  said  to  have  been  shared  in  by  the 
king  himself,  that  many  of  the  disturbances  in  the  Isles  were 
secretly  fomented  by  the  Argyle  family,  that  they  might  ob- 
tain possession  of  the  estates  forfeited  by  the  chiefs  thus 
driven  into  rebellion,  and  an  opportunity  soon  presented  itself 
which  the  king  eagerly  availed  himself  of,  to  curb  the  increts- 
ing  power  of  the  earl  of  Ai^le  in  that  remote  portion  of  the 
kingdom.  Finding  that  the  timdy  submission  of  Alexander 
of  Isla,  Madean  of  Dowart,  and  the  lesser  chiefs,  placed  them 
beyond  his  interference,  the  earl  presented  a  complaint  to  the 
coundl  against  the  first  of  those  named,  chaiiging  him  with 
various  Crimea.  Alexander  bdng  sunmioned  to  answer  the 
charges  made  his  appearance  at  once ;  but  Axgyle  absenting  him- 
self, the  island  chief  gave  in  to  the  council  a  written  statemeot, 
denying  the  crimes  laid  to  his  chox^  and  offering,  if  oom- 
mistfion  were  given  to  himself  or  any  other  chief,  for  colling 
out  the  array  of  the  Isles,  in  the  event  of  war  with  England, 
or  any  part  of  the  realm  of  Scotland,  to  bring  more  fighting 
men  into  the  field  than  Ai^le,  with  all  his  influence,  eouki 
levy  in  tiie  Isles ;  also,  in  cose  Aigyle  should  be  disposed  at 
any  time  to  resist  the  royal  authority,  to  cause  the  esri  to 
quit  his  own  country  of  Argyle,  if  he  had  the  king's  com- 
mands to  that  effect,  and  compel  him  to  dwell  in  another  part 
of  Scotland  where  "  the  king's  grace  might  get  reason  of  him," 
and  concluding  by  statmg  that  the  disturbed  state  of  the  Isles 


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CAMTBELL, 


549 


FIFTH  EARL  OF  ARCJYLE. 


was  mainly  caused  by  the  late  earl  of  Argyle  and  his  brothers, 
Sir  John  Campbell  of  CaldeTf  and  Archibald  Campbell  of 
Skipnish.  In  oonsequence  of  this  appeal  of  Alexander  of  Isla 
the  kmg  made  such  an  examination  into  the  coniphiiuts  of 
the  islanders  as  satisfied  him  that  the  family  of  Ai*gyle  had 
been  acting  more  for  their  own  benefit  than  for  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  and  the  earl  was  summoned  before  his  sovtreign 
to  gire  an  account  of  the  duties  and  rental  of  the  Isles  received 
by  him,  the  result  of  which  was  that  James  committed  him 
to  prison  soon  after  his  arrival  at  court  He  was  soon  liber- 
ated, but  James  was  so  much  displeased  with  his  conduct  that 
he  deprived  hhn  of  the  offices  he  still  held  in  the  Isles,  some 
of  which  were  bestowed  on  Alexander  of  Isla,  whom  he  had 
accused.  [Gregorifi  Uighlandi  and  IsUs^  page  141.]  On 
March  17,  1532,  a  remission  was  grunted  to  the  eari  and 
^^hty-tvro  others  for  their  treasonable  fire-raising,  with  his 
standard  unfurled,  in  the  islands  of  Mull,  Tiree,  and  Mor- 
vem,  as  ahready  stated  in  the  end  of  the  notice  of  his  father. 
In  August  1541,  five  thousand  pounds  were  given  to  him 
out  of  the  king's  treasury,  on  his  resignation  of  Makane's 
lands  in  the  isles  to  the  crown.  In  a  charter  to  him  of  the 
king's  lands  of  Cardross  in  Dumbartonshire,  dated  28th  April 
1542,  he  is  designed  master  of  the  king's  wine-cellar,  ^^cellse 
re;;is  vinarisB  magister."  After  the  death  of  James  the  Fifth 
he  appears  to  have  regained  his  authority  over  the  Isles,  and 
Donald  Dubh,  who  claimed  to  be  lord  of  the  Isles,  having 
appeared  in  arms  there,  at  the  head  of  several  of  the  dans, 
the  earl  prepared  to  defend  his  insular  acquisitions;  but 
in  1543  Donald,  with  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  invaded 
Argyle's  territories,  slew  many  of  bis  vassals,  and  carried  off 
a  great  quantity  of  plunder.  Argyle  was  one  of  the  peers 
who,  in  July  of  that  year,  entered  into  an  association  to  op- 
Dose  the  marriage  of  the  young  queen  Mary  and  the  youth- 
ful prince  Edward,  afterwards  King  Edward  the  Sixth  of 
England,  and  the  consequent  union  of  the  two  crowns,  *'•  as 
tending  to  the  high  dishonour,  perpetual  skaith,  damage  and 
ruin  of  the  liberty  and  nobleness  of  the  realm.''  In  1544  an 
r.xpedition  was  sent  by  Henry  the  Eighth  to  aid  the  eari  of 
Lennox  in  his  claim  to  the  regency,  to  harass  the  coasts  of 
Scotland,  and  thus  put  down  the  opposition  to  the  proposed 
royal  marriage.  An  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  earl  of  Len- 
nox, who  was  in  the  command  of  the  English  forces,  with 
eighteen  vessels  of  war  and  eight  hundred  men,  to  seize  the 
castle  of  Dumbarton  failed,  and  on  his  ships  passing  down 
tlie  Clyde  they  were  fired  at  by  the  earl  of  Argyle,  who,  with 
a  large  body  of  his  vassals,  and  some  pieces  of  artillery,  had 
taken  poet  at  the  castle  of  Dunoon.  On  his  arrival  at  Bute, 
Lennox  determined  to  attack  Argyle  in  turn.  The  hitter, 
with  seven  hundred  men,  attempted  to  oppose  the  landing  of 
Lenrox's  troops  at  Dunoon,  but  was  unable  to  withstand  the 
superior  artilleiy  of  the  English  vessels.  After  a  skirmish  in 
which  Argyle  lost  eighty  men,  many  of  them  gentlemen,  the 
village  of  Dunoon  was  burnt  and  plundered  by  the  invaders, 
Argyle  sust^iining  further  loss  in  attempting  to  harass  their 
retreat  Four  or  five  days  thereafter  Lennox,  with  five  hun- 
dred men,  landed  in  another  part  of  Arg>'le,  and  laid  waste 
the  surrounding  country.  At  the  disastrous  battle  of  Pinkie, 
10th  Sept  1547,  the  earl  of  Argyle  had  the  command  of  a 
large  body  of  Highlanders  and  Islanders,  and  he  also  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  siege  of  Haddington  m  the  following 
year.  In  June  1555  a  commission  was  given  to  the  earls  of 
Argyle  and  Athole  over  the  Isles,  and  on  the  queen  regent 
(Mary  of  Guise)  proceeding  to  the  north,  in  July  1556,  to  hold 
justice- courts  for  the  punishment  of  great  offenders,  the  eari 
of  Argyle  was  one  of  those  who  accompanied  her.  He  was 
the  first  of  the  Scots  nobles  who  embraced  the  principles  of 


the  Reformation,  and  employed  as  his  domestic  chaphun,  Mr. 
John  Douglas,  a  converted  Carmelite  fnar,  who  preached 
publicly  in  his  house.  I1ie  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  in  a 
letter  to  the  earl,  endeavoured  to  induce  him  to  dismiss 
DougUs,  and  return  to  the  Romish  church,  but  in  vain,  and 
on  his  death-bed  he  recommended  the  support  of  the  new 
doctrines  and  the  suppression  of  Popish  superstitions  to  his 
son.  He  died  in  August  1558.  He  was  twice  married.  By  his 
first  wife,  I.ady  Helen  Hamilton,  eldest  daughter  of  James 
first  earl  of  Arran,  he  had  a  son,  Archibald,  fifth  earl  of  Ar- 
gyle His  second  wife  was  Lady  Mary  Graham,  only  daugh- 
ter of  William,  third  earl  of  Menteith,  by  whom  he  had  Colin, 
sixth  earl,  and  two  diaughters.  Lady  Margaret  Campbell, 
the  elder  daughter,  married  James  Lord  Down,  ancestor  of 
the  earls  of  Moray.  Lady  Janet,  the  younger,  became  the  wife 
of  Hector  Maclean  of  Dowart;  Gregory  says  of  James  Mac- 
donald  of  Isla,  the  great  rival  of  the  Argyle  family  in  the  Isles. 

Archibald,  fifth  earl  of  Ajgyle,  was  educated  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  John  Douglas,  his  father's  domestic  chaplain 
and  the  fii-st  protestant  archbishop  of  St  Andrews,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  one  of  the  most  able  among  the  Lords  of 
the  Congregation.  In  December  1557,  when  styled  lord  ot 
Lorn,  with  his  father  and  the  earls  of  Glencaim  and  Morton, 
Erskine  of  Dun,  and  other  leading  reformers,  he  had  sub- 
scribed at  Edinburgh  the  first  bond  entered  into  in  Scotland 
for  the  support  of  the  gospel  and  the  maintenance  of  faithful 
ministers,  but  for  some  time  he  adhered  to  the  party  of  tbe 
queen -mother.  In  November  1558,  soon  after  his  accession 
to  the  title,  he  and  Lord  James  Stuart,  prior  of  St  Andrews, 
afterwards  the  regent  Moray, — the  one,  as  Douglas  remarks, 
the  most  powerful,  and  the  other  the  most  popular  leader  of 
the  protestant  party, — were  appointed  to  go  to  Paris,  with  the 
crown  and  other  ensigns  of  royalty,  to  crown  Francis,  dau- 
phin of  France,  as  king  of  Scotland,  on  his  marriage  with  the 
young  Queen  Mary;  "that  they,  being  employed  abroad, 
matters  of  greater  importance,  namely  anent  religion,  might 
be  overturned  at  home  in  their  absence.  The  consideratiou 
of  the  death  of  Mary,  queen  of  England,  who  ended  her  life 
the  seventeenth  day  of  this  same  month  of  November,  stayed 
them  altogether ;  for  it  was  thought  that  the  queen  and  her 
husband  the  king,  would  assume  to  themselves  greater  titles." 
[ CaldervDOod^  vol.  L  page  422.]  And  indeed  Francis  and  Mary 
did  soon  after  assume  the  title  of  king  and  queen  of  England, 
as  well  as  of  Scotland  and  France. 

On  the  occurrence  of  the  memorable  riot  at  Perth,  in  May 
1559,  when  the  '*  rascal  multitude,"  as  Knox  called  them, 
after  destroying  the  popish  altars  and  images,  proceeded  to 
level  with  the  ground  several  of  the  monasteries  and  other 
religious  houses,  the  queen  regent,  then  at  Stirling,  enraged 
at  the  tumult,  hastened  to  Perth,  at  the  head  of  seven  thou- 
sand men,  chiefly  French  auxiliaries  commanded  by  D^Oysei, 
with  the  purpose  of  inflicting  signal  vengeance  on  the  inhabi- 
tants. By  deceitful  promises  she  had  induced  the  protestant 
leaders  to  dismiss  their  aniied  followers,  and  she  hoped  to 
surprise  the  to^wn  before  any  new  or  effective  force  could  be 
oellected  to  oppose  her ;  but,  on  reaching  the  neighbourhood 
of  Perth,  she  found  that  the  Reformers  had  assembled  from 
aU  parts  to  the  assistance  of  theur  friends.  The  gentlemen  of 
Fife,  Angus,  and  Meams,  with  their  followers,  had  formed  a 
camp  near  Peith,  where  they  were  speedily  jomed  by  the 
earl  of  Glencaim,  with  two  thousand  five  hundred  men  from 
the  west  country.  Instead,  therefore,  of  attacking  the  town^ 
the  regent  sent  the  earl  of  Argyle  and  the  Lord  James  Stuart, 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  the  protestant  leaders,  hav- 
ing, with  her  usual  duplicity,  pei-suaded  these  two  noblemen, 
reformers  themselves,  that  the  I'eformation  of  religion  was  a 


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mere  pretence  with  those  who  opposed  her  authority,  and 
tliat  they  meant  nothing  bat  rebellion.  Ultimatelj,  on  the 
28th  of  May,  a  treaty  was  concluded,  prindpaMy  through  the 
means  of  the  earl  and  the  Lord  James  Stuart,  whereby  it  was 
agreed  that  the  two  armies  should  return  peaceably  to  their 
homes,  that  the  town  of  Perth  should  be  evacuated  by  the 
protestant  party  and  the  queen  regent  allowed  to  enter  it ; 
that  no  molestation  should  be  given  to  those  in  arms,  nor  to 
the  protestants  generally,  that  no  French  garrison  should  be 
stationed  in  Perth,  that  no  Frenchman  should  come  nearer 
that  city  than  three  miles,  and  that  in  the  approaching  as- 
sembly of  the  three  estates,  the  work  of  the  reformation 
should  be  finally  established.  The  leaders  of  the  Oongrega- 
tion  subscribed  this  agreement,  but  under  strong  apprehen- 
sions that  it  would  not  be  adhered  to,  and  before  they  separ- 
ated, 4  new  bond  was  entered  into  for  the  defence  of  each 
other  and  the  maintenance  of  the  true  religion,  which  was 
signed  by  Argyle,  the  Lord  James  Stuart,  the  earl  of  Glen- 
cuim,  Lords  Boyd  and  Ochiltree,  and  Mathew  Campbell  of 
Taringhame.  As  they  feared,  the  regent  very  soon  violated 
the  treaty.  She  entered  Perth  on  the  29th,  attended  by 
French  soldiers,  some  of  whom,  firing  their  hackbuts  on  the 
stair  of  Patrick  Murray,  who  was  known  to  be  a  reformer, 
killed  his  son,  a  boy  about  twelve  years  of  age.  This  being 
told  to  the  regent,  she  said  in  mockery,  **  It  is  pit^  it  chanced 
on  the  son,  and  not  on  the  father;  but  seeing  it  hath  so 
chanced,  rao  cannot  be  against  fortune."  The  inhabitant^ 
generally  were  harassed  with  every  kind  of  outrage,  and  not 
only  were  the  magistrates  dismissed  and  creatures  of  her  own 
put  in  their  place,  but  the  popish  service  was  restored,  with 
all  its  rites  and  ceremonies.  On  being  remonstratod  with  on 
this  infraction  of  the  treaty,  she  answered  that  she  was  not 
bound  to  keep  faith  with  heretics,  and  that  **  princes  were 
not  to  be  strictly  held  to  their  promises;**  adding,  **I  myself 
would  make  little  consdenoe  to  take  firom  all  that  sort  their 
lives  and  inheritances,  if  I  might  do  it  with  as  honest  an  ex- 
cuse.** Disgusted  at  her  perfidy,  and  having  no  further  con- 
fidence m  her  word,  the  earl  of  Aigyle  and  the  Lord  James 
Stuart  deserted  the  queen  regent,  and  at  once  went  over  to 
the  Congregation,  as  the  great  body  of  the  reformers  were 
called,  with  whom  theur  sympathies  had  been  all  along.  The 
queen  sent  a  charge  to  them,  under  the  pain  of  her  highest 
displeasure  to  return,  but  they  answered  that  with  safe  oon- 
sdences  they  could  not  When  she  departed  from  Perth  she 
leil  in  it  a  garrison  of  four  hundred  soldiers. 

In  the  meantime  the  ^arl  of  Argyle  and  the  lord  James 
Stuart  proceeded  to  St  Andrews,  and  on  the  way  sent  mis- 
sives to  Erskine  of  Dun,  the  laird  of  Pittarrow,  Halyburton, 
provost  of  Dundee,  and  other  leading  reformers,  to  meet 
tliem  in  that  dty,  on  the  4th  of  June,  to  take  measures  for 
the  promotion  of  the  Reformation.  John  Knox,  after  preach- 
ing at  Cupar  in  Fife,  at  Crail,  and  at  Anstruther,  in  all 
which  places,  as  at  Perth,  the  people  had  demolished  the  al- 
tars, the  images,  and  all  other  monuments  of  idolatry,  pro- 
ceeded to  St  Andrews,  where  he  had  agreed  to  meet  the  earl 
of  Argyle  and  Lord  James  Stuart  The  popish  archbishop 
came  to  the  town,  accompanied  with  a  hundred  soldiers,  and 
sent  a  message  that  if  Knox  ofiered  to  preach  in  his  cathedral 
church,  he  would  have  him  shot  with  a  dozen  hackbuts ;  his 
friends,  anxious  for  his  safiBty,  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him 
from  preaching,  but  he  would  not  be  prevented.  The  subject 
of  his  discourse  was  the  ejection  of  the  buyers  and  sellers 
from  the  temple,  which  **the  provost  and  bailies  with  the 
commonality  **  of  the  town  applied  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  times,  and  straightway  proceeded  to  puli  down  and  de- 
stroy their  splendid  cathedral,  with  the  other  churches,  razing 


the  monasteries  of  the  Black  and  Grey  fnars  to  the  ground, 
and  destroying  all  the  monuments  of  antiquity  within  the 
dty.  The  archbishop  hastened  to  Falkland,  where  the  r^ent 
was,  with  her  French  troops,  and  gave  her  the  first  intimasioo 
of  the  outrages  that  had  been  committed.  The  regent  im- 
mediately issued  a  proclamation  summoning  her  tatwps  and 
adherents  to  assemble  at  Cupar  next  day.  The  lords  of  the 
Congregation,  on  their  part,  despatched  earnest  representations 
to  their  friends  for  assistance,  and  tliough  only  attended  bj 
a  hundred  cavalry  and  the  same  number  of  infantry,  instantly 
marched  for  Cupar.  Their  adherents  hastened  to  their  aid, 
and  by  the  following  morning  they  were  joined  by  an  army  of 
three  thousand  men.  Lord  Ruthven  brought  some  borsemec 
to  them  firom  Perth;  the  earl  of  Rothes,  hereditary  sheriff  u( 
Fife,  also  came  with  a  goodly  company;  the  towns  of  St 
Andrews  and  Dundee  sent  their  most  effective  men,  and 
Cupar  poured  forth  its  population,  to  defend  itself  and  aid 
the  general  cause.  The  army  of  the  regent,  on  the  nKnming 
of  the  13th  June,  encamped  upon  an  eminence  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cupar,  called  the  Garliebank.  It  con- 
dstedof  two  thousand  Frenchmen  under  General  D*Oysel,  and 
about  one  thousand  Scots  under  the  duke  of  Chatdhemult, 
(Lord  Hamilton,  second  earl  of  Arran.)  The  troops  of  the 
Congregation,  the  command  of  which  had  been  assigned  to 
Halyburton,  provost  of  Dundee,  were  stationed  on  the  high 
ground  called  Cupar  muir,  to  the  west  of  the  town,  and  their 
ordnance  was  so  posted  as  to  command  the  surrounding 
country.  Astonished  both  at  the  strength  of  their  opponents 
and  the  skilfully-selected  position  which  they  occupied,  an4 
from  which,  by  twice  feigning  a  retreat,  they  endeavoured  ii 
vain  to  draw  them,  and  knowing  that  they  could  not  depend 
on  the  Scots  in  thdr  own  ranks,  should  a  battle  take  pboe, 
the  commanders  of  the  royal  forces  recommended  to  the 
regent,  who  had  remained  at  Falkland,  to  enter  into  a  nego- 
tiation with  the  lords  of  the  Congregation.  Yielding  to  ne* 
cessity,  she  consented,  and  a  truce  for  eight  days  was,  aftei 
considerable  discussion,  agreed  upon  between  the  duke  of  Cha- 
telherault  and  D*Oysel,  for  the  regent  and  the  earl  of  Argyle 
and  the  Lord  James  Stuart  for  the  Congregation,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  French  troops  should  immediately  be  transported 
to  Lothian,  and  that  the  r^ent  should  send  certain  noblemen 
to  St  Andrews,  to  adjust  finally  the  artides  of  an  effectual 
peace.  The  lords  of  the  Congregation  then  dismissed  their 
troops,  and  retired  to  St  Andrews :  but  though  the  regent  so 
far  kept  her  word  as  to  send  her  French  troops  and  artillery 
across  the  Forth,  the  reformers  waited  in  vain  for  the  appear 
anoe  of  her  commissioners.  At  this  time,  in  a  letter  from 
the  eari  of  Argyle  and  the  Lord  James  Stuart,  the  regent  • 
was  respectfully  but  earnestly  entreated  to  withdraw  the 
garrison  which  she  had  left  at  Perth,  but  no  attention  was 
paid  to  their  request  It  was,  therefore,  resolved  to  expd  the 
garrison  by  force.  The  lords  of  the  Congregation  again  ap- 
peared in  arms  at  the  head  of  their  followers,  and  on  the  24th 
of  June  marched  upon  Perth.  The  eari  of  Huntly,  chanceUor 
of  the  kingdom,  with  the  Lord  Erskine,  and  Mr.  John  Ban- 
natyne,  justice-clerk,  hastened  to  entreat  the  lords  to  de'ay 
bedeging  the  town  for  a  few  days,  lliey  were  told  that  it 
would  not  be  ddayed  even  for  an  hour,  and  that  if  one  dnglc 
protestant  should  be  killed  in  the  assault,  the  garrison  should 
be  put  indiscriminately  to  the  sword.  The  garrison  were 
twice  simimoned  to  surrender,  but  as  they  refused  to  do  so, 
the  batteries  of  the  Congregation  were  opened  upon  the  town; 
and  on  the  26th  of  June,  the  garrison  capitulated.  The 
burning  of  the  royal  palace  and  abbey  of  Scoon  followed. 
The  earl  of  Argyle  and  I^rd  James  Stuart,  with  Knox  and 
the  provost  of  Dimdee,  exerted  themsdves  to  save  them,  hot 


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FIFTH  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


in  Tun.  Being  apprized  that  the  regent  intended  to  seise 
and  garrison  Stirling  castle,  and  to  fortify  the  bridge  over  the 
Forth,  80  as  to  prevent  their  passage,  the  earl  and  the  lord 
Jiunee  Staart  left  Perth  at  midnight,  and  appeared  at  Stir- 
ling, with  their  forces,  in  the  morning.  On  this  occasion 
they  were  accompanied  hj  three  hundred  inhabitants  of 
Perth,  who  had  joined  the  standard  of  the  Congregation,  and 
to  indicate  their  aeal  and  resolution  they  wore  ropes  about 
their  necks,  that  they  might  be  ignominiously  hung  with 
them  if  they  deserted  their  odours.  A  picture  of  the  march 
of  this  resolute  body  is  still  preserved  in  Perth,  and  the  dr- 
!  cumstance  of  their  substituting  ropes  for  neckerchiefB  or  rib- 
bons is  the  subject  of  the  popular  allusion  to  *'  St  Johnstone 
tippets.** 

The  two  convents  of  the  Black  and  Grey  fHars  of  Stirling 
and  the  venerable  abbey  at  Cambuskenneth  in  its  neighbour- 
hood, were  laid  in  ruins,  and  after  remaining  three  days  at 
Starling,  the  army  of  the  Congregation  on  the  fourth  pro- 
ceeded to  Linlithgow,  where  they  destroyed  the  churches  and 
monastic  houses.  The  earl  of  Argyle  and  the  lord  James 
Stuart  then  directed  their  march  upon  Edinburgh,  which 
they  entered  on  the  29th  of  June,  on  which  the  regent  re- 
treated to  Dunbar.  The  force  which  the  confederates  had 
with  them  was  not  very  great,  but  wherever  they  went  they 
were  joined  by  the  populace,  and  the  popish  party  were  so 
effectually  daunted  that  they  could  make  no  head  against 
them.  The  efforts  of  the  magistrates  to  preserve  the  church- 
es and  religions  houses  of  the  capital  were  energetic,  but 
they  were  in  vain.  Upon  the  first  rumour  of  the  approach 
of  Uie  earl  of  Argyle,  the  mob  attacked  both  the  monastei^es 
of  the  Black  and  Grey  friars,  and  left  nothing  but  the  bare 
walls  standing.  When  the  earl  entered  the  capital  they  pro- 
ceeded to  still  further  **  purification.*^  Trinity  college  church 
and  its  prebendul  buildings  were  assiuled  and  some  parts  of 
them  pulled  down.  The  altars  in  St.  Giles'  church  and  St. 
Mary's  or  the  Kirk  of  Field,  were  removed,  and  the  images 
liestroyed  or  burnt.  At  Holyrood  Abbey  also  Ihe  altars  were 
overthrown,  and  the  church  otherwise  defaced.  Preachers 
were,  at  the  same  time,  appointed  to  expound  to  the  people 
tlM  pure  gospel  The  mint,  with  the  instruments  for  coining, 
was  s^zed,  as  the  stamping  of  base  money  had  raised  the  pricf 
of  the  necessaries  of  life ;  but  though  it  was  alleged  against 
the  reformers  that  they  had  possessed  themselves  of  large 
sums  of  money,  this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  the  case. 

During  these  proceedings,  the  regent  issued  a  proclamation 
against  the  Congregation,  declaring  that  under  the  pretence 
of  religion  they  sought  to  overturn  the  government,  com- 
manding them  to  leave  Edinburgh  in  six  hours,  and  enjoin- 
ing all  good  subjects  to  avoid  their  society  under  the  pain  of 
treason.  This  proclamation  had  its  efiect  to  a  certain  extent, 
as  many  of  the  Congregation  retired  to  theur  homes.  The 
lords,  in  a  letter  to  the  queen  regent,  dated  2d  July  (1559) 
were  careful  to  exculpate  themselves  from  the  charges  brought 
against  them,  and  offered  to  explain  all  their  views  and 
wishes  in  presence  of  the  regent,  if  they  were  permitted  free 
access  to  her.  Afler  several  communings,  the  regent  re- 
quested that  the  earl  of  Aigyle  and  the  Lord  James  Stuart 
might  be  sent  to  her;  but  as  some  treachery  was  suspected, 
it  was  deemed  expedient  that  they  should  not  go  near  her. 
The  duke  of  Chatelherault  had  been  persuaded  that  the  ob- 
ject of  the  Congregation  was  to  deprive  Mary  of  her  crown, 
and  also  the  duke  and  his  heirs  of  their  right  of  succession ; 
but  in  a  proclamation  they  showed,  as  the  preachers  did  in 
their  sermons,  that  then*  real  motive  was  the  refonnation  of 
religion  and  complete  liberty  of  conscience.  Recourse  was 
then  jiad  to  negotiations,  and  after  a  conference  at  Preston, 


which  led  to  no  result,  the  queen  dowager  left  Dunbar,  and 
with  her  troops  took  possession  of  Leith,  and  approached 
within  two  miles  of  Edinburgh.  On  being  informed  by  the 
governor  of  the  castle  (Lord  Erskine)  that  he  would  fire  if 
her  entrance  was  opposed,  a  treaty  was  entered  into,  on  the 
25th  July,  by  which  the  Congregation  agreed  that  the  town 
of  Edinburgh  should  be  open  to  the  regent ;  that  Uolyrood- 
house,  the  mint,  and  the  instruments  of  coinage  should  be 
delivered  up  to  her ;  and  that  they  should  be  obedient  to  her 
authority  and  the  laws,  and  should  abstain  from  injuring  the 
papists,  or  employing  violence  ag«nst  the  churches  or  religi- 
ous houses,  till  the  10th  of  the  ensuuig  January,  when  a 
parliament  was  to  meet  The  regent,  on  her  part,  agreed 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Edinburgh  might  adopt  what  religion 
they  thought  proper;  that  their  preachers  should  not  be  mo- 
lested, nor  themselves  troubled  in  their  persons  or  their  goods; 
that  no  French  garrison  or  Scottish  mercenaries  should  be 
stationed  within  the  dty;  and  that,  in  other  places  of  the 
kingdom,  similar  toleration  should  be  given  to  the  protestants 
and  theur  preachers.  These  conditions  Chatelherault  and 
Huntly,  at  a  subsequent  private  interview  with  the  lords  of 
the  Congregation,  held  at  the  Quarry  Holes  near  Calton  HilL 
declared  their  resolution  to  see  observed,  or  else  to  leave  the 
queen  dowager's  party.  On  the  following  day  the  lords  of 
the  Congregation  left  Edinburgh  and  proceeded  to  Stirling, 
where  they  held  a  council,  and  on  the  first  of  August  entered 
into  a  third  league  or  bond  for  mutual  defence. 

When  at  GUsgow,  on  his  return  to  his  own  district,  Argyle 
and  Stuart  received  an  invitation  firom  the  duke  of  Chatel- 
herault, to  visit  him  at  Hamilton,  where  they  remained  a 
night,  and  met  the  duke's  eldest  son,  the  earl  of  Arran,  newly 
arrived  Grom  Paris,  having  escaped  death  or  imprisonment 
fix>m  the  Guises  on  account  of  his  piotestant  principles.  [See 
Hamilton,  duke  of.]  The  duke  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  the  violent  and  arbitrary  measures  of  the  queen  regent, 
and  convinced  of  her  perfidy,  he  and  An-an,  his  son,  had  now 
resolved  upon  joining  the  lords  of  the  Congregation.  Arran 
accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  September,  accompanied  Argyle 
and  Lord  James  Stuart  to  a  convention  of  the  lords  of  the 
Congregation  held  at  Stirling,  which  resulted  in  the  principal 
chiefs  accompanying  these  two  lords  in  a  second  visit  to  the 
residence  of  the  duke,  there  to  mature  their  further  proceed- 
ings, of  which  the  convention  entered  into  shortly  thereafter, 
for  the  entrance  of  English  troops  into  Scotland,  was  the  most 
important 

In  the  subsequent  transactions  the  earl  of  Argyle  acted  a 
principal  part  When,  at  the  commencement  of  the  siege  of 
Leith,  on  the  last  day  of  October  1559,  the  French  soldiers, 
in  a  sally  from  the  fort  drove  the  troops  of  the  Congregation 
back  to  Edinburgh,  after  capturing  their  ordnance,  and  pur- 
sued them  to  the  middle  of  the  Oanongate  and  up  Leith 
Wynd,  Argyle,  with  his  Highlanders,  was  the  first  to  stop 
the  flight,  and  give  a  check  to  the  pursuers.  His  name  ap- 
pears the  fifth  of  the  noblemen  wlio  signed  the  Contract  of 
Berwick,  which  led  to  the  introduction  of  the  English  army, 
under  the  Lord  Grey,  to  the  assistance  of  the  Congregation, 
and  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from  ScotUnd.  Ir  this 
Contract  occurs  the  following  clause  personal  to  the  earl: 
'*  And  also,  the  erle  of  Argtle,  lord  justice  of  Scotland,  bemg 
presentlie  joyned  with  the  said  duke  (of  Chatelherault)  sail 
imploy  his  force  and  good  will  where  he  sail  be  required  by 
the  queen's  mtgestie  (Elizabeth)  to  reduce  the  north  parts  of 
Ireland  to  the  perfyte  obedience  of  England,  conforme  to  a 
mutuall  and  reciprock  contract  to  be  made  betwixt  her  ma- 
jestie'B  lieutenant  or  deputie  of  Ireland,  being  for  the  time, 
and  the  said  erle,  wherin  satll  be  conteaned  what  he  sail  doe 


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662 


FIFIH  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


fur  hiB  part,  and  what  the  said  lieutenant  and  deputie  sail 
doe  for  his  support,  in  case  he  sail  have  to  doe  with  James 
Makoonnejll,  or  anie  other  of  the  ilea  of  Scotland,  or  realms  of 
Ireland.**  The  Makconnel  here  referred  to  is  supposed  to  be 
a  miswriting  for  James  Macdonald  of  Isla,  who  had  been 
stirred  up  by  the  queen  regent  to  attack  the  lands  of  Argyle. 
For  performance  of  his  part  of  this  contract  Argyle  gare  as  a 
iiustago  his  cousin  Colin  Campbell.  On  the  27th  of  Apiil, 
tlie  lords  of  tlie  Congr^ation  entered  into  a  fourth  bond,  for 
their  mutual  protection  and  assistance,  and  in  this  they  were 
joined  by  the  earl  of  Huntly,  who  had  hitherto  opposed  their 
proceedings. 

On  the  10th  of  June  1560,  the  queen  regent  died  in  the 
castle  of  Edinburgh,  which  put  an  end  to  hostilities  for  the 
time.  Before  her  death  she  expressed  to  Argyle  and  other 
lords,  in  an  interview  she  asked  with  them,  her  deep  regret 
for  her  conduct,  which  she  attributed  to  the  counsels  of  her 
relatives  on  the  continent  The  earl  of  Argyle's  name  ap- 
pears the  thurd  of  the  nobility  who  subscribed  the  Fii-st  Book 
of  Discipline ;  and  soon  afler,  when  the  lords  passed  an  act 
that  all  remaining  monuments  of  idolatry  should  be  destroy- 
ed, he  was  ordered  with  the  earl  of  Glencaim  to  assist  the 
earl  of  Arran  in  the  west  in  seeing  this  done  in  that  district. 

The  earl  of  Argyle  was  of  the  cortege  that  received  Queen 
Mary  on  her  landing  at  Leith  19th  Augu^tt  1561.  He  was 
immediately  thereufler  sworn  a  privy  councillor.  Early  in 
1562  he  was  one  of  the  lords  engaged  in  making  provision 
for  the  ministers,  against  the  inadequacy  of  wluch  Knox  ap- 
pealed. On  the  Idth  of  September,  the  queen  went  to  Stir- 
ling, and  on  the  Sabbath  a  riot  took  place  in  that  town,  in 
consequence  of  an  attempt  being  made  to  perform  mass. 
**The  earl  of  Argyle,"  says  Randolph,  the  English  ambas- 
sador, in  a  letter  to  Cecil,  ''  and  the  lord  James  Stuart  so 
disturbed  the  quire  that  some,  both  priests  and  clerks,  left 
their  places  with  broken  heads  and  bloody  ears.*'  On  the 
36th  May  156*^,  the  queen  opened  parliament  with  extraor- 
dinary splendour.  On  this  occasion  the  duke  of  Chatelhe- 
rault  carried  the  crown,  Argyle  the  sceptre,  and  Moray  the 
sword. 

The  earl  had  married  Jean,  natural  daughter  of  King 
James  the  Filth  by  Elizabeth  daughter  of  John  Lord  Car- 
michael,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  lived  on  very  happy 
terms  with  her,  as  we  find  that  John  Knox  had  been  em- 
ployed, on  more  occasions  than  one,  to  reconcile  them  after 
some  domestic  quarrels.  In  1563,  at  the  third  conference 
between  Queen  Mary  and  Knox,  her  majesty  requested  him 
again  to  use  his  good  offices  on  behalf  of  her  sister,  the  Lady 
Argyle,  who,  she  confessed,  was  not  so  circumspect  in  every- 
thing as  she  could  wish ;  **  yet,**  she  added,  *'  her  husband 
faileth  in  many  things.**  **  I  brought  them  to  oonoord,**  said 
Knox,  **that  her  friends  were  fully  content ;  and  she  promised 
before  them  she  should  never  complain  to  any  creature,  till  I 
should  first  be  made  acquainted  with  the  quarrel,  either  out 
of  her  own  mouth,  or  by  an  assured  messenger.*'  "  Well,** 
said  the  queen,  ^*  it  is  worse  than  yon  beHeve.  Do  this  much 
for  my  sake,  as  once  again  to  reconcile  them,  and  if  she  be- 
have not  herself  as  beoometh,  she  shall  find  no  favour  of  me ; 
but  in  no  case  let  my  lord  know  that  I  employed  you.** 
Knox,  in  consequence,  wrote  to  the  earl  on  the  countess's 
behalf,  exhorting  him  '*  to  bear  with  the  imperfections  of  his 
wife,  seemg  that  he  was  not  able  to  convince  her  of  any  crime 
since  the  last  reconciliation,  but  his  letter  was  not  well  re- 
ceived.** [^Caiderwood,  vol.  ii.  p.  215.]  Her  mjyesty  passed 
the  summer  of  the  same  year  at  the  carl's  house  in  Argyle- 
shirc,  in  the  amusement  of  deer-hunting 

His  lordship  was  against  the  marriage  of  the  queen  with 


Lord  Damley,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  preparations  for  tliat 
ill-fated  union,  he  and  the  eari  of  Moray  appeared  at  Edin- 
burgh with  a  body  of  five  thousand  horsemen,  ostensibly  for 
the  purpose  of  attending  a  court  to  which  the  earl  of  Both- 
well  had  been  cited,  but  really,  as  the  queen  conudered,  more 
to  overawe  herseif  than  to  frighten  that  nobleman.  She, 
therefore,  ordered  the  justice-derk  to  adjourn  the  coort 
Two  months  previous  to  the  marriage,  she  created  Damley 
eari  of  Ross,  when  the  duke  of  Chatelherault,  and  the  earb  ol 
Aq^le,  Moray,  and  Glencaim,  immediately  retired  from  the 
court,  and  began  to  concert  measures  for  opposing  the  match 
by  foix»  of  arms.  After  the  marriage,  when  the  disooniented 
lords  took  refuge  in  EngUnd,  the  earl  retired  to  Argyle,  but 
after  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1566  (the 
countess  of  Argyle  being  then  with  the  queen  at  supper),  the 
banished  lords  were  received  into  favour,  and  the  processes  of 
treason  against  them  discharged.  In  the  ensmng  April  the 
queen  sent  for  the  earls  of  Argyle  and  Moray,  and  reconciled 
them  to  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Both  well,  and  Athole;  and  in 
June,  when  her  majesty  went  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh  to 
be  confined  of  James  the  Sixth,  she  ordered  lodgings  to  be 
provided  for  the  earl  next  her  own,  probably  that  her  sister 
the  countess  might  be  near  her.  His  lordship,  however,  was 
not  present  at  the  baptism  of  the  young  prince  in  Stirling 
castle,  on  account  of  the  pofosh  ceremonies,  but  his  countess 
stood  sponsor  for  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  held  the  chikl  at  the 
font. 

The  earl  of  Argyle's  name  appears  second  on  the  famou* 
bond  subscribed  by  some  of  the  nobility  in  favour  of  tb< 
queen's  marriage  with  Bothwell,  and  the  ratification  of  it  af- 
terwards signed  by  the  queen  was  committed  to  his  care,  in 
case  her  migesty  should  repent  of  the  match.  At  this  time 
he  seems  to  have  played  a  double  part.  On  the  marriag* 
taking  place,  he  was  oiie  of  the  noblemen  who  entered  int« 
the  bond  of  association  for  the  defence  of  the  young  prince 
but  the  day  ^fter  he  revealed  all  their  designs  to  the  queen. 
He  carried  the  sword  of  state  at  the  coronation  of  James  the 
Sixth,  29th  July  1567,  and  attended  the  convention  at  Edin- 
burgh the  15th  Augnst,  at  which  the  regency  of  the  eari  ot 
Moray  was  oonfinned.  In  the  General  Assembly  which  met 
in  the  following  December  the  eari  and  his  countess  were 
censured,  he  for  separation  firom  his  wife,  although  he  alleged 
that  the  blame  was  not  in  him,  and  she  for  assisting  at  tha 
baptism  of  the  king  "in  papistical  manner."  Afterwards, 
deeming  the  queen  very  ill  used  in  being  kept  a  prisoner,  he 
entered  into  the  association  for  procuring  her  liberty  on  rea- 
sonable conditions,  and  dgned  the  bond  to  that  efiect  8th 
May  1568.  He  was  created  her  lieutenant,  and  was  chief 
commander  of  her  forces  at  Langside  on  the  13Ui  of  the  same 
month;  but  just  as  the  hostile  armies  were  about  to  take 
then*  ground,  he  was  seized  with  an  apoplectic  fit,  which  de- 
layed the  advance  of  Mary*s  troops  and  contributed  not  a 
little  to  her  defeat  After  this  he  retired  to  Dunoon,  and 
refused  to  submit  to  the  regency  of  his  old  friend  -md  con- 
federate the  earl  of  Moray,  but  twice  appeared  in  arms  at 
Glasgow,  to  concert  measures  with  the  Uamiltons  for  the 
restoration  of  Mary.  He  was  in  consequence  summoned  to 
St.  Andrews  in  the  following  April,  when  he  took  an  ontb  to 
remain  quiet,  and  made  his  peace  on  easy  terms. 

On  the  assassmation  of  the  regent  Moray,  Argyle  kud 
other  noblemen  of  the  queen's  party  assembled  at  Linlithgow, 
10th  April  1570,  and  with  the  duke  of  Chatelherault  and  the 
earl  of  Huntly,  was  constituted  her  majesty's  li«itenant  in 
Scotland.  In  1571  he  was  prevailed  on  by  the  regent  Lennox 
to  submit  to  the  king's  authority,  and  to  appear  in  the  pariia- 
ment  at  Stiriing  in  September  of  that  year.    Lennox  being 


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553 


SEVENTH  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


murdered  on  the  4th  of  that  month,  Argyle  wns  a  candidate 
for  the  regency,  but  the  choice  fell  on  the  earl  of  Mar,  and 
Arj^le  was  sworn  a  privj  councillor.  On  Morton  becoming 
regent  in  November  1572,  Argyle  was  appointed  lord-high- 
cfaanoellor,  and  on  the  17th  January  1573  he  obtained  a 
charter  under  the  great  seal  of  that  office  for  life.  That 
same  day  he  carried  the  sceptre,  on  the  regent  going  in  state 
to  the  low  council  house  of  Edinburgh,  to  choose  the  Lords  of 
the  Articles.  He  died  of  the  stone,  12th  September  1575, 
aged  about  43,  and  is  celebrated  by  Johnston  in  his  Heroes 
His  countess,  Queen  Mary's  half  sister,  having  died  without 
issue,  was  buried  in  the  royal  vault  m  the  abbey  of  Holyrood- 
hoose ;  and  he  married,  a  second  time.  Lady  Johanna  or  Jo- 
iieta  Cunningham,  second  daughter  of  Alexander  fiflh  earl  of 
Glencaim,  but  as  she  also  had  no  children,  he  was  succeeded 
in  his  estates  and  titles  by  his  brother. 

Colin,  sixth  earl  of  Argyle,  previous  to  succeeding  to  the 
earldom  was  styled  Sir  Colin  Campbell  of  Boquhan.  He  early 
engaged  in  the  quarrel  against  the  regent  Morton,  arising  out 
of  the  following  drcumst^mces :  In  1576,  as  hereditary  jus- 
tice-general of  Scotland  he  claimed  that  a  commission  of 
justiciary,  formerly  given  by  Queen  Mary  to  the  earl  of 
Athole  over  the  territory  of  the  hitter,  should  be  annulled. 
This  Athole  resisted,  and  not  only  refused  to  surrender  for 
trial  two  of  the  Athole  Stewarts  agamst  whom  Argyle  alleged 
various  crimes,  but  seized  two  of  the  Camerons  charged  with 
the  murder  of  the  late  chief  of  that  clan,  whom  he  detained 
in  prison,  although  claimed  by  Argyle  as  his  vassals.  The 
two  earls  collected  their  retainers  in  anns,  to  settle  the  dis- 
pute between  them  in  the  field,  when  the  regent  interposed, 
and  obliged  them  to  disband  their  forces.  Having  obtained 
secret  information  that  Morton  intended  to  prosecute  them 
for  treason,  they  agreed  to  forget  their  private  quarrels,  and 
unite  for  mutual  defence.  They  disregarded  the  citation  of 
the  regent  to  appear  before  a  court  of  justice,  and  as  he 
dreaded  theur  joint  power,  he  was  forced  unwillingly  to  aban- 
don his  project  In  the  end  of  the  following  year  the  earl  of 
Argyle  was  still  farther  incensed  against  Morton,  by  his 
sending  for  the  jewel  called  the  H,  because  the  pi-ecious  stones 
were  set  in  the  form  of  that  letter,  signifying  Henrie,  and 
which  it  was  supposed  had  been  given  by  Queen  Maxy  to  her 
sister  the  late  countess  of  Ai^le.  He  was  not  inclined  to 
comply  with  the  request,  but  on  being  charged  by  an  officer 
to  deliver  it  up,  as  it  belonged  to  the  king,  he  at  once  re- 
signed it  About  this  time  the  laird  of  Glengarry  presented 
a  petition  to  the  privy  council,  complaining  that  the  earl  of 
Argyle,  who,  since  his  rupture  with  Morton,  had  been  living 
in  his  own  country,  was  collecting  a  large  force,  ostensibly 
with  the  view  of  punisliing  some  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace,  but  really,  as  he  alleged,  to  attack  and  harass  him, 
the  said  laird,  on  which  proclamation  was  made,  prohibiting 
the  earl  from  assembling  any  of  the  lieges  in  arms,  and  from 
troubling  Glengarry,  under  the  pain  of  treason.  Vaiious 
other  complaints  were  made  against  Argyle  for  oppressive 
and  illegal  conduct ;  particularly  by  John,  the  son  and  heir 
of  James  Macdonald  of  Castle  Camus  in  Skye,  and  John 
Maclean,  the  uncle  of  Lauchlan  Maclean  of  Dowart,  who 
were  both  kept  prisoners  in  Argyle^s  castle  of  Inchoonnell  in 
Lochow,  without  warrant;  and  by  Lauchlan  Maclean,  the 
young  chief  of  Dowart,  whose  isle  of  Loyng  was  invaded  and 
plundered  by  a  party  of  Campbells  sent  by  Argjle.  ^Oreffih- 
ryU  nighkmds  and  fsles  of  Scotland,  p.  216.] 

On  4th  March  1578,  the  earis  of  Argyle  and  Athole,  with 
other  noblemen,  assembled  at  Stirlmg,  and  advised  tne  king 
to  deprive  Morton  of  the  regency,  and  to  take  the  government 
into  his  own  hands,  which  was  accordingly  done.     On  thib 


occasion  Argyle  was  made  a  member  of  the  new  council  cho- 
sen to  direct  the  king,  who  was  then  only  twelve  years  of 
age.  A  few  weeks  thereafter,  however,  Morton  again  got 
possession  of  the  king's  person,  when  Argjrle  and  Athole  took 
up  arms  to  rescue  hb  migesty,  and  issued  a  proclamation 
against  the  late  regent  The  forces  on  both  ndes  gathered 
at  Stirling,  the  earl  of  Argyle  alone  bringing  two  thousand 
five  hundred  Highlanders  to  the  assistance  of  those  who  oppos 
ed  Morton's  return  to  power.  By  the  mediation,  chiefly,  ot 
Bowes,  the  English  ambassador,  an  accommodation  was  brought 
about  between  the  hostile  factions,  and  on  the  10th  August 
1579,  Argyle  was  appointed  lord-high-ohancelbr  of  the  king- 
dom. After  this  he  was  apparentiy  reconciled  to  Morton's 
administration.  On  the  28th  of  January  1581,  with  the  king 
and  many  of  the  nobility,  he  subscribed  Uie  second  Confession 
of  Faith.  He  was  one  of  the  jury  on  the  trial  of  Morton,  1st 
June  of  that  year.  At  the  opening  of  the  parliament  held 
the  following  October,  he  bore  the  sword,  and  on  the  last  day 
of  November,  when  the  king  went  again  in  state  to  the  Tol- 
booth,  he  carried  the  sceptre.  He  died  in  October  1584,  after 
a  long  illness.  He  married,  first,  Janet,  eldest  daughter  of 
Henry,  first  Lord  Methven,  without  issue;  secondly,  Lady 
Agnes  Keith,  eldest  daughter  of  William,  fourth  eari  Maris- 
chal,  widow  of  the  regent  Moray,  by  whom  he  had  two  sous, 
Archibald,  seventh  earl  of  Argyle,  and  the  Hun.  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  of  Lundie,  created  a  baronet  m  1627. 

Archibald,  seventh  earl  of  Argyle,  was  under  age  when  he 
succeeded  his  father.  The  dissensions  among  bis  guardians, 
and  the  assassination  of  Campbell  of  Calder,  one  of  theiii, 
have  been  already  related  at  page  874  [atUe^  Art.  BuKAi>AL- 
BANK,  earl  and  marquis  of.]  The  conspiracy  among  the 
chiefs  of  the  western  Highlands,  having  for  its  object  the 
death  of  the  young  earl  of  Ai-gyle,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
**  bonnie  earl  of  Murray,"  is  likewise  there  alluded  to  The 
principal  person  intei-csted  in  his  death  was  his  kinsman 
Archibald  Campbell  of  Lochnell,  one  of  his  guardians,  and 
the  next  heir  to  the  earidom ;  a  dark  and  ambitious  spirit, 
who  never  relinquished  his  designs  against  the  lives  of  the 
earl  and  his  brother,  that  he  might  succeed  to  the  title  and 
estates.  In  1592,  when  little  more  than  sixteen  years  of  age, 
the  earl  maiiied  Lady  Anne  Douglas,  fifth  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam first  eari  of  Morton  of  the  house  of  Ix>chleven.  ^*  There 
is  reason  to  believe,"  says  Gregory,  "  that  the  conspirators, 
notwithstanding  the  refusal  of  Ardkmglass  (Sir  James  Camp- 
bell, another  of  the  young  earl's  guardians)  to  join  them, 
continued  for  some  time  their  machinations  fur  the  murder  ot 
the  earl;  and  that,  during  k  severe  illness  with  which  be  was 
attacked  at  Stirling,  soon  after  his  marriage,  in  the  year  1594, 
some  of  his  household  were  bribed  to  poison  him ;  if,  indeed, 
the  disease  itself  was  not  caused  in  the  first  instance  by  poi- 
son. Argyle,  however,  escaped  all  the  attempts  of  his  ene- 
mies, and  lived  to  exercise,  for  many  years,  an  overpowering 
inHuence  in  the  affiursof  the  Highlands  and  Isles."  \^Gregory*g 
Highlands  and  Isles  of  Scotland,  p.  251.]  At  the  *  riding  of 
the  parliament,'  29th  May  1592,  he  bore  the  sword.  In  the 
same  year  he  and  the  earl  of  Athole,  and  the  laird  of  Grant, 
plundered  and  laid  waste  the  earl  of  Huntly's  lands,  for  the 
slaughter  of  the  earl  of  Murray,  till  the  earl  of  Angus  was 
sent  by  the  king,  as  lieutenant  to  the  north,  for  the  purp«)se 
uf  preventing  farther  spoliation.  At  the  *  riding  of  the  par- 
liament,' I6th  July  1593,  he  carried  the  sceptre. 

In  159-i,  although  then  only  eighteen,  Argyle  was  appoint- 
ed king's  lieutenant  against  the  popish  eorb  of  Hunlly  and 
Errol,  who  had  raised  a  rebellion.  With  Ai^le  were  asso- 
ciated the  earl  of  Athole  and  Lord  Forbes.  Having  raided 
on  army  of  six  thousand  men — some  accounts  say  twelve 


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thousand — partly  among  his  own  vawals,  and  partly  among 
other  clans,  particolarlj  the  Macleans,  Maoneills,  Macgregora, 
Madntoshes,  and  Grants,  Argyle  marched  into  Badenoch, 
and  thence  towards  Strathbogie,  after  having  in  vain  at- 
tempted, in  bb  way,  to  reduce  the  castle  of  Ruthven,  which 
was  gallantly  held  out  for  ilontly  by  the  Maophersons.  On 
his  arrival  near  Glenlivet,  he  found  that  Huntly  and  Errol 
were  in  the  vidnity,  with  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  prind- 
pally  cavalry ;  and,  in  consequence,  he  took  up  a  strong  po> 
sition  on  the  declivity  of  a  hill,  betwixt  Glenlivet  and  Glen- 
rinnes,  in  two  parallel  divisions,  until  he  could  be  joined  by 
I>ord  Forbes,  who  was  at  no  great  distance  with  eleven  hun- 
dred men.  His  opponents,  however,  had  in  their  ranks  a 
number  of  brave  gentlemen,  well  mounted  and  armed,  who 
were  anxious  to  be  led  to  the  attack,  and  a  communication 
from  a  traitor  in  Argyle's  camp,  Archibald  Campbell  of 
I^ochndl,  already  mentioned,  commander  of  one  of  the  divi- 
dons  of  his  army,  encouraged  them  to  attempt  it  By  a  pri- 
vate message  which  he  sent  to  Huntly  he  promised  to  go 
over  to  him,  with  his  dividon,  as  soon  as  the  battle  com- 
menced, and  suggested  that  some  pieces  of  artillery  possessed 
by  Huntly,  should  be  fired  at  Argyle's  banner,  hoping  thus 
both  to  get  rid  of  that  nobleman  by  an  apparent  chance  shot, 
and  to  discourage  the  Highlanders,  who  were  unacquainted 
with  the  use  of  artillery.  The  advice  of  Lochnell  was  fol- 
lowed. The  assault  was  made  on  Argyle's  forces  while  they 
were  at  prayers,  but,— just  reward  of  treachery, — with  fatal 
effect  on  Lochndl  himself.  As  Huntly  approached,  the  guns 
were  fired  at  the  yellow  standard  of  Argyle,  who  escaped  un- 
hurt, whilst  his  treacherous  Jpnsman  Lochnell,  a  brother  of 
the  latter,  and  the  son  of  Macndll  of  Barra,  were  slain  on 
the  spot  After  a  severe  conflict,  both  parties  fighting  with 
great  bravery,  the  one,  says  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  "  for  glorie, 
the  other  for  necesdtie,"  Huntly  succeeded  in  routing  Ar- 
gyle*s  forces,  who,  firom  the  mountainous  nature  of  the  coun- 
try, which  impeded  pursuit,  escaped  with  a  loss  oomparativdy 
trifling.  The  success  of  Huntly  was  mainly  owing  to  the 
treachery  of  Lochnell,  and  of  John  Grant  of  Gartinbeg,  one  of 
Huntly *s  vassals,  who  retreated  with  his  men  as  soon  as  the 
action  began,  by  which  act  the  centre  and  the  left  wing  of 
Argyle*s  anny  were  completely  broken.  Among  the  trophies 
found  on  the  field  was  the  endgn  belonging  to  Argyle,  which 
was  carried  with  other  spoils  to  Strathbogie,  and  pUced  on 
the  top  of  the  great  tower.  The  conduct  of  Lachlan  Mao- 
lean  of  Dowart,  one  of  Argyle's  officers,  was  worthy  of  all 
praitte.  It  was  his  dividon  whidi  inflicted  the  prindpal  loss 
on  the  rebels,  and,  at  the  dose  of  the  battle,  he  retired  in 
good  order  with  them.  It  is  said  that  after  the  battle,  be 
offered,  if  Argyle  would  give  him  five  hundred  men  in  addi- 
tion to  his  own  followers,  to  bring  the  earl  of  Huntly  prisoner 
into  Argyle^s  camp.  The  proposal  was  rejected,  but  having 
come  to  the  ears  of  Huntly,  incensed  him  greatly  against 
Madean,  whose  son  afterwards,  according  to  tradition,  lost  a 
large  estate  in  Locliaber,  through  the  animodty  of  that  pow- 
erful nobleman.    IGregorys  UighUmda  and  hies,  p.  259.] 

This  battle  was  fought,  8d  October  1591.  Weeping  with 
indignation  at  his  defeat,  the  young  but  high  spirited  earl  of 
Argyle  was  carried  out  of  the  field  by  his  fiiends,  and  hastened 
to  inform  the  king  at  Dundee  of  his  discomfiture.  His  ma- 
jesty inmiediately  marched  against  the  rebels,  who  dispersed 
at  his  approach.  In  the  Scottish  poems  of  the  dxteenth  cen- 
tury, edited  by  Dalzel,  Edinburgh  1801,  there  is,  at  page  136 
of  vol  L  *  A  faithful  narrative  of  the  great  and  mu^culous 
victory  obtained  by  George  Gordon,  earl  of  Huntly,  and  Frau- 
ds Hay,  eari  of  Errol,  catholic  noblemen,  over  Archibald 
Campbell,  earl  of  Argyll,  lieutenant,  at  Strathaven,  3d  Oct 


1594,'— the  battle  bdng  sometimes  called  the  battle  of  Gleo- 
rinnes,  Strathaven,  or  Altoonlachan,  as  well  as  of  Glenliv«L 
Eariy  in  the  following  year,  for  oppreesioo  alleged  to  be  com- 
mitted by  his  clan,  the  earl  was  put  in  ward  in  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh.  **  This,**  says  Calderwood,  **  was  the  rewaird  be 
gott  for  his  good  service  in  the  North.**  [CAarro&  Hiitory^ 
voL  V.  page  361.]  He  was  soon,  however,  liberated,  and  in 
the  summer  of  the  same  year  he  and  the  duke  of  Lennox  were 
employed  to  reduce  Huntly*s  vassals  to  obedience.  After 
**  killing  and  burning  m  the  north,**  as  Cakierwood  phrases  it, 
Aigyle  sent  deputies  to  Huntly*s  lands  to  obtain  their  sob- 
misdon.  On  November  14,  1598,  Aigyle  with  some  others 
was  charged  to  pi-oduce  certain  persons  of  the  name  of  Camp- 
bell and  Macgregor,  for  whom  he  was  respondble,  as  the 
king  s  lieutenant  of  the  bounds  or  district  within  which  these 
Campbells  and  Macgregors  redded ;  in  which  capad^  be  had 
found  security  for  the  lawless  tribes  over  whom  he  had  com- 
mand ;  they  in  thdr  turn  becoming  liable  to  him  in  relief, 
under  separate  bonds.  In  1599,  when  measures  were  in  pro- 
gress for  bringing  the  chiefit  of  the  Ides  under  subjection  to 
tlie  king,  the  eari  of  Aigyle  and  his  kinsman,  John  Campbell 
of  Calder,  were  accused  of  having  secretly  used  their  influence 
to  (Hievent  Sur  James  Macdonald  of  Dunyv^  and  his  dan 
from  bdng  reconciled  to  the  government  llie  frequent  in- 
surrections which  occurred  in  the  South  Ides  in  the  first  fif- 
teen years  of  the  seventeenth  century  have  also  been  imputed 
by  Mr.  Gregory,  with  what  degree  of  truth  caimot  now  be 
ascertained,  to  Argyle  and  the  Campbdls,  for  their  own  pur- 
poses. It  seems  difficult,  however,  to  nndentand  what 
means  could  be  employed  by  them  to  influence  their  inveter- 
ate and  hereditary  enemies  to  adopt  such  a  course  of  conduct 
The  proceedings  of  these  clans  were,  however,  so  violent 
and  illegal,  that  the  king  became  highly  incensed  against  the 
Clandonald,  and  finding  he  had  a  right  to  dispose  of  thdr 
possesdons  both  in  Kintyre  and  Islay,  he  made  a  grant  of 
them  to  the  earl  of  Argyle  and  the  Campbells.  Tins  gave 
rise  to  a  number  of  bloody  conflicts  between  tlie  Campbdb 
and  the  Clandonald,  in  the  years  1614, 1615  and  1616,  which 
ended  in  the  ruin  of  the  latter,  and  for  the  details  of  whkh, 
and  the  mtrigues  and  proceedings  of  the  eari  of  Aigyle  to 
possess  himself  of  the  lands  of  that  dan,  reference  may  be 
made  to  Gregory's  *  History  of  the  Highhmds  and  Isles  of 
Scotland,*  chapters  seven  and  eight. 

In  the  meantime,  on  the  23d  February,  1603,  the  kin^ 
previous  to  his  departure  for  En^and,  succeeded  in  recondl- 
ing  the  earls  of  Argyle  and  Moray  to  the  eari  of  Huntly,  as 
object  which  he  had  long  laboured  to  effect  In  that  same 
month  the  Macgregors,  who  were  already  under  the  ban  of 
the  law,  made  an  irruption  into  the  Lennox,  and  after  defeat- 
ing the  Colquhouns  and  their  adherents  at  Glenfruin,  with 
great  slaughter,  plundered  and  ravaged  the  whole  district,  and 
threatened  to  bum  the  town  of  Dumbarton.  For  some  yean 
previoudy,  the  charge  of  keeping  this  powerful  and  warlike 
tribe  in  order  had  been  committed  to  the  earl  of  Argyle,  as 
the  king's  lieutenant  in  the  **  bounds  of  the  dan  Gregor,*' 
and  he  was  answerable  for  all  thdr  excesses.  Instead  of 
keeping  them  under  due  restraint,  Argyle  has  been  ac- 
cused by  various  writers  of  having  from  the  very  first 
made  use  of  his  influence  to  stir  them  up  to  acts  of  viofeoce 
and  aggression  against  his  own  personal  enemies,  of  whom 
the  chief  of  the  Colquhouns  was  one;  and  it  is  further 
sdd  that  he  had  all  along  meditated  the  destruction  d 
both  the  Macgregors  and  the  Colquhouns,  by  his  crafty 
and  perfidious  policy.  The  only  evidence  on  which  these 
heavy  charges  rests  is  the  dying  dedaration  of  AUester  Mac- 
gregor of  Glenstrue,  the  chief  of  the  dan,  to  the  effect  that  be 


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was  deonved  by  the  earl  of  Argyle^s  ^'falsete  and  inventiouns,'* 
vid  that  he  had  been  often  incited  hj  that  nobleman  to  ^*  weir 
and  trnble  the  laird  of  Lois,**  and  others ;  but  as  these  charges 
vere  not  believed  at  the  time,  they  ought  to  be  received  with 
some  hesitation  by  the  impartial  historian  now.  Indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  the  earl  of  Argyle  would,  for  his  own 
shIcc,  have  counselled  the  perpetration  of  such  outrages  as  the 
Mdcgregors  committed,  and  still  less  that  the  Macgregors, 
who  detested  his  authority,  would  have  carried  them  into 
effect  to  please  him.  The  enmity  alleged  to  have  ejusted 
oetween  the  Colqnhouns  and  Argyle  is  assumed  without  proof 
of  any  sort,  and  is  not  supported  by  any  probability,  whereas 
the  hatred  between  the  Macgregors  and  Colqnhouns  was  an 
hereditary  feud,  and  a  war  of  races.  However  this  may  be, 
the  execution  of  the  severe  statutes  which  were  passed  against 
the  Macgregors  after  the  conflict  at  Glenfruin,  was  intrusted 
to  the  earls  of  Argyle  and  Athole,  and  their  chief,  with  some 
of  his  prindpal  followers,  was  enticed  by  Argyle  to  surrender 
to  him,  on  condition  that  they  would  be  allowed  to  leave  the 
country.  Argyle  received  Ihem  kindly,  and  assured  them 
that  though  he  was  commanded  by  the  king  to  apprehend 
-them,  he  had  little  doubt  he  would  be  able  to  procure  a  par- 
don, and,  in  the  meantime,  he  would  send  them  to  England 
under  an  escort,  which  would  convey  them  off  Scottish 
ground.  It  was  Maq;regor*s  intention,  if  taken  to  London, 
to  procure  if  possible  an  interview  with  the  king ;  but  Argyle 
prevented  this;  yet,  that  he  might  fulfil  his  promise,  he  sent 
them  under  a  strong  guard  beyond  the  Tweed  at  Berwick, 
and  instantly  compelled  them  to  retrace  their  steps  to  Edin- 
burgh, where  they  were  executed  18th  January  1604.  How 
far  there  may  have  been  deceit  used  in  this  matter,  whether, 
according  to  Birrel,  Ai^le  *'  keipit  ane  Hielandman^s  pro- 
mise; in  respect  he  sent  the  gaird  to  convey  him  out  of 
Scottis  grund,  but  thai  were  not  directit  to  pairt  with  him, 
but  to  fetch  him  bak  agane ;"  or  whether  their  return  was  by 
orders  from  the  king,  cannot  at  the  present  time  be  ascer- 
tained. This  at  least  is  certain,  that  so  many  families  were 
bereaved  of  their  sons  by  the  atrodties  of  the  Macgregors  that 
there  was  no  probability  of  a  pardon  having  been  obtained 
from  James. 

In  the  decreet  of  ranking  of  the  Scots  nobility,  5th 
March  1606,  the  earl  of  Argyle  was  placed  second  in  the 
list  of  earls.  In  1608  he  and  the  Marquis  of  Huntly  were 
sent  against  the  proscribed  Macgregors,  and  almost  totelly 
extirpated  that  persecuted  and  unfortunate  clan.  In  1617, 
after  the  suppression  by  him  of  the  Glandonald,  Argyle 
obtained  from  the  king  a  gi-ant  of  the  whole  county  of 
Kintyre,  which  grant  was  ratified  by  a  special  act  of  par- 
liament the  same  year.  At  this  time  he  seems  to  have  been 
in  high  favour  at  court,  and  on  the  visit  of  King  James  to 
Scotland  in  that  year,  he  was  one  of  those  who,  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  king,  repaired  to  Holyroodhouse  on  Whitounday 
the  8th  of  June,  and  partook  of  the  communion,  then  and 
there  celebrated  af>«r  the  English  form;  he  and  those  with 
him,  says  Calderwood,  **  communicated  kneeling,  not  regard- 
ing either  Christ's  institution,  or  the  ordour  of  our  kirk.** 
But  this  need  not  have  surprised  the  worthy  chronicler  had 
he  known  that  for  some  years  Argyle  had  been  a  concealed 
papist.  His  first  countess,  to  whom  Sir  William  Alexander, 
afterwards  earl  of  Stirling,  inscribed  his  *  Aurora*  in  1604, 
having  died,  his  lordship  had  in  Novembejr  1610,  married,  a 
second  time,  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Cornwall  of 
Brome,  ancestor  of  the  Marquis  Comwallis.  This  lady  was 
a  Catholic,  and  although  the  earl  was  a  warm  and  zealous 
protestant  when  he  married  her,  she  gradually  drew  him  over 
to  profess  the  same  faith  with  herself.    After  the  year  1615, 


as  Gregory  remarks,  his  personal  history  presents  a  striking 
instance  of  the  mutebility  of  human  affairs.  In  that  year, 
being  deep  in  debt,  he  went  to  England,  but  as  he  was  the 
only  chief  that  could  keep  the  Macdonalds  in  order,  the  Privy 
Council  wrote  to  the  king  urging  him  to  send  him  home;  and 
in  his  expedition  against  the  clan  Donald,  he  was  accompa- 
nied by  his  son,  Lord  Lorn.  On  the  17th  of  June  1617,  he 
carried  the  crown,  at  the  opening  of  the  parliament,  and  this 
seems  to  have  been  his  last  public  appearance  in  his  native 
country.  In  1618,  on  pretence  of  going  to  the  Spa  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  he  received  from  the  king  permission 
to  go  abroad;  and  the  news  soon  arrived  that  the  earl,  in- 
stead of  going  to  the  Spa,  had  gone  to  Spain ;  that  he  had 
there  made  open  defection  from  the  protestont  religion,  and 
that  he  had  entered  into  very  suspicious  dealings  with 
the  banished  rebels.  Sir  James  Macdonald  and  Allaster 
MacRanald  of  Keppoch,  who  had  taken  refiige  in  that 
country.  The  king,  upon  this,  wrote  to  the  privy  council  at 
EUiinburgh,  recalling  the  license  given  to  Argyle  to  go  abroad, 
and  directing  that  nobleman  to  be  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  council  in  the  following  February  under  the  pain  of  trea- 
son. In  the  meantime,  various  efforte  were  made  to  make 
the  barons  and  gentlemen  of  Argyle  answerable  for  the  good 
rule  of  that  extennve  earldom.  The  result  was  that  in  De- 
cember 1618,  twenty  of  these  barons  and  gentlemen,  appeared 
in  presence  of  the  council  and  made  an  arrangement  for 
effecting  the  desired  object,  Campbell  of  Lundy  undertaking 
the  principal  charge.  On  the  16th  of  February,  the  earl  of 
Argyle  having  failed  to  make  his  appearance,  he  was,  with 
sound  of  trumpets,  and  two  or  three  heralds  at  arras,  openly 
decUred  rebel  and  traitor,  at  the  market  cross  of  Edinburgh, 
and  he  remained  under  this  ban  until  the  22d  of  November 
1621,  when,  by  open  prockination  at  the  same  place,  with 
sound  of  trumpet  and  Lyon  heralds,  he  was  declared  the 
king's  free  liege.  Nevertheless,  he  did  not  venture  to  return 
to  Britain  during  the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  nor,  indeed, 
till  16d8 ;  and  he  died  in  London  soon  after  his  return,  in 
that  year,  aged  62.  While  on  the  continent  he  distinguished 
himself  in  the  military  service  of  PhiUp  the  Second  of  Spmn, 
against  the  states  of  Holland.  From  the  time  of  his  leaving 
Scotland,  he  never  ocercised  any  influence  over  his  great 
estates;  the  fee  of  which  had,  indeed,  been  previously  con- 
veyed by  him  to  his  eldest  son,  Archibald,  Lord  Lorn,  after- 
wards eighth  earl  of  Argyle.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  a  son, 
Archibald,  eighth  earl,  and  four  daughters,  namely,  1st,  Lady 
Anne,  nuurried  in  1607,  to  George,  second  marquis  of  Huntly; 
2d,  Lady  Annabella,  married  to  Robert,  second  earl  of  Lo- 
thian, of  the  house  of  Cessford;  her  eldest  daughter,  Lady 
Anne,  inherited  the  title  of  Lothian,  and  carried  it  into  the 
house  of  Femyhirst;  3d,  Lady  Jane,  married  first  to  the  first 
Viscount  Kenmure,  and,  secondly,  to  the  Hon.  Sir  Henry 
Montgomery,  of  Giffen,  second  son  of  the  sixth  earl  of  Eglin- 
ton,  and  4th,  Lady  Mary,  who  became  the  wife  of  Sir 
Robert  Montgomery  of  Skelmorly.  By  his  second  wife,  the 
earl  had  a  son  Hnd  a  daughter,  viz.,  James,  earl  of  Irvine, 
and  I^ady  Mary,  married  to  Jameit,  second  Loi'd  Rullo.  [See 
RoLLO,  lord.] 

His  first  countess  was  introduced  by  Lord  Walpole  into  his 
Appendix,  for  having  collected  and  published  m  Spanish,  a 
set  of  sentences  from  tlie  works  of  St.  Augustine,  Hor  por- 
trait will  be  found  in  Walpole's  *  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,' 
Park's  edition,  1806,  voL  v.  p.  71.  Douglas  says,  and  it 
seems  likely,  that  the  portrait  may  be  that  of  Lady  Anne 
Douglas,  but  the  authoress  must  have  been  Anne  Comwallis, 
his  second  wife,  as  the  latter  was  in  Spain  with  him,  but  the 
former  died  many  years  before  he  went  to  that  country.    The 


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MARQUIS  OF  ARGYLE. 


folio  wing  cut  is  taken  from  tliat  portrait  of  the  countess  of 
Argyle. 


Of  the  more  illustHous  personages  of  the  family  of  Argyle, 
memoirs  are  subsequently  given  in  larger  type.  Tlie  conspi- 
cuous figure  which  they  made  in  the  history  of  their  country, 
and  the  prominent  part  which  the  family  has  always  acted 
in  Scottish  affairs,  entitle  its  more  celebrated  members  to 
separate  biographies. 

CAMPBELL,  Archibald,  eighth  earl  and  fii*st 
marquis  of  Argyle,  an  eminent  patriot  and  states- 
man, was  the  son  of  Archibald,  seventh  eari,  by 
his  first  wife  Lady  Anne  Douglas,  daughter  of  the 
carl  of  Morton.  He  was  born  in  1598,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  protestant  religion,  according  to  the 
strict  niles  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  as  it  was 
established  at  the  Reformation.  After  his  father 
went  to  Spain,  as  already  narmted,  (at  page  555,) 
lie  managed  the  affairs  of  liis  family  and  clan  in 
his  absence.  In  1626  he  was  sworn  a  privy  coun- 
cillor, and  in  163-i  appointed  one  of  the  extraordi- 
nary lords  of  session.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1638,  be  succeeded  to  his  titles.  The  estates  he  had 
held  previously.  lie  attended  the  General  Assem- 
bly at  Glasgow,  that  year,  at  which  presby  terianlsm 
was  declared  to  be  the  established  religion  of  Scot- 
land. In  1639,  when  Charles  prepared  for  the  in- 
vasion of  Scotland,  Argyle  raised  nine  hundred 
men  to  oppose  the  Macdonalds  of  the  Isles  and 
the  carl  of  Antrim,  who  were  to  attack  the  king- 


dom on  the  west.  In  June  16^10  he  marched  to 
the  north  against  the  earl  of  Atliol  and  the  Ogil- 
vys,  who  had  taken  up  arms  for  the  king,  and 
foix^ed  them  to  submit. 

Of  Argyle's  ascendancy  in  the  senate  the  mar- 
quis of  Montrose  at  this  time  became  pai'tlculaiiy 
jealous,  and  he  transmitted  an  accusation  against 
him  to  court,  of  having  declared  in  the  presence  of 
Athol  and  others  that  the  states  intended  to  de- 
pose the  king.  The  fact  was  denied  by  all  the 
witnesses,  said  to  have  been  present,  and  Stewai't, 
commissary  of  Duukeld,  the  informer,  who  re- 
tracted his  statement,  wiis  convicted  and  execut- 
ed; while  Montiose  was  committed  prisoner  to 
the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  In  1641,  when  Charles 
the  First  came  to  Scotland,  his  m«ijesty  created 
him  marquis  of  Argyle. 

In  1644,  after  the  marquis  of  Iluntly,  whom  the 
king  had  appointed  his  lieutenant-general  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  had  taken  Aberdeen,  Arg}'le 
was,  by  the  convention  at  'Edinburgh,  commis- 
sioned to  raise  an  army  to  oppose  him.  He,  ac- 
cordingly, assembled  at  Perth,  a  force  of  five  thou- 
sand foot  and  eight  hundred  horse,  with  which  he 
advanced  on  Aberdeen.  Iluntly  fled  to  Baufi*,  where 
he  disbanded  his  army,  and  retired  to  Strathnaver. 
Argyle,  after  taking  possession  of  Aberdeen,  pro- 
ceeded noi*thward  and  took  the  castles  of  Gight 
and  Kellie.  The  lairds  of  Gight  and  Iladdo  he 
made  prisoners  and  sent  to  Edinburgh,  where  the 
latter  was  afterwards  beheaded.  In  July  1644, 
Alexander  Macdonald,  who  had  been  despoiled 
of  his  patrimony  by  Argyle*s  father,  landed 
in  the  west  from  Ireland,  with  fifteen  hundi-cd 
men,  with  the  pui-pose  of  joining  the  mai-quis  of 
Montrose,  on  the  side  of  the  king.  Argyle  col- 
lect<^d  an  army  to  oppose  his  progress,  and  to  cut 
off  his  retreat  to  L'elaud  he  sent  some  ships  of 
war  to  Loch  Eishord,  where  Macdouald^s  fleet 
lay,  which  captured  or  destroyed  them. 

After  the  battle  of  Tippermuu',  Montrose's  vic- 
torious army  pix>ceeded  through  Angus  and  the 
Mearus  to  Aberdeen,  where  he  again  defeated  the 
army  of  the  Coveuiintei-s.  On  the  4th  of  Septem- 
ber, four  days  after  the  battle  of  Tippcnnuir, 
Argyle,  who  had  l>een  pui*suing  the  Irish  forces 
under  Macdonald,  had  arrived  with  his  Highland- 
ers at  Stirling,  where,  on  the  following  day,  he 


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MARQdiS  OF  ARCYLE. 


w«s  Joined  by  the  earl  of  Lothian  and  bis  regiment. 
With  an  increased  force,  amounting  to  three  thou- 
sand foot  and  two  regular  cavalry  regiments,  besides 
ten  troops  of  horse,  Argylo  arrived  at  Aberdeen  on 
the  19th,  and  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  the 
marquis  of  Montrose  and  his  followers  ti-aitors  to 
religion,  and  to  their  king  and  country,  and  offer- 
ing a  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  Scots,  to 
any  person  who  should  bring  in  Montrose  dead  or 
alive.  Spalding,  vol.  ii.  page  271,  laments  with 
great  pathos  and  feeling  the  severe  hardships  to 
which  the  citizens  of  Aberdeen  had  been  subjected 
by  the  fi*equcnt  visitations  of  hostile  armies  at 
tills  period,  but  forgets  to  add  how  much  the  citi- 
zens of  Aberdeen  had  done  to  bring  it  on  them- 
selves by  their  sympathy  with  Montrose.  Three 
days  after  his  arrival  in  Aberdeen,  Argyle  pnt  his 
army  in  motion  in  the  direction  of  Kintore.  On 
hearing  of  his  approach,  Montrose  concealed  his 
cannon  in  a  bog,  and  marched  his  anny  into  the 
forest  of  Abemethy.  Argyle  proceeded  as  far  as 
Strathbogie,  and  allowed  his  troops  to  lose  their 
time  in  plundering  and  laying  waste  the  lands  of 
the  Gordons  in  that  district,  and  in  the  Enzie. 
On  the  27th  of  September  Argyle  mustered  his 
forces  at  the  Bog  of  Gight,  and  found  them  to 
amount  to  about  four  thousand  men.  The  army 
of  Montrose  did  not  amount  to  much  more  than  a 
third  of  that  number.  At  this  time  the  two  ar- 
mies wei-e  within  twenty  miles  of  each  other ;  but 
Montrose  passed  unscathed  through  the  forest  of 
Rotbiemurchus,  and  following  the  course  of  the 
Spey,  marched  through  Badenoch.  Argyle,  on 
this,  set  his  army  in  motion  along  Spey-side,  and 
marched  through  Badenoch  in  pursuit.  On  en- 
tering Badenoch,  having  been  delayed  by  illness, 
Argyle  found  Montrose  several  days*  march  in 
advance  of  him,  and  had  crossed  the  Grampians 
to  Strathbogie,  where  he  arrhred  on  the  19th  of 
October  and  remained  till  the  27th.  Contraiy  to 
his  expectations,  Montrose  was  joined  by  but  a 
small  party  of  the  Gordons,  the  marquis  of  Huntly 
keeping  aloof  altogether,  while  his  sons  were  on 
the  side  of  the  parliament. 

After  spoiling  the  lands  of  those  in  Badenoch 
and  Athole  who  had  joined  Montrose,  Argyle  fol- 
lowed him  across  the  Dee,  and  passing  thix)ngh 
Aberdeen  and  Kintore,  he  reached  luveriiry  on 


25th  October,  with  a  force  of  about  two  thousand 
five  hnndred  foot,  and  twelve  hundred  horse,  and 
suddenly  appeared  within  a  very  few  miles  of  the 
camp  of  Montrose  on  the  28tli  of  the  same  month. 
Montix>se*s  foot  amounted  only  to  fifteen  hundred 
men,  and  about  fifty  horse;  yet  with  this  infe- 
rior force  he  resolved  to  await  Arg)ie's  attack. 
He  accordingly  drew  up  his  little  army  on  a 
rugged  eminence  behind  the  castle  of  Fyvie,  on 
the  uneven  sides  of  which  several  ditches  had 
been  cut  and  dikes  built  to  serve  as  faim  fences. 
Here  he  was  attacked  by  Argyle,  whose  men, 
charging  with  great  impetuosity,  di'ove  the  forces 
of  Montrose  up  the  eminence,  of  a  considerable 
part  of  which  they  got  possession.  The  assailed, 
however,  were  soon  rallied  by  Montrose,  who 
directed  an  attack  in  turn  with  complete  success. 
A  subsequent  attack  of  cavaliy  was  resisted  by 
interlining  with  his  few  horse  a  body  of  muskct- 
eere.  In  the  evening  Argj'le  di-ew  off  his  forces, 
and  although  he  returned  to  the  position  on  the 
following  and  subsequent  days,  the  attack  was 
not  renewed. 

After  nightfall  of  the  second  day,  Montrose  re- 
treated towards  Strathbogie,  followed  by  Argyle, 
all  whose  attempts,  however,  to  bring  him  to  ac- 
tion in  the  open  country  proved  unavailing  against 
an  antagonist  of  militaiy  genius  so  much  superior 
to  his  own.  Recourse  was  then  had  by  Argyle  to 
negotiation,  but  to  a  request  for  a  personal  meet- 
ing with  the  view  of  arranging  a  cessation  of 
aims,  Montrose,  lest  Argyle  should  avail  himself 
of  the  occasion  to  tamper  with  his  men,  proposed 
in  a  council  of  war  to  retire  to  tlie  Grampians. 
The  council  at  once  approved  of  this  suggestion, 
on  which  Montrose  resolved  to  march  into  Bade- 
noch, and  afterwards  descended  by  rapid  marches 
into  Athole. 

In  the  meantime,  Argyle  disbanded  his  High- 
landers, and  went  to  Edinburgh,  where,  according 
to  Spalding,  vol.  ii.  page  287,  he  **  got  but  small 
thanks  for  his  service  against  Montrose."  So  far 
from  this  being  the  case,  the  Committee  of  Estates 
passed  an  act  of  approbation  of  his  services,  **  prin- 
cipally because  he  had  shed  no  blood."  IGui^ify, 
page  124.]  To  i*etaliate  upon  Argyle  and  his 
clan  the  miseries  which  he  had  occasioned  in 
Lochaber,    Montrose   proceeded   to   ravage    the 


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558 


MARQUIS  OF  ARGYLE. 


conntry  possessed  by  the  Campbells,  beginning 
with  Glenorchy,  on  which  Argyle  hastened  to  his 
castle  at  Invei-ary,  and  gave  orders  for  the  assem- 
bling of  his  followers.  He  took  no  precautions, 
however,  to  guard  the  passes  leading  into  Argyle, 
although  so  important  did  he  consider  them  that 
he  had  frequently  declared  he  would  i-ather  forfeit 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns  than  that  an  enemy 
should  know  them.  While  reposing  in  fancied 
security,  some  shepherds  from  the  hills  brought 
him  the  alarming  intelligence  that  Montrose's 
forces  were  within  two  miles  of  his  castle.  He 
immediately  took  refuge  on  board  a  fishing-boat 
in  Ix>ch  Fyne,  in  which  he  sought  his  way  to  the 
Lowlands.  For  upwai*ds  of  six  weeks,  the  dis- 
trict of  Argyle,  as  well  as  that  of  Lorn,  was  laid 
waste,  so  that,  before  the  end  of  Januaiy,  1645, 
a  single  male  inhabitant  was  not  to  be  seen 
throughout  their  whole  extent.  Montrose  then 
proceeded  northwards,  with  the  view  of  seizing 
Inverness ;  but,  on  his  route,  liearning  that  Argyle 
had  entered  Lochaber  with  an  army  of  three  thou- 
sand men,  and  had  advanced  as  far  as  Inverlochy, 
burning  and  laying  waste  the  country  wherever 
oe  appeared,  he  crossed  the  mountains,  and 
reached  Glennevis  before  Argyle  had  the  slight- 
est notice  of  his  approach.  Committing  his  army 
to  the  charge  of  his  cousin,  Campbell  of  Auchin- 
breck,  who  had  considerable  reputation  as  a  mili- 
tary commander,  Argyle  went  on  board  a  boat  on 
the  loch,  accompanied  by  Sir  John  Wauchope  of 
Niddry,  Sir  James  Rollock  of  Duncrub,  Archibald 
Sydserf,  one  of  the  bailies  of  Edinburgh,  and 
Mango  Law,  a  minister  of  the  same  city.  His 
excuse  for  doing  so,  was  some  contusions  he  had 
received  by  a  fall  two  or  three  weeks  before.  At 
sunrise  on  Sunday,  2d  February  1645,  Montrose 
gave  orders  to  his  men  to  advance,  when  Argyle*s 
forces  were  totally  defeated,  no  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  of  his  family  and  name  being  killed,  and 
amongst  the  slain  was  Campbell  of  Auchinbreck, 
their  commander.  After  this  action,  which  was 
called  the  battle  of  Inverlochy,  Argyle  amved  in 
Edinburgh,  ** having,"  says  Guthrie,  "his  left 
arm  tied  up  in  a  scarf,  as  if  he  had  been  at  bones- 
breaking."  He  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Kil- 
syth, 15th  August  1645,  as  the  head  of  a  commit- 
tee of  noblemen  appointed  by  the  estates  to  attend 


General  Baillie,  the  general  of  the  Covenanters, 
who  sustained  a  signal  defeat  from  Montrose.  By 
way  of  retaliation  for  the  destruction  of  Castle 
Campbell,  and  the  properties  of  his  vassals,  by 
the  Macleans,  who  had  joined  Montrose^s  army, 
he  had  previously  caused  the  house  of  Menstrie. 
the  seat  of  the  earl  of  Stirling,  the  king^s  secre- 
tary, and  that  of  Airthrie,  belonging  to  Sir  John 
Graham  of  Braco,  to  be  burnt.  Just  before  the 
battle  he  had,  with  a  small  body  of  troops,  taken 
his  ix)ute  over  the  hills  from  Stirling,  and  crossing 
the  CaiTon,  at  a  ford  still  bearing  his  name,  joined 
the  main  body  under  Baillie.  Tlie  loss  of  the  battle 
of  Kilsyth,  the  most  disastrous  defeat  which  the 
Covenanters  ever  sustained,  is  mainly  to  be  attri- 
buted to  the  interference  of  Argjie  and  the  **  field 
committee,"  with  that  generars  dispositions  and 
arrangements.  All  Baillie*s  officers  fled  in  various 
directions;  while  Argyle  hastened  to  the  south 
shore  of  the  Frith  of  Forth.  According  to  Bishop 
Gutliry,  he  **  never  looked  over  his  shoulder  until, 
after  twenty  miles  riding,  he  reached  the  South 
Queensferry,  where  he  possessed  himself  of  a  boat 
again."  [AfcmotV*,  page  154.]  Wishart  sarcas- 
tically observes  that  this  was  the  third  time  that 
Argyle  nad  *'  saved  himself  by  means  of  a  boat, 
and,  even  then,  he  did  not  reckon  himself  secure 
till  they  had  weighed  anchor  and  earned  the  vessel 
out  to  sea."  IMemoirs^  page  171.]  He  after- 
wards took  refuge  in  Ireland,  until  Montrose*8 
subsequent  defeat  at  Philiphaugh.  Among  the 
piisoners  executed  by  the  Covenanters  after  that 
event  was  Sir  William  Rollock,  one  of  Montrose^s 
principal  officers,  the  chief  cause  of  whose  condem- 
nation, Wishart  says,  (Memoirs,  page  223,)  was 
that  he  would  not  consent  to  assassinate  Montrose, 
at  the  instigation  of  Argyle ;  a  cnme  which,  not- 
withstanding all  the  ferocity  of  the  times,  and  all 
the  enmity  which  subsisted  between  these  two 
rival  chiefs,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  Argyle  to 
have  been  guilty  of. 

In  July  1646,  when  the  king  had  surrendered 
to  the  Scottish  army,  the  marquis  went  to  New- 
castle to  pay  him  his  respects.  He  was  after- 
wards employed  at  London  in  the  conference  with 
the  parliament  of  England  on  the  Articles  pre- 
sented by  them  to  his  majesty.  He  was,  besides, 
charged  with  a  secret  commission  from  the  king. 


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MARQUIS  OF  ARGYLE. 


to  consult  with  the  dnke  of  Richmond  and  the 
marquis  of  Hertford,  as  to  the  expediencf  of  get- 
ting the  Scottish  parliament  and  army  to  declare 
for  him ;  but  was  told  that  if  the  Scots  should  de 
clare  for  the  king,  it  might  prove  his  majesty^s 
ruin,  by  turning  the  affair  into  a  national  dispute, 
in  which  all  parties  in  England  would  unite,  to 
pi-ovent  the  kingdom  from  being  conquered.  Ar- 
gyle  returned  to  Scotland  to  attend  parliament, 
which  met  3d  November,  1646,  and  on  the  7th  of 
that  month,  the  convention  of  estates  passed  an 
"  act  of  approbation  to  the  marquis  of  Argyle  and 
remanent  commissioners  at  London.'*  In  the 
same  parliament  a  sum  of  money  was  voted  to 
him  for  his  various  services,  all  his  estates  having 
been  plundered  by  the  Irish  and  other  followers 
of  Montrose.  In  1647,  also,  the  parliament  voted 
him  an  additional  sum  for  his  family's  subsistence, 
and  for  paying  anntial  rents  to  some  necessitous 
creditors  on  his  estate,  and  a  collection  was  or- 
dered throughout  all  the  churches  in  Scotland,  for 
the  relief  of  the  people  of  Argyle  plundered  by 
Montrose. 

The  marquis  of  Huntly,  who  had  appeared  in 
arms  for  the  king,  having  been  taken  prisoner,  in 
December  1647,  by  Lieutenant- colonel  Meuzies,  in 
Strathdon,  and  carried  to  Edinburgh,  a  reward  of 
a  thousand  pounds  sterling  was  bestowed  on  his 
captor,  who,  for  payment  of  this  sum,  obtained  an 
order,  6th  January  1648,  from  the  committee  of 
estates.  It  has  been  made  the  ground  of  a  charge, 
by  the  author  of  the  history  of  the  family  of  Gor- 
don, against  Hamilton  and  Argyle,  that  they  were 
the  first  signers  of  this  order;  but  they  merely 
signed  the  document  in  the  order  of  precedence  of 
rank  before  the  rest  of  the  committee.  It  is 
related  by  Spalding  that,  taking  advantage  of 
Hnntly's  situation,  Argyle  bought  up  all  the  com- 
prisings  on  Huntly's  lands,  and  that  he  caused 
summon  at  the  market  cross  of  Aberdeen,  by 
sound  of  trumpet,  all  Huntly's  wadsetters  and 
creditors,  to  appear  at  Edinburgh  in  the  month  of 
March  following,  to  produce  their  securities  before 
the  lords  of  session,  othei-wise  they  would  be  de- 
clared null  and  void.  Some  of  Huntly's  creditors 
sold  their  claims  to  him,  and  having  thus  bought 
up  all  the  rights  he  could  obtain  upon  Huntly's 
estate,  he  grants  bonds  for  the  amount,  which. 


according  to  Spalding,  he  never  paid.  In  this 
way  did  Argyle  possess  himself  of  Huntly's  estates, 
which  he  continued  to  enjoy  upwai*ds  of  twelve 
years,  namely,  fi*om  1648  till  the  restoration  in 
1660.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  in 
thus  acting  it  was  for  the  benefit  of  his  nephew. 
Lord  Gordon,  and  not  for  his  own  aggrandize- 
ment, Huntly's  estates  being  forfeited  by  the  par* 
liament. 

In  1648,  when  the  duke  of  Hamilton  formed  an 
association  to  attempt  the  rescue  of  the  king, 
which  went  under  the  name  of  "the  Engage- 
ment," Argyle  and  his  party  opposed  it.  After 
the  defeat  of  the  army  led  by  Hamilton  into  Eng- 
land, a  new  commotion  was  raised  in  Scotland  by 
those  who  had  disapproved  of  the  "  Engagement." 
The  principal  authors  were  the  marquis  of  Argyle, 
the  earls  of  Cassillis  and  Eglinton  and  the  earl  of 
Loudon,  chancellor.  To  oppose  them  the  com- 
mittee of  estates  raised  an  army  and  conferred 
tiie  command  on  the  earl  of  Lanai-k,  who  was 
soon  joined  by  Sir  George  Monro,  with  a  small 
body  of  troops  which  he  had  conducted  home 
from  England.  Argyle,  having  collected  a  small 
body  of  Highlanders  in  his  own  country,  marched 
eastward  to  form  a  junction  with  Loudon  and 
Eglinton.  Halting  at  Stirling,  after  assigning  to 
his  troops  their  different  posts,  he  went  to  dine 
with  the  earl  of  Mar  at  his  residence  in  that  town. 
But  while  the  dinner  was  serving  up,  the  advanced 
guard  of  Lanark's  forces,  under  Sir  George  Mon- 
1*0,  entei-ed  the  town,  on  which,  mounting  his 
horse,  he  gallopped  across  Stirling  bridge,  and 
never  looked  behind  him  till  he  reached  the  North 
QneensfeiTy,  where  he  instantly  crossed  the  Frith 
in  a  small  boat.  He  then  proceeded  to  Edin- 
burgh, and,  with  I^udon,  the  chancellor,  and  the 
eai'ls  of  Cassillis  and  Eglinton,  as  committee  of 
estates,  summoned  a  parliament  to  meet  on  the 
4th  of  January.  In  the  meantime,  Cromwell  had 
laid  siege  to  Berwick,  and  was  waited  upon  at 
Mordington,  by  Argyle,  Lord  Elcho,  and  Sir 
Chai'les  Ei-skine,  and  after  the  surrender  of  that 
town  they  conducted  him  and  General  Lambert 
to  Edinburgh.  Cromwell  took  up  his  residence  in 
the  house  of  Lady  Home  in  the  Canongate,  where 
he  received  frequent  visita  from  Argyle,  Loudon, 
the  earl  of  Ix)tiiian,  and  othei*s,  both  peers  and 


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Diinisters.  It  is  said  that  during  tliese  conferen- 
ces, Cromwell  commnnicated  to  his  visitors  his 
intentions  with  respect  to  the  king,  and  obtained 
their  consent.  It  was  with  reference  to  this  that 
Argyle  made  his  celebrated  declaration  on  the 
scaffohl. 

Although  Argyle  and  his  friends  had  now  the 
principal  power  in  Scotland,  he  exerted  himself  in 
vain  to  prevent  the  execution  of  that  eminent  roy- 
alist, the  marquis  of  Hnutly,  his  brother-in-law, 
and  when  it  was  carried  against  him,  ICth  March 

1649,  he  withdrew  in  disgust  from  the  parliament. 
But  when  his  great  rival,  Montrose,  was  con- 
ducted with  every  mark  of  Ignominy,   in  May 

1650,  up  the  Canongate  to  the  tolbooth  of  Edin- 
bin-gh,  Argyle,  surrounded  by  his  family  and 
friends,  appeared  publicly  on  a  balcony  in  front  of 
the  earl  of  Moray's  house  in  the  Canongate,  to 
gaze  at  him.  lie  refused,  however,  to  assist  at 
or  concur  in  the  barbarous  sentence  pronounced 
against  him,  declaring  that  he  was  too  much  a 
party  to  be  a  judge.  He  was  not  present  at  Mon- 
trose^s  execution,  and  is  said  to  have  shed  tears 
on  hearing  of  the  particulars  of  his  death. 

Argyle  had  the  principal  hand  in  bringing  over 
Charles  the  Second  to  Scotland,  where  he  arrived 
in  June  1650.  It  is  mentioned  by  I^rd  Dai*t- 
montli,  in  his  MS.  notes  on  Burnet,  quoted  in 
Rose's  Observations  on  Fox  (p.  176),  that  on  his 
arrival,  Argyle  informed  his  majesty  that  he  could 
not  serve  him  as  he  desired,  unless  he  gave  some 
nndeniablo  proof  of  a  fixed  resolution  to  support 
the  presbyterian  party,  which  he  thought  would 
be  best  done  by  marrying  into  some  family  of 
quality  and  influence  attached  to  that  interest, 
and  thought  his  own  daughter  would  be  the  pro- 
perest  match  for  him.  What  truth  there  may  be 
in  this,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  certain  it  is 
that  the  presbyterian  party,  at  the  head  of  which 
was  Argyle,  was  then  the  strongest,  and  it  is 
likely  that  with  a  sincere  desire  to  serve  his  ma- 
jesty, the  ambition  of  that  nobleman  might  have 
led  him  to  entertain  such  a  design,  with  a  view  of 
advancing  both  his  majesty's  interests  and  his 
own,  as  well  as  the  cause  of  the  presbyterian  reli- 
gion, while  the  report  that  the  king  was  to  nuiriy 
his  daughter  was  prevalent  at  the  time. 

After  the  fiital  defeat  of  the  Scots  ai-my  at  Dun-  | 


bar,  3d  September,  1650,  Argyle  continued  to 
exert  himself  for  the  defence  of  the  country  and 
the  promotion  of  the  cause  of  the  king,  who  was 
so  sensible  of  his  zeal,  and  diligence  in  bis  ser- 
vice, that  he  drew  up  a  paper  which  he  presented 
to  him  with  bis  sign  manual,  promising,  on  ^'  the 
word  of  a  king,"  to  create  him  duke  of  Argyle, 
knight  of  the  garter,  and  one  of  the  gentlemen  of 
his  bedchamber,  when  he  (Argyle)  should  think 
fit;  and  whenever  it  should  please  God  to  restore 
him  to  his  just  rights  in  England,  to  see  him  paid 
forty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  which  was  due  to 
him.  On  the  king's  coronation  at  Scone,  1st 
January  1651,  Argyle  placed  the  crown  on  his 
Majesty's  head,  and  was  the  first  to  swear  alle- 
giance to  him.  When  Charles,  in  June  of  that 
year,  resolved  to  march  into  England,  Argyle  en- 
deavoured to  dissuade  him  from  it;  but,  neverthe- 
less he  would  have  accompanied  his  majesty,  had 
not  his  coontess  been  then  lying  at  the  point  of  death, 
and  he  took  leave  of  the  king  at  Stirling.  After 
Charles's  defeat  at  Worcester,  Argyle  retired  to 
Inverary,  where  he  continued  for  a  year  to  act  on 
the  defensive;  but,  falling  sick,  he  was  surprised 
by  General  Dean,  who  conducted  him  a  prisoner 
to  Edinbnrgh.  Having  received  orders  from 
General  Monk  to  attend  a  privy  council,  he  was 
thus  entrapped  to  be  present  at  the  ceremony  of 
proclaiming  Oliver  Cromwell  lord  protector.  A 
paper  was  tendered  to  him  to  sign,  containing  his 
submission  to  the  government  as  settled,  which  he 
refused,  but  afterwards,  when  he  was  in  no  con- 
dition to  struggle,  he  did  sign  a  promise  to  live 
peaceably  under  the  protectorate;  and  under 
Richard  Cromwell  he  sat  in  the  parliament  for 
the  county  of  Aberdeen. 

At  the  restoration  he  went  to  London  to  con- 
gi*atulate  the  king,  arriving  there  8th  July  1660; 
but,  without  being  allowed  to  see  his  majesty,  he 
was  committed  to  the  Tower,  and  after  lying  there 
for  five  mouths,  he  was  sent  down  to  Scotland  to 
be  tried  for  his  compliance  with  the  usurpation. 
On  the  voyage  down  he  narrowly  escaped  ship- 
wreck by  a  storm.  When  he  arrived  in  Edin- 
burgh he  was  confined  in  the  castle.  At  his  trial, 
his  invetei-ate  enemy,  tlie  carl  of  Middleton,  pre- 
sided as  lord  high  commissioner;  and,  after  the 
evidence  had  bcui  dosed  on  both  sides,  an  express 


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MARQUIS  OF  ARGYLE. 


aiTived  from  Monk  with  some  private  letters  from 
Argyle  to  him  and  others,  proving  his  full  com- 
pliance with  the  Qsnrpation.  Being  condemned 
for  high  treason,  he  was  beheaded  with  the  Maiden 
at  the  Cross  of  Eciinburgh,  May  27,  1661.  On 
sentence  being  pronounced,  the  marquis,  lifting  up 
his  eyes,  said,  "  1  had  the  honour  to  set  the  crown 
upon  the  king's  head,  and  now  he  hastens  me  to 
a  better  crown  than  his  own."  He  prepared  for 
death  with  a  fortitude  not  expected  from  the  natu- 
ral timidity  of  his  character;  wrote  a  long  letter 
to  the  king,  vindicating  his  memory,  and  im- 
ploring protection  for  his  poor  wife  and  family; 
and  on  the  day  of  his  execution,  dined  at  noon 
with  his  friends,  with  great  cheerfulness,  and 
was  accompanied  by  several  of  the  nobility  to 
ihe  scaffold,  where  he  behaved  with  singular  con- 
stancy and  courage.  His  last  words  were,  **I 
desire  all  that  hear  me  to  take  notice  and  remem- 
ber, that  now,  when  I  am  entering  on  eternity, 
and  am  to  appear  before  my  Judge,  and  as  I  de^ 
sii*e  salvation,  I  am  free  from  any  accession  by 
knowledge,  contriving,  counsel,  or  any  ol^er  way, 
to  his  late  majesty^s  death."  His  head  was  ex- 
posed on  the  west  end  of  the  tolbooth,  on  the 
same  spike  from  which  that  of  Monti*ose  had  re- 
CiCntly  been  removed ;  while  his  body  was  carried 


to  St.  Magdalene*s  chapel  in  the  Cowgate,  and 
lay  there  for  some  days,  until  it  was  removed  by 
his  friends  to  the  family  burial-place  at  Kllmun. 
The  head  remained  on  the  top  of  the  tolbooth  till 
8th  June  1664,  when  a  warrant  was  obtained  fVom 
Charles  the  Second  for  taking  it  down,  and  bury- 
ing it  with  his  body. 

Mr.  Granger,  in  his  Biographical  History  of 
England,  observes  that  ^Hhe  marquis  of  Argyle 
was  in  the  cabinet  what  his  enemy  the  marquis  of 
Montrose  was  in  the  field,  the  first  character  of 
his  age  and  country  for  political  courage  and  con- 
duct."— ^The  woodcut  on  the  preceding  column  is 
from  an  engraving  after  the  original  at  Inverary. 

The  marquis  of  Argj'le  is  inserted  in  Walpole*s 
Catalognt  of  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,  having 
published  his  ^Instructions  to  his  Son,'  12mo, 
Edinburgh,  1661,  written  during  his  confinement; 
on  which  Walpole  remarks,  it  is  observable  that 
he  quarrelled  with  both  his  father  and  his  son; 
and  ^Defences  against  the  grand  indictment  of 
high  ti*eason,'  1661.  Park,  in  his  edition  of  Wal- 
pole, (vol.  V.  p.  115,  edition  1806,)  says,  in  1642 
waa  printed  "the  marquis  of  Argyll's  speech  on 
peace,  to  be  sent  to  his  Majestic."  By  his  wife, 
Lady  Margaret  Douglas,  second  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam, second  earl  of  Morton,  he  had  with  three 
daughters,  two  sons;  namely,  Archibald,  ninth  earl 
of  Argyle,  and  Lord  Niel  Campbell  of  Ardmaddie, 
who  was  governor  of  Dumbarton  castle,  and  died 
in  1693.  Lord  Niel  waa  twice  married ;  and  Dr. 
Archibald  Campbell,  his  second  son  by  his  fii-st 
wife,  Lady  Vere  Ker,  third  daughter  of  the  third 
earl  of  Lothian,  was  bishop  of  Aberdeen.  [See 
a  subsequent  notice  (Campbell,  Archibald,) 
bishop  of  Aberdeen.]  His  second  wife  was  Susan, 
eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Menzies  of 
Weem,  baronet,  sister  of  Captain  James  Men- 
zies, who  had  married  his  lordship^s  daughter, 
Anna.  Lord  NiePs  widow  afterwards  married 
Colonel  Alexander  Campbell  of  Finnab,  and  had 
two  sons,  Niel  Campbell,  advocate,  and  Alexan- 
der. Her  only  surviving  child,  Jeaii,  mamed 
Campbell  of  Inverawe.  Lord  Niel  Camp{)eirs 
descendants  have  long  been  extinct  in  the  male 
line.  Menzies  of  Castlemenzies,  baronet,  and  the 
Fergusons  of  Pitcullo  in  Fife  descend  from  him  in 
the  fenuile  line. 

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NINTH  EARL  OF  ARGYLE. 


The  marquis*  eldest  daughter,  Lady  Anne,  died 
unmarried  His  second,  Lady  Jean,  became  the 
wife  of  the  first  marqois  of  Lothian ;  and  Lady 
Mary,  the  third,  married  first  the  sixth  earl  of 
Caithness,  and  after  his  death  the  first  earl  of 
Breadalbane,  and  had  one  son  to  him. 

CAMPBELL,  Archibald,  ninth  earl  of  Argyle, 
eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  was  educated  by  his 
father  in  the  true  principles  of  loyalty  and  the 
protestant  religion,  and  had  from  his  youth  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  steady  attachment  to  the 
i*oyal  cause.  After  receiving  his  education  he 
went  to  travel  in  France  and  Italy  in  1647,  and 
remained  on  the  continent  till  the  end  of  1649. 
In  1650,  when  Charles  the  Second  was  invited  to 
Scotland,  the  commission  of  colonel  of  foot  guards 
was  given  to  him  by  the  convention  of  estates, 
which  he  declined  to  accept  until  it  should  be  rat- 
ified by  the  king.  He  served  with  great  bravery 
against  Cromwell  at  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  in  Sep- 
tember of  that  year.  After  the  king's  defeat  at 
Worcester,  he  kept  a  party  in  arms  in  the  High- 
lands, ready  to  act  on  any  favourable  opportunity. 
In  1654  he  joined  the  earl  of  Glencaim  with  near- 
ly a  thousand  men,  and  received  the  commission 
of  lieutenant-general  from  Charles  the  Second. 
He  was,  in  consequence,  exempted  from  the  gen- 
eral amnesty  published  by  Cromwell  in  April  of 
that  year.  Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  he 
was  so  reduced  that  he  retired  to  an  island  with 
only  four  or  five  persons  about  him.  It  was  not 
till  1655,  when  he  received  orders  from  General 
Middleton,  sanctioned  by  the  king's  authority, 
that  he  would  consent  to  submit  to  Cromwell. 
In  November  of  that  year  he  was  compelled  by 
Greneral  Monk  to  find  secmnty  for  his  peaceable 
behaviour,  to  the  amount  of  fiyQ  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  In  spring  1657  Monk  committed  him 
to  prison,  where  he  remained  till  the  Restoration. 

In  March  1658,  while  confined  in  Edinburgh 
castle,  the  lieutenant  of  that  garrison,  an  English- 
man, was  one  day  amusing  himself  in  throwing  a 
bullet,  when  it  glanced  from  a  stone  with  so  mnch 
force  on  Lord  Lom's  head,  that  it  fractured  his 
skull.  He  was  obliged  to  undergo  the  operation 
of  trepanning,  and  recovered  with  diflaculty.  IBur- 
nefs  Hist  vol.  i.  p.  106.] 

On  the  restoration,  his  lordship  hastened  to 


I^ndon  to  congi'atulate  his  majesty,  being  charged 
with  a  letter  irom  his  father,  the  marquis  of  Ar- 
gyle, to  the  king,  containing  assurances  of  his 
duty.  His  majesty  received  him  in  so  gracious  a 
manner  as  to  induce  the  marquis  himself  to  un- 
dertake a  journey  to  London,  when,  without  being 
admitted  to  the  king's  presence,  he  was  commit- 
ted to  the  Tower,  and  subsequently  sent  down  to 
be  tried  in  Scotland  for  treason.  During  all  the 
time  of  his  trial,  Lord  Lorn  remained  at  court 
and  laboured  assiduously,  but  in  vain,  to  save  his 
father's  life.  A  letter  to  Lord  Dufins,  written 
after  the  marquis'  execution,  in  which  he  said 
that  he  had  convinced  the  earl  of  Clarendon  of 
the  injustice  done  to  his  father,  being  intercepted, 
was  carried  to  the  earl  of  Middleton,  who  exhibit- 
ed it  to  the  parliament,  as  a  libel  on  their  pro- 
ceedings. That  body,  on  24th  June  1662,  trans- 
mitted a  representation  to  the  king  that  the  eldest 
son  of  the  late  marquis  of  Argyle  had  both  writ- 
ten and  spoken  against  their  authority,  and  re- 
questing that  he  might  be  sent  down  to  Scotland 
to  stand  his  trial.  By  the  express  command  of 
the  king,  Lord  Lorn  proceeded  to  Edinburgh,  and 
on  the  day  of  his  arrival  he  appeared  in  his  place 
in  parliament,  and  made  a  long  speech  in  his  own 
justification.  He  was,  nevertheless,  committed 
close  prisoner  to  the  castle,  and  a  process  raised 
against  him  for  the  crime  of  leasing-makmg,  or 
creating  dissension  between  the  king  and  his  sub- 
jects, on  which  he  was  found  guilty,  and  con- 
demned to  lose  his  head,  but  the  day  of  his  exe- 
cution was  left  to  his  majesty's  pleasure,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  positive  order  of  the  king  to  the 
earl  of  Middleton.  When  the  news  of  his  condem- 
nation reached  the  coui-t  at  London  it  struck  all 
there  with  astonishment,  and  the  earl  of  Clarendon 
declared  that  if  the  king  sufi'ered  such  a  precedent 
to  take  place,  he  would  get  out  of  his  dominions 
as  fast  as  his  gout  would  let  him.  Lord  Lorn 
suffered  a  long  and  severe  imprisonment  in  the 
castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  was  only  released  on 
4th  June,  1663,  when  Middleton  had  lost  his 
power. 

Sensible  of  his  services  and  of  the  injustice  with 
which  he  had  been  treated,  Charles,  the  same 
year,  restored  to  him  the  estates  and  title  of  eari 
of  Ajgyle,  which  had  been  forfeited  by  his  father. 


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FIRST  DUKE  OF  ARGYLE. 


His  residence  while  in  Edinburgh,  during  his  at- 
tendance on  the  Scots  parliament,  was  in  the 
Mint  court.  High  street,  as  appears  from  a  curious 
case  reported  in  Fountainhall's  Decisions,  vol.  i. 
page  163. 

In  1681,  when  the  duke  of  York  went  to  Scot- 
laud,  a  parliament  was  summoned  at  Edinburgh, 
which,  besides  granting  money  to  the  king,  and 
voting  the  indefeasible  right  of  succession,  passed 
an  act  for  establishing  a  test,  obliging  all,  who 
possessed  offices,  civil,  military,  or  ecclesiastical, 
to  take  an  oath  not  to  attempt  any  change  in  the 
constitution  of  church  and  state  as  then  settled. 
When  Argyle  took  the  test  as  a  privy  councillor, 
he  added,  in  presence  of  the  duke  of  York,  an 
explanation  which  he  had  before  communicated  to 
that  prince,  and  which  he  believed  to  have  been 
approved  of  by  him,  to  the  effect  that  he  took  it 
as  far  as  it  was  consistent  with  itself  and  with  the 
Protestant  religion.  The  explanation  was  allowed, 
and  he  was  admitted  to  sit  that  day  in  council. 
To  his  great  surprise,  however,  he  was  a  few  days 
thereafter  committed  to  prison,  and  tried  for  high 
treason,  leasing-making,  and  peijury.  Of  five 
judges  three  did  not  scruple  to  find  him  guilty  of 
the  two  first  charges,  and  a  jury  of  fifteen  noble- 
men gave  a  verdict  against  him.  The  king^s  per- 
mission, was  obtained  for  pronouncing  sentence, 
but  the  execution  of  it  was  ordered  to  be  delayed. 
Having  no  reason  to  expect  either  justice  or  mercy 
from  such  enemies,  the  earl  made  his  escape  from 
prison  in  the  train  of  his  step-daughter.  Lady 
Sophia  Lindsay,  disguised  as  her  page.  He  made 
his  way  to  London,  and  though  the  place  of  his 
concealment  was  known  at  Court,  it  is  said  that 
the  king  would  not  consent  to  his  being  arrested. 
In  the  meantime,  the  privy  council  of  Scotland 
publicly  proclaimed  his  sentence  at  the  cross  of 
Edinburgh,  and  caused  his  coat  of  arms  to  be  re- 
versed and  torn. 

The  earl  soon  after  went  over  to  Holland,  where 
he  resided  during  the  remainder  of  Charles'  reign. 
On  his  death  in  1685,  deeming  it  his  duty,  before 
the  coronation  of  James  the  Second,  to  do  his  best 
to  restore  the  constitution,  and  preserve  the  civil 
and  religious  liberties  of  his  native  country,  he 
concerted  measures  with  the  duke  of  Monmouth, 
and,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  made  a 


descent  upon  Argyle;  but,  disappointed  in  liis 
expectations  of  support,  he  was  taken  prisoner, 
and  being  canied  to  Edinburgh,  was  beheaded 
upon  his  former  unjust  sentence,  June  30,  1685. 
Previous  to  his  execution  he  was  brought  directly 
fi*om  the  castle  to  the  Laigh  council  room  in  the 
Tolbooth,  and  thence  his  farewell  letter  to  his  wife 
is  dated.  Fountainhall  tells  us,  ^^  Argile  came  in 
coach  to  the  Toune  Counsell,  and  from  that  on 
foot  to  the  scaffold,  with  his  hat  on,  betwixt  Mr. 
Annand,  dean  of  Edinburgh,  on  his  right  hand — 
to  whom  he  gave  his  paper  on  the  scaffold — and 
Mr.  Lawrence  Charteris,  late  professor  of  divinity 
in  the  college  of  Edinburgh.  Jle  was  somewhat 
appaled  at  the  sight  of  the  Maiden — ^present  death 
will  danton  the  most  resolute  courage — therefor 
he  caused  bind  the  napkin  upon  his  face  ere  he 
approached,  and  then  was  led  to  it."  Under  his 
misfortunes  he  evinced  great  firmness  and  self- 
possession.  He  ate  his  dinner  cheerfully  on  the 
day  of  his  death,  and,  according  to  his  usual  cus- 
tom, slept  after  it  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or  more 
very  soundly.  At  the  place  of  execution  he  made 
a  short,  grave,  and  religious  speech;  and  such 
was  the  calmness  of  his  spirit  that  he  took  out  of 
his  pocket  a  little  ruler,  and  measured  the  block. 
Perceiving  that  it  did  not  lie  even,  he  pointed  out 
the  defect  to  a  carpenter,  and  had  it  rectified. 
After  a  solemn  declaration  that  he  forgave  all  his 
enemies,  he  submitted  to  death  with  extraordinary 
resolution  and  composure.  His  body  was  interred 
in  the  Greyfriars  churchyard,  Edinburgh,  under  a 
monument,  with  a  poetical  inscription  composed 
by  himself  in  prison  the  day  before  his  execution  ; 
on  account  of  which  he  has  been  admitted  into 
Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,  vol.  v.  edi- 
tion 1806.  He  was  twice  married;  first,  to  Lady 
Mary  Stuart,  eldest  daughter  of  James,  fifth  earl 
of  Moray;  and,  secondly,  to  Lady  Anne  Mac- 
kenzie, second  daughter  of  Colin,  first  earl  of  Sea- 
forth  (dowager  of  Alexander,  first  earl  of  Bal- 
carres).  By  the  latter  he  had  no  issue;  but  by 
the  former  he  had  four  sons  and  three  daughtera. 

CAMPBELL,  Archibald,  tenth  earl,  and  first 
duke  of  Argyle,  son  of  the  preceding,  was  an  ac- 
tive promoter  of  the  Revolution,  and  accompanied 
the  prince  of  Orange  to  England.  In  1689  he 
was  admitted  into  the  Convention  as  earl  of  Ar- 


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SECOND  DUKE  OF  ARGYLE. 


g}'le,  though  his  father's  attainder  was  not  re- 
versed. He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  deputed 
from  the  Scots  parliament  to  offer  the  crown  of 
Scotland  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  to  tender 
him  the  coronation  oath.  For  this  and  other 
eminent  services  the  family  estates  which  had  been 
forfeited  were  restored  to  him ;  he  was  admitted  a 
member  of  the  privy  councQ,  and  in  1690  made 
one  of  the  lords  of  the  treasury.  In  1694  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  extraordinary  lords  of  ses- 
sion, and,  in  1696,  colonel  of  the  Scots  horse 
guards.  He  afterwards  raised  a  regiment  of  his 
own  clan,  which  greatly  distinguished  itself  in 
Flanders.  On  the  23d  June  1701  he  was  creat- 
ed, by  letters  patent,  duke  of  Argyle,  marquis  of 
I^rn  and  Kintyre,  earl  of  Campbell  and  Cowal, 
viscount  of  Lochow  and  Glenila,  baron  Inverary, 
Mull,  Morvem,  and  Tiry.  He  died  28th  September 
1708.  Though  undoubtedly  a  man  of  ability,  he 
was  too  dissipated  to  be  a  great  statesman.  Tlie 
scandal  of  the  time  alleged  that  his  death  was 
caused  by  a  wound  received  in  a  brothel.  He 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Lionel  Tal- 
mash,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  the  elder  being 
John,  the  celebrated  duke  of  Argyle  and  Green- 
wich. 

Loi-d  Teignmouth,  in  his  'Sketches  of  the  Coasts 
and  Islands  of  Scotland,'  [vol.  ii.  pp.  380—382,] 
gives  the  following  interesting  anecdote  of  the 
second  duchess  of  Argyle :  "  The  trees  which  adorn 
the  shore  of  the  bay  were  planted  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago  by  a  duchess  of  Argyle,  who  was 
extremely  partial  to  Kintyre,  fixed  her  residence 
chiefly  at  Campbellton,  and  inhabited  a  house  on 
a  site  now  occupied  by  a  small  farm-house,  to 
which,  however,  it  was  much  inferior.  This  lady 
was  the  mother  of  the  great  duke  John ;  and  she 
is  said  to  have  adopted  the  following  singular  me- 
thod of  acquiring,  for  the  duke,  possession  of  the 
estates  of  the  different  proprietors,  Campbells,  to 
whom  Argyle,  after  his  conquest  of  Kint3rre,  had 
granted  them.  On  pretence  of  revising,  as  the  tra- 
dition goes,  she  got  into  her  hands  and  destroyed 
the  charters  of  these  unsuspecting  people.  Thus 
the  Argyle  family  revoked  their  original  grants. 
Campbell  of  Kildalloig,  ancestor  of  the  present 
proprietor  of  this  estate,  pleasantly  situated  on  the 
outside  of  the  bay,  owed  the  preservation  of  it  to 


the  shrewdness  of  a  servant,  who  suspecting  the 
intentions  of  the  duchess,  ran  off,  carrying  away 
his  master's  charter,  and  restored  it  not  to  him, 
till  the  fraud  became  apparent.  The  family  of 
this  man  were,  till  within  few  years,  employed,  in 
grateful  recollection  of  his  services,  by  the  fai^ily 
at  Kildalloig.  The  duchess  is  said  to  have  asso- 
ciated with  herself,  in  her  retreat,  several  young 
ladies  of  rank,  whom  she  watched  with  Argus- 
eyed  vigilance,  lest  they  should  stoop  to  alliance 
with  the  lairds  of  Kintyre.  Impatient  of  restraint, 
they  eluded  her  observation,  and  are  said  to  have 
preferred  humble  freedom  to  splendid  chains.** 

CAMPBELL,  John,  second  duke  of  Argyle, 
and  also  duke  of  Greenwich,  a  steady  patriot  and 
celebrated  general,  the  eldest  son  of  the  preced- 
ing, was  bom  October  10,  1678.  On  the  very 
day  on  which  his  grandfather  suffered  at  Edin- 
burgh, in  June  1685,  he  fell  from  a  window  on 
the  upper  floor  of  Lethington,  near  Haddington, 
then  the  seat  of  his  grandmother,  the  duchess  of 
Lauderdale,  without  receiving  any  injury.  His 
father,  anxious  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  advance- 
ment, introduced  him  to  King  William,  who,  in 
1694,  when  not  full  seventeen  years  of  age,  gave 
him  the  command  of  a  regiment.  On  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1703,  he  became  duke  of  Argyle,  and 
was  soon  after  swoni  of  the  privy  conncil,  made 
captain  of  the  Scots  horse  guards,  and  appointed 
one  of  the  extraordinary  lords  of  session. 

In  1704,  on  the  revival  of  the  order  of  the  This- 
tle, he  was  installed  one  of  the  knights  of  that 
order.  He  was  soon  after  sent  down  as  high  com- 
missioner to  the  Scots  parliament,  where,  being  of 
great  service  in  promoting  the  projected  Union, 
for  which  he  became  very  unpopular  in  Scotland, 
he  was,  on  his  return  to  London,  created  a  peer  of 
England  by  the  titles  of  baron  of  Chatham,  and 
earl  of  Gi-eenwich. 

In  1706  his  Grace  made  a  campaign  in  Flan- 
ders, under  the  duke  of  Mariborongh,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  the  battle  of  Ramillies,  in 
which  he  acted  as  a  brigadier-general ;  and  also 
at  the  siege  of  Ostend,  and  in  the  attack  of  Mee- 
nen,  of  which  he  took  possession  on  the  25th  of 
August.  After  that  event  he  returned  to  Scot- 
land, in  order  to  be  present  in  the  Scots  parlia- 
ment, when  the  treaty  of  Union  was  agitated.    lu 


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SECOND  DUKE  OF  ARGYLE. 


1708  he  commanded  twenty  battalions  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Oadenarde.  .  He  likewise  assisted  at  the 
siege  of  Lisle,  and  commanded  as  major-general 
at  the  siege  of  Ghent,  taking  possession  of  the 
town  and  citadel,  Janaary  3,  1709.  He  was  af- 
terwards raised  to  the  rank  of  lientenant-generai, 
and  commanded  in  chief  at  the  attack  of  Tonmay. 
He  had  also  a  considerable  share,  September  11, 
1709,  in  the  victory  at  Malplaqnet.  On  December 
20,  1710,  he  was  installed  a  knight  of  the  Garter. 

In  Janaary  1711  he  was  sent  to  Spain  as  am- 
bassador, and  at  the  same  time  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  English  forces  in  that  king- 
dom. On  the  peace  of  Utrecht  he  returned  home. 
Having  changed  his  views  regarding  the  Union, 
in  Jane  1713  he  supported  an  unsuccessful  motion 
in  the  House  of  Lords  for  its  repeal,  occasioned  by 
a  malt  bill  being  brought  into  the  House  for 
Scotland,  on  the  ground  that  the  Union  had  dis- 
appointed his  expectations.  In  the  spring  of 
1714  he  was  deprived  of  all  the  offices  he  held 
under  the  crown.  On  the  accession  of  George  the 
First  he  was  made  groom  of  the  stole,  and  was 
one  of  the  nineteen  members  of  the  regency  nomi- 
nated by  his  miyesty.  On  the  king's  arrival  in 
England  he  was  appointed  general  and  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  king's  forces  in  Scotland. 

At  the  bi*eaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  in  1715, 
his  grace,  as  commander-in-chief  in  Scotland,  de- 
feated the  earl  of  Mar's  army  at  Sheriffmnir,  and 
forced  the  Pretender  to  retire  from  the  kingdom. 
In  March  1716,  after  putting  the  army  into  win- 
ter quarters,  he  returned  to  London,  but  was  in  a 
few  months,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  divested  of  all 
his  employments.  Ii^the  beginning  of  1718  he 
was  again  restored  to  favour,  created  duke  of 
Gi*eenwich,  and  made  lord  steward  of  the  house- 
hold ;  on  resigning  which,  he  was  appointed  mas- 
ter-general of  the  ordnance.  In  1722  the  duke  of 
Argyle  distinguished  himself  in  the  House  of 
Lords  in  a  very  interesting  debate  on  the  bill  for 
banish'ing  Dr.  Atterbury,  bishop  of  Rochester.  It 
was  chiefly  owing  to  his  grace's  persuasive  elo- 
quence that  this  bill  passed.  In  1726  he  was  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  the  prince  of  Wales'  regiment  of 
horse.  Such  was  his  zeal  for  his  native  country 
that  he  warmly  opposed  the  extension  of  the  malt- 
tax  to  Scotland.    In  Jan.  1735-36  he  was  created 


field-marshal.  In  1787,  when  the  affair  of  Cap- 
tain  Porteous  camre  before  parliament,  his  grace 
exerted  himself  vigorously  and  eloquently  in  be- 
half of  the  city  of  Edinburgh;  a  bill  having  been 
brought  in  for  punishing  the  lord  provost  of  that 
city,  for  abolishing  the  city  guard,  and  f<ir  de- 
priving tlie  corporation  of  several  ancient  privi- 
leges ;  and  when  the  queen  regent  threatened,  on 
that  occasion,  to  convert  Scotland  into  a  hunting 
park,  replied,  then  it  was  time  that  he  should  be 
down  to  gather  his  beagles.  In  1 739,  when  the  con- 
vention with  Spain  was  brought  before  the  house, 
he  spoke  with  waimth  against  it;  and,  in  the 
same  session,  his  grace  opposed  a  vote  of  credit, 
as  there  was  no  sum  limited  in  the  message  sent 
by  his  miyesty. 

In  April  1740  he  delivered  a  speech  with  such 
warmth  against  the  administration  that  he  was 
again  deprived  of  all  his  offices.  To  these,  how- 
ever, on  the  resignation  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
he  was  soon  rest(»^,  but  not  approving  of  the 
measures  of  the  new  ministry,  he  gave  up  all  his 
posts  for  the  last  time,  and  never  afterwards  en- 
gaged in  afifairs  of  state.  This  amiable  a^d  most 
accomplished  nobleman  has  been  immortalized  by 
Pope  in  the  lines, 

**  Argyle,  the  state's  whole  thunder  bom  to  wield 
And  shake  alike  the  senate  and  the  field.** 

Thomson,  in  his  poem  of  Autumn,  also  introduces 
an  encomium  on  his  gi*ace,  and  he  is  mentioned 
by  Tickell,  Broome,  and  other  poets  of  his  time. 
He  was  twice  married.  By  his  fii-st  wife,  Mary, 
daughter  of  John  Brown,  Esq.,  (and  niece  of  Sir 
Charies  Duncombe,  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in 
1708,),  he  had  no  issue.  By  his  second  wife, 
Jane,  daughter  of  Thomas  Warburton  of  Wiu- 
nington  in  Cheshire,  one  of  the  maids  of  honour  to 
Queen  Anne,  he  had  five  daughters.  His  eldest 
daughter,  Caroline,  was  created,  in  1767,  baroness 
Greenwich,  but  the  title  became  extinct  on  her 
death  in  1794.  To  his  fifth  daughter,  Lady  Mai*y 
Campbell,  widow  of  Edward  Viscount  Coke,  the 
son  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  Lord  Oxford  dedicated 
his  celobi*ated  romance  of  the  ^  Castle  of  Otranto.' 
As  the  duke  died  without  male  issue,  his  English 
titles  of  dttke  and  earl  of  Greenwich  and  baron  of 
Chatham  became  extinct,  while  his  Scotch  titles 


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CAMPBELL, 


566 


THIRD  DUKE  OF  ARGYLK 


and  patrimonial  estate  devolved  on  his  brother. 
He  died  of  a  paralytic  disorder,  October  4,  1743 ; 
and  a  beautiful  marble  monument,  was  erected  to 
his  memory  in  Westminster  Abbey.  There  is  an 
engraving  of  John  duke  of  Ai'gyle  and  Greenwich 
in  Birches  Lives,  from  a  portrait  by  Aikman,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  woodcut 


CAMPBELL,  Archibald,  third  duke  of  Ar- 
g}'le,  the  brother  of  the  precedmg,  was  bom  at 
Uam,  Surrey,  in  June  1682,  and  educated  at  the 
university  of  Glasgow.  He  afterwards  studied  the 
law  at  Utrecht,  but  entering  the  army,  he  served 
under  the  duke  of  Marlborough,  was  colonel  of 
the  36th  foot,  and  governor  of  Dumbarton  castle. 
He  soon  abandoned  a  military  life,  and  employed 
himself  in  acquiring  the  qualifications  necessary 
for  a  statesman.  Li  1705  he  was  constituted 
loi*d  high  treasurer  of  Scotland ;  in  1706  one  of  tbe 
commissioners  for  treating  of  the  Union  between 
Scotland  and  England ;  and  19th  October  of  the 
same  year,  for  his  services  in  that  matter,  was  cre- 
ated viscount  and  earl  of  Hay,  and  baron  Oransay, 
Dunoon,  and  Arrase.  In  1708  he  was  made  an 
extraordinary  lord  of  session,  and  after  the  Union, 
was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  representative  peers 
of  Scotland.    In  1710  he  was  appointed  justice- 


general  of  Scotland,  and  the  following  year  was 
called  to  the  privy  council.  Upon  the  accession 
of  Greorge  the  First,  he  was  nominated  lord  regis- 
ter of  Scotland,  and  when  the  rebellion  broke  out 
in  1715,  he  took  up  arms  for  the  defence  of  the 
house  of  Hanover.  By  his  prudent  conduct  in  the 
West  Highlands,  he  prevented  Greneral  Gordon, 
at  the  head  of  three  thousand  men,  from  penetrat- 
ing into  the  country  and  raising  levies.  He  after- 
wards joined  his  brother,  the  duke  of  Argyle  and 
Greenwich,  at  Stirling,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Sheriffmuir.  In  1725  he  was  appointed 
keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  and  in  1734  of  the  great 
seal,  which  office  he  enjoyed  till  his  death.  Upon 
the  decease  of  his  brother,  in  September  1743,  he 
succeeded  to  the  dukedom. 

As  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Aberdeen,  he 
showed  himself  anxious  to  promote  the  interest  of 
that  as  well  as  of  the  other  nniversities  of  Scot- 
land, and  he  particularly  encouraged  the  school  of 
medicine  at  Edinburgh.  He  was  the  confidant  of 
Walpole,  and  as  he  had  the  chief  management 
of  Scots  aflairs,  he  was  very  attentive  in  advanc- 
ing the  trade  and  manufactares  and  internal  im- 
provement of  his  native  country.  He  excelled  in 
conversation,  and  besides  building  a  very  magni- 
ficent seat  at  Inverary,  he  collected  one  of  the 
most  valuable  private  libraries  in  Great  Britain. 
He  died  suddenly,  while  sitting  in  his  chair  at 
dinner,  April  15,  1761.  He  mai-ried  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Whitfield,  paymaster  of  marines,  but  had 
no  issue  by  her  gi*ace.  On  his  death  the  title 
of  earl  of  Hay  became  extinct.  By  Mrs.  Anne 
Williams  or  Shireburn,  to  whom  he  left  his  whole 
real  and  personal  property  in  England,  he  had  a 
son,  William  Williams,  otherwise  Campbell,  who 
was  appointed  auditor  of  excise  in  Scotland  4th 
January  1739,  and  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
army.  To  the  son  of  the  latter,  Archibald  Camp- 
bell, Mr.  Coxe  expresses  his  acknowledgments  for 
the  papers  of  his  grandfather,  Archibald,  duke  of 
Argyle,  among  which  he  found  several  original 
letters  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole. 

The  third  dnke  of  Argjie  was  succeeded  bj  his  oonan, 
John,  fourth  duke,  son  of  the  Hon.  John  Campbell  of  M§inoi«, 
second  son  of  Archibald,  the  ninth  earl  of  Aigyle,  (who  was 
beheaded  in  1685,)  bj  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John,  eighth 
lord  Elphinstone.  The  fourth  duke  was  bom  about  169S. 
Before  he  succeeded  to  the  honours  of  his  fainilj,  he  was  an 


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EIGHTH  DUKE  OF  ARGYLE. 


oOioer  in  the  army,  and  saw  some  servioe  in  France  and  Hol- 
land. During  the  rebellion  of  1716,  he  acted  as  aide-de- 
camp to  his  chief,  John  dnke  of  Argjle  and  Greenwich.  He 
was  at  the  battle  of  Dettingen  in  1741,  as  a  brigadier-general 
He  had  the  rank  of  migor-general  24th  Febmaiy  1744,  and 
serTed  a  campaign  in  Germany  in  that  capacitj.  When  the 
rebellion  of  1745  broke  out,  he  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  all  the  troops  and  garrisons  in  the  west  of  Scotland, 
and  arrived  at  Inverary,  21st  December  of  that  year,  and, 
with  hb  eldest  son,  joined  the  duke  of  Comberland  at  Perth, 
on  the  9th  of  the  following  February.  He  had  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general  27th  April  1747,  and  was  appointed,  in 
1761,  governor  of  Limerick.  He  was  one  of  the  grooms  of 
the  bedchamber  both  to  George  the  Second  and  George  the 
Third,  and  on  suooeeding  as  duke,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
sixteen  representatives  of  the  Scottish  peerage.  He  was  a 
privy  councillor,  a  knight  of  the  Thistle,  and  became  general 
22d  February  1765.  He  died  9th  November  1770,  in  the 
77th  year  of  his  age.  He  married  in  1720  the  Hon.  Mary 
Bellenden,  third  daughter  of  the  second  Lord  Bellenden,  and 
had  four  sons  and  a  daughter,  Lady  Carohne,  married,  first, 
to  the  third  eari  of  Aylesbury,  and  secondly  to  Field-marshal 
Conway,  brother  of  the  marquis  of  Hertford.  Their  only 
daughter,  Anne  Seymour,  bom  8th  November  1748,  married, 
14th  June  1767,  the  Hon.  George  Damcr,  (eldest  son  of 
Joseph,  Lord  Milton,  afterwards  earl  of  Dorchester,)  was  a 
celebrated  female  sculptor.  She  took  lessons  in  the  art  from 
Oeracd  and  Bacon,  and  aflerwards  studied  in  Italy.  The 
colossal  statue  of  George  the  Thurd,  which  adorns  the  interior 
of  the  Register  House,  Edinburgh,  was  executed  by  her,  and 
presented  to  her  uncle,  Lord  Frederick  Campbell,  Lord  Clerk 
Register.  She  also  cut  the  figure  of  the  eagle  in  the  gallery 
at  Strawberry  Hill,  thus  inscribed,  "Non  me  Praxiteles  fecit. 
Bed  Anna  Damer,**  by  the  earl  of  Orford,  who  bequeathed 
that  beautiful  Gothic  villa  and  the  principal  part  of  his  for- 
tune to  her.  Her  husband  died  without  issue  in  1776,  and 
she  herself  in  1808.  Her  uncle,  Lord  Frederick  abovemen- 
tioned,  was  the  third  of  the  sons  of  the  4th  duke  of  Argyle. 
He  was  appointed  lord  clerk  register  in  November  1768,  and 
laid  the  foundation  stone  of  the  General  Register  House  at 
Edinburgh  27th  June  1774.  In  January  1792  he  obtained 
from  the  king  a  permanent  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds 
a-year  for  the  support  of  the  fabric,  and  for  defraying  the 
various  contingent  expenses  connected  with  it  Observing 
the  perishing  condition  of  the  parliamentary  records  of  Scot- 
land, he  formed  the  design  of  gettmg  them  printed  for  the 
public  benefit,  as  the  journals  of  both  houses  and  the  parlia- 
mentary rolls  had  been  done  in  England.  In  1793  he  ob- 
tained from  his  majesty  an  order  for  the  removal  to  the 
General  Register  House  at  Edinburgh  of  a  manuscript  which, 
beffldes  transcripts  of  many  deeds  relative  to  Scottish  afiairs, 
contained  mmutes  of  several  parliaments  of  Scotland,  ante- 
'  cedent  to  the  earliest  parliaments  mentioned  m  the  statute 
book,  that  had  been  discovered  in  the  state  paper  office  at 
London.  For  this  service  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  court 
of  session. 

John,  fiftti  duke  of  Argyle,  bom  in  1723,  eldest  son  of  the 
fourth  duke,  was  also  in  the  army,  and  attained  the  rank  of 
general  in  March  1778,  and  of  field-marshal  m  1796.  He 
was  created  a  British  peer,  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  as 
Baron  Sundridge  of  Coomb-bank  in  Kent,  19th  December 
1766,  with  remainder  to  his  heirs  male,  and  failing  them  to 
his  brothers,  Frederick  and  William,  and  their  heirs  male 
Bocoessively.  He  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  the  High- 
land Society  of  Scotland,  to  which  society,  in  1806.  he  made 
a  munificent  gift  of  one  thousand  pounds,  as  the  beginning  of 


a  fund  for  educating  young  men  of  the  West  Highlands  for 
the  navy.  He  died  24th  May  1806,  in  the  83d  year  of  his 
age.  He  married  «t  London,  dd  March  1759,  Elizabeth, 
widow  of  James,  sixth  duke  of  Hamilton,  the  second  of  the 
three  beautiful  Miss  Gunnings,  daughters  of  John  Gunning, 
Esq.  of  Castle  Coote,  county  Roscommon,  Irehmd.  Her 
grace  was  created  a  peeress  of  Great  Britain,  as  Baroness 
Hamilton  of  Hameldon,  Leicestershire,  4th  May  1776,  ana 
died  Dec  20, 1790.  By  her  the  duke  hnd  8  sons  and  2 
dsuphters,  1.  George  John,  earl  of  Campbell  and  Cowal,  bom 
in  1763,  died  in  infancy;  2.  George  William,  marquis  of  Lom, 
and  6th  duke;  8.  John  Douglas  Edward  Henrv,  7th  duke;  4. 
Lady  Augusta,  m.  to  General  Clavering;  6.  Lady  Charlotte 
J^usan  Maria,  styled  the  "  Flower  of  the  House  of  Argyle,** 
bom  in  1775,  w.,  first,  in  1796,  Colonel  John  Campbell,  son 
of  Walter  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Shawfield,  by  whom  (he  died  in 
1809)  she  had  a  large  family;  and  2dly,  in  1818,  the  Rev. 
Edward  John  Bury,  rector  of  Titchfield,  Hampshire,  by  whom 
she  had  a  daughter.  He  died  in  1882.  Lady  Charlotte  Bury 
died  in  April  1861.  She  was  the  authoress  of  several  novels. 
George  William,  sixth  duke  of  Argyle,  bom  22d  September 
1768,  succeeded  on  the  death  of  his  uterine  brother,  Douglas, 
duke  of  Hamilton,  in  1799,  to  his  mother's  baronage  of  Ham- 
ilton, and  took  his  seat  in  the  house  of  lords,  as  Baron  Ham- 
ilton, 11th  Febroary,  1800.  He  was  appointed  hb  majesty's 
vice-admiral  over  the  western  coaste  and  islands  of  Scotland, 
excepting  the  shires  of  Bute  and  the  ishmds  of  Orkney  and 
Shetland,  9th  February  1807.  He  married,  29th  November, 
1810,  Caroline  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  fourth  earl  of  Jer- 
sey, whose  previous  marriage  with  the  marquis  of  Anglesea 
had  been  dissolved  in  Scotland,  at  her  ladyship^s  suit,  but 
had  no  issue.     His  grace  died  22d  October  1839. 

His  brother,  John  Douglas  Edward  Henry,  (Lord  John 
Campbell  of  Ardincaple,  M.P.)  succeeded  as  seventh  duke. 
He  was  bom  21st  December  1777,  and  was  thrice  married ; 
first,  in  August  1802,  to  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Campbell,  Esq.  of  Fairfield,  who  died  in  1818 ;  second- 
ly, 17th  April,  1820,  to  Joan,  daughter  anTft  heiress  of  John 
Glassel,  Esq.  of  Long  Niddry ;  and  thirdly,  in  January  1831, 
to  Anne  Colquhoun,  eldest  *••  of  John  Cunningham,  Esq.  of 
Craigends.  By  his  2d  wife  he  had  2  sons  and  one  dr. ,  namely, 
John  Henry,  bom  in  1821,  died  in  1887;  George  Douglas,  mar- 
quis of  Jx)m,  who  succeeded  as  8th  dnke;  and  Lady  Emma 
Augusta,  bom  in  1825.    His  grace  died  26th  April  1847. 

George  Douglas  Campbell,  8th  duke,  bom  in  1823,  married 
in  1844,  Lady  Elizabeth  Georgina  Sutherland-I^veson-Gower, 
(bom  in  1824),  eldest  daughter  of  2d  duke  of  Sutherland; 
issue,  John  Douglas  Sutheriand,  marquis  of  Lom,  born  in 
1845,  4  other  sons  and  six  daughters.  Author  of  *  An  Essay 
on  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland  since  the  Reforma- 
tion.' Chancellor  of  University  of  St.  Andrews,  1851 ;  Lord 
Privy  Seal,  1853-5.  Postmaster-general,  1855-8;  Knight  of 
the  Thistle,  1856 ;  again  Lord  Privy  Seal  in  1859. 

The  duke  of  Argyle  is  hereditary  master  of  the  queen's 
household  in  Scotland,  keeper  of  the  castles  of  Dunoon,  Dun- 
staffnage,  and  Carrick,  and  heritable  sheriff  of  Argyleshire. 

CAMPBELL,  Akchibald,  bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
and  a  religious  writer  of  some  note  in  his  day,  was 
the  son  of  Lord  Kiel  CampbeU,  and  Lady  Vere 
Ker,  the  former  the  second  son  of  the  great  mar- 
quis of  Argyle,  and  the  latter  the  third  daughter  of 
the  third  earl  of  Lothian.  The  date  of  his  birth 
is  uncertain.    He  was  educated  for  the  episcopal- 


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ian  ministry,  and  after  being  long  in  priest's  oixiers, 
he  was,  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Sage,  consecrated 
a  bishop  at  Dundee,  in  the  year  1711,  by  Bishops 
Rose,  Douglas,  and  Falconar,  but  without  any 
particular  diocese.  On  the  10th  of  May  1721,  he 
was  elected,  by  the  clergy  of  Aberdeen,  to  be  their 
ordinary,  but  never  visited  his  diocese,  residing 
chiefly  in  London;  and  finding  that  his  views  with 
regard  to  certain  usages  were  not  approved  by  the 
greater  number  of  his  brethren,  he  resigned  his 
new  ofSce  in  1724.  IKeith's  Scottish  Bishops,  App. 
page  530.]  Skinner  says  of  Bishop  Campbell, 
that  **he  was  highly  commendable  for  his  leani- 
ing  and  other  valuable  accomplishments,  which 
his  curious  writings,  though  out  of  the  common 
line  in  some  things,  abundantly  testify.  His 
affairs  led  him  to  reside  mostly  at  London,  where 
lie  long  acted  as  a  Scottish  bishop,  and  in  that 
character  was  of  great  service  to  our  church  [the 
Scots  episcopal  communion]  ;  having  been  among 
the  first  projector,  and,  by  his  activity  and  con- 
nexions, a  constant  promoter  of  that  charitable 
fund  which  was  a  great  support  to  the  poorer 
clergy  in  their  straitened  circumstances.  He  had 
got  into  his  hands  the  original  registers  of  the 
General  Assemblies  produced  by  [Johnston  of] 
Warriston  in  the  rebellious  Assembly  of  Glasgow 
in  the  year  1638,  [in  ^Ir.  Skinner's  view  that  fa- 
mous Assembly  was  *  rebellious,']  which  he  gen- 
erously communicated  to  such  of  his  brethren  as 
had  any  use  to  make  of  them ;  and  at  last,  in 
1737,  made  a  gift  of  them  to  Sion  college  for  pre- 
eei'vation.  In  his  latter  days,  he  carried  his  sin- 
gularities to  such  a  length  as  to  form  a  separate 
nonjuring  communion  in  England,  distinct  from 
the  SancrofUan  line ;  and  even  ventured,  in  con- 
tradiction to  the  advice  and  opinion  of  his  brethren 
in  Scotland,  upon  the  exti-aordinary  step  of  a  sin- 
gle consecration  by  himself,  without  any  assistant, 
for  keeping  up  the  separation  which,  through  Mr. 
Laurence,  Mr.  Deacon,  and  some  others,  subsists 
in  some  of  the  western  parts  of  England  to  this 
day."  [Skinner^s  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  ii.  p. 
608.]  The  records  of  the  General  Assemblies 
above  referred  to,  were  borrowed  by  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  the  librarian  of  Sion's  College 
holds  the  speaker,  Mr.  Manners  Sutton's  receipt 
for  them.    They  were  burnt  in  the  great  fire  which 


destroyed  the  two  houses  of  parliament  in  1834. 
In  1717  Bishop  Campbell  became  acquainted  wJth 
Arsenius,  the  metropolitan  of  Thebais,  who  was 
then  in  London,  and  with  others  of  his  nonjnring 
brethren,  made  a  proposition  to  that  prelate,  to- 
wards a  union  with  the  Eastern  church,  which 
Arsenius,  on  his  going  to  Russia,  communicated 
to  the  emperor  Peter  the  Great.  His  majesty  not 
only  approved  of  the  design,  but  directed  one  of 
his  clergy,  of  the  order  of  Archimandrites,  or  chiefs 
of  monasteries,  from  amongst  whom  the  bishops 
of  the  Greek  church  are  always  chosen,  to  assure 
Bishop  Campbell  and  his  associates  of  his  readi- 
ness to  promote  so  good  a  work  by  all  the  means 
in  his  power.  A  letter  of  thanks  was  returned 
to  the  emperor,  but  as  there  were  five  points,  as- 
similating to  the  superstitious  observances  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  in  which  Campbell  and  bis  coad- 
jutors could  not  agree  with  the  Eastern  church 
the  union  never  took  effect.  Bishop  Campbell 
died  in  1744. 
His  works  are : — 

Queries  to  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland.  Lond  1702. 
8vo. 

A  Query  tnmed  into  an  Argument  in  favoar  of  Episoopacr 
1703,  8vo. 

Life  of  tht  Reverend  Mr.  John  Sage.     Lond.  1714,  8to 

The  Doctrines  of  a  Middle  State,  between  Death  and  the 
Resurrection.  London,  1731,  fol.  A  veiy  scarce  and  curi- 
ous work. 

Remarks  on  some  Books  published  by  him,  with  his  Ex- 
plications.    Edin.  1735,  8vo. 

Further  Explications  with  respect  to  some  Articles  of  the 
former  Charge;  wherein  the  R  Committee,  for  Purity  of 
Doctrine,  have  declared  themseJves  not  satisfied.  Edin 
1786,  8vo. 

Remarks  on  the  Report  a  -he  Committee  fiw  Puntyof 
Doctrine.    Edin.  1736,  8vo. 

The  Necessity  of  ReveUition ;  or  an  Inquaiy  iato  tbe  Ex- 
tent of  Human  Powers  with  respect  to  matters  «f  Religion, 
especially  the  Being  of  God,  and  the  Immoitality  of  the  Soul. 
Lond.  1739,  8vo. 


Donald  Campbell,  abbot  of  Cupar,  elected  bishop  of  Bre- 
chin in  1558,  and  lord  privy  seal  to  Queen  Mary,  was  a  son 
of  the  family  of  Argyle.  He  never  assumed  the  title  of  bish- 
op, tbe  election  not  being  approved  of  by  the  Pupe. 

The  first  protestant  bishop  of  Brechin  was  Alexander 
Campbell,  a  son  of  Campbell  of  Ardkinglass.  In  1566, 
while  yet  a  mere  boy,  be  got  a  grant  of  the  bishopric,  by  the 
recommendation  of  the  earl  of  Argyle,  and  he  afterwanU 
alienated  most  part  of  the  lands  and  tithes  of  that  see  to  his 
chief  and  patron,  retaining,  says  Keith,  for  bis  suooesBore 
scarce  so  much  as  would  be  a  moderate  competency  for  a 
minister  in  Brechin.  It  may  be  some  set  off  against  tbe  dis- 
pleasure of  the  worthy  bishop,  that  this  alienation  was  not  a 


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CAMPBELL. 


INiTAte  arrangement,  but  done  with  the  Gonaent  of  the  beadu 
of  the  state,  and  confirmed  by  parliament.  On  7th  May 
1567  the  bishop  got  a  Uoense  firom  Queen  Mai^  to  depart 
and  continue  forth  from  the  realm  for  the  space  of  seven 
years,  but  it  would  appear  that  he  did  not  leave  Scotland  for 
more  than  two  years  thereafter.  In  the  books  of  Assump- 
tions there  is  particular  instruction  that  this  bishop  was 
abroad  at  Geneva,  **  at  the  schools,"  on  the  28th  January 
1578-4.  After  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  sometimes  esei^ 
cised  the  office  of  particular  pastor  at  Brechin,  though  he 
still  retained  the  designation  of  bishop.  He  died  in  the  year 
1606. 

I  The  Campbells  of  Lochnell,  Argyleshire,  are  descended 
I  firom  Hon.  John  Campbell,  second  son  of  Colin,  third  earl  of 
Argyle,  and  in  default  of  male  descendants  of  John,  fourtli 
duke  of  Argyle,  are  heirs  to  the  titles  and  Estates.  Archi- 
bald Campbell  of  Lochnell,  bom  in  1777,  is  the  eleventh 
laird  of  Lochnell  in  direct  descent 


Four  families  of  the  name  of  Campbell  enjoy  the  dig- 
nity and  title  of  a  baronet  of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia, 
namely,  Campbell  of  Aberuchill  and  Kilbryde,  created  in 
1627,  Campbell  of  Ardnamurohan ;  Campbell  of  Auchin- 
breck;  these  two  baronetcies  being  created  in  1628;  and 
Campbell  of  Marchmont,  in  1665.  Six  are  baronets  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  namely,  Campbell  of  Succoth  (1808), 
Fitzgerald  Campbell  (1815),  Cockburn-Campbell  of  Gartoford, 
Ross-shire  (1821),  Campbell  of  Barcaldine  and  Glennre 
(1831),  Campbell  of  Burmah  (1831),  (see  Sufplembht),  and 
Campbell  of  Dunstaffnage  (1836). 


The  founder  of  the  Aberuchill  family  was  Colin  Campbell, 
second  son  of  Sir  John  Campbell  of  lowers,  and  uncle  of  the 
finit  earl  of  Loudoun,  who  got  a  charter  from  the  Crown,  in 
1596,  of  the  lands  of  Aberuchill,  Perthshire.  His  son,  Sir 
James  Campbell  of  Aberuchill,  a  devoted  royalist,  was  cre- 
ated a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  by  Charles  I.  ISth  Dea  1627. 
His  representative.  Sir  James  Campbell  of  Aberuchill,  was 
oom  in  1818. 


The  first  baronet  of  the  Ardnamurchan  family  was  Sir 
Donald  Campbell,  natural  son  of  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Cal- 
der,  who  was  killed  in  1592,  by  an  assassin  employed  by 
Campbell  of  Ardkinglass,  and  others  of  the  name  of  Camp- 
bell. [See  ante,  page  374,  art  Brbadalbakb.]  He  was 
originally  educated  for  the  church,  and  became  dean  of  Lis- 
more;  but  he  was  of  too  restless  a  disposition  to  confine 
himself  to  his  ecclesiastical  duties.  His  talents  and  ac- 
tivity recommended  him  to  Argyle,  by  whom  he  was,  in 
1612,  commissioned  to  reduce  the  district  of  Ardnamurchan 
to  obedience.  He  afterwards  received  from  the  earl  a  lease 
of  Ardnamurohan,  and  made  himself  very  obnoxious  to  the 
natives  by  his  severities.  In  May  1618,  John  Macdonald, 
captain  of  the  Clanranald,  united  with  the  clan  Ian,  who 
acknowledged  him  as  their  chief,  and  expelled  Campbell  and 
his  adherents  from  Ardnamurchan.  He  was,  however,  after- 
wards repossessed  in  the  disputed  lands,  and  in  1625  he  be- 
came heritable  proprietor  under  Ijord  Lorn  of  the  district  of 
Ardnamurchan  and  Sunart,  for  which  he  paid  an  annual  fen 
dnty  of  two  thousand  merks.  He  was  created  a  baronet  on 
14th  June  1628,  with  remainder  to  his  heirs  male  whatso- 
ever, which,  in  1634,  was  changed  to  remainder  to  his  ne- 
phew and  his  heirs  male.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew, 
George  Campbell,  who  inherited  the  estate  of  Airds  in  Ar- 
gyleshire, but  not  that  of  Ardnsmurchan,  which,  owing  to 


Sir  Donald*s  having  no  male  issue,  reverted  to  the  family  of 
Argyle.  Neither  this  gentleman,  however,  nor  any  of  his 
three  successon,  assumed  the  title.  It  was  taken  up  by 
the  sixth  baronet.  Sir  John  Campbell,  bom  15th  March, 
1767,  only  son  of  Alexander  Campbell  of  Airds,  on  bdng 
served  heir  male  to  Sir  Donald  Campbell,  the  first  baronet 
The  seventh  baronet,  Sur  John  Campbell,  bom  in  1807,  ad- 
mitted advocate  in  1831,  succeeded  his  father  in  1834.  He 
was  lieutenant-governor  of  St  Vincent^s,  and  died  there  in 
1853.  His  eldest  son.  Sir  John  William  Campbell,  bom  in 
1836,  succeeded  as  eighth  baronet  He  served  as  an  officer 
in  the  artillery  in  the  campaign  in  the  Crimea  in  1854-5, 
in  the  trenches  with  the  siege  train  before  Sebastopol. 


The  first  baronet  of  the  Auchinbreck  fiunily  was  Sir  Dugald 
Campbell  of  Auchinbreck,  knight,  the  baronetcy  being  con- 
ferred on  him  21st  March  1628,  with  remainder  to  his  heirs 
male  whatsoever.  Sv  Louis  Henry  Dugald  Campbell,  tlie 
eighth  baronet,  bom  March  2d,  1844,  succeeded  his  father 
9th  December  1853. 


The  first  of  the  Campbells  of  Marchmont,  Berwickshire, 
was  Sir  William  Purves,  knight,  grandson  of  William  Purres 
of  Abbey  Hill,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  staunch  loyalist,  who  was 
appointed  by  Charles  the  Second  solicitor-general  for  Scot- 
land, and  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  6th  July  1665. 
He  died  in  1685,  and  his  eldest  son,  Sir  Alexander  Purves, 
was  nominated  by  patent  his  successor  in  the  solicitor- gener- 
akhip.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Hume  of  Ninewells,  and 
died  in  1701.  His  eldest  ton.  Sir  William  Purves,  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1730  by  his  eldest  son  Sir  William,  who  married 
I^dy  Anne  Hume  Campbell,  eldest  daughter  of  Alexander, 
second  earl  of  Marchmont,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters 
and  a  son.  Sir  Alexander,  who  married  four  times,  and  died 
in  1 813.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  William,  bom  4th  October  1 767, 
assumed,  on  inheriting  the  estates  of  his  maternal  family, 
the  additional  sumame  of  Hume-CampbelL  His  uncle,  the 
Hon.  Alexander  Hume  Campbell,  lord  registrar  of  Scotland, 
died  without  surviving  male  issue  in  1760,  and  his  cousin, 
Alexander,  fourth  eari  of  Marchmont  in  1781,  when  that 
title  became  dormant  [see  Mabchmont,  earl  of].  Sir  Wil- 
liam died  9th  April  1833,  leaving  an  only  child.  Sir  Hugh 
Hume  Campbell  of  Purves  Hall,  the  seventh  baronet,  bom  in 
1812 ;  M.P.  for  Berwickshire  from  1834  to  1847. 


The  Ardkinglass  family  was  an  old  branch  of  the  house  of 
Argyle.  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  the  son  and  heir  of  James 
Campbell  of  Ardkinglass,  descended  from  the  Campbells  of 
Lorn,  by  Mary  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Campbell 
of  Glenorchy,  was  created  a  baronet  in  1679.  The  ftimily 
ended  in  an  heiress,  who  married  into  the  Livingstone  family, 
and  was  the  mother  of  Sir  James  Livingstone,  baronet, 
whoee  son,  Sir  James  Livingstone  Campbell  of  Ardkinglass, 
was  for  some  time  governor  of  Stirling  castle.  He  entered  the 
army  early  in  life ;  fought  under  the  duke  of  Cumberland  in 
tbe  Netherlands;  and  at  the  battle  of  Lafeldt  commanded 
the  25th  regiment  of  foot  He  subsequently  served  in  Ame- 
rica during  the  Canadian  war,  and  was  wounded  in  the  1^, 
which  rendered  him  lame  for  life.  In  1778,  when  the  Westem 
Fencible  regiment  was  raised  by  the  duke  of  Argyle  and  the 
earl  of  Eglinton,  Sir  James  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  was  small  in  stature,  but  of  a  military  appearance. 
He  died  at  Gargimnock  in  1788,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Sir  Alexander,  on  whoee  death,  in  1810,  the  title  and 
estate  descended  to  the  next  heir  of  entail,  Colonel  James 
CalUnder,  his  cousin,  son  of  Sir  Jameses  sister,  Mary  Living- 


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GEORGE. 


stone,  and  Sir  John  Callander  of  Graigfortb,  the  celebrated 
Mntiqaarj.  Of  Colonel  James  Callander,  afterwards  Sir 
James  Campbell,  a  notice  appears  on  page  684.  [Art  Cau- 
LANDBB.]  At  his  death,  without  legitimate  issue,  the  title 
became  extinct 

The  baronetcj  was  conferred  on  the  Snoooth  family  on  the 
retirement  of  Sir  Hay  Campbell  from  the  president*s  chair  of 
I  the  court  of  session  in  1808.  That  eminent  judge  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Archibald  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Snecoth,  writer  to 
the  signet,  and  one  of  the  principal  clerks  of  session,  de- 
scended from  a  branch  of  the  ducal  house  of  Argyle.  His 
mother,  Helen  Wallace,  was  the  daughter  and  representative 
of  Wallace  of  Ellerslie.  He  was  bom  at  Edinburgh  in  1734, 
and  admitted  adyocate  in  1767.  His  practice  soon  became 
extensire,  and  he  was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  defender  in 
the  great  Douglas  cause,  which  excited  so  much  public  in- 
terest at  the  time.  Immediately  after  the  decision  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  he  posted  without  delay  to  Edmburgh,  and 
was  the  first  to  announce  the  intelligence  there.  In  1783 
he  was  appointed  Solicitor  General,  and  in  1784  Lord  Advo- 
cate. In  the  latter  year  he  was  returned  member  of  parlia- 
ment for  the  Glasgow  district  of  burghs.  The  university  of 
that  dty  at  the  same  time  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  laws,  and  he  was  elected  by  the  students  to  the 
office  of  Lord  Rector.  In  November  1789,  on  the  death  of 
Sir  lliomas  Miller,  he  was  appointed  President  of  the  court 
of  sesnon,  and  in  1794,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  com- 
mission of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  issued  for  the  trial  of  those 
accused  of  high  treason.  In  1808  he  resigned  his  high 
office  of  Lord  President,  and  on  the  17th  September  fol- 
lowing he  was  created  a  baronet  After  his  retirement 
from  the  bench  he  resided  chiefly  on  his  paternal  estate 
of  Garscube.  He  died  28th  March  1823.  He  had  six 
daughters  and  two  sons.  One  of  his  sons.  Sir  Archibald 
Campbell,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  baronetcy,  bom  in  1769, 
was  from  1809  to  1825  a  judge  in  the  court  of  session  with 
the  title  of  Lord  Succoth.  He  retired  on  a  pension  and  died 
in  1846.  His  grandson,  Sir  Archibald  Islay  Campbell,  suc- 
ceeded as  third  baronet  The  son  of  John  Campbell,  Esq., 
eldest  son  of  the  second  baronet  Sir  Archibald,  was  bom  at 
Garscube,  Dumbartonshire,  in  1825,  and  was  educated  at  Ox- 
ford, where  he  was  2d  class  in  classic^  in  1847;  was  M.P. 
for  Argyleshire  from  1851  to  1857. 


Another  eminent  judge,  John  Campbell,  Lord  Stonefield, 
was  the  son  of  Archibald  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Stonefield,  many 
years  sherifi*-depute  of  the  counties  of  Argyle  and  Bute.  Ad- 
mitted advocate  in  1748,  he  was  elevated  to  the  bench  of  the 
court  of  session  in  1762.  In  1787  he  succeeded  Lord  Gar- 
,  denstone  as  a  lord  of  justiciary,  which  appointment,  however, 
he  resigned  in  1792,  retaining  his  seat  in  the  court  of  session 
till  his  death,  19th  June  1801,  having  been  thirty-nine 
years  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court.  By  his  wife,  I^dy  Grace 
Stuart,  daughter  of  James,  second  earl  of  Bate,  and  sister  of 
the  prime  minister,  John,  third  eari.  Lord  Stonefield  had  seven 
sons,  all  of  whom  predeceased  him.  Of  his  second  son, 
lieutenant-colonel  John  Campbell,  whose  memorable  defence 
of  Mangalore,  from  May  1788  to  January  1784,  arrested  the 
victorious  career  of  Tippoo  Sultao,  a  notice  will  be  found  be- 
low, in  larger  type. 


The  family  of 'Campbell  of  Baroaldine  and  Glenure,  in 
Argyleshire,  (whose  baronetcy  was  conferred  in  1831,)  is  de- 
scended from  a  younger  son  of  Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of  Glen- 
orcby,  ancestor  of  the  marquis  of  Breadalbane.    The  second 


baronet,  Sir  Alexander  Campbell,  son  of  Sir  Duncan,  the  fixBt 
baronet,  was  bom  in  1819 ;  married,  with  issue. 


The  Campbells  of  Dunstaffnage  descend  from  Colin,  first 
earl  of  Argyle.  Sir  Donald,  the  first  baronet  so  created  in 
1836,  was  appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  Prince  Edward's 
Island  in  1847,  and  died  in  1850.  His  son.  Sir  Angus,  bom 
in  1827,  became  a  lieutenant  R.  N..  in  1849.  Appointed  to 
tlie  Emydice,  26  guns,  in  1854.  Is  hereditaiy  captain  of  the 
royal  castle  of  Dunstaffiaage. 


The  ancient  family  of  Campbell  of  Monue,  in  Perthshire, 
descend  from  a  third  son  of  the  family  of  Glenurchy. 


For  Campbell  of  Abdbon aio,  see  Supplement 


Campbell,  Johh,  Baron  Campbell  (peerage  of  the  United 
Kingdom),  lord  high  chancellor  of  England,  2d  son  of  Rev. 
George  Campbell,  D.D.,  minister  of  Cupar,  Fifeshbe,  by  only 
daughter  of  John  Halyburton,  Esq.,  was  bom  in  1781. 
After  being  educated  at  St  Andrews,  he  went  to  London, 
and  became  literary  and  theatrical  critic  on  the  Mommg 
Chronicle.  He  studied  tlie  law  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was 
called  to  the  bar  m  1806.  In  1821  he  married  Mary  Eliza- 
beth, eldest  daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Abinger.  She  was 
created  by  King  William  IV.,  in  1836,  Baronesa  Stratheden  of 
Cupar,  Fifeshire.  In  1827  he  became  a  bencher  of  Lincob's 
Inn.  M.P.  for  Stafibrd  in  1830  and  1831,  he  was  elected  for 
Dudley  in  1832,  and  appointed  solicitor-general  for  England. 
In  Feb.  1834,  he  was  appointed  attorney-general,  but  resigned 
in  Nov.  of  the  same  year.  In  April  1885  he  was  again  ap- 
pointed attomey-general.  M.P.  for  Edinburgh  from  June 
1834  to  June  1841,  when  he  was  appointed  lord  chancellor 
of  Ireland,  and  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Campbell  of 
St  Andrews.  He  resigned  the  chancellorship  in  Sept  of  the 
same  year,  and  in  July  1846  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the 
duchy  of  Lancaster.  In  1850,  he  succeeded  Lord  Denman  as 
lord-chief-justice  of  the  Court  of  Qneen*s  Bench,  and  in  June 
1859,  was  created  lord-high-chancellor.  Author  of  *  lives  of 
the  Chancellors  of  England,*  1845-7, 7  vols.  8vo;  *  lives  of  the 
Chief  Justices  of  EngUnd,'  2  vols.,  1849,  8vo,  &&  He  died 
suddenly  June  23, 1861 ;  issue,  8  sons  and  4  dn.  The  eldest 
son,  Hon.  William  Frederick  Campbell,  M.P.,  succeeded  his 
mother  in  1860  as  lA>rd  Stratheden,  and  his  father  in  1861 
as  Lord  Campbell  Lord  Campbeirs  elder  brother,  Sir  Geofge 
Campbell  of  Edenwood,  died  in  1854. 

The  family  were  originally  from  Argyleshire.  Geori^ 
Campbell,  a  steady  adherent  of  the  first  marquis  of  Argyle, 
settled  in  1662  at  St  Andrews,  Fifeshire,  and  became  pro- 
prietor of  the  estate  of  Baltulla.  His  great-grandson,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Campbell,  was  father  of  Lord  CampbelL 


For  Sir  Coldc  Campbell,  Lord  Clyde,  see  Supplkmxri. 

CAMPBELL,  George,  D.  D.,  a  religions 
writer,  bom  in  Argyleshu^  in  1696,  and  educated 
in  St.  Salvator^s  college,  St.  Andrews,  first  ob- 
tained a  living  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  In 
1718  he  was  appointed  professor  of  chnrch  history 
in  the  new  college  of  St.  Andrews.  Certain  of 
his  publications,  entitled  ^Oratio  de  vanitate  In- 
minis  natnrie;*  ^The  Apostles  no  Ehithnsiasts,* 
and  *  An  Inquiry  into  the  Original  of  Moral  Vurt«e/ 


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671 


JOHN. 


having  been  submitted  for  examinatiou  to  a  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  commisdion  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  1785,  were  found  to  contain  various 
unsound  and  objectionable  passages,  of  an  Arme- 
nian and  Pelagian  nature ;  similar  to  those  taught 
by  Professor  Simson,  professor  of  divinity  in  the 
university  of  Glasgow,  and  for  which  the  latter 
had  been  twice  called  to  the  bar  of  the  Greneral 
Assembly;  and  in  the  Assembly  of  1736,  Dr. 
Campbell  was  allowed  to  give  in  an  explanation 
and  defence,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  his 
meaning  was  quite  different  from  what  his  words 
expressed,  and  that  he  did  not  hold  the  sentiments 
which  were  attempted  to  be  drawn  from  them. 
The  Assembly,  without  passing  any  censure,  agreed 
to  a  recommendation  to  Dr.  Campbell,  and  all 
ministers  and  teachers  of  divinity  within  the  na- 
tional church,  to  be  cautious  not  to  use  doubtful 
expressions  or  propositions  which  might  lead  their 
hearers  or  readers  into  error,  however  sound  such 
words  or  propositions  might  be  in  themselves,  but 
"  to  hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words."  In  the 
same  year  he  published  a  Vindication  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion.    He  died  in  1767,  aged  71. 

CAMPBELL,  CoLiK,  an  architect  of  reputation 
in  the  early  part  of  last  century,  was  bom  in  Scot- 
land, but  the  year  of  his  birth  is  uncertain.  The 
best  of  his  designs  are  Wanstead  House,  since 
pulled  down,  the  RoUs,  and  Merworth  in  Kent, 
the  latter  avowedly  copied  fi'om  Andrea  Palladio. 
He  distinguished  himself  by  publishing  a  collection 
of  architectural  designs  in  folio,  entitled  *  Vitruvius 
Britannicus ;'  the  first  volume  of  which  appeared 
in  1715,  the  second  in  1717,  and  the  third  in  1725. 
Many  of  these  were  his  own,  but  plans  of  other 
architects  were  also  introduced.  Two  supplemen- 
tary volumes  by  Woolfe  and  Gandon,  both  classi- 
cal architects,  appeared  in  1767  and  1771.  Camp- 
bell was  sui*veyor  of  the  works  at  Greenwich  Hos- 
pital, and  died  about  1734. — WcUpoWs  Anecdotes 
of  Painters,  f^. 

CAMPBELL,  John,  author  of  the  Lives  of  the 
Admirals,  a  miscellaneous  writer  of  considerable 
merit,  was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  March  8,  1708; 
and  when  five  years  old  his  mother  removed  with 
him  to  England.  Being  intended  for  the  law,  he 
was  articled  to  an  attorney ;  but  his  taste  leading 
him  to  literature,  he  did  not  pursue  the  legal  pro- 


fession. His  early  productions  are  not  known. 
In  1736  he  published,  in  2  vols:  folio,  *The  Mili- 
tary History  of  Prince  Eugene  and  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough.'  The  reputation  he  acquired  by 
this  work  led  to  his  being  engaged  to  assist  in 
writing  the  ancient  part  of  the  *  Universal  His- 
tory,' which  extended  to  sixty  vols.  8vo.  The 
firet  two  volumes  of  his  *  Lives  of  the  English  Ad- 
mirals and  other  Eminent  Seamen,'  the  work  by 
which  he  is  best  known,  he  published  in  1742, 
and  the  two  remaining  volumes  appeared  in  1744. 
He  wi*ote  many  of  the  articles  in  the  *  Biographia 
Britannica,'  which  was  commenced  in  1745 ;  his 
contributions  to  which  work,  extending  through 
four  volumes,  and  marked  by  a  strain  of  almost 
unvarying  panegyric,  are  distinguished  by  the  ini- 
tialsE  and X. 

For  the  'Preceptor,'  published  by  Dodsley  in 
1748,  Mr.  Campbell  wrote  the  Introduction  to 
Chronology,  and  the  Discourse  on  Trade  and 
Commerce.  He  was  next  employed  on  the  mo- 
dem part  of  the  *  Universal  History.'  In  1756  he 
had  the  degree  of  LL.D.  bestowed  on  him  by  the 
university  of  Glasgow.  After  the  peace  of  Paris 
in  1763,  he  wrote,  at  the  request  of  Lord  Bute,  a 
pamphlet  in  defence  of  it,  pointing  out  the  value 
of  the  West  India  Islands  which  had  been  ceded  to 
this  country.  For  this  service  he  was,  in  March 
1765,  appointed  his  majesty's  agent  for  the  pro- 
vince of  Georgia  in  North  America.  He  was  the 
author  of  many  other  publications,  a  list  of  which 
is  subjoined.  Dr.  Campbell  died  at  London, 
December  28,  1775.  His  works,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  are: — 

The  Military  History  of  the  Prince  Engene,  and  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough ;  comprehending  the  History  of  both  those 
iUostrions  persona  to  the  time  of  their  decease.  Lond.  1736, 
2  vols.  fol.  anon. 

The  Trials  and  Adventures  of  Edward  Brown.  Lond. 
1789,  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  the  Basha  Duke  de  Riperda.    Lond.  1739, 8vo. 

A  Concise  History  of  Spanish  America.  Lond.  1741,  1747, 
8vo.  anon. 

A  Letter  to  a  Friend  in  the  Country,  on  the  Publication  of 
Thurlow's  State  Papers.    1742. 

The  Case  of  the  Opposition  impartially  stated.     1742,  8vo. 

Lives  of  British  Admirals,  and  other  eminent  Seamen. 
Lond.  1742-4,  4  vols.  8vo.  Lond.  1750,  4  vols.  8vo.  This 
work  passed  through  three  editions  in  the  author's  life-time 
and  a  fourth,  with  a  continuation  to  the  year  1779,  was  given 
by  Dr.  Berkenhout  Lond.  1761-1779,  5  vols.  8vo.  A  new 
edit  by  R.  H.  Yorke. 


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GEORGE. 


HermippuB  ReTired.  Lond.  1748.  A  2d  edition  much 
onprored  and  enlarged  came  out,  under  the  title,  Hermippos 
RadiviTiis,  or  the  Sage's  Triumph  over  old  age  and  the  grave; 
wherein  a  method  ia  lud  down  for  prolonging  the  life  and 
vigour  of  Man;  including  a  Comroentaiy  upon  an  ancient 
inscription,  m  which  the  great  secret  is  revealed,  supported  bj 
numerous  authorities.  The  whole  interspersed  with  a  great 
variety  of  remarkable  and  well-attested  Relations.  Lond. 
1749,  8vo.    Also,  Lond.  1771,  8vo. 

Voyages  and  Travels,  containing  all  the  Circumnavigators, 
from  the  time  of  Columbus  to  Lord  Anson ;  a  complete  His- 
tory of  the  East  Indies;  Historical  details  of  the  several  at- 
tempts made  for  the  discovery  of  the  north-east  and  north- 
west passages;  the  Commercial  History  of  Chorea  and  Japan ; 
the  Russian  Discoveries  by  land  and  by  sea;  a  distinct  Ac- 
oount  of  the  Spanish,  Portuguese,  British,  French,  Dutch, 
and  Danish  settlements  in  America,  &c  Lond.  1744,  2  vols, 
fol. 

The  Sentiments  of  a  Dutch  Patriot;  bemg  the  Speech  of 
V.  H — ^n,  in  an  august  assembly,  on  the  present  state  of 
affairs,  and  the  resolution  necessary  at  this  juncture  to  be 
taken  for  the  safety  of  the  republic.    1746,  8vo. 

A  Discourse  on  Providence.    8vo.    8d  edition,  1748. 

Occasional  Thoughts  on  Moral,  Serious,  and  Religious  Sub- 
jects.   1749. 

The  Present  State  of  Europe.  Lond.  1750,  1753,  8vo. 
This  Work  was  originally  begun  in  1746,  and  some  part  of  it 
published  in  Dodsley's  Museum.  It  has  now  passed  through 
six  editions.     1757. 

An  Exact  Account  of  the  greatest  White  Herring  Fishery 
m  Scotland,  carried  on  yearly  in  the  island  of  Zetland,  by  the 
Dutch  only.    Lond.  1760,  8vo. 

The  Modem  Universal  History.  This  extensive  Work  was 
published  in  detached  parts  till  it  amounted  to  16  vols,  folio, 
and  a  second  edition  of  it  in  8vo  began  to  make  its  appear- 
ance in  1739.  A  very  large  share  of  this  immense  undertak- 
ing fell  on  Dr.  Campbell. 

The  Highland  Gentleman's  Blagazine  for  January 
1751.    8vo. 

A  Letter  from  the  Prince  of  the  Infernal  Legions  to  a 
Spiritual  Lord  on  this  side  the  great  gulph,  in  Answer  to  a 
late  invective  Epistle  levelled  at  his  Highness.    1751,  8vo. 

The  Naturalization  Bill  Confuted,  as  most  pernicious  to 
these  United  Kingdoms.    1751,  8vo. 

His  Royal  Highness  Frederick  late  Prince  of  Wales  Decy- 
phered;  or  a  full  and  particular  description  of  his  Character, 
from  his  juvenile  years  until  his  death.    1751,  8vo. 

A  Vade  Mecum;  or  Companion  for  the  Unmarried  Ladies; 
wherein  are  lud  down  some  examples  whereby  to  direct  them 
in  the  choice  of  husbands.    1752,  8vo. 

A  Particular  but  Melancholy  Account  of  the  great  hard- 
ships, difficulties,  and  miseries  that  those  unhappy  and  much 
to  be  pitied  creatures,  the  Common  Women  of  the  town,  are 
plunged  into  at  this  juncture.     1752,  8vo. 

The  Shepherd  of  Banbury's  Rules.  A  small  work  of  great 
popularity  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  people. 

A  Full  Description  of  the  Highlands  of  Scotland ;  with  a 
scheme  for  making  the  most  disaffected  among  them  become 
zealously  affected  to  his  reigning  Majesty.     1 751,  8vo. 

A  Full  and  Particular  Description  of  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland.    Lond.  1752,  8vo. 

The  Case  of  the  Publicans,  both  in  town  and  country,  laid 
open.     1752,  8va 

The  Rational  Amusement ;  comprenending  a  Collection  of 
Letters  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  interspersed  with  Es- 
says, and  some  little  Pieces  of  humour.    1754,  8vo. 


A  Description  and  History  of  the  New  Sugar  Islands  in 
the  West  Indies.    Lond.  8vo. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Trade  of  Great  Britam  to  America. 
Lond.  1772,  4to. 

A  Political  Survey  of  Great  Britain ;  bong  a  series  of  Re- 
flections on  the  situation,  lands,  inhabitants,  revenues,  colo- 
nies, and  commerce  of  this  island.  Intended  to  point  out 
further  improvements.    Lond.  1774,  2  vols,  royal  4to. 

CAMPBELL,  George,  D.D.,  au  eminent  di- 
viVie  and  theological  writer,  the  jonngest  son  of 
the  Rev.  Colin  Campbell,  one  of  the  ministers  of 
Aberdeen,  was  bom  there  December  26,  1719. 
Being  at  first  intended  for  the  law,  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  writer  to  the  signet  in  Eklinbnrgh,  but 
afterwards  studied  divinity  in  the  Marischal  college 
of  his  native  city.  He  was  licensed  Jane  11 ,  1746, 
and  in  1747  was  an  nnsuccessM  candidate  for  the 
living  of  Fordoun  in  Kincardineshire.  In  1748  he 
was  presented  by  Sir  Thomas  Bamett  of  Leys, 
Bart.,  to  the  church  of  Banchory-Teman,  about 
twenty  miles  west  fi-om  Aberdeen.  From  this  he 
was  in  1756  translated  to  Aberdeen,  and  on  the 
decease  of  Principal  Pollock  in  1759,  was  chosen 
principal  of  the  Marischal  college.  Soon  after  he 
obtained  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  King's  college, 
Old  Aberdeen.  In  1763  he  published  his  cele- 
brated ^Dissertation  on  Miracles,*  in  answer  to 
the  views  on  the  subject  advanced  by  Mr.  Hume. 
This  work  procured  him  no  small  share  of  reputa- 
tion, and  was  speedily  translated  into  the  Dutch, 
French,  and  Grerman  languages.  In  1771  he  suc- 
ceeded Dr.  Gerard  In  the  divinity  chair  at  Mar- 
ischal college.  His  ^Philosophy  of  Rhetoric* 
appeared  in  1776,  in  2  vols.  8vo,  and  at  once 
established  his  fame  as  an  accurate  grammarian, 
a  judicious  ciitic,  and  a  profound  scholar.  His 
great  work,  *  The  Translation  of  the  Gospels,  with 
Preliminary  Dissertations,*  was  published  In  1793 
in  two  vols.  4to. 

Some  time  before  his  death,  he  resigned  his  offi- 
ces of  principal,  professor  of  divinity,  and  one  of 
the  city  ministers,  on  which  occasion  the  king 
granted  him  a  pension  of  three  hundred  pounds 
a-year.  Dr.  Campbell  died  April  6,  1796,  in  the 
seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age. 

His  works  are: 

The  Character  of  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel,  ar  a  Teacher 
and  Pattern ;  a  Sermon  on  Matt  v.  13, 14.  Aberd  1752,  Sro. 

Dissertation  on  Miracles;  containing  an  Examination  of 
the  principles  advanced  by  David  Hume,  with  a  correspond- 
ence on  the  subject  bj  Mr.  Home,  Dr.  Campbell^  and  Dr. 


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WILLIELMA. 


Bkur,  to  which  «re  added.  Sermons  and  Tracts.  Edin.  1762, 
8ro.    8d  edit.  Edin.  1797,  2  vols.  8vo. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Gospel  neither  a  Spirit  of  Superstition 
nor  of  Enthosiasm ;  a  Scormon  on  2  Tim.  i.  7.    1771,  8to. 

Oocasional  Sermons.  One  of  these  **0n  the  Duty  of 
Allegiance,**  preached  on  the  Fast  daj,  was  published  in  4to 
in  1771,  and,  afterwards,  at  the  expense  of  goremment,  six 
thousand  copies  were  printed  in  12mo,  enlarged  with  notes, 
and  circniatad  widely  in  America,  but  too  late  to  do  any  good 
there. 

Philosophy  of  Bhetoric    Lond.  1776,  2  rols.  8to. 

The  Soooess  of  the  First  Publishers  of  the  Gospel  a  proof 
of  its  Truth ;  a  Sermon  preached  before  the  Society  in  Scot- 
land for  propagating  Christian  Knowledge.     Edin.  1777, 8vo. 

Address  to  the  Public,  when  the  great  Riots  were  in  Scot- 
land on  account  of  the  Bill  for  the  Relief  of  the  Roman 
Catholics.    1779, 12mo. 

A  Sermon  on  the  happy  Influence  of  Religion  on  CivQ 
Society.    1779. 

The  Four  Gospels;  translated  fh>m  the  Greek.  With  pre- 
liminary Dissertations,  and  Notes  critical  and  explanatory. 
Lond.  1790,  2  vols.  4to.  Edin.  1807,  2  rols.  8to.  8d  edit 
Lond.  8  vols.  8to. 

Lectures  on  Ecclesiastical  History.  To  which  is  added, 
An  Essay  on  Christian  Temperance  and  Self-denial;  with  the 
Life  of  the  Author,  by  the  Rer.  Dr.  George  Skene  Keith. 
Lood.  1800,  2  Yds.  87o 

Lectures  on  Systematic  Theology,  and  Pulpit  Eloquence. 
Lond.  1807,  870. 

Lectures  on  the  Pastoral  Character.  Edited  by  J.  Fraser. 
1811,  8vo. 

These  three  last  works  were  posthumous. 

CAMPBELL,  Archibald,  Colonel  of  the  29th 
regiment  of  infantry,  and  a  brigadier-general  on 
the  West  India  staff,  was  the  younger  son  of  an 
ancient  family  in  Argyleshire,  and  related  to  the 
noble  house  of  Argyle.  He  served  in  the  Ameri- 
can war  with  great  gallantry.  On  his  regiment 
coming  to  £ngland,  the  majority  being  vacant,  a 
commission  was  made  ont  at  the  war  office  ap- 
pointing another  gentleman  major.  On  its  being 
laid  before  the  king  for  the  royal  signature,  his 
majesty  threw  it  aside,  and  ordered  another  to  be 
drawn  np  for  Major  Campbell,  saying,  *^  A  good 
and  deserving  officer  must  not  be  passed  over." 
In  1792  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieuten- 
ant-colonel of  the  21st,  and  afterwards  to  that  of 
the  29th.  He  was  with  his  regiment  on  board  the 
fleet  in  the  glorions  action  of  the  1st  of  June  1794. 
In  1795  he  was  sent  with  the  troops  to  the  West 
Indies,  where,  on  his  arrival,  he  was  appointed 
brigadier-general.  His  merits  in  this  service  were 
eonspicnons,  but  nnfoi-tnnateiy  he  was  seized  with 
a  fever,  of  which  he  died,  August  15,  1796. 

CAMPBELL,  WiTJJKLMA,  viscountess  Glen- 
orchy,  a  lady  of  great  piety  and  usefulness,  the 


daughter  of  William  Maxwell,  Esq.  of  Preston, 
in  the  stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright,  a  branch  of 
the  Nithsdale  family,  was  born,  after  her  father's 
death,  September  2,  1741.  Her  education,  and 
that  of  her  sister,  devolved  upon  her  mother,  a 
lady  of  a  proud  and  ambitious  spirit,  who  strove 
to  instil  the  same  character  of  mind  into  her 
daughters.  The  two  sisters  were  married  about 
the  same  time,  Mary,  the  eldest,  to  the  earl  of 
Sutheriand,  premier  earl  of  Scotland,  and  Willi- 
elma  to  John,  Viscount  Glenorchy,  the  second  son 
and  heur  of  John,  the  third  earl  of  Breadalbane. 
Highly  accomplished  and  beautiful,  she  was  well 
fitted  to  adorn  her  high  station,  and  for  some  time 
after  her  marriage  she  spent  her  time  in  the  usual 
gaieties  and  pleasures  of  fashionable  life,  in  the 
course  of  which  she  resided  for  two  years  on  the 
continent.  Her  attention  was  first  awakened  to 
the  subject  of  religion,  through  an  intimacy  which 
she  contracted  with  the  pious  family  of  Sur  Row- 
land Hill  at  Hawkstone,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
her  oocasional  residence.  Great  Sugnal,  in  Staf- 
fordshire. Early  in  the  summer  of  1765,  while 
residing  at  Taymouth  castle,  Perthshire,  she  was 
seized  with  a  dangerous  fever,  in  recovei'ing  from 
which  her  thoughts  were  more  particularly  directed 
to  religious  matters;  and  from  a  correspondence 
which  she  carried  on  with  Miss  Hill,  a  member 
of  the  Hawkestoue  family,  and  a  relative  of  the 
celebrated  Lord  Hill,  she  derived  much  spiritual 
instruction  and  consolation.  Her  husband  having 
sold  his  estate  of  Sugnal  in  Staffordshure,  pur- 
chased that  of  Barnton  near  Edinburgh,  and  the 
change  of  residence  was  particularly  pleasing  to 
her  ladyship. 

With  Lady  Maxwell,  who,  like  herself,  was 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  religion,  she  joined  in  the 
plan  of  having  a  place  of  worship  in  which 
ministers  of  every  orthodox  denomination  should 
preach.  With  this  design.  Lady  Glenorchy  hired 
St.  Mary*s  ohapel  in  Niddry's  Wynd,  Edinburgh, 
which  was  opened  for  the  purpose  on  Wednesday, 
March  7,  1770,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Middleton,  then 
minister  of  a  small  episcopal  chapel  at  Dalkeith. 
The  countenance  which  she  gave  to  the  Methodist 
preachers  led  to  her  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Wes- 
ley, and  caused  the  ministers  of  the  establishment 
to  decline  officiating  in  the  chapel.    Her  ladyshio. 


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JOHN 


therefore,  resolved  to  select  a  pious  clergyman, 
who,  besides  acting  as  her  domestic  chaplain, 
should  regularly  preach  there.  On  the  recom- 
mendation of  Miss  Hill,  the  Rev.  Richard  de 
Conrcy,  an  episcopalian  minister,  was  appointed 
to  that  office.  A  private  chapel  had  been  erected 
at  Bamton ;  but  in  little  more  than  a  month  after 
Ijord  and  Lady  6lenorchy*8  arrival  there  his  lord- 
ship died,  14th  November,  1771,  bequeathing  to 
her  his  whole  disposable  property;  and  her  father- 
in-law.  Lord  Breadalbane,  having  paid  the  balance 
of  the  purchase-money  of  that  estate,  presented  it 
to  her.  After  her  husband's  death,  Lady  Glen- 
orchy  took  up  her  residence  at  Holyroodhouse, 
spending  the  summer  usually  at  Taymouth  castle. 
Being  now  possessed  of  considerable  wealth,  she 
formed  the  design  of  erecting  a  chapel  in  Edin- 
burgh, in  communion  with  the  Chmch  of  Scot- 
land, which  was  speedily  built  at  the  old  Physic 
Gardens,  in  the  park  of  the  Orphans*  Hospital, 
and  opened  for  divine  worship  on  Sabbath,  May  8, 
1774.  Shortly  after  this,  at  the  request  of  Mr. 
Stuart,  minister  of  Eillin,  she  built  and  endowed 
a  chapel  at  Strathfillan,  placing  it  under  the  direc- 
tion and  patronage  of  the  Society  in  Scotland  for 
Propagating  Christian  knowledge.  She  also  em- 
ployed, at  her  own  expense,  two  licensed  preachers 
as  missionaries  in  the  Highlands,  under  the  sanc- 
tion and  countenance  of  the  same  society.  In 
the  Synod  of  Lothian  and  Tweeddale,  in  1775,  a 
strong  attempt  was  made,  which  for  the  time  was 
successful,  to  prevent  the  chapel  of  Lady  Glen- 
orcliy  from  being  admitted  into  the  communion  of 
the  church.  The  unfavourable  decision  of  the 
Synod,  however,  was  reversed  by  the  General 
Assembly  in  the  following  May. 

After  repeated  disappointments  in  the  choice  of 
a  minister  for  her  chapel  in  Edinburgh,  Lady 
Glenorchy  fixed  upon  the  Rev.  Francis  Sheriff, 
chaplain  in  one  of  the  Scots  regiments  in  Holland, 
who  soon  died.  The  Rev.  Mr.  afterwards  Dr. 
Jones,  assistant  minister  at  Plymouth  Dock,  was 
next  appointed,  and  having  been  duly  ordained  by 
the  Scots  presbytery  in  London,  he  officiated  as 
minister  of  Lady  Glenorchy^s  chapel  for  upwards 
of  half  a  century.  Her  ladyship  also  purchased 
Presbyterian  chapels  in  Exmouth,  Carlisle,  and 
Matlock,  and  built  one  at  Workington  in  Cumber- 


land, and  another  in  Bristol,  in  the  latter  of  wliich 
she  was  aided  by  a  bequest  of  two  thousand  fiv« 
hundred  pounds,  from  her  friend  and  companion 
in  her  latter  yeare,  Lady  Henrietta  Hope,  daugh- 
ter of  the  earl  of  Hopetoun.  Lady  Glenorchy 
dif'd  about  1786.  Previous  to  her  death  she  sold 
the  Bamton  estate  to  William  Ramsay,  Esq.,  then 
an  eminent  banker  in  Edinburgh.  Lady  Glen- 
orchy*8  chapel  in  the  Orphan  Park  was  taken 
down  in  1845,  with  other  buildings  there,  for  the 
formation  of  the  North  British  Railway.  A  Life 
of  her  ladyship  was  published  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jones,  after  her  death,  which  is  much  esteemed. 

CAMPBELL,  John,  a  naval  officer  of  merit,  of 
whose  origin  and  early  history  nothing  is  known, 
accompanied  Lord  Anson  in  his  voyage  round  the 
world.  He  was  then  a  petty  officer  on  board  the 
Centurion.  Soon  after  his  return  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  and  in  1747  was  ap- 
pointed captain  of  the  Bellona.  In  1755  he  was 
promoted  to  the  Prince,  of  90  guns.  In  1759  we 
find  him  under  Sir  Edward  Hawke,  as  captain  on 
board  the  Royal  George.  His  valour  was  con- 
spicuous in  the  battle  which  ended  in  the  total 
defeat  of  the  marquis  de  Conflans,  off  Belleisle,  and 
he  was  despatched  to  England  with  intelligence  of 
the  victory ;  when  the  offer  of  knighthood  was  made 
to  him,  but  he  declined  it.  In  1778  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  rear-admiral,  and  afterwards 
became  progressively  vice-admiral  of  the  Blue  and 
of  the  White.    He  died  December  16, 1790. 

CAMPBELL,  John,  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
army,  who,  during  his  too  brief  career,  greatly 
distlngidshed  himself  by  his  valour  and  merit,  and 
gave  promise  of  rendering  important  services  to  his 
country,  was  the  second  son  of  John  Campbell, 
Lord  Stonefield,  a  judge  of  the  court  of  session,  de- 
scended from  the  Campbells  of  Lochnell,  and  Lady 
Grace  Stewart,  sister  of  John  earl  of  Bute,  and 
was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  December  7,  1753.  He 
received  his  education  at  the  high  school  of  his 
native  city,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  became  an 
ensign  in  the  57th  regiment.  Three  years  after- 
wards be  was  appointed  lieutenant  of  the  7th 
foot,  or  Royal  Fusileers,  with  which  regiment  he 
served  in  Canada,  where  he  was  made  prisoner. 
In  1775  he  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy  in  the 
71st  foot,  and  some  time  after  was  appointed  ma- 


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CAMPBELL, 


675 


GEORGE. 


for  of  the  74th,  or  Argyleshire  Highlanders.  In 
Feb.  1781  he  exchanged  into  the  100th  regiment,  and 
with  this  corps  he  served  with  distinction  in  the 
East  Indies,  against  the  troops  of  Hyder  Ali,  dar- 
ing which  period  he  was  appointed  to  the  majority 
of  the  second  battalion  of  the  42d  regiment.  In 
one  engagement  with  Tippoo  Saltan,  when  the 
latter  was  repnlsed  with  great  loss,  Miyor  Camp- 
bell was  wounded,  bat  did  not  quit  the  field  till 
the  enemy  was  defeated.  He  was  afterwards  en- 
gaged in  the  siege  of  Annantpore,  which  he  i-e- 
daced  and  took  from  the  enemy.  In  May  1783 
he  was  appointed  to  the  provisional  command  of 
the  army  in  the  Bidnnre  coantry.  His  defence  of 
the  important  fortress  of  Mangalore,  where  he 
was  stationed,  against  the  prodigious  force  of  Tip- 
poo, amounting  to  about  one  hundred  and  forty 
tliousand  men,  with  a  hundred  pieces  of  artillery, 
is  justly  accounted  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
achievements  that  ever  signalised  the  British  arms 
in  India.  The  garrison,  under  Major  Campbell's 
command,  consisted  only  of  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-three  men,  of  whom  not  more 
than  two  or  three  hundred  were  British  soldiers, 
the  remainder  being  Sepoys,  or  native  infantry. 
This  little  garrison,  however,  resisted  for  two 
months  and  a  half  all  the  efforts  of  Tippoo,  after 
which,  a  cessation  of  hostilities  taking  place,  the 
uege  was  turned,  for  a  time,  into  a  blockade. 
The  bravery  and  resolution  displayed  by  Major 
Campbell  on  this  occasion,  were  so  much  admured 
by  Tippoo,  who  commanded  his  army  in  person, 
that  he  expressed  a  wish  to  see  him.  The  major, 
accompanied  by  several  of  his  officers,  accordingly 
waited  on  llppoo,  who  presented  to  each  of  them 
a  handsome  shawl ;  and  after  their  return  to  the 
fort,  he  sent  Major  Campbell  an  additional  present 
of  a.  very  fine  horse,  which  the  famishing  garrison 
afterwards  killed  and  ftte.  After  sustaining  a 
9iege  of  eight  months,  during  which  they  were  re- 
duced to  the  greatest  extremities  by  disease  and 
famine,  the  garrison  at  length  capitulated,  January 
24,  1784;  and  on  the  SOth  they  evacuated  the 
fort,  and  embarked  for  TUlicherry,  one  of  the 
British  settlements  on  the  coast  of  Malabar.  He 
bad  now  attained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel ; 
,  but  the  fatigue  which  he  endured  daring  this  me- 
morable siege  had  undermined  his  constitution. 


and,  in  the  following  month,  he  was  obliged,  by 
ill  health,  to  quit  the  army  and  retire  to  Bombay, 
where  he  died,  March  23,  1784,  in  the  dlst  vear 
of  his  age.  A  monament  was  erected  to  his  me- 
mory in  the  church  at  Bombay,  by  order  of  the 
East  India  Company. 

CAMPBELL,  GEOKas,  a  minor  poet,  was  bore 
in  Kilmarnock  in  1761.  Hi^  father  died  when  he 
was  very  young.  Who  he  was,  or  what  trade  or 
profession  he  followed,  is  not  known.  His  mo- 
ther, whose  maiden  name  was  Janet  Parker, 
earned  a  scanty  subsistence  by  winding  yam  for 
the  carpet  works.  His  education  was  very  limit- 
ed, and  he  was  bred  a  shoemaker.  Being  of  a 
religious  cast  of  mind,  he  formed  the  resolution  of 
studying  for  the  ministry,  and  to  procure  the 
means  necessary  for  prosecuting  his  stadies  at  col- 
lege, he  laboured  at  his  trade  not  only  very  hard 
during  the  day,  but  frequently  during  the  night, 
when  others  were  asleep ;  and  by  thus  working 
industriously,  he  raised  himself  above  the  occupa- 
tion of  shoemaklng,  and  became  teacher  of  a  small 
school  in  Kilmarnock.  In  his  efibrts  he  was 
greatly  befriended  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Macklnlay 
of  Edlmamock,  who  assisted  him  by  lending  him 
books,  and  otherwise  placing  within  his  reach  the 
means  of  intellectual  improvement.  To  aid  in 
defraying  his  expenses  at  college,  he  collected  and 
published  his  poetical  pieces,  in  the  year  1787. 
They  were  printed  in  Elilmamock  at  the  press  of 
John  Wilson,  from  which  had  been  issued  in  the 
preceding  year,  the  first  edition  of  the  poems  ot 
Robert  Bums.  The  book  was  of  a  12mo  size, 
containmg  132  pages,  and  was  entitled  ^  Poems 
on  Several  Occasions,  by  George  Campbell.'  In 
the  preface  the  author  states  *^  that  it  is  the  pro- 
duction of  a  tradesman,  obliged  at  the  time  it  was 
composed  to  labour  for  his  daily  maintenance,'*  and 
that  his  sole  intention  in  writing  the  various  pieces 
in  the  volume  was  "  to  celebrate  virtue,  to  ridi- 
cule vice,  and  to  paint  the  works  of  nature  and  the 
manners  of  mankind."  Though  displaying  neither 
richness  of  imagination  nor  depth  or  originality  of 
thought,  and  not  remarkable  for  elegance  of  dic- 
tion, his  poems  are  not  deficient  in  merit,  and  ex- 
hibit in  numerous  instances  much  plain  good  sense, 
with  a  shrewdness  of  observation  and  a  chasteness 
of  expression  which  few  minor  poets  possess     The 


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CAMPBELL, 


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ALEXANDER. 


longest  poem  in  the  volume  is  founded  on  the 
Book  of  Esther,  and  bears  tliat  name ;  but,  witli 
the  exception  of  a  few  passages,  it  is  inferior,  as 
l^oetry,  to  some  of  his  other  productions.  The 
best  of  the  pieces  are,  ^  A  Morning  Contemplation;' 
*Ossian's  Address  to  the  Sun;'  and  'A  Winter 
Evening — Scene,  A  Farm-House  in  the  Country,' 
which  are  all  in  the  heroic  verse. 

After  attending  the  ordinary  period  at  college, 
Mr.  Campbell  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel 
by  the  Burgher  Associate  Synod,  and  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  to  a  congi-egatiou  in  that  connec- 
tion at  Stockbridge,  near  Dunbar.  As  a  preacher 
he  is  said  to  have  displayed  considerable  ability 
and  zeal.  In  1816  he  published  at  Edinburgh  a 
collection  of  Sermons,  in  an  octavo  volume  of  479 
pages,  more  with  the  desire,  as  he  hints  in  his 
preface,  of  being  nseful  as  a  teacher  of  Christian- 
ity than  distinguished  as  an  author.  In  appear- 
ance Mr.  Campbell  was  somewhat  slender.  He 
died  of  consumption,  at  Stockbridge,  the  place  of 
his  ministiy,  about  the  year  1818. — ConUmpora- 
ries  of  Bums, 

CAMPBELL,  Alexander,  a  miscellaneous 
writer,  bom  in  1764,  at  Tombea,  Loch  Lubnaig, 
Perthshire,  was  the  son  of  a  country  wright  or 
carpenter,  who,  by  perseverance  and  economy,  had 
saved  five  hundred  pounds,  which,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  trifling  dividend,  he  lost  by  lending  to 
his  landlord,  who  became  bankiiipt.  Old  Camp- 
bell then  removed  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  soon 
after  died,  leaving  a  widow,  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Alexander,  the  younger  son,  who  was 
only  eleven  years  old  when  this  event  occurred, 
had  received  some  education  at  the  grammar- 
school  of  Callander,  and  with  his  elder  brother, 
John  (for  twenty  years  a  teacher  in  Edinburgh, 
and  leader  of  psalmody  in  the  parish  church  of 
Canongate),  became  a  pupil  of  Tenducci,  an  ac- 
complished musician  who  had  fixed  his  residence 
in  Edinburgh  about  this  period. 

Alexander  was  first  known  as  a  teacher  of  the 
harpsichord  and  of  singing,  officiating  at  the  same 
time  as  organist  to  an  episcopal  chapel  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Nicolson  street,  Edinburgh. 
Amongst  his  pupils  was  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who 
describes  him  as  *^  a  warm-hearted  man  and  an 
enthusiast  in  Scotch  music,  which  he  sang  most 


beautifully."  Of  Scott,  however,  he  could  make 
nothing,  as  the  great  novelist  had  no  ear  for  music. 
His  first  publication  was  a  volume  of  *  Odes  and 
Miscellaneous  Poems.'  His  *•  Introduction  to  the 
History  of  Poetry  in  Scotland,'  of  which  only 
ninety  copies  were  printed,  appeared  in  1798. 
After  publishing  four  years  later  ^  A  Tour  through 
North  Britain,'  which  obtained  him  some  reputa- 
tion, he  signally  failed  in  a  volume  of  poetry 
brought  out  in  1804.  Tho  object  of  this  publica- 
tion was  to  expose  the  depopulation  policy  of  the 
Highland  proprietors,  and  to  direct  the  attention 
of  the  legislature  to  some  remedy  for  it.  But 
the  poetry  was  not  of  a  very  superior  order, 
and  the  work  ^  fell  dead  from  the  press.'  One  in- 
cident, however,  related  in  a  note,  led  to  the  in- 
stitution of  the  Edinburgh  '^  Destitute  Sick  Soci- 
ety," which  still  exists.  By  this  time  he  bad 
been  twice  married ;  the  second  time  to  the  widow 
of  Ranald  Macdonald,  Esq.  of  Keppoch.  On 
marrying  this  lady  he  relinquished  the  profession 
of  teacher  of  music,  and  studied  medicine,  in  the 
hope  of  obtaining  an  appointment  through  the  in- 
fluence of  his  friends ;  but  in  this  he  was  disap- 
pointed. In  order  to  encourage  him,  however,  a 
sum  of  money  was  voted  by  the  Highland  Society 
of  Scotland  to  enable  him  to  make  a  collection  of 
Gaelic  melodies  and  vocal  poetry.  He  forthwith 
set  out  on  a  tour  through  the  Highlands  and  Wes- 
tern Islands.  Having  performed  a  journey  of 
between  eleven  and  twelve  hundred  miles,  in 
which  he  collected  one  hundred  and  ninety-one 
specimens  of  melodies  and  Gaelic  vocal  poetry,  he 
returned  to  Edinburgh,  and  laid  the  fruits  of  his 
gleanings  before  the  Society,  who  expressed  their 
approbation  of  them.  The  result  of  these  labours 
appeared  in  his  ^  Albyn's  Anthology,'  a  compila- 
tion published  some  tune  afterward.  AnM>ng 
those  who  furnished  pieces  for  this  publication 
were  Sir  Walter  Scott;  Mr.,  afterwards  Sir 
Alexander  Bos  well;  Hogg;  Maturin;  Mrs.  Grant 
of  Laggan,  and  other  eminent  song  writers  of 
the  day.  In  this  work  he  claims  anthorship 
of  the  air  to  Tannahill's  beautiful  song  of 
"  Gloomy  winter's  now  awa'."  The  question 
has  been  discussed  by  Mr.  Stenhouse  (Musktd 
Museum^  vol.  vi.  p.  508,)  but  is  not  important; 
and  it  does  not  appear  that  Campbell  made  out 


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JOHN. 


bis  claim,  as  an  air  time  out  of  mind  known  as 
"The  Cordwainer*8  march"  was  the  basis  of 
Smith's  set.  Diliring  the  latter  yeai-s  of  his  life 
Campbell  was  employed  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in 
the  transcription  of  manuscripts,  which,  indeed, 
formed  his  chief  mode  of  subsistence.  Although 
a  man  of  many  accomplishments,  they  were,  says 
Sir  Walter,  dashed  with  a  btzarrerie  of  temper 
which  made  them  useless  to  their  proprietor. 

Mr.  Campbell  died  of  apoplexy,  May  15,  1824, 
in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age,  and  an  obituary 
notice  of  him,  from  the  pen  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
appeared  in  the  Edinburgh  Weekly  Journal. 

After  Mr.  Campbell's  death,  his  books,  manu- 
scripts, and  other  effects,  were  sold  under  judicial 
authority ;  and  amongst  other  manuscripts  was  a 
tragedy,  which  was  purchased  by  the  late  Mr. 
William  Stewart,  bookseller.  Both  he  and  his 
brother,  Mr.  John  Campbell,  were  caricatured  by 
Kay,  and  biographical  sketches  of  them  are  in- 
serted in  *  Kay's  Edinburgh  Portraits.' 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  works : 

Odes  and  Miscellaneoas  Poems. 

Twelve  Songs,  set  to  music  hj  Alejumder  Campbell. 

An  Introdaction  to  the  History  of  Poetry  in  Scotland, 
quarto,  including  The  Songs  of  the  Lowlands,  with  illustra- 
tive Engravings  by  David  Allan,  and  dedicated  to  FoselL 
Edinburgh,  1798.  A  Dialogue  on  Scottish  Music,  prefixed 
to  this  work,  is  said  to  have  first  conveyed  to  foreigners  a 
correct  idea  of  the  Scottish  scale. 

A  Journey  from  Edinburgh  through  various  parts  of  North 
Britain,  &c.,  in  2  vols,  quarto,  with  aquatint  drawmgs  by 
himself.    1802.    This  is  considered  his  best  work. 

The  Grampians  Desolate,  a  poem  in  six  books,  in  1  voL 
8vo,  with  Notes,  1804. 

History  of  the  Rebellion  in  Scotiand,  m  1745-46.  1804, 12roo. 

Beauties  of  Literature,  or  Cabinet  of  Genius;  containing 
the  complete  Beauties  of  the  most  distinguished  Authors  of 
the  present  Age.    1804,  vol.  i. 

Albyn*s  Anthology,  or,  a  Select  Collection  of  the  melo- 
dies and  local  poetry  peculiar  to  Scotland  and  the  Isles ;  vol- 
ume first  1816,  volume  second  1818. 

CAMPBELL,  John,  a  zealous  missionary  and 
African  traveller,  was  bom  at  Edinburgh  in  March 
1766.  His  father  died  when  he  was  not  more 
than  two  years  old,  and  his  mother  when  he  was 
only  six.  A  maternal  uncle,  of  the  name  of  Bow- 
ers, a  sincere  Christian,  who  was  an  elder  or  dea- 
con of  the  Relief  church,  received  him  and  his  two 
brothera  under  his  roof,  and  attended  strictly  to 
their  religions  training,  as  well  as  to  their  domes- 
tic comfort.  With  his  brothers  he  was  educated 
at  the  High  School  of  his  native  place,  then  under 


the  rectorship  of  Dr.  Adams,  after  leaving  which 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  respectable  goldsmith 
and  jeweller  in  Edinburgh.  About  1789,  when  on 
a  journey  to  London,  he  became  acquainted  with 
the  Rev.  John  Newton,  with  whom  he  i*egulai-ly 
corresponded  for  a  long  period.  In  the  same  year 
he  began  to  publish  and  circulate  religious  tracts, 
at  first  privately,  and  that  chiefly  among  his 
Iriends  and  their  families.  It  afterwards  occurred 
to  some  of  his  friends  that  a  plan  might  be  formed 
to  print  small  pamphlets  on  religious  subjects,  to 
be  distributed  gratis,  or  sold  at  a  cheap  rate,  and 
Mr.  Campbell,  in  July  1798,  was  one  of  about  a 
dozen  who  formed  themselves  into  a  Religious 
Ti-act  Society,  in  Edinburgh,  the  first  society  of 
the  kind  that  ever  existed  in  the  world.  His 
name,  therefoi'e,  deserves  to  be  recorded,  as  one 
of  the  fonndei*s,  if  not  the  originator,  of  Tract 
Societies.  His  next  scheme  for  the  advancement 
of  religion  was  the  establishment  of  Sabbath  even- 
ing schoohs,  of  which  very  few  then  oxisted  in 
Scotland.  In  1795,  he  established  Sabbath  even- 
ing schools  at  the  Archer^s  Hall,  ahd  in  the  hal! 
of  the  Edinburgh  Dispensary,  and  engaged  teach- 
ers, at  a  small  salary,  to  instinct  the  children 
in  the  essential  truths  of  the  gospel.  At  Loan- 
head,  then  a  colliery  village,  about  five  miles  south 
of  Edinburgh,  he  himself  taught,  for  two  years,  a 
Sabbath  evening  school,  which  he  had  also  com- 
menced there.  Tlie  success  that  followed  his  ef- 
forts in  and  around  Edinburgh  induced  him,  in 
connexion  with  Mr.  J.  A.  Haldane,  to  visit  Glas- 
gow, Paisley,  Greenock,  and  other  places  in  the 
west,  to  urge  the  formation  of  similar  institutions, 
and  the  result  was  that  sixty  Sabbath  schools 
were  formed  in  those  places  within  three  months. 
In  1796  Mr.  Campbell^s  attention  was  directed 
to  the  degraded  condition  of  the  female  street- 
walkers of  Edinburgh,  and  with  a  view  to  their 
reformation,  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  form- 
ing the  Philanthropic  Society,  which  was  the 
commencement  of  the  institution  known  as  the 
Magdalene  Asylum,  and  was  its  secretary  till  he 
left  Edinburgh  for  Glasgow,  whei*e  he  was  one  of 
the  first  originators  of  a  similar  institution  in  that 
city.  Towards  the  end  of  the  same  yeai*  Mr. 
Haldane  applied  to  Mr.  Campbell  to  accompany 
him  and  his  associates,  Dr.  Bogue,  and  Messi*s. 
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THOMAS. 


Ewing  and  Innes,  on  their  intended  mission  to 
Bengal.  At  first  he  was  willing  to  go,  bnt  the 
arguments  of  his  friends,  Mr.  Newton,  and  the 
pious  countess  of  Leven,  were  effectual  in  leading 
him  to  abandon  the  design.  He  now  commenced 
a  system  of  village  preaching,  and  at  Gilmerton, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh,  he  succeeded 
Ml  establishing  a  regular  Sabbath  evening  service, 
which  was  supplied  by  students  of  divinity  and 
lay-preachers.  Messrs.  Aikman  and  Haldane,  as 
well  as  Mr.  Campbell,  commenced  their  exertions 
as  lay-preachers  in  Gilmerton.  He  afterwards 
frequently  preached  also  at  Lasswade,  Dalkeith, 
Musselburgh,  and  Linlithgow,  and  other  places 
near  Edinburgh.  On  the  formation  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Missionaiy  Society  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
Directoi-s.  In  1798  he  suggested  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Tabernacle  in  Edinburgh,  which  was 
so  long  presided  over  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Haldane. 
Early  in  1799  he  gave  up  his  business  of  a  hard- 
ware merchant,  went  to  Dundee,  and  joined  a  class 
under  Mr.  (afterwards  Dr.)  Innes,  preparatory  to 
his  entering  on  the  regular  ministry ;  and  in  1800, 
he,  with  the  other  students,  removed  to  (:tm«'i»w, 
under  Mr.  GrevUle  Ewing,  who  had  shortly  befol^ 
left  the  Established  Church  and  joined  the  Inde- 
pendents. At  this  time  he  occasionally  preached 
in  the  suburbs,  particularly  at  Ruflierglen.  In 
June  of  that  year  Mr.  Campbell  and  Mr.  Haldane 
itinerated  in  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  in  the 
autumn  they  preached  through  Kin  tyre.  After 
leaving  the  class  Mr.  Campbell  returned  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  assisted  Mr.  Haldane  in  the  Taberna- 
cle for  sometime,  and  aided  in  the  instruction  of 
the  students:  the  academy  being  then  removed 
from  Glasgow.  In  April  1808,  he  again  visited 
Kintyre,  and  in  the  following  month  he  accom- 
panied Messrs.  Haldane  and  Innes  on  a  tour  to 
the  counties  of  Perth,  Inverness,  Ross,  and  Caith- 
ness, and  to  the  islands  of  Orkney.  Subsequently 
he  and  Mr.  Haldane  went  on  an  itinerating  tour 
to  the  southern  cotinties  of  Scotland  and  the  nor- 
thern counties  of  England.  Mr.  Campbell  after- 
wards accepted  a  call  to  take  the  pastoral  office 
at  Kingsland  chapel,  London,  [being  ordained  in 
the  beginning  of  1804,]  the  duties  of  which  he  dis- 
chai'ged  for  thirty-seven  years,  with  credit  to  him- 
self, and  great  usefulness  to  others.    For  the  in- 


struction of  the  young,  he  set  on  foot  *  The  Youth's 
Magazine,"  of  the  first  ten  volumes  of  which  be 
was  editor.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  of  the  London 
Hibernian  Society,  and  of  the  Female  Penitenti- 
ary. As  his  income  was  small,  he  had  to  take  up  a 
school  at  Kingsland  to  add  to  it.  In  1812,  at  the 
request  of  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  he  visited  their  stations  in  South  Africa, 
and  again  in  1818.  On  his  return  from  each  of 
his  voyages  to  Africa,  he  travelled  throogb  most 
of  the  counties  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  also 
visited  Ireland,  to  plead  in  behalf  of  the  Mission- 
wry  Society.  He  died  April  4,  1840,  aged  74. 
His  works  are : 

Alfred  and  Galba.  or  the  History  of  the  Two  Brotben, 
supposed  to  be  written  bj  themselves.    Lond  1807,  8to. 

Remarkable  Particolars  in  the  Life  of  Moees.  Lond.  1808, 
12mo. 

Voyages  and  Travels  of  a  Bible.     1808. 

Travels  in  South  Africa,  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the 
Missionary  Society.    London,  1814,  8vo.    2d  edit  1815,  8vo. 

Second  Journey  m  South  Africa,  1818.  2  tdIa.  8to. 
London,  1822.  ' 

He  also  prepared  an  abridgment  of  his  African  Travels,  in 
two  small  volumes,  for  the  Religious  Tract  Society,,  and  added 
to  them  a  similar  volume,  giving  an  account  of  his  voyages. 
*  Hb  was  also  the  author  of  a  small  unpretending  but  useful 
little  book,  entitled  *  African  Light,*  the  object  of  which  was 
to  illtistrate  passages  of  Scripture  by  a  reference  to  hla  ow^ 
obser\'atlons  in  South  Africa. 

Walks  of  Usefulness. 

GAMFB£LL,  Thomas,  a  distingnished  poet, 
the  most  perfect  lyrical  writer  of  bis  time,  was 
bom  at  Glasgow  on  the  27th  of  July,  1777. 
Alexander  Campbell,  the  father  of  the  poet,  war 
the  youngest  of  the  three  sons  of  the  laird  of  Kir- 
nan,  and  was  born  in  1710.  He  was  educated  for 
the  mercantile  profession,  and  early  in  life  went 
to  America,  where  be  entered  into  business,  and 
resided  many  years  at  Falmouth,  in  Virginia. 
There  he  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  his  brother 
Archibald,  on  his  first  quitting  Jamaica  to  settle 
in  the  United  States,  and  there  also,  about  ten 
years  afterwards,  he  formed  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  Daniel  Campbell,  a  clansman,  but  no 
relation,  with  whom  he  returned  to  Glasgow,  and 
there  entered  into  partnership  with  him  as  Yir- 
ginian  tradera,  under  the  firm  of  Alexander  aud 
Daniel  Campbell.  For  some  years  their  business 
pi*ospered,  and  both  partners  were  highly  esteemed 
as  men  of  probity  and  experience.    Daniel,  tii«> 


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THOMAS. 


junior  partner,  bad  a  sister  named  Margaret, 
whom  Alexander  took  to  be  his  wife,  and  she 
became  the  mother  of  the  poet.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  the  cathedral  church  of  Glasgow  on  the 
12th  of  January  1756.  At  this  time  Mrs.  Camp- 
beil  was  about  twenty,  while  her  husband  had 
reached  the  mature  age  of  forty-five.  They  had 
eight  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  the  poet,  who 
was  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  bom  when 
his  father  had  reached  his  67th  year,  the  age  at 
which  he  himself  died. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  with  America  in  1776, 
two  years  before  the  poet's  birth,  ruined  the  Vir- 
ginia trade,  and  many  of  the  Glasgow  merchants 
suffered  severely  in  their  business  and  fortunes. 
Amongst  others,  the  old  and  respectable  firm  of 
Alexander  and  Daniel  Campbell  sustained  losses 
from  which  they  never  recovered,  and  saw  very 
nearly  the  whole  amount  of  forty  years*  successful 
industry  swept  away  at  once,  from  the  failure  of 
other  houses  with  which  they  were  connected. 
The  poet's  father  is  stated  by  his  biographer  to 
have  lost  at  this  disastrous  time  a  sum  of  not  less 
than  twenty  thousand  pounds,  while  his  uncle, 
Daniel  Campbell,  alwajrs  estimated  his  own  indi- 
vidual loss  at  eleven  or  twelve  thousand  pounds. 

The  poet's  father  died  at  the  age  of  91,  in  the 
spring  of  1801,  and  his  death  is  recorded  in  the 
*  Edinburgh  Magazine,'  with  high  encomiums  on 
his  moral  and  religious  character.  He  is  men- 
tioned as  a  gentleman  of  unblemished  integrity 
and  amiable  manners,  who  united  the  scholar  and 
the  man  of  business,  and  amidst  the  corroding 
cares  of  trade,  cherished  a  liberal  and  enthusiastic 
love  of  literature.  His  mother  was  a  person  of 
much  taste  and  refinement,  and  well  educated  for 
the  age  and  the  sphere  in  which  she  moved.  She  is 
described  as  being  passionately  fond  of  music,  par- 
ticularly sacred  music,  and  she  sang  many  of  the 
popular  melodies  of  Scotland  with  taste  and  efiect. 
She  knew  many  of  the  traditional  songs  of  the 
Highlands,  especially  those  of  Argyleshire,  and 
from  her  it  seems  probable  that  the  love  of  song 
was  early  imbibed  and  cultivated  by  her  children. 

The  poet  was  bom  in  his  father's  house  in  the 
High  sti-eet  of  Glasgow,  which  stood  nearly  oppo- 
site the  university,  but  has  long  since  been  taken 
down.     He  was  baptized  by  Dr.  Thomas  Reid, 


professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  university  of 
Glasgow,  who  preached  in  the  college-hall  on  Sab- 
baths, and  after  whom  he  was  named.  He  received 
the  mdiments  of  his  education  at  the  grammar 
school,  now  called  the  high  school,  of  his  native 
city.  At  the  age  of  seven  he  commenced  the  study 
of  the  Latin  language  under  the  Rev.  David  Ali- 
son, a  teacher  of  much  reputation.  At  thi^  time 
he  possessed  a  vivacity  of  imagination  and  a  vigour 
of  mind  surprising  in  a  boy  so  young.  A  strong 
inclination  for  poetry  was  already  discemible  in 
him,  and  at  an  eariy  age  he  began  to  write  verses. 
At  the  grammar  school  he  became  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Greek ;  and  a  passion  for  the  Greek 
poets  and  orators  distinguished  him  dm-ing  life. 
In  October  1791,  when  in  his  thirteenth  year,  he 
entered  Glasgow  university.  At  this  period  he  is 
described  as  having,  with  uncommon  personal 
beauty,  possessed  a  winning  gentleness  and  mo- 
desty of  manners,  a  cheerful  and  happy  disposition, 
and  a  generous  sensibility  of  heart,  which  made 
him  the  object  of  universal  favour  and  admiration. 
His  biographer  says  that  even  while  a  student, 
he  was  not  characterized  by  the  virtue  of  close 
application.  "While  a  mere  boy,"  he  states, 
"  Campbell  appears  to  have  had  the  enviable  tact 
of  looking  into  a  book,  and  extracting  from  it 
whatever  was  valuable.  He  took  the  cream,  and 
left  what  remained  for  the  pemsal  of  less  fastidious 
readers."  In  his  first  year  at  college  he  gained 
three  prizes.  He  also,  after  a  formidable  compe- 
tition with  a  student  nearly  twice  his  own  age, 
who  was  considered  one  of  the  best  scholars  in 
the  university,  gained  the  exhibition,  called  in 
Scotland  a  bursary,  on  Archbishop  Leighton's 
foundation,  for  a  translation  of  one  of  the  comedies 
of  Aristophanes,  which  he  executed  in  verse.  He 
continued  seven  years  at  the  university,  and  his 
proficiency  was  each  year  rewarded  by  an  aca- 
demical prize  being  conferred  on  him.  In  trans- 
lations firom  the  Greek  he  was  so  successful  that 
his  fellow  -  students  at  last  declined  to  compete 
with  him.  His  poetical  version  of  several  entire 
plays  of  Aristophanes,  iE^chylus,  and  others  ob- 
tained the  high  praise  of  his  professor,  who,  in 
awarding  him  the  prize  for  a  translation  of  ^  The 
Clouds'  of  Aristophanes,  accompanied  it  with  the 
fiattermg  and  unusual  comnliment,  publicly  ex- 


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THOMAS. 


pressed,  **  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  was  the  best  per- 
formance which  had  ever  been  given  in  within  the 
walls  of  the  uniTereity."  Some  of  these  transla- 
tions he  afterwards  published  among  his  poems. 
By  Professor  Young,  who  then  filled  the  Greek 
chair  in  the  university  of  Glasgow,  he  was  encour- 
aged to  cultivate  that  love  for  the  language  and 
literature  of  Greece,  which  he  had  already  so 
successfully  displayed.  On  one  occasion  he  gained 
the  professor^s  favour,  and  a  holiday  for  the  stu- 
dents, by  a  Greek  poem,  in  the  form  of  a  petition, 
which  he  had  slipt  into  the  professor's  Greek  text 
book.  One  of  his  early  poetical  attempts  at  this 
period  he  got  printed,  in  the  ballad  form,  on  slips 
of  paper,  and  distributed  among  his  fellow-students. 
While  at  college  he  was  obliged  by  his  neces- 
sities to  give  elementary  instruction  to  younger 
lads;  but  while  thus  prosecuting  vigorously  bis 
classical  studies,  he  continued  to  pursue  his  poetical 
fancies  and  work  his  upward  way  in  the  path  that 
was  to  lead  him  to  lasting  fame.  In  1798,  while 
yet  only  in  his  fifteenth  year,  during  the  college 
vacation,  he  attended  for  several  weeks  in  the  office 
of  Mr.  Alexander  Campbell,  a  writer  in  Glasgow, 
author  of  several  pamphlets  on  the  bankruptcy 
laws,  a  relation  by  his  mother^s  side,  but  he  went 
there  only  on  trial,  and  disliking  the  business,  he 
soon  left  it.  During  his  third  session  at  college, 
according  to  the  late  Dr.  Duncan  of  Ruthwell, 
who  was  his  fellow -student,  he  made  several 
enemies  by  the  severity  of  his  satirical  efinsions, 
particularly  on  the  Irish  students;  but  many  of 
them  were  the  cause  of  amusement,  rather  than  of 
anger.  In  the  logic  class  he  was  commended  for 
his  exercises  by  Professor  Jardine,  although  not 
in  the  wannest  terms,  for,  at  this  period,  it  would 
appear  that  although  an  excellent  Latin  and  Greek 
scholar,  he  could  not  spell  or  write  the  English 
language  with  propriety.  Before  leaving  college 
he  also  attended  the  lectures  of  Professor  Millar, 
who  then  filled,  with  much  distinction,  the  chair 
of  civil  law.  He  seems  at  one  period  to  have  had 
an  intention  of  studying  for  the  church  of  Scotland, 
but  the  want  of  any  hope  of  efficient  patronage 
caused  him  to  change  his  purpose.  He  next 
thought  of  studying  for  the  medical  profession,  but 
this  required  a  greater  outlay  than  his  circum- 
stances permitted,  and  after  attending  some  pre- 


liminary lectures  this  idea  was  also  abandoned. 
He  then  entered  the  counting  house  of  a  merchant, 
where  he  remained  for  some  time,  still  hankering 
after  the  church,  studying  Hebrew  in  his  leisure 
hours,  and  writing  religious  poetry. 

Undecided  as  to  his  future  pui-suits,  he  went  in 
the  summer  of  1795  to  the  island  of  Mull,  to  act 
as  tutor  in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Campbell  of  Suni- 
pol.  There  he  remained  for  five  months,  and  re- 
turned to  Glasgow  for  his  fifth  session.  During 
the  winter  he  supported  himself  by  private  tui- 
tion. Among  other  scholars,  he  had  a  youth 
named  Cunninghame,  who  became  an  advocate, 
and  was  afterwards  made  a  lord  of  session  undei 
the  title  of  Lord  Cunninghame. 

After  leaving  college  he  passed  some  time  as  a 
tutor  in  the  family  of  General  Napier,  who  was 
then  residing  at  Downie,  on  the  romantic  banlu 
of  Loch  Goil,  among  the  mountains  of  Argyleshire. 
He  disliked,  however,  the  profession  of  a  tutor, 
and  on  leaving  Downie  he  went  to  Edinburgh, 
where  the  reputation  he  had  acquired  at  the  uni- 
versity gained  him  a  favourable  reception  into  the 
distinguished  circle  of  science  and  literature  for 
which  that  city  was  then  renowned.  At  this  time 
the  poet  proposed  to  establish  a  magazine,  but 
funds  were  wanting.  Through  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Mr.  Cunninghame  he  found  employment  in 
the  Register  House.  He  was  subsequently  engaged 
in  the  office  of  a  Mr.  Whytt,  and  being  introduced 
to  Dr.  Robert  Anderson,  the  biographer  of  the 
poets,  received  through  him  an  engagement  for  an 
abridged  edition  of  *  Bryan  Edward's  West  Indies,* 
for  which  he  was  paid  £20.  He  returned  to  Ghis- 
gow  to  meet  a  brother  whom  he  had  never  seen, 
and  to  finish  his  abridgment.  At  that  time  he 
wrote  '  The  Wounded  Hussar,'  and  '  The  Dii^ge  of 
Wallace,'  two  of  his  most  popular  lyrics. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  again  in  Edin- 
burgh, fagging  for  Messrs.  Mundell  and  Son,  the 
publishers,  at  a  very  limited  rate  of  remuneration. 
About  this  period  he  formed  arrangements  to  pro- 
ceed to  Virginia,  in  North  America,  but  the  state 
of  his  health  set  them  aside.  He  commenced  to 
write  '  the  Pleasures  of  Hope,'  about  1797.  He  re- 
sided at  this  time  in  a  small  house  on  St.  John's 
Hill,  and  of  the  young  men  then  resident  in 
Edinburgh,  with    whom   he   associated,  several 


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THOMAS. 


raised  themselves  to  eminence  and  consideration. 
Amongst  them  were  the  two  lawyers  who  subse- 
quently became  Lords  Cockbnm  and  Brougham. 
He  published  Hhe  Pleasures  of  Hope'  in  1799, 
when  he  was  scarcely  twenty -two,  the  volume 
being  dedicated  to  Dr.  Robert  Anderson.  It 
was  sold  to  the  Mnndells  for  £60  in  cash  and 
books,  but  for  two  or  three  years  the  publishers 
gave  him  fifty  pounds  on  every  new  edition,  be- 
sides allowing  him  to  print  a  splendid  edition  of 
the  work  for  himself.  The  success  of  this  work 
was  such  as  at  once  to  place  the  young  author  in 
the  foremost  rank  of  the  poets  of  the  time.  In 
planning  the  poem  he  seems  to  have  taken  Pope 
and  Goldsmith  as  his  models,  and  to  have  caught 
something  of  the  spirit  of  Gray ;  but  in  harmony 
of  versification,  and  elegance,  and  above  all  genu- 
ine fervour  of  style,  he  far  exceeds  them  all,  as 
well  as  every  other  poet  that  had  gone  before  him. 
In  these  and  other  essential  qualities,  indeed,  this 
ex(}uisite  production  is  not  surpassed  by  anything 
in  British  poetry.  In  the  original  manuscript  the 
different  sections  of  the  poem  had  separate  dis- 
tinctive titles,  but  by  the  advice  of  Dr.  Anderson 
these  were  dispensed  with,  and  *  the  Pleasures  of 
Hope '  came  before  the  world  as  a  complete  poem. 
Some  lines  at  the  beginning  were  also  omitted. 
Soon  after  its  publication,  Mr.  Campbell  entered 
into  an  engagement  with  Mr.  Mundell  for  another 
poem,  descriptive  of  Scottish  history,  to  be  called, 
'The  Queen  of  the  North,'  of  which  the  prospectus 
was  published,  and  aiTangements  for  its  illustra- 
tion were  made  with  Mr.  Williams,  a  landscape 
painter,  but  the  work  was  never  completed. 

Anxious  to  become  acquainted  with  German 
literature  at  its  fountainhead,  as  well  as  to  visit 
foreign  parts,  in  the  summer  of  1800  he  left  for 
Hamburgh.  This  he  was  enabled  to  do  by  the 
profits  arising  from  the  sale  of  his  '  Pleasures  of 
Hope.'  He  had  originally  fixed  on  the  university 
of  Jena  for  his  first  place  of  residence,  but  on  his 
arrival  at  Hamburgh,  he  found  by  the  public  prints 
that  a  victory  had  been  gained  by  the  French  near 
Ulm,  and  that  Munich  and  the  heart  of  Bavaria 
were  the  theatre  of  war.  From  the  walls  of  the 
monastery  of  St.  Jacob,  he  witnessed  the  memor- 
able battle  of  Hohenlinden,  fought  on  the  Sd  De- 
cember 1800  between  the  French  under  General 


Moreau,  and  the  Austrians  under  the  Archduke 
John,  when  the  latter  were  signally  defeated. 
"  One  moment's  sensation,"  he  observes  in  a  letter 
to  a  relation  in  this  country,  *^  the  single  hope  of 
seeing  human  nature  exhibited  in  its  most  dread- 
ful attitude,  overturned  my  past  decisions.  I  got 
down  to  the  seat  of  war  some  weeks  before  the 
summer  armistice  of  1800,  and  indulged  in,  what 
you  will  call,  the  criminal  curiosity  of  witnessing 
blood  and  desolation.  Never  shall  time  efface 
from  my  memory  the  recollection  of  that  hour  of 
astonishment  and  suspended  breath,  when  I  stood 
with  the  monks  of  St.  Jacob  to  overlook  a  charge 
of  Klenau's  cavalry  upon  the  French  under  Gren- 
nier,  encamped  below  us.  We  saw  the  fire  given 
and  returned,  and  heard  distinctly  the  sound  of 
the  French  pas  de  charge^  collecting  the  lines  to 
attack  in  close  column.  After  three  hours  wait- 
ing the  issue  of  a  severe  action,  a  park  of  artillery 
was  opened  just  beneath  the  waUs  of  the  monas- 
tery, and  several  waggoners,  that  were  stationed 
to  convey  the  wounded  in  spring  waggons,  were 
killed  in  our  sight."  His  spirit-stirring  lyric  ot 
'The  Battle  of  Hohenlinden'  was  written  on  this 
event — a  poem  which,  perhaps,  contains  more 
grandeur  and  martial  sublimity  than  is  to  be  found 
anywhere  else,  in  the  same  compass  of  English 
poetry.  He  afterwards  proceeded  to  Ratisbon, 
where  he  was  at  the  time  it  was  taken  possession 
of  by  the  French,  and  expected,  as  a  British  subject, 
to  be  made  prisoner ;  but,  he  observes,  "  Morean's 
army  was  under  such  excellent  discipline,  and  the 
behaviour  both  of  officers  and  men  so  civil,  that  I 
soon  mixed  among  them  without  hesitation,  and 
formed  many  agreeable  acquaintances  at  the  messes 
of  their  brigade  stationed  in  town,  to  which  their 
clief'de- brigade  often  invited  me.  This  worthy 
man.  Colonel  Le  Fort,  whose  kindness  I  shall  ever 
remember  with  gratitude,  gave  me  a  protection  to 
pass  through  the  whole  army  of  Moreau." 

After  this  Mr.  Campbell  visited  difierent  parts 
of  Germany,  and  had  the  misfortune  to  be  plun- 
dered, amongst  the  Tyrolese  mountains,  by  a  Croat, 
of  his  clothes,  his  books,  and  thirty  ducats  in  gold. 
About  mid-winter  he  returned  to  Altona,  where 
he  remained  four  months.  While  in  Germany, 
he  made  the  friendship  of  the  two  Schlegels,  and 
passed  an  entire  day  with  Klopstock.     At  Altona 


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THOMAS. 


he  casaallj  became  acquainted  with  some  i*eliigee 
Irishmen,  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  rebellion 
of  1798,  and  their  story  suggested  to  him  his 
beautiful  ballad  of '  The  Exile  of  Erin.*  The  hero 
of  the  poem  was  an  Irish  exile,  named  Anthony 
M'Cann,  whom  he  had  met  at  Hamburgh.  A  claim 
was  subsequently  got  up  by  the  editor  of  an  Irish 
provincial  paper,  on  the  part  of  an  Irishman  of  the 
name  of  Nugent,  to  the  authorship  of  this  song, 
professing  to  have  drawn  his  information  from 
Nugent's  sister;  but  the  question  was  conclusively 
settled  by  the  certificate  of  the  late  Lord  Nugent,  a 
relative  of  the  person  by  whom  the  song  is 
said  to  have  been  composed,  which  stated  that 
for  a  considerable  period,  Mr.  Nugent,  the  sup- 
posed author,  was  quite  familiar  with  the  song, 
knew  it  in  CampbelFs  works,  and  never  personally 
claimed  the  authorship.  The  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  song  were  all  well  known  to  the 
party  of  Irish  exiles  whom  Campbell  met  at 
Altona;  by  whom  it  was  first  sung,  and  on  whose 
account  it  had  been  written.  His  beautiful  verses 
addressed  to  Judith,  the  Jewess,  were  also  written 
in  Altona.  About  this  time  also,  he  wrote  *  Ye 
Mariners  of  England,*  after  the  model  of  an  old 
song  '  Ye  Gentlemen  of  England.*  A  war  with 
Denmark  was  at  that  time  expected,  and  seems  to 
have  suggested  to  the  poet  the  idea  of  this  noble 
lyric.  The  fifth  line  of  the  second  stanza  was 
originally  different,  but  after  the  battle  of  Trafal- 
gar, Mr.  Campbell  introduced  the  name  of  Nelson, 
making  it  read, 

*  Where  Blake  and  mighty  Nelson  fell. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1801  war  was  declared 
against  Denmark,  when  the  English  residents  were 
obliged  to  leave  Altona,  and  Campbell  sailed  for 
England  on  the  6th  of  March.  They  were 
allowed  to  pass  the  English  batteries  without 
molestation,  and  sailed  under  convoy  to  England. 
There  were  only  two  Scottish  vessels  in  convoy, 
and  they  were  carried  to  Yarmouth  along  with  the 
English  fleet.  Mr.  Campbell  arrived  in  London 
with  only  a  few  shillings  in  his  pocket,  for  all  his 
resources  had  been  expended  in  assisting  a  friend 
at  Altona.  Though  unprovided  with  a  single 
letter  of  introduction,  the  fame  of  his  poetry 
procured  him  immediate  admission  into  the  best 


literary  society.  While  on  the  continent  it  woold 
appear  that  Mr.  Perry  of  the  Morning  Lhromde 
was  paying  him  for  poems  contributed  to  that 
journal  from  tbe  seat  of  war.  Although  he  had 
never  seen  Mr.  Perry,  he  was  obliged  to  call 
upon  him  and  explain  his  situation  to  him,  and  he 
had  no  cause  to  repent  of  it.  Writing  to  one  of 
his  Scotch  correspondents  the  poet  says,  "  I  have 
found  PeiTy.  His  reception  was  warm  and 
cordial,  beyond  what  I  had  any  right  to  expect. 
*  I  will  be  your  Mend,*  said  the  good  man.  *  I  will 
be  all  that  yon  conld  wish  me  to  be.'  **  In  reference 
to  this  his  first  visit  to  London,  he  says,  in  his  own 
notes,  "  Calling  on  Perry  one  day,  he  showed  me  a 
letter  from  Lord  Holland,  asking  about  me,  and 
expressing  a  wish  to  have  me  to  dine  at  the  King 
of  Clubs.  Thither  with  his  lordship  I  accordingly 
repaired,  and  it  was  an  era  in  my  life.  There  I 
met  in  all  their  glory  and  feather.  Mackintosh, 
Rogers,  the  Smiths,  Sidney,  and  others.*'  After  a 
short  stay  in  London  he  returned  to  Edinburgh, 
for  the  purpose  of  visiting  his  mother.  On  the 
voyage  to  Leith,  a  lady,  a  passenger  on  board, 
who  had  read  his  poems,  without  knowing  him, 
surprised  him  by  expressing  her  regret  that  the 
poet  Campbell  had  been  arrested  in  London  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason,  was  confined  in  the  Tower, 
and  would  probably  be  executed.  On  his  arrival 
at  Edinburgh  he  took  up  his  residence  with  his 
mother  and  sisters  in  Alison  square.  He  found 
his  mother  greatly  troubled  by  the  rumour  of  his 
appi-ehension,  which  she  had  heard  previous  to  his 
coming.  It  was  a  period  of  high  political  excite- 
ment, and  he  at  once  determined  to  wait  on  the 
sheriff,  Mr.  Clerk,  and  report  his  position.  That 
functionary  frankly  told  him  that  they  were  aware 
of  his  guilt ;  but  they  did  not  want  to  see  him. 
He  asked  the  grounds  of  the  charge  against  hun, 
and  was  told  that  "  it  seems  you  have  been  con- 
spiring with  General  Moreau,  in  Austria,  and  with 
the  Irish  at  Hamburgh,  to  get  a  French  army 
landed  in  Ireland.  You  attended  Jacobin  dubs 
at  Hamburgh,  and  you  came  over  from  thence  in 
the  same  vessel  witli  Donovan,  who  commanded  a 
regiment  of  the  rebels  at  Vinegar- hill."  A  box, 
with  a  number  of  the  poet's  papers,  had  been  seized 
at  Leith,  in  the  expectation  of  finding  treasonable 
documents  among  his  manuscripts.     *The  Exile 


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THOMAS. 


of  Erin '  was  somewhat  suspicious,  but  ^  Ye  Maii- 
uers  of  England,^  found  in  his  box,  was  in  his  fa- 
vour. "  The  aheriflf,''  he  says,  *'  began  to  smoke 
the  whole  bubble,  and  said,  *  This  comes  of  trust- 
ing a  Hamburgh  spy.    Mr.  Campbell,*  he  added, 

*  this  is  a  cold  wet  evening — ^what  do  you  say  to 
our  having  a  bottle  of  wine  during  the  examina- 
tion of  your  democratic  papers?'" 

While  in  Edinburgh  his  mother  and  sisters  were 
dependent  on  him  solely  for  support.  During  the 
food  riots  in  Edinburgh,  in  the  year  1801,  he  began 
part  of  a  poem,  entitled  ^  The  Mobiade,'  in  a  style 
altogether  different  from  his  other  works,  which 
was  never  printed  till  it  appeared  in  Dr.  Beattie*s 

*  Life  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Campbell.*  From  Lord 
Minto,  whom  he  met,  at  his  lordship's  own  desire, 
at  the  house  of  the  late  Dugald  Stewart,  he  re- 
ceived great  kindness,  and  was  invited  to  Minto 
House,  Roxburghshire.     While  there  he  wrote 

*  Lochiel's  Warning,'  during  the  night.  His  even- 
ing thoughts  had  been  turned  to  the  wizard's 
warning,  and  in  the  course  of  the  night  he  awoke, 
repeating  the  idea  for  which  he  had  been  searching 
for  days,  rang  for  the  servant,  had  a  cup  of  tea, 
and  produced  'Lochiel's  Warning'  before  day- 
dawn. 

Early  in  1803,  Mr.  Campbell  repaired  to  Lon- 
don, to  settle,  as  the  only  field  that  promised  any 
permanent  and  profitable  exercise  of  his  talents. 
On  his  arrival  there  he  resided  for  some  time  in  the 
nouse  of  his  friend  and  brother  poet,  Mr.  Telford, 
the  celebrated  engineer.  On  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber of  that  year  he  married  his  cousin.  Miss 
Matilda  Sinclair,  of  Greenock,  a  lady  who  was 
surpassingly  beautiful.  After  residing  a  year  in 
London,  he  took  and  furnished  a  house  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Sydenham,  in  Kent,  about  seven  miles 
from  London.  He  now  devoted  himself,  most  in- 
dustriously, to  writing  and  compiling  for  the  book- 
sellers, and  furnishing  occasional  articles  to  the 
daily  press,  and  other  periodical  publications.  He 
wrote  on  all  subjects,  even  including  agriculture, 
for  the  most  part  anonymously,  and  by  writing  on 
the  latter  subject  he  acquired  so  much  informa- 
tion, as  to  have  been  more  than  once  compliment- 
ed, as  he  states  himself,  on  that  knowledge  by 
practical  farmers.  Soonr  after  his  marriage  he 
wrote  a  work,  entitled  ^  Annals  of  Great  Britain, 


fix^m  the  accession  of  George  III.,'  to  the  Peace  of 
Amiens,  which  was  published  in  1808,  in  three  vol- 
umes 8vo,  without  bis  name.  Besides  his  other 
literary  work,  ho  accepted  an  engagement  to  write 
and  translate  foreign  correspondence  for  the  *Star' 
newspaper,  and  the  *  Philosophical  Magazine'  con- 
ducted by  Mr.  TuUoch,  the  editor  of  *The  Star,' 
for  which  he  received  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred 
pounds  a-year.  He  also  contributed  several  pa- 
pers to  '  Brewster's  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia, ' 
especially  biographies,  an  account  of  the  drama, 
and  an  extended  historical  notice  of  Great  Britain, 
which  were  all  marked  with  the  taste  and  judg- 
ment that  invariably  distinguished  his  writings. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  residence  at  Syden- 
ham, among  other  poetical  pieces  which  he  ela- 
borately polished  were  *Lord  Ullin's  Daughter,' 
'The  Soldier's  Dream,'  and  'The  Turkish  Lady ;' 
the  first  of  which,  we  are  told  by  his  biographer, 
had  been  sketched  in  the  island  of  Mull,  and  the 
two  latter  in  Bavaria, — but  were  not  revised  and 
finished  until  this  period.  'The  Battle  of  the 
Baltic '  was  composed  at  short  intervals  during  the 
winter,  and,  as  soon  as  it  came  before  the  public, 
"was  set  to  music  and  sung  with  applause  by  the 
great  vocalists  of  the  day."  Through  the  influence 
principally  of  Charles  James  Fox,  a  pension  of 
£200  a-year  was,  in  1806,  conferred  on  liim  by  his 
majesty  George  HI. 

In  1809  appeared  his  second  volume  of  poems, 
containing '  Gertrude  of  Wyoming,' a  simple  Indian 
tale,  in  the  Spenserian  stanza,  the  scene  of  which  is 
laid  among  the  woods  of  Pennsylvania ;  '  Glenara ; ' 
'  Lochiel's  Warning ;' '  Lord  Ullin's  Daughter ;'  and 
'TheBattle  of  the  Baltic,'  the  noblest  of  his  lyrics. 
To  a  subsequent  edition  was  added  the  touchmg^ 
ballad  of '  O'Connor's  Child.'  This  volume  greatly 
increased  his  popularity.  In  the  same  year  he 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  poetry,  at  the 
Royal  Institution,  which  excited  much  attention 
at  the  time,  and  were  afterwards  published.  He 
was  also  employed  by  Mr.  John  Murray,  the  pub- 
lis'her,  to  edit  selections  from  the  British  poets, 
intended  as  specimens  of  each,  with  biographical 
and  critical  essays,  and  this  work  appeared  in 
1819,  in  seven  volumes. 

In  the  beginning  of  1821,  in  which  year,  owing 
to  his  literary  engagements,  he  left  Sydenham  to 


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684 


THOMAS. 


reside  in  London,  he  became  editor  of  a  new  series 
of  the  *  New  Monthly  Magazine/  for  Mr.  Colburn, 
the  publisher,  to  which,  however,  at  that  time, 
he  contribnted  little  besides  a  few  of  his  minor 
poems,  and  a  «erie8  of  lectures  on  Greek  dra- 
matic literature.  His  connexion  with  this  ma- 
gazine ceased  in  1881,  when  he  was  engaged 
for  a  brief  period  as  editor  of  the  '  Metropolitan ' 
magazine.  He  had  even  been  assisted  by  Mr. 
Sami|el  Rogers,  the  poet,  with  five  hundred 
pounds,  to  purchase  a  third  share  of  the  '  Metro- 
politan,' but  finding  the  concern,  as  he  styled 
it,  at  that  time  "a  bubble,"  he  got  back  the 
money^  and  immediately  repaid  it  to  Mi\  Rogers. 
That  periodical  was  afterwards  conducted  with 
great  spirit  and  talent,  under  different  auspices. 
In  1824  appeared  his  'Theodric,'  a  brief  poetical 
tale  of  modem  life ;  but  the  fire  of  his  genius  was 
beginning  to  bum  low,  and  the  poem  disappointed 
public  expectation.  The  volume,  however,  had, 
for  the  time,  an  extensive  sale,  and  was  declared 
by  an  anonymous  punster  of  that  day,  to  have 
been  "  the  odd  trick  "  of  the  season. 

In  November  1826,  Mr.  Campbell  was  elected 
by  the  students  Lord  Rector  of  the  university  of 
Glasgow,  after  a  severe  opposition  on  the  part  of 
the  professors.  He  went  down  to  his  native  city, 
delivered  an  inaugural  address,  which  he  got 
printed,  and  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  each  of  the  stu- 
dents, the  presentation  inscription  being  in  his 
own  hand,  which  greatly  enhanced  the  value  of  such 
a  gift.  No  event  in  his  life  seems  to  have  grati- 
fied his  feelings  so  highly,  and  he  always  spoke  of 
his  election  with  honest  pride.  The  honour  was 
enhanced  by  his  being  three  times  chosen.  Lord 
Rector  successively.  On  his  re-election,  the  stu- 
dents presented  him  with'a  silver  bowl,  which,  in 
his  will,  he  styled  one  of  "  the  jewels  of  his  pro- 
perty." At  the  same  time,  a  literary  club  was 
formed  in  Glasgow,  and  named  after  him,  *The 
Campbell  Club,'  which  still  exists,  and  possesses 
an  excellent  library,  many  of  the  books  having 
been  donations  from  the  poet,  who  also  presented 
the  club  with  an  elegant  silver  cup.  The  students 
of  Glasgow  university  he  addressed  in  a  series  of 
articles  inserted  in  the  *  New  Monthly  Magazine.' 
The  senatus  academicus  confeired  on  him  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  l)ut  he  never  assumed 


the  title  of  Doctor  before  his  name.  He  contri- 
buted in  no  small  degree  to  the  establishment  of 
the  London  university,  in  which  project  Lord 
Brougham  was  an  active  coadjutor,  but  Campbell 
might,  with  some  propriety,  be  considered  its 
founder. 

During  the  straggle  for  independence  in  Greece, 
Mr.  Campbell  took  an  active  interest  in  the  cause 
of  that  country,  as  he  subsequently,  and  indeed  all 
his  life  did  in  that  of  Poland.  In  1832,  in  coo 
junction  with  the  Polish  poet  Niemcewicz,  Prince 
Czartoiyski,  and  others,  he  founded  the  society 
styled  the  ^'  Literary  Association  of  the  friends  of 
Poland,"  for  collecting,  publishing,  and  difi^using 
information  relative  to  that  unhappy  country,  and 
for  the  aid  and  support  of  the  Polish  exiles  in 
England. 

In  the  month  of  September  1828,  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell died.  He  had  lost  his  youngest  sister  and  his 
mother  some  time  previously.  In  1830  he  went 
into  chambers ;  and  for  some  years  he  resided,  in 
a  state  of  comparative  loneliness,  at  No.  61  Liu> 
coin's  Inn  Fields,  London.  Two  sons  were  the 
fruit  of  his  marriage,  one  of  whom,  a  youth  of 
great  promise,  died  early.  The  other,  having 
shown  symptoms  of  insanity,  was  for  years  in  a 
private  asylum,  but  soon  after  the  poet's  death,  he 
was  restored  to  society,  by  the  verdict  of  a  jury 
de  hmatico  inquirendo^  which  declared  him  to  be  of 
perfectly  sound  mind. 

In  1832,  Mr.  Campbell  visited  Algiers,  and  on 
his  return  he  fhraished  an  account  of  his  journey 
to  the  *  New  Monthly  Magazine,'  which  he  after- 
wards published,  in  a  collected  form,  nnder  the 
name  of  *  Letters  from  the  South,'  in  two  volumes. 
In  1834  he  published  his  *  Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons.' 
On  the  death  that  year  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Telford, 
the  engineer,  after  whom  he  had  named  his  sur- 
viving son,  he,  as  well  as  Mr.  Southey,  received  a 
legacy  of  £500. 

The  first  time  that  I  saw  Mr.  Campbell  was  in 
the  year  1838.  It  was  in  the  studio  of  an  eminent 
sculptor  in  London,  to  whom  the  poet  was  at  that 
time  sitting  for  his  bust.  On  being  introduced  to 
him,  he  received  me  with  an  affability  and  kind- 
ness of  manner  which  put  me  at  once  at  my  ease. 
He  was  about  the  middle  size,  and  remarkably 
well  made.    In  his  younger  days  he  was  con- 


h 


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CAMPBELL, 


685 


THOMAS. 


mdered  pailicularly  handsome,  but  at  this  period 
time,  and  care,  and  thought,  had  began  to  make 
visible  inroads  on  his  frame.  lie  never  had  a  ro- 
bnst  constitution,  and  his  domestic  calamities  had 
fallen  heavily  on  his  nervous  and  sensitive  mind. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  quiet  beauty  of  his  eyes, 
which  were  large  and  of  a  deep  blue  colour,  and 
when  he  became  animated  there  was  a  sparkling 
poetical  expression  in  them  peculiarly  striking. 
He  wore  a  wig  of  chestnut  brown.  His  manner 
was  frank  and  unreserved,  and  his  conversation 
agreeable  and  instructive.  He  was  fond  of  dis- 
coursing about  poetry,  and  his  criticisms  were  at  all 
times  marked  by  good  taste  and  correct  appi*ecia- 
tion.  When  he  descanted  on  the  beauties  of  the 
Greek  and  English  poets,  he  occasionally  enriched 
his  remarks  by  quotations,  which  he  had  by  heart, 
and  recited  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  Often 
have  I,  while  sitting  in  his  company,  been  electii- 
fied  by  the  beauty  and  power  with  which  he 
recited  favourite  passages  from  the  Greek  poets, 
with  whose  writings  his  mind  was  richly  stored, 
and  which  he  appreciated  and  praised  with  the 
characteristic  warmth  of  one  who  was  himself  a 
master  in  their  divine  art.  The  foUowing  inci- 
dent, to  which  I  myself  was  a  witness,  shows 
ihe  genuine  benevolence  and  kindness  of  his 
heart.  Calling  one  forenoon,  in  the  year  1839, 
on  the  poet  at  his  Chambers  61  Linceln^s  Inn 
Fields,  I  found  him  busily  engaged  looking  over 
his  books,  on  the  shelves  around  the  room;  while 
near  the  fireplace,  was  seated  an  elderly  gentle- 
woman in  widow^s  weeds.  I  was  desired  to  take 
a  chair  for  a  few  minutes.  Presently  the  poet 
disappeared  into  his  bedroom,  and  returned  with 
an  armful  of  books,  which  he  placed  among  a  heap 
of  others  that  he  had  collected  on  the  floor. 
"There  now,"  he  said,  addressing  the  widow, 
"  these  will  help  you  a  little,  and  I  shall  see  what 
more  I  can  do  for  yon  by  the  time  you  call  again. 
I  shall  get  them  sent  to  you  in  the  course  of  the 
day."  The  widow  thanked  him  with  tears  in  her 
eyes,  and,  shaking  her  cordially  by  the  hand,  he 
wished  her  a  good  morning.  On  her  departure, 
he  said  to  me,  with  gi-eat  feeling, — "That  lady 
whom  you  saw  just  now  is  the  widow  of  an  early 
friend  of  mine,  and  as  she  is  now  in  somewhat  re- 
duced circumstances,  she  wishes  to  open  a  little 


book  and  stationery  shop,  and  I  have  been  busy 
looking  out  all  the  books  for  which  I  have  no  use, 
but  which  will  be  of  use  to  her,  to  add  to  her  stock. 
She  has  taken  a  small  shop  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
town,  and  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  serve  her,  and 
forward  her  prospects,  as  far  as  my  assistance  and 
influence  extend :  old  times  should  not  be  forgot- 
ten." On  another  occasion,  soon  after  this,  on 
introducing  to  him,  in  that  same  room,  a  friend  of 
mine  fh)m  Edinburgh  of  the  name  of  Sinclair,  he 
said,  while  he  shook  him  by  the  hand,  "  I  am  glad 
to  see  you,  Sur,  your  name  recommends  you  to 
me,"  adding,  with  much  tenderness,  "my  wife^s 
name  was  Sinclaur." 

In  1842,  Mr.  Campbell  published  his  '  Pilgrim 
of  Glencoe,'  and  other  poems,  which  he  dedicated 
to  his  friend  and  physician,  Dr.  William  Beattie, 
whom  in  his  will  he  named  one  of  his  executors, 
and  who  became  his  biographer.  Mr.  William 
Moxon,  of  the  Middle  Temple,  barrister,  the  brother 
of  the  publisher,  was  also  named  an  executor. 
Among  Mr.  Campbell's  other  works  are  a  *Life 
of  Petrarch,'  and  *  Memoirs  of  Frederick  the 
Great.'  In  the  year  last  mentioned  Mr.  Camp- 
bell again  visited  Germany,  and,  on  his  return 
to  London,  he  took  a  house  at  No.  8,  Victoria 
Square,  Pirolico,  his  niece  Miss  Mary  Camp- 
bell, daughter  of  his  deceased  brother,  Mr. 
Alexander  Campbell,  formeriy  of  Glasgow,  having 
gone  to  London,  to  reside  with  him.  But  his 
health  had  long  been  declining,  and  for  change 
of  air^  in  the  summer  of  1843,  he  retired  to 
Boulogne,  in  France,  where  he  died  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  15th  June  1844,  aged  67  years.  His 
niece,  his  friend  Dr.  Beattie,  Mr.  Moxon,  the  pub- 
lisher, and  his  medical  attendants  were  with  him 
when  he  breathed  his  last;  as  was  also  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hassell,  a  clergyman  of  the  church  of  England 
His  last  hours  were  marked  by  calmness  and 
resignation.  His  body  was  brought  to  England, 
and  buried  in  the  Poets'  Comer  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  on  Wednesday,  July  3d;  the  funeral  being 
attended  by  a  great  number  of  noblemen  and 
gentlemen,  and  by  several  of  the  most  eminent 
authors  of  the  day. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  extremely  studious,  but  at 
the  same  time  social  in  his  disposition,  and  gentle 
and  endearing  in  his  manners.    With  a  delicate 


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CANT, 


586 


ANDREW. 


aud  eveu  uervous  seusibiiity,  trequeiuiy  aiiied  to 
real  genius,  he  was  yet  eminently  domestic  in  his 
disposition  and  habits,  and  admirably  fkted  to 
shine  in  society.  To  his  niece,  Mary  Campbell, 
afterwards  Mrs.  W.  Alfred  Hill,  whose  kindness 
and  attention  cheered  his  latter  days,  he  left  the 
great  bulk  of  his  property  and  effects,  his  son  be- 
ing otherwise  provided  for.  Campbell  is  decid- 
edly tlie  most  classical  of  our  modern  poets.  He 
never  wearied  retouching  and  polishing  what  he 
had  written,  and  yet,  notwithstanding  his  extreme 
fastidionsness  in  this  respect,  no  poet  of  his  day 
has  exhibited,  in  his  lyrics,  so  much  originality 
and  freedom,  or  so  much  energy  of  thought  aud 

style.     His  works  are  : 

Pleasures  of  Hope;  a  poem.  Edinburgh,  1799,  12mo. 
Aud  other  Poeras,  Edin.  1801,  l2mo.    7th  edit.,  Edin.  1804. 

Annals  of  Great  Britaui,  from  the  accession  of  George  III. 
to  the  Peace  of  Amiens.    London  1808,  8  vols.  8vo.  anon. 

Gertrude  of  Wyoming ;  a  Pennsylvanian  Tale,  and  other 
Poems.    London,  1809,  4to.    6th  edit  1814, 12mo, 

Specimens  of  the  British  Poets,  with  biographical  and  cri- 
tical notices ;  and  an  Essay  on  English  poetry.  Lond.  1819, 
7  vols,  small  8vo. 

Theodric,  a  poem,  London,  1824,  8vo. 

Inaugural  Discourse  on  being  installed  Lord  Rector  of  the 
University  of  Glasgow.    8vo,  Glasgow,  1827. 

Poland,  a  Poem.    12mo,  London,  1881. 

Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  London,  2  vols.  1834. 

Letters  from  the  South,  London,  1837,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Pilgrim  of  Glenooe,  and  other  poems,  8vo.  Londun,  1842. 

Life  of  Petrarch,  London. 

Memoirs  of  Frederick  the  Great,  London. 

A  complete  collection  of  his  Poems,  of  which  there  are  va- 
rious editions,  appeared  after  bis  death.  One  of  them  con- 
tains a  biography  of  the  poet  by  the  Rev.  W.  Alfred  Hill,  the 
huiiband  of  his  niece,  Maiy  Campbell. 

Gampbrdown,  Earl  of,  of  Lundie,  and  of  Gleneagles.  a 
title  in  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom,  conferred  in 
1831  on  the  Right  Hon.  Robert  Dundas  Duncan  Haldune, 
second  viscount  Duncan,  third  but  eldest  surviving  son  of 
the  celebrated  admiral^  first  viscount,  (see  vol  ii.  page  82.) 
Bom  in  1785,  he  succeeded  his  father  in  the  viscounty  in  1804, 
and  took  his  seat  in  tlie  house  of  lords  in  1806,  soon  after 
attaining  bis  majority.  On  the  coronation  of  William  IV. 
he  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  earl,  and  on  that  occasion  the 
king  was  pleaised,  as  his  own  special  act,  and  as  a  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  the  first  viscount  Duncan,  to  adopt  the  unu- 
sual step  in  the  case  of  a  new  creation  of  giving  his  lordship's 
brother  and  sisters  the  rank  of  earl's  children.  His  lordship 
(K.  T.  1848),  died  in  1859.  He  had  assumed  the  ilame  of 
his  maternal  grandmother  Haldane.  His  elder  son,  Adam 
Duncan- Haldane,  viscount  Duncan,  M.P.  for  Forfarshire, 
bom  in  1812,  a  lord  of  the  Treasury  from  March  1855 
to  Feb.  1858,  succeeded  as  2d  earl;  married,  1839,  with  issue. 

CANT,  Andrew,  a  rigid  Covenanting  minister 
bom  about  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
appears  to  have  belonged  to  East  Lothian.    In 


tenns  of  a  contract  with  Lord  Forbes,  he  appears 
to  have  been  minister  of  Alford,  Aberdeenshire,  in 
1617,  and  held  lands  there  in  mortgage  till  1649.  In 
October  1620,  being  chosen  one  of  the  ministers  of 
Edinburgh,  the  king  and  bishops  would  not  sanction 
his  election,  and  a  Mr.  William  Forbes  of  Aberdeen 
was  appointed  in  his  stead.  Nevertheless,  on  a  va- 
cancy again  occun-iiig,  in  1623,  the  dissentients  pro- 
tested, but  in  vain,  against  proceeding  to  another 
election,  on  the  ground  that  Cant  had  been  already 
chosen,  and  was  of  right  their  minister.  About 
1638  he  was  appointed  minister  to  the  then  newly 
erected  parish  of  Pitsligo,  on  the  north  coast  of 
Aberdeenshire.  In  July  of  that  year,  he  was  sent 
by  the  Tables — as  the  convention  at  Edinburgh  of 
the  representatives  of  the  national  party  then  op- 
posed to  the  proceedings  of  Charles  were  called — 
to  Aberdeen,  to  induce  the  inhabitants  of  that 
city  to  subscribe  the  Covenant,  having  for  his  co- 
adjutors the  earl,  afterwards  marquis,  of  Mon- 
trose, Lord  Couper,  the  master  of  Forbes,  and 
other  gentlemen,  with  two  ministers.  So  earnest 
were  they  in  their  work  that,  to  the  displea- 
sure of  the  citizens  of  Aberdeen,  they  declined 
all  refreshments  until  the  Covenant  was  signed, 
a  procedure  quite  contrary  to  the  practice  alwayt 
hitherto  observed  in  that  hospitable  city.  In 
the  November  following  he  sat  in  the  General 
Assembly  at  Glasgow,  which  abolished  episco- 
pacy. He  was  with  the  army  when  the  Scots 
obtained  possession  of  Newcastle,  August  30. 
1640,  and  preached  by  appointment  in  one  of 
the  churches  of  that  town.  He  was  subsequently 
appointed  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aberde^. 
According  to  Mr.  Kennedy,  in  his  ^Annals' 
of  that  city,  for  some  time  Mr.  Cant  had  the 
whole  ministerial  chai'ge.  He  exeixused  his  eccle- 
siastical authority  with  rigour,  and  fulminated  ana- 
themas against  the  magistrates  for  not  complying 
with  his  dictates.  His  congregation  complained 
that  no  person  could  be  admitted  to  communion 
by  him,  except  those  who  were  found  qualified  to 
partake  of  that  ordinance.  In  place  of  yielding  to 
the  remonstrances  of  the  magistrates,  however, 
he  declaimed  against  them  from  the  pulpit  for 
their  interference  in  what  pertained  to  the  kirk 
session.  The  matter  was  represented  to  the  pro- 
vincial synod,  but  both  the  magistrates  and  the 


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CARDROSS. 


687 


CAREY. 


coDgregation  were  compelled  to  submit  to  his  de- 
crees. Spalding  meutioos  that  one  Sunday  after- 
noon, during  sermon,  some  chUdren  made  a  noise 
ontside  the  church,  when  Cant,  who  was  preach- 
ing, sprang  out  of  the  pulpit  and  pursued  them  to 
some  distance,  and  when  he  had  dispersed  them 
he  returned  and  finished  his  sei*mon ;  but  the  peo- 
ple wondered  at  his  behaviour. 

When  Charles  the  First  visited  Scotland,  in 
1641,  it  being  then  his  policy  to  conciliate  the  na- 
tion, Mr.  Cant  was  appointed  to  preach  before 
him  at  Edinburgh,  August  21st.  He  frequently 
preached  also  before  the  Scots  parliament.  He 
was  of  that  party  in  the  church  of  Scotland  hostile 
to  the  employment  of  individuals  who  had  served 
Charles  against  the  partisans  of  the  fii*st  covenant, 
and  known  as  the  Protesting  party.  He  was  op- 
posed to  the  bringing  over  of  Charles  the  Second 
fi-om  Holland  to  Scotland  in  1650,  and  according 
to  Balfour  (Annals,  vol.  iv.  page  160),  used  all  his 
influence  to  prevent  the  nation  from  undertaking 
to  place  him  on  the  throne  of  England.  In  1660, 
a  complaint  was  presented  to  the  magistrates  of 
Aberdeen,  charging  Mr.  Cant  with  having  pub- 
lished a  work  written  by  Samuel  Rutherford,  en- 
titled Lex  Rex,  and  containing  opinions  then 
deemed  seditious,  and  for  fulminating  anathemas 
and  Imprecations  against  many  of  his  congrega- 
tion. The  proceedings  which  took  place  in  con- 
sequence caused  him,  although  no  judgment  was 
given  against  him,  to  relinquish  his  charge,  and 
withdraw  himself  from  tne  town  with  his  family. 
Mr.  Cant  died  about  1664. 

A  Mr.  Andrew  Cant,  supposed  to  have  been  his 
son,  appears  to  have  changed  sides,  as  he  was  one 
of  the  Episcopalian  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  de- 
prived at  the  Revolution.  On  17th  October,  1722, 
he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Glasgow. 

In  No.  147  of  the  Spectator  the  opprobrious  word 
*cant'  is  described  as  having  been  derived  from  the 
name  of  this  minister,  who  is  there  styled '  illiterate,' 
but  this  is  equally  in  violation  of  sound  scholai-ship 
and  good  feeling,  as  the  etymology  is  certainly  the 
Latin  word  Cantus,  *  a  song,'  so  expressive  of  the 
singing  or  whining  tone  of  certain  preachers. 

CARDR088,  Lord,  a  title  first  oonforred  on  the  enrl  of 
i      Mar,  but  now  a  secondary  title  of  the  earl  of  Bqclmn. 
The  firet  possessor  having  been  invested  with  the  right  of 


conferring  it  on  any  of  his  male  heu^  renders  the  title  of  Lord 
Cardroes  unique  in  the  peerage  either  of  Scotland  or  England. 
There  is  no  other  instance  of  such  a  power  having  been  grant- 
ed to  a  subjeet  David,  who  became,  on  his  grandfather's 
death  in  1634,  second  Lord  Cardroes,  was  one  of  the  Scottish 
peers  who  protested  against  the  delivering  up  of  Charles  the 
First  to  the  English  army  at  Newcastle  in  1646.  He  died  in 
1671.  Of  his  eldest  son,  Henry,  third  Lord  Cardroes,  distin- 
gniahed  for  his  patriotism,  a  separate  notice  is  given  under 
the  head  of  Erskikb,  Henry,  thud  Lord  Cardroes.  A 
younger  son,  the  Hon.  Colonel  John  Erskine  of  Camock,  was 
father  of  John  Erskine,  the  well-known  author  of  the  'Inrti- 
tutes  of  the  Law  of  Scotland,*  and  grandfather  of  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  John  Erskine,  minister  of  Greyfriars,  Edinburgh, 
of  both  of  whom  notices  are  given  under  Erskine.  On  the 
death,  in  1695,  of  WiJtiam  Erskine,  eighth  earl  of  Bnchan, 
the  succession  of  that  title  opened  to  David,  fourth  Ixyrd  Car- 
dross,  eldest  son  of  Henry,  the  third  lord,  and  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  1698,  an  act  was  passed  allowing  him  to  be  called  in 
the  rolls  of  parliament  as  eari  of  Buchan.  [See  Buchak, 
Earl  of,  ante  page  455.] 

CAREY,  David,  a  writer  of  some  versatil- 
ity, a  poet  and  a  novelist,  was  the  son  of  a  man- 
ufacturer in  Arbroath,  where  he  was  bom  in  the 
year  1782.  Having  completed  his  school  educa- 
tion, he  was  placed  in  his  father^s  counting-house, 
but  cherishing  an  inclination  for  literaiy  pursuits, 
he  soon  removed  to  Edinburgh,  and  was  by  Mr. 
Constable  the  publisher  appointed  to  the  tempo- 
i-ary  charge  of  a  department  of  his  business  allied 
in  some  degree  to  the  profession  of  literature.  As 
a  better  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents,  he 
repaired  soon  after  to  London,  where  he  obtained, 
through  several  gradations,  the  direction  of  vari 
0U8  departments  of  the  periodical  press.  He  be 
gan  to  publish  in  1802.  The  order  and  titles  of 
his  works  will  be  found  annexed.  The  ability  ho 
displayed  in  advocating  the  measures  of  the  Whig 
party,  whose  side  he  had  espoused,  gained  for 
him  the  notice  of  Mr.  Wyndham,  who  offered  him 
a  situation  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  which  he 
declined.  On  the  change  of  ministry  he  wrote  a 
satire  on  their  successors,  entitled  ^  Ins  and  Outs, 
or  the  state  of  parties,  by  Chrononhotonthologos,' 
of  which  two  large  editions  were  sold  in  a  few 
weeks.  On  the  establishment  of  the  *  Inverness 
Joui-nal '  newspaper,  in  1807,  he  was  invited,  on 
the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Constable,  to  under- 
take the  oflSce  of  editor,  which,  under  many  dis- 
advantages, he  discharged  during  nearly  five  yeais 
with  general  satisfaction,  continuing  his  llt^*ar^ 
publications  at  the  same  time.  During  a  consid  • 
erable  part  of  the  year  1812,  he  conducted  the 


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CARGILL, 


588 


DONALD. 


^Boston  Gazette.*  He  next  repaired  again  to 
London,  and  renewed  his  connexion  with  the  pub- 
lic journals  there.  With  tlie  exception  of  a  shprt 
visit  to  Paris,  on  some  literaiy  speculation,  at  a 
subsequent  period,  his  labours  from  this  time  were 
devoted  to  the  press.  At  length,  weary  of  per- 
petual struggles  and  disappointments,  feeling  his 
health  much  impaired,  he  returned  to  his  native 
place,  to  receive  the  attentions  of  parental  affec- 
tion. He  died  at  his  father^s  house  at  Arbroath, 
of  consumption,  after  eighteen  months'  illness,  on 
4th  October  1824,  in  the  42d  year  of  his  age. 
Besides  the  works  enumerated  below,  he  contri- 
buted largely  to  '  The  Poetical  Magazine,  or  the 
Temple  of  the  Muses,'  consisting  chiefly  of  origi- 
nal poemSf  published  in  1804,  in  two  volumes  8vo, 
of  which  he  was  the  editor.  His  poems  are  dis- 
tinguished generally  by  elegance  and  harmony, 
and,  with  a  good  deal  of  purity  and  feeling,  are  not 
deficient  in  sentiment  and  imagery. 
His  works  are 

Pleasnret  of  Natnre ;  or  the  Charms  of  Rnral  Life,  and 
other  Poems,  1802,  8?o. 

The  Reign  of  Fancy,  a  Poem,  with  Notes,  1803,  12mo. 

Ljric  Tales,  &c.  1804. 

Secrets  of  the  Castle ;  a  Novel.    1806,  2  vols.  12mo. 

Ins  and  Outs,  or  the  state  of  Parties,  by  Cbrononhotontbo- 
logos.     1807,  8vo 

Poems,  chiefly  Amatory.    1807,  12mo. 

Craig  Pbadrig;  Visions  of  Sensibilitj,  with  Legendaiy 
Tales,  and  occasional  Pieces,  and  Historical  Notes ;  dedicated 
to  Lord  Seafleld,  a  tribute  chiefly  of  gratitude  for  the  kindness 
and  bospitalitj  of  his  Highland  friends  and  neighbours. 
1810,  8vo. 

Picturesque  Scenes ;  or  a  Guide  to  the  HigbUmds.  1811, 
8vo 

The  Lord  of  the  Desert;  Sketches  of  Scenery;  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Odes,  and  other  poems,  1812. 

Lochiel,  or  the  Field  of  Culloden,  1812.  A  novel  founded 
on  tlie  rebellion  of  1745,  and  eihibiting  a  vivid  picture  of  lo- 
cal scenerv,  and  a  faithful  representation  of  Highland  manners. 


Caroill,  a  local  surname,  derived  from  a  parish  so  called 
in  Perthshire.  In  the  fishing  village  of  Auchmithie,  Forfar- 
shire, in  1859,  out  of  a  population  of  875,  123  bore  the  sur- 
name of  CHrgill. 

CARGILL,  Donald,  an  eminent  preacher  of 
the  Chnrch  of  Scotland,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  XL 
was  the  son  of  respectable  parents  in  the  parish 
of  Rattraj,  Perthshire,  where  he  was  bom  about 
the  year  1610.  He  studied  at  Aberdeen,  and  be- 
came minister  of  the  barony  parish,  Glasgow,  in 
1650.  On  the  establishment  of  the  episcopal 
chnrch,  he  refused  to  accept  collation  from  the 


archbishop,  or  celebrate  the  king's  birthday,  which 
caused  his  banishment,  by  act  of  council,  beyono 
the  Tay.  Paying  little  regard  to  this  order,  he 
was,  in  1668,  called  before  the  council,  and  com- 
manded peremptorily  to  observe  their  former 
edict.  In  September  1669,  upon  his  petition,  he 
was  permitted  to  go  to  Edinburgh  upon  some  legal 
business,  but  not  to  reside  in  that  city,  or  go  near 
Glasgow.  He  now  became  a  fleld-preacher,  and 
so  continued  for  some  years,  during  which  period 
he  had  many  remarkable  escapes  from  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  government.  He  refused  the  indul- 
gence offered  to  the  presbyterian  clergy,  and  de- 
nounced all  who  accepted  it. 

In  1679  he  was  at  Both  well  BHdge,  where  he 
was  wounded,  but  made  his  escape.  He  after- 
wards went  to  Holland,  but  early  in  the  summer 
of  1680  was  again  in  Scotland.  On  June  3d  of 
that  year,  he  made  a  narrow  escape  from  being 
seized  in  a  public-house  in  Queensferry  by  the 
governor  of  Blackness,  who,  in  the  struggle,  mor- 
tally wounded  his  companion,  Mr.  llenry  Hall  of 
Haugh-head.  In  the  pockets  of  the  latter  was 
found  a  paper  of  a  violent  nature,  generally  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  Cargill,  which 
is  known  in  history  by  the  name  of  the  Queens- 
ferry  Covenant,  from  the  place  where  it  was  found. 
Mr.  Cargill  also  appears  to  have  been  concerned 
with  Richard  Cameron  in  publishing  the  declara- 
tion at  Sanquhar  on  the  22d  of  June.  In  the  sub- 
sequent September  he  preached  to  a  large  congre- 
gation in  the  Torwood,  between  Falkirk  and  Stir- 
ling, when  be  formally  excommunicated  the  king, 
and  the  dukes  of  York,  Monmouth,  Lauderdale, 
and  Rothes,  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  and  Sir  Tho- 
mas Dalzell.  In  consequence  of  this  violent  pro- 
ceeding, the  privy  council  offered  a  reward  of 
5,000  merks  for  his  apprehension,  but  for  several 
months  he  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the  soldieiy. 
In  May  1681  he  was  seized  at  Covington,  in  Lan- 
arkshire, by  Irving  of  Bonshaw,  who  treated  him 
with  great  cruelty,  and  earned  him  to  Lanark  on 
horseback,  with  his  feet  tied  under  the  horse's 
belly.  He  was  soon  after  sent  to  Edinburgh, 
where,  on  the  26th  of  July,  he  was  tried,  and  be- 
ing condemned  to  suffer  death  for  high  treason, 
was  accordingly  hanged  and  beheaded,  July  27, 
1681. 


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CARLYLE. 


589 


CARLYLE. 


Garltlb,  Lord,  an  extinct  title  in  the  peerage  of  Soot- 
land  conferred  in  1478  by  King  James  the  Third,  on  Sir 
John  Carlyle  of  Torthorwald,  knight  The  first  of  this  name 
in  ScotUnd  was  one  of  the  English  colonists  brought  by  Ro- 
bert de  Bras  mto  Annandale,  when  he  obtamed  a  grant  of 
that  district  from  King  David  the  Second.  The  surname 
appears  to  be  local,  and  was  probably  assumed  from  the  town 
of  Carlisle  in  Cumberland.  In  the  reign  of  King  William  the 
Lion,  one  Eudo  de  Carlyle  was  witness  to  a  charter  of  morti- 
fication, by  Eustace  de  Vescy,  of  twenty  shillings  per  annum 
out  of  the  mill  of  Sprouston  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso,  about 
1207.  Adam  de  Carleolo  had  a  charter  of  several  lands  in 
Annandale,  firom  William  de  Brus,  who  died  in  1215.  Gil- 
bert de  Carlyle  was  one  of  the  Scottish  barons  who  swore 
fealty  to  King  Edward  the  First  in  1296.  Sir  William  de 
Cairlyle  obtained  in  marriage  the  lady  Margaret  Bruce,  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Robert  earl  of  Carrick,  and  sister  of  King 
Robert  the  Bruce,  as  appears  by  a  charter  of  that  monarch 
to  them  of  the  lands  of  Crumanston,  in  which  she  is  desig- 
nated "  our  dearest  sister.**  Their  son,  William  Carlyle,  ob- 
tained a  charter  firom  Robert  the  First,  under  the  name  of 
William  Karlo,  the  king*s  sister*s  son,  of  the  lands  of  Culyn, 
now  Collin,  in  the  county  of  Dumfries.  He  also  possessed 
the  lands  of  Roucan  in  the  vicinity.  There  are  now  two  vil- 
lages bearing  these  names  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Dumfries. 

William  Cairletl  was  one  of  the  numerous  train  of  knights 
and  esquires,  who  attended  the  princess  Margaret  of  Scot- 
land, daughter  of  James  the  First,  into  France,  on  her  mar- 
riage to  Louis  the  dauphin,  in  1436. 

Sir  John  Carlyle  of  Torthorwald,  the  first  Lord  Carlyle, 
was  active  in  repelling  the  invasion  of  the  banished  Douglases 
in  1465,  when  James  earl  of  Douglas,  at  the  head  of  a  con- 
siderable force,  entered  Scotland  by  the  west  marches,  and 
being  met  in  Annandale  by  the  earl  of  Angus,  the  lord  Car- 
lisle of  Torthorwald,  Sir  Adam  Johnstone  of  Johnstone,  and 
other  barons,  at  the  head  of  their  vassals,  sustained  a  total 
defeat ;  Archibald,  earl  of  Moray,  one  of  his  brothers,  was 
killed,  and  Hugh  earl  of  Ormond,  another  of  them,  was  taken 
prisoner  by  Lord  Carlyle  and  the  laird  of  Johnstone,  for 
which  service  King  James  the  Second  granted  to  them  the 
forty  pound  land  of  Pettinun  in  Lanarkshire.  He  sat  as 
Lord  Carlyle  of  Torthorwald  in  the  parliament  of  November 
and  December  1475.  He  was  snbsequentiy  sent  on  an  em- 
bassy to  France,  and  in  recompense  for  the  great  expense 
attending  it,  he  had  several  grants  from  the  crown  in  1477. 
Among  others  he  received  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Drumcoll, 
forfeited  by  Alexander  Boyd.  On  the  accession  of  James  the 
Fourth  these  lands  were  claimed  by  the  king,  as  pertaining 
to  him  and  his  eldest  son,  and  his  successors,  by  letters  of 
annexation  made  of  Drumcoll,  perpetually  to  remain  with  the 
kings  and  princes  of  Scotland,  their  sons,  previous  to  the 
grant  of  the  same  to  Lord  Carlyle,  and  on  19th  January 
148S-9  the  lords  auditors  decreed  that  the  said  lands  of 
Drumcoll  were  the  king*s  property.  His  lordship  died  before 
22d  December,  1509.  He  was  twice  married.  By  his  first 
wife,  Janet,  he  had  two  sons,  John  and  Robert,  and  a  daugh- 
ter, married  to  Simon  Carrathers  of  Monswald.  Hb  second 
wife,  Margaret  Douglas,  widow  of  Sir  Edward  Maxwell  of 
Monreith,  had  also  two  sons  to  him,  namely,  John  and 
George.  John,  master  of  Cariyle,  the  eldest  son,  died  before 
nis  father,  leaving  a  son,  William,  second  Lord  Carlyle,  who 
was  one  of  the  three  persons  invested  with  the  honour  of 
knighthood,  29th  January  1487-8,  when  Alexander,  second 
son  of  King  James  the  Third,  was  created  duke  of  Ross.  By 
Janet  Maxwell,  his  wife,  daughter  ot  Robert  Lord  Maxwell, 


he  had  two  sons,  James,  third  lord,  and  Michael,  fourth  lord 
Carlyle.  The  latter  Signed  the  bond  of  association  for  the 
support  of  the  authority  of  King  James  the  Sixth  in  1567, 
and  was  the  only  peer  signing  it  who  could  not  write  his 
name.  He  was  obliged,  in  consequence,  to  have  recourse  to 
the  assistance  of  a  notary.  Soon  after,  however,  he  joined 
Queen  Mary*s  party,  and  entered  mto  the  association  on  her 
behalf,  at  Hamilton,  8th  May  1568.  He  had  three  sons, 
namely,  William,  master  of  Cariyle;  Michael;  and  Petei. 
His  eldest  son  died  in  1572,  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father, 
leaving  an  only  child,  Elizabeth  Carlyle,  who  married  Sir 
James  Douglas  of  Parkhead,  slain  by  Captain  James  Stew- 
art, on  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh,  81st  July,  1608.  On 
the  death  of  his  eldest  son.  Lord  Carlyle  granted  a  charter  of 
alienation  of  the  barony  of  Cariyle,  &&,  in  fiivour  of  Michael, 
his  second  son,  dated  at  Torthorwald,  14th  March,  1573,  to 
which  Adam  Carlyle  of  Bridekirk,  Alexander  Carlyle  his  son, 
John  Carlyle  of  Brakenquhat,  and  Peter  Carlyle,  the  third 
son  of  hi^  lordship,  were  witnesses.  Of  the  family  of  Bride- 
kirk, here  mentioned,  the  late  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle  of  In> 
veresk,  a  notice  of  whom  follows,  was  the  male  representa* 
tive.  The  above  setUement  of  ih^  estate  was  set  aside,  after 
a  long  litigation  at  a  ruinous  expense,  and  the  barony  of 
Carlyle  was,  on  the  death  of  the  fourth  lord  in  1580,  found 
to  belong  to  his  grand-daughter,  Elizabeth,  already  men- 
tioned, who  thus  succeeded  to  the  peerage,  in  her  own  right. 
A  charter  was  granted  to  Geoi^  Douglas,  second  legitimate 
son  of  George  Douglas  ot  Parkhead,  of  the  barony  of  Car- 
lyle, &c,  in  the  counties  of  Dumfries  and  Lanark,  dated  on 
the  last  day  of  February,  1594.  It  is  supposed  that  he  had 
acquired  that  estate  from  his  brother  Sir  James,  who,  ae 
above  stated,  married  the  heiress  of  the  titie  and  estates,  and 
had  three  sons,  Sir  James,  Archibald,  and  John,  the  two  lat- 
ter of  whom  died  without  issue. 

Su:  James  Douglas,  the  eldest  son,  was,  in  right  of  hu 
mother,  created  Lord  Carlyle  of  Torthorwald,  in  1609.  He 
married,  first,  Grizel,  youngest  daughter  of  Sir  John  Gordon 
of  Lochinvar,  by  whom,  it  is  said,  he  had  a  son,  William, 
who  sold  his  estate,  and  died  abroad  without  issue ;  secondly, 
Anne  Saltonstall,  and  by  her  he  had  a  son,  James,  baptized 
at  Edinburgh,  2d  January  1621.  According  to  Crawford, 
James.  Lord  Carlyle,  resigned  his  tiUe  m  1638,  to  William 
earl  of  Queensbeny,  who  had  acquired  his  estate. 

In  1730,  William  Carlyle  of  Lochartur,  in  the  stewartry  ot 
Kirkcudbright,  was  served  heir  to  Michael,  fourth  Lord  Car- 
lyle, as  descended  from  Michael,  his  second  lawful  son.  This 
William  Carlyle  died  about  1757,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  Michael  Cariyle  of  Lochartur,  who,  on  his  death,  left 
his  estate  to  the  heir-male  of  the  family.  By  a  decree  of  the 
House  of  Lords  in  1770,  the  heir- male  was  found  to  be  George 
Carlyle,  whose  ancestor  had  settied  in  Wales.  In  him  also 
it  was  thought  lay  the  right  to  the  peerage ;  but  after  dissi- 
pating his  estate  at  Dumfries,  in  a  few  years  he  returned  to 
Wales.  The  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Carlyle,  professor  of  Arabic  in 
Cambridge  university,  who  died  in  1831,  was  understood  to 
have  been  the  next  heur. 

This  surname  has  acquired  considerable  literary  lustre  from 
its  being  borne  by  Thomas  Carlyle,  a  celebrated  contempo- 
rary author,  a  native  of  Dumfiries-ahire. 

CARLYLE,  Alexander,  D.D.,  an  accom- 
plished presbytcrian  divine,  son  of  the  minister  of 
Piestoupans,  was  bom  January  26,  1722,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  at  the  universities  of  Glas- 
gow, Edinburgh,  and  Leyden.     In  1745,  when 


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CARLYLE. 


590 


CARMTCHARL. 


only  23  years  of  age,  he  enrolled  himself  in  a  body 
of  volunteers,  raised  in  Edinburgh  to  defend  the 
city  against  the  rebels,  but  which,  on  tlie  approach 
of  the  Highland  army,  was  dissolved.  He  then 
retired  to  his  father^s  manse  at  Prestonpans,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  21st  September,  witnessed 
from  the  top  of  the  village  steeple  the  defeat  of 
the  royal  army.  Previously  he  had  been  for  a 
short  time  in  the  hands  of  a  paity  of  the  High- 
landers, but  had  made  his  escape.  He  studied 
for  the  church,  and,  about  1748,  was  presented  to 
the  parish  of  Inveresk,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Musselburgh,  where  he  remained  57  years.  His  tal- 
ents as  a  preacher  were  of  the  highest  order ;  and 
in  the  General  Assembly  he  long  took  an  active 
and  prominent  part  on  the  moderate  side.  It  was 
owing  principally  to  his  exertions  that  the  paro- 
chial clerg}'  of  Scotland  were  exempted  from  the 
house  and  window  tax.  With  this  object  in  view 
he  spent  some  time  in  London,  and  was  intro- 
duced at  court,  where  the  elegance  of  his  manners 
and  the  dignity  of  his  appearance,  are  said  to  have 
excited  equal  surprise  and  admiration.  He  was 
intimate  with  all  the  celebrated  men  whose  names 
have  confen*ed  lustre  on  the  literary  history  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  centuiy,  and  Smollett, 
in  his  *  Humphrey  Clinker,'  mentions  that  he 
owed  to  him  his  introduction  to  the  literary  circles 
of  Edinburgh.  Being  a  particular  friend  of  Home, 
the  author  of  Douglas,  he  was  present  at  the  first 
representation  of  that  tragedy,  for  which  he  was 
prosecuted  before  the  church  courts,  censured  and 
admonished.  It  is  even  said  that,  in  the  first  pri- 
vate reheai-sal,  he  forgot  his  character  so  far  as  to 
enact  the  part  of  Old  Nerval.  To  Dr.  Carlyle 
the  world  is  indebted  for  the  recovery  of  Collins' 
long  lost  *  Ode  on  the  Superstitions  of  the  High- 
lands.' The  author  considered  it  the  best  of  his 
poems,  but  he  had  kept  no  copy  of  it ;  and  Dr. 
Carlyle  finding  it  accidentally  among  his  papers, 
presented  it  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh. 
It  was  printed  in  the  first  volume  of  their  Trans- 
actions* Dr.  Carlyle  left  behind  him  a  Memoir  of 
his  own  Time,  which,  though  long  promised,  has 
not  yet  been  published.  He  died  at  Inveresk, 
August  25,  1805,  aged  84. 

The  only  things  Dr.  Carlyle  published  were»  the  Statistical 
Account  of  the  Parish  of  Inveresk,  in  Sir  John  Sinclair's 


work;  two  detached  sermons,  the  names  of  which  are  sob- 
joined;  and  two  ironical  pamphlets  on  the  subject  of  the  tra- 
gedy of  DougUs,  both  the  latter,  of  course,  anonymously. 
One  of  them  was  entitled  *  An  Ironical  argument  to  prove  that 
the  tragedy  of  Douglas  ought  to  be  publicly  burnt  by  th« 
hands  of  the  hangman,  Edinburgh,'  1767,  8vo,  pp.  24.  He  is 
also  said  to  have  written  the  prologue  to  Herminius  and  Es- 
pasia,  a  tragedy,  acted  at  Edinburgh,  and  published  in  1754. 

The  titles  of  his  sermons  are : — 

The  Tendency  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land to  form  the  Temper,  Spirit,  and  Character  of  her  Min- 
isters; a  Sermon  on  Psalm  xlviii.  12,  18.  1779, 12mo. 

National  Depravity  the  Cause  of  National  Calnmitiw;  a 
Fast  Sermon,  from  Jerera.  vi.  8.    Edin.  1794,  8vo. 


Cakmichaei^  a  local  surname,  of  great  antiquity  m  Scot- 
land, derived  from  the  lands  and  barony  of  Carmichael,  in 
the  pansh  of  that  name,  in  the  upper  ward  of  Lanarkshire,  of 
which  the  earls  of  Hyndford  (a  titie  now  extinct),  whose 
family  name  it  was,  were  the  proprietors.  The  parish  ap- 
pears to  have  been  so  named  from  St.  MichaeL  under  whose 
protection  it  was  placed. 

The  iirst  of  the  family  known  was  William  de  Carmichael. 
who  is  mentioned  in  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Ponfeigli  about 
1350.  John  de  Carmichael,  supposed  to  be  his  son,  was  in- 
feft  in  the  lands  of  Carmichael,  on  a  precept  from  James  earl 
of  Douglas  and  Mar,  killed  at  Otterbura  in  1388.  The  name 
of  William  de  Carmichael,  probably  his  son,  occurs  in  a  char- 
ter of  donation  to  the  prioiy  of  St.  Andrews  in  1410.  Sir 
John  de  Carmichael,  supposed  to  be  the  son  of  this  William, 
accompanied  the  Scottish  auxiliaries  sent  to  the  assistanoe  of 
Charks  the  Sixth  of  France,  against  the  English.  At  the 
battie  of  Beang^  in  Anjon,  in  1422,  he  is  said  to  have  un- 
horsed the  duke  of  Clarence,  who  commanded  the  English 
army,  a  feat  which  decided  the  victoiy  in  favour  c^  the  French 
and  Scots.  In  the  encounto:  he  broke  his  spear,  and  his  de- 
scendants bear  for  crest  a  dexter  hand  and  man  armed  hold- 
ing a  broken  spear.  This  deed  has  been  attributed  to  the 
earl  of  Buchan,  and  Sir  Alexander  Buchanan  [see  onls,  page 
460.  art  Buchanan],  as  well  as  to  Sir  John  de  Carmichael, 
and  the  honour  of  it  must  be  equally  divided  among  these 
three.  Sir  John  died  in  1486.  By  his  wife,  supposed  to 
have  been  a  lady  Maiy  Douglas,  he  had  three  sons,  name- 
ly, William,  his  successor;  Robert,  ancestor  of  the  Carmi- 
chaels  of  Balraadie ;  and  John,  provost  of  St.  Andrews,  who 
was  one  upon  a  perambulation  of  some  lands  and  marches  in 
that  neighbourhood  in  1434. 

William,  the  eldest  son,  was  one  of  the  mqueet  upon  the 
service  of  Sir  David  Hay  of  Tester,  in  1437.  He  had  two 
sons,  Sir  John,  and  George.  The  latter,  a  doctor  of  divinity, 
was  elected  bishop  of  Glasgow  in  1482,  but  died  before  his 
consecration,  in  the  following  year.  He  had  previously  been 
treasurer  of  that  see,  as  rector  of  Camwath.  The  same  year 
that  he  was  elected  bishop,  he  was  joined  in  commission  with 
several  lords  and  barons,  to  treat  of  a  peace  with  En^and. 

Sir  John  Carmichael,  the  elder  son,  had  three  sons  and  a 
daughter.  William,  the  eldest,  had  also  three  sons ;  Bartho- 
lomew, who  predeceased  him ;  William,  who  succeeded  him ; 
and  Walter,  the  progenitor  of  the  Hyndford  line.  On  the 
8th  March  1528  a  remission  was  granted  to  William  Car- 
michael of  that  ilk,  and  three  others,  for  art,  part  and  as- 
sistance given  by  them  to  Archibald  sometime  eari  of  Angus, 
his  brother  and  erne  (or  unde).  William's  son,  John  Car- 
michael, married  Elisabeth,  third  daughter  of  the  fifth  knd 
Somerville,  and  had  two  sons,  John  and  Archibald,  and  a 
daughter,  Mary,  married  to  John,  son  of  Sir  Robert  Hamil- 


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ton  of  Preston.  John  Garmicbael,  the  father,  his  son  John, 
hill  brother  Archibald,  James  Johnstone  of  Westraw,  and 
thirty-one  othen,  were,  January  8th,  1564,  indicted  before 
the  high  court  of  justiciary,  for  wounding  and  deforcing  a 
sIierifiTs  officer  of  Lanarkshire,  when  apprizing  certain  head 
of  cattle,  and  for  taking  one  of  his  assistants  captive  and 
keeping  him  in  confinement  in  various  places.  They  were 
ordered  to  enter  into  ward  on  the  north  side  of  the  water  of 
Spey,  and  remain  there  during  her  majesty*s  pleasure. 

Sir  John  Carmichael,  the  elder  son,  was,  in  1584,  with  his 
son  Hugh,  and  William  Carmichael  of  Rowantreecross,  for- 
feited for  being  concerned  in  the  raid  of  Ruthven.  The  for- 
feiture, however,  appears  soon  to  have  been  taken  off,  as  we 
afterwards  find  him  appointed  warden  of  the  west  marches, 
and  in  1588,  he  was  one  of  the  ambassadors  sent  to  Denmark, 
to  negotiate  the  marriage  between  King  James  the  Sixth 
and  the  princess  Anne,  daughter  of  the  Danish  king.  About 
the  same  time  he  was  constituted  captain  of  his  majesty^s 
guard.  In  1590  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  Queen  Elizabeth. 
In  1592  he  resigned  the  wardenship  of  the  west  marches  in 
favour  of  the  earl  of  Angus,  but  in  1598,  on  that  nobleman*s 
demitting  that  office.  Sir  John  was  restored  to  it,  and  as  he 
eras  going  to  hold  a  warden^s  court  at  Lochmaben.  for  the 
punishment  of  offences  committed  on  the  borders,  he  was 
murdered,  16th  June,  1600,  by  Thomas  Armstrong,  *  sone  to 
Sandeis  Ringane,'  and  nephew  of  Kinmont  Willie,  and  several 
associates,  on  their  return  from  a  match  at  football,  sudi  meet- 
ings being  oflen,  in  those  days,  arranged  for  the  perpetration 
of  deeds  of  violence.  The  Armstrongs  being  the  most  turbu- 
lent of  the  border  dans,  the  warden  had  announced  his  intui- 
tion to  punish  severely  some  ci  their  recent  thefts  and  forays, 
and  to  prevent  this  they  sent  to  him  a  brother  of  old  William 
Armstrong  of  Kinmont,  (the  noted  Kinmont  Willie,)  whose 
name  was  Alexander  Armstrong,  alias  Sandeis  Ringan  or 
Kinian.  On  being  admitted  to  a  conference  with  the  warden 
he  found  that  there  was  no  lenity  to  be  expected  from  him; 
and  some  of  Carmichaers  young  retainers  having,  in  mockery 
<^  Ringan,  slipped  his  sword  out  of  his  scabbard  and  put 
yolks  of  eggs  in  it,  whereby  his  sword,  when  sheathed,  would 
not  draw,  he  vowed  in  a  rage  that  they  should  see  his  sword 
out,  if  they  went  on  ground  where  he  could  avenge  the  insult 
When  he  returned  home  he  told  his  sons  that  he  had  been 
"  made  shame  of,**  and  he  would  be  **  equal "  with  them  yet. 
Next  day  they  waylaid  the  warden,  and  shot  him  with  a  hagbut. 
For  this  murder,  Thomas  Armstrong  was  tried  before  the  High 
Ck>urt  of  Justiciary,  14th  November,  convicted  and  executed. 
Before  he  was  hanged  his  right  hand  was  struck  off  at  one 
stroke  by  the  executioner.  He  was  thereafter  hung  in  chains 
on  the  Boroughmuir,  the  first  instance  on  record,  in  Scotland, 
of  a  criminal  having  been  hung  in  chains.  The  murder  of 
Sir  John  Carmichael  sealed  the  fate  of  many  of  the  Arm- 
strongs, the  most  distinguished  of  the  warlike  thieves  of  the 
Scottish  border,  and  led  to  the  adoption  of  measures  of  the 
utmost  severity  against  all  those  of  the  name  who  were  there- 
after convicted,  or  even  suspected  of  any  crime.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  supposes  that  the  well-known  verses  *  Armstrong's 
Good  Night,*  were  composed  by  Thomas  Armstrong,  called 
by  him  *  Ringan's  Tam,*  previous  to  his  execution.  In  Feb- 
ruary 1606,  another  of  the  Armstrongs,  called  Alexander,  or 
Sandie  of  Rowanbume,  was  executed  for  this  murder.  An 
epitaph  on  Sir  John  Carmichael,  by  John  Johnstone,  is  prmted 
in  Crawford's  peerage.  By  his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Sir  George  Douglas  of  Pittendriech,  sister  of  the  regent  Mor- 
ton, he  had  three  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Sir  Hugh  Carmichael,  the  eldest  son,  was  sworn  a  privy 
councillor,  and  appointed  master  of  the  horse  in  1598.    The 


same  year  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  Denmark.  He  married 
Abigail,  daughter  of  William  Baillie  of  Lamington,  and  had 
a  son,  Sir  John,  who  died  without  issue.  His  estate  was  in- 
herited by  his  cousin,  Sir  James  Carmichael  of  Hyndford, 
created  Lord  Carmichael  in  1647,  and  grandfather  of  the  first 
earl  of  Hyndford.  (See  Hyndford,  eari  of.)  He  was  de- 
scended from  Walter  Carmichael,  of  Hyndford  and  Park, 
third  son  of  William  Carmichael  of  Carmichael  above  men- 
tioned. John  Carmichael  of  Howgate,  third  son  of  Walter^s 
grandaou,  James  Carmichael,  had  a  son,  John,  a  colonel  in 
the  Russian  service,  who  became  governor  of  Plescow. 

From  the  first-mentioned  William  de  Carmichael  to  Sir 
Wyndbam  Carmichael-Anstruther,  baronet,  who,  in  right  of 
his  ancestor,  Sir  John  Anstruther,  marrying,  in  1717,  the 
I^dy  Margaret  Carmichael,  daughter  of  the  second  earl  of 
Hyndford,  succeeded  his  nephew  in  the  estate  in  1831,  indu- 
uve,  there  were  20  generations,  during  a  period  of  481  years. 


Sir  John  Gibson-Carmichael  of  Skirling,  bart,  grandson  of 
John  Gibson  of  Durie  (see  GiBSOif,  surname  oQ  and  Helen, 
h\»  wife,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  William  Carmichael,  advocate, 
son  of  John,  first  earl  of  Hyndford,  and  father  of  John,  fourth 
earl,  assumed,  at  the  death  of  the  latter,  in  conformity  to  an 
entail,  the  surname  and  arms  of  Carmichael  in  addition  to  his 
own.  He  married  Janet,  daughter  of  Cornelius  Elliot,  Esq., 
clerk  to  the  signet,  by  whom  he  had  an  only  daughter.  The 
estates  with  the  title  of  baronet  (conferred  in  1628  on  his  an- 
cestor. Sir  Alexander  Gibson  of  Durie,  an  eminent  lawyer  in 
the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  and  lord  president  of  the  court 
of  session)  devolved  on  his  brother,  Sir  Thomas  Gibson-Car- 
michael, tenth  baronet  of  the  Gibson  family.  He  died  18th 
Dec.  1849,  when  his  eldest  son.  Sir  Alexander  Gibson  Car- 
michael, bom  June  6,  1812,  became  11th  baronet,  but  died 
8th  May  «.  p.  1850.  His  half-brother.  Sir  Thomas,  com- 
mander R.  N.,/2th  baronet,  died  s.p.  80th  Dec.  1855,  when 
his  brother,  Rev.  Sur  William  Henry  Gibson  Carmichael,  be- 
came 13th  baronet. 


The  representation  of  the  Carmichaels  of  Balmadie,  above 
mentioned,  as  descended  from  the  second  son  of  Sir  John  de 
Carmichael  who  fought  at  the  battle  of  Beaug^,  devolved 
upon  Thomas  Carmichael,  Esq.,  who,  in  1740,  married  Mar- 
garet, eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of  James  Smyth,  Esq.  of 
Athemy,  and  dying  in  1746,  left  an  only  son,  James  Carmi- 
chael, a  distinguished  physician,  who,  in  compliance  with  the 
testamentary  injunctions  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  assumed 
the  additional  surname  and  arms  of  Smyth — see  a  biographr- 
cal  notice  of  him  in  this  work  under  Smyth, /kwI  He  had 
eight  sons,  six  of  whom  adopted  a  ihilitary  life,  and  two 
daughters,  the  elder  of  whom,  Maria,  became  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Alexander  Monro,  professor  of  anatomy  in  the  university  of 
Edinburgh.  His  eldest  son,  Major-General  Sir  James  Car- 
michael Smyth,  K.  C.  H.,  and  C.  B.,  bom  22d  Febnuiry 
1780,  was  a  distinguished  officer,  and  served  in  command  of 
the  engineers  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  He  was  created  a 
baronet,  25th  August,  1821.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  govemor  of  British  Guiana.  He  married,  28tb  May, 
1816,  Harriet,  daughter  of  General  Robert  Morse,  and  died 
4th  March,  1838.  His  son,  Sir  James  Robert  Carmichael,  of 
Nutwood,  county  Surrey,  second  baronet,  dropped,  by  royal 
liceuMO,  25th  Febraary,  1841,  the  name  of  Smyth. 

One  of  the  mistresses  of  King  James  the  Fifth  was  Kath- 
erine  Carmichael,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Cannichael  of  Mea- 
dowflat.  Captain  of  Crawford,  described  in  that  carious  work 
''ITie  Memorie  of  the  Somervilles,*  as  "a  young  lady,  ad- 


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CARNEGIE. 


mir«d  for  her  beautie,  handsomenes  of  penone,  and  nvacitj 
of  spirit.**  By  her  the  Idng  had  John,  prior  of  CoHUnghame, 
&C.,  father  of  the  turbulent  Francu  Stewart,  earl  of  Both- 
welL  She  afterwards  married  Sir  John  Somenrille  of  Cam- 
oosnethan. 

Of  the  third  earl  of  Hjndford,  the  most  disting&isbed  of 
the  noble  family  of  Garmichael,  the  following  is  a  notice : 

CARMICHAEL,  John,  third  earl  of  Hyndford, 
an  eminent  diplomatist,  son  of  the  second  earl,  was 
bom,  according  to  Douglas'  Peerage,  at'Edinborgh, 
15th  March  1701,  but  according  to  the  Old  Statis- 
tical Account,  at  Carmichaet  house,  Lanarkshire, 
in  April  of  that  year.  He  was  for  some  time  an 
officer  in  the  third  regiment  of  footguards,  and 
succeeded  his  father  in  his  titles  and  estates,  in 
1737.  The  following  year  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  sixteen  representatives  of  the  Scottish  peer- 
age, and  four  times  afterwards  rechosen.  In 
Mai-ch  of  the  same  year  (1738)  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  lords  of  police,  an  office  long  since  abol- 
ished. He  was  twice  lord  high  commissioner  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
viz.  in  1739  and  1740.  He  was  always  high  in 
the  favour  of  (Jeorge  the  Second,  and  in  1741, 
when  the  king  of  Prussia  invaded  Silesia,  the  earl 
of  Hyndford  was  sent,  as  envoy  extraordinary 
and  plenipotentiary,  to  that  monarch,  and  was  bo 
successful  in  accommodating  matters,  that  pi*eli- 
minaries  of  peace,  between  the  empress  queen  of 
Hungary  and  the  king  of  Prussia,  were  signed  at 
Breslau,  1st  June,  1742.  On  the  conclusion  of  the 
treaty,  his  lordship  was  nominated  a  knight  of  the 
Thistle,  and  vested  with  thh  insignia  of  that  or- 
der, at  Charlottenburg,  2d  August,  1742,  by  the 
king  of  Prussia,  in  virtue  of  a  commission  from 
King  George  the  Second.  In  1744  he  was  sent, 
on  a  special  mission,  to  Russia,  and  by  his  memo- 
rable negociations  with  that  power,  was  instru- 
mental in  accelerating  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
i  In  1750  he  returned  to  England,  and  was  sworn  a 
privy  councillor  29th.  March  that  year,  and  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  lords  of  the  bedchamber.  In 
I  1752  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  Vienna,  which 
;  situation  he  held  till  1764,  when  he  was  nominated 
I  vice-admiral  of  Scotland,  and  on  that  occasion  he 
I  resigned  his  seat  at  the  board  of  police.  Ho  spent 
s  the  remainder  of  his  life  at  his  seat  in  Lanarkshire. 
Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  his  assiduity,  from 
,     tiie  fact  that  in  the  library  in  Westraw,  thei-e  are 


twenty-three  MS.  volumes  of  his  political  life,  in 
his  own  handwriting.  Besides  this,  during  the 
whole  of  his  stay  abroad,  he  kept  up  a  regular 
correspondence  with  his  factor  at  Carmichael,  in 
which  he  evinces  an  accurate  knowledge  of  archi- 
tecture, agriculture,  and  rural  affairs  in  general. 
A  few  years  before  his  death,  he  granted  leases  of 
fifty-seven  years'  duration,  in  order  to  improve 
his  lands,  and  even  at  that  early  period,  when 
agriculture  in  Scotland  was  in  a  very  rude  state, 
he  introduced  clauses  into  the  new  leases  which 
have  since  been  adopted  as  the  most  approved 
mode  of  farming.  The  greater  part  of  the  beauti- 
ful plantations  which  adorn  the  now  deserted  family 
mansion  of  Carmichael  house,  and  which  are  ex- 
celled by  none  in  Scotland,  were  reared  from  seeds 
which  his  lordship  selected  when  on  the  continent, 
but  particularly  when  he  was  in  Russia ;  and  for 
many  years  he  employed  a  great  number  of  work- 
men in  the  buildings  and  plantations  of  Carmi- 
chael and  Westraw.  He  died  19th  July  1767,  in 
the  67th  year  of  his  age,  and  his  remains  were  in- 
terred in  the  family  burial  ground  in  the  parish  of 
Carmichael. 

CARMICHAEL,  Gerrhom,  M.A.,  a  learned 
divine,  was  bom  at  Glasgow  in  1682,  and  educated 
in  the  university  of  that  city,  where  he  took  his 
degrees.  He  was  afterwards  ordained  minister  of 
Monimail,  in  Fifeshire;  and,  in  1722,  appointed 
professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  university  of 
Glasgow.  For  the  use  of  his  students,  he  wrote 
some  leai-ned  notes  on  ^  Puffendorfi  de  Officiis  Ho- 
minis.'    He  died  at  Glasgow  in  1738,  aged  56. 

CARMICHAEL,  Frederick,  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  bom  at  Monimail  in  1708,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  in  Marischal  college,  Aber- 
deen. He  was  ordained  minister  of  Monimail  in 
1737,  on  the  presentation  of  the  earl  of  Leven. 
In  1743  he  was  translated  to  Inveresk,  and  in 
1747  he  was  elected  one  of  the  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh, having  previously  declined  an  offer  made 
to  him  of  the  divinity  chair  in  Manscnal  college. 
In  1751  he  was  seized  with  a  fever,  of  which  he 
died,  aged  45.     He  left  one  volume  of  sermons. 

Carnegie,  a  local  surname,  denved  from  tb«  landa  and 
baronj  of  Carnegie  in  the  ooontj  of  Forfar. 

In  the  reign  of  King  David  the  Second,  Walter  Maole 
granted  to  John  de  Bonhard,  a  charter  of  the  laoda  of  Carne- 
gie, in  the  baronj  of  Panmure  and  parish  of  CarmvUe,  when 


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CARNWATH. 


the  latter  assumed,  iu  oonsequenoe,  the  surname  of  Car- 
ole. 

The  familj  of  Carnegie  ot  that  ilk  became  extinct  in  the 
direct  line.  The  next  principal  family  of  that  name  was  Car- 
negie of  Kinnaird.  The  first  of  it  was  Duthacns,  a  descend- 
ant of  Carnegie  of  that  ilk,  who  obtained  a  charter  from  lio- 
bert  duke  of  Albany,  goTcmor  of  ScoUand,  of  half  of  the  lands 
of  Kinnaird,  ha  Forfarshire,  and  the  superioritj. 

From  him  lineallj  descended  Sir  Robert  Carnegie  of  Kin- 
naird, appointed  one  of  the  senators  of  the  College  of  Justice 
in  1547,  and  ambassador  to  France  in  1551 ;  of  whom  a  notice 
IS  subjoined.  He  and  his  predecessors  were  said  to  be  cup- 
bearers to  the  kings  of  Scotland,  for  which  thej  were  in  use 
to  cany  a  cup  of  gold  on  the  breast  of  their  eagle  to  show 
their  office. 

His  grandson,  Sir  David,  was  created  Lord  Carnegie  of 
Kinnaird,  14th  April,  1616,  in  which  year  be  was  constituted 
one  of  the  lords  of  session.  In  June  1633,  he  was  elevated 
to  the  earldom  of  Southesk.  [See  Southesk,  Earl  of.] 
These  honours  were  attainted,  under  James,  the  fifth  earl, 
for  being  engaged  in  tlie  rebellion  of  1715;  but  restored  in 
1855.    (See  vol.  id.  p.  493). 

Sir  John  Carnegie,  the  second  son  of  David  Carnegie  of 
Panbride,  designed  of  Coluthie,  and  brother  of  David,  first 
earl  of  Southesk,  obtained  from  his  father  the  lands  of  Aithie, 
&c,  in  Forfarshire,  and  was  elevated  to  the  peerage,  20th 
April,  1639,  as  Lord  Lour  or  Lower,  and  advanced  1st  No- 
vember, 1647,  to  the  dignity  of  earl  of  Ethie.  He  suffered 
for  his  fidelity  to  Charles  the  First,  and  after  the  restoration 
his  lordship,  in  1662,  got  an  exchange  of  his  titles  for  those 
of  Baron  Rosehill  of  Rosehill,  and  earl  of  Northesk.  [See 
NoRTHBSK,  Earl  of.]  He  died  in  1667,  at  the  age  of 
about  88. 

The  seventh  earl  of  Northesk,  who  distinguished  himself 
as  a  naval  officer,  will  be  noticed  in  the  article  Nortuksk. 

CARNEGIE,  Sir  Robert,  of  Kinnaird,  a  lawyer 
and  statesman,  the  son  of  John  de  Carnegie,  who 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Flodden,  was  some  time 
chamberlain  of  Arbroath,  and  having  attached 
himself  to  the  regent  Arran,  was,  July  4,  1547, 
appointed  a  lord  of  session ;  but  on  the  condition 
that,  until  an  actual  vacancy  occun*ed,  lie  should 
be  entitled  to  no  salary  or  emolument.  In  1548 
he  was  sent  to  England  to  treat  for  the  ransom  of 
the  earl  of  Huutly,  chancellor  of  Scotland,  who 
had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie. 
Soon  afterwards  he  was  despatched  on  a  mission 
to  France ;  and  when  there,  was  requested  by  the 
French  king,  Henry  the  Second,  to  use  his  influ- 
ence with  the  duke  of  Chatelberault,  on  his  re- 
turn, for  the  resignation  of  the  regency  in  favour 
of  Mary  of  Guise,  the  queen  dowager.  In  1551 
we  find  him  clerk  to  the  treasurer  of  Scotland,  and 
one  of  the  commissioners  named  to  conclude  a 
peace  with  England.  In  1554  and  1556  he  was 
nmilarly  employed.  When  the  Reformation  took 
place,  he  at  first  attached  himself  to  the  queen 


I'egent's  party,  and  was  employed  by  her  majesty 
in  negociating  with  the  loi*ds  of  the  congregation. 
He  afterwards  joined  the  latter,  and  was  sent  by 
them  to  the  courts  of  England  and  Fi*ance  to  ex- 
plain and  vindicate  their  intentions.  He  died 
July  5,  1566.  In  the  queen's  letter,  nominating 
his  successor  on  the  bench,  he  is  described  as  a 
person  '^well  inclined  to  justice,  and  expeit  in 
matters  concerning  the  common  weill  of  this 
i-e'alm."  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  author 
of  the  work  on  Scots  law,  cited  in  Balfour's  Pi*ac- 
ticks  as  Lib.  Cameg.^  or  Carnegie's  Book.  By 
Margaret,  his  wife,  daughter  of  Guthrie  of  Lunan, 
he  had,  with  other  sons,  David,  one  of  the  eight 
commissioners  of  the  Tieasury,  called  Octavians, 
who,  by  his  second  wife,  a  daughter  of  Sir  David 
Wemyss  of  that  ilk,  had  Sir  David  Carnegie, 
abovementioned,  first  earl  of  Southesk. 

CARNEGIE,  William,  seventh  earl  of  North- 
esk.   See  Northesk,  Earl  of. 

CxBifWATH,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  con- 
ferred m  1689,  on  Sir  Robert  Dalzell,  descended  from  Thomas 
de  Dalzell,  one  of  the  great  barons  who  swore  fealty  to  King 
Edward  the  First  in  1296,  and  who  was  afterwards  one  of  the 
patriots  that  joined  King  Robert  the  Bmce.  The  family 
possessed  the  lands  and  baronj  of  Dalzell  m  Lanarkshire  from 
a  very  early  period,  but  which  they  forfeited  in  the  fburteenth 
oentnxy.  For  the  origin  of  the  name  and  family  of  Dalzell, 
see  Dalzell,  snmame  of.      Hamilton  of  Wix^aw,  in  his 

*  Description  of  the  shires  of  Lanark  and  Renfrew,*  says,  that 
the  parish  and  barony  of  Dalzell  did  formerly  belong  to  the 
Dalzells  of  that  ilk,  till  the  forfeiture  of  Sir  Robert  Dalzell  by 
King  David  the  Second,  for  his  remaining  in  England  without 
the  king's  permission.  Nisbet  and  others  say  that  the  lands 
were  bestowed  by  the  king  on  Sir  Malcolm  Fleming,  20th 
June  1848,  but  according  to  Hamilton,  they  were  given  to 
Robert  the  Steward  of  Scotland,  who  granted  them,  with  one 
of  his  daughters,  to  a  knight  of  the  name  of  Sandilands,  and 
by  the  marriage  of  the  granddaughter  of  the  latter  to  the  heir 
of  Sir  Robert  Dalzell,  they  were  restored  to  the  ancient  pro- 
prietors. 

The  earls  of  Camwath  (the  name  is  derived  firom  cotm, 

*  a  heap  of  stones,*  and  vxUk,  *  a  ford,*)  were,  at  all  times,  and 
to  their  own  injury, — the  title  having  been  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  attamted,— distingnished  for  their  steadfast 
loyalty  to  the  house  of  Stuart.  Sir  Robert  Dalzell,  first  earl 
of  Camwath,  was  the  son  of  Robert  Dalzell  of  Dalzell,  by 
Janet,  his  wife,  daughter  of  Gavin  Hanulton  of  Raploch, 
conmiendator  of  Kilwinning.  After  having  received  the  hon- 
our of  knighthood,  he  was,  "  in  consideration  of  his  owl  per- 
sonal merits,  as  well  as  of  the  constant  loyalty  of  his  ances- 
tors in  all  times  post,**  nused  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of 
Lord  Dalzell,  by  patent  dated  at  Whitehall,  I8th  September, 
1628,  to  him  and  his  heirs  male  of  the  name  of  DalzelL  The 
title  of  earl  of  Camwath  was  conferred  with  lunitation  to  tl.e 
hdrs  male  of  his  body.  The  estate  of  Dalzell  had  continued 
directly  in  the  family,  till  the  death  of  one  of  the  young  lairds 
of  Dalzell,  leavmg  only  two  daughters,  the  eldest  manied  to 

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the  heir  nude  of  the  family,  and  the  other  to  a  hob  of  the 
laird  of  West  Nisbet,  who  got  with  her  the  one  half  of  the 
lands,  and,  with  his  succe^tsors,  was  commonly  called  the 
baron  of  Dalzell.  Lord  Dalzell,  however,  porchased  from  the 
latter  his  half;  and  in  1634,  his  lordship  acquired  the  estate 
of  Camwath  from  Jam^  earl  of  Buchan,  eldest  son  of  the 
second  marriage  of  John  earl  of  Mar,  treasurer  of  ScotUnd. 
In  1647  he  sold  the  principal  part  of  the  Dalzell  estate  to 
James  Hamilton  of  Boggs,  second  son  of  John  Hamilton  of 
Orbieston,  by  hb  wife.  Christian  Dalzell,  the  earl^s  sister,  and 
it  still  remains  in  the  possession  of  Hamilton's  descendants. 
The  first  eari  died  soon  after.  By  his  countess,  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Crichton  of  Cluny,  he  had,  wififc  a 
daughter,  Lady  Mary,  married  to  Sir  James  Muirhead  of 
Lachop,  Lanarkshire,  two  sons,  Robert,  second  earl,  and  the 
Hon.  John  Dalzell  of  Glenae  in  Dumfries- Hhii-e,  who  was  cre- 
ated a  baronet,  11th  April,  1666,  and  died  in  September 
1685.  He  married,  first.  Miss  Sandilands  of  the  Torphichen 
family,  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters,  both  married ;  se- 
condly, Lady  Margaret  Johnston,  third  daughter  of  James, 
earl  of  Hartfell,  without  issue;  thirdly,  Violet,  daughter  of 
Riddel  of  Haining,  by  whom  he  had,  with  four  daughters,  two 
sons,  of  whom  aiUrwards,  as  his  grandson,  Sir  Robert  Dal- 
zell succeeded  as  sixth  earl. 

Robert,  the  second  earl,  adhered  firmly  to  Charles  the 
First,  and  was,  with  five  other  earls,  accused  before  the  con- 
vention of  estates  of  having  written  a  letter  to  the  queen 
from  Derby,  informing  her  of  the  design  of  the  Scots  to  take 
np  arms  against  Charles  the  First,  for  which  they  were  sum- 
moned before- them  in  June  1643.  They  all  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, except  the  earl  of  Camwath,  who  retired  to  England. 
On  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  he  was  decerned  to  pay  a 
fine  of  ten  thousand  pounds  Scots,  fur  contumacy,  in  not  en- 
tering his  person  in  prison,  on  some  words  spoken  by  him  to 
his  majesty,  witli  which  the  estates  were  dissatbfied,  and  on 
the  25th  of  the  following  February,  decreet  of  forfeiture  was 
passed  agdnst  him.  fie  was  at  the  battle  of  Naseby,  so  dis- 
astrous to  the  king,  fought  on  the  14th  June,  16-14,  and  ac- 
cording to  Ijord  Clarendon,  the  loss  of  that  battle  was  mainly 
owing  to  Lord  Camwath.  He  rode  next  to  his  imgraty,  and 
when  the  king  was  on  the  point  of  charging  at  the  head  of 
his  guards,  the  earl,  (a  man  never  suspected  of  infidelity,  nor 
yet  one  from  whom  his  majesty  would  have  t:tken  counsel  in 
such  a  case)  un  a  sudden,  laid  his  band  on  the  bridle  of  the 
king's  horse,  and  ^^  swearing  two  or  three  fiillmouthed  Scot- 
tish oaths,"  said,  '*  Will  yon  go  upon  your  death  in  an  in- 
stant?*" and  before  his  majesty  understood  what  he  would 
have,  turned  his  horse  round,  on  which  the  word  ran  through 
the  troops  that  they  should  march  to  the  right,  and  they  all 
turned  their  horses,  and  rode,  upon  the  spur,  off  the  field. 
His  lordship  died  soon  afterwards.  By  Christian,  his  wife, 
daughter  of  Sir  William  Douglas  of  Dramlanrig,  he  had  two 
sons,  Gavin,  third  earl,  and  the  Hon.  William  Dalzell,  who 
died  unmarried  about  the  end  of  1646. 

Gavin,  third  earl  of  Camwath,  was  compelled  to  pay  a 
hundred  thousand  merks  for  his  father's  liferent  of  his  est^tw. 
He  was  served  heir  to  his  brother  William  19th  January 
1647.  He  accompanied  King  Charles  the  Second  into  Eng- 
land in  August  1651,  was  taken  at  the  battle  of  Worcester 
8d  September  of  that  year,  and  remained  in  prison  for  sev- 
eral years.  He  died  in  June  1674.  He  sold  the  estate  of 
Camwath  to  Sir  George  Lockhart,  Lord  President  of  tne 
coiut  of  session,  and  it  still  remains  in  the  Lockhart  family. 
The  third  earl  was  twice  married,  first,  to  Margaret,  the 
elder  of  the  two  daughters  of  David  Lord  Camegie,  son  of 
the  first  earl  of  Southesk,  and  by  her  had  two  sons,  James 


and  John,  auooessively  earis  of  Camwath,  and  a  daughter, 
Lady  Jean,  married  to  Claud  Muirhead  of  Lachope;  and 
secondly,  to  Lady  Mary  Erskine,  eldest  daughter  of  Alexan- 
der third  earl  of  Kellie,  without  issue. 

James,  fourth  earl  of  Camwath,  married  Lady  Mary  Seton, 
youngest  daughter  of  the  second  earl  of  Winton,  and  by  her 
he  had  one  daughter,  Lady  Mary,  married  to  Lord  John  Hay, 
second  son  of  the  second  marquis  of  TweeddaJe,  without 
issue.  He  died  in  1683,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
John,  fifth  eari  of  Camwath,  a  nobleman  eminent  for  his 
learning  and  for  his  knowledge  in  the  science  of  hersldir. 
He  died,  unmarried,  in  June  1708.  The  first  appearance  oi 
TnanteUs  (a  term  in  heraldry)  in  Scotland  was  on  his  funeral 
escutcheon. 

llie  title  reverted  to  the  grandson  of  the  Hon.  Su*  John 
Dalzell  of  Glenae,  baronet,  already  mentioned,  as  having 
three  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  sons  were,  Ist,  Sir 
John ;  2d,  James,  an  officer  in  the  army  of  King  James  the 
Seventh,  but  who,  at  the  Revolution,  quitted  the  service. 
He  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of  1715,  and  was  taken  at  Pres- 
ton, in  November  of  that  year.  He  married  a  Miss  Graham, 
by  whom,  with  a  daughter,  he  had  a  son,  John,  who  took  to 
wife  Harriet^  daughter  of  the  sixth  earl  of  Keomnre ;  and 
8d,  Colonel  Thomas  Dalzell  of  the  Soots  goards,  who  died  in 
1743.  The  latter  married  Janet,  only  daughter  of  the  second 
son  of  Ferguson  of  Craigdarroch,  by  whom  he  had  a  son, 
Dand  Dalzell,  a  merchant  in  Glasgow,  and  three  daughters. 

Sir  John  Dalzell  of  Glenae,  the  eldest  son,  was  served  heir 
to  his  father,  2d  September  1686,  and  died  in  1689.  By  his 
wife,  Henriet,  second  daughter  of  Sir  William  Murray  of 
Stanhope,  baronet,  he  had  two  sons,  namely,  Sir  Robert, 
sixth  eari  of  Camwath,  and  John,  and  a  daughter,  Mary, 
married  to  the  sixth  Viscount  Kenmure,  who  was  behead< 
ed  for  his  accession  to  the  rebellion  of  1715.  The  Hon.  John 
Dalzell,  the  second  son,  was  a  captain  in  the  army  on  half- 
pay,  and  on  the  ramoured  arrival  of  the  earl  of  Mar  in  Soot- 
land  in  the  beginning  of  August  of  that  year,  he  sent  in  a 
resignation  of  his  commission  to  the  earl  of  Orkney,  that  be 
might  joiu  the  standard  of  the  Pretender,  and  set  off  immedi- 
ately to  EUiock,  the  residence  of  his  brother,  the  eari  of 
Camwath,  to  apprize  him  of  Mar's  expected  arrival.  He  ad- 
vanced with  the  insurgent  army  into  England,  and  was  at 
the  battle  of  Preston.  After  their  defeat  there,  while  nego- 
tiations were  going  on  with  General  Wills,  the  English  com 
mander,  relative  to  a  surrender,  he  appeared  at  Wills'  head- 
quarters, and  requested  to  know  what  terms  he  would  grant 
separately  to  the  Scots.  Wills  answered  that  he  would  not 
treat  with  rebels,  nor  grant  any  other  terms  than  thoee  al- 
ready ofiSored,  namely,  unconditional  surrender  as  prisoners  of 
war.  He  was  among  the  prisoners  taken  on  that  occason, 
and  was  immediately  tried  by  a  court  martial  as  a  deserter, 
but  acquitted,  having  proved  that  previous  to  joining  the 
rebels  he  had  resigned  his  commission  in  the  service  of  go- 
vemment.  He  married  a  daughter  of  William  Tildealy  of 
Lodge,  Esq.,  and  had  a  son  settled  in  St  Christophers. 

Sir  Robot  Dalzell  of  Glenae,  the  elder  son,  on  the  death 
of  John,  fifth  earl  of  Camwath,  in  1703,  became  the  sixth 
earl.  He  vm  early  instracted  by  his  tutor  in  the  now  ex- 
ploded doctrines  of  hereditary  right,  passive  obedience  and 
non-resistance,  which  entailed  so  much  misery  and  misfortune 
on  those  who  held  them.  He  was  educated  at  the  university 
of  Cambridge,  where  he  imbibed  a  strong  affection  for  the 
sehrioes  of  the  Church  of  England.  His  disposition  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  naturally  sweet,  and  his  address  afla- 
ble,  and,  with  other  gifts  and  graces,  he  po»essed  a  ready 
wit  and  considerable  power  of  language.    He  engaged  in  the 


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CARRICK. 


rebellion  of  1715  with  great  ardonr.  On  receiving  from  his 
brother  notice  of  the  expected  arrival  of  the  earl  of  Mar  in 
Scotland,  on  7th  August  that  year,  to  raise  the  standard  of  the 
Pretender,  he  despatched  expresses  to  the  earl  of  Nithsdale, 
the  viscount  Kenmure,  and  other  Jacobite  chiefs  with  the 
intelligence.  He  attended  the  grand  hunting  match  at  Aboyne 
in  Abordeenshire,  oc  27th  August,  convened  bv  the  earl  of 
Mar,  at  which  it  was  resolved  to  take  up  arms  in  support  of 
the  Chevalier,  and  was  one  of  those  summoned  by  the  Lord 
Advocate  to  appear  at  Edinburgh  to  give  bail  for  their  alle- 
giance to  the  government ;  but  he  paid  no  attention  to  the 
summons.  He  joined  the  insurgent  army,  on  their  advance 
into  England,  and  on  their  arrival  at  Kelso,  his  chaplain, 
Mr.  William  Irvine,  an  old  episcopalian  minister,  delivered  a 
Mrmon,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  23d  October,  full  of  ex- 
hortations to  his  hearers  to  be  zealous  and  steady  in  the  cause 
of  the  Chevalier.  This  discourse,  he  afterwards  acknow- 
ledged, he  had  formerly  preached  in  the  Highlands,  about 
twenty-six  years  before,  in  presence  of  Lord  Viscount  Dun- 
dee and  his  army.  On  the  following  Sunday,  the  80th  Octo- 
ber, the  rebels,  having  arrived  at  Langholm,  sent  forward  to 
Eodefechan,  during  the  nighty  a  detachment  of  four  hundred 
horse,  under  the  earl  of  Camwath,  for  the  purpose  of  block- 
ing up  Dumfries  till  the  foot  should  come  up.  This  detadi- 
ment  arrived  at  Eodefechan  before  daylight,  and  after  a  short 
halt,  proceeded  m  the  direction  of  Dumfries,  but  they  had 
not  advanced  far,  when  they  learned  that  great  preparations 
had  been  made  for  the  defence  of  the  town.  The  earl  imme- 
diately forwarded  the  intelligence  to  Langholm,  and  in  the 
meantime  halted  his  men  at  Blacket-ridge,  a  moor  in  the 
neighbourhood,  till  further  orders.  His  express  was  met  by 
the  main  body  of  the  insurgent  army  about  two  miles  west 
from  Langholm,  on  its  march  to  Dumfries,  the  intended  at- 
tack on  which  town  was  in  consequence  abandoned.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Preston,  14th  November,  and  on  the  19th 
January  following,  with  Lords  Derwentwater,  Nithsdale, 
Wintoun,  Nairn,  Widdrington,  and  Kenmure,  he  was  brought 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  on  an  impeachment  of  high  trea- 
son. Hera  his  steadfastness  failed  him.  He  pleaded  guilty, 
and  threw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the  king,  beseeching  their 
lordships  to  uitercede  for  him  with  his  msjesty,  assuring 
them  that  if  his  life  were  granted,  he  should  deem  himself 
obliged  to  live  under  the  strictest  ties  of  loyalty  to  King  George 
for  the  fhtuie.  He  was  condemned,  with  six  other  lords, 
and  sentenced  to  be  beheaded  as  a  traitor,  his  titles  attainted, 
and  hit  estate,  which  then  amounted  to  j£868  per  annum, 
forfeited  to  the  crown.  After  being  respited,  he  received  a  par- 
don, so  far  as  his  life  and  estates  were  concerned,  and  died  at 
Kirkmichael  in  July  1787.  He  was  4  times  married ;  1.  to 
Lady  Grace  Montgomery,  8d  daughter  of  9tb  earl  of  Kglinton, 
issue  2  daughters;  2.  8d  June  1720,  to  Grizel,  daughter  of 
Alexander  Urqnhart  of  Newhall,  issue  a  son,  Alexander;  8. 
to  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Hamilton  of  Bangor,  issue  a 
daughter;  4.  in  July  178^  to  Margaret,  8d  daughter  of  Tho- 
mas Vincent  of  Bambmgh  Grange,  Yorkshire,  issue  a  son,  Ro- 
bert, married  to  Miss  Addom  of  Wiseton,  in  the  same  county. 

Alexander  Dalzell,  the  attainted  earVs  elder  son«  assumed 
the  title  of  earl,  after  his  father's  death.  He  died  at  Kirk- 
michael, 8d  April  1787.  By  his  wife.  Elisabeth  Jackson,  he 
bad  5  sona,  all  of  whom,  except  the  2d,  died  young,  and  2 
daughters,  styled  Lady  Margaret  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Dnlzell, 
the  former  married  to  Sir  Robert  Grierson  of  Lagg,  bHronet. 
The  latter  died  unmarried. 

Richard,  the  eldest  son,  b.  in  1753,  m.  Elizabeth  Johnstone, 
and  had  a  dr.  m.  to  her  cousin,  Alexander  GnerMn,  Esq., 
younger  of  Lag.^ 


Robert  Dalzell  of  Glenae,  the  second  and  only  surviving 
son,  studied  for  the  bar,  and  passed  advocate  in  1776.  On 
his  father's  death,  he  inherited  the  estates,  but  did  not  as- 
sume the  title.  He  died  at  Glenae  house,  13th  February, 
1808.  He  married,  18th  March,  1783,  Anne,  daughter  of 
David  Armstrong  of  Kirtleton,  Dumfries-shire,  advocate,  and 
by  her  had  two  daughters,  namely,  Margaret,  wife  of  Migor 
Dougal  Stuart-Dalziel,  and  Elizabeth,  of  Henry  Douglas, 
Esq.,  third  son  ot  Sir  Charles  Douglas,  baronet  of  Kelhead, 
and  a  son,  John,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  bom  18tli  Au- 
gust 1795.  He  succeeded  his  father  in  1808.  He  was  an 
•fHcer  in  the  royal  navy,  and  fell  in  action  off  New  Orleans, 
10th  October,  1814.  As  be  died  unmarried,  the  issue  male 
of  the  attainted  eari*s  eldest  son,  Alexander,  styled  the  sev- 
enth earl  became  extinct,  and  the  estates  fell  to  Robert  Al- 
exander Dalzell,  a  lieutenant-general  in  the  army,  bom  13th 
Febraary  1768,  descended  from  the  attainted  earPs  younger 
son,  Robert.  To  General  Dalzell,  the  earldom  of  Camwath 
was  restored  by  act  of  parliament,  26th  May  1826.  He  mar- 
ried, first,  28d  September  1789,  Jane,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Parkes,  Esq.  of  Cork,  and  Ly  her,  (who  died  3d  September 
1791)  he  had  a  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  died  young;  sec- 
ondly, 26th  April,  1794,  Andalusia,  daughter  of  lieutenant- 
colonel  Arthur  Browne,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  three 
daughters.  This  lady  died  in  1833,  and  the  earl  mairied, 
thirdly,  11th  October,  1838,  Jane,  relict  of  Migor  Alexander 
Morison  of  Gunnersbury  Park,  Middlesex,  and  of  John  Car- 
nell,  Esq.  of  Correnden  and  Hazel  Hall,  Kent.  His  lordship 
died  January  1, 1839. 

His  eldest  son,  Thomas  Henry  Dalzell,  succeeded  as  ele- 
venth earl  in  succession  (including  those  who  should  havo 
possessed  the  tiUo  during  the  attainder).  He  was  bora  in 
1797;  married,  Ist,  Mary  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Rt;  Hon. 
Henry  Grattan,  widow  of  John  Blashford,  Esq. ;  died  in  1858, 
without  issue;  married,  2dly,  in  1855,  Isabella  Eliza,  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  Eardley  Wilmot,  R.  A.,  widow  of  J.  H.  Lecky, 
Esq. ;  issue,  a  son,  Henry  Arthur  Hew,  Lord  Dalzell. 

Carrick,  a  surname  derived  from  the  southern  of  the 
three  districts  into  which  the  county  of  Ayr  is  divided.  The 
name  appears  to  have  originated  from  the  British  carrig,  a 
rock,  probably  in  reference  to  Ailsa  Craig,  a  lofty  rock  in  the 
sea  which  lies  opposite  to,  and  not  very  distant  from,  its  sea- 
board, and  which  likewise  gave  bis  tide  to  the  Marquis  of 
Ailsa. 


Carrick,  earl  of,  an  ancient  title,  first  held  by  Duncan, . 
son  of  Gilbert,  one  of  the  two  sons  of  Fergus,  lord  of  Gal- 
loway, a  chief  descended  of  a  Saxon  family,  long  previously 
placed  over  these  wild  people  by  the  English  earls  of  North- 
umberland, who,  having  rebelled  against  Malcolm  the  Fourth, 
was  subdued  by  him,  and  became  a  subject  of  the  Scottish 
crown  in  the  twelfth  century.  At  that  period,  the  district 
of  Carrick  formed  a  portion  of  Galloway.  On  Fergus'  death, 
in  1161,  his  lands  were,  according  to  the  law  of  the  country, 
divided  between  Gilbert  and  his  brother  Uchtred.  They  at- 
tended William  the  lion  on  his  invasion  of  Northumberland 
in  1174,  but  no  sooner  was  he  taken  prisoner  than,  returning 
into  Galloway  at  the  head  of  their  fierce  and  rapacious  clans, 
they  broke  out  into  rebellion,  attacked  and  demolished  the 
royal  casties,  murdered  the  Anglo-Normans  who  had  settied 
among  their  mountains,  and  expelled  the  officers  of  the  long 
of  Scots.  They  proceeded  next  to  dispute  about  pre-emi- 
nence and  possessions  among  themselves.  On  the  22d  Sep- 
tember, 1176,  Gilbert  attacked  Uchtred,  while  residing  in 
his  father's  house  in  Loch-Fergus,  and  having  overpowered 


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EARL  OF. 


him,  caused  his  ton  Malcolm  to  put  him  to  death,  after  de- 
priving him  of  his  sight  and  tongae,  but  was  unable  to  ac- 
qmre  his  possessions,  valiantly  defended  by  Boland  the  son 
of  Uchtred.  On  William  the  Lion  regaining  his  liberty,  in 
the  foUowmg  year,  he  invaded  Galloway,  subdued  Gilbert, 
and  exacting  a  pecuniary  satisfaction,  allowed  him  to  resume 
possession  of  his  inheritance.  Gilbert  died  on  the  1st  of  Jan- 
uary 1184-5,  when  Rolnnd,  the  son  of  the  murdered  Uchtred, 
seizing  the  favourable  opportunity,  attacked  and  dispersed  his 
uncle's  adherents,  5th  July  1185,  and  obtained  possession  of 
all  Galloway  as  his  own  inheritance.  This  procedure  was, 
however,  opposed  by  Henry  the  Second  of  England,  then 
lord  paramount  of  Scotland,  who  marched  an  army  to  Car- 
lisle, and  although  William  would  have  been  well  pleased  to 
see  Roland  in  possession  of  the  whole  country,  both  he  and 
Boland  were  forced  to  submit  the  matter  to  the  decision  of 
the  English  court  Satisfied  with  this  acknowledgment  of 
his  paramount  ri^^t,  Heniy  left  the  settlement  of  the  ques- 
tion to  William,  who  granted  the  district  of  Carrick  to  Dun- 
can, son  of  Gilbert  as  a  full  satisfaotion.  This  took  place 
about  1186,  and  Duncan  was  thereupon  created  earl  of  Car- 
rick. About  1240,  he  founded  the  famous  abbey  of  Cross- 
raguel  or  Croesregal,  two  miles  from  Maybole,  for  Cluniac 
monks,  and  amply  endowed  it  with  lands  and  tithes.  He 
also  gave  to  the  monks  of  Paisley  and  Melrose,  several  dona- 
tions out  of  his  estate,  for  the  welfare  of  his  souL 

His  son,  Kigel  or  Niel,  second  earl  of  Carridc,  like  his  fa- 
ther, was  very  liberal  to  the  church.  In  1255,  a  oommission 
was  granted  by  Henry  the  Third,  for  receiving  *  Niel  earl  of 
Karricke,*  and  other  Scotsmen  mto  his  protection.  He  was 
one  of  the  regents  of  Scotland  and  guardians  of  Alexander 
the  Third  and  his  queen,  appointed  in  the  convention  at  Rox- 
burgh, 20th  September,  1255,  and  died  the  following  year. 
He  married  Maipret,  daughter  of  Walter,  high-steward  of 
Scotland,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  Margaret,  countess  of 
Carridc,  in  her  own  right,  and  the  mother  of  Robkrt  the 
Bruce.  She  was  twice  married ;  first  to  Adam  de  Kiloon- 
cath  (or  Kiloonquhar),  Who,  in  her  right,  in  accordance  with 
the  practice  of  ^ose  days,  was  third  eari  of  Carrick.  Having 
joined  the  crussde  of  1268,  under  the  banner  of  Louis  the 
Ninth  of  France,  he  died  at  Aeon  in  the  Holy  Land  in  1270. 
The  fbllowmg  year  she  married,  secondly,  Robert  Brus,  son 
of  Robert  Brus,  lord  of  Annandale  and  Cleveland,  under  the 
romantic  droumstanoes  ahready  related.  [See  ants,  p.  407, 
art  Bruck.]  Brus,  in  consequence,  became  fourth  earl  of 
Carrick.  The  countess  died  before  1292,  and  on  27th  No- 
vember of  that  year,  her  husband  resigned  to  Robert  the 
Bruce,  his  eldest  son,  the  earldom  of  Carrick,  with  all  the 
lands  he  held  in  Scotland  in  right  of  his  wife.  He  still,  how- 
ever, continued  to  be  styled  earl  of  Carrick.  He  and  his  son 
swore  fealty  to  Edward  the  First  at  Berwick,  28th  August 
1296,  on  which  oocasipn  they  are  styled  in  the  record  *  Robert 
de  Brus  le  veil  (vieil)  e  Robert  de  Brus  le  jouene  Counte  de 
Carrick.'  The  elder  Brus  died  in  1804.  By  the  countess  of 
Carrick  he  had  five  sons  and  seven  daughters,  vi2.  1.  Robert 
the  Bruce,  fifth  earl  of  Carrick  and  king  of  Soots ;  2.  Edward, 
nxth  earl,  crowned  king  of  Ireland ;  3^  and  4,  Thomas  and 
Alexander,  who,  being  taken  prisoners  in  Galloway,  9th  Feb- 
ruary, 1306-7,  by  Duncan  Maodowal,  when  bringing  succours 
to  their  brother  Robert  from  Ireland,  after  an  engagement  in 
which  they  were  both  severely  wounded,  and  presented  by 
him  at  Carlisle  to  Edward  the  First,  were,  by  his  order,  im- 
mediately executed ;  and,  5,  Niel,  a  young  man  of  singular 
beauty,  one  of  those  who  surrendered  at  Kildrummie  castle 
to  the  earls  of  Lancaster  and  Hereford  in  1806.  He  was 
tried  by  a  special  commission  at  Berwick,  condemned,  hanged 


and  beheaded.  The  daughters  were,  1.  Lady  Isabel,  mar- 
ried, first  to  Sir  Thomas  Randolph  of  Strathdon,  high-cham- 
berlain of  Scotland,  by  whom  she  had  Thomas  eari  of  Moray, 
regent  of  Scotland ;  secondly,  to  an  earl  of  Atbd;  and  thirdly, 
to  Alexander  Bruce,  by  whom  she  had  a  son  of  the  same 
name.  Anoong  the  charters  of  Robert  the  Bmoe  is  one  to 
Isobel  countess  of  Athol  and  Alexander  Bruoe  her  son,  of  the 
lands  of  Culven  and  Sannaykis. '  Two  others  are  gnmted  to 
Isabell  de  Atholia  and  Alexander  Bruce,  'filio  suo  nepoti 
nostro,'  of  the  lands  of  Balgillo  in  Forfarshire ;  2.  Lady  Mary, 
married,  first,  to  Sir  Niel  Campbell  of  Lochow,  ancestor  of  the 
Argyle  family,  and  secondly,  to  Sir  Alexander  Frazer,  higfa- 
chamberiain  of  Scotland ;  3.  Lady  Christian,  married,  first,  ' 
to  Gratney,  eari  of  Mar;  secondly  to  Sur  Christopher  Seton  of 
Seton,  who  was  put  to  death  by  the  English  in  1306 ;  and  thirdly, 
to  Sir  Andrew  Moray  of  Bothwell ;  4.  Lady  Matilda,  married 
to  Hugh,  earl  of  Ross;  5.  Lady  Max^garet  married  to  Sir 
William  Carlyle  of  Torthorwald  and  Crunington ;  6.  Lady 
Elizabeth,  married  to  Sir  William  Dishington  of  Ardross  in 
Fife;  and  7.  the  youngest  daughter,  whose  name  has  not 
been  preserved,  nuuried  to  Sir  David  de  Brechin. 

King  Robert  the  Bruce,  the  eldest  son,  married,  first,  Isa- 
bella, daughter  of  Donald,  tenth  earl  of  Mar.  by  whom  be 
had  a  daughter,  Marjory,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  1306,  and  was  detained  a  prisoner  in  England,  in 
charge  of  Henry  de  Percy  till  after  the  battle  of  Bannockboni 
in  1314,  when  she  was  conducted  hack  to  Scotland  by  Walter 
the  high-steward,  to  whom  she  was  married  in  1315.  She 
died  in  March  1315-16,  leaving  an  only  child,  afterwards 
King  Robert  the  Second.  The  Bruce  married,  secondly,  in 
1302,  Lady  Elizabeth  de  Burgo,  eldest  daughter  of  Richard, 
second  earl  of  Ulster.  In  1306,  she  fled  to  the  sanctuary  of 
St  Duthac  at  Tain,  in  Ross-shire,  but  the  eari  of  Ross,  vio- 
lating the  sanctuary,  delivered  her  up  to  the  English.  The 
directions  given  for  her  entertainment  while  a  prisoner,  are 
preserved  by  Rymer.  She  was  to  be  conveyed  to  the  manor 
of  Brustewick ;  to  be  allowed  a  waiting  woman  and  a  maid 
servant,  advanced  in  h'fe,  sedate,  and  of  good  oonvorsation;  a 
butler,  two  men  servants,  and  a  fbotboy  for  her  chamber, 
sober,  and  not  riotous,  to  make  her  bed;  three  greyhounds, 
when  she  inclined  to  hunt ;  venison,  fish,  and  the  fairest  house 
in  the  manor.  In  1308,  she  was  removed  to  another  prison, 
and  in  1312,  to  Windsor  castle,  when  twenty  shillings  weekly 
were  allowed  for  her  maintenance.  Her  last  place  of  confine- 
ment was  the  castle  of  Rochester,  whither  she  was  conveyed 
in  1314.  The  same  year,  after  Bannookbum,  the  queen,  the 
sister  and  daughter  of  Bruce,  with  the  bishop  of  Glasgow 
and  the  earl  of  Mar,  were  exchanged  for  the  eari  of  Hereford. 
She  died  26th  October  1327,  and  was  buried  at  Dimfermline. 
Her  issue  were,  a  son.  King  David  the  Seocmd,  and  three 
daughters,  namely,  1.  Mai^garet,  married,  first,  to  Robert 
Glen,  who,  with  his  wife,  received  a  grant  of  Piteddy  in  Fife 
fh>m  her  brother,  David  the  Second ;  and,  secondly,  to  William, 
fourth  eari  of  Sutherland,  and  died  in  1358,  leaving  issue  by  the 
earl ;  2.  Matilda,  married  to  Thomas  Isaac,  a  simple  esquire, 
and  had  two  daughters,  Johanna,  married  to  John,  lord  of 
Lorn,  and  Catharine,  who  died  young.  Their  mother  died  at 
Aberdeen  20th  July,  1353,  and  was  buried  at  DunfiBrmfine ; 
and  3.  Elizabeth,  married  to  Sir  Walter  Oliphant  of  Aber- 
dalgy,  for  which  Crawford  refers  to  a  charter  d*  11th  January 
1364,  whereby  King  David  erects  the  lands  of  Gask^to  a 
free  barony,  *  dilecto  et  fideli  suo  Waltero  Olyfant  et  E&za- 
bethse,  sponsae  sue,  dilectse  sorori  nostrss.*  Besides  these 
children.  King  Robert  the  Bmoe  had  a  natural  son,.  Sir  Ro- 
bert Bruce,  blight  who  obtained  from  his  father  grants  of 
the  Unds  of  Uddisdale,  the  barooy  of  Spronstun,  the  forfeSteil 


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JOHN  DONALD. 


bmds  of  Alexander  de  Abernethy,  and  Tarioiu  other  Uoids,  in 
which  grants  he  is  generally  styled  *  filios  noster  charissimas.* 
He  fought  galhintly  at  the  disastrous  battle  of  Dupplin,  where 
he  was  killed,  12th  August,  1882. 

Sir  Edward  Brace,  the  second  son,  on  whom  and  the  hdrs 
male  of  his  body,  withoat  reference  to  legitimacy,  the  eaii- 
dom  of  Carrick  was  conferred  by  charter  by  his  brother  King 
Bobert,  and  who  was  also  k>rd  of  Galloway  and  king  of  Ire- 
land, married  Isabella,  daughter  of  William  earl  of  Bos,  for 
which  he  received  a  dispensation  firom  the  Pope,  dated  at 
Avignon  1st  June  1817,  as  they  were  within  the  third  and 
fourth  degrees  of  consanguinity,  for  the  purpose  of  putting 
an  end  to  feuds  between  their  parents,  rehitives,  and  friends. 
£dwaid,  king  o''  Ireland,  had  no  legitimate  issue,  but  he  left 
three  natural  sons,  Robert,  Alexander,  and  Thomas,  suooes- 
nv«ly  €«ils  of  Carrick.    [See  an/e,  p.  422.] 

Robert,  seventh  earl,  the  eldest  son,  inherited  that  earldom 
in  Tuine  of  the  charter  granted  by  Robert  the  First  to  the 
heirs  male  of  the  body  of  his  brother,  Edward  Bruoe,  withoat 
restricting  the  succession  to  legitimate  sons.  He  fell  at^e 
battle  of  Dupplm,  12th  August,  1882,  without  issue. 

Alexander,  eighth  earl,  his  brother  and  heir,  with  many 
others  of  the  Scottish  nobles,  submitted  to  BaUol  after  the 
battle  of  Dupplin.  At  the  battle  of  Annan  soon  after,  where 
Baliol  was  suiprised  and  defeated,  he  was  taken  in  arms  by 
the  eari  of  Moray,  who  saved  him  from  the  punishment  of  a 
traitor.  Balfour  says  that  he  had  been  constr»ned  to  follow 
Baliol  to  Annan.  At  the  battle  of  Halidonhill,  19th  July, 
1883,  he  held  a  command  in  the  third  division  of  the  Soots 
army,  which  was  led  by  the  regent  himself,  and  fell,  fighting 
valiantly  agunst  the  English ;  thus  atoning,  says  Lord  Hailes, 
for  his  short  defection  from  his  cousin  David  the  Second. 
He  married  Eleanor,  only  daughter  of  Archibald  de  Douglas, 
rister  of  William  first  eari  of  Douglas,  and  by  her  had  an 
only  daughter,  Lady  Eleanor  Bruce,  married  to  Sir  William 
de  Cunynghame,  who,  in  her  right,  became  tenth  eari  of 
Carrick.  The  countess,  her  mother,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  eari  Alexander,  was  four  times  married  again, 
namely,  to  James  Sandilands  of  Calder,  of  the  Torphichen 
family;  William  Towers  of  Dahy;  Sir  Duncan  Wallace  of 
Sundrum;  and  lastly,  in  1876,  to  Sir  Patrick  Hepburn  of 
Hales.  In  the  Fadera  is  a  safe-conduct  for  Alianora  de 
Bruys,  countess  of  Carrick  (the  daughter),  going  into  Eng- 
land, with  sixty  horse  in  her  train,  to  visit  the  shrine  of  Tho- 
mas ^  Becket  at  Canterbury,  to  endure  for  one  year,  dated  8th 
December,  1378. 

Thomas  Bmce,  ninth  eari,  succeeded  hb  brother  Alexander. 
He  was  one  of  the  associates  of  Robert  the  Steward,  guardian 
of  Scotland,  whom  he  joined  with  the  flower  of  the  gentry  of 
Kyle,  in  1384,  but  died  soon  afterwards  without  issue. 

On  his  death  the  earldom  of  Carrick  reverted  to  the  crown, 
and  was  conferred  on  Sir  William  de  Cunynghame,  knight, 
husband  of  Lady  Eleanor  Bruce,  as  appears  from  an  incom- 
plete charter  of  King  David  the  Second,  without  a  date.  The 
earidom,  however,  soon  again  reverted  to  the  crown,  and  was 
oonfiarred  by  David  the  Second  on  John  Stewart,  Lord  of 
Kyle,  great  grandson  of  King  Robert  the  Bruce,  eldest  son  of 
Robert  Steward  of  Scotland,  eari  of  Strathem,  by  a  charter 
in  the  parliament  at  Scone,  22d  June  1363.  In  1856  he  had 
defeated  the  English  in  Annandale,  and  obliged  the  inhabi- 
tants to  submit  to  the  Soots  government  John  Stewart, 
eleventh  eari  of  Carrick,  was  present  in  the  parliament  held 
by  David  at  Perth,  28d  October  1870,  when  the  earidom  of 
Ross  was  resigned  into  the  king*s  hands.  After  the  accession 
of  his  £ftther  to  the  throne,  he  resigned  the  earldom  into  bis 
miyesty*s  bands,  and  obtained  a  new  charter  thereof  to  him 


and  Lady  Annahella  Drummond,  his  spouse,  in  liferent,  and 
to  the  heirs  procreated  between  them,  in  fee,  1st  June  1874. 
Succeeding  to  the  crown  of  Scotland  in  1890,  by  the  title  of 
Robert  the  Third,  he  conferred  the  earldom  of  Carrick  on  his 
eldest  son,  the  ill-&ted  duke  of  Rothesay,  who  thus  became 
the  twelfth  earl.  After  the  death  of  that  prince,  the  king, 
10th  December  1404,  granted  in  firee  regality  to  his  second 
son  James,  steward  of  SooUand,  afterwards  James  the  First, 
the  whole  lands  of  the  stewartiy  of  Scotland,  including  the 
earldom  of  Carrick.  That  earldom  ever  after  composed  part 
of  the  inheritance  of  the  princes  end  stewards  of  Scotland, 
and  is  one  of  the  titles  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  duke  ol 
Rothesay. 

The  title  of  eari  of  Carrick  was.  for  a  short  time,  held  by 
another  John  Stewart,  the  second  son  of  Robert  eari  of  Ork- 
ney, a  natural  son  of  James  the  Fifth.  He  was  first  created  a 
peer  of  Scotland  by  the  title  of  Lord  Kindeven,  lOth  August, 
1607,  and  had  charters  of  the  dominical  lands  and  mill  of  the 
monastery  of  Croesraguel,  of  the  hmds  of  Ballersom,  Knock' 
ronnall,  and  of  the  barony  of  Grenane,  &c.,  29th  August 
1616.  Being  thus  in  possession  of  part  of  the  ancient  earl- 
dom of  Carrick,  he  obtained  fhim  Gng  Charies  the  First  a 
patent  of  the  title  of  eari  of  Carrick.  At  the  privy  council 
held  22d  July  1628,  the  procurator  for  his  lordship  delivered 
to  the  eari  of  Mar,  lord  treasurer,  a  patent  under  the  great 
seal,  whereby  his  miyesty  had  been  pleased  to  advance  him 
to  that  dignity,  whidi  patent  the  lord  treasurer  having  exhi- 
bited to  the  council.  Sir  Thomas  Hope,  lord  advocate,  re- 
minded the  council  that  the  title  of  earl  of  Carrick  belonged 
to  the  kiug*s  eldest  son,  the  prince  of  Scotland,  and  was  not 
oonununioable  to  any  subject,  and  he  recommended  to  the 
council  to  adrise  with  his  migesty  on  the  subject,  before  any 
*  forder  wer  proceedit  herein.*  The  difficulty  appears  to  have 
been  got  over  by  the  earl's  alleging  that  the  title  was  taken 
not  from  the  earldom  of  Carrick  in  Ayrshire,  but  from  a 
small  place  called  Carrick  on  his  brdship*s  estate  in  Orkney; 
for,  on  14th  December  1630,  the  lord  chancellor  delivered  to 
the  earl  of  Carrick  a  patent  under  the  great  seal,  whereby  his 
majesty  made  him  and  the  heirs  male  'gottin*  of  hb  own 
body  earls  of  Carrick,  which  patent  the  said  earl  reverently 
accepted  on  his  knees,  his  ambition  now  being  completely 
gratified.  His  lordship  died  without  male  issue  in  1652, 
when  his  titles  became  extinct. 

In  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  the  title  of  eari  of  Carrick.  cre- 
ated in  1748,  is  enjoyed  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Butler, 
descended  from  a  common  ancestor  with  the  house  of  Or- 
monde. The  first  Viscount  Ikerrin,  (created  in  1629)  the 
second  title  of  the  eari  of  Carrick,  was  Sir  Pierce  Butler  of 
Lismallon,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Edmund,  created  in  1815 
earl  of  Carrick-Mac-6riffyne,  for  his  services  against  the 
Scots,  a  sort  of  opposition  title  when,  at  the  same  time,  it 
was  borne  by  Edward  Bruce,  afterwards  crowned  king  of 
Ireland.  The  eighth  Viscount  Ikerrin  obtained  the  earldom 
in  1748. 

CARRICK,  John  Donald,  a  miscellaneous 
writer,  was  born  at  Glasgow  in  April  1787.  His 
father  was  in  humble  circumstances;  and  after  re- 
ceiving the  common  elements  of  education,  he  was^ 
at  an  earlj  period  placed  in  the  office  of  a  Mr. 
Nicholson,  an  architect  in  his  native  city.  In 
1807,  imknown  to  his  parents,  with  the  view  of 


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CARRUTHERS. 


trying  his  fortaae  in  Loudon,  ho  set  off  on  foot, 
with  bat  a  few  shillings  in  his  pocket,  sleeping 
under  hedges,  or  wherever  he  could  obtain  a  dor- 
mitory. On  his  anival  in  the  gi-eat  city  he  offered 
his  services  to  various  shopkeepere,  but  at  fii-st 
without  success.  At  last  a  decent  ti*adesman, 
himself  a  Scotsman,  took  compassion  on  the  friend- 
less lad,  and  engaged  him  to  run  his  errands,  &c. 
He  was  afterwards  in  the  employment  of  several 
other  persons.  In  the  spring  of  1809  he  obtained 
a  situation  in  the  house  of  Messrs.  Spodes  <&  Co., 
in  the  Staffordshire  pottery  line  of  business.  In 
the  beginning  of  1811  he  retmiied  to  Glasgow,  and 
opened  a  large  establishment  in  Hutcheson  street, 
as  a  china  and  stoneware  merchant,  in  which  busi- 
ness he  continued  for  fourteen  years.  In  1825,  he 
published  a  *  Life  of  Sii'  William  Wallace,*  in  two 
volumes,  which  was  written  for  Constable's  JMis- 
cellany.  This,  his  principal  work,  was  favourably 
received.  lie  also  wrote,  about  this  time,  some 
comic  songs  and  humorous  pieces.  In  that  year  he 
gave  up  his  business,  and  travelled  for  two  or  three 
years,  chiefly  in  the  West  Highlands,  as  an  agent 
for  some  Glasgow  house.  He  afterwards  became 
sub-editor  of  the  *  Scots  Times,'  a  newspaper  of 
liberal  principles  then  published  at  Glasgow,  and 
wrote  many  of  the  local  squibs  and  other  jeux 
ifesprit  which  appeared  in  that  paper.  He  con- 
tributed 'The  Confessions  of  a  Burker,'  *The 
Devil's  Codicil,'  and  other  pieces,  to  '  The  Day,' 
a  periodical  published  for  six  months  at  Glas- 
gow in  1832.  Afterwards  to  a  collection  of  songs 
and  pieces  of  poetry,  sentimental  and  humorous, 
entitled  *  Whistle-Binkie.'  Mr.  Carrick  contributed 
*The  Scottish  Tea- Party,'  'Mister  Peter  Pater- 
son,'  'The  Harp  and  the  Haggis,'  'The  Gude- 
man's  Pi-ophecy,'  '  The  Cook's  Legacy,'  and  *  The 
Mnirlaud  Cottagers,'  in  that  vein  of  humour  in 
which  he  excelled.  In  1833  he  was  editor  of  the 
'Perth  Advertiseit'  during  eleven  months.  In 
February  1834  he  was  editor  of  the  '  Kilmainock 
Journal;'  but  being  afflicted  with  an  affection 
which  finally  settled  into  tic  dohreux  in  the  head 
and  mouth,  he  returaed  to  Glasgow  in  January 
1835,  where  he  superintended  the  first  edition  of 
the  'Laird  of  Logan,'  a  collection  of  Scottish 
anecdotes  and  facetis,  which  appeared  in  June  of 
that  year,  and  of  which  he  was  projector  and  prin- 


cipal contributor;  and  he  contributed  papers  to  the 
'Scottish  Monthly  Magazine,*  a  periodical  pub- 
lished for  a  short  time  in  Glasgow.  Mr.  Carrick 
died  August  17,  1837,  and  was  interred  in  the 
burying-ground  of  the  High  Church  of  his  native 
city.  As  a  writer  he  is  principally  distinguished 
for  humorous  satire,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  o< 
the  manners  and  customs  of  his  countrymen.  To 
an  enlarged  edition  of  the  'Laird  of  Logan*  we 
are  indebted  for  these  details  of  his  life. 

Garruthebs,  a  surname  derived  from  an  ancient  pariah 
of  the  same  niune  in  Dnmfries-sbire,  which  with  Penenaz 
was  united  to  Middlebie  in  1609,  and  tbe]r  now  fotm  one 
parish,  under  the  latter  name.  On  a  height  abore  the  site 
of  the  ancient  hamlet  of  Carmthers  stood  a  British  foctlet 
whence  came  the  name  Caer-rhjth^T,  *  the  fort  of  the  as- 
sault.* The  lands  of  Penersax  (written  also  Penesax  and 
Pennisax,  vulgarized  into  Penersaughs,)  belonged  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  to  Kilpatrick  of  Dalgamock,  but  passed,  in 
1499,  to  Carmthers  of  Mousewald,  and  in  the  reign  of  James 
the  Sixth  were  acquired  by  the  Douglases  of  Drumlanrig.  the 
ancestors  of  the  dukes  of  Queensbeny.  A  statue  of  Su*  Si« 
mon  Carmthers  of  Mousewald,  who  married  a  daughter  of 
that  ducal  house,  lies  in  the  aisle  of  the  pariah  church  of 
Mousewald  (originally  Moswald,  '  the  wood  near  the  moss*). 
its  head  pillowed,  its  feet  on  a  lion,  and  its  bands  in  the  de- 
rated posture  of  supplication ;  but  it  has  neither  date  cor 
inscription.  In  *  Pitcaim's  Criminal  Trials,'  (vol  L  part  1,) 
under  date,  September  13, 1563,  a  bond  is  quoted  as  recorded 
in  the  Caution  Book,  {Liber  PUgiadotdty')  whereby  Marion 
Carmthers.  an  heiress  of  Mousewald,  finds  caution  not  to 
many  any  chief  traitor  or  other  *  broken*  man.  One  WHliam 
Carmthers  in  Clonhede,  was,  January  2G,  1508-9,  convicted 
of  transporting  cattle  to  England  (taken  fi-om  the  laird  ol 
Newby),  and  of  art  and  part  of  the  slaughter  at  the  same 
time  of  Robert  Hood  and  of  an  iniant  of  two  years  old,  as 
well  as  of  the  burning  of  the  place  and  mill  c^  Newby,  in 
company  with  Andrew  Johnston  *and  the  traitors  of  Leven,* 
and  was  sentenced  to  be  drawn  and  hanged,  and  all  his  goods 
forfeited.  The  crime  of  sending,  or  *  treasonably  ontputting,* 
as  it  was  called,  of  cattle  to  England,  was,  in  those  days, 
always  visited  with  the  severest  punishments,  as  during  the 
wars  between  the  two  countries,  frequent  famines  took  pbce 
in  Scotland ,  and  the  constant  force  maintained  on  the  bor-> 
ders  led  to  the  necessity  of  bringing  cattle  from,  rather  than 
sending  them  to,  the  English  counties.  On  May  19, 1563, 
John  Carmthers  of  Holmends  (properly  Holmains  or  llow- 
mains),  George  and  William  his  sons,  Edward  Irvine  of  Bon- 
shaw,  David  Irvme  of  Robgill,  and  several  others  their  ao- 
oomplioes,  were  indicted  for  hurting  Kirkpatrick  of  Clusebum, 
and  sUying  several  persons  whose  names  were  given ;  but  the 
indictment  appears  to  have  been  departed  from.  On  ISth 
March  1618  John  Carmthers  of  Rammerscales,  ana  William 
Johnston,  called  of  Lockerbie,  were  indicted  for  the  slaughtet 
of  Christopher  Wlghoime  (now  Wigham  or  Whigham),  bur- 
gess of  Sanquhar,  committed  in  Jime  1594,  but  the  charge 
was  not  pressed  against  Carmthers.  For  the  sUugliter  of 
John  Carmthers  of  Dormont,  one  Habbie  Rae  in  Mousewald 
and  twenty-one  others  were  put  upon  theur  trial,  8d  Febra- 
ary  1619 ;  but  the  case  was  remitted  to  the  circuit  court  at 
Dumfries,  and  the  i-esult  is  not  recorded. 


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CARSON, 


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AGLIONBY  ROSS. 


CARSON,  Agliomby  Ross,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  rec- 
tor of  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh,  a  classical 
scholar  of  reputation,  was  born  at  Holywood, 
Dumfries-shii*e,  in  the  year  1780.  He  received 
the  elements  of  his  classical  education  in  the  en- 
dowed school  of  Wallace  Hail,  in  the  ueighbonr- 
ing  parish  of  Closeburu ;  in  which  institution  he 
subsequently  acted  as  an  assistant  teacher.  In 
1797  he  entered  the  univereity  of  Edinburgh  ;  and 
from  May  1799,  till  October  1800,  acted  as  assist- 
ant to  Mr.  John  Taylor,  of  the  gi'ammar  school, 
Musselburgh.  He  was  enrolled  a  student  of  divi 
nity  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh  in  1799.  The 
grammar  school  of  Dumfries  having  become  va- 
cant by  the  removal  of  Mr.  Gray  to  Edinburgh, 
Mr.  Carson  was  unanimously  elected  his  succes 
soi',  on  the  15th  of  October,  1801.  In  January 
1806,  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Christison's  promo- 
tion to  the  chair  of  humanity  in  Edinburgh,  Mr. 
Carson  obtained  a  mastei'ship  in  the  High  School. 
In  1820,  when  Mr.  Pillans  vacated  the  rector's 
chair,  in  consequence  of  having  succeeded  Profes- 
sor Christison  in  the  university,  the  patrons  of  the 
High  School  placed  Mi*«  Carson  at  the  head  of  the 
school.  His  appointment  as  rector  took  place  on 
the  dOth  of  August,  1820.  He  had,  three  months 
prior,  declined  acceptance  of  the  Greek  professor- 
ship in  the  univereity  of  St.  Andrews,  to  which, 
though  not  a  candidate,  he  had  been  elected.  Six 
yeai-s  afterwards,  that  univereity,  in  token  of  his 
great  learning,  confened  on  him  the  degi-ee  of 
LL.D.  On  the  9th  of  October,  1845,  he  found  it 
necessary,  on  account  of  the  precarious  state  of 
his  health,  to  tender  his  resignation  as  rector  of 
the  High  School  into  the  hands  of  the  patrons. 
On  this  occasion  the  magisti*ates  and  council  tes- 
tified their  appreciation  of  his  long  and  faithfiil 
services  by  settling  upon  him  an  annuity  for  life, 
of  a  hundred  pounds.  At  a  meeting  of  his  col- 
leagues, a  series  of  resolutions  were  passed,  ex- 
pressive of  their  deep  regret  at  his  resignation  of 
rector,  and  bearing  testimony  to  the  merit,  acu- 
men, and  profundity  of  his  co::^tributions  to  critical 
literature — especially  in  regard  to  his  treatise  on 
the  Latin  relative.  The  resolutions  also  spoke  of 
his  long,  laborious,  and  valuable  services  in  the 
High  School,  and  his  popularity  as  a  teacher. 
They  chai-acterized  him  as  a  man  of  unobtrusive 


worths-endowed  with  rare  powere  of  instruction, 
and  as  possessing  a  plavinl  manner  even  in  matters 
of  discipline,  while  he  maintained  order  by  the 
gentlest  means. 

A  half-length  portrait  of  Dr.  Carson,  painted  in 
1833  by  Watson  Gordon,  Esq.,  president  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts,  ornaments  the  hall  of 
the  High  School,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
woodcut: 


The  eicpense  was  defrayed  "by  a  subscription  by 
several  of  his  pupils,  and  was  presented  to  the 
school  by  Dr.  Balfour. 

He  was  succeeded  in  the  oflSce  of  rector  of  the 
High  School,  on  the  16th  of  December,  1845,  by 
Dr.  L.  Schmitz,  a  native  of  Eupen,  a  village  near 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  the  Rhenish  province  of  Prus- 
sia. Dr.  Carson  died  at  Edinburgh  on  the  4th 
November  1850 — Dr.  Steven^  History  of  the  High 
School. 

Dr.  Careon's  contributions  to  litertiture  are,  an  edition  of 
'Phsedrus,  'Mair's  Introduction,'  'Turner's  Gnunmatical 
Exercises,'  and  particularly  an  edition  of  *Tacitus.'  all  o* 
which,  especially  the  hist,  are  highly  valued. 

Of  the  excellence  of  his  work  entitled  *  The  Relative,  Qui, 
Quae,  Quod,'  ample  testimony  is  borne  by  its  universal  adop- 
tion as  a  guide  to  the  tyro. 

He  also  contributed  lai^ely  to  the  *  Classical  Jonmal,'  the 
*  Scottish  Review,   and  the    Enc}-dopcdia  Britannica.' 


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CARSTAIRS, 


600 


WILLIAM. 


CAKaTAiRSf  a  samiime  derived  from  the  parish  of  Car- 
•tairs,  in  the  upper  ward  of  Lanarkshire.  In  charters  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  name  appears  in  the 
form  of  Cnstleterres  or  Castletarres,  and  in  documents  subse- 
quent to  that  date  in  that  of  Carstares,  Carstaires,  and  Car- 
stairs.  The  prefix  ear  or  caer^  which  occurs  in  the  old  Brit- 
ish language,  signifies  either  a  fort,  walled  place,  or  city,  and 
most  probably  therefore  any  place  built  of  stone  and  lime, 
originally  derived  from  the  Latin  coilr,  ooA  Hme,  used  in 
oountries  where  Roman  colonies  once  existed,  to  denote  a 
bnildmg  of  stone  and  lime,  as  cae«,  a  quay  or  wharf,  m  its 
abstract  form  of  caero  or  caeiro^  lime-kiln,  or  place  where 
lime  is  used,  still  met  with  in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  lan- 
guages. The  frequent  use  of  this  word  caer^  in  Saxon  names 
of  places,  in  England  and  Scotland,  as  CarhampUm^  &c,  and 
the  fact  of  its  not  occurring  in  British  or  Welsh  topography 
until  after  the  regions  had  been  visited  by  the  Saxons,  if  not 
conquered  by  them,  makes  it  doubtful  if  it  be  originally  of 
British  origin.  The  word  is  thus  83monymous  with  the  other 
prefix  castd.  The  affix  gUnrt  or  <totr,  anciently  itaer  or  tter^ 
is  a  corrupt  form  of  the  word  terrcB  or  terrace  signifying  lands 
pertaining  to  or  holding  of  the  castle.  There  was  an  old 
family  of  this  name  who  possessed  the  lands  of  Kilconquhar 
in  Fife,  and  from  them  that  estate  came  to  the  ancestors  of 
the  present  proprietor.  Sir  John  Lindsay  Bethune,  Bart,  de- 
scended from  the  Lords  Lindsay  of  the  Byres. 

CARSTAIRS,  WiLUAM,  a  divine  of  great  po- 
litical eminence,  was  born,  February  11,  1649,  at 
Catbcart,  near  Glasgow,  of  the  high  church  of 
which  city  his  father,  who  was  descended  from  an 
ancient  family  in  Fife,  was  minister.  In  'Bal- 
four's Annals,'  (vol.  iv.  p.  168,)  under  date  22d 
November  1650,  the  following  entry,  relative  to 
his  father  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Estates,  occurs: 
'  The  Committee  of  estaits  remitts  to  the  Com.  of 
quarterings  the  exchange  of  prissoners,  anent 
Alex.  Jeffray  and  Mr.  Johne  Carster,  minister, 
with  some  Englishe  prissoners  in  the  castle  of 
Dumbartan.'  His  mother,  Jane  Muir,  was  of  the 
family  of  Glandei-ston,  in  Renfrewshire.  When 
vei-y  young  he  was  sent  to  a  school  at  Ormiston 
in  East  Lothian,  then  kept  by  a  Mr.  Sinclair, 
which  under  his  care  had  attained  to  great  cele- 
brity. At  this  school  many  of  the  sons  of  the  no- 
bility and  gentry  who  afterwards  distinguished 
themselves  in  life,  were  his  companions.  With 
several  of  them  he  formed  an  intimacy  which  con- 
tinued through  b'fe,  and  to  this,  he  was  wont  to 
ascribe,  in  a  great  measure,  his  future  fortunes. 
In  due  time  he  was  entered  a  member  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  but  afterwards,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  distracted  state  of  the  times  in  Scot- 
land, he  went  to  Utrecht,  where  his  prudence  and 
address  recommended  him  to  the  notice  of  the 


prince  of  Orange,  to  whom  he  was  inti-oduced  by 
the  pensionary  Fagel.  In  1682  he  i-etnmed  to 
Scotland  with  the  view  of  enterng  the  church, 
but,  discoui*afi:ed  by  the  persecution  to  which  the 
Presbyterians  were  subjected  at  that  period,  he, 
after  receiving  a  licence  to  preach,  resolved  to  re- 
turn to  Holland.  As  he  had  to  pass  through  Lon- 
don, he  was  instructed  by  Argyle  and  his  friends 
to  treat  with  Russell,  Sydney,  and  the  other  lead- 
era  of  that  party  in  England  who  wished  to  ex- 
clude the  duke  of  York  from  the  succession  to  the 
throne,  whereby  he  became  privy  to  the  Rye- 
House  Plot,  on  the  discovery  of  which  he  was  ap- 
prehended in  Kent,  and  frequently  examined. 
While,  however,  he  avowed  the  utmost  abhorrence 
of  any  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  king  or  the  duke 
of  York,  he  refused  to  give  farther  information, 
and  was  sent  down  to  Scotland  to  be  tried.  After 
a  rigorous  confinement  in  irons,  he  was  twice  pnt 
to  the  torture,  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  Sept.  1684, 
which  he  endured  with  great  firmness ;  but  being 
afterwards  promised  a  full  pardon,  and  deluded 
with  the  assurance  that  his  answers  would  never 
be  used  against  any  person,  he  consented  to  make 
a  judicial  declaration.  The  privy  council  imme 
diately  pubb'shed  a  statement,  which  he  declared 
to  be  a  false  and  mutilated  account  of  his  confes- 
sion ;  and,  in  violation  of  their  engagement,  pro- 
duced his  evidence  in  court  against  his  friend,  Mr 
Baillie  of  Jerviswood.  After  the  Revolution,  the 
privy  council  of  ScoMand  made  Mr.  Carstairs  a 
present  of  the  *  thumbikins,'  which  had  formed  the 
instrument  of  his  torture.  On  his  release  he  re- 
turned to  Holland,  in  the  winter  of  1684-5,  when 
the  prince  of  Orange  made  him  one  of  his  own 
chaplains,  and  procured  his  election  to  the  office 
of  minister  of  the  English  congi*egation  at  Leyden 
He  attended  the  prince  in  his  expedition  to  Eng  ^ 
land,  and  was  constantly  consulted  by  him  m 
affairs  of  difficulty  and  importance.  On  the  ele- 
vation of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne.  Car- 
stairs  was  appointed  his  majesty's  chaplain  for 
Scotland,  to  which  were  annexed  all  the  emolu- 
ments of  the  chapel  royal,  and  was  the  chief  agent 
between  the  church  of  that  country  and  the  court 
The  king  requii-ed  his  constant  presence  about  his 
person,  assigning  him  apartments  in  the  palace 
when  at  home,  and  when  abroad  with  the  army, 


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CARSTAIRS. 


601 


CASSTLLTS. 


allowing  him  five  hundred  pounds  a-year  for  camp 
equipage. 

William  was  at  first  anxious  that  episcopacy 
should  be  the  religion  of  Scotland  as  well  as  of 
England,  but  Carstairs  convinced  him  of  the  im- 
propriety of  this  project,  which  the  king  was  forced 
to  abandon,  and  the  establishment  of  the  presby- 
terian  fonn  of  church  government  was  the  conse- 
quence. He  was  also,  in  1694,  of  great  service  to 
the  church  in  getting  the  oath  of  allegiance,  with 
the  assurance,  declaring  William  to  be  king  de 
jure^  as  well  as  de  facto,  dispensed  with,  the  clergj- 
naturally  being  avei-se  to  the  taking  a  civil  oath  , 
as  a  qualification  for  a  sacred  office. 

On  the  death  of  William  he  was  no  longer  em- 
ployed in  public  business,  but  Anne  continued 
him  in  the  office  of  chaplain-royal.  On  I2th  May 
1703,  he  was  appointed  principal  of  the  university 
of  Edinburgh,  for  which  he  drew  up  new  rules.  I 
In  the  same  year  he  was  presented  to  the  church 
of  Gi-eyfriars  in  that  city,  and  three  years  after 
was  translated  to  the  High  Church.  He  was  four 
times  chosen  Moderator  of  the  Genei*al  Assembly. 
To  the  universities  of  his  native  country  he  was  a 
great  benefactor.  In  1693  he  obtained  from  the  I 
Crown,  out  of  the  bishops'  rents  in  Scotland,  a  gift 
of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling  per  annum  to  each 
of  the  Scottish  universities;  and  at  various  times 
he  procured  donations  for  them  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  learning.  When  the  union  between  the 
two  kingdoms  came  to  be  agitated,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  its  favour.  He  vigorously  opposed 
the  patronage  act  of  Queen  Anne,  and  at  all  times 
vigilantly  watched  over  the  liberties  and  privileges 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  He  wai-mly  promoted 
the  succession  of  the  House  of  Hanover  to  the 
throne  of  these  realms,  and  was  continued  by 
George  the  First  in  his  post  as  chaplain  to  the 
king.  Principal  Carstairs  died  in  December  1715, 
while  holding  the  office  for  the  fourth  time  of 
Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  1774  his 
State  Papers  and  Letters,  with  an  account  of  his 
Life,  were  published,  in  one  vol.  4to,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  M^Cormick,  principal  of  the  university 
of  St.  Andrews.  There  is  a  portrait  of  him  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh.  Another,  by  Aikman, 
is  in  possession  of  Alexander  Dunlop,  Esq.  of 
Keppoch,  which  has  been  often  engraved. 


The  following  is  a  woodcut  from  an  engraving 
by  II.  Adlard : 


Principal  Carstairs  was  a  man  of  great  learning 
and  eminence  in  the  chm*ch.  So  complete  was  his 
mastery  of  the  Latin  language  that  Dr.  Pitcaim, 
who  regularly  attended  the,  in  those  days,  custom- 
ary opening  Latin  oration  of  the  principal,  deliver- 
ed before  the  professors  and  students  in  the  com- 
mon hall  of  the  university,  used  to  observe  that 
when  Mr.  Caratairs  began  to  address  his  audience 
he  could  not  help  fancying  himself  transported  to 
the  foram,  in  the  days  of  ancient  Rome.  "  He 
managed,^'  says  Bower,  "Scottish  affairs  with 
such  discretion,  during  the  reigns  of  William  and 
Anne,  that  he  made  few  public  enemies;  and  such 
was  his  knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  prudence, 
and  conciliating  temper,  that  he  was  held  in  the 
highest  estimation  by  those  who  still  adhered  to 
the  house  of  Stuart.  So  great  was  his  influence 
in  church  and  state  that  he  was  generally  called 
Cardinal  Carstairs." 

Cassillis,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  pos- 
seeaed  by  the  marquia  of  Ailsa,  and  conferred,  in  1509,  on 
David,  third  Lord  Kennedy.  The  first  of  the  family  men- 
tioned in  any  charter  was  Duncan  de  Carrick,  who  lived  in 
the  reign  of  Malcolm  the  Fourth,  which  began  in  1153.  His 
son,  Nicol  de  Garrick,  granted,  in  1220,  the  church  of  St 


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SECOND  EARL  OP. 


Cathbert  at  &Iayboie,  to  the  nuns  of  North  Berwick.  Nicors 
Bon,  Roland  de  Canick,  obtained  a  grant  of  the  bailiary  of 
Carrick  from  Nigel,  earl  of  Carrick,  who  died  in  1256,  to 
himself  and  his  heirs  male,  to  be  *  caput  totins  progeniei  suie,* 
that  is,  chief  of  his  name,  and  to  have  the  command  of  all 
the  men  in  Carrick,  under  the  said  earl  and  his  successors; 
which  grant  was  confirmed  by  Alexander  the  Third,  by  a 
charter  dated  at  Stirling,  20th  Januaiy  1275-6,  and  ratified 
by  Robert  the  Second,  by  charters  dated  at  Ayr,  1st  Octobec, 
t372. 

Sir  Gilbert  de  Carrick,  knight,  son  of  Roland,  in  1285  sub- 
mitted H  Jiffeier.ce  between  him  and  the  nuns  of  North  Ber- 
wick to  Robert  Bruce,  earl  of  Carrick,  father  of  Robert  the 
First,  and  Robert  bbhop  of  Glasgow,  to  which  submission  his 
sea)  is  appended,  having  the  same  shield  of  arms  as  that 
borne  by  the  earls  of  Cassillis.  He  was  one  ot  the  securities 
for  Robert,  earl  of  Carrick,  on  his  obtaining  the  resignation  of 
that  earldom  firom  hb  fatlier  in  1202 

His  son,  also  named  Gilbert,  reoeired  from  King  Robert 
the  Bruce  a  remission  for  Arthur  his  son-inlaw  having  sur- 
rendered Lodidoon  castle  to  the  English,  and  was  restored  to 
the  government  thereof  with  the  lands  thereto  belonging.  Sir 
Gilbert  de  Carrick  was  one  of  the  prisoners  taken  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Durham  in  1846. 

His  son,  Sir  John  Kennedy  of  Dunure,  is  designed  in  many 
authentic  writs,  the  son  of  Sir  Gilbert  de  Carrick.  He  was 
forfeited  in  the  reign  of  King  David  the  Second,  as  appears 
from  a  charter  of  that  monarch  to  Malcolm  Fleming  of  the 
lands  of  Leigne,  which  belonged  to  him.  He,  however,  ob- 
tained from  that  monarch  a  charter  confirming  the  donations, 
grants,  and  venditions  made  to  him  by  Marjory  de  Montgom- 
ery, senior,  and  by  his  wife,  Marjory  de  ilontgomery,  daugh- 
ter of  Su*  John  Montgomery,  of  the  lands  of  Ca^lys  (Cassillis) 
in  the  county  of  Ayr,  with  other  territorial  possessions  which 
he  had  acquired  in  Carrick.  This,  and  other  charters  obtained 
by  him  are  entitled,  *  confirmatio  Johannis  Kenedy,*  the  fam- 
ily having  changed  their  name  firom  Carrick  to  Kennedy,  the 
latter  a  Gaelic  compound  signifying  the  head  of  the  house  ot 
family.  [See  Kennedy,  surname  of.]  He  had  three  sons. 
From  the  second,  John,  it  is  supposed  that  the  old  Kennedys 
of  Cullean,  now  spelled  Colzean,  are  descended. 

His  eldest  son,  Sir  Gilbert  Kennedy,  was  one  of  the  hos- 
tages delivered  to  the  English  in  1357,  for  the  liberation  of 
King  David  the  Second.  He  married,  first,  Marion,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  James  Sandilands  of  Galder,  by  Eleonora,  countess 
oi  Carrick,  and  had  by  her  four  sons,  namely,  1.  Gilbert,  who, 
on  account  of  his  next  brother  marrying  a  princess  of  Scotland, 
was  disinherited  by  his  father;  2.  James,  of  whom  after- 
wards; 3  Alexander  i  and  4.  Sir  Hugh  Kennedy  of  Ardstin- 
char,  who  accompanied  the  Scots  troops,  under  the  command 
of  the  earl  of  Buchan,  to  France,  and  distinguished  himself  at 
the  battle  of  Beaug6,  22d  March  1421,  m  consequence  of 
which  he  was  honoured  by  the  king  of  France  with  his  armo- 
rial bearings,  azure,  three  fleurs  de  lis,  or;  which  he  and  his 
successors  marshalled  in  the  first  and  fourth  quarters  with 
those  of  Kennedy  in  the  second  and  third.  From  him  de- 
scended the  Kennedys  of  Bargany,  Kirkhill,  and  Binning,  in 
Ayrshire.  Sir  Gilbert  married,  secondly,  Agnes,  daughter  of 
Sir  Robert  Maxwell  of  Calderwood,  and  had  by  her  three  sons, 
namely,  John,  Thomas,  and  David,  the  latter  one  of  the  re- 
tinue of  knights  who  attended  the  princess  Margaret  of  Scot- 
land into  France  on  her  marriage  to  Louis  the  dauphin  in 
li:J6. 

Sir  James  Kennedy  of  Dunure,  the  second  son,  married 
the  princess  Mary  Stewart,  daughter  of  King  Robert  the 
Tuird,  and  widow  of  George  first  earl  of  Angus  of  the  house 


of  Douglas.  By  this  marriage  the  wealth  and  infloeooe  of 
the  family  were  greatly  increased.  From  his  fat  her- in-law 
he  obtained  a  charter  of  confirmation  of  the  bailiary  of  Car- 
rick, and  of  the  lands  and  barony  <^  Daliymple,  to  himself 
and  the  princess  his  wife,  dated  M  Dundonald,  27th  January 
1405-r6.  He  was  killed  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  in  a 
quarrel  with  his  elder  brother,  Gilbert,  who  had  been  dinn- 
herited  in  his  favour.  Gilbert  went  to  France,  and  died  in 
the  French  service.  The  princess  Maty,  their  father^s  widow, 
was  afterwards  again  twice  married.  By  her,  Sir  James 
Kennedy  had  two  sons,  Gilbert  his  successor,  and  James, 
bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  the  celebrated  founder  of  the  college 
of  St  Salvator  in  that  city,  of  whom  there  is  a  memoir  under 
the  head  of  Kennedy,  Jame^  post. 

Sir  Gilbert  Kennedy  of  Dunure,  krjight,  obtained  fitwn 
King  James  the  Second,  a  charter  of  the  keeping  of  the  ctf- 
tle  of  Lochdoon,  and  of  the  pennylands  thereto  belonging,  to 
him  and  the  heirs  male  of  bis  body,  17th  May  1450.  He  was 
created  a  peer  of  Scotland  in  1452,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Ken- 
nedy, and  on  the  death  of  James  the  Second  in  1460  lie  was 
appointed  one  of  the  six  regents  of  the  kingdom  during  the 
minority  of  James:  the  Third.  He  died  in  1473.  He  mar- 
ried Catherine,  daughter  of  Herbert  Lord  Maxwell,  by  whom 
he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

His  eldest  son,  John,  second  Lord  Kennedy,  was  a  pnvy 
councillor  \o  King  James  the  Third,  and  a  commissioner  to 
treat  with  the  English  for  peace  in  1484.  He  died  in  1508. 
He  married  first,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Alexander,  Ixnrd 
Montgomery,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  David,  third  Lord  Ken- 
nedy; and  secondly.  Lady.  Elizabeth  Gordon,  daughter  ot 
George  earl  of  Huntly,  relict  of  the  second  eari  of  Errol,  and 
by  her  he  had,  with  two  daughters,  three  sons,  namely,  Al- 
exander, ancestor  of  the  Kennedys  of  Girvanmains  and  Bar- 
quhanny ;  John,  and  William.  The  elder  of  the  two  daugh- 
toB,  Janet  Kennedy,  was  the  mbtress  of  James  the  fourth. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  the  third  wife  of  Archibald  fifUi  eari 
of  Angus,  celebrated  in  Scottbh  history  as  Bell-the-Cat.  Ac- 
cording to  Hume  of  Godscroft,  Archibald  earl  of  Angus  was 
confined  to  the  isle  ctf  Arran  for  taking  Jean  Kennedy,  daugh- 
ter of  the  earl  of  Cassillis,  (a  mistake  for  Lord  Kennedy.) 
out  of  Galloway,  (the  dbtrict  of  Carrick  was  then  considered 
a  part  of  Galloway,)  to  Whom  the  king  bore  affection,  and  to 
whom  the  edrl  gave  infeftment  and  seisin  of  the  lands  of 
Bothwell,  though  he  never  married  her.  She  does  not  ap- 
pear, indeed,  ever  to  have  borne  the  title  of  countess  of  An- 
gus. James  the  Fourth  granted  to  her  a  life-charter  of  the 
lands  of  Bothwell,  dated  1st  June  1501.  She  had  by  the 
king  a  son,  James  Stewart,  created  eari  of  Moray,  the  same 
year.  The  younger  datighter,  Helen,  married  Adam  Boyd  of 
Pinkhill. 

The  eldest  son,  David,  third  Lord  Kennedy  and  first  eari 
of  Cassillis,  was  one  of  those  who  were  advanced  to  the  hon- 
our of  knighthood  by  King  James  the  Third,  on  the  creation 
of  hb  second  son  Alexander  as  duke  of  Ross,  29th  Januaiy 
1487-8.  He  was  of  the  privy  council  of  James  the  Fourth, 
and  by  that  monarch  he  was  created,  in  1509,  earl  of  Casal- 
lis.  He  married,  first,  Agnes,  daughter  of  William,  Lord 
Borthwick,  by  Whom  he  had  three  sons;  and  2dly,  Grizel, 
daughter  of  Thomds  Boyd,  eari  of  Amui,  relict  of  Alexander 
Lord  Forbes,  without  issue.     He'  fell  at  the  battle  of  Flodden. 

Hb  eldest  son,  Gilbert,  second  earl,  was  a  nobleman  <A 
superior  abilities,  and  was  employed  in  several  offices  of  high 
trust  He  had  a  safe-conduct  to  go  into  England  as  an  am- 
bassador from  Scotland,  6th  February  1515-16.  In  1523, 
when  the  regent  duke  of  Albany  sailed  for  Franoe,  the  keep- 
ing of  the  young  king*s  person  was  committed  to  him  and 


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three  oiber  lords.  He  was  sworn  a  privj  oouncillor  to  King 
James  the  Fifth,  and  signed  the  association  to  support  bis 
HMJesty's  aathoritj,  80th  July  1624.  On  the  4th  September 
following,  he  concluded  a  truce  with  the  duke  of  Norfolk  on 
the  part  of  Henry  die  Eighth  at  Berwick.  In  Norember  of 
the  same  year  he  was  sent  ambassador  to  London,  to  treat 
for  a  lasting  peace,  and  a  marriage  between  the  young  king 
(James  the  Fifth)  and  his  cousin  the  princess  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  the  Eighth.  In  January  1525  he  returned  to 
Scotland  for  firesh  instructions,  and  tiie  following  month  he 
was  with  the  queen  dowager,  Margaret,  in  the  castle  of  Ed- 
mburgh,  when  the  earl  of  Angus  her  husband,  with  the  earls 
of  Lennox  and  Argyle,  and  other  confederated  lords,  took 
possession  of  the  city.  His  attachment  to  the  queen  dowager 
rendered  him  obnoxious  to  the  faction  of  Angus,  and  in  a 
oartiament  convoked  by  the  latter,  his  lands  were  assigned  to 
the  earl  of  Arran.  They  were,  however,  soon  after  restored 
to  him.  He  was  assassinated  at  Prestwick,  near  Ayr,  by 
Hugh  Campbell,  sheriff  of  Ayrshire,  22d  December  1527. 
He  married  Lady  Isabel  Campbell,  second  daughter  of  the 
second  earl  of  Argyle,  by  whom  he  had  seven  sons.  His 
fourth  son,  Quentin  Kennedy,  abbot  of  Croesraguel,  is  famous 
for  the  dispute  which,  for  three  days,  he  maintained,  in  1562, 
with  John  Knox  at  Maybole^  on  the  subject  of  the  mass. 
He  was  remarkable  for  his  singular  piety  and  great  austerity 
of  manners,  and  his  seal  and  leammg  so  much  gratified  the 
Romish  clergy  that,  on  his  death  in  1564,  he  was  publicly 
canonised  as  a  saint  He  published  '  Ane  oompendius  trac- 
tive, oonforme  to  the  Scripturis  of  Ahnychtie  God,  ressoun, 
and  authoritie,  declaring  the  nerrest  and  onlie  way  to  estab- 
lische  the  conscience  of  ane  Christians  man,  in  all  materis 
quhilk  ar  in  debate  concerning  faith  and  religioun.*  His 
Correspondence  with  Willock  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix 
to  Bishop  Keith  s  History  of  Scotland. 

Gilbert,  th«  third  earl,  bom  in  1515,  was  only  twelve  years 
old  when  he  succeeded  his  father.  He  was  then  at  the  uni- 
versity of  St  Andrews,  where,  in  February  1527-8,  only  two 
months  after  his  accession  to  the  title,  he  was  compelled  to 
sign  the  sentence  of  death  pronounced  on  Patrick  Hamilton 
the  protomartyr,  for  heresy.  He  was  subsequently  sent  to 
Paris,  to  complete  his  education.  While  there  he  became 
acquainted  with  George  Buchanan,  at  that  time  a  regent  or 
professor  in  the  college  of  St  Barbe,  and  engaged  him  as  his 
domestic  tutor  in  1532.  After  residing  with  him  for  five 
years  Buchanan  accompanied  the  earl  on  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, and  at  his  seat  of  CasAillis  in  Ayrshire,  composed  his 
bitter  satire,  entitled  *  Somnium,*  against  the  Franciscan 
friars.  In  1535,  the  earl  was  one  of  the  ambassadors  sent  to 
France,  for  the  purpose  of  concluding  a  matrimonial  alliance 
with  a  French  princess,  and  in  the  following  year  when  King 
James  the  Fifth  went  over  to  Paris,  he  and  the  other  ambas- 
sadors piet  his  majesty  at  Dieppe,  and  were  present  at  his 
marriage  with  the  pnncess  Magdalene,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
French  king. 

At  the  fatal  rout  of  the  Scottish  army  at  Solway  Moss  in 
November  1542,  the  earl  was  among  the  prisoners  taken  by 
the  English,  and  was  committed  to  the  charge  of  Cranmer, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  not  only  entertained  him  very 
honourably,  but  strengthened  his  lordship  in  the  profession  of 
the  Reformed  religion,  to  which  he  was  before  greatly  in- 
clined. With  some  of  the  other  nobles  who  were  prisoners 
like  himself,  he  only  obtained  his  liberty  by  agreeing  to  the 
•conditions  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  to  support  his  grand  scheme 
for  a  marriage  between  his  son  Prince  Edward  and  the  infant 
Queen  Mary,  and  the  perpetual  union  of  England  and  Scot- 
land, and  by  giving  as  hostages  for  hie  ransom,  which  was 


dxed  at  a  thousand  pounds,  his  uncle  Thomas  Kennedy  of 
Coiff,  and  his  brothers  David  and  Archibald,  who  were  placed 
under  the  custody  of  the  archbishop  of  York.  As  he  zeal- 
ously supported  the  English  connection,  Henry  the  Eighth 
gave  him  a  pension  of  three  Hundred  marks.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  after  the  regent  Arran  had  become  reconciled  to 
Cardinal  Bethune  and  abjured  the  protestant  religion,  the 
marriage  treaty  with  England  was  interrupted,  and  Henry 
issued  a  proclamation  for  the  Scottish  prisoners  to  return 
into  England,  to  which  no  attention  was  paid.  In  Lodge's 
Illustrations,  vol.  i.  p.  461,  is  a  piteous  letter  from  his  hos- 
tages to  the  earl  of  Cassillis,  dated  at  York,  11  th  December 
1548,  entreating  him  to  enter  himself  in  all  haste,  for  if  he 
did  not,  they  should  suffer  death,  and  that  right  shortly. 
David  Kennedy  appeals  to  the  fraternal  affection  of  the  earl 
for  his  poor  brother  *  Dandy  ;*  and  his  uncle  desires  him  to 
remember  that  the  Uird  of  Coyff  has  four  motheriess  bairns, 
and  to  take  heed  not  to  make  them  fatheriess  for  his  cause 
In  the  same  work  also  is  a  letter  from  the  archbishop  of 
York  to  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  dated  20th  August,  1544, 
mentioning  that  since  the  hostages  for  the  earl  of  Cassillis 
had  been  with  him,  that  is  for  a  year  and  a  half,  they  had 
not  received  from  his  lordship,  nor  from  any  of  their  friends, 
towards  the  finding  of  their  apparel,  to  the  sum  of  twenty 
pounds  sterling,  so  that  he  was  constrained  to  give  them  both 
coats  and  gowns,  and  other  things ;  and  therefore  entreating 
Shrewsbury  to  write  to  Cassillis  that  it  touched  his  honour, 
forasmuch  as  they  were  so  near  of  kin,  and  also  pledges  for 
him,  to  see  that  they  lacked  no  necessaries.  The  archbishop 
added  that  he  was  content  to  bestow  on  them  other  things 
beades  apparel,  both  for  themselves  and  horses,  at  his  charge, 
but  that  Lord  Cassillis  must  provide  for  the  r««t,  or  else,  the 
winter  coming  on,  they  shall  lack  many  things.  Finding  the 
popish  party,  with  Cardinal  Bethune  at  their  head,  intent  on 
a  French  alliance,  he  and  the  other  lords  who  supported  the 
English  interest,  entered  into  a  bond  or  covenant  by  which 
they  agreed  to  employ  their  united  strength  in  promoting  the 
projects  of  the  English  king.  This  paper  was  intrusted  to 
Lord  Somerville,  to  be  delivered  to  Henry,  but  that  nobleman 
being  arrested,  it  was  intercepted,  on  which  a  pariiament  was 
convoked,  and  it  was  determined  tb  proceed  against  Cassillis 
and  the  other  subscribing  lords,  for  high  treason.  To  escape 
the  sentence  of  forfeiture,  they  transmitted  to  the  regent 
Arran,  a  similar  bond,  dated  in  January  1543-4,  in  which 
they  bound  themselves  to  remain  true  and  faithful  to  the 
queen  and  her  authority,  to  assist  the  regent  in  the  defence 
of  the  realm  against  *  their  old  enemies*  of  England,  to  sup- 
port the  liberties  of  holy  church  and  to  maintain  the  true 
Christian  f>«ith,  meaning  thereby  the  Romish  religion.  Not- 
withstanding this  agreement,  the  parties  to  which  were  the 
earls  of  Cassillis,  Angus,  Lennox,  and  GlencairL,  they  still 
continued  their  intrigues  with  the  English  monnrch.  The 
consequence  was  that  a  hostile  fleet  appeared  in  the  fnth  of 
Forth  in  the  following  May,  and  an  English  army,  under  the 
eari  of  Hertford,  took  possession  of  Leith,  and  after  plundering 
that  town,  set  fire  to  it 

In  June  of  the  same  year  (1544)  the  eari  of  Cassillis  was 
one  of  those  who  signed  the  agreement  of  the  principal  Scots 
nobility  to  support  the  authority  of  the  queen-mother  as  regent 
of  Scotland,  against  the  earl  of  Arran.  Soon  after,  he  was, 
with  Angus,  Glencaim,  and  Somerville,  at  the  siege  of  Col- 
dingham,  then  held  by  the  English,  and  joined  in  the  dis- 
graceful rout  which  took  place  on  that  occasion.  In  a  par- 
liament held  at  Edinburgh  12th  December  of  the  same  year, 
he  and  the  other  noblemen  in  the  Douglas  or  English  interest, 
obtained  a  remission  for  all  treasons  committed  by  them,  ex- 


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FOURTH  EARL  OF. 


oept  against  the  qaeen^s  person,  in  return  for  the  good  sendees 
which  thej  had  rendered  the  country,  although  what  these 
were  does  not  clearly  appear. 

Alter  the  defeat  of  the  English  at  Ancrutn  Moor,  Henry 
resolved  to  conciliate  the  Scots,  and  with  this  view  he  in- 
trusted the  management  of  the  n^tiation  to  the  earl  of  Gas- 
sillis.  The  earl  accordingly  repaired  to  the  English  court, 
February  28th,  1545,  when  his  hostages  were  released,  and 
his  ransom  being  discharged,  and  himself  loaded  with  presents 
from  the  English  king,  he  returned,  after  a  short  absence,  to 
Scotland.  At  a  convention  of  the  nobility,  held  at  Edinburgh, 
on  the  17th  April,  Gassillis,  as  the  envoy  of  Henry,  acquainted 
them  that  if  they  consented  to  the  treaties  of  peace  and  mar- 
riage with  England,  Ring  Henry  would  overlook  the  past, 
and  forbear  to  avenge  the  injuries  which  he  had  received. 
His  efforts,  however,  were  in  vain.  The  Convention  declared 
the  treaties  of  peace  and  marriage  at  an  end,  and  it  was  re- 
solved cordially  to  embrace  the  assistance  of  France.  On  the 
20th,  Gassillis  by  letter,  informed  Henry  of  the  complete  fail- 
ure of  his  negotiation,  and  advised  the  immediate  invasion  of 
Scotland  with  a  strong  force.  Heniy,  on  his  side,  finding 
Cardinal  Bethune  more  than  a  match  for  him,  encouraged 
the  earl  in  organising  a  conspiracy  for  his  assassination. 
This  plot,  so  damning  both  to  Gassillis  and  the  king,  was 
altogether  unknown  to  our  historians,  both  Scotch  and  Eng- 
lish, until  it  was  discovered  by  Tytler  in  the  secret  corre- 
spondence of  the  state  paper  office.  [See  Tytler's  Hittory  of 
Scotland^  vol.  v.  p.  887.]  It  appears  that  Gassillis  had  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  Henry's  agent  on  the 
borders,  in  which  he  made  an  offer  *•  for  the  killing  of  the  car- 
dinal, if  his  roigesty  would  have  it  done,  and  promise,  when 
it  was  done,  a  reward.*  Sadler  showed  the  letter  to  the  earl 
of  Hertford  and  the  council  of  the  North,  and  by  them  it  vfas 
transmitted  to  the  king.  Gassillis  communicated  his  purpose 
to  the  earls  of  Angus,  Glencaim,  and  Marischal,  and  Sir  George 
Douglas,  and  these  persons  requested  that  one  Forster,  an 
English  prisoner,  should  be  sent  to  Edinburgh  to  communi- 
cate with  them  on  the  design.  Hertford  accordingly  con- 
sulted the  privy  council  upon  his  migesty's  wishes  in  this 
affair.  They  replied,  as  directed  by  the  king,  that  Forster 
might  set  off  immediately,  but  as  to  the  assassination  of  the 
cardinal  his  majesty  '^  will  not  seem  to  have  to  do  in  it,  and 
yet  not  misliking  the  offer,"  he  desired  Sadler  to  write  to 
Gassillis  to  say  that  *'  if  he  were  in  the  earl's  place  he  would 
surely  do  what  he  could  for  the  execution  of  it,  believing 
verily  to  do  thereby  not  only  an  acceptable  service  to  the 
king  but  also  a  special  benefit  to  the  reahn  of  Scotland."  No 
reward,  however,  was  promised,  as  that  would  be  to  set  a 
price  upon  t^e  head  of  the  cardinal  as  well  as  to  offer  an  in- 
demnity to  those  who  should  slay  him,  and  the  scheme  was 
abandoned  by  Gassillis  and  his  dissociates. 

The  earl  of  Gassillis  was  among  the  chief  supporters  of 
George  Wishart,  after  his  return  to  Scotland  in  the  summer 
of  1543.  It  was  by  the  invitation  of  the  earl  and  the  gentle- 
men of  Kyle  and  Cunningham  that  he  ventured  to  Edinburgh 
in  the  beginning  of  1545,  but  as  they  failed  to  meet  him  be 
retired  to  East  Lothian,  where  he  soon  after  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  cardinal,  and  was  burnt  at  the  stake  at  St.  An- 
drews March  28,  the  assassination  of  Bethune  himself  follow- 
ing exactly  two  months  after. 

In  June  1546  the  earl  deserted  the  English  party,  and 
was  named  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session  81st  July 
following.  Previous  to  the  battle  of  Pinkie,  he  and  otlier 
noblemen  advised  the  regent  to  send  the  young  queen  with 
her  mother,  under  the  clinrge  of  Lords  Entkine  and  Liv- 
ingstone to  the  isle  of  Inchmahome,  for  security.    In  May 


1550.  he  was  one  of  the  noblemen  who  aocomponied  the 
queen-mother  on  her  visit  to  France.  In  1554.  on  the  queeo- 
mother  obtaining  the  reg^cy,  she  appointed  the  earl  of  Gas- 
sillis lord-high-treasurer.  In  1557  he  was  a  chief  commander 
in  the  army  destined  to  attack  Berwick  and  invade  England, 
but  which  was  disbanded  without  effecting  any  thing.  In  1558 
he  was  one  of  the  eight  commissioners  elected  by  parliament 
to  go  to  France  to  be  present  at  the  nuptials  of  the  yooth- 
ftil  Queen  Maiy  with  Frauds,  dauphin  of  France.  On 
the  crown  matrimonial  being  demanded  the  commiasioo- 
ers  discovered  a  fixed  resolution  not  to  consent  to  any  thing 
that  tended  to  introduce  any  alteratbn  in  the  order  of  succes- 
sion to  the  crown,  which  gave  great  offence  to  the  FVench 
court,  and  on  their  'Way  home,  the  coiuniasioners  were  taken 
ill  at  Dieppe,  where  the  earls  of  Gassillis  and  Rothes,  and 
Bishop  Reid,  lord  president  of  the  court  of  season,  died,  all 
three  in  one  night,  18th  November  1558,  under  strong  suspi- 
cions of  poison.  Lord  Fleming,  another  of  the  commissioners, 
died  at  Paris.  The  body  of  the  earl  was  brought  to  Scotland, 
and  interred  with  his  ancestors  in  the  collegiate  church  of 
Maybole.  His  virtues  have  been  recorded  by  Buchanan  in 
his  History  of  Scotland,  and  in  an  epitaph  published  in  his 
works.    He  is  also  celebrated  by  Johnston  in  his  Heroes. 

His  lordship  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Alexander 
Kennedy  of  Bargany,  and  had,  with  two  daughters,  two  sons, 
namely,  Gilbert  his  successor,  and  the  Hon.  Sir  Thomas  Ken- 
nedy of  Gulzean,  commonly  called  the  tutor  of  Gassillis,  who 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  at  the  coronation  of  James 
the  Sixth.  He  married  Elisabeth,  daughter  of  David  Mao- 
Gill  of  Granstoun-Riddel,  and  had  three  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter, Helen,  married  to  Mure  of  Auchindrane.  Sir  Thomas 
fell  a  victim  to  revenge,  being  assassinated  by  Kennedy  ol 
Drummurchie,  May  11, 1602,  thereto  instigated  by  his  own 
son-in-kw,  Mure.  [See  Mubk,  surname  of,  and  KsmiEDT, 
origin  of  name.]  His  youngest  son.  Sir  Alexander  Kennedy 
of  Gulzean,  eventually  carried  on  the  line  of  the  family. 

Gilbert,  fourth  eari,  a  nobleman  of  most  rapadoos  and  un- 
scrupulous character,  was  popuUriy  called  the  king  of  Gar- 
rick.  In  1562  he  was  sworn  a  privy  ooundllor  to  Queen 
Mary,  and  in  1565  was  appointed  jusUdary  of  Gar- 
rick.  On  the  night  of  Damley's  murder  in  February  1567, 
he  and  the  earls  of  Argyle  and  Huntly  accompankd  the 
queen,  when  she  took  her  last  farewell  of  her  ill-fated  hus- 
band at  Kirk  of  Field.  His  name  occurs  the  filth  of  the 
noblemen  who  subscribed  the  bond  in  favour  of  Bothwell*s 
marriage  to  the  queen,  at  the  famous  supper  given  to  the  no- 
bility by  that  reckless  adventurer,  and  ne  fought  on  the  side 
of  Mary  at  the  battle  of  Langside,  18th  May  1568.  In  the 
parliament  of  19th  August  following,  he  was  declaied  guilty 
of  treason,  but  jndgmenji  was  suspended.  At  the  convention 
held  14th  April  1569,  he  acknowledged,  by  oath  and  subecarip- 
tion,  the  king's  authority,  and  on  17th  November  following, 
the  regent  dedared  that  his  lordship  had  made  due  obedieoee' 
to  the  king.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  one  of  the  privy 
coundL  Nevertheless,  we  find,  in  March  1570,  his  name  at- 
tached to  a  letter  signed  by  a  number  of  the  lords  of  the 
queen's  faction,  and  sent  to  Queen  Elisabeth  in  Mary's  behalf, 
and  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  the  regent  Lennox  was 
obliged  to  go  to  Kyle  and  Garrick,  to  pursue  the  eari  of  Gas- 
sillis for  perseouting  and  of^fu-essiug  those  who  acknowledged 
the  king's  authority.  On  this  occasion,  to  prevent  the  wast- 
ing of  his  hinds,  he  gave  his  brother  in  pledge  that  he  would 
enter  the  15th  day  of  May  at  Stirling,  to  confirm  the  condi- 
tions craved  and  agreed  upon. 

On  the  death  of  Quentin  Kennedy,  the  last  abbot  of  Cros6- 
j  raguel,  in  1564.  a  pension  had  been  conferred  on  Geon^ 


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FIFTH  EARL  OF. 


Buchanan,  of  five  hundred  pounds  a-year  out  of  the  abbey 
revenues,  payment  of  which  he  appears  to  have  found  great 
difficulty  in  obtaining,  owing  to  the  seizure  of  the  lands  by 
the  eari  of  Cttsillis.  That  rich  and  celebrated  abbey  lay  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  earl's  casUe,  and  after  be  had,  by  forgery 
and  murder,  possessed  himself  of  the  abbacy  of  Glenluoe,  he 
cast  his  eye  on  Grossraguel ;  and  the  criminal  records  of  the 
period  exhibit  an  act  of  horrible  cruelty  perpetrated  by  him 
in  1570,  for  the  purpose  of  adding  the  abbey  lands  to  his 
estates.  Allan  Stewart,  the  oommendator  of  the  abbey,  who 
had  succeeded  Qnentin  Kennedy,  and  who  lived  under  the 
protection  of  the  laird  of  Bargany,  was  enticed,  under  hospi- 
table pretences,  to  leave  his  safeguard  and  pass  some  days  in 
Mayhole  with  Sir  Thomas  Kennedy,  brother  of  the  earL  On 
the  29th  August,  while  visiting  the  bounds  of  Grossraguel,  he 
was  apprehended  by  the  earl,  and  conveyed  to  the  castle  of 
Dunure,  the  original  seat  of  the  family,  the  ruins  of  which 
still  stand  gloomily  on  a  rock,  washed  by  the  sea,  on  the 
western  boundary  of  Mayhole  parish.  The  barbarous  treat- 
ment to  which  he  was  subjected,  to  compel  him  to  sign  a  feu 
charter  of  the  abbey  lands,  forms  a  striking  part  of  the  '  His- 
toric of  the  Kennedyis,*  published  in  1880,  by  Mr.  Pitcaim, 
from  an  original  manuscript  in  the  Advocates*  librazy.  The 
most  graphio  account,  however,  of  the  transaction  is  given 
by  Richard  Bannatyne,  in  his  *  Journal,'  and  every  part  of  his 
narrative  is  distinctly  confirmed  by  the  oommendator*8  own 
statements  in  his  '  Bill  of  Supplication  to  the  Lords  of  Privy- 
CounciL*  It  appears  that,  unable  to  succeed  in  his  purpose 
by  any  other  means,  the  earl,  on  the  1st  September,  caused 
his  baker,  his  cook,  his  pantryman,  and  some  others,  to  con- 
vey the  oommendator  to  the  ^  black  vault  of  Dunure,*  where 
a  large  fire  was  blazing,  under  *  a  grit  iron  chimblay.*  **  My 
lord  abbot,**  said  the  earl,  "it  will  please  you  to  confess  here 
that  with  your  own  consent  you  remain  in  my  company,  be- 
cause you  dare  not  commit  yon  to  the  hands  of  others.*'  The 
oommendator  answered,  '^  Would  you,  my  lord,  that  I  should 
tell  a  manifest  lie  for  your  pleasure  ?  The  truth  is,  my  lord. 
It  is  against  my  will  that  I  am  here,  neither  yet  have  I  any 
pleasure  in  your  company.**  "  But,**  rejoined  the  eari,  "  you 
shall  remain  with  me  at  this  time.**  *'  I  am  not  able  to  re- 
sist your  will  and  pleasure,**  said  the  oommendator,  "  in  this 
place.**  "You  must  then  obey  me,**  replied  the  earL  He 
then  presented  to  him  certain  documents  to  sign,  and,  on  his 
refusal,  he  commanded  'his  cooks,*  says  the  annalist,  *to 
prepare  the  banquet,*  and  so,  first,  they  stripped  the  unhappy 
oommendator,  to  his  *  sark  and  doublet,*  and  next  they  bound 
him  to  the  chimney,  *  hb  1^  to  the  one  end  and  his  arms  to 
the  other,*  basting  him  weQ  with  oil,  that  *  the  roast  should 
not  bum.*  When  nearly  half  roasted  he  consented  to  sub- 
scribe the  documents,  witoout  reading  or  knowing  what  was 
contained  in  them.  Then  the  ^arl  swore  those  who  assisted 
him  in  this  cruel  proceeding,  on  the  Bible,  never  to  reveal  it 
to  any  one.  Not  content  with  this,  on  the  7th  September,  on 
the  oommendator  8  refusal  to  ratify  and  approve  the  docu- 
ments he  had  signed,  before  a  notary  and  witnesses,  the  tor- 
ment was  renewed,  till  Stewart  besought  them  to  put  an  end 
to  his  sufierings  by  killing  hmi  at  once,  nor  was  he  released 
till  eleven  o*clock  at  night,  when  they  saw  his  life  ^n  danger 
and  his  flesh  consumed  and  burnt  to  the  bone.  And  thus 
the  eari  obtained,  in  the  indignant  words  of  the  describer  of 
the  scene,  *  a  fyve  yeara  tack  and  a  19  yeare  tack,  and  a 
charter  of  feu  of  idl  the  landis  of  Groceraguall,  with  the 
clausses  neoessaire  for  the  erle  to  haist  him  to  helL  For  gif 
adulterie,  sacriledge,  oppressione,  barbarous  creweltie,  and 
I  thift  heaped  upon  thift  diserve  hell,  the  great  king  }f  Carrick 
can  no  more  eschape  hell  for  ever  nor  the  imprudent  abbot 


eschaped  the  fyre  for  a  seasoune.**  [J9emf}ai^*«  Journal^ 
edn.  1806,  p.  57.]  Having  thus  attained  his  purpose,  the 
eari  left  the  oommendator  in  the  hands  of  his  serrants  at 
Dunure,  and  the  lanrd  of  Bargany,  who  knew  nothmg  of  the 
treatment  to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  raised  letters  of 
deliverance  of  his  person,  which  not  beiilg  attended  to  by  the 
esrl,  he  was  for  contempt  thereof  denounced  rebel  and  put  to 
the  horn.  On  the  27th  April  following,  a  complaint  was 
given  in  to  the  regent  and  lords  of  secret  council,  by  Allan 
Stewart,  the  *  half-roasted  *  oommendator;  on  which  the  earl 
was  summoned  b^ore  them.  On  his  appearance  he  pleaded 
tihM  the  points  alleged  in  the  said  complaint  were  either  civil 
or  criminal,  and  that  he  ought  not  to  answer  thereto  except 
before  competent  judges.  Without  prejudice  of  the  ordinary 
jurisdiction,  the  regent,  with  the  advice  of  the  council,  ordered 
the  earl  to  find  security  in  two  thousand  pounds,  not  to  molest 
tlie  person  or  property  of  the  oommendator.  He  was  also,  at 
the  request  of  his  father  s  old  preceptor,  George  Buchanan, 
*  pensioner  of  Grossraguel,*  ordered  to  find  the  like  security 
with  regard  to  him  and  his  pension.  And  he  was  sent  to 
Dumbarton  castle  nntU  he  implemented  (obeyed)  these  orders. 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  by  the  persuasion  of  the  eari 
of  Morton,  the  earl,  with  other  lords  of  the  queen*s  faction, 
finally  joined  the  king's  party,  and  attended  the  parliament 
held  at  Stirling  in  September,  at  which  his  escheats  were  re- 
mitted, in  consequence  of  his  owning  the  king's  authority. 
He  obtained  charters  of  several  lands  belonging  to  the  abba- 
cies of  Grossraguel  and  Glenluoe  in  1572  and  two  following 
years,  and  had  a  charter  of  the  lands  and  castle  of  Tnmberry 
to  himself  and  Margaret  Lyon  his  wife  (daughter  of  the 
ninth  Lord  Glammis)  8th  March  1575.  According  to  Knox, 
by  the  persuasion  of  his  countess  he  became  a  proteetant  and 
caused  his  kirks  in  Garrick  to  be  reformed  [Knocks  Hittory^ 
p.  898].  He  died  in  September  1576.  He  had  three  sons; 
John,  who  succeeded  him ;  Hugh,  designed  master  of  Gassil- 
lis,  to  whom  and  to  John  Boyd  his  servant,  and  Hugh  Ken- 
nedy of  Ghapel,  a  remission  under  the  great  seal  was  granted, 
for  the  slaughter  of  Andrew  M'Kewan  in  Archatroche,  14th 
September  1601 ;  and  Gilbert,  also  designed  master  of  Gas- 
silli^  as  his  brother  Hugh  appears  to  have  died  without  issue. 
Gilbert  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Uchtred  Macdowall  of 
Garthland,  and  by  her  had  a  son,  John,  who  became  sixth  earL 

The  eldest  son,  John,  fifth  earl,  being  very  young  at  his 
father's  death,  was  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  his  uncle, 
Su:  Thomas  Kennedy  of  Gulzean.  In  November  1597,  he 
married  Jean,  only  daughter  of  James  fourth  Lord  Fleming, 
relict  of  Lord  Maitland  of  Thirlestane,  high -chancellor  of 
Scotland,  against  the  will  of  all  his  friends,  as  the  lady  was 
considerably  older  than  himself  and  described  as  **past  child- 
bearing."  In  1599  he  was  appointed  lord-high-treasurer  of 
Scotland,  having  advanced  forty  thousand  marks  for  that 
office ;  but  as  he  was  removed  the  same  year  he  lost  his  moifhy. 
This  eari  is  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  slaughter  of  Gilbert 
Kennedy  of  Bargany.  The  feuds  between  thu  earls  of  Gas- 
ttllis  and  the  lairds  of  Bai^gany  had  been  of  long  continu- 
ance. On  the  11th  December  1601,  the  earl  of  Gassillis  hav- 
ing learned  that  the  young  laird  of  Bargany  was  to  ride  from 
the  town  of  Ayr  to  his  own  mansion  on  the  water  of  Girvan, 
attended  only  by  a  few  followers,  determined  to  waylay  and 
attack  him,  and  for  that  purpose,  with  two  hundred  armed 
retuners,  he  took  his  station  at  the  Lady  Gorse,  about  half- 
a-mile  north  of  Mayhole.  The  laird  of  Bargany,  with  his 
small  retinue,  soon  appeared  at  the  Brochloch,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  valley,  and  seemg  the  earl  thus  attended,  said  to 
his  men  that  he  desuvd  no  quarrel,  and  would  not  throw 
himself  in  the  earl's  way.    He  accordingly  led  them  down  the 


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SIXTH  EARL  OF. 


north  bank  of  the  rirulet  by  Bogside,  with  the  view  of  avoid- 
ing a  collision  with  the  earl,  at  so  great  disadvantage  to  him- 
self. The  earl  followed  down  the  sonth  side,  and  coming  to 
some  *  feal  dykes,'  which  ofiered  a  good  support  for  the  fire- 
arms of  his  followers,  he  ordered  them  to  discharge  thev 
pieces  at  Bargany  and  his  men,  by  which  the  young  laird, 
whose  dar^ig  courage  led  hmi  with  only  four  gentlemen  to 
advance  upon  this  disproportionate  force,  was  slain  with  two 
of  his  followers,  after  comporting  himself  with  more  than 
chivalrous  gallantry.  Bargany  appears  to  have  been  a  youth 
of  great  promise.  "  He  was,**  says  the  historian  of  this  mur- 
derous assault,  **  the  brawest  manne  that  was  to  be  gotten  in 
ony  land ;  of  hiche  stataur,  and  weill  maid ;  his  hair  blak, 
bott  of  ane  cumlie  feace ;  the  brawest  horsemanne,  and  the 
best  at  all  pastymis."  This  tragedy  was  of  too  flagrant  a 
nature  to  be  passed  over,  but  the  countess  of  Caasillis,  who 
had  friends  at  court,  rode  to  Edinburgh,  and  obtained  his 
majesty's  favour  to  her  husband,  who  **gott  this  mutdll 
gruntit,  that  my  lord  suld  cum  himself  and  deall  with  the 
thesaurer  (treasurer)  for  his  escheitt;" — "and  by  reason,** 
adds  the  historian,  "  of  ten  thousand  markis  given  to  him, 
there  was  obtenit  to  me  lord  ane  act  of  counsall,  making  all 
that  me  lord  had  done  gude  service  to  the  king!"  Auchen- 
drane  had  married  the  sister  of  the  gallant  youth  who  thus 
fell,  and  out  of  the  events  of  this  bloody  action  arose  the  series 
of  dark  and  tragical  deeds  on  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  founded 
his  *  Ayrshire  Tragedy,'  in  his  prefatory  notice  to  which  he  re- 
lates the  circumstances  more  favourably  to  the  earl  of  Cassillis. 
[See  Murk,  surname  of.]  The  earl  died  in  1616,  without 
issue.  His  brother,  Gilbert,  master  of  Cassillis,  predeceased 
him,  but  his  son,  John,  became  sixth  earl  of  Cassillis.  In 
the  Appendix  to  PUcairn's  Crimmai  Triah^  vol.  iiL,  is  a 
bond,  dated  4th  September  1602,  by  the  fifth  earl  of  Cassillis, 
to  his  brother,  Hugh  Kennedy,  commonly  called  the  master  of 
Cassillis,  to  pay  him  and  his  accomplices  twelve  hundred 
merks  yearly,  with  com  for  six  horses,  as  a  bribe  to  induce 
him  to  murder  the  laird  of  Auchindrane ;  another  striking 
aad  characteristic  illustration  of  the  barbarous  state  of  soci- 
ety and  manners  in  some  parts  of  Scotland  at  that  period. 

The  Mxth  earl,  styled  **  the  grave  and  solemn*'  earl,  is  de- 
scribed as  a  person  of  great  virtue  and  of  considerable  abili- 
ties, and  so  sincere  that  he  never  would  permit  his  words  to 
be  understood  but  in  their  direct  sense.  Being  zealously  at- 
tached to  the  presbyterian  form  of  worship,  he  took  a  pi#- 
minent  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Covenanters  in  1638, 
and  following  years,  and  in  June  1689,  when  the  Lyon  king 
at  arms  was  sent  to  their  camp  at  Dunse  Law,  with  a  procla- 
mation from  the  king,  the  earl  of  Cassillis  ofiered  a  protest, 
adhering  to  the  last  General  Assembly  held  at  Glasgow, 
which  the  Lyon  refused  to  receive.  On  the  17th  September, 
1641,  he  was  nominated  of  his  majesty's  privy  council.  He 
was  one  of  the  three  ruling  elders  sent  to  the  assembly  of 
divines  at  Westminster  in  1643,  to  ratify  the  solemn  league 
and  covenant  In  September  1646,  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners directed  to  repair  to  Charles  the  first,  to  urge  his 
majesty  to  accept  of  the  propositions  made  to  him  by  the 
English  parliament  In  1648  he  opposed  the  ^  Engagement  * 
to  march  into  England,  to  attempt  the  relief  of  the  king. 
In  1649,  on  the  dismissal  of  the  earl  of  Crawford  as  treasurer, 
Cassillis  was  made  one  of  the  four  lords  of  the  treasury.  After 
the  execution  of  Charles,  he  was  sent  by  the  Scots  parliament, 
in  March  1649,  with  the  earl  of  Lothian,  Lord  Burly,  and 
others,  as  commissioners,  to  Charies  the  Second  at  Breda,  to 
ofi*er  him  the  crown  of  Scotland  on  certain  conditions.  These 
commissioners  acted  in  a  double  capacity,  and  had  instructions 
both  from  the  estates  and  firom  tlie  commission  of  the  kirk, 


in  both  of  which  the  earl  of  Cassillis  was  the  diief  person. 
Charles  endeavoured  to  prevail  on  them  to  modify  some  of 
the  conditions,  but  Cassillis  adhered  firmly  to  his  instmctiona. 
On  his  return  to  Scotland,  his  lordship  was  appointed  justice- 
general,  and  gave  his  oath  '  de  fideli  administratione,'  39th 
June  of  the  same  year.  On  3d  July  he  was  appointed  an 
extraordinary  lord  of  session.  In  1650  he  was  again  one  of 
the  commissioners  sent  by  the  parliament  to  treat  with  the 
king  at  Breda.  After  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  a  deputation 
was  sent  by  the  estates,  consisting  of  Cassillis,  Argyle,  and 
other  members,  to  the  western  army  "to  solidt  unity  for 
the  good  of  the  kingdom,"  General  Leslie  having  threatened 
to  resign  his  command  if  they  did  not  unite  with  him;  but 
their  efforts  were  m  vain.  The  eari  afterwards  refused  to 
come  into  any  terms  with.  Cromwell. 

On  the  settlement  of  the  court  of  session  after  the  Restora* 
tion,  his  lordship,  1st  June  1661,  was  re-appointed  one  of  tbe 
four  extraordjnaiy  lords,  but  was  superseded  in  July  1662, 
on  account  of  his  refusal  to  take  the  oaths  of  alliance  and 
supremacy  without  an  explanation,  which  the  parKament 
would  not  allow  of.  In  the  Soots  parliament  his  lordship 
moved  for  an  address  to  the  king  to  marry  a  protestant,  bn( 
found  only  one  to  second  him.  When  the  persecution  of  the 
presbyterians  commenced,  he  obtuned  a  promise  under  the 
king's  hand  that  he  and  his  family  should  not  be  distuiited 
in  serving  God  in  any  way  he  pleased.  He  died  in  April  166& 
He  married,  first.  Lady  Jean  Hamilton,  bom  8th  February 
1607,  daughter  of  the  first  earl  of  Haddington,  and  by  her, 
who  was  the  heroine  of  the  popuUir  ballad  of  *  Johnie  Faa, 
the  Gypsy  Laddie,'  he  had  a  son,  James,  Lord  Kennedy,  who 
died  unmarried,  and  two  daughters.  His  elder  daughter. 
Lady  Margaret,  became  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  Bishop 
Burnet  bnt  had  no  issne.  She  was  a  lady  of  considerable 
piety  and  knowledge,  but  not  remarkable  for  her  political 
discretion.  It  is  related  of  her  that  one  day  during  the  com- 
monwealth, as  she  was  standing  at  a  winclow,  she  reviled 
some  of  CromweH's  soldiers  as  murderers  of  their  king.  The 
soldiers  threatened  that  unless  she  held  her  tongue  they 
would  fire  at  her,  but  she  continued  in  the  same  strain,  on 
which  they  fired,  and  a  bullet  passed  between  her  and  ano- 
ther lady  beside  her,  narrowly  missing  them  both.  Her  sen- 
timents inclined  strongly  towards  the  presbyterians,  with 
whom  she  was  in  high  credit  and  esteem.  Owing  to  the 
disparity  of  their  ages,  the  day  before  her  marriage,  the 
bishop  delivered  to  her  a  deed  renouncing  all  daim  to  her 
fortune,  which  was  considerable.  Her  younger  sister,  Lady 
Catherine,  married  in  1653,  William  Lord  Cochrane,  eldest 
son  of  the  first  eari  of  Dundonald.  The  earl  of  Cassillis  mai^ 
ried,  secondly.  Lady  Margaret  Hay,  only  daughter  of  the 
tenth  earl  of  Enrol,  relict  of  Henry  Lord  Ker,  and  by  her  he 
had  a  son,  John,  seventh  earl,  and  two  daughters,  Ladies 
Mary  and  Elizabeth. 

There  are  vanons  versions  of  the  stoiy  of  the  ill-starred 
lady,  his  first  countess.  The  opening  stanzas  of  the  ballad 
which  refers  to  her,  run  thus : 

"  The  gypsies  cam  to  lord  Cassillis  yett. 
And  O!  but  they  sang  bonnle; 
They  sang  sae  sweet,  and  sae  complete, 
That  domi  cam  oar  fair  lady 

"  She  cam  tnppmg  donn  the  stairi, 
Wi'  a'  her  maids  bofiwe  her, 
As  soon  as  they  saw  her  freelfiu-'d  (iice. 
They  cuitt  their  glamoiir.*o  ower  her  " 

It  is  said  that  the  lady  Jean  Hamilton  j.tevions  to  her  mar- 
riage with  the  eari.  had  been  betrothed  t^*  g«lUuit  yoonjE 


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SEVENTH  EARL  OF. 


knight,  a  Sir  John  Faa  of  Dunbar,  %vhich  town  was  not  inure 
than  three  miles  distant  from  her  father*s  seat  of  T^rnmngham. 
When  the  earl  of  Cassillis  offered  for  her,  the  match  was 
esteemed  so  advantageous  that  she  was  commanded  by  her 
father  to  break  off  her  former  engagement ;  but  she  arranged 
with  her  lover  that  he  should  go  to  the  continent,  under  a 
solemn  pledge  that  he  would  return  in  a  few  months.  Two 
full  years,  however,  passed  awny,  without  any  tidings  of  or 
from  him,  and  a  letter  having  been  received  from  the  English 
ambassador  at  Madrid,  giving  assurance  of  his  death  by  the 
hands  of  some  bravos,  the  lady  at  last  reluctantly  consented 
to  marry  the  earl.  Finding  that  the  countess  preferred  soli- 
tude to  his  societv,  he  is  said  to  have  treated  her  with  the 
utmost  indifference.  One  e\'ening  as  she  was  taking  her  ac- 
customed walk  on  the  battlements  of  the  castle  of  Cassillis. 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Doon,  she  descried  a  band  of  gypsies 
hastily  approaching.  Such  bands  were  very  common  at  that 
period,  but  the  number  and  suspicious  appearance  of  this 
company  were  calculated  to  create  considerable  alarm,  tlM 
more  especially  as  the  earl  was  from  home,  attending  th«  as 
sembly  of  divines  at  Westminster.  On  arriving  at  the  house, 
however,  instead  of  offering  Wolenoe,  they  comuMnced  some 
of  their  wild  strains,  and  the  countess  was  in  the  act  of  drop- 
ping some  pieces  of  money  from  the  window  to  them,  when 
all  at  once  she  recognised  in  their  leader,  the  tall  command- 
ing figure  of  her  former  lover.  Sir  John  Faa.  An  interview 
immediately  took  place,  and  the  mysterious  cause  of  hin 
long  absence  was  fully  explained.  He  had  \een  confined  for 
four  years  in  the  Inquisition,  on  account  of  some  unguard 
ed  expression  he  had  used  respetting  the  church  of  Rome. 
On  obtaining  his  liberty  he  hastened  to  London,  where  he 
learned  for  the  first  time  that  she  was  married. »  He  pre 
vailed  upon  her  to  elope  with  him ;  but  they  had  not  pro 
ceeded  far  when  the  earl  most  unexpectedly  arrived  with  a 
powerful  retinue.  He  immediately  pur»ued  the  fugitives, 
whom  he  tpeedily  overtook,  and  after  a  short  encounter  cap- 
tured the  whole  party,  but  one,  at  a  ford  over  th0  Doon,  still 
called  **  the  Gypsies*  steps,**  a  few  miles  from  the  castle.  Sir 
John  Faa  and  his  followers,  fifteen  in  all,  were  hanged  on  a 
tree,  known  by  the  name  of  the  "dule,**  or  dolor,  tree,  a 
splendid  and  most  umbrageous  plane,  which  still  flourishes  on 
a  little  knoll  in  front  of  the  castle  gate;  while  the  countesf 
was  compelled  by  her  husband  to  survey  fix)m  a  window  the 
dreadful  scene.  The  particular  room  in  the  stately  old  house 
where  the  unhappy  lady  endured  this  torture  is  still  called 
**the  Countess*  room.**  After  a  short  confinement  in  that 
apartment,  a  house  at  Maybole,  which  formed  the  earl's  win- 
ter residence,  and  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  factor  of  the 
family,  was  fitted  up  for  her  reception,  by  the  addition  of  a 
fine  projecting  stair-case,  upon  which  were  carved  fifteen 
heads  representing  those  of  her  lover  and  his  band.  Being 
removed  thither  she  there  languished  out  the  short  remainder 
of  her  life  in  strict  confinement  She  is  said  to  have  occupied 
herself  in  working  a  prodigious  quantity  of  tapestry,  so  as  to 
have  completely  covered  the  walls  of  her  prison.  In  this  she 
represented  her  unhappy  flight,  but  with  circumstances  un- 
suitable to  the  details  of  the  ballad,  for  she  is  shown  mounted 
behind  her  lover,  gorgeously  attired,  on  a  superb  white  horse, 
and  surrounded. by  a  group  of  persons  who  bear  no  resem- 
blance to  a  band  of  gypnes.  This  fragmentary  piece  of  old 
tapestry,  which  -is  said  still  to  be  preserved  at  Culzean 
Castle,  seems  to  owe  its  name  and  interest  to  the  inventive 
faculties  of  the  housekeepers,  who  of  course  have  the  old  tra- 
dition by  rote,  and  connect  the  countess  with  what  never  may 
have  had  the  slightest  relation  to  her. 
The  above  version  of  the  story  is  different  from  that  recited 


in  the  ballad,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  composed  by 
the  only  one  of  the  band  who  escapeil.  There  is  extant  a 
letter  from  the  earl  to  the  Rev.  Robert  Douglas,  written 
shortly  after  his  first  wife's  death,  in  which  he  expresses  a 
respect  and  tenderness  for  her  memory  quite  inconceivable 
had  she  been  guilty  of  endeavcnnr.g  to  elope  from  Urn ;  so 
that  it  is  very  doubtful  if  the  I^y  Jean  Hamillon  was  the 
**  frail  fair  one  **  after  all.  A  portrait  of  the  countess  is  shown 
at  Holyrood  house,  but  its  authenticity  is  doubted.  It  is 
thought  rather  to  be  a  portrail  of  Lady  Sunderland,  the 
Sachariasa  of  Waller.  Another  portnut  of  the  countess,  said 
to  be  a  correct  likeneat,  b  preserved  at  Culzean  castle.  An 
engraviag  of  it  is  given  in  Constable's  Scots  Magazine  for 
1817,  from  which  the  following  woodcut  is  taken: 


John,  seventn  earl,  held  the  same  religious  principles  as  his 
father,  and  pursued  the  same  independent  line  of  conduct. 
He  was  the  only  person  in  the  Scots  parliament  of  1670  who 
voted  against  the  act  for  punishing  conventicles.  This  gave 
great  offence  to  the  duke  of  Lauderdale  and  the  Scots  privy 
council,  who  then  had  the  administration  of  .nffairs,  and  in 
January  lf>78,  fifteen  hundred  men  of  the  '*  Highland  Host** 
were  quartered  in  Carrick,  chiefly  on  the  Cassillis  estates, 
which  they  plundered.  His  lordship  was  ordered  to  attend 
at  Ayr,  22d  February,  and  on  hi*  appearance  there  a  bond 
was  tendered  to  him  to  sign,  obliging  him,  under  a  heavy 
penalty,  to  be  answerable  that  his  whole  family,  tenants,  and 
labourers,  and  their  respective  families  should  not  attend 
conventicles  nor  harbour  any  of  the  covenanters  or  field 
preachers.  This  he  refused  to  do,  as  contrary  to  law,  and 
impossible  for  him  to  perform.  He  was,  in  consequence,  de- 
nounced an  outlaw,  and  prohibited  frx)m  quitting  the  king- 
dom. Nevertheless,  with  the  dnke  of  Hamilton  and  twelve 
other  peers  he  repaired  to  Tendon,  to  complain  of  Lauder- 
dale's proceedings,  but  as  they  had  left  Scotland  without  per- 
mission they  were  at  first  refused  an  audience.  At  length 
they  were  heard,  25th  May,  in  presence  of  the  cabinet  couu- 


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CASSILLIS, 


608 


TWELB^ni  EARL  OF. 


oil,  but  declining  to  reduce  their  complaints  to  writing,  with- 
out a  previona  iniemnityf  as  the  most  cautious  remonstTance 
it  was  possible  to  frame  could  be  converted  into  leasing- 
making,  the  king  dedared  his  full  approbation  of  the  Scot- 
tish measnres.  On  the  rising  of  the  Covenanters  in  1679, 
the  duke  of  Hamilton,  the  earl  of  Cassillis,  and  tlie  other 
Scottbh  lords  then  in  London,  humanely  offered  to  put  down 
the  insurrection,  without  arms  or  effusion  of  blood,  if  tlie 
sufferings  of  the  people  were  relieved ;  but  the  offer  was  re- 
jected. They  afterwards  obtained  an  audience,  and  were 
fully  heard  on  their  complaints  against  Lauderdale,  but  in 
vain.  On  the  Scots  council  writing  to  the  king  to  cause  the 
earl  of  Cassillis  to  be  sent  down  prisoner  to  Edinburgh  to  be 
tried,  according  to  law,  for  contemning  his  migesty's  procla- 
mation, the  king  refiised,  and  a  stop  was  put  to  all  further 
proceedings  against  him.  He  entered  heartily  into  the  Revo- 
lution, and  in  1689  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor  to  King 
William,  and  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of  the  Treasury.  He 
died  23d  July  1701.  He  was  twice  married;  first,  to  Lady 
Susan  Hamilton,  youngest  daughter  of  James  first  duke  of 
Hamilton,  and  had  by  her  a  son,  John,  Lord  Kennedy,  and  a 
daughter,  T>ady  Anne,  married  to  her  cousin-german  John 
enri  of  Selkirk  and  Ruglen;  2dly,  to  Elizabeth  or  Mary 
Foix,  and  had  by  her  a  son,  the  Hon.  James  Kennedy,  who 
died  without  issue,  and  a  daughter,  Lady  Elizabeth.  The 
second  countess  found  that  her  peerage  formed  no  protection 
to  her  in  violating  the  law  in  keeping  a  gambling  house;  for 
on  29th  April  1745  the  House  of  Lords  being  informed  that 
claims  of  peerage  were  made  and  insisted  oi\^by  the  Ladies 
Mordington  and  Cassillis,  in  order  to  intimidate  the  peace- 
officers  from  doing  their  duty  in  suppressing  the  public  gam- 
mg  houses  kept  by  these  ladies,  resolved  that  no  person  is 
entitled  to  privilege  of  peerage  against  any  prosecution  for 
keeping  any  public  or  common  gaming  house,  or  any  house, 
room,  or  place  for  playing  at  any  game  or  games  prohibited 
by  law.    She  died  12tb  September  1746 

His  son,  John,  Lord  Kennedy,  married  Elizabeth,  eldest 
daughter  of  Charles  Hutcheson,  Esq.  of  Owthorpe,  in  the 
county  of  Kottmgnam,  and  died  in  1700,  in  the  lifetune  of 
her  father,  leaving  one  son,  John,  who  oecame  the  eighth  earl. 
His  widow  married  a  second  time  her  husband*s  cousin-ger- 
man and  brother-in-law,  John,  eari  of  Selkirk  and  Ruglen. 
without  issue.  After  the  marriage  of  his  son,  the  earl  of 
Cassillis  executed  a  strict  entail  of  his  estate,  6th  September, 
1698. 

John,  eighth  earl,  bom  in  April  1700,  succeeded  his  grand- 
father when  he  was  little  more  than  a  year  old.  He  held  the 
office  of  governor  of  the  castle  of  Dumbarton.  Under  the 
act  of  1747,  for  the  abolition  of  heritable  jurisdictions,  he  re- 
ceived eighteen  hundred  pounds  for  the  regality  of  Carrick,  in 
full  of  his  claim  of  thirteen  thousand  one  hundred  pounds. 
He  died  at  London  7th  August,  1759,  and  was  buried  in  SL 
James*  Church,  but  in  June  1760,  his  body  was  removed  to 
the  Collegiate  church  of  Maybole.  He  married,  26th  Octo- 
ber 1738,  his  cousin,  Lady  Susan  Hamilton,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  his  stepfather,  John,  earl  of  Selkirk  and  Ruglen, 
by  Lady  Anne  Kennedy,  daughter  of  the  seventh  earl  of  Cas- 
sillis, but  had  no  issue  by  her.  His  lordship,  on  29th  March 
1759,  when  his  countess  was  at  a  ball,  privately  executed  a 
settlement,  in  nature  of  a  strict  entail,  of  the  whole  lands  and 
estates  of  Cassillis  in  favonr  of  Sir  Thomas  Kennedy  of  Cnl- 
zean,  baronet,  the  nearest  male  hen*  of  the  family,  and  several 
other  heirs  and  substitutes  therein  named.  Lady  Cassillis 
died  8th  Februaiy  1763,  and  was  buried  in  the  abbey  of 
Holyroodhouse. 

On  the  death  of  the  eighth  earl,  William,  earl  of  March 


and  Ruglen,  afterwards  duke  of  Queensbeny,  grandson  of  tlie 
above-named  Lady  Anne  Kennedy,  connteos  of  Selkirk  and 
Ruglen,  daughter  of  the  seventh  earl  of  Cassillis,  assumed 
the  title  of  eari  of  Cassillis,  and  founding  on  the  entail  of  5th 
September  1698,  purchased  brieves  for  having  himself  served 
heir  of  tailzie  and  provision  to  the  last  eari.  He  was  opposed, 
however^  by  Sir  Thomas  Kennedy,  who  claimed  under  the 
entail  of  1759,  and  got  himself  'served  heir  male  to  the  same 
earl.  An  action  of  reduction,  brought  by  the  eari  of  March, 
for  setting  aside  the  latter  entail,  Was  unsuccessful  in  the 
court  of  session,  29th  February  1760,  and  on  appeal  the 
judgment  was  confirmed  by  the  House  of  Lords,  thereby  estab- 
lishing the  right  of  Sir  Thomas  KennQ({y  to  the  estate  ot 
Cassillis.  Petitions  were  presented  to  the  House  of  Lords  by 
both  parties,  claiming  the  title.  Their  lordships,  27th  Janu- 
aiy,  1762,  adjudged  it  to  belong  to  Su*  Thomas  Kennedy, 
who  thus  became  ninth  eari. 

The  ninth  eari  derived  his  descent  from  the  Hon.  Sir 
Thomas  Kennedy  of  Culzean,  called  the  tutor  of  Cassillis, 
second  son  of  Gilbert,  the  th.ird  eari  He  was  the  second  son 
of  Sir  John  Kennedy  of  Culzean,  great-great-grandson  of  the 
tutor  of  Cassillis,  by  his  wife  Jean  Douglas,  of  the  family  of 
Mains  in  Dumbartonshire.  His  elder  brother.  Sir  John  Ken- 
nedy, died  before  him,  in  April  1744,  and  he  succeeded  to  his 
estate.  He  was  then  an  officer  in  the  British  army  in  Flan- 
ders. He  was  served  heir  to  his  brother,  12th  July,  1747. 
At  the  general  election  of  1774,  the  eari  was  chosen  one  of 
the  uxteen  representatives  of  the  Scots  peerage.  He  died, 
unmarried,  at  Culzean,  80th  November,  1775. 

His  next  brother,  David,  succeeded  as  tenth  eari.  He  was 
bred  a  lawyer,  and  in  1752  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  advocates.  At  the  general  election  of  1768,  he  was 
chosen  member  of  parliament  for  the  county  of  Ayr.  The 
year  after  his  accession  to  the  title,  namely  on  14th  Novem- 
ber 1776,  on  a  vacancy  occurring,  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
sixteen  representative  Scots  peers,  and  rechosen  at  the  gen- 
eral elections  ot  1780  and  1784.  He  snppbrted  Fox*s  India 
Bill  in  1783,  and  signed  the  protest  in  favour  of  the  prince  ot 
Wales'  right  to  the  regency  in  1788.  On  2d  Febniuy  1790, 
he  executed  a  deed  of  entail  of  the  estates  of  Cassillis  and 
Culzean,  in  favour  of  Captain  Arohibald  Kennedy,  royal  na<» 
vy,  and  the  hebs  male  of  his  body,  gmndson  of  Alexander 
Kennedy  of  Craigoch,  second  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Kennedy 
of  Culzean,  youngest  son  of  the  tutor  of  Cassillis.  The  earl 
died  unmarried  at  Culzean,  18th  December  1792,  when  the 
earldom  and  estates  devolved  upon  the  above-named  Captain 
Archibald  Kennedy. 

Archibald,  eleventh  eari,  was  the  son  of  Archibald  Ken- 
nedy, collector  of  customs  at  New  York,  having  gone  there 
about  1722,  by  his  first  wife,  a  Miss  Massam.  He  entered 
the  navy  in  1744,  and  became  captain  in  1757.  He  distin- 
guished himself  by  many  brilliant  actions  when  commandu* 
of  the  Flamborough  in  1759,  particulariy  in  one  when  on  the 
Lisbon  station,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  presented  by 
the  merchants  of  Lisbon  with  a  handsome  piece  oi  plate.  He 
succeeded  to  a  lai^  estate  called  Pavonia  at  Second  River, 
in  the  state  of  New  York,  which  had  belonged  to  his  Aither, 
but  during  the  war  of  Independence  his  house  was  burned 
and  all  his  papers  destroyed.  He  had  the  command  of  a 
squadron  on  the  coast  of  North  America,  and  died  at  Lon- 
don, oOth  December  1794.  He  married,  first,  a  Miss  Schuy- 
ler, a  lady  of  great  property  in  New  Jersey,  without  inoe; 
and,  secondly,  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Watts  of  New  York, 
Esq.,  and  by  her,  who  died  at  Edinburgh,  29th  December 
1798,  he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter. 

Archibald,  tlie  eldest  son,  became  twelfth  eari  of  Cassillis, 


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SECOND  LORD. 


and  was  created  first  baron  and  then  marquis  of  Ailsa.  In 
1790  he  raised  an  independent  company  of  foot,  and  in  1793 
was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  west  lowknd  fencible  regunent, 
but  resigned  that  commission  the  same  year.  He  succeeded 
his  father  in  1794,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  repre- 
sentative Soot»  peers  at  the  general  election  in  1802.  He  was 
created  a  baron  of  the  united  kingdom  by  the  title  of  Baron 
Ailsa  of  Ailsa,  Ayrshire,  4th  November  1806,  to  himself  and 
the  heirs  male  of  his  body,  and  in  1831  he  received  the  higher 
title  of  marquis  of  Ailsa.  The  title  was  taken  from  the 
*^  ocean  pyramid  **  called  Ailsa  Craig,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Frith  of  Clyde  and  nearly  opposite  his  seat  of  Cnlzean  castle. 
The  marquis  was  also  a  knight  of  the  Thistle.  He  married 
at  Dun,  1st  June,  1793,  Margaret,  youngest  daughter  and 
eventually  heiress  of  John  Ersldne,  Esq.  of  Dun,  Forfarshire, 
and  had  by  her  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  eldest  son, 
Archibald,  Lord  Kennedy  till  his  father  was  created  marquis  of 
Ailsa,  when  he  took  tlie  title  of  earl  of  Cassillut,  was  esteemed 
the  best  shot  in  the  kingdom  in  liis  day.  He  died  suddenly 
12th  August  1832  before  his  father.  He  married  Eleanor, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Alexander  Allardyoe,  Esq.  of  Dunot- 
tar,  by  whom  he  had  nine  sons  and  a  daughter,  Lady  Hannah 
Eleanor,  married  to  Sir  John  Andrew  Cathcart,  of  Carleton, 
baronet  The  second  son  of  the  first  marquis,  Lord  John 
Kennedy  Erskine,  married  Lady  Augusta  Fitzclarence,  a 
daughter  of  William  the  Fourth,  and  resided  at  Dun  House, 
near  Montrose,  sometime  previous  to  his  death.  He  was  de- 
signed of  Dun,  and  took  the  name  of  Erskine  as  heir  to  that 
estate.  Lady  Anne,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  marquis,  mar- 
ried Sir  David  Baird  of  Newbyth,  Baronet,  and  has  issue. 
The  first  marquis  died  8th  September  1846,  and  was  buried 
at  Dun.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Archibald, 
eldest  son  of  Lord  Kennedy,  earl  of  Cassillis. 

Archibald,  second  marquis  of  Ailsa,  bom  25th  August, 
1816,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  17th  dragoons,  but  retired  in 
1842.  He  married,  10th  November  1846,  Julia,  2d  daugh> 
ter  of  Sir  Richard  Mounteney  Jeplison,  baronet,  of  Spring- 
)(ale,  Dorsetshire ;  issue,  a  son,  Archibald,  earl  of  Cassillis, 
bom  in  1847,  two  other  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
marquis  is  the  sixteenth  in  direct  lineal  descent  from  John  de 
Kennedy,  who  first  changed  the  name  from  Carrick  to  Kennedy. 


Cathcabt,  a  surname  supposed  to  be  derived  from  Ker- 
kert,  or  caer-cart,  *  the  castle  on  the  Cart,'  a  river  in  Ren- 
frewshire Mr.  Ramsay,  in  his  *  Sketches'  of  that  county, 
prefers  the  etymology  Caeth-cart,  *  the  strait  of  Cart,'  the 
river  at  the  parish  of  Cathcart  running  in  a  narrow  channel. 
The  sumame  was  first  assumed  by  the  proprietors  of  the 
lands  and  barony  of  Kethcart  in  the  reign  of  William  the 
l4on,  who  succeeded  to  the  crown  in  1165. 


Cathcabt,  Earl,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  the  United 
'  Kingdom,  possessed  by  a  family  of  the  same  surname  of 
great  antiquity  in  the  west  of  Scotland,  conferred  in  1814  on 
William,  Lord  Cathcart  (a  baron  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland, 
date  of  creation  1447)  for  his  military  sei-vices.  This  noble 
family's  great  ancestor,  Rainaldns  de  Kethcart,  as  early  as 
1178,  was  witness  to  a  charter  by  Alan,  the  son  of  Walter, 
*  dapifer  regis,'  of  the  patronage  of  the  church  of  Kathcart, 
to  the  monastery  of  Paisley.  William  de  Kethcart,  his  son, 
is  witness  to  a  charter,  whereby  Dungallus  filius  Chris- 
tini  judids  de  Levenax  exchanged  the  hmds  of  Knoc  with 
the  abbey  of  Paisley,  for  lands  lying  near  Walkinshaw ;  to 
which  Alan  his  son  is  also  a  witness,  about  1199  or  1200. 
His  son  Alan  de  Cathcart  appends  his  seal  to  a  resignation 
iLade  by  the   udge  of  Levenax  to  the  abbot  and  convent  of 


Paisley,  of  the  lands  of  Culbethe  in  1234.  He  is  also  wit- 
ness to  a  charter,  dated  in  1240,  of  the  great  steward  of  Scot 
land  to  Sir  Adam  Fullarton  of  the  lands  of  Fullarton,  in  the 
bailiary  of  Kyle.  He  had  a  daughter,  Cecilia,  married  to 
John  de  Perthick;  this  lady  made  a  donation  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Paisley  of  all  her  lands  in  the  village  of  Rutherglen 
in  1262 ;  and  a  son,  William  de  Cathcart,  one  of  the  biurons 
of  Scotland  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  the  First  in  1296 

Sir  Alan  de  Cathcart,  his  son,  was  one  of  the  patriotic  barons 
who  gave  effectual  aid  to  Robert  the  Bruce  in  maintaining  the 
independence  of  Scotland.  He  was  with  Brace  at  the  battle 
of  LoudonhiU  in  1307,  when  the  English  troops  under  the  earl 
of  Pembroke  were  defeated.  The  following  year  he  formed 
one  of  a  party  of  fiity  horsemen  under  Edward  Bmce,  who, 
under  cover  of  a  thick  mist,  surprised  on  their  march,  fifteen 
hundred  cavaliy  under  John  St.  John  in  Galloway,  attacked 
and  dispersed  them.  The  particulars  of  this  rencontre  he 
related  to  Barbour,  who  thus  describes  him  * 

**  A  kni^t  that  then  was  in  his  rout, 
Worthy  and  wight,  stalwart  and  stout, 
Courteous  and  fair,  and  of  good  £une, 
Sir  Alan  Cathcart  was  his  name." 

On  this  Lord  Hailes  remarks,  "  It  is  pleasing  to  trace  a  fam- 
ily likeness  in  an  ancient  portrait"  [Annals  of  Scotland^ 
voL  ii.  p.  25,  noteJ]  He  is  designed  dominus  ejusdem  in  a  do- 
nation which  he  made  to  the  Dominicans  of  Glasgow  in  1336 
By  his  wife,  the  sister  of  Sir  Duncan  Wallace  of  Sundrura, 
the  fourth  husband  of  Eleanor  Bmce,  countess  of  Carrick,  he 
had  a  son,  Alan  de  Cathcart,  who  succeeded  him.  On  the 
death  of  Sir  Duncan  Wallace  about  1374,  without  issue,  Alan 
de  Cathcart,  in  right  of  his  wife,  inherited  the  baronies  of 
Sundmm  and  Dalmellington  in  Ayrshire. 

His  son,  Alan  de  Cathcart,  dominus  ejusdem,  entered  him- 
self a  hostage  for  Kmg  James  the  First  in  England  in  June 
1424,  in  room  of  Malcolm  Fleming.    He  oieo  m  1440. 

His  grandson.  Sir  Alan  de  Cathcart,  added  largely  to 
his  patemal  estate.  In  1447  he  redeemed  several  lands 
in  Carrick  from  John  Kennedy  of  Coyff,  which  had  been 
mortgaged  by  Sir  Alan  de  Cathcart  his  grandfather.  The 
same  year  he  was,  by  James  the  Second,  raised  to  the 
Scots  peerage  by  the  title  of  Lord  Cathcart.  He  obtam- 
ed  by  charter  the  lands  of  Auchencruive  and  other  lands 
in  Ayrshire,  2d  July  1465,  and  on  11th  April  1481,  he  was 
sworn  into  the  office  of  warden  of  the  west  marches,  at  Holy- 
roodhouse.  He  had  a  grant  from  King  James  the  Third  oi 
the  custody  of  his  majesty's  castle  of  Dundonald  and  of  the 
lands  thereof  in  Ayrshire,  13th  December  1482.  He  also  ob- 
tained the  lands  of  Trabeath  in  King's  Kyle,  then  in  the 
crown  by  the  forfeiture  of  Lord  Boyd,  and  in  1485,  he  was 
constituted  master  of  the  artillery.  He  died  before  12th 
August  1499.  By  his  wife,  Janet  Maxwell,  he  liad  four 
sons,  and  one  daughter,  namely  Alan,  master  of  Cathcart, 
who  predeceased  his  father,  leaving  a  son,  Johni  second  Lord 
Cathcart;  David,  who  also  died  before  his  father;  Hugh, 
ancestor  of  the  Cathcarts  of  Trevor,  and  John  of  Gabiyne. 
Helen,  the  daughter,  married  David  Stewart  of  Craigiehall 
in  the  dounty  of  Linlithgow. 

John,  second  Lord  Cathcart,  succeeded  on  the  death  of  his 
grandfather.  He  had  a  charter  to  himself  and  Margaret 
DougUis,  his  wife,  of  the  lands  of  Auchencruive,  12th  Au- 
gust 1499,  and  other  lands  in  Ayrshire,  forfeited  to  the  king, 
as  steward  of  Scotland,  for  the  alienation  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  same  by  the  first  Lord  Cathcart,  without  his  migesty's 
consent  6th  March  1505.  He  died  in  December  1535.  He 
married,  first,  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Kennedy  of  Blair- 

2« 


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EIGHTH  LORD. 


qnban,  by  whom  be  had  a  son,  Alan,  master  of  Gatheart ; 
aecondljf  Marg^t,  daughter  of  William  Douglas  of  Drom- 
Unxig,  and  bj  her  he  had  four  sons  and  iom*  danghters. 
Alan,  master  of  Cathcart,  and  his  two  half-brothers,  Robert 
and  John,  were  killed  at  Flodden.  Robert  married  Margaret, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Alan  Catncart  of  CarietOn,  ano  by 
her  he  had  a  son,  Robert  Gatheart,  from  whom  are  dosoendefd 
Sir  John  Andrew  Gatheart  of  Garleton  and  KiUochan  castle, 
Ayrshire,  baronet,  (baronetcy  conferred  in  1703),  and  the 
Gathcarts  of  Genoch.  The  third  son  of  the  second  marriage, 
David  Gatheart,  married  Agnes,  daughter  of  Sir  George 
Grawford  of  liffinorris,  by  whom  he  had  Alan,  his  son  and 
heir,  who  added  to  his  paternal  estate  the  barony  of  Garbis- 
ton,  by  marrying  Janet,  daughter  and  heiress  of  William 
Gatheart  of  Garbiston.  From  him  were  descended  Mtgor 
James  Gatheart  of  Garbiston,  of  the  nmeteenth  regunent  of 
light  dragoons,  who  distinguished  himself  in  the  East  Indies, 
and  his  brother,  Gaptain  Robert  Gatheart,  royal  navy.  The 
fourth  son  of  the  second  mamage  was  Hugh,  ancestor  of  the 
Gathcarts  of  Goiff,  a  family  now  extinct. 

Alan,  thurd  Lord  Gatheart,  the  son  of  Alan,  master  of 
Gatheart,  by  his  second  wife  Margaret,  daughter  of  Patrick 
Maxwell  of  Newark,  succeeded  his  grandfather  in  1535.  He 
fell  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie  10th  September  1547.  By  Helen, 
his  wife,  eldest  daughter  of  the  second  Lord  Sempill,  he  had 
a  son,  Alan,  fourth  Lord  Gatheart,  and  a  daughter,  Mariot, 
married  to  Gilbert  Graham  of  Rnockdolian  in  Garrick.  About 
1546  his  lordship  sold  his  estate  of  Gatheart  to  his  wife's  un- 
do, Gabriel  Sempill  of  Ladymuir,  younger  son  of  the  first 
Lord  SempilL  In  this  branch  of  the  Sempills  the  estate 
continued  till  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when 
it  was  sold  to  John  Maxwell  of  Williamwood.  In  the  end  of 
the  centuiy  it  was  disposed  of  in  parcels.  The  castle  and 
principal  messuage  were  acquired  by  James  Hill,  firom  whose 
representatives  they  were  purchased  by  the  tenth  lord  and 
first  eari  of  Gatheart  in  1801.  Thus,  after  the  kpse  of  two 
centuries  and  a  half,  this  portion  of  the  barony  returned  to 
the  direct  male  heir  of  its  anaent  owners.  The  earl  after- 
wards acquired  another  portion  named  SymshilL 

Alan,  fourth  Lord  Gatheart,  was  a  zealous  promoter  of  the 
Reformation,  particularly  in  the  west,  where  his  influence  was 
great.  In  1562,  when  John  Knox  was  preaching  in  Kyle,  a 
bond  was  drawn  up  for  the  maintenance  of  the  reformed  reli- 
gion, which  was  signed  by  many  of  the  barons  and  gentlemen 
of  Ayrshire,  among  whom  Lord  Gathcart*s  name  appears. 
In  1567  he  entered  into  the  bond  of  association  for  the  de- 
fence of  James  the  Sixth.  At  the  battle  of  Langside,  18th 
May  1568,  he  fought  at  the  head  of  his  vassals,  on  the  side 
of  the  regent  Murray.  A  place  is  still  pointed  out  on  an 
eminence  fiilly  in  view  of  ^e  field  of  battle,  and  near  the 
castle  of  Gatheart,  where  the  unfortunate  Maiy  anxiously 
awaited  the  result  In  1579  he  was  appointed  master  of  the 
household,  and  on  28th  January  1581,  he  subscribed  the  second 
confession  of  faith,  commonly  called  the  King*s  Gonfession, 
which  was  signed  by  his  nugesty  and  his  household  with  sev- 
eral others.  During  the  regency  of  the  earl  of  Morton  he 
had  several  grants  fVom  the  crown,  which  were  afterwards 
resumed.  His  lordship  died  in  1618.  He  had  married 
Margaret,  daugjter  of  John  Wallace  of  Graigy,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  Alan,  master  of  Gatheart,  who  died  before  his 
father  in  1603,  leaving  by  his  wife,  Isabel,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Kennedy  of  Baigany,  a  son,  Alan.  fifUi  Lord 
Gatheart 

The  fifth  Lord  Gatheart  was  served  heir  to  his  grandfather, 
8th  May  1619,  and  died  on  18th  August  1628.  He  mamed, 
first,  Lady  Mai^aret  Stewart  eldest  daughter  of  Francis  earl 


of  Bothwell,  without  issue ;  secondly,  Jean,  daughter  of  Sir 
Alexander  Golquhoun  of  Luss,  and  by  her  had  a  son, 

Alan,  sixth  Lord  Gatheart,  bom  in  1628,  the  same  year 
his  father  died.  He  is  described  as  a  noblemar  of  much 
goodness  and  probity,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  any 
prominent  part  in  public  affairs.  His  attendance  in  poriia- 
ment  is  mentioned  in  Balfour's  Annals,  in  the  second  aessoL 
of  the  second  triennial  parliament,  23d  June  1649,  with  the 
remark  that  "  there  were  ten  noblemen  only  present  fhmi  the 
downsitting  to  this  day, — often  fewer,  but  never  more."  He 
died  13th  June  1709,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age.  He 
married  Marion,  eldest  dau^ter  of  David  Boswell  of  Auchin- 
leck,  and  had  three  sons,  namely,  Alan,  seventh  lord ;  Hon. 
James ;  and  Hon.  David  Gatheart  killed  in  the  pubHo  ser- 
vice at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

Alan,  seventh  Lord  Gatheart,  bom  about  1647,  was  in  his 
sixty-second  year  when  he  succeeded  his  father.  He  died  in 
1732,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  He  married  the 
Hon.  Elizabeth  Dalrymple^  second  daughter  of  James  first 
Viscount  Stair,  the  eminent  lawyer,  and  had  three  sons  and 
one  daughter.  Alan,  the  eldest  son,  perished  at  sea  in  Au- 
gust 1699,  on  his  passage  to  Holland.  Gbarles,  the  seoom'. 
son,  became  eighth  Lord  Gatheart;  and  James,  the  third 
son,  a  m^or  in  the  army,  was  killed  in  a  duel  by  Gord-m  of 
Ardoch.  llie  daughter,  Hon.  Margaret  Gatheart,  married 
Sir  John  Whitefoord  of  Blairquhan,  baronet,  and  had  issue. 

Gharles,  the  eighth  lord,  bora  about  1686,  was  a  distin- 
guished military  commander.  He  entered  early  into  the 
army,  and  had  a  captain's  oommisdon  29th  June  1703.  In 
the  following  year  he  went  over  to  Flanders,  where  he  had  a 
company  in  General  Macartney's  regiment,  and  soon  after- 
wards he  commanded  the  grenadier  company.  He  quitted 
that  regiment  in  1706  for  a  troop  in  the  second  regiment  3f 
dragoons  or  royal  Scots  Greys.  In  1707  he  acted  as  major 
of  brigade  under  the  earl  of  Sisar.  In  1709  he  became  ma- 
jor in  the  Scots  Greys,  and  was  afterwards  promoted  to  be 
lieutenant-colonel  .of  that  distinguished  corps.  On  the  ac- 
cession of  George  the  First,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
grooms  of  his  migesty's  bed-chamber.  At  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  of  1715,  he,  being  then  Golonel  Gatheart, 
joined  the  duke  of  Argyle  at  Stirling,  and,  on  23d  October, 
was  despatched  by  his  grace  with  a  detachment  of  dragoons 
against  a  body  of  the  rebels,  consisting  of  two  hundred  foot 
and  one  hundred  horse,  who  had  been  sent  towards  the  town 
of  Dunfermline,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  contributions.  Re- 
ceiving intelligence  that  they  had  passed  Gastle  Gampbell, 
and  had  taken  up  their  quarters  for  the  night  in  a  village  on 
the  road,  Golonel  Gatheart  continued  his  inarch  during  the 
whole  night,  and  coming  upon  their  resting-place  unperoeived 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  surprised  the  party,  some  ol 
whom  were  taken  while  in  bed.  In  the  fi«y  several  of  the 
insurgents  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  the  prisoners 
amounted  to  eleven  gentlemen  and  six  servants.  He  return- 
ed to  the  camp  at  Stirling  the  same  evening,  having  sus- 
tained no  loss,  as  only  one  of  his  men  was  wounded  in  the 
cheek,  and  one  horse  hurt  At  the  battle  of  Sherifiinuir, 
which  followed,  13th  November,  when  Argyle  perceived  tiiat 
he  could  make  no  impr^non  in  front  upon  the  numerous 
masses  of  the  insurgents,  and  that  he  might  be  outflanked  by 
them,  he  resolved  to  attack  them  on  their  flank  with  part  ot 
his  cavahy,  while  his  foot  should  gall  them  with  their  fire  in 
front  He  therefore  ordered  Golonel  Gatheart  to  move  ak>ng 
the  morass  to  the  nght  with  a  strong  body  of  cavalry,  aiMi 
to  fall  upon  the  flank  of  Mar's  left  wing,  a  movement  whicfa 
he  executed  with  great  skilL  Gatheart,  after  receiving  a  fire 
from  the  rebel  horse,  immediately  charged  them,  bat  th«| 


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NINTH  LORD. 


snstained  the  assault  with  great  finnnees.  After  nearly  lialf- 
an-honr'B  contest,  however,  they  were  oompelled  to  give  way, 
and  the  rebel  fioot  being  also  foroed  to  fall  back,  a  general 
rout  of  the  left  wing  of  the  insm^nts  in  conseqnenoe  ensued. 

Colonel  Cathcart  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  9th 
regiment  of  foot,  15th  February  1717,  and  of  the  Slat,  13th 
August  1728.  On  1st  January  1781  he  received  the  com- 
mand of  the  8th  dragoons.  He  succeeded  his  father  as  Lord 
Cathcart  in  1732,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of  the 
bedchamber  to  Qeoi^  the  Second  in  January  1733,  in  room 
of  the  duke  of  Hamilton  resigned.  He  was  made  colonel  of 
the  third  regiment  of  horse  or  carbineers,  7th  Angust  1733. 
He  was  chosen  one  of  the  sixteen  representative  Scots  peers 
at  the  general  election  of  1734.  In  the  following  year  he  was 
appointed  governor  of  Duncannon  fort,  and  in  1739  of  Lon* 
donderxy,  with  the  rank  of  major-general  in  the  army. 

In  1740,  after  war  had  been  dedared  against  Spain,  it  was 
resolved  to  attack  the  Spanish  dominions  in  South  America, 
and  Lord  Cathcart  was  appointed  general  and  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  the  British  forces  in  this  service.  He  sailed  from 
Spitbead  in  October  of  that  year,  but  never  reached  his  desti- 
nation, as  he  died  at  sea,  after  thirteen  days*  illness,  20th  De- 
cember 1740,  aged  fifty-four  years,  and  was  buried  on  the 
beach  of  Prince  Rupert*s  bay,  Dominica,  where  a  monument 
IS  erected  to  his  memozy.  His  death,  happening  at  the  time 
it  did,  was  considered  as  a  national  loss.  His  lordship  mar- 
ried, first,  at  London,  29th  March  1718,  Marion,  only  child 
of  Sir  John  Shaw,  baronet,  of  Greenock,  county  of  Renfrew, 
and  by  her,  who  died  in  1733,  he  had  five  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters. The  eldest  two,  twins,  died  young.  Charies,  the  third 
son,  succeeded  as  ninth  Lord  Cathcart  The  Hon.  Shaw 
Cathcart,  the  fourth  son,  an  ensign  in  the  third  regiment  of 
foot  guards,  fell  in  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Fontenoy,  SOth 
April  1746,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  unmarried.  Lord 
Cathcart  married,  secondly,  in  1739,  Mrs.  Sabine,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Mr.  Malyn  of  Southwark  and  Battersea,  but  by  her 
he  had  no  issue.  The  history  of  this  lady  was  somewhat  re- 
markable. She  married,  first,  James  Fleet,  Esq.,  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Tewing  in  Hertfordshire;  secondly.  Captain  Sabine, 
younger  brother  of  General  Joseph  Sabine  of  Quinohall  in 
Tewing;  thirdly.  Lord  Cathcart;  fourthly,  18th  May  1746, 
Hugh  MacGuire,  an  Irish  officer  in  the  Hungarian  service,  for 
whom  she  purchased  a  lieutenant-coloners  commission  in  the 
British  army,  but  was  not  encouraged  by  his  treatment  of 
her  to  verify  the  posey  on  her  wedding  ring: 

-HI  survive,  I  shall  have  five.- 

The  colonel  took  her  over  to  Ireland,  and  secluded  her  m  a 
solitary  place  in  the  oountiy,  keeping  her  in  confinement  till 
his  death,  which,  to  her  great  satis&ction,  happened  in  1764, 
when  she  returned  to  England.  She  danced  at  Welwyn  a»- 
sembly  when  past  eighty  years  of  age,  with  all  the  spirit  Hnd 
gaiety  of  a  young  woman.  She  died  at  Tewing  3d  August 
1789,  in  her  ninety-eighth  year,  after  having  enjoyed  the 
liferent  of  the  manor  of  Tewing  for  fifty-six  years.  In  the 
well-known  novel  of  Castle  Rackrent,  by  Maria  Edgeworth  and 
her  brother,  Richard  Lovell  Edgeworth,  several  particulars 
concerning  the  harsh  treatment  of  Lady  Cathcart  by  Col 
MacGuire  are  given  by  Mr.  Edgeworth,  who  mentions  that  he 
was  acquainted  with  Colonel  MacGuire,  and  had  lately  ques- 
tioned tiie  servant  who  lived  with  him,  during  the  time  that 
Lady  Cathcart  was  confined  by  him,  whicn  was  neariy 
twenty  years. 

Charies,  ninth  Lord  Cathcart,  bom  at  Edinburgh  21st 
March  1721,  was  also  an  officer  of  distinction.    He  succeeded 


his  father  in  1740,  and  became  a  captain  m  the  20th  regi- 
ment of  foot  in  1742.  He  was  aide-de-camp  to  field-marshal 
the  earl  of  Stair,  under  whom  he  served  at  the  battie  of  Det- 
tingen,  June  16,  1743.  Subsequently  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  lords  of  the  bedchamber  to  the  duke  of  Cumberland, 
and  was  aide-de-camp  to  his  royal  highness,  commander-in- 
chief  at  the  hard-fought  battie  of  Fontenoy,  April  80,  1745, 
where  bis  lordship  was  severely  wounded  in  the  face,  and  his 
only  brother  feU.  He  accompanied  the  duke,  with  three 
others  of  his  aides-de-camp,  when,  in  Januaiy  1746,  he  ar- 
nved  m  Scotland  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  and  was  present 
at  the  battie  of  CuUoden,  where  he  was  wounded.  He  was 
also  wounded  at  the  battie  of  Laffeldt,  July  2, 1747.  In  the 
following  year  Lord  Cathcart  and  the  earl  of  Sussex  were  no- 
minated hostages  for  the  delivery  of  Cape  Breton  to  the  king 
of  France,  in  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  They 
were  nresented  to  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  27th  November  1748, 
and  ranained  in  France  till  October  1749.  On  12th  April 
1750,  his  lordship  was  appointed  adjutant-general  to  the 
forces  in  North  Britain,  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  In  No- 
vember 1762,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  sixteen  Scots  repre- 
sentative peers,  and  re-chosen  at  all  succeeding  elections 
during  his  life.  In  1756,  he  was  appointed  lord  high  com- 
missioner to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  ScotUmd, 
and  continued  to  fill  that  high  office  for  the  eight  subsequent 
years  to  1763,  inclusive.  He  attained  the  rank  of  major- 
general,  21st  Januaiy,  1768,  and  of  lieutenant-general,  14th 
December  1760.  In  June  1761,  he  was  appointed  governor 
of  Dumbarton  castie,  and  in  1763  was  invested  with  the  or- 
der of  the  Thistie.  In  January  1764  he  was  named  first 
lord  of  police,  on  which  he  resigned  the  governorship  of  Dum- 
barton castle. 

In  February  1768  Lord  Cathcart  was  appointed  ambassa- 
dor eztraordinaiy  and  minister  plenipotentiaiy  to  the  em- 
press of  Russia,  and  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor,  2d  August 
same  year.  He  remained  at  St  Petersburg  till  1771,  Russia 
being  at  that  time  engaged  in  a  war  with  Turkey.  After  his 
return  from  St  Petersburg  he  was  re-appointed  lord  high 
commissioner  to  the  Gen^id  Assembly  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  firom  1773  to  1776,  both  inclusive.  In  the  ktter 
year  he  was  constituted  one  of  the  lords  of  the  bedchamber 
to  Geoige  the  Third.  His  lordship  died  14th  August  1776, 
in  his  fifty-sixth  year.  He  married  at  Greenwich  Hospital, 
24th  July  1763,  Jane,  fourth  daughter  of  Lord  Archibald 
Hamilton  of  Riccarton  and  Pardovan,  master  of  Greenwich 
Hospital,  and  sister  of  Sir  William  Hamilton,  K.B.,  and  by 
her  he  had  five  sons  and  four  daughters,  namely,  L  Jane,  bom 
May  20, 1764,  married  John,  fourth  duke  of  Athol,  and  died 
in  1791,  leaving  issue ;  2.  William  Shaw,  tenth  Lord  Cath- 
cart ;  3.  Mary,  bom  at  London  in  March  1767,  married,  26th 
December  1774,  to  Thomas  Graham,  Esq.  of  Balgowan,  in 
Perthshire,  afterwards  the  gallant  Lord  Lynedoch,  and  died, 
without  issue,  in  June  1792,  aged  thirty-six;  4.  Louisa,  bom 
in  July  1768,  married  first,  David,  Viscount  Stormont,  af- 
terwards earl  of  Mansfield,  with  issue,  and  secondly,  the 
Hon.  Robert  Fulko  Qreville,  second  brother  of  the  earl  of 
Warwick,  also  with  issue ;  5.  the  Hon.  Charles  Allan  Cath- 
cart, who  distinguished  himself  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  diplo- 
matist, bora  at  Shaw  Park,  county  Clackmannan,  28th  De- 
cember, 1769.  He  entered  the  army  in  1776,  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  grenadier  company  of  the  65th  regiment  of  foot,  with 
which  he  served  in  America.  After  obtaining  a  lieutenant's 
commission  m  the  23d  foot,  or  Royal  Welsh  Fualeers,  in 
1778  he  became  captian  in  tlie  Athol  Highlanders  or  77th 
foot,  then  m  Britain.  He  embarked  at  New  York  to  join  his 
regiment,  but  was  taken  by  a  French  privateer,  2l8t  Septem- 


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ber,  afUr  a  severe  engagement  On  29th  May  1780  he  was 
appointed  major  of  the  98th  foot,  and  soon  after  became 
lieutenant-colonel  of  that  regiment  He  aocompanied  it  to 
the  East  Indies,  where  he  was  employed  in  diplomatic  mis- 
sions by  Sir  John  Macpherson.  Subsequently  he  served 
under  Migor-general  Stuart  agunst  the  French  at  Cudda- 
lore,  and  commanded  the  grenadiers  at  the  storming  of  the 
redoubts  of  that  place,  ISth  June,  1783,  when  the  whole  of 
them,  with  the  outposts  and  eighteen  pieces  of  artUleiy,  were 
carried  at  one  stroke.  He  and  Colonel  Gordon  commanded 
in  the  trenches,  25th  June,  when  the  enemy  made  a  sortie, 
but  were  completely  repulsed,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Damas, 
their  leader,  taken  prisoner.  After  the  surrender  of  Cudda- 
lore.  Colonel  Cathcart  was  sent  home  with  the  despatches, 
and  for  his  gallant  conduct  was  appointed  quarter-master- 
general  of  the  forces  in  India,  Sd  August  1788,  and  in  1784 
had  a  sword  of  a  hundred  guineas  value  voted  to  him  by  the 
Court  of  Directors.  At  the  general  election  in  the  latter  year 
he  was  chosen  member  of  parliament  for  the  county  of  Clack- 
mannan. In  1788  he  was  invested  with  full  powers  from  the 
king  and  the  East  India  Company,  to  open  a  commercial  in- 
tercourse with  the  emperor  of  China.  He  embarked  on  board 
the  Vestal  frigate  for  China,  but  died  on  the  passage  in  the 
Straits  of  Banca,  10th  June  1788,  in  his  twenty-ninth  year, 
unmarried.  The  companions  of  his  voyage  erected  in  the 
Dutch  fort  of  Anjerie  a  monument  to  his  memoiy,  with  a  suit- 
able inscription  in  Latin ; — 6.  John,  bom  1761,  died  in  in- 
fancy ;  7.  Archibald  Hamilton,  bom  7th  July  1764,  rector  of 
Metheley,  in  Yorkshire,  and  prebend  of  York,  married  Fran- 
ces, daughter  of  John  Freemantle,  Esq.  of  Abbot's  Aston, 
Buckinghamshire,  with  issue;  8.  a  still-bom  son;  and  9. 
Catherine  Charlotte,  bom  in  Russia,  8th  July,. 1770,  maid  of 
honour  to  the  queen,  died  at  London,  unmarried,  in  1794. 

William  Shaw,  tenth  Lord  Cathcart,  bom  at  Petersham,  in 
Surrey,  17th  September,  1755,  and  received  part  of  his  educa- 
tion at  Eton  college ;  but  in  1768,  on  the  appointment  of  his 
father  as  ambassador  to  Russia,  he  accompanied  the  family  to 
St  Petersburg,  where  he  pursued  his  classical  studies,  under 
his  private  tutor,  Mr.  Richardson,  professor  of  humanity  in 
the  university  of  Ghsgow.  After  his  retum  to  Scotland  he 
studied  for  the  bar,  and  in  1776,  was  admitted  advocate.  The 
same  year  he  succeeded  his  father,  when  he  tumed  his  views 
to  the  army,  and  in  1777  had  a  comet's  commission  in  the 
7th  dragoons.  Proceeding  to  America,  then  in  a  state  of  re- 
Tolt  against  Britain,  he  served  as  aide-de-camp,  first  to  Mtyor 
General  Sir  Thomas  Spenoer  Wilson,  and  afterwards  to  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  and  distinguished  himself  on  various  occasions. 
In  1778  he  was  major-commandant  of  the  British  Legion,  a 
body  of  volunteer  infantry  raised  in  North  America,  but  re- 
ligned  that  command  in  1780,  preferring  to  serve  with  the  88d 
regiment  of  foot,  of  which  he  had  been  appointed  miyor  the 
previous  3rear.  He  also  held  the  office  of  quarter-master- 
genend  in  America.  Being  app<»nted  to  a  company  in  the 
Coldstream  regiment  of  foot-guards,  he  retumed  to  England, 
and  continued  in  that  regiment  till  October  1789,  when  he 
exchanged  into  the  29th  foot,  long  stationed  at  Windsor,  of 
which  regiment  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel.  He  was 
elected  one  of  the  sixteen  representative  Scots  peers  on  a 
vacancy,  10th  January  1788,  by  a  minority  of  one  over  the 
«arl  of  Dumfries,  and  he  was  re-chosen  at  every  subsequent 
general  election,  till  raised  to  the  peerage  of  the  united  king- 
dom. He  filled  the  office  of  chairman  of  the  committees  of  the 
House  of  Lords  from  1790  to  July  1794,  when  the  duties  bemg 
incompatible  with  foreign  service.  Lord  Walsingham  was 
chosen  in  his  stead.  In  January  1795,  Lord  Cathcart  was 
Appointed  vioe-admiral  of  Scotland.    He  attained  the  rank  of 


colonel  in  the  army,  1 1th  November  1790,  and  was  promoted 
to  the  command  of  the  29th  foot,  5th  December  1792.  In 
December  1793  he  had  the  rank  of  brigadier-geDera]  on  the 
continent,  and  in  1794  accompanied  the  earl  of  Mouna  to  the 
relief  of  Ostend.  In  the  face  of  a  formidable  body  of  the 
French  they  succeeded  in  effecting  a  junction  with  the  duke 
of  York  at  Malines,  July  9.  He  commanded  a  brigade  at  the 
defeat  of  the  French  at  Bommel,  and  attained  the  rank  of 
migor-general  4th  September  the  same  year.  With  the  14th, 
27th,  and  28th  regiments  of  foot,  he  attacked  the  Frendi,  8th 
January  1795,  near  Buren,  and  after  an  action  of  several  hours 
succeeded  in  driving  them  beyond  Geldermalsen,  taking  horn 
them  a  piece  of  cannon,  and  maintained  his  ground  till 
night,  in  spite  of  repeated  assaults  from  fresh  bodies  of  tiie 
enemy,  who  poured  in  from  different  quarters.  This  post  so 
gallantly  defended  by  his  lordship  was,  however,  too  much 
exposed  to  be  retained  in  the  face  of  a  strong  army.  The 
troops,  therefore,  retired  to  Buren,  and  the  whole  British 
forces,  under  the  conmiand  of  Sir  David  Duudaa,  were 
obliged  to  evacuate  Holland.  Lord  Cathcart  proceeded  to 
Germany,  and  remained  on  the  Weser,  and  in  other  pUoes, 
having  been  intrusted  by  his  migesty  with  the  command  of 
the  British  light  cavalry  and  the  foreign  light  corps  in  British 
pay,  in  all  thirty  squadrons^  till  December  1795,  when  he 
embarked  at  Cuxhaven  for  England.  On  7th  August  1797 
he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  2d  regiment  of  life  guards, 
and  was  swom  a  privy  coundllor  at  We3rmouth,  28th  Sep- 
tember 1798.  He  had  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  in  tiie 
army,  1st  January  1801,  and  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  forces  in  Ireland,  28th  October  1808. 

In  1805,  Lord  Cathcart  received  the  appointment  of  am- 
bassador extraordinary  to  the  emperor  of  Russia  and  the  king 
of  Prasaia,  and  at  his  audience  of  leave  at  Windsor,  2dd 
November  that  year,  was  invested  with  the  order  of  the 
Thistie.  As  both  monarchs  were  then  in  the  field,  it  was 
deemed  advisable,  on  account  of  the  critical  situation  of 
affairs,  to  postpone  Ids  embassies  to  the  spring,  and  they  were 
never  carried  into  effect  In  the  meantime  he  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  British,  in  a  combined  army  of  British, 
Russians,  Swedes,  and  Prussians.  He  had  the  local  rank  of 
general  on  the  continent,  30  th  November  1805,  and  the  fol- 
lowing month  took  the  command  of  the  British  tioops  in 
Hanover.  Aft«r  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  he  retumed  home 
with  the  army,  in  Febraary  1806 ;  and  the  same  year,  waa 
appointed  conmiander  of  the  forces  in  Scotland. 

In  the  summer  of  1807,  to  prevent  the  Danish  fleet  at  Co- 
penhagen from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  it  was 
resolved  by  the  British  govemment  to  take  possession  of  it, 
and  on  this  important  service  an  army  was  sent  under  the 
command  of  Lord  Cathcart,  with  a  fleet  under  Admiral  Gam- 
bier.  Aft«r  waiting  the  result  of  ineffectual  n^odation. 
Lord  Cathcart  proceeded  to  invest  Copenhagen;  which  he 
bombarded  with  so  much  effect  that,  after  a  siege  of  eighteen 
days,  a  capitulation  was  entered  into,  on  6th  September,  in 
consequence  of  which  the  citadel  and  arsenal  were  put  into 
the  possession  of  the  British,  and  the  Danish  fleet,  conasting 
of  sixteen  ships  of  the  line,  fifteen  frigates,  six  brigs,  and 
twenty-five  gunboats,  and  an  immense  quantity  of  naval 
stores  and  ammunition,  brought  to  England. 

On  his  retum  home,  Lord  Cathcart  was,  on  8d  No^'ember, 
created  a  British  peer,  by  the  tities  of  Baron  Greenock  of 
Greenock,  and  Viscount  Cathcart  of  Cathcart  in  the  county 
of  Renfrew.  On  the  7th  he  arrived  at  Edinbur]^  to  resume 
the  command  of  the  forces  in  Scotland,  and  had  the  freedom 
of  the  dty  voted  to  him,  17th  November.  On  the  28th  of 
the  following  January  the  thanks  of  parliament  were  voted 


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OF  CARLETON. 


to  his  lordship  and  to  Lord  Gambier.  His  lordship  attained 
the  fall  rank  of  general  in  the  army  in  January  1812,  and 
retained  his  command  in  North  Britain  nntil  May  1813, 
when  he  was  called  upon  to  undertake  another  misuon  to  St 
Petersburg.  In  the  same  year  the  emperor  Alexander  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  order  of  St  Andrew  and  the  Cross  of 
the  military  order  of  St.  George  of  the  fourth  class.  On  18th 
June  1814,  he  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  an  earl  of 
Great  Britain,  by  the  title  of  earl  Cathcart  B^des  being 
governor  of  Hull,  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  general 
officers,  and  a  commissioner  of  the  royal  military  college,  and 
royal  military  asylum.  Ho  died,  the  senior  general  in  the 
service,  16th  June  1843,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-eight, 
retaming  his  active  habits  and  vigour  of  mind  to  the  last 
He  married,  10th  April  1779,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Andrew 
Elliot,  Esq.  of  Greenwells,  Roxburghshire,  collector  of  cus- 
toms at  New  York.  By  her  he  had  six  sons  and  four 
daughters.  William,  the  eldest  son,  bom  at  London  80th 
June  1782,  chose  the  navy  for  his  profession,  and  served  his 
time  in  the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  inshore  squadron  off 
Brest  He  was  acting  lieutenant  of  the  Medusa  frigate  at 
Boulogne,  on  board  of  which  Nelson  had  hoisted  his  flag,  and 
commanded  the  cutter  of  that  vessel  at  the  attempt  on  the 
French  flotilla,  16th  August  1801,  when  his  critical  assist- 
ance rescued  Captain  Parker  (who  was  mortally  wounded), 
in  charge  of  one  of  the  divisions,  and  his  crew,  when  their 
boat  had  fallen  alongside  a  French  ship.  This  gallant  young 
officer  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow  fever,  at  Jamaica,  when 
in  command  of  the  Clorinde  frigate,  with  the  rank  of  post- 
captain,  5th  June  1804,  in  his  22d  year,  unmarried. 

The  second  son.  Charles  Murray  Cathcart,  became  eleventh 
baron  and  second  earl.  After  his  brother's  death  he  was  styled 
Lord  Greenock.  Bom  at  Waltens,  Essex,  2l8t  December, 
1783,  he  entered  the  army  in  1799  as  an  ensign  in  the  71st 
foot  After  being  in  various  regiments,  he  was  made  captain 
in  the  89th  foot,  9th  July  1808,  and  served  as  assistant  quar- 
ter-master-general in  Ireland,  and  in  the  Mediterranean.  He 
was  in  the  expedition  to  the  Scheldt,  at  the  siege  of  Flushing, 
&c,  served  in  the  Peninsular  war,  and  was  at  the  battle  of 
Waterloo.  He  attained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  in  No- 
vember 1841,  and  of  general  in  1854.  He  was  governor  of 
Edinburgh  castle  and  commander  of  the  forces  in  Scotland 
from  1837  to  1842.  In  March  1846,  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  forces  in  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  New 
Branswick,  &c.,  and  in  1847  he  became  colonel  of  thfe  3d  dra- 
goon guards.  He  married  in  France,  30th  September  1818, 
and  remarried  in  England,  12th  Febraary,  1819,  Henrietta, 
second  daughter  of  Thomas  Mather,  Esq.,  issue,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  The  second  earl  died  16th  July  1859.  His 
elder  son,  Alan  Frederick,  Lord  Greenock,  bom  16th  No- 
vember 1828,  succeeded  as  twelfth  baron  and  third  earl; 
married,  with  issue.  The  younger  son,  the  Honourable 
Augustus  Murray  Cathcart^  bom  in  1830,  is  also  an  officer  in 
the  army. 

The  third  son  of  the  first  earl,  the  Hon.  Frederick  Mac- 
adam Cathcart  of  Cnugengillan,  bom  at  Twickenham  Com- 
mon, Middlesex,  28th  October  1789,  also  chose  the  profession 
of  arms,  in  which  his  family  had  acquired  so  much  distinc- 
tion. In  January  1805,  he  was  appointed  comet  of  the  2d 
dragoons  or  Royal  Scots  Greys,  and  became  lieutenant  1st 
May  1806.  He  served  as  one  of  the  aides-de-camp  to  his 
father  in  1805, 1806,  and  1807,  and  in  the  latter  year  was 
sent  home  with  the  intelHgenoe  of  the  surrender  of  the  cita- 
del of  Copenhagen  and  the  Danish  navy.  On  the  8th  Sep- 
tember his  father  wrote :  ''  I  send  this  despatch  by  lieuten- 
ant Cathcart  who  has  been  for  some  time  my  first  aide-de- 


camp; who  has  seen  everything  that  has  occurred  here  and 
at  Stralsund,  and  will  be  able  to  give  any  further  details  that 
may  be  required."  He  was  minister  plenipotentiary  at  St 
Petersbuig  from  1820  to  1822.  and  at  Frankfort  from  1824 
to  1826.  A  knight  of  the  Russian  order  of  St  Anne. 
He  was  aidenle-Kwmp  to  his  father,  when  commander  of  the 
forces  in  Scotland;  and  in  1837  became  a  colonel  in  the 
army.  He  married,  18th  October  1827,  Jane,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Quentin  Macadam,  Esq.  of  Craigengillan,  Ayrshire, 
and  in  consequence  assumed  the  surname  of  Macadam  before 
that  of  Cathcart ;  issue,  a  son  and  several  daughters. 

The  Hon.  Sir  €^rge  Cathcart,  the  fourth  and  youngest  son,' 
bom  in  1794,  received  a  comet's  commission  in  the  2d  Life 
Guards  in  1810,  and  served  as  aide-de-camp  to  his  father  in 
the  campaigns  of  1813  and  1814,  in  Germany  and  France.  In 
1815,  as  aide-de-camp  to  the  duke  of  Wellington,  he  was  pres- 
ent at  the  battle  of  Quatre*Bras.  He  held  a  high  command 
in  Canada  during  the  insurrection  there.  In  1851  he  became 
roi^r-general,  and  was  appointed  govemor  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  forces  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Subsequently 
nominated  a  E.G.B.,  in  1853  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-gen- 
eral and  commander  of  the  4th  division  of  the  British  army 
during  the  Crimean  war.    He  was  killed  at  Inkerman  in  1854. 

The  family  of  Cathcart  of  Carleton,  Ayrshire,  is  a  junior 
branch  of  the  noble  family  of  the  same  name.  The  castle  and 
lands  of  Carleton  originally  belonged  to,  and  took  their  name 
from,  a  family  named  Carrol,  subsequently  possessors  of  Crug- 
gleton  Castle,  Wigtownshu«,  (see  M*Ebrlib,  surname  of).  A 
charter  of  Carleton  was  granted  in  1324  by  Robert  the  Brace. 
Another  charter  was  obtained  from  Robert  II.  dated  in  1386. 
The  Hon.  Sir  John  Cathcart  4th  son  of  the  1st  Lord  Cath- 
cart, married  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Carleton  of  that 
ilk,  and  had  a  son,  Alan  Cathcart,  who  became  proprietor  of 
Carleton,  and  Dec  3, 1505,  received  from)  James  IV.  a  charter 
of  the  lands  of  Carleton  and  others.  His  only  daughter  and 
heiress,  Margaret,  married  her  relative,  Hon.  Robert  Cathcart 
2d  son  of  2d  lord,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  also  named  Robert 
On  March  26, 1547,  Thomas  Kennedy  of  Knockdow,  and  David 
and  Fergus,  his  sons,  found  security  that  they  would  satisfy 
Robert  Cathcart  of  Carleton,  for  mutilating  his  left  hand,  and 
for  wounding  him  in  the  face,  and  on  May  10, 1549,  the  two 
latter  were  respited  from  the  same.  The  Cathcarts  seem  to 
have  been,  from  an  early  period,  opposed  to  the  Kennedys. 
Accordingly  we  find  that  so  late  as  1607  John  Cathcart  of 
Carleton  and  John  his  son  were  put  to  the  hom,  for  assisting 
Mure  of  Auchindrane  in  an  attack  on  the  earl  of  Cassillis  in 
the  fields  at  Maybole,  when  the  master  of  the  household  ot 
the  latter  was  slain,  and  several  of  his  followers  wounded. 

The  **  fause  knight,**  of  the  old  ballad  of  May  Collean  is 
popularly  said  to  have  resided  at  Carleton  castle,  which  gives 
title  to  this  branch  of  the  Cathcarts.  It  is  situated  about 
two  miles  to  the  south  of  Gu-van,  a  tall  old  ruin  standing  on 
the  brink  of  a  bank  which  overhangs  the  sea,  and  the  country 
people  affirm  that  the  heroine,  May  Collean,  was  a  daughter 
of  the  family  of  Kennedy  of  Culzean,  now  represented  by  the 
nuirquis  of  Ailsa.    The  ballad  begins : 

'*  Oh  I  heard  ye  of  a  bladie  knleht, 
Lived  in  the  south  oountrie? 
He  has  betrayed  eight  ladies  fUr, 
And  drowned  them  in  the  sea. 

Then  next  he  went  to  May  Coilean, 

A  maid  of  beauty  rare. 
May  CoUean  wes  this  lady's  name. 

Her  fiOher's  only  heir.** 


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CATHOART. 


614 


CAWDOR. 


She  refuses  at  first  to  wed  him,  Imt  by  means  of  a  charm,  she 
consents  to  aooompanj  him,  when  he  takes  her  to  a  lonely 
place  called  Bunion  Bay,  where  he  commands  her  to  strip 
herself  of  her  clothes  and  ornaments,  previously  to  drowning 
her  like  the  rest;  bat  under  the  pretence  that  she  could  not 
take  off  her  clothes  in  presence  of  a  man,  she  prevailed  upon 
bim  to  turn  his  back,  when  she  seized  him  in  her  arms  and 
threw  him  into  the  sea.  She  then  mounted  his  *  dapple  grey,* 
%nd  galloped  off,  and  according  to  the  tradition,  acquired  all 
his  immense  wealth.  May  there  not  be  in  this  ballad  some 
covert  allusion  to  the  frequent  fbuds  between  the  Cathcarts 
and  the  Kennedys? 

The  son  of  the  above  Robert  Cathcart,  John  Catbcart  of 
Carleton,  built  the  castle  of  Killochan,  the  present  family 
residence.  He  was  a  leading  supporter  of  the  Reformatdon, 
and  in  1570,  when  Eirkaldy  of  Grange  began  to  show  his 
hostility  to  John  Knox,  and  a  report  spread  that  he  had  be- 
come his  enemy  and  intended  to  slay  him,  the  Ifurd  of  Carle- 
ton,  Lord  Ochiltree,  the  earl  of  Glencium,  and  ten  others  of 
the  prindpal  reformers  of  Kyle  and  Cunningham,  sent  him 
a  formal  letter  from  Ayr,  solemnly  warning  him  of  any  at- 
tempts to  injure  Knox,  '*  that  man  whom  God  had  made  the 
first  planter  and  waterer  of  his  church.**  In  1581  he  was  one 
of  the  committee  named  by  the  General  Assembly  to  deliberate 
as  to  the  bishops  mtting  in  parliament  and  performing  judi- 
cial functions  both  civil  and  criminal,  when  they  gave  in  a 
report  recommending  that  commissioners  from  the  Assembly 
should  take  the  place  of  the  bishops  in  parliament,  and  that 
their  temporal  jurisdiction  should  be  exercised  by  head  bai- 
lifis.  By  his  wife,  Helen,  he  had  a  son,  Hew,  from  whom 
are  lineally  descended  the  Cathcarts  of  Greenock,  and  Hew 
Catbcart  of  Carleton,  who  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia,  20th  June,  1703.  The  latter  married,  in  1696,  a 
daughter  of  Sir  Patrick  Brotm,  baronet,  of  Colstoun.  His 
son,  Sir  John  Catbcart,  married,  first,  in  1717,  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Robert  Dundas,  Lord  Amiston,  his  issue  by 
whom,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  died  before  him ;  and,  seo- 
ondly,  in  1729,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kennedy  of 
Culzean,  baronet,  by  whom  he  had  a  numerous  family.  His 
eldest  son.  Sir  John  Catbcart,  died,  without  issue,  in  1785, 
when  the  title  and  estates  devolved  on  fab  next  brother,  Sir 
Andrew  Catbcart,  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army ;  at  whose 
death,  without  issue,  in  1828,  in  hiti  87th  year,  they  passed 
to  his  grand-nephew,  the  4th  baronet,  John  Andrew  Catb- 
cart, eldest  son  of  his  nephew,  Hugh  Cathcart.  Sir  John 
Andrew  Cathcart,  6th  baronet,  bom  in  February  1810,  at  one 
time  a  captain  in  2d  Lifeguards,  married,  in  1836,  Xady 
Eleanor  Kennedy,  only  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Cassilli^  and 
grand-daughter  of  1  St  marquis  of  Ailsa,  issue,  Reginald  Ar- 
chibald Edward,  bom  in  1838.  two  other  sons,  and  a  daughter. 

There  is  a  tradition  in  the  Cathcart  family  that  either  Sir 
Alan  Cathcart,  the  companion  in  arms  of  Robert  the  Bruce, 
or  his  son,  attended  Douglas  to  Spain,  on  his  way  to  the 
Holy  Land,  with  the  heart  of  the  patriot  king,  in  consequence 
of  which  the  Cathcarts  carry  a  heart  in  theu:  coat  of  arms. 


David  Cathcart,  a  senator  of  the  College  of  Justice,  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Allowky,  was  bom  at  Ayr,  in  January  1764. 
His  fetther,  Elias  Cathcart,  a  respectable  merchant,  who 
dealt  in  French  wines,  and  traded  with  Virginia,  previous  to 
the  Revolution  in  North  America,  was  at  one  time  provost  of 
that  tcwn  His  son  David  received  the  elementary  part  of 
his  education  at  the  schools  of  his  native  burgh.  He  studied 
for  the  bar  at  Edmburgh,  and  passed  advocate  16th  July  1786. 
He  was  promoted  to  the  bench  8th  June  1818,  and  was  ap- 
pointed a  lord  of  justiciary  in  1826.    He  married  in  1793, 


Margaret  Muir,  daughter  of  Robert  Muir,  Esq.  of  Blairvtoo, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Doon,  through  whom  be  sooeeeded  to 
that  estate,  which  became  the  property  of  his  son  Elias  Catb- 
cart, Esq.,  styled  of  Auchindrane.  The  small  estate  of 
Greenfield,  purchased  by  his  father,  was  also  the  property  of 
his  lordship.  In  one  comer  of  it  stands  the  venerable  and 
roofless  rain  of  Alloway's  "  auld  haunted  kirk,**  fipom  which 
Mr.  Cathcart  took  his  judicial  title  when  raised  to  the  bench. 
He  died  at  Blairston,  27th  April  1829,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
five,  and  was  interred  in  the  ruin  of  Alloway  kirk. 


Cawdor,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  the  united  king- 
dom, possessed  by  a  branch  of  the  ducal  house  of  Argyle. 
The  founder  of  this  family  was  Sir  John  Campbell,  third  son 
of  the  second  earl  of  Argyle,  who  in  1610  married  Muriel, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  John  Calder  of  Calder,  in  the 
ooimfy  of  Nairn.  (See  Calder.  surname  of,  amte,  p.  626, 
and  Campbell,  surnaif^e  of,  p.  647.) 

The  name  was  anciently  Calder,  but  it  was  known  in  the 
latter  form  to  Hector  Boece,  and  Shakspeare  makes  the  witches 
in  Macbeth  hail  him  as  thane  of  Cawdor.  This  way  of  spelling 
the  name  was  adopted  as  the  family  title  when  the  peerage 
was  conferred  in  1796.  In  Bleau*s  Atlas  it  is  ^ven  as  *  Cathel/ 
hence  Caddel  (see  Caddel  and  Calder,  surnames  of). 

Sir  John  Campbell  died  1st  May  1646.  Muriel  survived 
till  about  1676.  Their  eldest  son,  Ardiibald,  died  in  1661. 
His  next  brother,  John,  was  bishop  of  the  Isles.  John,  Ar- 
chibald's son,  tutor  to  the  young  earl  of  Argyle,  was  assassin- 
ated by  Campbell  of  Ardkinglass  in  February  1691  (see  vol. 
L  p.  878).  Sir  John,  his  eldest  son,  acquired  Isla.  He  re- 
signed the  estates  in  favour  of  his  son,  John,  in  1622,  and  died 
circa  1642.  John,  commonly  called  "  the  Fiar,**  married  Eliz- 
abeth, eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Urquhart  of  Cromarty. 
In  1639,  he  was  cognosced  as  a  lunatic,  and  died  in  June 
1664.  He  was  succeeded  by  bis  nephew.  Sir  Hugh,  who  was 
knighted  in  1660.  Being  especially  anxious  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Lord's  prayer  as  a  part  of  the  regular  service  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  he  repeatedly  addressed  letters  to  the 
presbytery  of  Invemess,  to  Principal  Carstairs  of  Edinburgh, 
and  to  the  General  Assembly.  He  also  published  the  follow- 
ing two  works  on  the  subject:  *An  Essay  on  the  Lord's 
Prayer,*  1704,  8vo ;  and  *  Letters  relative  to  an  Essay  on  the 
IiOrd*s  Prayer,'  Edinburgh,  1709,  8vo.  Sir  Hugh  resigned  in 
favour  of  his  eldest  son,  Sir  Alexander,  in  1698,  and  diedin  1716. 

Sir  Alexander  served  in  several  parliaments  as  oommis- 
noner  for  the  county  of  Naim,  and  like  the  other  commia- 
sioners,  he  received  an  allowance  from  his  shire  for  his  ex- 
penses. He  married  Elizabeth,  sister  and  heiress  of  Sir  John 
Gilbert  Lort,  baronet,  of  Stackpole  court,  Pembrokeshire,  on 
whose  death  in  1698  that  estate  passed  to  the  Campbells  of 
Calder,  and  is  now  possessed  by  the  earls  of  Cawdor.  Sir 
Archibald's  son,  John  Campbell,  Esq.  of  Cawdor  castle,  M.P. 
for  the  county  of  Pembroke,  was  appointed  a  lord  of  the  ad- 
miralty in  1736,  and  of  the  treasury  in  1746.  He  sold  Isla 
and  the  Argyleshire  lands.  He  married  &f  air,  eldest  daugh- 
ter and  oo-heiress  of  Lewis  Pryse,  Esq.  of  Gogirthen,  Wales, 
and  died  in  1776.  He  had  three  sons  and  three  daughtera. 
His  sons  were,  Pryse,  his  heir ;  John  Hooke  Campbell,  Lord 
Lyon  of  Scotland;  and  Alexander,  a  lieutenant-oolonel  in 
the  army,  father  of  Genera]  Sir  Heniy  Frederick  Campbell, 
K.C.B.,  and  G.C.H. 

Pryse  Campbell  of  Cawdor  castle,  the  eldest  son,  was 
elected  member  of  parliament  for  the  counties  of  Cromarty 
and  Nairn  in  1762,  and  appointed  a  lord  of  the  treaimry  in 
1766.  He  married  Sarah,  daughter  and  oo-heiress  of  Sir  Ed- 
mund Bacon,  Baronet,  and  had  two  sona,  John,  his  heir, 


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CESSFORD 


615 


CHALMER. 


first  Lord  Cawdor;  Sir  Qeorge,  admiral  of  the  white   who  I 
died  in  1821,  and  a  danghteis  Sarah. 

John  Campbell  of  Cawdor  castle,  the  elder  son,  was  bom 
and  in  part  educated  in  Scotland,  but  resided  chiefly  on  his 
estate  in  Wales.  In  1774  he  was  returned  member  of  par- 
liament for  the  town  of  Cardigan,  and  rechosen  in  1780, 
1784,  and  1790.  He  was  created  a  baron  in  the  peerage  of 
Great  Britain,  21st  June,  1796,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Cawdor 
of  Castlemartin,  county  of  Pembroke.  In  1797,  when  the 
French  landed  at  Fishguard,  a  sea-port  town  in  the  county 
of  Pembroke,  his  lordship  encountered  them  at  the  head  of  a 
body  of  peasantry,  assisted  by  a  few  troops,  and  compelled 
twelve  hxmdred  French  soldiers  to  surrender  themselves  pris- 
oners. In  1799,  he  spoke,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the 
Volunteer  Exemption  Bill,  which  he*  did  not  altogether  ap- 
prove of,  as  precluding  the  services  of  many  who-took  refuge 
in  these  corps  for  no  other  purpose  than  exemption  from  the 
militia.  In  1804  his  lordship  expressed  his  dissent  to  the 
Militia  oiEcers  bill.  He  did  not  vote  on  the  trial  of  Viscount 
Melville,  but  divided  with  those  peers  who  wished  to  go  into 
a  committee  on  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  petition ;  and  on 
the  meeting  of  the  new  parliament  in  1807,  he  assisted  at  the 
great  dinner  of  the  party  in  opposition  to  the  ministry  of  the 
duke  of  Portland.  He  m.,  27th  July  1789,  Lady  Caroline 
Howard,  eldest  daughter  of  5th  earl  of  Carlisle,  and  had  two 
sons,  John  Frederick,  first  earl  of  Cawdor,  and  George  Pryse, 
captain,  R.N.     He  died  in  1821. 

His  elder  son,  John  Frederick  Campbell,  2d  baron  and  Ist 
earl  of  Cawdor,  bom  in  Nov.  1790,  married,  6th  Sept.  1816, 
Elizabeth,  eldest  dr.  of  2d  Marquis  of  Bath,  issue  3  sons  and  4 
drs.  Created  eari  of  Cawdor  and  viscount  Emlyn,  24tli  Sept. 
1827,  in  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Educated  at 
Oxford ;  D.C.L.  1841 ;  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  died 
Nov.  7,  1860.  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  John 
Frederick  Vaughan,  bom  in  1817,  t».,  in  1842,  Sarah-Mar)', 
the  2d  dr.  of  the  Hon.  Col.  Henry  F.  Compton  Cavendish,  and 
granddaughter  of  1st  earl  of  Burlington,  issue  3  sons  and  4  drs. 

Cessford,  Baron,  a  title  of  the  duke  of  Roxburgh,  from 
Cessford  castle,  in  the  parish  of  Eckford,  Roxburghshire. 
[See  RoxBUROH,  duke  of,  and  Ksb,  surname  of.] 

Chaucer,  erroneously  Chalmers,  (Lat  de  Camera^  a  sur- 
name derived  from  the  office  of  '•  Camerarins  regis,*  chamber- 
Iain  of  the  king,  held  by  Herbertus,  the  first  on  record  of  the 
ancient  Ayrshire  family  of  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  latterly  Gait- 
girth,  but  at  first  spelled  Galdgirth,  the  girth  of  Galdus.  This 
Herbertus  was  Camerarins  Sootin,  or  great  chamberlain  of 
Scotknd,  in  the  reign  of  David  the  Fh^t,  from  1124  to  1163. 
[Crawfor^s  Officers  qf  StateJ]  He  is  witness  to  the  grant 
which  King  David  made  '  ecdesisB  sancti  Kentigemi  de  Glas- 
gow,* of  the  lands  of  Govan,  which  afterwards  became  an 
endowment  for  a  prebend  in  that  cathedral  church.  Besides 
his  lands  in  Ayrshire,  which  remained  for  more  than  ax  hun- 
dred years  in  the  family,  he  had  also  the  barony  of  Kinniel  in 
Linlithgowshire,  as  appears  from  the  first  charter  of  these 
lauds  to  Sir  David  Hamilton,  in  the  reign  of  David  the  Sec- 
ond, in  which  it  is  expressed  that  they  were  to  be  held  as 
freely  as  *  quondam  Herbertus  Camerarins  Regis  David'  held 
the  same.  In  his  old  age  this  Herbertus  Camerarins  took 
orders  and  became  abbot  of  Kelso.  [Nisbefs  3y»tem  of  Her- 
aldry^ vol  iL  App.  p.  20.]  The  name  de  Camera  from  him 
was  retained  by  the  family  down  to  the  reign  of  James  the 
Fifth. 

His  son,  Reginaldus  de  Camera,  (bora  before  his  father 
was  in  holy  orders,)  was  possessed  of  the  barony  of  Gadgirth 


in  the  reign  of  William  the  Lion,  between  1165  and  1214,  and 
as  Nisbet  remarks,  assumed  the  name  of  de  Camera,  as  a 
surname,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  family  of  the  great 
Stewards  of  ScoUand  assumed  that  of  Stewart  as  a  cognomen 
frt)m  the  office  of  theur  great  progenitor.  He  is  a  frequent 
witness  to  the  gifts  and  donations  made  by  Walter  the  High 
Steward,  from  his  lands  in  Kyle,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Gadgirth,  to  the  monks  of  Pidsley,  when  he  founds  that 
monastery  in  1160.  This  remote  antiquity  of  the  family  is 
farther  established  by  a  writ  under  the  great  seal  of  Scotland 
in  1609,  referred  to  by  Nisbet,  in  which  it  is  acknowledged 
by  the  crown  that  the  famUy  of  Chalmer  had  possessed  the 
barony  of  Gadgirth  for  upwards  of  five  hundred  years  before 
that  period.  In  consequence  of  several  of  the  earliest  char- 
ters of  the  family  having  been  lost,  a  chasm  occurs  in  the 
line  of  succession  for  about  a  hundred  years  or  more,  till 
about  1296,  when  William  de  Camera,  with  others  of  the 
barons  of  Kyle,  swore  an  extorted  allegiance  to  King  Edward 
the  Fu^  of  England. 

Reginald  de  Camera,  the  son  of  this  Wilham,  jomed  Robert 
the  Brace,  and  continued  faithful  to  him  throughout  all  his 
vicissitudes  and  straggles.  After  the  battle  of  Bannockbura 
he  received  from  that  monarch  a  charter,  under  the  great 
seal,  of  his  own  estate  of  Gadgurth,  under  the  title  of '  Regi- 
naldi  de  Camera  terrarum  de  Galdguth.'  This  charter  has 
no  date,  as  was  usual  in  many  of  the  writs  of  those  days,  but 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  about  1320. 

His  son,  Wilham  de  Camera,  adhered  to  King  David 
Brace,  even  when  his  fortunes  were  at  the  lowest  ebb,  and 
after  that  monarch's  release  from  his  long  captivity  in  Eng- 
land, he  was  appointed  in  1369,  derk-regbter  and  justice- 
clerk  north  of  the  Forth,  the  kingdom  at  that  time  being 
divided  into  two  justiciary  districts  of  north  and  south  of  that 
river.  His  son,  Reginald  de  Camera,  besides  the  estate  of 
Gadgirth,  had  a  charter  from  King  Robert  the  Second  of  the 
lands  of  Craiginfeoch  in  Renfirewshire  in  the  year  1375, 
which,  in  1507,  were  alienated  to  the  Lord  SempiU.  In  the 
rolls  of  the  county  of  Renfrew  they  were  anciently  called 
Craigmfeoch-Chalmer,  but  afterwards  they  acquired  the  name 
of  Cruiginfeoch-SempiU. 

Sir  John  de  Camera  of  Gadgirth,  the  son  of  this  Reginald, 
in  several  authentic  documents  is  called  dominus  or  lord  of 
Gadgirth,  a  designation  which  infers  that  this  family  was 
considered  at  that  time  in  the  rank  and  character  among  the 
proceret  and  magnates  regni^  ot  greater  barons  of  the  king- 
dom, and  as  such  to  have  had  a  hereditary  right  to  a  seat  in 
parliament.  His  son,  also  named  John,  dominus  de  Gad- 
girth, was  one  of  fifteen  barons  of  Ayrshure,  (his  name  ap- 
pears first  on  the  list,)  who  were  impannelled  as  a  jury  in  a 
cause  in  1417,  in  which  the  buxgh  of  Irvine  laid  claim  to  a 
piece  of  muir  groimd,  which  was  decided  by  their  verdict  in 
favour  of  the  town.  [Robertson's  Ayrshire  FamUies,  vol  iii. 
p.  265.]  He  was  one  of  the  Scots  auxiliaries  who,  under  the 
earls  of  Buchan  and  Douglas,  went  to  France  in  1419,  to  the 
assistance  of  Charles  the  Seventh  against  the  English.  At 
the  battle  of  Veraeuil,  17th  August,  1424,  gained  by  the 
Scots,  he  highly  distinguished  himself,  and  in  consequence 
had  &fl&ir  de  Us  added  to  his  coat  of  arms,  held  by  a  Uon  in 
his  dexter  paw  which  for  some  centuries  afterwards  was 
borne  as  their  crest  by  the  family,  instead  of  as  previously  a 
hawk  volant,  but  the  latter  was  in  the  course  of  time  revived. 
According  to  tradition  this  John  de  Camera  of  Gadgirth  was 
slain  at  the  battle  of  the  Herrings  in  France,  before  1429. 
After  that  time,  at  least,  his  name  is  no  more  mentioned. 

His  son,  Sir  John  de  Camera  of  Gadgirth,  was  veiy  young 
at  his  father's  death,  but  lived  to  a  considerable  age.    He 


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had  the  honoar  of  knighthood  conferred  upon  him  by  King 
James  the  Thurd.  In  1468,  he  received  a  charter  erecting 
the  lands  of  Gadgirth  and  Culralth  in  Ayrshire,  into  one  bar- 
ony. He  sat  as  a  baron  in  1484,  the  date  of  the  first  par- 
liament of  James  the  Fourth,  as  dominns  de  Gaitgirth,  taking 
place  and  enrohnent  *  inter  dominnm  Ker  et  dominnm  Bal- 
comie,*  two  barons  of  great  rank,  that  is,  after  the  one  and 
before  the  other.  He  married  dame  Elizabeth  Hamilton, 
dnnghter  of  Sir  James  Hamilton  of  Cadzow,  and  sister  of  the 
first  Lord  Hamilton,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  John,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  a  daughter,  Marion,  married  William  Dal- 
rymple  of  Stair,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Stair.  It  is  stated 
in  Douglas*  Peerage,  lEdited  by  Wood,  toL  ii.  p.  620,]  that 
"  She  was  a  ladjr  of  excellent  worth  and  virtue,  and  one  of 
the  Lollards  of  Kyle  summoned  in  1494  before  the  king^s 
council  on  account  of  their  heretical  doctrines^  but  the  mag- 
nanimity of  James  the  Fourth  treated  the  charges  with  con- 
tempt, and  the  accused  persons  were  dismissed.** 

The  son,  John  de  Camera,  married,  in  4491,  Marion  Hay, 
daughter  of  Peter  Hay  of  Menzean,  brother  of  John  Lord 
Hay  of  Yester,  ancestor  of  the  marquis  of  Tweeddale,  and 
had  a  son,  James,  and  three  daughters,  who  were  all  well 
married.  The  son,  James  de  Camera,  on  Ist  October  1601, 
as  heir  to  his  father,  was  infeft,  on  a  precept  of  chancery,  in 
the  lands  of  Culraith  and  Chalmerhouse,  from  which  latter 
had  sprung  the  designation  of  that  ilk.  He  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  Stewart  of  Galston,  brother  of  John  first 
earl  of  Lennox  and  Damley,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  Robert, 
and  a  daughter,  Margaret,  married  to  Robert  Cmmingham  of 
Cunninghamhead. 

Robert  de  Camera  of  Gadgirth,  the  son,  by  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Hugh  Campbell  of  Loudoun,  had  two  sons, 
James,  of  whom  next  paragraph,  and  Andrew,  styled  of  Ne- 
ther Bruntshiels,  and  a  daughter,  Margaret,  married  to  Alan 
Cathcart  of  Carleton. 

James  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  the  elder  son,  was  a  zealous 
reformer,  and  is  described  by  Archbishop  Spottiswood,  John 
Knox,  and  other  ecclesiastical  historians,  as  one  of  the  bold- 
est of  the  leaders  of  the  reformation  in  Scotland.  In  1668, 
when  the  preachers  were  summoned  to  appear  at  Edinburgh, 
and  in  consequence  the  professors  of  the  reformed  religion 
flocked  in  great  numbers  to  the  capital  on  the  day  fixed, 
(the  19th  of  July,)  the  bishop  of  St  Andrews  and  the  priests 
procured  a  proclamation  to  be  made,  that  all  who  had  come 
to  the  town  without  commandment  or  warrant,  should  repair 
to  the  borders  and  remain  there  fifteen  days.  The  bishop  of 
Galloway  said  in  rhyme  to  the  queen : 

**  Madame,  because  they  are  come  wfthont  <m]er, 
I  red  yoo  tend  them  to  the  border.** 

It  happened  that  those  of  the  west  country  who  supported 
the  reformed  reli^on  had  arrived  that  same  day  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  hearing  of  the  proclamation,  they  went  in  a  body 
to  the  privy  chamber,  where  the  queen  regent  and  the  bish- 
ops were,  and  complained  of  this  strange  proceeding  of  the 
priests ;  on  which  the  queen  began  to  put  in  practice  some 
of  her  usual  craft,  when  a  zealous  and  bold  man,  as  Calder- 
wood  calls  him,  James  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  said,  "Ma- 
dam, you  know  that  this  is  the  malice  of  the  jawels  (a  term 
of  reproach  much  in  use  in  those  days,  supposed  to  have  the 
same  meaning  as  jail  birds)  and  of  that  bastard  (meaning  the 
bishop  of  St.  Andrews)  that  standeth  by  you.  We  vow  to 
God  we  shall  make  a  day  of  it.  They  oppress  us  and  our 
tenants,  for  feeding  their  idle  bellies.  They  trouble  our 
preachers,  and  would  murder  them  and  us.    Shall  we  suflfer 


this  any  longer?  No,  Madam,  it  shall' not  be  so,*  and 
thereupon  every  man  put  on  his  steel  bonnet  {^Catdeneood's 
History,  vol.  i.  p.  844.1  '^^  queen  regent  found  herself 
obliged  to  temporise.  She  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  pro> 
clamation,  and  forbade  the  bishops  to  trouble  either  the  pro- 
fessors or  their  preachers.  The  bishops  were  in  consequence 
obliged  to  adjourn  the  day  of  compearance  till  the  first  of 
September.  In  May  1669,  he  was  one  of  the  barons  of  the 
west  who  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Perth,  when  the  queen 
regent  threatened  to  march  against  that  town  with  her  French 
troops.  In  September  1662  he  was  among  the  barons  and 
gentlemen  of  Ayrshire  who  subscribed  the  famous  bond  at 
Ayr,  for  the  defence  of  the  "  holy  Evangel,**  and  their  own 
mutual  protection,  and  in  July  1667,  as  a  member  of  Aastm- 
bly,  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  towns  who  signed 
the  articles  then  agreed  to,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  au- 
thority of  the  young  king,  James  the  Sixth,  the  defence  of 
the  reformed  religion,  and  the  utterly  rooting  out  of  popery 
in  the  realm.  He  had  several  charters  under  the  great  seal 
in  1641  and  1648,  of  parts  of  his  estates  both  in  the  counties 
of  Ayr  and  Wigton.  John  Knox,  when  m  the  west,  preached 
in  Gadgirth  castle,  situated  in  the  parish  of  Coylton,  and 
found,  as  did  all  the  reforming  ministers,  a  warm  friend  and 
fearless  defender  in  its  possessor.  He  married  Annabella. 
daughter  of  Cunningham  of  Caprington,  and  had  James,  his 
son  and  successor,  and  three  daughters,  the  second  of  whom, 
Margaret,  was  married  to  James  Boyd  of  Trochrigg.  arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  and  was  the  mother  of  the  famous  Dr. 
Robert  Boyd  of  Trochrigg,  principal  of  the  university  of  Glas- 
gow. James  Chalmer,  the  son,  married  Marion,  daughter 
of  John  Fullarton  of  Dreghom,  and  had  by  her  a  son,  James, 
and  four  daughters. 

This  latter  James  Chalmer  was  infeft  in  the  estate  in  1580, 
as  heir  to  his  father.  By  his  wife  Isabella,  daughter  of  Sir 
Patrick  Houston  of  that  ilk,  he  had,  with  three  dau^ters,  a 
son,  James  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  who  by  commission  under 
the  great  seal,  8th  September  1682,  was  by  King  Charies  the 
First  made  sheriff  principal  of  Ayrshire,  when  the  crown  ac- 
quired that  heritable  jurisdiction  fi^m  the  earl  of  Loudoun. 
In  1638,  he  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  Ayrshire  in 
parliament  In  1641  he  was  conjoined  with  the  eari  of  Ca»- 
sillis  and  the  laird  of  Caprington  as  oommisnoners  ^m  the 
Scots  parliament  to  Newcastle.  In  the  same  year  he  and  Sir 
William  Mure  of  Rowallan  were  appointed  auditors  of  the 
accounts  of  the  commissary-general.  In  1643  he  was  a 
commissioner  of  supply,  and  also  one  on  the  committee  of 
management.  In  1646  he  was  on  the  committee  of  war,  and 
in  1649  he  had  a  troop  in  Colonel  Robert  Montgomery's 
regiment  of  horse.  By  his  wife  Isabel,  daughter  of  John 
Blair  of  Blair,  he  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters.  His  sons 
were  John,  his  successor ;  Reginald  of  Polquhaim ;  David  of 
Elsick  in  Galloway ;  Brice,  and  Robert. 

His  grandson,  John  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  was  a  member 
of  the  convention  parliament  in  1689,  and  in  the  same  year 
of  the  first  parliament  of  William  and  Mary.  He  married 
Margaret  eldest  daughter  of  Colonel  James  Montgomery  of 
Coilsfield,  third  son  of  the  sixth  earl  of  Eglinton,  and,  with 
three  daughters,  had  three  sons,  John,  James,  and  Hugh. 
The  latter,  when  scarcely  seventeen  years  of  age,  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  Malplaquet  in  September  1709. 

John,  the  eldest  son,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  United  Provinces  as  a  volunteer  in  the  raiment 
commanded  by  Lieutenant-general  George  Hamilton,  in 
which  he  afterwards  obtained  a  captain's  commission.  In 
1714,  when  a  general  reduction  of  the  army  took  place,  and 
that  regiment  was  disbanded,  he  was  continued  in  the  estab- 


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CHALMERS. 


liBhment  of  Great  Britain  on  half-pay  till  December  1726, 
when  he  got  a  command  in  the  seventh  foot  Owing  mainly 
to  the  great  debts  which  had  been  incnired  by  the  family  from 
their  active  adherence  to  the  party  of  Charles  the  First,  and 
whidi  were  accamnlated  in  subsequent  years,  abjudications 
were  carried  on  against  the  estate  in  1692,  and  in  April 
1695,  Hugh  earl  of  Londonn,  James  Yisoonnt  Stair,  and  Da- 
vid Ganninghame  of  Milncraig  (afterwards  Sir  Da^nd),  who 
seem  to  have  been  the  curators  during  the  minority  of  Cap- 
tain Chalmer,  entered  into  a  contract  amongst  themselves, 
in  which  they  allotted  certain  portions  of  the  estate  to  each 
other,  at  sixteen  years*  purchase,  for  which  they  became 
bound  to  pay  the  preferable  debts  affecting  it.  On  his  return 
home,  however.  Captain  Chalmer  challenged  the  parties  at 
law  for  thus  parcelling  out  among  themselves  the  lands  of  his 
fathers,  when  he  recovered  part  of  them.  He  died  unmar- 
ried about  1740,  when  h^  was  succeeded  in  that  portion  of 
the  estate  which  he  retained  possession  of,  by  his  three  sis- 
ters, Mary.  Anna,  and  Elizabeth.  Mary,  the  eldest,  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  John  Steel,  minuter  of  Stair,  but  dying,  at  a 
very  advanced  age»»without  issue,  she  left  her  portion  of  the 
estate  to  her  husband;  and  he,  marrying  again,  had  two 
daughters,  the  elder  of  whom  married  a  Mr.  Redfeam,  who 
sold  his  part  of  Gadgirth  to  Colonel  Burnet,  who  had  married 
the  youngest  daughter;  Anna  the  second  daughter  married 
Mr.  Farquhar  of  Townhead  of  Catrine,  and  had  no  issue. 
Elizabeth,  the  youngest,  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  John  Mure 
of  Ayr,  and  had  several  children.  Their  eldest  son  was  John 
Mure  Chalmer,  W.8.  On  the  death  of  his  parents  he  ob- 
tjuned  that  portion  of  the  lands  of  Gadgirth  which  was  his 
mother's;  and  his  aunt  Anna  engaged  in  her  lifeHme  to 
make  over  her  share  of  the  estate  to  him  on  his  assuming  the 
family  name.  He  married  Miss  E.  Farquhar  of  Edinburgh, 
and  by  her  had  a  son  George,  and  several  other  children. 

George  Chalmer.  Esq.,  the  only  son,  first  a  lieutenant  in 
the  royal  navy,  afterwards  an  advocate  at  the  Madras  bar, 
where  he  realized  a  considerable  fortune,  married  at  Madras 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Francis  Latour,  Esq.  of  that  pmi- 
dency,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Francis  Day  Chalmer,  and 
two  daughters;  Anne,  married  to  John  Jenkins,  Esq.  (bro- 
ther of  Dr.  Jenkins,  master  of  Baliol,  and  vice-chancellor  of 
the  university  of  Oxford),  and  Eliza,  the  wife  of  Robert  Haig, 
Esq.  of  Viewpark,  fourth  son  of  James  Haig  of  Blairhill, 
county  Perth,  and  Lochrin,  county  Edinburgh. 

Francis  Day  Chalmer,  the  26th  in  direct  descent  of  this 
ancient  family,  major  7th 'dragoon  guards,  married  26th  May 
1833,  Sarah  Mary  Emily,  daughter  of  James  Robertson,  Esq., 
captain  of  engineers,  Bengal  army.  This  lady  was  the  cousin 
and  heiress  of  the  late  Sir  Gilbert  Stirling  of  Mansfield,  bar- 
onet, who  left  his  estate  of  Larbert,  and  his  large  personal 
fortune,  to  be  invested  in  land  to  be  entailed  on  her  heirs. 
Her  eldest  son,  Gilbert  Stiriing  Chalmer  Stirling,  bom  18th 
January  1843,  will  inherit  these  estates,  and  the  direct  lineal 
representation  of  Herbertus  de  Camera,  great  chamberlain 
of  Scotiand  in  the  reign  of  David  I.,  (1124—1153).  The 
younger  children  of  Major  Chalmer  are*  2.  Reginald,  8. 
George,  4.  Francis ;  I.  Anne,  2.  Emily  Eliza,  8.  Catherine 
Frances,  4.  Charlotte  Amy  Rachel. 

There  was  a  family  of  the  name  of  Chalmers  settled  in 
France,  who  were  barons  of  Tartas  in  Normandy.  Thev  are 
said  to  have  been  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  Chal- 
mers in  Scotiand  by  means  of  Job  Chalmers  who,  leaving 
that  country,  married  in  France  Martha  de  Cuiglosse,  heiress 
at  Tartas,  m  the  year  1440.  The  reason  of  hisleaving  Scot- 
land was  that  seven  brethren  of  the  fiunily  of  Chalmers,  of 


which  this  Job  Chalmers  was  supposed  to  be  one,  had  mur- 
dered the  baron  of  Balgonie,  and  in  consequence  were  ban- 
ished the  kingdom  and  thdr  estates  confiscated.  In  a  letter 
written  at  Paris  the  26th  October  1644,  by  the  Abbe  Chal- 
mers, a  Scotsman,  nominated  bishop  of  Vance  in  Provence, 
in  answer  to  one  from  Mens.  CbaUners,  counsellor  to  the 
king  and  lieutenant-general  Tartas  at  Tartas,  whom  he 
styles  his  cousin,  he  says  that  the  decay  of  their  ancient  fam- 
ily in  Scotland  was  **  by  reason  of  the  unhappiness  of  the 
times,  and  chie^y  by  means  of  the  hero^  whereof  his  great- 
grandfather and  grandfather  were  such  furious  protectors 
that  they  were  known  to  have  ransacked  the  churches  at 
Aberdeen,  whereof  their  ancestors  were  as  perpetual  governors 
for  five  hundred  years,*'  as,  he  adds,  **  may  be  seen  at  tbb  day 
by  their  magnificent  tombs  in  the  said  city."  He  also  says 
that  the  baron  of  Balgonie  was  killed  by  the  seven  brethren, 
**  for  ane  abuse  done  to  their  father.**  A  memorandum  sent 
to  Blaise  Chalmers,  lieutenant-general  of  Tartas,  by  David 
Chalmers,  lord  of  Dormont  (Ormond),  a  judge  of  the  court  of 
session,  (of  whom  a  notice  follows,)  about  a  hundred  years 
before,  states  that  the  baron  of  Gadgirth  was  the  chief  of 
the  name  of  Chalmers.  The  father  of  this  David  Chalmers, 
as  we  learn  from  that  document,  was  Andrew  Chalmers 
of  Strequelin  (Strichen),  in  the  county  oi  Aberdeen.  Men- 
tion is  also  made  of  Peter  Chalmers,  councillor  to  the  king 
(of  France)  and  lieutenant-general  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
Tartas.  Of  all  these  parties  the  arms  were  stated  to  be  the 
same  as  thoee  of  the  family  of  Gadgirth.  Notwithstanding 
their  thus  connecting  themselves  with  the  Ayrshire  fkmily, 
we  rather  think  that  the  branch  in  France  belonged  to  the 
house  of  Chalmers  of  Aberdeenshire,  which  was  altogether  of 
distinct  origin. 

The  family  of  Chahners  of  Bahuunraig,  m  Aberdeenshire,  is 
considered  by  all  Scottish  genealogists  as  springing  fix>m  the 
clan  Cameron,  and  a  totally  different  family  from  that  of 
Gadgirth,  although  of  the  same  surname.  This  is  instructed 
by  the  difference  in  thehr  coats  of  arms,  for  there  is  not  one 
figure  in  the  arms  of  the  one  that  corresponds  vrith  those  of 
the  other ;  and  antiquaries  generally  allow  that  the  origin 
and  ancient  descent  of  families  are  better  ascertained  by  ar- 
morial bearings  than  by  surnames,  arms  being  of  greater  anti- 
quity. It  is  supposed  that  the  ancestors  of  the  family  of 
Balnecraig  were  settied  at  an  early  period  in  the  north  of 
Scotland,  but  the  first  that  can  be  fixed  upon  with  any  cer- 
tainty was  Robert  Chalmers  of  Kintore,  who  married  Helen 
Garviehaugh  or  Garioch,  sister  of  Sir  James  Garviehaugh, 
kni^t,  a  gentieman  of  good  descent,  who  had  from  Sir  Tho- 
mas Randolph,  the  great  earl  of  Moray,  tenant  of  Duncan 
earl  of  Fife  in  the  estate  of  Lumphanan,  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Babiacraig,  Belode  (Beltie),  Claychock  (Cloak),  and 
Talanschyn  (Tillyching),  with  their  patents,  &a  This  Ro- 
bert Chalmers  of  Kintore  received,  jointiy  with  his  wife,  from 
her  nephew,  Andrew  Garviehaugh  of  Caskieben,  the  son  of 
the  above  knight,  a  charter  of  the  lands  named,  dated  at 
Aberdeen,  8th  August,  1357,  to  be  holden  of  the  earl  of  Mo- 
ray and  his  heins  for  a  pair  of  white  gloves  rendered  yearly 
at  the  manor  of  Caskieben  if  asked  for.  and  became  the 
founder  of  a  house  which  flourished  for  more  than  four  hun- 
dred years.  This  charter  was  confirmed  by  Isabel  Randolph, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  the  said  eari  of  Moray,  lord  of  An- 
nandale  and  Man.  Robert  and  Helen  Chalmers  left  a  son; 
William  Chalmers  or  de  Camera,  as  the  name  was  then 
spelled,-  who  was  several  times  provost  of  Aberdeen  from  1392 
until  1404.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  son.  or  brother,  Thomas 
Chalmers,  who  was  also  provost  of  that  dty  in  1412.    Alex- 


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OF  CULTS. 


aoder  Chalmers,  probably  his  son,  was  provoit  in  1448,  and 
for  several  difierent  jears  thereafter,  down  to  1495,  when  he 
is  designed  of  MorthilL  In  the  pubhc  registers  is  a  charter 
granted  bj  Alexander  Chalmers  of  Bahiacraig  to  Henry  For- 
bes, of  the  lands  of  Thomaston  and  Fnllarton,  with  an  aa- 
nnal  rent  of  five  shillings  out  of  the  king's  lands  of  Kinkell 
and  Djce,  in  the  thanage  of  Kintore  and  shire  of  Aberdeen, 
dated  7th  April,  and  confirmed  at  St  Andrews  1st  March, 
1535.  In  the  eighteenth  centuiy  the  estate  of  Balnacraig 
passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Farqnbarsons  of  Finzean, 
and  Patrick  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Auldbar  in  Forfarshire,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  representative  of  the  Balnacraig  family. 

In  1746,  while  a  party  of  military  were  preparing  to  bum 
the  old  mansion-house  of  Balnacraig,  in  the  parish  of  Aboyne, 
one  of  the  soldiei-s  thrust  his  head  into  a  jar  of  honey,  and 
could  only  be  extricated  by  a  portion  of  the  mouth  of  the  jar 
being  broken  ofi*,  which  was  done  amid  the  jeers  of  his  com- 
rades. During  this  scene  a  counter  order  to  save  the  house 
arrived.  The  honey-jar,  with  its  broken  lip,  was  in  conse- 
quence preserved  at  the  house  as  the  cause  of  its  preserva- 
tion. 

The  family  of  Chahners  of  Cults,  m  the  parish  of  Tarland, 
was  an  early  cadet  of  that  of  Balnacraig.  Alexander  Chal- 
mers, the  first  of  Cults,  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  grandson 
of  the  William  Chalmers  above-named.  He  married  Lady 
Agnes  Hay,  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Enrol.  Alexander  Chal- 
mers of  Cults,  the  fifth  in  descent  from  the  above-named 
Alexander,  the  first  of  Cults,  was  provost  of  Aberdeen  in 
1567.  By  his  wife,  Janet,  daughter  of  Lumsden  of  Cushnie, 
he  had  two  sons,  Gilbert  his  successor,  and  William,  minister 
of  Boyndie,  of  whose  descendants  afterwards.  His  elder  son, 
Gilbert  Chalmers  of  Cults,  received  a  charter  of  confirmation 
of  part  of  his  paternal  estates  in  November  1601.  He  seems 
also  to  have  sold  the  greater  portion  of  them  to  Sir  James 
Gordon  of  Lesmoir  in  1612,  among  which  were  the  lands  of 
Cults,  which  now  belong  to  the  duke  of  Richmond.  By  his 
wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Frazer  of  Dores,  he  had  a  son, 
Alexander  Chalmers,  who  appears  nevertheless  to  have  been 
designated  of  Cults.  He  married  Janet,  daughter  of  James 
Irvine  of  Drum,  and  had  a  son,  Alexander  Chalmers  of  Cults, 
who  married  Maijory,  daughter  of  Robert  Lumsden  of  Cush- 
nie, advocate,  by  whom  he  had  an  only  daughter,  Marjoiy, 
the  wife  of  John  Urie,  of  Pitficby,  and  their  son  was  Sir  John 
Urie  or  Urrie,  lieutenant-general  in  1648,  under  the  great 
marquis  of  Montrose.  In  this  Alexander  Chalmen  ended 
the  elder  male  branch  of  the  family  of  Cults. 

William,  second  son  of  Alexander  Chalmers  of  Cults,  the 
provost  of  Aberdeen,  above  referred  to,  was  the  first  protee- 
tant  minister  at  the  kirk  of  Boyndie,  in  Banffshire,  and  was 
planted  there  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
First  He  married  Elizabetii,  daughter  of  William  Chalmen 
of  the  same  family  of  Cults,  minister  of  Skene,  and  had  four 
sons,  who  were  all  episcopal  clergymen,  namely,  Isl,  William 
Chalmers,  minister  at  Fettercairn.  After  the  revolution  he 
was  sent  to  London  by  the  episcopal  clergy  of  the  north  of 
Scotland,  to  attend  to  their  affairs  at  oourt;  and  soon  after 
the  accession  of  Queen  Anne,  he  presented  to  her  an  address 
from  his  brethren,  when  her  majesty  conferred  a  pension  of  a 
hundred  pounds  a-year  on  him.  He  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Barclay  of  Towie,  and  had  two  sons,  William, 
minister  at  Glammis,  and  James,  minister  at  Cullen.  2d, 
James,  parson  of  Paisley.  He  was  first  one  of  the  professon 
of  philosophy  in  Marischal  college,  Aberdeen,  which  office 
he  held  in  1650,  when  Charles  the  Second  was  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  while  at  Aberdeen  his  nugesty  distinguished  him 


with  particular  marks  of  fiivour.  On  one  oecasbn,  especially, 
when  he  waited  on  the  king,  Charles,  in  the  bearing  of  all 
present,  saluted  him  with  these  words,  **  God  save  yon,  Mr 
Chalmers  !**  Having  entered  into  holy  orders,  he  was  pre- 
sented to  New  Macbar,  within  seven  miles  of  Aberdeen,  but 
soon  after  was  translated  to  the  kirk  of  Cnllen,  of  which 
his  nephew  James  was  afterwards  incombent  During  his 
ministry  here,  preaching  once  on  Jotham^s  parable  (Judges, 
chap,  ix.)  in  the  time  of  Cromwell's  usurpation,  he  gave  so 
great  offence  to  a  company  of  soldiers,  then  quartered  there, 
that  they  carried  him  pnaoner  to  Elgin,  where  he  was  con- 
fined for  some  time.  After  the  establishment  of  episcopacy 
in  Scotland  in  1662,  he  was  promoted  to  the  kirk  of  Dum- 
fries, and  there  is  an  act  of  the  lords  of  secret  council  in  his 
favour,  dated  11th  December  that  year,  registered  in  the 
council  books,  allowing  him  to  draw  the  year's  stipend  due 
to  the  late  minister  of  Dumfries,  as  well  as  his  own  due  from 
Cullen.  It  was  after  tins  that  he  became  parson  of  Paisley. 
He  was  nominated  by  Charles  the  Second  to  the  bishopric  of 
Orkn^,  but  died  at  Edinburgh  before  he  could  be  consecrat- 
ed, and  was  buried  in  the  Chalmen'  tomb  in  Greyfnars 
churchyard  of  that  city.  He  married,  first,  a  daughter  of 
William  Scroggie,  bishop  of  Argyle,  and,  secondly,  EUsabeth, 
sister  of  Robert  Petrie  of  Portlethen,  provost  of  Aberdeer 
finom  1664  to  1671,  and  had  two  sons,  James,  minister  of 
Kirkpatrick- Fleming,  and  Charles,  who  was  admitted  writer 
to  the  signet,  16th  October  1704,  but  afterwards  entered  the 
army,  and  was  for  some  time  a  captain  in  the  Scots  guards, 
but  sold  his  commission  in  1714.  He  was  killed  at  the  battle 
of  Sheriffhiuir,  on  the  side  of  the  Pretender,  in  1715.  He 
was  twice  married,  and  had  two  sons,  Roderick,  Ross  herald 
and  herald  painter  in  Edinbuigh,  and  James,  who  was  alfeo 
an  artist  8d,  John,  minister  of  Peterhead,  and  chiq>lain  to 
John  earl  of  Middleton,  commissioner  to  the  first  Soots  par- 
liament after  the  restoration.  He  married  Maiy,  daughter  of 
Keith  of  Whiteriggs,  sheriff  of  Mearns.  4th,  Patrick,  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  minister  of  Boyndie.  By  his  wife,  Anne, 
daughter  of  James  Ogilvie  of  Raggel  in  that  parish,  he  had 
two  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  elder  son  was  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  the  county  of  Essex.  The  younger 
died  a  youth  at  Marischal  college,  Aberdeen,  The  daughter 
married  George  Ogilvy  of  New  Rayne. 

A  baronetcy  was  conferred  in  1664  on  a  member  of  the 
younger  branch  of  the  Cults  family,  but  the  name  of  the 
grantee  is  not  known. 

Although  the  title  is  of  Cults,  the  family  had  ceased  to 
possess  that  property,  and  graduaUy  fell  into  decay.  Aifoat 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  grandson  of  the  first  baro- 
net wa.H  Sir  Charles  Chalmers,  oaptain  in  the  royal  raiment 
of  artillery,  who  died  at  Pondicherry  in  the  East  Indies,  in 
November  1760,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Sir  George 
Chalmen  of  Cults,  baronet,  who  was  long  resident  in  India. 
He  died  in  1764,  and  is  supposed  to  have  left  a  son,  Sir 
Geoi^  Chahnere,  nominally  of  Cults,  an  eminent  painter. 
He  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  and  the  scholar  of  Ramsay, 
but  he  afterwards  studied  at  Rome.  The  honoure  of  his  fam- 
ily descended  to  him  without  fortune,  their  estates  having 
been  previously  sold,  as  already  related.  Sir  George  wtf  m 
consequence  obliged  to  make  art  his  profession.  He  resided 
a  few  yean  at  Hull,  where  he  pamted  several  portraits,  and 
frequently  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy.  He  died  in 
London  about  the  early  part  of  1791.  There  is  a  mezzotinto 
print  of  General  Lord  Blakeney,  after  a  painting  by  Chalmers, 
done  in  1755,  at  Minorca,  when  his  lordship,  who  was  his 
particular  friend,  was  governor  of  that  island.  In  Brom- 
ley's Catalogue  of  engraved  portraits,  mention  is  made  of  a 


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CHALMERS, 


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DA.VID. 


portrait  of  his  relation  Roderick  Chalmers,  Rose  Herald  and 
Painter  of  Edinburgh,  in  his  Herald's  coat,  which  was  en- 
graved by  G.  Chalmers,  j.  He  married  at  Edinburgh,  4th 
.Tune  176e,  Isabella,  daughter  of  John  Alexander,  Esq.,  histo- 
rical and  portrait  pamter  m  that  aty,  and  had  a  son.  Sir  Ro- 
bert Chakners,  baronet,  commander  of  the  Alexander  Laza- 
retto, sUtioned  at  the  Motherbank.  He  died  at  Portsea  in 
1807.  His  son,  Sir  Charles  W.  Chahners,  an  officer  in  the 
royal  navy,  was  the  last  baronet  of  whom  there  is  any  ac- 

The  office  of  prindpal  of  King's  College,  Old  Aberdeen,  was 
held  for  nearly  sixty  years  by  Dr.  John  Chalmers,  who  died 
7th  May  1800.  William  Chalmers,  of  the  family  of  Strichen, 
WMS  professor  of  medicine  there.  The  first  newspaper  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  the  Aberdeen  Journal,  was  begun  in 
1746  by  his  son,  Mr.  James  Chalmers,  printer  in  that  city; 
and  hU  grandson  in  1771  established  the  Aberdeen  Alma- 
nack there. 

Major-General  Sir  William  Chalmers,  knight  and  C.B.,  eld- 
est son  of  William  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Glenericht,  Perthshire, 
and  nephew  of  Sir  Kenneth  Douglas,  baronet,  of  Glenbervie, 
bom  in  1787,  entered  the  army  in  1808.  He  served  in  the 
whole  campaigns  of  the  war  with  France,  chiefly  as  a  staff 
officer,  in  Portugal,  in  Spain,  at  Walcheren,  in  Belgium  and 
France.  He  was  severely  wounded  in  the  assault  of  the  en- 
trenchments at  Sarre,  and  had  nine  horses  killed  or  wounded 
under  him  in  action,  three  of  them  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
where  he  commanded  a  wing  of  the  52d  foot ;  he  received  the 
brevet  of  major  for  his  services  at  the  Pyrenees,  and  that  of 
lieutenant-colonel  for  Waterloo.  He  was  created  a  military 
companion  of  the  Bath  in  1838,  a  knight  commander  of  the 
order  of  Guelphs  of  Hanover  in  1887,  and  a  knight  bachelor 
by  letters  patent  in  1844.  He  was  made  a  major-general  in 
the  army  in  1846,  a  lieutenant-general  in  1854,  and  was  col- 
onel of  78th  foot  He  married  in  1826  the  daughter  of  Tho- 
mas Page,  Esq. ;  issue,  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  Sir 
William  Chahners  died  2d  June  1860. 

CHALMERS,  David,  judicially  styled  Lord 
Oimond,  an  historian,  piiest,  and  lawyer,  was 
born  in  the  county  of  Ross,  about  1630,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  university  of  Aberdeen.  In  some 
biographies  his  name  is  erroneously  spelled  Cham- 
bers, but  according  to  the  continuator  of  Nisbet 
he  belonged  to  the  family  of  Chalmers  of  Stricbcn, 
in  Aberdeenshire,  and  his  father*s  name  was  An- 
drew Chahners.  After  taking  orders,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  France  and  Italy,  where  he  studied 
theology  and  the  canon  and  civil  laws,  as  was 
customary  in  those  days.  In  1556  he  was  a  pupil 
of  Marianus  Sozcnus,  at  Bologna.  On  his  retuiii 
to  Scotland,  he  became  successively  parson  of 
Suddy,  provost  of  Creichton,  and  chancellor  of  the 
diocese  of  Ross.  On  26th  January  1565,  he  was 
appointed  by  Queen  Mary  one  of  the  lords  of  ses- 
sion on  the  spiritual  side,  when  he  assumed  the 
title  of  Lord  Ormond.  In  the  letter  of  presentar 
tion  he  was  styled  the  queen*s  ^^  weil  beluffit  clerk 


and  familiar  servitor,"  and  he  was  also  named  a 
privy  councillor.  In  1566,  he  was  employed,  with 
other  legal  functionaries,  in  compiling  and  pub- 
lishing the  Acts  of  the  Scottish  parliament.  The 
volume  in  which  these  are  contained  is  known  by 
the  name  of  the  "  Black  Acts,"  from  being  pilnted 
in  black  letter.  The  same  year,  Buchanan  says. 
Queen  Maiy  lived  in  the  Exchequer,  "  quod  in 
propinquo  diversabatur  David  Camerius^  Bothuel, 
cliens,  cujus  posticum  erat  hortis  Regin«e  vicinum, 
qua  Bothuelius,  quoties  lubitum  esset  commearet.' 
A  curious  tale  as  to  the  use  made  of  these  apart- 
ments may  be  found  in  Buchanan's  *  Detection, 
p.  6.  In  December  of  that  year,  he  obtained  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Castleton  and  others  in  the 
earldom  of  Ross,  **  hir  majestic  havand  respect  to 
the  gud,  trew,  and  obedient  service  done  in  all 
tymes  past  to  hir  Majesties  honour,  will,  and  con- 
tentment,  not  only  in  this  realme,  bot  in  sic  foreyn 
cun tries  as  it  plesit  hir  hieness  to  command  hiqi, 
and  that,  therethrow,  baith  he  put  his  persoun  in 
periU  and  danger,  but  alsua  gretlie  superexpendit 
himself;'  and  this  grant  was  ratified  by  parlia- 
ment, 19th  April,  1667. 

Lord  Ormond  engaged  in  the  conspiracy  for 
murdering  the  queen's  husband,  the  ill-fated 
Damley,  and  in  a  placard  affixed  to  the  door 
of  the  Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh,  on  the  night  of 
the  16th  February,  he,  with  the  earl  of  Both- 
well,  Mr.  James  Balfour,  parson  of  Flisk,  and 
*  black  Mr.  John  Spence,'  were  publicly  denounced 
as  the  principal  devisers  thei'eof.  Mr.  Tytler, 
however,  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  his  lord- 
ship took  guilt  to  himself  by  a  precipitate  flight  to 
France  ITytler's  Craig ^  p.  96],  as  he  was  in  the 
following  year,  namely  on  19th  August  1568,  for- 
feited for  his  assistance  to  Queen  Mary  after  her 
escape  from  Lochleven,  and  particularly  for  being 
at  the  field  of  Langside  on  the  side  of  her  majesty. 
When  the  misfortunes  of  Queen  Mary  forced  her 
to  quit  the  kingdom,  Lord  Ormond,  who  continued 
faithful  to  her,  was  compelled  to  fly  to  Spain, 
where  he  experienced  a  gracious  reception  from 
King  Philip  the  Second.  He  subsequently  took 
refuge  in  France,  and  in  1572  he  published  at 
Paris  *  Histoire  Abreg^  de  tons  les  Roys  de  France, 
Angleterre,  et  Ecosse ;"  which  work  he  afterwards 
enlarged  with  a  history  of  the  popes  and  emperors, 


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CHALMERS, 


620 


GEORGE. 


and  dedicated  to  the  French  king,  Henry  the 
Third.  In  1579,  he  published  other  two  works  in 
the  French  language  (see  following  list).  Some- 
time afterwards  he  retnmed  to  Scotland,  and  on 
4th  September  1583,  received  at  Falkland  his 
"hieness'  pacification,'*  restoring  him  to  all  the 
lands  and  offices,  benefices,  dignities,  honours  and 
privileges,  which  had  formerly  pertained  to  him. 
Against  this  measure  the  Creneral  Assembly  of 
the  church  strenuously  remonstrated  with  the 
king,  as  Lord  Ormond  still  lay  under  the  suspicion 
of  having  been  accessary  to  the  death  of  his  ma- 
jesty's father ;  in  consequence  of  which,  although 
the  remission  was  ratified  in  parliament,  22d  May 
1584,  it  was  clogged  with  a  proviso  that  it  should 
not  extend  to  the  "  odious  mnrthers  of  our  sove- 
rane  Lordis  darrest  fader  and  two  Rcgentis."  He 
was,  however,  never  brought  to  trial  for  this  or 
any  other  crime;  and  on  the  21st  of  June  1586, 
he  was  restored  to  his  seat  on  the  bench.  He 
died  in  November  1592.    His  works  are: 

Histoire  Abr^g^  de  tons  les  Roys  de  France,  Angleterre, 
et  Eoosae,  mise  en  ordre  par  forme  d*harmonie;  oontenant 
ausn  nn  brief  disconrs  de  randenne  alliance  et  mntuel  seoours 
entre  la  France  et  rEoosse:  plus,  TEpitome  de  rHistoire 
RomaJne  dee  Papes  et  Empereura.    Paris,  1679,  8vo. 

La  recherche  dee  Singtdarit^  lea  plus  renuukables  concer- 
nant  VEUt  d'Ecosse.    Paris,  1579,  Svo. 

Disconrs  de  la  legitime  Succession  dea  Femmes  anx  Poe- 
sesstons  de  lenrs  Parens,  et  dn  GouTemment  des  Princesses 
auz  Empires  et  Royanmes.    Paris,  1679,  8to. 

CHALMERS,  George,  a  distinguished  histor- 
ical, political,  and  antiquarian  writer,  descended 
from  the  family  of  Chalmers  of  Pittensear,  in  the 
county  of  Moray,  was  bom  at  Fochabers  in  the 
end  of  the  year  1742.  He  received  the  early  part 
of  his  education  at  the  grammar  school  of  his 
native  town,  and  afterwards  removed  to  King's 
college,  Old  Aberdeen,  where  he  had  as  one  of  his 
preceptors  the  celebrated  Dr.  Reid,  then  professor 
of  moral  philosophy.  From  thence  he  went  to 
Edinburgh,  where  he  studied  law  for  several  years. 
In  1763  he  sailed  to  America  with  an  uncle,  to 
assist  him  in  the  recovery  of  a  tract  of  land  of 
considerable  extent  in  Maryland.  He  subse- 
quently settled  at  Baltimore,  where  he  practised 
as  a  lawyer  till  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution- 
ary war.  On  his  return  to  Britain  in  1775  he 
settled  in  London,  where  he  applied  to  literary 
pursuits,  and  in  1780  produced  his  'Political  An- 


nals of  the  United  Colonies;'  and  in  1782  his 
*  Estimate  of  the  Comparative  Strength  of  Great 
Britain  during  the  Present  and  four  Preceding 
Reigns.'  These  works  are  said  to  have  recom- 
mended him  to  the  notice  of  government,  and  in 
August  1786  he  was  appointed  chief  clerk  of  the 
Committee  of  Privy  Council,  for  the  consideration 
of  all  matters  relating  to  trade  and  foreign  planta- 
tions. He  also  acted  as  colonial  agent  for  the 
Bahama  islands.  A  list  of  the  various  works  of 
Mr.  Chalmers,  who  was  a  member  both  of  the 
Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies,  as  well  as  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Antiquaries  of  Scotland, 
and  of  other  learned  bodies,  is  subjoined.  His 
greatest  production  is  his  *  Caledonia,'  the  first 
volume  of  which  appeared  in  1807,  and  which  he 
himself  styled  his  '*  standing  work."  This  truly 
national  publication  was  intended  to  illustrate  the 
antiquities,  the  language,  the  history,  civil  and 
ecclesiastical,  and  the  agricnltural  and  commercial 
state  of  Scotland  from  the  earliest  period,  and  dis- 
plays a  vast  amount  of  research  and  erudition. 
It  was  left  unfinished,  only  three  out  of  four  vo- 
lumes having  appeared.  He  had  for  many  years 
been  engaged  in  collecting  materials  for  a  *  His- 
tory of  Scottish  Poetry,'  and  '  A  History  of  Print- 
ing in  Scotland.'  Under  the  name  of  Oldys  he 
published  a  Life  of  Thomas  Paine.  His  Life  of 
Ruddiman  the  grammarian,  throws  mnch  light  on 
the  state  of  literature  in  Scotland  during  the  ear- 
lier part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  his  Life  of 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  is  a  work  of  great  labour 
and  research,  but  it  is  understood  not  to  have 
been  entirely  original.  Mr.  Chalmers  published 
various  pamphlets,  apologising  for  those  who,  like 
himself,  believed  in  the  authenticity  of  the  Sbak- 
speare  manuscripts  of  Yoltigem  and  Rowena, 
forged  by  lyfr.  Ireland.  He  died  May  31,  1825, 
aged  82  years.    His  publications  are: 

An  Answer  trom  the  Electors  of  Bristol  to  the  letter  ci 
Edmund  Burke,  Esq.,  on  the  affiurs  of  Amerioa.  London, 
1777,  8vo. 

The  Propriety  of  allowing  a  qualified  Export  of  Wool  dis- 
oossed  historically.    London,  1782,  8to. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Histoiy  of  the  Rerdlt  of  the  Colo- 
nies, vol  L  only  printed,  which  was  cancelled.  London,  1782, 
8to,  600  pages,  ending  with  the  rdgn  of  George  the  First 

Three  Tracts  on  the  Irish  Anangenients.   LonuL,  1786,  8tow 

A  Collection  of  Treaties  between  Great  Britain  and  other 
Powers.    Lond.  1790,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Political  Annals  of  the  present  United  Cololue^  from  the 


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Settlement  to  the  Fe«oe  of  1763.  Compiled  chiefly  from  Re- 
cords.    Ending  at  the  Revolution,  1688.    Lond.  1780,  4to. 

An  EatiniAte  of  the  oonipiirative  Ktreii|ii;th  of  Great  Britain 
during  the  present  and  four  preceding  reigns,  and  of  the 
Losees  of  her  Trade  from  every  War  since  the  Revolution. 
To  which  is  added,  An  Essay  on  Population,  by  Judge  Hale. 
[x>ud.  1782,  4to.  1786,  8vo.  1794,  8to.  A  new  edition 
corrected,  and  continued  to  181),  8vo. 

Opinions  on  interesting  subjects  of  Public  Laws  and  Com- 
mercial Policy,  arising  from  Auierican  Independence.  Lond. 
1784,  8vo. 

Historical  Tracts,  by  Sir  John  Davies,  with  a  Life  of  the 
Author.    1786,  8vo. 

Life  of  Daniel  De  Foe.     Lond.  1786, 1790,  8vo. 

Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  the  author  of  the  seditious  work 
entitled  Rights  of  Man.  (Tenth  edition.)  London,  1793, 8vo, 
published  under  the  assumed  name  of  Francis  Oldys,  A.  M., 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Prefatory  Introduction  to  Dr.  Johnson*s  Debates  in  Par> 
liament.     London*  1794,  8vo. 

Lifeof  Thomas  Ruddiman,  M. A.  To  which  are  subjoined, 
new  Anecdotes  of  Buchanan.     Lond.  1794,  8vo. 

Vindication  of  the  Privilege  of  the  People  in  respect  to  the 
Constitutional  Right  of  Free  Discussion ;  with  a  Retrospect 
of  various  proceedings  relative  to  the  violations  of  that  right 
London,  1796,  8vo.    (Anonymous.) 

Apology  for  the  Believers  in  the  Shakspeare  Papers  which 
were  ezUbited  in  Norfolk  Street    London,  1796,  8vo. 

A  Supplemental  Apology  for  the  Believers  in  the  Shak- 
speare Papers,  being  a  Reply  to  Mr.  Malone's  Answer, 
which  was  early  announced,  but  never  published,  with  a 
Dedication  to  Geoige  Steevens,  and  a  Postscript  to  T.  J. 
Mathias.     London,  1799,  8vo. 

Appendix  to  the  Supplemental  Apology;  being  the  Docu- 
ments for  the  Opinion  Uiat  Hugh  Boyd  wrote  Junius*  Letters. 
1800,  8vo. 

The  Poems  of  Allan  Ramsay,  with  a  life  of  the  Author. 
Lond.  1800,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  State  of  England,  in  1696,  by  Gregory 
King;  with  a  Life  of  the  Author.    1804,  8vo. 

life  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  the  Mount,  Lyon  King  at 
Arms  under  James  V.  with  Prefatory  Dissertations,  and  a 
Gloesaxy  of  his  Poetical  works.    Lond.  1806,  8  vols.  8vo. 

Caledonia;  or  an  Account,  Historical  and  Topographical, 
of  North  Britain,  finom  the  most  ancient  to  the  present  times, 
with  a  Dictionary  of  Places,  Chorographical  and  Philolo- 
gical. VoL  L  Lond.  1807,  4to.  Vol  iL  1810, 4to.  Vol  iiL 
1824,  4to. 

A  Chronological  Account  of  Commerce  and  Coinage  in 
Great  Britain,  from  the  Restoration  till  1810.    1810,  8vo. 

Considerations  on  Commeroe,  Bullion  and  Coin,  Circulation 
and  Exchanges.    1811,  8vo. 

An  Historical  View  of  the  Domestic  Economy  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  from  the  earliest  to  the  present  times. 
New  edition  of  '  The  Comparative  Estimate,*  corrected  and 
enlarged.    Edin.  1812,  8vo. 

Opinions  of  Eminent  Lawyers  on  various  points  of  English 
Jurisprudence,  chiefly  concerning  the  Colonies,  fisheries,  and 
Commeroe  of  Great  Britain.    London,  1814,  2  vols.  8vo. 

A  Tract,  privately  printed,  in  answer  to  Ma]one*s  account 
of  Shakspeare*8  Tempest    London,  1816,  8vo. 

Comparative  Views  of  the  State  of  Great  Britain  and  lie- 
land  before  and  smce  the  war.    London,  1817,  8vo. 

The  Author  of  Junius  ascertained,  from  a  concatenation  of 
circumstances,  amounting  to  moral  demonstration.    1817. 

Churchyard*s  Chips  concerning  Scotland;  being  a  Collec- 


tion of  his  Pieces  relative  to  that  Country;  with  Historical 
Notices,  and  a  life  of  the  Author.     London,  1817,  8vo. 

Life  of  Maiy  Queen  of  Soots,  drawn  from  the  State  Papers, 
with  six  subadiary  Memours.  London.  1818,  2  vols.  4to. 
Reprinted  in  8  vols.  8vo.  From  the  preluoe  of  this  work  we 
learn  tiiat  the  Rev.  John  Whitaker,  the  Historian  of  Man- 
chester, and  the  vindicator  of  the  Scottish  queen,  had  left  at 
his  death  an  unfinished  life  of  Mary.  His  papers  were  put 
into  Mr.  Chalmers*s  hands  by  his  widow  and  danghtem  fur 
publication,  but  his  avocations,  and  some  years  of  ill  health, 
had  prevented  him  from  executing  th«r  desires,  and  he  had 
found  it  necessary  '  to  re-write  the  whole. 

The  Poetical  Remains  of  some  ot  tiie  Scottish  Kings,  now 
first  collected.     London,  1824,  8vo. 

Robene  and  Makyne,  and  the  Testament  of  Cresseid,  by 
Robert  Henryson,  edited  and  presented  by  Mr.  Chalmers  as 
his  contribution  to  the  Bannatyne  Club.    Edin.,  1824,  4to. 

A  Detection  of  the  Lo?e  Letters  lately  attributed  in  Hugh 
Campbell's  work  to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  London,  1825, 
8vo.  These  fictitious  letters  purported  to  be  *  originals*  ot 
love  letters  from  Queen  Mary  to  Uie  eari  of  Bothwell. 

Beddes  these  works  he  had  prepared  for  the  press  an  eU- 
borate  History  of  the  Life  and  Reign  of  David  I. 

In  1812,  on  the  murder  of  Mr.  Perceval,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  a  pamphlet  appeared  entitied  '*  An  Appeal  to  the 
generosity  of  the  British  nation  on  behalf  of  the  family  of  the 
unfortunate  Bellingham,**  with  Mr.  Chalmers*  name  ss  the 
author;  but  it  was  an  impudent  forgery,  as  he  knew  nothing 
of  it  till  it  was  published.  Nevertheless,  in  Watt's  Bibliotheca 
Britannica,  it  is  mentioned  among  his  works. 

CHALMERS,  Alexander,  M.A.,  F.S.A.,  a 
biographical  and  miscellaneous  writer,  the  young- 
est son  of  James  Chalmers  and  Susanna  Trail, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Trail,  minister  at 
Montrose,  was  bom  at  Aberdeen,  March  29,  1759. 
His  father  was  a  printer  at  Aberdeen,  of  great 
classical  attainments,  who  established  the  Aber- 
deen Journal,  the  first  newspaper  published  in  that 
city.  Having  received  a  classical  and  medical 
education,  about  1777  he  left  his  native  city,  and 
never  returned  to  it.  He  had  obtained  the  situa- 
tion of  surgeon  in  the  West  Indies,  and  had  arrived 
at  Portsmouth  to  join  his  ship,  when  he  suddenly 
changed  his  mind,  and  proceeded  to  the  metropolis, 
where  he  soon  became  connected  with  the  periodi- 
cal press.  His  literary  career  commenced  as 
editor  of  the  Public  Ledger  and  London  Packet. 
He  also  contributed  to  the  other  popular  journals 
of  the  day.  In  the  St.  James'  Chronicle  he  wrote 
numerous  essays,  many  of  them  under  the  signature 
of  Senex.  To  the  *  Morning  Chronicle,'  the  pro- 
perty of  his  friend,  Mr.  Peny,  he  for  some  years 
contributed  paragraphs,  epigrams,  and  satirical 
poems.  He  was  also  at  one  time  editor  of  the 
'Morning  Herald.'  Being  early  connected  in 
business  with  Mr.  George  Robinson,  the  celebrated 


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publislier  in  Fatemoster-Row,  he  assisted  him  in 
*ndging  of  manascripts  offered  for  sale,  as  well  as 
occasionally  fitting  the  same  for  publication.  He 
was  also  a  contributor  to  the  *  Critical  Review,' 
then  published   by  Mr.  Robinson,   and  to  the 

*  Analytical  Review,'  published  by  Mr.  Johnson. 

In  1793  he  published  a  continuation  of  the 

•  History  of  England,'  in  letters,  2  vols.,  which 
reached  four  editions,  the  fourth  being  published 
in  1821.  His  publications  after  this  were  numer- 
ous, .  and  followed  each  other  in  constant  succes- 
sion. A  list  of  them  is  subjoined.  In  1805  he 
was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiqua- 
ries. Besides  other  works  edited  by  him  in  pre- 
vious years,  in  1809  he  edited  Bolingbroke's 
Works,  8  vols.  8vo,  and  in  this  and  subsequent 
years  he  contributed  many  of  the  lives  to  tlie 
magnificent  volumes  of  the  'British  Gallery  of 
Contemporary  Fortraits,'  published  by  Cadell  and 
Davies.  In  1811  he  revised  through  the  press 
Bishop  Hurd's  edition  of  Addison's  Works,  6  vols. 
8vo,  and  an  edition  of  Pope's  Works,  8  vols.  18mo. 
In  the  same  year  he  republished,  with  corrections 
and  alterations,  a  periodical  paper,  entitled  '  The 
Frojector,'  3  vols.  8vo,  the  essays  contamed  in 
which  were  originally  printed  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine.  He  had  previously  written  a  periodical 
paper,  called  '  The  Trifler,'  in  the  Aberdeen  Mag- 
azine ;  but  the  essays  under  that  head  were  never 
separately  printed.  The  work  on  which  Mr. 
Chalmers'  fame  as  an  author  chiefiy  rests  is  *  The 
General  Biographical  Dictionary.'  The  first  four 
volumes  of  this  work  were  published  monthly, 
commencing  May  1812,  and  then  a  volume  every 
alternate  month,  to  the  thirty-second  and  last 
volume  in  March  1817,  a  period  of  four  years  and 
ten  months  of  incessant  labour,  and  of  many  per- 
sonal privations,  as  is  too  commonly  the  fate  of 
professional  authors.  In  November  1816  he  re- 
published *  The  Lives  of  Dr.  Edward  Focock,  the 
celebrated  orientalist,  by  Dr.  Twells;  of  Dr. 
Zachary  Fearce,  Bishop  of  Rochester ;  and  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Newton,  Bishop  of  Bristol,  by  themselves^ 
and  of  the  Rev.  Philip  Skelton,  by  Mi-.  Burday,' 
in  2  vols.  8vo. 

Mr.  Chalmers  was  a  valuable  contributor  to  the 
Gentleman's  Magazme,  to  which  he  was  very  par- 
tial, finding  it  of  the  greatest  use  in  the  compila- 


tion of  his  biogi-aphical  works.  During  the  last 
few  years  of  his  life,  he  suffered  much  from  illness. 
He  died  at  London,  December  10, 1834.  He  be- 
longed to  various  Uteraiy  clubs  of  the  old  school, 
of  which  he  was  nearly  the  last  surviving  member. 
Plis  works  and  editions  are: 

Continuation  of  the  *  History  of  England,*  in  letters.  2 
vols.    London,  1793,  4th  edition,  1821. 

Glossary  to  Shakspeare.     London,  1797. 

A  Sketch  of  the  Isle  of  Wight    London,  1798. 

An  edition  of  the  Rev.  James  Barclay's  Complete  and  Uni- 
versal English  Dictionary.    London,  1798. 

The  Biitish  Essayists,  with  Prefaces,  Historical  and  Bio- 
graphical, and  a  general  Index.  45  vols.  London,  1803. 
This  seriee  begins  with  the  Tatler  and  ends  with  the  Obsenrer. 

An  edition  of  Shakspeare,  9  vohj.  8vo,  with  an  abridgment 
of  the  more  coptoos  notes  of  Steevens,  and  a  life  of  the  greai 
dramatist  London,  1803.  Reprinted  in  1812,  illnstrated 
by  plates  iipom  designs  by  Fnseli. 

A  Life  of  Boms,  prefixed  to  his  works.    London,  1805. 

A  Life  of  Beattie,  prefixed  to  his  woiics.    London,  1805. 

In  1806  he  edited  the  following  works,  namely. 

Editions  of  Fielding's  works,  10  vols.  8vo;  I)r.  Johnson's 
works,  12  vols.  8vo ;  Warton*B  Essays ;  Bolingbroke's  works, 
8  vols.  8vo;  The  Tatler,  Spectator,  and  Gnardian,  14  vols. 
8vo ;  and  in  1807  he  agisted  the  Rev.  W.  Lisle  Bowles  in 
the  publication  of  Pope's  works,  10  vols.  8vo. 

An  edition  of  Gibbon's  History,  with  a  Life  of  the  Avthor, 
12  vols.  8?o.     I^ndon,  1807. 

Walker's  Classics  (so  called  from  the  name  of  the  pablisher), 
a  collection,  selected  by  Mr.  Chalmers,  with  prefaces,  46  vols. 
London,  1808,  and  following  years. 

The  works  of  the  Engtbh  poets  from  Chancer  to  Cowper, 
an  enlarged  edition,  including  the  series  edited,  with  prefaces, 
biographical  and  critical,  by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  the  most  ap- 
proved translations;  the  additional  lives  by  Mr.  Chahners,  21 
vols,  royal  8vo.    London,  1810. 

A  History  of  the  Colleges,  Halls,  and  Public  Buildings  at- 
tached to  the  University  of  Oxford,  including  the  Lives  of 
the  Founders.    London,  1810-,  2  vols.  8vo. 

A  Life  of  Alexander  Gruden,  prefixed  to  the  6tb  edidon  of 
his  Concordance.    London,  1812. 

General  Biographical  Dictionary,  containing  an  Histonca 
and  Critical  Account  of  the  lives  and  Writings  of  the  most 
eminent  Persons  in  every  nation,  partieularty  the  Bridsh  and 
Irish,  from  the  earliest  accounts  to  the  present  time.  A  new 
edition  revised  and  enlarged,  32  vds.    London,  1812-1817. 

County  Biography,  4  numbers.     London,  1819. 

A  Life  of  Dr.  Paley,  prefixed  to  his  works.    London,  1819. 

Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  abridged  from  the 
Rev.  H.  J.  Todd's  enlarged  edition  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Dio- 
tionaiy.    1  voL  8vo.    London,  1820. 

Bo6well'&  life  of  Johnson,  ninth  edition,  edited  by  Mr. 
Chalmers.    London,  1822. 

A  new  edition  of  Shakspeare;  also,  another  edition  d  Dr. 
Johnson's  works,    London,  1823. 

Two  papers  in  the  Looker-on,  by  Mr.  Alexander  Chalmers, 
have  erroneously  been  ascribed  to  his  namesake  Mr.  George 
Chalmers,  author  of  '  Caledonia.' 

CHALMERS,  Thomas,  D.D.,  LL.D.^  adistin- 
gaished  divine  and  theolo^cal  writer,  was  bom  on 
the  17th  of  March  1780,  at  Anstruther,  a  small 


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seaport  town  on  the  east  coast  of  Fife.  His  fatlier 
was  a  dyer,  shipowner,  and  general  merchant,  de> 
scended  from  a  family  long  connected  with  that 
part  of  the  country.  His  great-grandfather,  Mr. 
James  Chalmers,  son  of  John  Chalmers,  laird  of 
Pitmedden,  was  ordained  minister  of  Elie  in  1701 . 
In  the  year  after  his  ordination  he  married  the 
daughter  of  an  episcopal  clerg}'man,  who,  by 
the  savings  of  economy,  purchased  the  estate  of 
Rademie,  which  is  still  held  by  her  descendants. 
Her  eldest  daughter  was  married  to  Mr.  T.  Kay, 
minister  of  Kib*enny,  and  it  was  to  Mra.  Kay^s 
son-in-law,  Dr.  Adamson  of  St.  Andrews,  that  Dr. 
Chalmers  was  indebted  for  the  presentation  to 
Kilmany  parish.  The  eldest  son  (the  eldest  bro- 
ther of  Dr.  Chalmers'  grandfather)  succeeded  his 
father  as  minister  of  Elie,  and  was  afterwards 
translated  to  Kilconquhar.  Mr.  Chalmers'  second 
son  (Dr.  Chalmers'  grandfather)  married  Barbara 
Anderson,  Easter  Anstruther,  and  settled  in  that 
town  as  a  merchant.  He  was  succeeded  in  busi- 
ness by  his  second  son,  Mr.  John  Chalmers  (Dr. 
Chalmers'  father),  who  married  Elizabeth  Hall, 
daughter  of  a  wine  merchant  at  CraU.  They  had 
a  numerous  family — consisting  of  nine  sons  and 
five  daughters — all  of  whom,  save  one,  reached 
manhood.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  the  sixth  child,  and 
fourth  son.  When  yet  almost  an  infant,  he  was 
committed  to  the  care  of  a  nurse,  *^  whose  cruelty 
and  deceitfulness  haunted  his  memory  through  life." 
To  escape  this  woman  he  went  to  school  when 
only  three  years  old,  but  here  he  was  tormented 
by  a  pedantic  and  irritable  schoolmaster,  named 
Bryce,  "  a  sightless  tyrant,"  who  used  to  steal  be- 
hind upon  his  victims,  like  a  tiger,  guided  by  the 
sound  of  their  voices.  This  man  had  an  assistant 
named  Daniel  Ramsay,  who  was  as  aisy  as  his 
principal  was  severe,  and  both  were  equally  ineffi- 
cient. In  his  old  age  Ramsay  fell  into  a  state  of 
destitution,  and  was  often  relieved  by  his  old  pupil. 
Dr.  Chalmers,  who  gave  him  many  a  pound  note. 
The  stories  and  precepts  of  the  Bible,  at  a  very 
early  period,  made  an  impression  on  his  mind. 
When  only  about  three  years  of  age,  he  was  one 
evening  found  pacing  up  and  down  the  nursery 
alone,  in  the  dark,  excited  and  absorbed,  repeat- 
ing ''O,  my  son,  Absalom!  O  Absalom,  my  son, 
my  son  1"    It  would  appear  that  as  soon  as  he 


could  form  or  announce  a  wish,  he  declared  that 
he  would  be  a  minister ;  and  the  sister  of  one  of 
his  schoolfellows  relates  that  breaking  in  one  day 
on  her  brother  and  young  Chalmers,  she  found  the 
future  divine  standing  on  a  chair,  and  preaching 
vigorously  to  his  single  auditor  on  the  text,  "  Let 
brotherly  love  continue ! " 

In  November  1791,  whilst  not  yet  twelve  years 
of  age,  accompanied  by  his  eldest  brother  William, 
he  entered  as  a  student  the  united  college  of  St. 
Andrews,  and  among  his  fellow  students  was  John 
Campbell,  the  son  of  the  minister  of  Cupar,  who 
afterwards  became  Lord  Campbell,  lord  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  queen's  bench.  At  that  time  he  could 
not  write  at  all  con^ectly ;  his  letters  were  fall  of 
bad  grammar  and  words  mis-spelled.  As  in  the 
case  of  many  other  great  men,  his  talents  did  not 
develope  themselves  early.  He  was  volatile  and 
idle  in  his  habits,  and  paid  little  attention  to  his 
classes  during  the  first  two  years  of  his  college 
course.  He  excelled  at  football,  but  still  more  at 
handball,  owing  to  his  being  left  handed.  His 
third  session  at  college  was  his  intellectual  birth- 
time.  His  physical  powers  had  now  been  ma 
tured,  and  science  awoke  the  mental  activity  and 
force  of  will,  which  never  afterward  slumbered. 
Dr.  James  Brown,  the  assistant  mathematical  pro- 
fessor, was  the  means  of  kindling  young  Chalmers' 
enthusiasm,  and  a  friendship  commenced  between 
the  pupil  and  teacher,  which  lasted  for  many 
years.  In  November  1795,  when  fifteen  years 
old,  he  was  enrolled  a  student  of  divinity.  His 
attainments  in  theology  did  not  at  first  attract 
much  notice,  indeed  his  biographer  tells  us  that 
theology  occupied  very  little  of  his  thoughts,  but 
he  early  discovered  a  predilection  for  mathe- 
matics and  chemistry.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
session,  however,  he  turned  his  attention  to  Ed- 
wards on  Free  Will,  and  studied  that  author  so 
intensely  that  some  were  afraid  his  mind  would 
lose  its  balance.  At  that  time  the  members  of  the 
university  assembled  daily  in  the  public  hall  for 
prayer,  which  was  performed  by  the  theological  stu- 
dents in  rotation.  When  it  came  to  Chalmers  to 
officiate  for  the  first  time,  his  prayer  was  an  am- 
plification of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  so  eloquently  ex- 
pressed as  to  excite  wonder;  and  when  the  people 
of  St.  Andrews  knew  it  to  be  his  turn  to  lead  the 


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devotions,  they  flocked  to  the  hall,  which  was  open 
to  the  public. 

For  the  cultivation  of  his  talent  for  composition, 
he  was  largely  indebted  to  debating  societies 
formed  among  the  students.  In  session  1798-9, 
he  took  as  a  subject  for  the  debating  society  con- 
nected with  the  college,  "Is  man  afiree  agent?" 
and  defended  the  negative  side.  Even  then, 
though  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  was  a  formida- 
ble antagonist  in  debate.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  he  penned  a  college  essay  on  religious  enthu- 
siasm, which  is  said  to  have  been  the  groundwork 
of  the  splendid  speech  delivered  by  him  forty  years 
afterwards,  in  a  solemn  convocation  of  four  hun- 
dred evangelical  ministers,  when  in  November 
1842,  they  met  to  decide  upon  separating  from  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  produced  an  eflfect  as 
overwhelming  as  anything  he  ever  uttered. 

After  his  college  course  was  finished,  he  became 
tutor  in  a  family  who  treated  him  with  great  su- 
perciliousness. '  From  his  private  letters  at  this 
time  it  would  appear  that  he  was  sadly  mortified 
at  the  conduct  of  this  f&mily-~even  the  veiy  ser- 
vants treatmg  him  with  marked  disrespect.  '^  The 
whole  combined  household,"  says  his  son-in-law 
and  biographer.  Dr.  Hanna,  "were  at  war  with 
him.  The  undaunted  tutor  resolved  nevertheless 
to  act  his  part  with  dignity  and  effect.  Remon- 
strances were  vain.  To  the  wrong  they  did  him 
in  dismissing  him,  when  company  came,  to  his 
own  room,  they  would  apply  no  remedy.  He  de- 
vised therefore  a  remedy  of  his  own. — He  was  liv- 
ing near  a  town  in  whicn,  througli  means  of  intro- 
ductions given  him  by  Fifeshire  fnends,  he  had 
already  formed  some  acquaintances.  Whenever 
he  knew  that  there  was  to  be  a  supper  firom  which 
he  would  be  excluded,  he  ordered  one  in  a  neigh- 
bouring inn,  to  which  he  invited  one  or  more  of 
his  own  friends.  To  make  his  purpose  all  the 
more  manifest,  he  waited  till  the  servant  entered 
with  his  solitary  repast,  when  he  ordered  it  away, 
saying,  'I  sup  elsewhere  to-night.' — Such  curi- 
ously-timed tutorship  suppers  were  not  very  likely 

to  be  relished  by  Mr.  ,  who  charged  him 

with  unseemly  and  unseasonable  pride.  *Sir,' 
said  he,  ^  the  very  servants  are  complaining  of  your 
haughtiness.  You  have  for  too  much  pride,  sir.* — 
*  There  are  two  kinds  of  pride,  sir,'  was  the  reply. 


*  There  is  that  kind  of  pride  which  lords  it  over 
inferiors;  and  there  is  that  pride  which  rejoices  in 
repressing  the  insolence  of  superiors.  The  first  I 
have  none  of — the  second  I  glorj'  in." 

When  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  applied  tor 
license  as  a  preacher;  which  was  granted  on  the 
plea  that  he  was  "  a  lad  o'  pregnant  pairts."  He 
was  licensed  dlst  July  1799,  and  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  Chapel-lane  Chapel,  in  Wigan,  on  25th 
August.  On  the  following  Sabbath  he  preached 
in  Liverpool.  His  brother  James,  who  heard 
him  preach,  wrote  to  his  father  that  he  thought 
Thomas  more  occupied  with  his  mathematical 
studies  than  with  his  religious,  and  referred  in 
proof,  to  some  documents  in  Thomas'  handwrit- 
ing, adding,  "  if  you  can  read  them," — ^for  even 
then  his  handwriting  was  so  bad  that  his  father 
is  said  to  have  laid  aside  his  letters  till  he  re- 
turned home  to  read  them  himself.  He  subse- 
quently attended  for  two  sessions  the  classes  of 
chemistry  and  natural  philosophy  at  Edinburgh, 
under  Dr.  Hope  and  Professor  Robison.  He  had 
also  a  ticket  to  Dr.  Brown^s  class  of  moral  philo- 
sophy. About  this  period,  he  became  an  admirer 
of  the  works  of  Godwin,  and  thencefoith  the  phi- 
losophical scepticism  which  for  a  time  character- 
ised him  commenced.  In  a  letter  to  his  fiather,  he 
mentioned  that  he  was  getting  into  a  stock  of  ser- 
mons, which  would  render  *^  the  business  abun- 
dantly easy,"  when  he  got  a  church,  which  he 
was  at  that  time  expecting. 

In  1801  he  became  assistant  minister  of  the 
parish  of  Cavers,  near  Hawick,  in  Roxburghshu^. 
At  this  period  of  his  life  he  evinced  nothing,  either 
in  his  mode  of  preaching  or  in  general  ability,  to 
distinguish  him  from  the  ordinary  run  of  young 
probationers,  except  perhaps  in  the  positive  char- 
acter of  his  habits,  and  a  somewhat  self-willed  and 
independent  spurit  of  abstraction.  In  1803,  when 
little  more  than  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  was 
appointed  assistant  to  Professor  Vllant,  the  profes- 
sor of  mathematics  in  the  nniversity  of  St.  Andrews. 
This  situation  was  quite  to  his  taste.  '^  His  thirst  for 
literary  distinction  was  intense;  to  fill  the  mathe 
matical  chair  in  one  of  the  uuivereitles,  the  high 
object  of  bis  ambition ;  to  this  the  assistantship  at 
St.  Andrews  might  prove  a  stepping-stone."  This 
prospect  influenced  his  literarr  ardour  to  the  nt- 


I    t 


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most.  His  lectures  were  eloquent,  and  unusually 
brilliant,  and  his  students  regaixled  him  with  ad- 
miration. The  old  professors,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
all  mediocrity,  were  envious,  and  tried  to  dispar- 
age him.  He  repelled  their  attempts  to  injure 
him  with  indignation,  and  maintained  his  inde- 
pendence as  a  man  of  science.  *^  Under  his  extra- 
ordinary management,"  wi*ites  one  of  his  pupils, 
^*  the  study  of  mathematics  was  felt  to  be  hardly 
less  a  play  of  the  fancy,  than  a  labour  of  the  intel- 
lect; the  lessons  of  the  day  being  continually  in- 
terspersed with  applications  and  illustrations  of 
the  most  lively  nature,  so  that  he  received,  in  a 
singular  manner,  the  confidence  and  attachment 
of  his  pupils." 

In  1803,  through  the  influence  of  his  relative. 
Dr.  Adamson,  professor  of  civil  history  at  St.  An- 
drews, as  already  stated,  he  was  presented  by  his 
university  to  the  Uving  of  Kilmany,  a  small  scat- 
tered village  in  the  county  of  Fife,  situated  about 
midway  between  Cupar  and  Dundee,  to  which 
chai'ge  he  was  ordained  on  the  12th  of  May  in  that 
year.  Soon  after  this  envy  deprived  him  of  his  as- 
sistant professorship.  His  father,  also,  who  wished 
him  to  attend  exclusively  to  his  ministerial  duties, 
did  not  approve  of  his  teaching  in  the  univei*slty. 
During  the  first  session  diflerences  arose  between 
him  and  the  professor,  so  that  he  was  told  that  his 
services  would  not  be  required.  He  resolved  to 
vindicate  his  injured  honour  by  opening  classes  of 
his  Qwn  at  the  very  door  of  the  university,  which 
he  did  in  the  session  of  1804.  His  class  was  most 
numerously  attended.  He  also  lectured  upon  che- 
mistry as  well  as  mathematics.  The  opening  of 
this  private  class,  in  apparent  opposition  to  the 
university  professor,  brought  upon  him,  as  well 
as  upon  the  students  who  attended  him,  the  full 
indignation  of  the  United  college.  His  presbytery 
also  interfered  with  him,  because  he  gave  so  much 
of  his  time  to  these  lectures.  But  he  met  them  in 
the  same  spirit  of  defiance,  and  as  they  could  not 
bring  against  him  any  charge  of  neglect  of  duty, 
he  tdd  them  that  he  had  as  good  a  right  to  indulge 
in  this  ^^  amusement"  as  they  had  to  enjoy  them- 
selves in  their  own  favourite  pastimes. 

So  far  from  being  deterred  by  the  opposition  of 
the  professors,  on  a  vacancy  occurring,  in  1804,  he 
became  a  candidate  for  the  natural  philosophy 


chair  in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  but  was 
unsuccessful.  Finding  the  manse  of  Kilmany  old 
and  in  wretched  repair,  he  made  many  efforts  to 
get  it  rendered  habitable  for  himself  and  his  two 
sisters  who  were  to  reside  with  him.  Not  content 
with  his  labours  at  St.  Andrews,  he  gave  courses 
of  lectures  on  chemistry,  <&c.,  in  vaiious  of  the 
neighbouring  towns.  It  is  related  that  having,  by 
his  chemical  acquirements,  lighted  up  his  manse  of 
Kilmany  with  gas,  his  parishionei-s  were  hugely 
astonished  thereat,  as  at  that  period  this  new 
lighting  power,  now  become  so  common,  was 
almost  unknown  in  this  country.  Their  feelings 
on  the  subject,  however,  need  not  be  considered 
matter  of  suiprise,  when  it  is  stated  that  even  Sir 
Walter  Scott  at  one  period  scoffed  at  the  idea  of 
light  from  gas,  and  yet  lived  to  introduce  it  into 
his  house  at  Abbotsford,  and  afterwai-ds  became 
chairman  of  the  Edinburgh  Gas  Company. 

At  the  time  of  the  threatened  invasion  of  Great 
Britain  by  the  French,  when  the  volunteers  were 
organised,  Mr.  Chalmers  showed  his  patriotic 
feelings  by  enrolling  himself  in  the  St.  Andrews 
corps,  holding  a  double  commission  as  chaplain 
and  lieutenant.  In  1805  he  joined  the  corps  at 
Earkaldy,  where  it  was  then  on  permanent  duty. 

When  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  the  university 

of  Edinburgh  became  vacant  in  that  year  (1805) 

by  the  translation  of  Professor  Playfair  to  the  chair 

of  natural  philosophy,  in  the  same  university,  Mr. 

Chalmers  was  one  of  the  many  candidates,  who 

competed  With  the  late  Sir  John  Leslie  for  the 

vacant  professorship.    He  withdrew,  however,  at 

an  eai'ly  period  of  the  protracted  contest  which 

ensued,  and  in  the  end  Sir  John  was  elected.   It  is 

understood  to  have  been  in  compliance  with  the 

wishes  of  his  father  and  nearest  relatives,  who  were 

anxious  that  he  should  remain  a  minister,  that  he 

retii*ed  from  the  competition,  and  for  a  time  sat 

down  quietly  in  his  charge.    Nothing  but  a  strong 

6ense  of  filial  obligation  could  have  induced  him 

thus  reluctantly  to  foi*ego  the  prospect  of  realizing 

his  heart's  warmest  desire,  and  continue  to  peiform 

in  his  village  charge  the  somewhat  monotonous 

though  highly  honourable  and  responsible  duties 

of  a  country  minister.    It  was  on  occasion  of  this 

contest  that  his  first  publication  was  called  forth. 

Mr.  Playftiir,  in  his  letter  to  the  Lord  Provost  of 
2  B 


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Edinburgh,  from  the  number  of  clergymen  who  had 
come  forward  as  candidates,  was  led  to  observe  that 
there  were  very  few  Scottish  clergymen  eminent  in 
mathematics  or  natural  philosophy,  and  that  the 
vigorous  and  successful  pursuit  of  these  sciences 
was  incompatible  with  clerical  duties  and  habits. 
Mr.  Chalmers  immediately  took  up  his  pen,  and 
under  the  title  of  '  Observations  on  a  Passage  in 
Mr.  Playfair's  Letter  to  the  Lord  Provost  of  Edin- 
burgh, relative  to  the  mathematical  pretensions  of 
the  Scottish  Clergy,'  he  published  a  ti-act  vindi- 
catiug  the  character  of  his  brethren,  and  assert- 
ing that  they  had  sufficient  leisure  for  literary 
pursuits.  In  that  pamphlet  he  alleged  that  one 
weekday  was  quite  enough  for  the  duties  of  the 
parish,  and  the  rest  was  leisure  time.  After  he 
changed  his  views  of  the  nature  of  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  he  endeavoured  to  recall  this  unfor- 
tunate pamphlet. 

At  the  beginning  of  1808,  he  fii*st  commenced 
authorship  in  that  department  in  which  he  after- 
wards excelled,  namely,  political  economy.  His 
volume  was  entitled  *  An  Inquiry  into  the  Extent 
and  Stability  of  National  Resources,'  and  he  found 
some  difficulty  at  first  in  obtaining  a  publisher. 
The  object  of  this  work  was  chiefly  to  show  that 
if  our  native  resources  were  properly  cultivated, 
and  our  means  duly  economised,  there  would  be 
no  necessity  for  depending  on  foreign  trade, — a 
theory  which  he  was  subsequently  convinced  was 
not  altogether  a  correct  one.  Amidst  much  that 
was  questionable,  the  volume  inculcated  some 
sound  views  in  political  science;  but  its  vehe- 
mence of  tone,  although  at  times  lofty  and  eloquent, 
prevented  it  from  making  any  great  impression, 
and  it  was  in  some  instances  very  severely  assailed 
by  the  Reviewers. 

At  this  period  the  mind  of  this  extraordinary 
man  seems  to  have  been  more  occupied  with  sub- 
'  jects  of  a  political  and  sclentiflc  than  of  a  religious 
I  nature.  For  some  years  after  his  settlement  at 
I  Kilmany,  he  attracted  very  little  attention  as  a 
I  preacher  beyond  the  lunits  of  his  own  parish.  In- 
deed, for  a  number  of  years,  from  his  violent  and 
excited  mode  of  delivery,  he  was  rather  unpopu- 
lar in  the  pulpit. 

In  May,  1809,  he  made  his  maiden  speech  in 
the  General  Assembly,  on  a  question  of  augmen- 


I  tation  of  stipends,  and  that  speech  caused  a  great 
sensation,  and  was  published  by  request.  He 
used  to  say  that  *'  Butler's  Analogy, '  which  he 
commenced  to  study  at  an  early  period,  '^madc 
him  a  Christian."  The  deaths  of  his  sister  and  his 
uncle,  and  a  long  illness  which  followed,  led  him 
about  this  time  to  serious  thought,  and  to  a  com- 
plete change  in  his  religious  views.  On  17th 
March,  1810,  he  says  he  had  completed  his  thir- 
tieth year,  and  lamented  that  on  a  review  of  the 
last  fifteen  years  of  his  life,  at  least  two-thirds  of 
that  time  had  been  uselessly  spent.  He  became, 
about  this  time,  greatly  fortified  in  his  belief  of 
Christianity.  One  day  he  called  on  a  friend,  and 
said,  "  Tell  me  all  you  ever  heard  against  Chris- 
tianity from  its  enemies — I  am  more  than  able  to 
reftito  them  all.  The  evidences  of  our  religion 
ai-e  overwhelming."  He  at  this  time  reviewed 
Dr.  Charteris'  Sermons,  and  intended  the  criticism 
for  the  Edinburgh  Review,  but  sent  it  to  the  Rev. 
A.  Thomson  for  the  *  Christian  Instructor.'  The 
latter  demuned  to  it  as  a  review,  but  in'^erted  it 
among  the  miscellaneous  contributions.  In  a  note 
Mr.  Thomson  regretted  the  absence  of  the  pecu- 
liar doctrines  of  the  cross  in  the  volume  under 
review.  About  the  beginning  of  1811  Mr.  Chal- 
mere  took  up  Wilberforce's  'Practical  View  of 
Christianity,'  and  he  got  on  in  reading  it  till  he 
felt  himself  on  the  eve  of  a  greiit  revolution  in  all 
his  opinions  about  the  gospel.  He  wrote  his  mo- 
ther that  he  had  reached  the  conclusion  that  his 
profession  required  all  his  talents  and  energy— a 
change  of  views,  certainly,  on  this  point  So 
great  an  improvement  was  now  observable  in  his 
mode  of  preaching,  that  his  congregation  was 
equally  surprised  and  delighted;  and  from  this 
important  era  in  his  life  may  be  dated  the  com- 
mencement of  that  distinction  to  which  he  was 
soon  after  to  advance.  He  had  become  intimately 
acquainted  with  Dr.  (aflerwards  Sir  David) 
Brewster,  and  was  engaged  by  him  to  write 
several  articles  fbr  the  Edinburgh  Encycloptedia 
conducted  by  him,  and  amongst  others  the  paper 
on  *  Christianity.'  In  the  course  of  the  research 
and  investigation  into  which  he  was  led  while 
preparing  this  celebrated  article,  which  he  after- 
wards expanded  into  his  well-known  Treatise  on 
the  Evidences,  he  became  deeply  impressed  with 


'!    I 


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far  more  serious  and  heartfelt  views  of  the 
great  truths  of  the  Grospel,  than  he  had  ever 
previously  entertained ;  and  the  result  was  soon 
apparent.  From  a  mere  formal  preacher,  he 
became  a  bold,  eloquent,  and  earnest  pulpit 
orator,  upon  whose  discourses  hung  enchained 
thousands  of  admiring  hearers.  He  broke  through 
all  at  once,  like  the  sun  from  behind  a  cloud,  and 
his  parishioners  were  filled  with  amazement  at  the 
sudden  transformation.  *^It  was  not  long,"  says 
his  biographer,  ^^till  the  whole  aspect  of  the 
Sabbath  congregations  in  Kihrnany  church  was 
changed.  The  stupid  wonder  which  used  to  sit  on 
the  countenances  of  the  villagers  or  farm  servants 
who  attended  divine  service,  was  tm-ned  into  a 
fixed,  intelligent  and  devout  attention.  It  was 
not  easy  for  the  dullest  to  remain  uninfonned;  for 
if  the  preacher  sometimes  soared  too  high  for  the 
best  trained  of  his  people  to  follow  him,  at  other 
times,  and  much  ofkener,  he  put  the  matter  of  his 
message  so  as  to  force  for  it  an  entrance  into  the 
most  sluggish  understanding."  So  remarkable, 
indeed,  was  the  change  that  the  parish  church  of 
Kilmany,  which  had  till  then  been  attended  by  a 
thin  and  listless  auditory,  was  now  thronged,  not 
only  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish,  but  by 
crowds  of  strangers  from  the  surrounding  towns 
and  villages,  thousands  flocking  from  St.  Andrews, 
and  even  from  Dundee,  to  hear  him. 

His  fame,  as  a  preacher,  soon  reached  Edin- 
burgh, the  capital;  where  he  preached  on  several 
occasions,  with  great  acceptance,  and  henceforward 
he  was  universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  most 
powerful  and  popular  preacher  in  the  Scottish 
Church. 

In  November  1814  he  was  elected  by  the  Town 
Council  of  Glasgow  minister  of  the  Tron  church 
in  that  city,  and  was  admitted  to  that  charge  on 
the  2l8t  of  the  following  July.  Here  he  preached 
those  eloquent  discourses  which  soon  raised  him  to 
the  rank  of  one  of  the  first  preachers  in  Europe. 
The  characteristics  of  his  eloquence  have  often 
been  described.  The  provincial  Scotch  accent,  the 
guttural  voice,  the  heavy  blue  eye  kindling  into 
fury  and  the  uncouth  gestures  which  distinguished 
him,  were  all  forgotten  when  he  spoke.  His 
amazing  powers  of  oratory,  and  great  command  of 
language,  enabled  him  to  triumph  over  all  these 


appai'ent  defects.  Before  leaving  Kilmany,  he 
published  'The  Duty  of  Giving  an  Immediate 
Diligence  to  the  Business  of  the  Christian  Life/ 
being  an  address  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  parish. 
In  his  farewell  sermon  preached  July  9,  1815,  he 
a£fectingly  alludes  to  the  change  which  had  taken 
place  in  his  views  of  religious  truth  since  coming 
among  them.  For  the  greater  part  of  twelve  years, 
he  says,  his  preaching  was  attended  with  Tittle 
reformation  of  heart  or  conduct;  and  he  adds — 
'*Out  of  your  humble  cottages  have  I  gathered  a 
lesson,  which,  I  pray  God,  I  may  be  enabled  to 
carry  with  all  its  simplicity  into  a  wider  theatre, 
and  to  bring  with  all  the  power  of  its  sabduin^ 
eflBcacy  upon  the  vices  of  a  more  crowded  popula- 
tion." 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1816,  the  degree  of 
D.D.  was  conferred  on  Mr.  Chalmers  by  the  Se- 
natus  Academlcus  of  the  university  of  Glasgow. 
In  May  1817  Dr.  Chalmers  appeared  for  the  fii*8t 
time  in  a  London  pulpit,  having  on  the  14th  of 
that  month  preached  in  Surrey  chapel,  the  anni- 
versary sermon  for  the  London  Missionary  Soci- 
ety. His  reputation  had  preceded  him,  and  al- 
though the  service  did  not  commence  till  eleven 
o^clock,  '^  at  seven  in  the  morning  the  chapel  was 
crowded  to  excess,  and  many  thousands  went  off 
for  want  of  room."  On  the  following  Thursday 
he  preached  again  in  the  same  place  on  behalf  of 
the  Scottish  Hospital,  and  on  the  succeeding  Sun- 
day in  the  Scotch  church,  London  Wall,  and  in 
the  Scotch  church,  Swallow  Street.  Many  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  peers,  and  mem- 
bers of  parliament,  flocked  to  hear  him.  Among 
the  latter  were  Husklsson,  Wilberforce,  and  Can- 
ning, and  the  latter,  on  one  occasion,  when  the 
preacher  paused  to  take  breath,  after  one  of  his 
electrifying  bursts  of  oratory,  was  overheai'd  to 
whisper  to  a  gentleman  beside  him:  ''This  is 
indeed  true  eloquence.    The  tartan  beats  us  all." 

The  amount  of  misery  and  wretchedness  which 
he  found  existing  among  the  poorer  classes  of 
Glasgow,  filled  his  heart  with  sorrow ;  and  to  the 
work  of  the  pastor  was  soon  added  that  of  the 
philanthropist.  He  now  devoted  much  of  his  at- 
tention to  the  Christian  and  civic  economy  of 
towns,  and  laboured  anxiously  to  introduce  an 
improvement  in  the  mode  of  maintaining  the  poor. 


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with  the  design  of  amciiorating  their  condition,  as 
well  as  doing  away  with  compnlsoiy  assessment. 
His  sagacity  foresaw  that  our  poor-laws  would 
pauperise  Scotland,  and  that  the  more  given  by 
legal  sanction  the  more  would  pauperism  be  cre- 
ated. Having  explained  his  views  to  the  magis- 
trates of  Glasgow,  they  were  favourably  enter- 
tained ;  and  he  was  translated  to  the  pansh  of  St. 
John*s,  in  that  city,  that  he  might  be  the  better 
enabled  to  develop  bis  plans.  For  this  purpose, 
on  the  18th  of  August  1819,  the  Town  Council 
unanimously  resolved  that  *■*■  Dr.  Chalmers  should 
have  a  separate,  independent,  and  exclusive  man- 
agement and  distribution  of  the  funds  which  may 
be  raised  by  voluntary  or  charitable  collections  at 
the  doore  of  St.  John's  church,  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor  resident  in  said  parish." 

In  St.  John's,  then  containing  a  population  of 
nearly  12,000  souls,  who  had  been,  till  then,  much 
neglected,  he  laboured  with  great  zeal  and  success 
in  the  moral  and  religious  education  of  the  poor. 
In  carrying  out  his  gi-eat  design  of  "  excavating 
the  heathen" — one  of  his  own  happy  and  signifi- 
cant phrases — he  went  boldly  to  the  lanes  and 
alleys  of  his  parish,  to  compel  them  ^^to  come  in." 
His  aptitude  for  familiarising  himself  with  those 
he  visited,  and  disarming  prejudice  and  opposition, 
is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  incident: — 
Going  the  round  of  his  visitations,  he  called  one 
day  upon  a  poor  cobbler,  who  was  industriously 
engaged  with  awl  and  ends,  QEistening  sole  and 
upper.  The  cobbler  kept  fast  hold  of  the  shoe 
between  his  knees,  perforating  the  stubborn  bend, 
and  passing  through  the  bristled  ends  right  and 
left,  scarcely  noticing  his  clerical  visitor;  but  the 
glance  that  he  gave  showed  evident  recognition ; 
then  rosining  the  fibrous  lines,  he  made  them 
whisk  out  on  either  side  with  increased  energy, 
showing  a  disinclination  to  hold  any  parley.  "  I 
am,"  said  the  Doctor,  ^^  visiting  my  parishioners  at 
present,  and  am  to  have  a  meeting  of  those  resi- 
dent in  this  locality,  in  the  vestry  of  St.  John's 
(on  a  day  which  he  named)  when  I  shall  be  hap- 
py to  have  your  presence  along  with  your  neigh- 
bours." The  shoemaker  kept  his  spine  at  the 
sutor's  angle,  and,  making  the  thread  rasp  with 
the  force  of  the  pull,  coolly  remarked,  "  Ay,  step 
your  wa's  ben  to  the  wife  and  the  weans;  as  for 


me,  Vm  a  wee  in  the  deistical  line,  Doctor." 
With  that  intuitive  perception  of  character  and 
tact  in  addressing  himself  to  the  variety  of  dispo- 
sitions and  characters  in  society,  which  distin- 
guished him,  he  entei'ed  into  conversation  with 
the  cobbler,  asking  questions  about  his  profession, 
and  the  weekly  amount  of  his  earnings,  sympa- 
thising with  him  on  the  exceedingly  limited 
amount  of  his  income,  compared  with  the  outlay 
necessary  for  food,  clothing,  house  I'ent,  &c.  Then 
taking  up  one  tool  after  another,  he  asked  and  ob- 
tained explanations  of  their  different  uses,  and, 
following  up  the  conversation  by  a  chain  of  moral 
reasoning,  from  cause  to  efiTect,  led  the  cobbler 
away  from  his  last,  and  obtained  a  patient  hear- 
ing, which  ended  m  the  latter  becoming  a  steady 
church-goer. 

The  church  of  St.  John's  was  soon  found  to  be 
far  too  small  for  the  eager  crowds  anxious  to  hear 
him.  He  not  only  preached  twice  every  Sunday, 
but  once  on  the  week-days.  His  splendid  *  Astro- 
nomical Discourses,'  perhaps  the  most  fiiscinating 
of  all  his  works,  were  part  of  the  fruits  of  his 
week-day  preachings.  Though  week-day  sermons 
were  by  no  means  popular,  he  was  attended  by 
crowds  of  all  ranks  and  classes;  and  noblemen 
jostled  with  humble  tradesmen  in  the  great  desire 
to  hear  Dr.  Chalmers.  The  same  continued  till 
his  last  pulpit  appearance,  wherever  and  whenever 
it  was  known  that  he  was  to  preach. 

Among  the  works  published  by  Dr.  Chalmers 
during  his  residence  in  Glasgow,  were  the  follow- 
ing: 'Thoughts  on  Universal  Peace,  a  Thanksgiv- 
ing Sermon,'  1816;  'The  Utility  of  Missions,  a 
Sermon,'  1816;  'A  Series  of  Discourses  on  the 
Christian  Revelation,  viewed  in  connection  with 
the  Modem  Astronomy,'  1817 ; '  A  Sermon  delivered 
at  Glasgow,  on  November  19th,  1817,  the  day  ot 
the  Funeral  of  the  Princess  Charlotte;'  'Sermons 
Preached  in  the  Tron  church,  Glasgow,'  1819-20; 
'Tlie  Importance  of  Civil  Government  to  Society; 
A  Sermon,'  1820 ;  '  The  application  of  Christianity 
to  the  Common  and  Ordinary  affairs  of  Life,  in  a 
Series  of  Discourees,'  1820;  'The  Christian  and 
Civic  Economy  of  Large  Towns,'  2  vols,  1821- 
1828;  'Sermons  Preached  on  Public  Occasions,' 

1823,  and '  The  Evidences  of  Christian  Revelation,' 

1824.  His  works  became  very  popular  and  sold 


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rapidly;  but  he  preferred  devoting  himself  to  his 
parochial  duties,  at  a  time  when  his  writings 
would  have  brought  him  large  remunerating  prices 
from  the  publishers. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  ministry  at  St. 
John's,  that  he  might  not  be  impeded  in  his  philan- 
thropic schemes  in  that  parisli,  the  whole  parochial 
aiTangements  being  on  his  shoulders,  and  guided 
and  impelled  by  him  by  almost  superhuman  energy, 
he  had  secured  the  services  of  the  Rev.  Edward 
Irving,  then  a  licentiate  of  the  church,  as  an  assist- 
ant. Mr.  Irving  also  assisted  him  in  household 
visitation. 

In  1822,  he  started  on  a  tour  through  England, 
in  search  of  information  as  to  the  state  and  pros- 
pects of  its  poor-law  administration;  on  which 
occasion  he  again  visited  London,  and  had  inter- 
conrse  with  Lord  Calthorpe,  Lord  Teignmouth, 
Mr.  Wilberforce,  Mr.  Clarkson,  Mr.  Malthus,  and 
others. 

In  1823,  he  was  elected  professor  of  moral 
philosophy  In  the  university  of  St.  Andrews. 
Attached  to  a  college  life,  and  believing  that  his 
greater  usefulness  consisted  in  teaching,  he  now 
saw  his  wishes  in  this  respect  accomplished,  and 
that  in  his  own  alma  mater.  He  accepted  the  chair 
in  preference  to  a  pastoral  charge  in  Edinburgh, 
to  several  of  which  he  had  been  invited.  He 
demitted  his  charge  of  St.  John's  on  the  5th  No- 
vember, and  was  installed  and  delivered  his  intro- 
ductory lecture  at  St.  Andrews,  on  the  17th  of  the 
same  month. 

His  professional  labours  at  St.  Andrews  gave  an 
impulse  to  that  ancient  seminary  which,  in  some 
measure,  tended,  for  the  time,  to  restore  it  to  some 
portion  of  its  former  fame,  and  while  he  continued 
there  he  also  delivered  a  separate  course  of  lectures 
on  political  economy  as  connected  with  the  moral 
philosophy  dass.  But  it  was  a  sphere  too  limited 
for  his  usefulness,  and  by  far  too  narrow  for  his 
genius;  and  a  larger  iteld,  and  higher  office  soon 
opened  to  him  in  the  Scottish  metropolis  itself, 
which  was  destined  to  become  the  scene  of  his 
greatest  triumphs. 

In  1828,  on  the  divinity  chair  in  the  university 
of  Edinburgh  becoming  vacant.  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
unanimously  elected  to  the  professorship,  by  the 
magistrates  and  town  council  of  thkt  dty,  and  he 


at  once  accepted  the  appointment.  Ue  entered  on 
the  duties  of  his  new  chair  by  pronouncing  an 
address  of  surpassing  eloquence  and  splendour; 
and,  during  the  fifteen  years  that  he  held  it,  he 
was  eminently  successful  in  his  lectni*es,  and  has 
left  the  impress  of  his  original  genius,  and  vast 
stores  of  theological  instruction,  on  the  minds  of 
many  of  the  students,  who  afterwards  became 
ministers  of  the  gospel. 

Although  the  theological  chair  in  the  university 
of  Edinburgh  is  considered  the  highest  academical 
professoi*ship  in  Scotland,  that  chair  is  but  poorly 
endowed  in  comparison  to  the  corresponding  chair 
in  the  univereity  of  Glasgow,  and  the  latter,  in 
consequence  of  its  being  richer,  is  of  more  con- 
sideration to  a  man,  who  like  Dr.  Chalmers,  had 
a  family,  whose  disposition  was  generous  in  the 
extreme,  and  whose  benevolence  was  unbounded. 
On  the  professorship  of  theology,  therefore,  becom- 
ing vacant  in  the  university  of  Glasgow,  (le  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate,  but  the  election  was  vested 
in  the  college;  and  as  Chalmers  was  a  leader 
among  the  non-intrusionists — ^that  is,  those  who 
were  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  patronage  in 
appointments  to  livings  in  the  church,  and  an 
anti-pluralist  to  boot— he  had  become  obnoxious 
to  the  university  authorities,  and  was  rejected. 

In  1829  Dr.  Chalmers  took  an  active  part  in 
favour  of  the  emandpation  of  the  Roman  Catholics, 
— a  concession  which,  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
he  lived  to  regret.  In  1832  appeared  the  evidence 
given  by  him  and  the  Right  Rev.  J.  Doyl6,  befoi-e 
a  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  on 
the  State  of  Ireland.  In  that  year  were  also 
published  two  of  his  works,  namely,  ^On:  Political 
Economy  in  connection  with  the  M6ral  state  and 
Moral  prospects  of  Society,'  and  '  The  Supreme 
Importance  of  a  right  Moral  to  a  right  Economical 
State  of  the  Community.' 

His  treatise  on  *  The  Power  and  Wisdom  and 
Goodness  of  God,  as  manifested  in  the  adaptation 
of  External  Nature  to  the  Moral  and  Intellectual 
Constitution  of  Man,'  appeared  in  1833.  This 
was  one  of  the  celebrated  Bridgewater  Treatises. 
The  Right  Hon.  and  Rev.  Earl  of  Bridgewater, 
who  died  in  1829,  left  the  sum  of  £8,000,  at  the 
disposal  of  the  president  of  the  Royal  Sodety,  as 
a  reward  to  the  author  of  the  best  treatise  on  the 


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Power,  Wisdom,  aud  Goodness  of  God  as  illus- 
trated in  Creation,  &c.  That  gentleman  took  the 
opinions  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  as  well  as  of  a  nobleman,  a 
friend  of  the  deceased  eai'l,  on  the  best  means  of 
carrying  out  the  bequest;  and  it  was  very  judici- 
ously resolved  that  instead  of  being  given  to  one 
man,  for  one  work,  the  money  should  be  allotted 
to  eight  different  persons  for  eight  separate  trea- 
tises on  separate  subjects,  though  all  connected 
with  the  same  primary  theme.  Dr.  Chalmers  was 
selected  as  one  of  the  writers,  and  in  1833,  ac- 
cordingly, appeai*ed  froip  his  pen,  in  two  volumes, 
the  work  already  mentioned.  His  collected  works 
revised  by  himself,  were  published  in  1836,  in  25 
duodecimo  volumes.  His  valuable  Lectures  on 
St.  PauPs  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  were  published 
in  1837. 

During  what  was  called  the  great  voluntary  con- 
troversy. Dr.  Chalmers  took  a  very  active  and  in- 
fluential part  in  support  of  the  obligation  of  civil 
rulers  to  provide  for  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  people,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  a  national 
religion.  He  delivered  a  series  of  valuable  lec- 
tures on  the  Importance  of  Chureh  Establishments, 
which  made  a  great  impression  at  the  time.  He 
was  also  the  chief  promoter  of  chureh  extension  in 
Scotland.  For  his  successful  labours  in  this  cause 
he  repeatedly  received  the  thanks  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  In  1838, 
he  was  invited  to  London  to  deliver  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  Establishment  and  Extension  of 
National  Churches,  which  he  did  in  the  Hanover 
Square  rooms,  to  overflowing  audiences.  Amongst 
his  hearers  on  this  occasion  were  the  Duchess  of 
Kent,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  many  of  the  pre- 
lates and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
the  most  distinguished  members  of  both  houses  of 
parliament.  These  lectures  were  said  to  be  got 
up  at  the  expense  of  a  nobleman,  who  desired  to 
strengthen  the  existing  institutions  of  the  country, 
and  were  designed  principally  for  the  higher  classes 
of  society. 

When  he  preached  in  London,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  the  late  Earl  of  Eldon,  the  Duke  of 
Sussex,  with  several  other  members  of  the  royal 
family,  and  many  among  the  higher  ranks,  whom 
the  journalists  of  the  day  remarked  "  they  were 


not  accustomed  to  elbow  at  a  place  of  publit*  wor- 
ship,*' were  found  among  the  crowded  congrega- 
tions assembled  from  all  parts  to  hear  him.  Kone, 
indeed,  ever  enjoyed  a  larger  share  of  popularity 
— *'  that  thing,"  as  he  expressed  it  in  his  own  gra- 
phic language,  "  of  etare,  and  pressure,  and  ani- 
mal heat." 

Dr.  Chalmers  continued  to  occupy  the  chair  of 
divinity  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  till  the 
disruption  took  place  in  the  Established  Church 
of  Scotland,  in  May  1843,  when,  at  tne  bead  of 
more  than  four  hundred  ministers,  he  quitted  the 
Establishment,  and  immediately  founded  the  Free 
Protesting  Church  of  Scotland.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  he  resigned  his  chair  in  the  university,  and 
was  elected  principal  and  pnmarins  professor  of 
theology  to  the  seceding  body.  Driven  by  con- 
science from  the  walls  of  the  Establishment,  be 
did  not  relinquish  one  jot  of  his  Establishment 
principles;  and,  indeed,  what  is  called  the  volun- 
tary doctrine  forms  no  part  or  portion  of  the  Free 
Church  creed.  The  fundamental  doctrine  of  the 
Free  Church,  as  distinguished  from  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  is  that  the  State,  while  bound  to 
provide  for  the  interests  of  religion,  and  to  protect 
and  defend  the  church,  has  no  right  whatever  to 
interfere,  and  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  interfere, 
in  things  pertaining  to  the  spiritual  province  of 
the  church;  that  patronage  is  a  sin  and  crying 
grievance,  and  that  no  minister  should  be  ^*  in- 
truded" on  any  parish  or  congregation  contrary 
to  the  will  of  the  people.  Hence  the  distinctive 
name,  before  the  disruption,  of  Intrusionists  and 
Non-Intrusionists.  These  principles  are  very  plain 
and  simple;  and  yet  Dr.  Chalmers  used  to  com- 
plain that  he  could  never  get  an  Englishman  to 
understand  them. 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  new  church,  Dr. 
Chalmers  took  a  leading  part,  and  was  the  princi- 
pal framer  of  the  scheme  of  the  Snstentation  Fund 
for  the  support  of  the  clergy.  In  1845,  he  retired 
fi-om  the  management  of  the  more  weighty  and 
important  business  of  the  Free  Church,  and  con- 
fined his  attention  almost  entirely  to  what  be- 
longed to  the  new  college.  In  his  address  on  the 
occasion  he  stated  that  he  had  "  neither  the  vigour 
nor  the  alertness  of  former  days ;"  that  he  found 
his  strength  sn£Scieut  neither  for  the  debates  of 


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the  Assembly  nor  the  details  of  committees  or  of 
correspondence;  and  he  therefore  resigned  "a  gen- 
eral care  of  the  church  for  a  more  special  and  in- 
tense care  of  those  students  who  are  to  the  chnrch 
her  future  guides  and  guardians.*'  He  planted  a 
church  on  the  territorial  system,  in  the  West  Port 
of  Edinburgh,  in  one  of  the  poorest  and  most  d^- 
titnte  localities  of  Scotland's  capital,  and  in  the 
near  vicinity  of  the  spot  where  Burke  and  Hare 
committed  their  wholesale  mm-ders  in  1827;  and 
one  of  his  last  appearances  in  an  Edinburgh  pulpit 
was  on  opening  that  humble  and  obscure  place  of 
worship.  Three  weeks  before  his  death,  he  was 
called  to  London,  to  give  evidence  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  refusal  of 
certain  landholders  in  Scotland  to  allow  sites  for 
churches  on  their  properties  to  adhei'ents  of  the 
Fi*ee  Church.  While  in  the  metropolis  on  this 
his  last  visit,  be  preached  three  times  to  crowded 
congi-egations,  among  whom,  as  usual,  were  many 
of  the  great  and  noble  of  the  land;  and  having 
finished  his  testimony,  he  returned  fix>m  London 
on  Friday  the  28th  of  May,  to  his  own  house  at 
Momingside,  about  two  miles  from  Ediuburgh. 
On  the  succeeding  Sunday  he  attended  public 
worship,  along  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cunningham,  in 
Momingside  Free  Church,  and  at  an  early  hour 
that  evening,  he  retired  to  rest  in  his  usual  health. 
Next  morning,  the  31st  of  May,  1847,  he  was 
fbund  dead  in  his  bed.  "  It  appeared,"  says  the 
'  Witness '  newspaper,  "  that  he  had  been  sitting 
erect  when  overtaken  by  the  stroke  of  death,  and 
he  still  retained  in  part  that  position.  The  massy 
head  gently  reclined  on  the  pillow.  The  arms 
were  folded  peacefully  on  the  breast.  There  was 
a  slight  air  of  oppression  and  heaviness  on  the 
brow,  but  not  a  wrinkle  or  a  trace  of  sorrow  or 
pain  disturbed  its  smoothness.  The  countenance 
wore  an  attitude  of  deep  repose.  No  conflict  had 
preceded  dissolution." 

The  union  in  one  person  of  such  zeal  and  elo- 
quence as  Dr.  Chalmers  displayed,  is  exceedingly 
rare.  As  a  preacher  the  grandeur  of  his  concep- 
tions, the  novelty  and  amplitude  of  his  illustra- 
tions, and  the  graphic  force  and  significancy  of  his 
diction,  with  the  irresistible  earnestness  of  his 
manner,  altogether  formed  such  a  combination  of 
qualities  as.  is  seldom  found  in  modei-n  oratoiy. 


The  celebrated  Robert  Hall  said  that  Dr.  Chal- 
mere'  preaching  "  stopped  people's  breath."  The 
e£fect  he  produced,  it  has  been  remarked,  was  like 
that  of  the  sage  in  Rasselas — **when  he  spoke, 
attention  watched  his  lips;  when  he  reasoned, 
conviction  closed  his  periods." 

His  accent  and  his  appeai'ance  were  both  against 
him.  The  former  was  broad  provincial  Scotch; 
the  latter  was  dull  and  heavy,  and  by  no  means 
conveyed  any  idea  of  the  wonderful  fertility  and 
energy  of  his  mind.  In  stature  he  was  about  the 
middle  height,  stout,  large-boned,  and  muscular, 
but  not  at  all  approaching  to  corpulency.  His 
gi-ey  eye,  which  in  his  ordinary  moods  had  a  pla- 
cid expression,  when  excited  shone  with  intense 
brilliancy;  his  forehead  was  broad  and  massy, 
but  not  particularly  lofty ;  his  step  was  quick  and 
eager,  his  accents  fast  and  hmrying,  his  gesture 
awkward,  and  his  delivery  monotonous;  but  yet, 
when  roused  from  his  lethargy,  when  fairly  within 
his  subject,  these  drawbacks  were  all  forgotten  in 
the  powerful  and  rapid  stream  of  bis  eloquence. 
He  usually  commenced  speaking  in  an  undertone; 
and  it  was  not  until  he  had  gone  on  for  some  time 
that  feelings  of  admiration  began  to  be  kindled,  at 
the  exhibition  of  those  wondrous  powers  which 
made  him  the  first  pulpit  orator  of  the  age.  His 
eloquence,  it  may  be  said,  did  not  flow  on  in  a 
continuous  strain.  He  allowed  himself  and  his 
hearers  intervals  of  repose,  during  which  he  uttered 
nothing  very  striking.  But  these  pauses,  like  the 
breathings  which  ever  and  anon  the  wind  takes 
in  a  tempest,  or  like  the  temporary  cessation  of 
the  thunder  when  it  appears  to  be  collecting  all 
its  foixse  for  a  new  explosion,  were  succeeded 
by  bursts  of  the  most  electrifying  nature,  which 
perfectly  enthralled  his  hearers.  Those  who 
never  heard  him  preach  can  collect  from  his  pub- 
lished discourses  no  adequate  conception  of  the 
effect  which  his  pulpit  addresses  produced  on  his 
audiences.  ^^  His  earnest  and  massive  eloquence," 
says  one  of  his  newspaper  biographers,  '*bore 
down  all  before  it.  His  accents  might  at  first 
appear  uncouth;  but  all  this  impression  speedily 
disappeared  before  a  torrent  of  rapid  and  brilliant 
thoughts.  He  seized  on  his  text,  turned  it  over 
and  over  in  a  thousand  shapes,  showed  it  in  a 
thousand  lights,  and  never  left  it  till  it  was  writ- 


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ten  on  the  hearts  of  his  liearei's.  Even  the  cool 
and  critical  Jeffrey  said  that  there  was  some- 
thing remaricable  about  that  man;  he  reminded 
him  more  of  what  he  had  read  of  Cicero  and  De- 
mosthenes than  any  orator  he  had  ever  heard." 

Although  a  thorough  Calvinist,  deeply  imbaed 
with  the  theology  of  the  great  man  whose  system 
he  had  imbibed,  he  carefully  and  faithfully  divided 
the  word  of  truth.  While  he  was  anxious  to  point 
out  the  only  ground  of  a  sinner's  acceptance,  no 
one  ever  urged  so  earnestly  and  eloquently  the 
*^  duties  and  decencies,  and  respectabilities  and 
charities  of  life."  Besides  the  degree  of  D.D. 
which,  as  already  mentioned,  he  obtained  from  the 
university  of  Glasgow,  he  received  that  of  LL.D. 
from  the  university  of  Oxford.  He  was  also  a 
corresponding  member  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
France,  and  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lon- 
don. He  married  in  1812,  Grace,  second  daughter 
of  Captain  Pratt  of  the  1st  royal  veteran  battalion. 
This  lady  survived  him.  He  also  left  six  daugh- 
ters, two  of  whom  were  married  to  Free  Church 
ministers ;  the  one  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mackenzie  of 
Ratho,  and  the  other  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hanna,  for- 
merly of  Skirling,  now  of  Edinburgh,  at  one  time 
editor  of  the  North  British  Review,  to  the  pages 
of  which  Dr.  Chalmers  himself  regulai'ly  contri- 
buted, and  author  of  t,he  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, published  after  his  death.  His  third 
daughter  was  married  in  November  1852,  to  Wil- 
liam Wood,  Esq.,  accountant,  Edinburgh,  son  of 
the  late  John  Philip  Wood,  Esq.,  auditor  of  excise 
and  editor  of  Douglas'  Peerage. — His  works  are : 

Obeenrations  relatire  to  the  mathematical  pretensions  of 
the  Scottish  Clergy.    Edin.  1805. 

Scripture  References;  designed  for  the  use  of  parents,  teach- 
ers, and  private  Christians,  8d  ed.  8vo. 

A  Sermon,  preached  before  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the 
Destitute  Sick.     Edin.  2d  ed.  8vo. 

The  Utility  of  Missions,  ascertained  from  Experience ;  a 
Sermon,  preached  before  the  Society  in  Scotland  for  propagat- 
ing Christian  Knowledge,  2d  ed.  8vo. 

The  Two  Great  Instruments  appointed  for  the  Propagstion 
of  the  Gospel;  a  Sermon,  preached  before  the  Dundee  Mis- 
sionary Society.     8d  ed.  8vo. 

An  Enquiry  into  the  Extent  and  Stability  of  National  Re- 
venues.    Lond.  1808,  8vo. 

Speech  delivered  in  the  General  Assembly,  respecting  the 
Bill  for  augmenting  the  Stipends  of  the  Clergy  of  Scotland, 
1809,  8vo. 

A  Sermon,  1813,  8vo. 

The  Influence  of  Bible  Societies  on  the  Temporal  Necessi- 
ties of  the  Poor,  1814,  8vo. 


The  Evidences  and  Authority  of  the  Christian  Revelation. 
Glasgow,  1814,  8vo.    6th  edit.  1818. 

An  Address  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  Eilmany, 
on  the  duty  of  givmg  an  immediate  diligence  to  the  bosineK 
of  the  Christian  Life.    Edin.  1815.    2d  edit.  8vo.  1817. 

llioughts  on  Universal  Peace  a  Sermon  delivered  on 
Thursday,  January  18,  1816,  the  day  of  National  Thanks- 
giving.   Ghugow,  1816,  8vo,  2d  edit 

A  Series  of  Discourses  on  the  Christian  ReveUtion,  viewed 
in  connexion  with  the  Modem  Astronomy.  Glasgow,  1817 
8vo.    9th  edit  Edin.  1818,  8vo.     Numerous  editions. 

The  Doctrine  of  Christian  Charity  applied  to  the  came  of 
religious  difference ;  a  Sermon,  preached  before  the  Auziiiaiy 
Society,  Glasgow,  to  the  Hibernian  Society  for  eetabliahing 
Schools  and  circulating  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  Ireland.  Glas- 
gow, 1818,  8vo. 

A  Sermon  delivered  in  the  Tron  Church,  Glasgow,  on 
Wednesday,  Nov.  19th,  1817,  the  day  of  the  Funeral  of  her 
Royal  Highness  the  Princess  Chariotte  of  Wales.    GLiagow, 

1818,  8vo. 

Sermons  and  Tracts.    New  edition,  8vo. 

Sermons  preached  in  the  Tron  Church,  Glasgow.    Glasg. 

1819,  8vo. 

Discourses  on  the  application  of  Christianity  to  the  Com- 
mercial and  Ordinary  Affairs  of  Life.  8vo.,  GUsgow, 
1820. 

Sermon  on  the  Importance  of  Civil  Government  Ediu. 
1820. 

The  Christian  and  Civic  Economy  of  Large  Towns.  8  vols. 
8vo.    Glasgow,  1821-6. 

A  Speech  before  the  General  Assembly  Explanatwy  oTthe 
measures  which  have  been  successfully  punsued  in  St  John's 
parish,  Glasgow,  ibr  the  extinction  of  its  compulsory  pauper- 
ism.   Gbsgow,  1822,  8vo. 

Sermons  preached  in  St  John*s,  Glasgow.    Glasgow,  1823. 

On  the  Use  and  Abuse  of  Ecclesiastical  and  Literary  En 
dowments.    Glasgow,  1827,  8vo. 

Political  Economy.    GUugow,  1882,  8vo. 

The  Supreme  Importance  of  a  right  Moral  to  a  right  Eoo- 
nomical  State  of  the  Community.    Edin.  1882. 

Letter  to  the  Royal  Commissioners  for  the  viaitatioo  d 
Colleges  m  Scotland.    Ghugow,  1832. 

On  the  Power,  Wisdom,  and  Goodness  of  God,  as  mani- 
fested in  the  adaptation  of  External  Nature  to  the  Moral  and 
Intellectual  Constitution  of  Man.  2  vols.  8vo.  Bridgewater 
Treatise.    London,  1838. 

The  Right  Ecclesiastical  Economy  of  Laige  Towns.  Edin. 
1885,  pamphlet 

An  Argument  on  Chapel  Bonds.     Edin.  1835,  pamphlet 

On  the  Evils  which  the  Established  Church  in  Edinburgh 
has  suffered,  and  still  suffers,  fix>m  the  Seat-letting  being  in 
the  hands  of  the  Magistrates.  Edin.  1835,  pamphlet  An 
answer  to  the  same  by  Adam  Black  immediately  appeared. 

Re-assertion  of  the  Evils  of  the  Edinburgh  System  of  Seat- 
letting.    Edm.  1835,  pamphlet 

Speech  on  the  Proceedings  of  the  Church  Deputation  in 
London,  delivered  in  the  Commission  of  the  G«ieral  Assem- 
bly.   Edin.  1835,  pamphlet 

The  Cause  of  Church  Extension.    Edin.  1885,  pamphlet 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  General  Assembly  on 
Church  Extension.    Edin.,  1835,  pamphlet 

Reports  to  General  Assembly  on  Church  Extension  for 
1837,  1838,  and  1839.    Pamphlet 

Lectures  on  the  Epistle  of  Paul  the  Apostle  to  the  Romans. 
Glasgow,  1837-43,  4  vols.  8vo. 

The  Cause  of  Church  Extension,  and  the  Qutttioo  shortly. 


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stated  between  Obarohiuen  and  D'uiHenters,  in  regard  to  it. 
Edin.,  1835, 16mo. 

Sermon  on  Cruelty  to  Animals.    Edin.  1826. 

Five  Lgofcares  on  Predestination.    London,  1837. 

A  Conference  with  certain  Ministers  and  Elders  on  the 
Subject  of  the  Moderatorship.    Glasgow,  1837,  pamphlet. 

Supplement  to  his  late  Pamphlet  on  the  Moderatorship. 
Glasgow,  1837,  pamphlet 

Lectures  on  the  Establishment  and  Extension  of  National 
Churches.    Glasgow,  1888,  pamphlet 

Substance  of  a  Speech  delivered  in  the  General  Assembly 
respecting  the  Decision  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  Anch- 
terarder  case.    Glasgow,  1839,  pamphlet 

On  the  present  position  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  occa- 
sioned by  the  Dpmi  of  Faculty's  letter.    Glasgow,  1889. 

What  ought  the  Church  and  the  People  of  Scotland  to  do 
now?    Glasgow,  1840,  pamphlet 

Course  of  Lectures  on  Butler's  *  Analogy  of  Religion,  de- 
fivered  in  the  Univermty  of  Edinburgh.    London,  1841,  8to. 

Sufficiency  of  the  Parochial  System  without  a  Poor  Rate. 
Glasg.  1841, 12mo. 

Earnest  Appeal  to  the  Free  Church  on  the  subject  of  its 
Economics.    Edin.  1846,  pamphlet 

Introductory  Essay  on  Christian  Union.     1846. 

Pamphlet  on  the  Evangelical  Alliance.    1846. 

His  original  works  as  republished  by  himself,  oonristing  of 
his  Natural  Theology,  Evidences  of  ChristiaDity,  Moral  and 
Mental  Philosophy,  Commercial  Discourses,  Astronomical 
Discourses,  Congregational  Sermons,  Sermons  on  Public  Oo- 
camons,  Tracta  and  Essays,  Introductoiy  Essays  to  Select 
Christian  Authors,  Christian  and  Economic  Polity  of  a  Na- 
tion, Church  and  College  Establishments,  Church  Extension, 
Political  Economy,  Sufficiency  of  a  parochial  System,  and 
I^ectnres  on  the  Romans,  &o.,  have  been  re-issued  in  25  vola 
12mo,  and  his  Posthumous  Works,  in  9  vols.  8vo,  as  under. 

llie  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Chalmers  by  his  son-in-law  Dr.  Haii- 
n:i,  are  in  four  large  thick  volumes,  and  include  Dr.  Chal- 
mers' diaries. 

Posthumous  Works,  edited  by  Dr.  Hanna. 
Daily  Scripture  Readings,  3  vols. 
Sabbath  Scripture  Readings,  2  vols. 
Sermons,  1798  to  1847,  1  vol. 
Institutes  of  Theology,  2  vols. 
Lectures  on  Butler,  Paley,  Hill,  &c  1  vol. 


CnAMBRRS,  a  surname  supposed  to  have  been  originally 
the  same  as  Chalmers.  It  seems,  however,  of  French  origin, 
being  derived  from  de  la  Chcmibre.  In  the  Ragman  Roll 
occur  the  names  of  Robert  de  la  Chambre  and  Symon  de  la 
Chambre,  as  among  those  barons  who  swore  a  forced  fealty 
to  Edward  the  First  in  1296,  conjectured  by  Nisbet,  without 
stating  any  grounds,  to  have  been  among  the  predecessors  of 
Chalmer  of  Gadgirth  in  Ayrshire.  Sir  George  Mackenzie, 
in  his  Genealogical  Manuscript  of  the  Families  of  Scotland, 
says,  **  One  of  the  clan  Cameron  going  to  France,  put  his 
name  in  a  Latin  dress,  by  designing  himself  Camerario, 
which  in  French  is  de  la  Chambre,  who  upon  his  return  to 
Scotland  was,  according  to  our  dialect,  called  Chambers.** 
In  the  article  on  Chalmer  of  Gadgirth,  we  have  shown  that 
Camerarius  was  the  undoubted  origin  of  that  surname,  at  a 
very  eariy  period  in  Scotland.    [See  anie^  p.  615.] 

CHAMBERS,  David,  a  Roman  Catholic  wri- 
ter, who  flourished  in  the  seventeenth  century, 


was  the  author  of  a  curious  work,  styled  '  Daviaia 
Camerarii  Scoti,  de  Scotorum  Foi-titndine,  Doc- 
trina.  et  Pietate  l-.ibri  Quatuor,'  published  at  Pa- 
ris in  small  4to  in  1631.  It  contains  an  account 
of  all  the  saints  connected  with  Scotland,  and  is 
dedicated  to  Charles  the  First.  Scarcely  anything, 
is  known  concerning  him. 

Chancellor,  a  surname  derived  from  the  oflSce  of  that 
name,  and  supposed  to  have  come  Ifrom  France  at  the  Nor- 
man conquest  with  the  Somervilles.  A  family  of  great  anti- 
quity named  Chancellor  have  held  the  lands  of  Shieldhill  and 
Quothquhan  m  Lanarkshire  for  more  than  four  centuries,  as 
appears  from  a  charter  of  confirmation  still  extant  granted  by 
Thomas  Lord  Somerville  to  one  of  their  ancestors,  dated  6th 
March  1434.  In  the  *  Memorie  of  the  Sommervilles,'  it  is 
stated  that  a  firm  friendship  subsisted  between  the  house  of 
Lord  Somerville  and  the  family  of  Chancellor  of  Shieldhill 
and  Quothquhan  as  early  as  the  tame  of  Robert  the  Bruce,  in 
1317.  In  July  1474,  William  Chancellor  rode  with  the  rest 
of  the  third  Ix)rd  Somerville*s  vassals,  to  meet  King  James 
the  Third  on  his  way  from  Edinburgh  to  Cowthally  castle,  to 
partake  of  the  festivity  of  the  **  speates  and  raxes.**  [See 
SoMBCERViLLK,  Lord,  jpott."]  In  1667,  William  Chancellor 
of  Shieldhill  joined  the  adherents  of  Queen  Mary  at  Hamilton, 
after  her  escape  from  Lochleven,  and  fought  for  her  at  the 
battle  of  Langside,  in  consequence  of  which  his  mansion- 
house  at  Quothquhan  was  soon  afterwards  burnt  down  by  a 
party  of  horsemen,  sent  out  by  the  victorious  regent  Murray 
to  demolish  the  houses  of  those  who  had  remained  faithful  to 
his  unfortunate  sister.  The  residence  of  the  family  was  then 
removed  to  Shieldhill,  its  present  site.  After  the  battle  oi 
Bothwell-bridge,  James  Chancellor  of  Shieldhill  was  impri- 
soned on  suspicion  of  having  harboured  some  of  the  fugitive 
insurgents,  but  nothing  being  proved  against  him  he  was 
liberated  after  some  days  confinement.  The  same  gentleman 
was  returned  as  elder  by  the  presbytery  of  Biggar  to  the  first 
General  Assembly  which  met  after  the  revolution  of  1688. 

(>f  this  name,  Chancellor,  was  a  celebrated  English  navi- 
gator, of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  was  the  means  of  estab- 
lishing the  Russian  Company. 


Chapman,  a  surname  evidently  derived  from  trade,  aa 
chapman  is  the  old  Saxon  word  for  a  small  trader,  a  dealer  in 
petty  wares,  or  more  properly  a  pedlar.  Bums,  in  the  com- 
mencement of  Tam  0*Shanter,  says, 

*'  When  Chapman  billies  leave  the  street. 
And  dronthy  neighbours  nelghboon  meet** 

It  was  the  name  of  an  English  poet,  who  was  contemporary 
with  Shakspeare  and  Spencer. 

CHAPMAN,  or  Chephan,  Walteb,  the  first 
person  who  introduced  printing  into  Scotland, 
(abont  1507,)  is  supposed  to  have  held  some  re- 
spectable office  in  the  household  of  King  James  the 
Fourth.  He  was  a  citizen  of  wealth  and  import- 
ance, and  in  his  titles  is  styled  Walter  Chepman 
de  Everland.  Tliat  his  office  was  not  of  an  eccle- 
siastical character  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  his 
wife,  Agnes  Cobum,  is  mentioned  in  the  same 


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titles,  and  he  consequently  was  not  boand  by  vows 
of  celibacy.  His  name  is  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  Accounts  of  the  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  Scot- 
land, inserted  in  the  Appendix  to  Pitcairn^s  Cri- 
minal Ti-ials.  On  the  2l8t  February  1496  there  is 
the  following  item :  ^^  Giffen  to  a  boy  to  rynne  fra 
Edinburgh  to  Linlithg.  to  Watte  Chepman,  to 
signet  twa  letteris  to  pas  to  Woddis,  12d." 

In  August  1503,  on  occasion  of  the  king's  mar- 
riage, in  a  list  which  is  titled  "  Pro  Servitoribus," 
there  is  an  entry  ^*for  five  elne  Inglls  claith  to 
Walter  Chepman,  ilk  elne,  84s."  "  Chepman," 
says  Mr.  Pitcaim,  "  was  an  extensive  merchant 
and  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  as  well  as  the  earliest 
Scottish  printer."  From  a  gi-ant  under  the  privy 
seal,  dated  September  15,  1507,  printed  in  the 
fii-st  volume  of  Blackwood's  Magazine,  it  appears 
that  it  was  at  the  special  request  of  King  James 
tliat  Walter  Chepman,  and  his  paitner,  Andro 
Millar,  also  a  merchant  and  burgess,  were  induced 
to  set  up  a  pnnting  press  in  Edinburgh ;  and,  for 
their  encouragement,  the  king  conferred  upon 
them  the  sole  privilege  of  *^  imprenting  within  our 
Realme  of  the  bnkis  of  our  Lawis,  actis  of  Par- 
liament, croniclis,  mess  bukis,  and  portuus  efter 
the  use  of  our  Realme,  with  addicions  and  Icgen- 
dis  of  Scottish  Sanctis,  now  gaderit  to  be  ekit 
thai*to,  and  al  utheris  bukis  that  salbe  sene  neces 
sar,  and  to  sel  the  sammyn  for  competent  piicis." 
In  the  Treasurer's  Accounts  there  is  a  payment 
entered  under  date  December  22,  1507,  of  fifty 
shillings,  for  "three  prentit  bukes  to  the  king, 
tane  fra  Andro  Millaris  W3rff."  The  printing  oflBcc 
of  Chapman  and  Millar,  the  first  printers  in  Scot- 
land, appears  to  have  been  in  the  Cowgate,  then 
called  the  South  gaitt,  near  to  what  is  now  King 
George  the  Fourth's  Bridge.  This  appears  from 
the  imprint  on  the  rare  edition  of  "  The  Knightly 
Tale  of  Golagros  and  Gawane,"  and  others  of 
the  earliest  issues  from  their  press  in  the  year 
1508. 

In  January  1509,  we  find  Chapman  asserting 
his  patent  against  "  Wilyiam  Frost,  Francis  Frost, 
William  Sym,  Andro  Ross,  and  divers  uthers, 
merchandis  within  the  bnigh  of  Edinburgh,"  for 
having  infringed  it,  by  importing  books  into  Scot- 
land contrary  to  the  privilege  granted  to  him  by 
the  king;   and  the  lords  of  council  accordingly 


prohibited  these  parties,  and  ail  others,  from  en- 
croaching on  his  right  in  future.  '*  It  affords  evi- 
dence," says  Wilson,  in  his  Memorials  of  Edm- 
burgh,  (vol.  i.  p.  30)  "  of  the  success  that  attended 
the  printing  press  immediately  on  its  introduction, 
that  in  the  year  1513,  Walter  Chepman  founded 
a  chaplainry  at  the  altar  of  St.  John  the  Evange- 
list, on  the  southern  side  of  St.  GileV  chui-ch,  and 
endowed  it  with  an  annuity  of  twenty-three 
marks."  A  set  of  works  produced  by  Chapman 
and  Millai*  are  preserved  in  the  Advocates'  library. 
We  learn  from  a  passage  in  the  Traditions  of 
Edinburgh,  that  Walter  Chapman,  on  12tli 
August  1528,  founded  another  chaplainry  at  the 
altar  in  the  chapel  of  Holy  rood,  in  the  Nether 
Kirkyard  of  St.  Giles',  and  endowed  it  with  his 
tenement  in  the  Cowgate.  The  yeai*  of  his  death 
is  not  known,  but  there  is  good  reason  for  believ- 
ing that  he  was  interred  in  the  south  transept  of 
St.  Giles'  church. 

A  list  of  the  works  printed  by  Chapman  and 
Millar,  some  of  which  ai'e  very  rare,  will  be  found 
in  Watt's  Bibliotheca  Britannica. 

CHAPMAN,  George,  LL.D.,  author  of  some 
educational  works,  was  bom  at  the  farm  of  Little 
Blacktown,  in  the  parish  of  Alvah,  Banffshire,  in 
August  1723.  At  King's  college,  Aberdeen,  be 
obtained  a  bm-sary  by  competition,  which  enabled 
him  to  study  there  for  four  seasons.  He  was  af- 
terwards appointed  master  of  the  parish  school  of 
Alvah.  In  1747  he  became  assistant  in  Mr.  John 
Love's  school  in  Dalkeith.  In  1751  he  removed 
to  Dumfries  as  joint-mast«r  of  the  gi*ammar  school 
thei-e,  in  which  situation  he  continued  for  twenty 
yeai-s.  Having  acquired  some  wealth,  he  was  in- 
duced, from  the  increase  in  the  number  of  pupils 
who  boarded  in  his  house,  to  i*elinquish  the  school ; 
but  finding  that  his  success  in  this  line  injured  the 
prospects  of  his  successor,  he  generously  gave  up 
his  boarding- school,  quitted  Dumfries  and  went 
to  reside  on  his  native  farm  in  Banfishire,  where 
he  kept  a  small  academy.  Being  invited  by  the 
magisti-ates  of  Banff  to  superintend  the  grammar 
school  of  that  town,  he  converted  it  into  an  aca- 
demy. He  finally  removed  to  Edinburgh,  where, 
for  some  years,  he  canied  on  business  as  a  print- 
er. His  treatise  on  Education  appeared  in  1782. 
He  also  published  some  smaller  works  on  the 


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same  subject.    Dr.  Chapman  died  Febraary  22^ 
1806. — His  works  ai-e 

A  Treatise  on  Edncation,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Author^ 
Method  of  Instrnction,  while  he  taught  the  School  of  Dum- 
fries; and  a  View  of  other  Books  on  Education.  Edin. 
1773,  8vo.    Lond.  1774, 1790.    6th  edit.  Lond.  1792,  8vo. 

Hints  on  the  Education  of  the  Lower  Ranks  of  the  People, 
and  the  appointment  of  Parochial  Schoolmasters. 

Advantages  of  a  Classical  Education,  &c 

An  Abridgment  of  Mr.  Ruddiman*s  RodiOMOts  and  Latin 
Grammar. 

East  India  Tracts,  Ttz.  GoUoghon  Bengalense;  a  Latin 
Poem,  with  an  English  Translation,  and  a  Dissertation,  &o. 
Edin.  1805,  12mo. 


Chakteris,  the  surname  of  an  Anglo-Norman  family 
which,  sajrs  Douglas  in  his  Baronage,  "  is  of  great  antiquity  in 
Scotland,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  some  antiquaries  that  they 
are  of  French  extraction ;  that  William  a  son  of  the  eari  of 
Chartres  in  France,  came  to  England  with  William  the  Con- 
queror ;  that  a  son  or  grandson  of  his  came  to  Scotland  with 
King  David  the  First,  and  was  progenitor  of  all  of  the  sur- 
name of  Charteris  in  this  kingdom,  and  certain  it  is  they  be- 
gan to  make  a  figure  in  the  south  of  Scotland  soon  after  that 
era." 

The  immediate  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Charteris  of  Amis- 
field,  (anciently  Emsfield,  and  sometimes  Hempisfield,)  in 
Dumfnes-shire,  was  Robert  de  Charteris,  who  flourished  in 
the  reigns  of  King  Malcolm  the  Fourth  and  King  William  the 
Lion.  In  a  charter  of  confirmation  by  the  latter  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Kelso,  Robert  de  Charteris  is  one  of  the  witnesses. 
It  has  no  date,  bnt  as  Ingelram  bishop  of  Glasgow,  another 
of  the  witnesses,  died  in  1174,  it  must  have  been  granted  in 
or  before  that  year.  His  son,  Walter  de  Charteris,  is  men- 
tioned in  a  donation  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso,  and  also  tlie 
son  of  the  latter,  Thomas  de  Charteris,  who  lived  in  the  reign 
of  King  Alexander  the  Second.  His  son,  Sir  Robert  de 
Charteris,  made  a  donation  to  the  same  monastexy  of  the 
patronages  of  two  churches  in  Dumfries-shire,  by  a  charter, 
in  which  he  is  designed  Robert  de  Comoto,  miles.  It  is  to 
be  observed  that  in  ancient  charters  the  family  name  is  often 
thus  Latinized,  but  when  Englished  it  is  invariably  called 
Charteris. 

The  son  of  thi^  Sir  Robert,  Sur  Thomas  de  Charteris,  was 
in  1280  appointed  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland  by  King 
Alexander  the  Third,  and  seems  to  have  been  the  first  lay- 
man who  held  that  office.  He  was  also,  with  Sur  Patrick  de 
Graham,  Sir  William  St  Clair,  and  Su:  John  Soulis,  nomi- 
nated on  an  embassy  extraordinary  to  the  court  of  France,  to 
negodate  the  king's  marriage,  which  important  negociation 
they  quickly  accomplished,  but  King  Alexander's  untimely 
death  soon  after  prevented  the  good  effects  of  it  Sir  Tho- 
mas died  in  1290.  His  son,  Andrew  de  Charteris,  was  among 
the  barons  of  Scotland  who  were  compelled,  in  1296,  to  make 
submission  to  Edward  the  First  of  England ;  but  he  soon  re- 
tracted what  he  had  done,  for  which  he  was  forfeited  the 
same  year,  and  his  lands  of  Amisfield  bestowed  on  an  Eng- 
lishman. Several  others  of  the  name  who  had  positions  in 
different  counties,  were  also  at  the  same  time  forced  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  English  king,  as  William  de  Charteris,  Ro- 
bert de  Charteris,  and  Osbom  de  Charteris. 

Andrew's  son,  William  de  Charteris,  did  homnge  to  King 
Edward  in  1304,  for  his  lands  in  Dumfries-shire,  but  he  took 
the  first  opportunity  of  joining  the  party  of  Bruce,  and  was 
one  of  those  patriotic  barons  who  attended  the  latter  at  Dum- 


fries when  Comyn  was  slain  in  1306.  With  Walter  de  Pov 
chys  he  resigned  the  half  of  their  barony  of  Wilton,  m  Rox- 
burghshire, in  favour  of  Heniy  de  Wardlaw.  fie  died  about 
1880.  His  son,  Sir  Thomas  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  was  a 
most  faithful  subject  of  David  tbe  Second.  In  1885,  when 
that  monarch  was  m  Fjcanee,  he  was,  by  the  estates  of  the 
kingdom,  appointed  one  of  the  ambassadors  extraordinary  to 
the  court  of  England ;  and,  20th  March  1841,  he  was  aguiu 
sent  on  another  embassy  to  treat  with  the  English.  After 
King  David's  return  to  Scotland,  he  appointed  him,  in  1842, 
lord  high  chancellor.  He  was  killed  in  1846  at  the  battle  ot 
Durham,  where  his  royal  master  was  taken  prisoner. 

His  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation,  John  Charteris  of 
Amisfield,  married  Janet,  a  daughter  of  Sir  James  Douglas 
of  Drumlanrig,  ancestor  of  the  dukes  of  Queensberry.  Be- 
tween the  families  of  Amisfield  and  Kilpatrick  of  Kirkmi- 
cliuel  there  were  constant  feuds.  In  PUcaim^s  Crimittal 
TriaU,  vol.  L,  under  date  March  19  and  20,  1526,  John 
Charteris  of  Amisfield,  Robert  and  John  his  sons,  Robert 
Charteris  his  brother  and  thirty-nine  others,  found  caution  to 
underlie  the  law  on  May  29,  in  the  Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh, 
for  the  slaughter  of  Roger  Kilpatrick  son  and  heir  of  Sir 
Alexander  Kilpatrick  of  Kirkmlchael,  knight,  and  for  the 
mutilation  of  the  latter ;  and  on  the  24th  of  the  same  month, 
Sir  Alexander  Kilpatrick  and  his  sons,  Robert,  John,  and 
William,  found  caution  to  appear  the  same  day  to  answer  for 
all  crimes  to  be  imputed  against  them  by  John  Charteris  ot 
Amisfield.  He  also  became  security  for  Uie  entry  of  William 
Kilpatrick  his  brother,  the  two  sons  of  the  latter,  and  twenty- 
three  others  the  same  day. 

His  son,  Sur  John  Charteris  oi  Amisfield,  held,  in  the  reign 
of  James  the  Fifth,  the  ofiSce  of  warden  of  the  west  marchea, 
one  of  the  most  important  under  the  crown,  and  appears, 
from  various  charters,  to  have  possessed  an  immense  estate, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  much  reduced  fr^  the  following 
circumstance,  according  to  a  traditionary  stoiy  narrated  in 
*  Forsyth's  Beauties  of  Scotland,'  vol.  ii.  page  812.  King 
James  the  Fifth  being  at  Stirling,  previous  to  setting  out 
on  a  progress  to  the  borders  for  the  redress  of  grievance,  re- 
ceived a  complaint  from  an  old  woman,  a  widow,  who  lived 
on  the  water  of  Annan,  that  in  a  recent  incursion  of  the  Eng- 
lish into  the  district,  her  only  son  and  two  cows,  her  whole 
support  and  comfort  on  earth,  had  been  carried  ofi^  and  that 
Sir  John  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  warden  of  the  west  marches, 
on  being  informed  of  the  outrage,  and  that  the  marauders 
were  only  a  few  miles  distant,  not  only  refused  to  pursue 
them,  but  also  treated  her  with  rudeness  and  contempt  The 
king  told  her  he  should  shortly  be  in  Annandale,  and  would 
attend  to  the  matter.  When  he  arrived  at  the  head  of  Niths- 
dale  he  left  his  attendants,  and  went  forward  in  disguise  to 
the  castle  of  Amisfield.  He  requested  the  porter  to  tell  the 
warden  that  he  came  express  to  inform  him  of  an  inroad  of 
the  English.  The  porter,  nnwiUing  to  disturb  his  master, 
said  he  had  gone  to  dinner ;  but  the  king,  bribing  him  first 
with  one  silver  groat,  and  then  with  two,  prevailed  upon  him 
to  convey  two  messages  to  Sir  John,  the  latter  being  that  the 
general  safety  depended  on  his  immediately  firing  the  beacons 
and  alarming  the  country.  On  this  second  message,  Si^  John, 
in  a  rage,  threatened  to  punbh  the  intruder,  when  the  kmg 
bribed  another  servant  to  inform  Sir  John  that  the  goodman 
of  Ballangeigh  had  waited  a  considerable  time  at  his  gate  for 
admittance,  but  m  vain ;  and  throwing  off  his  disguise,  he 
sounded  his  bugle-horn  for  his  attendants.  Sir  John,  in 
great  alarm,  hastened  to  meet  his  sovereign,  who  reprimanded 
him  for  neglect  of  his  duty,  and  commanded  him  to  pay  the 
widow  her  loss  tenfold,  adding  that  'f  ner  son  was  not  ran- 


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CHARTERIS. 


Bomed  within  ten  days,  he  (Sir  John)  should  be  hanged. 
And,  as  a  farther  token  of  his  displeasure,  he  billeted  upon 
him  hb  whole  retinue,  in  number  two  thousand  knights  and 
barons,  and  obliged  him  to  find  them  in  prorender  during 
their  stay  in  Annandale. 

In  1581  the  son  of  this  baron,  Sir  John  Gharteris  (or 
Charterhouse,  as  it  was  sometimes  spelled),  as  cautioner  for 
George  Douglas  of  Parkhead,  was  **  unlawit  in  the  pane  of 
ane  hnndreth  poundis,"  for  the  non-appearance  of  the  latter 
to  take  his  trial  for  high  treason,  in  not  delivering  up  the  cas- 
tle tower  and  fortalioe  of  Torthorwald  to  Robert  Maxwell, 
messenger,  sheriff  in  that  part,  &c  On  December  22,  1593, 
a  commission  was  granted  to  William  Lord  Henries  and  nine 
others,  among  whom  appears  the  name  of  "  John  Charter- 
hous  of  Amysfield,**  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  of  the 
west  borders,  on  account  of  the  rebellion  of  Sur  James  John- 
ston of  Dunskellie  and  others  of  his  name.  By  his  wife  Lady 
Margaret  Fleming,  daughter  of  John  earl  of  Wigton,  he  had 
a  son,  Sir  John  Charteris,  who  succeeded  him.  At  the  par- 
liament held  at  Edinburgh,  15th  July  1641,  Sir  John  Char- 
teris of  ^Emisfield*  was  present  as  commissioner  for  Dum- 
fries-shire, and  on  16th  November  of  that  year,  he  was 
appdnted  one  of  the  commissioners  of  parliament  for  con- 
firming the  Ripon  treaty.  He  was  an  active  loyalist,  and 
suffered  many  hardships  on  account  of  his  attachment  to 
Charles  the  First  In  April  1646,  he  was  cited  before  the 
parliament,  and  obliged  to  find  security  for  his  good  behavi- 
our, nevertheless  sentenoe  of  banishment  was  immediately 
thereafter  passed  against  him.  Having  been  engaged  with 
the  marquis  of  M6ntrose,  he  was  apprehended  and  imprisoned 
in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  His  brother,  Captain  Alexander 
Charteris,  was  one  of  five  of  Montroee*s  most  distinguished 
officers  who,  after  that  nobleman^s  execution,  were  beheaded 
by  the  Maiden  at  Edinburgh,  having  been  with  him  when  he 
appeared  in  arms  in  Caithness  in  1650«  Captain  Charteris 
was  the  last  who  suffered,  and  his  death  excited  great  regret. 
"  He  was,**  says  Browne,  "  a  man  of  a  determined  mind;  but 
nis  health  being  much  impaired  by  wounds  which  he  had 
received,  he  had  not  firmness  to  resist  the  importunities  of 
his  friends,  who,  as  a  means  of  saving  his  life,  as  they 
thought,  prevailed  upon  him  to  agree  to  make  a  public  decla- 
ration of  his  errors.  This  unhappy  man,  accordingly,  when 
on  the  scaffold,  read  a  long  speech,  which  had  been  prepared 
for  him  by  the  ministers,  penned  in  a  peculiarly  mournful 
strain,  in  which  he  lamented  his  apostasy  from  the  covenant, 
and  acknowledged  other  things  which  he  had  vented  to 
them  (namely,  the  ministers)  m  emricular  eonfestion!  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  expectations  which  he  and  his  friends 
were  led  to  entertain  that  his  life  might  be  spared,  he  had  no 
sooner  finished  his  speech  than  he  was  despatched.**  [Hw- 
tory  of  the  Highlandt^  vol.  ii.  page  50.]  Sir  John  Charteris 
married  Lady  Catherine  Crichton,  daughter  of  William,  earl 
of  Dumfries,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Thomas  his  heir,  and 
John,  father  of  tlie  notorious  Colonel  Francis  Charteris.  On 
the  death  of  his  uncle  Thomas  without  male  issue.  Colonel 
Charteris  became  undoubted  male  representative  of  the  an- 
cient family  of  Amisfield,  but  the  estate  went  to  his  cousin 
Elizabeth,  only  child  and  sole  heiress  of  his  uncle.  She  mar- 
ried John  Hogg,  Esq.,  and  her  son,  Thomas  Hogg,  assumed 
the  name  of  Charteris  as  heir  to  his  mother,  and  was  ances- 
tor to  the  present  family  of  Amisfield  in  Dumfries-shire. 
Colonel  Charteris  having  purchased  the  lands  of  NewmiUs 
near  Haddington,  changed  the  name  to  Amisfield,  from  the 
ancient  seat  of  his  forefathers  in  Nithsdale.  He  married 
Helen,  daughter  of  Alexander  Swinton,  a  lord  of  session, 
under  the  title  of  Lord  Mersington,  and  by  her  had  an  only 


daughter,  Janet,  his  sole  heiress,  who  married  James,  fourth 
earl  of  Wemyss,  and  her  second  son,  the  Hon.  Francis 
Wemyss,  afterwards  fifth  earl  of  Wemyss,  inherited  the 
estates  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  and  in  consequence  as- 
sumed the  name  and  arms  of  Charteris.  [See  Wemtss, 
Earl  of,  post,"]  Arbuthnott's  epitaph  on  Colonel  Charteris, 
who  acquired  a  vast  fortune  by  usury  and  other  vices,  has 
been  much  admired  as  a  complete,  and  masterly  oompositioD 
of  its  kind.  It  is  as  follows :  "  Here  continnetb  to  rot,  the 
body  of  Francis  Charteris,  who  with  an  inflexible  oonstan<7 
and  inimitable  uniformity  of  life,  permsted,  in  spite  of  age  and 
infirmities,  in  the  practice  of  eveiy  human  vice,  excepting 
prodigality  and  hypocrisy;  his  insatiable  avarice  exempted 
him  from  the  first,  his  matchless  impudence  from  the  second. 
Nor  was  he  more  singular  in  the  undeviating  pravity  of  his 
manners  than  successful  in  accumulating  wealth ;  for,  with- 
out trade  or  profession,  without  trust  of  public  money,  and 
without  bribe-worthy  service,  he  acquired,  or  more  pro]miy 
created,  a  ministerial  estate.  He  was  the  only  person  of  his 
time  who  could  cheat  without  the  mask  of  honesty,  retun  his 
primeval  meanness  when  possessed  of  ten  thousand  a-year; 
and  having  daily  deserved  the  gibbet  for  what  he  did,  was  at 
last  condemned  to  it  for  what  he  could  not  do.  Oh  indignant 
reader!  Think  not  his  life  useless  to  mankind  1  Providence 
connived  at  his  execrable  designs,  to  give  to  after  ages  a  con- 
spicuous proof  and  example  of  how  small  estimation  is  exor- 
bitant wealth  in  the  sight  of  God,  by  his  bestowing  it  on  the 
most  unworthy  of  all  mortals.**  In  Pope*s  Works,  voL  iL  p. 
142,  the  following  paragraph  appears:  "Francis  Chartres,  a 
man  infamous  for  all  manner  of  vices.  When  he  was  an  en- 
sign in  the  army,  he  was  drummed  out  of  the  regiment  for  a 
cheat ;  he  was  next  banished  to  Brussels,  and  drummed  out 
of  Ghent  on  the  same  aocoimt.  After  a  hundred  tricks  at  the 
gaming  tables,  he  took  to  lending  of  money  at  exorbiunt 
interest  and  on  great  penalties,  accumulating  preoiinm,  inter- 
est, and  capital  into  a  new  capital,  and  seising  to  a  minnte 
when  the  payments  became  due ;  in  a  word,  by  a  constant 
attention  to  the  vices,  wants,  and  follies  of  mankind,  he  ac- 
quired an  unmense  fortune.  He  was  twice  condemned  for 
rapes,  and  pardoned ;  but  the  last  time  not  without  imprison- 
ment in  Newgate^  and  laige  confiscations.  He  died  in  Scot- 
land in  1731,  [at  Stoneyhill  near  Musselburgh,  in  February 
1782.  in  the  fifty-seventli  year  of  his  age.]  The  populace  at 
his  funeral  raised  a  great  riot,  almost  tore  the  body  out  of  the 
coffin,  and  cast  dead  dogs,  &c.,  into  the  grave  along  with  it** 
As  Colonel  Charteris*  oharacter,  it  is  remarked  in  another 
place,  was  singular  in  every  other  respect,  so  it  is  said  to  have 
been  in  this,  that  he  was  a  oowaxd  who  had  his  fighting  days. 
He  would  auffer  himself  to  he  banged  and  basketed  for  refus- 
ing a  challenge  one  day;  and  on  the  next  he  would  accept 
another,  and  kill  his  man.  [Biog.  BriL  Kippii*  edit  vol.  I 
page  24©.] 


The  founder  of  the  old  family  of  Charteris  of  Knfauns  in 
Perthshire, — which  disputed  the  chieftainship  with  the  family 
of  Amisfield  in  Dumfries-shire, — is  said  by  tradition  to  have 
been  Thomas  de  Chartres,  oommonly  called  Thomas  de  Lon- 
gueville,  a  Frenchman  of  an  ancient  family,  who  having  killed 
a  nobleman  at  the  court  of  Philip  le  Bel,  in  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  turned  pirate,  under  the  name  of  the  Red 
Reaver,  and  was  encountered  and  made  prisoner  by  Sir  Wil- 
liem  Wallace  on  his  supposed  voyage  to  France,  in  1301  or 
1302,  and,  after  being  pardoned  and  knighted  by  his  own 
sovereign,  accompanied  Wallace  to  Scotland,  and  fought 
against  the  English,  first  under  his  banner,  and  afterwards 
under  that  of  Bruce,  who,  as  a  reward  for  his  bravery,  oon-^ 


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ferred  upon  him  the  lands  of  Kinfaons,  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Perth ;  as  an  eridenoe  of  which  a  donble-handed  sword, 
called  the  sword  of  Chartens,  is  professed  still  to  bcf  shown  in 
the  modem  cattle  of  Kinfanns !  In  every  account  of  the  ori- 
gin ot  the  Perthshire  house  of  Charteris  we  find  the  same 
storj  told,  but  we  think  it  eitremelj  improbable.  It  is  more 
likelj  that  that  familj  was  a  branch  of  the  familj  of  Char- 
teris in  Dumfhes-shire,  as  the  name  had  become  much  ex- 
tended in  Scotland  at  that  period,  and  that  the  Sir  Patrick 
Charteris,  who  was  present  with  the*  eari  Marshal  and  Lord 
Crawford  at  the  conflict  of  the  clan  Chattan  and  the  dan  Kay, 
on  the  North  Inch  of  Perth,  in  1896,  was  a  direct  descendant 
of  the  founder  of  the  house  of  Amisfield. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  and  beginning  of  the  sixteenth, 
the  family  of  Kinfauiis  was  one  of  great  influence  in  Perth- 
shire. In  1465,  Andrew  Charteris  of  Kinfauns  was  provost 
of  Perth  and  continued  to  be  so  till  1471,  inclusive.  He 
again  filled  the  office  in  1473  and  1476.  In  the  latter  year 
one  GUbert  Charteris,  who  was  afterwards  dean  of  guild,  was 
one  of  the  bailies.  In  1484  Andrew  Charteris  was  again 
provost,  and  at  various  times  thereafter  till  1503,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  last  time  he  held  the  office.  In  1507 
John  Charteris  was  provost,  and  also  in  1509.  Others  of 
the  name  frequently  held  situations  in  the  magistracy  of  that 
city.  In  1529  William  Lord  Rnthven  was  elected  provost, 
the  first  of  his  family  that  ever  filled  the  office ;  there  could 
thus,  up  to  that  time,  be  nothing  hereditary  in  his  occupancy 
of  the  provostship,  as  is  commonly  believed.  Between  the 
Kinfauns  family  and  the  Ruthvens  a  rivalry  and  fend  seem  to 
have  existed,  which,  on  several  remarkable  occasions,  led  to 
fatal  results.  On  25th  February  that  year,  Patrick  Char- 
teris of  Cuthilgurdy,  a  near  kinsman  of  the  laird  of  Kinfauns* 
and  who  had  been  provost  of  Perth,  from  1521  to  1528,  both 
inclusive,  and  in  1525,  and  again  in  1527  provost  and  sheriff, 
found  Robert  Maule  of  Panmure  as  his  cautioner  that  he 
I  would  underlie  the  law  for  art  and  part  of  the  fire-raising 
and  burning  of  the  village  of  Cowsland,  and  for  the  plunder 
of  certain  cattle  and  other  goods,  from  the  tenants  thereof, 
and  finom  William  Lord  Ruthven ;  and  on  28th  of  the  same 
month,  John  Charteris,  his  brother,  and  eleven  others,  found 
security  to  answer  for  the  same  crime.  On  September  20, 
1530,  Patrick  Charteris  of  Cuthilgurdy  received  a  letter  of 
licence  to  pass  in  pilgrimage  beyond  the  seas.  On  80th  Sep- 
tember 1538,  John  Charteris  of  Kinfauns  was  elected  provost 
of  Perth,  but  he  seems  to  have  died  soon  thereafter,  as  on 
June  13,  1589,  we  find  Thomas  Charteris  of  Kinfauns,  con- 
victed of  art  and  part  using  a  forged  acquittance  or  discharge 
of  a  certain  large  sum  of  money  assigned  by  the  king  to 
James  Ross,  his  servant,  due  to  his  majesty  by  the  death  of 
Alexander  bishep  of  Moray,  as  his  heir,  or  granted  to  the  king 
by  the  privilege  of  the  pope.  He  was  sentenced  to  be  warded 
in  Edinburgh  castle  during  the  king's  pleasure,  and  all  his 
moveables  to  be  escheated,  but  by  petitioning  the  lords  of 
privy  council,  he  was  admitted  to  *  free  ward,*  on  finding 
security  that  he  would  not  attempt  to  escape.  [^Piicttim's 
Crmmai  Trials.'] 

On  August  Ist  1543,  the  regent  Arran  issued  an  order  to 
the  provost,  baiHes,  and  community  of  Perth,  charging  them 
to  obey  John'Chafteris  of  Cuthilgurdy  and  Thomas  Charteris 
of  Kinfauns  in  all  votes,  in  preference  to  letters  already  issued 
in  favour  of  Lord  Ruthven,  and  on  1st  October  following, 
John  Charteris  was  elected  provost  On  26th  January  suc- 
ceeding he  was,  however,  by  the  regent  and  lords  of  secret 
council  discharged  of  the  office,  and  on  15th  April  a  procla- 
mation by  the  queen  appeared  against  the  said  Thomas  and 
John  Charteris,  and  their  accomplices,  to  the  number  of 


eighty,  denouncmg  them  rebels,  and  commanding  them  to  be 
apprehended.  On  7th  October  the  same  year  (1544)  Patrick, 
Lord  Ruthven,  was  elected  provost  of  Perth,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing January,  on  Cardinal  Bethune's  persecuting  visit  to 
that  dty  with  the  regent  Arran,  he  instigated  the  latter  to 
turn  Lord  Ruthven  out  of  the  provostship,  and  restore  John 
Ohartens  of  Kinfiiuns  to  that  office.  The  dtizens  refused  to 
acknowledge  Charteris  for  their  provost,  and  would  not  allow 
him  to  enter  the  town.  He  therefore  applied  to  Lord  Gray, 
to  whom  he  was  allied,  and  persuaded  him,  and  Norman 
Leslie,  and  others  of  his  friends,  to  assist  him  with  their 
armed  forces,  in  attacking  the  town.  The  master  of  Ruth- 
ven, aided  by  the  laird  of  Moncrieff  and  the  dtizens,  resolved 
to  defend  it  at  all  hazards.  Lord  Gray  was  to  enter  the  town 
from  the  bridge,  while  Norman  Leshe  was  to  bnng  up  ammu- 
nition and  ordnance  by  water  to  storm  it  on  its  open  side,  but 
the  tide  was  against  him,  and  he  did  not  arrive  m  time. 
The  former  finding  the  bridge  undefended,  marched  up  into 
the  town  as  far  as  the  Fishgate,  when  he  was  encountered  by 
the  master  of  Ruthven,  who  routed  and  repulsed  his  party, 
about  uxty  of  whom  were  slain.  The  Ruthvens  ever  after 
had  possession  of  the  provostship^  till  May  1584,  when  Wil- 
liam, earl  of  Gowrie,  Uien  provost,  was  executed  at  Stirling. 
In  1552,  John  Charteris  of  Kindaven,  in  Perthshire,  was 
killed  by  the  master  of  Ruthven,  on  the  High  Street  of  Edin- 
burgh, **upon  occasion,**  says  Bishop  Lesly,  **of  old  feud,  and 
for  staying  of  a  decret  of  ane  proces,  which  the  said  John 
pursued  against  him  before  the  Lords  of  Session."  [^Bishop 
LesHe^s  History^  p.  247.]  This  led  to  the  passing  of  an  act 
by  the  following  parliament,  that  whosoever  should  slay  a 
man  for  pursuing  an  action  against  him,  should  forfdt  the 
right  of  judgment  in  hia  action,  in  addition  to  hb  liability  to 
the  laws  for  the  crime. 

On  the  29th  of  May  1559,  when  the  queen  regent  entered 
Perth  with  her  French  troops.  Lord  Ruthven,  then  provost, 
was  dismissed,  with  the  rest  of  the  magistracy,  and  John 
Charteris  of  Kinfiinns,  who  was  not  only  no  firiend  to  the 
Reformers,  but  entertained  a  hostile  feeling  to  the  dtizens 
ever  smce  1544,  was  appointed  provost  in  his  place.  He  was 
the  queen^s  tool  in  fining,  imprisoning,  and  banishing  the  in- 
habitants, but  his  rdgn  was  short,  lasting  only  till  the  26th 
of  June,  when  Perth  capitulated  to  the  Reformen. 

The  family  of  Kinfauns  appear  also  to  have  been  at  feud 
with  the  Blairs  of  Balthayock.  On  May  2,  1562,  John  Char- 
teris of  Kinfauns,  with  David,  his  brother,  and  thirty-  nine 
others,  found  surety  to  take  thdr  trial  on  the  15th  of  that 
month,  for  attacking  Thomas  Blair  of  Balthayock  and  his 
followers,  and  giving  them  injurious  words.  He  protested 
that  the  finding  of  the  security  should  be  no  prejudice  to  him 
because  he  was  a  parish-derk;  that  is,  that  as  a  churchman 
he  was  liable  only  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  churdi  courts. 
Thomas  Blair,  on  his  part,  and  sundry  of  his  friends,  also 
found  security  to  underlie  the  law,  for  the  slaughter  of  Alex- 
ander Rae,  in  the  feud  with  the  laird  of  Kinfauns.  Owing  to 
the  loss  of  a  scroU-book  the  result  of  these  cases  is  unknown. 
[^Piicaim^s  Criminal  Trials.] 

In  1537  one  Andrew  Charteris,  a  brother  of  the  provost  of 
Dundee,  a  friar,  fled  out  of  Scotland  to  England,  where  he 
stayed  a  year,  and  thereafter  retired  to  Germany,  where  he 
cast  off  liis  cowL  After  residing  at  Wittenberg  for  twelve 
months  he  went  to  Antwerp,  and  was  robbed  by  the  way, 
but  was  relieved  by  some  of  his  countrymen  when  he  arrived 
at  the  latter  town.  Thence  he  went  to  Zealand,  and  in  a 
letter  still  extant  to  his  brother,  the  provost,  he  inveighed 
vehemently  against  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy, 
bishops,  priests,  abbots  and  monks, 


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**  Black  Man  and  grey. 
With  all  their  trompery." 

He  was  a  man  of  a  ready  genina  and  goodly  appearance ;  so 
much  so  that  King  Henry  said  to  him,  after  he  had  talked 
with  him  an  hour,  **  It  is  a  pity  that  erer  you  were  a  friar.** 
[Caldenoood's  Hi^ory,  vol.  L  p.  US.") 

An  eminent  printer  and  bookseller,  in  the  Scottish  capital 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  Henry  Charteris,  who  published 
Sir  David  Lind8ay*8  works  in  1568.  He  mentions  that  he 
was  present  at  the  performance  of  Sir  David*s  *  Pleasant  Sa- 
tyro  of  the  Three  Estaitis,*'  when  it  was  "  playit  besyde  Ed- 
inburgh in  1644,  in  presence  of  the  Quene  Rec:ent,**  and  that 
he  sat  patiently  for  nine  hours  on  the  bank  at  Greenude  to 
witness  it.  In  1589,  he  was  one  of  thirteen  commissioners 
appointed  by  a  convention  of  noblemen,  ministers,  burgesses, 
&c,  held  at  Edinburgh,  to  meet  weekly  to  consult  as  to  the 
defence  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  in  1596^  the  Confession 
of  Faith  was  printed  by  him  in  folio.  In  1604  his  name  ap- 
pears among  those  members  of  the  Edinburgh  presbyteiy  who 
subscribed  it  of  new. 

His  son,  Mr.  Henry  Charteris,  was  educated  for  the  church, 
and  about  1590  he  became  one  of  the  regents  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh.  On  the  death  of  Principal  Bollock,  8th 
January  1599,  he  was  senior  regent,  and  on  14th  February 
following  he  was  appointed  principal  in  his  place,  and  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  in  the  university.  He  held  these  offices  for 
twenty-one  years.  Although  an  eminent  scholar,  he  was  a 
man  of  singular  modesty,  for  in  1617,  says  Bower,  when  he 
arrived  at  the  honour  of  being  principal  and  professor  of  di- 
vinity, he  declined  presiding  at  the  dlnputation  which  was 
held  in  the  presence  of  the  king  at  Stirling.  He  was  the 
author  of  the  onlj  Greek  epitaph,  among  twenty-«ight,  on 
Principal  Bollock,  and  of  two  others  in  Latin.  His  father 
was  probably  king*s  printer  and  printer  to  the  university,  and 
was  for  a  very  considerable  time  in  the  ma^stracy,  but  does 
not  seem  to  have  lived  to  see  his  son  so  honourably  distin- 
guished as  he  became.  In  1620  he  accepted  the  parochial 
charge  of  North  Leith,  on  which  he  resigned  the  principalship 
and  the  divinity  chair,  but  in  1626  he  was  restored  to  the 
latter.  He  died  two  years  afterwards  in  the  sixty-third  jear 
of  his  age. 


Chetiie,  formerly  written  Chein  and  Chien,  a  surname  of 
great  antiquity  in  Scotland.  Sir  Reginald  le  Chein,  (nephew 
of  John  Comyn,  lord  of  Badenoch,  who  was  killed  by  Bruce 
at  Dumfries  in  1305,)  was  great  chamberlain  of  Scotland 
from  1267  to  1269.  He  was  baron  of  Inverugie,  Strabrock, 
&c  in  Aberdeenshire,  where,  as  well  as  in  Caithness-shire,  he 
had  immense  estates.  In  1285,  he  gave  the  lands  of  Ardlogy 
and  Leuchendy,  in  the  parish  of  Fyvie,  in  the  former  coun^, 
to  the  priory  of  Fyvie,  in  connection  with  the  abbey  of  Ar- 
broath. He  is  generally  styled  p(tUr,  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  son  of  the  same  name.  Sir  Beginald  was  one  of  the 
Magnates  Scotiae,  who  concurred  in  settling  the  succession  to 
the  crown  on  Margaret  of  Norway,  grand-daughter  of  Alex- 
ander the  Third,  in  1284.  He  was  also  one  of  the  barons 
who  in  1289  addressed  Edward  the  First  of  England,  on  the 
sul^ect  of  a  marriage  between  the  young  queen  of  Scots  and 
his  son  the  prince  of  Wales,  with  the  view  of  uniting  the 
kingdoms.  He  made  his  submission  to  the  English  monarch 
aK  Aberdeen,  on  17th  July  1296,  and  his  name,  as  well  as 
that  of  Reginaldus  le  Chein,  JUiut^  is  found  in  the  Ragman 
Bon. 

His  brother,  Henry  le  Cheyn,  was  bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
from  1281  to  1333,  (although  according  to  Boece  ano  other 


writers  he  died  in  1829.)  The  house  of  the  Carmelite  frian 
in  Aberdeen  had  been  built  and  endowed  by  his  father,  Begi« 
nald  le  Cheyn,  who,  besides  other  revenues,  bestowea  upon  it 
two  pounds  yearly  out  of  the  lands  of  Blackwatar  in  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Fergus,  Aberdeenshire,  which  entirely  belonged  to 
him.  Henry,  like  his  brother  and  nephew,  swore  fealty  to 
Edward  the  First  in  1296,  and  on  Bmce*s  asserting  his  right 
to  the  throne,  he  was  obliged  for  a  time  to  retire  into  Eng- 
land ;  but  was  permitted  by  King  Robert,  after  being  settled 
on  the  throne,  to  return  to  his  see,  when,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, he  applied  all  the  rents  of  his  bishopric,  which,  during  his 
absence  had  accumulated  to  a  considerable  amount,  in  bnildin| 
the  fine  old  Gothic  bridge  with  one  arch,  over  the  river  Don, 
(the  celebrated  Brig  of  Balgownie,)  near  Aberdeen.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  if  he  had  any  concern  in  the  bridge  at  all,  it  was  at 
the  command  of  King  Bobert  Bruce  that  he  thus  devoted  the 
unapplied  rents  of  his  see  to  such  a  purpose.  In  the  account 
of  the  bishop  in  Boeoe*8  Lives,  there  is  no  mention  made  of 
such  a  work,  while  the  distinct  assertion  in  the  charter  ot 
Sir  Alexander  Hay,  who  bequeath^  in  1605,  an  annual 
sum  of  two  pounds,  five  shillings,  and  eightpenoe,  for  the 
support  of  this  bridge,  that  certain  annab  testified  that  it 
was  erected  by  the  oi-der  and  at  the  expense  of  King  Robert, 
is  a  fair  proof  that  the  structure  was  the  work  of  that  mon- 
aroh,  and  not  of  the  prelate,  who  had  rendered  to  his  author- 
ity an  unwilling  obedience,  and  to  whom  it  has  ever  bean 
popularly  imputed.' 

The  above-named  Sir  R^inald  le  Chein,  chamberlain, 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  who,  as  already  stated,  bore  the 
same  name.  Nisbet  mentions  a  charter,  without  a  date, 
granted  **  by  Reynald  Chein,  son  of  Reynald,  of  the  lands  of 
Dury,  which  he  disponed  to  Gilbert,  son  of  Robert  of  Strath- 
em,  and  which  charter  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  Adam  of 
Killconehangh,  eari  of  Carrick,  and  after  that,  King  Robert 
the  Bruce  gives  the  lands  of  Dummany,  which  formerly  be- 
longed to  Rodger  Moubray,  to  Sir  Reginald  Chein,  as  that 
king*s  charter  bears.**  Sir  Reginald,  the  son,  was  taken 
prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Halidonhill  in  1333,  and  died,  with- 
out male  issue,  in  1850.  He  had  two  daughters,  Mariota 
and  Mary.  Of  these  the  following  story  is  related.  Sir 
Reginald,  who  possessed  more  than  a  third  of  Caithness,  in- 
cluding the  district  which  now  forms  the  parish  of  Wick,  is 
still  famous  in  the  Highland  districts  as  a  mighty  hunter, 
under  the  name  of  Morar  na  Shien.  He  was  most  anxious 
for  a  son  to  heir  his  vast  estates ;  and  when  his  wife,  Mary, 
brought  him  a  daughter,  in  a  paroxysm  of  fury  he  ordered 
the  child  to  be  destroyed.  It  was,  however,  conveyed  awi^, 
and  a  subsequent  daughter  escaped,  in  a  «milar  manner, 
the  rage  of  the  twice  disappointed  chief.  Years  rolled  on, 
and  Morar  na  Shien  often  lamented  his  childless  condition. 
At  length,  on  some  public  occasion,  a  great  festival  was  held, 
at  which  Sir  Reginald  noticed  two  young  ladies,  who  far  out- 
shone the  rest  of  the  company.  He  expressed  his  admira- 
tion, and  lamented  to  his  wife  his  cruel  mfatuation,  which  had 
led  him  to  order  the  death  of  his  daughters,  who,  had  th«7 
been  allowed  to  live,  would  have  been  about  the  age  of  theae 
peerless  beauties.  Mary  de  Cheyne  hastened  to  confess  her 
justifiable  disobedience  to  her  husband's  orders,  and  intro- 
duced the  young  ladies  to  him  as  his  own  daughters.  Over- 
powered with  joy.  Sir  Ranald  de  Cheyne  acknowledged 
them  as  his ;  and  constituted  them  heiresses  of  his  extennve 
possessions.  Mariota,  the  elder  daughter,  married,  first.  Sir 
John  Douglas,  and  after  his  death,  without  issue,  John  de 
Kdth,  of  Raven's  Craig,  second  son  of  Sir  Edward  Kdth. 
great  marischal  of  Scotland,  and  with  her  the  estate  of  lu- 
venigie  oassed  into  the  Keith  family.    They  had  a  son.  An- 


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drew,  who  became  poaBessed,  m  ngbt  of  bis  mother^  of  the 
liuids  of  Ackergill  and  other  estates  in  Caithness-shire.  The 
descendants  of  this  marriage  continued  a  separate  branch  of 
the  Keiths  for  seven  or  eight  generations.  Mary  or  Marjory, 
the  yonnger,  was  heiress  of  Doffus,  and  married  Nicol  Snth- 
erland,  second  son  of  Kenneth,  third  earl  of  Sutheriand,  who 
fell  at  the  battle  of  HaHdonhilf  in  1383,  and  with  her  obtained 
the  barony  of  Dnffas  in  the  county  of  Elgin  [see  Ditffwi, 
lord].  In  consequence  he  added  the  arms  of  Cheyne  te  his 
paternal  coat  of  Sutherland. 

From  the  Cheynes  of  Invenigie  descended  ssveral  very 
considerable  families,  as  the  Cheynes  of  Amags,  Esselmont, 
Straloch,  Dundarg,  Pitfitchie,  &c.  Most  of  these  arc  now 
extinct  in  the  male  line.  The  last  of  the  fkmily  of  Amage 
was  the  learned  James  Cheyne  (Jacobus  Cheynieus  ab  Ar- 
nage),  professor  at  Douay,  of  whom  a  notice  follows. 

A  son  of  Cheyne  of  Invcrugie  married  the  heiress  of  Mar- 
shal of  Esselmont,  and  with  her  got  the  lands  of  that  name, 
on  account  of  which  the  family  quartered  the  arms  of  Mar- 
shal with  their  own.  From  ^is  family  was  descended  the 
eminent  physician,  Dr.  George  Cheyne,  of  whom  also  a  notice 
follows.  • 

Christian  Cheyne,  a  daughter  of  Cheyne  of  Sti-aloch,  mar- 
ried Sir  Alexander  Seton  of  Soton,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of 
Winton,  and  governor  of  Berwick,  whose  son,  Thomas,  was 
hanged  by  Edward  the  Thurd  of  England,  in  July  1333,  be  • 
cause  his  father  would  not  deliver  up  the  town  of  Berwick  to 
him,  before  the  time  agreed  upon,  he  being  then  a  hostage  in 
his  hands. 

This  name  was,  by  Charles  the  Second,  ennobled  in  the 
peerage  of  Scotland,  the  title  of  Viscount  Newhaven,  Lord 
Cheyne,  having  been  in  1681  conferred  on  Charles  Cheyno  oi 
Chelsea,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex.  [See  Nkwiiavrn, 
Viscount"! 

CIIEYNE,  James,  rector  of  the  Scots  college 
at  Donay,  was  bom  in  Aberdeenshire  in  the  six- 
teenth centuiy.  He  was  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Arnage  in  that  county.  After  studying  at  Aber- 
deen, he  went  to  Paris,  and  taught  philosophy  at 
the  college  of  St.  Barbe,  from  whence  he  removed 
to  Donay,  and,  after  teaching  there  with  gi-eat 
reputation,  became  the  head  of  the  seminary.  He 
was  also  canon  and  great  penitentiary  of  the  ca- 
thedral of  Tonrnay,  and  died  in  1602.  His  works 
are  :  ' 

Analysis  m  Philosophiam  Aristot.   Douay,  1573, 1595, 8vo. 

De  Sphsera  sen  Globi  Ccelestis  Fabrics.    Douay,  1575, 8vo. 

De  Geographia,  lib.  duo.    Douay,  1676,  8vo. 

Orationes  duas  de  perfecto  Philosopho  et  de  Prsedicadonibus 
Astrologorum.     Douay,  1577,  8vo. 

Analysis  et  Scholia  in  Aristot  lib.  xiv.  De  Prima  sen  Di- 
vina  Philosophia.     Douay,  1578,  8vo. 

Analysis  in  Physiologiam  Aristotelicam.    Paris,  1580,  8vo. 

CHEYNE,  George,  a  physician  and  medical 
writer  of  considerable  eminence  in  his  day,  was 
bom  in  1671,  at  Auchencruive,  parish  of  Meth- 
lick,  Aberdeenshire,  and  educated  at  Edinburgh 
under  the  celebrated  Dr.  Pitcairn,  whom,  in  the 
preface  to  one  of  his  works,  he  styles  his  '^  grand 


master  and  generous  friend."  After  taking  the 
degree  of  M.D.,  he  repaired,  about  the  thirtieth 
year  of  his  age,  to  London.  He  had  passed  his 
youth  in  close  study  and  gi*eat  abstemiousness, 
but  after  going  to  the  metropolis,  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  frequent  taverns  ifl  order  to  get  into  prac- 
tice, and  indulging  in  habits  of  excess,  he  grew 
fat,  short-breathed,  lethargic,  and  listless,  and 
swelled  to  such  an  enormous  size,  that  he  at  one 
time  exceeded  thirty-two  stones  in  weight.  Hav- 
ing tried  medicine  in  vain,  he  next  retired  to  the 
country,  and  lived  very  low.  This  proving  inef- 
fectual, he  went  to  Bath,  and  drank  the  waters, 
but  without  permanent  relief.  On  his  return  to 
London  he  had  recourse  to  a  milk  and  vegetable 
diet,  which  removed  his  complaints.  His  bulk 
was  reduced  to  almost  one-third;  he  recovered 
his  strength,  activity  and  cheerfulness,  with  the 
free  and  perfect  use  of  bis  faculties ;  and,  by  reg- 
ular observance  of  this  regimen,  he  reached  a  good 
old  age.  It  was  his  custom  to  practise  in  London 
in  winter,  and  in  Bath  in  summer.  He  died  at 
the  latter  place  April  12,  1743,  in  his  72d  year. 
Besides  his  medical  publications,  he  was  the  au- 
thor of  '  Philosophical  Principles  of  Natural  Reli- 
gion,' published  in  1705,  at  which  time  he  was  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  dedicated  to  the 
earl  of  Roxburgh,  at  whose  request,  and  for  whose 
use,  it  was  written ;  and  also  of  a  work  on  Flux- 
ions,  which  was  replied  to  by  the  celebrated 
French  mathematician  Abraham  de  Moivre,  and 
i-egarding  which  he  himself  in  after  life  said  that 
it  was  conceived  in  ambition  and  brought  forth  in 
vanity. — Dr.  Cheyne's  works  are : 

A  New  Theory  of  Acute  and  Slow-continued  Fevers; 
wherein,  besides  the  appearance  of  snch,  and  the  manner  oi 
their  core,  oocasionally  the  Stmcture  of  the  Glands,  and  the 
manner  and  laws  of  Secretion,  the  operation  of  purgative, 
vomitive,  and  mercurial  medicines  are  mechanically  explained. 
Ijond.  1702,  8vo.  1722,  8vo.  1724,  8vo.  To  this  he  pre- 
fixed an  Essay  concerning  the  improvements  of  the  Theory  of 
Medidne. 

Remarks  on  two  late  Pamphlets  written  by  Dr.  Oliphant 
against  Dr.  Pitcaim*s,  and  the  New  Theory  of  Fevers.  Edin. 
1702.  8vo. 

Fluxionnm  Methodus  inversa ;  sive  quantitatnin  fluentium 
leges  generaliores.    Lond.  1708,  4to. 

Rudimentomm  Methodi  Fluxionuro  inversa  Specimina  ad- 
versus  Abr.  de  Moivre.    Lond.  1703,  1706,  4to. 

Philosophical  Principles  of  Natural  Rehgion ;  containing 
the  Elements  of  Natund  Philosophy,  and  the  proofs  for  Na- 
tural Religion  arising  from  them.  Lond.  1705.  8vo.  1706 
8vo. 


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Phikwophiciil  Principl«8  of  Religion,  Natural  and  Revealed. 
Lond.  1715, 1786,  8vo. 

Ooservations  concerning  the  Nature  and  True  Method  of 
Treating  the  Gout.  Together  with  an  Account  of  the  Nature 
and  Qualities  of  the  Bath  Waters,  the  manner  of  using  them 
and  the  Diseases  in  which  they  are  proper ;  as  also  the  Na- 
ture and  Cure  of  most  Chronical  Distempers.  Lond.  1720, 
8vo.     1722, 1726,  8vo. 

De  Natura  Fibne  ejusque  laxte  slve  resolutte  conditionis 
morbis  tractata^t.     Lond.  1725.  8vo.     PMiis.  1742. 

Essay  on  Health  and  Long  Lifk     Lond.  1725,  8yo. 

The  English  Malady,  or  a  Treatise  of  Nervous  Diseases  of 
all  kinds:  as  spleen,  vapours,  lowness  of  spirits,  hypochon- 
driacal and  hysterical  distempers,  &o.  Lond.  1733,  1735, 
1739,  8vo.    Dublin,  1783,  8vo. 

An  Essay  on  Regimen;  together  with  five  Discourses, 
medical,  moral,  and  philosophical:  serving  to  illustrate  the 
principles  and  theory  of  Philosophical  Medicine,  and  point 
out  some  of  its  moral  consequences.  Lond.  1739,  1740, 
1753,  8vo.    In  Italian,  Padua,  1765. 

The  Natural  Method  of  curing  the  Diseases  of  the  Body, 
and  the  disorders  of  the  Mind  depending  on  the  Body ;  in 
three  parts.    London,  1742,  8vo. 

An  Account  of  himself,  and  of  his  vAfieus  Cures.  Lond. 
1743,  1753,  8vo. 


Chisholxk,  a  surname  derived  from  the  Norman  French 
ches^^  to  choose,  and  the  Saxon  holme.  The  family  who 
first  bore  it  in  Scotland  possessed  lands  in  Roxburghshire  and 
Berwickshire  so  early  as  the  reign  of  Alexander  III.  The  chief 
of  the  name  was  'Chisholme  of  Chishohne  in  the  former 
county,  of  whom  Chisholme,  now  of  Stirches,  also  in  Rox- 
burghshire, is  the  direct  heir  male  and  representative,  to 
the  Ragman  Roll  appear  the  names  of  Ridiard  de  Chese- 
holme,  oounte  de  Rokesbrugh,  and  his  son,  ZTohn  de  Chese- 
holme,  afterwards  Sir  John  de'Cheseholme,  who  married  in 
1335,  Ann,  dr.  of  Sir  Robert  Lauder  of  Quarrelwood,  Naifti- 
sliire,  and  constable  of  the  royal  castle  of  Urquhart,  Invemess- 
•hire.  In  1846,  bis  son.  Sir  Robert  de  Cheseholme,  whs  taken 
prisoner  with  David  IL,  at  the  battle  of  Durham.  In  1859 
he  succeeded  his  father-in-law  as  constable  of  Urquhart  cas- 
tle, and  died  in  1872.  His  eldest  son,  John,  succeeded  to 
the  border  estate  and  the  lands  of  Quarrelwood  in  Nairnshire, 
while  his  second  son,  Alexander,  married  Margaret  de  la 
Ard,  heiress  of  Erchless,  and  founded  the  family  of  Erchless 
and  Struthglass,  in  Inverness-shire.  He  is  mentioned  in  a 
deed  of  date  1368,  as  comportioner,  along  with  Lord  Fenton, 
in  the  barony  of  Ard,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Thomas, 
as  appears  by  an  indenture,  dated  1403,  entered  into  between 
William  de  Fenton  of  Baky  on  the  one  part,  and  Margaret 
de  la  Ard,  domina  de  Erchless,  and  Thomas  de  Chisholme, 
her  son  and  heir,  on  the  other  part.  This  Thomas  died  with- 
out issue.  His  brother,  Alexander,  who  succeeded  him,  had 
only  daughters,  who  conveyed  the  estate  into  other  families 
by  marriage,  and  so  the  family  of  Chisholme  of  Strathglass 
came  to  an  end.  WUliam,  t.if  third  son,  was  treasurer  of 
Moray.  John,  the  eldest  son,  had  three  sons :  John ;  Robert, 
who  succeeded  John ;  and  Edmund,  founder  of  the  house  of 
Cromllx,  after  mentioned.  John's  only  daughter,  Morella, 
married  Alexander  Sutherland  of  Du£^  who  got  with  her 
Quarrelwood  and  other  lands  in  Nairnshire.  Robert's  great- 
grandson,  John  Chisholme,  tenth  of  that  ilk,  forfeited  the 
estate  during  the  minority  of  James  V. ;  but  in  1531,  it  was 
restored  to  his  brother  Geoi^  by  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  to 
whom  it  had  been  granted.  His  son,  Walter,  is  styled  baron 
of  Chisholme  in  the  parliamentarian  roll  of  chieftains,  anno 


1587.  He  was  succeeded,  in  1589,  by  his  eldest  ton,  Wal- 
ter, whose  son,  also  named  Walter,  a  minor  on  his  father's 
death,  married  a  lady  named  Stirling,  against  the  will  of  hik 
guardian  and  feudal  superior,  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig.  As  tint 
lands  held  from  the  latter  by  the  old  feudal  tenure  of  ward  of 
marriage,  he  became  liable  in  a  fine  of  5,600  merks  Scots, 
and  failing  to  pay  it  the  estates  were  attached  and  lost  to  the 
family.  He  had  two  sons,  Walter  and  '\^liam.  The  former 
acquired  the  estate  of  Stirches  from  Thomas  Scott  of  Whits- 
lade  in  1660.  His  eldest  son,  William,  the  second  of  Stir- 
ches, was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  John  (died  in  1755), 
whose  son,  also  named  John,  was  succeeded  in  1794,  by  his 
third  son,  Gilbert,  the  elder  two  having  predeceased  him. 
By  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  second  daughter  of  John  Scott, 
Esq.  of  Whitehaugh,  Gilbert  had  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, and  died  in  18^0.  The  eldest  son,  John  Chisholme,  the 
sixth  of  Stirches  and  twentieth  in  descent  from  Richard  de 
Chisholm,  married  in  1840,  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  and 
coheiress  of  Robert  Walker,  EsqT  of  Mumrills,  Stirlingshire, 
with  issue.  On  succeeding,  in  1852,  to  the  lands  of  White- 
haugh, he  assumed  the  name  of  Scott  Chisholme. 

The  old  family  estate  of  Chisholme^was  purchased,  about 
1784,  by  William  Chisholme,  a  great-grandson  of  Walter  the 
first  of  Stirches,  from  Sir  James  Stewart  of  Cultness,  and  on 
the  death  of  his  son,  Ciiarles,  without  issue,  it  fell  to  his 
cousin,  Scott  of  Coldliouse,  who  also  assumed  tlie  name  of 
ScoU  Chisliolme. 


The  modem  clan  Cnisutti^i  in  Inverness-shire,  though 
claiming  to  be  of  Celtic  origin,  are,  it  is  probable,  descended 
from  one  of  the  northern  collaterals  of  the  original  family  of 
Chisholme  of  Chisholme  in  Roxburghshire,  and  cannot  be 
traced  farther  back  than  the  reign  of  James  IV.,  when  a 
Wiland  de  Chesholin  obtained  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Comer 
dated  9th  April  1513.  At  a  later  period  they  obtained  a  gift 
of  the  lands  of  Erchless  and  others.  In  1587,  the  chiefs  on 
whose  lands  resided  *'  broken  men,"  were  called  upon  to  give 
security  for  their  peaceable  behaviour,  among  whom  appears 
"  Cheisholme  of  Cummer."  After  the  battle  of  Killiecrankie, 
in  1689,  Erchless  castle,  the  seat  of  tho^ie^  vras  garrisoned 
for  King  James,  and  General  Livingstone,  the  commander  of 
the  government  forces,  had  considerable  difiicnlty  In  dislodg- 
ing the  Highlanders.  In  1715,  Ruari,  or  Roderick  Maclan, 
the  chief,  signed  the  address  of  a  hundred  and  two  diiefs  and 
heads  of  houses  to  George  the  First,  expressive  of  their  at- 
tachment and  loyalty,  but  no  notice  being  taken  of  it,  he  en- 
gaged very  actively  in  the  rising  under  the  eari  of  Mar;  and 
at  the  battle  of  Dunblane,  the  clan  was  headed  by  Chisholm 
of  Crocfin,  an  aged  veteran,  for  which  the  estates  of  the  chief 
were  forfeited  and  sold.  In  1727,  he  procured,  with  serend 
other  chiefs,  a  pardon  under  the  privy  seal,  and  the  lands 
were  subsequently  conveyed,  by  the  then  proprietor,  to  Ro- 
derick's eldest  son,  who  entailed  them  on  his  heirs  male. 
In  1745,  this  chief  joined  the  standard  of  the  Pretender 
With  his  clan,  and  Colin,  his  youngrat  son,  was  a{^)ointed 
colonel  of  the  dan  battalion.  Lord  President  Forbes  thus 
states  the  strength  of  the  Chisholms  at  that  period. 
"Chisholms — Their  chief  is  Chisholm  of  Strathglass,  in 
Gaelic  called  Chisallich.  His  lands  are  held  d  the  crown, 
and  he  can  bring  out  two  hundred  men."  At  the  battle  of 
Culloden,  William  Chisholm,  a  near  kinsman  of  the  chief, 
was  flag-bearer  of  the  clan.  He  fought  long  and  manfully; 
and  even  after  the  retreat  had  become  general,  he  rallied 
and  led  his  clansmen  again  and  again  to  the  charge.  A 
body  of  the  Chisholms  uUimatcly  sought  shelter  in  a  bam, 
which  was  soon  surrounded  bv  hundreds  of  the  soldiere  of  the 


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royal  annj,  but  William  Ghisholm  cut  his  way  through  them 
until  he  waa  shot  by  some  Englishmen.  His  widow,  Chris- 
tiana Fergnsson,  a  native  of  the  pansh  of  Contin.  Roas-shire, 
where  her  father  was  a  blacksmith,  composed  a  beautiful 
lament  for  him  in  Gaelic,  *  Cumha  do  dh*  Uilleam  Siseal,' 
which  is  still  popular  in  the  Highlands.  One  of  the  seven 
outlaws  who  sheltered  Prince  Charles  in  a  cave  m  the  Braes 
of  Glenmoriston,  during  his  wanderings  after  the  battle  of 
CuUoden,  was  a  Chisholm,  who,  with  another  of  the  men 
named  Grant,  safely  conveyed  him  to  the  coast  of  Arisaig, 
rensting  the  temptation  of  thirty  thousand  pounds  offered  for 
his  capture.  From  this  man,  Hugh  Chisholm,  who  after- 
wards resided  for  many  years  in  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Home  ob- 
tained some  of  his  information  for  his  account  of  the  Rebel- 
lion. Sir  Walter  Scott  knew  him  personally,  and  in  his  Tales 
of  a  Grandfather  gives  some  interesting  details  respecting 
him,  but  too  long  for  insertion  here,  besides  being  somewhat 
mflated,  and  probably  in  part  apocryphal 

Alexander  Chisholm,  chief  of  the  dan,  who  succeeded  in 
1785,  left  an  only  child,  Mary,  married  to  James  Gooden, 
Esq.,  London,  and  dying  in  1798,  the  chieiship  and  estates, 
agreeably  to  the  deed  of  entail,  devolved  on  his  youngest  bro- 
ther, William,  who  married  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of 
Duncan  MacDonnell,  Esq.  of  Glengarry,  and  left  two  sons  and 
one  daughter.  On  his  death  in  1817  he  was  succeedea  oy 
tiie  elder  son,  Alexander  William,  once  member  of  parliament 
for  Inverness-shire,  who  died,  prematurely,  in  September 
1838,  and  of  whose  amiable  life  an  interesting  memoir  has 
been  published.  "  His  eminent  classical  and  scientific  at- 
tainments,'' says  the  writer  of  the  account  of  the  parish  of 
Kilmorack,  in  the  Statistical  Account  of  Sootiand,  "graced 
and  sanctified  by  his  unostentatious  and  unfeigned  piety, 
rendered  him  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  honourable  situation  of 
representative  of  his  native  county  in  parliament.  To  that 
situation  he  was  called  at  an  early  period  of  his  life,  but 
death  cut  short  his  career  almost  in  its  commencement."  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Duncan  MacDonnell  Chisholm, 
who  died  in  London  14th  Septeml>er  1858,  aged  47,  when  the 
estate  devolved  on  the  descendants  of  Archibald  Chishdlm, 
eldest  son  of  Chisholm  of  Muckrath. 

The  prefix  *The*  is  employed  occasionally  and  appropri- 
ately by  the  chiefs  of  clans  who  use  the  name  Mac  or  Mag- 
nut^  as  The  Macnab,  The  MacGregor,  meaning  the  chiefs 
of  the  clans  Nab  and  Gregor.  It  is  also  used  in  the  same 
sense  by  the  head  of  an  Irish  family,  viz.  *•  The  O'Connor 
Don ;''  the  Spanish  adjunct  Don,  Dcminui^  or  lord,  having 
the  same  meaning.  "  The  Chisholm  **  is  the  only  instance  of 
its  use  without  the  accompanying  term  of  headship.  An  old 
chief  of  the  clan  Chisholm  once  not  very  modestiy  said  that 
there  were  but  three  persons  in  the  world  entitled  to  it — 
*■  the  pope,  the  king,  and  the  Chisholm.' 

One  of  the  chiefs  of  this  clan  having  carried  off  a  daughter 
of  Lord  Lovat,  placed  her  on  an  islet  in  Loch  Bruirach,  where 
she  was  soon  discovered  by  the  Frazers,  who  had  mustered 
for  the  rescue.  A  severe  conflict  ensued,  during  which  the 
young  lady  was  accidentally  slain  by  her  own  brother.  A 
pluntive  Gaelic  song  records  the  sad  calamity,  and  numerous 
tumuli  mark  the  graves  of  those  who  fell. 


The  once  great  family  of  Chisholme  of  Cronilix,  sometimes 
written  Cromleck,  in  Perthshire,  which  for  above  a  centxuy 
were  hereditary  bailies  and  justiciaries  of  the  ecdesiastical 
lordship  of  Dunblane,  a7\d  furnished  three  bishops  to  that 
see,  but  which  is  now  extinct,  was  also  descended  from  the 
border  Chisholmes;  the  first  of  that  family,  Edmund  Chis- 
bolme  of  Cromlix,  early  in  the  fifteenth  centuiy,  bdng  the 


feon  of  Chisholme  of  Chisbohne  in  Roxburghshire,  who  also 
possessed  the  estate  of  Tindale  in  England.  He  married, 
first,  Mai^ret^  Sinclair,  a  widow,  a  daughter  of  the  house  of 
Dryden,  and  the  mother  of  Sir  John  Ramsay  of  Balmain,  the 
unworthy  favourite  of  James  the  Third,  afterwards  for  a  time 
Lord  Bothwell  [see  ante,  p.  858].  By  this  lady  he  had  two 
sons,  James,  of  whom  afterwards,  and  Thomas.  He  married, 
secondly,  Janet,  daughter  of  James  Drummond  of  Coldoch, 
brother  of  John  Lord  Drummond,  and  by  her  he  had  two 
sons.  Sir  James,  who  succeeded  him,  and  William,  bishop  of 
Dunblane,  and  also  three  daughters. 

His  elder  son,  by  the  first  marriage,  James  Chiahobue,  was 
chaplain  to  James  the  Third,  and  having  been  sent  by  that 
monarch  to  Rome,  was  by  Pope  Innocent  the  Eighth  made 
bishop  of  Dunblane  in  1486,  but  was  not  consecrated  till  the 
following  year.  In  his  old  age,  after  having  been  forty  yvara 
in  the  see,  he  resigned  it  in  the  year  1627,  in  favour  of  his 
half-brother,  William  Chisholme,  above  mentioned,  retaining 
the  administration  of  the  fruits  of  his  bishopric,  and  died  in 
1584. 

Sur  James  Chisholme,  the  elder  son  of  the  second  mamage, 
succeeded  his  father,  as  second  laird  of  Cromlix.  He  mar- 
ried Lady  Catherine  Grahame,  sister  of  the  thurd  earl  of 
Montrose,  and  by  her  had  three  sons  and  four  daughters. 
His  eldest  son.  Sir  James,  succeeded  him.  William,  the 
second  son,  succeeded  his  uncle  William,  as  bishop  of  Dun- 
blane ;  and  Alexander,  the  third  son,  was  parson  of  Comrie. 
William  Chisholme,  the  youngest  ton  of  Edmund  Chishohne, 
and  full  brother  of  the  first  Sir  James,  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  Dunblane  in  April  1527.  He  was  a  great  opponent  of  the 
Reformation,  and  alienated  the  episcopal  patrimony  of  his  see 
to  a  considerable  extent  Most  of  it  he  gave  to  his  nephew, 
Sir  James  Chisholme  of  Cromlix,  but  large  portions  of  it 
were  also  bestowed  on  James  Chishohne  of  Glassengall,  his 
own  natural  son,  and  on  his  two  natural  daughters,  one  of 
whom  was  married  to  Sir  James  Stu-ling  of  Keir,  and  the 
other  to  John  Buchanan  of  that  ilk.  He  died  in  1564.  His 
nephew,  William  Chishohne,  was,  in  June  1561,  by  papal 
brief,  constituted  coadjutor  and  successor  to  him  in  the  see  of 
Dunblane.  This  nephew  wa^  much  employed  by  Mary  queen 
of  Scots  in  public  affairs,  and  was  one  of  the  commissionerB 
for  the  divorcing  of  the  earl  of  Bothwell  from  Lady  Jane 
Gordon,  previous  to  the  marriage  of  that  nobleman  with  the 
queen.  He  dilapidated  what  his  undo  had  left  of  the  reve- 
nues of  his  bishopric,  and  was  forfeited  for  noncompliance 
with  the  new  measures  both  in  church  and  state.  Retiring 
into  France,  he  was  made  bishop  of  Vaison,  and  in  his  old 
age  he  resigned  that  see  in  favour  of  his  nephew,  also  named 
William  Chisholme,  and  became  a  firiar  at  Grenoble.  He 
died  at  Rome. 

Sir  James  Chisholme,  the  third  laird  of  Cromlix,  married 
Jean  Drummond,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Drummond  of  Inver- 
peflfray,  by  his  wife,  I^y  Margaret  Stuart,  widow  of  Lord 
Gordon,  and  daughter  of  King  James  the  Fourth.  By  this 
lady  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  Sir  James,  the 
eldest,  succeeded  him.  William,  the  second  son,  was  bom  at 
Inverpeffiray,  March  11,  1551,  and  was  educated  in  France. 
On  his  uncle's  resigning  his  see  in  his  favour,  he  became 
bishop  of  Vaison.  John  Chisholme,  the  third  son,  bom 
at  Dunblane  in  August  1557,  lived  chiefly  in  France,  and 
was  the  secret  agent  of  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  duke  of 
Parma  with  the  Scottish  Catholic  lords,  of  whom  mention  is 
made  infra,  Thomas  Chisholme,  the  fourth  son,  whose 
name  in  old  documents  is  spelled  (iheeseholm,  was  portioner 
of  Butter-Gask,  and  died  without  heirs.  The  eldest  daugh- 
ter, Jean,  was  married  to  James  Drammond,  second  son  of 
2a 


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David  Lord  Drammond,  and  by  her  he  got  the  lands  of  In- 
verpefiraj,  which  were  her  mother*8  portion.  He  first  bore 
the  title  of  Lord  Inchafiray,  being  commendator  of  that  ab- 
bacy, bnt  was,  in  1607,  cr^ited  Lord  Maderty,  a  title  merged 
in  1711,  in  the  viscounty  of  Strathallan,  the  second  title  of 
which  is  Lord  Drammond  of  Cromlix.  [See  Strathat.lan, 
Viscount  of.]  Helen,  the  second  daughter,  was  married  to 
Charteris  of  Kinfauns;  Margaret,  the  third,  to  Mushet  of 
that  ilk ;  and  Agnes,  the  youngest,  to  Napier  of  Merduston. 

Sir  James  Chisholmet,  eldest  son  of  Sir  James,  the  fourth 
laird  of  Cromlix,  was  bom  at  Muthil,  10th  September  1550. 
The  first  Lord  Balmerinoch,  principal  secretaiy  of  state  in  3cot- 
land,  on  his  trial  in  1608,  for  high  treason,  for  sending  a  let- 
ter to  the  Pope,  in  his  majesty's  name,  without  his  author- 
ity, confessed  that,  in  1598,  he  had  written  to  his  holiness, 
in  the  king*s  name,  for  a  cardinaPs  hat  for  the  bishop  of  Vai- 
son  (William  Chisholme,  »ecimdm).  Lord  Balmerinoch  was 
a  connectbn  of  the  Cromlix  family,  and  hence  the  interest  he 
took  in  their  advancement.  [See  ofUe,  p.  228.]  Robertson 
in  his  History  of  Scotland,  and  Douglas  in  his  Peerage,  erro- 
neously call  this  bishop  Drummondy  a  vexy  natural  mistake, 
as  the  Chisholmes  and  Dmmmonds  were  very  nearly  con- 
nected by  frequent  mtermarriages,  bnt  he  was  William  Chi$- 
hobne^  second  of  the  name  and  surname.  It  was  also  stated, 
on  that  occasion,  by  the  lord  privy  seal,  that,  in  1588,  the 
same  bishop  came  to  Scotland,  with  great  offers  from  the 
Pope,  that  if  King  James  made  any  kind  of  acknowledgment 
of  him,  he  would  have  prevented  the  sailing  of  the  great  Ar- 
mada, **  and  after  him  came  Sir  James  Chisholme,  who  dealt 
in  the  same  course,  and  because  he  did  not  prevail,  he  broke 
bis  heart  and  so  died.**  On  the  alarm  of  the  Spanish  Armada 
that  year,  the  General  Assembly  remitted  to  the  presbytery 
of  Edinbufgh,  to  summon  before  it  certain  papists  and  apos- 
tates, among  whom  was  the  abovenamed  John  Chisholme,  bro- 
ther of  the  bishop  of  Vaison  (William  Chisholme,  tertitu), 
and  son  of  Sir  James  Chisholme  of  Cromlix,  who,  in  the  in- 
tercepted correspondence  between  the  duke  of  Parma  and  the 
Catholic  lords  was,  for  better  concealment,  called  John  Jam- 
eson, while  the  duke  was  styled  *'  our  miller.**  Robert  Bruce, 
the  Roman  Catholic  trafficker,  in  his  letter  to  the  duke,  mter- 
cepted  in  January  1589,  speaks  of  Sir  James  Chisholme  as 
the  eldest  brother  of  this  John  Chisholme,  and  with  reference 
to  the  money  which  he  had  brought  from  the  duke,  he  says 
that  he  would  be  guided  by  his  advice  in  the  disposal  of  it, 
«*  for  he  is  a  man  confident  and  wise,  and  one  upon  our  part, 
and  very  little  suspected.**  lCalderwood'9  History,  vol.  v. 
p.  22.]  Sir  James  married  dame  Anna  Bethune,  daughter 
of  the  laird  of  Creich,  and  by  her  he  had  hb  successor.  Sir 
James,  and  other  children. 

The  eldest  son,  Sir  James  Chisholme,  styled  of  Dundam 
and  Cromlix,  knight,  was  one  of  the  masters  of  the  house- 
hold to  King  James  the  Sixth,  and  high  in  the  favour  of 
that  monarch.  Notwithstanding  of  his  position  and  pros- 
pects, however,  he  seems  to  have  been  much  mixed  up  with 
the  intrigues  of  the  Catholic  lords  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
reformed  religion  in  Scotland ;  and  in  1592,  it  was  intended 
that  he  should  proceed  to  Spain,  on  their  part,  to  procure 
assistance  for  the  advancement  of  their  projects ;  but  not  be- 
ing ready  in  time,  Mr.  George  Kerr  went  in  his  stead.  That 
gentleman  was^  apprehended  in  the  island  of  Cxmibray,  and 
upon  him  were  found,  besides  seventeen  letters  of  a  treason- 
able and  dangerous  character,  eight  others,  signed  in  blank 
by  the  earls  of  Huntly,  Angus,  and  Eirol,  and  by  Gordon  of 
Auchindown ;  which,  on  being  known,  created  great  conster- 
nation and  alarm  in  the  kingdom.  An  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  this  Popish  plot,  called  the  affair  of  the  "  Scottish 


Blanks,*'  has  been  reprinted,  finom  a  rare  tract  of  the  time,  in 
Pitcum's  Criminal  Trials,  (voL  i.  p.  317,)  to  which  the  reader 
is  referred.  On  February  15,  1592-3,  Sir  James  Chisbohne 
was  denounced  for  not  appearing  to  answer  '^  touching  his 
practising  and  trafficking  in  sundry  treasonable  matters 
against  the  true  religion,**  &o, ;  and  at  the  provincial  synod 
of  Fife  convened  at  St  Andrews,  25th  September  1593,  be 
was,  with  the  Catholic  earls,  Angus,  Huntly,  and  Errol,  and 
Sir  Patrick  Gordon  of  Auchindown,  formally  exconminni- 
cated;  but  in  1595,  on  his  appearing  before  the  Assembly, 
which  met  in  June  of  that  year  at  Montrose,  confessing  his 
apostacy,  and  declaring  his  adherence  to  the  reformed  fiuth, 
he  was  released  from  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  and 
admitted  a  member  of  the  reformed  church. 

This  Sir  James  Chisholme  was  the  author  of  the  touching 
and  interesting  love-song  of  *  Cromlet*s  Lilt,*  written  in  his 
youth,  when  absent  in  France,  on  the  supposed  inconstancy 
of  his  betrothed,  Helen  Murray,  commonly  called  **Fair 
Helen  of  Ardoch,**  daughter  of  William  Stirling,  brother  of 
the  laird  of  Ardoch,  and  grand-daughter  of  Murray  of  Strew- 
an,  one  of  the  seventeen  sons  of  Sir  William  Murray  of  Tul- 
libardine,  already  referred  to  [see  anie,  Art  Athol,  p.  164]. 
It  begins : 

"■  Since  all  thy  vows,  falM  maid. 

Are  blown  to  air. 
And  my  poor  heart  betrayM 

To  sad  despair, 
Into  tome  wlldemess 
My  grief  I  wtU  express. 
And  thy  hard-heartedness, 

O  oruel  fairr 

And  ends  most  pathetically, 

"  Ajid  wlien  a  ghost  I  am 

ru  visit  thee; 
O  Lhon  deoeltfal  dame. 

Whose  cmelty 
Has  kiU'd  the  kindest  heart. 
That  e'er  felt  Cupid's  dart. 
And  never  can  desert 

From  loving  thee.** 

It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  fair  Helen  became,  after  all,  tbe 
wife  of  Chisholme,  notwithstanding  her  forced  and  unooo- 
summated  marriage  with  his  treadierons  confident,  whicfa 
was  annulled  on  his  return  to  Scotland,  on  the  exposure  of 
the  treachery  and  villany  of  his  false  friend,  who  had  kept  up 
his  letters,  and  prepossessed  the  lady  against  her  absent  knrer. 
By  her  Sir  James  had  two  sons,  James,  and  John,  who  both 
inherited  the  estate  of  Cromlix.  besides  several  daughters. 
The  estate  afterwards  became  the  property  of  General  Dram- 
mond, by  purchase. 

A  John  Chisholme,  son  of  Cheeeholme  of  Chesebolme, 
Roxburghshire,  and  a  relative  of  the  Cromlix  family,  was  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  comptroller  of  artillery,  and  as  aach 
was  in  1564  infefted  in  the  building,  called  tbe  King's 
Work,  at  the  mouth  of  Leith  harbour.  The  ancient  buildings 
had  shared  in  the  conflagration  which  signalised  the  depar- 
ture of  the  army  of  Henry  VIII.  of  England  in  1544,  and  tbey 
would  appear  to  have  been  recmilt  by  Chisholme  in  a  most 
substantial  and  magnificent  style.  Tbe  following  are  tbe 
terms  in  which  the  queen  confirms  ber  fbnner  grant: — 
**  Efter  her  hienes  lauchfull  age,  and  revocation  made  in  par- 
liament, hir  migeste  sett  in  feu  fume  to  hir  bvxte  suitoors  , 
Johns  Chisholme,  liis  airis  and  assignais,  all  and  baiDe  hir 
landis,  callet  the  King's  Werk  in  Leith,  within  the  boondis 
spedfit  in  the  infeftment,  maid  to  him  thaimpon,  quhilkii 


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CHRISTIE. 


than  war  alluterlie  decayit,  aod  sensyne  are  reparit  and  re- 
edifit  be  the  said  Johnne  Chisholme,  to  the  policy  ant  great 
decorationn  of  this  realme,  in  that  oppin  place  and  sight  of 
all  strangearis  and  uthois  resortand  at  the  schore  of  Leith.** 
Notwithstanding  the  terras  of  this  rojal  grant,  the  proper^ 
of  the  King's  W.^rk  remained  vested  in  the  crown.  [  WU$on*$ 
MemoridU  <^ EairMurghy  vol.  ii.  p.  144.] 

CHISHOLM,  Alexander,  an  artist  of  consid- 
erable merit,  was  born  at  Elgin,  in  1792,  or  1793. 
He  was  intended  by  his  father  for  the  hnmble  oc- 
cupation of  a  weaver,  for  which  he  entertained  a 
strong  aversion.  He  early  manifested  a  predilec- 
tion for  art,  and  he  was  accustomed,  from  his  own 
untaught  impulses,  to  sketch  on  the  cloth  on  which 
he  was  occupied  at  the  loom,  all  the  odd  figures 
he  saw,  and  remarkable  objects  which  struck  him. 
He  had  been  placed  with  a  master  weaver  at  Pe- 
terhead, and  when  his  leisure  permitted  him,  he 
nsed  to  resort  to  the  seashore,  and  sketch  on  the 
sand.  When  about  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  of 
age  he  walked  from  Peterhead  to  Aberdeen,  and 
wandered  about  the  streets  for  some  time;  his 
attention  was  at  length  arrested  before  a  shop 
window  by  seeing  some  advertisement  about  col- 
ours. He  entered  the  shop,  introduced  himself  to 
the  shopkeeper,  and  from  him  received  his  first 
lessons  in  light  and  shade.  At  this  time  there  was 
a  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Aberdeen,  the  members 
of  which  he  was  permitted  to  sketch;  and  his 
work  gave  such  satisfaction  that  he  was  forthwith 
commissioned  to  paint  them,  but  was  compelled 
to  decline  doing  so,  from  his  ignorance  of  the  use 
of  colours.  When  he  was  about  nineteen  or  twen- 
ty, he  proceeded  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  pa- 
tronized by  Lord  Elgin  and  the  earl  of  Buchan, 
and  was  subsequently  appointed  an  instructor  at 
the  Academy  of  Painting,  &c.  He  married  Miss 
Susanna  Stewart  Eraser,  one  of  his  private  pupils. 
In  1818,  he  went  to  London,  and  obtained  a  con- 
siderable share  of  encouragement.  His  favourite 
style  of  art  was  history.  He  also  painted  portraits 
with  considerable  success.  In  the  Exhibition  of 
the  Royal  Scottish  Academy  of  1830  he  had  a  pic- 
ture very  well  treated,  *  Shall  I  fight  or  not?'  in 
that  of  1848  one  of  *  The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth  list- 
ening to  the  instructions  of  the  Carthusian  Monk,' 
and  In  that  of  1847,  one  of  a  bolder  character  than 
either,  *The  Signing  of  the  Covenant  in  Greyfriars 
Churchyard,  February  28,  1638.'    The  point  of 


time  in  the  picture  is  when  Mr.  Henderson  is  ad- 
ministering the  oath,  which  was  '^  taken  with 
drawn  swords  in  their  hands  and  tears  in  their 
eyes."  Having  suffered  affliction  during  nine  years 
before  his  death,  his  latter  paintings  do  not  exhibit 
that  degree  of  vigour  which  characterized  his  ear- 
lier works.  Mr.  Chisholm  died  at  Rothesay,  in 
the  Isle  of  Bute,  on  the  3d  of  October  1847. 

CHRISTIE,  Hugh,  master  of  the  Grammar 
School  at  Montrose,  was  bom  there  in  1730.  He 
was  the  author  of  several  classical  works,  of  some 
repute  in  their  day.  He  died  in  1774.  His  pub- 
lications are : 

A  Grammar  of  the  Latin  Tongae,  after  a  New  and  Easy 
Method,  adapted  to  the  capadties  of  children.     1757,  12mo. 

Introduction  to  the  making  Latin,  with  some  Remarks  on 
the  idiom  of  the  Roman  Language. «  Edin.  1760, 12mo. 

An  Essay  on  Ecclesiastical  Establishments  in  Religion, 
shewing  their  hurtful  Tendency ;  and  that  they  cannot  be  de- 
fended either  on  the  Principles  of  Reason  or  Scripture.  To 
which  are  annexed,  Two  Discourses.    Montrose,  1791,  8vo. 

CHRISTIE,  Thomas,  a  miscellaneous  writer, 
was  the  son  of  a  merchant  in  Montrose,  where  he 
was  bom  in  1761.  He  was  intended  for  trade  by 
his  father,  but  his  own  inclination  leading  him  to 
the  study  of  medicine,  he  went  to  London,  and 
entered  himself  *at  the  Westminster  Ceneral  Dis> 
pensary,  as  a  pupil  to  Dr.  Simmons.  He  next 
spent  two  wintera  at  Edinburgh,  and  subsequently 
proceeded  to  the  continent  for  farther  improve- 
ment; but  while  he  was  at  Paris,  an  advantageous 
oifer,  from  a  respectable  mercantile  house  in  Lon- 
don, induced  him  to  become  a  partner  in  that 
house.  Early  in  1789  he  published  the  first  of 
his  works,  and  continued  his  labours  as  an  author 
during  subsequent  years.  Having  become  a  part- 
ner in  another  mercantile  firm,  some  arrange- 
ments of  trade  caused  him  to  take  a  voyage  ta 
Surinam,  where  he  died  in  1796.     His  works  are ; 

Letters  on  the  Revolution  of  France,  and  on  the  new  Con- 
stitution established  by  the  National  Aznembly.  Translated 
from  a  corrected  edition  of  the  original  French.  London, 
1791,  8vo.  part  i. 

Miscellanies,  Philosophical,  Medical,  and  Moral,  containing, 
I.  Observations  on  the  Literature  of  the  Primitive  Christian 
Writers.  II.  Reflections  suggested  by  the  Character  of  Pom- 
philus  of  Cnsarea.  III.  Hints  respecting  the  State  and 
Education  of  the  People.  IV.  Thoughts  on  the  Origin  of 
Hunlan  Knowledge,  and  on  the  Antiquity  of  the  World.  Y. 
Remarks  on  Professor  Meiner'a  History  of  Ancient  Opinions 
respecting  the  Deity.  VL  Account  of  Dr.  Ellis*  Work  on  the 
Origin  of  Sacred  Knowledge.    1792,  8vo. 


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HUGH. 


CLAPPERTON,  Hugh,  a  distinguished  Afri- 
can traveller,  was  bom  in  Annan,  Dumfries-shire, 
in  1788.  His  grandfather,  Robert  Clapperton, 
M.D.,  a  native  of  tlie  north  of  Scotland,  studied 
medicine  at  Edinburgh  and  Pai'is,  and,  mai'i^iug 
Elizabeth  Campbell,  a  distant  relative  of  the 
Campbells  of  Glenljon,  settled  in  Dumfiies-shire, 
firat  at  a  place  called  Crowden-Nows,  and  after- 
wards at  Lochmaben.  He  acquired  some  reputa- 
tion in  the  locality  as  a  physician,  and  an  amateur 
both  in  mineralogy  and  antiquities.  He  made  a 
collection  of  objects  in  natural  history  in  the  district 
mines,  and  of  antiquities  at  the  site  of  the  camps 
of  Agricola ;  and  some  old  border  ballads  and  gen- 
ealogies communicated  by  him  were  inserted  in 
the  'Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border.*  With 
one  daughter,  he  had  six  sons,  all  of  f^hom  were 
medical  men,  except  the  youngest  who,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1798,  became  second  lieutenant  of 
mai'ines.  George,  the  eldest  son,  the  father  of  the 
traveller,  was  a  surgeon  in  Annan.  He  was  twice 
married,  and  is  said  to  have  had  in  al]  twenty-one 
children.  By  his  first  wife,  a  daughter  of  John 
Johnstone,  proprietor  of  the  lands  of  Thomiwhate 
and  Lochmaben  castle,  he  had  ten  or  eleven  sons 
and  one  daughter.  Of  this  marriage  Hugh  was 
the  youngest  child.  The  limited  circumstances  of 
his  father  prevented  him  from  obtaining  a  classical 
education,  but  he  was  early  placed  under  the  tui- 
tion of  Mr.  Bryce  Downie,  a  mathematical  teacher 
of  some  eminence  at  Annan,  under  whom  Edward 
Irving  also  studied ;  and  after  acquiring  an  ele- 
mentary knowledge  of  practical  mathematics,  he 
was,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  at  his  own  wish,  ap- 
prenticed to  the  owner  of  a  vessel,  named  the 
Postlethwaite  of  Maryport,  trading  between  Liv- 
erpool and  North  America,  in  which  he  made  sev- 
eral voyages  across  the  Atlantic.  After  one  of 
these,  as  it  proved  to  him  the  last,  when  the  ship 
was  at  Liverpool,  being  caught  by  a  custom-house 
officer  bringing  ashore  a  few  pounds  of  rock-salt 
in  his  handkerchief,  for  the  use  of  his  landlady,  he 
was  threatened  with  imprisonment  for  smuggling; 
but  having  consented  to  go  on  board  the  Tender, 
then  in  that  port,  he  was  carried  round  to  Ply- 
mouth, and  draughted  on  board  of  his  majesty's 
ship  Gibraltar,  of  eighty  guns.  In  1806,  he  ar- 
rived at  Gibraltar  in  a  naval  transport,  from  which 


he  was  impressed,  with  others,  on  board  the  fri- 
gate Renomm^,  captain  Sir  Thomas  Livingstone. 
Fortunately  for  him,  during  the  time  he  was  there 
the  Saturn,  captain  Lord  Amelius  Beauclerc,  be- 
longing to  Lord  Collingwood's  fleet  o£f  Cadiz, 
arrived  at  Gibraltar  for  the  pni'pose  of  watering 
and  refitting;  and  learning  that  his  uncle  was 
captain  of  marines  on  board  of  her,  young  Clap- 
perton sent  him  a  letter  describing  his  situation  in 
the  Renomm^.  The  uncle  immediately  waited 
upon  Sir  Thomas  Livingstone,  who  was  an  old 
messmate  of  his,  when  they  were  both  lieutenants 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  many  years  before, 
and  through  his  intercession.  Sir  Thomas  at  once 
placed  his  nephew  on  the  quarter-deck,  as  a  mid 
shipman.  The  Renomm^  soon  after  left  Gibral- 
tar for  the  Mediterranean,  and  when  on  the  coast 
of  Spain,  had  occasion  to  send  boats  to  attack 
some  of  the  enemy's  vessels  on  shore.  Clapper- 
ton  being  in  one  of  the  boats,  was  slightly  wonnded 
in  the  head,  and  for  a  time  suffered  much  annoy- 
ance from  the  wound.  On  the  Renomm^  being 
paid  off  in  1808,  he  joined  the  Venerable,  Captain 
King,  in  the  Downs,  as  a  midshipman,  but  learn- 
ing from  his  friends  at  home,  who  were  interesting 
themselves  in  his  advancement,  that  by  gett- 
ing into  the  Clorinde  frigate.  Commander  Briggs, 
this  object  was  likely  to  be  facilitated,  he  applied 
to  be  transferred  to  that  vessel.  His  request  was 
granted,  but  as  the  Cloi*inde  had  previously  sailed 
for  the  East  Indies,  he  was  ordered  by  the  admiral 
to  have  a  passage  in  a  ship  proceeding  to  the  same 
destination.  In  the  course  of  the  voyage  he  was 
nearly  drowned  in  attempting  to  aid  a  vessel  in 
distress,  which  passed  near  their  ship. 

Clapperton  remained  on  board  the  Clorinde  fri 
gate,  and  in  the  East  Indies,  from  March  1810  to 
the  end  of  1813.  He  then  returned  to  England,  and 
was,  with  some  other  clever  midshipmen,  sent  to 
Portsmouth  dockyard,  for  the  purpose  of  being 
instructed,  by  the  celebrated  swordsman  Angelo,  in 
the  improved  cutlass  exercise  recently  introduced, 
and  in  which  he  afterwards  excelled.  When  these 
midshipmen  were  distributed  to  the  different  ships 
of  the  fleet  as  drill-masters,  Clapperton  was  ap- 
pointed to  Sir  Alexander  Cochrane's  flagship,  the 
Asia,  to  instruct  the  officers  and  crew  in  the  use 
of  the  cutlass.    The  Asia  sailed  fi*om  Spithead  in 


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HUGH. 


the  end  of  January  1814,  and  daring  the  passage 
to  Bermada,  his  services  as  drill-master  were  per- 
formed on  the  quarter-deck.  On  her  arrival,  he 
was  sent  to  Halifax,  and  thence  to  the  Canadian 
Lakes,  just  then  about  to  become  the  scene  of 
warlike  operations.  With  the  utmost  diligence  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty,  he  is  described  as  hav- 
ing been  at  the  mess- table  the  soul  and  life  of 
the  party.  He  could  sing  a  good  song,  tell  a 
merry  tale,  paint  scenes  for  the  ship^s  theatricals, 
sketch  views  and  di*aw  caricatures,  while  his  con- 
versation was  at  all  times  extremely  amusing. 
He  thus  became  a  general  favourite  on  boai'd. 
He  arrived  at  Upper  Canada  in  1815,  and  daring 
the  winter  he  was  placed  in  command  of  a  block- 
house on  Lake  Huron,  with  a  party  of  seamen, 
and  one  small  gun,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  it. 
Being  attacked  by  an  American  schooner,  the 
blockhouse  was  destroyed,  and  he  found  that  him- 
self and  party  must  either  become  prisoners  of 
war,  or  cross  Lake  Michigan  upon  the  ice,  a  jour- 
ney of  nearly  sixty  miles,  to  York,  the  nearest 
British  depot.  The  latter  alternative  was  adopt- 
ed, and  the  party,  after  great  suffering  and  re- 
markable devotion  and  humanity  on  the  part  of 
Clapperton,  by  attempting  to  carry  a  poor  boy 
who  was  unable  to  proceed,  and  died  of  exhaus- 
tion while  on  his  back — reached  York  emaciated, 
almost  famished,  and  nearly  out  of  clothing.  Ow- 
ing to  the  long  inaction  of  his  left  hand  in  holding 
up  the  boy,  Clapperton  lost,  from  the  severity  of 
the  frost,  the  first  joint  of  this  thumb. 

Soon  after,  on  Sir  Edward  Owen  being  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  upon  the  Canadian  lakes, 
he  gave  to  Clapperton  an  acting  order  as  lieuten- 
ant, and  appointed  him  to  the  command  of  the 
Coniiance  schooner.  While  she  rode  at  anchor 
near  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  or  Lake  Huron,  he 
occasionally  repaired  to  the  woods,  and  with  his 
gun  kept  himself  well  supplied  with  fresh  provi- 
sions. In  these  excursions  he  cultivated  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  aborigines,  whose  mode  of 
life  he  very  much  admired.  His  acting  order  as 
lieutenant  he  had  sent  to  England  for  confirma- 
tion by  the  Board  of  Admu-alty,  but  a  very  large 
promotion  having  just  previously  taken  place,  the 
board  declined  confirming  the  commission.  On 
this  disappointment,  he  foimed  the  idea  of  aban- 


doning the  navy  altogether,  and  becoming  a  den- 
izen of  the  Noith  American  forests;  but  this 
romantic  notion  he  soon  abandoned.  At  this  time 
he  occasionally  dined  on  shore,  and  being  an  ex- 
pert swimmer  he  not  unfrequently  plunged  into 
the  water  with  his  clothes  on  and  swam  to  th9 
schooner.  This  he  did,  partly  to  show  his  dex- 
terity, but  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  keepinjf  his 
men  on  the  alert.  The  practice,  however,  had 
very  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him,  as  he  was  one 
night  so  much  exhausted  that  he  could  scarcely 
make  those  on  board  hear  his  cries,  till  he  was  on 
the  point  of  sinking,  when  he  was  luckily  observed 
and  taken  on  board,  but  he  never  again  tried  the 
experiment. 

About  the  end  of  1816,  when  Su:  Edward  Owen 
returned  to  England,  he  got  Clapperton*s  commis- 
sion of  lieutenant  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Ad- 
miralty; and  in  1817,  on  our  vessels  on  the  Cana 
dian  lakes  being  paid  off  and  laid  up.  Lieutenant 
Clapperton  came  home,  and,  with  many  more,  was 
put  on  half-pay.  In  1818,  he  retired  to  Lochma- 
ben,  where  he  lived  with  an  aged  sister  of  his 
mother,  and  amused  himself  principally  with  rural 
sports.  In  1820,  he  removed  to  Edinburgh, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  Dr.  Oudney, 
a  young  Englishman  who  was  then  about  to  embark 
on  a  mission  to  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  re- 
quested permission  to  accompany  him.  Dr.  Oud- 
ney was  told  by  a  friend,  a  medical  man,  who 
knew  Clapperton  well,  that  in  all  varieties  and 
under  every  circumstance,  however  trying,  he 
would  find  him  a  steady  and  faithful  friend,  and 
that  his  poweiful  and  athletic  form  and  excellent 
constitution  had  never  been  surpassed ;  great  re- 
commendations for  a  companion  on  such  a  hazard- 
ous enterprize.  Lieutenant,  afterwards  Coloiiel 
Denham,  having  volunteered  his  services,  and  it 
being  intended  that  researches  should  be  made  to 
the  east  and  west  of  Bomou,  where  Dr.  Oudney 
was  to  reside  as  British  consul,  Clapperton*s  name 
was  added  to  the  expedition  by  Earl  Bathurst, 
then  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonial  department. 
After  their  arrival  at  Tripoli,  the  travellers  set  out, 
early  in  1822,  in  a  line  nearly  south  to  Monrzook, 
which  place  they  reached  on  the  8th  of  April. 
Clapperton,  with  his  friend  Oudney,  then  made 
an  excursion  to  the  westward  of  Monrzook,  into 


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HUGH. 


I  the  country  of  the  Tuaricks,  and  penetrated  as 
far  as  Ghraat,  in  the  eleventh  degree  of  east 
longitude.  On  the  29th  November  the  travellers 
left  Mourzook,  and  arrived  at  Lake  Tchad,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Bomou,  Febraary  4,  1823,  after  a 
journey  of  eight  hundred  miles.  On  the  17th  they 
reached  Konka,  where,  being  well  received  by  the 
Sultan,  they  remained  till  the  I4th  of  December, 
when  they  set  out  for  the  pui*pose  of  exploring  the 
course  of  the  Niger.  They  arrived  in  safety  at 
Murmer,  where  Dr.  Oudney  died,  January  12, 
1824. 

Clapperton  pursued  his  journey  alone  to  Kano, 
and  from  thence  to  Saccatoo,  the  capital  of  the 
Felatah  empire.  On  the  road  he  was  met  by  an 
escort  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  horsemen,  with 
drams  and  trumpets,  which  Bello,  the  sultan,  had 
sent  to  conduct  him  to  his  capital.  Not  being 
peimitted  to  proceed  to  the  Niger,  which  was  only 
twe  days'  journey  to  the  westward,  he  returned  to 
Kouka,  July  8th,  1824.  He  was  here  rejoined 
by  Colonel  Denham,  who  did  not  at  first  know 
him,  so  altered  was  he  by  fatigue  and  illness. 
The  travellei-s  now  returned  to  England,  where 
they  arrived  June  1,  1825;  and  on  the  22d  of 
the  same  month  Clapperton  was  made  a  com- 
mander in  the  navy. 

The  result  of  this  expedition  was  a  work  pub- 
lished at  London  in  1826,  in  one  volume  quarto, 
entitled  *  Narrative  of  Travels  and  Discoveries  in 
Northern  and  Central  Africa,  in  the  years  1822, 
1823,  and  1824,  by  Major  Denham,  ^Captain  Clap- 
perton and  the  late  Dr.  Oudney.'  Although  the 
disputed  questions  of  the  course  and  termination 
of  the  Niger  were  left  undecided,  the  geographical 
information  collected  was  of  great  value,  inas- 
much as  it  determined  the  position  and  extent  of 
the  kingdoms  of  Mandara,  Bomou,  and  Houssa, 
with  the  situation  ofthen*  principal  cities.  Before 
he  could  finish  this  work  for  the  press,  he  was  en- 
gaged again  by  Lord  Bathurst,  colonial  secretary, 
to  take  the  management  of  another  expedition, 
by  the  way  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  near 
the  Bight  of  Benin,  to  carry  presents  from  his 
sovereign  to  the  Snltan  Bello,  and  to  El  Kanemy, 
the  sheikh  of  Bomou.  He  sailed  from  Poits- 
raouth  in  his  majesty's  sloop  Brazen,  Captain 
Willis,  and  was  accompanied  by  Dr.  Dickson, 


Captain  Pearce,  royal  navy,  and  Dr.  Morrison,  a 
naval  surgeon,  and  also  by  Richard  Lander,  a 
young  Englishman,  who  attended  him  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  confidential  servant.  They  called  at 
SieiTa  Leone ;  from  that  sailed  to  Benin,  where  tiiey 
landed,  and  thence  proceeded  up  the  country,  and 
on  29th  November  Clapperton  arrived  at  Badagiy. 
Dr.  Dickson  had  left  him  near  Whidah,  and  Captain 
Pearce  and  Dr.  Morrison  died  a  short  time  after 
leaving  the  coast.  Quitting  Badagry,  December 
7,  1825,  accompanied  by  his  faithful  servant, 
Richard  Lander,  he  pursued  a  north-easteriy  direc- 
tion, with  the  intention  of  reaching  Saccatoo. 

In  January  1826,  he  reached  Katnnga,  the 
capita]  of  Touriba,  and  soon  after  crossed  the 
Niger  at  Boussa,  the  place  where  Park  met  his 
fate.  Continuing  his  journey  north,  he  reached 
Kano,  and  leaving  Lander  there  with  the  baggage, 
he  proceeded  westward  to  Saccatoo,  the  residence 
of  Sultan  Bello,  who,  though  he  accepted  his  pre- 
sents, refused  to  allow  him  either  to  return  to 
Kano,  or  to  revisit  Bomou,  on  account  of  the  war 
in  which  he  was  then  engaged  with  the  sheikh  of 
the  latter  place.  He  was,  in  consequence,  de- 
tained five  months  at  Saccatoo ;  and  in  the  mean- 
time the  Sultan  had  inveigled  Lander  to  the  capital, 
and  obtained  possession  of  the  presents  intended 
for  the  sheikh ;  and  then  refused  both  master  and 
servant  permission  to  leave  by  way  of  Bomou. 
While  thus  detained.  Captain  Clapperton  was 
attacked  with  dysentery,  and  died  April  13, 1827, 
at  Chungary,  a  village  about  four  miles  from  Sac- 
catoo. He  was  the  first  European  who  traversed 
the  region  of  Central  Africa,  extending  from  the 
Bight  of  Benin  to  the  Mediterranean.  He  was 
about  five  feet  eleven  inches  in  height,  possessed 
a  frank  and  generous  disposition,  and  had  acquired 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  prejudices 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Central  Africa.  On  Lander's 
return  to  England,  a  quarto  volume  appeared,  en- 
titled *  Joumal  of  a  Second  fbcpedition  into  the 
Interior  of  Africa,  from  the  Bight  of  Benin  to 
Saccatoo.  By  the  late  Commander  Clapperton, 
R.  N.  To  which  is  added  the  Journal  of  Richard 
Lander,  with  a  portrait  of  Captain  Clapperton.* 
From  this  portrait,  which  was  painted  by  Gildon 
Manton,  and  engraved  by  Thomas  Lupton,  the 
following  woodcut  is  taken : 


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CLARK. 


647 


CLEGliORN. 


Clark,  Clarke,  or  Cij5RK,  a  surname  aenved  from  the 
eoclesiafttical  office  of  Clerk,  or  clericut.    See  Clerk. 

CLARK,  John,  physician  and  medical  writer, 
the  son  of  a  wealthy  farmer,  was  born  at  Rox- 
burgh in  1744.  Destined  for  the  church,  he  at- 
tended the  theological  classes  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh;  but  afterwards  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  medicine.  On  leaving  college,  he 
was  appointed  assistant-surgeon  in  the  service  of 
the  East  India  Company ;  and  in  1773  he  pub- 
lished his  *  Observations  on  the  Diseases  in  Long 
Voyages  to  Hot  Countries,  and  particularly  in  the 
East  Indies.'  He  received  the  degree  of  M.D. 
from  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  and  having 
settled  in  practice  at  Newcaatle-dn-Tyne,  he  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  improvement  of  the  public 
hospital  there,  and  founded  a  dispensary.  He 
died  at  Bath,  April  24,  1805.  He  belonged  to 
the  Medical  Society  of  Edinburgh,  to  whose  Trans- 
actions he  was  a  contributor.     His  works  are : 

Olwervations  on  the  Diseaaeis  in  long  voyages  to  hot  Coun- 
tries, particularly  on  those  which  prevail  in  the  East  Indies; 
and  on  the  same  Diseases  as  they  appear  m  Great  Britain. 
London,  1778,  8vo.     London,  1793,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  Hepatitis.    Med.  Com.  v.  p.  423.    1777. 

History  of  a  Case  of  obstructed  secretion  of  Urine.  Med. 
Com.  vi.  p.  204.     1778. 

Observations  on  Fevers,  especiaDy  those  of  the  continued 


Type:  on  Scarlet  Fever,  with  Ulcerated  Sore  Throat,  as  it 
appeared  in  1778:  a  comparative  view  of  Scarlet  Fever,  and 
the  Origina  Maligna.    London,  1780,  8vo. 

Letter  on  the  Influenza,  as  it  appeared  in  Newcaatle-npon- 
Tyne.    London,  1783,  8vo. 

An  Account  of  the  Plan  for  the  Improvement  and  Exten- 
sion of  the  Infirmary  at  Newcastle.    Newcastle,  1801, 12mo 

A  Collection  of  Papers,  intended  to  promote  an  Institution 
for  the  Cure  and  Prevention  of  Infectious  Fevers,  in  New- 
castle and  other  populous  towns;  together  with  communica- 
tions of  the  most  eminent  Physicians,  relative  to  the  safety 
and  importance  of  annexing  Fever  Wards  to  the  Newcastle 
and  other  Lifimiaries.    Part^  i.  and  ii.    Newcast,  1802, 12mo. 

Sketch  of  Professional  Life  and  Character.  By  John 
Ralph  Fen  wick,  M.D.  of  Durham.    London,  1806,  8vo. 

CLARKE,  John,  an  engraver,  who  flourished 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, but  the  exact  place  of  his  birth  is  not  known 
He  executed  two  profile  heads  in  medal  Of  Wil- 
liam and  Mai*y,  dated  1690;  and  prints  of  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  George  baron  de  Goertz,  aiid  Dr 
Humphrey  Prideaux.  He  also  engraved  seven 
little  heads  of  Charles  the  Second,  his  queen, 
Prince  Rupert,  the  prince  of  Orange,  the  dukes  of 
York  and  Monmouth,  and  General  Monk.  He 
died  about  1697. 

Clayhills,  a  surname  oelonfpng  to  an  old  family  m  For- 
farshire, possessing  the  lands  of  Iiivergowrie,  which  were  ac- 
quired hy  their  ancestor  David  Clayhills,  son  of  Robert  Clay- 
hills  of  Baldovie,  near  Dundee,  on  the  22d  May  1664.  In 
1586  Andrew  Clayhills  was  admitted  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly minister  of  Jedburgh,  and  his  name  appears  in  Calder- 
wood*8  History  of  the  Church  uf  Scotland,  in  this  and  follow- 
ing years,  as  taking  an  active  part  in  church  matters. 

CLEGHORN,  George,  a  learned  physician, 
son  of  a  farmer  at  Granton,  near  Edinburgh, 
was  bom  there,  December  13, 1716.  He  received 
the  elements  of  his  education  in  the  parish  school 
of  Cramond.  In  1728  he  was  sent  to  Edinburgh 
to  be  instructed  in  the  classics,'  and  in  1731  he 
commenced  the  study  of  physic  and  sUrgei^  under 
Dr.  Alexander  Monro.  While  yet  a  student, 
he  and  some  other  young  men,  among  whom  was 
the  celebrated  Fothergill,  established  the  Royal 
Medical  Society  of  Edinburgh. 

Early  in  1786  he  was  appointed  sm-geon  in  the 
22d  regiment  of  foot,  then  stationed  at  Minorca, 
on  which  island  he  continued  for  thirteen  years. 
In  1749  he  accompanied  his  regiment  to  Ireland  ; 
and  in  autumn  1750  he  went  to  London  to  publish 
his  treatise  on  '  The  Diseases  of  Minorca.'  While 
there  he  attended  the  anatomical  lectures  of  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Hunter.  In  1751  he  settled  in 
Dublin,  and  began  to  give  an  annual  course  of 


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CLEGHORN. 


648 


CI^LAND. 


lectures  on  anatomy.  A  few  years  afterwai-ds, 
he  was  admitted  into  the  university  as  lecturer  on 
anatomy,  and  from  this  he  was  advanced  to  be 
professor.  In  1777,  when  the  Royal  Medical  So- 
ciety was  established  at  Paris,  he  was  nominated 
a  fellow  of  it ;  and  in  1784,  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians in  Dublin  elected  him  an  honorary  member. 
He  died  in  December  1789.     His  works  are : 

Observations  on  the  Epidemical  Diseases  of  Minorca,  from 
1744  to  1749;  containing  a  short  account  of  the  climate,  pro- 
ductions, inhabitants,  and  endemical  distempers  of  Minorca. 
London,  1761,  1768,  1799,  8vo. 

Index  of  an  Annoal  Coarse  of  Lectures.     Dublin,  1 767, 8va 

Case  of  a  Feather  swallowed  by  a  Young  Lady.  Med. 
Obs.  and  Inq.  iii.  p.  7.  1766. 

The  Case  of  an  Aneurismal  Yorix.    lb.  p.  110. 

CLEGHORN,  Wiixiam,  M.D.,  a  nephew  of 
the  preceding,  was  his  associate  lecturer  on  ana- 
tomy at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  the  author  of  a 
clever  dissertation  *  De  Igne.'    He  died  in  1783. 

CLEGHORN,  James,  an  accomplished  actu- 
ary, born  in  ,Dunse  in  1778,  was,  though  lame 
from  his  birth,  for  many  years  a  farmer.  In  1811 
he  removed  to  Edinburgh,  and  at  first  supported 
himself  chiefly  by  literature.  He  was  editor  of 
the  Farmer's  Journal,  and  joint  editor,  for  a  time, 
of  Blackwood's  Magazine,  and  subsequently  of 
the  Scots  Magazine;  also,  a  contributor  to  the 
supplement  of  the  6th  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica.  Becoming  an  accountant,  he  was  the 
projector  and  founder  of  the  Scottish  Provident 
Assurance  Company,  of  which  he  was  manager. 
He  was  also  actuary  of  the  Edinburgh  National 
Security  Savings'  Banks.  Eminent  in  his  day 
for  the  accuracy  of  his  calculations  as  to  life  as- 
surance, annuities,  and  widows'  fund  schemes, 
his  "  Widows'  Scheme  for  the  Faculty  of  Advo- 
cates," his  "  Report  on  the  first  Investigation  of 
the  Widows'  Fund"  of  that  body,  his  "  Report  on 
the  Widows'  Fund  of  the  Writers  to  Her  Majesty's 
Signet,"  and  other  papers,  proved  his  abilities  in 
this  respect.     He  died,  unmarried,  27th  May  1838. 

CLELAin>,  a  surname  belonging  to  an  old  fiunily  in  Lan- 
arkshire, and  derived  from  the  lands  of  that  name  in  the  pa- 
rish of  Dalzeil.  The  Clelands  of  that  ilk  were  hereditaiy 
foresters  to  the  old  earls  of  Douglas,  and  had  for  arms  a  hare 
saliant,  argent,  with  a  hunting  horn,  proper,  about  its  neck; 
crest,  a  falcon  standing  on  a  left  hand  glove,  proper.  At 
other  times,  for  supporters  they  had  two  'greyhounds.  James 
Cleland  of  Cleland,  was  one  of  the  patriots  who  joined  Sir 
William  Wallace,  and  fought,  under  his  command,  against 
the  Enfi;li»h.  He  also  remained  faithful  to  King  Robert  Bruce; 


and  for  his  services  received  from  that  monarch  several  laiuU 
lying  within  the  barony  of  Calder  in  West  Lothian.  From 
him  was  descended  William  Cleland  of  that  ilk,  who,  in  the 
reign  of  King  James  the  Third,  married  Jean,  dan^ter  ot 
William  Lord  Somerville.  From  them  branched  Cleland  of 
Faskine,  Cleland  of  Monkland,  and  Cleland  of  Cartneas. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  omtary,  Sir  James 
Cleland  purchased  the  barony  of  Monkland  from  Sir  Thomas 
Hamilton  of  Binning,  first  earl  of  Haddington,  but  his  son 
and  heir,  Ludovick  CleUnd,  sold  it  to  James,  marquis  of 
Hamilton.  On  6th  September  1615,  this  Sir  Jamee  Cleland 
of  Monkland  was,  with  two  others,  indicted  for  trial,  for  tre*- 
sonably  resetting  Jesuits,  hearing  of  mass,  &c,  offimces  very 
seriously  punished  in  those  days,  but  the  diet  was  deserted 
against  them.  The  Cartness  family  terminated  in  an  heireaa, 
previous  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  married  to 
Sir  William  Vere  of  Blackwood  in  the  same  county. 

Alexander  Cleland  of  that  ilk,  with  his  cousin,  William 
Cleland  of  Faskine,  were  both  killed  at  Flodden  in  1513. 
James  Cleland  of  that  ilk,  an  eminent  man  in  the  time  (tf 
King  James  the  Fifth,  whom  he  trequently  attended  while 
hunting,  married  a  daughter  of  Hepburn  of  Bonnytoun, 
descended  from  the  earl  of  Bothwell,  by  whom  he  had  a  son, 
Alexander  Cleland  of  that  ilk,  who  was  a  faithful  adherent  of 
Queen  Maiy.  He  married  Margaret,  a  daughter  of  Hamilton 
of  Haggs,  by  whom  he  had  William  his  sucoeasor,  who  mar- 
ried the  sister  of  Walter  Stewart,  first  Lord  Blantyre.  Their 
eldest  son,  Alexander,  married  the  sister  of  John  EbmOton, 
first  Lord  Bargeny,  and  their  son  and  heir  sold  the  lands  <^ 
Cleland  to  a  cousin  of  his  own  name. 

Major  WilUam  Cleland,  the  great-grandson  of  the  last  men- 
tioned Alexander  Cleland  of  that  ilk,  was  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Customs  in  Scotland,  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  centiuy. 

The  name  was  formerly  Kneilland,  with  the  K  pronounced 
In  1608  Mr.  Andrew  Kneilland  was  justice  depute;  and  then 
are  several  instances  of  Cleland  of  Cleland  being  called  KneO- 
land  of  that  ilk;  thus,  among  the  persons  who  were  *■  delated ' 
for  being  art  and  part  in  the  murder  of  King  Heniy  Damley 
were  William  Knelund  of  that  ilk,  and  Arthur  Kndand  of 
Knowhobbilhill,  afterwards  softened  into  ConnoblehiU,  in  the 
parish  of  Shotts.    (See  Knelaitd,  surname  of.) 

CLELAND,  William,  a  brave  and  accom- 
plished soldier  and  poet,  was  bom  about  1661. 
Of  his  family  or  lineage  nothing  is  recorded.  At 
the  conflict  of  Dmmdog,  when  be  was  scarcely 
eighteen  years  of  age,  he  acted  as  an  officer  of  foot 
in  the  Covenantei-s^  army;  and  at  Bothwell  Bridge 
he  held  the  rank  of  captain.  After  the  latter  af- 
fair, he  and  his  brother  were,  among  other  leaders 
of  the  insurgents,  denounced  by  proclamation,  be- 
ing described  as  *^  James  and  William  Clelands, 
brethren-in-law  to  John  Haddoway,  merchant  in 
Douglas."  It  is  likely  that,  on  the  defeat  at  Botli- 
well,  he  made  his  escape  to  Holland,  as  we  find 
that  he  published  *•  Disputatio  Juridica  de  Proba- 
tionibus,'  at  Utrecht,  in  1684.  He  was  in  Scot- 
land, however,  in  1685,  "  beitfg  then  under  hid- 
ing," among  the  wilds  of  Lanarkshire  and  Ayrshire. 


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After  the  Reyolution  he  was  appointed  lieatenant- 
colonel  of  the  earl  of  Angus'  regiment,  called  the 
Cameronian  regiment,  from  its  being  chiefly  raised 
from  the  extreme  presbjterian  party. 

On  the  21st  August  1689,  before  he  was  twen- 
ty-eight years  of  age,  Colonel  Cleland  was  killed 
at  the  head  of  his  corps,  while  manfully  and  suc- 
cessfully defending  the  churchyai*d  of  Dnnkeld 
against  a  superior  force  of  Highlanders,  the  re- 
mains of  the  army  of  Dundee,  which  had  been 
victorious  at  Killiecrankie  in  the  preceding  month. 

His  poetical  pieces  were  published  in  a  small 
duodecimo  volume  in  1697.  The  first  in  the  book, 
*  Hollo,  my  Fancie,  whither  wilt  ihou  go?'  was 
written  by  him  the  last  year  he  was  at  college, 
and  before  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  This 
poem,  which  displays  considerable  imagination, 
wUl  be  found  in  Watson's  Collection  of  Scottish 
Poems.  His  principal  piece,  entitled  ^A  Mock 
Poem  on  the  Expedition  of  the  Highland  Host, 
who  came  to  destroy  the  Western  Shires  in  Win- 
ter 1678,'  is  in  the  Hudibrastic  vein,  and  conceived 
in  a  style  of  bitter  sarcasm. 

Colonel  Cleland  is  erroneously  stated  to  have 
been  the  father  of  William  Cleland,  Esq.,  bom  in 
1 673,  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  customs  in 
Scotland,  and  author  of  the  Prefatory  Letter  to 
the  Dunciad.  This  person,  said  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  in  the  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border,  to 
have  been  also  a  Colonel  Cleland,  (he  was  only  a 
major,  see  previous  page,)  is  mentioned  by  some 
of  the  annotators  on  Pope  as  the  original  of  Will. 
Honeycomb  iu  the  Spectator.  He  died  in  1741, 
leaving  a  son,  John  Cleland,  the  author  of  an  in- 
famous novel,  entitled  *  Memoirs  of  a  Woman  of 
Pleasure,'  published  in  1750;  for  which  Ralph 
Griffiths,  a  bookseller,  gave  him  20  guineas,  and 
the  profits  of  which  are  said  to  have  exceeded 
£10,000.  Want  of  money  and  want  of  principle 
were  alike  the  cause  of  this  prostitution  of  his 
talents.  To  rescue  him  from  such  pursuits.  Earl 
Granville  allowed  him  a  hundred  pounds  a-year. 
He  afterwards  wrote  two  novels  of  a  more  inno- 
cent description,  and  not  destitute  of  merit,  en- 
titled *  Memoirs  of  a  Coxcomb,'  and  '  The  Man  of 
Honour.'  He  published,  besides,  an  etymological 
work,  entitled  *The  Way  to  Things  by  Words, 
and  to  Words  by  Things,'   1766,  8vo;   and  a 


'Specimen  of  an  Etymological  Vocabulary,  or 
Essay,  by  means  of  the  Analytic  Method,  to  Re- 
trieve the  Ancient  Celtic,'  1768.  He  died  in 
1789,  aged  S2,— Chalmers's  Biog,  Diet,  Art.  John 
Cleland, — Brownis  History  of  the  Highlands, 

CLELAND,  Jambs,  LL.D.,  a  distinguished 
statistical  writer,  was  bom  at  Glasgow  in  the 
month  of  January  1770.  His  parents,  though 
highly  respectable,  were  in  a  humble  station  of 
life ;  his  father's  trade  being  that  of  a  cabinet- 
maker, to  which  his  son  was  likewise  brought  up. 
Although  he  himself  had  received  but  V  scanty 
education,  Mr.  Cleland,  senior,  who  possessed 
great  shrewdness  of  character,  had  the  good  sense 
to  be  aware  of  the  advantages  of  a  good  one,  and, 
accordingly,  James  was  early  initiated  in  English 
grammar  and  the  rudiments  of  the  Latin  language, 
and  made  considerable  progress  in  arithmetic. 
I'n  the  workshop  of  his  father  he  continued  till 
1789,  when,  in  order  to  render  himself  perfect  in 
his  business,  he  went  to  London  f  in  which  city 
he  remained  for  two  years.  On  his  return,  he 
entered  into  partnership  with  his  father,  and  from 
his  peculiar  tact  and  straightforward  mode  of  con- 
ducting business,  he,  in  a  short  period,  rendered  the 
trade  in  which  he  was  concerned  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  in  Glasgow.  It  was  while  thus  en- 
gaged that  he  first  exhibited  his  inclination  to 
figures;  the  foremost  of  his  printed  productions 
being  *  Tables  for  showing  the  Price  of  Packing- 
Boxes  of  sundry  Dimensions  and  Thicknesses,'  an 
opuscule  which  was  highly  thought  of  at  the  time, 
and  which  is  still  in  common  use  amongst  trades- 
men. 

In  1814,  the  office  of  superintendent  of  public 
works  at  Glasgow  having  become  vacant.  Dr. 
Cleland  was  unanimously  elected  to  it  by  the 
Town  Council,  and  in  this  situation  he  continued 
until  1834,  when,  owing  to  some  alteration  in  the 
distribution  of  offices — consequent  on  the  operation 
of  the  Municipal  Reform  Bill,  he  deemed  it  expe- 
dient to  resign.  Many  of  his  fellow  -  citizens, 
however,  considering  that  some  compensation 
should  be  afforded  him,  called  a  public  meeting 
on  7th  August  of  that  year,  at  which  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved,  that  a  subscription  should  imme- 
diately be  set  on  foot,  in  order  to  present  Dr. 
Cleland  with  some  tangible  mark  of  the  esteem 


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CLELAND, 


660 


JAMES. 


in  which  be  was  held  by  them.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  weeks, 
when  the  subscription  list  was  closed,  the  sum 
collected  amounted  to  no  less  than  £4,600, — 
which  it  was  agreed  upon  by  a  committee  sliould 
be  expended  on  the  erection  of  a  productive  build- 
ing, to  be  placed  in  a  suitable  part  of  the  city,  and 
to  bear  the  name  of  the  '•'•  Cleland  Testimonial." 
That  this  very  superb  present,  however,  was  not 
totally  undeserved,  will  be  apparent  even  from 
the  following  isolated  trifling  fact : — Previously  to 
Dr.  Cleland^s  election  to  the  ofSce  of  superintend- 
ent of  public  works  in  1814,  the  caravans  of  per- 
formers, who  were  accustomed  to  meet  at  Glasgow 
during  the  fair  week  in  Jidy,  had  been  allowed  to 
be  pitched  on  ground  belonging  to  the  town,  with- 
out paying  anything  for  such  a  privilege.  But 
when  Dr.  Cleland  entered  on  his  duties,  he  imi- 
tated the  example  of  the  corporation  of  London 
with  regard  to  Bartholomew  Fair,  and  by  charg- 
ing a  small  sum  for  each  steading  of  ground,  he 
was  enabled,  during  the  period  between  1815  and 
1884,  to  pay  into  the  hands  of  the  city  chamber- 
lain, from  this  source  alone,  no  less  than  £2,500. 

In  1821  Dr.  Cleland  was  employed  by  govern- 
ment to  draw  up  and  classify  the  enumeration  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Glasgow ;  and,  from  the  follow- 
ing high  eulogium  contained  in  the  government 
enumeration  volume,  it  will  be  observed  in  what 
point  of  view  his  services  were  regarded  at  head- 
quarters;— "It  would  be  unjust,"  observes  the 
writer,  **  not  to  mention,  in  this  place,  that  Mr. 
Cleland  has  transmitted  documents  containing 
very  numerous  and  veiy  useful  statistical  details 
concerning  the  city  and  suburbs  of  Glasgow,  and 
that  the  example  has  produced  imitation  in  some 
other  of  the  principal  towns  in  Scotland,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent  of  minute  observation  by 
which  Mr.  Cleland*s  laboura  are  distinguished." 
In  1831  Dr.  Cleland  again  drew  up  the  enumera- 
tion for  government,  and  the  very  flattering  mode 
in  which  it  was  received,  both  at  home  and  in 
several  of  the  countries  of  the  Eui'opean  continent, 
attests  its  value. 

From  1820  until  1834  the  bills  of  mortality  for 
Glasgow  were  drawn  up  by  him,  and  from  the 
following  panegyric  on  them  by  the  highest  au- 
thority on  the  subject,  we  may  judge  of  their 


accuracy  and  value : — "  Of  all  the  statements  de- 
rived from  bills  of  mortality  and  enumerations  of 
the  people,"  observes  Joshua  Mylne,  Esq.  in  the 
Encyclopedia  Bntannica,  ^^  only  those  for  Sweden 
and  Finland,  Dr.  Heysham's  for  Carlisle,  and  Dr. 
Cleland's  for  Glasgow,  have  been  given  in  the 
proper  form,  and  with  sufficient  correctness  to 
afford  the  information,  which  is  the  most  impor- 
tant object  of  them  all,  viz.  that  which  is  neces- 
sary for  determining  the  law  of  mortality."  In 
the  year  1836  a  number  of  gentlemen  having 
united  themselves  into  a  society  for  promoting 
the  advancement  of  statistical  inquiry.  Dr.  Cle- 
land was  unanimously  elected  president,  and  in 
the  first  part  of  their  Transactions  there  appeared 
a  paper  written  by  him  on  his  favourite  subject, 
the  State  of  the  City. 

From  tlte  date  of  his  resignation  to  his  death, 
which  took  place  after  an  illness  of  nearly  a  year's 
duration,  on  14th  October  1840,  Dr.  Cleland 
never  ceased  to  entertain  a  lively  regard  for  the 
interest  and  prosperity  of  his  native  city,  and  not 
a  month  before  he  expired,  he  published  a  pam- 
phlet, ^  On  the  Former  and  Present  State  of  Glas- 
gow.' By  the  university  of  Glasgow  he  was  hon- 
oured with  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  of 
London ;  a  Fellow  of  the  Statistical  Societies  of 
London,  Manchester,  and  Bristol ;  a  correspond- 
ing member  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaiies  of  Scot- 
land ;  and  a  short  period  before  his  decease,  he 
was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  Soci^t^ 
^ran^ois  de  Statistique  Universelle. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Dr.  Cleland's  works: 

Aonals  of  Glasgow.     1816,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Abridgment  of  the  Annals  of  Glasgow.     1817,  8vo. 

Rise  and  Progress  of  the  City  of  Glasgow.     1820,  8vo. 

Exemplification  of  Weights  and  Measures  of  Glasgow. 
1822,  8vo. 

Statistical  Tables  relative  to  Glasgow,  8vo;  and  Elnmnera- 
tion  of  Scotland.     1823,  8va 

Specification  for  Rebuilding  Ramshom  Church,  8vo;  and 
Account  of  Ceremonial  at  Laying  Foundation-Stone  of  Fuvt 
House  in  London-street,  Glasgow.    1824,  8vo. 

Historical  Account  of  the  Steam  Engine.    8vo. 

Historical  Account  of  the  Grammar  School,  GUsgow;  and 
Account  of  Ceremonial  at  Laying  Foundation-Stone  of  John 
Knox*s  Monument,  Glasgow.    1825. 

Specification  for  Rebuilding  St  Enoch's  Chuirb,  Sro,  and 
Poor  Rates  of  Glasgow.     1827,  8to. 

Maintenance  of  the  Poor,  8vo. 

Account  of  Cattle  Show  at  Glasgow,  8vo. 


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CLEPHANE. 


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CLEPHANE. 


Statistical  and  Popnlataon  Tables  relative  to  Glasgow,  8vo. 

Enumeration  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Glasgow.    1828,  8vo. 

Abridgment  of  Annals,  second  edition.    1829,  8to. 

Ennmeration  of  Glasgow  and  Lanarkshire,  folio,  small, 
1831 ;  a  second  edition  of  the  same  appeared  in  folio,  large, 
In  1832. 

Ceremonial  at  Laying  Foundation-Stone  of  Broomielaw 
Bridge.    1882,  8to. 

Historical  Account  of  Weights  and  Measures  for  Lanark- 
shirs.    1833,  8vo. 

Statistics  relatiTe  to  Glasgow.  1884,  8vo.  (Read  before 
the  British  Association  at  Edinburgh). 

On  Parochial  Begistiy  of  Scotland.    1834,  8to. 

Glasgow  Bridewell  or  House  of  Correction.  1835,  8vo. 
(Read  before  the  British  Association  at  Dublin). 

A  Few  Statistical  Facts  relative  to  Glasgow.  1836,  8vo. 
(Read  before  the  British  Association  at  Bristol). 

The  articles  Glasgow  and  Butherglen  for  the  New  Statisti- 
csl  Account  of  Scotland,  1838 ;  the  article  Glasgow  in  the 
seventh  edition  of  the  Encvdopssdia  Britannica. 

On  the  Former  and  Present  SUte  of  Glasgow.  1840. 
(Read  before  the  British  Association  at  Glasgow). 

An  Historical  Account  of  the  Bills  of  Mortolitj  and  Proba- 
bility of  Human  life  in  Glasgow,  and  other  Large  Towns. 
1840,  8vo. 

Dr.  Cleland  also  wrote  the  article  Glasgow  for  Brewster's 
Encyclopsdia,  and  likewise  a  description  of  that  city  for  the 
Edinburgh  Gazetteer. 


Clephame,  a  surname  belonging  to  a  family  of  great  anti- 
quity which,  in  very  eariy  times,  possessed  lands  in  the  coun- 
ties bdth  of  fife  and  Berwick.  The  immediate  ancestor  of 
the  family  was  Alanus  de  Clephane  in  the  reign  of  King  Wil- 
liam the  Lion.  He  was  sheriff  of  Lauderdale,  and  is  witness 
m  a  donation  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso  by  Roland  lord  of 
Galloway ;  also,  in  a  donation  to  the  monasteiy  of  Newbottle, 
by  the  said  Roland.  In  another  donation  to  the  monasteiy 
of  Kelso  he  is  designed  "  Alanus  de  Clephane,  vicecom.  de 
Lawdyr,**  &c,  &c.,  anno  1203.  He  died  in  the  end  of  'the 
reign  of  William  the  lion.  His  son  and  successor,  Walterus 
de  Clephane,  is  mentioned  in  a  donation  without  a  date  to 
the  monasteiy  of  Newbottle  by  Thomas  of  Galloway,  fifth 
earl  of  Athol,  who  died  in  1234.  This  Walter  is  supposed, 
in  the  reign  of  William  the  Lion,  to  have  married  the  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  William  de  Carslogie,  son  of  Richard  de 
Carslc^'e,  in  Fife,  and  with  her  got  the  lands  and  barony  of 
Carslogie,  which  became  the  chief  title  of  the  family.  He 
died  in  the  reign  of  King  Alexander  the  Second.  His  son, 
David  de  Clephane,  succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Carslogie,  and 
died  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third.  He  had  three  sons, 
J&hn  his  heir,  Marcus  de  Clapan,  mileSy  who  was  witness  to 
several  charters  by  dominus  Alexander  de  Abemethy  of  Aber- 
nethy.  In  the  Ragman  Roll  occurs  the  name  of  Marcus  de 
Clypan,  as  having  sworn  fealty  to  Edward  the  First,  dth 
August  1296,  at  Arbroath.  This  appears  to  have  been  the 
same  Marcus.  William,  the  thurd  son,  was  also  forced  to 
submit  to  King  Edward  the  First.  The  eldest  son,  John,  got 
a  charter  from  Dimcan,  earl  of  Fife,  (supposed  to  have  been 
Duncan  the  twelfth  earl),  of  the  lands  of  Carslogie,  which  bears 
him  to  possess  them  "  adeo  libere  sicut  David  de  Clephan  pater 
ejus  et  prsBdeoessores  eas  tenuerant**  As  was  usual  with  such 
documents  in  those  days,  this  charter  is  without  a  date,  but 
from  the  witnesses  to  it,  **  dominis  Alexandro  de  Abemethy, 
Mlchaele  et  David  de  Wemyss,  Hugone  de  Lochor,  Johanne 
de  Ramsay,  Wilfielmo  de  Ramsay,  et  Henrico  de  Ramsay, 
eum  multifl  aliis,*'  i(  appears  to  have  been  granted  in  the  be- 


ginning of  the  reign  of  Robert  the  First  He  had  two  sons,  Alan 
his  heir,  and  John  de  Clephane,  who  was  killed  near  Norharo 
in  England,  fighting  against  the  enemies  of  his  country,  in 
1327.  His  elder  son,  Alan  Clephane  of  Carslogie,  fought 
with  Bruce  on  the  field  of  Bannockbum,  where  he  is  said  to 
have  lost  his  right  hand,  and  had  one  of  steel  made  in  its 
stead  and  so  fitted  with  springs  as  to  enable  him  to  wield  his 
sword.  He  is  mentionea  m  the  ehartularies  of  Dunferm- 
line and  Balmerino  in  1331,  and  by  Sir  Robert  Sibbald 
in  1332. 

His  descendant  m  the  fourth  degree,  John  Clephane  of 
Carslogie,  lost  by  apprisings,  &c.,  the  bulk  of  the  family  estate 
in  Lauderdale,  which  had  been  about  three  centuries  in  their 
possession.  This  appears  by  a  charter  under  the  great  seal 
from  King  James  the  Fif^  dated  2d  September  1516. 
Alexandro  Tarvet  de  eodem,  quadraginta  mercatas  texramm 
de  Quhelplaw  in  balivat  de  Lauderdale,  infra  vice-comitat.  de 
Berwick,  qusB  appretiaUs  fuerunt  a  Johanne  Cltphane  de 
Carslogie,  &c.  By  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Sir  John  Wemyss 
of  that  ilk,  he  had  a  son,  George  Clephane  of  Carslogie,  who 
married  Christian,  daughter  of  Learmont  of  Dairsie,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  James,  the  elder,  car- 
ried on  the  line  of  succession.  William,  the  younger,  was 
progenitor  of  James  Clephane,  Esq.,  who  went  early  into  the 
service  of  the  estates  of  Holland,  where  he  rose  to  the  rank 
of  migor.  He  subsequently  entered  the  British  service,  and 
in  1757,  as  major  to  Colonel  Erasers  regiment,  he  was  at  the 
nege  of  Louisburg,  ana  serveo  with  grei^  reputation  in  all 
the  campaigns  in  America  till  the  expulsion  of  tne  French 
from  Canada  in  1760.  He  died  in  1768.  His  brother.  Dr. 
John  Clephane,  was  physidan  to  the  British  army,  and  died 
in  1768. 

The  last  of  the  eldest  branch  of  the  family,  Migor-general 
William  Maclean  Douglas  Clephane,  who  died  in  1804,  was 
the  twenty-first  laird,  in  the  direct  male  line,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  female  or  the  suceession  of  a  younger  branch. 
He  sold  the  remaining  portion  of  the  barony,  and  it  is  a  sin- 
gular coincidence  that  when  the  property  went  entirely  from 
the  family,  the  eldest  male  line  became  extinct  The  general 
married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Maclean  of  Torloisk,  Mull,  and 
after  his  death  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  chosen  by  his  daughters 
to  be  their  guardian.  His  eldest  daughter  married,  in  1815,  the 
second  marquis  of  Northampton.  Her  ladyship  died  in  1830. 
The  Clephanes  are  said  to  have  been  an  exceeding  tall,  strong 
race  of  men,  and  General  Clephane  was  far  above  the  usual 
height  His  brother,  Andrew  Clephane,  Esq.,  Advocate, 
sheriff  of  the  county  of  Fife,  who  died  in  1838,  though  not  so 
tall,  exhibited  in  his  person  evident  marks  of  the  family 
characteristic  in  this  respect  The  old  house  of  Carslogie,  for 
oentunes  the  residence  of  the  Clephanes,  became  the  property 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Laing,  an  Engli^  clergyman. 

According  to  tradition,  in  anaeiic  times,  when  private 
feuds  were  common  among  the  Scottish  barons,  the  lords  of 
Carslogie  entered  into  a  league  of  mutual  defence  with  the 
proprietors  of  Scotstarvet,  whose  residence,  Scotstarvet  tower, 
is  situated  on  a  lower  ndge  or  shoulder  of  Tarvet  bill,  about 
two  miles  to  the  south.  The  tower  of  Carslogie  being  situ- 
ated in  a  hollow,  might  have  been  approached  by  an  enemy 
without  his  being  observed  until  veiy  near  it,  but  as  the  more 
commanding  situation  of  Scotstarvet  enabled  the  warden  on 
the  battlements  to  see  to  a  greater  distance,  he,  on  occasions 
of  danger,  instantly  sounded  his  horn,  which  was  replied  to 
by  the  warden  from  Carslogie,  and  the  vassals  were  imme- 
diately in  arms  for  the  defence  of  the  castle.  Mr.  Leighton 
in  his  History  of  Fife,  oelieves.  on  good  grounds,  that  thiit 
league  was  not  with  the  Scotts  of  Scotstarvet,  wbo  only  ac~ 


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CLERIC 


652 


CLERK. 


quired  poesession  of  that  estate  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
bnt  with  the  previous  propnetors  of  Upper  Tarvet,  a  farail/ 
of  the  name  of  Inglis.  The  horn  of  Candogie,  with  which 
the  call  to  battle  was  sounded,  has  been  rendered  famous  bj 
Su:  Walter  Soott,  and  is  said  to  be  still  preserved  by  the  re- 
presenUtives  of  the  family  of  Clephane.  Besides  the  hom, 
the  steel  hand  already  mentioned,  which  was  alao  commemo- 
rated by  Sir  Walter  Soott,  was  long  in  possession  of  the 
family.  One  tradition  is  that  this  steel  hand  was  a  present 
from  an  ancient  king  of  Scotland  to  a  baron  of  Cantlogie,  who 
had  lost  his  hand  in  battle,  in  defence  of  his  country.  It 
does  not  seem,  however,  to  be  agreed  what  king  this  was,  or 
which  of  the  long  line  of  barons  of  Carslogie  received  the 
royal  gift  The  more  popular  aoouunt  has  it  that  the  hand, 
as  above  stated,  was  lost  at  Bannockbum,  and  that  the  gift 
was  made  by  Robert  the  Bruce  to  Alan  de  Clephane,  bnt 
others,  bringing  the  story  down  to  a  later  period,  say,  that 
it  was  presented  to  the  great  grandfather  of  the  late  Gene- 
ral Clephane,  the  last  direct  male  heir  of  the  Clephanes 
of  Carslogie.  This  famous  steel  hand  is  said  to  be  still  pos- 
sessed either  by  the  representatives  of  the  family  or  by  the 
third  marquis  of  Northampton,  General  Madean-Douglas- 
Clephane*s  grandson. 

Clbrk,  a  surname,  as  ahvady  statnl,  derived  from  the 
word  CZerteitf,  the  designation  given  m  the  dark  ages  to 
those  of  the  clergy  and  the  few  other  persons  who  acquired 
the  arts  of  reading  and  writing,  for  the  purpose  of  being  abl^ 
to  transcribe  the  orders  of  the  sovereign,  the  sentences  of 
courts,  and  the  acts  of  the  legislature;  kings  and  nobles,  in 
those  remote  times,  confining  their  attention  almost  exclu- 
sively to  martial  exercises  and  deeds  of  arms.  Blackstone  ob- 
serves **  that  the  Judges  were  usually  created  out  of  the  sacred 
order;  and  all  the  inferior  offices  were  supplied  by  the  lower 
^<^rg7i  which  has  occasioned  their  successors  to  be  denomi- 
nated clerkt  to  this  day.** — Canun.  i.  17.  **  Adam  the  clerk, 
son  of  Philip  the  scribe,  occurs  as  the  designation  of  a  person 
mentioned  in  an  ancient  record  at  Newcastle."  [^Jjower  an 
EnffiUh  SumametJ]  The  name  of  Clenous  was  assumed 
both  by  those  who  held  such  offices,  and  by  their  descendants. 
Claik  and  Clarke,  the  English  method  of  spelling  it,  are  but 
variations  of  the  same  name.  Though  the  spelling  may  be 
different,  the  pronunciation  is  invariably  Clark. 

The  family  from  which  the  Clerks  of  Pennycuik  are  de- 
scended can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  the  year  1180,  and  the 
reign  of  William  the  lion. 

In  the  charter  of  a  donation  by  King  William  to  the 
Abbacy  of  Holyrood-house,  Hugo  Clericus  regis,  Hugo  Cleri- 
cus  cancellarii,  Johannes  Clericus,  and  several  others,  append 
their  names  as  witnesses. 

The  witnesses  to  such  deeds  were  always  of  high  rank,  and, 
from  different  sources  it  appears  that,  in  early  times,  there 
were  many  Scottish  barons,  and  proprietors  of  estates,  of  this 
name. 

In  1296  Richard  Clerk,  a  considerable  freeholder,  was  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  Edward  the  First  of  England,  afler  his 
invasion  of  Scotland;  while  another  baron  of  the  same  name, 
a  strenuous  defender  of  the  liberties  of  his  country,  scorning 
to  comply  with  the  demands  oi  the  usurper,  was  carried  pri- 
soner to  London. 

William  Clerk,  descended  from  a  branch  of  this  family 
settled  in  Perthshire.  He  was  an  eminent  merchant  and 
patriot,  and  attended  David  the  Second  in  his  unfortunate 
expedition  into  England,  in  1846.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at 
the  battle  of  Neville's  Cross,  near  Durham,  on  the  17th 
October  of  that  year  carried  to  London  and  retained  m  cap- 


tivity there,  until  liberated,  along  with  his  jovereagn,  elereo 
years  afterwards. 

John  Clerk,  merchant- burgees  and  chief  magistnite  of 
Montrose,  became  one  of  the  hostages  for  the  ransom  of  King 
David,  in  1357 

His  family  continued  in  the  direcfaon  of  the  affiurs  of  that 
ancient  burgh  for  several  centuries,  the  provost  of  Montrose, 
as  appears  from  the  books  of  ooundQ,  being  of  his  name  and 
descent  down  to  the  reign  of  Queen  Maxy. 

The  grandfather  of  the  first  proprietor  of  Pennycuik,  of  the 
name  of  Clerk,  was  possessor  of  the  lands  of  fjllrantly,  ih 
Badenoch,  Inverness-shire,  but  having  attached  himself  to 
the  party  of  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  in  opposition  to  his  Supe- 
rior, the  earl  of  Huntly,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  that  part  oi 
the  country  in  1568. 

His  son,  William,  a  merchant  in  Montrose,  died  in  1*»?0. 
A  son  or  brother,  Richard  Clerk,  vice-admiral  of  the  fleet, 
who  served  under  Gustavus  Adolphus,  gifted  a  large  bmp  oi 
ehandeUer  to  the  parish  church  of  Montrose. 

John  Clerk,  William's  son,  bom  at  Montrose  in  1611,  was 
also  bred  a  merchant  He  removed  to  France  in  1684,  and 
settled  in  Paris,  in  1647  be  returned  to  Scotland,  with  a 
considerable  fortune,  and  purchased  the  lands  of  Pennycuik 
(Gaelic,  Bern  na  Cuackaig,  the  *Hill  of  the  Cuckoo,*)  Mid 
Lothian,  which  have  ever  since  remained  in  possession  of  his 
descendants.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  William  Gray 
of  Pittendrum,  ancestor  of  Lord  Gray,  by  whom  he  had  five 
sons  and  five  daughters. 

He  was  succeeded  in  1674  oy  his  son  John,  who  was  cre- 
ated the  first  baronet  of  Pennycmk,  by  a  royal  patent  fnnn 
Charles  the  Second,  dated  24th  March  1679.  In  1700  he 
acquired  the  lands  of  Lasswade,  in  the  same  county.  He 
died  m  1722.  He  was  twice  married,  first,  to  Elizabeth 
daughter  of  Henry  Henderson,  Esq.  of  Elvington,  by  whom 
he  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  secondly  to 
Christian,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Kurkpatrick,  and  had 
four  other  sons  and  four  daughters  Of  his  eldest  son,  John, 
second  baronet,  a  notice  follows. 

Sir  James  Clerk,  the  third  barooet,  son  of  the  second,  mar- 
ried Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Cleghom,  but  dying 
in  1782  without  issue,  was  sucoeeded  by  his  brother  Sir 
George  Clerk-MaxweU.  fourth  baronet,  of  whom  also  a  notice 
is  subsequently  given.  He  married  Dorothea,  daughter  of  his 
unde  William  Clerk-Maxwell,  Esq.,  by  his  wife  Agnes  Max- 
well, heiress  of  Middleby  in  Dumfnes-shire,  and  had  five  sons 
and  four  daughters.  He  died  in  1784,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Cleric,  who  died  in  1798.  He  mar 
ried  Mary,  daughter  of  Mr.  Dacre  of  Kirklington  in  Cumber  • 
land,  but  had  no  issue. 

His  nephew,  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  George  Clerk,  sixth  baro- 
net, succeeded.  He  was  the  son  of  James  Clerk,  third  son 
of  the  fourth  baronet,  by  Janet,  daughter  of  George  Irving. 
Esq.  of  Newton.  He  was  bom  in  1787,  and  married  in  1810, 
the  daughter  of  Ewan  Law,  Esq.,  and  nieoe  of  the  first  Laid 
Elleuborough.  He  was  a  lord  of  the  admiralty  from  1819  to 
1880,  except  for  a  short  interval ;  secretary  of  the  treasury 
from  November  1884  to  April  1885,  and  again  from  Septem- 
ber 1841  to  February  1815.  In  the  Utter  year  he  was  sworn 
a  member  of  the  privy  coundL  He  became  master  of  the 
imnt,  and  vice-president  of  the  board  of  trade  in  Febraaiy 
1845,  and  continued  so  till  July  1846.  He  represented  the 
county  of  Edinbui^h  in  several  parliaments  previous  to  1832, 
but  had  no  seat  from  that  time  till  1835,  when  he  was  again 
returned  for  that  county.  He  sat  for  Stamford  from  1838  to 
1847,  when  he  was  elected  for  Dover.  He  is  a  depu^  lien- 
tenant  of  the  county  of  Edinburgh* 


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CLERK, 


653 


SIR  JOHN. 


On  'be  mtry  of  Charles  the  First  into  Edinburgh,  I5th 
June,  1683,  Sir  Alexanaer  ClerK.  lord  provost,  was  bj  bis 
majesty  dabbed  a  might  m  honour  of  the  occasion.  A  de- 
scendant of  his,  Mr.  Rooert  ClerK,  wno  oiea  m  1810,  was  for 
many  years  a  bookseller  ana  publisher  m  the  Parliament 
Square,  Edinburgh,  an  account  of  whom  is  given  m  the 
second  volume  of  Rfty*s  Edinburgh  Portraits,  page  29. 

The  Clerks  of  Brae-Letham  were  free  barons,  and  had  con- 
siderable possessions  in  Argyleshire,  as  far  back  as  the  reign 
of  James  the  Second.  There  were  also  several  families  of 
this  name  in  the  connty  of  Fife,  who  had  large  possessions, 
such  as  the  Clerks  of  BalUimie,  of  Pittzoucher,  and  of 
Luthrie,  &c.  The  clan  Chattan  and  some  other  Highland 
families  also  claim  a  connection  with  the  Clerks  as  descended 
from  them. 

The  family  of  Listonshiels  m  Mid  Lotman  was  a  branch  of 
the  Pennycnik  family.  Robert  Clerk,  bom  in  1664,  a  physi- 
cian in  Edinburgh,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  the  ce.eorated 
Dr.  Pitcaim,  was  the  fifth  and  youngest  son  of  John  Clerk, 
the  first  proprietor  of  Pennycnik.  His  eldest  son  John,  bom 
in  1689,  also  studied  medicine,  and  for  above  thirty  years 
was  the  first  physician  in  Scotland.  At  the  institution  of 
the  Philosophical  Society  in.  Edinburgh  m  1739,  he  was 
chosen  one  of  their  two  vice-presidents,  an  office  which  he  en- 
joyed as  long  as  he  lived.  In  1740  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  in  Edinburgh,  and  continued 
president  for  four  years.  He  purchased  the  lands  of  Liston- 
shiels and  Spittal  in  Mid  Lothian,  and  got  a  charter  under 
the  great  seaL  He  died  in  1757.  He  had  married  in  1720, 
Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Rattray,  Esq.  of  Craig- 
hall  Rattray  in  Perthshire,  by  whom  he  had  several  children. 
Robert,  the  second  son,  was  a  colonel  in  the  army.  David, 
the  third,  was  physician  to  the  Royal  Infirmary  in  Edin- 
burgh. He  died  in  1768.  By  his  wife  Helen,  daughter  of 
James  DuS^  Esq.  of  Craigston,  Aberdeenshire,  he  had  two 
sons,  James  and  Robert  James  Clerk,  the  eldest  son,  be- 
came, in  right  of  his  grandmother,  proprietor  of  Craighall 
Rattray,  and  assumed  the  sumame  of  Rattray  in  addition  to 
his  own.  He  distinguished  himself  at  the  Scottish  bar  as  an 
advocate,  and  was  constituted  a  baron  of  the  Exchequer  in 
Scotland.  He  married  in  January  1791,  Jane,  daughter  of 
Admiral  Duff  of  Fetteresso,  and  dying  29th  August  1831, 
left,  with  one  daughter,  Jane,  a  son  and  successor,  Robert 
Cierk-Rattray,  Esq.  of  Craighall  Rattray.  [See  Rattray, 
surname  of.] 

CLERK,  Sir  John,  second  baronet  of  "Penny- 
cnik, author  of  the  hnmoroas  Scotch  song,   *0 
merry  may  the  maid  be  that  marries  the  Miller,* 
(with  the  exception  of  the  first  stanza,  which  be- 
longs to  an  older  song,)  and  one  of  the  barons  of 
exchequer  in  Scotland  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
was  the  son  of  the  first  baronet,  by  his  first  wife, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Henderson,  Esq.  of 
Elvington,  and  was  bom  about  1684.    He  was 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  Union,  and  was 
appointed  a  baron  on  the  constitution  of  the  ex- 
chequer court  18th  May  1708.     He  succeeded  his 
,    father  in  his  title  and  estates  in  1722.    He  pos- 
I    sessed  great  learning  and  accomplishments,  and 
I    was  generally  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  most 


enlightened  men  of  his  time.  Along  with  Baron 
Scrope,  in  1726,  he  drew  up  an  *  Historical  View 
of  the  Forms  and  Powers  of  the  Court  of  Exche- 
quer in  Scotland,'  which  was  printed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  barons  of  Exchequer  for  private  cir- 
culation :  Edinburgh  1820,  large  quarto.  Besides 
two  papers  in  the  *  Philosophical  Transactions,' 
(one  an  *  Account  of  the  Stylus  of  the  Ancients  and 
their  different  soi-ts  of  Paper,'  printed  in  1731, 
and  the  other  *0n  the  effects  of  Thunder  on 
Trees,'  and  '  Of  a  large  Deer's  Horns  found  in 
the  heart  of  an  Oak,'  printed  in  1739,)  he  was  the 
author  of  a  tract  entitled  *•  Dissertatio  de  quibusdam 
Monnmentis  Romanis,'  &c.,  written  in  1780  and 
printed  in  1750,  quarto.  For  upwards  of  twenty 
years  he  also  carried  on  a  learned  correspondence 
with  Roger  Gale,  the  English  antiquary,  which 
forms  a  portion  of  the  'Reliquiae  Galeanas,'  in 
Nichols'  'Bibliotheca  Topographica  Britannica,' 
1782. 

Sir  John  Clerk  was  one  of  the  friends  and  pa- 
trons of  Allan  Ramsay.  He  ''  admired  his  genius 
and  knew  his  worth."  During  his  latter  years 
much  of  the  poet's  time  was  spent  at  Pennycnik- 
house,  and  at  his  death,  Sir  John  erected  at  his 
family  seat  an  obelisk  to  Ramsay's  memory. 

To  Sir  John  Clerk  are  ascribed  some  amatory 
lines  sent  to  Susanna,  daughter  of  Sir  Archibald 
Kennedy  of  Culzean,  baronet  (ancestor  of  the 
marquis  of  Ailsa)  whom  he  courted  unsuccessfully, 
as  she  became  the  third  wife  of  Alexander,  ninth 
earl  of  Eglinton.  They  were  thus  entitled: — 
''  Verses  sent  anonymously,  with  a  flute,  to  Miss 
Susanna  Kennedy,  afterwards  Countess  of  Eglin- 
toune,  by  Sir  John  Clerk  of  Pennycook,  Baronet." 
On  attempting  to  blow  the  fiute  it  would  not 
sound,  and,  on  unscrewing  it,  the  lady  found  the 
following : — 

"  Harmonious  pipe,  how  I  envye  thy  bliss. 
When  pressed  to  Sylphia*s  lips  with  gentle  kiss  I 
And  when  her  tender  fingers  romid  thee  move 
In  soft  embrace,  I  listen  and  approve 
Those  melting  notes,  which  soothe  my  sonl  to  lore. 
Embalm*d  with  odours  from  her  breath  that  flow, 
Yon  yield  your  music  when  she's  pleased  to  blow; 
And  thus  at  once  the  charming  lovely  fair 
Delights  with  sounds,  with  sweets  perfumes  the  air. 
Co  happy  pipe,  and  ever  mindful  be 
To  court  the  charming  Sylphia  for  me; 


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CLERK, 


654 


JOHN. 


Teil  all  I  feel-^jou  cannot  toQ  too  iMich — 
Repeat  my  love  at  each  soft  melting  touch  ; 
Since  I  to  her  mj  liberty  resign. 
Take  then  the  care  to  tone  her  heart  to  mine." 

It  was  to  this  ladj  that  Allan  Ramsay,  in  1726, 
dedicated  his  *  Gentle  Shepherd.' 

Sir  John  Clerk  held  the  office  of  one  of  the 
barons  of  exchequer  till  his  death,  which  took 
place  at  Pennyctiik  on  the  4tli  of  October  1766. 
He  was  twice  married ;  first,  February  23,  1701, 
to  Lady  Margaret  Stewai't,  eldest  daughter  of 
Alexander,  third  earl  of  Galloway.  She  died  De- 
cember 26th,  the  same  year,  in  childbed  of  a  son, 
John,  who  died  unmarried  in  1722.  On  the  death 
of  this  young  man  Allan  Ramsay  addressed  some 
elegiac  verses  to  his  father,  Sir  John,  which  are 
preserved  in  his  works.  He  married,  secondly, 
Janet,  daughter  of  Sir  Jolm  Inglis,  of  Cramond, 
by  whom  he  had  seven  sons  and  six  daughters. 

CLERK-MAXWELL,  Sir  George,  of  Pen- 
nycnik,  baronet,  distinguished  for  his  spirited 
efforts  to  advance  the  commercial  interests  of 
his  native  country,  second  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  bom  at  Edinburgh  in  October  1716, 
and  studied  at  the  universities  of  Ekiinburgh  and 
Leyden.  He  established,  at  considerable  expense, 
a  linen  manufactory  at  Dumfries,  and  set  on  foot 
many  different  projects  for  working  lead  and  cop- 
per mines.  In  1766  he  addressed  two  letters  to 
the  trustees  for  fisheries,  manufactories,  and  im- 
provements in  Scotland,  containing  observations 
on  the  common  mode  of  treating  wool  in  this 
country,  and  suggesting  a  more  judicious  scheme 
of  management.  These  were  published  by  direc- 
tion of  that  board  in  1766.  He  likewise  wrote  a 
paper  on  the  advantages  of  shallow  ploughing, 
which  was  read  to  the  Philosophical  Society,  and 
is  published  in  the  third  volume  of  their  Essays. 
In  1761  he  was  appointed  king's  remembrancer  in 
the  exchequer,  and,  in  1763,  commissioner  of  the 
customs  in  Scotland.  He  was  likewise  a  trustee 
for  the  Improvement  of  the  fisheries  and  manufac- 
tures of  Scotland.  In  1782  he  succeeded  his  elder 
brother,  Sir  James  Clerk,  in  the  baronetcy.  As 
already  stated,  on  marrying  his  cousin,  he  assumed 
his  wife's  name  of  Maxwell,  in  addition  to  his 
own.    He  died  in  January  1784. 

CLERK,  John,  of  Eldin,  inventor  of  the  mo- 


dem Brititth  system  of  naval  tactics,  was  the  sixth 
son  of  Sir  John  Clerk  of  Pennycuik,  baronet, 
and  a  youngei-  brother  of  the  pi*eceding.  In  early 
life  he  inherited  from  his  father  the  estate  of  El- 
din, in  the  county  of  Edinburgh,  and  married  Su- 
sannah Adam,  the  sister  of  the  two  celebrated 
architects  of  that  name.  Although  the  longest 
sail  he  ever  enjoyed  was  no  farther  than  to  the 
island  of  Arran,  in  the  frith  of  Clyde,  he  had  fror. 
his  boyhood  a  strong  passion  for  nautical  affairs, 
and  devoted  much  of  his  attention  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  naval  tactics.  In  1779  he  com- 
municated to  some  of  his  fi'iends  his  new  system 
of  breaking  the  enemy's  line.  In  1780  he  visited 
London,  and  had  some  conferences  with  men  con- 
nected with  the  navy,  among  whom  have  been 
mentioned  Mr.  Richard  Atkinson,  the  particular 
friend  of  Sir  (Jeorge,  afterwards  Lord,  Rodney, 
and  Sir  Charles  Douglas.  The  latter  was  Rod- 
ney's **  captain  of  the  fleet,*^  in  the  memorable 
action  of  April  12,  1782,  when  the  experiment 
was  tried  foi  the  first  time,  and  Rodney  gained  a 
decisive  victory  over  the  French,  under  De  Grasse, 
between  Dominica  and  Les  Saintes,  in  the  West 
Indies.  Since  that  time  the  principle  has  been 
adopted  by  all  the  British  admirals,  and  Howe, 
St.  Vincent,  Duncan,  and  Nelson,  owe  to  Clerk's 
manoeuvre  their  most  signal  victories.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  1782,  Mr.  Clerk,  who  was  a  Fellow  of 
the  Society  of  Scottish  Antiquaries,  and  also  ol 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  piinted  fifty  co- 
pies of  his  *  Essay  on  Naval  Tactics,'  which  were 
privately  distributed  amoug  his  friends.  This  va- 
luable essay  was  reprinted  and  published  in  1790; 
the  second,  thirds  and  fourth  parts  were  added  in 
1797,  and  the  work  was  republished  entire  in 
1804,  with  a  preface  explaining  the  origin  of  his 
discoveries.  Although  Lord  Rodney,  as  appears 
by  a  fragmentary  life  of  Clerk,  written  by  Profes- 
sor Play  fair,  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinbm-gh,  never  concealed  in 
conversation  his  obligations  to  Mr.  Clerk  as  the 
author  of  the  system,  yet  the  faipily  of  that  dis- 
tinguished admiral,  in  his  memoirs,  maintain  that 
no  communication  of  Mr.  Clerk's  plan  was  ever 
made  to  their  relative.  Sir  Howard  Douglas,  too, 
has  come  forward  in  various  publications  to  claim 
the  merit  of  the  manoeuvre  for  his  father,  the  late 


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COCHRAN. 


Admiral  Sir  Cbarles  Douglas.  The  honoar  of  the 
suggestion,  however,  appears  to  rest  indispatably 
with  Mr.  Clerk,  who  died  May  10,  1812,  at  aa 
advanced  age. 

CLEBEL,  John,  Lokd  Eldin,  a  distingnished 
lawyer,  the  son  of  the  preceding,  was  bora  ia 
April  1757,  and  in  1775  was  bound  appmtfce  to 
a  writer  to  the  signet.  His  origfaMi  destination 
had  been  the  civil  service  ht  India,  and  an  ap- 
pointment in  that  department  had  been  promised 
him ;  but,  some  political  changes  occurring  before 
it  was  completed,  the  views  of  his  friends  were 
disappohrted,  and  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
law.  At  firat  he  intended  to  practise  as  a  writer 
and  accountant;  but  he  soon  abandoned,  that 
branch  of  the  profession,  and  in  1785  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates. 
As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Clerk  was  remarkable  for  great 
clearness  of  perception,  never -failing  readiness 
and  fertility  of  resource,  admirable  powers  of  rea- 
soning, and  a  quaint  sarcastic  humour  that  gave  a 
zest  and  flavour  to  all  he  uttered.  For  many 
years  he  had  the  largest  practice  at  the  Scottish 
bar.  In  private  life  he  was  distinguished  for  bis 
social  qualities,  his  varied  accomplishments,  his 
exquisite  taste  in  the  fine  arts,  and  his  eccentric 
manners.  He  had  a  large  collection  of  paintings, 
and  at  one  period  he  published  a  volume  of  etch- 
ings by  himself^  He  was  raised  to  the  bench  in 
1823,  when  he  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  Eldin, 
and  died  at  Edinburgh  in  June  1832,  aged  74. 

Clunib,  a  samame  derived  from  the  parish  of  that  name 
in  the  district  of  Stonnont,  Perthshune.  It  is  the  modern  or- 
tliogi-aphy  of  the  old  Celtic  word  Ckimne^  which  signifies  "  a 
green  pasture  between  woods.** 

CLUNIE,  the  Rev.  John,  author  of  the  well- 
known  Scots  song,  *  I  lo'e  na  a  laddie  but  ane,^ 
was  bom  about  1757.  He  was  educated  for  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  after  being  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel,  he  became  schoolmaster  at 
Markinch  in  Fife,  and  having  an  excellent  voice, 
he  also  acted  as  precentor.  He  was  afterwards, 
about  1790,  ordained  minister  of  the  parish  of 
Borthwick,  in  Mid  Lothian.  Burns,  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  Mr.  Thomson,  dated  in  September  1794, 
thus  celebrates  him  for  his  vocal  skill:  ^*I  am 
flattered  at  your  adopting  '  Ca*  the  yowes  to  the 
knowes,*  as  it  was  owing  to  me  that  it  saw  the 
light.    About  seven  yeai*3  ago  I  was  well  ac- 


quainted with  a  worthy  littte  UHism  of  a  clergy- 
man, a  Mr.  Chmie,  who  wmg  it  charmingly,  and 
at  my  i-equest  Ifer.  Clarke  (Stephen  Clarke  the 
composer)  took  it  down  from  his  singing.  Mr. 
Ctmie  died  at  Greenend,  near  Edinburgh,  13tli 
April,  1819. 

Clyde,  Baron  of  the  United  Kingdom,  a  title  conferred  in 
1858  on  General  Sir  Colin  Campbell.    See  Supplbmbnt. 

Cltdrsdalb,  marquis  of,  a  title  of  the  duke  of  Hamilton , 
see  Hamilton)  duke  of. 

Clydesdale  is  also  a  surname.  Mr.  George  Clydesdale, 
minister  of  the  parish  of  Giassford,  Lanarkshire,  died  in  tlie 
month  of  Januaxy  1627.  In  the  Inventoiy  of  the  effects  of 
George  Cleland  of  Glenhoof,  Monkland,  who  "  deoeist  in  the 
moneth  of  Marche,  1647,**  it  is  stated  that  being  an  aged 
man  living  in  company  and  household  with  his  son,  he  **  had 
no  guds  nor  geir,  at  the  time  of  his  deoeis,  except  allanerlie 
the  sowme  of  ffourtie  punds  Sootts  money  of  jeirlie  yauti 
maill,  awand  to  him  be  Richard  Cliddisdaill  and  George  Neil- 
sone,  weii&ris  (weavers),  for  the  maill  of  twa  jairds  in  Dry- 
gait,  Gksgow.** 


CocnBAN.  or  Cochrane,  an  ancient  samame  in  Sootland, 
derived  from  the  barony  of  Cochrane,  in  the  county  of  Ren- 
frew, and  the  family  name  of  the  earls  of  Dundonald.  In 
the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third,  Waldenus  de  Coveran  or 
Cochran,  was  a  witness  to  the  charter  given  by  Dnngal  (Duff- 
Gallus,)  the  son  of  Swayne,  to  Walter  Camming,  eari  of 
Monteitb,  of  the  lands  of  Sklpness  and  others  in  Cantyre,  in 
the  year  1262.  WilKam  de  Cochran  was  one  of  the  Scots 
barons  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  the  First  of  EngUnd  in 
1296. 

In  the  reign  of  David  the  Second  lived  Gosiline  de  Coch- 
ran, father  of  William  Cochran  of  that  ilk,  and  from  him  was 
lineally  descended  William  Cochran  of  that  ilk,  who  obtamed 
a  charter  of  confirmation  irom  Queen  Mary,  of  the  lands  of 
Cochran  in  1576,  and  having  erected  the  ancient  seat  of  Coch- 
rane, he  ornamented  it  with  extensive  plantations.  July  3, 
1584,  he  was  with  John  Whiteford  of  that  ilk,  and  seven 
others,  "delated**  of  art  and  psrt  of  the  cruel  slaughter  ot 
Patrick  Maxwell  of  Stanley,  committed  in  the  previous  Jan- 
uary ;  but  the  laird  of  Whiteford  was  the  only  one  put  upon 
trisJ,  and  he  was  acquitted  of  the  charge.  By  his  wife  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Montgomery  of  Skelmorly,  in 
the  county  of  Ayr,  William  Cochrane  of  Cochrane  had  a 
daughter,  Elizabeth,  his  sole  heiress,  and  in  1593,  he  made  a 
settlement  of  his  estate  in  her  favour.  She  married  Alexan- 
der Blair,  a  younger  son  of  John  Blair  of  Blair,  in  Ayishin}, 
when,  in  terms  of  her  father's  settlement,  the  latter  assnmed 
the  name  of  Cochrane.  Of  this  nurriage  there  were  seven 
sons  and  three  daughters.  The  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Coch- 
rane, was  a  colonel  in  the  army  of  Charles  the  First,  by  whom 
he  wss  sent  to  solicit  the  assistance  of  foreign  princes,  and 
was  afterwards  despatched  by  Charies  the  Second  on  an  em- 
bassy into  PoUnd  in  1660.  He  died,  without  issue,  before 
the  Restoration,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother.  Sir  Wil- 
liam Cochrane  of  Cowdon,  knight,  a  distingnished  loya'list, 
created,  in  December  1647,  Lord  Cochrane  of  Ochiltree,  and  in 
May  1669,  earl  of  Dimdonald.    [See  Dundonald,  earl  of.] 

COCHRAN,  Robert,  an  eminent  architect  ot 
the  fifteenth  centuiy,  was  born  in  Scotland,  and 


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656 


WILLIAM 


educated  at  Padua  in  Italy,  where  he  spent  sev- 
eral yeara  in  the  study  of  the  fine  arts,  particularly 
architecture.  On  his  return  he  was  employed  by 
James  the  Third  to  erect  several  noble  structures. 
He  first  became  known  to  that  monarch  by  his 
conduct  in  a  duel,  and  he  was  afterwards  his  prin- 
cipal adviser.  The  king,  forsaking  his  nobility, 
made  architects  and  musicians  his  principal  com- 
panions. These  the  haughty  barons  of  Scotland 
termed  masons  and  fiddlers.  Cochran,  Rogers,  a 
musician,  Leonard,  a  smith,  Hommel,  a  tailor, 
and  Torphichen,  a  fencing  master,  were  his  coun- 
selloi's  and  familiars.  James  created  Cochran 
earl  of  Mar,  the  title  borne  by  the  king's  own 
brother,  whom,  at  the  suggestion  of  his  unworthy 
favourites,  he  had  caused  to  be  put  to  death.  All 
the  petitions  to  the  king  had  to  pass  through 
Cochran's  hands,  and  as  he  received  bribes  to  give 
his  countenance  and  support  he  soon  amassed 
great  wealth.  He  caused  the  silver  coin  of  the 
realm  to  be  mixed  with  brass  and  lead,  thereby 
decreasing  its  real  value,  while  a  proclamation 
was  issued  that  the  people  were  to  take  it  at  the 
same  rat^  as  if  it  were  composed  of  pure  silver. 
The  people  refused  to  sell  their  corn  and  other 
commodities  for  this  debased  coin,  which  intro- 
duced great  distress,  confusion,  and  scarcity. 
Some  one  told  Cochran  that  this  money  should  be 
called  in,  and  good  coin  issued  in  its  stead;  but  he 
was  so  confident  of  the  currency  of  the  Cochran 
placks,  as  they  were  called,  that  he  said, — **  The 
day  I  am  hanged  they  may  be  called  in;  not 
sooner."  This  speech,  which  he  made  in  jest,  be- 
came, in  no  long  time  thereafter,  sad  reality. 
While  the  king  with  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
men  lay  encamped  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Lauder,  many  of  the  nobility,  determined  to  get 
rid  of  the  king's  favourites,  held  a  secret  coun- 
cil in  the  church  of  Lauder  for  the  pui*pose, 
and  when  thus  engaged  a  loud  knocking  was 
heard  at  the  door.  This  was  Cochran  himself, 
attended  by  a  guard  of  three  hundred  men,  all 
gaily  dressed  in  his  livery  of  white,  with  black 
facings,  and  armed  with  partisans.  He  himself 
was  attired  in  a  riding  suit  of  black  velvet,  and 
had  round  his  neck  a  fine  chain  of  gold,  whilst  a 
buglehom,  tipped  and  mounted  with  gold,  hung 
by  his  side.    Havings:  learnt  that  there  was  some 


consultation  holding  among  the  nobility,  be  came 
to  ascertain  its  object.  Sir  Robert  Douglas,  of 
Lochleven,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  door,  when 
he  heard  the  knocking,  demanded  who  was  there. 
Cochran  answered,  "  The  earl  of  Mar,"  on  which 
he  was  allowed  to  enter,  when  Archibald,  earl  of 
Angus,  met  him,  and  rudely  palled  the  gold  chain 
from  his  neck,  saying,  '*  a  halter  would  better  be- 
come him."  Sir  Robert  Douglas,  at  the  same 
time,  snatched  away  his  buglehom,  saying,  '*Thou 
hast  been  a  hunter  of  mischief  too  long."  "Is 
this  jest  or  earnest,  my  lords?"  said  Cochran,  as- 
tonished rather  than  alarmed  at  thb  mde  recep- 
tion. "  It  is  sad  earnest,"  said  they,  "  and  that 
thou  and  thy  accomplices  shall  feel ;  for  you  have 
abased  the  king's  favour  towards  you,  and  now 
you  shall  have  your  reward  according  to  your  de- 
serts." Cochran,  who  was  naturally  a  man  of 
great  courage,  offered  no  resistance,  and  a  party 
of  the  nobility  having  gone  to  the  king's  pavilion, 
they  seized  in  his  presence  Leonard,  Hommel, 
Torphichen,  and  the  rest,  with  Preston,  one  of  the 
only  two  gentlemen  amongst  King  James'  min- 
ions, and  condemned  them  to  instant  death,  as 
having  misled  the  king  and  misgoverned  the  king- 
dom. Cochran  vainly  requested  that  his  bands 
might  not  be  tied  with  a  hempen  rope,  but  with  a 
silk  cord,  at  the  same  time  offering  to  furnish  it  from 
the  cords  of  his  pavilion,  which,  with  the  pavilion 
itself,  were  of  silk  instead  of  the  ordinary  materials 
He  was  told  he  was  but  a  false  knave,  and  should 
die  with  all  manner  of  shame,  and  his  enemies 
were  at  pains  to  procure  a  hair-tether  or  halter,  as 
still  more  ignominious  than  a  rope  of  hemp.  W^ith 
this  they  hanged  Cochran  over  the  centre  of  the 
bridge  of  Lauder,  long  since  demolished,  in  the 
middle  of  his  companions,  who  were  suspended  on 
each  side  of  him.    This  took  place  in  July  1484. 

COCHRAN,  William,  an  artist  of  considera^ 
ble  reputation  in  his  time,  was  bom  at  Strathaven 
in  Lanarkshire,  December  12, 1738.  At  the  age 
of  28  he  went  to  Italy,  and  studied  at  Rome  under 
his  countryman,  Gavin  Hamilton.  On  his  return 
he  settled  as  a  portmt  painter  in  Glasgow,  whei-fe 
he  soon  realized  a  respectable  independence.  Be- 
sides portraits,  he  painted  occasionally  historical 
pieces,  two  of  which,  *  Daedalus'  and  ^Endymion,' 
rank  high  in  the  opinion  of  connoisseurs.    He 


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COCKBURN. 


died  at  Glasgow,  October  23, 1786,  and  lies  buried 
in  the  catliedral  there. 

COCHRANE,  Akchibald,  ninth  earl  of  Dun- 
donald,  a  nobleman  distinguished  for  scientific 
attainments.    See  Dundonald,  earl  of. 

COCHRANE,  Sir  Alexander  Forrester 
Inqlis,  a  distinguished  naval  officer.  See  Dun- 
donald, earl  oT. 

COCHRANE,  Captain  John  Dundas,  R.N., 
an  eccentric  traveller.    See  Dundonald,  eail  of. 

COCHRANE,  Thomas,  tenth  eail  of  Dun- 
donald, known  better  as  Lord  Cochrane,  a  distin- 
guished naval  officer,  in  various  services.  See 
Dundonald,  eai'l  of. 

CocKBUKNt  a  surname  of  old  standing  in  Scotland,  sup- 
posed to  be  a  corruption  of  Colbrand.  In  tfao  Ragman  Roll 
of  those  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I.  in  1296,  occur  the 
names  of  Piers  de  Cockbam  and  Thomas  de  Gockbuni,  great 
ancestors  of  the  Cockbums  of  Langton,  Ormiston,  and  Clerk- 
ington,  very  ancient  vassals  of  the  earls  of  March,  from  whom 
all  the  Cockbums  in  Scotland  are  dencended. 

The  principal  family  of  the  name  are  the  Cockbums  of 
Langton.  Their  immediate  ancestor.  Sir  Alexander  de  Cock- 
bum,  obtained  the  barony  of  Carriden,  in  IJnlithgowshire, 
from  Dayid  the  Second  in  1358,  which  barony  had  been  for- 
feited to  the  crown,  by  what  in  the  law  of  Scotland  is  deno- 
minated recognition,  or  a  vaasal  disponing  of  his  property 
without  the  consent  of  his  superior.  This  Sir  Alexander  de 
Cockbum  was  twice  married,  first  to  Maiy,  daughter  of  Sh* 
William  de  Veteriponte,  or  Vipont,  proprietor  of  Langton  in 
Berwickshire,  who  fell  a^  Bannockbum  in  1814,  and  in  her 
right  he  obtained  the  lands  and  barony  of  Langton;  and, 
secondly,  to  Margaret,  daughter  and  h^i^M  of  Sur  John 
Monfode  of  Braidwood  in  Lanarkshire.  By  his  first  wife  he 
had  two  sons,  Sir  Alexander  de  Cockbum,  knight,  keeper  of 
the  great  seal  between  1889  and  1896,  and  created  by  Robert 
the  Second  hereditary  ostiariua  parliamenHy  an  office  annexed 
to  the  barony  of  Langton,  by  charter  of  James  the  Fourth, 
February  20,  1504.  John,  the  second  son,  married  Jean, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  John  Lindsay  of  Ormiston  in  East 
Lothian,  and  from  him  descended  the  Cockbums  of  Ormis- 
ton, of  whom  afterwards.  This  John  Cockbum  of  Ormiston, 
or  his  son,  was  constable  of  Haddington,  an  office  hereditary 
for  a  long  time  in  the  family.  By  his  second  wife.  Sir  Alex- 
iuider  Cockbum,  the  father,  had  Edward,  ancestor  of  the 
Cockbums  of  Skirling,  long  since  extinct  In  March  1567 
Sir  William  Cockbum  of  Skirling  was  appointed  by  Queen 
Mary  keeper  of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  an  oMoe  which  he 
retained  till  the  following  April,  when  he  was  succeeded  by 
Sir  James  Balfour  of  Pittendriech.  In  1568  Sir  John  Cock- 
oura  of  Skirling  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to  England  for 
Mary  queen  of  Scots. 

From  Sir  Alexander  the  son,  descended  Sir  William  Cock- 
bum of  Langton,  knight,  who  in  1595  obtained  a  grant  of 
the  lands  and  barony  of  Langton,  with  the  office  of  principal 
usher,  and  its  fees  and  casualties,  to  himself  and  his  heirs 
male  whatsoever,  bearing  the  arms  and  sumame  of  Cockbum. 
He  married  Helen,  daughter  of  Alexander  fourth  Lord  £1- 
phmstone,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  William  Cockbum, 
who  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1627.    In  1641 


he  was  commissioner  to  the  Scots  parliament  for  Berwick- 
shire, and  on  13th  Auguat  of  that  year  he  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  the  house  ooncemmg  the  office  of  great  usher,  mlier- 
ited  from  his  ancestors,  against  John  earl  of  Wigton,  who  bad 
assumed  the  office ;  when  a  committee  was  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  complaint  and  report.  On  the  17th  of  the  same 
month,  while  the  question  was  still  in  dependence,  on  his 
migesty,  Charles  the  First's  entry  into  the  house.  Sir  Wil- 
liam, with  a  baton  in  his  hand,  "  too  rashly,**  as  Baillie  iu 
his  Letters  says,  went  before  his  majesty  as  principal  usher, 
and  "  offered  to  make  civil  intermption  for  maintenance  of 
his  right  against  the  earl  of  Wigton."  [Balfowr'a  AtmaU^ 
vol.  iii.  p.  140.]  The  king,  offended  at  his  presumption,  im- 
mediately signed  a  warrant  for  his  committal  to  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh  as  a  prisoner.  The  same  day,  the  house  inter- 
ceded with  his  ms^esty  on  his  behalf,  and  after  much  entreaty 
the  king  altered  the  warrant  to  confinement  in  his  own  cham- 
ber till  next  day.  On  the  18th,  bis  majesty  declared  in  par- 
liament that  when  he  signed  the  warrant  he  did  not  know 
that  Sir  William  was  a  member  of  the  house,  and  he  there 
promised  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  successors,  not  to  oomn  't 
any  member  of  parliament  during  session,  without  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  house,  and  ordained  that  declaration  and 
promise  to  be  recorded  in  the  books  of  parliament.  The  con- 
duct of  Sir  William  in  this  matter  thus  led  to  the  recognition 
of  a  great  constitutional  privilege.  He  subsequently  alienated 
one  half  of  the  ushership,  and  became  joint  usher  with  Colonel 
Cunningham. 

His  only  son.  Sir  Archibald  Cockbum,  second  baronet  of 
Langton,  was,  in  1657,  retumed  heir  to  his  father  in  the 
office  of  principal  usher,  held  jointly  with  Colonel  Cunning- 
ham, and  also  in  the  barony  of  Langton  and  other  property. 
In  1664,  having  purchased  Cuningham*s  liferent,  he  obtained 
a  new  gnmt  of  the  office,  with  a  salary  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  and  other  emoluments,  for  ever.  Like  the 
Humes  of  Polwarth  and  Bedbraes,  and  the  Kerrs  of  Nisbet, 
this  distinguished  family  was  eminent  for  piety,  and  suffered 
in  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  In  1679  they 
established  a  meeting  in  one  of  the  houses  attached  to  Lang- 
ton castle,  where  they  had  regularly  preaching  from  Mr.  Luke 
Ogle,  Mr.  John  Veitoh  of  Westrather,  and  Mr.  Daniel  DougUs. 

Sir  Archibald  married  Lady  Mary  Campbell,  daughter  of 
the  earl  of  Breadalbane,  and  died  in  1705.  His  eldest  son, 
Sur  Archibald  Cockbum,  third  baronet,  died  without  issue, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Sir  Alexander  Cockbum, 
fourth  baronet,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson.  Sir  Alexander  Cockbum, 
fifth  baronet,  on  whose  decease  the  title  devolved  on  his 
oousm,  Sir  James,  sixth  baronet,  member  of  parliament  for 
Peebles-shire  in  1762.  He  married,  first,  the  daughter  of 
r^ouglas  of  Murth,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters;  and, 
secondly,  Miss  Ay^ugh,  daughter  of  the  dean  of  Bristol  and 
niece  of  George  Lord  Lyttleton,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons 
and  a  daughter.    He  died  26th  July  1804. 

His  eldest  son.  Sir  James  Cockbum,  the  seventh  baronet, 
and  knight  grand  cross  of  Hanover,  was  in  1806  one  of  the 
under  secretaries  of  state ;  in  1807  govemor  and  commander- 
in-chief  at  Curacoa;  and  in  1811  govemor  of  the  Bermudas. 
He  married  in  1801  the  Hon.  Marianna  Devereux,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  thirteenth  Viscount  Hereford ;  issue,  an  only 
daughter,  Marianna  Augusta,  married  in  1834,  to  Sir  James 
John  Hamilton,  baronet,  of  Woodbrook,  county  Tyrone,  Ire- 
land. Sir  James  Cockbum  died  26th  Feb.  1852,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother.  Admiral  Sir  George  Cockbum. 

The  estate  of  Langton  was  in  1758  sold  to  David  Gavin, 
Esq.,  and  through  his  daughter,  who    married    the  first 

2t 


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OF  ORMISTON. 


inHrquU  of  Breadalbaoe,  it  passed  into  the  Breadalbane 
family. 

The  second  son,  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  George  Cockborn, 
G.G  B.,  admiral  of  the  fleet,  and  major-general  of  marines, 
sacoeeded  his  brother  as  8th  baronet.  Bom  in  London  22d 
April  1772,  be  entered  the  navy  in  1787,  and  served  at 
the  battle  of  St.  Vincent,  the  reduction  of  Martinique,  and 
in  the  expedition  to  the  Scheldt.  In  1810  he  commanded  at 
the  siege  of  Gadis,  and  in  1814  and  following  year  his  daring 
achievements,  on  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  mainly  con- 
tributed to  the  termination  of  the  war  with  America.  In 
1815  he  was  appointed  oommander-in-chief  at  the  Gape  and 
at  St  Helena,  to  whieb  island  he  conveyed  the  emperor  Na- 
poleon. In  1818  he  was  created  a  military  knight  grand 
cross  of  the  Bath,  and  in  1827  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor. 
In  November  1841  he  became  an  admiral  of  the  red,  and  in 
1847  rear-admiral  of  the  United  Kingdom.  He  was  senior 
lord  of  the  admiralty  from  September  1841  to  July  1846. 
He  represented  Portsmouth  in  the  parliament  of  1818,  and 
Weobley  in  that  of  1820,  and  sat  for  Ripon  from  Gctober 
1841  to  July  1847.  He  died  August  19,  1853,  leaving  a 
daughter,  the  wife  of  a  naval  officer. 

His  next  brother,  the  Rev.  William  Gockbnm,  dean  of  York, 
succeeded  as  ninth  baronet,  and  died  April  30,  1858.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  nephew.  Sir  Alexander  James-Edmond 
Gockbum,  tenth  baronet;  knighted  1850;  chief  justice  of  the 
common  pleas  in  England  1856;  a  privy  councillor  1857; 
son  of  Alexander  Gockbnm,  4th  son  of  sixth  baronet,  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  Golumbia,  (died  1852.) 

Sir  Francis  Gockbum,  the  fifth  son  of  Sir  James  Gock- 
Dum,  the  sixth  baronet,  was  major-general  in  the  army,  and 
in  1837  governor  and  commander-in^hief  of  the  Bahama 
islands.  He  was  knighted  by  patent  in  1841.  He  served  in 
Ganada,  and  was  governor  at  Honduras. 

The  Gockburas  of  that  ilk  and  Ryshind,  also  in  Berwick- 
shire, are  a  branch  of  the  same  faniily,  then:  immediate  an- 
cestor being  Sir  William  Gockbum,  of  Langton,  knight,  who 
fell  at  the  battle  of  Flodden  Field,  9th  September,  1518. 
By  his  wife,  Anna  Home,  daughter  of  Lord  Home,  he  bad 
three  sons,  namely,  Alexander,  who  was  killed  fighting  by 
his  side  at  Flodden;  John,  and  Ghristopher.  John,  the 
elder  of  these  two,  was  sacoeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Alexander 
Gockbora,  to  whom  succeeded  bis  eldest  son,  William  Gock- 
bnm, designed  of  Gockbum  and  Bysland.  He  married  Mai^- 
ret  daughter  of  John  Spottiswood  of  that  ilk,  in  the  same 
county,  and  his  only  son,  John  Gockbum  of  Gockbum  and  Rys- 
land,  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1628.  He  married 
Maxy,  daughter  of  William  Scott  of  Harden,  Roxburghshire, 
and  had  three  sons.  The  eldest,  Sur  James,  second  baronet, 
married  Jane,  daughter  of  Alexander  Swinton  of  Swinton, 
Berwickshire.  His  only  son,  Sir  William,  third  baronet,  was 
SQCoeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Sir  James,  fourth  baronet.  His 
second  son,  William  Gockbom,  was  physician-general  to  the 
forces  under  the  great  duke  of  Marlborough.  The  fonrth 
l)aronet  died  without  issue,  when  the  title  devolved  upon  his 
kinsman,  Sir  William  Gockbum,  great-grandson  of  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Gockbnm,  who  had  been  succeeded  by  his  second  son. 
Dr.  James  Gockbum.  This  bitter  had  two  sons,  William 
Gockbum,  doctor  in  divinity,  vicar-general  and  archdeacon  of 
Gssory  in  Ireland ;  and  James  Gockbum,  a  colonel  in  the 
army  and  quarter-master,  who  was  father  of  Sir  William  the 
fifth  baronet,  by  Letitia  little,  heiress  of  the  andcnt  houses 
of  Rossiter  and  Devereux  in  Ireland.  Sir  William  was  a 
lieutenant-general  in  the  army.  He  married,  Ist  January 
1791.  Elizabeth  Anne,  daughter  of  Golonel  Frederick  Greut- 


ser,  of  Manheim  in  Germany,  an  <^ioer  in  the  royal  bone- 
guards,  and  descended,  through  her  mother,  the  grand-daugh- 
ter of  Elizabeth  Brydges,  sister  of  the  first  duke  of  Ghandos, 
from  the  royal  house  of  Plantagenet.  He  died  in  March, 
1835,  leaving  a  son  and  a  daughter.  The  son,  Sir  William 
Sarsfield  Rossiter  Gockbnm,  ^I.A.,  is  the  sixth  baronet.  Bj 
his  wife,  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Goke  of 
Lower  Moor,  Herefordshire,  he  has  several  children.  His 
eldest  son,  Devereux  Plantagenet  Gockbum,  was  bom  in 
1828. 

The  Ormiston  braach  was  for  teveni  generations  distin 
guished  as  lawyers  and  statesmen.  On  the  marriage,  as 
already  stated,  in  1368,  of  John,  second  son  of  Sir  Alexan- 
der Gockbum,  knight,  withf  the  only  daughter  of  Sir  Alexan- 
der Lindsay  of  Omiiston  in  Haddingtonshire,  be  obtained 
firom  his  father-in-law  a  grant  of  these  lands,  which  was  con- 
firmed by  a  diarter  of  King  David  the  Second  the  same  year. 
Patrick  Gockbum  of  Ormiston  kept  the  castle  of  Dalkeith  for 
King  James  the  Second  against  the  ninth  ear)  of  Dooglas, 
then  in  rebellion,  on  account  of  the  murder  of  his  brother  the 
eighth  eari.  Having  obtained  the  command  of  the  town,  be 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  king's  troops,  defeated  the 
rebels,  though  his  amiy  was  inferior  to  theirs,  and  obliged 
them  to  retire.  In  1508,  King  James  the  Fourth  granted  a 
charterof  the  lands  of  Ormiston,  on  the  resignation  of  John  Gock- 
bum  in  favour  of  his  son  John  Gockbnm  younger  of  Ormiston, 
and  his  spouse,  Margaret  Hepburn.  On  SOth  October  1535, 
Ghristopher  Armstrong,  Thomas  Armstrong  of  Mangerton, 
brother  of  the  celebrated  Johnny  Armstrong  and  chief  of  the 
clan,  with  several  others,  were  denounced  rebels  for  not  under- 
lying the  law  for  art  and  part  carrying  ofi*,  under  silence  of 
night,  on  the  preceding  27th  July,  seventy  draught  oxen  and 
thirty  cows  fcom  John  Gockbum  of  Ormiston,  with  three 
men  their  keepers. 

Alexander,  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Gockbum,  bora  in  1535, 
having  travelled  some  yean  for  the  improvement  of  his  mind, 
was  cut  off  at  the  eariy  age  of  twenty-«ight.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  great  promise,  and  was  for  some  time,  with  two  of 
the  sons  of  the  laird  of  Longniddry,  under  the  charge  of  John 
Knox,  who,  in  his  History,  speaks  of  him  as  possessing  great 
accomplishments.  He  was  also  mnch  esteemed  by  Buchanan 
who  wrote  two  elegies  on  his  death. 

The  old  house  of  Ormiston,  the  seat  of  the  Gocfcbums,  is 
associated  with  the  memory  of  George  Wishiul,  the  martyr. 
In  January  1545,  after  preaching  at  Haddington,  that  emi- 
nent reformer  w«ht  on  foot  with  Gockbum  of  Ormiston  and 
two  of  his  friends  to  the  house  of  Ormiston,  where  the  eari  of 
Bothwell  made  him  prisoner,  and  delivered  him  to  Gardinal 
Bethune.  On  March  29,  1546,  James  Lawson  of  Higfariggs 
and  two  others,  found  caution  to  underly  the  law  for  art  and 
part  of  the  assistance  afibrdcd  to  William  Gockbum  of  Or- 
miston and  the  young  laird  of  Galder  in  breaking  their  ward 
from  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  In  1547,  John  Gockbum  of 
Ormiston  and  Grichton  of  Brunston,  on  account  of  their  fa- 
vouring the  reformed  doctrines,  were,  by  the  regent  Arran  and 
his  brother,  Archlnshop  Hamilton  of  St.  Andrews,  banished 
the  kingdom,  and  their  estates  forfeited.  On  August  8, 
1548,  Ormiston  found  caution  to  underiy  the  law. 

The  fimiily  of  Ormiston  for  a  long  series  of  yean  oocasion- 
ally  held  the  ofiioe  of  lord  justice-derk.  The  first  of  them 
who  filled  that  ofiioe  was  Sir  John  Gockbum  of  Ormiston, 
who  succeeded  to  the  estate  in  1583.  In  July  1588,  he  was 
admitted  an  extraordinary  k)rd  of  sessbn  in  the  room  of  Lord 
Boyd,  resigned,  and  on  the  death  of  Sir  James  Bellenden  he 
was  knighted,  and  appointed  lord-justice-derk     He  was  ad- 


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JOHN. 


mittod  an  ofyintury  lord  of  session  15th  February  1593.  At 
the  parliament  held  at  Perth  in  Jaly  1604  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  go  to  England  to  treat  of  a  project  of 
nnion  then  in  contemplation.  In  1621  he  voted  in  parlia- 
ment in  favour  of  the  five  articles  of  PertL  In  1623,  he  re- 
signed the  office  of  lord-justice- clerk,  and  died  in  June  of 
that  year.  A  curious  letter  is  extant,  quoted  in  the  appendix 
to  Pitcium*s  Criminal  Trials,  vol.  iii.,  from  the  Denmyhie 
MSS.  in  the  Advocators  Library,  addressed  by  Mr.  Alexander 
Colville,  justice-depute,  to  Viscount  Annand,  a  great  favour- 
ite at  court,  dated  December  20,  1622,  relative  to  the  justice- 
clerkship,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  laird  of  Ormiston,  the 
then  justice-clerk,  was  "  so  afi^cted  with  extreme  age,  blindness, 
and  other  infirmities  that  he  is  altogether  disabled  either  from 
walking  abroad,  or  discharging  the  duties,*^  and  advtring  that 
in  the  appointment  of  his  successor  it  should  be  conadered 
that  "  young  men  and  men  of  great  clans  are  most  dangerous 
for  that  place."  Sir  John  Cockbum  married  Elizabeth,  eld- 
est daughter  of  Sir  John  Bellenden  of  Auchinoul,  and  widow 
of  James  Lawson  of  Hxmibie. 

The  next  of  the  family  who  filled  the  office  was  Adam 
Cockbum  of  Ormiston,  a  younger  son  of  John  Cockbum  of 
Ormiston,  by  his  wife  Margaret  Hepburn.  He  succeeded  his 
brother  John,  as  heir-male  in  the  family  estate,  28th  Decem- 
ber 1671.  He  was  commissioner  for  the  county  of  Hadding- 
ton at  the  convention  of  estates  in  the  years  1678,  1681,  and 
1689,  and  in  the  Scots  parliament  for  1696.  He  was  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  commissioners  to  treat  of  the  union,  19th 
April  1689.  On  28th  November  1692,  he  was  appointed 
lord  justice  clerk,  in  place  of  Sir  George  Campbell  of  Cess- 
oock,  and  about  the  same  time  was  sworn  a  privy  cotrndUor. 
On  28th  May  1695,  he  was  named  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  inquire  into  the  massacre  of  Glenco,  and  about  this  period 
he  seems  to  have  become  unpopular,  as  in  his  letters  to  Mr. 
Carstairs  he  complains  of  the  "  lies  raised  against  him."  In 
one  of  these,  dated  23d  July  1695,  he  particularly  complains 
of  the  earl  of  Argyle,  who,  he  observes,  **  reflected  on  the 
whole  commission  of  Glenco."  On  his  part,  Argyle,  in  a  let- 
ter addressed  to  Carstairs,  complains  bitterly  of  the  authority 
given  to  the  lord  justice  clerk,  **  who,"  he  says,  "  with  Sir 
Thomas  Livingstone,  has  powers  to  seize  persons,  hortes,  and 
arms,  without  being  obliged  to  be  accountable  to  the  council, 
make  close  prisoners,  or  otherwise  as  they  see  fit."  In 
Febmary  1699  he  was  appomted  treasurer  depute,  or  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer.  There  seems  also  at  this  time  to 
hive  been  an  intention  of  making  him  an  ordinary  lord  of 
siission,  which,  however,  was  violently  opposed  by  Argyle, 
who  addressed  a  strong  letter  of  remonstrance  to  Mr.  Car- 
stairs, dated  31st  January  1699.  On  the  accession  of  Queen 
Anne,  he  was  dismissed  from  all  his  offices.  In  January 
1705,  howiri'er,  he  was  again  appointed  lord  justice  clerk, 
and  made  an  ordinary  lord  of  session.  In  1710  he  was  super- 
seded in  his  office  of  justice  clerk  by  James  Erskine  of 
Grange,  but  retained  his  place  as  a  lord  of  session  till  his 
death,  16th  April  1735,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  a  man  of  a  good  understanding  and  of  great  applica- 
tion to  business,  but  of  a  hot  and  overbearing  temper. 
Macky,  in  his  Memoirs,  (p.  224)  writing  of  him  when  he  was 
fifty  years  old,  describes  him  as  **  a  bigot  to  a  fault,  and 
hardly  in  common  charity  with  any  man  out  of  the  verge  of 
presbytery,  but  otherwise  a  very  fine  gentleman  in  his  person 
and  manners,  just  in  his  dealings,  with  good  sense,  and  of  a 
sanguine  complexion."  Dr.  Houston,  however,  speaks  most 
unfavourably  of  him.  He  says,  **  Of  all  the  (whig)  party. 
Lord  Ormiston  was  the  most  busy,  and  very  zealous  in  sup- 
pressing the  rebellion  (of  1715),  and  oppressing  the  rebels,  so 


that  he  became  universally  hated  in  Scotland,  where  they 
called  him  the  curse  of  Scotiand;  and  when  ladies  were  at 
cards,  playing  the  nine  of  diamonds,  commonly  called  *  the 
corse  of  ScoUand,*  they  called  it  *  the  Justice  Clerk.' "  He 
married  Lady  Susan  Hamilton,  third  daughter  of  the  fourth 
earl  of  Haddington,  and  had  two  sons,  John  and  Patrick. 
The  latter,  an  advocate,  married  in  1781  Miss  Alison  Ruther- 
ford of  Fairaalee,  authoress  of  one  of  the  sets  to  the  tune  of 
"  The  Flowers  of  the  Forest"  Of  his  son  John,  tl»e  last  but 
one  of  the  family,  and  the  great  promoter  of  modem  agricul- 
tural improvement  in  East  Lothian,  a  notice  is  given  imme- 
diately under. 

Cockbum  of  Henderland,  the  famous  border  freebooter, 
resided  at  the  old  square  tower  of  Blackhouse,  once  a  strong- 
hold of  the  Douglases  on  Douglas  bum  in  Selkirkshire,  cele- 
brated in  song,  and  his  tombstone  is  still  pointed  out  in  that 
locality.  With  Adam  Scott  of  Tushielaw,  he  was  hanged  on 
the  27th  July  1529,  by  order  of  King  James  the  Fifth,  during 
that  monarch's  progress  for  the  suppression  of  disorders  on 
the  borders. 

A  distinguished  person  of  this  Uame  was  Sir  Richard  Cock- 
bum of  Clerkington,  lord  privy  seal  in  the  reign  of  James 
the  Sixth.  He  was  the  son  of  Sir  John  Olickhura  by  Helen, 
daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Maitland  of  Lethington,  and  on  22d , 
April  1591,  was  appointed  secretary  of  state,  on  the  resgna- 
kion  of  his  uncle,  Sir  John  Maitland.  On  November  11th 
the  same  year  he  was  admitted  a  lord  of  Session.  He  was 
afterwards  knighted,  and  in  1594  was  sent  by  King  James 
to  demand  assistance  from  Queen  £li2sabeth  to  pursue  the 
popish  peers,  and  was  absent  about  six  months.  On  the  ac- 
cession of  the  Octavians  to  power,  he  was  forced  to  exchange 
with  John  Lindsay  of  Balcarres,  his  place  of  secretary  for 
that  of  lord  privy  seal  In  1610,  when  a  new  privy  council 
was  formed,  he  was  continued  a  privy  councillor,  and  at  the 
same  time  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  high  6ourt  of  com- 
mission for  church  affiiirs  then  constituted.  On  14th  Febm- 
ary 1626,  he  was  removed  from  the  bench,  in  consequence  of 
the  resolution  of  Charles  the  First  that  neither  nobleman  nor 
officer  of  state  should  remain  in  that  judicatory.  He  died  iu 
the  latter  end  of  that  year. 

In  1451  Patrick  Cockbum  of  Newbigging,  lord  provost  oi 
Edinbnrgh,  was  appointed  governor  of  the  castle,  and  named, 
with  other  commissioners,  after  the  deFeat  of  the  English  in 
the  battle  of  Sark,  to  treat  for  the  renewal  of  a  trace. 

COCKBURN,  Henry,  Ix)rd  Cockburn.  See 
Supplement. 

COCKBURN,  John,  of  Ormiston,  in  East  Lo- 
thian, tlie  great  improver  of  Scottish  husbandry, 
son  of  Adam  Cockbum  of  Ormiston,  lord-justice- 
clerk  after  the  Revolution,  by  his  wife  Lady  Susan 
Hamilton,  was  born  about  1686.  During  his  father's 
life  he  was  a  member  of  the  Scots  parliament,  and 
gave  his  support  to  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms. 
He  afterwards  repi-esented  East  Lothian,  in  the 
parliament  of  Great  Britain,  from  1707  to  1741, 
and  at  one  period  was  a  lord  of  the  admiralty, 
and  also  held  scvci*al  other  public  situations,  but 
he  was  chiefly  distinguished  by  his  patriotic  ex- 
ertions to  promote  the  improvement  of  his  native 
country.     He  succeeded  to  the  family  estate  in 


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ALICIA 


1714.  At  that  time  agriculture  in  Scotland  was 
in  a  very  low  state.  Mr.  Cockburn  resolved  to 
endeavour  not  only  to  rouse  up  a  spiiit  among 
the  landed  proprietor  for  promoting  improve- 
ments, but  also,  by  every  means  of  encourage- 
ment, to  animate  the  tenantry  to  conduct  their 
operations  with  energy  and  vigour.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  determined  to  sacritice  his  own  private 
interests,  and  to  grant  long  leases  at  such  low 
rents  as  would  tempt  the  most  indolent  to  exer- 
cise proper  management.  An  attempt  was  made 
at  one  time  to  set  aside  these  leases,  but  it  did  not 
succeed.  His  entei-prisiug  spirit  did  not  rest  con- 
tent even  with  this.  He  brought  down  skilful  agri- 
culturists from  England,  who  introduced  the  field 
culture  of  turnips,  and  of  red  clover ;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  sent  up  the  sons  of  his  tenants  to 
England  to  study  husbandry  in  the  best  cultivated 
counties  of  that  kingdom.  He  also  established  at 
Ormiston  a  society  for  promoting  agricultural 
improvements.  His  exertions,  however,  wei*e  not 
confined  to  husbandry  alone.  In  1726  he  erected 
a  brewery  and  distillery  at  Ormiston.  With  a 
view  also  to  promote  the  growth  of  flax,  he  ob- 
tained premiums  from  the  board  of  trustees  for 
encouraging  iXs  culture.  He  established  a  linen 
manufactory  on  his  estate,  and  erected  a  bleach- 
field  for  whitening  linens,  which  was  the  second 
in  Scotland  of  the  kind.  It  was  conducted  and 
managed  by  pereons  from  Ireland  ;  and  to  this 
Irish  colony,  it  is  said  that  Scotland  is  in  a  great 
measure  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  the  pota- 
to, which  was  raised  in  the  fields  of  Ormiston  so 
early  as  1734.  To  disseminate  a  spirit  for  agri- 
cultural improvement  through  the  countiy,  in  1736 
he  instituted  a  club  or  society  composed  of  noble- 
men, gentlemen,  and  farmers,  who  met  monthly 
for  the  purpose  of  discussing  some  appropriate 
question  in  rural  or  political  economy.  It  sub- 
sisted above  ten  years.  He  also  exerted  himself 
in  making  the  public  roads  and  keeping  them  in 
repair.  He  married,  first,  in  1700,  the  Hon.  Be- 
atrix Carmichael,  eldest  daughter  of  the  firat  earl 
of  Hyndford,  and  secondly  an  English  lady  related 
to  the  duchess  of  Gordon,  by  whom  he  had  a  son 
named  George.  In  1748  Mr.  Cockbuni  was  un- 
der the  necessity  of  disposing  of  his  estate  to  the 
carl  of  Hopetoun.     He  died  at  his  son's  house  in 


the  navy  office,  Loudon,  November  12,  1758 
His  son,  George,  who  succeeded  him,  is  no  farther 
deserving  of  notice  than  as  being  the  last  of  that 
distinguished  family.  He  was  appointed  a  cap- 
tain in  the  navy  in  1741,  and  one  of  the  connuis- 
sioners  of  the  navy  in  1766.  He  died  at  Brighton 
in  1770.  He  married  Caroline,  baroness  Forrester 
in  her  own  right,  and  had  a  daughter,  Anna  Ma- 
ria Cockburn,  also  baroness  Forrester  in  her  own 
right,  who  died  in  1808  unman-ied. 

COCKBURN,  Alicia,  or  Alison,  authoress  of 
the  beautiful  lyric,  '  IVe  seen  the  smiling  of  for- 
tune beguiling,'  which  forms  one  of  the  popular 
sets  of  the  '  Flowera  of  the  Forest,'  was  a  daughter 
of  Robert  Rutherford  of  Faimalee  in  Selkirkshire. 
The  exact  year  of  her  birth  has  not  been  ascer- 
tained. It  is  supposed  to  have  been  about  1710 
or  1712.  We  leai'n  from  Stenhouse's  notes  to 
Johnson's  ^  Scots  Musical  Museum,'  that  her  writ- 
ing of  the  song  which  has  immortalized  her  name, 
was  occasioned  by  the  following  incident:  "A 
gentleman  of  her  acquaintance,  in  passing  through 
a  sequestered  but  romantic  glen,  observed  a  shep- 
herd at  some  distance  tending  his  flocks,  and 
amusing  himself  at  intervals  by  playing  on  a 
flute.  The  scene  altogether  was  very  interesting, 
and  being  passionately  fond  of  music,  he  drew 
nearer  the  spot,  and  listened  for  some  time  unob- 
served to  the  attn^ctive  but  artless  strains  of  the 
young  shepherd.  One  of  the  airs  in  particular 
appeared  so  exquisitely  wild  and  pathetic,  that  he 
could  no  longer  refi'ain  from  discovering  himself, 
in  order  to  obtain  some  information  respecting  it 
from  the  rural  performer.  On  inquiiy,  he  learned 
that  it  was  '  The  Flowers  of  the  Forest.'  This 
intelligence  exciting  his  curiosity,  he  was  deter- 
mined, if  possible,  to  obtain  possession  of  the  air. 
He  accoi-dingly  prevailed  on  the  young  man  to 
play  it  over  and  over,  until  he  picked  up  every 
note,  which  he  immediately  committed  to  paper 
on  his  return  home.  Delighted  with  this  new  dis- 
covery, as  he  supposed,  he  lost  no  time  in  commu- 
nicating it  to  Miss  Rutherford,  who  not  only  re- 
cognised the  tune,  but  likewise  repeated  some  de- 
tached lines  of  the  old  ballad.  Anxious,  however, 
to  have  a  set  of  verses  adapted  to  his  favourite 
melody,  and  well  aware  that  few,  if  any,  were 
better  qualified  than  Miss  Rutherfoi*d,  for  such  a 


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ALICIA. 


task,  he  took  the  liberty  of  begging  this  favonr  at 
her  hand.  She  obligingly  consented,  and,  in  a 
few  days  thereafter,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  receiv- 
ing the  stanzas  from  the  fair  author/* 

In  her  youth  Miss  Rutherford  must  have  been 
very  beautiful,  for  in  a  work  by  a  Mr.  Fairbaim, 
styled  "Professor  of  the  French,"  published  at 
Edinburgh  in  1727,  entitled  *  L'Eloge  d'Ecosse,  et 
des  Dames  Ecossoises,*  in  which  all  the  rank  and 
beauty  of  the  time  are  described  in  the  most  glow- 
ing terms,  we  find  her  mentioned  as  among  the 
most  charming  ladies  of  that  day,  with  Mademoi- 
selles Peggie  Campbell,  Murray,  Pringle,  Drum- 
mond,  and  nineteen  others,  her  name,  Alice  Ruth- 
eiford,  as  perhaps  the  youngest,  being  the  last  in 
the  list.  She  man-icd,  in  1731,  Patrick  Cockburn, 
advocate,  youngest  son  of  Adam  Cockburn,  of 
Ormiston,  lord  justice  clerk  of  Scotland,  and 
brother  of  the  subject  of  the  preceding  notice. 
Her  husband  "  acted  as  commissioner,"  says  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  "  for  the  duke  of  Hamilton  of  that 
day;  and  being,  as  might  be  expected  from  his 
family,  a  sincere  friend  to  the  Revolution  and 
protestant  succession,  he  used  bis  interest  with  bis 
principal  to  prevent  him  from  joining  in  the  in- 
trigues which  preceded  the  insurrection  of  1746, 
to  which  his  grace  [who  was  then  only  in  his 
twenty-second  year],  is  supposed  to  have  had  a 
strong  inclination."  Mr.  Cockburn  died  at  Mus- 
selburgh, "after  a  tedious  illness,"  29th  April, 
1753.  His  widow  survived  him  for  more  than 
foi-ty  years.  She  was  distantly  related  to  the 
mother  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  was  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Dr.  John  Rutherford,  professor  of 
medicine  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  a  rela- 
tion of  Mr.  Rutherford  of  Faimielee,  and  through 
life  she  continued  in  habits  of  great  intimacy  with 
Mrs.  Scott. 

Sir  Walter's  own  personal  recollections  of  this 
highly  gifted  and  accomplished  woman  are  very 
interesting.  "  A  turret  in  the  old  house  of  Fair- 
nalee,"  says  be,  "is  still  shown  as  the  place  where 
the  poem  Q I  have  seen  the  smiling,'  &c.)  was 
written.  The  occasion  was  a  calamitous  period 
in  Selkirkshire,  or  Ettrick  Forest,  when  no  fewer 
than  seven  lairds  or  proprietors,  men  of  ancient 
family  and  inheritance,  having  been  engaged  in 
some  imprudent  speculations,  became  insolvent  in 


one  year."  At  the  time  of  the  rebellion  of  1745 
he  describes  Mrs.  Cockburn  as  a  keen  whig,  or 
adherent  of  the  government.  She  was  the  author- 
ess of  several  parodies  and  little  poetical  pieces, 
and  Sir  Walter  mentions  particularly  a  set  of 
toasts  descriptive  of  some  of  her  friends,  and  sent 
to  a  company  where  most  of  them  were  assembled, 
which  were  so  accurately  drawn  that  the  originals 
were  at  once  recognised  on  their  being  read  aloud. 
One  upon  Sir  Walter  Scott's  father,  then  a  young 
and  remarkably  handsome  man,  is  given  as  a  spe- 
cimen : 

To  a  thing  thatV  nncommon— 
A  youth  of  diflcretion, 
'  Who,  though  vastly  handsome, 

Despises  flirtation : 
To  the  friend  in  affliction, 
The  heart  of  affection, 
Who  may  hear  the  last  trump 
Without  dread  of  detection. 

"  My  mother  and  Mrs.  Cockburn  were  related, 
says  Sir  Walter,  "  in  what  degree  I  know  not,  but 
sufficiently  near  to  induce  Mrs.  Cockburn  to  dis- 
tinguish her  in  her  will.  Mrs.  Cockbura  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  an  only  son,  Patrick  Cockburn, 
who  had  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  dragoons,  sev- 
eral years  before  her  own  death.  She  was  one  of 
those  persons  whose  talents  for  conversation  made 
a  stronger  impression  on  her  contemporaries,  than 
her  writings  can  be  expected  to  produce.  In  per- 
son and  features  she  somewhat  resembled  Queen 
Elizabeth;  but  the  nose  was  rather  more  aquiline. 
She  was  proud  of  her  auburn  hair,  which  remained 
unbleached  by  time,  even  when  she  was  upwards 
of  eighty  years  old.  She  maintained  the  rank  in 
the  society  of  Edinburgh,  which  Frenchwomen  of 
talents  usually  do  in  that  of  Paris ;  and  in  her  lit- 
tle parlour  used  to  assemble  a  very  distinguished 
and  accomplished  circle,  among  whom  David 
Hume,  John  Home,  Lord  Monboddo,  and  many 
other  men  of  name  were  frequently  to  be  found. 
Her  evening  parties  wore  very  frequent,  and  in- 
cluded society  distinguished  both  for  condition  and 
talents.  The  petit  souper^  which  always  concluded 
the  evening,  was  like  that  of  Stella,  which  she  used 
to  quote  on  the  occasion  • — 

A  supper  like  her  mighty  self. 
Four  nothings  on  four  plates  of  delf 


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PATRICK. 


But  tliey  passed  off  more  gaily  than  many  costlier 
entertainments.  She  spoke  both  wittily  and  well, 
and  maintained  an  extensive  coiTespondence, 
which,  if  it  continues  to  exist,  must  contain  man}' 
things  highly  curious  and  interesting.  My  recol- 
lection is,  that  her  conversation  brought  her  much 
nearer  to  a  Frenchwoman  than  to  a  native  of 
England ;  and,  as  I  have  the  same  impression 
with  respect  to  ladies  of  the  same  period  and  the 
same  rank  in  society,  I  am  apt  to  think  that  the 
vieiUe  cour  of  Edinburgh  rather  resembled  that  of 
Paris  than  that  of  St.  Jameses ;  and  particularly, 
that  the  Scotch  imitated  the  Parisians  in  laying 
aside  much  of  the  expense  and  form  of  these  little 
parties,  in  which  wit  and  good  humour  were  al- 
lowed to  supersede  all  ocx^asion  of  display.  The 
lodging  where  Mrs.  Cockbum  received  the  best 
society  of  her  time,  would  not  now  afford  accom- 
modation to  a  very  inferior  person." 

In  the  notes  to  the  fii-st  volume  of  Johnson's 
Scots  Musical  Museum,  Stenhouse^s  edition,  two 
songs  by  Mrs.  Cockbum  are  inserted,  which  were 
communicated  by  Mr.  Earkpatrick  Sharpe,  who 
has  added  marginal  notes  explanatory  of  the 
allusions  to  the  persons  described  in  them.  The 
one  is  entitled  *  A  Copy  of  Verses  wrote  by  Mrs. 
Cockbum  on  the  back  of  a  picture  of  Sir  Hew 
Dalrymple,'  to  the  tune  of  *  All  yoo  ladies  now  at 
Land ;'  the  other  is  a  lively  drinking  piece  begin- 
ning *A11  health  be  round  Balcari-as'  board,'  to 
the  same  tune,  which  seems  to  have  been  a 
favourite  with  her.  Sir  Walter  Scott  mistook  her 
first  name,  and  called  her  Catherine  instead  of 
Alice.  In  the  entry  of  her  marriage  in  the  parish 
registers  of  Ormiston,  under  date  12th  March 
1731,  she  is  styled  Alison  Ruthefford.  She  died 
at  Edinburgh  on  the  22d  of  November  1794,  when 
she  was  above  eighty.  "  Even  at  an  age,"  says 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  (in  his  *  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scot- 
tish Border,'  vol.  iii.  page  888,  edition  1833,) 
"  advanced  beyond  the  usual  bounds  of  humanity, 
she  retained  a  play  of  imagination,  and  an  activity 
of  intellect,  which  must  have  been  attractive  and 
delightful  in  youth,  but  were  almost  preternatural 
at  her  period  of  life.  Her  active  benevolence, 
keeping  pace  with  her  genius,  rendered  her  equally 
^n  object  of  love  and  admiration.  The  editor, 
who  knew  her  well,  takes  this  opportunity  of  doing 


justice  to  his  own  feelings ;  and  they  are  in  unison 
with  those  of  all  who  knew  his  regretted  friend." 
The  following  exti*act  of  a  letter  from  a  lady  to 
Charles  K.  Sharpe,  Esq.,  in  reference  to  Mrs. 
Cockbum,  is  iuseited  among  Mr.  David  Laing's 
illustrative  notes  to  Stenhonse's  edition  of  John- 
sou's  Musical  Museum: — ^^She  had  a  pleasing 
countenance  and  piqued  herself  upon  always  dress- 
ing according  to  her  own  taste,  and  not  according 
to  the  dictate^  of  fashion.  Her  brown  hair  never 
grew  grey ;  and  she  wore  it  combed  up  upon  a 
toupee — ^no  cap — a  lace  hood  tied  under  her  chin, 
and  her  sleeves  puffed  out  in  the  fashion  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  which  is  not  uncommon  now,  but  at  that 
time  was  quite  peouliar  to  herself."  She  left  pro- 
perty to  the  amount  of  £8,800,  the  bulk  of  which 
went  to  two  nieces,  Anne  Pringle  and  Mrs.  Simpson 
Her  last  will  and  testament,  in  which  Mark  Pringle, 
Esq.  of  Clifton,  and  Alexander  Keith,  W.S.,  are 
named  executors,  was  confirmed  23d  January  1795. 
The  bequest  to  Sur  Walter  Scott's  mother  is  thus 
mentioned :  "  I  promised  Mrs.  Walker  (a  mistake 
for  Walter)  Scott  my  emerald  ring;  with  it  she 
has  my  prayers  for  her  and  hers.  Much  attention 
she  and  her  worthy  husband  paid  me  in  my  hours 
of  deepest  distress,  when  my  son  was  dying."  She 
mentions  some  of  her  poorer  relations  in  affection- 
ate terras,  and  leaves  them  small  annuities ;  and 
frequently  alludes  to  her  son,  who  died  in  1780. 
A  lock  of  her  hair  was  enclosed  for  two  hair-rings 
for  her  ^'earliest  and  most  constant  and  affection- 
ate friends,  Mrs.  Keith  of  Raveistone,  and  her 
brother,  William  Swinton."  Also  a  ring  with  Sh 
Hugh  Dalrymple's  hair,  intended  for  Mrs.  Dal- 
rymple,  "  is  now  to  be  given  to  her  son  Sir  Hugh 
D.,  for  whom  Mrs.  C.  has  great  affection."  She 
desii-es  that  her  sister  Faimillie,  if  she  outlives 
her,  "may  have  twenty  pounds  for  mourning, 
besides  the  ring  already  mentioned ;  and  also,  I 
leave  her  the  charge  of  my  favourite  cat."  She 
gives  some  directions  about  her  funeral,  and  seems 
to  have  written  an  epitaph  for  herself,  as  she  add^ 
"Shorten  or  correct  the  epitaph  to  your  taste." 

COCKBURN,  Patrick,  a  learned  professor  of 
the  oriental  languages,  was  a  son  of  Cockbnra 
of  Langton  in  the  Merse,  and  educated  at  the 
university  of  St.  Andrews.  After  taking  holy 
orders,  he  went  to  the  university  of  Paris,  where 


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GOLDEN. 


668 


COLQUHOUN. 


lie  tanght  the  oriental  languages  for  several  years. 
Ill  1551  and  1552  he  published  at  Paris  two  reli- 
gious works  which  brought  him  under  the  suspi- 
cion of  heresy,  and  compelled  him  to  quit  Paris. 
On  his  return  to  Scotland  he  embraced  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation.  He  taught  the  lan- 
guages for  some  yeai-s  at  St.  Andrews;  and  in 
1555  published  there  some  pious  meditations  on 
the  Ijord's  Pi-ayer.  He  was  afterwards  chosen 
minister  of  Haddington,  being  the  firat  protestant 
preacher  in  that  place.  He  died  far  advanced  in 
years,  in  1559.  He  left  several  manuscripts  on 
subjects  of  divinity,  and  some  lettei*s  and  ora- 
tions, of  which  a  treatise  on  the  '  Apostles'  Ci-eed ' 
was  published  at  London,  1561,  4to.  His  pub- 
lished works  are : 

Oratio  de  Utilitatc  et  Exoellentia  Verbi  Dei.  Par.  1551, 
8vo. 

De  Vulgari  Sacrse  Scriptnrs  Phrasi.   Par.  1652,  8vo. 

In  Orationem  Dominicam,  pia  Meditatio.  St.  Andrews, 
1555, 12mo. 

In  Symbolum  Apostolionni,  Comment.    Lond.  1561,  4  to. 

GOLDEN,  Gadwallader,  an  eminent  physi- 
cian and  botanist,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Golden  of  Dunse,  was  bom  February  17,  1688. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  in 
medicine  and  mathematics  especially  made  great 
proficiency.  In  1708  he  emigrated  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, wliere  he  practised  as  a  physician  for  some 
years.  In  1715  he  returaed  to  Britain,  and  while 
in  London  acquired  considerable  reputation  by  a 
paper  on  Animal  Secretions.  He  afterwards  went 
to  Scotland,  but  the  rebellion  which  had  broken 
out  there  induced  him  to  recross  the  Atlantic  in 
1716.  He  settled  a  second  time  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  in  1718  removed  to  New  York.  After  a 
i*esidence  of  a  year  in  that  city,  he  was  appointed 
the  fii-st  surveyor -general  of  the  lands  of  tin 
colony,  and  at  the  same  time  master  in  chancery. 
In  1720  he  obtained  a  seat  in  the  king's  council, 
under  Governor  Burnet.  For  some  time  previous 
to  this,  he  had  resided  on  a  tract  of  land  about 
nine  miles  from  Newburgh,  on  Hudson  river,  for 
which  he  had  received  a  patent,  and  which  he 
employed  himself  in  bringing  into  a  state  of 
cultivation,  though  much  exposed  to  the  attacks 
of  the  Indians.  In  1761  he  was  chosen  lieuten- 
ant-governor of  New  York.  During  the  absence 
of  Grovemor  Try  on  he  displayed  his  ability  in  the 


management  of  affairs,  and  formed  several  benev- 
olent establishments.  After  the  retuni  of  Gover- 
nor Tryon  in  1775,  Golden  retired  to  a  seat  on 
Long  Island,  where  he  died,  September  28,  1776, 
in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  a  few  houi-s 
before  nearly  one-fourth  part  of  the  city  of  New 
York  was  reduced  to  ashes.  Governor  Golden 
was  distinguished  for  his  acquaintance  with  bota- 
ny. His  descriptions  of  between  three  and  four 
hundred  American  plants  were  published  in  the 
*Acta  Upsaliensia.'  He  paid  attention  also  to 
the  climate,  and  left  a  long  course  of  diurnal  ob- 
servations on  the  thermometer,  barometer,  and 
winds.  He  sent  a  great  many  American  plants 
to  Linnseus,  with  whom  he  corresponded,  and  who 
gave  to  a  new  gemis  of  plants  the  appellation  ot 
Goldenia.     His  works  are  : 

The  History  of  the  Five  Indias  Nations  of  Canada.  2d 
edition,  London,  1701,  8vo.  The  same,  1747,  1750,  8vo. 
And  1755, 2  vols.  12mo. 

The  Histoiy  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations  depending  npon 
New  York.    New  York,  1727,  8vo.    Lond.  1780,  8va. 

The  Principle  of  Action  in  Matter,  the  Gravitation  in 
Bodies,  and  the  Motion  of  the  Planets,  explained  from  their, 
principles.    New  York,  1745,  8vo.    Lond.  1752,  4to. 

PlantsB  GoldenghomisB  in  provinda  Noveboracensi  Americes 
sponte  cresoentes.    Act  Sodet  Upeal.  1743,  p.  81,  &a 

Letter  ccnoeming  the  Throat  Distemper.  Med.  Obs.  and 
Inq.  i.  p.  211.    1755.    Epidemic  Malignant  Sore  Throat. 


CoLQUHOUN,  an  ancient  somame  in  Scotland,  borne  by  a 
dan  whose  territory  is  in  Dnmbartonshire,  and  whose  badge 
b  the  hazd.  The  prindpal  fanulies  of  the  name  are  Col- 
quhonn  of  Colqnbonn  and  Loss,  the  chief  of  the  dan,  a  baro- 
net of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia,  created  in  1704,  and  of 
Great  Britain  in  1786 ;  Golqnhonn  of  Killermont  and  Gars- 
cadden ;  Ck>Iquhoan  of  Ardenconndl,  and  Col^hoon  of  Glen- 
mallan.  There  was  likewise  Colqnhoon  of  Tilliqnhonn,  a 
baronet  of  Scotknd  and  Nova  Scotia  (1625),  but  this  family 
is  extinct. 

The  origin  of  the  name  is  territorial.  One  tradition  de- 
duces the  descent  of  the  first  possessor  from  a  yonnger  son  of 
the  old  earls  of  Lennox,  because  of  the  similitude  of  their  ar- 
morial bearings.  It  is  certain  that  they  were  andently  vas- 
sals of  that  potent  honse. 

The  immediate  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Luss  was  Hum- 
phry de  Kilpatrick,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Se- 
cond, obtained  a  grant  of  the  lands  and  barony  of  Colquhoun, 
pro  servitio  vniut  mUiH»^  &c.,  and  in  consequence  assumed 
the  name  of  Colquhoun,  instead  of  his  own. 

His  son,  Ingelram  de  Colquhoun,  lived  in  the  rdgn  of  Alex- 
ander the  Third.  In  a  charter  of  Malcolm,  fourth  earl  of 
Lennox,  in  favour  of  Malcolm,  son  and  hdr  of  Sur  John  de 
Luss,  of  the  lands  of  Luss,  in  1280,  Ingelram  de  Colquhoun 
is  a  witness.  His  son,  Himiphry  de  Colquhoun,  is  witness  in 
a  charter  of  Malcolm,  fifth  earl  of  Lennox,  in  favour  of  Sir 
John  de  Luss,  which  was  confirmed  by  Robert  the  First  in 
1316.  The  following  remarkable  reference  to  the  construction 
of  a  house  for  the  Cvlqulumonim,  by  order  of  King  Robert 


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COLQUHOUN. 


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COLQUHOUN. 


Bruce,  is  extracted  from  tlie  Compotum  Cotutabuiarii  de 
Cardrosi^  vol.  i.,  in  the  accounts  of  the  Great  Chamberlains 
of  Scotland,  under  date  30th  Julj  1329,  as  quoted  by  Mr. 
T3rtler  in  the  appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  his  History  of 
8(Sotland :  "  Item,  in  oonstruoaone  cujusdam  domus  ad  opus 
Culquhanorwn  Domini  Regis  ibidem,  10  solidi."  Mr.  Tytler 
in  a  note  says  tliat  Culquhanorum  is  *'  an  obsctu^  word,  which 
occurs  nowhere  else— conjectured  by  a  learned  friend  to  be 
*  keepers  of  the  dogs,*  from  the  Gaelic  root  GiUen-au-con — 
abbreviated,  GiUecon^  Culquhoun.** 

Sir  Robert  de  Colquhoun,  the  son  of  the  last  mentioned 
Humphry,  in  the  reign  of  David  Bruce,  married  the  daughter 
and  sole  heiress  of  Humphry  de  Lnss,  lord  of  Luss,  head  or 
chief  of  an  ancient  family  of  that  name,  whose  extensive  pos- 
sessions lay  in  the  mountainous  but  beautiixil  and  picturesque 
district  on  the  margin  of  Loch  Lomond,  and  the  sixth  or 
seventh  in  a  direct  male  line  from  Malduin,  dean  of  Lennox, 
who^  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  received  from 
Alwyn,  second  earl  of  Lennox,  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Lnss. 
Sir  Robert  was  afterwards  designed  dominus  de  Colquhoun 
and  de  Luss,  in  a  charter  dated  in  1868 ;  since  which  time 
the  family  have  borne  the  designation  of  Colquhoun  of  Col- 
quhoun and  Luss.  He  is  also  witness  in  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Auchmar  by  Walter  of  Faalane,  lord  of  Lennox,  to 
Walter  de  Buchanan  in  1873.  He  had  three  sons,  namely 
Sir  Humphry,  his  heir;  Robert,  first  of  the  family  of  Cam- 
straddan,  from  whom  several  other  families  of  the  name  of 
Colquhoun  in  Dumbartonshire  are  descended;  and  Patrick, 
who  is  mentioned  in  a  charter  frx)m  his  brother  Sir  Humphry 
to  his  other  brother  Robert. 

The  eldest  son,  Sur  Humphry,  is  a  witness  in  two  charters 
by  Duncan  earl  of  Lennox  in  the  years  1390, 1894,  and  1395. 
He  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  Patrick,  his  younger 
son,  was  ancestor  of  the  Colquhonns  of  Glennis,  frt>m  whom 
the  Colquhonns  of  Barrowfidd,  Piemont,  and  others  were 
descended.  The  eldest  son.  Sir  John  Colquhoun,  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  the  castle  of  Dumbarton  in  the  minority 
of  King  James  the  Second.  From  his  activity  in  punishing 
the  depredations  of  the  Highlanders,  who  often  committed 
great  outrages  in  the  low  country  of  Dumbartonshire,  he  ren- 
dered himself  obnoxious  to  them,  and  a  plot  was  formed  for 
his  destruction.  He  received  a  civil  message  from  some  of 
their  chiefs,  desiring  a  friendly  conference,  in  order  to  accom- 
modate all  their  difierences.  Suspecting  no  treachery  he 
went  out  to  meet  them  but  slightly  attended,  and  was  imme- 
diately attacked  by  a  numerous  body  of  Islanders,  under  two 
noted  robber- chiefi^  Lachlan  Maclean  and  Murdoch  Gibson, 
and  slain  in  Inchmurren,  on  Loch  Lomond,  in  1440.  By  his 
wife,  Jean,  daughter  of  Robert  Lord  Erskine,  he  had  a  son, 
Malcolm,  a  youth  of  great  promise,  who  was  one  of  the  hostages 
for  the  ransom  of  King  James  the  First  He  died  before  his 
father,  leaving  a  son.  Sir  John,  who  succeeded  his  grandfa- 
ther in  1440.  This  Sir  John  Colquhoun  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  his  age  in  Scotland,  and  highly  esteemed 
by  King  James  the  third,  from  whom  he  got  a  charter,  under 
the  great  seal,  of  several  lands  in  1462,  and  in  1463  he  had 
the  honour  of  knighthood  conferred  upon  him.  The  same 
year  he  was  appomted  clerk  register  for  Scotland.  From 
1465  to  1469  he  held  the  high  office  of  comptroller  of  the 
Exchequer.  He  was  subseqnentiy  appointed  sheriff  principal 
of  Dumbartonshire.  In  1465  he  got  a  grant  of  the  lands  of 
Kilmardinny,  and  in  1472  and  in  1473,  of  Roseneath,  Strone, 
jbc.  In  1474  he  was  appointed  lord  high  chamberlain  of  Scot- 
land, and  immediately  thereafter  was  nominated  one  of  the 
ambassadors  extraordinary  to  the  court  of  Enghuid,  to  nego- 
oiflte  a  marriage  between  the  pnnce  royal  of  ScoUand,  and 


the  princess  Cicily,  daughter  of  King  Edward  the  Fourth. 
By  a  royal  charter  dated  17th  September  1477  he  was  con- 
stituted governor  of  the  casUe  of  Dumbarton  for  life.  He 
was  killed  by  a  cannon-ball,  in  defending  that  fortress  against 
besiegers  1st  May  1478.  By  his  wife,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Lord  Boyd,  he  had  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  His  secoad 
son,  Robert,  was  bred  to  the  church,  and  was  first  rector  of 
Kippen  and  Luss,  and  afterwards  bishop  of  Argyle  from  1478 
to  1499.  The  daughter,  Margaret,  married  Sir  William  Mur- 
ray, seventh  baron  of  Tullibardine  (ancestor  of  the  dukes  of 
Athol),  and  bore  to  him  seventeen  sons.  His  eldest  son.  Sir 
Humphry  Colquhoun,  died  in  1493,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son.  Sir  John  Colquhoun,  who  received  the  honour  of 
knightiiood  from  King  James  the  Fourth,  and  obtamed  a 
charter  under  the  great  seal  of  sundry  lands  and  baronies  in 
Dumbartonshire,  dated  4th  December  1506.  On  11th  July 
1526  he  and  Patrick  Colquhoun  his  son  received  a  respite  iur 
assisting  John  eari  of  Lennox  in  treasonably  besieging,  tak- 
ing, and  holding  the  castie  of  Dumbarton.  On  20th  July 
1535,  Patrick  Colquhoun  and  Adam  his  brother,  with  twenty- 
five  others,  found  security  to  underiy  the  law  for  interoom- 
muning  with  and  assisting  Humphry  Galbndth  and  his  ac- 
complices, rebels  and  **  at  the  horn,"  for  the  slaughter  of 
Stirling  of  Glorat.  Sir  John  Colquhoun  himself  would  also 
have  been  prosecuted  for  the  same,  but  that  he  was  **  proved 
to  be  sick,**  and  he  died  soon  after,  as  on  16th  August  1536 
one  Walter  Macfarlane  found  caution  that  he  would  ap- 
pear at  the  next  justice-air  at  Dumbarton  and  take  his  trial, 
for  convocation  of  the  li^es  in  warlike  manner,  and  besetting 
the  way  of  the  widow  of  Sir  John  Colquhoun  and  David 
Famely  of  Colmiston,  being  for  the  time  in  her  company,  for 
their  slaughter.  By  his  first  wife,  Margaret  Stewart,  daugh- 
ter of  John,  earl  of  Lennox,  ancestor  of  the  royal  family,  Sir 
John  Colquhoun  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters ;  and  by 
hu  second  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  William  Cunningham 
of  Craigends,  he  had  two  sons.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  Humpfaiy 
Colquhoun,  married  Lady  Catherine  Graham,  daughter  of 
William  first  eari  of  Montrose,  and  died  in  1537.  His  son. 
Sir  John  Colquhoun,  married  Agnes,  daughter  of  the  fourth 
Lord  Boyd,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Kihnamock,  by  whom, 
with  two  daughters,  he  had  three  sons,  namely,  Humphir, 
John,  and  Alexander.  He  died  before  1588.  His  eldest 
son,  Humphiy,  acquired  the  heritable  coronership  of  the 
county  of  Dumbarton,  from  Robert  Graham  of  KnockdoIIian, 
which  was  ratified  and  confirmed  by  a  charter  under  the  great 
seal  in  1583.  In  July  1592  some  of  the  Mac^^regors  and 
Macfarlanes  came  down  upon  the  low  oonntiy  of  Dumbarton- 
shire, and  committed  vast  ravages,  especially  upon  the  tenri- 
toiy  of  the  Colquhonns.  At  the  head  of  his  vassals,  and  ac- 
companied by  several  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Sir  Humphry  Colquhoun  attacked  the  invaders,  and  after  a 
bloody  confiict,  which  was  only  put  an  end  to  at  nightfall, 
and  in  which  he  was  worsted,  he  retired  to  his  strong  castle 
of  Bannachrea,  but  was  doeely  pursued  by  a  party  of  the 
Macfarlanes,  who  broke  into  his  castle  and  found  him  in  a 
vault,  where  they  put  him  to  death  under  drcumstauces  of 
extreme  atrocity.  His  next  brother,  John,  seems  to  have 
been  implicated  in  this  cruel  morder,  as  he  was  beheaded  at 
Edinburgh  for  the  crime  on  the  last  day  of  November  1592. 
Sur  Humphry  married  first  Lady  Jean  Cunningham,  daughter 
of  Alexander^  fifth  earl  of  Glencahn,  widow  of  the  eari  of 
Ai^le,  by  whom  he  had  no  children,  and,  secondly,  Jean, 
daughter  of  John  Lord  Hamilton,  by  whom  he  had  a  daugh- 
ter. Having  no  male  issue  he  was  succeeded  by  his  younger 
brother,  Alexander. 
This  Alexander  Colquhoun,  third  son  of  Sir  John  Col- 


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COLQUHOUN. 


quhoon,  got  a  charter  under  the  great  seal  of  the  lands  of 
WolcouDf  Auchindouarie,  &c,  in  Dnrnfries-shiref  dated  5th 
Febroary  1697.    In  his  time  occurred  the  bloody  dan  conflict 
of  Glenfiruin,  between  the  Colqnhouns  and  Macgregors,  in 
February  1603,  regarding  which  the  popular  accounts  are  so 
much  at  variance  with  the  historical  facts.    The  Colquhouns 
had  taken  part  in  the  execution  of  the  letters  of  lire  and 
sword  issued  by  the  crown  against  the  Macgr^rs  some  years 
before,  and  the  feud  between  them  had  been  greatly  aggra- 
vated by  various  acts  of  violence  and  a^iiression  on  both 
sides.     One  of  these,  tradition,  mistaking  the  name  of  the 
chief  of  the  Colquhouns,  namely,  Alexander,  foi*  his  brother 
Sir  Humphry,  murdered  eleven  years  previously  in  his  castle 
of  Bannachrea,  relates  as  follows.    Two  of  the  dan-Gregor 
were  said  to  have  been  benighted  in  the  territory  of  .the  Col- 
quhouns, and  apphed  at  the  house  of  a  dependent  of  the  laird 
of  Luss  for  food  and  shelter,  which  were  denied  them.     Re- 
tiring to  an  outhouse  they  killed  a  sheep,  for  which,  after 
they  had  partaken  of  it,  they  offered  payment,  but  instead  of 
its  being  accepted,  they  were  seized  and  carried  before  the 
chief  of  the  Colquhouns,  who  ordered  them  to  be  instantly 
executed.     To  revenge  their  death  the  chief  of  the  dan-Gre- 
gor, Allester  Macgregor  of  Glenstrae,  assembled  a  force  of 
about  four  hundred  men,  and  marched  towards  Luss.    The 
chief  of  the  Colquhouns  hastily  mustered  his  retainers,  and 
being  joined  by  the  Buchanans  and  other  friendly  septs,  and 
by  a  body  of  the  dtizens  of  Dumbarton,  under  the  command 
of  Tobias  Smollett,  a  magistrate  of  that  town,  and  an  ances- 
tor of  the  author  of  Roderick  Random,    his  forces  soon 
amounted  to  double  the  number  of  the  Macgregors.    Logan, 
in  his  History  of  the  Gael,  follows  the  tradition  in  naming 
the  chief  of  the  Colquhouns  Sir  Humphry,  and  Smibert,  in 
his  History  of  the  Highland  dans,  not  only  adopts  this  mis- 
take, but  goes  still  farther  wrong  in  making  Sir  Humphi7*s 
murder  take  place  sometime  after  the  conflict  at  Glenfiruin, 
and  then  at  the  instigation  of  a  man  of  power  whom  the  laird 
of  Luss  had  offended,  rather  than  from  private  motives  of  en- 
mity on  the  part  of  the  Macfarlanes,  as  already  narrated. 
If  there  is  any  truth  in  the  stoiy  of  the  execution  of  the  two 
Macgregors,  it  must  have  been  done  by  order  of  Alexander 
Colquboun.     But  m  the  dying  declaration  of  Allester  Mac- 
gregor, who  was  hanged  at  Edinburgh  with  some  of  the  cUn, 
there  is  nothing  said  respecting  the  execution  of  these  two 
men  as  the  cause  of  the  conflict.    The  invasion  of  the  I^en- 
nox  by  the  Macgregors  was  but  the  result  of  the  lasting  feud 
which  subsisted  between  the  two  clans.    The  Macgregors 
and  Colquhouns  met  at  Glenfimin,  a  short  distance  from 
Luss,  on  the  day  named,  and  after  a  fierce  contest,  the  latter 
were  defeated,  with  one  hundred  and  forty  men  slain.    The 
laird  of  Luss  escaped  only  by  the  fleetness  of  his  horse.    The 
Mac^T^gors  carried  off  six  hundred  head  of  cattle,  eight  hun- 
dred sheep  and  goats,  two  hundred  and  eighty  horses,  with 
the  **  haill  plenishing,  goods  and  geir  of  Luss."    The  fatal 
field  was  ever  after  called  by  the  Highlanders,  the  vale  of  Sor- 
row or  Ijunentation.    After  the  battle,  many  of  the  widows 
of  the  slam  Colqnhouns  appeared  in  deep  mourning,  before 
King  James  the  Sixth  at  Stirling,  and  exhibiting  on  spears 
eleven  score  bloody  shirts  belonging  to  their  deceased  hu»^ 
bands,  demanded  vengeance  on  the  Macgregors.    The  device 
succeeded.     The  whole  Ma<^regor  race  was  proscribed  and 
their  very  name  prohibited,  and  it  was  not  till  the  year  1774 
that  the  severe  penal  enactments  against  them  were  finally 
repealed.    A  curious  letter  from  Alexander  Colquhoun,  the 
laird  of  Colquhoun  and  Luss,  to  James  the  Sixth,  has  been 
preserved.    It  bears  date  1606,  and  shows  that  Alexander 
had  proceeded  actively  against  the  Macfarlanes  for  their  mur- 


der of  his  brother,  as  well  as  for  many  other  aUeged  injuries, 
induding  "  slaughters,  murthers,  hariships,  thefts,  reivings, 
and  oppressions,  fire-raising,  demolisihing  of  houses,  cutting 
and  destroying  woods  and  plantings.**  For  merely  dvil  com- 
pensation the  courts  had  decreed  to  him  sixty-two  thousand 
pounds  Soots,  a  laige  sum  in  those  days,  but  the  laird  of 
Lu88  refers  his  whole  injuries,  cinl  and  criminal,  to  the  royal 
consideration.  By  his  wife  Helen,  daughter  of  Sir  George 
Buchanan  of  that  ilk,  he  had  five  sons  and  a  daughter. 

The  eldest  son,  Sir  John,  in  his  father's  Ufetime,  got  a 
charter  under  the  great  seal  of  the  ten  pound  land  of  Dunner- 
buck,  dated  20th  February  1602.  He  was  by  Ring  Charies 
the  Fuvt  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  by  patent  dated 
the  last  day  of  August  1625.  He  adhered  firmly  to  the  royal 
cause  during  all  the  time  of  the  dvil  wars,  on  whidi  account 
he  suffered  many  hardships,  and,  in  1654,  was  by  Cromwell 
fined  two  thousand  pounds  sterling.  He  married  Lady  Lillias 
Graham,  daughter  of  the  fourth  eari  of  Montrose,  brother  of 
the  great  marquis,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. His  two  ddest  sons  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy.  From 
Alexander,  the  third  son,  the  Colquhouns  of  Tillyquhoun  were 
descended. 

Sir  John,  the  second  baronet  of  Luss,  married  Margaret, 
daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  Su-  Gideon  Baillie  of  Lochend,  in 
the  county  of  Haddington,  and  had  one  son,  John,  who  died 
unmarried,  and  four  daughters.  He  was  succeeded,  in  1676, 
by  his  brother,  Sir  James,  third  baronet  of  Luss,  who  married 
Penuel,  daughter  of  William  Cunningham  of  Balleichan  in 
Ireland.  He  had,  with  one  daughter,  a  son.  Sir  Humphry, 
fourth  baronet.  The  latter  was  ^  member  of  the  last  Scotti^ 
parliament,  and  strenuously  opposed  and  voted  against  every 
artide  of  the  treaty  of  union.  By  his  wife  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Patrick  Houston  of  that  ilk,  baronet,  he  had  an 
only  daughter,  Anne  Colquhoun,  his  sole  heiress,  who,  in 
1702,  married  James  Grant  of  Pluscardine,  second  son  of 
Ludovick  Grant  of  Grant,  immediate  younger  brother  of  Bri- 
gadier Alexander  Grant,  heir  apparent  of  the  said  Ludovick. 
Having  no  male  issue.  Sir  Humphry,  with  the  design  that  his 
daughter  and  her  husband  should  succeed  him  in  his  whole 
estate  and  honours,  in  1704  resigned  his  baronetcy  into  the 
hands  of  her  majesty  Queen  Anne,  for  a  new  patent  to  him- 
self in  lifei'ent,  and  his  son-in-law  and  his  heirs  therein  named 
in  fee,  but  with  this  express  limitation  that  he  and  his  heirs  so 
succeeding  to  that  estate  and  title  should  be  obliged  to  bear  the 
name  and  arms  of  Colquhocm  of  Luss,  &c  It  was  also  spe- 
cially provided  that  the  estates  of  Grant  and  Luss  should  not 
be  conjoined.  Sir  Humphry  died  in  1718,  and  was  succeeded 
in  his  estate  and  honours  by  James  Grant  his  son-in-law, 
under  the  name  and  designation  of  Sir  James  Colquhoun  of 
Luss.  He  er^oyed  that  estate  and  title  tiU  the  death  of  his 
elder  brother,  Brigadier  Alexander  Grant,  in  1719,  when, 
succeeding  to  the  estate  of  Grant,  he  relinqnished  the  name 
and  title  of  Colquhoun  of  Luss,  and  resumed  his  own,  retaiu- 
ing  the  baronetcy,  it  being  by  the  last  patent  vested  in  his  per- 
son. He  died  in  1747.  By  the  said  Anne,  his  wife,  he  had 
a  numerous  family.  His  eldest  son,  Humphry  ^Colquhoun, 
subsequently  Humphry  Grant  of  Grant,  died  unhiarried  in 
1732.  The  second  son,  Ludovick,  became  Sur  Ludovick 
Grant  of  Grant,  baronet,  [see  Grant  of  Grant,  and  Ska- 
FiKLD,  Earl  of];  while  the  third  son  James  succeeded  as 
Su*  James  Colquhoun  of  Luss.  He  is  the  amiable  and  very 
polite  gentlemen  described  by  Smollett  m  his  mimitable  novel 
of  Humphry  Clinker,  under  the  name  of  "  Su*  George  Colqu- 
houn, a  colonel  in  the  Dutch  service.**  He  married  Lady  Helen 
Sutherland,  daughter  of  William  Lord  Strathnaver,  son  of  the 
nineteenth  earl  of  Sutheriand,  and  by  her  he  had  three  sons  and 


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five  daughters.  In  1777  he  founded  the  town  of  Helensburgh 
on  the  frith  of  Clyde,  and  named  it  after  his  wife.  To  put 
an  end  to  some  dilutes  which  had  arisen  with  regard  to  the 
destination  of  the  old  patent  of  the  Nova  Scotia  baronet<^, 
(John  Colqnhoun  of  Tillyqnhoun,  as  the  eldest  cadet,  having, 
on  the  death  of  his  cousin-german,  Sir  Humphry  Golquhoun, 
m  1718,  assumed  the  title  as  heir  male  of  bis  grandfather,  the 
natentee,)  Sir  James  was,  in  1786,  created  a  baronet  of  Great 
Britain.  His  second  youngest  daughter,  Margaret,  married 
William  Baillie,  a  lord  of  session  under  the  title  of  Lord  Pol- 
kemmet.  and  was  the  mother  of  Sir  William  Baillie,  baronet 
Sir  James  died  iti  November  1786. 

His  eldest  son.  Sir  James  Colqulioun,  2d  hart.,  sheriff-de- 
pute of  Dumbartonshire,  was  one  of  the  principal  clerks  of 
session.  By  his  wife,  Jane,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  James 
Falconer,  Esq.  of  Monktown,  he  had  five  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. He  died  in  1805.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  James,  third 
baronet,  was,  for  some  time,  M.P.  for  Dumbartonshire.  He 
married,  on  13th  June  1799,  his  cousin  Janet,  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Sinclair,  baronet,  and  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Of  this  lady,  who  died  October  21, 1846,  and  who  was  dis- 
tinguished for  her  virtues,  piety,  and  benevolence,  a  memoir 
by  the  Rev.  James  Hamilton.  D.  D ,  Tx>ndon,  was  published 
in  1 R49  from  which  the  followmg  portnut  is  taken : 


Laay  Ooiquhonn  was  the  authoress  of  the  following  religi- 
ous works : 

Hope  and  Despair,  a  Narrative  founded  on  fact.     1822. 

Thoughts  on  the  Religious  Profession  and  Defective  Prac- 
tice of  the  Higher  CUsses  in  Scotland.     By  a  Lady.    1823. 

Impressions  of  the  Heart,  relative  to  the  Nature  and  Ex- 
cellence of  Genuine  Religion.    1825. 

The  Kingdom  of  God,  containing  a  brief  account  of  its 
Properties,  Trials,  Pririleges,  and  Duration.     1836. 

The  World's  Religion  as  contrasted  with  Geimine  Cbnsti- 
anity.    1839. 


The  eldest  son.  Sir  James  Colqohoun,  the  fourili  baronet  ol 
the  new  creation,  and  the  eighth  of  the  old  patent,  succeed 
ed  on  his  father's  death,  8d  Feb.  1836;  chief  of  the  Cdquhoana 
of  Luss;  Lord-lieutenant  of  Dumbartonshire,  and  M.P.  for 
that  county  from  1887  to  1841.  He  married  in  Jnne  1843, 
Jane,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Abercromby  of  Birkenbog.  She 
died  3d  May  1844,  leaving  one  son,  James,  bom  in  1844. 

llie  family  mansion,  Ross-dhu,  is  situated  on  a  beautiful 
peninsula,  as  the  name  indicates.  As  the  family  possessiona 
all  lie  between  an  arm  of  the  sea  and  an  inland  lake— I>ocfa 
Gare  and  Loch  Lomond — ^the  name  of  Colquhonn,  in  Soot- 
land  pronounced  Go-whoon  (whence  the  surname  Cowan), 
or  as  humorously  adverted  to  by  Smollett  in  his  Hurophrr 
Clinker,  Coon  is,  among  other  conjectures,  supposed  to 
be  derived  from  Col,  in  old  French,  a  hill,  or  rather  an  ele- 
vated neck  connecting  two  mountains  or  detached  peaks,  and 
quhon,  quoin,  or  qukom,  (pronounced  cune  or  whoon,  in  mo- 
dem Spanish,)  an  angular  wedge,  which  would  correctly  de- 
scribe the  nature  of  the  property,  being  the  high  wedge-shaped 
land  extending  between  two  mountains  at  the  angle  where 
Loch  Gare  issues  firom  the  Clyde.  These  possessions  may 
therefore  have  been  so  called  from  the  Normans  who  api)ear 
to  have  accompanied  David  when,  as  count,  he  governed  the 
southern  portion  of  Scotland,  or  Cumbria,  during  the  reign  of 
Alexander  the  First,  and^  as  we  learn  by  a  curious  inquest 
held  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Second,  resided  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Dumbarton.  To  the  possessions  of  the 
family  of  Colquhoun  was  added  in  1852  the  estate  of  Ardin- 
cnple,  purchased  from  the  duchess  dowager  of  Argyle. 


Robert,  a  younger  son  of  Sir  Robert  Colquhonn  of  that  ilk, 
who  married  tlie  heiress  of  Luss,  was  the  first  of  the  Colqu- 
houns  of  Camstrodden,  which  estate,  with  the  lands  of  Acliir- 
gahan,  he  obtained  by  charter,  dated  4th  July  1895,  from  his 
brother  Sir  Humphry.  Sir  James  Colquhoun,  2d  baronet, 
purchased  that  estate  from  the  hereditary  proprietor,  and  re- 
uimexed  it  to  the  estate  of  Luss. 

The  Killermont  line,  originally  of  Garscadden,  is  m  sdon  of 
the  Camstrodden  branch.  The  lands  of  Garscadden  were  ac- 
quired about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  oentuiy,  and  those 
of  Killermoot  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth,  being  then 
purchased  by  Lawrence  Colquhoun.  Walter  Dalsiel  Colqu- 
houn of  Garscadden  married  the  youngest  daughter  of  Sir 
lUy  Campbell,  baronet,  lord  president  of  the  court  of  session. 
John  Coates  Campbell,  Esq.,  of  Killermont  the  grandfather 
of  the  present  representative,  had,  with  four  daughters,  a  son, 
Arohibald  Campbell  of  Clathick,  who,  on  succeeding  to  the 
estate  of  Killermont  took  the  name  of  Colquhoun.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Scottish  bar  in  1768.  In  1807  he 
was  appointed  lord  advocate,  and  in  1816  lord  clerk  regii>ter 
of  Scotland.  He  married,  in  1796,  Mary  Anne,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  William  Erskine,  Episcopalian  clergyman  at  Muthil, 
Perthshire,  and  sister  of  William  Erskine,  lord  Kinnedder, 
and  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  died  on  the  8th 
of  September  1820.  His  elder  son,  John  Campbell  Colquhonn 
of  Killermont  and  Garscadden,  bom  23d  January  1803,  was 
returned  to  pariiament  in  1832  for  the  county  of  Dumbarton, 
and  afterwards  sat  for  the  Kilmarnock  district  of  burgfasi 
He  married,  1827,  Hon.  Henrietta  Maria.  Powys,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  2d  Lord  Lilford ;  issue,  two  sons.  His  brother,  William 
Lawrence  Colquhoun,  is  designed  of  CUthick,  Pertlishire. 

The  estate  of  Tilliequhon  (or  as  now  written  Tilliechewan), 
once  belonging  to  the  eldest  branch  of  the  Colquhouns,  became 
tlie  property  of  William  Campbell,  Esq.,  merchant,  Glaa^w 


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COLQUHOUN,  Patrick,  a  metropolitan  ma- 
gistrate, and  well-known  writer  on  statistics  and 
criminal  jurispnideace,  descended  from  an  ancient 
family,  was  bom  at  Dumbarton,  March  14,  1745. 
His  father,  who  held  the  office  of  registrar  of  the 
records  of  the  county  of  Dumbarton,  was  nearly 
related  to  Sir  James  Colquhonn  of  Lnss,  baronet. 
He  was  a  class-fellow  of  Smollett,  and  died  at  the 
early  age  of  forty-four.  His  son,  the  subject  of 
this  notice,  before  he  had  attained  his  sixteenth 
year  went  to  Virginia  to  engage  in  commercial 
pursuits.  In  1766  he  returned  home,  and  settled 
in  Glasgow,  where,  in  1775,  he  married  a  lady  of 
his  own  name.  In  January  1782  he  was  elected 
Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow ;  and  having  devised  a 
plan  for  a  chamber  of  commerce  and  manufactures 
in  that  city,  he  obtained  a  royal  charter  for  it,  and 
became  its  chairman.  He  filled  several  other 
civic  offices  with  great  credit  and  reputation. 

In  November  1789  he  removed  to  London  with 
his  family ;  and  having  composed  several  popular 
treatises  on  the  subject  of  the  Police,  he  was,  in 
1792,  when  seven  public  offices  were  established, 
appointed  to  one  of  them,  through  the  influence  of 
his  friend  Mr.  Henry  Dnndas,  afterwards  Viscount 
Melville;  and  as  a  police  magistrate,  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  activity  and  application. 
In  1795  he  published  a  '  Treatise  on  the  Police  of 
the  Metropolis,^  which  passed  through  six  large 
editions.  This  work  procured  him,  in  1797,  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  from  the  university  of  Glasgow.  He 
was  also  appointed,  by  the  legislature  of  the  Virgin 
Islands,  in  the  West  Indies,  agent  for  the  colony 
in  Great  Britain.  In  1800  appeared  his  *  Treatise 
on  the  Police  of  the  River  Thames,'  containing  an 
historical  account  of  tlie  trade  of  the  port  of  Lon- 
don, and  suggesting  means  for  the  protection  of 
property  on  the  river  and  in  the  adjacent  parts  of 
the  metropolis.  His  plan  was  afterwards  adopted, 
and  a  new  police-office  erected  at  Wapping.  As 
some  acknowledgment  of  the  success  of  his  endea- 
vours to  promote  the  safe  navigation  of  the  river 
Tliames,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  West  India 
merchants  presented  him  with  the  sum  of  five 
hundred  pounds ;  while  the  Russia  Company  vot- 
ed him  a  piece  of  plate  to  the  value  of  one  hun- 
dred guineas.  Mr.  Colquhonn  died  April  25, 
1820,  aged  seventy-five,  having  resigned  his  offi- 


cial situation  about  two  years  previous  to  his 
decease.  By  his  will  he  left  the  sum  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  sterling  to  the  ministers  and  elders 
of  the  parish  of  Dumbarton,  the  interest  of  which 
to  be  divided  yearly  among  poor  people  of  the 
name  of  Colquhonn,  in  the  parishes  of  Dumbar- 
ton, Cardross,  Bonhill,  and  Old  Ellpatrick,  not 
receiving  parochial  aid.    His  works  are : 

Observations  on  the  State  of  the  Cotton  Manufacture. 
1783.    Two  other  Pamphlets  on  the  same  subject     1788. 

Treatise  on  the  Police  of  the  Metropolis,  containing  a  De- 
tail of  the  various  Crimes  and  Misdemeanors  by  which  Public 
and  Private  Property  and  Security  are  at  present  injured  and 
endangered,  and  suggesting  Remedies  for  their  Prevention. 
Loud.  1796,  8vo.  6th  edit.  1800,  8vo.  8th  ediL  corrected 
and  enlarged,  1806,  8vo. 

Observations  on  the  Office  of  a  Constable.    1799,  8vo. 

Treatise  on  the  Conmfieroe  and  Police  of  the  River  Thames; 
containing  an  Historical  View  of  the  Trade  of  the  Port  of 
London,  and  suggesting  means  for  preventing  the  depredations 
therein,  by  a  Legislative  System  of  River  Police,  with  an  Ao- 
oount  of  the  Functions  of  th'  various  Magistrates  and  Cor- 
porations exercising  JurisdiCb.i>n  on  the  River,  and  a  General 
View  of  the  Penal  and  Remedial  Statutes  connected  with  the 
Subject     Lond.  180J,  8vo. 

Tract  upon  the  Abuse  of  Public  Houses.     1800. 

Treatise  on  Indigence;  exhibiting  a  General  Vieiw  of  ttis 
National  Resources  of  Productive  Labour,  with  Propo«tions 
for  ameliorating  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  and  improving 
the  Moral  Habits  and  increaang  the  Comforts  of  the  Labour- 
ing People,  particularly  the  Rimng  Generation.  Lond.  1806, 
8vo. 

A  New  and  Effectual  System  of  Education  for  the  Labour- 
ing People,  eloddated  and  explained  according  to  the  Plan 
which  has  been  established  for  the  Religious  and  Moral  In- 
struction of  Children  admits  into  the  Free  School,  Orchard 
Street,  Westminster.    Lond.  1806,  8vo. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Wealth,  Power,  and  Resources  of  the 
British  Empire  in  every  quarter  of  the  Worid,  including  the 
East  Indies ;  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Funding  System 
explained,  with  Observations  on  the  National  Resources  for 
the  beneficial  employment  of  a  Redundant  Population,  and 
for  rewarding  the  Military  and  Naval  Officers,  Soldiers,  and 
Seamen  for  their  S«!rvioes.  Illustrated  by  copious  Statistical 
Tables  on  a  new  plan,  and  exhibiting  a  collected  view  of  the 
different  subjects  discussed  in  this  work.  2d  edit,  improved, 
1815,  4to. 

COLQUHOUN,  John,  D.D.,  an  eminent  min- 
ister of  the  Chnrch  of  Scotland,  was  the  son  of  a 
small  fanner  on  the  estate  of  Sir  James  Colqn- 
houn  of  Lnss,  baronet,  in  Dumbartonshire,  where 
he  was  bom  on  New  Year's  day,  1748.  In  his 
boyhood  he  herded  sheep  on  the  Mnlea  hill,  and 
till  thirty  years  of  age  plied  the  shuttle  of  a  hand- 
loom  weaver.  He  received  the  rudiments  of  edu- 
cation at  a  neighbouring  school  under  the  Society 
for  Propagating  Christian  Knowledge  in  Scotland, 
and  as  an  instance  of  his  early  desire  for  religious 


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iiiforination,  it  is  related  that  a  perusal  of  Bostou^s 
Foaifold  State  having  been  recommended  to  him 
by  his  teacher,  he  travelled  to  Glasgow,  (a  distance 
of  nearly  fifty  miles  in  going  and  returning,)  in 
order  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  work.  "With  tlie 
view  of  studying  for  the  church,  he  became  a  stu- 
dent at  the  university  of  Glasgow  about  the  year 
1768,  and  remained  there  for  the  greater  part  of 
ten  years.  After  attending  a  session  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  he  was  licensed  at  Glasgow 
to  preach  the  gospel  in  August  1780.  He  soon 
received  a  call  to  the  new  cliurch,  or  chapel  of 
ease  (now  St.  John^s  church).  South  Leith,  and 
was  ordained  its  pastor  March  22,  1781.  From 
that  period,  for  nearly  half-a-century,  he  conti- 
nued to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  ministry  at 
Leith  with  distinguished  zeal,  his  time  being  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  study  and  his  pastoral  office. 
Not  the  least  interesting  and  salutary  portion  of 
his  laboui*s  were  the  weekly  conversations  held  on 
the  Friday  evenings  at  his  own  house.  AH  who 
chose  to  come  were  welcome,  and  many  students 
were  in  the  habit  of  attending  to  pi-ofit  by  his  in- 
structions, and  to  obtain  his  advice,  ever  readily 
extended,  as  to  the  prosecution  of  their  studies. 
Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  an  unhappy  mis- 
understanding took  place  with  his  congi-egation 
respecting  the  appointment  of  an  assistant.  For 
several  years  he  had  been  unable  to  preach  regu- 
larly, and  appeared  for  the  last  time  in  the  pulpit 
on  the  forenoon  of  the  18th  November  1826. 
His  death,  however,  did  not  take  place  tiH  the 
27th  November  1827.  He  was  inteired  in  the 
churchyard  of  South  Leith,  and  his  funeral  seimon 
was  preached  by  Dr.  Jones  of  Lady  Glenorchy's 
chapel,  Edinburgh. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  James  Hamilton  of  the  National 
Scottish  Church,  Regent  Square,  London,  In  his 
Memoir  of  Lady  Colquhoun,  (pp.  143-144)  pays 
the  following  well-desei*ved  and  appropriate  tri- 
bute to  Dr.  Colquhoun 's  memory : — "  For  nearly 
fifty  years  he  was  minister  of  the  New  Kirk,  Leith ; 
and  to  his  solid  and  systematic  expositions  of 
scripture,  hearers  resorted  not  only  from  the 
city  of  Edinburgh  but  from  places  as  remote  as 
Dalkeith  and  Newbattle.  Besides  Boston  and  the 
Erskines,  his  theological  models  were  Witsius  and 
Maastricht,  Voetins  and  Cloppenburg,  and  his  own 


mind  had  all  the  system  and  precision  of  a  Dutch 
divine.  No  modem  better  merited  the  title  so 
often  bestowed  on  the  Puritans,  —  'a  painful 
preacher  of  the  holy  gospel.^  His  expositions 
were  ready-made  commentaries,  and  every  sermon 
was  a  chapter  in  a  forthcoming  treatise,  whih^t 
his  deliberate  enunciation,  like  an  audible  typo- 
graphy, rendered  ample  justice  to  every  Italic,  dot, 
and  hyphen.  It  would,  however,  be  a  great  mis- 
take to  fancy  that  he  was  a  mere  systematlst 
Much  as  they  valued  his  methodical  arrangement 
and  exhaustive  copiousness,  the  best  of  his  hearers 
prized  still  more  his  affectionate  applications  of  the 
truth,  and  the  singular  judgment  with  which  he 
handled  questions  of  conscience.  And  in  the 
midst  of  his  mild  catholicity,  to  many  there  was  a 
peculiar  charm  in  his  covenanting  fervour.  Some 
of  them  can  still  remember  (this  was  WTitteu  in 
1849)  with  what  pathos  he  used  to  pray  that  the 
Most  High  *  would  revive  the  credit  of  a  cove- 
nanted work  of  i*eformation,  that  he  would  repair 
the  carved  work  of  the  sanctuary,  which  had  been 
broken  down,  and  build  up  the  breaches  of  Zion, 
which  are  wide  as  the  sea;*  and  they  can  tell 
how,  in  concluding  an  exposition  of  the  Psalms 
which  had  lasted  seventeen  years,  he  remarked, 
^  I  have  much  reason  to  bless  the  Lord  that  I 
have  never,  like  many  of  my  brethren,  been  so  fai 
left  to  myself  as  to  use  in  the  public  worship  of 
God  hymns  of  human  composition."  Dr.  Hamil- 
ton describes  him  as  having  a  *'  fair,  soft  counte- 
nance, surmounted  by  its  sleek,  yeUow  wig."  A 
portrait  of  Dr.  Colquhoun,  taken  in  1793,  will  be 
found  In  Kay^s  Edinburgh  Portraits.  He  was  twice 
married,  but  had  no  childi*en.    His  works  are  : 

A  Treatise  on  Spiritual  Comfort.    Edin  1818. 

On  the  Law  and  tlie  Gospel.    Edm.  1815. 

On  the  Covenant  of  Grace.    Edin.  1818. 

A  Catechism  for  the  Instmction  and  Direction  of  Young 
Communicants.     Edin.  1821. 

On  the  Covenant  of  Worka.    Edin.  1822. 

A  View  of  Saving  Faith,  from  the  Sacred  Beoorda.  Edin. 
1824. 

A  Collection  of  the  Promioes  of  the  Gospel,  arranged  under 
their  proper  heads,  with  Reflections  and  Exhortations  deduced 
from  them.    Edin.  1825. 

A  View  of  Evangelical  Repentance,  from  the  Sac7«d  Re- 
cords.    Edin.  1826. 

A  small  posthumous  volume  of  '  Sermons,  cbieflj  on  Doc- 
trinal Subjects,'  with  a  Memoir  of  the  Author,  was  poblidied 
by  J.  and  D.  Collie,  in  1886. 


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Colt,  a  surname  originally  French,  introduced  into  Scot- 
land by  Blaia-Coult,  who  fled  from  France  during  the  perse- 
cution of  th)  Huguenots,  and  repairing  to  St.  Andrews, 
became  a  professor  in  the  college  there.  He  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  Colts  of  Anldhame  in  Haddingtonshire,  and  Gartsber- 
rie  in  Lanarkshire.  His  son,  Oliver  Colt,  was  a  lawyer  in 
the  time  of  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  and  Oliver's  son,  Adam 
Colt,  was  educated  for  the  church,  and  became  minister  of 
Inveresk,  being  the  second  after  the  Reformation.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  among  those  ministers  who  opposed  the 
arbitmry  proceedings  of  Ring  James  the  Sixth  in  his  disputes 
with  the  General  Assembly.  In  1601,  when  the  king  was 
headstrong  to  have  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh  transported, 
he  opposed  the  king  face  to  face  in  the  Assembly  on  theur  be- 
half. The  king's  chief  argument  was  that  he  himself,  who 
was  a  principal  parishioner  in  his  chief  city,  could  not  be 
edified  by  them.  Mr.  Adam  Colt  answered  that  by  that 
reason,  when  he  is  angry  at  any  minister  in  the  country,  he 
may,  if  he  will,  have  him  transported,  the  preparative  where- 
of had  already  passed  in  St.  Andrews,  which  was  very  dan- 
gerous. The  king  called  him  a  seditious  knave,  and  arked, 
"Why  he  supposed  such  a  thing ?^  **I  suppose,"  he  add- 
ed, "Mr.  Adam  Colt  would  steal  neate;  then  he  should- be 
hanged."  \CdUUrwood»  History,  vol.  vi.  p.  120.]  In  1606 
he  was  one  of  eight  ministers  sent  for  to  court,  by  a  letter 
from  the  king,  under  the  pretext  of  conferring  as  to  the  state 
of  the  church,  but  the  real  object  was  to  have  them  out  of 
the  way,  until  the  king  had  got  his  designs  more  matured 
with  regard  to  the  establishment  of  episeopacy,  under  colour 
of  a  national  assembly.  With  Messrs.  Andrew  and  James 
Melville,  and  the  others,  he  took  part  in  the  conferences  with 
the  king  held  at  Hampton  Court  in  September  of  that  year. 
Finding  that  the  intention  was  to  detain  them  in  England, 
the  eight  ministers  used  means  for  their  licrase  to  return,  and 
on  March  8, 1607,  gave  in  a  supplication  to  the  privy  coun- 
dl  for  that  purpose.  On  the  1st  of  May  they  received  orders 
to  depart,  but  to  restrict  themselves  to  various  places,  princi- 
pally to  their  own  parishes.  Mr.  Colt  was  minister  at  Inver- 
esk  for  upwards  of  fifty  years. 

His  son,  Oliver  Colt,  succeeded  him,  and  was  mmister  of 
Inveresk  till  1679.  The  latter's  son.  Sir  Robert  Colt,  was 
an  eminent  lawyer,  and  solicitor  to  James  the  Seventh.  He 
was  the  father  of  Adam  Colt,  an  advocate  and  dean  of  facul- 
ty. Adam's  son,  Oliver  Colt,  Esq.  of  Auldhame,  in  Had- 
dingtonshire, and  Inveresk,  county  of  Edinburgh,  married 
the  Hon.  Helen  Stuart,  daughter  of  Robert  seventh  Lord 
Blantyre,  and  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  elder 
son,  Robert  Colt,  Esq.  of  Auldhame  and  Gartsherrie,  bom  in 
1766,  married  in  1778,  Grace,  daughter  of  the  Right  Hon. 
Robert  Dundas  of  Amiston,  lord  prudent  of  the  court  of 
session,  and  by  her  he  had  nine  children.  He  died  in  1797. 
His  only  surviving  son,  John-Hamilton-Colt,  Esq.  of  Inver- 
esk and  Gartsherrie,  bom  12th  May  1789,  by  his  wife,  Sarah, 
youngest  daughter  of  Joseph  Mannering,  Esq.,  had  three  sons 
and  five  daughters.  He  died  10th  September  1840.  His 
eldest  son,  John-Uamilton-Colt,  Esq.,  designed  of  Gartsher- 
rie, was  bora  19th  August  1811,  and  married,  ISth  May 
1834,  Jane,  second  daughter  of  George  Cole  Baiiibridge,  Esq. 
of  Gattonside  House,  Roxburghshire;  issue,  tliree  sons  and 
two  dkughters. 


de  ColviUe,  or  Colvyle,  accompanied  William  the  Conqueror, 
when  he  came  over  to  England,  and  he  and  his  descendnnts 
acquired  various  possesions  in  that  country.  An  account  of 
the  Englisli  Colvilles  is  given  by  Dugdale  in  his  Baronage, 
vol.  i.  page  626.  He  does  not,  however,  mention  the  ori^n 
of  the  family.  The  first  noticed  by  him  is  Philip  de  Oolville, 
in  the  reign'of  King  Stephen.  About  that  time  a  branch  of 
them  settled  in  Scotland,  and  founded  a  house  which  produced 
the  two  noble  lines  of  Colville  of  Culross  and  Colville  of  Ochil- 
tree, both  barons  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland.  The  latter  title, 
however,  has  been  dormant  since  the  death  of  David,  the 
fourth  lord,  in  1782. 


OoLViLLB,  a  surname  derived  from  Colvilo,  a  castle  on  a 
hill,  col  in  old  French  meaning  hill,  and  viie  a  castle.  A 
town  m  Normandy,  whence  the  race  originally  sprang,  is  still 
called  Colville. 

The  ongmal  ancestor  of  the  Colvilles,  Gilbert  de  Colavilla, 


CoLVTLi*  OF  Culross,  lord,  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland, 
a  title  possessed  by  a  family,  the  first  of  whom  in  North  Bri- 
tain was  Philip  de  Colville  in  the  twelfth  century.  Along 
with  Robert,  bishop  of  St.  Andrews  and  others,  he  was  wit- 
ness to  a  general  confirmation  by  King  Malcolm  the  Fourth 
of  all  donations  made  by  his  predecessors  to  the  monastery  of 
Dunfermline  before  1169,  in  which  year  Robert  died;  also, 
another  by  the  same  monarch  of  several  donations  to  the 
priory  of  St.  Andrews  in  1160.  He  was  one  of  the  hostages 
for  the  release  of  King  William  the  Lion  from  captivity  in 
1174.  The  first  possessions  which  he  obtained  in  Scotland 
were  Heton  and  Oxenhame  (now  Oxnam)  in  the  county  oi 
Roxburgh.  He  also  acquired  lands  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  particularly  in  Ayrshire. 

His  son,  Thomas  de  Colville,  is  witness  to  several  charters 
of  King  William  the  lion  betwixt  1189  and  1199.  In  1210, 
being  unjustly  suspected  of  a  conspiracy  against  that  monarch, 
he  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  but  was  liber- 
ated after  six  months'  confinement  and  received  again  into 
favour.  On  the  28th  April  1214,  a  discharge  was  granted  by 
King  John  to  William  de  Harcourt  of  several  hostages  put 
into  his  majesty's  hands,  among  others  Thomas  de  Colville 
and  Gervase  Avenel,  obsides  regis  ScoticB.  He  died  in  1219. 
By  Amabilis  his  wife  he  had  a  son,  William  de  Colville,  who 
granted  to  the  monks  of  Newbattle,  the  lands  which  belonged 
to  his  father  "super  le  Ness."  He  settled  at  Morham  under 
William  the  lion.  He  was  proprietor  of  the  barony  of  Kin- 
naird  in  Stirlingshire,  as  appears  from  a  lease  granted  by  him 
of  part  of  these  lands  to  the  abbot  and  convent  of  Holyrood- 
honse,  confirmed  by  King  Alexander  the  Second,  16th  Sep- 
tember 1228.  Eustace,  the  heiress  of  Sir  William  Colville  of 
Oxnam,  who  possessed  also  the  lands  of  Ochiltree  in  Ayrshire, 
married  Sir  Re^nald  Chene  of  Inveragie,  who  died  soon  after 
1291,  an  aged  man.  She  survived  her  husband,  and  having 
swora  fealty  to  Edward  the  First  in  1296,  she  had  livery  ot 
her  lands  in  the  shires  of  Aberdeen,  Ayr,  Banff,  Forfar, 
Inverness  and  Kincardine.  This  lady,  according  to  the  Re- 
marks on  the  Ragman  Roll,  in  'Nisbet's  Heraldry,'  {Appendix^ 
vol.  iL  page  27)  was  the  heiress  of  the  principal  house  ot 
Colville. 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third  Sir  John  Colville  was 
proprietor  of  Oxnam  and  Ochiltree.  In  1296  Thomas  de 
Colville  swore  fealty  to  King  Edward  the  First,  as  did  also 
Adam  de  Colville.  During  the  reign  of  Robert  the  First, 
Eustace  de  Colville  granted  to  the  monks  of  Melrose  the 
church  of  Ochiltree  with  all  its  pertinents,  a  grant  which  was 
confirmed  by  a  charter  from  Robert  de  Colville,  dominus  de 
Oxnam,  designed  also  Baro  baronim  de  OchiUree,  in  1824. 
[^Great  Chartuiary  of  Mebrote.']  This  Robert,  who  is  also 
witness  to  a  donation  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso  in  1360,  had 
a  charter  of  the  barony  of  Ochiltree  in  Ajnrshire  from  King 
David  the  Second.  Among  the  chHrtors  of  that  monarch  are 
two  to  Duncan  Wallace  and  Malcolm  Wallace  of  the  lands  ot 


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OzeDhamf  and  lands  in  the  countj  of  Domiriefly  forfeited  by 
Robert  ColvilL  The  family,  however,  retained  the  title  of 
Oznam  till  tbe  reign  of  King  James  the  First,  when  they  as- 
sumed the  designation  of  Ochiltree,  and  were  among  the 
greatest  barons  below  the  degree  of  lords  of  paiiiament  in  the 
kingdom. 

Robert  Ck>lville  of  Oxenham,  probably  the  son  of  the  above 
Robert,  is  witness  to  a  charter  of  John  TurubuU  of  Myntou 
(Minto),  to  Sir  William  Stewart  of  Jedworth  (Jedbmgh),  his 
grandson,  of  the  lands  of  Myntou,  8th  December  1890,  which 
was  also  witnessed  by  his  son,  Thomas  Colville  of  Oxenham. 
This  Thomas  had  been  witness  to  a  charter  of  Margaret  coun- 
tess of  Douglas  and  Mar  in  1384,  and  in  the  reign  of  King 
Robert  the  Third  granted  a  charter  to  Henry  Preston  of  his 
part  of  Fromert^  (Formartyn)  in  Aberdeenshire,  with  the 
castle  and  tolls  of  the  burgh  of  Fyvie.  He  was  one  of  the 
numerous  train  of  knights  and  esquires  who  in  1486  attended 
Mai^garet  of  Scotland  into  France,  on  her  marriage  with  Louis 
the  Dauphin. 

Robert  do  Colville  of  Oxenham  was  one  of  the  hostages  for 
King  James  the  First,  in  room  of  Robert  Stewart,  allowed  to 
return  home,  22d  June  1482.  In  the  year  1449,  Sir  Richard 
Colville,  knight,  iicu)rding  to  Balfour,  (a  mistake  evidently  for 
Sir  Robert  Colville,)  set  upon  John  Auchinleck,  a  familiar 
friend  of  the  earl  of  DougUis,  and  slew  him  with  several  of 
his  friends,  on  account  of  certain  wrongs  and  injuries  done  to 
him  by  the  former,  which  had  remained  unredressed,  althou^ 
reparation  had  frequently  been  required  from  him  for  the 
same.  To  avenge  Auchinleck's  fate,  Douglas  collected  his 
retainers,  and  after  pillaging  aU  the  lands  belonging  to  Col- 
ville, besieged  and  took  his  castle  and  put  him  and  all  that 
were  with  him  to  the  sword.  Robert  Colville  married  Mar- 
garet Colville,  by  whom  he  had  a  sdn.  Sir  Robert  de  Colville, 
who  had  a  charter  of  the  barony  of  Uchiltree,  36th  May, 
1441,  on  his  father's  resignation,  and  another  to  himself  and 
Christina  de  Crichton,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Crichton  of 
Sanquhar,  knight,  of  the  barony  of  Uchiltree,  16th  February 
1450-1.  He  and  Andrew  Ker  of  Auldtounbum  entered  into 
an  indenture  binding  themselves  to  stand  by,  assist,  and  de- 
fend one  another  against  all  mortals,  the  king  and  the  earl  of 
Douglas  excepted,  dated  at  Jedburgh  10th  June  1458.  He 
gave  in  a  complaint  to  the  lords  auditors  concerning  the 
wrongous  occupation  of  the  lands  of  Maxtoun,  belonging  to 
him,  and  got  a  decree  in  his  favour,  17th  October  1467.  As 
heir  of  his  father,  he  was  pursued  before  the  lords  auditors  by 
Sir  John  Achilike  (Auchinleck)  of  that  ilk,  knight,  for  with- 
holdihg  from  him  nxty-five  marks,  oontained  in  an  obliga- 
tion of  his  father,  for  himself  and  his  heirs,  to  the  deceased 
James  Auchinleck,  father  of  Sir  John,  and  decreet  was  given 
against  him,  19th  July  1476.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son. 
Sir  William  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  knight.  Chahners,  in  bis 
Caledonia,  mentions,  "  that,  as  early  as  the  year  1498  there 
had  been  a  feud  between  Hugh  Campbell  of  Loudoun,  the 
sheriff  of  Ayr,  and  Sir  William  Colville  of  Uchletree,  knight," 
when  the  king  granted  an  exemption  to  Sir  William  Colville 
and  his  tenants  and  senrants  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Hugh 
Campbell  and  his  deputies,  ^'oecanse  it  was  notoriously 
known  that  there  is  a  deadly  feud  betwixt  them."  Su*  Wil- 
liam died  in  1508-9,  leaving  two  daughters  his  coheiresses, 
Elizabeth,  who  married  Robert  Colville,  son  and  heir  of  Wil- 
liam Colville  of  Ravenscraig,  without  issue ;  and  Margaret, 
said  to  have  been  married  to  Patrick  Colquhoun  of  Drum- 
skeath,  nephew  of  the  laird  of  Luss.  The  names  of  the 
daughters  seem  by  some  mistake  to  have  been  exchanged, 
for  in  tbe  public  registers  there  are  two  charters  to  Patrick 
CoJquhoun   of  Drumskeath  and  Elizabeth  (not  Maigaret) 


Colville  his  wife,  of  date  12th  July  1527  and  8tb  Februaiy 
1531-2.  They  had  an  only  daughter  and  heiress,  Frances  ot 
Franoesca,  married  to  Robert  Colville  of  Cleish,  ancestor  d 
the  Lords  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  of  whom  ailerwards. 

Robert  Colville  of  Hilton,  the  heir-male  of  the  family,  had 
the  office  of  steward  to  Margaret,  queen  of  James  the  Third, 
and  had  a  charter  from  that  monarch  to  himself  aenescaUo 
Margaretie  ReginsB,  and  Margaret  Logan  his  wife,  of  the 
lands  of  Hilton,  in  the  barony  of  Tillicoultry,  in  the  county 
of  Clackmannan,  10th  October  1483.  He  appears  to  have 
joined  actively  the  party  of  King  James  the  Fourth  against 
his  father,  as  six  days  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  the 
office  of  director  of  the  chancery  was  conferred  on  him  by 
royal  charter  17th  June  1488.  He  obtained  charters  of  vari- 
ous lands  in  Ayrshire,  Clackmannanshire,  and  Roxboigh- 
shire,  from  August  1502  to  April  1508;  and  10th  April 
1509  he  had  a  charter  of  half  of  the  lands  and  barony  d 
Ochiltree,  with  the  castle,  Barnwell  and  Symontoun,  and 
thereafter  was  styled  of  Ochiltree.  He  fell  with  his  royal 
master  at  the  battle  of  Flodden  9th  September  1513.  In  his 
Caledonia,  Chahners  says,  '^  After  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Flodden,  many  violent  acts  were  committed  in  Scotland,  par- 
ticularly in  the  south.  In  Ayrshire,  the  strong  houses  of 
Cumnock  and  Uchletree  were  both  violently  taken  poesessioo 
of;  their  owners  having  fallen  on  Flodden  Field."  This 
Robert  Colville  was  twice  married:  first  to  Margaret 
Logan ;  and,  secondly,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  ooheire«s 
of  Walter  Amot  of  Balbarton,  and  had  two  sons,  James  and 
Robert 

Sir  James  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  the  elder  son,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  of  comptroller  before  1527.  In  that 
year  he  granted  an  annual  rent  of  ten  pounds  for  thei  support 
of  a  chaplain,  to  officiate  at  St  Mary's  altar  in  the  church  of 
Ochiltree,  and  the  grant  was  confirmed  by  the  king  in  1527-8. 
In  1530,  he  exchanged  the  lands  of  Ochiltree  with  Sir  James 
Hamilton  of  Finnart,  a  natural  son  of  James  first  earl  of  Ar- 
ran,  for  the  barony  of  East  Wemyss  and  Lochorahyre  in  FiSty 
and  obtained  a  charter  of  the  same  in  December  of  that  year. 
In  1528  he  had  been  appointed  a  director  of  the  chancery. 
He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  parliament  on  the  24th 
April  and  13th  May  1531,  15th  December  1535,  and  29th 
April  1536.  He  was  nominated  lord  of  the  articles  on  13th 
May  1582  and  7th  June  1535,  and  on  the  same  day  was 
chosen  by  the  barons  one  of  their  commissioners  for  the  taxa- 
tion of  six  thousand  pounds,  granted  by  the  three  estates  to 
King  James  the  Sixth  on  his  approadiing  marriage. 

At  the  first  institution  of  the  college  of  justice,  25th  May 
1532,  Sir  James  Colville  of  Easter  Wemyss,  as  he  was  now 
designed,  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  on  the  temporal 
side  of  the  bench.  He  was  one  of  the  commissionen  at  tbe 
truce  of  Newcastle,  on  the  1st  October  1533,  shortly  previous 
to  which  date  he  had  been  knighted,  and  in  the  fiJUowing 
year  he  was  again  sent  to  Enghind  to  treat  of  peace.  He 
lost  the  king's  favour  and  brought  on  his  own  ruin,  by  ading 
with  the  Douglases. 

In  1538  the  comptroller's  place  was  taken  from  him  and 
conferred  on  David  Wood  of  Craig,  and  on  30th  May  1539,  a 
summons  of  treason  was  executed  against  him,  charging  him 
with  having,  on  the  14th  of  July  1528,  when  comptroller, 
director  of  the  chancery,  and  a  privy  councillor,  made  a  pre- 
tended assignation  of  the  ward,  relief,  and  marriage  of  John 
Kennedy  of  Culzean,  to  certain  individuals,  for  the  benefit  of 
Archied  Douglas  of  Kilspindy,  although  he  knew  that  a 
summons  of  treason  against  the  latter  had  bera  at  that  time 
executed ;  and  further,  with  having  afforded  treasonable  as- 
sistance and  counsel  to  the  eari  of  Angus,  and  keeping  a 


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treasonable  convocation  with  his  brother  George  Douglas  at 
Newcastle.  He  appeared  personally  in  parliament  18th  July 
1589,  to  answer  the  sonimons,  and  the  king's  advocate  hav- 
ing passed  from  the  latter  charges,  he  snbmitted  himself,  as 
to  the  former,  **  to  the  king's  will,**  as  the  phrase  was  in 
those  days  of  arbitrary  power.  On  the  2l8t  Aogost  he  was 
ordered  to  enter  himself  in  ward  in  the  castle  of  Blackness. 
This  order  he  disobeyed,  and  retiring  to  England,  associated 
with  **  Archibald  snm  tyme  earl  of  Angniss,  and  George 
Dou^ce,  his  broder-german,  his  grace's  rebellis,  and  trai- 
towis,  traitand  with  yame  ye  destructioane  of  his  grace,  his 
lieges  and  realme."  This  rash  and  treasonable  prooeedmg, 
however,  he  did  not  long  sorvive,  having  died  previoos  to  the 
lOtb  of  Jannary  1541,  on  which  day  a  summons  was  exe- 
cuted against  his  widow  and  children,  to  see  and  hear  that 
'*  the  sud  deceased  James  Colville,  while  hd  lived,  had  in- 
corred  the  crime  of  lese-miyesty,  for  his  disobedience  to  enter 
himself  in  ward,  as  just  mentioned."  He  was  accordingly 
forfeited  on  the  15th  March  1541.  His  estate  was  annexed 
to  the  crown,  but  was  afterwards  given  to  Norman  Leslie  of 
the  family  of  Rothes.  The  forfeiture  was  rescinded  in  par- 
liament on  12th  December  1548,  under  the  direction  of  Car- 
dinal Bethune,  which  so  offended  the  Leslies  that,  according 
to  Father  Hay,  it  was  the  proximate  cause  of  his  murder  by 
Norman  Leslie.  {Hay'B  Memoir$^  MS.^  vol.  il.  p.  IO8.3  Sir 
James  Colville  married,  first,  Alison,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir 
David  Bruce  of  Clackmannan ;  secondly,  Margaret  Forrester, 
who  survived  him.  Besides  other  children,  he  had  a  son, 
James,  and  two  daughters;  Margaret,  married  to  James 
Lindsay  of  Dowhill,  Kinross-shire,  and  Alison,  mentioned  in 
the  records  of  parliament,  1540.  He  had  likewise  two  natu- 
ral sons,  specified  in  the  charter  of  Easter  Wemyss,  dated  ic. 
1580-1 ;  namely,  Robert,  ancestor  of  the  Lords  ColvOle  of 
Ochiltree,  and  James,  who  had  a  charter  of  the  lands  of 
Crummy,  8l8t  May  1565. 

Sir  James  Colville,  his  legitimate  son,  was  only  eight  years 
of  age  at  his  father's  death.  His  Other's  forfeiture,  as  al- 
ready stated,  was  rescinded  by  parliament  12th  December 
l543  in  his  favour,  and  he  had  a  charter  (^the  lands  of  Eas- 
ter Wemyss  in  1554.  He  died  in  1580.  By  his  wife,  Janet, 
second  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Douglas  of  Lochleven,  sister  of 
William,  sixth  earl  of  Morton,  he  had  two  sons;  Sir  James, 
and  Alexander,  ooomiendator  of  Culross  and  a  lord  of  session, 
who  carried  on  the  line  of  the  family,  of  whom  afterwards. 

Sir  James  Colville  of  Easter  Wemyss,  the  elder  son,  first 
Lord  Colville  of  Cnbross,  served  with  much  reputation  in  the 
French  wars,  under  Henry  of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  the 
Fourth  of  France.  On  Friday  27th  July  1582,  he  returned 
to  Scotland  in  company  of  Francis  Stewart,  earl  of  Bothwell, 
bringing  letters  from  the  king  of  Navarre  and  prince  of  Conde 
to  King  James.  He  was  one  of  those  who  were  engaged  in 
the  raid  of  Ruthven,  on  the  22d  August  following,  and  his 
name  appears  among  others  in  the  sentence  of  forfeiture  after- 
wards passed  agunst  the  members  of  the  raid.  They  subse- 
quently got  a  remission  from  the  king,  which  was  confirmed 
by  the  estates.  He  had  a  charter  of  the  manor  of  Culross, 
Valleyfield,  ftc,  erected  into  the  temporal  barony  of  Culross, 
20th  June  1589,  but  was  not  designed  Lord  Culross.  Having 
obtained  a  grant  of  the  landed  property  of  the  Cistertian  ab- 
bey of  Culross,  on  the  resignation  of  his  nephew,  John,  they 
were  erected  into  a  temporal  lordship,  and  Sir  James  Colville 
was  created  a  peer,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Colville  of  Culross, 
to  him  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body,  which  failing,  to  his 
heirs  male  whatsoever,  20th  January  1609.  In  Carmichaers 
Tracts  the  date  of  his  creation  is  fixed  at  25th  April  1604, 
and  Lord  Colvil  of  Culroese  is,  in  the  list  of  the  nobility  set- 


tled by  the  decreet  of  ranking,  5th  May  1606,  placed  btfore 
the  Lord  Scoon. 

According  to  the  Old  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  (vol. 
XV.  page  212),  after  his  return  from  France,  he  resided  at 
Tilliecoultry,  in  Clackmannanshire,  that  estate  b«nng  in  the 
Colvill  family  from  1483  to  1634,  when  it  was  sole  to  William 
Alexander  of  Menstrie,  afterwards  earl  of  Stirling,  the  distin- 
guished poet  In  his  old  age.  Lord  Colville  revisited  the 
French  court  As  he  appeared  in  the  old-fashioned  military 
dress,  which  he  had  formerly  worn  in  the  wars,  the  courtiers 
were  all  amazed  when  he  entered  the  royal  presence.  But 
no  sooner  did  King  Heniy  observe  the  old  warrior  than  he 
clasped  him  in  his  arms,  and  embraced  him  with  the  great- 
est affection,  to  the  utter  astonishment  of  all  present  In  his 
latter  years  Lord  Colville  spent  much  of  his  time  at  Tlllie- 
ooultry.  He  was  particularly  fond  of  walking  on  a  beautiful 
terrace,  at  the  north  end  of  the  Kirkhill,  and  of  reposing  him- 
sell  under,  a  thorn- tree,  the  venerable  trunk  of  which  still  re- 
nudns.  It  unfortunately  happened  that  standing  one  day  on 
a  stone,  and  looking  up  to  the  thorn-tree,  describing  his  bat- 
tles, he  fell  down  the  sloping  bank  of  the  terrace,  and  it  is 
said  was  killed  on  the  spot  in  the  year  1620.  His  lordship 
was  twice  married,  first,  to  Isabel,  second  daughter  of  Patrick, 
Lord  Ruthven,  sister  of  William,  first  earl  of  Gowrie,  and 
secondly  to  Helen  Shaw,  relict  of  Robert  Moubray,  younger 
of  ^ambougle.  By  his  first  wife  only  he  had  issue ;  namely, 
two  sons,  James  and  Robert,  who  both  died  before  their  fa- 
ther; and  a  daughter,  Jane,  married  to  Sir  James  Campbell 
of  Lawers,  and  the  mother  of  John,  earl  of  Loudoun,  lord 
high  chancellor  of  Scotland. 

Robert,  master  of  Colville,  the  second  son,  had  charters  of 
the  barony  of  Easter  Wemyss  in  1598,  and  on  his  death  in 
1615,  he  left  a  son,  James,  second  Lord  Colville  of  Culross, 
who  succeeded  his  grandfather,  the  first  lord,  in  1620,  and 
died,  without  issue,  in  1640.  His  cousm,  John  Colville  of 
Westercumbrie,  son  of  Alexander  Colville  commendator  of  Cul- 
ross, younger  brother  of  the  first  Lord  Colville,  fell  heir  to  tlie 
title,  but  did  not  assume  it,  and  it  remained  dormant  till  May 
1723,  when  it  was  taken  up  by  his  descendant  as  after  men- 
tioned. About  the  period  of  the  death  of  James  second  Lord 
Colville  the  lands  of  Easter  Weroyits  were  purchased  by  John 
first  earl  of  Wemyss,  and  joined  to  the  barony  of  Wemyss, 
after  a  separation  of  two  hundred  years. 

We  now  revert  to  Alexander  Colville,  abbot  or  ooomienda- 
tor of  Cuhx>s8,  who  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  James  Colville 
of  Easter  Wemyss,  above  mentioned.  He  had  a  charter  for 
all  the  days  of  his  life,  of  the  abbey  of  Culroes,  4th  February 
1566-7,  and  it  was  declared  by  act  of  secret  council,  20th 
January  1574,  that  five  hundred  marks  only  should  be  paid 
by  him  for  the  thirds  of  this  benefice.  He  adhered  to  the 
party  of  King  James  the  Sixth,  in  the  dvil  wars  in  Scotland 
of  the  sixteenth  centniy,  and  during  the  regency  of  the  earl 
of  Morton  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  *the  coiurt  of 
session,  before  the  20th  October  1575.  On  the  15th  July 
1578,  a  commission  was  appointed  by  parliament  to  '*  visit, 
sycht,  and  consider"  the  laws,  of  which  he  was  named  a 
member ;  and  he  was  at  the  same  time  constituted  one  of  the 
parliamentary  arbiters  to  stanch  a  deadly  feud  then  existing 
between  the  great  families  of  Gordon  and  Forbes,  to  the  de- 
cision of  which  the  ordinary  judicatories  were  deemed  une- 
qual. On  11th  November  1579,  he  was  named  a  privy 
cooncillor  by  act  of  parliament,  and  was  also  appointed  a 
lord  of  the  articles,  and  a  commissioner  for  settling  the  juris- 
diction of  the  church.  He  was  present  at  Holyrood  House 
on  the  19th  October  1582,  when  James  was  forced  to  emit  a 
declaration  approving  of  the  raid  of  Ruthven,  but  he  does  not 


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COLVILLE  OF  CULROSS, 


672 


LORD. 


appear  to  have  taken  any  very  promment  share  in  that  enter- 
prize.  In  1585»  after  the  return  of  Hamilton,  Angus,  and 
the  other  baniahed  lords,  he  was  again  chosen  a  privy  conn- 
cillor  with  advice  of  parliament.  In  the  end  of  May  1587, 
on  aoooont  of  ilhiess  he  resigned  his  seat  on  the  bench,  and 
on  the  first  of  June,  his  nephew,  John  Colnlle,  precentor  or 
chanter  of  Glasgow,  was  appointed  in  his  place.  This  trans- 
action appears  to  have  been  only  a  family  arrangement,  as  on 
the  2l8t  of  the  same  month  of  Jnne,  the  uncle,  having  in 
the  meantime  recovered  his  health,  made  his  appearance  in 
court,  with  his  nephew,  when  the  latter  dutifully  resigned 
his  seat  on  the  bench,  which  he  had  held  only  nineteen  davs, 
and  the  former  was  re-appointed.  In  1592,  the  commission 
for  reformation  of  hospitals  was  revived,  the  commendator  of 
Culroas  being  again  appointed  a  member.  He  died  in  1597, 
it  is  supposed  in  ilay,  as  his  successor  was  appointed  on  the 
24th  of  that  month.  Lord  CuhtMs  collected  the  decisions  of 
the  court  of  session  from  1570  to  1584.  By  his  wife,  Nico- 
las, daughter  of  Alexander  Dnndas  of  Fingask,  he  had,  with 
two  daughtors,  two  sons,  John  of  Wester  Cumbrie,  and  Alex- 
ander, professor  of  divinity  in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  appointed  justice  depute  2d  June  1607.  Of  John  Col- 
ville,  chanter  of  Glasgow,  above  mentioned,  an  account  is 
given  below. 

John  Colville  of  Wester  Cumbrie,  elder  son  of  Alexander 
Colville,  commendator  of  Culross,  became  of  right,  on  the 
death  of  his  cousin  in  1640,  third  baron,  but  he  did  not  as- 
sume the  title ;  and  he  died  shortly  afterwards.  By  his  wife 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Melville  of  Hallhill,  he  had 
three  sons.  His  eldest  son,  Alexander  Colville  of  Kincar- 
dine, of  right  fourth  Lord  Colville  of  Culross,  like  his  father, 
did  not  assume  the  title.  He  was  professor  of  divinity  at 
Sedan  in  France,  and  by  his  wife,  Ann  le  Blanc,  had  two 
sons.  The  elder,  John  Colville  of  Kincardine,  who  also  de- 
clined to  assume  the  title  of  Lord  Colville,  married  Mary, 
second  daughter  of  Sir  George  Preston  of  Vallejfield,  baronet, 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  elder, 
Alexander,  by  right  nxth  baron,  who  likewise  declined  the 
title.  By  his  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Sir  Charles 
Erskine  of  Cambo,  baronet,  lord  lyon  king  at  arms,  a  younger 
brother  of  the  second  and  third  earls  of  Kellie,  he  had  five 
sons  and  tax  daughters. 

John  Colv^le,  the  eldest  son,  of  right  seventh  Ix)rd  Col- 
ville of  Cnlross,  was  an  ensign  at  the  battle  of  Malplaquet  in 
1709.  On  8d  April  1722  he  was  served  heir  to  John  second 
Ix>rd  Colville  of  Culross ;  and  at  the  general  election  on  the 
2 1st  of  that  month,  he  requested  to  be  added  to  the  roll  of 
peers,  but  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  the  peerage  was 
not  upon  the  roll  at  the  time  of  the  Union.  Next  year  he 
presented  a  petition  to  the  king,  under  the  designation  of 
"  John  Lord  Colville  of  Culross,"  claiming  the  peerage.  Be- 
ing referred  to  the  Honse  of  Lords,  27th  May  1723,  the  claim 
was  determined  in  his  favour,  and  his  lordship  was  accord- 
ingly placed  on  the  roll,  after  Lord  Cardross  and  before  Lord 
Cranstoun.  In  1727  Lord  Colville  was  an  officer  in  the  26th 
regiment  of  foot  or  Cameronians,  at  the  siege  of  Gibraltar, 
and  the  same  year  was  promoted  to  a  company  of  the  25th 
foot.  In  1739,  when  war  was  declared  agamst  Spam,  his 
lordship  was  appointed,  with  the  rank  of  lientenuit-oolonel, 
to  the  command  of  a  battalion  in  Colonel  Gooch*s  American 
regiment,  and  in  1741  proceeded  to  Cartllagena,  where  he 
fell  a  victim  to  the  epidemic  disease  so  fatal  to  thousands,  on 
board  a  transport  in  the  harbour,  in  April  1741,  in  the  52d 
year  of  his  age.  When  in  Ireland  in  1716,  his  lordship  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Johnston,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and  three 
duughters. 


His  next  brother,  the  Hon.  Charles  Cohdlle,  bom  in  1691, 
was  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  army,  and  oommerKsed  bis 
military  career  as  a  cadet  at  the  battle  of  Malplaquet  in  1709. 
In  the  following  year  he  had  an  ensign's  conuniaaion  in  the 
26th  or  Cameronian  regiment  of  foot,  in  which  also  his  elder 
brother  was  an  officer.  In  1715  he  was  wounded  at  the  at- 
tack on  the  rebels  at  Preston,  in  Lancashire.  In  1727  he 
served  at  Gibraltar  during  the  si^  of  that  fortress,  and  was 
tliere  in  1735,  when  he  was  promoted  to  a  company  in  the 
same  regiment.  In  1741  he  was  appointed  ra^or  to  the  21st 
regiment  of  foot,  or  Royal  North  British  fusileers,  which  be 
accompanied  to  Flanders.  At  the  battle  of  Dettingen  in 
1743,  his  horse  was  shot  under  him,  and  he  received  three 
cuts  in  the  arm.  In  1745  he  commanded  his  regiment  at 
the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  in  which  three  of  the  fingers  of  his 
left  hand  were  shot  off,  and  besides  other  slighter  hurts,  be 
received  a  severe  wound  in  his  foot.  The  same  year  he  was, 
with  the  fusileers,  at  Ostend,  when  it  was  besieged  by  the 
French,  and  in  1746  he  commanded  his  regiment  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Culloden.  The  following  jear  he  was  ordered  back  to 
Flanders,  and  commanded  the  regiment  at  the  battle  of  L»- 
feldt,  in  1747.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  in 
1770,  and  died  at  Edinburgh,  unmarried,  29th  August,  1775. 
in  his  85th  year.  The  Hon.  Alexander  Colville,  the  next 
brother,  entered  the  royal  navy  in  1710,  but  on  the  redaction 
of  the  naval  force  at  the  peace  he  retired  from  the  serrioe, 
and  was  appointed  collector  of  the  customs  at  Dundee,  whence 
he  was,  in  1735,  removed  to  Invemen,  where  he  died,  un- 
married, 20th  April  1765. 

Alexander,  dghtb  baron  (but  the  fourth  who  assumed  the 
title),  eldest  son  of  the  seventh  baron  Ccdville  of  Culross,  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  naval  officer.  He  was  bom  24tb 
Febraary  1717,  and  entered  the  navy  in  1781.  On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1739,  he  was  appointed  lieutenant 
of  a  bomb  vessel,  and  sailed  to  the  West  Indies  under  Ad- 
miral Vernon.  He  was  employed  in  the  bombardment  and 
destraction  of  Fort  Chagre,  and  then  proceeded  to  the  ex{M- 
dition  against  Carthagena,  where,  in  1741,  he  performed  the 
mournful  office  of  closing  the  eyes  of  his  father.  He  soon 
afterwards  returned  to  England,  lieutenant  in  the  Hampton 
Court,  and  then,  sailing  to  the  Mediterranean,  joined  the 
fleet  under  Admiral  Matthews,  who  appointed  him  master 
and  commander,  and,  6th  March  1744,  promoted  him  to  tht 
rank  of  post-captain  with  the  command  of  the  Leopard  of  50 
gims.  After  the  peace  in  1749,  his  lordship  returned  co 
England,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Success  frigate,  destined 
for  the  Boston  station.  He  subsequently  got  the  command 
of  the  Northumberland,  a  guardship  at  Plymouth,  on  board 
of  which  he  went  to  America  under  Admiral  Boscawen  in 
1755.  Two  years  afterwards  he  accompanied  Admin]  Hol- 
burae  in  the  ineffectual  expedition  against  Loubbnig,  and 
was  left  at  Halifax,  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  command  of  the  ships 
on  that  station,  with  a  commodore's  broad  pendant,  in  the 
winter  of  1757-8.  In  the  latter  year  he  served  under  Ad- 
miral Boscawen  at  the  reduction  of  Lonisborg,  and  was  again 
left  in  command  of  the  ships  in  North  America.  When 
Quebec  was  besieged  by  the  French  in  the  winter  of  1759-60 
Lord  Colville  received  directions  to  proceed  with  a  squadron 
to  the  relief  of  that  place,  as  soon  as  the  navigation  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  was  open.  He  arrived  at  Quebec,  \8th  May  1760, 
at  a  period  of  the  year  earlier  than  it  was  ever  known  ihat  a 
ship  of  war,  far  less  a  squadron,  had  ever  gone  so  high  up  the 
river.  On  receiving  notice  of  his  approach,  the  French  raised 
the  siege,  and  made  a  precipitate  retreat  two  days  previoDS 
to  his  arrival.  After  an  expedition  from  Halifkx  to  drive  tht 
French  out  of  Newfoundland,  which  they  had  got  posseaaior 


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of  by  snrprisef  and  recovering  that^important  island,  his  lord- 
ship returned  to  England,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
rear-admiral  of  the  white,  2l8t  October  1762.  The  prelimi- 
naries of  peace  at  this  time  only  prevented  him  from  obtain- 
ing the  chief  command  in  the  Mediterranean.  He  continued 
with  bis  flag  flying  at  Spithead,  and  doing  the  dnty  of  port- 
admiral  at  Portsmouth,  till  peace  was  concluded,  when  he  was 
appointed  to  the  same  station  at  Pljrmouth.  At  the  e&mest 
request  of  Ix)rd  Sandwich,  then  first  lord  of  the  admiralty, 
he  consented  to  resume  the  command  in  North  America,  and 
hoisting  his  flag  on  board  the  Komney  of  60  guns,  proceeded 
to  Halifax,  in  order  to  protect  the  coast  of  North  America, 
and  the  new  conquests  in  the  gulf  and  river  of  St.  Law- 
rence. There  ho  remained  till  1766,  when  he  retired  from 
the  service.  In  1768  he  fijced  his  residence  in  Scotland, 
and  in  1769  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  vice-admiral.  He 
died,  without  legitimate  issue,  at  Drumsheugh,  near  Edin- 
botgh,  21st  May  1770,  in  the  54th  year  of  his  age.  He  mar- 
ried, Ist  October  1768,  \jidy  Elisabeth  Erskine,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  sixth  earl  of  Kellie,  widow  of  Walter  MacFarhme 
of  MacFarlane,  the  eminent  antiquary.  He  was  succeeded 
by  a  younger  brother,  John,  fifth  (properly  ninth)  Lord 
Colville  of  Gulross.  His  next  brother,  Charles,  died  an  infant 
George,  the  third  brother,  an  officer  in  the  army,  was  nomi- 
nated in  1789  one  of  the  thirty  lieutenants  sent  out  to  North 
America,  to  disciplme  Colonel  Gooch^s  new  raised  regiment, 
destined  for  the  Carthagena  expedition,  but  died  of  a  fever  at 
New  York,  in  his  twentieth  year.  Another  brother,  also 
named  Charles,  bom  April  21, 1726,  was  an  officer  in  the  same 
regiment  as  his  uncle,  the  Royal  North  British  fusileers,  and 
first  served  as  a  cadet  at  the  battle  of  Dettingen.  At  the 
battle  of  Fontenoy  he  was  shot  through  the  cheek.  He  was 
subsequently  at  Ostend,  then  besieged  by  the  French,  and 
afterwards,  under  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  pursned  the  rebels 
into  Scotland.  In  1747  he  was  at  the  battle  of  Lafeldt,  and 
in  1/51  accompanied  his  regiment  to  Gibraltar.  Being  or- 
dered, with  a  detachment  of  that  garrison,  on  board  the  fleet 
commanded  by  Admiral  Byng,  he  was  present  in  the  action 
with  the  French  off  Minorca,  for  which  that  unfortunate 
naval  commander  waS  tried  and  executed.  Captain  Colville 
returned  to  England  with  his  regiment  in  1759,  and  in  1761 
was  in  the  expedition  agunst  Belleisle.  He  died  at  Newcas- 
tle, on  his  march  with  the  21st  into  Scotland,  15th  March 
1763,  in  the  87th  year  of  his  age,  unmarried.  The  Hon. 
James  Colville,  the  seventh  and  youngest  son,  entei-ed  the 
royal  navy  in  1744,  and  sailed  to  the  East  Indies  with  Admi- 
ral Watson.  He  commanded  the  Newcastle  in  the  engage- 
ment betwixt  Admirals  Pooock  and  D'Ache,  8d  August  1758, 
when  the  French  were  defeated.  He  had  the  rank  of  captain 
in  the  royal  navy  17tb  October  of  the  same  year,  and  com- 
manded the  same  ship  in  the  engagement  between  the  same 
admirals,  10th  August  1759,  when,  afler  a  very  severe  action, 
the  French  were  obliged  to  retreat.  Subsequently  he  was 
promoted  to  the  command  of  the  Sunderland  of  60  guns,  one 
of  Admiral  Stevens^  squadron  employed  in  the  blockade  of 
Pondicheny,  and  from  his  spirit  and  ardour  to  carry  on  the 
important  service  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  would  not  put 
to  sea  on  the  approach  of  a  dreadful  hurricane,  because  no 
signal  to  that  effect  was  made  by  the  admiral ;  in  consequence 
of  which  the  Sunderland,  with  other  ships  of  that  squadron, 
foundered  on  the  21st  of  January  1761,  and  Captain  Colville 
perished,  with  all  his  ship*8  company,  except  two  black  sail- 
makers,  in  the  27th  year  of  his  age,  unmarried. 

John,  the  fifth  who  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  Colville,  was 
bom  at  Dundee  24th  January  1724,  old  style,  and  entering 
the  army  in  Januarv  1741,  served  in  the  West  Indies,  under 


General  Wentworth.  His  regiment  being  disbandtNi,  he  re- 
turned to  England  early  in  1748,  and  in  the  following  June, 
became  first  lieutenant  in  the  2l8t  foot,  or  Royal  North  Brit- 
ish fusileers,  in  which  also  his  brother  and  uncle  held  com- 
missions. He  was  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy;  in  Ostend, 
when  besi^ed  the  same  year ;  served  under  the  duke  of  Cum- 
berland, at  the  taking  of  Carlisle  that  winter;  at  the  battle 
of  Culloden,  and  at  the  action  of  Lafeldt.  In  1761  he  ac- 
companied his  regiment  to  Belleisle,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
which  was  reduced  after  the  capture  of  the  citadel  of  Palais, 
the  capital  of  the  island.  In  1764  he  reUred  from  the  army, 
after  a  service  of  twenty-four  years,  and  had  the  office  ot 
inspector-general  of  the  outposts  m  Scotland.  He  succeeded 
to  the  title,  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  in  1770.  He  mar- 
ried at  Gibraltar,  18th  July  1758,  Miss  Webber,  by  whom  he 
had  eight  sons  and  four  daughters.  His  lordship  died  in 
1811,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  fourth  son,  the  Hon.  John 
Colville ;  his  two  eldest  bom  having  died  while  infants,  and 
his  third  son,  the  Hon.  James  John  Colville,  a  naval  officer, 
having  died,  unmarried,  18tb  February,  1786,  in. the  23d 
year  of  his  age. 

John,  sixth  Lord  Colville  of  Oulross  who  assumed  the  title, 
but  the  tenth  baron,  bom  15th  March  1768,  entered  the  navy 
in  1780,  and  was  present  in  Ix>rd  Rodney's  action  with  Count 
de  Grasse,  12th  April  1782.  He  served  at  the  capture  of  the 
West  India  Islands  in  1794.  He  attained  the  rank  of;  post- 
captain  6th  December  1796,  and  was  in  command  of  the  Am- 
buscade frigate  of  36  guns,  when  the  peace  of  Amiens  took 
place,  March  27,  1802.  On  the  renewal  of  hostilities  he  was 
appointed  to  the  Romney  of  50  gnns,  which  was  wreidced  on 
the  coast  of  Holland,  25th  November  1804,  but  was  ^ved 
and  sent  home,  with  his  officers,  by  the  humane  Dutch 
admunl,  Kerkert  He  commanded  L'HercnIe  in  the  expedi- 
tion to  Copenhagen  in  1807,  and  attained  the  rank  of  admiral 
of  the  white  in  Febroary  1847.  He  was  one  of  the  represen- 
tative peers  of  Scotland  and  an  extra  lord  of  the  bed-chamber 
to  Prince  Albert.  Bis  lordship  married  first,  at  Weeford,  in 
Staffordshire,  14th  October  1790,  Elizabeth,  third  daughter 
of  Francis  Ford  of  the  island  of  Barbadoea,  sister  of  Sir  Fron- 
ds Ford,  baronet,  M.P.,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  who 
died  an  infant  Lady  Colville  died  in  1889,  and  his  lordsliip 
married  secondly,  15th  October  1841,  the  Hon.  Anne  Law, 
third  daughter  of  the  first  Lord  EUenborough,  but  by  her 
had  no  issue.  His  lordship  died  in  December  1849.  His 
next  brother  and  his  youngest  brother,  belh  died  infants. 
The  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Colville,  the  sixth  son  of  the  fifth  (pro- 
perly ninth)  Lord  Colville,  bora  in  1770,  was^an  officer  in  the 
army,  and  in  1796  became  lieutenant-oobnel  of  the  18tli  re- 
^ment  of  foot,  which  he  commanded  in  the  memorable  cam- 
paign in  Egypt  in  1801,  and  in  the  various  active  services  in 
which  that  regiment  was  subsequently  employed.  He  had 
the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  army,  1st  January  1805,  was  aftei- 
wards  a  brigadier-general  in  the  West  India  staff,  and  com- 
manded a  brigade  at  the  capture  of  Martinique  in  1809.  Ho 
was  0.  C.  B.,  G.  C.  H.  and  K.  T.  S.,  a  general  in  the  army, 
and  colonel  in  the  5th  loot,  and  distmguished  himself  in  the 
late  war.  He  married  ui  1818,  Jane,  ddest  daughter  of  Wil- 
iiam  Mure,  Esq.  of  Caldwell  in  Ayrshire,  by  whom  he  had 
two  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  died  27th  Mardi^  1843. 
On  the  2lBt  of  May,  scarcely  two  months  after  his  death,  his 
widow.  Lady  Colville,  expired  at  her  residence,  Rosslyn 
House,  Haropstead,  from  the  effects  of  ii^juries  she  receivod 
from  her  dress  taking  fire.  His  next  brother,  the  Hon 
George  Colville,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  41st  regiment  of  foot, 
and  after  havmg  survived  all  the  dangers  and  fatigues  of  a 
most  active  (ligbt  infantry)  service,  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Bour- 

2.  u 


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bon,  and  in  the  redaction  of  the  three  islands  under  Sir 
Cliarles  Grey,  fell  a  victim  to  the  pestilential  fever  at  St  Do- 
mingo on  24th  June  1794,  in  the  24th  year  of  his  age. 

The  tenth  baron  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Charles 
John  Colville,  eleventh  baron  and  seventh  Lord  Colville  of 
OulroHs.  eldest  son  of  the  Hon.  General  Sir  Charles  Colville. 
G.C.B.  He  WHS  bom  at  Edinburgh  in  1818,  succeeded  his  , 
uncle  in  Dec  1849.  and  was  at  one  period  a  captain  in  the 
eleventh  hussnrs.  He  was  elected  a  representative  peer  of 
Scotland  in  August  1861;  for  some  time  chief  equerry  and 
clerk  marshal  to  hermHJesty.  He  married  in  1853  the  eldest 
daughter  of  second  Lord  Carriagton;  issue,  a  son,  Hon. 
Charles  Robert,  master  of  Culross,  bom  1854,  and  a  daughter. 


Colville  of  Ochiltree,  Lord,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of 
Scotland,  first  conferred  on  4th  January  1651,  on  Robert 
I  Colville  of  Cleish,  great-grandson  of  Robert  Colville,  natural 
son  of  Sir  James  Colville  of  Easter  Wemyss,  above  mentioned, 
who  granted  to  his  said  son  and  Francesca  Colquhoim  his 
wife  (by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  three  danghters)  a  charter 
of  the  barony  of  Cleish,  in  Kinross-shire,  loth  July  1537, 
confirmed  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month.  This  Robert  Col- 
ville, the  first  styled  of  Cleish,  was  forfeited  by  parliament, 
10th  December  1540,  for  treason,  having,  like  his  father, 
favoured  the  Douglases;  but  his  forfeiture  was  rescinded,  I2th 
December  1543.  He  held  the  office  of  master  of  the  house- 
nold  to  Lord  James  Stewart,  afterwards  the  regent  Murray, 
and  was  a  hearty  promoter  of  the  Reformation.  He  joined 
the  lords  of  the  Congregation,  and  in  June  1559,  when  Knox 
had  announced  his  intention  of  preaching  in  the  Cathedral 
church  of  St  Andrews,  Archbishop  Hamilton  denred  him  to 
tell  the  lords  that  in  case  John  Knox  presented  himself  to  the 
preaching  place  in  his  town  and  cathedral  church  he  should 
be  saluted  with  a  dozen  of  hacquebuts.  Knox  set  the  proud 
prelate's  threats  at  defiance,  and  preached  in  spite  of  him. 
He  was  in  their  army  in  the  attack  upon  the  French  at 
Leith,  7th  May  1560,  when  he  received  a  shot  m  the  thigh, 
and  died  two  hours  afterwards.  Knot  describes  him  as  **  a 
modest,  stout,  and  wise  man." 

Robert,  first  Lord  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  was  the  elder  of 
two  sons  of  Robert  Colville  of  Cleish,  grandson  of  the  above, 
6y  his  wife  Beatrix,  daughter  of  John  Haldane  of  Gleneagles. 
He  was  served  heir  to  his  father,  12th  September  1643,  and 
^as  knighted  by  Charles  the  First  On  the  4th  January 
1651,  as  already  stated,  he  was  created  a  peer  by  Charles  the 
Second,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  by  patent, 
to  him  and  his  heirs  male.  He  married  Janet,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  John  Wemyss  of  Wemyss,  sister  of  the  first  earl  of 
Wemyss,  but  had  no  issue.  He  died  at  Crombie,  25th 
August  1662,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Robert,  the 
son  of  his  brother  David. 

Robert,  second  Lord  Colville  of  Ochiltree,  married  Marga- 
ret, daughter  of  David  Wemyss  of  Fingask,  by  whom  he  had, 
with  two  daughters,  (the  elder,  Margaret,  wife  of  Sir  John 
Ayton  of  Ayton,  and  the  younger  married  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Logan,  minister  of  Tony,)  a  son,  Robert  Colville,  third  Lord 
Colville  of  Ochiltree,  who  died  without  issue.  Robert  Ayton, 
his  grandnephew,  his  heir  of  line,  took  the  name  of  Colville, 
and  was  designated  Robert  Ayton  Colville  of  Craigfiower. 
The  titie  was  assumed  by  David  Colville,  son  of  William 
Colville,  tenant  at  Balcormie  Mill  in  Fife,  but  he  never  voted 
at  the  elections  of  Scots  representative  peers.  He  held  the 
rank  of  major,  and  died  unmarried  in  London  8th  Februaiy 
1782,  when  his  pretensions  to  the  peerage  descended  to  his 
cousin,  Robert  Colville,  whose  vote,  registered  at  the  election 
of  1788,  was  subsequently  disallowed  by  the  house  of  Lords. 


The  Colvills  of  Clontarf  house,  county  Dublin,  Ireland, 
are  descended  from  James  Colvill  (stated  to  be  a  broUier 
of  John,  third  Lord  Colvill^  of  Culroes,  and  of  the  Rev 
Alexander  Colville,  D.D.,  professor  of  divinity  at  St  An 
drews,  Fife,  and  afterwards  surrogate  of  Down,  father  of  Sir 
Robert  Colvill,  and  great-grandfather  of  the  first  countesa 
of  Mountcashell),  who  went  to  Ireland  in  1630,  and  settled 
in  the  north. 

COLVILLE,  John,  a  controvereial  writer,  of  a 
turbulent  and  restless  disposition,  of  the  family  of 
Colville  of  Easter  Wemyss,  was  some  time  min- 
ister of  Kilbride  and  chanter  or  precentor  of 
Glasgow.  In  1578,  for  nonresidence  at  his 
chorch,  he  was  ordered  by  the  General  As- 
sembly "  to  be  taken  order  withal  by  the  synod 
of  Glasgow,  for  deserting  of  his  ministry ;"  and 
having  obtained  an  introduction  to  Court,  he 
was  appointed,  in  1579,  Master  of  Reqaeste.  He 
was  soon  after  engaged  in  the  treasonable  conspi- 
racy of  the  raid  of  Ruthven,  and  was  on  that  oc- 
casion sent  by  the  conspirators  as  their  represen- 
tative to  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  had  favoured  the 
enterprise.  When  the  king  recovered  his  liberty, 
Colville  was  ordered  to  enter  in  ward,  but  in- 
stead of  doing  so,  he  retired  to  England,  and  Au- 
gust 22,  1584,  forfeited  in  parliament.  He  was 
soon,  however,  restored  to  favour ;  and  on  June 
2d,  1587,  he  was  appointed  by  the  king  a  lord  of 
session  in  the  room  of  his  uncle,  Alexander  Col- 
ville, commendator  of  Culross,  who  had  resigned 
from  illness.  This  ofilce,  hoi^ver,  he  did  not 
hold  long,  for,  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month, 
his  uncle  having  recovered  his  health,  resumed 
his  seat  on  the  bench,  and  the  nephew,  who, 
about  the  same  time,  represented  the  burgh  of 
Stirling  in  parliament,  seems  to  have  been  after- 
wards appointed  collector  of  the  taxation  granted 
for  King  James'  marriage  expenses. 

Being  disappointed  in  his  expectations  at  court, 
Colville  joined  the  turbulent  earl  of  Bothwell,  and 
was  with  him  when  he  made  his  attack  npon  the 
king  on  the  night  of  the  27th  December  1591,  for 
which  he  was  again  forfeited  in  parliament.  On 
the  24th  July  1593,  he  again  accompanied  Both- 
well  to  Holyroodhouse,  when  they  both  went  on 
their  knees  and  craved  pardon  for  then*  former 
attacks,  to  the  great  alarm  of  James,  and  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  court  and  city.  On  Bothwell's 
flight,  Colville  obtained  his  pardon,  by  betraying 
his  associates.    He  had  treacherously  given  assnr. 


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COMBE. 


auce  of  his  life  to  BothwelFs  nataral  brother, 
Hercules  Stewart,  who,  nevertheless,  was  hanged 
in  1595.  Finding,  in  consequence,  that  he  had 
fallen  into  disgrace  and  discredit  in  his  own  conn- 
try,  he  went  to  France.  Subsequently  he  made 
several  attempts  to  obtain  his  recall,  but  in  vain. 
He  then  became  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  wrote 
bitterly  against  the  protestants.  In  1600,  a  trea- 
tise by  him  was  published  at  Edinburgh,  entitled, 
*The  Palinode,'  which  he  represented  to  be  a 
refutation  of  a  former  work  of  his  own  against 
James*  title  to  the  English  crown.  This  was 
merely  a  manoeuvre  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
that  monarch,  as  no  such  work  had  he  ever 
written.  He  died  while  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome 
in  1607. — His  works  are: 

The  Palinode.    Edin.,  1600,  8vo. 

Panenesis  ad  Ministroe  Sootos  super  sua  oonversatione,  or 
Admonition  of  John  Colville  (lately  retumit  to  the  Catholic 
Roman  Religion,  in  whilk  he  was  baptesit  and  brocht  np  till 
he  bad  full  14  years  of  age)  to  his  oonntrymen ;  which  was 
translated  and  poblished  at  Paris  in  1602,  8vo. 

He  was  also  the  antbor  of  ^  Capita  Gontiroversa,"  and  *  De 
Causa  Comitis  Botbwellii.* 

Charters,  in  his  Uvea  of  Scotch  Writers,  (MSS,,  in  Advo- 
cates* Library)  adds  to  Colville's  works,  *Oratio  fiinebris 
Exequis  Elizabeth  destinata.* 

The  author  of  the  History  of  Sutherland  speaks  of  a  MS. 
relating  to  the  af&irs  of  Scotland,  by  Mr.  John  Colvin,  as  the 
name  Colville  was  sometimes  spelled  in  Scotland. 

COLVILLE,  sometimes  called  Colwil,  Alex- 
ander, a  Scottish  episcopalian  divine,  of  right 
fourth  lord  Colville  of  Culross,  was  bora  near  St. 
Andrews,  in  Fifeshire,  in  1620.  He  was  educated 
at  tiie  university  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  took  his 
degree  of  D.D.,  and  was  settled  minister  at 
Dysart.  In  early  life  he  had  been  professor  of 
theology  in  the  university  of  Sedan  in  France, 
'  under  the  patronage  of  the  Reformed  churches  in 
that  country.  Besides  delivering  lectures  on 
theology,  he  also  taught  Hebrew  in  that  seminary, 
— the  revival  of  the  study  of  which  language  was 
much  attended  to  by  protestants  on  the  continent. 
He  wrote  several  pieces  against  the  presbyterians, 
all  of  which  are  now  forgotten,  except  a  humorous 
poem,  entitled  '  The  Scotch  Hudibras,'  written  in 
the  manner  of  Butler.  He  died  at  Edinburgh  In 
1676.  There  seems  to  have  been  another  Colvil, 
who  also  wrote  an  imitation  of  Butler;  as,  in  1681, 
one  Samuel  Colvil  published  at  London,  *The 
Mock  Poem,  or  the  Whig's  Supplication,'  12mo. 


This  Alexander  Colville  is  often  confounded 
with  a  Mr.  William  Colville,  who  was  elected 
principal  of  the  univei-sity  of  Edinburgh,  on  the 
death  of  Principal  Adamson  in  1652.  He  was  at 
this  time  minister  of  the  English  church  at  Utrecht. 
He  accepted  the  invitation,  but  owing  to  some  ob- 
struction, it  is  thought,  on  the  part  of  Cromwell's 
goverament,  he  did  not  at  that  time  take  posses- 
sion of  the  office,  and  it  was  declared  vacant  on 
17th  January  1658.  As  he  had  given  in  his  de- 
mission to  his  church  and  left  HoUand,  he  was 
allowed  a  year's  stipend  for  his  trouble  and  ex- 
pense; and  Dr.  Leighton,  afterwards  bishop  of 
Dunblane,  was  elected  principal.  On  the  promo- 
tion of  Dr.  leighton  to  the  sec  of  Dunblane  in 
1662,  Mr.  William  Colville  was  admitted  principal 
of  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  Although  a  mem- 
ber of  the  General  Assembly,  he  had  espoused  the 
episcopal  doctrines  of  divine  right  and  absolute 
obedience  as  early  as' 1648,  and  he  even  went  so 
far  as  to  attempt  forming  a  party,  between  the 
presbyterians  and  episcopalians.  On  this  account 
he  had  been,  along  with  Mr.  Andrew  Ramsay, 
suspended  from  the  office  of  the  ministiy,  by  the 
Assembly,  which  sentence  was  revoked  in  1655. 
The  episcopalian  party,  says  Bower  in  his  History 
of  the  Univei-sity  of  Edinburgh,  (vol.  i.  p.  276,) 
represented  him  as  a  man  of  a  very  moderate 
temper,  and  alleged  that  he  had  been  offered  sev- 
eral Scottish  bbhoprics,  but  he  would  never  accept 
of  preferment.  He  was  the  author  of  a  work  en- 
titled *  Ethica  Christiana,'  which  was  in  consider- 
able repute  in  those  days.  His  sermons  on  the 
'  Righteous  Branch '  discover  a  great  vein  of  piety, 
as  well  as  show  that  his  religious  opinions  corre- 
sponded with  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith. 

CoLYEAR,  evidently  the  same  as,  and  derived  from,  Collier, 
a  snmame  assumed  by  Sir  Alexander  Robertson,  of  the  family 
of  Strowan,  created  a  baronet  20th  Febmaiy  1677,  and  the 
ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Portmore,  a  title  now  extinct — See 
PoRTMORB,  earl  of. 

COMBE,  Andrew,  M.D.,  an  eminent  physio- 
logical writer,  was  the  fifteenth  child  and  seventh 
son  of  George  Comb  or  Combe,  brewer  at  Living- 
ston's Yards,  (a  small  property  lying  under  the 
south-west  angle  of  Edinburgh  castle)  and  Marion 
Newton,  of  the  Newtons  of  CurriehiU,  his  wife, 
and  was  born  there  on  27th  October  1797.    He 


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CONGALTON. 


received  the  elementary  part  of  his  education  un- 
der a  Mr.  Brown,  one  of  the  town's  teachers,  who 
kept  a  school  in  Fi*ederick  street,  and  afterwards 
went  to  the  high  school.  In  October  1810  he  en- 
tered the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  attended 
the  Greek  and  Latin  classes  for  the  next  two  col- 
lege sessions.  In  181 2  he  was  bound  apprentice 
to  Mr.  Henry  Johnston,  surgeon  in  Edinburgh, 
and  after  attending  the  medical  classes  passed 
surgeon  in  1817.  He  subsequently  pursued  his 
studies  at  Paris,  and,  after  a  visit  to  Switzerland 
and  Lombardy,  returned  to  Edinburgh,  where,  on 
22d  February  1820,  he  was  one  of  the  four  indivi- 
duals who  founded  the  Phrenological  Society,  his 
brother,  George  Combe,  being  another.  He  sub- 
sequently, on  account  of  his  health,  went  to  Italy, 
and  there  and  in  France  remained  for  about  two 
years.  He  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  the  summer 
of  1822,  and  soon  after  entered  upon  practice. 
The  first  of  his  printed  essays  was  one  *^  on  the 
effects  of  injuries  of  the  brain  upon  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  mind,"  which  was  read  before  the 
Phrenological  Society,  and  subseqi^ently  published 
in  their  Transactions.  Subsequently  he  contri- 
buted several  essays  to  the  Phrenological  Journal, 
as  well  as  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Medical  Re- 
view. Having  become  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Medical  Society  of  Edinburgh,  an  essay  on  phren- 
ology written  by  him,  was  read  before  that  society, 
in  November  1823,  and  gave  rise  to  some  unplea- 
sant discussion  at  the  time,  the  opposition  to  that 
science  being  very  strongly  shown  by  the  membei's 
on  the  occasion.  In  1825  he  took  the  degree  of 
M.D.  In  reply  to  an  able  and  eloquent  article  of 
Mr.  Jeffrey  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  against 
phrenology.  Dr.  Combe  in  the  following  year  fur- 
nished an  essay  **  on  Size  as  a  measure  of  power" 
to  the  Phrenological  Journal.  In  1831  he  pub- 
lished a  work  on  mental  derangement,  which  re- 
ceived the  approbation  of  the  profession  and  had 
a  rapid  sale.  In  the  same  year,  in  consequence  of 
a  second  attack  of  pulmonary  disease,  he  proceed- 
ed to  Paris,  and  thence  by  Mai-seilles  to  Naples, 
and  after  visiting  Rome,  he  returned  to  Edin- 
burgh and  resumed  practice.  In  1834  appeared 
his  principal  work,  'On  Ph3'siology  applied  to 
health  and  education.'  In  January  1886,  on  the 
recommendation  of  Dr.   (afterwards  Sir  James) 


Clark,  he  was  appointed  physician  to  the  king  of 
the  Belgians,  but  in  a  few  months  was  obliged  to 
resign  his  appointment  from  bad  health.  He  ded- 
icated his  work  on  Physiology  to  his  majesty 
King  I^opold,  and  in  March  1838,  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  physicians  extraordinary  for 
the  queen  in  Scotland,  an  office  of  honour,  but 
without  duties  or  emolument.  Owing  to  increased 
bad  health  he  subsequently  made  two  voyages  to 
Madeira,  where  he  resided  for  some  time.  In 
April  1847  he  sailed  for  New  York,  and  after  vis- 
iting Philadelphia  he  returned  home  in  the  subse- 
quent June,  and  died  at  Gorgie  Mill,  near  Edin- 
burgh, 9th  August  of  that  year.  His  Life  and 
Correspondence  by  his  brother,  George  Combe,  was 
published  at  Edinbui-gh  in  1850,  with  a  portrait. 
Dr.  Combe's  works  are : 

The  Principles  of  Physiology  applied  to  the  preservation  of 
health,  and  to  the  improvement  of  physical  and  mental  edu- 
cation.    Edin.  1834.     18th  edition,  1850,  poet  8ro. 

The  Physiology  of  Digestion  considered  with  relation  to  the 
principles  of  Dietetics.  Edm.  1886.  Ninth  edition ;  edited 
and  adapted  to  the  present  state  of  physiotogical  and  chemi- 
cal science  by  James  Coxe,  M.D.,  crown  8vo,  1850. 

A  Treatise  on  the  Physiological  and  Moral  Management  of 
Infancy;  being  a  practical  exposition  of  the  principles  of  in> 
fant  training.     Edin.  1839.     7tli  edition,  erown  8vo,  1850. 

Experiments  and  Obsenrations  on  the  Gastric  Juice  and 
Physioiopy  of  Digestion ;  by  William  Beaumont,  M.D.,  Sur- 
geon to  the  United  States  army.  Reprinted  with  Notes  by 
Andrew  Combe,  M.D.,  1  vol.  post  8vo.     Edin. 

Phrenology;  its  Nutare  and  Uses.  An  Add  rras  to  the  Stu- 
dents of  Anderson's  University,  at  the  opening  of  Dr.  W«r*8 
first  course  of  Lectures  on  Phrenology  in  tliat  Institutiim,  8vq. 

COMBE,  Gkorgk.    See  Supplement. 

GoMRiB,  a  surname  derived  from  lands  of  that  name  in 
Perthshire,  now  a  parish  and  vilUge.  The  word  has  its  origin 
in  a  Gaelic  term  meaning  confluence. 


CoMTN.    See  Gumming. 


C!oNOALTON,  an  andent  surname  in  Scotland,  dorived  from 
the  barony  of  Congalton  in  the  parish  of  Dirleton  in  East 
Lothian.  The  family  of  Congalton  of  Congalton  subsisted 
for  twenty  generations  in  the  male  line.  The  first  on  reocvd 
was  Robert  de  Congaltoun,  who  witnessed  a  charter  of  Richard 
de  Moreville,  constable  of  Scotland,  without  date,  but  granted 
about  1162,  engraved  in  *Ander8on*s  Diplomata.'  In  the 
Ragman  Roll,  occurs  the  name  of  Walter  de  Congleton,  sup- 
posed by  Nisbet  to  be  one  of  this  family  The  name  occurs 
again  in  a  charter  by  Patrick  eari  of  March  of  the  lands  <A 
Stonypnth  in  181G.  "  On  8th  May  1509,  a  ro}'al  chart«-  was 
granted  by  King  James  the  Fourth  to  Heniy  Congalton  d 
Congalton,  of  the  king's  island  and  lands  of  Fetheray,  along 
with  the  hill  of  the  castle  (Monte-Castri)  of  the  same  called 
Tarbet;  also  all  and  whole  the  king's  island  and  lands  of 
Craigleith,  with  the  pertinents  of  the  same,  lying  within  the 


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Frith  of  Forth,  oountj  of  Edinburgh  and  constabiUarj  of 
Haddington,  creating,  uniting,  annexing,  and  incorporating 
all  these  islands,  lands,  and  hill  of  the  castle  aforesaid,  with 
the  pertinents  of  the  same,  in  one  whole  and  free  barony,  to 
be  called  the  barony  of  Tarbet,  to  be  held  of  the  king,  paying 
one  penny  of  Scots  money,  at  the  said  hill  of  the  castle  of 
Tarbet,  in  name  of  blench  farm  if  required,  along  with  the 
marriage  of  the  said  heirs  of  Henry  Congalton  when  it  shall 
happen.**    IGreat  Seal  Register^  Book  xv.,  No.  115.] 

The  elder  branch  of  the  family  succeeding  through  heiresses 
to  the  estates  of  Hepburn  of  Keith  in  East  Lothian,  and 
liickart  of  Rickartoun,  in  the  county  of  Kincardine,  assumed 
the  names  of  Rickart  and  Hepburn.  [See  Bickakt,  and 
HuPBUiiN,  surnames  of.*] 

Robert  Hepburn  Coa^ton  of  Keith  and  €k>ngalton,  the 
eighteenth  generatioa  of  the  family,  sold  Congalton  to  his 
brother,  Charles,  whose  son,  William  Congalton  of  Congalton, 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  David  Bethime  of  Balfour  in  Fife. 
His  son,  Charles  Congalton  of  Congalton,  succeeding  to  the 
estate  of  that  ancient  and  distinguished  family,  of  whom  was 
Cardinal  Bethnne,  took  the  name  and  arms  of  Bethune  of 
Balfour,  and  sold  Congalton,  which  was  afterwards  purchased 
by  the  heir  male,  Colonel  Robert  Rickart  Hepburn,  of  Keith 
and  Rickartonn,  member  of  parliament  for  the  county  of  Kin- 
cardhie,  who  dying  in  1804,  was  buried  with  his  ancestors  in 
the  church  of  Golyn.  Congalton  was  sold  to  a  gentleman  of 
the  name  of  Grant,  in  whose  family  it  remains. 


CoKSTABLB,  a  sunuune  derived  from  the  ancient  high  and 
honourable  office  of  comu  stabuH,  count  of  the  stable.  Under 
the  French  kings  the  person  who  held  this  office  was  the  first 
dignitary  uf  the  crown,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies, 
and  the  highest  judge  in  military  affairs.  In  England  there 
was  at  one  time  a  lord  high  constable  of  the  kingdom,  an 
officer  of  the  crown  of  the  highest  dignity.  The  earl  of  Errol 
is  hereditary  grand  constable  of  Scotland.  Constable  was 
the  family  name  of  the  viscounts  of  Dunbar,  a  title  dormant 
since  1721.     See  Dunbas,  Viscount. 

CONSTABLE,  Archibald,  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  publishers  that  Scotland  has  produced, 
was  born  February  24,  1775,  at  Kellie,  parish 
of  Cambee,  county  of  Fife.  He  was  the  son  of 
Thomas  Constable,  ovei-seer  or  laud-steward  on 
the  estate  of  the  earl  of  Kellie.  He  received  all 
the  education  he  ever  got  at  the  school  of  Carnbee. 
In  1788,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Peter  Hill, 
bookseller  in  Edinburgh,  the  friend  and  corre- 
spondent of  Bums.  While  ho  remained  with  Mr. 
Hill,  he  assiduously  devoted  himself  to  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  old  and  scarce  books,  and  particu- 
larty  of  the  early  and  rare  productions  of  the  Scot- 
tish press.  On  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship 
he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  David  Willison,  a 
respectable  printer  in  Edinburgh,  who  assisted 
him  shortly  after  his  commencing  business,  which 
he  did  in  1795,  in  a  small  shop  on  the  north  side 
of  the  High  street  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Constable's  obliging  manners,  professional 


intelligence,  personal  activity,  and  prompt  atten- 
tion to  the  wishes  of  his  visitoi's,  recommended 
him  to  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Amongst 
the  first  of  his  publications  of  any  importance 
were  Campbeirs  'History  of  Scottish  Poetry,* 
Dalyell's  *  Fragments  of  Scottish  History,'  and 
Ley  den's  edition  of  the  *  Complaint  of  Scotland/ 
In  1800  he  commenced  a  quarterly  work,  entitled 
the  *  Farmer's  Magazine,'  which,  under  the  man- 
agement of  Mr.  Robert  Brown  of  Markle,  ob- 
tained a  considerable  circulation  among  agricultu- 
rists. In  1801  he  became  proprietor  of  the  Scots 
Magazine,  a  curious  i-epository  of  the  history,  anti- 
quities, and  traditions  of  Scotland,  begun  in  1739. 
Mr.  Constable's  reputation  as  a  publisher  may 
be  said  to  have  commenced  with  the  appearance,  in 
October  1802,  of  the  first  number  of  the  Edinburgh 
Keview.  His  conduct  towards  the  conductors  and 
contributora  of  that  celebrated  Quarterly  was  at 
once  discreet  and  liberal ;  and  to  his  business  tact 
and  straightforward  deportment,  next  to  the  ge- 
nius and  talent  of  its  projectors,  may  be  attributed 
much  of  its  subsequent  success.  In  1804  he  ad- 
mitted as  a  partner  Mr.  Alexander  Gibson  Hun- 
ter of  Blackness,  after  which  the  business  was 
carried  on  under  the  firm  of  Archibald  Constable 
and  Co.  In  December  1808  he  and  his  partner 
joined  with  Mr.  Charles  Hunter  and  Mr.  Johr 
Park  in  commencing  a  general  bookselling  busi- 
ness in  London,  under  the  name  of  Constable, 
Hunter,  Park  and  Hunter;  but  this  undertaking 
not  succeeding,  it  was  relinquished  in  181 1 .  On  the 
retirement  of  lir.  A.  G.  Hunter  from  the  Edin- 
burgh firm  in  the  early  part  of  the  latter  year, 
Ml'.  Robert  Cathcart  of  Dinim,  writer  to  the  sig- 
net, and  Mr.  Robert  Cadell,  then  in  Mr.  Consta- 
ble's shop,  were  admitted  partners.  Mr.  Cath- 
cart having  died  in  November  1812,  Mi*.  Cadell 
remained  his  sole  partner.  In  1805  he  commenced 
the  *  Edinburgh  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,'  a 
work  projected  in  concert  with  the  late  Dr.  An- 
drew Duncan.  In  the  same  year,  in  conjunction 
with  Longman  and  Co.  of  London,  he  published 
the  *  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,'  the  first  of  that 
long  series  of  original  and  romantic  publications, 
in  poetry  and  prose,  which  has  immortalized  the 
name  of  Walter  Scott.  In  1806  Mr.  Constable 
brought  out,  in  five  volumes,  a  beautiful  edition  of 


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the  works  of  Mr.  Scott,  comprising  the  Lay  of  the 
Last  Minstrel,  the  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Bor- 
der, Sir  Tristrem,  and  a  series  of  lyrical  pieces. 
In  1807  he  purchased  the  copyright  of  Marmion, 
before  a  line  of  it  was  written,  ftt)m  Mr.  Scott,  for 
£1,000.  Before  it  was  published,  he  admitted 
Mr.  Miller  of  Albemarle  Street,  and  Mr.  Murray, 
then  of  Fleet  Sti*eet,  to  a  share  in  the  copyright, 
each  of  these  gentlemen  having  purchased  a  fourth. 
Amongst  other  works  of  importance  published 
by  him  may  be  mentioned  here  Mr.  J.  P.  Wood's 
edition  of  Douglas*  Scottish  Peerage,  Mr.  George 
ChalmciV  Caledonia,  and  the  Edinburgh  Gazet- 
teer in  6  vols.  In  1808  a  serious  disagreement 
took  place  between  Mr.  Scott  and  Constable  and 
Co.,  owing,  it  is  understood,  to  some  intemperate 
expression  of  Mr.  Constable's  partner,  Mr.  Hunter, 
which  was  not  removed  till  1813.  In  1812  Mr. 
Constable  purchased  the  copyright  and  stock  of 
the  'Encyclopaedia  Britannica.'  When  he  be- 
came the  proprietor,  the  fifth  edition  was  too  fai* 
advanced  at  press  to  admit  of  any  material  im- 
provements being  introduced  into  it;  but  as  he 
saw  that  these  were  largely  required,  he  originated 
the  plan  of  the  Supplement  to  the  later  editions, 
which  has  enhanced  to  such  an  extent  the  value, 
the  usefulness,  and  the  celebrity  of  the  work.  In 
1814  he  brought  out  the  firet  of  the  *  Waverley 
Novels;'  and  as  that  wonderful  series  of  romantic 
tales  proceeded,  he  had  not  unfrequently  the  meiit 
of  suggesting  subjects  to  their  distinguished  author, 
and  of  finding  titles  for  more  than  one  of  these 
memorable  works;  such,  for  example,  was  the  case 
with  '  Rob  Roy.'  In  the  same  year  he  published 
Mr.  Scott's  edition  of  'Swift's  Works.'  Besides 
these  publications,  he  brought  out  the  Philosophical 
Works  of  Mr.  Dugald  Stewart.  He  himself  added 
something  to  the  stock  of  Scottish  historical  litera- 
ture. In  1810  he  published,  from  au  original 
manuscript,  a  quarto  volume,  edited  by  himself, 
entitled  the  'Chronicle  of  Fife,  being  the  Diary  of 
John  Lament  of  Newton,  from  1649  to  1672;' 
and,  in  1822,  he  wrote  and  published  a  '  Memoir 
of  George  Heriot,  Jeweller  to  King  James,  con- 
taining an  Account  of  the  Hospital  founded  by 
him  at  Edinburgh,'  suggested  by  the  introduction 
of  Heriot  into  the  '  Fortunes  of  Nigel,'  which  was 
published  during  the  spring  of  that  year.    He  also 


published  a  compilation  of  the  '  Poetry  contained 
in  the  Waverley  Novels.'  His  first  wife  having 
died  in  1814,  Mr.  Constable  married,  in  1818, 
Miss  Charlotte  Neale,  who  survived  him. 

In  the  autumn  of  1821,  in  consequence  of  bad 
health,  he  had  gone  to  i-eside  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ix>ndon,  and  his  absence  from  Edinburgh  and 
its  cause  are  feelingly  alluded  to  in  the  intro- 
ductory epistle  to  the  '  Fortunes  of  Nigel,'  where 
Mr.  Constable  is  commended  as  one  "whose 
vigorous  intellect  and  liberal  ideas  had  not  only 
rendered  his  native  country  the  mart  of  her  own 
literature,  but  established  thero  a  court  of  letters, 
which  commanded  respect  even  from  those  most 
inclined  to  dissent  from  many  of  its  canons.'* 
Indeed,  his  readiness  in  appreciating  literary 
merit,  his  liberality  in  rewarding  it,  and  the 
sagacity  he  displayed  in  placing  it  in  the  most 
favourable  manner  before  the  public,  were  uni- 
versally acknowledged. 

In  the  summer  of  1822  Mr.  Constable  returned 
to  Edinburgh,  and  in  1823  he  removed  his  estab- 
lishment to  more  splendid  and  commodious  pre- 
mises in  Prince's  Street,  which  he  had  acquired  by 
purchase  from  the  connections  of  his  second  mar- 
riage. In  that  year  he  was  included  by  the 
government  in  a  list  of  justices  of  the  peace  for 
the  city  of  Edinburgh. 

In  January  1826  the  public  was  astonished  by 
the  annoimcement  of  the  bankruptcy  of  his  house, 
when  his  liabilities  were  understood  to  exceed 
£250,000. 

The  year  1826  was  rendered  remarkable  in 
Great  Britain  by  an  unusual  rage  for  speculation, 
and  the  emplo^inent  of  capital  in  various  schemes 
and  projects,  under  the  name  of  joint-stock  com* 
panics. 

At  this  period  the  House  of  which  the  late  Mr. 
Constable  was  the  leading  partner,  was  engaged 
extensively  in  various  literary  undertakings,  on 
some  of  which  large  profits  had  already  been 
realized,  while  the  money  embarked  in  others, 
though  so  far  successful,  was  stUl  to  be  redeemed. 
Messrs.  Hurst,  Robinson,  and  Co.,  the  London 
agents  of  Constable's  house,  who  were  also  large 
wholesale  purchasei-s  of  the  various  publications 
which  issued  from  the  latter,  had  previously  to 
this  period  acquired  a  great  addition  of  capital  and 


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stability,  as  well  as  experience  in  the  publishing 
department,  by  the  accession  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hnrst, 
formerly  of  the  house  of  Messrs.  Longman,  Hurst, 
Rees,  Orme,  and  Brown,  as  a  partner.  But  the 
altogether  unprecedented  state  of  the  times,  the 
general  demolition  of  credit,  and  the  utter  absence 
of  all  mercantile  confidence,  brought  Messi-s.  Hurst, 
Robinson,  and  Co.  to  a  pause,  and  rendered  it 
necessary  to  suspend  payment  of  their  engagements 
early  in  January  1826. 

Their  insolvency  necessarDy  led  to  that  of  Messrs. 
Constable  and  Co.,  who,  without  having  been 
engaged  in  any  speculations  extraneous  to  their 
own  business,  were  thus  involved  in  the  com- 
mercial distress  which  everywhere  surrounded 
them. 

The  liberal  character  of  the  late  Mr.  Constable 
in  his  dealings  with  literary  men,  as  well  as  with 
his  brethren  in  ti'ade,  is  well  known.  His  extensive 
undertakings,  durlug  the  period  in  which  he  was 
engaged  in  business,  tended  much  to  raise  the  price 
of  literary  labour,  not  merely  in  Scotland,  but 
throughout  Great  Britain.  "  To  Archibald  Con- 
stable," says  Lord  Cockbum,  "  the  literature  of 
Scotland  has  been  more  indebted  than  to  any 
other  publisher.  Ten,  even  twenty  guineas  a 
sheet  for  a  review,  £2,000  or  £3.000  for  a  single 
poem,  and  £1,000  each  for  two  philosophical  dis- 
sertations (by  Stewart  and  Flayfair),  made  Edin- 
burgh a  literary  mart,  famous  with  strangers,  and 
the  pride  of  its  own  citizens.*'  In  the  department  of 
commercial  enterprise,  to  which  he  was  particu- 
larly devoted,  and  whidi,  perhaps,  no  man  more 
thoroughly  understood,  his  life  had  been  one  uni- 
form career  of  unceasing  and  meritorious  exer- 
tion. In  its  progress  and  general  results,  (how- 
ever melancholy  the  conclusion,)  we  believe  it  will 
be  found,  that  it  proved  more  beneficial  to  those 
who  were  connected  with  him  in  his  literary  un- 
dertakings, or  to  those  among  whom  he  lived, 
than  productive  of  advantage  to  himself  or  to  his 
family.  In  the  course  of  his  business,  also,  he  had 
some  considerable  drawbacks  to  contend  with. 
His  partner,  the  late  Mr.  Hunter  of  Blackness,  on 
succeeding  to  his  paternal  estate,  retired  from  bus- 
iness, and  the  amount  of  his  share  of  the  profits  of 
the  concern,  subsequently  paid  over  to  his  repre- 
sentatives, had  been  calculated  on  a  liberal  and 


perhaps  over-sanguine  estimate.  The  relieving 
the  Messrs.  Ballantyne  of  their  heavy  stock,  in 
order  to  assist  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the  difficulties 
of  1813,  must  also  have  been  felt  as  a  considerable 
drag  on  the  profits  of  the  business.  In  the  impor- 
tant consideration  as  to  how  far  Messrs.  Constable 
and  Co.  ought  to  have  gone  in  reference  to  their 
pecuniary  engagements  with  Messrs.  Ballantyne, 
there  are  some  essential  considerations  to  be  kept 
in  view.  Sir  Walter's  power  of  imagination,  great 
rapidity  of  composition,  the  altogether  unparal- 
leled success  of  his  writings  as  a  favourite  with  the 
public,  and  his  confidence  in  his  own  powers,  were 
elements  which  exceeded  the  ordinary  limits  of 
calculation  or  control  in  such  matters,  and  appear  . 
to  have  drawn  his  publishers  farther  into  these 
engagements  (certainly  more  rapidly)  than  they 
ought  to  have  gone.  Yet,  with  these  and  other 
disadvantages,  great  profits  were  undoubtedly  re- 
alized, and  had  not  such  an  extraordinary  crisis 
as  that  of  1825-6  occurred,  the  concern,  in  a  few 
years,  would  have  been  better  prepared  to  encoun- 
ter such  a  state  of  money  matters  as  then  prevail- 
ed in  every  department  of  trade.  The  disastrous 
circumstances  of  the  time,  and  the  overbearing 
demands  of  others,  for  the  means  of  meeting  and 
sustaining  an  extravagant  system  of  expenditure, 
contributed  to  drag  the  concern  to  its  ruin,  rather 
than  the  impetuous  and  speculative  genius  of  its 
leading  partner. 

Mr.  Constable  was  naturally  benevolent,  gen- 
erous, and  sanguine.  At  a  glance,  he  could  see 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  a  literary  project, 
more  clearly  than  he  could  always  impart  his  own 
views  to  others;  but  his  deliberate  and  matured 
opinion  upon  such  subjects,  among  those  who 
knew  him,  was  sufficient  to  justify  the  feasibility 
or  ultimate  success  of  any  undertaking  which  he 
approved.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  cai-eer,  his  sit- 
uation as  the  most  prominent  individual  in  Scot- 
land in  the  publishing  world,  as  well  as  his  exten- 
sive connection  with  literary  men  in  both  ends  of 
the  island,  together  with  an  increasing  family^  led 
him  into  greater  expense  than  was  consistent  with 
his  own  moderate  habits,  but  not  greater  than  that 
scale  of  living,  to  which  he  had  raised  himself,  en- 
titled hhn,  and  in  some  measure  compelled  him  to 
maintain.    It  is  also  ceitain  that  he  did  not  sera- 


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pulously  weigh  his  pui*se,  when  sympathy  with  the 
necessities  or  misfortunes  of  others  called  upou 
him  to  open  it.  In  his  own  case,  the  fraits  of  a 
life  of  activity,  industiy,  and  exertion,  were  sacri- 
ficed in  the  prevailing  wreck  of  commercial  ci*edit 
w^hich  overtook  him  in  the  midst  of  his  literary 
undei-takings,  by  which  he  was  one  of  the  most 
remai'kable  sufFerere,  and,  according  to  received 
notions  of  worldly  wisdom,  little  deserved  to  be 
the  victim. 

At  the  time  his  bankruptcy  took  place,  Mr. 
Constable  was  meditating  a  series  of  publications, 
which  afterwards  appeared  under  the  title  of  ^  Con- 
stable's Miscellany  of  Original  and  Selected  Works, 
in  Literature,  Art,  and  Science,* — the  precui-sor  of 
that  now  almost  univei'sal  system  of  cheap  pub- 
lishing, which  renders  the  present  an  ei*a  of  com- 
pilation and  reprint,  rather  than  of  original  pro- 
duction. The  Miscellany  was  his  last  project. 
Soon  after  its  commencement  he  was  attacked 
with  his  former  disease,  a  dropsical  complaint; 
and  he  died,  July  IJl,  1827,  in  the  fifty-third  year 
of  his  age.  He  left  several  children  by  both  his 
mamagcs.  His  fi'ame  was  bulky  and  corpulent, 
nnil  his  countenance  was  remarkably  pleasing  and 


intelligent.  The  portrait  painted  by  the  late  Sir 
Henry  Raeburn  is  a  most  successful  likeness  of 
him.  The  preceding  woodcut  is  taken  from  it. 
His  mannei-s  were  friendly  and  conciliating,  al- 
though he  was  subject  to  occasionul  bursts  of 
anger.  He  is  understood  to  have  left  memorials 
of  the  gi*eat  literary  and  scientific  men  of  his  day. 
COOEL,  George,  D.D.,  an  eminent  minister  of 
the  church  of  Scotland,  was  the  second  son  of  the 
Rev.  John  Cook,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  in 
the  univeraity  of  St.  Andrews,  who  succeeded  to 
the  estate  of  Newburn  in  the  county  of  Fife,  and 
of  Janet  Hill,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Hill,  min- 
ister of  St.  Andrews,  Fife,  and  sister  of  Principal 
Hill.  He  was  born  in  December  1772,  and  at  an 
early  age  became  a  student  at  the  united  college 
of  St.  Salvator's  and  St.  Leonard's,  St.  Andrews. 
Devoting  himself  to  the  ministry,  after  attending 
the  divinity  hall  of  St.  Mary's  in  that  university, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  on  the  SOth 
of  April  1795.  About  three  months  after,  he  was 
pi-esented  to  the  living  of  Laurencekirk,  in  the  gift 
of  St.  Mary's  college,  and  was  ordained  and  set- 
tled there  on  the  3d  of  September  in  that  year. 
He  remained  at  Laurencekirk  till  1829.  During 
his  whole  life  Dr.  Cook  was  distinguished  by  gi*eat 
energy  and  activity  of  mind.  To  his  pastoral 
duties  he  devoted  himself  with  great  assiduity. 
Unaffected  and  kindly  in  manner,  and  singularly 
easy  of  access,  his  people  regarded  him  with  much 
affection  and  respect.  His  leisure  time  he  early 
devoted  to  studies  congenial  to  the  duties  in  which 
he  was  engaged,  and  he  published  in  1808  a  trea- 
tise in  one  vol.  octavo,  under  the  title  of  ^  An  Illus- 
tration of  the  General  Evidence  establishing  the 
Reality  of  Christ's  Resurrection,'  which  was  at 
the  time  very  favourably  received.  He  had  early 
begun  to  take  a  prominent  pait  in  the  deliberations 
of  church  com-ts,  and  was  led  to  a  careful  investi- 
gation of  the  history  of  the  church,  wlilch  had  not 
then  attracted  the  amount  of  attention  which,  m 
consequence  of  his  labours  and  those  of  Dr.  M*Crie 
and  others,  it  subsequently  received.  The  result 
of  his  investigations,  carried  on  under  considerable 
disadvantage  from  his  distance  from  public  libra- 
ries, but  with  great  industry  and  much  research, 
was  the  appearance  of  his  '  History  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  Scotland,'  in  1811,  in  3  vols,  octavo,  em- 


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GEORGE,  D.D. 


bracmg  the  period  from  the  beginning  of  tlie  Re- 
formation to  the  appointment  of  the  eai'l  of  Mar- 
ray  to  the  regency  in  1667.  This  was  followed 
by  the  *  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,*  which 
appeared  in  1815,  in  3  vols,  octavo,  continuing 
the  narrative  from  the  regency  of  Murray  down 
to  the  Revolution.  The  two  works  form  a  full 
and  interesting  ecclesiastical  history  of  a  peiiod 
.out  of  which  momentous  consequences  to  Scotland 
resulted.  Tlicy  are  written  with  great  calmness 
and  impartiality,  and  the  researches  of  later  his- 
torians have  in  no  particular  of  the  least  impor- 
tance affected  their  accuracy.  A  third  important 
work  was  published  in  8  vols.  8vo,  in  1822,  entitled 
a  '  General  and  Historical  View  of  Christianity.* 

In  addition  to  these  larger  works.  Dr.  Cook 
published  in  1820  a  life  of  his  uncle.  Principal 
Hill,  who  had  long  du'ected  the  counsels  of  the 
General  Assembly,  in  which  much  important  in- 
formation as  to  the  ecclesiastical  proceedings  of 
that  venerable  body  during  the  period  is  conveyed. 
In  July  1826  a  commission  was  issued  by  the 
crown  for  the  visitation  of  the  universities  of  Scot- 
land, of  which  Dr.  Cook  was  a  member.  To  the 
duties  of  that  commission  he  devoted  himself  with 
his  usual  mental  activity,  and  on  him  a  large 
portion  of  its  important  work  was  devolved.  He 
drew  up  for  the  commissioners  elaborate  reports 
of  the  history  and  present  state  of  the  universities 
of  Edihburgh  and  Aberdeen,  and  the  draft  of  the 
general  Report — services  which  were  acknow- 
ledged in  a  special  communication  to  Dr.  Cook 
made  by  the  earl  of  Rosebery,  the  chairman  of 
the  commission.  These  services  were  continued 
till  near  the  conclusion  of  the  year  1830 ;  and  as 
a  gratifying  mark  of  the  estimation  in  which  his 
character  as  a  clerg}'man  was  held,  he  was  ap- 
pointed dean  of  the  Order  of  the  Thistle  in  June 
that  year,  the  highest  honour  that  the  Crown  has 
to  confer  on  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1828  Dr.  Cook 
received  the  intimation  that  he  was  to  be  appoint- 
ed professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  university 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  he  accordingly  entered  on  the 
duties  of  the  chair  in  the  following  college  session. 
To  his  regular  course,  of  115  lectures,  on  moral 
philosophy,  he  added  in  the  ensuing  year  a  shorter 
course,  of  49  lectures,  on  political  economy. 


From  an  early  period  of  life  Dr.  Cook  took  a 
deep  interest  in  the  deliberations  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  soon  distinguished  himself  in  de- 
bate by  his  knowledge  of  the  constitution  and  his- 
tory of  the  church.  He  was  attached,  by  a 
deep  conviction  of  their  soundness,  to  those 
principles  maintained  by  what  was  called  the 
moderate  party  in  the  church — ^pnnciples  which 
might  seem  hereditary  to  his  family,  for  they  were 
those  so  poweifully  advocated  by  his  uncle  Prin- 
cipal Hill,  and  by  his  father's  kinsman  Principal 
Robertson,  and  which  had  been  maintained  by  a 
long  line  of  clerical  ancestors.  But  Dr.  Cook  was 
too  independent  to  tie  himself  down  to  party,  or 
to  allow  others  to  determine  for  him  what  were 
the  principles  which,  as  a  member  of  a  party,  he 
should  in  consistency  entertain.  In  the  year  1813 
he  differed  with  those  with  whom  he  had  till 
then  acted,  as  to  the  important  question  of  plu- 
ralities and  non-residence.  To  non- residence  he 
was  strongly  opposed, — ^his  views  on  this  subject 
will  be  found  expressed  in  a  pamphlet  entitled, 
^  Substance  of  a  speech  delivei*ed  in  the  General 
Assembly,  22d  May  1816,  containing  an  Inquiry 
into  the  Law  and  Constitution  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  respecting  Residence  and  Pluralities,* 
&c.,  8vo.  The  subject  excited  for  a  time  a 
strong  feeling  against  Dr.  Cook  on  the  part  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  moderate  party,  and  in  con- 
sequence he  was  opposed  by  them  in  the  General 
Assemblies  of  1821  and  1822,  when  brought  for- 
ward as  a  candidate  for  the  moderator's  chair. 
On  the  latter  occasion  he  addressed  the  Assembly 
in  a  speech,  subsequently  publbhed,  in  which  he 
vindicated,  with  great  judgment  and  temper,  the 
course  he  had  followed.  In  1825,  however,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  moderator,  and  fi*om  that  pe- 
riod unquestionably  held  the  leading  position  in 
the  counsels  of  the  pai-ty  to  which  he  was  attached. 
In  all  the  debates  which  led  to  the  disruption  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  in  May  1843,  he  took  a 
prominent  part  on  the  moderate  side,  and  his 
name  was  a  "tower  of  strength**  to  his  party. 
His  views  on  the  Veto  Act,  and  on  the  different 
questions  which  wei-c  originated  by  it,  as  expressed 
in  the  Assembly,  are  fully  stated  in  a  pamphlet 
entitled,  '  A  few  Plain  Observations  on  the  Enact- 
ments of  the  General  Assembly  of  1834,  relating  to 


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Patronage  and  Calls,*  published  in  that  year,  and  in 
several  speeches  pablished  since.  The  daties  of  the 
Assembly  of  1844  were  very  heavy,  and  although 
Dr.  Cook  appeared  to  be  in  his  usual  health,  he 
was  attacked  almost  immediately  after  with  sudden 
illness,  supposed  to  be  connected  with  disease  of 
the  heart.  The  attack  was  of  short  duration,  but 
it  occasionally  recurred.  On  the  13th  of  May  1845, 
in  passing  down  to  the  Bank  in  St.  Andrews,  he 
was  observed  to  fall  heavily  on  the  street,  and 
when  taken  up  it  was  found  that  life  had  fled.  To 
Dr.  Cook's  character  and  usefulness  the  following 
tribute  was  borne  by  the  Assembly  that  met  in 
1345^ — *»  The  General  Assembly  desire  to  record 
the  deep  feelings  of  regret  with  which  they  re- 
gard the  loss  which  this  court  and  the  church  at 
large  have  recently  sustained,  in  the  death  of  one 
of  its  most  distinguished  members — the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  Cook,  whose  eminent  abilities  and  profound 
knowledge  of  the  principles  and  practical  constitu- 
tion of  our  church,  while  they  highly  qualified  him 
for  becoming  her  historian,  no  less  enabled  him,  in 
combination  with  that  sound  wisdom,  clear  reason- 
ing, and  mauly  eloquence,  which  were  equally 
characteristic  of  his  mind,  to  afford  the  most  valu- 
able aid  in  conducting  the  deliberations  of  the  As- 
sembly. The  cool  judgment,  enlarged  views,  and 
unweaiied  pei-severance  of  Dr.  Cook  the  Assembly 
regard  as  having  been,  under  providence,  instru- 
mental in  no  ordinaiy  degree  to  the  safety  of  the 
church  during  the  perils  with  which  she  was  lately 
surrounded — and  the  valuable  counsels  so  promptly 
and  kindly  afforded  by  him,  as  often  as  inferior  ju- 
dicatories or  individual  clergymen  applied  in  cases 
of  perplexity  for  his  aid,  will  be  long  and  gratefully 
remembered  through  the  church." 

Dr.  Cook  married,  23d  Febru-»ry,  1801,  Diana, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Kc\.  Alexander  Shank, 
sometime  minister  at  St.  Cyrus.  Of  seven  chil- 
dren, ^ve  survived  him,  namely,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Cook,  minister  of  Haddington ;  Mrs.  Mar- 
joribanks,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Maijoribauks, 
Stenton ;  Alexander  Shank  Cook,  Esq.,  advocate ; 
the  Rev.  George  Cook,  chaplain  at  Bombay ;  and 
Henry  David  Cook,  a  civil  servant  of  the  East 
India  Company  at  Madras.  Dr.  Cook's  eldest 
brother,  John  Cook,  D.D.,  pix>fessor  of  divinity  at 
8r.  Andrews,  was  the  author  of  a  valuable  ^  In- 


quiry into  tlie  Authenticity  of  the  Books  of  the 
New  Testament,*  published  in  1821.  He  died  in 
1824.  His  son,  Dr.  John  Cook,  is  minister  of 
St.  Leonards,  St.  Andrews;  another,  the  Rev. 
George  Cook,  of  Kincardine  O^Neil.  A  younger 
brother  of  Dr.  George  Cook  is  Mr.  Walter  Cook, 
W.  S.  The  youngest  of  the  family  is  the  Rev 
Henry  David  Cook,  minister  of  KilmaiT/. 

Cooper,  Cowfkr,  or  Couprb,  a  surnanv  dvived  from 
the  parish  of  Cupar  in  Fife.  In  ancient  docu  jients  the  name 
ia  varionsly  spelled,  and  appears  under  the  several  forms  of 
Capir,  Culpyre,  Cypre,  Cypnun,  Cowpar,  Mid  Coapar.  The 
etymology  of  the  name  is  nncertain,  but  the  word  is  appa- 
rently Celtic  and  probably  bore  reference  to  the  ancient  castle 
or  the  rising  ground  on  which  it  was  situated. 

A  family  of  this  name,  styled  of  Gogar,  possessed  a  baron- 
etcy of  Nova  Scotia,  conferred  in  1638,  on  John  Cooper,  Esq., 
who  married  Christian,  daughter  of  Robert  Skene,  Esq.  of 
Halliards.  Among  those  who  were  killed  with  the  eari  of 
Haddington,  at  the  blowing  up  of  the  castle  of  Douglas,  30th 
August  1640,  was  John  Couper  of  Gogar.  In  1640,  John 
Cooper,  probably  his  son,  was  one  of  the  oommissionere  of  tbe 
Soots  parliament  who  approved  of  the  treaty  of  Bipon.  The 
first  baronet  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Sir  John  Cooper 
at  whose  death,  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
without  male  issue,  the  title  became  dormant,  bat  was  re- 
vived by  his  great-grandnephew,  1st  August  1775,  Sir  Grey 
Cooper,  who  represented  Rochester  in  parliament  in  1765, 
and  was  an  energetic  supporter  of  the  marquis  of  Rocking- 
ham, under  whose  administration,  as  well  as  under  thoee  of 
the  duke  of  Grafton  and  Lord  North,  he  was  secretary  to  tbe 
treasury.  In  1783  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commission- 
ers of  the  treasury,  and  in  April  1796,  sworn  a  member  of 
the  privy  council.  On  the  death  of  the  seventh  baronet,  Sir 
Frederick  Cooper,  munarried,  in  1850,  the  title  became 
extinct. 


A  family  of  the  name  of  Cowper  have  occupied  tbe  same 
farm  on  the  Abercrombie  estate  in  Fife  for  more  than  three 
hundred  years,  and  it  is  thought  that  it  is  of  this  fiamily  that 
Cowper  the  poet  of  Olney  thus  writes  to  Mrs.  Couitenay,  one 
of  his  friends :  **  While  Pitcaime  whistles  for  bis  family  estate 
in  Fifeshire,  he  will  do  well  if  he  will  sound  a  few  notes  for 
me.  I  am  originally  of  the  same  shire,  and  a  family  of  my 
name  is  still  there.**  ^Ntw  SialitHcal  AcoaoU  <if  SeoUamd, 
voL  ijc,  page  344,  iVbte,  article  Abicbcrombib.J 


Copland,  a  surname  originally  English,  and  signifying 
a  headland,  from  caput,  a  head.  At  the  battle  of  KeviUe*s 
Cross  in  1346,  King  David  the  Second  of  Scotland  was  dis- 
armed and  taken  prisoner  by  John  Copeland,  a  gentleman  of 
Northumberland,  who  was  governor  of  Roxba.gii  Castle, 
although  not  without  having  knocked  out  two  of  Copelaod*s 
teeth  with  his  gauntlet,  in  the  struggle  to  free  himself. 
Copeland  conveyed  tbe  wounded  and  Dleeding  monarch  off  the 
field,  and  on  refusing  to  deliver  him  up  to  tbe  queen,  w1m> 
had  remained  at  Newcastle  during  the  battle.  King  Edward, 
then  at  Calais,  sent  for  him,  when  he  excused  his  refusal  so 
handsomely  that  the  king  bestowed  on  hun  a  reward  of  five 
hundred  a-year  in  lands  near  Wooler,  which  still  bear  the 
name  of  Copland,  and  made  him  a  kni^t  banneret.  Frtm 
this  Sir  John  Copeland  descended  the  Coplands  of  Collic«toa. 
in  DunifHcs-shire,  as  well  as  others  of  the  name  in  Scotland 


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CORBET. 


COPLAND,  I'ATRiCK,  LL.D.,  professor  of 
natural  philosophy  at  Aberdeen,  son  of  the  minis- 
ter of  Fintray,  in  Aberdeenshire,  was  bom  at  the 
manse  of  that  p  irish  in  January  1749.  Having 
obtained  a  bnrairy  by  competition,  he  received 
his  edncation  at  Marischal  college  and  university 
of  Aberdeen;  a^id,  on  March  28,  1775,  he  was 
elected  professor  of  natural  philosophy  in  that 
institution.  In  April  1779  he  was  transferred  to 
the  chair  of  mathematics  in  the  same  university, 
which  he  filled  till  July  9,  1817,  when  he  again 
became  professor  of  the  natural  philosophy  tlass. 
He  taught  with  great  reputation  and  success,  for 
upwards  of  forty  years,  and,  on  June  27, 1817,  his 
colleagues  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degi*ee 
of  LL.D.  in  acknowledgment  of  his  eminent  ser- 
vices. His  course  of /natural  philosophy  was  illus- 
trated by  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  complete 
sets  of  apparatus  in  the  kingdom,  mostly  the  work 
of  his  own  hands,  or  made  by  workmen  under  his 
superintendence.  As  a  lecturer,  he  was  distin- 
guished by  his  clear  method  and  impressive  man- 
ner of  communicating  knowledge,  and  fixing  the 
attention  of  his  hearers.  He  was  the  first  in  the 
north  of  Scotland  who  gave  a  regular  series  of 
popular  lectures  on  natural  philosophy,  divesting 
that  science  of  its  most  abstruse  calculations,  and 
suiting  the  subject  to  the  mechanic  and  operative 
tradesman.  His  attention  was  also  successfully 
directed  to  other  sciences.  In  Mx\  Samuel  Park's 
'  Chemical  and  Philosophical  Essays,'  due  credit  is 
given  to  Dr.  Copland  for  having  introduced  into 
this  country  an  expeditious  method  of  bleaching 
by  oxymuriatic  acid,  which  had  been  shown  to 
him  merely  as  a'curious  chemical  experiment  by 
the  celebrated  Professor  De  Saussure,  while  at 
Geneva  with  the  dake  of  Goi-doii,  in  1787.  Mr. 
Thomas  Thomson,  however,  ju  the  article  Bleach- 
ing in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  denies  that 
Dr.  Copland  had  any  claim  to  the  first  introduc- 
tion of  the  new  process  into  Great  Britain,  ascrib- 
ing the  merit  of  it  to  the  celebrated  James  Watt. 
During  his  long  and  useful  life.  Dr.  Copland  was 
in  frequent  correspondence  with  Watt,  Telford, 
Maskelyne,  Leslie,  Olinthus  Gregory,  M.  Blot, 
Dr.  Hutton,  and  other  distinguished  literary  and 
scientific  men.  In  1782  he  was  elected  a  corre- 
sponding member  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 


Scotland,  and,  in  1807,  an  associate  of  the  Lin- 
nsan  Society  of  London.  Declining  health  caused 
him,  in  September  1822,  to  resign  his  professor- 
ship, and  he  died  November  10th  of  that  year,  in 
the  73d  year  of  his  age.  He  mamed  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  D#.  David  Ogilvy,  surgeon,  R.N.,  by 
whom  he  had  tliree  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Corbet  (iroro  Corbeau^  a  raven),  the  samame  of  a  family, 
whoee  anoeetor,  Roger  Corbet,  came  over  firoro  Normandy, 
with  William  the  Conqneror,  and  obtained  eztenaiTe  grants  of 
landa  in  Shropshire  and  on  the  marches  of  Wales.  In  Eng- 
land this  family  held  many  hi^  offices  in  the  state,  and  not 
less  than  nineteen  of  them  are  m  the  rolls,  of  those  who 
served  at  Aginconrt,  the  sacking  of  Cadiz,  the  wars  against 
the  Welsh,  Scots,  French,  &c  Between  1192  and  1625,  sev- 
enty-one  were  made  knights,  and  one  a  banneret,  and  sinct 
that  tmie  two  of  the  Corbets  of  Shropshire  have  been  created 
barohets. 

A  branch  of  the  family  seem  early  to  have  settled  in  Soot- 
land,  and  to  have  obtjuned  possesnon  of  the  lands  of  Macker- 
stonn  in  Roxbmifi^iishire.  Walter  Corbet,  ^^dominns  de  >lack- 
erstoon  in  Teviotia,**  is  witness  with  others  to  a  charter  of 
Malcolm  the  Fourth  preserved  in  Anderson's  Diplomata. 
This  Walter  was  the  son  of  Robert  Corbet,  who  is  witness  in 
the  inqnisition  made  by  David  prince  of  Cmnberland  of  the 
lands  belonging  to  the  church  of  Glasgow,  and  also  in  other 
deeds  of  that  prince,  when  king  of  Scots.  In  the  Chartulaiy 
of  Melrose,  Walter  de  Corbet  is  mentioned  as  a  donor  of  the 
church  of  Mackerstoun  to  the  abbacy  of  Kelso.  Avicia  de 
Corbet  of  this  family  was  the  wife  of  Richard  Morville,  higb 
constable  of  Scotland,  who  died  in  1191.  In  the  charters  ot 
Alexander  the  Second,  Nicolas  Corbet  is  frequently  mentioned 
as  a  witness.  Among  those  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  the 
First  in  1296,  occur  the  names  of  Roger  Corbet  and  Adam 
Corbet,  the  former  of  Mackerstoun  and  the  latter  supposed  to 
be  of  Uardgray  in  Annandale.  The  barony  of  Mackeretoun 
was  afterwards  possessed  by  the  Frasers  of  Drummelzier,  and 
in  the  reign  of  David  the  Second,  was  inherited  by  an  heiress, 
Margaret  Eraser,  who  married  Dougall  Maodougall;  and  is 
now  in  possesion  of  General  Sir  Thomas  Macdongall- Bris- 
bane, baronet,  who  received  it  on  his  marriage,  in  1819,  with 
the  eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Henry  Hay  Maodougall, 
baronet,  the  descendant  of  the  above  Dougall  MaodougaU. 

The  Corbets  of  Hardgray  in  Dumfries-shire,  resided  latterly 
in  Clydesdale.  A  charter  by  Thomas  de  Corbet,  dommus  de 
Uardgray,  Joanni  de  Corbet,  filio  suo,  of  the  lands  of  Lime- 
kilns in  Annandale  in  1405,  was  confirmed  by  the  earl  ot 
Douglas.  The  Corbets  of  Hardgray  became  extinct  in  the 
male  Ime  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Mr. 
Hugh  Corbet  of  Hardgray,  the  last  proprietor.  <ett  two  daugh- 
ters, coheiresses  of  his  estate,  the  elder  mamed,  first,  to  John 
Douglas  of  Mains,  and  secondly,  to  Sir  Mungo  Stirling  of 
Glorat ;  and  the  younger  to  James  Douglas  of  Mains. 

A  John  Corbet,  who  is  styled  minister  of  Benhill,  (Bon- 
hill?)  published  at  Dublin  in  1639,  a  quarto  work,  enti- 
tled *  The  Ungirding  of  the  Scottish  Armour ;  in  answer  tc 
the  information  for  Defensive  Arms  against  the  King's  Ma- 
jesty, which  were  drawn  up  by  the  Covenanters  at  Edinburgh.' 
He  also  published  at  London,  in  1646,  *  A  Vindication  of  the 
Magistrates  and  Ministers  of  the  city  of  Gloucester,*  4to 
Another  John  Corbet,  also  a  Scotsman,  beheaded  in  the  Irish 
rebellion  in  1641,  was  the  author  of  *The  Epbtle  Congratu- 
latorie  of  Lysimachus  Nicanor  to  the  Covenanters  in  Scotland. 


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CORSAN. 


GoKMACK,  John,  D.D.,  an  «niinent  divine  of  the  Chorch 
of  SoMtUnd,  was  bom  in  1776.  At  an  early  period  of  his  life 
he  distinguished  himself  by  his  superior  atbiinments  in  divi- 
nity; and  when  a  student  at  the  Hall,  he  carried  off  the 
prize  then  annually  awarded,  for  the  best  essay  on  a  given 
subject  in  theology.  In  1807  he  was  ordained  minister 
of  ^tow,  in  the  presbytery  of  Lauder  and  county  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  in  this  parish  he  officiated  with  great  acceptance 
for  nearly  ^4  years.  On  every  subject  connected  with  theo- 
logical literature  Dr.  Cormack  had  amassed  a  large  stock  of 
sound  and  valuable  information,  and  the  fruits  of  his  re- 
searches appeared  in  various  little  works,  original  and  trans- 
lated, with  which,  from  time  to  time,  he  favoured  the  public. 
Dr.  Cormaok  died  suddenly  in  his  own  church,  on  Sunday, 
December  20,  1840,  in  his  64th  year. — His  woHca  are: 

Lives  of  the  Ancient  Philosophers,  from  the  French  of 
Fenelon.     London,  1803,  2  vols.  12mo. 

Account  of  the  Abolishment  of  Female  Infanticide  in  Gue- 
zerat,  with  considerations  on  the  question  of  promoting  the 
Gospel  in  India.     1816,  8vo. 

A  Sermon.     Edin.  1810. 

Banillai  the  Gileadite,  a  work  abounding  in  most  useful 
and  important  considerations  on  old  age. 

Illustrations  of  Faith,  a  series  of  papers  originally  written 
for  the  Scottish  Christian  Herald,  subsequently  published  in 
one  small  volume. 

Cornwall,  a  surname  derived  from  the  county  of  that 
name  in  England,  the  first  in  Scotland  of  this  surname  hav- 
ing come  from  that  district  Among  those  who  were  slain 
with  King  James  IV.  at  Flodden  was  John  Cornwall  of  Bon- 
hard.  His  son  Peter,  then  a  minor,  was  infeft  in  these  lands, 
in  obedience  to  a  brief  durected  from  the  chancery,  mention- 
ing that  his  father  was  killed  in  that  disastrous  battle. 

On  27th  April,  1601,  a  town-officer  of  Edinburgh,  named 
Archibald  Cornwall,  was  hanged  in  that  city,  for  no  other 
offence  than  having,  at  the  sale  of  some  sequestrated  goods  at 
the  cross,  driven  a  nail  into  the  gibbet  standing  close  by,  in- 
tending to  suspend  on  it  a  portrait  of  the  king  on  a  board 
that  was  among  them,  for  the  purpose  of  its  being  better  seen, 
but  was  dissuaded  from  doing  so  by  those  present.  In  the 
same  reign  one  Robert  Cornwall  was  minister  of  Linlithgow, 
and  in  1610  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  which 
was  held  at> Glasgow  on  the  8th  of  June  of  that  year. 


CoRRiB,  a  surname  derived  from  a  Gaelic  word  signifying 
a  narrow  glen.  It  is  tlie  name  of  an  old  parish,  (conjoined 
in  1609  with  Hutton),  and  of  a  river  and  lochlet  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Annandale,  Dumfries-shire.  The  lands  of  Corrie, 
forming  the  southern  division  of  the  united  parish  of  Hutton 
and  Corrie,  were,  in  the  twelfth  century,  held  by  a  family, 
vassals  of  Robert  de  Bruce,  who,  from  them,  took  the  sur- 
name ef  Corrie.  In  the  Ragman  Boll  is  the  name  of  Walter 
Corrie  of  this  family. 

In  the  83d  year  of  David  II.,  a  grant  was  made  to  Robert 
de  Corry  (and  his  spouse),  son  and  heir  of  the  late  Thome  de 
Toithorwald,  *'  our  kinsman  who  died  at  the  battle  of  Dur- 
ham,"* of  the  lands  of  Coulyn  and  Ruchane.  He  had  another 
grant  of  lands  from  the  same  monarch  in  the  40th  year  of 
his  reign.  In  the  RotuU  ScoHa^  is  recorded  in  1867-68,  a 
safe  conduct  granted  by  Edward  III.  to  **  Robertus  Corry  de 
Valle  AnnandisB  de  Scot  cum  sex  equitibus.** 

Adam  de  Corry  is  a  witness  to  a  charter  ot  Confirmation 
by  Robert,  duke  of  Albany  in  1411. 

The  Corries  of  that  ilk  and  of  Newby  in  Dumfries-shire  are 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  Public  Records  of  the  15th  and 


16th  centuries.  In  the  reign  of  James  V.,  one  of  the  John- 
stones  of  Annandule  acquired  the  estate  by  marriage  with  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Thomas  Come. 

A  branch  of  the  same  family  possessed  the  lands  of  Kel- 
wood,  in  Dumfries-shupe,  until  the  end  of  the  16th  century, 
when  they  passed  to  the  Charteris  family.  In  1572,  at  the 
meeting  of  parliament  at  Edinburgh,  George  Corry  de  Kel- 
wood  was  one  of  the  barons  present 

Although  the  ancient  possessions  of  the  family  passed  into 
other  hands,  the  name  did  not  become  extinct  in  Dumfries- 
shire. Early  in  last  century,  James  Corrie,  Esq.  of  Spe«!- 
doch,  provost  of  Dumfries,  son  of  .lohn  Corrie  by  his  wife 
Jean  Paterson,  sister  of  William  Paterson,  who  planned  the 
Darien  scheme,  married  Janet,  daughter  of  Mr.  Goldie  of 
Craigmuir,  Kirkcudbright-shire,  and  left  numerous  descend- 
ants. Thomas  Corrie,  Esq.  of  Shielston  and  Newton- A irds, 
for  many  years  manager  of  the  British  Linen  Co.  Bank,  was 
his  male  representative. 

James  Corrie's  brother,  Joseph  Corrie,  Esq.,  proprietor  of 
various  lands  in  Dumfries-sliire,  married  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Phipps,  and  his  only  daughter,  Sophia  Corrie,  married  William 
Hope  Weir,  Esq.  of  Craigie  HalL 

From  their  half  brother,  William  Corrie  of  Bedbank,  are 
descended  families  of  the  name,  occupying  a  prominent  rank 
among  the  citizens  of  London  and  LiverpooL 

Their  sister  married  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ewart  of  Troqueer.  One 
of  her  sons,  Joseph,  was  ambassador  from  the  British  Court 
at  Berlin,  and  died  at  the  early  age  of  33.  Another  son,  Wil- 
liam, a  merchant  in  LiverpooK  was  the  father  of  William 
Ewart  Esq.,  M.P.  for  the  Dumfries  district  of  Burghs.  (See 
Ewart,  surname  of,  voL  ii.  p.  182.) 


CoRSAK,  (now  CoTfOfi,)  the  surname  of  a  family  which 
once  possessed  the  estate  of  Meikleknox  in  Durafries-shire. 
The  first  of  their  ancestors  in  Scotland  was  an  Italian  gentle- 
man of  the  CbrskU  family,  who  came  to  this  country  ^ith  an 
abbot  of  New  Abbey,  or  Dulce  Cor^  in  Galloway,  about  the 
year  1280.  Sir  Alexander  Corsane  was  witness  to  a  diarter 
by  Arcliibald  the  Grim,  earl  of  Douglas,  superior  of  Galloway, 
to  Sir  John  Stewart  laird  of  Gryton,  of  the  lands  of  Calie. 
The  charter  is  without  a  date,  but  it  must  have  been  before 
1400,  as  the  earl  died  in  that  year.  The  principal  family  of 
Corsan  was  designed  of  Glen,  which,  in  the  reign  of  James 
IV.,  passed  with  Mai  ion,  daughter  and  only  child  of  Sir  Robert 
Corsan  of  Glen,  hy  marriage  to  Sir  Robert  Gordon,  who  there- 
upon styled  himself  of  Glen,  and  on  the  death  of  his  elder  bro- 
ther at  the  battle  of  Flodden  was  afterwards  designed  of  Ix>ch- 
invar.  Of  that  lady  descended  lineally  the  barons  of  Lochinvar 
and  viscounts  of  Kenmure.    [See  Kknmurk,  viscounts  of.] 

Sir  John  Corsane,  an  early  cadet  and  next  heir  male  of  this 
family  of  Glen,  settled  at  Dumfries,  and  had  a  lineal  succes- 
sion of  heirs  male  for  18  generations,  all  of  the  name  of  John. 
Some  of  their  brethren  were  ecclesiastics,  particularly  Domunis 
Thomas  Conamu,  designed  perpetual  vicar  of  Dumfries,  in  a 
charter  granted  by  him  for  some  church-lands  in  Duinfrie» 
dated  in  1408. 

In  the  reign  of  King  James  VI.,  John  Corsan,  13th  in  de- 
scent from  the  said  Sir  John  Corsan,  was  provost  of  Dumfries, 
as  appears  from  an  inscriptdon  on  his  fhneral  monument  erected 
by  his  son.  He  was  commissioner  in  pariiament  for  that  buigh 
in  1621,  when  the  five  articles  of  the  Perth  assembly  received 
the  sanction  of  law.  He  was  provost  of  Dumfries  45  years, 
and  died  in  1629,  aged  75|  years,  and  was  buried  with  eleven 
of  his  grandfathers.  He  m.  Janet  Maxwell,  one  of  I.oni 
Maxwell*s  family,  who  bore  him  several  cliildren.  One  of  his 
daughters,  Marion,  was  married  to  Stephen  Laurie  of  Max- 


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welton,  ancestor  of  the  Lauries,  baronets,  of  Maxwelton.  His 
eldest  son,  John  Corsan,  advocate,  married  Margaret  Max- 
well, one  of  the  daughters  and  coheiresses  of  Robert  Maxwell 
of  Dinwoodjf  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Maxwell,  hj  whom 
he  had  John  his  heir,  who  predeceased  him,  leaving  a  son, 
who  succeeded  his  grandfather ;  Helen,  and  several  others. 
With  his  wife  he  got  the  lands  of  Bamdennoch,  and  in  con- 
sequence was  sometimes  designed  of  that  place.  He  died  in 
1671.  He  was  provost  of  Dumfries  about  the  time  of  the 
civil  wars ;  and  when  that  burgh  was  attacked  by  the  royai- 
iiits,  he  was,  with  others,  a  considerable  loser.  It  is  siud  that 
a  third  part  of  the  burgh  of  Dumfries  belonged  to  him,  and 
there  were  at  one  time  many  old  houses  in  the  town  which 
bore  the  arms  of  the  family,  some  of  them  quartered  with 
those  of  the  families  into  which  be  and  his  predecessors  had 
married.  The  family  ended,  in  February  1721,  in  a  daugh- 
ter, Agnes  CorsaUf  the  wife  of  Mr.  Peter  Rae,  minbter  at 
Kilbride.  Her  mother  was  of  the  family  of  Maxwell  of  Tln- 
wald.  Mrs.  Rae  had  twelve  children.  Her  eldest  son,  Ro- 
pert  Rae,  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Ck>rsan,  on  succeed- 
ing to  the  estate  of  Meikleknox.  The  Corsans  of  Dalwhat, 
m  the  parish  of  Gleneaim,  belonged  to  an  elder  branch  of 
the  same  family.  The  name,  which  has  been  corrupted  into 
Carson,  is  very  prevalent  in  Dumfries-shire.  Of  the  learned 
Dr.  Carson,  rector  of  the  High  School,  Edinburgh,  a  native 
of  that  county,  a  notice  is  given  otiie,  p.  599. 

CouPAR,  Lord,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland  (attainted 
in  1746)  conferred  in  1607,  on  the  Hon.  James  Elphinston, 
second  son  of  James  first  Lord  Balmerinoch,  by  his  second 
wife  Marjory,  daughter  of  Hugh  Maxwell  of  Tealing.  On  the 
distribution  made  by  James  the  Sixth  of  the  lands  which  fell 
to  the  crown  on  the  dissolution  of  the  religious  houses,  after 
the  Reformation,  his  migesty  erected  the  Cistertian  abbey  of 
Coupar  in  Angus  into  a  temporal  lordship  in  his  favour,  by 
the  title  of  Lord  Coupar,  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body, 
which  failing,  to  his  father  and  his  heirs  male  and  entail,  by 
royal  charter,  dated  20th^  December  1607.  His  name  after 
this  often  occurs  in  the  rolls  of  parliament  the  influence  and 
superior  talents  of  his  elder  brother.  Lord  Balmerinoch,  having 
forced  him  into  notice.  In  January  1645  he  was  one  of  the 
committee  of  four  of  each  of  the  three  estates  sent  by  the  par- 
liament to  Perth  to  assist  General  Baillie  in  opposing  the 
progress  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose,  and  on  the  subsequent 
29th  November,  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  be  judges  of  the  processes  of  all  delinquents  cited  by  the 
estates,  with  power  to  examine  witnesses,  &c  On  7tb  June 
1649,  his  lordship  was  constituted  one  of  the  extraordinary 
lords  of  session,  in  room  of  his  brother,  Lord  Balmerinoch, 
deceased.  Speaking  of  this  appointment.  Sir  James  Balfour 
says:  **The  I>ord  Balmerinodi's  extraordinary  place  of  the 
session  they  have  bestowed  on  his  brother,  the  Lord  Coupar, 
whose  head  will  not  fill  his  brother's  hat.**  lAnnaUy  vol.  iii. 
page  390.]  The  following  epitaph,  quoted  in  Brunton  and 
Haig*s  Lives  of  the  Senators  of  the  College  of  Justice,  from 
the  Balfour  MS.,  A.  7.  84,  in  the  Advocates'  Library,  is  to 
the  same  efiect : 

"  Fy  upon  death. 
He's  worse  than  a  trooper. 
That  took  from  us,  Balmerinoch, 
And  lea  that  howlet  Coupar." 

In  1650  Lord  Conpar  was  appointed  a  colonel  of  one  of  the 
regiments  of  foot  for  the  county  of  Perth,  raised  to  resist 
Cromwell,  and  for  his  loyalty  a  fine  of  three  thousand  pounds 
was  imposed  upon  him  by  that  personage,  12th  April  1654. 


He  nuuried,  first,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Halybur- 
ton  of  Pitcur;  secondly,  l^idy  Marion  Ogiivy,  eldest  daughter 
of  James,  second  eari  of  ^^irlie,  who  afterwards  became  the 
wife  of  John,  third  Lord  Lindores;  but  had  no  issue  by  either 
wife.    He  died  in  1669. 

A  curious  decision  of  the  court  of  session,  in  a  case  in 
which  his  lordship  was  concerned,  preserved  by  Lord  Stair, 
and  quoted  by  DougUs,  in  bis  Peentge  (vol.  i.  p.  863,  note. 
Wood's  edition^  was  given  8d  July  1662.  Lord  Coupar, 
sitting  in  parliament,  taking  out  his  watdi,  handed  it  to 
Lord  Pitsligo,  wha  refusing  to  restore  it,  an  action  was 
brought  for  the  value.  Lord  Pitsligo  said  that  Lord  Conpar 
having  put  his  watch  in  his  hand  to  see  what  hour  it  was. 
Lord  Sinclair  puttuig  forth  his  hand  for  a  sight  of  the  watch. 
Lord  Pitsligo  put  it  into  Lord  Sinclair's  hand,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Lord  Coupar,  without  contradiction,  which  must 
necessarily  import  his  consent  Lord  Coupar  answered,  that 
they  being  then  sitting  in  parliament,  his  silence  could  not 
import  a  consent  The  Lords  repelled  Lord  Pitsligo's  defence, 
and  found  him  Kahle  in  the  value  of  the  watch. 

The  title  and  estates  of  the  first  Lord  Coupar  devolved 
upon  his  nephew,  John,  third  Lord  Balmerinoch,  whose 
grandson,  John,  fifth  Lord  Balmerinoch,  on  being  appointed 
a  lord  of  session,  5th  June  1714,  assumed  the  title  of  Lord 
Coupar.  The  titles  were  forfeited  by  his  half-brother,  Ar- 
thur, fourth  Lord  Coupar  and  sixth  Lord  Balmerinoch,  in 
1746.—  See  Bai^ikkino,  Baron,  ante,  p.  228,  and  Elfhin- 
8TUN,  Arthur. 

COUPER,  William,  a  learned  prelate,  the  son 
of  a  merchant  at  Edinburgh, 'was  bom  in  that 
city  iu  1566,  and  studied  at  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews.  Groing  young  to  England,  he  was  en- 
gaged for  about  a  year  as  an  assistant  teacher  to 
a  Mr.  Guthrie,  who  kept  a  school  at  Hoddesden, 
iu  Hertfordshire.  He  subsequently  visited  Lon- 
don, where  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the 
famous  Hugh  Broughton,  who  assisted -him  in  his 
theological  studies.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he 
returned  to  Edinburgh,  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1586,  and  in  1587  was  ordained  minister  of  the 
parish  of  Bothkennar  in  Stirlingshire.  In  1592 
he  was  removed  to  Perth,  where  he  continued  for 
nineteen  years.  In  1608,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  General  Assembly  one  of  the  commissionei-s 
to  go  to  Ix>ndon  to  give  advice  to  his  majesty  re- 
garding the  suppression  of  papistical  superstition, 
and  while  at  court  was  sent  by  the  king  to  deal 
with  Mr.  Andrew  Melville,  then  a  prisoner  in 
the  Tower,  but  he  failed  in  making  any  impres- 
sion on  that  champion  of  prcsbyterianism.  He 
was  at  one  time  much  opposed  to  episcopacy,  and 
in  1606  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  bishop  of  Dun- 
blane against  the  coarse  he  had  taken  in  accepting 
a  bishopric.  Nevertheless  his  views  changed,  and 
in  1613,  he  was  appointed  bistiop  of  Galloway,  and 


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deau  of  the  Chapel-RoyaT,  by  James  the  Sixth. 
He  died  at  liis  residence  in  the  Canongate  of  Ed- 
inburgh, February  15,  1619.  His  body  was  in- 
terred in  tlie  Gre^'friars'  churchyard  of  Edinburgh. 
His  character,  not  in  his  favour,  but  much  the 
reyei*se,  is  drawn  at  length  by  Calderwood  in 
his  History  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  (vol.  vii.  page 
849).     His  works  are: 

The  Anatomy  of  a  Christian  man.     Lend.  1611,  4to. 

Three  Treatises  concernmg  Christ     Lend.  1612,  8vo. 

The  Holy  Alphabet  of  Zion's  Scholars ;  by  way  of  0>m- 
mentary  on  the  cxix.  Psalm.     Lond.  1613,  fol. 

Good  News  from  Canaan ;  or,  An  Exposition  of  Darid's 
Penitential  Psalm,  after  he  bad  gone  in  unto  Bathsheba. 
Lond.  1613,  8vo. 

A  Mirror  of  Mercy;  or,  The  Prodigal's  Conversion  ex- 
pounded.    Lond.  1614,  8vo. 

Dikailogie ;  containing  a  just  defence  of  hb  former  apologj- 
against  David  Hume.    I^nd.  1614,  4to« 

Sermon  on  Titus  il  7,  8.     Lond.  1616,  8vo. 

Two  Sermons  on  Psalm  cxxi.  8.  and  Psalm  Ixxxvin.  17. 
Lond.  1618,  4to. 

The  Triumph  of  the  Christian ;  in  three  treatises.  Edin. 
1632, 12mo. 

Works ;  to  which  is  added,  A  Commentary  on  the  Revela- 
tions, never  before  published.     Lond.  1628,  1629, 1726,  fbl 

COUPER,  Robert,  M.1>.,  a  minor  poet  of 
some  merit,  was  born  at  the  fai-m-house  of  Balsier 
(of  which  his  father  was  tenant),  paiish  of  Sorbie, 
Wigtonshire,  22d  September,  1760.  In  1769  he 
entered  as  a  student  at  the  iinivei*sity  of  Glasgow, 
and  stndied  at  -fii-st  for  the  Chnixh  of  Scotland, 
but  his  parents  having  died,  and  left  him  little  or 
nothing,  he  accepted  of  an  ofSce  as  tutor  in  a  fam- 
ily in  the  state  of  Virginia,  America.  On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  American  revolution  he  re- 
tumed  to  Scotland  in  1776.  He  now  studied 
medicine  at  the  college  of  Glasgow,  and  on 
passing  as  surgeon,  he  began  to  practise  at 
Newton-Stewart,  in  his  native  county.  On  the 
recommendation  of  Dr.  Hamilton,  professor  of 
midwifery,  Glasgow,  to  the  duke  of  Gordon,  he 
settled  in  Fochabera  in  Banffshire,  in  1788,  as  phy- 
sician to  his  grace.  He  obtained  the  degree  of 
M.D.  from  the  college  of  Glasgow,  and  was  a  fel- 
low of  the  Royal  S«xjiety  of  Edinburgh.  In  1804 
he  published  at  Inverness  two  volumes  of '  Poetry, 
chiefly  in  the  Scot*  ish  language,'  which  he  dedi- 
cated to  Jane,  ducness  of  Gordon.  He  was  the 
author  of  a  very  beautiful  song,  » Red  gleams  the 
sun,'  inserted  in  his  works  under  the  title  of  *  Kin- 
rara,'  tune,  Niel  Gow,     He  wrote  some  other 


lyiical  pieces ;  one  of  which,  written  ''  to  a  beau- 
tiful old  Highland  air,"  called  '  Geordy  again,'  is  in- 
seited  in  Campbell's  *•  Albyn's  Anthology,  vol.  il. 
p.  23.  The  author  states  that  he  wrote  this  song 
at  the  request  of  Lady  Greorgiana  Gordon,  after- 
wards duchess  of  Bedford,  and  that  it  alludes  ^^  to 
her  noble  brother  (the  marquis  of  Huntly),  then 
with  his  regiment  in  Holland."  Dr.  Couper  left 
Fochabers  in  1806,  and  died  at  Wigton,  on  the 
18tli  January  1818.  Dr.  Thomas  Mun-ay,  the 
author  of  the  *  Literary  History  of  Galloway,'  com- 
municated a  short  notice  of  Dr.  Couper  to  Mr. 
David  Laing  for  his  Illustrative  Notes  to  Sten- 
house's  Johnson's  ^  Scots  Musical  Museum,'  to 
which  we  have  been  indebted  for  these  particulars. 

CouTTS,  the  surname  of  a  family  celebrated  as  bankers. 
Their  most  remote  traceable  ancestor  was  William  Cuutts, 
said  to  have  been  a  Contts  of  Aoohintonl,  a  vassal  of  the 
family  of  Maodonald,  settled  in  Montrose,  at  tlie  close  of  the 
16th  centuij,  who  became  prorost  of  the  town.  His  gmnd- 
son,  Patrick,  was  a  tradesman  in  Edinburgh.  At  the  death 
of  the  latter  in  1704,  he  lefV  jE2,600  to  his  wife  and  three 
children.  John  Contts,  the  eldest  of  bis  family,  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  John  Coutts  &  Co.,  general  merchants,  Edin- 
burgh, became  lord  provost  of  that  city.  Havbg  gone  to 
Italy  on  aooormt  of  his  health,  he  died  at  Nola  near  Naples, 
in  his  52d  year.  A  few  days  before  bis  leaving  Seothmd,  be 
had  executed  a  new  deed  of-  copartnery,  in  which  he,  his  eld- 
est son  Patrick,  and  Mr.  Trotter,  were  partners.  The  entire 
stock  of  this  firm  was  only  £4,000  sterling.  "Th«r  busi- 
ness was  dealing  in  com,  buying  and  selling  goods  on  com- 
mission, the  negotiation  of  bills  of  ezdiange  on  London,  Hol- 
land, France,  Italy,  Spain  and  Portugal,**  that  is,  merchants 
and  bankers.  Provost  Contts  left  four  sona,  of  whom  Tho- 
mas, the  youngest,  was  the  survivor.  Separating  himself 
entirely  from  the  firm  of  John  Coutts  &  Co.,  of  Edinburgh, 
(which,  some  years  subsequently,  changed  its  title  to  that  of 
W.  Forbes,  J.  Hunter  &  Co.,  and  in  1830  became  the  Union 
Bank  of  ScotUnd,)  he  went  to  London,  and  originated  the 
bank  of  Coutts  &  Co.  in  the  Strand.  A  memoir  of  him  fol- 
lows. 

COUTTS,  Thomas,  a  wealthy  metropolitan 
banker,  fourth  and  youngest  son  of  John  Coutts, 
general  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  was  bora  in  Scot- 
land about  1731.  His  brother  James  had  become 
a  partner  in  a  banking-house  in  St.  Mary  Axe, 
London,  and  afterwards  went  into  partnership 
with  the  subject  of  this  notice  in  a  bank  in  the 
Strand.  On  the  death  of  James,  in  1778,  Thomns 
became  the  sole  manager,  and  becoming  the 
banker  of  George  the  Third,  and  of  many  of  the 
principal  of  the  aristocracy,  with  habits  of  great 
economy  he  soon  amassed  an  immense  fortune. 
He  died  Febniary  24,  1822.    He  was  twice  mar- 


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CRATG. 


ricd;  first  to  Susan  Starkie,  a  female  servant 
of  his  brother,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters : 
Susan,  married,  in  1796,  to  George  Augustus, 
third  earl  of  Guildford ;  Frances,  married,  in  1800, 
to  John,  first  marquis  of  Bute ;  and  Sophia,  mar- 
ried, in  1793,  to  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  baronet.  In 
1815  his  first  wife  died,  and,  within  three  months, 
he  took  for  his  second  wife  Harriet  Mellon,  an 
actress,  to  whom,  at  his  death,  he  bequeathed  all 
his  property,  and  who  was  aftei*wards  married  to 
the  duke  of  S^  Albans.  Miss  Burdett  Coutts, 
his  grand-daughter,  inherited  the  greater  pait  of 
his  wealth. 

CowAJi,  a  samame  derived  from  the  Scottish  method  of 
pronouncing  the  name  of  Colquhonn,  which  see. 


Craig,  a  surname  derived  from  a  Scottish  word  meaning 
a  crag  or  steep  rocky  cliff,  and  often  prefixed  to  the  names  of 
places  in  hilly  or  mountainous  districts  in  various  parts  of 
Scotland.  The  name  seems  to  belong  particularly  to  the 
north  of  Scotland,  whUe  the  surname  of  Craigie  is  derived 
from  an  estate  in  Linlithgowshire.    See  Gbaioik,  surname  of. 

In  1885,  when  the  castle  of  Kildmmmy,  in  Aberdeen- 
shire, was  bemeged  by  the  followers  of  Edward  Baliol,  Sir 
Andrew  Moray  of  Bothwell,  William  Douglas  of  Liddes- 
dale,  and  the  earl  of  March  advanced  to  its  relief  with  eight 
hundred  men,  natives  of  the  Lothians  and  the  Merse.  They 
were  joined  by  three  hundred  men  from  the  territory  of  Kil- 
dmmmy, under  the  command  of  John  Craig.  Surprising 
the  army  of  Baliol,  under  the  eari  of  Athol,  in  the  forest  of 
Kilblean,  they  signally  defeated  them,  Athol  then:  leader, 
bdng  among  the  slain.  Some  writers  assert  that  this  John 
Craig  was  captain  oTthe  garrison  at  Kildmmmy,  but  Lord 
Hailes,  with  more  probability,  thinks  that  the  reinforcement 
which  he  brought  to  the  patriot  army  were  the  vassals  of  the 
earldom  of  Mar,  whereof  Kildmmmy  was  the  capital  mes- 
suage, and  not  a  detachment  from  the  garris(m  of  the  castle. 
Fordun  calls  the  commander  qtddam  Johannes  Cfxig^  which 
plainly  ahows  that  he  did  not  mean  to  speak  of  Jckn  Crabbe 
the  Fleming,  whom  he  had  previously  mentioned;  yet  later 
authors  suppose  them  to  have  been  the  same.  \_Dalrymple^t 
Annab  of  Scotland,  vol  il  p.  185,  note.] 

Of  the  name,  the  Craigs  of  Riccarton  were  the  most  con- 
spicuous family.  The  first  of  it  was  the  distinguished  feudal 
lawyer,  Sir  Thomas  Craig  of  Riccarton,  of  whom  a  notice  is 
given  below.  James  Craig,  the  fourth  son  of  his  great  grand- 
son, was  professor  of  civil  kw  m  the  university  of  Edmburgh, 
to  which  chair  he  was  appointed  October  18,  1710.  He  died 
in  1732.  By  his  wi'e,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Dundas  of 
Amiston,  one  of  the  senators  of  the  college  of  justice,  he  had 
two  sons,  Thomas,  ustally  styled  "  the  laird,**  and  Robert. 
The  two  brothers  for  nuoiy  years  resided  together,  and  neither 
ever  married.  Though  very  wealthy,  they  were  men  of  pri- 
mitive and  simple  habits.  On  the  death  of  the  elder  brother, 
Thomas,  22d  January,  1814,  m  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his 
age,  his  younger  brothei,  Robert,  succeeded  him.  The  latter, 
who  had  passed  advocate  m  1754,  was,  about  the  year  1776, 
appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the  commissary  court,  which 
office  he  resigned  in  1791.  He  was  a  liberal  m  politics,  and 
in  1795  he  published  anonymously  at  Edmburgh,  a  pamphlet 


entitled,  *  An  Inquiry  into  the  Justice  and  Necessity  of  the 
present  War  with  France,*  8vo,  of  which  a  second  and  improved 
edition  was  published  the  following  year.  Its  object  was  to 
demonstrate  the  right  which  every  nation  has  to  remodel  its 
own  institutions  and  choose  its  own  form  of  government;  re- 
ferring, by  way  of  precedent,  to  the  various  revolutions  which 
have  taken  place  in  Great  Britain,  without  producing  any  at- 
tempt at  interference  on  the  part  of  other  states.  He  died  on 
13th  March  1823,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-  three.  Pur- 
suant to  a  deed  of  entail,  Mr.  James  Gibson,  writer  to  the 
signet,  (afterwards  Su:  James  Gib^n  Craig,  baronet,  the 
baronetcy  being  conferred  m  1881)  succeeded  to  the  estate  of 
Riccarton,  when  he  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Craig. 
(Fur  notice  of,  see  page  692.)  At  h\»  death  in  1850,  his  son 
Sir  William,  became  second  baronet. 

Another  family  of  the  name  were  the  Craigs  of  Dalnair 
and  Costerton,  Mid-Lothian,  who  became  connected  by  mar- 
riage with  the  Tytiers  of  Woodhonselee,  Anne  Craig,  daugh- 
ter of  Jnmes  Craig,  Esq.  of  Costerton,  writer  to  the  signet, 
having,  in  1745,  married  the  eminent  antiquarian  writer, 
William  Tytler  of  Woodhonselee.  She  was  the  mother  of 
Alexander  Eraser  Tytler,  nsually  styled  Lord  Woodhonselee. 
Her  sister.  Miss  Craig  of  Dalnair,  married  Mr. , Alexander 
Kerr,  a  wine  merchant  at  Bordeaux,  father  of  James  Kerr, 
Esq.  of  Biacksbiels.  The  last  of  the  Dalnair  family,  Sir 
James  Henry  Craig,  K.B.,  governor-general  of  British  North 
America,  died  in  1812.' 

CRAIG,  Sir  Thomas,  of  Riccarton,  a  distin- 
guished lawyer  and  wiiter  on  the  fendal  law,  was 
bom  at  Edinburgh  about  1538.  It  is  uncertain 
whether  his  father  was  Robert  Craig,  a  merchant 
in  Edinburgh,  or  William  Craig  of  Craigfintry, 
afterwards  Craigston  in  Aberdeenshii-e.  In  1552 
he  was  entered  a  student  of  St.  Leonardos  college, 
in  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  which  he  quitted 
in  1555,  after  receiving  his  degree  as  bachelor  of 
arts.  He  then  proceeded  to  the  univei-sity  of 
Paris,  where  he  studied  the  civil  and  canon  laws. 
He  returned  to  Scotland  about  1561,  was  called  to 
the  bar  in  February  1563,  and,  in  1564,  was  made 
justice-depute.  In  1566,  when  Prince  James  was 
bom,  Craig  wrote  a  Latin  hexameter  poem  of 
some  length  on  the  event,  entitled  ^  Grenethliacon 
Jacob!  Principis  Scotorum,'  which  is  highly  spoken 
of  by  Mr.  Tytler  in  his  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Craig. 
This,  and  his  '  Parieneticon,'  a  poem  written  on 
the  departure  of  King  James  for  England,  are 
inserted  in  the  ^Deliti®  Poetarum  Scotorum.* 
Craig  soon  acquired  an  extensive  practice  at  the 
bar,  which  he  enjoyed  for  upwards  of  forty  years. 
He  was  a  convert  to  the  pro^estant  religion,  and 
appears  to  have  kept  himslf  apart  from  the 
political  intrigues  and  comm'  rions  of  those  dis- 
tracted times,  devoting  himself  to  his  professional 
duties,  and,  in  his  hours  of  relaxation,  cultivating 


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CRAIG, 


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JOHN. 


a  taste  for  classical  llteratui*e.  His  piinclpal  work 
is  liis  learned  treatise  on  the  feudal  law,  entitled 
^  Jus  Feudale/  wliich  is  held  in  such  high  estima- 
tion, that  it  has  often  been  quoted  both  by  histo- 
rians and  iawyei-s.  It  was  completed  in  1608,  but 
not  published  till  forty-seven  years  after  his  death. 
In  January  1603  he  wi'ote  a  Latin  treatise  on  the 
right  of  James  to  the  crown  of  England,  an  Eng- 
lish translation  of  which  was,  by  Dr.  Gatherer, 
published  in  1703.  He  was  present  at  King 
James*  entry  into  London,  as  well  as  at  his  cor- 
onation, which  events  he  commemorated  in  a 
Latin  hexameter  poem.  Having  repeatedly  de- 
clined the  honour  of  knighthood,  King  James 
ordered  that  he  should  nevertheless  enjoy  the  style 
and  title.  In  160-i  he  was  one  of  the  Scots  com- 
missioners nominated  by  his  majesty  to  confer 
with  others  on  the  part  of  England,  regarding  the 
probability  of  a  union  between  the  two  countries, 
a  favourite  project  with  King  James.  Sir  Thomas 
wrote  a  work  on  this  snbject,  which  still  remains 
in  manuscript.  He  also  wrote  a  treatise  on  the 
independent  sovereignty  of  Scotland,  entitled  '  De 
Hominlo,'  which  was  translated  into  bad  English 
by  Mr.  George  Ridpath,  and  published  in  1695. 
In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  became  advocate 


for  the  church.  Sir  Thomas  Craig  died  at  Edin- 
burgh, February  26,  1608.  His  portrait  is  given 
in  the  preceding  column. 

He  had  married  Helen,  daughter  of  Heriot  of 
Trabrown,  in  East  Lothian,  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons  and  three  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Sir 
Lewis  Craig,  born  in  1569,  was  educated  at  the 
university  of  Edinburgh,  under  the  eye  of  his  fa- 
ther, and  took  his  degree  of  master  of  arts  on  30tb 
July  1597.  He  afterwards  studied  the  civil  law 
for  two  years  at  Poitiers,  and  on  his  return  to  his 
native  country  was  admitted  an  advocate,  11th 
June  1600.  He  was  knighted  and  appointed  a 
lord  of  session  sometime  between  the  24th  Feb- 
ruary 1604  and  19th  June  1605.  He  sat  as  a 
lord  of  session,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Wrights- 
houses,  while  his  father  was  still  a  pleader  at  the 
bar.  The  judges  at  that  time  wore  their  hats  ou 
the  bench,  but,  "whenever,"  saj's  Mr.  Tytler, 
"  his  father  appeared  before  him,  Sir  Lewis,  aa 
became  a  pious  son,  uncovered,  and  listened  to  his 
parent  with  the  utmost  revercnce."  U^ifc  by  Mr. 
P.  F.  Tytler."]  Sir  I^wis  died  before  6lh  June 
1622. — Sir  Thomas  Craig's  works  are : 

PnemnU.    Edin.  160B,  4to. 

Serenissimi  et  invictiiisiini  Priricipis  .Taoobi  Britiinnianiin 
et  Galliaram  Regis  ZTE«AN04>0PIA.  Rob.  Cbartens. 
1603,  4to.  This  poem  nnd  his  Panenetioon  are  reprinted  in- 
ter Delit.  Poet.  Scotor.  Amst  1687. 

Jos  Feudale,  tribas  I.ibrin  comprehenttiin.  Edin.  1656.  fol. 
Idem  ex  Editione  Jrc  Baillie.  Edin.  1782.  fol.  A  work  of 
authority  over  all  Europe.  Another  edition,  Upsisp,  1716, 4ti'. 

Scotlnnd's  Sovereignty  asserted,  being  a  dispute  ooooeming 
homage  against  those  who  maintain  that  Scotland  is  a  feo  of 
England.  Translated  from  the  I^itin,  with  a  Preface,  b? 
George  Ridpath.     London,  1695,  8vo.    1698,  8to. 

The  right  of  Succession  to  the  Kingdom  of  England,  in  two 
books,  agninst  Parsons,  the  Jesuit,  who  endeaYoored  to  over- 
throw not  only  the  right  of  Succession,  but  also  the  sacred 
antbority  of  Kings  themselves.  Written  above  100  years 
since,  and  trnnslsted  out  of  the  Latin,  by  James  Gatherer. 
London,  1703,  8vo.    . 

CRAIG,  John,  an  eminent  preacher  of  the  Re- 
formation, and  colleague  of  John  Knox,  was  bom 
in  1512,  and  soon  after  lost  his  father  in  the  dis- 
astrous battle  of  Flodden.  He  received  his  edu- 
cation at  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  and  going 
afterwai'ds  to  England,  became  tutor  to  the  family 
of  Lord  Dacre.  In  consequence  of  the  war  which 
broke  out  between  England  and  Scotland,  he  re- 
turned to  his  native  country,  and  became  a  friai 
of  the  Dominican  order.    Falling  under  the  sus- 


-J, 


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CRAIG, 


JOHN. 


picioD  of  heresy,  lie  was  thrown  into  prison,  but 
was  soon  liberated.  In  1537  he  left  Scotland,  and 
after  in  vain  attempting  to  procare  a  place  at 
Cambridge,  proceeded  to  France,  and  thence  to 
Italy.  At  the  recommendation  of  Cai'dinal  Pole 
he  was  admitted  among  the  Dominicans  at  Bolog- 
na, and  snch  was  his  merit,  that  he  was  soon 
raised  to  the  rectorate  of  that  body.  Finding  a 
copy  of  Calvin's  Institutions  in  the  libi'ary  of  the 
Inqnisition,  he  was  induced  to  read  that  work,, 
when  he  became  a  convert  to  the  protestant  doc- 
trines. Making  no  secret  of  his  change  of  senti- 
ments, he  was  exposed  to  considerable  danger, 
but  was  advised  by  an  old  monk,  a  countryman  of 
his  own,  to  obtain  his  discharge,  and  depart  from 
the  monastery.  He  now  entered  as  tutor  into  the 
family  of  a  neighbouring  nobleman  who  had  em- 
braced protestant  principles ;  but  both  he  and  his 
patron  being  accused  of  heresy,  were  seized  and 
seut  to  Rome,  whei*e  he  was  brought  to  trial,  and, 
with  some  others,  condemned  to  be  burnt  on  the 
20th  of  August  1659.  Luckily  for  him,  the  pope, 
Paul  the  Fourth,  died  on  the  evening  before  the 
day  appointed  for  his  execution,  and  the  populace 
having  excited  a  tumult  in  the  city,  the  prison 
doors  were  thrown  open,  and  Cnug  and  his  fellow 
captives  effected  their  escape,  and  took  refuge  in 
a  house  beyond  the  suburbs.  They  were  pm'sued 
by  a  company  of  soldiers,  and  on  entering  the 
house,  their  leader  looked  Crsdg  eagerly  in  the 
face,  and,  taking  him  aside,  asked  if  he  recollected 
of  once  relieving  a  poor  wonnded  soldier  whilst 
walking  in  the  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  Bologna. 
Craig  replied  that  he  did  not  remember  the  cir- 
cumstance. "But  I  remember  it,'*  replied  the 
grateful  soldier ;  "  I  am  the  man  whom  yon  re- 
lieved, and  Providence  has  now  put  it  in  my  power 
to  return  the  kindness  which  yon  showed  to  a 
distressed  stranger.  You  are  at  liberty;  lyour 
companions  I  must  take  along  with  me,  but,  for 
your  sake,  shall  show  them  every  favour  in  my 
power."  He  then  supplied  him  with  money,  and 
allowed  him  to  depart. 

Craig  soon  found  his  way  back  to  Bologna,  but 
afraid  of  being  denounced  to  the  Inqnisition,  he 
left  that  city,  and  avoiding  all  the  public  roads, 
endeavoured  to  reach  Milan;  his  money  failing 
him  on  the  road,  he  laid  himself  down  by  the  side 


of  a  wood  to  ruminate  on  his  sad  condition,  when, 
to  his  surprise,  a  strange  dog  came  fawning  up  to 
him  with  a  pnrse  in  its  mouth.  Viewing  this  as 
*'  a  singular  testimony  of  God's  care  of  him,"  he 
now  prosecnte^his  journey  with  renewed  strength. 
Having  reached  Vienna,  and  announced  himself  a 
Dominican  monk,  he  was  employed  to  preach 
before  the  archduke  of  Austria,  afterwards  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  the  Second,  with  whom  he 
became  a  favourite.  But  the  new  pontiff  applying 
to  have  him  sent  back  to  Rome  as  a  condemned 
heretic,  the  archduke  dismissed  him  with  a  safe 
conduct.  In  1560  be  arrived  in  England,  and  be- 
ing informed  of  the  establishment  of  the  Reformed 
religion  in  his  native  country,  he  hastened  to  Ed- 
inbnrgh,  and  was  admitted  to  the  ministry.  Hav. 
ing,  during  an  absence  of  twenty-four  years, 
nearly  forgotten  his  native*  language,  he  preached 
for  a  shoii;  time  in  Latin  to  some  of  the  learned 
in  Magdalene  chapel,  in  the  Cowgate.  He  was 
afterwards  appointed  minister  of  the  Canongate, 
where  he  had  not  officiated  long  till  he  was  elected, 
m  1562,  colleague  to  John  Knox,  in  the  parish 
chnrch  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  continued  for  nine 
years.  In  1564,  in  one  of  his  sermons  he  inveigh- 
ed against  the  hypocrisy  of  the  times  with  so 
much  truth  and  point  that  many  of  the  courtiers 
were  highly  offended,  and  in  particular  Maitland 
of  Lethington,  secretary  to  the  queen,  who  soon 
after,  in  the  famous  conference  between  the  court 
lords  and  the  leading  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly, carried  on  the  cUscussion  singly  with  John 
Knox.  In  the  following  year  he  and  his  colleague 
Knox  were  ordained  by  the  Assembly  to  prepare 
the  form  of  the  exercise  to  be  nsed  at  a  public  fast, 
and  to  cause  it  to  be  printed.  This  treatise  of  fast- 
ing was  long  preserved  in  the  Psalm-books.  In  the 
memorable  year  1567  he  proclaimed  the  banns  of 
marriage  between  the  queen  and  Bothwell,  de- 
clai'ing  at  the  same  time  that  the  marriage  was 
odious  and  scandalous  to  the  world;  for  which 
he  was  called  before  the  council.  In  the  Gren- 
eral  Assembly  of  July  1568,  with  six  other  min- 
isters he  was  appointed  to  revise  the  form  and 
order  of  excommunication  which  had  been  pre- 
pared by  Knox;  and  in  that  of  July  1569,  he  and 
Knox,  with  Mr.  David  Lindsay  and  the  superin- 

t^ndant  of  Lothian,  received  commission  to  revise 
2  X 


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JOHN. 


tlie  acts  of  the  General  Assemblies.  Of  the  As- 
sembly which  met  at  Edinburgh  on  1st  March 
1570  he  was  chosen  moderator.  He  was  re-elect- 
ed to  the  same  office  in  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly  24th  October  1576,  and  was  a  third 
time  elected  moderator  on  17th  October  1581. 

About  1572  Craig  was  sent  by  the  General  As- 
sembly to  preach  at  Montrose,  and  two  years 
afterwai'ds  he  was  appointed  minister  at  Aber- 
deen. In  1579  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  chap- 
lains to  James  the  Sixth,  and  thereupon  returned 
to  Edinburgh,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
General  Assemblies  of  the  Chm*ch.  He  assisted 
in  compiling  the  Second  Book  of  Discipline,  and 
was  the  writer  of  the  National  Covenant  which 
was  signed  in  1580  by  the  king  and  his  household, 
and  from  this  was  called  the  king^s  covenant  or 
Confession  of  Faith.  On  the  19th  September 
1582,  he  rebuked  the  king  from  the  pulpit  for 
issuing  a  proclamation  in  which  the  ministers  of 
the  church  were  severely  reflected  upon,  for  their 
conduct  in  excommunicating  Robert  Montgomery, 
archbishop  of  Glasgow ;  whereat,  it  is  said,  the 
king  wept,  saying  that  he  might  have  told  him 
privately.  Mr.  Craig  had  taken  great  pains  in 
collecting  the  acts  of  Assembly,  which  were  ap- 
proved of  by  the  Assembly  of  1583.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  and  several  ministers  were  sum- 
moned before  the  council  for  their  bold  speeches, 
and  their  opposing  such  acts  of  parliament  as  they 
thought  contrary  to  the  liberties  of  the  church ;  on 
which  occasion  the  earl  of  Arran,  the  king's  fav- 
ourite, started  to  his  feet,  and  said  they  were  too. 
pert ;  he  should  shave  their  heads,  pare  their  nails, 
and  make  them  an  example  to  all  who  should  re- 
bel against  king  and  council.  They  were  charged 
to  compear  before  the  king  and  council  at  Falk- 
land on  the  4th  September.  They  obeyed,  when 
some  warm  discussion  took  place  between  Mr. 
Craig  and  the  bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  An'an 
endeavoured  to  browbeat  him  and  those  with  him. 
Mr.  Craig  was  discharged  from  preaching,  and  he 
and  the  other  accused  ministers  were  commanded 
to  compear  again  before  the  council  the  16  th  of 
November.  He  afterwards  subscribed  the  bond 
of  obedience.  He  officiated  at  the  coronation  of 
the  queen  in  1590,  and  on  her  subsequent  entry 
into  Edinburgh,  his  son,  **  a  young  boy,  made  a 


short  oration  to  her."  In  1591  he  prepared,  by 
order  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  form  of  an 
examination  before  the  Communion,  which  was 
ordei-ed  to  be  printed,  and  taught  in  schools  and 
families,  in  place  of  the  catechism.  On  29th  De- 
cember in  that  year,  he  again  rebuked  the  king 
from  the  pulpit  for  not  doing  justice  to  his  people, 
to  the  great  wrath  of  his  majesty.  In  1595,  from 
the  infirmities  of  age,  he  resigned  his  office  of 
minister  to  the  king,  and  retired  from  public  life. 
He  died  December  4, 1600,  aged  88. 

CRAIG,  Alexander,  a  poet,  of  whom  little  is 
known.  His  amorous  songs,  sonnets,  and  elegies, 
were  published  in  London  in  1606. 

CRAIG,  John,  a  learned  mathematician  and 
divine,  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  but  the  place  and 
date  of  his  birth  are  unknown.  He  settled  at 
Cambridge  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  mathema- 
cal  writer  by  a  number  of  papers  on  Fluxions,  and 
other  subjects,  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 
and  in  the  Acta  Eruditorum.  He  had  a  contro- 
versy with  John  Bernoulli  on  the  quadrature  of 
curved  lines  and  curvilinear  figures,  in  which 
Leibnitz  took  the  part  of  Craig.  But  his  most 
extraordmary  work  is  a  pamphlet  of  thirty-six 
pages  4to,  entitled  *  Theologis  Christians  Princi- 
pia  Mathematica,^  published  at  London  in  1699 
The  object  of  this  curious  tract  is  to  calculate  the 
duration  of  moral  evidence  and  the  authority  of 
historical  facts.  He  establishes,  as  bis  fundamen- 
tal proposition,  that  whatever  we  believe  npon 
the  testimony  of  men,  inspired  or  uninspired,  is 
nothing  more  than  probable.  He  then  proceeds 
to  suppose  that  the  probability  diminishes  in  pro- 
portion as  the  distance  of  time  from  this  testimony 
increases;  and  by  means  of  algebraical  calcula- 
tions, he  arrives  at  length  at  the  condnsion,  that 
the  probability  is,  that  the  Christian  religion  will 
last  only  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty-four  years 
from  the  date  of  his  book!  His  tract  was  repub- 
lished at  Leipsic  in  1755,  by  J.  D.  Titius  of  Wit- 
temberg,  with  a  refutation  of  his  arguments.  The 
Abbe  Houteville  also  combated  his  learned  but 
absurd  reveries.  The  date  of  Craig's  death  is  not 
known.  The  following  Ust  of  his  writings  is  from 
Watt*s  Bibliotheca  Britannica,  in  which  it  is  stated 
he  was  sometime  vicar  of  Gillingham,  Dorsetshire. 


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WILUAM. 


Methodus  fignrarum,  liiieis  rectis  et  ciirvis  oompreheDsamm : 
qaadrataras  detenninaodL    LondoUf  1685,  4to. 

Tractatofl  mathemnticus,  de  figuraram  curvilinearnm  quad- 
ratnriSf  et  locia  geometrids.     London,  1692,  1693,  4to. 

Theologue  Ghristianie  Prindpia  Mathematica.  London, 
1699,  4to.    Reprinted,  Leipsic,  1755. 

De  calculo  flaentium,  lib.  iL  et  de  optica  analytica,  lib.  ii. 
London,  1718,  4to. 

The  Qoadrature  of  the  Logarithmic  Cnrve;  translated 
from  the  I^tin.     Phil.  Trans.  Abr.  iv.  318.     1698. 

Quadrature  of  Figures  Geometrically  Irrational.  lb.  202. 
1697. 

Letter,  containing  Solutions  of  two  problems:  1.  on  the 
Solid  of  Least  Resistance;  2.  The  Curve  of  Quickest  Descent, 
lb.  642.    1700-1. 

Spedmen  of  determining  the  Quadrature  of  figures.  lb.  v. 
24.    1708. 

Solution  of  BemouilFs  Problem.    lb.  90.    1704. 

Of  the  Length  of  Curve  Lines.    lb.  406.    1708. 

Method  of  Making  Logarithms,    lb.  609.    1710. 

Description  of  the  Head  of  a  monstrous  Calf.  lb.  668 
1712. 

CRAIG,  James,  a  very  ])opalar  preacher  in  his 
day,  was  born  at  Glffbrd,  in  East  Lothian,  in 
1682.  He  was  educated  in  the  university  of  Ed- 
inburgh, where  he  took  his  degree  of  M.A.,  and 
was  ordained  minister  at  Tester.  During  the 
time  he  remained  there,  he  wrote  a  volume  of 
^  Divine  Poems,'  which  passed  through  two  edi- 
tions.   He  afterwards  became  minister  at  Had- 


dled  in  1784,  in  the  75th  year  of  his  age.     His 
sermons  were  much  admired  for  their  eloquence. 
His  works  are : 

An  Essay  on  the  Life  of  Jesus  Christ    Edin.  1767,  12mo. 

Twenty  Discourses  on  various  subjects.  Edin.  1775,  8 
vols.  l2mo.  New  edition,  with  several  additional  iSermons, 
and  a  life  of  the  Author.    1808,  2  vols.  8vo. 

CRAIG,  William,  Lord  Craig,  an  eminent 
judge,  son  of  the  pi*ecediug,  was  born  in  1745. 
He  studied  at  the  university  of  Glasgow,  and  was 
admitted  advocate  in  1768.  In  1787  he  became 
sheriff-depute  of  Ayrshire;  and  in  1792,  on  the 
death  of  Lord  Hailes,  was  i*aised  to  the  Bench, 
when  he  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  Craig.  In  1795 
he  succeeded  Lord  Henderland  as  a  judge  of  the 
court  of  justiciary,  which  situation  he  held  till 
1812,  when  he  resigned  it  on  account  of  infiim 
health.  While  still  an  advocate,  he  was  one  of 
the  chief  contributors  to  ^  The  Mirror,*  a  celebrated 
periodical  published  at  Edinburgh,  the  jobit  pro- 
duction of  a  society  of  gentlemen,  all  connected 
with  the  bar,  except  Mr.  Henry  Maclcenzie,  author 
of  *The  Man  of  Feeling.*  This  society  was  at 
first  termed  the  *  Tabernacle,*  and  usually  met  in 
a  tavern  for  the  purpose  of  reading  their  essays. 


dington;  and,  in  1732,  was  translated  to  Edin- 1  When  the  publication  of  these  was  resolved  upou^ 

burgh,  where  he  died  in  1744,  aged  62.     His 

sermons,  in  three  volumes  8vo,  chiefly  on  the 

heads  of  Christianity,  published  at  Edinburgh  in 

1732,  were  at  one  time  much  esteemed,  but  they 

are  now  become  scai'ce. 

CRAIG,  William,  D.D.,  an  eminent  divine, 
was  the  son  of  a  merchant  in  Glasgow,  where  he 
was  bom  in  February  1709.  At  college  he  dis- 
guished  himself  by  his  uncommon  proficiency  in 
classical  learning.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1734;  and  in  1737,  having  received  a  presentation 
from  Mr.  I>ockhart  of  Cambusnethan,  he  was 
ordained  minister  of  that  parish.  He  afterwards 
accepted  of  a  presentation  to  Glasgow,  and  became 
minister  of  St  Andrew*8  church  in  that  city.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  Afr.  Anderson,  a  con- 
siderable merchant  in  Glasgow,  by  whom  he  had 
several  children,  two  of  whom,  William,  an  eminent 
lawyer,  afterwards  Lord  Craig,  and  John,  a  mer- 
chant, survived  their  father.  His  wife  died  in 
1758,  and  he  subsequently  married  the  daughter  of 
Gilbert  Kennedy,  Esq.  of  Auchtifardel.    Dr.  Craig        . '  .-^.vr^rfw^rnW^r^'^'^'^^*^ 


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SIR  JAMES  GIBSON-. 


tUe  idea  of  which  originated  with  Mr.  Craig,  the 
name  was  changed  to  that  of  the  *  Mirror  Club.' 
The  Mirror  was  commenced  January  23,  1779, 
and  finished  with  the  110th  number,  May  27, 1780. 
The  whole  was  afterwards  republished  in  3  vols. 
8vo.  Mr.  Craig's  contributions,  next  to  those  of 
Mr.  Mackenzie,  were  the  most  numerous.  The 
thirty-sixth  number,  written  by  him,  "  contributed 
in  no  inconsiderable  degree,"  says  Dr.  Anderson, 
in  his  Lives  of  the  Poets,  "  to  rescue  from  oblivion 
the  name  and  writings  of  the  ingenious  and  ami- 
able young  poet,  Michael  Bruce."  Mr.  Craig  also 
wrote  many  excellent  papers  for  '  The  Lounger,' 
which  was  staited  some  years  after  by  the  same 
club.  His  lordship,  who  was  the  cousin  of  Mrs. 
M'Lehose,  the  celebrated  Clarinda  of  Bums,  died 
July  8,  1813.  From  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Craig  by 
Kay  the  woodcut  on  the  preceding  page  has  been 
taken. 

CRAIG,  James,  an  eminent  architect  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  the  son  of  William 
Craig,  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  and  Mary,  young- 
est sister  of  James  Thomson,  the  author  of  the 
Seasons.  His  plan  for  the  new  town  of  Edin- 
burgh, published  in  1768,  and  dedicated  to  George 
the  Third,  first  brought  him  into  notice.  It  was 
altered  by  Craig  himself  in  1774.  Various  other 
changes  were  efiected  on  the  plan,  ere  it  assumed 
a  permanent  shape  even  on  paper.  It  was  selected 
as  the  best  from  a  great  number  of  competing  de- 
signs. On  publishing  it,  he  appended  to  it  the 
following  quotation  from  his  uncle's  Seasons : 

*'  Augost,  around,  what  pnblio  works  I  see ! 
Lo !  stately  streets,  lo !  squares  that  court  the  breeze. 
See  long  canals,  and  deep^*d  rivers  join 
Each  part  with  each,  and  with  the  circling  main, 
The  whole  entwined  Island.** 

A  part  of  Craig's  design  was  to  preserve  and  ex- 
tend the  North  Loch,  at  the  back  of  Edinburgh 
Castle,  in  the  form  of  a  long  canal.  It  is  now 
turned  to  much  better  use,  after  being  drained,  as 
the  site  of  that  portion  of  the  Edinburgh  and 
Glasgow  Railway  which  runs  into  the  Edinburgh 
terminus.  Craig  was  presented  with  a  gold 
medal  bearing  the  city  arms  and  a  suitable  inscrip- 
tion, and  received  along  with  it  the  freedom  of  the 
city  of  Edinburgh  in  a  silver  box.    The  Physi- 


cian's Hall,  a  chaste  Grecian  edifice,  designed  by 
him,  which  stood  on  the  south  side  of  George  street, 
but  removed  in  1845,  seems  to  have  been  his  best 
work.  The  foundation  stone  of  it  was  laid  in 
1774  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Cnllen;  but  that 
building  was  removed  in  1845,  and  the  Com- 
mercial Bank  pf  Scotland,  remarkable  for  its  lofty 
and  magnificent  portico,  now  occupies  its  site.  In 
1786  Craig  issued  a  quarto  pamphlet,  illustrated 
with  engravings,  containing  a  scheme  for  remodel- 
ling the  old  town,  but  its  suggestions  were  not 
adopted.  His  professional  skill  was  for  a  long 
time  alnMSt  entirely  exercised  on  the  private 
dwellings  of  the  new  town,  and  these  generally 
are  so  elegantly  designed,  and  the  streets  so  uni- 
form as  to  have  acquired  for  the  new  town  of 
Edinburgh,  the  proud  title  of  "  the  city  of  palaces.** 
He  died  at  Edinburgh,  on  the  23d  June,  1795. 

CRAIG,  Sir  Jabces  Gibson-,  an  eminent  citi- 
zen of  Edinbui*gh,  and  one  of  the  leading  local 
politicians  of  his  time,  was  bom  on  the  11th  Oc- 
tober, 1765,  and  belonged  to  the  ancient  family  of 
Gibson,  of  Duiie,  one  of  whom  married  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Thomas  Craig,  of  Riccarton,  the  learned 
author  of  the  *  Treatise  on  the  Feudal  Law,*  and 
in  consequence  the  subject  of  this  notice,  on  the 
extinction  of  the  male  line,  succeeded  as  heir  of 
entail  to  the  Riccarton  estate.  His  father,  Wil- 
liam Gibson,  Esq.,  a  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  died 
in  1807.  By  his  wife,  Mary  Cecilia,  a  daughter 
of  James  Balfour,  Esq.,  of  Pilrig,  he  had  nine 
sons  and  a  daughter.  Sir  James,  the  second  son, 
was  educated  at  the  High  School  of  his  native 
city,  and  in  1786  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Writers  to  the  Signet.  Latteriy  he  was 
at  the  head  of  the  list  of  that  body.  From  his 
earliest  years  he  entertdned  a  zealous  attachment 
to  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and 
throughout  his  long  life  had  always  been  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  able  and  active  of  the  liberals 
of  Scotland.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789,  he  was  one  of  those  who  came 
prominently  forward  to  agitate  for  pariiamentary 
reform ;  and  by  his  purse,  his  pen,  his  influence, 
and  professional  counsel,  undismayed  by  the  fix)wii8 
of  those  in  power,  he  aided  the  liberal  cause,  and 
proved  himself  the  friend  of  the  friends  of  liberty, 
when  more  cautions  and  less  zealons  supporters  of 


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SIR  JAMES  GIBSON- 


liberal  opinions  shrunk  from  the  hazards  and  dan- 
gers which  then  attended  snch  a  bold  and  honest 
coui*se  as  was  adopted  by  him  and  a  few  others 
holding  similai'  sentiments.  At  a  later  period, 
when  Harry  Erskine;  John  Clerk  of  Eldin ;  Adam 
Gillies,  afterwards  Lord  Gillies ;  David  Cathcart, 
afterwards  Lord  AUoway ;  and  others  of  the  Ed- 
inburgh Whigs,  were  joined  by  Cranstoun,  Jef- 
frey, Moncrieff,  Cockbnm,  and  Murray,  James 
Gibson  was  still  the  active  and  indomitable  agent 
in  conducting  the  policy  of  the  party.  "  In  fact," 
says  a  writer  in  a  local  journal,  "  the  presence 
and  counsel  of  Sir  James  were  always  deemed  in- 
dispensable when  a  movement  was  to  be  made, 
for  he  was  one  of  the  main  springs  when  specula- 
tion gave  way  to  action.  During  that  period  of 
excitement  which  followed  a  few  years  after  the 
peace,  when  men,  nndistracted  by 'the  shock  of 
contending  hosts,  had  time  to  revert  to  political 
reform,  we  find  Sir  James  receiving  his  full  share 
of  the  abuse  then  lavished  by  the  ^Beacon*  on  the 
leaders  of  the  Whig  party.  One  charge  made  by 
that  journal  involved  his  professional  reputation 
and  personal  honour,  and  he  sought  recourse  in 
the  jury  court,  when,  after  an  elaborate  trial,  dur- 
ing which  the  most  satisfactory  testimony  was 
borne  to  his  high  character  and  honour,  by  cer- 
tain of  the  most  eminent  of  his  professional  bre- 
thren, although  on  the  opposite  side  of  politics, 
he  triumphantly  established  his  case,  and  the  juiy 
returned  a  verdict  for  him  with  £600  damages." 
He  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Fox  and  most 
of  the  leaders  of  the  old  whig  school,  and  figures 
prominently  in  the  sarcastic  ballad  against  the 
Whigs  written  by  Sir  Alexander  Boswell  in  1822, 
which  led  to  the  fatal  duel  with  Mr.  Stuart  of 
Duneam,  in  which  Boswell  was  shot. 

During  the  Reform  agitation  of  1880-31,  and  32, 
his  unimpaired  energies  and  undying  zeal  in  the 
cause,  enabled  him,  though  then  verging  on  his 
seventieth  year,  to  discharge,  with  admirable  skill, 
courage,  and  boldness,  the  duties  of  that  leader- 
ship to  which  he  was  called  by  his  services  and 
character.  His  tall  and  commanding  figure  might 
be  seen  at  all  the  public  meetings  of  that  stormy 
period,  with  his  characteristic  top-boots ;  and,  al- 
though no  orator,  he  could  express  his  sentiments 
in  public,  in  a  style  which,  from  its  brevity  and 


force,  told  powerfully  on  his  audience.  Shrewd 
common  sense,  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  a  business-like  way  of  handling  the  ques- 
tion, were  his  principal  characteristics  on  these 
occasions.  He  attended  and  took  part  in  the 
King's  Park  demonstrations  in  favour  of  reform, 
and  all  the  other  meetings  in  Edinburgh,  and  they 
were  numerous,  of  that  exciting  period,  and  was 
one  of  the  foremost  at  the  Jubilee  of  1832,  in  cel- 
ebrating the  triumpli  of  the  liberal  party.  To  the 
last  he  retained  his  interest  in  public  and  political 
matters,  yet,  though  for  many  years  known  to  be 
the  confidential  adviser  and  agent  of  the  leaders 
of  the  liberal  party  in  Scotland,  few  citizens  of 
Edinburgh  have  ever  been  more  genei-ally  respect- 
ed, or  their  name  been  more  truly  honoured,  not 
only  in  that  city,  but  throughout  Scotland.  This 
he  owed  to  the  strength,  ardour,  and  firmness  of 
his  mind,  his  judgment  and  resolution,  and  parti- 
cularly to  his  honesty  of  purpose,  and  straightfor- 
ward honourable  course  of  conduct. 

In  1831,  during  the  ministry  of  Earl  Grey,  as  a 
reward  for  his  political  services  to  his  party,  he 
was  created  a  baronet  of  the  united  kingdom. 
The  whig  patronage  for  Scotland  was  supposed  to 
have  been  vested  for  a  considerable  period  in  his 
hands ;  but  he  was  never  known  to  use  his  influ- 
ence unfairly  to  promote  his  own  interests,  or  those 
of  his  party.  He  had  no  personal  ambition  but 
to  serve  and  promote  the  liberal  cause.  Though 
he  was  understood,  from  his  influential  position 
and  the  services  he  had  rendered  them,  to  have  a 
large  claim  on  the  whig  party,  he  never  solicited 
any  office  for  himself.  In  1806,  when  the  Whigs 
obtained  a  brief  tenure  of  the  ministiy,  he  was  ap- 
pointed solicitor  of  stamps,  an  office  which  he  did 
not  long  continue  to  hold. 

Up  to  a  short  period  of  his  death  he  regularly 
attended  at  the  chambers  of  the  eminent  firm  of 
which  he  was  the  head — ^Messrs.  Gibson-Craigs, 
Wardlaw,  and  Dalziel,  writers  to  the  signet — 
taking  an  active  part  in  the  professional  business, 
and  also  in  that  of  the  banks  and  public  companies 
with  which  he  was  officially  connected  as  a  director. 

It  was  on  the  motion  of  Sir  James  Gibson -Craig, 
that,  at  the  meeting  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  creditors 
and  trustees  on  the  17th  December,  1830,  after 
the  failure  of  the  latter.  Sir  Walter  was  reqneste<l 


T 


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CRAIGIE. 


694 


CRAIK. 


to  accept  of  his  furniture,  plate,  liuens,  paintings, 
iibraiy,  and  curiosities  at  Abbotsford,  as  the  best 
means  they  had  of  expressing  their  very  high 
sense  of  his  most  honourable  conduct,  and  in 
grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  exertions  on  their 
behalf. 

He  married,  in  ^September  1796,  a  daughter  of 
James  Thomson,  Esq.,  of  Edinburgh.  He  as- 
sumed the  additional  surname  and  arms  of  Craig, 
in  1818,  on  succeeding  Robert  Craig,  Esq.  of  Ric- 
carton,  in  virtue  of  the  provisions  of  an  entail 
made  by  his  predecessor  He  died  6th  March 
1850,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  baronetcy,  and 
estates  of  Ingliston  and  Riccarton,  by  his  eldest 
son,  William  Gibson-Craig,  Esq.,  sometime  mem- 
ber of  parliament  for  Edinburgh. 

CRAionc,  a  surname  originallj  Creagack,  a  Cdtic  word 
signifying  a  craggy  ridge,  and  derired  from  the  lands  of 
Craigie  in  the  parish  of  Dalmeny,  Linlithgowshire,  now  called 
Craigiehall.  They  formeriy  belonged  to  a  family  who  took 
their  name  from  them.  Joannes  de  Craigin,  or  Craigie,  was 
one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  original  charter  of  Dundas  of 
Dundas,  the  Superior,  in  the  reign  of  Darid  the  First  In  the 
Ragman  Roll  (1296)  is  the  name  of  John  de  Craigy,  supposed 
on  good  grounds  to  belong  to  this  family.  In  1867,  John  de 
Craigy  of  that  ilk  is  made  mention  of  in  the  Chartnlaiy  of 
St  Giles.  He  got  the  lands  and  barony  of  Braidwood  in 
Lanarkshire  by  his  marriage  with  Margaret,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Sir  John  de  Monfode,  by  whom  he  had  an  only 
daughter,  Margaret,  called  domma  de  Craigy,  heiress  of 
Craigy  and  Braidwood,  who,  in  1887,  married  Sir  John 
Stewart,  a  younger  son  of  Sir  Robert  Stewart  of  Durrisdeer. 
Of  this  marriage  came  the  Stewarts  of  CraigiebaU,  who  pos- 
sessed the  estate  for  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and 
ultimately  sold  it  in  1648,  to  John  Fairholm,  treasurer  of  the 
dty  of  Edinburgh.  Mr.  Fairholm*s  grand-Klanghter  married 
the  first  marquis  of  Annandale,  who  in  her  right  obtained 
Craigiehall.  Their  only  surriving  child,  Henrietta,  on  her 
marriage  with  the  first  eari  of  Hopetoun,  carried  the  estate 
into  that  family,  and  it  is  now  possessed  by  Mr.  Hope  Vere, 
their  descendant,  the  additional  name  of  Vere  or  Weir  having 
been  assumed  on  the  marriage  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Hope, 
second  son  of  the  said  earl  of  Hopetoun,  with  the  hdrees  of 
Blackwood,  in  Lanarkshire,  whose  name  was  Vere. 

Another  principal  family  of  the  name  were  the  Craigies  of 
Kilgraston,  in  the  parish  of  thunbamie,  Perthshire,  two  of 
whom  were  eminent  judges.  Robert  Craigy  of  Glendoick,  in 
the  parish  of  Kinfauns,  in  that  county,  lord  president  of  the 
court  of  session,  bom  in  1685,  was  the  son  of  Lawrence 
Craigie  of  Kilgraston.  Admitted  advocate  8d  January  1710, 
he  was,  on  4th  March  1742,  appointed  lord  advocate.  On  the 
death  of  Robert  Dundas  of  Amiston,  he  was  promoted  lord 
president  and  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  2d  Februaiy  1754. 
On  18th  June  1755  he  was  named  by  patent  one  of  the  com- 
missioners for  improving  the  fisheries  and  manufactures  of 
Scotland.  He  dM  10th  March  1760.  Lord  Woodhouselee, 
in  his  Life  of  Lord  Kames,  0*  ^1)  has  preserved  his  character 
both  as  a  judge  and  a  hiwyer.  Another  Robert  Craigie,  of 
the  same  family,  bom  in  1754,  second  son  of  John  Craigie  of 


Kilgraston  was  also  on  the  bench,  under  the  title  of  Lord 
Craigie.  He  passed  advocate  18th  July  1776,  was  appointed 
sheriff-depute  of  Orkney,  November  1786,  and  of  Duroines 
shire  3d  December  1791,  on  which  occasion  he  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  the  bnr;^  of  Dumfiies,  and  was  elevated 
to  the  bench  18th  November  1811.  He  died  in  1834|  and 
was  buried  in  the  old  churchyard  of  Dnmbamie.  He  was 
considered  an  excellent  fsudal  lawyer.  The  estate  of  Kilgras- 
ton was  purchaaed  m  1784  by  John  Grant  Ksq.,  chief  justice 
in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  who  died  in  1793,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother  Francis,  in  whose  family  it  remaina. — 
See  SuppLKimcT  for  additional  information. 

The  Craigies  of  Dtmibaraie,  in  the  parish  of  that  name,  are 
a  branch  of  the  family  who  formeriy  possessed  KilgrastoiL 
'^They  were  remarkable,"  says  the  New  Statistical  Account 
*'  for  the  elegant  improvements  they  made  on  their  estates;  and 
it  u  to  their  public  spirit  that  the  community  is  indebted  for 
several  avenues  of  trees  which  adom  the  roads  in  the  parish." 
Half  a  mile  south  firom  Perth  there  is  a  village  of  the  name 
of  Craigie.    lliere  is  also  a  parish  in  Ayiahire  of  the  name. 


Craioinoblt,  a  surname  derived  from  lands  of  that  name 
in  Stirlingshhe.  In  November  1555,  Mr.  Alexander  Living- 
ston, and  three  others  of  the  same  name,  with  three  of  their 
servants,  found  surety  to  underiy  the  law  for  art  and  part  of 
the  mutilation  of  John  Craigingelt  of  that  ilk  and  Robert  his 
son  of  their  left  arms,  committed  withm  the  buigfa  of  Stirling 
on  the  preceding  21st  of  August  In  1614,  Thomas  Craigin- 
gelt of  that  ilk  was  one  of  the  assize  on  the  trial  of  Helen 
Erskine,  Imbel  Erskine  and  Annas  Erskine,  sisters  of  Ro- 
bert Erskine,  brother  of  the  laird  of  Dun,  for  poisoning  their 
nephew,  John  Erskine,  hdr- apparent  of  David  Erskine, 
their  eldest  brother,  and  his  brother,  Alexander  Erskine. 
They  were  found  guilty,  and  two  of  them  executed;  the 
third,  Helen,  being  banished  the  kingdom.  In  1600,  Geoi^ 
Craigingelt  one  of  the  earl  of  Gowrie*s  attendants,  was  tried 
for  his  share  in  the  Gowrie  oonspiracyT  and  being  found 
guilty  was,  on  the  22d  August,  hanged  with  two  others  of  his 
lordship's  retainers  who  were  condemned  for  the  same  crime, 
at  the  market-cross  of  Perth.  It  does  not  appear  that  be 
had  any  direct  hand  in  the  conspiracy,  but  he  was  seen  keep- 
ing the  back  gate,  with  a  drawn  double-handed  sword  in  his 
hand,  during  the  time  of  the  fray.  He  had  previously  been 
ill  in  bed,  but  on  hearing  the  noise  he  rose  and  ran  up  the 
dose,  and  cried  with  the  rest  of  the  town  there  convened, 
*'  Give  us  our  provost  or  the  king's  green  coats  shall  pay  for 
it**  His  deposition  will  be  found  inserted  at  length  in  the 
second  volume  of  Pitcaim*s  Criminal  Trials,  pages  157, 158. 


Craik,  an  old  surname  found  in  the  Ragman  RolL  Nis- 
bet  remarks  that  it  seems  to  be  a  south  oountiy  name.  In 
the  stewartxy  of  Kirkcudbright  there  is  a  fiunily  of  the  sur- 
name of  Craik  who  possess  the  estate  of  ArbigUnd,  bought 
in  1722  by  the  ancestor  of  the  present  proprietor,  from  the 
earl  of  Southesk,  for  twenty-two  thousand  merks.  The  see 
of  the  first  Craik  of  Arbigland  died  in  1785,  and  his  son, 
William  Craik,  Esq.,  was  one  of  the  most  successful  agricul- 
turists of  his  day.  In  his  younger  years  he  employed  his  time 
in  the  grazing  of  cattle,  and  was  the  first  who  uadertook  to 
improve  the  soil  in  the  south  of  Sootiand.  Axbigland  was 
then  in  its  natural  state,  veiy  much  covered  with  whins  and 
brooms,  and  yielding  little  rent  heing  only  about  three  thou- 
sand merks  a-year  (eighteen  merks  make  one  pound  steriing). 
The  estate  is  in  the  parish  of  Kirkbean,  the  church  of  which 
was  built  in  1776,  aooordmg  to  a  phm  of  William  Craik,  Esq. 
then  of  Arbiglano. 


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CRAIL. 


695 


CRANSTON. 


Mr.  George  L.  Cnik,  M.A.,  for  a  long  time  connected  with 
Mr.  Charles  Knight,  the  ^ndon  pablisher,  as  editor  of  some 
of  his  publications,  and  elected  in  1849  professor  of  History 
and  English  literature  in  Qneen*s  College,  Belfast,  a  native 
of  Dumfries-shire,  may  be  of  the  same  family. 

Crail,  a  somame  derived  from  lands  near  "the  East 
Nenk"  of  Fife,  and  the  name  of  a  parish  there.  In  the 
twelfth  oentory  there  was  a  family  of  some  consequence,  who 
adopted  the  name  of  Crail  as  their  sorname.  Adam  Cnul  or 
Karail,  who  died  in  1227,  vfas  one  of  the  derid  regii^  and 
bishop  of  Aberdeen. 


Cramond,  a  surname  supposed  to  be  derrred  from  what  is 
now  the  parish  of  that  name  in  the  counties  of  Linlithgow 
and  E^nbui^h.  There  was  an  old  family  Cramond  of  Auld- 
bar  in  Forfarshire.  In  a  charter  of  John  de  Strathem,  1278, 
William  de  Cramond  is  designed  dericus  de  Warderoba  do- 
mmi  reffB,  In  the  fifteenth  century  Catherine  Cramond, 
daughter  of  the  proprietor  of  Auldbar,  married  Sir  Thomas 
Manle,  ancestor  of  the  Panmure  £unily.  This  lady  was  his 
second  wife.  In  1576,  James  Cramond,  the  then  laird,  sold 
the  barony  to  Lord  Glammis,  in  whose  famOy  it  continued 
till  1670,  when  Patrick,  first  earl  of  Strathmore,  sold  it  to 
Sir  James  Sinclair,  who  again  sold  it  to  Peter  and  James 
Young.  In  1758,  it  was  puidiased  by  William  Chahners  of 
Hazlehead,  the  ancestor  of  the  family  of  Cbabners  of  Auld- 
bar. 


Cramond,  a  barony  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland  (now  sup- 
posed extinct),  one  of  the  very  flow  which  has  been  held  by 
natives  of  England,  having  no  connexion  whatever,  dther  of 
blood,  Imth,  or  estate,  with  North  Britain.  It  was  conferred, 
on  the  last  day  of  16^8,  by  Charles  the  Hrst,  on  Elizabeth, 
the  second  wife  of  Sir  Thomas  Richardson,  knight,  lord  chief 
iustice  of  the  court  of  king's  bench,  the  only  instance,  as  re- 
mained by  Crawford  in  his  Peerage,  of  any  female  creation 
in  the  Scottish  RolL  Lady  Cramond  was  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Beaumont,  knight^  of  Stoughton  Grange,  Leicester- 
shire, and  had  previously  been  married  to  Sir  John  Ashbnm- 
ham  of  Ashbumham  in  Sussex,  knight,  and  by  him,  who 
died  29th  June  1620,  aged  twenty-nine,  had  several  children. 
Her  eldest  son,  John,  was  the  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Ash- 
bumham. Her  second  husband,  Sir  Thomas  Richardson,  the 
B0.1  of  Dr.  Thomas  Richardson,  was  bom  at  Hardwick  in 
Suffolk,  8d  July  1569,  and  died  4th  Febmaiy  1684.  The 
peerage  of  Cramond  was  conferred  on  his  wife  for  her  life, 
with  remainder,  as  she  had  no  issue  of  her  own,  to  the  son  of 
Sir  Thomas,  by  his  first  wife,  (Ursula,  daughter  of  John 
Southwell,  of  Barham  Hall,  Suffolk,  by  whom  he  had  one 
son  and  four  daughters)  and  his  heirs  male ;  which  failing  to 
the  heirs  male  of  his  father.  Collins,  in  Ms  Baronetage  (ed. 
1771,  vol.  ii  page  164)  says,  probably  the  reason  why  the 
title  was  not  granted  to  Sir  Thomas  himself  was  on  account 
of  his  being  a  judge,  it  being  in  those  days  unusual.  Lady 
Cramond  died  16th  April  1651.  Her  second  husband.  Sir 
Thomas  Richardson,  distinguished  himself  as  an  opponent  of 
Laud,  having  issued  an  oider  against  the  ancient  custom  of 
wakes,  and  directed  eveiy  minister  in  England  to  read  it  in 
his  church.  This  was  considered  an  encroachment  on  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  by  Laud,  then  bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  and  Richardson  was  brought  before  the  council,  and  so 
severely  reprimanded  that  he  came  out  complaining  that  he 
had  been  aJmost  choked  by  a  pair  of  lawn  sleeves.  This  step 
was  tne  means  of  the^Book  of  Sports,  which  afterwards  proved 
so  fatal  to  that  mtolerant  prelate. 


,  Sir  Thomas'  son,  also  named  Sir  Thomas  Richardson,  died 
in  1642,  aged  forty-five.  He  was  twice  married.  By  his 
first  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Hewett,  knight, 
he  had,  with  other  children,  a  son,  Thomas,  Lord  Cramond, 
who  succeeded  his  stepmother  in  the  title.  He  had  also  a 
fiuiily  by  his  second  wife,  Mary,  widow  of  Sir  Miles  Sandys, 
knight  The  son,  Thomas  Richardson,  Lord  Cramond,  elect- 
ed member  of  parliament  for  the  county  of  Norfolk  in  1660, 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Gomey,  knight,  lord 
mayor  of  London,  and  died  16th  May  1674.  His  eldest  son, 
Heniy  Richardson,  Lord  Cramond,  bom  in  1650,  married 
Frances,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Napier,  baronet,  of  Luton  Hoo, 
widow  of  Sir  Edward  Barkham  of  Southacre  in  Norfolk.  On 
his  death,  5th  Januaiy  1701,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
William  Richardson,  Lord  Cramond,  bom  2d  August  1654, 
married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Edward 
Barkham,  Esq.,  of  Southacre,  and  secondly,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  James  Daniel  of  Norwich,  goldsmith. 
The  former  had  no  issue,  but  by  the  latter  his  lordship  had  a 
son  and  a  daughter;  William  his  heir;  and  Elizabeth,  heiress 
of  her  brother,  married  in  1785  to  William  Jermy,  Esq.,  of 
Bayfield  in  Norfolk.  They  sold  Southacre  Hall,  the  last  re- 
mains of  the  great  Cramond  property  in  Norfolk,  to  Sir  An- 
drew Fountatne,  knight.  Lord  Cramond  died  7th  March 
1719,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sen  WUliam  Richardson, 
Lord  Cramond,  bom  in  1714.  He  died,  unmarried,  28th 
JtUy  1785,  when  the  peerage  is  supposed  to  have  become  ex* 
tinct. 

On  this  peerage  the  lords  of  session,  in  their  retum  to  an 
order  of  the  House  of  Lords,  dated  12th  June  1789,  remark 
that  it  does  not  appear  that  any  person  ever  sat  or  voted  as 
Lord  Cramond,  or  that  any  one  offered  to  vote  at  any  election 
since  the  Union  under  that  title,  but  as  the  descendants  of  Sir 
Thomas  Richardson,  if  any  were,  had  probably  their  residence 
in  En^and,  their  not  having  claimed  hitherto  can  be  no  objec- 
tion to  their  title  if  they  can  verify  their  right  to  it. 


Cranston,  a  surname  derived  fix)m  the  lands  of  Cranston 
in  the  counties  of  Edinbui^  and  Roxburgh,  anciently  pos- 
sessed by  the  ancestcxi  of  the  noble  funUy  of  that  name.  A 
parish  on  the  eastem  veige  of  Edinburghshire  now  bears  the 
name  of  Cranston.  In  the  charters  of  the  twelfth  century  it 
was  written  Craneetone,  the  Anglo-Saxon  Craenston,— signi- 
fying the  territory  or  resort  of  the  crane,  a  bird  whidi,  when 
armorially  carried,  as  by  all  families  of  the  name  of  Cran- 
ston, is  the  emblem  of  piety  and  charity.  Their  motto, 
however,  seems  to  be  the  reverse  of  this,  as  it  is,  "  Thou  shalt 
want  ere  I  want"  In  a  charter  of  King  William  the  lion  to 
the  abbacy  of  Holyroodhonse,  Elfnc  de  Cranston  is  witness. 
He  is  also  witness  to  a  convention  betwixt  Roger  de  Quincy 
and  the  abbot  and  convent  of  Newbottle  in  1170.  In  the 
reign  of  Alexander  the  Second,  Thomas  de  Cranston  made  a 
donation  to  the  monastery  of  Soltray,  of  some  lands  lying 
near  Paiston  in  East  Lothian,  for  the  welfare  of  his  own  soul, 
and  those  of  his  ancestors  and  successors;  and  in  that  of 
Alexander  the  Third,  Andrew  de  Cranston  is  witness  to  a 
charter  of  Hugo  de  Riddel, — knight,  the  proprietor  of  the 
district  from  whom  one  portion  of  it  acquired  the  name  of 
Cranston-Riddel — to  the  abbacy  of  Newbottle.  Hugh  de 
Cranston  was  one  of  the  Scottish  barons  who  swore  fealty  to 
King  Edward  the  First  in  1296.  Radolphus  de  Cranston, 
dominns  de  New  Cranston,  son  and  heir  of  Andrew,  lord  of 
Cranston,  made  a  donation  to  the  abbacy  of  Newbottle  27th 
May,  1888,  and  confirmed  to  the  monastery  of  Soltray,  totam 
illam  terram  in  territorio  meo  de  Cranston,  quern  habui  ab 
antecessonbus  meis,  betwixt  1380  and  1340;  in  which  con- 


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firmation  his  son,  John  de  Cnnston,  is  particolarlj  named. 
From  King  David  the  Second,  Thomas  de  Cranston  got  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Cranston. 

In  the  year  1582  Thomas  Cranstonn  of  Morristonn,  or  Mn- 
rieston,  descended  from  Cranstonn  of  that  ilk,  was  one  of  the 
jniy  on  the  trial  of  George  Hnme  of  Spott,  indicted  for  being 
concerned  in  the  murder  of  Lord  Damlej,  when  Hnme  was 
acquitted.  In  1591,  John  Cranstonn  of  Morristoun  granted, 
with  his  wife,  Barbara,  a  reyersion  of  the  lands  of  Toderick. 
In  the  following  year  Thomas  Cranstonn,  younger  of  Mories- 
tonn,  and  his  brother  John  Cranstonn  were  amongst  the  per- 
sons summoned  on  a  charge  of  treason,  and  forfeited,  for 
assisting  the  turbulent  earl  of  Bothwell  in  his  nocturnal  at- 
tack on  the  palace  of  Holyroodhouae,  and  Thomas  Cranstoun 
was  denounced  rebel  for  not  appearing  to  answer  for  the 
same.  William  Cranstonn,  the  son  of  the  above  Thomas 
Cranstoun  and  Barbara  his  wife,  married  Sarah,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Sir  John  Cranstoun  of  that  ilk,  the  first  Lord  Cran- 
stoun, afterwards  noticed.  On  June  11, 1600,  Sir  John  and 
his  son  William  were  indicted  for  the  reset  of  the  said  Tho- 
mas Cranstoun,  a  declared  traitor,  and  on  19th  June  they 
produced  the  king*s  warrant  that  proceedings  should  be  stay- 
ed against  them,  when  they  were  commanded  to  their  lodg- 
ings. John  Cranstonn  did  not  reodve  a  remission  of  his 
forfeiture  till  1611. 

Another  family  of  the  name,  the  Oanstouns  of  Corsbie  in 
Berwickshu^  were  at  one  period  of  some  conaderation  on 
the  borders.  In  1580,  Jasper  Cranstonn  of  Corsbie  was  one 
of  the  Berwickshire  barons  who  were  proceeded  against  for 
neglecting  to  fulfil  their  bonds  **to  keep  good  rule  within  their 
respective  bounds,**  as  was  also  John  Cranstoun  of  that  ilk. 
They  found  surety  to  stand  their  trial,  when  required,  and 
also  submitted  themselves  to  *  the  king*s  wilL'  On  June  20, 
1548,  Cuthbert  Cranston  of  Dodds  found  Geoige  Lord  Hume 
security  for  himself  and  fifteen  others  to  underlie  the  law  for 
treasonable  assistance  afforded  to  "  our  old  enemies*'  of  Eng- 
land, and  on  9th  October  following  Cuthbert  Cranston  of 
Mains  found  caution  to  answer  for  the  same  crime.  Cuth- 
bert Cranstoun  of  Thirlestanemains  and  Thomas  Cranstoun 
of  that  ilk  were  among  thirty-two  border  barons  who  sub- 
scribed a  bond  at  Kelso,  6th  April  1569,  for  preserving  the 
peace  of  the  borders,  against  the  thieves  of  liddesdale,  Esk- 
dale,  Euesdale,  and  Annandale,  the  Armstrongs,  Johnstones, 
ElHotts,  &c  On  November  9,  1570,  Sir  William  Cranstoun 
of  Dodds,  commissary  of  Lander,  found  security  to  underlie 
the  law  for  the  slaughter  of  James  Brownlee.  In  Birrell*s 
Diary,  under  date  October  20,  1596,  there  is  the  follonring 
entiy:  "Gilbert  Lawder  slam  at  Linlithgow  by  the  Cnh- 
stouns.**  In  March  1612,  Alexander  French  of  Thomiedykes 
and  James  Wight,  his  nephew,  were  found  guilty  of  the 
slaughter  of  John  Cranstoun,  brother  of  Patrick  Cranstoun 
of  Corsbie,  and  beheaded  on  the  Castlehill  of  Edinburgh;  and 
on  8d  September  1618,  Gilbert  Cranstoun,  uncle  of  the  said 
Patrick,  was  tried  and  found  guilty  of  stealing  a  gray  stal- 
lion from  the  stables  of  his  nephew,  and  of  various  other  acts 
of  theft,  and  of  shooting  George  Home  of  Bassendean  in  the 
thigh,  committed  in  September  1609  and  hanged  for  the 
same  on  the  Castlehill  of  Edinbui^h. 

Of  this  name  were  several  ministers  eminent  m  their  day. 
The  first  minister  of  the  parish  of  liberton,  Mid  Lothian, 
after  the  Reformation  was  Mr.  Thomas  Cranstoun,  who  had 
previously  been  minister  of  Borthwick.  He  entered  to  his 
stipend,  (which  only  amounted  to  two  hundred  merks,  or 
eleven  pounds  two  shillings  and  twopence,)  at  Lammas  1569, 
and  was  transUted  to  Peebles  at  Whitsunday  1570.  Mr. 
John  Cranstoun  was  minister  of  Liberton  from  1625  to  1627. 


In  August  1568,  a  serious  disturbance  took  place  at  Edui« 
burgh,  in  consequence  of  the  queen*s  domestics  at  Holyrood, 
during  her  absence  at  Stirling,  being  found  attending  mass  at 
the  chapel  there.  Patrick  Cranstonn,  "  a  zealous  brother,** 
as  Knox  styles  him,  entered  the  chiq>el,  and  finding  the  altar 
covered,  and  a  priest  ready  to  celebrate  mass,  he  demanded 
of  them  how  they  dared  thus  openly  to  break  the  laws  of  the 
land  ?  The  magistrates  were  summoned,  and  peace  restored 
with  difficulty. 

In  the  reign  of  James  the  Sixth,  Mr.  Michael  Cranstoun 
was  minister  of  Cramond.  Calderwood  characterizes  him 
as  a  timeserver,  but  he  seems  to  have  been  decided  in  his  op- 
position to  the  measures  of  the  court  regarding  the  chuidL 
With  other  ministers  he  was  ordered  to  be  apprehended  for 
the  treasonable  and  seditious  stining  up  of  the  tumult  and 
uproar  in  Edinburgh,  on  the  17th  December  1596,  his  share 
in  that  memorable  afiair  being  that  he  read  the  histoiy  of 
Haman  and  Mordeoai  to  the  people  assembled  m  the  little 
Kirk,  while  certain  conmiissioners  appointed  by  them  went 
to  King  James,  who  was  then  sitting  in  the  Tolbooth  admin- 
istering justke;  in  consequence  of  which  he  entered  in  ward, 
but  did  not  long  continue  in  it,  as  his  migesty*8  fury  was  chiefly 
directed  against  Mr.  Robert  Bruce,  and  the  other  ministerB  of 
Edinburgh. 

In  the  same  reign,  Mr.  ^Hlliam  Cranstoun  was  minister  of 
Kettle  in  Fife,  of  whom  Calderwood  relates  that  on  the  18th 
August  1607,  on  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Fife,  when  the 
king  sent  four  commissioners  to  force  Archbishop  Gladstanes 
on  the  synod  as  moderator,  Mr.  William  Cranstoun,  modera- 
tor of  the  previous  synod,  walking  in  the  session  hoase,  which 
was  within  the  kiric^  at  his  meditation,  and  finding  himself 
troubled  at  the  closeness  of  the  air,  went  up  to  the  pulpit,  not 
knowing  that  any  other  was  appointed  by  the  commissioners 
to  preach,  and  while  sitting  in  the  pulpit,  a  messenger  came 
to  him  with  a  letter,  which  he  put  in  his  pocket  without 
reading  it  A  littie  while  after  another  messenger  was  sent,  in 
the  lords  commissioners*  name,  to  bid  him  come  down.  He 
answered  that  he  came  to  that  place  in  the  name  of  a  greater 
Lord,  whose  message  he  had  not  yet  discharged,  and  with 
that  named  a  psalm  to  be  sung,  because  be  saw  the  people 
somewhat  amazed.  Then  one  of  the  bailies  vrant  and  whis- 
pered to  him  that  he  was  commanded  by  the  lords  to  dcsirs 
him  to  come  down.  He  replied,  "  And  I  command  you  in 
the  name  of  God,  to  sit  down  in  your  own  seat,  and  hear 
what  God  wHl  say  to  you  by  me.**  The  bailie  obeyed.  At 
last,  when  he  was  commencing  his  prayer,  the  conservator  of 
the  privUeges  of  the  merchants  in  tiie  low  countries,  being  a 
counciUor,  went  to  him,  and  desired  him  to  desist,  for  the 
lords  had  appointed  another  to  preach.  "  But  the  Lord,**  said 
Mr.  Cranstoun,  "  and  his  kiik  have  appointed  me,  therefore, 
beware  how  ye  trouble  this  work  ;**  and  immediately  proceeded 
with  his  prayer  and  preachmg.  [Ca/idienpoo<f»  History^  voL 
vi  page  674.]  For  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  he  was  after- 
wards put  to  the  horn.  On  the  10th  of  May  1620,  Jdm 
Spottiswood,  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  held  a  court  of  high 
commission  in  that  dty,  when  he  deprived  this  sged  and  wor- 
thy minister  of  his  charge. 


CRAirsTOUir,  Lord,  a  titie  m  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  pos- 
sessed by  a  family  of  the  same  name,  descended  from  Thomas 
de  Cranyston  who,  in  the  reign  of  King  David  the  Second, 
had  a  charter  from  the  eari  of  Mar,  of  the  barony  of  Stobbs, 
within  that  of  Cavers,  in  the  shire  of  Roxburgh.  His  sup- 
posed grandson,  Thomas  de  Cranstoun,  taUifsr  rtgU,  was  a 
personage  ot  considerable  influence  in  the  reign  of  James  the 
Second.    Along  with  Sir  William  Crichtoo,  the  cfaamberiaio, 


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and  William  Fowles,  keeper  of  the  privy  seal,  he  was  in  Maj 
1426f  sent  ambassador  to  £ric,  kinf^  of  Demnark,  Norway  and 
Swedoif  to  a^jnst  the  debt  due  to  him  for  the  relinqoishment  of 
the  Hebrides  to  King  Alexander  the  Thirds  which  they  ami- 
cably settled.  He  was  afterwards  much  employed  in  negoci- 
ations  with  England.  He  had  letters  of  safe  oondact,  with 
Lord  Crichton,  chancellor,  and  others,  commissioners  for 
treating  of  peace,  8d  April  1448 ;  again  in  1449,  1460,  and 
1451.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  one  of  the  conservators  of 
the  truce  with  England,  and  in  1458  he  and  William  de 
Granstoon,  his  son,  were  conservators  of  the  trace ;  again  in 
1457  and  1459 ;  and  in  the  latter  year  Thomas  de  Granstoon 
was  one  of  the  wardens  of  the  marches.  He  died  about  1470. 
On  a  pillar  on  the  north  side  of  where  the  altar  stood  in  the 
church  of  St  Giles,  Edinburgh,  are  his  armorial  bearings. 
He  had  two  sons,  the  younger  of  whom  was  ancestor  of  the 
Granstouns  of  Glen. 

William  de  Granstoun,  the  elder  son,  is  designed  of  Grail- 
ing  in  a  charter  to  William  Lord  Grichton,  7th  April  1450,  m 
his  father's  lifetime.  On  2d  March,  1451-2,  he  had  a  char- 
tor  to  William  Granstdun  of  Gndyn.  He  appears  among 
the  barons  in  parliament,  18th  March  1481-2.  He  died  in 
1515.  William  de  Granstoun  had  two  sons,  John  and  Tho- 
mas. John,  the  elder  son,  married  Janet  Scott,  and  died  in 
1552.  His  eldest  son.  Sir  William  Granstoun,  had  a  charter 
to  himself  and  Elizabeth  Johnstone  his  wife,  and  John  Gran- 
stoun, their  son,  of  the  lands  of  New  Granstoun,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Edinburgh,  SOth  May  1553.  On  the  25th  June  1557, 
dame  Janet  Bethune,  Lady  Bnocleuch,  and  several  persons  of 
the  name  of  Scott  were  accused  of  going  to  the  kirk  of  St 
Mary  of  the  Lowes,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred,  *  bodin  in 
feire  of  war,*  (that  is,  arrayed  in  armour,)  and  breaking  open 
the  doors  of  the  said  kirk,  in  order  to  apprehend  the  laird  of 
Granstoun,  for  his  destruction,  and  for  the  slaughter  of  Sir  Peter 
Granstoun.  On  July  14, 1563,  William  Granstoun  of  that 
ilk,  James  his  brother,  and  another,  found  caution  to  under- 
lie the  law  at  the  next  court  at  Selkirk,  for  art  and  part  going 
to  the  steading  of  Williamshope,  belonging  to  Alexander 
Hoppringill  of  Graigleith,  and  hamstringing  and  slaying  three 
of  his  cattle.  By  lus  wife,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Andrew 
Johnstone  of  Elphinstone,  Sir  William  Granstoun  had  two 
•ons,  John  and  lliomas,  and  two  daughters.  The  elder  son, 
John,  married  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  George  Ramsay 
of  Dalhousie,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  also  named  John,  who 
seems  to  have  died  without  succeeding  to  the  estate,  and 
seven  daughters. 

On  the  23d  August  1600,  Mr.  Thomas  Granstoun,  one  of 
the  earl  of  Gowrie*8  attendants,  was,  with  two  others  of  his 
retainers,  executed  at  Perth,  for  drawing  swords  in  the  time 
of  the  tumult  during  the  mysterious  transactions  of  the  Cow- 
rie conspiracy.  He  was  the  brother  of  Sir  John  Granstoun 
of  Granstoun,  a  zealous  professor  of  religion,  with  whom  Mr. 
Robert  Bruce  the  celebrated  Edinburgh  minister  passed  some 
time  in  retirement  at  Granstoun  in  1603,  when  persecuted  by 
theoourt 

Sarah,  the  eldest  of  the  seven  daughters  of  the  aoove  John 
Granstoun,  married  William  Granstoun,  first  Lord  Granstoun. 
He  was  the  son  of  John  Granstoun  of  MorriestoUn,  and  cap- 
tain of  the  guard  to  King  James  the  Sixth,  by  whom  he  was 
knighted.  He  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of  Lora 
Granstoun,  by  patent,  dated  17th  November  1609,  to  him 
and  his  heirs  mide  bearing  the  name  and  arms  of  Granstoun. 
On  the  20th  August  1617,  his  lordship,  with  the  lords  San- 
quhar and  Bucdeuch,  William  Douglas  of  Gavers,  sheriff  of 
Teviot^Ude,  and  three  others,  the  landlords  of  the  east  and 
west  marches,  compeared  personally  before  the  lords  of  conn- 


cil,  and  bound  themselves  to  make  then:  whole  men,  tenants 
and  servants,  answerable  and  obedient  to  justice,  and  that 
they  should  satisfy  and  redress  parties  wronged,  conform  to 
the  laws  and  acts  of  parliament,  and  general  bond  made  in 
1602,  which  was  the  strictest  ever  made  on  the  borders. 
The  first  Lord  Granstoun  died  in  June  1627,  having  had  four 
sons  and  one  daughter.  James,  the  second  son,  was  in  1610 
brought  before  the  council  for  sending  a  challenge  to  the 
son  of  Sir  Gideon  Murray,  and  committed  to  BUckness  castle, 
while  the  latter  for  concealing  the  same,  with  the  intention  of 
meeting  his  opponent,  was  warded  in  Edinburgh  castle. 
James  Granstoun,  for  repeating  the  offence,  was  afterwards 
banished  forth  of  his  mi^esty's  dominions.  The  fathers  at 
the  same  time  were  bound  for  all  of  their  sons  come  to  man's 
age,  under  the  pain  of  ten  thousand  merks,  that  they  should 
keep  the  peace  with  each  other. 

John,  the  eldest  son,  second  Lord  Granstoun,  married  first, 
Elizabeth,  youngest  daughter  of  Walter  first  Lord  Scott  of 
Bucdeuch ;  secondly,  Helen,  youngest  daughter  of  James, 
seventh  Lord  Lindsay  of  Byres,  but  had  no  issue  by  either. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  William,  son  of  James, 
master  of  Granstoun,  above  mentioned,  the  second  son  of  the 
first  lord.  This  gentleman  was  twice  married ;  first,  to  Mar- 
garet, only  daughter  of  David  Macgill  of  Granstoun-Riddell, 
by  whom  he  had  a  daughter  Margaret,  who  became  the  wife 
of  Thomas  Graig  of  Riccartoun,  in  the  county  of  Edinburgh ; 
and,  secondly,  to  Lady  Elizabeth  Stewart,  eldest  daughter  of 
Francis  earl  of  Bothwell,  and  had  a  son,  William,  third  Lord 
Granstoun,  and  three  daughters. 

William,  third  Lord  Granstoun,  marched  into  England 
with  King  Gharles  the  Second  in  1651,  and  being  taken  at 
the  battle  of  Worcester,  was  committed  prisoner  to  the  Tower. 
He  was  particularly  excepted  out  of  Gromwell's  act  of  grace 
and  pardon,  April  1654,  by  which  his  estates  were  seques- 
trated, but  a  portion  of  the  lands,  of  the  yearly  value  of  two 
hundred  pounds,  were  settled  on  his  wife  and  children.  He 
married  Lady  Mary  Leslie,  third  daughter  of  Alexander,  first 
earl  of  Leven,  and  had  a  son,  JamM,  fourth  Lord  Granstoun, 
who  married  Aime,  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Don  of  Newton, 
in  the  county  of  Roxburgh,  baronet,  and  had  two  sons,  Wil- 
liam, fifth  Lord  Granstoun,  and  the  Hon.  Alexander  Gran- 
stoun, who  died  at  Darien,  without  issue. 

William,  fifth  Lord  Granstoun,  the  elder  son,  supported  the 
treaty  of  union  in  the  last  Scots  parliament  He  died  27th 
January  1727.  By  his  wife.  Lady  Jane  Ker,  eldest  daughter 
of  William,  second  marquis  of  Lothian,  who  survived  him 
forty-one  years,  he  had  seven  sons  and  five  daughters. 

About  the  history  of  the  Hon.  William  Henry  Granstoun, 
the  fifth  son,  bom  in  1714,  there  is  something  very  uncommon. 
He  was  a  captain  in  the  army,  and  married  at  Edinburgh  on 
the  22d  of  May  1744,  Anne,  daughter  of  Mr.  David  Murray, 
merchant  in  Leith,  who  was  the  son  of  Sir  Da\ia  Murray  of 
Stanhope,  bart  The  marriage  was  a  private  one,  on  pretence 
that  its  bemg  known  might  prevent  his  preferment  in  the  army, 
as  she  was  a  Roman  Gatholio.  No  witness  was  present  but  a 
single  woman.  The  dergyman  was  brought  by  Gaptain 
Granstoun,  ano  was  not  known  to  Miss  Murray  or  the  other 
woman.  They  lived  together,  in  a  private  manner,  till  some- 
time in  July  thereafter.  Then  the  lady  went  to  an  uncle's 
house  in  the  country,  while  the  captain  staid  among  his  own 
relations  till  November,  and  then  proceeded  to  London.  A 
dose  correspondence  was  kept  up  between  them  as  husband 
and  wife.  Before  he  left  she  acquainted  him  of  her  being  m 
the  way  of  becoming  a  mother,  and  he,  in  consequence,  in 
his  absence  wrote  very  afiectionatdy  both  to  herself  and  her 
uncle,  acknowledging  her  to  have  been  his  wife  from  the  nvd- 


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die  of  the  preceding  May,  but  still  insisted  on  the  marriiige 
being  kept  secret.  He  afterwards  informed  all  his  relations 
of  it,  and  they  visited  and  corresponded  with  her  as  his  wife. 
At  her  confinement  she  was  attended  bj  one  of  his  sisters. 
A  daughter  was  bom  at  Edinburgh,  on  Febrnary  19th,  1745, 
and  was  baptized  by  a  minister  of  the  established  church,  in 
presence  of  several  of  the  relations  on  both  sides.  The  child 
was  held  up  to  baptism  by  one  of  the  captain^s  brothers,  and 
named  after  his  mother,  by  express  orders  fh)m  himself. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  Captain  Granstonn  disowned  his 
marriage  in  1746,  alleging  that  they  were  never  married;  that 
he  had  only  promised  to  marry  her  in  case  she  should  turn 
protestant;  that  double  the  time  agreed  for  her  changing  her 
religion  was  now  elapsed,  without  her  doing  so;  that  what  he 
had  said  to  his  friends  was  only  to  amuse  them  and  save  her 
honour;  and  that  now  he  would  never  marry  her,  but  was 
willing  to  support  her  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  The  lady 
raised  a  declarator  of  her  own  marriage,  and  of  her  daugh- 
ter's Intimacy,  before  the  commissaries  of  Edinburgh,  the 
summons  of  which  was  executed  in  October  1746.  In  the 
process,  a  great  number  of  letters  written  by  the  captain  and 
the  lady  were  produced,  and  after  a  tedious  litigation  the 
commissaries,  on  the  Ist  March  1748,  decreed  them  to  be 
married  persons,  and  the  child  to  be  their  lawful  daughter; 
on  the  7th  of  April  following,  they  decerned  the  captain  to 
pay  the  lady  an  annuity  of  forty  pounds  sterling  for  herself, 
and  ten  pounds  for  their  daughter  so  long  as  she  should  be 
alimented  by  her,  both  to  commence  from  the  date  of  cita- 
tion, and  on  the  11th  of  May,  they  ordained  him  to  pay  her 
forty  pounds  of  costs,  and  nearly  sixty  pounds  for  extracting 
the  decreet.  Captain  Cranstoun  advocated  the  case  to  the 
court  of  session,  but  he  was  equally  unsuccessful  there.  It 
seems  that  during  the  proceedings  he  courted  a  young  lady 
in  Leicestershire,  but  all  hopes  of  a  union  with  her  were  put 
a  stop  to,  when  the  match  was  nearly  concluded,  on  the  Iady*8 
friends  hearing  that  he  was  already  married.  About  the  year 
1746.  having  gone  to  Henley  to  recruit.  Miss  Mary  Blandy, 
the  daughter  of  a  retired  attorney  at  Reading,  possessing, 
according  to  report,  ten  thousand  pounds,  fell  in  love  with 
him,  and  as  her  father  disapproved  ^  the  captain's  addresses, 
on  account  of  his  having  a  wife  alive  in  his  native  country, 
she  poisoned  him  on  the  5th  of  August  1751,  with  some  pow- 
der which  Capt  Cranstoun  had  sent  her  from  Scotland,  in  a 
packet  containing  Scots  pebbles,  and  labelled  "  to  dean  pebbles 
with,**  having  mixed  it  in  his  grueL  For  this  heinous  crime 
she  was  tried  at  Oxford  in  February  1752,  and  being  fbnnd 
guilty  she  was  hanged  on  the  Castle  green  of  that  dty,  on  the 
6th  of  April  thereafter.  In  Miss  Blandy's  statement  after 
her  condemnation,  she  alleged  that  the  powders  were  sent  to 
her  by  her  lover  to  be  given  to  her  father  as  love-potions,  to 
make  him  kind  to  them  both,  and  induce  him  to  consent  to 
their  marriage,  and  that  he  had  written  to  her  that  he  had 
consulted  a  Mrs.  Morgan,  "  a  cunning  woman  **  in  Scotland, 
who  had  assdred  him  that  they  would  have  that  eflfect,  which 
she  thoroughly  believed.  There  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  any  grounds  for  supponng  that  the  captain  was  in  any 
way  accessary  to  the  nlurder.  He  cUed  2d  December  1752, 
a  few  months  after  Miss  Blandy*8  execution. 

His  younger  brother,  the  Hon.  George  Cranstoun  of  Long- 
warton,  the  seventh  son  of  the  fifth  Lord  Cranstoun,  mar- 
ried Maria,  daughter  of  Thomas  Brisbane  of  Brisbane,  in 
Ayrshire,  and  had  by  her,  two  sons  and  three,  daughters. 
He  died  at  Edinburgh  30th  December  1788.  The  second 
sen,  George  Cranstoun,  was  an  eminent  judge  of  the  court  of 
sesfiion,  under  the  judicial  title  of  Lord  Corehouse.  He  was 
originally  designed  for  the  army,  but  studied  the  law.     He 


passed  advocate,  2d  February  1798,  was  appointed  one  of  the 
depute  advocates  in  1805,  and  sheriff  depute  of  the  county  of 
Sutherland  in  1806.  He  was  chosen  dean  of  the  fibcoltj  of 
advocates,  15th  November  1828,  and  elevated  to  the  beach, 
on  tiie  death  of  Lord  Hermand  in  1826,  fit>m  which  he  re- 
tired in  1889.  His  title  was  taken  from  his  seat  near  the 
celebrated  fall  of  Corra  linn  in  Clydesdale,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  romantic  places  in  Lanarkshire,  where  he  was 
visited  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  1827.  His  acqnaintaoce  with 
the  author  of  Waveriey  began  in  the  winter  of  1788,  when 
they  were  both  students  of  dvil  law  in  the  university  of  Ed- 
inburgh, and  their  intimacy  lasted  during  life.  When  prac- 
tising at  the  bar,  Mr.  Cranstoun  was  the  author  of  the  cele- 
brated jeu  detprity  entitled  the  **  Diamond  Beetle  Case," 
(inserted  in  Eay*s  Edinburgh  Portraits,  vol.  L  pp.  3S4 — 387,) 
in  which  the  judicial  rtyle  and  peculiar  manner  of  several 
of  the  judges,  in  delivering  their  opinions,  are  most  happily 
imitated.  He  was  a  superior  Greek  scholar,  idiicfa  ren- 
dered him  a  great  favourite  with  Lord  Monboddo,  who  used 
to  declare  that  Cranstoun  was  the  only  scholar  in  all  Soot- 
land.  Lord  Corehouse  was  an  excellent  judge  and  a  fiist- 
rate  lawyer,  espedally  in  all  feudal  questions. 

His  eldest  sister,  Margaret  Nicolson,  married,  25th  Februa- 
ry 1780,  William  Cuninghame  of  Lainshaw,  in  Ayrdme. 
The  second,  Jane  Anne,  afterwards  countess  of  Porgytall, 
was  an  early  confident  and  correspondent  of  Sir  Walter  Scott 
She  was  the  first  person  to  whom,  in  April  1796,  he  read  the 
manuscript  of  his  first  published  piece,  the  translation  of 
Burger*s  Lenore,  and  she  early  predicted  his  poetical  ex- 
cellence ;  writing  to  a  friend  in  the  country  at  that  period, 
she  said,  ^  Walter  Scott  is  gomg  to  turn  out  a  poet — some- 
thing ot  a  cross,  I  think,  between  Bums  and  Gray."    On  the 
23d  June  1797  she  married  Godfirey  Winceslaos,  count  of 
Pnrgstall,  a  German  nobleman  who  had  been  some  time  re- 
siding in  Edinburgh.    He  was  a  count  of  the  Holy  Roman 
empire,  of  noble  and  ancient  descent,  and  possessed  large 
estates  in  the  province  of  Styria.    "  This  lady,"  says  Lock- 
hart  in  his  Life  of  Scott  (under  date  1821),  **  had  undergone 
domestic  afflictions  more  than  suffident  to  have  crushed 
almost  any  spirit  but  her  own.    Her  husband,  the  count 
Purgstall,  had  dUed  some  years  before  this  time,  leaving  her 
an  only  son,  a  youth  of  the  most  amiable  dispoaitioii,  and 
possessing  abilities  which,  had  he  lived  to  develop  them, 
must  have  secured  for  him  a  high  station  in  the  annals  of  ge- 
nius.   This  hope  of  her  eyes,  the  last  heir  of  an  illustrious 
lineage,  followed  his  fiither  to  the  tomb  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  his  age.    The  desolate  countess  was  urged  by  her 
family  in  Scotland  to  return,  after  this  bereavement,  to  her 
native  country,  but  she  had  vowed  to  her  son  on  his  death- 
bed, that  one  day  her  dust  should  be  mingled  with  his,  and 
no  argument  could  induce  her  to  depart  from  the  resolutioo 
of  remaining  in  solitaiy  Styria.    By  her  desire,  a  valued 
friend  of  the  house  of  Purgstall,  who  had  been  bom  and  bred 
up  on  their  estates,  the  celebrated  orientalist  Jos^  Von 
Hammer,  compiled  a  little  memoir  of  '  The  two  last  Counts 
of  Purgstall,*  which  he  put  fbrth  in  Jannaiy  1821,  under  the 
title  of  *  Denkmahl,*  or  Monument"    The  copy  of  a  letter  of 
acknowledgment  of  the  receipt  of  this  work  by  Box  Walter 
Scott  to  the  countess,  but  which  by  some  inadvertence  was 
never  sent,  will  be  found  in  Lockhart^s  life  of  Scott    An 
account  of  a  Visit  to  the  Countess  de  PurgstaU  during  the 
last  months  of  her  life  by  Captain  Basil  Hall,  has  been  pub- 
lished.   See  his  8dilo88  HamfekL    Of  Helen  D*Arcy,  Lotd 
Corehouse^s  youngest  aster,  the  wifis  of  Professor  Dngald 
Stewart,  a  notice  follows. 
Jvnes,  dxth  Lord  Cranstoun,  succeeded  his  father  in  1727 


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and  died  at  London  4th  Jnlj  1778.  He  married  Sophia, 
danghter  of  Jeremiah  Brown  of  Abecoort  in  Snrrej,  with 
whom  he  obtained  twelve  thousand  pomids,  and  she  aftei^ 
wards  sacoeeded  to  a  larger  fortune.  She  had  an  estate  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  a  jointure  of  seven  hundred  pounds. 
Her  ladjship  remained  only  four  months  a  widow,  as  she 
took  for  her  second  husband,  on  10th  November,  1778,  Mi- 
chael Lade,  Esq.,  councillor  at  law,  and  £ed  26th  October 
1799.  By  this  ladj,  Lord  Cranstoun  had  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  The  eldest,  William,  and  the  third,  James,  suoces- 
sivelj  enjoyed  the  title.  The  Hon.  George  Cranstoun,  the  fifth 
son,  bom  in  1761,  was  captain  of  an  independent  company  of 
foot  in  Africa,  which  was  reduced  in  1783.  In  1795  he  be- 
came captain  in  the  ISlst  foot,  was  appointed  mi^or  of  a 
West  India  regiment  in  1796,  and  the  same  year  was  pro- 
moted to  the  lieutenant-oolonelcj  of  that  corps.  In  1801  he 
was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  64th  regiment  of 
foot,  which  regiment  he  commanded  at  the  capture  of  Suri- 
nam in  May  1804,  when  he  was  wounded.  He  had  the  rank 
of  colonel  in  the  army  Ist  January  1805,  and  died  at  Suri- 
nam, 8th  March  1806,  in  his  45th  year,  unmarried. 

Mllliam,  seventh  Lord  Cranstoun,  the  eldest  son,  bom  at 
Crailing,  8d  September,  1749,  succeeded  his  father  in  1773, 
and  died  unmarried  at  London,  Ist  August  1778,  aged  29. 

His  brother  James,  the  third  son,  eighth  Lord  Cranstoun, 
was  a  distinguished  naval  officer.  He  was  bom  in  1755,  and 
had  the  rank  of  lieutenant  in  the  royal  navy,  19th  October 
1776,  and  of  captain,  Slst  January  1780.  He  commanded 
the  Bellequieux,  of  64  guns,  in  the  engagements  between 
Sir  Samuel  Hood  and  the  Count  de  Grasse,  off  St  Christo- 
phers, 25th  and  26th  January,  1782.  After  the  victory  over 
De  Grasse  gained  by  Admiral  Lord  Rodney,  12th  April  1782, 
he  was  sent  home  with  the  despatches  announcing  it,  in 
which  his  lordship  declared  that  Lord  Cranstoun  had  acted 
as  one  of  the  captains  of  the  Formidable  during  both  actions, 
and  that  he  was  much  indebted  to  his  gallant  behaviour,  on 
both  occanons.  He  commanded  the  Bellerophon  in  Admiral 
Comwallb*  squadron,  17th  June  1795,  when,  with  five  ships 
of  the  line  and  two  frigates,  he  sustained  an  attack  of  the 
French  fleet,  of  thirteen  ships  of  the  line,  seven  frigates,  seven 
rasees  and  two  brigs,  and  obliged  them  to  give  over,  after  a 
running  fight  of  twelve  hours,  wherein  eight  ships  of  the  line 
were  so  shattered  that  they  could  not  engage  any  longer. 
In  his  despatches  the  admiral  stated  that  he  considered  the 
Bellerophon  as  a  treasure  in  store,  having  heard  of  her  former 
achievements,  and  observing  the  spirit  manifested  by  all  on 
board,  joined  to  the  activity  and  zeal  showed  by  Lord  Crans- 
toim  during  the  whole  cmise.  The  thanks  of  parliament 
were,  on  17th  November  1795,  voted  to  the  admiral,  cap- 
tmns,  &C.,  '*  for  the  skill,  judgment,  and  determined  bravery 
displayed  on  this  occurrence,  which  reflected  as  much  credit 
as  the  achievement  of  a  victory.*'  In  1796  his  lordship  was 
appointed  govemor  of  Grenada  and  vice-admiral  of  that  island, 
but  before  he  could  set  out  to  his  govemment,  he  died  at 
Bbhop*s  Waltham  in  Hampshire,  22d  September  1796,  in 
the  forty-second  year  of  his  age.  His  death  was  occasioned 
by  drintnng  cyder  impregnated  with  sugar  of  lead,  from  be- 
Hig  made  in  a  leaden  cistern.  He  was  buried  in  the  garrison 
chapel  at  Portsmouth.  His  character,  both  as  a  roan'  and  a 
naval  officer,  was  most  honourable.  The  contemporary  jour- 
nals said  that  ^  his  death  would  be  felt  as  a  public  loss  by 
those  who  knew  his  professional  merits,  and  will  be  long  and 
deeply  lamented  by  all  who  were  acquainted  with  his  exem- 
plary worth  in  private  life."  He  married  at  Damhall,  19th 
August  1792,  Elisabeth,  youngest  daughter  of  Lientenant- 
<x>loneI  Lewis  Charles  Montolieu,  sister  of  Lady  Elibank,  but 


had  no  issue  by  her.  She  died  at  Bath,  27th  August,  1797, 
aged  twenty-seven.  His  lordship  was  succeeded  by  his  ne- 
phew, James  Edward,  ninth  Lord  Cranstoun,  the  son  of  the 
Hon.  Charles  Cranstoun,  (who  died  in  November  1790,) 
fourth  son  of  the  sixth  lord  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Turner,  of 
the  county  of  Worcester. 

James  Edward,  the  ninth  lord,  married  at  the  Retreat  in 
St.  Christophers,  25th  August,  1807,  Anne  Linnington,  eld- 
est daughter  of  John  Macnamara^  Esq.  of  that  island,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  died  5th 
September  1818. 

His  elder  son,  also  named  James  Edward,  tenth  Lord 
Cranstoun,  bom  12th  August,  1809,  is  unmarried.  His  bro- 
ther, the  Hon.  Charies  Frederick  Cranstoun,  bom  in  1813,  is 
the  heir  presumptive. 

CRANSTOUN,  Hblbn  D'Arct,  anthoress  of 
the  beautifal  and  pathetic  song  of  '  The  tears  I 
shed  mnst  ever  fall,'  was  the  third  daughter  d 
the  Hon.  George  Cranstoun,  youngest  son  of  Wil- 
liam, fifth  Lord  Cranstoun,  and  was  bom  in  1765. 
On  the  26th  of  July  1790  she  became  the  second 
wife  of  Dugald  Stewart,  of  Catrine,  Ayrshire,  pro- 
fessor of  moral  philosophy  in  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  and  died  at  Warriston  House,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh,  28th  July  1888.  A 
copy  of  verses,  attributed  to  her,  beginning  "  Re- 
turning spring,  with  gladsome  ray,"  which  breathe 
the  same  strain  of  tender  feeling  as  her  justly  ad- 
mired song,  *  The  tears  I  shed,'  is  inserted  among 
the  Notes  to  JohnsotCs  Musical  Museum^  last  edi- 
tion. 

Craw,  (the  same  as  Crow,)  the  sumame  of  an  old  familj 
in  the  Merse,  stjled  of  Auchincraw,  which  became  extinct 
about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  branches 
of  that  familj  in  Berwickshire,  such  as  the  Craws  of  East 
Beston,  Nether  Byer,  and  Heugbhead,  had  for  crest  a  crow 
proper.  On  September  26,  1528,  George  Craw  of  Reston, 
and  three  others  were  amerdated  for  not  appearing  to  under- 
lie the  law,  for  their  riding  with  their  friends,  tenants,  and 
servants,  and  assisting  Archibald,  formerly  earl  of  Angus, 
and  his  accomplices,  in  raising  the  si^  of  the  castle  of  New- 
aric,  contrary  to  the  king's  proclamation,  &c  [PUcmrrCt 
Criminal  Trials,  vol.  L  p.  139.]  In  1481,  one  Paul  Craw,  a 
Bohemian,  was  bumt  at  St  Andrews,  for  teaching  the  doc- 
trine of  John  Huss  and  Wicliff,  one  of  the  earliest  martyrs 
for  the  reformed  faith  m  Scotland. 

Crawford,  Craufurd,  or  Crauford,  a  sumame  de- 
rived from  the  barony  of  Crawford  in  Lanarkshire,  of  which 
the  origin  is  unknown. 

The  family  of  Crawford  is  of  undoubted  Norman  origin. 
The  site  of  the  ruins  of  Crawford  castle  is  still  called  Nor- 
man Gill,  and  the  eariy  names  of  this  family  are  all  pure 
Norman.  The  account  of  their  descent  from  an  Anglo-Dan- 
ish chief,  as  ^ven  by  George  Crawfurd,  and  adopted  by 
Robertson  in  his  Ayr^iire  Families,  is  ^together  erroneous. 
Burke,  [History  of  Ae  Commoners,  vols.  ii.  and  iiL,]  conjec- 
tures that  they  are  descended  from  that  old  and  distinguished 
race,  the  earlier  earls  of  Kchmond,  with  whose  armcrial  bear- 


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CRAWFORD. 


iiif;8  thein  nearly  oorrespond,  being  OuUiy  a  fuse  ennine  in 
the  former,  and  a  bend  in  the  latter.  According  to  his  hy- 
potbesia,  Reginald,  youngest  son  of  Alan,  fourth  earl  of  Rich- 
mond, who  died  in  1146,  and  great-grandson  of  Galfridos, 
duke  of  Brittany,  who  died  hi  1008,  obtained  large  grants 
of  land  from  King  David  the  First  m  Clydesdale,  being  one 
of  the  thousand  Norman  knights  whom  he  established  in 
his  dominions.  These  grants  may  hare  originated  in  his 
(Reginald's)  connection  with  the  royal  family  of  Scotland, 
as  his  brot  er  Conan  le  Petit,  fifth  earl  of  Richmond,  nuu*- 
ried  a  grand-daughter  of  David,  namely,  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  Prince  Henry,  and  sister  of  King  William.  In  con- 
nection with  this  relationship  and  settlement  of  Reginald  in 
Scotland,  Theobaldus  the  Fleming,  the  reput«d  ancestor 
of  the  Douglases,  who  held  lands  in  Yorkshire  under  tlie 
•arls  of  Richmond,  appears  to  have  followed  his  fortimes 
into  that  kingdom,  as  also  Baldwin  of  Biggar,  formerly  of 
Multon  in  Yorkshire,  under  that  family,  who  afterwards  mar- 
ried the  widow  of  Reginald.  He  u  presumed  to  be  the  party 
who  assumed  the  surname  of  Crawford,  according  to  the  pno- 
tice  of  that  age,  from  his  barony  of  Crawford  in  Clydesdale. 
He  is  alluded  to,  in  a  charter  of  William  do  Lindsey,  afterward 
confirmed  by  King  William,  early  in  that  prince's  reign, 
wherein  mention  is  made  of  Johannis  de  Craufiird,  filius  Re- 
ginalds In  1127  there  were  two  brothers  of  this  name, 
knights,  sons  most  probably  of  this  Repaid,  namely,  Sir 
John  Crawford  and  Sir  Gregan  Crawford,  both  in  the  service 
of  King  David  the  First.  On  the  foundation  of  the  abbey  of 
Holyrood  by  that  monarch,  Sir  Gregan's  arms  were  placed 
therein,  as  he  was  instrumental  in  sa\'ing  his  majesty's  life 
^m  a  stag  that  had  unhorsed  him  whilst  hunting  on  that 
spot  on  Holyrood  day,  in  1127.  [NitbeVt  Sytkm  of  Heraldry^ 
vol.  i.  p.  834.]  The  old  stones  on  which  his  arms  were  em- 
blazoned, taken  from  the  ruins  of  Holyrood  Abbey,  were  built 
over  the  lintebi  of  the  Canongate  church  porch ;  this  church 
having  been  a  dependency  of  the  Abbey.  He  carried  in  his 
armorial  bearings,  artrent,  a  stag's  head  erazed,  with  a  cross 
cmsslet,  between  his  attires,  gules,  laying  aside  his  paternal 
bearing ;  gules,  a  fesse  ermine,  carried  by  some  branches  of 
the  Crawfords.  On  the  abbey  of  Holyrood  are  the  arms  of 
Archibald  Crawford,  treasurer  to  James  IV.,  and  brother  of 
Crawford  of  Henning,  as  shown  in  the  subjoined  cut,  viz.,  a 
fesse  ermine  with  a  star  in  chief,  and  the  shield  adorned  on  the 


top  with  a  mitre.  Sir  Gregan  had  a  grant  of  lands  from  King 
David  in  Galloway,  called  after  him,  Dalmagregan.  This  ap- 
pellation is  most  probably  a  corruption  of  *'  De  la  Mag  Gregan.*' 


and  implies  *^  the  lands  of  the  chief  Gregan,"  and  is  an  in- 
stance of  the  adoption  of  the  prefix  Mac  in  connection  with  the 
Romanesque  Dal,  as  well  as  in  reference  to  a  Norman  knigfat. 

Galfridus,  styled  Dominus  Galfridus  de  Crawford,  fr^ 
quently  occurs  among  the  magnatet  Scotia,  as  a  witness  to 
Uie  charters  of  King  William  inter  1170  et  1190.  He  mar- 
ried the  sister  of  John  le  Scot,  eari  of  Chester,  and  niece  of 
the  king.  She  was  the  daughter  of  David  eazl  of  Hunting- 
don, second  son  of  David  the  First  of  Scotland  by  his  queen 
Maud.  He  is  termed  kinsman  by  John  le  Soot  eari  of  Ches- 
ter, nephew  of  tiie  king,  in  a  charter  quoted  by  George  Craw- 
ford, along  with  John  le  Scot's  two  natural  brothers,  where 
they  are  all  styled  Jratribu»^  in  aooordanoe  with  the  practice 
of  that  age  in  the  use  of  this  term. 

Reginald  de  Crawford,  probably  the  son  of  Galfridus  above 
mentioned,  is  witness  in  1228,  to  a  charter  ot  Richard  le 
Bard  (the  original  of  the  name  of  Baird)  to  the  monastery  of 
Kelso.  Re^nald  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son,  Sir  John 
de  Crawford,  designed  dominus  de  eodem,  miles,  in  several 
donations  to  the  monasteries  of  Kelso  and  Kewbottle.  He 
died,  without  male  issue,  in  1248,  and  was  buried  in  Melnee 
Abbey.  He  is  said  to  have  had  two  daughters,  the  elder  \i 
whom,  Margaret,  married  Archibald  de  Douglas,  ancestor  of 
the  dukes  of  Douglas,  and  the  younger  became,  about  1230, 
the  wife  of  David  de  Lindsay  of  Wauchopedale,  ancestor  of 
the  earls  of  Crawford.  There  is,  however,  no  proof  of  this 
latter  marriage,  and  William  de  Lindsay  of  Ercildun  poeseaMd 
the  barony  of  Crawford  long  before  the  date  assigned  to  it 
(See  Lindsay,  name  of.)  The  Lindsays  held  it  till  the  year 
1488,  when  David  duke  of  Montrose  was  deprived  of  it,  and  it 
was  given  to  Archibald  Bell  the  Cat,  earl  of  Angus.  Others 
say  that  the  duke  exchanged  it  with  Earl  Archibald  for  lands 
in  Forfarshire. 

Contemporary  with  the  above  Galfridus  de  Crawford  was 
Gualterus  de  Crawford,  witness  to  a  charter  of  Roger,  bishop 
of  St.  Andrews,  sometime  between  1189  and  1202.  From 
him  came  Sir  Reginald  de  Crawford,  who,  about  1200,  mar- 
ried Margaret  de  Loudoun,  the  heiress  of  the  extensive  barony 
of  Loudoun  in  Ayrshire.  He  was  the  first  vice-oomce  or 
high  sheriff'  of  the  county  of  Ayr,  an  office  hereditary  in  his 
family.  In  consequence  of  this  marriage  he  quartered  the 
arms  of  Loudoun  with  his  own.  He  witnessed  a  donation  of 
David  de  Lindsay  to  the  monastery  of  Newbottle,  confirmed 
by  Alexander  the  Second  in  1220.  It  was  under  this  Sir 
Reginald,  as  hereditary  sheriff  principal  of  Ajrrahire,  that  the 
three  baiUwicks  of  Carrick,  Kyle,  and  Cunningham  were  first 
formed  mto  a  county,  in  1221.  [See  Chalmen^  Caledonia, 
vol  iiL  p.  452.] 

His  son,  Hugh  Crawford  of  Loudoun,  sheiiff  of  Ayr,  in  a 
charter  of  Walter,  son  of  Alan,  high  steward  of  Scotland,  of 
a  donation  to  the  monaster  of  Paisley,  of  the  lands  of  Dal- 
mullin  (De  la  Mouline)  in  1226,  is  designed  Hugo,  filius  Re- 
genaldi.  3y  a  grant  of  Allan,  son  of  Roland  of  Galloway,  he 
had,  pro  homagio  tt  tervUio  suo^  tne  lands  of  Monoch,  which 
IS  ratified  by  a  charter  of  King  Alexander  the  Second,  at 
Cadihou  (Cadzow)  the  last  day  of  March,  1226.  He  had 
another  charter  from  the  great  constable  his  superior,  de  Ma 
terra  de  Crosby,  afterwards  enjoyed  by  his  descendants  the 
Crawfords  of  Auchinames.  He  was  one  of  the  moffitatei  et 
barones  JScotitB,  who  put  themselves  into  the  protection  of  the 
king  of  England,  in  the  oonmiotions  that  hi^pened  in  1256. 
He  died  m  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Seocnd. 
His  son  Sir  Hugh  Crawford,  sheriff  of  Ayr,  had  a  letter  of 
safe-conduct  to  go  to  England  in  the  year  last  mentioned. 
He  settled  a  contest  with  the  abbot  of  Kelso,  cum  nnncwjii 
AUciespotumaucB,    He  had  two  sona  and  a  daughter :  the  lat- 


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701 


OF  ORAUFURDLAND. 


t«p,  Margaret,  married  Sir  Malcolm  Wallace,  of  Elderslie, 
knight,  and  became  the  mother  of  Sir  William  WaDaoe,  the 
hero  of  Scotland.    As  old  Wintonn  saji . 

**  Hif  fkther  was  a  manly  knisrht, 
Hlf  mother  was  a  lady  bright** 

Sir  Hugh  was  snooeeded  Ij  his  son,  Sir  Reginald  Crawford  of 
Londonn,  sheriff  of  Ayr,  who,  in  1288,  witnessed  a  charter 
of  donation  of  James,  high  steward  of  Scotland,  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Paisley.  In  1292,  he  was  one  of  the  nommees  on 
the  part  of  Robert  Bmce  in  his  competition  for  the  crown  of 
Scotland  with  Baliol;  and  in  1296,  with  many  others,  he 
swore  fealty  to  King  Edward  the  First  of  England,  when  he 
overmn  Scotland  with  his  armies.  In  the  Ragman  Roll  oo- 
cnrs  the  name  of  Radolphos  de  Grawforde  (^Nitbefs  Heraldry^ 
App.  Yol.  ii.  p.  10.  ed.  1742),  on  whidi  Nisbet  remarks, 
**  This  is  the  same  person  with  Regiaaldns  de  Crawford,  in 
the  same  record  entitled  yice-comes  de  Air.**  Believing  that 
the  oath  to  Edward,  as  it  had  been  exacted  by  force,  was  not 
binding  on  him,  he  Coined  with  the  first  of  the  Scottish  pa- 
triots who  rose  in  arms  against  Edward.  He,  with  other 
Scottish  knights,  is  described  by  Blind  Harry  as  having  lost 
his  life  at  the  mysterions  transaction  called  the  conference  of 
Ayr  in  1297,  a  deed  avenged  shortly  afterward  by  his  nephew 
Sir  William  Wallace.  By  Cecilia  his  wife  he  had  a  son,  Six 
Reginald  or  Raynanld  (otherwise  Ronald)  Crawford,  of  Lon- 
donn,  sheriff  of  Ayr,  who  was  among  the  first  of  the  Scottish 
barons  to  join  Wallace  his  connn,  and  was  with  him  in  all 
his  stm^es  and  dangers.  He  was  also  among  the  first  to 
j<nn  Robert  the  Bmce.  In  1306,  he  accompanied  Thomas 
and  Alexander,  the  brothers  of  Brace,  in  their  descent  on 
Galloway,  with  seven  hundred  men ;  when,  being  attacked 
on  their  landing  at  Loch  Rjran  by  Duncan  M^Dowal,  or  Mao- 
Doogall  (Magnus  du  Gall,  or  chief  of  the  Gall  or  Wallense), 
a  powerAil  chieftain,  thdr  little  army  was  totally  defeated, 
9th  February  1806-7,  and  the  two  brothers,  with  Sir  Regi- 
nald Crawford,  were  grievously  wounded  and  made  prisoners. 
M*Dowall  carried  them  to  the  English  king  at  Carlisle,  where 
they  were  ordered  to  instant  execution,  their  heads  bemg 
placed  on  the  csstlo  and  gates  of  that  town.  He  left  an  only 
child,  Susanna  Crawford  of  Loudoun,  his  sole  heuress,  who 
married  Sir  Duncan  Campbell  of  Lochawe,  ancestor  of  the 
earls  of  Loudoun  (see  Loudoun,  earl  of). 

In  the  Ragman  Roll  the  surname  of  Crawford  occurs  no 
less  than  eight  times  as  that  of  Scottish  barons  who  swore 
fealty  to  Edward  the  First  in  1292, 1296, 1297,  &c.  Nisbet 
remarks  tiiat  this  surname  was  then  so  frequent  that  it  is 
di£9oaIt  to  distingnish  them  from  one  another. 


The  Crawfords  of  Kene  in  the  district  of  Kyle,  Ayrshire, 
a  branch  of  the  Crawfords  of  Loudoun,  ultimately  became  the 
representatives  of  the  Dalmagregan  Crawfords,  and,  in  con- 
sequence, carried  -in  their  armorial  bearings  a  stag's  head,  as 
did  also  the  Crawfords  of  Drumsoy  and  the  Crawfords  of 
Comlarg.  The  first  of  the  Kerse  family  was  Reginald,  son  of 
Hugh  Crawford  of  Loudoun.  He  got  a  grant  of  the  lands 
from  his  brother  Hugh  in  the  reign  of  King  Alexander  the 
Third.  Notices  of  various  individuals  of  this  family  occur  in 
the  reigns  of  James  the  First  and  Fourth,  Esplin  being  at 
that  period  a  favourite  Christian  name  with  them.  In  1508, 
David  Crawford  of  Kerse,  David  his  son,  John  Crawford, 
*proctour,*  Esplane  Crawford,  and  seven  others,  came  in  the 
^g*s  will,  for  hindering  the  sitting  of  the  bailliaiy  court  of 
Ca^ck,  when  the  laird  of  Kerse  was  amerciated  in  five 
pounds^  and  each  of  the  others  in  forty  shillings.    This  case 


arose  out  of  one  of  the  numerous  feuds  for  which  the  district 
of  Carrick  was  at  one  time  notorious.  On  October  6th,  1627, 
Bartholomew  Crawford  of  Kerse;  David  and  Duncan  hit 
brothers ;  George  Crawford  of  Lochnorris,  and  William  his 
brother ;  John  Crawford  of  Drongan,  John  and  William  his 
sons,  with  a  great  number  of  others,  found  caution  to  under- 
lie the  law  for  assisting  Hugh  Campbell  of  Loudoun,  sheriff 
of  Ayr,  in  the  cruel  slaughter  of  Gilbert  earl  of  Cassillis. 
The  grandson  of  this  Bartholomew,  David  Crawford  of  Kerse, 
in  consequence  of  having  only  female  issue,  entailed  the  estate 
in  1586,  and  on  his  death  in  1600,  he  was  succeeded  by  Al- 
exander Crawford  of  Balgregan  m  Galloway,  the  next  remain- 
ing heir  male,  descended  from  a  son  of  David,  the  brother  of 
Bartholomew,  and  designed  of  Culnorris  and  Balgregan.  Tne 
original  lands  of  Kerse  appear  subsequently  to  have  gone  to 
the  next  heir  of  entail,  who  seems  to  have  been  of  the  Com- 
larg family.  In  1680,  Alexander  Crawford  of  Kerse  is  infeft 
in  the  lands  of  Nether  Skeldon,  as  heir  of  his  father  Alexan- 
der Crawford  of  Kerse.  This  Alexander  Crawford  appears 
to  have  been  the  last  male  proprietor  of  Kerse  of  the  name  of 
Crawford.  His  only  daughter,  Christian  Crawford  of  Kerse, 
married  Mr.  Moodie  of  Melcester,  and  having  no  succession, 
she  disponed  the  lands  of  Kerse  to  William  Ross  of  Shand- 
wick,  writer  in  Edinburgh,  who  was,  soon  after,  drowned  on 
his  passage  to  Orkney,  when  the  estate  of  Kerse  devolved  on 
his  heirs;  who  afterwards  sold  it  to  Mr.  Oswald  of  Anchen- 
cnuve,  in  whose  family  it  still  remains. 

The  Crawfords  of  Kerse  were  famed  for  their  fends  with 
the  Kennedies,  and  a  characteristic  poem,  called  *  Skeldon 
Haughs,  or  the  Sow  is  Flitted,*  by  the  late  Sir  Alexander 
Boswell  of  Auohinleck,  baronet,  one  of  whose  ancestors  mar- 
ried a  danghter  of  the  laird  of  Kerse,  founded  on  a  traditional 
story  current  in  Carrick,  and  the  date  of  which  Sir  Alexan- 
der assigns  to  the  fifteenth  century,  was  printed  at  the  cele- 
brated Auchinleck  press,  and  will  be  found  in  the  appendix 
to  the  Account  of  the  Kennedies.    Edin.  1880,  4to. 


The  Craufurdland  branch  of  the  Craufurds,  one  of  the 
oldest  of  the  name,  descend  firom  Sir  Reginald  de  Crawford, 
sheriff  of  Ayr,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Loudoun.  His 
third  son,  John,  obtained  from  him  several  lands  m  Clydes- 
dale, and  in  right  of  his  wife,  Alicia  de  Dalsalloch,  became 
chief  proprietor  of  that  barony.  This  John  conferred  Ar- 
dooh,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Craufurdland,  in  Ayr- 
shire, upon  his  second  son,  John  Craufurd,  who  lived  in  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Second.  His  grandson,  James  Crau- 
furd of  Craufurdland,  fought  under  his  oonnn.  Sir  William 
Wallace,  and  a  descendant  of  his,  John  Craufurd  of  Gifibrd- 
land,  living  in  1480,  was  ancestor  of  the  Crawfords  of  Birk- 
heid. 

Sir  William  Craufurd  of  Craufurdland,  of  this  family,  one 
of  the  bravest  warriors  of  his  day,  was  knighted  by  James  the 
First.  He  was  one  of  the  Scottish  auxiliaries  in  the  service 
of  Charles  the  Seventh  of  France,  and  in  1428  he  received  a 
severe  wound  at  the  siege  of  Crevelt  in  Burgundy,  where  a 
bloody  battle  was  fought  between  the  French  and  Scots  and 
the  English,  when  the  Scots,  under  James  Stewart,  Lord 
Damley,  being  basely  deserted  by  the  French,  were  defeated, 
with  a  loss  of  three  thousand  killed,  and  two  thousand  taken 
prisoners.  Douglas  (in  his  Baronage,  p.  432)  states  that 
Cranfiird  was  among  the  slain,  but  this  is  a  mistake,  as  in 
the  foUowing  year,  he  was  amongst  the  prisoners  released, 
with  James  the  First. 

Robert  Craufurd,  the  youngest  son  of  Robert  Craufbrd  of 
Anchencaim,  a  son  of  the  laird  of  Craufurdland,  died  in  1487, 
of  a  wound  received  at  the  Wylielee  in  Ayrshire,  in  defending 


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702 


OF  CRAWFORDLAND. 


James  Bojd,  earl  of  Arran,  when  that  nobleman  was  at- 
tacked and  slain  bj  the  earl  of  Eglinton,  with  whom  he  was 
atfeod.  His  father,  Archibald  Graofurd  of  Graufurdland, 
had  two  other  sons,  namelj,  Thomas,  ancestor  of  the  Crau> 
fhrds  of  Classlogie  and  Powmill  in  Cnross-shire,  and  WiU 
Ham,  secretary  to  the  earl  of  Morton,  and  progenitor  of  the 
Craoibrds  who  settled  in  Tweeddale.  Betwixt  the  lairds  of 
Cranfordland  and  the  lairds  of  Rowallan,  the  snperiors  of  the 
lands  of  Ardoch,  there  had  been  a  long  feud,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  title  deeds  of  both  families  were  destroyed.  In 
1476,  in  a  justice-eyre,  holden  at  Ayr,  by  John  Lord  Car- 
lyle,  chief  justice  of  Scotland,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Forth, 
Robert  Mnir  of  Rowallan  and  John  Mnir  his  son,  and  diverse 
others  their  accomplices,  were  indicted  for  breaking  the  king*s 
peace  against  Archibald  Graufhrd  of  Craufurdland.  By 
means  of  the  sister  of  the  second  wife  of  the  latter,  dame 
Margaret  Boyd,  who  had  been  mistress  to  King  James  the 
Fourth,  and  married  Muir  of  Rowallan,  this  feud  was  at 
length  extinguished,  and  a  new  charter,  upon  resignation, 
granted  to  the  laird  of  Craufurdland  of  the  lands  of  Ardoch. 

His  grandson,  John  Graufurd  of  Craulurdland,  by  his  pru- 
dent conduct,  reconciled  the  Boyds  and  Montgomeries,  and 
obtained  in  marriage  Janet  Montgomeiy,  daughter  of  the 
laird  of  GiflSn,  and  with  a  daughter,  Renee,  had  two  sons, 
John  his  successor,  and  Archibjdd,  bom  after  his  father's 
death. 

This  Archibald  Craufurd  was  bred  to  the  church,  and  be- 
came parson  of  Eaglesham,  in  the  dure  of  Renfrew,  and  as 
such  had  a  manse  in  the  Drygate  of  Glasgow,  which  he  con- 
veyed, in  free  property,  to  his  chief  the  laird  of  Craufurdland. 
He  was  secretary  and  almoner  to  Queen  Mary  of  Guise,  re- 
gent of  Scotland,  with  whose  corpse  he  was  sent  to  France  in 
1560,  to  see  it  deposited  in  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  St. 
Peter  at  Rheims,  where  his  own  sister  Renee  was  then  ab- 
bess. When  in  France,  he  got  a  commission  from  the  unfor- 
tunate Mary  queen  of  Scots,  renewing  to  him  his  office  of 
secretary  and  almoner,  and  expresmve  of  her  obligations  for 
his  great  services  rendered  to  her  late  mother,  which  oom- 
misrion  was  dated  at  Joinville  in  France,  17th  April  1661. 
After  Mary's  return  to  Scotland,  in  consequence  of  the  at- 
tacks that  were  Sometimes  made  on  the  chapel  of  Hdyrood- 
bouse,  where  the  popish  worship  was  allowed  to  be  performed 
for  the  queen's  household,  and  the  danger  of  its  being  pil- 
laged at  any  time  when  she  might  be  absent  firom  Edinbni^, 
the  queen,  on  January  11, 1561-2,  directed  Sir  James  Pater- 
son,  the  sacristan  or  keeper  of  the  sacred  utenrils,  to  deliver 
to  her  valet  de  cfaambre,  Servais  de  Conde,  the  furniture  of 
her  chapel  to  be  kept  by  her  almoner,  Mr.  Archibald  Crau- 
furd, in  the  wardrobe  of  her  palace  at  Edinburgh,  from 
whence  it  could  easily  be  conveyed  as  often  as  was  necessary. 
On  the  restoration  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  archbishop  of 
St  Andrews  in  1568,  Mr.  Archibald  Craufurd  was  one  of  the 
judges  deputed  by  that  prelate  to  exercise  it  In  March  of 
that  year,  he  was  dted  before  the  justice  court,  for  odebrat- 
mg  mass,  but  the  result  is  not  stated.  [Pftonrn's  Criminal 
Trials,  voL  i.  p.  29.]  He  was  appointed  by  Queen  Mary,  a 
lord  of  seesioo  on  the  spiritual  side,  on  the  death  of  the  bishop 
of  Bnchin,  and  took  his  seat  on  26th  April  1566.  After  the 
queen  had  been  sent  a  prisoner  to  Lodileven,  in  June  1567, 
an  inventoiy  was  taken  (^  all  her  plate,  jewels,  &&,  at  Holy- 
roodhouse,  and  the  specie  thereof  was,  by  the  confederated 
lords,  melted  and  converted  into  coin.  It  appears,  however, 
that  her  migesty  found  means  to  put  into  tiie  hands  of  Ifr. 
Archibald  Craufurd,  her  almoner,  certain  pieces  of  plate,  for 
the  service  of  her  table,  which  he  faithfully  kept  in  his  pos- 
i  till  the  following  Kovamber,  at  which  time  they  wero 


demanded  from  him  by  the  treasurer,  Mr.  Robert  Richardson, 
and,  on  the  18th  of  that  month,  were  delivered  by  the  said 
treasurer  to  the  regent  Murray,  who  granted  his  acquittance 
for  the  same  to  Mr.  Archibald  Craufurd.  On  June  2d,  1568, 
his  place  on  the  bench  of  the  court  of  sesBMi  was  given  to 
the  prior  of  Coldinghame,  **  as  being  vacand  through  his  in- 
habilitie,  and  divera  offences  committed  be  him,  quhilk  merit 
Us  deprivatioun."  His  attachment  to  the  queen  was  most 
likely  his  principal  offence.  Among  other  public  acts,  be 
erected  the  west  church  of  Glasgow,  and  built  the  bridge  oi 
Eaglesham. 

His  elder  brother,  John  Craufurd  of  Craufurdland,  accom- 
panied James  the  Fourth  to  the  fatal  field  of  Flodden,  where 
he  fell  in  the  flower  of  his  age.  The  eldest  son  of  the  said 
John,  also  John  Craufurd  of  Craufurdland,  in  his  father's 
lifetime,  got  from  Mary  queen  of  Soots,  a  gift  of  the  ward  of 
the  lands  of  Redhall  in  Annandale.  The  deed  of  gift,  having 
the  queen's  signature,  b  dated  at  Edinbui^h  26th  Decemhor 
1561.  Hugh,  his  second  son,  portioner  of  Buthoig^en,  had 
several  sons,  who  all  went  to  Germany,  and  settled  there. 
John  Craufurd  of  Craufurdlani^  who  died  in  1686,  had  sev- 
eral sons.  Of  these,  John,  the  eldest  who  succeeded  him, 
was  imprisoned  in  1684,  on  suspicion  of  being  conoenied  in 
the  rising  of  Bothwell  Bridge ;  Alexander,  the  second  son, 
was  designed  of  Fergushill;  and  William,  the  third,  a  mer- 
chant and  burgess  of  Glasgow,  was  the  father  of  Matthew 
Craufurd,  designed  of  Sootstoun,  author  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  deposited  in  the  Advocates*  Library,  Edinborgfa,  in 
manuscript  The  grandson  of  John,  also  named  John  Cran- 
furd  of  Craufurdland,  succeeded,  on  his  father's  death  in 
1744.  He  was  twice  married,  and  in  right  of  his  first  wife,  a 
daughter  and  heiress  of  John  WaUdnshaw  of  Walkinshaw, 
assumed  the  additional  surname  and  arms  of  that  family. 

His  son,  John  Craufurd  of  Craufurdland,  entered  the  army 
at  an  eariy  age,  and  attained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  was  present  at  the  victory  of  Dettingen,  and  distinguished 
himself  in  the  hard-fought  field  of  Fontenoy.  He  was  the 
intimate  and  faithful  friend  of  the  ill-fated  eari  of  Kilmar- 
nock, who  was  beheaded  on  Towerhill  for  his  share  in  the 
rebellion  of  1745,  and  attended  that  unhappy  nobleman  to  the 
scaffold ;  for  which  act  of  trying  fiiend^p  his  name,  it  is 
said,  was  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  army  list  Nevertho- 
less,  in  1761  he  was  appointed  falooner  to  the  king  for  Soot- 
land.  Colonel  Crauftard  died  at  Edinbuigh,  unmarried,  in 
February  1793,  aged  seventy-twA.  He  settled  his  estate,  by 
deed  made  on  his  deathbed,  on  Thomas  Coutta,  Esq.,  tike 
eminent  London  banker.  This  deed  wss,  however,  disputed 
by  his  aunt  and  next  heir,  Elisabeth  Craufurd,  and  after 
a  protracted  litigation,  carried  on  by  herself  and  her  soe- 
cessor,  it  was  eventually  reduced  by  a  decree  of  the 
House  of  Lords  in  1806,  and  the  ancient  estates  came  back 
to  the  rightful  heir.  This  Elisabeth  Cranfurd  was  twice 
married :  first  to  William  Fairiie  of  that  ilk,  by  whom  die 
had  one  daughter,  who  died  in  infancy ;  and,  secondly,  on  Sd 
June,  1744,  to  John  Howison,  Esq.  of  Braehead,  in  the  parish 
of  Cramond,  Mid  Lothian.  She  died  in  1802,  aged  ninety- 
seven,  and  was  succeeded  by  her  (mly  surviving  child,  Eliza- 
beth Howison-Cranfnrd  of  Braehead  and  Craufurdland.  This 
lady  married,  in  1777,  the  Rev.  James  Moodie,  who  assumed 
the  additional  surnames  of  Howison  and  Craufurd.  He  died 
in  183L  On  the  death  of  his  wife,  1st  April  1823,  she  wss 
succeeded  by  her  only  surviving  son,  William  Howison-Crau- 
furd  of  Craufurdland  and  Braehead,  bom  29th  November 
1781,  manied  14th  June  1808,  Jane  Esther,  only  daughter 
of  James  Whyte,  Esq.  of  Newmains,  by  his  wife,  Esther. 
Craufurd,  with  ia 


J 


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CRAWFURD. 


708 


OF  AUCHINAMES. 


The  Howisons  poweased  Braehead  in  Mid  Lothian  ainoe 
the  reign  of  James  the  First  According  to  a  tradition, 
which  is  embodied  in  the  popular  drama  of  *  Gramond  Brig/ 
part  of  the  estate  was  conferred  by  James  the  Second  or 
Third,  as  a  reward  to  one  of  thor  ancestors  for  having  gone 
to  the  rescue  of  the  king,  then  wandering  about  in  disgnise, 
when  attacked  bj  a  gang  of  gipsies,  and  with  no  other  wea- 
pon than  his  flail,  with  which  he  had  been  thrashing  com  in 
his  bam,  delivering  him  from  his  assailants.  The  tenure  by 
which  this  land  is  held,  is  the  presenting  of  a  basm  of  water 
and  a  napkin  to  the  king  of  Scotland,  to  wash  his  hands,  King 
James,  on  entering  Howison's  cottage,  before  partaking  of 
refr^hment,  having  asked  for  water  and  a  doth  to  wipe  the 
marks  of  the  scuffle  from  his  clothes.  This  service  was  per- 
formed by  Mr.  Howison-Crawfurd,  then  younger  of  Crawfard- 
land,  in  right  of  the  lairdship  of  Braehead,  to  King  Geoige 
the  Fourth,  at  the  banquet  given  to  his  majesty  by  the  dty  of 
Edinburgh,  24th  August,  1822,  when  he  was  at^ded  by 
masters  Charies  and  Walter  Scott,  the  one  a  son,  the  other  a 
nephew  of  the  author  of  Waveriey,  as  pages,  attired  in  splen- 
did dresses  of  scarlet  and  white  satin.  The  rose-water  then 
used  has  ever  nnce  been  hermetically  sealed  up,  and  the  towel 
which  dried  the  hands  of  his  migesty  ou  that  occasion  has 
never  been  used  for  any  other  purpose.  All  the  documents 
mentioned  as  granted  to  the  above-named  Archibald  Crau- 
furd.  almoner  to  Queen  Maiy,  are  likewise  carefufly  preserved 
by  the  Craufurdland  family. 

The  Crawibrds  of  Drumsoy,  in  Ayrshire,  are  descended 
from  Duncan  Crawford  of  Comlarg,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of 
James  the  Fourth,  and  was  the  third  son  of  David  Crawford 
of  Kerse.  His  daughter,  Margaret,  married  John  Crawford 
of  Drongan,  and  their  youngest  son,  William,  became  the 
founder  of  this  branch  of  the  family.  John  Crawford  of 
Comlai^  having  a  feud  with  the  Kennedys,  was,  on  the  last 
day  of  July  1564,  attacked  in  the  sheriff-court  of  Ayr,  while 
the  court  was  sitting,  by  Barnard  Feigusson  of  Kilkerran, 
and  fifty-three  others,  of  the  Kennedy  faction,  and  defended 
by  this  William  Crawford  of  *  Drummishoy,*  David  his  bro- 
ther, David  Crawford  of  Kerse,  and  several  others.  For  this 
•ffenoe  both  parties  were  subsequently  tried.  [See  PUcavm*s 
Crimmal  Triait,  under  date  December  12, 14,  and  15, 1564.] 
His  grandson.  Sir  Robert  Crawford,  in  his  father's  lifetime, 
married  Agnes,  only  daughter  of  David  Fairlie  of  that  ilk, 
and  in  consequence  assumed  the  additional  surname  of  Fair- 
lie.  His  eldest  daughter  Agnes,  heiress  of  Drumsoy,  married 
her  cousin,  Robert  Crawford,  a  desoendant  of  whom,  in  the 
fourth  generation,  was  David  Crawford  of  Drumsoy,  historio- 
grapher to  Queen  Anne,  a  biographical  notice  of  whom  is 
given  below  in  its  pUce.  On  his  death  in  1710,  he  left  an 
only  daughter,  Emilia  Crawford  of  Drumsoy,  who  died,  un- 
married, in  1781.  At  her  instance  the  estate  was  sold,  when 
it  was  purchased  by  her  grand-unde,  Patrick  Crawford,  mer- 
chant in  Edinburgh,  third  son  of  David  Crawford,  sixth  laird 
of  Drumsoy.  He  had  previously  become  the  proprietor  of  the 
estate  of  Auchinames  at  a  judicial  sale,  25tb  February,  1715. 
This  Patrick  Crawford  was  twice  married ;  first  to  a  daugh- 
ter of  Gordon  of  Tumberry,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons. 
Thomas,  the  elder,  after  being  secretary  to  the  embassy  of 
the  earl  of  Stair  to  the  French  court,  became  himself  envoy 
extraordinary  to  the  same  court,  and  died  in  Paris  in  1724. 

Robert,  the  poet,  usually  but  erroneously  designed  of  Auch- 
inames, was  the  younger.  He  is  also  sometimes  called  Wil- 
liam instead  of  Robert.  He  was  author  of  the  beautiful 
pastoral  ballad  of  *  Tweedside,'  ^  The  Bush  aboon  Traqnair,' 
and  other  popular  Scottish  songs,  first  contributed  to  Ram- 


say's 'Tea-Table  Miscellany.'  He  resided  long  in  France. 
He  died,  or  according  to  the  information  obtained  by  Bums 
was  drowned  on  his  return  to  Scotland  in  1788.  A  notioe  m 
a  manuscript  obituaiy  kept  by  Charles  Mackie,  professor  of 
dvil  history  in  the  university  of  Edinbutgh,  states  the  time 
of  his  death  to  have  been  in  May  1738,  in  which  month  and 
year  his  father  also  died.  Robert's  body  appears  to  have 
been  recovered,  and  brought  to  Scotland  for  interment  He 
was  never  married.  According  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  lady 
celebrated  in  Crawford's  song  of  'Tweedside'  was  a  Miss 
Mary  lillias  Scott,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Walter  Scott,  Esq. 
of  Harden,  an  estate  delightfully  situated  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Tweed,  about  four  miles  bdow  Melrose.  She  was  the 
descendant  of  another  cdebrated  beauty,  Mary  Scott,  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Scott  of  Dryhope,  in  Selkirkshire,  known  by  the 
name  of  *  The  Flower  of  Yarrow.* 

By  his  second  wife,  Jean,  daughter  of  Archibald  Crawford 
of  Auchinames  in  Renfrewshire,  Patrick  Crawford  had  as  his 
ddest  son,  Patrick,  who  succeeded  his  mother  on  her  death  in 
1740,  in  the  estate  of  Auchinames.  He  was  M.P.  for  Ajrr- 
shire  from  1741  till  1754,  and  for  Renfrewshire  from  1761  till 
1768.  He  died  10th  Januaiy  1778.  The  second  son,  George, 
was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  58d  regiment,  and  died  in  1758. 

Patrick  Crawford,  M.P.,  above  mentioned,  had  two  sons ; 
John,  his  heir,>nd  James,  oolond  in  the  guards,  one  of  the 
equeries  to  Queen  Charlotte,  and  governor  of  Bermuda,  who 
died  in  1811.  The  dder  son,  John  Crawford  of  Drumsoy, 
Audiinames,  &a,  was  the  associate  and  friend  of  Charles 
James  Fox;  member  for  Old  Sarum  in* the  parliauMut  of 
1768,  and  afterwards  for  the  county  of  Renfrew.  He  died, 
unmarried,  in  1814,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin, 
John  Crawford,  grandson  of  Colond  Crawford,  third  son  of 
the  above  mentioned  Patrick  Crawford,  who  purchased  the 
estates  of  Drumsoy  and  Auchinames.  He  is  designed  of 
Auchinames  and  Crosby.  Bom  4th  January  1780,  he  mar- 
ried, 16th  August  1814,  Sophia  Marianna,  daughter  of  Ma- 
jor-general Horace  Churchill,  and  great-granddaughter  of 
Sir  Robert  Walpole. 

The  laird  of  Auchinames  is  the  sole  representative  of 
the  family  of  Drumsoy,  and  therefore  the  designation  of 
Drumsoy  is  still  retained,  as  is  also  that  of  Kerse,  the  origi- 
nal property.  He  is  also  considered  the  sole  ropresentative 
of  the  Dalmagregan  Crawfords,  as  those  of  Comlaig,  Balgre- 
gan,  Drongan,  &o.,  all  merged  in  the  house  of  Drumsoy. 
The  estate  of  Ardndl  (or  Amde)  is  of  modern  acquisition, 
having  been  purchased  in  1746  by  Patrick  Craufurd  of  Auch- 
inames from  the  Boyds  of  Kilmarnock,  to  whom  it  was 
granted  by  King  Robert  the  Bruce.  Many  royal  charters  aro 
dated  from  ArdneiL 


The  Crawfurds  of  Auchinames  wero  descended  from  Hugh 
Crawfurd,  second  son  of  Sir  Reginald  Crawford  of  Loudoun, 
sheriff  of  Ayr  in  1296.  This  Hugh  appears  to  have  inherited 
the  lands  of  Monoch  or  Manook,  and  also  Crosby  near  Kil- 
bride in  Ayrshire.  His  son,  Reginald  Crawfurd  of  Crosby, 
in  1320  obtuned  a  grant  of  the  Umds  of  Auchinames  in  Ren- 
frewshire for  his  services  to  Robert  the  Bruce,  as  well  as  an 
augmentation  to  his  arms,  of  two  lances  in  saltuv,  commem- 
orative of  his  exploits  at  the  battle  of  Bannockbum.  Auch- 
inames, being  the  larger  possession,  became  the  designation 
of  the  family,  though  in  a  different  county  and  a  less  andent 
estate.  His  grandson,  Thomas  Crawford  of  Auchinames, 
mortified  several  lands  to  the  church  of  Kilbarchan,  in  1401, 
for  a  monk  to  say  mass  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul,  and  his 
wife's,  and  his  father's  and  mother's,  and  for  the  soul  of  Re- 
ginald Crawford  his  grandfather.    His  son  Archibald  had 


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CRAWFORD. 


704 


CRAUFURD  OF  ARDMILLAN. 


two  80Q8 ;  the  yoongeTf  Thomas,  was  ancestor  of  the  Craw- 
fords  of  Thirdpart,  while  the  elder,  Robert  Crawibrd  of 
Aucfamaines,  must  have  been  a  person  of  some  consideration 
in  his  daj,  as  he  had  for  his  first  wife  Isabel  Donglas,  young- 
est daughter  of  George  master  of  Angus,  sister  of  Archibald, 
sixth  earl  of  Angus,  who  married  the  widowed  queen  of 
James  the  Fourth.  His  son.  who  was  also  Robert  Crawford 
of  Auchinamee,  was  slain  at  Flodden  in  1513.  A  subsequent 
laird,  John  Crawford  of  Auchinames,  fell  at  the  battle  of 
Pinkie  in  1547.  His  graudniece  Jane,  on  whom  were  settled 
the  lands  of  Crosby,  married,  about  1606,  Patrick  Crawfurd, 
the  then  laird  of  Auchinames,  and  thus  the  ancient  estates  of 
the  family  were  again  united.  Their  grandson,  Archibald 
Crawford,  the  sixteenth  baron  of  this  family,  was  the  last 
laird  of  Auchinames  in  a  direct  male  line. 

Robert  Crawfiird  of  Nethermains,  Ayrshure,  third  son  of 
Patrick  Crawford  of  Auchinames  and  his  spouse  Jane  Craw- 
ford of  Crosby,  continued  the  representation  of  the  original 
family  of  Auchinames  (see  Crawfords  of  Drumsoy,  p.  703).  and 
was  the  progenitoi^of  the  Crawfords  of  Newfield.  His  eldest 
son,  Robert  Crawfhrd,  M.  D.  of  Nethermains,  married  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  George  Crawford,  minister  of  West 
Kilbride  a\>out  1640,  of  whom  the  following  characteristic 
anecdote  is  preserved  in  Crawfurd*s  *  Genealogical  Collec- 
tions,' in  the  Advocates'  Library :  '*  Mr.  George  Crawfurd,  a 
son  of  Thirdpart,  was  minister  at  Kilbride.  He  was  deposed 
in  the  strick  times  of  the  Covenant  for  warldly-mindedness 
and  selling  a  horse  on  the  Sabbath  day,  as  old  Portmcross 
(Robert  Boyd  of  Portinoross,  who  dyed  very  agea,  near  100 
years  of  age,  in  1721)  told  me,  who  knew  him  minister  of 
^bryde,  and  was  a  witness  against  him  at  the  presbytery." 

Dr.  Crawfurd's  next  brother,  Patrick  Crawfurd  of  Nether- 
mains, had  an  only  daughter,  Agnes,  who  sold  that  estate.  On 
the  death  of  her  father  without  male  issue,  the  representa- 
tion devolved  on  his  younger  brother,  Moses  Crawftird,  who 
died  in  1728.  His  grandson,  Moses  Crawford,  went  to  In- 
dia about  1765,  and  there  attained  the  rank  of  major  in  the 
niilitary  service  of  the  East  India  Company.  He  was  second 
in  command  at  the  capture  of  Beechigar,  a  strong  hill  fort  on 
the  Ganges,  and  was  left  in  command  of  that  place  with  a 
garrison  of  two  thousand  men.  He  returned  home  in  1783, 
and  purchased  the  estate  of  Newfield  in  Ayrshire.  He  died 
in  1794,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Robert  Craw- 
furd, Esq.  of  Newfield,  formeriy  a  captain  in  the  7tb  Hussars, 
with  which  r^ment  he  served  in  the  Peninsula.  A  second 
son,  John,  major  of  the  44th  foot,  was  present  at  the  battles 
of  Salamanca  and  Orthes,  and  was  wounded  and  taken  pri- 
soner in  the  latter  engagement.  Robert  Crawford,  Esq.  of 
Newfield,  an  officer  in  the  Rifle  Brigade,  the  son  of  the  last- 
mentioned  Robert,  succeeded  in  1843,  and  is  the  representative 
of  the  original  Crawfords  of  Crawford. 


The  first  Craufurd  mentioned  as  laird  of  FergushiU  is  Al- 
exanaer  Craufurd,  whose  name  appears  in  the  rOiis  of  the 
Convention  parliament  among  those  of  the  commissioners  for 
ordering  out  the  militia  of  Ayrshire.  He  was  a  commissioner 
of  supply  for  that  county  in  1695,  and  lastly  in  1704.  His 
eldest  son,  John  Crawford,  married  Anna,  the  younger  sister 
of  Major  Daniel  Ker  of  Kersland,  a  celebrated  covenanter, 
who  was  killed  in  1692,  at  the  battle  of  Steinkirk,  where 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  regiment,  the  Cameronians  (now  the 
26th),  was  cut  to  pieces ;  and  by  an  arrangement  with  his 
wife's  eldest  sister,  Jean,  he  became  proprietor  of  Kersland, 
and  assumed  the  name  of  Ker.  He  was  the  well-known  Jonn 
Ker  of  Kersland,  woo  wrote  the  ^Memours,  oontammghb 
«ecret  transactions  and  negotiations  in  Scotland,  England,  the 


courts  of  Vienna,  Hanover,  &c"  (London,  1726,  8vo);  and 
was  otherwise  remarkable  for  his  political  tergiversations  in 
the  reigns  of  King  William  and  Queen  Anne.  The  property 
of  Fergushill  was  alienated  from  the  Craufurd  family  in  172& 


Of  the  Giffordland  Crawfords,  the  third  laird  was  killed  ti 
the  battle  of  Flodden,  and  the  fifth  fell  at  Pinkie.  They  were 
both  named  John  Crawford.  The  latter  had  three  daugh- 
ters, the  youngest  of  whom,  Margaret,^  married  Thomas 
Craufurd,  a  younger  son  of  tlie  laird  of  Cranfurdland,  to 
whom  she  had  two  daughters,  Grizel  and  Isabel.  The  elder 
married  John  Blair  of  Windyedge,  and  Giffordland  became 
inherited  by  their  descendants,  under  the  name  of  Blair. 


The  Craufdirds  of  Baidland,  now  of  Ardmillan,  in  Ayr- 
shire, are  lineally  descended  from  a  yoonger  brother  (whose 
name  has  not  been  preserved)  of  Sir  Reginald  Craufurd,  she^ 
riff  of  Ayr  in  1296.  The  name  in  the  ancient  Titles  is  spelled 
sometimes  Craufurd  and  sometimes  Craufuird.  By  the  mar- 
riage of  James  Craufuird  of  Baidland,  not  many  yean  after 
the  Restoration,  with  a  daughter  of  Hugh  Kennedy  of  Ard- 
millan, he  iiltimately  succeeded  to  that  estate,  which  from 
that  time  became  the  titie  of  the  family.  This  gentleman 
made  a  conspicuous  figure  on  the  government  or  persecuting 
side,  in  the  civil  and  religious  troubles  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  On  the  20th  March  1683, 
James  Craufuird  of  Ardmillan  was,  by  the  privy  coondl,  ap- 
pointed commissioner  for  the  bailiiary  of  Carrick,  and  on  the 
28th  July,  tiie  same  year,  he  was  induded  in  the  rojal  com- 
mission for  the  county  of  Ayr,  along  witii  John  Boyle  of 
Kelbum,  Colonel  White,  and  Captain  Inglis.  According  to 
Wodrow  (vol.  iL  p.  225),  in  the  transfer  of  heritable  jurisdic- 
tion from  many  of  the  leading  nobility  which  took  place  in 
those  unsettied  times,  Graham  of  Claverhouse  and  he  woe 
the  only  untitled  persons  on  whom  these  honours  woe  con- 
ferred, the  regality  of  Tongland  and  sheriffdom  of  Wigton 
being  taken  from  the  families  of  Kenmuir  and  Lochnaw,  and 
given  to  "  the  laird  of  Claverhouse,'*  and  the  bailiiary  of  Car- 
rick and  regality  of  Crossraguel  from  the  earl  of  CassiUis  and 
given  to  "  the  laud  of  Ardmillan.**  He  had  a  huge  family, 
some  of  whom  settied  in  Ireland,  where  several  branches  stiO^ 
remain.  His  daughter  became  the  wife  of  David  Crawfiird  ot 
Drumsoy,  and  the  mother  of  David  Crawford,  historiographer 
to  Queen  Anne  for  Sootiand.  His  eldest  son,  William  C^o- 
fuird,  was  distinguished  for  hb  defence  of  the  for^ess  of  the 
Bass,  the  prison  of  the  Covenanters,  against  King  William's 
government  in  1691.  He  predeceased  his  father,  who,  m 
1698,  executed  a  settlement  in  fiftvour  of  a  yoonger  son, 
John,  but  it  was  set  aside  by  the  court  of  session,  and  ulti- 
mately by  the  House  of  Lords,  in  1712.  This  John  settled 
in  England,  and  was  tne  ancestor  of  the  Crawfords  of  Sussex. 
Archibald  Craufuird,  eldest  son  of  the  above  William  Crau- 
fuird, in  consequence  of  the  aoove  aecision,  succeeded  to  Ard- 
millan, but  the  ongmai  estate  of  Baidland  had  been  sold  to 
Hugh  Macbride,  merchant  m  Glasgow.  This  Archibald 
Craufuird  was  a  seen  Jacooite,  and  after  the  rebellion  of 
1745,  was  compelled  to  reside  for  some  time  under  uuveS 
lance  in  Edinburgh.  He  died  in  1748.  His  elder  son,  Arch- 
ibald Craufuird  of  Ardmillan,  who  dicrd  in  1784,  was  deeply 
involved  m  the  unfortunate  banking  oopartneiy  of  Douglas, 
Heron,  and  Co.,  in  consequence  of  which  the  estate  of  Ard 
millan  was  brought  to  a  judicial  sale,  during  the  minority  of 
his  son,  Archibald  Craufuird,  writer  to  the  signet,  and  booght 
oy  his  uncle,  Thomas  Craufuird,  who  had  been  long  in  the 
army,  and  having  for  his  military  services  been  rewarded 
with  a  lucrative  office  under  government  at  Bristol,  he  wr 


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CRAUFURD 


705 


OF  JORDANHILL. 


thereby  enabled  to  preserve  the  estate  from  going  ont  of  the 
family.  He  had  a  eon,  Archibald-Clifford- Black  well  Crau- 
furd,  miyor  in  the  army,  a^  1  two  daughters,  Margaret,  mar- 
ried to  her  coosin,  Archibald  Craufiird,  writer  to  the  signet, 
above  mentioned,  and  Anne,  the  wifeof  MacMiken  of  Grange. 
The  said  Archibald  Craufurd,  W.  S.,  died  16th  May  1824. 
leaving,  with  other  children,  a  son,  Thomas  MacMiken 
Cranfard  of  Grange. 

James  Cranfhrd,  a  judge  of  the  court  of  session  by  the  title 
of  Lord  Ardmillan,  son  of  Major  Archibald  C.  B.  Crnufm^ 
of  Ardmillan,  bom  at  Havant,  Hants,  in  1805,  was  educated 
at  the  Ayr  Academy,  and  afterwards  studied  for  the  bar  at 
Glasgow  college  and  at  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  Passed 
advocate  in  1829,  in  February  1849  he  was  appointed  sheriff 
of  Perthshire.  In  November  1853  he  became  solicitor-gen- 
eral for  Scotland.  In  January  1855  he  was  appointed  a  lord 
of  session,  and  in  June  of  the  same  year  a  judge  of  the  high 
court  of  justiciary.  Subjoined  are  the  arms  of  the  family. 
The  motto  is,  **  Durum  Patientia  Frango.** 


A  branch  ot  tbe  Baidland  family  possessed  the  estate  of 
Haining  in  Stirlingshire.  Archibald  Craufurd,  lord  high 
treasurer  of  Scotland,  a  younger  son  of  William  Craufurd  of 
Haining,  was  in  1457  nominated  abbot  of  Holyrood,  and  ap- 
pointed a  lord  of  council  in  1458.  He  was  ambassador  to 
England,  and  negotiated,  with  others,  a  treaty  of  marriage 
betwixt  James  III.  and  Edward  IV.  in  1482,  in  which  it 
was  contracted  that  James  duke  of  Rothesay,  afterwards 
James  IV.,  should  marry  the  princess  Cicely,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  IV.,  and  a  great  part  of  the  portion  was  de- 
livered, though  the  marriage  did  not  take  place.  He  died  in 
1483,  and  his  armt  were  beantiiully  cut  on  the  fly  buttresses 
on  the  north  side  uf  the  nave  of  the  abbey  of  Holyrood  :— a 
/eue  ermine,  with  a  star  of  five  points  in  chief.  Or,  sur- 
mounted with  an  abbot's  mitre. 


The  immediate  ancestor  of  the  Crawfurds  of  Jordanhill  in 
Renfrewshire,  was  Lawrence  Craufurd  of  Eilbumie  in  Ayr- 
shire, progenitor  of  the  viscounts  of  Ganiock  (mei^ged  in  the 
earldom  of  Crawford  in  1749,  see  Crawford,  eari  of,  be- 
low), and  the  eleventh  generation  of  that  illustrious  family  in 
a  dh«ct  male  line.  The  lands  of  Kilbimie  anciently  belonged 
to  a  branch  of  the  potent  family  of  Barclay.  John  Barclay 
of  Kilbimie,  the  last  male  heir  of  that  house,  died  in  1470, 
and  his  only  daughter,  Maijory,  married  Malcolm  Crawftird 
of  Easter  Greenock  (which  barony  he  possessed  in  right  of 
his  mother,  a  GalbraiUi),  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  Craw- 
ftipd  of  Loudoun.  The  above  Lawrence  Craufbrd  of  Kilbur- 
nie  flourished  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Fifth.  He  exchanged 
the  barony  of  Crawfordyohn,  the  ancient  inheritance  of  hb 
anoestors,  with  Sir  James  HamUton  of  Fynnart  for  the  hmd^ 


of  Dramry,  in  the  county  of  Dumbarton,  for  which  he  got  a 
charter  under  the  great  seal,  dated  5th  April  1529.  About 
the  year  1546,  he  endowed  a  chapel  at  Drumry,  with  the 
lands  of  Jordanhill,  for  the  support  ol  a  chaplain,  and  died 
4th  June  1547.  By  his  wife,  Helen,  daughter  of  Sir  Hugh 
Campbell,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Loudoun,  he  had  six  sons. 
From  the  eldest,  Hew,  his  successor,  who  fought  on  Queen 
Mary's  side  at  the  battle  of  Langside,  was  lineally  descended 
Sir  John  Craufnrd  of  Kilbunie,  created  a  baronet  by  Charles 
the  First  in  1642,  the  grandfather  of  John  Craufurd  of  Kil- 
bimie, created  by  Queen  Anne,  in  1703,  viscount  of  Garoock 
(see  Garnock,  viscount  of),  the  son  of  Maipunet,  second 
daughter  of  the  said  Sir  John  Craufurd,  and  her  husband,  the 
Hon.  Patrick  Lindsay,  (second  son  of  John,  the  fifteenth 
earl  of  Crawford  and  first  earl  of  Lindsay,)  on  whose  heirs, 
male  and  female,  he  entailed  his  estate  of  Kilbimie,  on  their 
assuming  the  sumame  and  arms  of  Cnufdrd. 

The  sixth  son  of  the  above  Lawrence  Craufurd  of  Kilbir- 
nie  was  the  celebrated  Captain  Thomas  Cranfiird  of  Jordan- 
hill, whose  daring  exploit  of  surprising  and  carrying  by  , 
escalade,  in  April  1571,  the  almost  impregnable  castle  of 
Dumbarton,  which  had  long  held  out  for  Queen  Maiy,  is 
familiar  to  every  one  acquiunted  with  the  history  of  Scotland 
during  the  minority  of  James  the  Sixth.  Of  this  bold  enter- 
prize,  an  interesting  account,  written  by  himself  to  John 
Knox,  is  inserted  in  Bannatyne's  JoumaL  He  appears  to 
have  commenced  his  military  career  at  a  very  early  age,  as 
he  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  disastrous  battle  of  Pinkie  in 
1547,  but  after  some  time  obtained  his  liberty  by  paying  ran- 
som. In  1550  he  retired  to  France,  and  entered  into  tho 
military  service  of  Henry  the  Second,  under  the  command  of 
James  eari  of  Arran ;  and  in  1561,  he  retumed  with  Queen 
Mary  to  Scotbnd.  Previously  to  this,  he  had,  with  consent 
of  his  eldest  brother.  Hew  Craufuird  of  Kilbimie,  received 
from  Sir  Bartholomew  Montgomeiy,  chaplain  of  Dramry,  the 
lands  of  Jordanhill,  which  had  been  bestowed  by  his  father 
on  that  chaplainry,  and  the  grant  was  confirmed  by  a  charter 
under  the  great  seal,  dated  8th  March,  1565-6.  He  was  long 
attached  to  the  liennox  family,  and  was  one  of  the  gentlemen 
of  Lord  Damley,  the  husband  of  the  queen.  On  her  unex- 
pected visit,  in  January  1567,  to  her  sick  husband  at  Glas- 
gow, Damley  sent  Craufurd  to  meet  her  majesty,  with  a 
message  excusing  himself  from  waiting  on  her  in  person,  on 
account  of  his  illness.  After  Mary  had  left  him,  Damley 
called  Cranfurd,  and  informing  him  fully  of  all  that  had 
passed  between  the  queen  and  himself,  bade  him  communi- 
cate it  to  his  father  the  earl  of  Lennox.  He  then  asked  what 
he  thought  of  the  queen's  proposal  to  remove  him  to  Craig- 
millar.  ^'  She  treats  your  miyesty,"  replied  Craufbrd,  *^  too 
like  a  prisoner.  Why  should  yon  not  be  taken  to  one  of  your 
own  houses  in  Edinburgh  ?"  **  It  straok  me,"  said  Darnley, 
t*  much  in  the  same  way,  and  I  have  fears  enough,  but  may 
God  judge  between  us,  I  have  her  promise  only  to  trust  to." 
On  the  murder  of  Damley,  soon  after,  he  joined  in  the  asso- 
ciation with  the  earls  of  Argyle,  Morton,  Athol,  Glenoaim, 
&c,  for  the  defence  of  the  young  king*s  person,  and  the  bring- 
ing the  murderer  to  trial.  He  was  examined  on  oath  before 
the  commissioners  at  York,  December  9, 1568,  when  he  pro- 
duced a  paper  which  he  had  written  immediately  after  the 
conversations  between  himself,  and  the  queen  and  Damley. 
His  deposition,  indoned  by  Cedl,  is  quoted  by  Tytler,  in  his 
Histoiy  of  Scotland  (vol.  viL  p.  78).  He  afterwwds  acoosed 
Lfithington  of  participation  in  the  king's  murder. 

For  his  capture  of  the  castle  of  Dumbarton,  Ci^tain  Crau- 
furd obtained  firom  James  the  Sixth,  the  lands  of  Black, 
stone,  Bams,  Bbhopsmeadow,  and  others,  in  the  neighbour- 
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OF  CARTSBURN. 


hood  of  Glasgow,  with  an  Annuity  of  two  hundred  poonds 
Soots,  daring  his  lifb,  payable  oat  of  the  prioiy  of  St.  An- 
drews. He  commanded  in  several  expeditions  against  the 
qaeen*s  party,  and  was  oaptam  of  the  king's  forces  all  the 
time  of  the  calamitous  dvil  war  which  raged  daring  the  re- 
gencies of  Lennox,  Mar,  and  k^rton.  In  September  1571, 
when  a  body  of  Kirkaldy's  troops  from  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh, surprised  the  town  of  Stirling,  and  the  regent  Lennox 
was  killed.  Captain  Crawford,  with  the  assistanoe  of  a  party, 
from  Stirling  castle  and  some  of  the  dtixens,  chased  the  at- 
tacking faction  out  of  the  town.  In  the  following  year,  he 
had  some  skirmishes  in  the  wood  of  Hamilton  with  the  Ham- 
iltons.  Previous  to  the  surrender  of  the  castle  of  £dinbuiigb, 
in  1573,  the  regent  Morton  appointed  him  and  Captain  Hume 
to  keep  the  trenches,  and  at  the  head  of  their  respective 
companies  and  a  band  of  English,  on  the  morning  of  the  26th 
May,  they  advanced  to  storm  the  Spur,  an  outwork  of  the 
castle  of  great  strength,  in  the  form  of  a  half-moon.  A  dull 
old  ballad,  entitled  the  *  Sege  of  the  Castell,'  (Scots  Poems  of 
the  Sixteenth  Century,)  says: 

"  Thnt  Hume  and  Craford  to  the  lave  were  gydc, 
With  certain  sojonrs  of  the  garysoune, 
Four  captains  followit  at  their  back  to  byde, 
SempblU  and  Hector,  Ramsay  and  Robesoune.' 

The  attempt  proved  successful.  After  a  desperate  conflict 
which  lasted  for  three  hours,  the  ravelin  was  stormed,  and 
the  standard  of  James  the  Sixth  immediately  displayed  upon 
it  The  surrender  of  Edinburgh  castle  put  an  end  to  the 
civil  war,  and  during  his  latter  years.  Captain  Crawfurd  re- 
sided at  Kersland,  in  the  parish  of  Daliy,  Ayrshire,  the  heir- 
ess of  which,  Janet  Eer,  was  his  second  wife.  On  the  15th 
September  1575,  the  king  wrote  him  the  following  character- 
istic letter:  ** Captain  Crawford,  I  have  heard  sic  report  of 
your  guid  service  done  to  me  from  the  beginmng  of  the  wairs 
against  my  onfriends,  as  I  shall  sum  day  remember  the  sam, 
God  willing,  to  your  greit  contentment;  in  the  mean  quhyle 
be  of  guid  comfort,  and  reserve  you  to  that  time  with  pa- 
tince,  being  assured  of  my  favour.  FareweeL  Tour  gold 
friend,  James  Rex.**  He  afterwards  got  a  charter  under  the 
great  seal  ^^acras  ierrarum  ecdetiasticarum  vkcaria pena^ 
murru  de  Dairy,"  &c.,  in  Ayrshire,  dated  20th  March  1578; 
Mid  another  charter  to  himself  and  Janet  Ker  his  spouse,  of 
the  lands  of  Blackstone,  &c,  in  the  shire  of  Renfrew,  dated 
24th  October,  1581.  The  latest  notice  we  have  of  him  is  in 
the  same  year,  when  the  king,  by  a  gift,  dated  at  Holyrood, 
grants  him  a  hundred  pounds  Scots,  yearly,  **  out  of  the  su- 
perflue  of  the  third  of  the  benefices  not  assignat  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  ministrie."  He  died  3d  January  1603,  and 
was  buried  in  the  old  churchyard  of  Kilbiniie.  On  his  mon- 
ument, which  was  erected  in  his  lifetime,  in  1594,  to  himself 
and  his  spouse,  is  inscribed  '*  God  schaw  the  Bicht,**  a  motto 
given  him  by  Morton,  in  memoiy  of  his  bravery  in  the  fight 
of  the  Gallowlae,  between  Leith  and  Edinburgh,  in  which, 
however,  he  had  been  repulsed. 

His  eldest  son,  David,  succeeded  to  his  mother's  estate  of 
Kersland,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Ker,  but  his  male  line 
has  long  been  extinct  The  second  son.  Hew,  carried  on  the 
Jordanhill  family.  This  Hew  had,  with  two  daughters,  five 
sons;  namely,  1.  Cornelius,  his  heir,  whose  second  son,  Tho- 
mas, was  progenitor  of  the  Crawfhrds  of  Cartsbum ;  2.  Tho- 
mas, a  colond  in  the  Russian  service;  3.  John,  rector  of 
Halden  in  the  county  of  Kent ;  4.  Laurence,  a  major-general 
in  the  Scots  army,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  killed  at 
the  siege  of  Her^rd,  in  September  1645;  and,  5.  Daniel,  a 
lieutenant-general  in  the  army  of  the  czar  of  Muscovy,  at  one 


time  governor  of  Smolensko,  and  at  his  death  in  1674  gover- 
nor of  Moscow. 

Hew  Crawfiu^  of  Jordanhill,  the  seventh  laird,  only  son  of 
Hew,  the  sixth  laird,  was  on  19th  July.  1765,  served  beii 
male  to  the  above-mentioned  Sir  John  Crawford  of  KillHinie, 
baronet,  ancestor  of  the  families  of  Kilbimie  and  Jordanhill 
He  married  Robina,  only  cliild  of  Captain  John  PoUok  ot 
Balgray,  tliird  son  of  Sir  Robert  Pollok  of  Pollok,  baronet, 
and  in  her  right  became  Sir  Hew  Crawfurd  PolVtk.  baro- 
net He  had  a  large  family,  several  of  whom  died  when 
young.  The  eldest  daughter,  Mary,  was  married  in  1775  to 
General  Fletcher  of  Saltoun  (then  Campbell  of  Boqnhan), 
and  afterwards  to  Colonel  John  Hamilton  of  Bardowie  in 
Stirlingshire;  and  the  third,  Lncken,  to  General  John 
Gordon  Skene  of  Pithuig,  Aberdeenshire,  by  whom  she 
had  ten  children.  Another  of  his  daughters,  and  one  of  his 
sons,  Captain  Hew  Crawford,  form  the  subject  of  two  carica- 
tures by  Kay,  and  some  onrious  notices  of  Uiem  will  be  found 
in  Kay's  Edinburgh  Portraits.  The  eldest  son.  Sir  Robert 
Craw^rd  Pollok,  baronet,  died,  unmarried,  in  August  1845, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew.  Sir  Hew  Crawfurd  of  Pol- 
lok and  Kilbimie,  baronet,  now  the  representativa  of  the 
family.    See  vol.  ii.  p.  276. 

The  estate  of  Jordanhill  continued  in  the  possession  of  the 
Crawfurds  till  1750,  when  it  was  sold  to  Alexander  Hourtoot 
merchant  in  Glasgow,  whose  son,  Andrew  Houston,  sold  it, 
in  1800,  to  Archibald  Smith,  youngest  son  of  Andrew  Smith 
of  Cralgend,  in  Stirlingshire,  and  it  afterwards  became  the 
property  of  his  eldest  son,  James  Smith,  Esq.  of  JordanhilL 


The  funily  of  Oraufhrd  of  Kilbimey,  StarUngshire,  on  whom 
a  baronetcy  was  conferred,  8  June  1781,  are  descended  from 
the  Crawftuxls  of  Kilbimie  in  Ayrshire.  The  first  baronet 
was  Sir  Alexander  Craufhrd,  son  of  Quentin  Craufurd,  Esq. 
of  Newaik,  in  Ayrshire,  one  of  his  majesty's  justaciary  bail- 
lies  of  the  west  seas  of  Scotland.  Sir  Alexander  had  three 
sons,  James,  second  baronet;  Sir  Charles,  G.C.B.,  a  Heuten- 
ant-general  in  the  army,  and  colonel  of  the  second  dragoon 
guards,  and  Robert,  the  celebrated  General  Craufurd,  who 
was  killed  at  Ciudad  Rodrigo  in  1812,  and  of  whom  a  biogra- 
phical notice  is  given  at  page  721.  Sir  JAmes,  the  second 
baronet,  bom  20th  October  1762,  succeeded  in  1801,  and  in 
1812  assumed  the  additional  name  of  Gregan.  His  eldest 
son,  Thomas,  was  killed  at  Waterloo.  His  second  son,  Alex- 
ander Charles,  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  army,  died  12tfa 
March  1838.  On  his  own  death  in  1839  he  was  sooceeded 
by  his  third  son,  the  Rev.  Sir  Geoi^  William  Craufurd,  of 
Kilbimey,  Stirlingshire,  and  Burgh  Hall,  Lincolnshire,  third 
baronet    Twice  married ;  issue,  two  sons  by  first  wife. 


The  Crawfurds  of  Cartsbum,  in  Renfrewshire,  are  descended 
from  Thomas  Crawford,  second  son,  by  his  wife,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  James  Lockhart  of  Lee,  of  Cornelius  Crawfurd,  who 
succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Jordanhill  in  1624.  Cartsbum  was 
an  ancient  possession  of  the  Kilbimie  family.  It  was  included 
in  the  barony  of  Easter  Greenock,  which  was  acquired  by 
Crawfurd  of  Kilbimie  through  his  mairiage  with  the  heiresa, 
about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  In  the  reign  oi 
Queen  Mary,  it  became  the  patrimony  of  a  younger  brother 
of  the  KilUmie  family.  This  branch  ended  in  the  peisoa  ol 
David  Crawfurd,  in  the  reign  of  Charies  the  First  The 
lands  of  Cartsbum  next  went  to  Malcolm  Crawfurd  of  New- 
ton, also  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  Kilbimie,  fnm  whose 
heirs  they  were  acquired  by  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Kilbimie 
in  1657.  In  1669,  Sir  John's  daughter  and  heiress,  Marga- 
ret wife  of  the  Hon.  Patrick  Lindsay,  conveyed  tbese  laad* 


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FIRST  EARL  OF. 


to  her  coDslDf  the  said  Thomas  Craofard,  second  son  of  Cor- 
nelius Crawfiird  of  JordanhilL  His  eldest  son  snoceeded  to 
Gartsbom.  His  second  son  was  Hew  Grawfhrd  of  Woodside, 
a  small  but  pleasant  property  in  the  vioinitj  of  Paislej, 
which  continued  in  his  family  till  1755,'  when  it  was  sold. 
The  third  son,  George,  was  the  genealogist  and  historian; 
anthor  of  the  *  Genealogical  History  of  the  Royal  and  Illns- 
trions  Family  of  the  Stewarts,  from  the  year  1034  to  the 
year  1710 ;  to  which  are  added,  The  Acts  of  Sederunt  and 
Articles  of  Begulation  relating  to  them;  to  which  is  pre- 
fixed, A  General  Description  of  the  Shire  of  Renfrew/  Edin. 
1710,  folio;  ^The  Peerage  of  Scotiand,  containing  an  Histo- 
rical and  Genealogical  Account  of  the  Nobility  of  that  King- 
dom,' Edin.  1716,  foL ;  '  Lives  and  Character  of  the  Crown 
Officers  of  Scotiand,  from  the  Reign  of  King  David  I.  to  the 
Union  of  the  two  Kngdoms,  with  an  Appendix  of  original 
papers.  Ist.  vol,  all  that  was  published ;  Edin.  1726,  fol.  He 
nuurried  Margaret,  daughter  of  James  Anderson,  the  eminent 
antiquary,  compiler  of  the  *  Diplomata  Sootis,'  whose  life  is 
given  at  page  125  of  this  work,  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of 
John  Ellis  of  Ellisland,  advocate  in  Edinburgh.  Thomas 
Crawfurd,  the  first  of  Cartsbum  of  this  line,  died  in  1695. 
In  1669,  the  year  in  which  he  acquired  the  property,  he  ob- 
tained a  crown  charter  in  confirmation  of  one  which  had  been 
granted  by  Charles  the  First  in  1688,  whereby  the  knds  of 
Cartsbum  were  erected  into  a  free  burgh  of  barony.  The 
village  which  arose,  called  Craufurdsdyke  or  Cartsdyke,  from  a 
dyke  or  quay  he  built  there,  adjoins  the  town  of  Greenock, 
from  which  it  is  separated  by  the  Cart's  bum,  and  is  included 
within  the  parliamentary  boundaries  of  that  burgh. 

Thomas  Craufrurd,  the  sixth  laird  of  Cartsbum,  died  in 
1791,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  aunt.  Christian  Crawford, 
great-granddaughter  of  the  first  Thomas.  She  married  Mr. 
Robert  Arthur,  and  died  in  1796.  She  had  a  son,  Thomas, 
who  predeceased  her,  and  a  daughter.  Christian  Arthur  Craw- 
furd, who  succeeded  her  in  Cartsbum,  and  married  Thomas 
Macknight  of  Batho,  son  of  Rev.  William  Macknight,  who 
died  in  1750,  minister  of  Irvine,  and  had  a  son,  and  two 
daughters.  The  eldest  daughter.  Christian,  married  Rev. 
Thomas  Macknight,  of  Dalbeath,  D.D.,  one  of  the  minbters 
«f  Edinburgh.  The  son,  William  Macknight,  assumed  the 
surname  of  Crawfurd  under  an  entail,  on  succeeding  to  Carts- 
bum. He  married  Jean,  daughter  of  James  Crawford  of 
Broadford. 


Ckawford,  earl  of,  a  titie  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland,  first 
conferred,  in  1398,  on  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  whose 
ancestor,  William  de  Lindsay  of  Erdldon,  in  the  reign  of 
Malcolm  the  Fourth,  was  the  first  of  the  family  who  possessed 
the  barony  of  Crawford  in  Clydesdale.  That  line  terminated, 
in  1249,  in  an  heiress,  Alice  de  Lindsay,  the  wife  of  Su: 
Henry  Pinkeney,  a  great  baron  of  Northamptonshire,  whose 
grandson.  Sir  Robert  Pinkeney,  claimed  the  crown  of  Scot- 
land at  the  competition  in  1292,  as  descended  from  the  prin- 
cess Maijory  through  his  grandmother  Alice  de  Lindsay. 
The  barony  of  Crawford  was  afterwards  forfeited,  and  be- 
stowed on  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Lufihess,  the  ancestor  of 
the  more  recent  house  of  Crawford  [see  anie^  page  700,  and 
LiicDSAT,  sumame  of]. 

Sir  David  Lindsay,  the  first  ear*  of  Crawford,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  bora  in  1366.  He  succeeded  his  father.  Sir 
Alexander  Lindsay,  in  Glenesk  (which  had  belonged  to  his 
mother,  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir  John^tirling  of  Glenesk), 
in  1882,  and  his  oousm  Sir  James  Lindsay  of  Crawford  in 
1397.  Having  married  the  princess  Catherine,  fifth  daugh- 
ter of  King  Robert  the  Second,  he  received  with  her  the  bar- 


ony of  Strathnaim  in  Inveraess-shire.  In  his  twenty-fifth 
year,  he  proved  the  victor  in  the  celebrated  toumament  with 
John  Lord  Welles  at  London-bridge  in  May  1390.  That  no- 
bleman had  been  sent  ambassador  to  Scotland  by  Richard  the 
Second,  and  at  a  banquet  with  thtf  Scottish  nobles,  where  the 
conversation  tumed  on  deeds  of  arms,  on  Sir  David  Lindsay 
extolling  the  prowess  of  his  countrymen,  Welles  exclaimed, 
"*•  Let  words  have  no  place ;  if  you  know  not  the  chivalry  and 
valiant  deeds  of  Englbhmen,  assail  ye  me,  day  and  place 
where  ye  list,  and  ye  shall  soon  have  experience.**  Then  said 
Sir  David,  "  I  will  assail  je !  **  Lord  Welles  naming  London 
Bridge  for  the  place.  Sir  David  appointed  the  festival  of  St 
Geoige  for  the  day  of  combat.  For  this  toumey  he  obtained 
a  safe- conduct  for  himself  and  bis  retinue  of  twenty-eight 
persons,  including  two  knights,  squires,  valets,  &c  He  was 
received  with  high  honour  by  King  Richard,  and  on  the  ap- 
pointed day,  in  presence  of  the  king  and  court,  and  after  the 
usual  preliminary  ceremonies,  at  the  sound  of  the  trampet 
the  two  champions  encountered  each  other,  upon  tiieir  barbed 
horses,  with  spears  sharply  ground.  Beth  spears  were  bro- 
ken, but  in  this  adventure  the  Scottish  knight  sat  so  strong 
that  although  Lord  Welles*  spear  was  shivered  to  pieces  upon 
his  helmet  and  visor,  he  stirred  not,  and  the  spectators  cried 
out  that,  contrary  to  the  law  of  arms,  he  was  bound  to  the 
saddle ;  whereupon  he  vaulted  lightly  ofi*  his  horse,  and  leapt 
back  again  into  his  seat,  without  touching  the  stirmp.  In 
the  third  course  he  threw  Lord  Welles  out  of  hb  saddle  to 
the  ground.  He  then  dismounted,  and  a  desperate  foot  com- 
bat with  their  daggers  ensued,  when  Sir  David,  fastening  his 
dagger  between  the  joints  of  his  antagonist*s  armour,  lifted 
him  off  his  feet,  and  hurled  him  to  the  ground,  where  he  lay 
at  his  mercy.  Instead  of  putting  an  end  to  his  life,  as  the 
laws  of  these  combats  permitted,  he  raised  his  opponent,  and 
after  presenting  him  to  the  queen,  who  gave  him  his  liberty, 
he  supported  him  in  the  lists  till  assistance  came,  and  after- 
wards visited  him  every  day  till  he  recovered.  A  full  descrip- 
tion of  this  famous  toumey  is  given  in  W3mtoun*s  Crom/kU. 
Two  years  after,  Sur  David  neariy  lost  his  life  in  an  afiray 
with  some  of  the  clan  Donachie,  who,  with  Duncan  Stewart, 
natural  son  of  the  Wolf  of  Badenoch,  were  ravaging  Glenisla, 
the  north-west  of  Angus;  and  were  encountered  at  Glenbre- 
rith,  about  eleven  miles  north  of  Gaskdune,  by  the  Lindsays 
and  Ogilvies.  Armed  at  all  points,  and  on  horseback.  Sir 
David  made  great  sUughter  among  the  catarans,  but  having 
pierced  one  of  them  with  his  lance,  and  pinned  him  to  the 
ground,  the  latter  writhed  his  body  upward  on  the  spear, 
and  collecting  all  his  force,  with  a  hst  dying  efibrt,  fetched  a 
sweeping  blow  with  his  broadsword,  which  cut  through  the 
kn)ght*s  stirmp-leather  and  steel  boot 

Three  ply  or  four  above  the  foot, 

to  the  very  bone, — 

*  That  man  na  stra!k  gave  but  that  ane, 
For  there  he  deit;  yet  nevertheless 
That  gold  Lord  there  wounded  wea, 
And  had  dcit  there  that  day 
Had  not  his  men  had  him  away, 
Agano  his  will,  out  of  that  press.'* 

[Wyntoun'M  Cronjfka,  torn.  IL  p.  867.J 

On  the  21st  April  1398,  Sir  David  Lindsay  was,  by  King 
Robert  the  Third,  created  earl  of  Crawford.  The  barony  of 
Crawford  was  at  the  same  time  regranted  with  a  regality,  con- 
ferring privileges  on  him  and  his  posterity,  akin  to  those  of 
the  earls  palatme  of  England  and  the  Continent  He  had 
frequentlv  safe -conducts  granted   hun  to  England,  being 


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THIRD  EARL  OF. 


charged  with  n^odations  with  the  English  court,  and  some- 
times  he  sought  for  adventure  and  honour  in  foreign  wars. 
''  Between  a  visit  to  England  in  October  1398  and  the  29th 
of  December  1404, — the  date  of  his  safe-conduct  for  entering 
England  with  one  hundred  paw>n8,  horse  and  foot,  in  his 
train,  and  passing  through  to  Scotland,  (bei:.g  then  one  of 
the  commissiouers  to  treat  of  peace  witli  England,) — ^his 
name  is  not  once  mentioned  in  the  HotuK  Scotia,  and  it  is 
merely  from  foreign  sources  that  we  learn  that  he  gave  a  let- 
ter of  service  and  homage,  under  his  seal  of  arms,  to  Louis 
duke  of  Orleans,  on  the  Ist  of  January  1401-2,  and  that  in 
May  that  year  he  was  hovering  with  a  fleet  on  the  coast  of 
Gorunna  in  Spain,  probably  as  a  partisan  of  France.**  {^lAves 
of  the  lAndaaySy  vol.  L  p.  99.]  In  December  1406.  he  was 
again  and  for  the  last  time  one  of  the  ambassadors  to  the 
English  court  to  treat  of  peace.  He  died  in  February  1407 
at  his  castle  of  Finhayen,  and  was  buried  in  the  family  vault 
in  the  Greyfriars  church  at  Dundee.  The  following  is  the 
seal  of  David,  first  earl  of  Crawford : 


A  letter  in  French  from  the  first  eari  ot  Crawford  to  Henry 
the  Fourth  of  England,  in  February  1405,  inserted  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays  (p.  105),  on  the 
occasion  of  a  merchant-ship  of  St.  Andrews  having  been 
seized  and  confiscated  by  the  English,  in  violation  of  the 
trace,  is  interesting  as  showing  that  the  merchants  and  town 
of  St  Andrews  were  under  his  protection,  and  also  that  at 
that  period  French  or  Latin  was  the  language  used  by  the 
Scottish  nobles  in  their  intercourse  with  the  court  of  Eng- 
land, so  much  so  that  the  celebrated  earl  of  March,  writing 
to  Henry  five  years  before,  apologizes  for  his  letter  being  in 
English,  as  it  was  '^  mare  clere"  to  his  understanding  **than 
Latyne  or  Fraunche.**  With  three  sons,  Alexander,  second 
earl ;  David,  of  Newdosk,  and  Gerard ;  he  had  turee  daugh- 
ters. Lady  Margaret  or  Matilda,  married  to  her  cousin,  Arch- 
ibald, fifth  earl  of  Douglas,  duke  of  Touraine ;  Lady  Marjoiy, 
to  Su:  William  Douglas  of  Lochleven ;  and  Lady  Elizabeth, 
to  Sir  Robert  Keith,  great  marishal  of  Scotland.  Ingelram 
Lindsay,  bishop  of  Aberdeen  from  1442  to  1458,  is  also  said 
to  have  been  a  son  of  the  first  earl  of  Crawford,  but,  says 
Lord  Lindsay,  strict  proof  of  his  filiation  is  wanting. 

Alexander,  second  earl,  the  year  after  his  father*8  death,  had 


a  safe-conduct  to  go  to  France.  In  141 6,  with  the  earis  of  Doug- 
las and  Mar,  he  had  letters  of  safe-condnct  to  England,  to  ae- 
godate  the  temporary  release  of  the  captive  king,  James  the 
First,  on  his  leaving  hostages  for  his  return,  but  the  n^oda- 
tion  was  suddenly  broken  off.  In  1421,  however,  it  was  re- 
newed for  the  entire  liberation  of  the  king,  when  the  earl  was 
again  one  of  the  oommissionern.  On  James'  return  in  1423, 
Crawford  was  among  the  nobles  who  met  him  at  Durham 
and  escorted  him  to  Scone,  where  he  was  crowned  on  the  last 
day  of  May.  After  receiving  the  accolade  of  knighthood 
from  his  majesty's  hand,  Crawford  departed  for  England, 
being  one  of  the  twenty-eight  hostages  pledged  for  his  sover- 
eign, hb  kinsman.  Sir  John  Lindsay  of  the  Byres,  being  ano- 
ther. In  the  trea^  for  James'  release,  the  annual  income  of 
the  hostages  is  stated — the  eari  of  Crawford  being  rated  at 
one  thousand  merks,  and  Lindsay  of  the  Byres  at  five  hun- 
dred. The  latter  obtained  his  liberty  in  1425,  but  the  earl 
was  detained  in  England  till  November  1427,  when  he  had 
leave  to  return  on  giving  an  equivalent  He  is  said  to  have 
been  active  in  the  capture  of  the  assassins  of  James  the  First, 
and  died  in  1438,  the  year  after. 

His  son,  David,  third  earl,  entered  into  a  league  of  associ- 
ation and  fiiendship  with  the  powerful  earl  of  Douglas,  lieu- 
tenant-general of  the  kingdom,  with  the  object  of  drawing  to 
their  party  the  other  great  feudal  Aimilies,  and,  thus  united, 
to  rule  paramount  in  the  state.  [Zrioes  of  the  lAndtai/t,  voL 
i.  p.  126.']  On  the  discovery  of  tiiis  league,  Kennedy,  bishop 
of  St  Andrews  and  primate  of  Scotland,  joined  with  Crichton, 
the  chancellor,  to  oppose  their  machinations.  In  resentment, 
the  earl  of  Crawford,  assisted  by  his  kinsman  Alexander  Ogil- 
vie  of  Inverquharity,  and  other  allies,  invaded  the  bishop^s 
lands  in  Fife,  burning  lus  granges  and  tenements,  and  carry- 
ing off  an  immense  booty.  After  fruitlesaly  remonstrating 
against  this  outrage,  Kennedy  formally  excommunicated  the 
earl,  for  a  year,  and  before  it  expired  he  recaved  his  death- 
wound  in  a  desperate  conflict  at  Arbroath  on  the  IStii  Janu- 
aiy  1445-6,  between  the  Lindsays  and  Ogilvies,  which  arose 
from  the  following  cause :  The  Benedictines  of  the  abbey  of 
Arbroath  had  appointed  his  eldest  son,  Alexander,  master  of 
Crawford,  their  chief  justiciar,  or  supreme  judge  in  cml  af- 
fairs throughout  their  regality;  but  he  proved  so  expensive  to 
the  monks,  by  his  retinue  of  foUowers  and  manner  of  living, 
that  they  formally  deposed  him,  and  appointed  in  his  place 
Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Inverquharity,  nephew  of  J(^  O^rj 
of  Airlie,  who  had  a  hereditary  didm  to  the  office.  As,  how- 
ever, the  master  of  Crawford  had  taken  forcible  possession  of 
the  town  and  abbey,  an  appeal  to  the  sword  was  rendered 
necessary.  Both  parties  assembled  their  forces.  Douglas 
sent  one  hundred  Clydesdale  men  to  tho  aid  of  Lindsay,  and 
the  Hamiltons  also  assisted  him  with  some  of  their  vassals. 
The  Ogilvies  on  their  part  found  an  unexpected  auxiliary  in 
Sir  Alexander  Seton  of  Gordon,  afterwards  earl  of  Huntly, 
who,  as  he  returned  from  court,  happened  to  arrive  the  night 
before  the  battle  at  tiie  castle  of  Ogilvy,  on  his  road  to  Strath- 
bogie  ;  and  although  in  no  way  personally  interested  in  the 
dispute,  found  himself  compelled  to  asnst  the  Ogilvies  by  a 
rude  law  of  ancient  Scottish  hospitality,  which  bound  the  guest 
to  tiJce  part  with  his  host,  in  any  quarrel  or  danger,  so  long 
as  the  food  eaten  under  his  roof  remained  in  his  stomach 
With  the  small  train  of  attendants  and  friends  who  accom- 
panied him,  he  marched  with  the  Ogilvies  to  Arbroath,  where 
they  foond  the  Lindsays,  in  great  force,  drawn  up  in  battle 
array  before  the  gaies.  As  the  battle  was  about  to  com- 
mence, the  earl  of  Crawford,  anxioos  to  avert  bloodshed, 
suddenly  gallopped  into  the  field  from  Dundee,  where  he  bad 
heard  of  the  approaching  conflict,  but  before  he  could  inter- 


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FIFTH  EARL  OF 


fere,  one  of  the  Ogilyies*  men  darted  his  spear  throngh  his 
moafch  and  neck,  and  mortallj  woanded  him.  The  Lindsays 
Instantly  attacked  the  Ogilvies  and  their  allies  with  great 
fory,  and  they  were  driven  firom  the  field  with  the  loss  of  five 
hundred  men,  while  Cnat  of  the  Lindsays  did  not  exceed  a 
hundred.  Earl  David  expired  afler  a  week  of  lingering  tor- 
ture, and  his  body  lay  for  four  days  unburied,  until  Bishop 
Kennedy  sent  the  prior  of  St.  Andrews  to  take  off  the  ex- 
conmiunication.  The  superstitious  feeling  of  the  times  did 
not  fail  to  notice  that  the  battle  of  Arbroath  was  fought  on 
that  day  twelvemonth  that  the  slain  earl  of  Crawford  had 
ravaged  "St  Andrew's  land"  in  Fife.  \_Ihid,  page  180.] 
Ogilvy  of  Inverquharity,  sorely  wounded,  was  taken  prisoner 
and  carried  to  the  castle  of  Flnhaven,  whore  he  died.  Ac- 
cording to  the  tradition  of  the  district,  the  countess  of  Craw- 
ford, who  was  his  own  oousin-german,  in  the  agony  of  find- 
ing that  her  husband  had  been  mortally  wounded  in  the 
affi:ay,  rushed  to  Inverquharity's  chamber,  and  smothered 
him  with  a  down  pillow.  The  Lindsays  afterwards  burnt 
and  wasted  the  lands  and  houses  of  the  Ogilvies,  and  from 
this  time  the  feud  between  the  two  clans  raged  incessantly 
until  the  accession  of  James  the  Sixth  to  the  English  throne. 
By  his  wife,  Maijory,  daughter  of  Alexander  Ogilvie  of 
Anchterhouse,  hereditary  sheriff  of  Angus,  the  earl  had  five 
sons ;  Alexander,  fourth  earl  of  Crawford ;  Walter  Lindsay 
of  Beaufort  and  Edzell ;  William  Lindsay  of  Lekoquhy,  an- 
cestor of  the  Lindsays  of  £vellck  in  Perthshire  and  their 
various  cadets ;  Sir  John  Lindsay  of  Brechin  and  Pitcairlie, 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Brechin  in  1452,  ancestor  of  the  house 
of  Pitcairlie  in  Forfarshire,  and  their  junior  branch  of  Cair- 
nie;  and  James,  who,  accompanying  the  princess  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  James  the  First,  to  Germany,  when  she  went  to 
be  married  to  Sigismund  of  Austria,  espoused  an  heiress  near 
Augsburg,  where  his  descendants,  the  Crafters,  were  reported 
to  be  residing  in  the  last  century. 

Alexander,  fourth  earl,  the  victor  at  Arbroath,  was  styled 
"  the  tiger,"  or  "  earl  Beardie,"  from  the  ferocity  of  his  char- 
acter and  the  length  of  his  beard,  or  rather,  as  one  writer 
suggests,  from  the  little  reverence  in  which  he  held  the  king's 
courtiers,  and  his  readiness  to  "beard  the  best  of  them." 
^Lhes  of  the  lAndaays^  voL  L  page  184.1  ^  1^^^  he  had 
the  office  of  heritable  sheriff  of  Aberdeen,  and  besides  being 
justiciary  of  the  abbey  of  Arbroath,  as  already  mentioned, 
was  also  justidaiy  of  tiie  abbey  of  Scone.  He  was  one  of  the 
guarantees  of  a  treaty  of  peace  with  England,  one  of  the  war- 
dens of  the  marches,  and  ambassador  to  the  English  court  in 
1451.  With  the  earl  of  Douglas  and  Maodonald  of  the  Ltles, 
titular  earl  of  Ross,  he  entered  into  a  league  of  mutual 
alliance,  offensive  and  defen»ve,  against  all  men,  not  except- 
ing the  king  himself;  on  hearing  of  which,  the  king— James 
the  Second,  then  in  his  seventeenth  year-  -sent  for  Douglas 
to  Stirling  castle,  and  after  vainly  urging  him  to  break  it,  on 
his  refusal,  drew  his  dagger,  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart 
Crawford  immediately  flew  to  arms,  and  assembling  all  his 
forces  encamped  at  Brechin,  with  the  intention  of  intercept- 
ing the  earl  of  Huntly,  his  old  antagonist  at  Arbroath,  now 
appointed  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  who  was  hasten- 
ing with  an  army  to  his  sovereign's  assistance.  The  contend- 
ing parties  met  on  the  18th  May  1452,  on  a  level  moor, 
about  two  miles  north-east  of  Brechin.  The  forces  of  Huntly 
far  outnumbered  those  of  Crawford,  but  the  victory,  which 
had  long  remained  doubtful,  was  at  last  inclining  to  the  lat- 
ter, when  John  Collaoe  of  Balnamoon,  one  of  his  most  trusted 
vassals,  who  commanded  a  division  of  three  hundred  men, 
stationed  in  the  left  ^ing,  deserted  to  Huntly.  Before  the 
oattle  he  had  requested  Crawford  that,  in  the  event  of  their 


victory,  his  son  might  be  put  in  fee  of  the  lands  of  Feme, 
which  lay  near  his  house.  "  The  time  is  short,"  replied  the 
earl,  "stand  bravely  by  me  to-day,  and  prove  yourself  a 
valiant  man,  and  you  shall  have  all  and  more  than  your  de- 
sire." His  defection  was  fatal  to  the  earl,  whose  troops, 
weakened  by  the  departure  of  Balnamoon's  division,  and  fiui- 
ously  attacked  by  Huntly's  forces,  took  to  flight  in  every 
direction.  Among  the  slain  were  the  earl's  brother,  and 
nearly  sixty  gentlemen,  with  numerous  persons  of  inferior 
rank,  while  on  Huntly's  side  the  loss  did  not  exceed  five 
barons,  and  a  small  number  of  yeomen,  but  he  had  to  lament 
the  loss  of  two  brothers.  Earl  Beardie  fled  to  Finhaven,  and 
on  alighting  from  his  horse  he  called  for  a  cup  of  wine,  and 
was  heard  to  exclaim  that  he  would  "  willingly  pass  seven 
years  in  hell,  to  gain  the  honour  of  such  a  victory  as  had  that 
day  fallen  to  HunUy."  He  ha^  already  been  denounced  a 
rebel,  and  his  lands,  life,  and  goods,  were  declared  forfeited 
to  the  state,  his  coat  of  arms  being  torn,  and  his  bearings 
abolished.  The  lordship  of  Bredun,  with  the  hereditary 
aherifiship  of  Aberdeenshire,  was  also  taken  from  him,  and 
given  to  Huntiy,  his  victorious  opponent  His  power,  how-" 
ever,  was  little  weakened  by  this  defeat,  and  as  soon  as  he 
had  recruited  his  forces,  he  took  a  terrible  revenge  on  all  who 
had  either  refused  to  join  his  banner,  or,  like  Balnamoon, 
had  deserted  him  in  the  battle,  ravaging  their  lands,  and  de- 
stroying their  castles  and  houses.  But  after  the  submission 
of  the  Douglases,  being  abandoned  by  many  of  his  allies,  he 
took  an  opportunity  of  the  king  passing  throngh  Forfarshire, 
in  April  1458,  on  his  way  to  the  north,  to  appear  before  his 
majesty,  in  a  mean  habit,  bareheaded  and  barefooted,  and 
witii  tears  in  his  eyes  he  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  acknow- 
ledged his  offence,  and  craved  mercy  for  his  adherents,  being 
more  concerned  for  their  safety  than  for  his  own.  "  When 
the  earl  had  endit,"  says  Pitsoottie,  "  the  noble  and  gentie 
men  of  Angus,  that  came  in  his  company  to  seek  remission, 
held  up  their  hands  to  the  king  maist  dolorously,  dying, 
'■  Mercy ! '  tiU  their  sobbing  and  sighing  cUttit  the  words  that 
almaist  their  prayers  could  not  be  understood."  At  the  in- 
tercession of  Huntly  and  Kennedy,  bishop  of  St  Andrews, 
with  whom  he  had  been  privately  reconciled,  and  by  whose 
advice  he  had  thus  acted,  he  was  pardoned,  and  afterwards 
entertained  James  magnificently  in  his  castle  of  Finhaven. 
As,  however,  the  king  had  sworn,  in  his  wrath,  "  to  make  the 
highest  stone  of  Finhaven  the  lowest,"  his  majesty  went  up 
to  the  roof  of  the  castie,  and  threw  down  to  the  ground  a 
stone  which  was  lying  loose  on  one  of  the  battlements,  thus 
keeping  his  oath  strictiy  to  the  letter.  Earl  Beardie  became 
a  loyal  subject,  but  in  six  months  afterwards,  he  was  seized 
with  a  fever,  of  which  he  died  in  1454.  By  his  wife,  Eliza- 
beth Dunbar,  he  had  two  sons,  minors,  David,  fifth  earl  of 
Crawford,  created  duke  of  Montrose,  by  James  the  Third, 
and  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Anchtermonzie,  who  long  after 
succeeded  as  seventh  earl.  He  had  also  a  daughter.  Lady 
Elizabeth  Lindsay,  wife  c^  John,  first  Lord  Drummond. 

In  the  time  of  this  earl  a  noble  Spanish  chestnut  tree, 
nearly  forty-three  feet  in  clreumference,  ornamented  the 
court  of  the  castle  of  Finhaven,  and,  according  to  tradition,  a 
gillie  or  messenger-lad  having  cut  a  walking-stick  fimm  it, 
the  earl  was  so  enraged  that  he  hanged  him  on  one  of  its 
branches,  and  from  that  moment  the  tree  began  to  decay. 
The  ghost  of  the  gillie,  it  is  locally  said,  has  ever  since  walked 
between  Finhaven  and  Carriston,  under  the  name  of  Jock 
Barefoot 

David,  fifth  earl,  appears,  soon  after  his  accession  to  the 
title,  to  have  been  a  prisoner  to  James  earl  of  Douglas,  on  a 
second  rebellion  oT  that  nobleman,  speedily  suppressed,  in 


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FIFTH  EARL  OF. 


March  1464,  as  in  a  charter,  dated  27th  February  1458-9, 
he  grants  Herbert  Johnstone  of  Dalibank,  ancestor  of  the 
house  of  Wcsterhall,  the  lands  of  Gleneybank,  with  the  office 
of  bullie  of  the  regality  of  Kirkmichael  in  Dumfries-shire, 
"  for  his  faithful  service  at  the  time  when  he  was  held  a  cap- 
tive by  the  late  James  earl  of  Douglas,  and  chiefly  for  the 
liberation  and  abduction  of  his  person  from  captivity,  and 
from  the  hands  of  the  said  earl."  [^Lives  of  the  Lindsays, 
vol.  i.  p.  146.]  His  lordship  had  a  charter  of  the  office  of 
sheriff  of  Forfar,  19th  October  1466,  on  the  resignation  of 
James  Stewart,  afterwards  eari  of  Buchan.  On  the  down- 
fall of  the  Boyds,  he  rose  daily  in  power  and  influence,  and 
for  twenty  years,— from  1465  to  I486,— was  employed  in 
.almost  every  embassy  or  public  negociation  with  England. 
On  9th  March  1472-3  he  obtained  a  grant  from  King  James 
the  Third  of  the  lordships  of  Brechin  and  Navar  for  life ;  in 
July  1473  he  was  appointed  keeper  of  Berwick  for  three 
years ;  on  the  26th  October  1474,  he  appeared  as  procurator 
for  King  James  on  toe  betrothment  of  the  princess  Cecilia, 
youngest  daughter  of  Edward  the  Fourth  of  England,  and  the 
prince  royal  of  Scotland,  which  took  place  in  presence  of  va- 
rious English  commissioners  and  gentlemen,  in  the  Low 
Greyfriars*  church  at  Edinburgh,  and  a  description  of  which 
is  given  in  Tytler's  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  iv.  p.  242 ;  and 
m  May,  1476,  he  was  constituted  high  admiral  of  Scotknd. 
for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  of  the  earl  of  Ross,  (Mac- 
Donald  of  the  Isles,)  who,  alarmed  at  the  formidable  prepa- 
rations against  him,  speedily  submitted. 

In  1474,  this  earl  made  a  new  entail  of  the  family  estates, 
settling  them  on  his  heirs-male  for  ever,  a  document  which 
regulated  the  succession  for  many  generations  afterwards. 
In  1480,  he  was  appointed  master  of  the  king's  household, 
and  after  the  raid  of  Lauder  in  1482,  he  became  lord  cham- 
berlain. Although  one  of  the  purifiers  of  the  royal  council, 
as  they  termed  themselves,  and  present  at  the  famous  secret 
meeting  of  the  nobility,  where  Archibald  earl  of  Angus  ac- 
quired the  name  of  Bell-the-Cat,  and  wherein  it  was  resolved 
to  put  to  death  Cochrane  and  the  other  favourites  of  the 
king,  he  would  not  be  a  party  to  the  plot  for  deposing  his 
sovereign,  and  on  being  made  aware  of  such  a  design,  he 
abandoned  the  factious  nobles,  and  gave  his  whole  support  to 
the  throne.  In  1487  he  was  appointed  justiciary  of  the 
north,  along  with  the  earl  of  Huntly.  After  the  disbanding 
of  the  royal  forces  at  Blackness,  and  the  hollow  pacification 
that  then  took  place,  the  earl  of  Crawford  was  created  duke 
of  Montrose,  by  royal  charter,  dated  18th  May,  1488,  to 
himself  and  his  heirs,  being  the  first  instance  of  the  title  of 
duke  having  been  conferred  on  a  Scottish  subject,  not  of  the 
royal  family.  The  grant  conveyed  to  his  grace  the  castle  and 
borough  of  Montrose,  with  its  customs  and  fisheries,  and  the 
lordship  of  Kincleven  in  Perthshire,  to  be  held  in  free  regal- 
ity for  ever,  with  courts  of  justiciary,  chamberlainship,  &c, 
on  the  tenure  of  rendering  therefrom  a  red  rose  yearly  on  the 
day  of  St  John  the  Baptist.  On  this  creation  the  duke 
added  to  his  arms  an  escutcheon  argent^  charged  with  a  rose, 
gulesj  which  he  carried  by  way  of  a  surtout  over  his  arms. 
Subjoined  is  an  engraving  of  his  seal  and  his  autograph,  from 
the  first  volume  of  Lord  Lindsay's  Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  A 
new  royal  or  public  herald  was  also  created  on  this  occasion 
under  the  name  of » Montrose,'  as  appears  by  the  Exchequer 
Rolls.  At  the  battle  of  Sauchiebum,  soon  after,  (11th  June 
1488,)  the  duke  eminently  distinguished  himself,  on  the  side 
ot  his  unfortunate  sovereign,  James  the  Third,  but  was  se- 
verely wounded,  and  being  taken  prisoner,  was  compelled  to 
ransom  himself  and  his  followers,  and  was  deprived  of  all  his 
public  offices.    The  act  rescissory  which,  on  the  17th  October 


y 


following,  was  passed  in  the  Estates,  annulling  all  grants  of 
lands,  and  creations  of  dignities,  conferred  by  the  late  king 
since  the  2d  of  February  preceding,  was  conceived  not  to  af- 
fect the  original  patent  of  this  ducal  titie,  as  the  young  king, 
James  the  Fourth,  had  previously  directed  a  free  pardon,  by 
letters  patent,  to  be  issued  under  his  privy  seal,  to  the  duke 
of  Montrose,  which  he  placed  in  the  hands  of  Andrew  Lord  • 
Gray,  to  remain  in  his  possession  until  the  duke  should  resign 
to  that  nobleman  the  hereditary  sheriffship  of  Forfarshire. 
Yhls  was  accordingly  done  on  the  6th  November  1488,  in 
his  grace's  name  by  procurators  appointed  by  him  for  the 
purpose,  he  having  previously  protested  against  the  whole 
proceeding  as  illegal  and  unjust.  On  the  19th  September 
1489,  he  received  a  new  patent  or  charter,  under  the  great 
seal,  of  the  dukedom  of  Montrose,  and  in  February  following, 
he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  secret  council,  but  subse- 
quently to  the  battle  of  Sauchiebum  he  took  littie  part  in 
public  affairs.  He  died  at  Finliaven,  at  Christmas  1495,  in 
his  fifty-fifth  year. 

The  dukedom  of  Montrose,  it  has  been  decided  by  the 
House  of  Peers,  ended  with  him ;  as  having  been  by  the  re- 
newed patent  conferred  for  life  only.  In  1848,  the  eari  oi 
Crawford  and  Balcarres  presented  a  petition  to  the  queen, 
claiming  the  title  of  duke  of  Montrose,  on  the  ground  of  its 
being  vested  in  the  heir  male.  This  petition,  in  accordance 
with  the  rule  and  practice  in  contested  peerage  cases,  was 
referred  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  claim  was  opposed 
both  by  the  duke  of  Montrose,  of  the  noble  house  of  Graham, 
and  by  the  Crown.  After  a  lapse  of  neariy  five  years  the 
House  of  Lords  gave  their  decision  on  6th  August  1853,  by 
adopting  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  eari  of  Crawford 
and  Balcarres  had  not  made  out  Uis  right  to  the  dignity. 
(See  Montrose.  Duke  of,  vol.  ii.  page  171.) 

By  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Jamea,  firet 
I^rd  Hamilton,  the  duke  had  2  sons,  Alexander,  Lord  Lind- 
say, and  John,  styled  master  of  Crawford,  who  became  6th  emi 


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NINTH  EARL  OF. 


His  elder  son,  Alexander,  Lord  Lindsay,  when  a  mere  strip- 
ling, had  revived  an  old  feud  with  the  Glammis  fiunilj,  and 
that  with  such  violence  as  to  require  the  interference  of  par- 
liament, March  6, 1478.  On  the  22d  April  1479,  he  was 
committed  to  the  castle  of  Blackness  for  ehasing  two  monks. 
In  the  autumn  of  1489  he  quarrelled  and  fought  with  his 
younger  brother  John,  bj  whom  he  was  wounoeo,  ana  oied 
shortly  after  at  his  castle  of  Inverqueich.  He  had  married 
Lady  Janet  Gordon  (afterwards  the  wife  of  Patrick,  son  of 
Lord  Gray),  whom  popular  rumour  accused  of  having  smoth- 
ered her  first  husband  with  a  down  pillow,  while  lying  ill  of 
his  wound. 

John,  the  second  son,  became  the  sixth  earl  of  Crawford. 
In  1504,  on  the  abortive  rebellion  of  the  Hebrideans  and 
Western  Islanders,  in  support  of  Donald  Dhu,  grandson  and 
lieir  of  John,  Lord  of  the  Isles,  he  was  appointed,  conjointly 
with  Huntly,  Axgyle,  Marischal,  Lord  Lovat,  and  other  pow- 
erful barons,  to  lead  the  array  of  the  whole  kingdom  north  of 
Forth  and  Clyde,  against  them.  [^Oreffoty^i  Ilittonf  of  the 
Western  HigMtmde,  p.  98.]  Lord  Lindsay  says  that  this  earPs 
extravagance  was  great  Besides  alienating  lands  held  in 
capite  of  the  crown,  and  thus  mcumng  the  displeasure  of  the 
king,  he  was  reduced  to  redgn  the  hereditaxy  sheriffdom  of 
Aberdtenshire  to  William,  earl  of  Errol,  10th  February  1610, 
and  it  was  not  regained  for  many  years  after  his  death. 
ILives  of  the  Lmdaojfe,  vol  i  p.  180.]  On  23d  April,  1512, 
twenty-three  years  after  his  brother's  death,  letters  "to 
search  John,  earl  of  Crawford,  for  the  slaughter  of  Alexander, 
his  brother,**  were  issued  by  Lord  Gray,  sheriff  of  Angus, 
ohaipng  the  earl,  his  cousins.  Sir  David  and  Alexander  Lind- 
say, and  others  their  accomplices,  to  give  surety  to  appear 
.«fore  the  king*s  justidaiy,  on  the  third  day  of  the  next  jas- 
tioe-eyre  at  Dundee  to  "  underlie  the  law*'  fur  the  said  crime; 
and  not  appearing  they  were  denounced  rebels,  24th  July 
1518.  Two  months  afterwards,  the  earl  was  killed  at  Flod- 
den,  where  he  had  a  chief  command.  His  children  all  died 
in  infancy,  but  a  natural  son,  John  landsay  of  Downie,  in 
Forfarshuie,  was  father  of  Patrick  Lindsay,  archbishop  of 
Glasgow. 

Alexander,  seventh  earl,  the  younger  son  of  Earl  Beardie, 
and  previously  styled  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Auohtermon- 
zie(a  barony  inherited  from  his  mother),  succeeded  his  nephew, 
as  collateral  heu:  male.  He  was  one  of  the  four  noblemen 
appointed  by  parliament,  1st  December  1513,  continually  to 
remain  with  the  queen-mother,  to  give  her  counsel  and  assist- 
ance as  regent  of  the  kingdom.  For  the  suppression  of  the 
deadly  feuds  that  then  rajged  both  in  the  Highlands  and  on 
the  borders,  he  was  appointed  high-justiciary  north  of  the 
Forth,  while  Lord  Home  received  the  same  office  south  of 
that  river.  Crawford,  however,  died  shortly  afterwards,  at  a 
great  age,  in  May  1517.  By  his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Campbell  of  Ardkinglass,  he  had  David,  his  successor,  another 
son,  Alexander,  of  Rathillet,  who  died  without  issue,  and  a 
daughter,  married  to  Sir  Archibald  Douglas  of  Kijspindie, 
high  treasurer  of  Scotland. 

David,  eighth  earl,  took  part  with  the  queen -mother  and 
Angus  agiunst  the  regent  duke  of  Albany,  and  on  the  depar- 
ture of  the  latter  for  France  in  1524,  he  was  one  of  the  nobil- 
ity who  attended  her  raijesty  when  she  brought  the  young 
king,  then  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  from  Stirling  to  Edin- 
buxgh,  and,  on  80th  July  of  that  year,  made  him  assume  the 
government  The  earl  was  subsequently  deprived  by  James 
of  large  estates  in  the  Lowlands,  and  of  his  lands  in  the  He- 
brides, which  so  incensed  him  against  the  king  that  it  was 
believed  he  might  eauly  have  been  induced  to  join  the  English 
interest,  but  the  unnatural  conduct  of  his  son  (by  his  first 


wife.  Lady  Marion  Hay,  only  daughter  of  the  third  earl  of 
Errol),  withdrew  his  attention  from  all  but  his  domestic  sor- 
rows. This  son,  Alexander,  called  the  *'  evil  *'  or  "  wicked 
master**  of  Crawford,  had  been  put  in  fee  of  the  earldom  by 
his  father,  as  future  earl,  and  the  barony  of  Glenesk  had  been 
assigned  to  him  in  consequence,  by  charter  under  the  great 
seal,  2d  September  1527.  Being,  however,  of  an  unruly  and 
turbulent  disposition,  he  seized  his  father*s  fortress  of  Dunbog 
and,  at  the  head  of  a  oand  of  robbers  and  outlaws,  pursued  a 
wild  and  lawless  life,  oppressing  the  lieges,  tyrannizing  over 
the  inferior  dergy,  and  exacting  *  black  mail '  from  the  whole 
surrounding  country.  In  1526  his  father  had  been  obliged  to 
appeal  to  the  crown  for  protection  from  "  bodily  harm,"  threat- 
ened against  himself,  his  second  wife  (Isabel,  daughter  of  Lun- 
dy  of  Lundy),  and  his  friends,  by  his  unnatural  son,  who,  on 
expressing  his  contrition,  was,  through  the  intervention  of  the 
archbishop  of  St  Andrews,  and  others,  received  into  favour, 
on  condition  of  his  banishing  his  evil  associates,  and  relapsing 
not  into  crime.  In  1530,  he  was  indicted  for  killing  a  servant 
of  Lord  Glammis,  and  on  the  16th  February  1530-1,  he  was 
arraigned  at  a  justice-eyre  held  at  Dundee,  the  king  himself 
presiding  in  person,  for,  among  other  crimes  alleged  against 
him  snd  his  accomplices,  having  besieged  his  father's  castles, 
with  the  intention  of  murdering  him,  surprising  him  at  Fin- 
haven,  laying  violent  hands  upon  him,  and  imprisoning  him 
in  his  own  dungeon  for  twelve  weeks,  and  on  another  occasion 
carrying  hun  by  force  to  Brechin,  and  confining  him  for  fif- 
teen days;  besides,  breaking  open  his  coffers,  pillaging  his 
writs,  and  seizing  his  rents  and  revenues.  He  was  found 
guilty,  but  his  life  was  spared.  Both  he  and  his  issue  had 
forfeited  their  right  to  the  succession,  which  opened  in  due 
course  of  law  to  the  next  heir-male  under  the  entail  of  1474, 
namely,  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell.  A  special  charter  of  en- 
tail thereafter  passed  the  great  seal,  dated  16th  October 
1541,  to  the  said  David  Lindsay,  and  the  heirs  male  of  his 
body,  whom  failing,  to  others  therein  enumerated,  and  failing 
them,  to  the  earl's  own  nearest  legitimate  heirs  male  whatso- 
ever, bearing  the  name  and  arms  of  Lindsay.  Soon  after, 
**the  wicked  master**  was  ignominiously  slain  at  Dundee, 
having  been  stabbed  by  a  cobbler  **for  taking  a  stoup  of 
drink  from  Mm.**  Hb  father,  after  a  lingering  illness,  died 
at  the  castle  of  Caimie  in  Fife,  on  the  27th  or  28th  Novem- 
ber 1542. 

David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  succeeded  as  ninth  earl.  Having 
no  issue  by  bis  first  wife,  (the  dowager  Lady  Lovat,)  in  his 
.generosity  he  adopted  David  Lindsay,  the  son  of  **the  wicked 
'master,'*  who  had  been  secluded  horn  the  succession  by  his 
father's  forfeiture,  and  in  his  favour  resigned  all  the  lands  of 
the  earldom,  with  the  exception  of  Glenesk  and  Feme,  exe- 
cuting the  requisite  diarters  under  the  great  seal  2d  May, 
1546,  by  which  that  youth  was  reinstated  in  his  birthright, 
and  put  in  fee  of  the  earldom  as  master  of  Crawford.  By 
hb  second  wife,  Catherine,  laughter  of  Sir  John  Campbell  of 
Lorn  and  Calder,  whom  he  married  in  1549,  the  ninth  earl 
had  five  sons :  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  whose  male  line 
is  extinct ;  John,  Lord  Menmuir,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Bal- 
carres  (see  ante^  p.  199) ;  Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Balgawies, 
a  convert  to  popery,  and  the  most  zealous  and  daring  **  con- 
fessor **  of  his  time ;  James,  the  protestant  rector  of  Fetter- 
cairn,  who  died  young,  15th  June  1580,  while  on  a  missioc 
to  Geneva ;  (an  elegy  to  his  memory  by  the  celebrated  An- 
drew Melville  is  inserted  in  the  Deiioim  Poeiartun  Scotorum) ; 
and  Robert,  of  BalhalL  The  earl  had  also  two  daughters, 
Margaret  and  Elizabeth,  the  wives  vespectiveiy  of  John  earl 
of  Athol,  and  Patrick  thurd  Lord  Drummond.  He  died  ib 
September  1558. 


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CRAWFORD, 


712 


TENTH  EARL  OF. 


David,  tenth  earl,  the  son  of  **  the  wicked  master,"  proved 
very  ungratefiil  to  his  benefactor,  the  ninth  earL  fle  joined 
the  association  for  Qaeen  Mary  in  1568,  and  adhered  steadily 
to  her  interegt  He  had  married,  soon  after  his  restoration 
to  the  fiunilj  saccession,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Cardinal 
Bethune.  In  the  contract  dated  at  St.  Andrews,  10th  April 
1546,  the  cardinal  expressly  called  the  bride  his  daughter, 
and  he  gave  her  four  thousand  merks  in  dowry.  The  nup- 
tials were  solemnized  at  Finhaven  with  great  pomp  and  mag- 
nificence in  presence  of  the  cardinal,  who  was  assassinated 
the  following  month.  The  earl  had  four  sons :  David,  elev- 
enth earl ;  Sir  Henry  of  Kinfauns,  thirteenth  eari ;  Sir  John 
Lindsay  of  Ballinsoho  and  Woodwray ;  and  Alexander  first 
Lord  Spynie  (see  Sptnir,  lord);  and  a  daughter,  Lady 
Helen,  mnrried  to  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell. 

David,  eleventh  earl,  is  described  in  the  family  genealogies 
as ''  ane  princely  man,**  but  a  sad  spendthrift  Soon  after 
his  accession  to  the  title,  the  old  family  feud  with  the  house 
of  Glammis  was  revived  through  the  following  unfortunate 
accident.  On  the  evening  of  the  I7th  March  1577-8,  the 
earl  and  Lord  Glammis,  then  chancellor,  happened  to  meet, 
at  the  head  of  their  respective  followers,  in  a  narrow  street, 
called  the  School-house  Wynd,  in  Stirling,  as  Crawford  was 
passing  to  the  castle,  and  the  chancellor  returning  to  his 
lodging,  after  making  his  report  to  the  young  king,  James 
the  Sixth.  They  made  way  for  each  other,  and  called  to 
their  attendants  to  do  the  same ;  all  obeyed,  except  the  two 
last,  who,  having  jostled,  drew  their  swords,  and  attacked 
each  other.  In  the  uproar  which  ensued,  Glammis  received 
a  mortal  wound  in  the  head  by  a  pistol-bullet,  from  whose 
hand  is  uncertain,  but  the  earl  was  unjustly  blamed  for  it. 
Thomas  Lyon,  uncle  of  the  chancellor,  and  tutor  or  guardian 
of  his  infant  son,  and  usually  styled  master  of  Glammis,  as 
presumptive  heir  to  that  barony,  to  avenge  his  nephew*s 
death,  immediately  carried  fire  and  sword  into  the  Lindsay*s 
country,  while  the  earl  himself  was  imprisoned  in  Stirling, 
but  soon  released.  He  was  indicted  for  the  crime,  but  his  trial 
it  appears  was  postponed,  as  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  and 
Patrick  Lord  Lindsay  of  the  Byres,  his  sureties,  were  fined 
for  his  nonproduction  to  underlie  the  law,  5th  March  1579. 
IPitcairn's  Criminal  TriaU,  voL  i.  part  2,  p.  85.]  The  8d 
of  November  was  appointed  for  hb  subsequent  appearance, 
and  it  is  presumed  that  he  was  then  acquitted.  From  a  cu- 
rious circular  addressed  to  his  principal  friends,  and  printed 
in  the  appendix  of  the  first  volume  of  the  Lives  of  the  Lind- 
says, the  earl  on  this  occasion  seems  to  have  had  recourse  to 
the  usual  practice  of  the  Scottisli  barons  of  those  days, 
naroe.y,  to  appear  at  his  trial  with  such  a  host  of  attendants 
as  was  likely  to  overawe  the  judges.  Not  long  afterwards  he 
and  the  earl  of  Huntly  went  to  France,  whence  he  proceeded 
to  Italy.  He  returned  to  Scotland  by  the  last  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 1581,  when  he  sat  in  the  parliament  then  held  in  Edin- 
burgh. 

After  the  raid  of  Ruthven  in  1582,  he  joined  the  associa- 
tion formed  to  liberate  the  king,  and  on  the  escape  of  James 
to  St.  Andrews,  Crawford,  Huntly,  Argyle,  and  others  of  the 
banded  nobles,  occupied  the  town,  with  their  followers,  while 
Gowrie  and  the  other  insurgent  lords  made  their  submission. 
The  king  then  commanded  two  chief  nobles  of  each  faction, 
Angus  and  Mar  on  the  one  side,  and  Crawford  and  Huntly  on 
the  other,  to  withdraw  from  court  for  a  season,  to  "  prevent 
the  renewal  of  factious  debates."  Shortly  after  this,  the 
master  of  Crawford  was  appointed  chief  master  stabler  to 
King  James,  who  wrote  to  the  magistrates  of  Dundee,  "com- 
manding them  to  elect  and  take  Crawford  to  be  their  provost, 
ilbeit  ^ey  had  chosen  their  own  provost"    He  was  one  of 


the  jniy  on  the  trial  of  the  eari  of  Gowrie,  and  in  the  confis- 
cations that  were  subsequently  carried  on  by  Arran  and  his 
friends,  Crawford  obtained  the  abbey  lands  of  Scone,  and  the 
church  lands  of  Aberaethy.  On  the  Ist  of  November  1585l 
the  banished  lords,  supported  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  entered 
Scotland,  with  a  large  array,  and  marched  unexpectedly  on 
the  king  at  Stilting.  No  one  was  with  him  except  Artan 
and  the  earls  of  Crawford  and  Montrose,  who  garrisoned  the 
castle  with  their  followers.  Arran  fied,  but  Crawford  and 
Montrose  retired  into  the  castle  with  the  king.  The  oasUe 
soon  surrendered,  and  Crawford  and  Montrose  were  commit- 
ted to  the  charge  of  Lord  Hamilton. 

The  earl  had  been  converted  to  the  popish  faith  by  5ither 
William  Crichton,  a  well-known  jesuit,  and  on  the  arrival  of 
the  news  of  the  decapitation  of  Mary  queen  of  Soots  at  Fo- 
theringay  7th  Februaiy  1586-7,  he  and  the  other  Catholic 
lords,  Huntly  and  Errol,  entered  into  a  correspondence  with 
Spain,  then  preparing  the  invincible  armada  for  an  attack 
upon  England.  In  the  previous  year  they  had  assembled 
their  forces  at  the  Bridge  of  Dee,  when  the  king  marched  to 
oppose  th«n,  and  the  simple  fact  of  Arran,  Hundy,  Mon- 
trose and  Crawford  having  subsequently  held  a  meeting  at 
the  lodging  of  the  latter,  had  created  new  sospiGion  against 
them.  At  the  celebrated  reconciliation  banquet  which  took 
place  at  Holyrood-house  eariy  in  1587,  Crawford  and  Glam- 
mis, and  other  hereditary  enemies,  walked  together  hand  in 
hand  to  the  cross,  where  they  drank  to  each  other  amid  the 
thunder  of  the  castle  guns,  and  the  songs  and  shouts  of 
the  citizens.  But  this  reconciliation  was  but  a  boDow 
one.  Long  standing  feudal  enmities  could  not  be  so  easily 
healed.  In  May  of  that  year,  Crawford,  Huntly  and  Both- 
well  were  accused  of  treasonable  insurrection  against  the 
king,  but  nothing  was  established  against  them.  In  their 
correspondence  with  the  prince  of  Parma,  they  undertook, 
with  the  aid  of  six  thousand  men,  to  render  the  king  of  Spain 
master  of  Scotland.  This  correspondence  falling  into  the 
hands  of  Elizabeth,  was  by  her  sent  to  James.  In  the  mean- 
time, a  preliminary  plot  for  seizing  the  king's  penon,  and 
excluding  from  court  the  chancellor  Biaitland  and  the  master 
of  Glammis,  high  treasurer,  the  king's  chief  councillon,  came 
to  Hght  and  on  Huntly*s  airival  in  Edinburgh  he  was  ar- 
rested ;  when,  news  being  brought  of  Crawford  and  EiroTs  oav- 
ing  oome  in  arms  to  the  North  Ferry,  the  whole  kingiom  was 
alarmed ;  but  the  earis  made  then*  submission.  A  few  di^ 
after,  Crawford  and  Huntly  met  at  Perth,  and  at  first  designed 
to  fortify  that  town ;  but  hearing  that  the  treasurer  Glammis 
had  arrived  in  Angus,  they  waylaid  him,  and  chased  him  to 
the  house  of  Kirkhill,  which  bemg  set  fire  to,  he  was  obliged 
to  surrender  to  his  cousin  the  laird  of  Auchindown,  who  kept 
him  some  weeks*  prisoner  in  the  north.  In  April  1589,  the 
three  earis,  Crawford,  Huntly,  and  Errol,  collected  their  fbtoes 
in  Aberdeen,  whence  they  issued  a  rebellious  proclamation,  bat 
the  king  advancing  against  them,  their  followers  diq>erBed. 
Crawford  fied,  and  the  treasurer,  being  released,  interceded 
with  the  king  for  him  and  Huntly.  They  **  ofiered  to  enter 
their  persons  in  ward,  and  submit  themselves  to  the  punish- 
ment his  migesty  might  be  pleased  to  impose.**  Crawford 
went  to  Edinburgh  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  was  warded  in 
his  own  lodging.  On  the  24th  he  was  tried,  with  Huntly 
and  Bothwell,  als  implicated  in  the  same  rebellion,  and  aD 
found  guilty  of  repeated  acts  of  treason.  James,  however, 
would  not  allow  any  sentence  to  be  pronounced  against 
them,  but  committed  Crawford  to  Bkokness,  BothweU  to 
Tantallon,  and  Huntly  to  his  old  quarters  in  Edinburgh  cas- 
tle, and  after  keeping  them  a  few  months  in  confinement  he 
took  occasion,  amidst  the  public  rejoicings  on  the  approadi  of 


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bis  marriagef  to  set  them  at  liberty.  A  kej  to  his  mtjeety's 
conduct  on  this  ooctsion  is  fiimished  bj  the  fiict  of  his  Iwving, 
on  the  first  news  of  his  mother's  ezecntion,  connived  at,  if  he 
did  not  encourage,  the  treasonable  correspondence  with  Spain, 
and  permitted  Jesuits  and  other  popish  pnests  to  trarel  un- 
jiolested  through  the  kingdom,  and  had  himself  instigated 
the  rebellion.  Soon  after  the  earl  had  a  safe-conduct  to  pass 
through  England,  on  his  way  to  France.  He  returned  to 
Scotland  in  1601,  after  an  absence  of  eleven  jears,  and  died 
22d  November  1607.  He  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife, 
Lilias,  daughter  of  David,  second  Lord  Drummond,  with 
whom  he  received  the  then  large  tocher  of  ten  thousand 
merks,  died  young.  This  {«r]  was  of  a  suspicious  and  jealous 
disposition,  and  an  old  north  country  ballad,  entitled  *  Earl 
Crawford,*  (printed  in  Bftchan^i  Ancient  Ballads  of  the  North 
qfScothndj)  relates  that  a  merry  jest  of  Lady  Crawford  as  to 
the  father  of  her  child  (David,  who  died  in  infancy)  was  taken 
by  her  husband  in  earnest 

"*!  tom*d  me  right  and  round  aboat. 
And  aye  the  blythe  blink  in  my  e*e,— 
It  was  ae  word  my  merry  moa*  spake 
That  dnderit  my  guld  lord  and  me.** 

He  sent  her  home  to  her  family  in  disgrace,  when  her  brother 
of!ered  to  marry  her  to 


-**  as  fine  a  knicht 


That  Is  nine  times  as  rich  as  he.** 

She  answered, 

"  Oh !  hand  your  tongue  my  brother  dear. 
And  yell  let  a*  your  folly  be, 
Fd  rather  ae  kiss  o*  Crawford's  month. 
Than  a*  his  good  and  white  monie.'* 

She  rode  back  to  her  hnsband*s  castle  to  entreat  his  forgive- 
ness and  **  comfort,"  but  he  refused  to  listen  to  her.  Soon 
after  he  rode  over  to  Stobhall  the  seat  of  the  Drummonds, 
to  sue  for  pardon  himself,  but  the  lady  returned  him  the  same 
answer  he  had  given  her: 

"Indeed  I  wfnna  come  mysef 

Nor  send  my  waiting  maid  to  thee, — 
Sae  take  your  idn  words  hamo  again. 
At  Crawford  castle  ye  tanld  me." 

The  earVs  second  wife  was  Ijidy  Griselda  Stuart,  daughter 
of  the  earl  of  AthoL  The  followbg  is  the  autograph  of  the 
eleventh  earl : 


^^^CTa^C^ 


au^i 


His  eldest  son,  David  the  twelfth  earl,  was  so  reckless  and 
extravagant  that  he  acquired  the  name  of  the  "  prodigal  earl." 
He  had  been  sadly  neglected  by  his  father  in  his  youth,  and 
while  at  the  university  of  St  Andrews,  was  often  left  without 
clothes  or  food,  but  what  his  tutor,  Mr.  Peter  Nairn,  could 
procure  for  him,  "as  his  poverty  and  credit  could  serve." 
\lAx>ti  of  the  JJndsaySy  vol.  ii.  p.  60.]  He  afterwards  gath- 
ered a  band  of  broken  Lindsays  around  him,  and  pursued 
with  tmrelenting  fierceness  his  fendal  and  personal  enemies. 
On  the  25th  October  1605,  he  slew,  "  under  assurance,"  be- 
tween Brechin  and  the  Place  of  I'^dzell,  Lis  kinsman  Sir  Wal- 


ter Lindsay  of  Balgawies,  brother  of  Lord  £d2eU  lPUcaim*s 
Criminal  Triab^  vol.  iiL  pp.  65  and  248],  and  the  son  of  that 
eaii  to  whose  generosity  his  father  owed  his  estates  and  hon- 
ours. The  relations  of  Sir  Walter  bitterly  resented  this  in- 
jury, and  his  nephews  especially  determined  to  be  revenged. 
On  the  5th  July  1607,  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
the  latter,  with  eight  foUowera,  six  of  them  Lmdsays,  at- 
tacked, in  the  High  Street  of  Edinburgh,  the  master  of 
Crawford,  then  without  attendants,  and  accompanied  only  by 
Lord  Spynie,  the  undo  of  both  parties,  and  who  was  anxious 
for  a  reconciliation  botween  them,  and  Sir  James  Douglas  of 
Dmmlanrig.  All  three  were  wounded,  the  master  severely, 
and  Lord  Spynie  mortally.  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  (styled 
Lord  Edzell,  as  a  lord  of  session,)  and  Alexander  Undsay 
of  Canterland,  his  second  son.  were  subsequently,  on  the  6th 
September  1609,  indicted  as  suspected  connivers  at  the  death 
of  Lord  Spyme,  but  no  one  appearing  against  them,  on  the 
19th  of  that  month  they  formally  protested  that  no  one 
should  at  any  futun  time  be  allowed  to  call  them  to  account 
To  prevent  the  continual  alienations  of  the  estates  of  the  earl- 
dom carried  on  by  this  earl,  the  family  got  him  imprisoned 
in  Edinburgh  castle,  where  he  spent  the  kst  years  of  his  life 
under  turveilkmcej  but  acting  in  every  respect  otherwise  as  a 
free  agent  In  consequence  he  was  sometimes  stj^ed '  Comes 
Incarceratus,*  or  the  *  captive  eari.*  He  died  in  the  castle  in 
February  1621,  and  was  buried  in  the  chapel  of  Holyrood- 
house.  He  had  been  divorced  from  his  wife.  Lady  Jean  Ker, 
of  the  Lothian  family,  and  had  only  one  child,  a  daughter, 
Lady  Jean  Lindsay,  who  having  run  away  with  a  common 
**  Jockey  with  the  horn,"  or  public  herald,  lived  latterly  by 
begging.  [LtMt  of  the  Lind$ay9^  voL  ii  p.  51.]  By  a  grant 
under  the  privy  seal,  of  date  4th  June  1663,  King  Charles 
the  Second  granted  her  a  pension  of  one  hundred  a-year,  "  in 
consideration  of  her  eminent  birth  and  necessitous  condition." 

The  prodigal  earl  was  succeeded  by  his  undo,  Sir  Henry 
Lindsay  of  Rinfanns,  thirteenth  earl  of  Crawford.  He  had 
been  master  of  the  household  to  the  queen  (Anne  of  Den- 
mark), and  in  his  younger  days  he  built  the  house  of  Carrald- 
stone  (now  Carriston)  in  Forfarshire.  On  2d  September  1592, 
David  Cochrane  of  Pitfonr  complained  to  the  king  and  council 
that  he  had  raised  letters  agunst  Harry  Lindsay  of  Kinfauns 
for  having  come  to  his  house,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  armed 
men,  forcibly  expelled  his  wife  *'  with  nyne  young  baimes,** 
and  taken  violent  possession  of  it  Lindsay  was  accordingly 
charged  to  deliver  up  the  house,  &&,  and  to  answer  before 
the  king  and  council  for  this  act  of  oppression ;  on  which  he 
delivered  up  the  house  to  its  lawful  possessor,  and  withdrew 
his  men  from  it.  After  he  had  succeeded  to  the  title,  it  is 
recorded  of  him  that  he  gathered  "  all  he  could  together  of 
the  wraclqt  estate  of  the  earldom  of  Crawford."  [2>ire«  q/ 
the  lAndaayM^  vol  iL  p.  52,  noteJ^  He  died  in  1628.  By  his 
wife,  Beatrix,  daughter  and  heiress  of  George  Charteris  of 
Kinfauns,  he  had  four  sons :  Sir  John  of  Kinfauns,  (invested 
with  the  order  of  the  Bath  at  the  coronation  of  James  the 
First  of  England  in  1603,)  who  died  without  issue;  and 
George,  Alexander,  and  Lndovic,  successively  fourteenth,  fif- 
teenth, and  sixteenth  earls  of  Crawford. 

George,  fourteenth  earl,  succeeded  to  a  dilapidated  estate, 
and  having,  in  1629,  sold  Finhaven  to  his  kinsman,  Lord 
Spynie,  he  quitted  Scotland,  and  served  with  distinction,  as 
colonel  of  a  foot  company  of  Dutch  or  Germans,  under  Gnsta- 
vus  Adolphus,  but  was  basely  killed  in  1633,  by  a  lieutenant 
of  his  own  regiment  whom  he  had  been  provoked  to  hatoon. 
A  council  of  war  (consisting  of  Germans)  being  held  upon  the 
latter,  he  was  acquitted  of  the  slaughter,  on  account  of  its 
being  contrary  to  the  Swedish  discipline  to  cudgel  any  officer. 


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SIXTEENTH  EARL  OF. 


Bat  General  Leslie  (afterwards  oommander-in-ohief  of  the 
Coyenanters,  and  earl  of  Leven),  being  then  goremor  of  Sta- 
ten,  where  the  earl  was  boried,  caused  his  ronrderer  to  be 
immediately  apprehended  and  shot  [Lives  of  the  Limdaays^ 
ToL  ii.  p.  56.]  The  earl  left  an  only  child.  Lady  Maigaret 
Lindsay,  who  died  in  1655,  in  Caithness. 

His  brother,  Alexander,  fifteenth  earl,  who  had  attained 
the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  Swedish  service,  became  insane, 
and  was  kept  in  confinement  till  his  death  in  1689. 

His  youigest  brother,  Lndovic,  sixteenth  earl,  had  entered 
the  Spanbh  service,  in  which  he  rose  to  the  rank  ot'  colonel. 
In  1641,  he  returned  t^  Scotland,  to  give  his  snpport  to 
Charles  the  First,  whose  canse  he  upheld  with  so  mnch  con- 
stancy during  the  whole  dvil  wars,  as  to  be  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  the  **  loyal  earl."  The  strange  plot  known  in 
history  as  "  the  Incident,^*  was  the  joint  concoction  of  hun 
and  Montrose.  Its  object  was  to  seize  the  marquis  of  Ham- 
ilton, his  brother  the  earl  of  Lanark,  and  the  marquis  of  Ar- 
gyle,  the  most  powerful  of  the  covenanting  nobles,  and  convey 
them  on  board  a  vessel  in  Leith  Roads,  where  they  were  to 
be  detained  till  the  king  should  gain  such  an  ascendancy  in 
Scotland,  as  would  enable  him  to  try  them  as  traitors. 
Crawford  and  his  men  were  to  seize  Edinburgh  the  same 
night,  capture  the  castle,  release  Montrose,  then  a  prisoner, 
and  deliver  it  into  his  hands  as  governor.  On  the  disooveiy 
of  the  plot,  (through  the  information  of  a  gentleman  who  was 
invited  to  join  in  it,)  Crawford  was  arrested,  but  liberated 
without  caution  or  security,  in  little  more  than  a  month  after- 
wards. While  m  prison  the  earl  of  Lindsay  paid  him  a  visit, 
and  proposed  to  save  his  life,  on  condition  of  his  resigning  the 
earldom  of  Crawford  in  his  favour.  To  this  he  is  said  to 
have  assented,  and  thereby,  through  lindsay^s  interest,  to 
have  escaped  punishment  Accordingly,  on  the  15th  Janu- 
ary, 1642,  Crawford  resigned  his  earldom  into  the  king's 
hands  at  Windsor,  for  new  investiture  to  himself  and  the 
heuv  male  of  his  body,  whom  failing,  to  John,  eari  of  lindsay 
and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body;  whom  failing,  to  his  own  hdrs 
male  collateral  for  ever.  This  transaction  has  been  usually 
but  erroneously  assigned  to  1644. 

On  the  raising  of  the  royal  standard  at  Nottingham,  25th 
August  1642,  the  earl  of  Crawford  joined  Charies  there  im- 
mediately, and  was  created  commander  of  the  volunteers. 
At  the  head  of  his  own  regiment  of  horse,  he  fought  gallantly 
under  Charles,  at  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Edgehill,  on  23d 
October  following;  and,  at  the  battle  of  Lansdowne,  on  5th 
July  1643,  he  contributed  greatly  to  the  rout  of  the  parlia- 
mentary forces.  Soon  after,  being  sent  for  a  supply  of  pow- 
der, he  was  intercepted  by  Sir  William  Walla*,  and  defeated 
with  the  loss  of  his  ammunition,  and  a  troop  or  two  of  his 
regiment.  Having  subsequently  received  a  rein^rcement  of 
cavalry  from  the  king  at  Oxford,  Crawford,  commissary  Wil- 
mot,  and  Sir  John  Byron  (ancestor  of  the  noble  poet  of  that 
name),  attacked  and  defeated  Waller,  killing  six  hundred  of 
his  men,  taking  eight  hundred  prisoners,  with  seven  pieces  of 
cannon,  and  all  their  colours.  He  fought  at  Newbury,  20th 
September  1643,  and  at  Reading.  Five  days  after,  he  had  a 
narrow  escape  in  an  attempt  to  gain  the  town  of  Poole  for 
the  king,  through  the  treachery  of  Captain  Sydenham,  one  of 
the  garrison,  who  for  forty  pounds  and  a  promise  of  prefer- 
ment, agreed  to  admit  him  and  a  force  under  him  into  the 
town,  but  having  previously  acquainted  the  governor,  no 
sooner  had  a  portion  of  them  got  in  than  they  were  unex- 
pectedly attacked  and  neari^  all  killed  or  taken  prisoners. 
The  earl  was  one  of  the  few  who  cut  their  way  out  Soon 
after,  in  company  with  Sh-  R-ph  Uopeton,  he  invaded  Sus- 
sex, and  took  Arundel  castle,  but  being  attacked  at  Alton 


near  Famham,  by  Waller,  he  made  his  escape  with  a  few 
only  of  his  troops,  the  rest,  to  the  number  of  nine  hundred, 
being  all  taken,  with  twelve  hundred  arms. 

With  the  marquis  of  Montrose,  he  marched  into  Scotland, 
in  the  beginning  of  April  1644,  vrhen  Dumfriea  was  taken  by 
them,  but  they  were  soon  oblige  to  retreat  to  Carlisle.  For 
this  he  was,  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month,  excommunicated 
by  the  commission  of  the  General  Aasembly.  Sentence  of 
forfeiture  was  pronounced  against  him  in  absence  by  the 
Scots  parliament,  on  the  26th  July  thereafter,  and  on  the 
same  day  was  passed  a  ratification  in  favour  of  the  eari  of 
Lindsay  of  his  right  and  patent  as  earl  of  Crawford,  which 
titie  was  conferred  on  him  by  pariiament,  an-^  he  was  there- 
after designated  eari  of  Crawford-Lindsay. 

Earl  Ludovic  had,  in  the  meantime,  rejoined  the  royalists, 
and  he  acted  as  a  general  in  Prince  Rupert's  anny,  when  it 
was  defeated  at  Marston-moor,  2d  July  1644.  He  after- 
wards, with  Lord  Reay  and  other  Soots  officers,  threw  him- 
self into  Newcastle,  but  that  town  bdng  taken  by  storm  by 
the  Scots  army  under  General  Leslie,  in  the  following  Octo- 
ber, his  lordship  was  made  prisoner  and  sent  to  Scotland. 
He  arrived  at  Edinbuigh,  7th  November,  and  was  conducted 
bareheaded,  and  with  every  nuuk  of  indignity,  bx  the  Water- 
gate of  the  Canongate  to  the  Tolbooth.  Soon  after  he  was 
tried  and  condemned  to  death  as  a  traitor,  mainly,  according 
to  Wishart,  through  the  influence  of  his  cousin  the  eari  of 
Lindsay,  who  had  usurped  hb  honours,  and  now  thirsted  for 
his  blood.  It  was  debated  whether  he  should  be  at  once  be- 
headed, or  his  execution  delayed  for  some  days,  that  he  might 
suffer  along  with  the  other  prisoners,  and  the  last  alternative 
was  carried.  After  the  battie  of  Kilsyth,  August  15, 1645, 
the  marquis  of  Montrose  despatched  the  master  of  Napier 
and  Nathanael  Gordon  to  release  Lords  Crawford  and  0^- 
vie  and  other  imprisoned  royalists.  The  humblest  prayers 
were  now  made  to  these  two  noblemen  by  the  magistrates  of 
Edinburgh,  for  their  interoesaon  with  tiie  victorious  Mon- 
trose, which  they  cheerfully  promised.  His  lordship  was  at 
the  battie  of  Philiphaugh,  18th  September  the  same  year, 
where  the  royalists  were  totally  defeated.  He  esci^ed, 
however,  and  met  Montrose  the  next  day  at  a  ford  beyond 
the  Clyde,  where  they  again  separated,  Montrose  conducting 
what  remained  of  the  foot  to  Inverness,  and  Crawford  the 
horse  to  the  Meams.  They  then  retired  to  the  Highlands, 
and  in  the  various  skirmishes,  retreats,  &&,  that  afterwards 
took  place,  the  earl  figured  conspicuously.  In  the  b^inning 
of  1646  he  advanced  into  Buchan,  and  burnt  the  town  of 
Fraserbuigh.  He  then  went  to  Banff;  but  was  compelled  to 
retire  hastily  into  Moray,  with  some  loss,  in  February,  by  a 
division  of  Middleton's  army.  He  continued  with  Montrose 
till  the  king  delivered  himself  up  to  the  Scottish  army  at 
Newark,  and  sent  them  his  commands  to  lay  down  their 
arras.  With  Montrose  and  three  others,  he  was  specially 
excepted  from  pardon  by  the  articles  of  Westminster,  11th 
July  1646,  but  by  an  agreement  made  betwixt  General  Mid- 
dleton  and  Montirwe,  be  was  permitted  to  retire  unmolested 
beyond  the  seas;  on  which  he  accompanied  the  Irish  auxilia- 
ries to  Ireland,  in  order  to  consult  with  the  marquis  of  An- 
trim, as  to  a  new  scheme  which  he  had  organized  with 
Montrose  for  the  king's  rescue,  and  having  obtained  from 
that  nobleman  a  promise  of  two  thousand  men.  he  proceeded 
to  Paris,  where  he  arrived  on  the  Idth  October,  and  commu- 
nicated his  plan  to  the  queen,  Henrietta  Maria.  Finding, 
however,  himself  and  his  scheme  n^ected  and  discounte- 
nanced, he  repaired  to  Spain,  **  to  crave  arrears,**  says  Bishop 
Guthry  (Memoirs^  p.  180),  "  due  to  him  by  that  king,**  and 
received  the  comroana  of  a  regiment  of  Irish  mfantiy  in  the 


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SEVENTEENTH  EARL  OF 


Spanish  service.  In  1651  be  vras  again  in  Paris,  as,  in  the 
midst  of  the  tnmults  of  the  Fronde,  he  appeared  as  a  parti- 
san of  Cardinal  de  Betz,  guarding  him  in  his  atadel  of  Notre 
Dame,  with  fifty  Scottish  officers,  who  had  served  nnder 
Montrose.  He  is  said  to  have  died  in  France  m  1652.  This 
chivalrons  and  loyal  nobleman  was  the  last  of  the  old  original 
line  of  the  earls  of  Crawford.  He  had  married  Lady  Mai^- 
ret  Graham,  second  danghter  of  William  earl  of  Strathem, 
Menteith,  and  Airth,  (dowager  Ladj  Gailies,)  bnt  had  no 
issue. 

The  male  representation  of  the  family  of  Crawford  devolved 
on  George  third  Lord  Spynie  (see  Sftnds,  lord),  at  whose 
death  in  1671,  John  lindsay  of  Edzell,  descended  from  David 
ninth  earl  of  Crawford,  became  heir  male  of  the  family,  and 
entitled  in  terms  of  the  charters  of  1546  and  1565,  and  the 
act  of  parliament  1567,  to  the  earldom  of  Crawford.  He 
preferred  his  claim  thereto  in  the  second  parliament  of  James 
the  Seventh,  but  was  not  successfxiL 

The  title  was  taken  up,  as  already  mentioned,  by  the  earl 
of  Lindsay,  who  under  the  name  of  Crawford-Lindsay  became 
seventeenth  earl  This  was  John,  tenth  Lord  Lindsay  of  the 
Byres,  (see  Lutdsat,  lord,)  bom  about  the  year  1596,  and 
served  heir  to  his  father  Ist  October  1616.  He  was  created 
earl  of  Lindsay  by  patent,  dated  the  5th  May  1688 ;  but  in 
consequence  (^joining  Lords  Balmerino  and  Rothes,  and  the 
party  who  opposed  the  king  in  the  act  of  uniformity,  the  pa- 
tent was  stopped  at  the  dianoery.  He  continued  to  act  a 
conspicuous  part  on  the  side  of  the  covenanters,  and  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party.  Li  November  1641, 
he  was  appointed  an  extraordinary  lord  of  session ;  obtained 
a  patent  as  earl,«nth  precedence  from  the  date  of  the  war- 
rant ;  and  was  also  constituted  one  of  the  commissioners  of 
the  Treasury  then  named.  This  commission  expiring  in 
1G44,  the  estates,  on  the  28d  July  of  that  year,  appointed 
him  lord  treasmrer  until  the  next  triennial  parliament  The 
office  was  confirmed  to  him  in  1646  by  King  Charles,  after 
his  surrender  at  Newark.  In  January  1645  he  was  chosen 
president  of  the  parliament  in  room  of  the  earl  of  Lauderdale. 
Possessing  most  of  the  principal  offices  of  the  state,  it  seems 
beyond  a  doubt  that  it  was  by  his  instigation  and  infiuenoe 
that  the  Scots  parliament  passed  sentence  of  forfeiture  against 
Ludovick  earl  of  Crawford  in  1644,  when  he  himself  imme- 
diately assumed  the  title.  ICrawford  Case,  p.  26.]  Be- 
sides his  various  offices,  he  acquired  also  the  revenues  of  five 
bishoprics,  those  of  Caithness,  Ross,  Moray,  Dunkeld,  and 
Dunblane.  He  was  one  of  the  council  of  war  that  directed 
the  movements  of  General  Baillie*s  troops  against  Montrose, 
and  when  Baillie  in  the  north  vainly  attempted  to  bring  the 
latter  to  a  battle,  the  earl  was  stationed  at  the  castle  of  New* 
tyle  with  an  army  of  reserve,  to  prevent  Montrose  firom  cross- 
ing the  Forth.  His  lordship  had  severely  censured  the  cam- 
paigns of  Argyle,  and  insmuated  that  the  result  would  have 
been  different  had  he  poMeesed  the  command.  The  force 
under  him  was  newly  raised,  while  he  himself  was  without 
military  experience,  and  he  was  saved  from  disgrace  and  de- 
feat only  by  the  desertion  of  the  Gordons  fi*om  Montrose, 
when  the  army  of  the  latter  had  arrived  within  seven  miles 
of  his  camp.  In  consequence  of  this  event,  Montrose  retraced 
his  steps  northward,  in  pursuit  of  Baillie,  who,  in  the  mean- 
time, was  encamped  on  Deeside,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Crawford-Lindsay,  when,  exchanging  a  thousand  of  his  raw 
recruits  for  a  similar  number  of  Baillie's  veterans,  the  earl 
returned  with  these  and  the  remamder  c^  his  army,  through 
the  Meams  into  Angus.  Thereafter,  he  entered  Athol,  and 
hi  imitation  of  Argyle,  plundered  and  burnt  the  country. 
After  the  battle  of  Kilsyth,  so  disastnpus  to  the  covenanters. 


Crawford-Lindsay,  with  Argyle,  Lanai^  and  others,  sought 
refuge  m  Berwick,  from  the  victorious  army  of  Montrose ;  but 
the  defeat  of  the  latter  at  Philiphaugh.  retrieved  their  aflbirs 
again. 

After  the  surrender  of  the  king  to  the  Scots  array  in  1646, 
the  earl  was  sent,  with  the  duke  of  Hamilton  and  the  eari  of 
Casullis,  to  ms  majesty  at  Newcastle,  to  entreat  him  to  ac- 
cede to  the  Westminster  propositions,  but  m  vain.  In  De- 
cember of  that  year,  he  ineffectually  opposed  the  vote  by 
which  the  Scots  parliament  resolved  to  deliver  up  the  king  to 
the  English,  and  in  his  speech  on  that  occasion  appealed  to 
the  national  honour  and  generosity  in  his  behalf.  In  signing 
officially,  as  president  of  the  parliament,  the  public  warrant 
of  surrender,  he  recorded  his  solemn  protest  against  it  as  an 
individual ;  and  after  the  restoration  he  presented  a  psper  to 
the  high  oommisdoner  and  the  parliament,  explanatory  of  the 
same,  and  requiring  that  its  truth  should  be  investigated  by 
witnesses,  in  order  that  be  might  be  acquitted  of  all  individ- 
ual participation  in  the  transaction.  The  inquiry  was  ac- 
cordingly made,  and  the  truth  of  his  statement  substantiated 
tx>  his  satisfaction. 

In  1647,  when  Charies  was  a  prisoner  at  Cansbrook,  Craw- 
ford-Iindsay  and  his  brother-in-law  the  duke  of  Hamilton, 
became  the  head  of  tne  constitutional  royalists,  m  opposition 
to  the  eari  of  Argyle  and  the  extreme  presbyterians,  and  in 
the  following  year  he  entered  with  zeal  into  the  '  Engage- 
ment,* for  raising  an  army  to  attempt  the  rescue  <:^  the  king. 
The  endeavours  of  Hamilton,  at  this  juncturo,  to  propitiate 
Argyle  and  the  protestors,  created  a  suspicion  among  the 
ultra-loyalists  that  he  had  a  secret  understanding  with  them, 
and  to  efface  this  impression  he  is  said  to  have  got  up  a 
mock  duel  between  Crawford-Lindsay  and  Argyle.  Taking 
offence  at  some  speech  of  his  in  parliament,  the  latter  sent  a 
challenge  to  the  former,  and  they  met  at  Musselburgh  links; 
but  the  duel  was  provented  from  taking  place.  For  his  con- 
duct in  this  business  Argjrle  was  obliged  by  the  commission 
of  the  General  Assembly  to  perform  public  repentance  before 
them,  and  Lindsay  was  desired  to  do  the  same,  bnt  refused. 

On  the  defeat  of  the  royal  army  at  Preston,  and  its  subse- 
quent dispernon,  Argyle  and  his  party  got  into  power,  and 
Crawford-Lindsay  was,  by  the  act  of  classes,  deprived  of  his 
offices  of  high  treasurer,  president  of  the  parliament,  and  lord 
of  session,  voted  a  public  enemy,  secluded  ftom  parliament, 
and  ordered  to  be  confined  to  his  house,  under  a  penalty  oi 
one  hundred  thousand  mariu,  decree  being  pronounced  against 
him  on  the  10th  February  1649.  On  the  arrival  of  Charles 
the  Second  in  Scotland  in  1650,  a  coalition  of  parties  took 
place,  when  he  was  admitted  to  court,  having,  at  the  king's 
command,  with  some  other  noblemen,  consented  to  make  pub- 
lic acknowledgment  of  repentance  for  accession  to  the  late 
*  Engagement,*  as  required  by  the  church.  He  had,  the  pre- 
vious year,  peremptorily  refused  to  make  tbis  acknowledg- 
ment, and  escaped  to  Holland.  After  the  defeat  o^  Argyle  at 
Dunbar  by  Cromwell,  Crawford- Lindsay  and  his  friends  again 
took  the  lead  in  the  state,  and  at  the  coronation  of  the  king 
at  Scone,  on  Janiuiry  1st,  1651,  he  carried  the  sceptre.  **  On 
Saturday  the  15th  day  oi  February,**  says  Sir  James  Balfour, 
"  his  majesty  came  at  night  to  the  Strutbers,  (his  lordship*s 
family  seat,)  where  he  was  entertained  by  the  earl  of  Craw- 
ford till  Monday  the  17Ui.**  [AfmaU,  vol.  iv.]  He  had  pre- 
viously obtained  from  Charles  a  ratification  of  the  resignation  \ 
of  the  earidom  of  Crawford  in  his  favour,  which  was  confirmed 
by  act  of  parliament  after  the  restoration,  in  166L 

When  the  king  marched  into  England,  in  1651,  Crawford- 
Lindsay  was  appointed  by  his  majesty,  under  the  privy  seal, 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Estates  in  charge  of  his  afiai*^ 


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TWENTY-FIRST  EARL  OF. 


in  Scotland,  and  he  also  reoeived  a  commission  as  commander- 
in-chief  under  the  earl  of  LcTen,  general  of  the  forces  raised 
m  that  country.  A  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Estates  was 
held  at  Alyth  in  Forfarshire,  28th  August,  1651,  when  they 
were  surprised  bj  a  body  of  Monk's  cavalry  sent  irom  Dundee 
for  the  purpose,  and  Crawford -Lindsay,  with  several  others, 
was  taken  prisoner.  He  was  sent  by  sea  to  England,  and 
confined,  first  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  afterwards  in 
Windsor  castle,  for  nine  years.  The  following  interesting 
notice  appears  in  Lament's  Diary,  (page  45,)  "  Aug.  1652. — 
About  Uie  beginning  of  thu  month,  the  Lady  Crawford  took 
journey  from  Leith  fbr  to  go  to  London  to  her  husband,  now 
prisoner  in  the  Tower.  She  went  in  the  journey  coach,  that 
comes  ordinarily  betwixt  En^and  and  Scotland.**  The  earl 
was  specially  excepted  out  of  Cromwell's  Act  of  grace  and 
pardon,  5th  May  1654,  by  whidi  lands  of  the  dear  yeariy 
value  o£  four  hundred  pounds  sterling  were  settled,  out  of  bis 
estate,  upon  his  countess  (Lady  Margaret  Hamilton,  second 
daughter  of  the  second  marquis  of  HamiHra)  and  her  chil- 
dren. By  the  authority  of  the  English  parliament,  then  re- 
instated in  power  by  General  Monk,  the  earl  was,  at  last,  on 
the  8d  of  March,  1660,  released  from  his  long  and  tedious 
imprisonment.  After  the  restoration,  he  was  restored  to  his 
offices  of  high  treasurer,  president  of  the  council,  and  extra- 
ordinary lord  of  session,  the  treasnrership  being  granted  to 
him  for  life,  by  patent  dated  19th  January  1661 ;  and,  after 
being  detained  for  sometime  at  court,  with  the  king,  he  was 
received  with  enthusiasm  on  his  return  to  Scotland.  His  en- 
trance into  Edinburgh  was  a  triumphal  procession,  "bdng 
met  and  convoyit  with  numbers  of  horsemen,  and  saluted 
with  a  volley  of  the  greatest  ordnance  of  the  casUe.**  [Niooffi 
Diary,  page  308.] 

1r  the  subsequent  attempted  establishment  of  episcopacy, 
the  earl  was  the  only  member  of  the  government  in  Scotland 
who  remained  true  to  the  covenant.  He  was  "  the  champion 
and  sole  hope  "  of  the  presbyterians,  and  both  in  parliament 
and  at  court  defended  their  cause  with  constancy  and  zeal ; 
till  the  king  was,  at  last,  convinced  by  the  earl  of  Middleton, 
that  his  removal  from  office  was  indispensable  for  the  success 
of  their  favourite  project.  In  1663,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Archbishop  Sharp,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  been  that 
ambitious  prelate's  first  patron,  the  ling,  in  an  interview 
which  the  eari  had  with  his  migesty,  put  it  to  him  whether 
he  would  consent  to  the  abjuration  of  the  covenant  commonly 
called  the  Dedai-ation,  passed  in  the  fifth  session  of  parlia- 
ment, 1662.  He  replied  that  he  could  not  do  it  with  a  safe 
conscience,  and  at  once  surrendered  the  white  staff  as  trea- 
surer, which  was  given  to  his  son-in-law,  the  earl,  afterwards 
duke  of  Rothes.  In  the  following  year  he  resigned  his  place 
of  extraordinary  lord  of  sesson,  and  retired  from  all  public 
business  to  his  country-seat  of  Struthers.  He  died  in  1678, 
in  his  eighty-first  year.  He  had  two  sons,  William,  eigh- 
teenth earl,  and  the  Hon.  Patrick  Lindsay,  ancestor  of  the 
viscounts  Gamock  [see  Garmook,  viscount  of];  and  four 
daughters.  Lady  Anne,  duchess  of  Rothes ;  Lady  Christian, 
countess  of  Haddington ;  Lady  Helen,  married  to  Sir  Robert 
Sinclair,  baronet,  of  Stevenston,  Haddingtonshire,  and  Lady 
Elizabeth,  countess  of  Korthesk^ 

William,  eighteenth  earl  of  Crawford,  and  second  eari  of 
Lindsay,  concurred  heartily  in  the  Revolution;  for  years 
previous  to  which  event  he  had  been  living  in  retirement 
Before  the  death  of  Charles  the  Second,  he  had  determined 
on  emigrating,  but  was  refused  permission  to  leave  the  king- 
dom. By  King  William  he  was  appointed,  5th  June  1689, 
president  of  the  parliament ,  15th  April  1690,  a  commissioner 
of  the  treasury;  and  9th  May  following,  one  of  the  commis- 


sion for  settling  the  government  of  the  church.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  active  agents  in  effectmg  the  overthrow  of  qns- 
copacy.  His  correspondence  with  Lord  Melville,  secretary  of 
state  for  Scotiand  at  that  eventful  period,  has  been  {Hinted 
among  the  *  Leven  Papers,*  and  several  of  his  letters  are  in- 
serted in  the  appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  the  '  Lives  of 
the  Lindsays.'  He  died  March  6th,  1698,  ksaving  a  numer- 
ous family.  His  second  son,  the  Hon.  Cok»d  James 
Lindsay,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Ahnania  m  Spain  to 
1707. 

The  eldest  son,  John,  nmeteenth  eari  of  Crawford  and 
third  of  Lindsay,  was  sworn  n  privy  councillor  in  1702.  He 
was  an  officer  in  the  anny,  and  was  made  colonel  ok  the 
horse  guards,  4th  May,  1704.  He  afifbrded  a  steady  support 
to  the  treaty  of  union,  among  the  subordinate  detaOs  of 
which  was  the  settlement  of  a  questitm  of  precedency  which 
had  long  been  debated  between  the  earls  of  Crawford  and 
Sutherland,  and  after  protracted  investigations,  was  decided 
in  favour  of  the  earis  of  Crawford,  who  rank  accordingly  as 
the  premier  Scottish  earls  on  the  union  rolL  He  was  one  of 
the  sixteen  reproaentatives  of  the  Scottidi  peerage  chosen  by 
the  last  parliament  of  Scotland,  13th  February  17i)7,  and  was 
rechosen  at  the  general  election  in  1708.  He  attained  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-general  in  1710,  and  died  in  1713.  He 
left  a  son,  and  two  daughters,  Lady  Catherine  Wemyss,  wife 
of  General  Wemyss,  governor  of  Edinbui^h  castle,  and 
Lady  Mary  Campbell,  wife  of  Dugald  Campbell  of  Glensad- 
dell,  and  ancestress  of  the  Campbells  of  Newfield,  heirs  of  line 
of  the  family. 

Of  the  son,  John,  twentieth  eari  of  Crawford  and  fourth 
eari  of  Lindsay,  styled  "  the  gallant  eari^ "  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  soldiers  in  Europe  of  his  time,  a  memoir 
is  given  at  page  718  in  larger  type. 

On  the  death  of  John,  twentieth  earl  of  Crawford,  in  1749 
without  issue,  the  titles  of  Crawford  and  Lindsay  devolved 
on  his  counn,  George,  fourth  viscount  of  Gamock,  only  sur- 
viving son  of  Patrick  the  second  visooont  (see  Garkock,  vis- 
count of).  He  was  the  great-grandson  and  direct  male  fa«r 
of  Patrick,  younger  son  of  John,  seventeenth  earl  of  Craw- 
ford, and  first  earl  of  lindsay,  and  thus  became  the  twen^- 
first  eari  of  Crawford,  fifth  eari  of  Lindsay,  and  fourth  vis- 
count Gamodr,  to  which  latter  title  he  had  succeeded  in 
1738.  He  served  as  a  volunteer  with  the  allied  army  in  the 
Netherlands  against  the  French,  and  was  one  of  tht;  reconnoi- 
tring party  who  owed  thmr  lives  to  the  presence  of  mind  of 
the  gallant  earl  of  Crawford  on  the  morning  before  the  ba^le 
of  Roucoux,  as  related  in  that  nobleman's  life  (see  under). 
In  1747  he  was  a  lieutenant  in  Lord  Drumlanrig's  r^ment 
in  the  service  of  Holland.  In  1749,  he  suoceeded  to  the  eari- 
dom,  and  devoted  hinwelf  to  the  restoration  of  the  family 
fortunes,  by  buyuig  up  tiie  d^ts  that  afiected  it.  He  also 
purchased  various  lands  contiguous  to  the  estates.  His  lord- 
ship married,  26th  December  1755,  Jane,  eldest  daugfata'and 
heiress  of  Robert  Hamilton  of  Bourtreehill  in  Ayrshire.  He 
bad  gone  to  reside  at  Kilbimie  castie,  in  that  county,  which 
he  repaired  and  ornamented,  Struthers  in  Fiieshire,  the  seat 
of  the  Lindsays  of  the  Byres,  being  then  totally  ruinous.  On 
one  fine  Sunday  evening  in  A{ml  1757,  a  servant,  going  to 
the  stables,  saw  smoke  issuing  firom  the  roof,  and  gave  the 
alarm  of  fire ;  in  a  few  minutes  the  castle  was  in  flames. 
Lord  Crawford  ran  to  the  countess'  room,  and  catching  up 
his  infant  daughter  (Lady  Jean  Lindsay,  afterwards  countess 
of  Eglinton),  hurried  with  her  into  the  open  air.  They  took 
refuge  m  the  manse,  and  then  removed  to  Bourtreehill,  and 
afterwards  to  Fifeshire,  ^here  the  earl  built  a  house  near  the 
ruins  of  Struthers,  subsequentiy  enlarged  and  named  Craw- 


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WILLIAM. 


ford  Pri^rv.  H«  died  on  the  lltfa  August,  1781.  He  had 
four  sons,  and  a  daughter. 

His  eldest  son,  George  Lindsay  Crawford,  twenty-second 
earl  of  Crawford,  and  sixth  of  lindsay,  bom  at  Bourtreehill 
31st  August  1758,  entered  the  army  in  1776,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  major-genenU,  which  he  reached  1st  January  1805. 
He  had  been  appointed  in  1798  lord-lieutetiant  of  the  county 
of  Fife,  but  was  deprived  of  that  office  in  1807.  On  the 
change  of  administration,  howerer,  he  was  reinstated  therein 
23d  May  same  year.  He  died,  unmarried,  SOth  January 
1808.  His  three  brothers  haying  predeceased  him,  without 
issue,  the  whole  male  descendants  of  the  treasurer,  John 
seventeenth  earl  of  Crawford,  then  became  extinct,  and  the 
succession  to  the  earldom  of  Crawford  reverted,  in  terms  of 
the  patent  of  1642,  to  the  earls  of  Balcarres,  the  heirs  male 
of  earl  Ludofvio  (see  ante,  p.  207).  The  Crawford-Lindsay 
estates,  being  destined  to  heu^female,  went  to  the  twenty- 
second  earl's  only  sister,  Lady  Mary  Lindsay  Crawford.  The 
succession  of  her  ladyship  was  opposed,  nnsucoesefully,  by 
Colonel  William  CUod  Campbell,  grandson  of  Lady  May 
Lindsay,  mster  of  *^the  gallant  earl,**  and  heir  of  line  of  the 
Crawford- Lindsay  famfly. 

The  titles  of  earl  of  Crawford  and  Lindsay,  and  viscount 
Gamock,  were  assumed  by  David  lindsay,  seijeant  in  the 
Perthshire  regiment  of  militia,  then  quartered  at  Dover,  who 
directed  an  advertisement  to  be  inserted  in  the  Edinburgh 
Weekly  Journal,  of  16th  March,  1808,  cautioning  the  tenants 
on  the  estates  as  to  the  payment  of  their  rents.  He  was 
served  heir  to  his  grandfather,  John  Lindsay  of  Kirkforther, 
the  same  year,  and  died,  without  issue,  early  in  1809.  He 
appears  to  have  been  de  Jure  Lord  Lindsay  of  the  Byree. 
[See  Lindsay,  surname  of.] 

In  1810  Mr.  John  Crawfurd  from  Castle  Dawson,  in  Ireland, 
preferred  a  claim  to  the  titles  and  estates  of  Crawford  and 
Lindsay,  as  the  nearest  h(»r,  asserting  himself  to  be  the  lineal 
descendant  of  the  Hon.  James  Lindsay,  third  son  of  John,  first 
Viscount  Gamock.  Some  of  the  documents  on  which  he  re- 
lied, havmg  been  found  to  have  been  vitiated  and  otherwise 
altered,  the  claimant  and  another  person  were  in  1812,  tried 
on  a  charge  of  forgery,  and,  being  convicted,  were  sentenced  to 
fourteen  yean  transportation.  In  1820,  having,  through  strong 
influence  exerted  on  his  behalf,  procured  a  pardon,  he  returned 
from  New  South  Wales,  when  he  renewed  his  claim,  and 
large  sums  having  been  subscribed  on  his  behalf  by  many  who 
thought  it  well-founded,  he  assumed  the  title  of  earl  of  Craw- 
ford, and  twice  voted  at  the  election  of  peers  in  Holyiood 
house.  On  his  death  during  the  prosecution  of  his  suit,  his 
son  asserted  his  pretensions  with  equal .  assurance,  but  in 
1889  they  were  found  untenable,  and  his  counsel  abandoned 
Uie  case.  Ample  information  of  one  of  the  most  singular 
instances  of  peerage  imposture  on  record,  will  be  found  in  the 
work  by  Dr.  Adams  entitled  *  The  Crawford  Peerage,*  (mani- 
festo of  John  Crawford,)  published  at  Edinbuigh  in  1829, 
quarto;  and  in  the  *  Examination  of  the  Clium  of  lohn  Lind- 
say-Crawford to  the  estates  and  honours  of  Crawford,'  in  re- 
futation of  that  work,  by  Mr.  Dobie,  writer,  Beith,  1881,  4to. 

The  titles  of  eari  of  Crawford  and  Lord  Lindsay  were  by 
judgment  of  the  House  of  Lords,  on  11th  August  1848,  de- 
clared to  belong  to  James,  seventh  earl  of  Balcarres;  who, 
thereupon  became  the  twenty-fourth  eari  of  Crawford,  and 
thus  this  long-litigated  question  was  at  last  set  at  rest. 

CRAWFORD,  David,  of  Drumsoy,  historian, 
was  born  in  1665  at  Drnmsoy,  near  Glasgow,  and 
was  educated  for  the  bar.   He  preferred,  however, 


history  and  antiquities  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and 
was  appointed  bistoriogiapher  roya!  of  Scotland 
by  Queen  Anne.  In  1706  he  publisned  '  Memoirs 
of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland,  containing  a  fiili  and  im- 
partial Account  of  the  Revolution  in  that  Kingdom, 
begun  in  1567.*  This  work,  which  went  through 
two  editions,  was  held  in  so  much  estimation,  as 
to  be  frequently  quoted  as  an  authority  by  Hume, 
Robertson,  and  others,  until  Mr.  Malcolm  Laing 
published,  in  1804,  *  The  Historie  and  Life  of  King 
James  the  Sexth,*  from  the  original  manuscript. 
To  this  manuscript  Crawford  formally  refened  for 
the  authentication  of  certain  passages  in  his  ^  Me- 
moirs,* although  it  contained  nothing  that  could 
in  the  least  countenance  them.  £very  statement 
in  the  *  Historie*  unfavourable  to  Queen  Mary,  or 
to  Bothwell,  he  carefully  suppressed ;  while  every 
vague  assertion  in  Camden,  Spottiswoode,  Melville, 
and  others,  or  in  the  State  Papers,  he  had  tran* 
scribed  from  the  Cotton  MSS.,  is  inserted  in  the 
.Memoirs,  and  these  writers  are  quoted  in  the 
margin  as  collateral  authorities.  CrawfoKd  having 
thus  constructed  spurious  memoirs  of  his  own,  had 
the  impudence  to  declare  on  the  title-page,  and  in 
the  preface,  that  the  work  was  "  faithfully  pub- 
lished from  an  authentic  manuscript.**  Truly, 
therefore,  might  Mr.  Laing  style  Crawford*s  work 
^'  the  most  early,  if  not  the  most  impudent,  liter- 
ary forgery  ever  attempted  in  Scotland.'*  He  died 
at  Drumsoy  in  1726. — His  works  are : 

Courtship  l^la-mode;  a  Comedy.    1700. 

Love  at  Furst  Sight;  a  Comedy.    1704. 

Memous  of  the  Affairs  of  Scotland,  from  1566  to  1581 , 
containing  a  full  and  impartial  Account  of  the  Revolution  in 
that  Kmgdom  in  the  year  1567;  to  which  is  added.  The  Eari 
of  Morton*s  Confession.  Edin.  1706,  8vo.  2d  edit.  Edin. 
1707,  12mo. 

CRAWFORD,  William,  a  clergyman  of  con- 
siderable repute  in  his  day,  was  bom  in  Kelso  in 
1676.  He  was  educated  at  the  university  of  Ed- 
inburgh, and  after  taking  his  degrees,  was  ordain- 
ed minister  of  Wilton,  a  small  country  pariah  in 
the  Merse.  In  1711  he  made  a  most  energetic 
opposition  to  the  settlement  of  ministers  by  pi-e- 
sentations,  instead  of  by  popular  election,  in  which 
he  was  supported  by  some  of  the  most  eminent 
clergymen  then  in  the  Established  Church.  He 
wrote  a  small  work,  entitled  '  Dying  Thoughts,' 
and  some  sermons.    He  died  in  1742. 


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CRAWFORD,  twentieth  earl  of,  (John  Lind- 
say, fourth  earl  of  Lindsay,)  a  distinguished  mili- 
tary commander,  was  bom  4th  October  1702.  He 
was  the  son  of  John,  nineteenth  earl  of  Crawford, 
by  a  daughter  of  Lord  Donne  (son  of  the  sixth 
earl  of  Moray),  and  widow  of  Thomas  Eraser  of 
Strichen.  He  lost  his  mother  when  he  was  a 
child,  and  as  his  father*s  military  duties  required 
him  to  reside  generally  in  London,  the  care  of 
himself  and  two  sisters  was  committed  to  an  old 
govemante  at  the  family  seat  of  Struthers  in  Fife. 
When  he  was  a  boy  in  frocks  the  question  of  the 
union  was  the  all-engrossing  topic  of  discussion, 
and  his  lordship  frequently,  in  after  life,  related 
that  one  day  when  the  dukes  of  Hamilton  and 
Argyle  were  dining  with  his  father,  (who  support- 
ed the  treaty,)  a  warm  debate  on  the  subject  took 
place  between  them,  as  he  was  playing  about  the 
room,  when  the  duke  of  Ai-gyle  took  him  up  in 
his  arms,  and  sec  him  on  the  table  among  the 
bottles  and  glasses,  saying  to  his  father,  *'  Craw- 
ford, if  this  boy  lives,  I  wonder  whether  he  will 
be  of  your  sentiments."  The  earl  replied,  *^  He 
certainly  will,  if  he  has  a  drop  of  my  blood  in  his 
body."  Whereupon  his  grace  kissed  him,  and  set 
him  down,  saying,  ^'  I  warrant  he  will  make  a 
brave  fellow." 

On  the  death  of  his  father  in  December  1713, 
when  he  was  only  eleven  years  old,  his  grand- 
aunt,  the  dowager-duchess  of  Argyle,  sent  for  the 
children  to  her  house  in  Kintyre,  where  the  young 
earl  resided  till  of  age  for  the  university,  when  he 
was  first  sent  to  Glasgow,  and  afterwards  to  Ed- 
inburgh. Mr.  Rolt,  his  biographer,  relates  that 
during  his  residence  in  the  Highlands  he  fell  in 
love  with  a  young  shepherdess,  in  whose  company 
he  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time  among  the  hills, 
not  even  going  home  to  meals,  which  he  was  ac- 
customed to  make  on  her  oaten  bread ;  and  his 
lordship  afterwards  often  declared  that  the  pleas- 
ing sensations  and  harmless  recreations,  which  he 
enjoyed  with  his  little  shepherdess,  made  a  strong- 
er impression  on  his  mind  than  all  the  gallantries 
of  the  politer  world,  and  all  the  pleasures  of  a 
court.  While  at  college  he  gave  many  proofs  of 
resoluteness  and  duing,  and  became  the  champion 
ofHhe  university,  his  fellow  students  generally 
choosing  him  for  their  leader  in  their  disputes  with 


the  citizens.  His  favourite  study  was  history,  and 
he  is  represented  as  being  more  pleased  with  one 
lesson  in  Quintus  Curtius,  than  with  twenty  lec- 
tures in  philosophy,  and  more  eager  to  understand 
a  stratagem  in  the  Commentaries  of  Caesar,  than 
to  explain  the  abstrnsest  subject  in  logic.  From 
Edinburgh  he  returned  to  the  duchess  of  Argyle, 
with  whom  he  continued,  under  the  tuition  of  a 
private  tutor,  till  be  was  nineteen  yeai-s  of  a^ 
when,  after  spending  a  short  time  in  London,  he 
was,  in  1721,  entered  at  the  military  academy  of 
Yaudeuil  at  Paris.  He  continued  there  for  two 
years.  His  progress  in  leaiiiing  was  so  rapid,  and 
his  acqmrement  of  all  the  manly  and  elegant  ac- 
complishments usual  with  young  men  of  rank  and 
fortune  so  great,  that  his  talents  excited  general 
admiration.  In  horsemanship,  fencing,  and  danc- 
ing, particularly,  he  surpassed  all  competitors. 
The  following  instance  of  his  boldness  is  recited 
by  his  biographer*  A  grand  entertainment  was 
given  at  Versailles  in  1723,  by  the  young  king, 
Louis  the  Fifteenth,  on  occasion  of  his  being  de- 
clared of  age,  and  among  other  amusements  a 
fishpond  was  to  be  drawn  in  the  gardens.  The 
earl  was  among  the  spectators  on  the  occasion, 
and  being  pressed  upon  and  insulted  by  a  French 
marquis  in  his  court  robes,  he  took  the  offender 
up  in  his  arms,  and  threw  him,  robes  and  all, 
headlong  into  the  pond,  in  presence  of  the  king,  to 
the  great  mirth  of  the  spectators. 

After  quitting  the  academy,  he  remained  some 
time  at  Paris,  and  then  returned  to  England,  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  gentlemen  of  the  age. 
In  December  1726,  he  obtained  a  captain's  com- 
mission in  one  of  the  three  additional  troops  of 
the  second  regiment  of  Scots  Greys,  then  com- 
manded by  General  Sir  John  Campbell.  On 
these  troops  being  disbanded  in  1730,  he  retired 
to  the  seat  of  the  duchess-dowager  of  Argyle  at 
Campbelltown,  where  he  continued  about  eighteen 
months,  during  which  time  he  studied  mathema- 
tics, history,  and  military  strategy.  His  recrea- 
tions were  sailing  in  a  small  Norway  boat,  and 
hunting,  in  which  he  took  extraordinary  delight, 
following  the  hounds  on  foot  over  the  monntains 
when  inaccessible  for  horses. 

On  the  last  day  of  January  1732,  his  lordship 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  troop  of  the 


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seventh  or  queen's  own  regiment  of  dragoons. 
The  same  year  he  was  elected  one  of  the  sixteen 
representatives  of  the  Scots  peerage,  in  the  room 
of  the  earl  of  Loudoun  deceased,  and  was  thrice 
rechosen  afterwards.  In  June  1783,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  gentleman  of  the  bed-chamber  to  the 
prince  of  Wales ;  in  February  following  he  obtained 
the  captain -lieutenancy  of  the  first  regiment  of 
foot-guards ;  and  in  the  subsequent  October  was 
nominated  to  a  company  of  the  third  regiment  of 
foot-guards. 

Finding  no  chance  at  that  time  of  distinguishing 
himself  in  the  British  service,  and  being  desirous 
of  acquiring  military  experience,  in  the  field,  his 
lordship  obtained  the  king's  permission  to  go  out 
as  a  volunteer  to  the  Imperial  army,  the  emperor 
of  Germany  being  then  at  war  with  France.  He 
joined  the  Imperialists  at  Bruchsal,  near  Heidel- 
berg, on  the  Rhine,  in  June  1785,  and  was  re- 
ceived by  their  commander,  the  celebrated  Prince 
Eugene  of  Savoy,  with  every  mark  of  distinction. 
There  being,  however,  no  prospect  of  active  duty 
in  that  quarter,  with  Count  Nassau,  Lord  Prim- 
rose, Mr.  Stanhope,  and  Captain  Dalrymple,  also 
volunteers,  he  proceeded  to  the  army  under  Count 
SeckendorflF,  by  whom,  October  17,  1786,  they 
were  sent  on  a  reconnoitring  excursion,  when, 
meeting  with  a  party  of  the  enemy,  three  times 
their  number,  a  skirmish  ensued,  in  which  Count 
Nassau  was  shot  by  a  musket-ball,  and  expired 
next  day,  and  Lord  Primrose  severely  wounded, 
close  beside  Lord  Crawford.  The  same  afternoon 
was  fought  the  battle  of  Claussen,  in  which  Lord 
Crawford  highly  distinguished  himself  by  his  brav- 
ery and  good  conduct,  and  the  result  of  which 
compelled  the  Fi*ench  to  repass  the  Moselle. 

The  preliminaries  of  peace  being  concluded  the 
same  month,  the  earl  quitted  the  Imperial  army, 
and  after  making  the  tour  of  the  Netherlands,  re- 
turned to  Britain,  where  he  remained  inactive  for 
two  years.  Anxious  to  be  again  employed,  he 
obtained  the  king's  permission  to  serve  as  a  vol- 
unteer in  the  Russian  army,  under  field-marshal 
Munich,  then  engaged  with  the  Imperialists  in  a 
war  against  the  Turks.  In  April  1788  he  em- 
barked at  Gravesend  for  St.  Petersburg,  and  on 
his  arrival  there  he  was  gratified  with  a  most  kind 
and  gracious  reception  from  the  czarina,  Anne 


Iwanowna,  who  conferred  on  him  the  command 
of  a  regiment  of  horse,  with  the  rank  of  general  in 
her  service.  In  the  begmning  of  May  he  left  the 
Russian  capital  for  the  army,  and  after  a  harassing 
journey  of  more  than  a  month,  during  which  he 
was  exposed  to  imminent  danger  from  the  enemy, 
he  at  length  arrived  at  the  camp  of  Marshal  Mu- 
nich, who  received  him  with  all  the  respect  due  to 
his  rank  and  character. 

The  army  having  passed  the  Bog,  on  its  way  to 
Bender,  was  thi*ee  times  attacked  by  the  Tm-ks, 
who  were  as  often  repulsed.  A  fourth  sanguinary 
battle  took  place  July  26,  when  the  Turks  and 
Tartars  were  again  defeated,  and  the  Russians 
took  post  on  the  Dniester,  July  27.  In  this  last 
engagement  Lord  Crawford,  who  accompanied  the 
Cossacks,  excited  their  astonishment  and  admira- 
tion by  his  dexterity  in  horsemanship;  and  having 
sabred  one  of  the  Tartars,  whom  he  had  engaged 
in  personal  combat,  he  brought  his  arms  with  him 
to  England  as  a  trophy  of  his  prowess.  Munich 
afterwards  retreated  to  Eiow,  when  the  earl  left 
him  to  join  the  Imperialists  near  Belgrade,  with 
whom  he  continued  for  six  weeks.  On  the  Impe- 
rial army  going  into  winter  quarters,  his  lordship 
proceeded  with  Prince  Eugene's  regiment  to  Co- 
morra,  thirty-three  miles  from  Presburg,  where, 
and  at  Vienna,  he  remained  till  the  middle  of 
April  1789,  occupying  his  leisure  with  drawing 
plans,  and  writing  observations  on  the  Russian 
campaign.  He  then  joined  the  Imperialists  under 
marshal  Wallis,  at  Peterwaradin,  and  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Erotzka,  near  Belgrade,  commenced 
July  22,  1789,  about  three  in  the  morning,  when 
he  had  his  favourite  black  horse  shot  under  him, 
and  while  in  the  act  of  mounting  a  fresh  horse,  he 
received  a  severe  wound  in  the  left  thigh  by  a 
musket  ball,  which  shattered  the  bone  and  threw 
him  to  the  ground.  General  count  Luchesi,  ob- 
serving his  lordship  lying  as  if  dead,  ordered  some 
grenadiers  to  attend  to  him.  They  accordingly 
lifted  him  up,  and  placed  him  on  horseback,  but 
were  compelled  to  leave  him  in  that  condition. 
He  remained  in  that  situation  till  about  eight 
o'clock,  when  he  was  discovered  by  one  of  his  own 
grooms,  holding  fast  by  the  horse's  mane  with  both 
hands,  his  head  uncovered,  and  his  face  deadly 
pale.    He  was  carried  into  Belgrade,  suffering  the 


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most  excraciating  agony.  His  wound  was  at  first 
considered  mortal,  but  though  not  immediately 
fatal,  he  never  recovered  from  its  effects.  He  was 
removed  from  Belgrade,  September  26,  to  a  vessel 
on  the  Danube,  in  which  he  sailed  to  Comorra, 
where  he  aiTived  December  27,  and  there  the 
principal  part  of  the  bullet  was  extracted  Febru- 
ary 20,  1740.  He  left  tnat  olace  April  28,  and 
proceeded  up  the  Danube  to  Vienna,  where  he 
anived  May  7,  being  all  the  time  in  a  recumbent 
posture,  pieces  of  the  fractured  bone  continually 
coming  away.  He  was  able  to  walk  on  crutches 
for  the  first  time  September  3,  and  on  the  20th  of 
that  month  he  was  removed  to  the  baths  of  Baden, 
where  he  remained  till  August  11,  1741.  Then 
proceeding  by  Fresburg,  Vienna,  Leipsic,  and 
Hanover,  he  arrived  at  Hamelin  October  3,  and 
had  several  interviews  with  George  the  Second, 
who  was  there  at  that  time.  He  now  departed 
for  England,  where,  during  his  absence,  he  had 
not  been  neglected;  for,  in  July  1789,  he  was 
made  colonel  of  horse  and  adjutant-general;  on 
October  25  of  the  same  year,  colonel  of  the  42d 
Highlanders,  and  December  25,  1740,  colonel  of 
the  grenadier  guards 

In  May  1742  he  went  for  relief  to  the  baths  of 
Bareges  in  France,  where  he  arrived  June  12, 
and  after  frequent  bathing,  on  July  12,  three 
years  after  he  had  received  his  wound,  he  was 
able  to  walk  about  with  one  crutch  and  a  high^ 
heeled  shoe.  He  left  Bareges  September  25,  and 
after  visiting  the  king  of  Sardinia  at  Chamberry, 
proceeded  to  Geneva.  Afterwards  passing  through 
Milan,  Genoa,  Modena,  Verona,  and.  Venice,  he 
travelled  by  Trieste,  Gratz,  Lintz,  and  through 
Bohemia  and  Saxony,  to  Hochstet,  where  he 
joined  the  British  army,  of  which  field-marshal  the 
earl  of  Stair  was  commander.  May  24, 1743,  George 
the  Second  being  also  there  at  the  time.  At  the 
battle  of  Dettingen,  fought  June  16,  the  earl  of 
Crawford  commanded  the  brigade  of  life  guards, 
and  behaved  with  his  usual  coolness  and  intrepi- 
dity. After  encouraging  his  men  by  a  short  speech, 
he  led  them  to  the  charge,  the  trumpets  at  the 
time  playing  the  animating  strain  of  *^  Britons, 
strike  home."  At  the  beginning  of  the  battle  his 
lordship  had  a  narrow  escape,  a  musket  ball 
having  struck  his  right  holster,  penetrated  the 


leather,  and  hitting  the  barrel  of  the  pistol  it  con- 
tained, fell  into  the  case  without  doing  him  any 
injury.  The  eari  showed  the  ball  to  King  George 
next  day  at  Hanau,  where  his  majesty,  on  seeing 
him  approach,  exclaimed,  *^  Here  comes  my  cham- 
pion!" 

Having  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general,  his  lordship  joined  the  combined  armies 
in  camp  near  Brussels,  in  the  beginning  of  May 
1744.  At  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  April  30,  1745, 
he  behaved  with  great  gallantry  and  judgment, 
and  conducted  the  retreat  in  admirable  order. 
Of  this  battle  he  wrote  a  very  interesting  me- 
moir, described  by  General  Andreossi  *^  as  essen- 
tial to  the  history  of  that  war."  The  earl  was 
made  major-general  May  30  following. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  Scotland, 
in  1745,  his  lordship  was  ordered  home,  to  take 
the  command  of  the  corps  of  six  thousand  Hessi- 
ans, employed  by  government  in  that  service. 
With  these  troops  he  secured  the  towns  of  Stirling 
and  Perth,  with  the  passes  into  the  low  country ; 
while  the  dnke  of  Cumberland  proceeded  north 
after  the  rebels.  On  this  visit  to  his  native  coun- 
try the  eari  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Lady  Jane 
Mun^y,  eldest  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Athole, 
whom  he  nMirried  at  Belford^  in  England,  March 
3,  1747.  When  the  rebellion  was  suppressed,  his 
lordship  rejoined  the  army  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  at  the  battle  of  Roncoux,  October  1,  1746,  he 
commanded  the  second  line  of  cavalry,  which 
drove  back  the  French  Infantry  with  great  slaugh- 
ter. Previous  to  the  battle,  being  out  with  a  few 
other  gentlemen  reconndtring,  he  was  very  nearly 
surprised  by  a  party  of  the  enemy,  bad  not  his 
own  admirable  presence  of  mind  saved  him  and 
those  who  attended  him  from  tb^j  danger.  Upon 
his  lordship  and  his  friends  coming  in  their  view, 
which  was  not  until  they  were  close  upon  them, 
the  French  party  immediately  levelled,  and  pre- 
sented their  pieces  to  fife.  His  aide-de-camp 
and  another  gentleman  had  mistaken  them  for 
Austrian  troops,  and  were  riding  up  to  them  to  let 
them  know  they  were  friends,  when  his  lordship, 
discovering  them  to  be  French,  and  finding  it  too 
late  to  retreat,  at  once  resolved  upon  personating 
a  French  general,  and  riding  boldly  up  to  them, 
he  said  in  Fi-ench  to  the  ofBcer,  "  Ne  tire  pas,  nou* 


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sorames  amis"  (Don^t  fire,  we  are  friends),  and 
without  giving  him  time  to  ask  any  questions, 
proceeded  to  demand  the  name  of  his  regiment. 
ITie  officer  replied,  "  The  regiment  of  Orleans ; " 
on  which  his  lordship  said  in  French,  "  It  is  very 
well,  keep  a  good  look-out  with  yonr  post.  I  am 
going  a  little  farther  to  reconnoitra  the  enemy 
more  distinctly."  He  then  rode  off  quietly,  fol- 
lowed by  his  frierds,  and  when  fairly  out  of  reach, 
they  clapped  spo*^  to  their  horses,  and  so  got 
safely  to  their  own  quarters.  In  1748,  the  earl 
had  been  made  colonel  of  the  fomth  or  Scottish 
troop  of  horse  guards,  and  on  its  being  disbanded 
in  1746,  the  command  of  the  25th  foot  was  given 
to  him,  December  25th  of  that  year.  He  got  the 
command  of  the  Scots  Greys  on  the  death  of  the 
earl  of  Stair,  May  22,  1747,  and  on  the  26th  of 
September  following,  he  attained  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-general. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  campaign  he  went  to 
Aix  la-Chapelle,  for  the  benefit  of  the  baths.  His 
wound  again  breaking  out,  occasioned  him  much 
suffering,  and  while  confined  to  his  bed,  his  count- 
ess was  seized  with  a  violent  fever,  of  which  she 
died,  after  four  days'  illness,  October  10,  1747, 
seven  months  after  her  marriage,  and  before  she 
had  completed  her  twentieth  year.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  campaign  of  1748,  the  earl  joined  the 
duke  of  Cumberland  and  the  confederate  army  at 
Eyndoven,  and  remained  with  them  till  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  in  that  year.  He  commanded  the 
embarkation  of  the  British  troops  at  Williamstadt, 
February  16, 1749,  and  then  returned  to  London, 
where  after  suffering  the  most  excruciating  tor" 
tures  from  his  wound,  he  died,  December  25, 
1749,  in  the  48th  year  of  his  age.  Having  no 
issae,  the  earldoms  of  Crawford  and  Lindsay  de- 
volved on  his  cousin  George,  viscount  df  Gamock^ 
as  above  mentioned.  His  Life,  by  Richard  Rolt, 
iras  published  at  London  in  1758  in  quarto,  printed 
for  Mr.  Henry  Kopp,  bis  faithfal  servant,  who 
brought  him  off  the  field  of  battle  when  wounded 
so  severely  at  Krotzka. 

His  lordship  has  been  admitted  into  Walpole's 
Catalogue  of  Royal  and  Noble  Author,  in  virtue 
of  the  following  work: 

MemmrB  of  the  life  of  the  late  Right  Honourable  John 
eail  of  Crawford,  describing  maoj  of  the  highest  military 


atchievements  in  the  late  wars;  more  particularly  the  cam- 
paigns against  the  Turks,  wherein  his  lordship  served  both  in 
the  Imperial  and  Russian  armies.  Compiled  firom  his  lord- 
ship^s  own  papers  and  other  authentic  memoirs.  London, 
1769,  8vo. 

CRAWFORD  (properly  Crauford),  Robert, 
a  distinguished  general  of  division,  third  son  of 
Sir  Alexander  Crauford,  baronet,  of  Kilbimie, 
Stirlingshire,  entered  the  army  young,  and  on  1st 
November  1787,  was  appointed  captain  of  the  75th 
Highlanders,  with  which  he  served  in  India.  In 
the  short  interval  of  peace  following  on  the  treaty 
of  Amiens,  signed  March  27,  1802,  he  visited  the 
continent  to  improve  himself  in  the  scientific 
branches  of  his  profession.  He  afterwards  again 
served  in  India.  In  the  end  of  October  1806, 
having  now  attained  the  rank  of  major-general,  he 
was  sent  out  to  South  America  with  the  command 
of  an  expedition,  consisting  of  four  thousand  two 
hundred  men,  destined  originally  to  effect  the  con- 
quest of  Chili,  but  en  the  arrival  of  the  news  of 
the  expulsion  of  the  British  fi*om  Buenos  Ayres, 
ordered  to  that  city  to  serve  with  the  force 
under  General  Whitelocke.  In  May  1807  they 
reached  that  city,  when  the  inhabitants  attacked 
the  British  troops  with  such  fury  that  a  third  part 
of  them  were  destroyed,  and  Crawford  and  three 
regiments  taken  prisonei's.  Whitelocke  concluded 
an  unfavourable  and  disgraceful  capitulation,  in 
virtue  of  which  the  prisoners  were  restored  and 
the  whole  British  troops  were  withdrawn  from  the 
river  Plata.  Crawford  afterwards  distinguished 
himself  greatly  in  the  Peninsula.  At  the  battle 
of  Roleia  (17th  August,  1808),  where  the  British 
and  French  were  for  the  first  time  opposed  to  each 
other,  he  led  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  right  wing. 
He  was  also  at  the  battle  of  Yimeira  fought  on 
the  21st  of  the  same  month.  From  that  time  till 
he  received  his  death-wound  at  Ciudad  Rodrigo 
in  January  1812,  at  the  head  of  his  division,  he 
commanded  the  advance  of  the  army  in  pursuits, 
its  rear-guard  in  retreats,  its  outposts  when  in  po- 
sition, and  its  detached  corps,  when  such  by  any 
chance  was  needed ;  nor,  in  any  of  these  situations, 
did  he  fail  to  earn  the  decided  approbation  of  Lord 
Wellington.  Indeed,  in  point  of  intelligence  and 
military  skill  he  was  regarded  as  second  only  to 
that  great  commander,  and  his  unremitting  atten- 
tion to  the  wants  of  the  troops  under  his  charge 
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secured  for  him  both  their  attachment  and  their 
respect. 

In  the  army  of  Sir  John  Mooro  he  had  the  com- 
mand of  the  light  brigade.  In  the  memorable 
retreat  npon  Oorunua,  in  December  1808,  the 
hazardous  operation  of  cix)88ing  the  Esla  on  the 
road  to  Benevente,  then  a  roaring  torrent  swollen 
by  melting  snow,  and  over  planks  laid  across  the 
broken  arches  of  the  bridge  of  Castro,  in  the  dai-k, 
was  successfully  performed  by  General  Crauford 
with  the  rear-guard ;  after  which  he  blew  up  the 
bridge.  He  was  subsequently  sent  by  Sir  Jolm 
Moore  with  three  thousand  men,  on  the  road 
to  Vigo,  to  secure  that  port  for  the  embarkation 
of  the  troops,  should  it  be  found  impossible  to  do 
so  at  Comnna.  With  these  Genei-al  Ci*auford 
joined  the  army  under  Wellington,  the  morning 
after  the  battle  of  Talavera.  This  gallant  band, 
at  the  distance  of  nearly  sixty  miles  from  the  field 
of  battle,  were  met  by  several  Spanish  runaways 
from  the  action  of  the  27th  (July  1809),  with  tid- 
ings that  the  British  were  defeated  and  Lord  Wel- 
lington killed.  Withdrawing  fifty  of  the  weakest 
from  his  i-anks,  Crauford  hurried  on  with  the 
remainder,  and  reached  Talavera  at  eleven  o*cIock 
on  the  morning  of  the  29tli,  having  marched  sixty- 
two  English  miles  in  twenty-six  hours.  This 
march,  says  Alison,  deserves  to  be  noted  as  the 
most  rapid  made  by  any  foot  soldiers  of  an^  nation 
during  the  whole  war. 

After  the  surrender  to  the  Fi'ench  of  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  July  10,  1810,  Wellington  found  it  ne- 
cessary to  retreat  before  the  superior  foixse  of  Mas- 
sen  a.  He  had  commanded  the  advanced  guard 
under  Greneral  Crauford  to  fall  back,  which  they 
did  after  making  a  gallant  resistance,  and  on  the 
16th  they  took  shelter  under  the  guns  of  Almeida. 
In  the  retreat  he  commanded  the  rear-guard,  four 
thousand  five  hundred  strong,  and  on  the  24th  of 
July  he  was  assailed  on  the  banks  of  the  Coa  by 
a  French  force  of  twenty  thousand  infantry  and 
four  thousand  cavalry,  with  thirty  guns,  and  after 
a  bloody  combat  of  two  hours,  a  heavy  rain  sep- 
arated the  contending  parties,  and  Craufoixi  re- 
tired with  his  division  to  the  main  body  of  the 
army.  In  this  contest,  a  loss  of  about  five  hun- 
dred men  was  sustained  on  both  sides.  As  this 
engagement  took  place  in  opposition  to  positive 


orders  of  Wellington,  to  avoid  fighting  under  their 
then  circumstances,  it  created  some  iiscnssion  at 
the  time,  and  Greneral  Crauford  published  his  own 
statement  of  the  afiaur  in  one  of  the  newspapers,  in 
reply  to  a  boasting  ofScial  despatch  of  Massena. 
The  Sieira  de  Busaco  was  considei^d  by  Welling- 
ton a  favourable  position  for  checking  the  pursuit, 
and  there,  on  September  27,  a  battle  took  place. 
Three  divisions  of  Ney*s  corps  advanced  on  Crau- 
ford^s  division.  He  commanded  part  of  them  to 
withdraw  behind  the  crest  of  the  ridge  whereon 
they  had  been  formed,  while  he  remained  in  front, 
alone,  observing  the  enemy.  On  the  approach  of 
the  French  he  gave  the  word  to  charge,  when  two 
regiments,  the  4dd  and  52d,  concealed  behiud  the 
hollow,  obeyed  his  command,  and  the  French  were 
bravely  repulsed.  That  same  m'ght  he  drove  the 
enemy  from  the  village  where  they  had  taken  up 
their  quarters,  after  first  sending  them  a  polite 
message  desiring  them  to  retire.  He  also  distm- 
gnished  himself  at  Fuentes  d'Onore,  May  5,  1811, 
and  Wellington's  despatch  contained  his  well- 
ddserved  eulogy. 

After  the  combat  of  El  Bodon,  September  24, 
1811,  the  British  troops  were  ordered  to  be  con- 
centrated around  Fuente  Guhiaido.  Craoford, 
eager  for  fighting,  remained  with  his  division  ail 
night  sixteen  miles  off,  while  only  fiite^i  thousand 
men  under  Wellington  were  collected  in  front  of 
the  whole  French  army  under  Marmont,  sixty 
thousand  strong.  It  was  only  next  day  at  three 
o'clock  that  Crauford's  division  arrived.  When 
he  came  back,  Wellington  only  said,  ^'  I  am  glad 
to  see  you  safe,  Crauford."  The  latter  replied, 
^'  Oh !  I  was  in  no  danger,  I  assure  you.**  ^^  But 
I  was  from  your  conduct,'*  said  his  lordship.  In 
any  other  officer  such  a  neglect  to  obey  orders 
would  not  have  been  overiooked. 

At  the  storming  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  on  the  19th 
January  1812,  General  Crauford  was  at  the  head 
of  his  division,  directing  his  men,  when  a  musket- 
ball  took  his  left  arm,  and,  penetrating  into  his 
side,  lodged  in  the  lungs.  He  fell  back  into  the 
arms  of  one  of  his  soldiers,  and  was  instantiy 
carried  to  the  rear,  where  the  medical  attendants 
bled  him  twice.  He  then  dropped  into  a  slum- 
ber, from  which  he  did  not  awake  till  long  after 
dawn  next  day.     He  never  entertained  an  idea 


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of  bis  recovery,  and  when  (leneral  Stewait,  who 
remained  constantly  with  him,  and  others  of  liis 
attendants,  talked  of  fature  operations,  be  shook 
his  head,  and  replied  in  a  feeble  voice,  that  his 
futurity,  at  least  upon  earth,  would  be  of  short 
duration.  On  the  23d,  the  pain  of  his  wonnd 
abated,  and  he  spoke,  from  that  moment,  with 
greater  composure  and  apparent  ease ;  his  conver- 
sation being  chiefly  of  his  wife  and  children.  He 
repeatedly  entreated  his  aide-de-camp  to  inform 
his  wife  that  "  he  was  sure  they  would  meet  in 
heaven,"  and  that  there  was  "  a  providence  over 
all  which  never  yet  forsook,  and  never  would  for- 
sake, the  soldier's  widow  and  orphans."  About 
two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  he  fell  into 
another  deep  sleep,  fi'om  which  he  never  awoke. 
He  was  buried,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
at  the  foot  of  the  breach  which  his  division  had  so 
gallantly  carried.  His  funeral  was  attended  by 
Lord  Wellington,  General  Castanos,  Mai*shal 
Beresford,  and  a  number  of  staff  and  other  officers. 
He  had  introduced  a  system  of  discipline  into  the 
light  division,  which  he  had  so  long  commanded, 
that  made  it  unrivalled  in  the  army. 

General  Cranford  married  Bridget,  daughter  of 
Henry  Holland,  Esq.,  and  had  three  sons,  Charles, 
Robert,  and  Henry.  A  monument,  by  Bacon, 
junior,  has  been  erected  to  his  memory,  and  that 
of  Major-general  Mackinnon,  who  also  fell  at  Ciu- 
dad  Rodrigo,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London. 

Between  Sir  Thomas  Picton  and  General  Cran- 
ford there  was  always  a  great  rivalry.  They  were, 
says  a  veteran  who  knew  them  well,  not  formed 
by  nature  to  act  cordially  together.  The  stem 
countenance,  robust  frame,  saturnine  complexion, 
caustic  speech,  and  austere  demeanour  of  the  first, 
promised  little  sympathy  with  he  short  thick 
figure,  dark  flashing  eyes,  quick  movements,  and 
fiery  temper  of  the  second,  nor,  indeed,  did  they 
often  meet  without  a  quarrel.  Nevertheless,  they 
had  many  points  of  resemblance  in  their  character 
and  fortunes.  Both  were  inclined  to  harshness 
and  rigid  in  command;  both  prone  to  disobedi- 
ence, yet  exacting  entire  submission  from  inferi- 
ors ;  and  they  were  both  alike  ambitious  and 
craving  of  glory.  They  both  possessed  decided 
military  talents — were  enterprising  and  intrepid ; 
yet  neither  was  remarkable  for  skill  In  handling 


troops  under  fire.  This  also  they  had  in  common ; 
they  both,  after  distinguished  services,  perished  in 
arms  fighting  gallantly,  and  beini^  celebrated  as 
generals  of  division. 

CRAWFURD,  QuENTiN,  u leained  writer,  was 
a  native  of  Scotland,  but  resided  many  years  in 
France,  and  died  at  Pails  in  1819.  He  was  the 
author  of 

Sketches  relating  to  the  History,  Religion,  Learning,  and 
Manners  of  the  Hindoos.    Lond.  1792,  2  vols.  8vo. 

Essai  sor  la  Litterature  Fran^aise.  Paris,  1803.  2  vols. 
4to. 

Melanges  d'Hist.  et  de  Litt,  &c.,  1809,  4to. 

CRAWFURD,  Archibald,  a  minor  poet,  was 
bom,  of  humble  parentage,  in  the  town  of  Ayr, 
about  1779.  After  receiving  the  mere  rudiments 
of  English  reading,  when  only  thirteen  yeara  of 
age  he  went  to  London,  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  ba- 
ker with  the  husband  of  his  sister.  After  an  ab- 
sence of  eight  years  he  returned  to  his  native 
town,  and,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  attended  the 
classes  of  the  writing-master  in  Ayr  academy  for 
a  quarter  of  a  year,  which  was  all  the  instruction  he 
ever  received  in  penmanship.  He  then  proceeded 
to  Edinburgh,  and  obtained  employment  with  a 
gentleman  of  the  name  of  Charles  Hay,  Esq.,  with 
whom  he  remained  for  several  years,  and  who  in- 
dulged him  with  free  access  to  his  extensive  libra- 
ry. Hence,  he  soon  became  acquainted  with  the 
best  English  writers,  particularly  in  the  depart- 
ments of  history  and  the  drama.  On  quitting 
Edinburgh,  Mr.  Crawfurd  next  engaged  in  the 
family  of  Leith  Hay,  Esq.,  at  one  time  member  of 
pai'liament  for  Perth,  in  whose  service  he  contin- 
ued for  upwards  of  five  years.  It  was  on  a  daugh- 
ter of  this  gentleman  that  he  wrote  his  popular 
song  of  '  Bonnie  Mary  Hay,'  set  to  music 'by  R. 
A.  Smith.  It  originally  appeared  in  the  Ayr  and 
Wigtonshure  Courier,  and  he  afterwards  intro- 
duced it  into  his  tale  of  ^The  Huntly  Casket.' 
This  sweet  little  lyric  was  composed  as  a  grateful 
acknowledgment  of  the  kindness  experienced  at 
the  hand  of  the  young  lady,  while  the  author  was 
suffering  under  typhus  fever. 

Having  saved  a  little  money  from  his  earnings, 
about  1811  he  returned  to  Ayr,  and  entered  into 
business  as  a  grocer.  This  speculation,  however, 
proved  unsuccessful,  and  after  struggling  for  a 
year  or  two,  he  was  compelled  to  compound  with 


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his  creditors.  He  then  became  an  auctioneer, 
took  a  small  shop  for  the  sale  of  fomitare,  got 
married,  and  soon  saw  his  children  growing  ap 
around  him.  It  was  not  till  a  late  period  of  his 
life  that  he  ventured  on  authorship.  During  the 
political  excitement  of  1819,  he  produced  a  sati- 
rical pamphlet,  published  anonymously,  entitled 
'  St.  James^  in  an  uproar,'  of  which  not  less  than 
three  thousand  copies  were  sold  in  Ayr  and  the 
neighbourhood.  This  production  having  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  authorities,  the  printer  was  ap- 
prehended, and  compelled  to  give  bail  for  his  ap- 
pearance, but  luckily  no  prosecution  followed. 
To  the  columns  of  the  Ayr  and  Wigtonshire  Cou- 
rier, a  journal  of  moderate  politics  commenced  in 
1819,  Mr.  Crawfurd  contributed  several  pieces 
both  in  prose  and  verse,   and    particularly  his 

*  Tales  of  my  Grandmother,'  the  principal  portion 
of  which  first  appeared  in  that  newspaper.  At  this 
period  he  occupied  a  small  furuiture  shop  in  the 
High  Street  of  Ayr,  with  a  single  apartment  in 
the  back  premises  for  the  accommodation  of  his 
family.  In  this  room,  under  the  most  discourag- 
ing circumstances,  were  the  greater  part  of  his 
tales  and  poetry  composed.  Urged  by  his  friends, 
Crawfurd  commenced  taking  the  names  of  sub- 
scribers for  a  volume  of  his  *  Tales  of  my  Grand- 
mother,' which  was  printed  at  the  press  of  the 

*  Ayr  Courier'  in  1824.  This  edition  being  can- 
celled, the  work,  with  some  additional  tales,  was 
published  by  Messrs.  A.  Constable  ,and  Co.  of 
Edinburgh,  with  whose  imprint  it  appeared  in 
1825  in  two  volumes  12mo.  It  was  w^  i^eceived 
by  the  public,  and  flatteringly  noticed  in  most  of 
the  literary  journals  of  the  day.  The  tales  are 
chiefly  founded  on  traditions  familiar  in  the  west 
of  Scotland,  told  in  a  brief  sketchy  style,  and  wkh 
considerable  dramatic  efiect.  Scattered  through 
the  volumes  are  some  very  pretty  verses.  The 
crisis  of  1826  having  caused  the  bankruptcy  of 
Messrs.  Constable  and  Co.,  their  bill  for  payment 
of  his  portion  of  the  profit  was  unpaid,  and  instead 
of  making  a  profit  he  lost  twenty-four  pounds  by 
the  transaction. 

Shortly  after,  Mr.  Crawfurd,  in  conjunction 
with  one  or  two  literary  friends,  commenced  a 
small  weekly  periodical  in  Ayr,  under  the  title  of 
*The  Correspondent,'  the  price  of  which  was  three 


halfpence,  being  among  the  first  of  the  modem 
cheap  publications.  It  met  with  great  encourage- 
ment, but  a  misunderstanding  amongst  the  parties 
concerned  led  to  its  discontinuance.  He  subse- 
quently brought  out  a  periodical  on  his  own  ac- 
count, entitled  *  The  Gaberlunzie,'  which  contin- 
ued for  a  few  months.  This  little  production  con- 
tained sevei*al  interesting  tales  and  some  poetry  of 
a  superior  order  from  his  pen.  Amongst  the  lat- 
ter of  these,  the  song  *  Scotland,  I  have  no  home 
but  thee,'  afterwards  set  to  music,  soon  became 
popular.  His  later  yeai-s  were  spent  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  business  as  an  auctioneer,  while  in  bis 
leisure  hours  he  continued  to  indulge  his  fancy  in 
tale-writing,  with  an  occasional  poetical  produc- 
tion.    He  died  at  Ayr  in  1843. 

Crekch,  •  surname  supposed  to  be  derired  from  laud. 
There  are  two  parishes  of  the  name,  one  in  Fife  and  one  in 
Sutherland,  but  spelled  Criech  or  Creich.  The  name  may 
perhaps  be  a  corruption  of  coricAe,  stony,  from  car,  a  stone 
or  rock,  and  icAe,  a  Gothic  termination  signifying  abundance, 
as  Pefdchey  a  local  name  in  Portugal  and  Spain,  signifying 
full  of  pinnated  rocks.  Carriches  is  a  town  in  Spain.  Icke  is 
the  same  as  the  modem  termination  isk  When  the  rocks 
are  laige,  the  augmentatiTe  ac  or  aocos  is  used,  as  CaraeaSj 
(the  district  of  large  rocks)  a  province  of  Venezuela  in  South 
America,  Caraca,  a  mountain  of  Brazil,  and  La  Canvca,  a 
rocky  island  in  Spain,  near  Cadiz,  which  gave  name  to  the 
caracoaSf  or  heavy  ships  of  burden,  of  which  it  was  the  statioo. 

CREECH,  William,  an  eminent  publisher  and 
bookseller,  son  of  the  Rev.  William  Creech,  min- 
ister of  Newbattle,  and  of  Mary  Buley,  an  Eng- 
lish lady,  was  bom  April  21,  1745.  After  receiv- 
ing his  education  at  the  school  of  Dalkeith,  he  was 
sent  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  with  a  view 
to  the  medical  profession.  But  preferring  to  be  a 
bookseller,  he  was  bound  apprentice  to  Mr.  Kin- 
caid,  subsequently  lord  provost  of  Edinburgh.  In 
1766  he  went  to  London  for  improvement,  and 
afteinvards  spent  some  time  in  Holland  and  Paris, 
returning  to  Edinburgh  in  1768.  In  1770  he  ac- 
companied Lord  Kilmaurs,  son  of  the  earl  of  Glen- 
cairn,  in  a  tour  to  the  continent.  On  his  return 
in  1771,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his  for- 
mer master,  Mr.  Kincaid,  who  in  1773  withdrew 
fi*om  the  firm,  and  the  whole  devolving  on  Mr. 
Creech,  he  conducted  the  business  for  forty-fonr 
years  with  singular  enterprise  and  success.  For 
a  long  period  the  shop  occupied  by  him,  situated 
in  the  centre  of  the  High  Street,  was  the  resort  of 
most  of  the  clergy  and  professors,  and  other  pub 


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LORD. 


lie  men  and  eminent  authors  in  the  Scottish  raeti*o- 
polis ;  and  his  breakfast-room  was  a  sort  of  liter- 
ary lounge,  which  was  known  by  the  name  of 
"  Creech's  Levee." 

Mr.  Creech  filled  the  office  of  lord  provost  of 
Edinburgh  from  1811  to  1813,  and  was  elected  a 
fellow  of  the  royal  society  of  Scotland.  He  car- 
ried on  a  considerable  correspondence  with  many 
eminent  literaiy  men  both  in  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land; and  on  him  Bums  wi'ote  his  well-known 
poem  of  *  Willie's  awa\*  on  occasion  of  his  having 
gone  to  London  for  some  time  in  May  1787.  Mr. 
Creech  died  nnmanied,  Januaiy  14,  1816,  in  the 
70th  year  of  his  age.  During  one  period  of  his 
life  he  was  fond  of  contributing  essays  and  sketch- 
es of  character  and  manners  to  the  Edinburgh 
'  newspapers.  These  he  collected  into  a  volume, 
and  published  under  the  name  of '  Fugitive  Pieces' 
in  1791.  They  were  republished  after  his  death, 
with  some  additions,  a  short  account  of  his  life, 
and  a  portrait. 

Cricbton,  a  fmmaroe  awumed  from  the  barony  of  that 
name  in  the  ooonty  of  Edinburgh,  and  amongst  the  first  men- 
tioned by  historiana  in  the  rdgn  of  Malcolm  the  Third.  To 
the  charter  of  ereotion  of  the  abbacy  of  Holyioodhonae  bj 
King  David  the  First,  Thnrstanns  de  Creichton  is  a  witness. 
William  de  Grichton  is  mentioned  as  dominos  de  Cricbton 
about  1240.  Thomas  de  Criohton,  supposed  to  be  his  son, 
was  one  of  those  barons  who  swore  fealty  to  Edwara  the 
First  m  1296.  By  Eda  his  wifa  he  bad  three  sons.  William, 
the  second  son,  acquired  by  marriage  with  Isabel  de  Ross, 
one  of  the  two  daughters  and  coheiresses  of  Robert  de  Ross 
(a  cadet  of  the  eaiis  of  Ross,  lords  of  the  Isles),  half  of  the 
barony  of  Sanquhar  in  Dumfiries-shire.  The  other  half  was 
subsequently  purchased  by  his  snccessore,  and  it  became  the 
chief  title  of  the  family.  Sir  Robert  de  Cricbton  of  Sanquhar, 
a  descendant  of  this  William  de  Cricbton,  had  charters  of  the 
barony  of  Sanquhar,  and  of  the  o^ce  of  sheriff  of  the  county 
of  Dumfries,  28d  April  1464 ;  of  the  Unds  of  Eliock,  21st 
October  same  year ;  and  of  the  office  of  coroner  of  Nithsdale, 
8th  January  1468-9.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  Robert  Cricbton  of 
Sanquhar,  signalized  himself  at  Lochmaben  against  the  duke 
of  Albany  and  the  earl  of  Douglas,  when  they  invaded  Scot- 
land in  1484.  He  was  created  a  peer  of  parliament  by  the 
title  of  Lord  Grichton  of  Sanquhar,  by  King  James  the  Third, 
29th  January,  1487-8,  and  died  in  1502.  See  Samquhab, 
Lord.  The  title  is  now  merged  in  the  earidom  of  Dumfries 
[see  Dumfries,  earl  of],  now  held  by  the  marquis  of  Bute, 
f  See  BuTB,  marquis  of,  owte,  page  616.] 

The  name  Cricbton  may  probably  be  a  corruption  of  Caer- 
rie-ton,  (as  Cramond  is  of  Caer-almond,)  and  be  therefore  a 
variety  of  Ric-caer-ton, — ^the  stone  phice  of  the  Rio-ton,  or 
rich  land.  Many  local  names  appear  in  the  Lothians  to  be 
corruptions  of  Caer  or  place  of  stones 

Cricrtok,  Lord,  a  title  conferred  m  1445,  on  Sir  William 
Grichton,  lord  high  chancellor  of  Scotland,  of  whom  a  me- 
moir is  subsequently  given  in  larger  type.    He  was  a  descend-  | 


ant  of  the  above-mentioned  William  de  Cricbton,  and  the  son 
of  Sir  John  Cricbton,  who  obtuned  a  cbartor  of  the  barony 
of  Cricbton  from  King  Robert  the  Third.  His  cousin.  Sir 
George  de  Cricbton,  high  admiral  of  Scotland,  (dedgned  son 
and  heir  of  Stephen  Cricbton  of  Cairns,  brother  of  the  said 
Sir  John  Crichton,)  was  in  1462  created  earl  of  Caithness, 
the  honours  being  limited  to  the  heirs  male  of  bis  own  body 
by  bis  second  wife,  Janet  Bortbwick.  He  died  in  1466,  with- 
out issue  of  his  second  marriage,  and  the  title  became  extinct 
in  hb  family  (see  Caithnbss,  earl  of,  aiUe^  p.  621).  The 
first  Lord  Cricbton  had  a  son  and  two  daughters. 

James,  the  son,  second  Lord  Cricbton,  was  knighted  by 
James  the  First,  at  the  baptism  of  his  eldest  son  in  1480. 
He  married  Lady  Janet  Dunbar,  eldest  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  James  eari  of  Moray,  with  whom  he  got  the  barony 
of  Frendraught  in  Ban£bhire,  but  the  earldom  of  Moray  was, 
to  his  prejudice,  bestowed  on  Archibald  Douglas,  (third  son 
of  the  seventh  eari  of  Douglas,)  who  had  married  the  youngpr 
sister  of  his  wife.  Under  the  designation  of  Sir  James 
Crichton  of  Frendraught,  he  was  appointed  great  chamberlain 
of  Scotland  in  1440,  and  he  held  that  office  till  1463.  He  died 
about  1469.    He  had  three  sons,  William,  Gavin,  and  George. 

William,  the  third  lord,  joined  the  duke  of  Albany  in  his 
rebellion  against  his  brother,  James  the  Third,  and  garrisoned 
his  castle  of  Crichton  in  his  behalf.  He  was  in  consequence 
attainted  for  treason,  by  parliament,  24th  February  1483-4. 
His  brothers  wese  also  forfeited  for  joining  in  the  same  rebel- 
lion. On  his  forfeiture,  his  castle  of  Crichton,  a  very  andent 
and  magnificent  structure,  the  ruins  of  which  overhang  a 
beautiful  little  glen  through  which  the  Tyne  slowly  meanders, 
was  granted  to  Sir  John  Ramsay  of  Balmain.  From  him  it 
afterwards  passed,  by  forfeiture,  to  Patrick  Hepburn,  chief  of 
that  name,  and  third  Lord  Hales,  ancestor  of  the  celebrated 
James  Hepburn,  earl  of  Bothwell,  the  husband  of  Maiy  queen 
of  Scots.  On  the  forfeiture  of  this  last  nobleman  in  1667, 
Crichton  became  the  property  of  the  Crown,  but  was  granted 
to  Francis  Stewart,  earl  of  Bothwell.  It  subsequently  passed 
through  the  hands  of  several  proprietors,  from  one  ef  whom, 
Hepburn  of  Humbie,  who  acquired  it  about  the  year  1649,  it 
obtuned  the  name,  among  the  countiy  people,  of  *  Humbie's 
Wa's.*  In  the  fourth  canto  of  Marmion,  Sir  Walter  Scott  has 
minutely  described  this  relic  of  the  feudal  ages. 

The  thbd  lord  had  married  Margaret,  second  daughter  of 
King  James  the  Second,  and  had,  with  a  daughter,  a  son.  Sir 
James  Crichton  of  Frendraught.  The  direct  descendant  of 
the  latter,  in  the  fifth  generation,  James  Crichton  of  Fren- 
draught was,  in  1642,  created  Viscount  Frendraught  and 
LcNrd  Crichton,  in  consideration  of  his  father  being  heir-male 
of  Lord-ohancellor  Crichton.  See  Frendraught,  viscount  of. 


The  other  principal  families  of  the  name  were  Crichton  of 
Cranston,  descended  from  Frendraught;  (David  Crichton  of 
Cranston  was  one  of  the  commisnoners  nominated. by  King 
James  the  Thu^,  in  his  treaty  of  marriage  with  Margaret 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Denmark);  Crichton  of  Rdthven,  de- 
scended from  the  second  son  of  Stephen  Crichton  of  Cairns 
abovementioned ;  Crichton  of  EasthiU ;  Crichton  of  Naughton ; 
Crichton  of  Cluny^  Crichtcm  of  Invemyty;.  Crichton  of 
Brunston;  Crichton  of  Lugdon;  and  Crichton  of  Crawfordtoun. 

Geoige  Crichton,  a  son  of  Cnchton  of  Naughton,  became' 
bishop  of  Dunkeld  in  1626,  having  previously  been  abbot  of 
Holyroodhonse.  According  to  Spotswood,  he  snooeeded  the 
celebrated  Gavin  Douglas  in  that  see,  but  this  is  a  mistake, 
as  another  prelate,  named  Robert  Cockbnm,  intervened  be- 
tween them.  In  the  beginmng  of  1627,  he  was  one  of  the 
bishops  present  at  St  Andrews  at  the  oondtmnation  of  Pat- 


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CRICHTON 


rick  Hamilton,  the  protomartTr.  In  1529,  he  ib  said  to  have 
been  lord  priry  seal,  and  to  have  held  the  same  office  in  the 
beginning  of  1539.  He  appears  ae  aix  extraordinary  lord  of 
session  in  the  sitting  of  that  court,  November  17,  1533.  He 
died  on  24th  January  154d-i,  having  previously  transmitted 
to  the  pope  a  resignation  of  his  bishopric  in  favour  of  his 
nephew  Robert  Crichton,  then  provost  of  St  Giles.  It  was 
this  bishop  of  Dunkeld  that  in  1539,  on  the  examination  of 
Dean  Thomas  Forret,  vicar  of  Dollar,  accused  of  heresy,  said 
he  thanked  God  that  he  never  knew  what  the  old  and  the  new 
TesLament  was,  and  that  he  would  know  nothing  but  his 
breviary  and  his  ponti6cal  I  His  nephew,  Robert  Crichton, 
notwitlistanding  his  uncle*s  resignation  in  his  favour,  and  his 
own  application,  was  prevented  from  immediately  succeeding 
to  the  see,  by  the  stronger  influence  of  the  earl  of  Arran,  gov- 
ernor of  the  kingdom,  upon  whose  natural  brother,  John 
Hamilton,  it  was  conferred,  but  on  his  translation  to  the  arch- 
bishopric of  St.  Andrews  in  1550,  Crichton  was  promoted  to 
Dunkeld,  and  continued  bishop  there  till  the  establishment  of 
the  Reformed  religiou  in  1560.  At  the  pariiament,  wherein 
the  Confession  of  Faith  was  ratified,  17th  July  of  that  year, 
he  was  one  of  the  three  popish  bishops  who  were  present  In 
1567  be  was  appointed  a  commissioner  for  divorcing  the  earl 
of  Bothwell  from  Lady  Jane  Gordon. 

Robert  Crichton  of  Elliock,  the  father  of  the  admirable 
Crichton,  (of  whom  a  memoir  b  hereafter  given  in  its  place,) 
having  been  educated  for  the  bar,  was  appointed  lord  advo- 
cate, jointly  with  John  Spens  of  Condie,  8th  February  1560. 
He  appears  to  have  been  favourable  to  Queen  Mary's  cause  in 
the  banning  of  her  son's  reign,  and  was  sent  for  by  that  un- 
fortunate princess  into  England  after  the  death  of  the  regent 
Murray,  but  was  prevented  from  going  by  the  regent  Lennox, 
who  made  him  find  caution  to  the  extent  of  four  thousand 
pounds  Soots,  that  he  would  not  leave  Edinburgh.  On  the 
death  in  January  1581,  of  David  Borthwick  of  Lochill,  who 
had  succeeded  Spens  as  his  colleague,  and  was  appointed  a 
lord  of  session  in  October  1573,  Crichton  was  nominated  his 
successor  on  the  bench,  and  at  the  same  time  was  constituted 
sole  lord  advocate.  He  took  his  seat  Ist  February  1581.  In 
the  same  year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  pariiamentary 
commissioners  for  the  reformation  of  hospitals.  He  died  in 
June  1582. 

An  account  of  the  feud  betwixt  the  Crichtons  and  the 
Maxwells,  the  two  most  powerful  barons  hi  Nithsdale,  will  be 
found  under  the  head  of  Sanquhak,  lord.  In  1512,  Sir 
William  Douglas  of  Drumlnnrig,  ancestor  of  the  noble  house 
of  Queensberry,  accused  of  the  slaughter  of  Robert  Crichton 
of  Kilpatrick,  on  the  complaint  of  Robert  Lord  Crichton  of 
Sanquhar,  pleaded  that  the  person  killed  was  at  the  time  a 
declared  rebel  and  at  his  majesty's  bom,  when  the  jury  de- 
livered a  verdict  freeing  him  and  his  accomplices  from  the 
charge.  This  case  is  thought  to  have  given  rise  to  the  sub- 
sequent **  Act  anent  the  Resset  of  Rebellis,''  &c.,  in  which  it 
is  expressly  stated  that  ^^gif  ony  personis  happins  to  com- 
mitt  slauchter  upone  the  said  rebellis  and  personis  being  at 
the  home,  the  tym  of  the  taking  or  apprehending  of  them, 
sal  be  no  point  of  dittay  (indictment),  hot  the  sUuuris  of  them 
to  be  rewardit  and  thuikit  tharfore.**  On  October  24,  1526, 
Andrew  Crichton  of  Crawfordtonn,  John  Crichton  of  Kilpa- 
trick, and  forty-six  others,  were  denounced  rebels  and  put  to 
the  horn  for  not  appearing  to  underly  the  law  for  the  convo- 
cation of  the  lieges  in  great  numbers  in  arms,  and  attacking 
Archibald  earl  of  Angus  and  James  eari  of  Arran,  his  majes- 
ty's lieutenants,  near  the  church  of  Linlithgow,  for  Uieir 
slaughter  and  destruction.  On  November  24th.  1536,  Mari- 
ota  Home,  countess  of  Crawford,  the  widow  of  that  earl  who 


was  slain  at  Flodden,  and  Batrick  Crichton  of  Camnay,  with 
seventeen  others,  found  caution  (namely.  Sir  John  Stiriing  (d 
Kdr,  and  John  Crichton  of  Craostoun)  to  satisfy  Joan  Mon- 
cur  of  Balluny,  for  seiang  a  **  wayne**  or  waggon  oom  him, 
with  four  oxen  and  two  horses;  and  on  the  12th  December 
following,  the  same  John  Moncur,  with  Mariota  Douglas,  his 
wife,  and  four  others,  found  caution  to  uiideriy  uie  law  at 
the  next  justioe-aire  of  Perth,  for  oppression  done  to  the 
countess  of  Crawford,  in  breaking  up  the  soil  and  ditches  of 
her  lands  of  Potento,  and  wounding  her  in  the  throat  Thi- 
shows  a  strange  state  of  society  at  that  period. 

One  of  the  leading  friends  of  Wisliart  the  martyr  and  most 
resolute  conspirators  against  Cardinal  Bethune,  was  Crichton 
of  Bninston  in  Mid  Lothian.  Ha  had  been  at  one  time  a 
familiar  and  confidential  servant  of  the  cardinal,  who,  on  the 
10th  of  December  1539,  intrusted  him  with  secret  letten  to 
Rome,  which  were  intercepted  by  Henry  the  Eighth.  He 
next  attached  himself  to  Arran  the  governor,  who  employed 
him  in  diplomatic  missions  to  France  and  England.  He  af- 
terwards gauied  the  confidence  of  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  Uie  Eng- 
lish ambassador  in  Scotland,  to  whom  he  furnished  secret 
intelligence,  and  subsequently  entered  into  correspondence 
with  King  Henry  himself.  On  the  17th  of  April  1544,  the 
hiird  of  Brunston  is  said  to  have  engaged  in  that  secret  cor- 
respondence with  Henry  the  Eighth,  in  which,  on  certain 
conditions,  he  offered  to  procufe  the  assassination  of  Bethune. 
Tytler  paints  his  character  in  very  dark  colours,  bat  his 
representations  should  undoubtedly  be  taken  with  conaid«ra- 
ble  reservation.  [See  his  History  o/ScoUcmd,  voL  t.  Appa^ 
diXy  p.  453.]  Among  others  who  were  banished  by  the 
regent  Arran,  and  his  natural  brother,  the  archbishop  of  St 
Andrews,  for  alleged  crimes  against  the  state,  bat  in  reality 
on  account  of  their  professing  the  refbnned  religion,  was 
Crichton  of  Branston.  Soon  after  the  aasassinatioQ  of  the 
cardinal  he  was  indicted  on^t  charge  of  treason,  but  the  pro- 
cess  against  him  was  afterwards  withdrawn. 

Two  eminent  medical  men  of  this  somame  were  long  in  the 
service  of  Russia.  1.  Sir  Alexander  Crichton,  M.D.,  F.R.S., 
&a,  son  of  Alexander  Crichton,  Esq.  of  Newington,  Mid  Lo- 
thian, and  grandson  of  Patrick  Crichton,  Esq.  of  Woodhoase- 
lee  and  Newington,  bom  at  Edinbui^h  in  1763,  was  physician 
in  ordinary  to  the  emperor  of  Russia,  and  physidau  to  the 
duke  of  Cambridge.  Author  of,  •  An  Inquiry  into  the  Na- 
ture and  Origin  of  Mental  Derangement,  compreheoding  a 
concise  system  of  the  Physiology  and  Pathology  of  the  human 
mind,  and  a  History  of  the  Passions,  and  their  effacts,'  Lond. 
1798,  2  vols.  8vo. ;  '  A  Synoptical  Table  of  Diseases,  exhib- 
iting their  arrangement  in  Cbsses,  Orders,  Genera,  and  Spe- 
cies, designed  for  the  use  of  Students,'  Lond.  1805,  laip 
sheet;  *An  Account  of  some  Experiments  made  with  the 
vapour  of  boiling  Tar  in  the  Core  of  Pulmonary  Consump- 
tion,' 1818;  *Some  Observations  on  the  Medioina!  Effects  ol 
Arnica  Montana,'  London  Medical  Journal,  vd.  x.  p.  236, 
&c;  ^Some  Observations  on  the  Medicinal  Effects  of  the 
LichisUndious,'  Ibid.  p.  229;  Commentary  on  soma  Doc- 
trines of  a  dangerous  Tendency  in  Medioina,  Svo,  1842,  Ac 
Knight  grand  cross  of  the  Russian  orders  of  St  Vladimir  and 
St.  Anne,  and  knight  of  tlie  red  eagle  of  Prussia,  second  class; 
he  was  knitted  on  his  return  to  England  in  1820,  was  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Academy  of  Saenoes  ot  St  Peters- 
burg, a  corresponding  member  •/  the  Royal  Institute  of 
Medicine  in  Paris,  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Sciences  in  Got- 
tingen,  &c.  He  was  descended  mnn  a  younger  branch  of 
the  house  of  Frendraught  (Sec  vol.  ii.  page  271.)  He 
died  in  1856.    2.  His  nephew,  Sir  Archibald  William  Crich- 


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SIR  WILLIAM. 


ton,  eldest  son  of  Cftptain  Patrick  Crichton  of  the  47th  regi- 
ment; horn  in  1791,  gradnated  M.D.  at  Edinbnrgh,  and 
was  thirty  years  in  the  Russian  service,  for  twenty-four  of 
which  he  was  phy^dan  to  the  czar  and  his  family.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  medical  oonndl  in  Russia  and  a  cornidllor  of 
state.  In  1814  he  received  the  star  of  the  legion  of  honour ; 
m  1817  he  was  knighted ;  in  1829  he  received  the  grand  cross 
of  the  red  eagle  of  Pmssia,  second  class;  in  1832,  that  of 
St  Stanislaus,  first  daas;  in  1834,  that  of  St  Anne,  first 
dass;  and  in  1836,  that  of  St  AHadimir.  In  1820  he  mar- 
ried ft  daughter  of  Dr.  Sutthofi*,  one  of  the  physicians  in  ordi- 
nary to  the  emperor  of  Russia.  A  member  of  the  Medico- 
Ghirnrgical  Academy  of  St  Petersburg  (1858),  M.D.  of  Glas- 
gow, and  D.C.L.  <  f  Oxford. 


The  family  of  Makgill  of  Rankdilor  in  Fife,  assumed  the 
additional  surname  of  Crichton  in  1889,  in  cons^uence  of  the 
then  proprietor  of  that  estate,  David  Maitland  Makgill- 
Crichton,  being,  in  June  of  that  year,  served  heir  of  line  in 
general  to  the  first  Visconnt  Frendraught ;  his  ancestor,  Sir 
James  Makgill  of  Rankdilor,  ha\ing  married,  in  1665,  the 
Hon.  Janet  Crichton,  daughter  of  the  first  viscount  [See 
Frkhdkauoht,  visconnt  of,  and  Makgill,  surname  of.] 

The  noble  family  of  Crichton,  who  enjoy  the  earldom  of 
Erne,  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  are  also  descended  from  a 
branch  of  the  house  of  Frendraught  in  the  Scottish  peerage. 

CRICHTON,  Sir  William,  chancellor  of  Scot- 
land daring  the  minonty  of  James  the  Second,  was 
a  pei-sonage  of  great  abilities  and  political  address. 
In  1423  he  proceeded  to  Durham,  with  other 
barons,  to  condact  James  the  Fii-st  home  after  his 
long  captivity.  At  the  coronation  of  his  majesty 
in  1424,  he  was  knighted,  and  appointed  chamber- 
lain to  the  king.  On  8th  May  1426,  a  commis- 
sion was  issued  constituting  him  and  two  others 
ambassadors  to  treat  with  Eric,  king  of  Norway, 
for  a  lasting  peace;  and  soon  after  his  return 
home,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  king's  privy 
council,  and  master  of  the  household.  On  the 
accession  of  James  the  Second,  he  was  in  posses- 
sion of  the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  Between  him 
and  Sur  Alexander  Livingston,  of  Callendar, 
there  was  an  unhappy  rivalship,  which  weakened 
the  authority  of  the  government.  During  the  two 
years  succeeding  his  coronation  the  young  king  con- 
turned  to  reside  entirely  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
under  the  care  of  Crichton,  its  governor,  greatly  to 
the  displeasure  of  the  queen  and  her  party,  who 
thus  found  him  placed  entirely  beyond  their  control. 
She  accordingly  visited  Edinburgh,  professing  great 
friendship  for  Sir  William  Crichton,  and  a  longing 
desire  to  see  her  son,  by  which  means  she  completely 
won  the  good  will  of,  the  former,  and  obtained 
ready  access  with  her  retinue,  to  visit  the  prince 


in  the  cattle  and  take  up  her  abode  there.  At 
length,  having  lulled  all  suspicion,  she  gave  out 
that  she  had  made  a  vow  to  pass  in  pilgrimage  to 
the  white  kirk  of  Brechin  for  the  health  of  her  sou, 
and  bidding  adieu  to  the  governor  over  night, 
with  many  earnest  recommendations  of  the  young 
king  to  his  fidelity  and  care,  she  retired  to  her  de- 
votions. Immediately  on  being  lefk  at  liberty, 
the  young  king  was  cautiously  pinned  up  among 
the  linen  and  furniture  of  his  mother,  and  so  con- 
veyed in  a  chest  to  Leith,  and  thence  by  water 
to  Stirling,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  Living- 
ston. Immediately  thereafter,  the  latter  raised  an 
army  and  laid  siege  to  Crichton  in  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh;  on  which  he  applied  to  the  earl  of 
Douglas  for  assistance,  when  that  chief  replied  that 
he  was  an  enemy  to  both  parties,  and  in  conse- 
quence refused  his  aid.  Thereupon  Crichton  and 
Livingston  became  reconciled  to  each  other,  and 
having  deprived  Cameron,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  a 
paitisan  of  the  house  of  Douglas,  of  the  of9ce  of 
chancellor,  it  was  conferred  npon  Crichton,  while 
Livingston  obtained  the  guardianship  of  the  king's 
pei-son,  and  the  chief  management  in  the  govern- 
ment. Soon  after,  however,  Crichton  seized  the 
person  of  the  young  monarch  in  the  royal  park  at 
Stirling,  while  proceeding  to  the  chase,  and  re- 
moved him  to  Edinburgh  castle;  but  a  second 
reconciliation  took  place  between  him  and  Living- 
ston. Douglas  died  in  1439,  and  owing  to  the 
overgrown  power  of  his  son  who  sueceeded  him, 
it  was  resolved  to  get  rid  of  him  by  summary 
means.  With  this  view  he  invited  him  to  attend 
a  parliament  then  about  to  be  held  at  Edinburgh, 
and  having  inveigled  him  and  his  brother  into  the 
castle,  ordered  them  to  be  executed  on  the  Castle- 
hill.  This  took  place  in  1440.  The  new  earl  of 
Douglas  having  been  reconciled  to  James,  and  ad- 
mitted into  the  royal  councils,  Crichton  imme- 
diately fled  to  the  castle  of  Edinburgh ;  on  which 
he  was  denounced  as  a  rebel,  and  his  estates 
confiscated.  Douglas  laid  siege  to  the  castle,  and 
after  an  investment  of  nine  weeks,  Crichton  entered 
into  a  treaty  with  Livingston  and  Douglas,  and 
surrendered  it  to  the  king.  In  1445  he  was  created 
Lord  Crichton,  and  in  1448  he  was  sent  on  an 
embassy  to  France,  to  treat  with  Arnold,  duke  of 
Gueldres,  for  the  mai-riage  of  his  daughter  Mary 


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CRICHTON, 


728 


JAMES. 


with  his  royal  master,  now  in  his  eifeiiteenth  year. 
He  accompanied  the  bride  to  Holyrood,  where  the 
nuptials  were  solemnized  with  much  pomp.  Dou- 
glas afterwards  endeavoured  to  assassinate  the 
.chancellor,  who  continued  to  enjoy  the  king's  con- 
fidence and  favour  till  his  death  in  1454. 

CRICHTON,  James,  styled  "  The  Admirable," 
from  his  extraordinary  endowments  both  mental 
and  physical,  was  the  son  of  Robert  Crichton  of 
Eliock,  lord  advocate  of  Scotland  in  the  reigns  of 
Queen  Mary  and  James  the  Sixth,  and  was  bom 
in  1557,  or,  according  to  some  accounts,  in  1560. 
His  mother  was  Eli^^abeth  Stewart,  a  descendant, 
through  Andrew  Stewart,  Lord  Avondale,  of 
the  family  of  Stewart  of  Morphie,  founded  by 
Walter  Stewart,  sixth  son  of  Sir  James  the 
Gross,  fourth  son  of  Murdoch,  duke  of  Albany. 
Eliock -house,  on  Eliock -bum,  Dumfries -shire, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  the  Admir- 
able Crichton,  and  the  apartment  in  which  he  was 
bom  is  carefully  preserved  in  its  original  statte. 
Soon  after  his  birth,  his  father  sold  Eliock  to  the 
Dalzells,  afterwards  earls  of  Camwath,  and  re- 
moved to  an  estate  which  he  had  acquired  in  the 
parish  of  Clunie  in  Perthshire,  a  circumstance 
which  has  occasioned  the  castle  of  Clunie  to  be 
mistaken  as  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He  received 
the  radiments  of  his  education  at  Perth  school, 
and  completed  his  studies  at  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  he  took  his  degree  of  M. A.  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  l^efore  he  was  twenty,  he  had 
mastered  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences,  and 
could  speak  and  write  ten  different  languages  be- 
sides his  own.  He  also  excelled  in  riding,  danc- 
ing, fencing,  painting,  singing,  and  playing  on  all 
sorts  of  instmments.  On  leaving  college  he  went 
abroad  to  improve  himself  by  travel.  On  his  ar- 
rival at  Paris,  in  compliance  with  a  custom  of  the 
age,  he  affixed  placards  on  the  gates  of  the  uni- 
versity, challenging  the  professors  and  learned 
men  of  the  city  to  dispute  with  him  in  all  the 
branches  of  literature,  art,  and  science,  and  offer- 
ing to  give  answers  in  any  of  tne  foIiuWaig  lan- 
guages, viz.  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Arabic,  Greek,  La- 
tin, Spanish,  French,  Italian,  English,  Dutch, 
Flemish,  and  Sclavonic,  and  either  in  prose  or 
verse,  at  the  option  of  his  antagonist.  On  the 
day  appointed  three  thousand  auditors  assembled. 


Fifty  masters  proposed  to  him  the  most  intricate 
questions,  and  with  singular  accuracy  he  replied 
to  them  all  in  the  language  they  required.  Four 
celebrated  doctors  of  the  church  then  ventured  to 
dispute  with  him ;  but  he  refuted  every  argument 
they  advanced.  A  sentiment  of  terror  mingled 
itself  with  the  admiration  of  the  assembly.  In 
the  superstitious  feeling  of  those  days  they  con- 
ceived him  to  be  Antichrist  1  This  famous  exhi- 
bition lasted  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till 
six  at  night.  At  the  conclusion,  the  president 
expressed,  in  the  most  flattering  terms,  their  high 
sense  of  his  talents  and  eradition,  and  amid  the 
acclamations  of  all  present,  bestowed  on  him  a 
diamond  ring  with  a  purse  of  gold.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  he  was  first  saluted  with  the 
proud  title  of  "The  Admirable  Crichton !"  Dur- 
ing the  interval  between  giving  the  challenge,  and 
the  day  appointed  for  accepting  it,  we  are  told, 
that  so  far  from  preparing  himself  by  study,  he 
had  devoted  his  time  almost  entirely  to  amuse- 
ments. The  day  after  the  disputation,  he  attend- 
ed a  public  tilting  match  in  the  Louvre,  and  in 
presence  of  the  princes  of  France  and  a  great  many 
ladies,  bore  away  the  ring  fifteen  times,  and 
"  broke  as  many  lances  on  the  Saracen." 

Crichton  afterwards  appeared  at  Rome,  and 
disputed  in  presence  of  the  Pope,  when  he  again 
astonished  and  delighted  the  audience  by  the  uni- 
versality of  his  attainments.  He  next  went  to 
Venice,  where,  becoming  acquainted  with  Aldus 
Manutius,  the  younger,  he  inscribed  to  him  one  of 
the  four  little  Latin  poems,  which  are  all  that  re- 
main to  prove  the  poetical  powers  of  this  "prodigy 
of  nature,"  as  he  was  styled  by  Imperialis.  Hav- 
ing been  presented  to  the  doge  and  senate,  he  made 
an  oration  before  them  of  surpassing  eloquence. 
Here  also  he  disputed  on  the  most  difficult  subjects 
before  the  most  eminent  literati  of  that  city. 

He  arrived  in  Padua  in  the  month  of  March 
1581.  The  professors  of  that  university  assem- 
bled to  do  him  honour,  and  on  being  introduced 
to  them,  he  made  an  extemporary  poem  in  praise 
of  the  city,  the  university,  and  the  persons  pres- 
ent, after  which  he  sustained  a  disputation  with 
them  for  six  hours,  and  at  the  conclusion  deliver- 
ed an  unpremeditated  speech  in  praise  of  Ignor- 
ance, to  the  astonishment  of  all  who  heard  him 


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CRICHTON, 


729 


JAMES. 


He  subsequently  offered  to  point  out  before  the 
same  university  tlie  innumerable  errors  in  the  phi- 
losophy of  Aristotle,  and  to  expose  the  ignorance 
of  his  commentators,  as  well  as  to  refute  the  opin- 
ions of  certain  celebrated  mathematicians,  and 
that  in  the  common  logical  method,  or  by  num- 
bet's  or  mathematical  figm*es,  and  by  a  hundred 
different  kinds  of  verses ;  and  we  ai*e  assured  that 
he  performed  that  stupendous  task  to  the  admi- 
ration of  eveiy  one.  After  defeating  in  disputa- 
tion a  famous  philosopher  named  Archangelns 
Meix^narius,  he  proceeded  to  Mantua,  where  he 
challenged  in  fight  a  gladiator,  or  prize-fighter, 
who  bad  foiled  the  most  expert  fencers  in  Europe, 
and  had  already  slain  three  persons  who  bad  en- 
tered the  lists  with  him  in  that  city.  On  this  oc- 
casion the  duke  and  the  whole  court  were  specta- 
tor of  the  combat.  Crichton  encountered  his 
antagonist  with  so  much  dexterity  and  vigour 
that  he  ran  him  through  the  body  in  three  differ- 
ent places,  of  which  wounds  he  immediately  ex- 
pired. The  victor  generously  bestowed  the  prize, 
fifteen  hundred  pistoles,  on  the  widows  of  the  men 
who  had  been  killed  by  the  gladiator.  The  duke 
of  Mantua,  struck  with  his  talents  and  acquire- 
ments, appointed  him  tutor  to  his  son,  Vincentio 
di  Gonzaga,  a  prince  of  turbulent  disposition  and 
licentious  manners.  For  the  entertainment  of  his 
patron  he  composed  a  comedy,  described  as  a  sort 
of  ingenious  satire  on  the  follies  and  weaknesses 
of  mankind,  in  which  he  himself  personated  fifteen 
characters.  But  his  career  was  drawing  to  a  close. 
One  night  during  the  festivity  of  the  Carnival  in 
July  1582,  or  1583,  while  he  rambled  about  the 
streets  playing  upon  the  guitar,  he  was  attacked 
by  six  persons  in  masks.  With  consummate  skill 
he  dispersed  his  assailants,  and  disarmed  then* 
leader,  who,  pulling  off  hu  mask,  begged  his  life, 
exclaiming,  *^  I  am  the  prince,  your  pupil!" 
Crichton  immediately  fell  upon  his  knees,  and 
presenting  his  sword  to  the  prince,  expressed  his 
sorrow  for  having  lifted  it  against  him,  saying  that 
he  had  been  prompted  by  self-defence.  The  das- 
tardly Gron^aga,  inflamed  with  passion  at  his  dis- 
comfiture, or  mad  with  wine,  immediately  plunged 
the  weapon  into  his  heart.  Thus  prematurely 
was  cut  off  "  the  Admirable  Crichton."  Some  ac- 
counts declare  that  he  was  killed  in  the  thii*ty- 


second  year  of  his  age;  but  Imperialis  asseits  that 
he  was  only  in  his  twenty-second  year  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  and  this  fact  is  confirmed  by  Lord 
Bnchan.  His  tragical  end  excited  a  great  and 
general  lamentation.  According  to  Sir  Thomas 
Urquhart,  the  whole  court  of  Mantua  went  for 
nine  months  into  mourning  for  him ;  innumerable 
were  the  epitaphs  and  elegies  that  were  stuck  upon 
his  hearse  ;  and  portraits  of  him,  in  which  he  was 
represented  on  horseback  with  a  sword  in  one 
hand,  and  a  book  in  the  other,  were  multiplied  in 
every  quarter.  Such  are  the  romantic  details 
which  are  given  of  the  life  of  this  literary  pheno- 
menon. Dr.  Kippis,  in  the  Biographia  Britanni- 
ca,  was  the  first  to  call  in  question  the  truth  of 
the  marvellous  stories  related  of  him.  But  Mr. 
Patrick  Eraser  Tytler,  in  his  Life  of  Crichton, 
published  in  1823,  has  adduced'  the  most  satisfac- 
tory evidence  to  establish  the  authenticity  of  the 
testimonies  and  authorities  on  which  the  state- 
ments regarding  Crichton  rest. 

The  following  woodcut  is  from  a  poi-trait  of  the 
Admirable  Crichton  in  the  Icouographia  Scotica: 


Dr.  Clarke  gives  the  following  list  of  his  works, 
but  does  not  say  when  or  where  they  were  pub- 
lished : 


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CRICHTON. 


730 


CROMARTY. 


Opera ;  t.  Odie  ad  Laarentiam  MaMam  pluree.  2.  Laodes 
PatarinaSf  Carmen  extempore  efi^isam,  com  in  Jacobi  Aloysii 
Comelii  domo  ezperimentam  ingenii,  coram  tota  Academiie 
frequentia,  non  nne  mnltomm  stnpore  faoeret  8.  Ignorati- 
onis  Laadatio,  extemporale  Thema,  ibidem  redditum  post  sex 
horamm  disputationes,  nt,  pmsentes  soronia  potina  fovere 
qoam  rem  se  veram  videre  affirmanint  ait  ManntSua.  4.  De 
appulsa  800  Venedas.  5.  Odn  ad  Aldnm  Manntinm.  6. 
E  pistols  ad  Diversoe.  7.  Prtefationes  solennes  in  omnes  sd- 
entias,  aacras  et  pro^as.  8.  Jndidnm  de  Philoeophia.  9. 
Errorea  Aristotelia.  10.  Anna  an  Literse  prsestant?  Contro- 
versia  Oratoria.  11.  Refiitatio  Mathematicomm.  12.  A 
Comedy  in  the  Italian  lAngnage. 

CRICHTON,  G  GORGE,  an  author  of  consider- 
able merit  in  tl  e  Mventeenth  centnry,  was  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  in  the  university  of  Paris.  He 
was  a  native  of  Scotland,  bnt  very  little  is  known 
of  his  personal  history.  He  wi-ote  several  poems 
and  orations  in  the  Latin  language. 

CRICHTON,  or  CRKYGHTON,  Robert,  a 
learned  prolate,  was  born  of  an  ancient  family,  at 
Dnnkeld,  in  Perthshire,  in  1593.  He  was  educated 
at  Westminster  school,  whence,  in  1613,  he  was 
elected  to  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  where  he 
took  his  degrees  in  arts,  and  was  chosen  Greek 
professor  and  university  orator.  In  1632  he  was 
made  treasurer  of  the  cathedral  of  Wells,  of  which 
he  was  canon  residentiary.  He  was  also  pre- 
bendary of  Taunton,  and  had  a  living  in  Somer- 
setshire. In  1637  he  was  admitted  to  the  degree 
of  D.D.  In  the  begionlng  of  the  civil  wars  he 
joined  the  king^s  troops  at  Oxford.  Bnt  he  was 
obliged  afterwards  to  escape  into  Cornwall,  in  the 
dress  of  a  day-labourer.  He  subsequently  found 
his  way  to  the  Continent,  when  Charles  the  Second 
employed  him  as  his  chaplain,  and  bestowed  on 
him'  the  deanery  of  Wells,  of  which  he  took  pos- 
session at  the  restoration.  In  1670  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  see  of  Bath  and  Wells,  which  he 
held  till  his  death,  November  21,  1672.  His  only 
publication  was  a  translation  from  Greek  into  Latin 
of  Sylvester  Sguropulus's  History  of  the  Council 
of  Florence,  printed  at  the  Hague,  1660.  Wood 
says  some  of  his  Sermons  were  also  in  prim. 

Cromarty,  earl  of,  a  title  in  the  peerage  of  Scotland  (at- 
tainted in  1746)  oonferred  in  1708  on  Sir  George  Mackenzie 
of  Tarbat,  descended  from  a  branch  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Mackenzie  of  Kintail  (see  MACK<LNznE,  surname  of).  A 
memmr  of  the  first  earl  is  given  at  paga  731  in  larger  type. 
His  lordship  was  twice  married.  By  his  first  wife,  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  James  Sincla'r  of  Mey,  baronet,  he  had,  with 
four  daughters,  John,  seoom*  earl ;  Hon.  Sir  Kenneth  Mac- 
kenzie of  Cromarty,  and  Hoi  Sir  James  Mackenzie  of  Roy- 
ston,  both  created  baronets  the  same  day,  8th  February  1704. 


The  latter  became  an  advocate  on  19th  Norember  169S,  and 
on  the  resignation  of  his  unde  (Boderick  Mackenzie),  a  lord  of 
session  under  the  title  of  Lord  Prestonhall,  be  was  appointed 
his  successor  on  the  bench,  and  took  his  seat  7th  June,  1710, 
as  Lord  Royston.  By  his  second  wife,  Margaret,  countess  of 
W«n3r8s  in  her  own  right,  widow  of  James  Lord  Burntisland, 
the  first  earl  of  Cromarty  had  no  issue. 

John,  second  earl  of  Cromarty,  was  member  of  parfiament 
for  the  county  of  Ross,  at  the  date  of  his  father^s  being  raised 
to  the  peerage,  when  the  parliament  resolved  that  he  could 
not,  in  consequence,  continue  to  possess  a  seat  in  that  faooae, 
and  a  warrant  for  a  new  electi<m  was,  therefore,  issued,  23d 
April  1685.  In  August  1691,  be  was  tried  before  the  high 
court  of  justiciary,  for  the  murder  of  Klias  Poiret,  Sienr  de  la 
Roche,  at  lieith,  on  8th  March  ureoeding,  and  acquitted.  He 
succeeded  his  father  in  1714,  and  died  at  Castle-leod,  20th 
February  1731.  He  was  thrice  married.  By  his  first  wife. 
Lady  Elizabeth  Gordon,  only  daughter  of  Charles  first  eari  of 
Aboyne,  be  had  no  issue ;  by  his  second  wife,  the  Hon.  Mary 
Murray,  eldest  daughter  of  the  third  Lord  Elibank,  be  bad, 
with  two  daughters,  George,  third  earl,  and  three  other  sons, 
Roderick,  William,  and  Patrick ;  and  by  his  third  wife,  the 
Hon.  Anne  Fraser  (previously  twice  a  vidow),  second  daugh- 
ter of  Hugh  tenth  Lord  Lovat,  he  had  three  sons  and  a 
daughter. 

George,  third  eari,  joined  the  Pretender  in  1745  with  abotd 
four  hundred  of  his  clan,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk. 
He  and  bis  son  Lord  Macleod  were  surprised  and  taken  pris- 
oners at  Dunrobin  castle,  by  a  party  of  the  eari  of  Sntber- 
hmd*s  militia,  15th  April  1746,  and  sent  to  London,  and 
committed  to  the  Tower.  With  the  eari  of  KHmamock  and 
Lord  Balmerino,  he  was  on  the  28th  July  following,  brought 
to  trial  before  the  House  of  Lords,  when  he  pleaded  guilty, 
and  threw  himself  enturely  on  the  king*s  mercy.  On  the  SOth, 
being  called  up  for  judgment,  he  began  a  humiliating  but  pa- 
thetic appeal,  by  declaring  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  an 
ofience  which  merited  Uie  Invest  indignation  of  his  majesty, 
their  lordships,  and  the  public ;  and  that  it  was  from  a  con- 
viction of  his  guilt  that  he  had  not  presumed  to  trouble  their 
lordships  with  any  defence.  ^'  Nothing  remains,  my  lorda,** 
he  continued,  *'  bnt  to  throw  myself,  my  life,  and  fortune, 
upon  your  lordships*  compassion ;"  and  he  earnestly  besought 
them  to  intercede  with  his  majesty  on  his  behalf.  On  the 
Ist  of  August  he  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  his  estates  and 
honours  forfeited.  He  immediately  petitioned  the  king  for 
mercy.  In  support  of  this  application  his  countess  (Isabel, 
daughter  of  Sir  William  Gordon  of  Invergorden,  baronet) 
waited  upon  the  lords  of  the  cabinet  council,  and  on  the  Sun- 
day following  the  sentence,  she  went  to  Kensington  palace  in 
deep  mourning,  to  intercede  with  his  majesty  in  behalf  of  her 
husband.  She  took  her  station  in  the  entrance  through 
which  the  king  was  to  pass  to  chapel,  and  when  he  approach- 
ed she  fell  upon  her  knees,  seized  him  by  the  ooat,  and  pre- 
senting her  supplication,  fiiinted  away  at  bis  feet  The  king 
raised  her  up,  and  taking  the  petition,  gave  it  m  charge  of 
the  duke  of  Grafton,  one  of  his  attendants.  The  dukea  of 
Hamilton  and  Montrose,  the  earl  of  Stair,  and  other  courti- 
ers, backed  these  petitions.  The  king  granted  a  respite  to 
the  earl.  He  was  permitted  to  leave  the  Tower,  and  to  k>dge 
at  the  house  of  a  messenger,  18th  February,  1748.  In  Au- 
gust following  he  went  to  Devonshire,  where  he  was  ordered 
to  remain.  A  pardon  passed  the  sesls  for  his  lordship,  20th 
October,  1749,  with  the  conditk»n  that  he  should  remain  in 
such  place  as  directed  by  the  king.  He  died  in  Pobmd  Street, 
London,  28th  September,  1766.  He  had  three  sona,  and 
seven  danghten.    His  life  was  published  in  1746,  in  4to. 


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FIRST  EARL  OF. 


John,  Lord  Madeod,  the  eldest  son,  was  bom  in  1727. 
At  his  trial  in  London,  on  20th  December  1746,  for  his  share  in 
the  rebellion,  he  pleaded  his  youth  and  his  father's  example  in 
mitigation  of  his  guilt.  An  unconditional  pardon  passed  the 
great  seal  in  his  favour,  26th  January  1748,  on  which  he  went 
abroad  in  quest  ofemployment  in  foreign  service.  He  sojourned 
sometime  at  Berlin  with  Field-marshal  Keith,  through  whose 
mterost,  it  is  believed,  he  obt«ned  a  comiT-ission  in  the  Swedish 
army.  At  this  time  his  means  were  oo  limited  that  he  was  un- 
able to  equip  himself  in  an  officer-like  manner,  but  the  Cheva- 
lier de  St  George,  on  the  recommendation  of  Lord  George 
Murray,  generously  tent  him  a  sum  of  money  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  his  outf  t.  After  serving  the  crown  of  Sweden  for 
twenty-seven  yearr  with  distinguished  approbation,  he  obtained 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and  was,  by  his  Swedish  majesty, 
created  Count  Cromarty,  and  made  one  of  the  commandants 
of  the  order  of  the  sword.  He  returned  to  EngUnd  in  1777, 
and  was  presented  to  George  the  Third,  who  received  biro 
very  graciously.  At  the  suggestion  of  Colonel  Duff  of  Muir- 
town,  who  had  served  in  Reith*s  Highlanders,  he  offered  his 
services  to  raise  a  regiment ;  and  so  great  was  the  influence 
of  his  name  in  the  North,  that  eight  hundred  and  forty  High- 
landers were  enrolled  in  a  very  short  time,  forming  two  bat- 
talions of  the  73d,  now  the  71st,  or  Glasgow  light  infantry. 
The  first  battalion,  under  Lord  Macleod,  as  c^onel  (commis- 
sion dated  19th  December  1777)  embarked  for  the  East 
Indies  in  January  1779;  the  second  battalion,  under  the 
command  of  his  brother,  the  Hon.  Lieutenant-colonel  George 
^lackenzie,  was  sent  to  Gibraltar,  where  it  formed  part  of  the 
garrfson  during  the  celebrated  siege  of  that  place,  which 
Listed  upwards  of  three  years.  In  India^Lord  Macleod  served 
with  the  force  under  Sur  Hector  Munro,  and  had  the  local 
rank  of  major-general  in  1781.  Sometime  after  the  battle  of 
Conjeveram,  his  lordship  took  shipping  for  England,  having, 
it  is  said,  differed  in  opinion  with  General  Munro  on  the  sub- 
ject  of  his  movements.  In  1782  he  had  the  rank  of  major- 
general  in  the  army.  After  his  return  he  bad  the  family 
estates  restored  to  him  by  act  of  parliament  in  1784,  on  pay- 
ment of  nineteen  thousand  pounds  of  debt  affecting  that  pro- 
perty. He  died  at  Edinburgh  2d  April  1789,  in  his  sixty- 
second  year,  and  was  buried,  with  his  mother,  in  the  Canon- 
gate  church-yard,  where  there  is  a  monument  to  their  memory. 
He  had  married,  4th  June,  1786,  Margery,  eldest  daughter  of 
James,  sixteenth  Lord  Forbes,  but  having  no  issue  by  her 
(who,  nth  March  1794,  became  the  second  wife  of  John, 
fourth  duke  of  Athol)  he  was  succeeded  in  the  family  estates  by 
his  cousin,  Kenneth  Mackenzie  of  Cromertie,  son  of  the  Hon. 
Roderick  Mackenzie,  second  son  of  the  second  earl.  This 
gentleman  dying  without  male  issue,  4th  November  1796,  the 
Cromarty  estates  devolved  on  Lady  Elibank  (Lady  Isabel 
Mackenzie),  eldest  sister  of  Lord  Macleod.  On  her  death  in 
December  1801,  her  elder  daughter,  the  Hon.  Maria  Murray, 
married  to  Edward  Hay  of  Newhall,  the  brother  of  the  seventh 
marquis  of  Tweeddale,  go*,  that  extensive  property,  and  her 
husband  assumed  the  name  of  Mackenzie  in  addition  to  his 
own.  They  had  f-or  children:  Dorothea,  Isabella,  Geor- 
gina,  and  John.  The  eldest  daughter  married,  in  1849,  the 
marquis  of  Stafford  and  Lord  Strathnaver,  eldest  son  of  the 
second  duke  of  Sutherland,  who  in  her  right  is  now  in  pos- 
seHsion  of  the  vast  estates  formerly  belonging  to  the  earl  of 
Cromarty.  His  son  tsd  heir,  Cromertie,  Earl  Gower,  was 
bom  m  1851. 

CROMARTY,  first  earl  of,  an  eminent  states- 
man, was  the  son  o^  Sir  John  Mackenzie  of  Tar- 


bat,  (created  a  baronet  21st  May  1628,)  by  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Sir  (^eorge  Erskine,  (a  lord  of 
session  under  the  title  of  Lord  Innorteill,)  and 
was  bom  in  1630.  He  succeeded  his  father  in 
1654 ;  and  having  applied  for  and  received  from 
Charles  the  Second,  during  his  exQe,  a  commission 
to  levy  forces  to  promote  his  restoration,  with  a 
large  body  of  men,  he,  the  same  year,  joined  Gen- 
eral Middleton,  then  in  arms  for  the  royal  cause, 
and  with  him  carried  on  for  about  a  year  an  irre- 
gular warfare  with  the  parliamentary  forces,  but 
was  at  last  forced  to  capitulate,  in  1655,  to  Colonel 
Morgan,  when  they  were  obliged  to  leave  the 
kingdom.  At  the  Restoration,  Middleton  had  the 
chief  direction  of  Scottish  affairs,  when  Mackenzie 
became  his  principal  confidant.  On  14th  Febru- 
ary 1661,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of 
session,  when  he  assumed  the  judicial  title  of 
Lord  Tarbat.  In  the  Memoirs  of  his  namesake. 
Sir  George  Mackenzie  of  Rosehaugh,  it  is  stated 
that  being  a  violent  cavalier,  he  was  the  chief  in- 
stigator of  the  Act  Rescissory,  by  which  the  pro- 
ceedings of  all  the  previous  parliaments  sinc(> 
1633,  were  at  once  annulled.  In  1669,  he  was 
sent  up  to  court  with  the  famous  act  of  billetting, 
of  which  he  was  the  inventor  and  manager,  and 
the  object  of  which  was  to  get  the  earl  of  Lauder- 
dale, the  earl  of  Crawford-Lindsay  and  ten  others 
declared  incapable  of  holding  any  ofilce  of  public 
trust ;  but  the  king  refused  his  assent,  and  Mid- 
dleton was  dismissed  from  all  share  in  the  admin- 
istration. A  particular  account  of  this  curious 
piece  of  state-craft  will  be  found  in  Sh*  George 
Mackenzie's  Memoirs  of  the  affairs  of  Scotland, 
and  in  Burnet's  History  of  His  own  Times,  vol. 
i.  For  his  participation  in  the  contrivance,  Lord 
Tarbat  was  deprived  of  his  seat  on  the  bench  on 
the  16th  February  1664,  in  terms  of  a  letter  from 
the  king,  dated  on  the  4th  of  that  month,  and  he 
remained  without  any  public  employment  during 
the  principal  part  of  the  long  administration  of 
Lauderdale.  Having  eventually  become  recon- 
ciled to  that  nobleman,  by  his  influence  he  was 
restored  to  the  royal  favour,  and  on  October  16, 
1678,  was  appointed  lord-jnstice-general  of  Scot- 
land, an  office  which  had  been  hereditary  in  the 
family  of  Argyle,  till  it  was  surrendered  in  the 
preceding  year.    On  the  11th  November  follow 


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FIRST  EARL  OF. 


ing  he  was  admitted  a  privy  conncillor,  and  next 
day  presented  a  letter  from  the  king  to  the  court, 
dated  27th  September  previous,  in  which  his  ma- 
iesty  declai*es  his  having  pardoned  him  **  for  the 
wrong  he  had  committed  in  tliat  affair/*  As  the 
former  letter  had  been  recorded  in  the  Books  of 
Sederunt,  the  king  directs  that  this  should  be  so 
too.  He  was  appointed  lord  clerk  register  by  pa- 
tent dated  16th  October  1681,  and  reinstated  in 
his  place  as  a  lord  of  session,  on  the  1st  of  the 
following  November. 

During  the  last  years  of  Charles  the  Second, 
and  the  whole  of  the  short  reign  of  James  the 
Seventh,  he  had  the  chief  management  of  Scottish 
affairs.  On  15th  February  1685,  immediately 
after  the  accession  of  James,  he  was  created  vis- 
count of  Tarbat,  and  Lord  Macleod  and  Castleha- 
ven  in  the  Scottish  peerage.  At  the  revolution 
he  proposed  in  council  to  disband  the  militia,  by 
which  artful  advice  that  important  matter  was  ac- 
complished without  bloodshed.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  to  make  advances  to  King  William,  hav- 
ing gone  to  court,  where  he  was  well  received ; 
but  the  Arbitrary  proceedings  in  the  two  former 
reigns  in  which  he  had  largely  shared,  had  ren- 
dered him  so  odious  in  Scotland,  that  his  majesty 
declined  his  services,  and  in  consequence  he  lost 
all  his  employments.  On  5th  March  1692,  how- 
ever, he  was  restored  to  his  office  of  clerk  register, 
but  resigned  it  in  the  end  of  1695,  when  he  received 
a  pension  of  four  hundred  a-year.  He  has  been 
accused  of  having,  during  the  period  he  held  this 
important  office,  repeatedly  falsified  the  minutes 
of  parliament,  as  well  as  of  having  issued  orders 
in  private  causes  in  name  of  parliament,  which  had 
never  been  made. 

On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne,  Lord  Tarbat 
was  sent  for  to  court,  appointed  one  of  the  princi- 
pal secretaries  of  state,  and  created  earl  of  Cro- 
marty, by  patent,  dated  1st  January  1703.  The 
following  year  he  resigned  the  office  of  secretary, 
and  was  appointed,  in  its  stead,  lord-justice-gen- 
eral, 26th  June  1705.  This  office,  in  its  turn,  he 
resigned  in  1710,  in  favour  of  Archibald  Lord 
Hay.  He  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  union, 
and  died  at  New  Tarbat,  August  17,  1714,  in  the 
eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man  of 
superior  endowments  and  great  learning,  but  to- 


tally devoid  of  principle  as  a  statesman.  In  Wal- 
pole^s  Royal  and  Noble  Authors  is  a  portrait  of  his 
lordship,  from  which  the  annexed  woodcut  is  taken : 


He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  contributed  some  valuable  articles  to 
the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions. Macky  (in  his  Characters  of  the  Nobility 
of  Scotland,  p»  188)  says  that  he  had  a  great  deal 
of  wit,  and  was  the  pleasantest  companion  in  the 
world ;  had  been  very  handsome  in  his  person ; 
was  tall  and  fair-complexioned ;  much  esteemed 
by  the  Royal  Society ;  a  great  master  in  philoso- 
phy, and  well  received  as  a  writer  by  men  of  let- 
tera.  The  earl  of  Cromarty  was  the  author  of 
the  following  works : 

A  Vindication  of  King  Robert  II L  from  the  ImpatatioQ  of 
Bastardy;  bj  the  dear  proof  of  Elizabeth  More  (daughter  of 
Sir  Adam  Mure  of  Rovndlan)  her  being  the  first  lawfal  wife 
of  Robert  the  Second,  then  Steward  of  Scotland  and  Earl  of 
Stratheni ;  by  George  Viacomit  of  Tarbat,  &&  In  the  dedi- 
cation to  the  king  he  says  that  all  the  oowned  beads  in  Eu- 
rope are  concerned  in  this  vindication.     Edinburgh,  1695. 

The  Mistaken  Advantage  by  raising  oi'Money.  Edinbnigh, 
1706,  4to. 

Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Wemyss  concerning  the  Union  with 
England.    Edin.  1706,  4to. 

Friendly  retom  to  a  Letter  oonoeming  Sir  George  Macken- 
zie's and  Sir  John  Nisbet's  Observations  and  Responses  on 
the  matter  of  Union.    Edin.  1706^  iU^ 


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CROMBIE. 


783 


CRUDEN. 


Sjnopus  Apocalvptica,  or  a  short  and  plain  ExpGcation  of 
Daniel's  P  jphecy,  and  of  St  John's  Revelation,  in  concert 
with  it.    Edin.  1707. 

Account  of  the  Mosses  in  Scotland,  in  Phil.  Trans.  1710. 
Abr.  V.  p.  688.  Mr.  Qongh  has  pointed  ont  three  other  pa- 
pers on  natnral  curiosities  in  the  same  Transactions.  See 
Anecdotes  of  Brit  Topography,  637.  Bishop  Nicolson  (Scot- 
tish Histor.  Library,  p.  20)  mentions  having  seen  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  Isles  Hirta  and  Rona,  two  of  the  Hebrides,  by  his 
lordship.  But  does  not  say  if  it  was  ever  printed.  The  bishop 
also  notices  a  copy  of  the  continuation  of  Fordun's  Scotichro- 
nicon  in  the  handwriting  of  this  nobleman,  whom  ho  terms 
*'a  judicious  preserver  of  the  antiquities  of  his  country." 
(Ibid.  p.  32.) 

Historical  Account  of  the  Conspiracy  of  the  Earl  of  Gowrie, 
and  of  Robert  Logan  of  Restahig,  against  King  James  VL 
Edin.  1718. 

A  Vindication  of  the  same,  from  the  Mistakes  of  Mr.  John 
Anderson,  preacher,  of  Dumbarton,  in  his  Defence  of  Presby- 
tery.    Edin.  1714. 

A  Vindication,  by  Lord  Cromarty,  of  the  Reformation  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland,  with  some  account  of  the  Records, 
was  printed  in  the  Scots  Magazine  for  1802,  from  a  manu- 
script in  possession  of  the  late  Mr.  Constable. 


Crombie,  a  surname  derived  from  the  name  of  an  ancient 
parish,  now  comprehended  in  the  parish  of  Torrybum,  Fife- 
tshire. 


Crossby,  a  surname  originally  given  to  one  who  dwelt 
beside  the  market  cross,  or  near  a  cross-road.  In  the  baron- 
etage of  Scotland  and  Nova  Scotia,  there  Lh  a  baronetcy  pos- 
seiMsed  by  an  Irish  family  of  this  name,  conferred  in  1630  on 
tlie  son  of  the  bishop  of  Ardfert  and  brother  of  David  Crosbie, 
ancestor  of  the  ancient  earls  of  GUndore  in  Ireland. 

CROSBIE,  Andrew,  of  Holm,  a  celebrated 
advocate,  and  the  original  of  'Councillor  Pley- 
delP  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novel  of  *  Guy  Manner- 
hig,'  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  citizens  of 
Edinburgh  during  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
<3entury.  On  Dr.  Johnson's  visit  to  the  Scottish 
capital  in  1774,  he  was  almost  the  only  one  who 
had  the  courage  to  maintain  bis  own  opinion 
against  him  in  converaation.  Mr.  Boswell  de- 
scribes bim  as  his  '^  truly  learned  and  philosophi- 
cal friend,"  and  Mr.  Croker,  in  a  note,  says,  "  Mr. 
Crosbie,  one  of  the  most  eminent  advocates  then 
at  the  Scotch  bar.  Lord  Stowell  recollects  that 
Johnson  was  treated  by  the  Scotch  literati  with  a 
degree  of  deference  bordering  oi  pusillanimity, 
but  he  excepts  from  that  observation  Mr.  -Crosbie, 
whom  he  characterizes  as  an  intrqnd  talker,  and 
the  only  man  who  was  disposed  to  stand  up  (as 
the  phrase  is)  with  Johnson."  Mr.  -Crosbie  re- 
sided at  that  peried  in  a  house  in  Advocate's  Close 
in  the  High  Stn-eet  of  Edinburgh.  He  aifterwards 
removed  to  tbe  spAendid  mansion  erected  by  him- 


self on  the  east  side  of  St.  Andrew's  Square  of  that 
city,  which  stands  the  first  house  to  the  north  of 
the  Royal  Bank,  and  became  a  principal  Hotel; 
but  he  was  involved,  with  many  others,  in  the 
failure  of  tbe  Douglas  and  Heron  bank  at  Ayr,  in 
which  he  had  a  thousand  pounds  share,  and  died 
in  such  poverty,  in  1785,  that  his  widow  owed  her 
sole  support  to  an  annuity  of  fifty  pounds  granted 
by  the  Faculty  of  Advocates. 

Crudbn,  a  lodd  samann,  derived  from  the  parish  of  Cm- 
den,  or  Crucbns,  in  the  district  of  Buchan,  Aberdeenshire, 
which  is  usually  supposed  to  have  taken  its  name  from  the 
battle  fought  there  iu  1006,  bj  Malcolm  the  Second  and 
Canute,  (afterwards  king  of  England,)  son  of  Sweno,  king  of 
Denmark  and  Norway,  although  Pinkerton  has  shown  that 
the  alleged  Danish  wars  of  Malcolm  the  Second  were  mere 
fabrications  of  Hector  Boece.  It  b  more  likely  to  have  been 
derived  from  Crvther^  the  first  king  of  the  Picts  (commenced 
his  reign  A.  c.  28,  and  reigned  twenty-five  years),  from  whom 
the  Irish  called  the  Picts  Cruitnich.  He  was  sometimes 
called  CruidnA,  and  as  the  n  and  ne  in  Gothic  are,  after  a 
consonant,  pronounced  en,  we  have  at  once  the  name  Crudcn. 

CRUDEN,  Alexander,  author  of  the  well- 
known  and  most  useful  *  Concordance  of  the  Bi- 
ble,* the  son  of  a  merchant  and  bailie  of  Aberdeen, 
was  bora  in  that  city.  May  31, 1701.  He  received 
his  education  in  the  grammar  school  of  his  native 
town,  and  was  entered  a  student  at  Mariscbal 
college  there;  but  having  manifested  incipient 
symptoms  of  insanity,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
place  him  in  confinement.  On  his  liberation  in 
1722  he  quitted  Aberdeen,  and  pix)ceeding  to 
I^ndon,  obtained  an  appointment  as  tutor  in  a 
family  in  Hertfordshire,  where  he  continued' for 
several  years.  He  was  afterwards  engaged  in  the 
same  capacity  in  the  Isle  of  Man.  In  1732  he 
settled  in  London^  where  he  was  employed  by  Mr. 
Watts,  printer,  6s  corrector  of  the  press.  He  also 
engaged  in  trade  as  a  bookseller,  which  he  carried 
on  in  a  shop  under  the  Royal  Exchange ;  and,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  lord  mayor  and  alder- 
men, was  appointed  bookseller  to  the  Queen.  At 
this  time  all  his  leisure  was  devoted  to  the  compi- 
lation of  *  A  Complete  Concordance  of  the  Holy 
Sci-iptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,'  a  work 
which,  with  great  labour  and  perseverance,  he  at 
length  accomplished.  The  first  edition,  dedicated 
to  Queen  Caroline,  was  published  in  1737.  Her 
majesty  graciously  promised  to  keep  him  in  mind, 
and  perhaps  she  intended  to  fulfil  her  word,  but, 
unfoitunately  for  him,  she  died  suddenly  a  few 


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CRUDEN, 


734 


ALEXANDER. 


days  after  receiving  the  book.  He  now  shut  up 
bis  shop ;  and  becoming  soon  again  a  prey  to  his 
phrenetic  disorder,  he  was  confined  in  a  private 
madhonse  at  Bethnal  Green.  As  soon  as  he 
obtamed  his  release,  he  published  a  pamphlet,  en- 
titled ^The  London  Citizen  exceedingly  Injured, 
or  a  British  Inquisition  Displayed,'  London,  1739 ; 
and  also  commenced  (.n  action  agaipst  Dr.  Monro, 
his  physician,  and  ovhers,  for  cruelty,  which  was 
tried  in  Westminster  Hall,  July  1739,  when  he 
was  nonsuited.  For  the  next  fifteen  years  he  lived 
chiefly  by  con*ecting  the  press,  and  superintended 
the  printing  of  several  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Classics.  In  1753  the  return  of  his  malady  obliged 
his  relatives  to  shut  him  up  a  thii*d  time  in  a 
madhouse.  When  he  was  once  more  at  liberty, 
he  published  another  pamphlet,  entitled  ^Tbe 
Adventures  of  Alexander  the  Corrector.'  In 
September  of  that  year,  he  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade one  or  two  of  his  friends,  who  had  been 
instrumental  to  his  confinement,  to  submit  to  im- 
prisonment in  Newgate,  as  a  compensation  for 
the  injuries  they  had  inflicted  on  him.  To  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Wild,  he  proposed  what  he  deemed 
very  mild  terms,  namely,  the  payment  of  a  fine  of 
ten  pounds,  and  her  choice  of  Newgate,  Reading, 
and  Aylesbury  jails,  or  the  prison  at  Windsor 
Castle.  When  he  found  that  his  persuasions  were 
of  no  avail,  he  commenced  an  action  against  her 
and  three  others,  fixing  his  damages  at  ten  thou- 
sand pounds.  Tlie  cause  was  tried  in  February 
1754,  and  a  verdict  again  given  in  favour  of  the 
defendants. 

In  accordance  with  the  whimsical  title  he  had 
assumed  of  "  Alexander  the  Corrector,"  he  now 
devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  reforming  the  man- 
ners of  the  age,  maintaining,  wherever  he  went, 
that  he  was  divinely  commissioned  to  correct  pub- 
lic morals,  and  to  restore  the  due  observance  of  the 
Sabbath.  Having  published  a  pamphlet,  entitled 
^The  Second  Part  of  the  Adventures  of  Alexander 
the  Corrector,'  he  went  to  present  it  at  court,  and 
was  very  earnest  wit  a  the  lords  in  waiting,  the 
secretaries  of  state,  and  other  persons  of  rank, 
that  his  majesty  should  confer  on  him  the  honour 
of  knighthood.  At  the  general  election  in  1754, 
he  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  to  represent  the 
city  of  London  In  parliament     Of  course,  he  was 


disappointed  in  both  these  objects.  Amidst  ail 
his  eccentricities  he  lost  no  opportunity  of  show- 
ing his  loyalty.  He  wrote  a  pamphlet  against 
Wilkes,  and  went  about  with  a  sponge  in  his  hand 
effacing  No.  45,  the  title  of  that  demagogue's  ob- 
noxious pamphlet  against  Scotland,  wherever  he 
found  it  written  on  the  walls,  or  doors,  &c.,  of  the 
metropolis. 

In  1762  Mr.  Crudcri,  whise  benevolence  was 
unwearied,  was  the  means  of  saving  the  life  of  a 
poor  sailor  named  Richard  Potter,  who  had  been 
capitally  convicted  at  the  Old  Bailey,  for  uttering 
a  seaman's  will,  knowing  it  to  be  forged.  Firmly 
convinced  that  he  was  a  fit  object  for  the  royal 
clemency,  he  never  ceased  his  applications  to  the 
secretary  of  state  till  he  obtaiued  the  commutation 
of  the  sentence  to  that  of  transportation  for  life. 
In  1763  he  published  an  interesting  account  of  this 
affair,  under  the  title  of  the  *  History  of  Richard 
Potter.'  In  1769  he  revisited  Aberdeen,  where  he 
remained  about  a  year,  during  which  time  he  gave 
a  lecture  on  the  necessity  of  a  general  reformation 
of  manners,  &c.  On  his  return  to  London,  he 
took  lodgings  in  Camden  Street,  Islington,  where, 
on  the  morning  of  November  1,  1770,  he  was 
found  dead  on  his  knees,  apparently  in  the  atti 
tude  of  prayer.  He  died  unmarried,  and  bequeath- 
ed his  moderate  savings  to  his  relatives,  except  a 
certain  sum  to  the  city  of  Aberdeen  for  the  pur- 
chase of  religious  books  for  the  use  of  the  poor. 
He  also  left  one  hundred  pounds  for  a  bursary,  or 
exhibition,  of  five  pounds  per  annum,  to  assist  in 
educating  a  student  at  Marischal  college.  An 
edition  of  his  *  Concordance'  was  published  under 
the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Deodatus  Bye  in  1810, 
and  in  1825  the  work  had  reached  the  tenth  edi- 
tion.   His  works  are : 

A  Complete  Concordance  to  the  Scriptnres  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament;  to  which  is  added  A  Concordance  to  the 
books  called  Apocrypba.  Lond.  and  Edin.  1736,  1788» 
1761,  4to.  8d  edition,  with  improvements.  Lond.  1769,  4to. 
1810. 

An  Acooont  of  a  Trial  between  him  and  Dr.  Monro,  Mat- 
thew Wright,  &c,  &C.    Lond.  1789,  8to. 

The  London  Citizen  exceedingly  injured ;  or,  A  British  In- 
quisition Displayed.    Lond.  1739,  4to. 

The  Adventures  of  Alexander  the  Corrector,  by  himself; 
in  3  parts.    Lond.  1754-6,  ?vo. 

An  Appendix  to  the  Adveninw  d  Alexander  the  Corrector. 
London,  1754,  8vo. 

Alexander  the  Corrector's  b  .jnble  Fetition  to  the  House  of 


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CRUIKSHANK. 


735 


CULLEN. 


Lords,  and  the  Hon.  House  of  Coramons;  showing  the  neoes- 
sitj  of  appointing  a  Corrector  of  the  people.  Lend.  1755, 
8vo. 

The  History  of  Richard  Potter.    1768,  8vo. 

An  Account  of  the  History  and  BxceHency  of  the  Scrip- 
tures; prefixed  to  a  Compendium  of  tl.4  Holy  Bible,  24mo. 

A  Scripture  Dictionaxy ;  or,  Gnidd  io  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Aberd.  2  vols.  4to. 

Cruikshank,  a  surname  of  the  same  dass  as  Longthankt^ 
Heavitideg^  Greatkead,  IjongruMtty  &c,  indicative  of  some 
personal  peculiarity  in  their  original  posseesors,  and  not  un- 
common in  that  form  in  Scotland.  In  England  it  has  been 
anglicised  into  that  of  Crookshanks. 

CRUIKSHANK,  William,  an  eminent  sur- 
geon and  anatomist,  the  son  of  one  of  the  examin- 
ers of  the  excise  at  Edinburgh,  was  bom  in  that 
city  in  1745.  He  was  baptized  William  Cumber- 
land, in  compliment  to  the  ^*  butcher"  conqueror  at 
Culloden,  but  he  showed  his  good  sense  by  seldom 
using  the  name.  In  his  fourteenth  year  he  was 
entered  as  a  student  at  the  university  of  his  native 
place,  with  the  view  of  studying  for  the  church. 
He  was  soon  afterwards  sent  to  the  university  of 
Glasgow,  where  a  strong  propensity  for  anatomy 
and  medicine  induced  him  to  direct  his  studies  to 
these  branches  of  science.  In  1771  he  removed 
to  London,  having,  on  the  recommendation  of  Dr. 
Pitcaim,  been  engaged  as  librai-ian  to  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  William  Hunter.  On  the  retirement 
of  Mr.  Hewson,  who  had  been  for  some  time  the 
doctor's  assistant  at  the  anatomical  theatre  in 
Windmill  Street,  Mr.  Crnikshank  became  his  as- 
sistant, and  subsequently  his  partner.  At  his 
death  in  1783,  Dr.  Hunter  left  the  use  of  his  the- 
atre and  anatomical  preparations  to  Mr.  Crnik- 
shank and  his  nephew.  Dr.  Baillie,  and  these 
gentlemen  having  received  an  address  from  the 
students  requesting  that  thev  would  assume  the 
superintendence  of  the  scb'>ol,  were  induced  to 
continue  it.  In  1794,  a  paper,  written  by  Mr. 
Cruikshank,  entitled  *  Experiments  on  the  Nerves 
of  Living  Animals,'  was  inserted  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Society ;  as  was  also,  two  years 
afterwards,  another  paper  of  his  on  the  *  Appear- 
ances in  the  Ovaria  of  Rabbits  in  different  stages 
of  Pregnancy.'  His  publications,  of  which  a  list 
follows,  prove  him  to  have  been  an  excellent  ana- 
tomist, and  an  acute  and  ingenious  physiologist. 
In  1797  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety.   He  enjoyed  an  excellent  practice,  particu- 


larly as  an  accoucheur,  and  though  not  without 
some  share  of  personal  as  well  as  ic  tellectual  van- 
ity, was  much  esteemed  for  his  benevolence.  Mr, 
Cruikshank  died  at  London,  July  27,  1800.  His 
works  are : 

Bemaiks  upon  the  Absorption  of  Calomel  finom  the  Interna] 
Snrfaoe  of  the  Mouth :  in  a  Letter  to  Mr.  Clare.  London, 
1779,  8vo. 

Experiments  on  the  Insensible  Bespiration  of  the  Human 
Body,  showing  its  affinity  to  Perspiration.  Lond.  1779,  8vo. 
New  edit  with  additions  and  oorreotions.    Lond.  1795,  8vo. 

The  Anatomy  of  the  Absorbent  Vessels  of  the  Human  Bo- 
dy. Lond.  1786,  4to.  This  valuable  and  interestmg  publi- 
cation, his  principal  work,  a  second  edition  of  which,  with 
several  new  discoveries  by  the  author,  was  published  m  1790, 
was  soon  translated  into  the  German,  French,  and  other  lan- 
guages, and  became  a  standard  book  in  eveiy  anatomical 
library. 

The  Besult  of  the  Trial  of  various  Adds  and  some  other 
Substances  m  the  Treatment  of  Lues  Venerea.  Lond.  1797, 
8vo.    Also  subjoined  to  Dr.  Rotto's  Work  on  Diabetes.    1797. 

Experiments  on  the  Nerves  and  Spinal  Marrow  of  Living 
Annuals.    Phil.  Trans.  Abr.  xvii.  612.    1798. 

Observations  on  the  Ova  of  Animals  after  Impregnation, 
lb.  xviii.  129.  1797. 

Experiments  and  Observations  on  the  Nature  of  Sugar. 
Nio.  Jour.  L  837.  1797.  Continuation  of  the  same.  lb.  ii. 
406.    1799. 

Some  Observations  on  the  diflfimrent  Hydrocarbon  ates  and 
Combinations  of  Carbon  with  Oxygen,  &o.    lb.  v.  L    1802. 

CULEN,  king  of  Scotland,  son  of  Indulf,  suc- 
ceeded to  Odo,  sumamed  by  the  Celtic  part  of  his 
subjects.  Duff,  or  the  Black,  in  965,  and  after  a 
reign  of  five  years,  was  slain  in  battle  by  the  Bri- 
tons of  Strathdyde. 

CuLXJor,  a  surname  derived  from  lands  in  the  parish  of 
that  name  in  the  county  of  Banffl  The  name  is  taken  from 
the  bum  which  flows  through  it,  the  etymology  of  which  is 
unknown,  but  from  the  depth  of  water  and  height  of  its  banks 
it  may  be  an  old  French  word  signifying  oolina^  a  pool ;  or, 
finom  the  situation  of  the  town  and  parish  on  the  Moray  frith, 
it  may  have  been  derived  from  ooixm^  a  planter,  hence  colony. 

CULLEN,  William,  M.D^  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  physicians  of  his  '«dme,  the  son  of  a 
fanner,  was  bom  in  the  parish  of  Hamilton,  Lan- 
aikshire,  December  11,  1710.  He  was  educated 
at  the  grammar  school  of  his  native  town ;  and 
having  served  a  short  apprenticeship  to  a  surgeon 
and  apothecary  in  Glasgow,  he  went  several  voy- 
ages as  surgeon  in  a  merchant  vessel  sailing  be- 
tween London  and  the  West  Indies.  Becoming 
tired  of  this  employment,  he  returned  to  Scotland 
about  the  beginning  of  1732,  and  practised  for  a 
short  time  as  a  country  surgeon  in  the  parish  of 
Shotts;  he  then  removed  to  Hamilton,  with  a 


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CULLEN, 


736 


WILLIAM. 


view  to  obtaining  medical  practice  tliere.  The 
dake  of  Hamilton  having  been  suddenly  taken  ill, 
Collen  was  called  in,  and  prescribed  with  success, 
which,  with  the  charms  of  his  conversation,  se- 
cared  for  him  the  patronage  of  his  grace.  Daring 
his  residence  in  Hamilton,  the  chief  magistrate  of 
which  he  was  in  1739  and  1740,  he,  and  the  after- 
wards equally  celebrated  Dr.  William  Hunter, 
who  was  a  native  of  the  same  part  of  the  country, 
entered  into  partnership  as  surgeons  and  apothe- 
caries, which,  however,  in  consequence  of  Dr. 
Hunter^s  success  in  London,  was  soon  dissolved, 
but  during  the  time  it  continued  Cullen  attended 
the  medical  classes  at  Edinburgh  for  one  session. 

During  the  residence  of  Dr.  Cullen  in  Hamil- 
ton, Archibald  earl  of  Hay,  afterwards  duke  of 
Argyle,  being  in  that  part  of  the  country,  required 
some  chemical  apparatus.  It  was  suggested  to 
him  that  Dr.  OuUcii  was  likely  to  have  what  his 
lordship  wanted.  He  was  accordingly  invited  to 
dinner  by  that  nobleman,  and  made  himself  very 
agreeable.  This  interview  was  one  of  the  chief 
causes  of  his  future  rise  in  life.  He  had  secured 
the  patronage  of  the  prime  miaister  of  Scotland, 
besides  the  countenance  o'  the  duke  of  Hamilton. 

In  September  1740,  Cullen  took  the  degree  of 
M.D.  at  Glasgow.  In  1746,  through  the  interest 
of  the  earl  of  Hay  and  the  duke  of  Hamlltoik,  he 
was  appointed  lecturer  on  chemistiy  in  that  uni 
versity ;  and  in  1751  was  chosen  reglus  professor 
of  medicine,  when  he  appears  to  have  taught  both 
classes.  In  1756,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Plummer^ 
professor  of  chemistry  in  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Cullen 
accepted  of  an  invitation  to  the  vacant  chair.  In 
1758,  after  finishing  his  coui-se  of  chemistry,  he 
delivered  to  a  number  of  his  particular  friends  and 
favourite  pupils,  nine  lectures  on  the  subject  of 
agriculture.  In  these  few  lectures,  he  for  the  firet 
time  laid  open  the  true  principle  concerning  the 
nature  of  soils,  and  the  operation  of  manures.  On 
the  death  of  Dr.  Alston  in  1763,  he  succeeded  him 
as  lecturer  on  the  Materia  Medica,  and  in  1766 
he  resigned  the  chemical  chair  to  his  pupil.  Dr. 
Black,  on  his  being  appointed,  on  the  death  of  Dr. 
Whytt,  professor  of  the  institutes  or  theory  of 
Medicine.  Dr.  John  Gi*egoi*y,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, had  succeeded  to  the  chair  of  the  practice  of 
medicine  ;   and   these  two  professors  continued 


each  to  teach  his  own  class  for  three  sessions.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  session  12th  April  1769,  Dr 
Cullen  proposed  to  the  patrons  that  Dr.  Gregory 
and  he  should  alternately  teach  the  institutes  and 
the  practice.  This  was  complied  with,  and  it  was 
declared  that  the  snrvivor  should  have  in  his  op- 
tion which  professorship  he  preferred.  On  the 
death  of  Dr.  Gregory  in  February  1773,  Dr.  Cul- 
len chose  the  chair  of  the  practice  of  medicine, 
and  held  it  with  distinguished  honour  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  As  a  lecturer  Dr.  Cullen  ex- 
ercised a  great  influence  over  the  state  of  opinion 
relative  to  the  mystery  of  the  science  of  medicine. 
He  successfully  combated  the  specious  doctrines 
of  Boerhaave  depending  on  the  humoral  patholo- 
gy; his  own  system  is  founded  on  an  enlarged 
view  of  the  principles  of  Frederick  Hoffman.  His 
lectures  were  invariably  delivered  from  a  few 
short  notes,  and  he  canied  with  him  both  the  re- 
gard and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  pupils. 

Dr.  Cullen  continued  his  practice  as  a  physi- 
cian, as  well  as  his  medical  lectures,  till  a  few 
months  before  his  death,  when  the  infirmities  of 
age  induced  him  to  resign  his  professorship.  On 
the  8th  of  January  1790,  the  lord  provost,  magis- 
trates, and  town  council  of  Edinburgh  voted  a 
piece  of  plate,  of  fifty  guineas  value,  to  Dr.  Cul- 
len, as  a  testimony  of  their  respect  for  his  distin- 
guished services  to  the  university,  during  the 
period  of  thirty-four  years  that  he  had  held  an 
academical  chair.  A  meeting  of  his  pupils  was 
held  on  the  12th,  in  the  Medical  Hall,  when  an 
address  to  the  doctor  was  agreed  upon.  A  motion 
was  also  made  and  unanimously  agreed  to,  that  a 
statue,  or  some  durable  monument  of  the  doctor, 
should  be  erected  in  some  proper  place,  to  perpe- 
tuate his  fame.  The  Royal  Physical  Society  also 
agreed  to  an  address  to  the  venerable  professor, 
to  which  a  suitable  answer  was  returned  by  his 
son  Henry,  Dr.  Cullen  himself  being  much  indis- 
posed. Similar  addresses  were  presented  by  the 
Hibernian  Medical  Society,  and  by  the  American 
Physical  Society  of  Edinburgh.  The  senatus  aca- 
demicus  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh  also  held 
a  meeting,  at  which  they  passed  a  resolution  agree- 
ing to  allow  for  the  proposed  monument  a  conspi- 
cuous place  in  the  new  college.  Dr.  Cullen  did 
not  long  survive  these  flattering  testimonials  of 


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CULLEN. 


787 


CUMlVflNG. 


respect.  He  died  February  5,  1790.  He  had 
married,  while  in  Hamilton,  Miss  Johnston,  the 
daughter  of  a  clergyman  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  by  her  he  had  five  sons  and  four  daughters. 
Two  of  his  sons  were  Robert,  a  lord  of  session,  of 
whom  a  memoir  follows,  and  Dr.  Henry  CuUen. 
Dr.  Cullen's  works  are : 

Synopsis  Noaologis  Methodica  in  usum  Stnaiosornni. 
This  work  was  first  published  in  Edin.  1769, 1  yoL  8to.  The 
same,  Edin.  1772, 8vo.  1780,  8vd.  ;  but  afterwards  enlarged 
to  2  Tols.  The  4th  ed.  oontainipg  the  Anthor*s  last  correc- 
tions, was  published,  Edm.  1785,  2  vols.  8vo.  And  another 
entit.  Nosology ;  or,  A  Systematic  Arrangement  of  Diseases 
by  Classes,  Orders,  Genera,  and  Species;  with  the  distin- 
goiahing  characters  of  each,  and  outlines  of  the  systems  of 
Sanrages,  LinnsBos,  Vogel,  Sagar,  and  Macbride.  Translated 
from  the  Latin.  Edin.  1800,  8vo.  Since  that  time  there 
have  been  several  editions,  both  in  this  country,  and  on  the 
Continent  7th  ed.  Edm.  1802, 8vo.  Translated  into  Eng- 
lish.   Lond.  1799,  8vo.    Several  Abridgments. 

Institutions  of  Medicine,  a  treatise  on  Physiology  for  the 
use  of  Students.  1772, 12mo.  2d  ed.  1777,  8vo.  8d  ed. 
corrected.    Edin.  1786,  8vo.    Various  translations. 

Lectures  on  the  Materia  Medica ;  with  many  correcticms, 
from  the  collation  of  diHerent  manuscripts,  by  the  editors. 
Lond.  1772,  4to.  Published  without  the  Author's  consent  or 
knowledge;  from  Notes  taken  at  his  Lectures.  Reprinted 
with  large  additions  and  corrections,  and  the  Authoi^s  per- 
mission. Lond.  1773,  4to.  Of  this  woric  Dr.  C.  hunself 
gives  an  enhirged  and  corrected  edition.   Edin.  1789, 2  vols.  4to. 

Letter  to  Lord  Cathcart,  concerning  the  Recovery  of  Per- 
sons drowned,  and  seemingly  dead.    Edin.  1775,  8vo. 

First  lines  of  the  Practice  of  Physic ;  for  the  use  of  Stu- 
dents in  the  Univeraty  of  Edinburgh.  Edin.  1776-83,  4 
vols.  8vo.  2d  edit  Edin.  1784,  4  vols.  8vo.  In  English, 
1789,  2  vols.  4to.  A  new  edit  with  Notes  by  Dr.  Rother- 
ham.  Edin.  1796,  4  vols.  8vo.  Another  by  Dr.  P.  Reid, 
including  recent  improvements  and  discoveries.  Edin.  1802, 
2  vols.  8vo.  Reprinted  with  improvements.  1810.  Dr. 
Gregory  also  gives  a  correct  edition  of  this  work.  Various 
translations. 

Clinical  Lectures,  delivered  m  the  years  1765-6,  by  Wil- 
liam Cullen,  M.D.  taken  in  short  hand,  by  a  Gentleman  who 
attended.  Lond.  1797,  8vo.  By  John  Thomson.  Edin. 
1814,  8vo. 

Of  the  Cold  produced  by  Evaporating  Fluids ;  and  of  some 
other  means  of  producmg  Cold.  Ess.  Phys.  and  Lit  iL  p. 
145, 1756.  This  litUe  Tract  is  also  printed  with  one  of  Dr. 
Bhusk's. 

CULLEN,  Robert,  an  eminent  judge  under 
the  title  of  Lord  Cullen,  the  eldest  son  of  the  pre- 
ceding, studied  at  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
and  was  admitted  advocate,  15th  December  1764. 
His  practice  at  the  bar  was  extensive,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  considerable  legal  knowledge,  he  was 
distinguished  as  an  acute  and  logical  reasoner. 
He  was  a  contributor  to  the  Mirror  and  Lounger, 
and  the  various  essays  from  his  pen  in  these  pub- 
lications were  much  admired.    His  manners  were 


polished  and  agreeable,  and  he  was  one  of  the  few 
individuals  who  were  spoken  favourably  of  by  the 
Rev.  George  William  Auriol  Hay  Drumn  ond,  in 
his  *Town  Eclogue,'  (Edinburgh,  1804,  8vo,)  in 
which  he  is  styled  **  courteous  Cullen."  In  his 
youth  he  was  an  excellent  mimic,  and  some  amus- 
ing anecdotes  of  his  imitative  talents  are  given  in 
the  sketch  of  him  which  accompanies  his  portrait 
in  Kay*s  Edinburgh  Portraits.  On  the  death  of 
Lord  Alvah  in  1796,  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of 
session,  and  took  his  seat  by  the  title  of  Lord 
Cullen,  on  18th  November  of  that  year,  and  on 
29th  June  1799,  he  succeeded  Lord  Swiuton  as  a 
lord  of  justiciary.  He  died  at  Edinburgh  on  28th 
November  1810.  Late  in  life,  he  manied  a  ser- 
vant girl  of  the  name  of  Russell,  btit  by  her  had 
no  issue.  After  liis  lordship's  death,  she  married 
a  gentleman  of  property  in  the  West  Indies,  where 
she  died  in  1818. 

CuiCMiNO,  properly  Coxtn,  or  dk  Cumtit,  a  surname  de- 
rived originally  ^m  the  ancient  honse  of  de  Comines  in 
France.  Wyntonn  (who  wrote  about  1420)  absurdly  states 
that  the  first  of  the  name  of  Comyn  in  Scotland,  a  keeper  of 
the  royal  chamber,  acquired  his  deagnation  from  saying  to 
all  who  knocked  at  the  king's  door,  ^^Cum  in!*^  It  is  im- 
possible to  attribute  to  ignorance  alone  this  exquisite  blunder, 
as  the  antecedents  of  the  noble  family  were  too  familiar  to  be 
utterly  foigotten  in  that  age,  especially  by  the  prior  of  Loch- 
leven,  any  more  than  the  fact  that  French  had  been  the  ex- 
clusive language  of  the  court  and  nobles  of  Scotland  for  up* 
wards  of  two  centuries,  during  which  period  the  ftunily  heJd 
sway.  But  they  had  been  the  vanquished  party,  and  it  was 
the  fashion  of  Uiat  age  to  vUify  the  unfortunate.  This  inci- 
dent shows  how  little  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  our  earliest 
Scottish  historians,  especially  where  national  or  party  preju- 
dices are  concerned.  John  count  de  Comyn  in  Normandy, 
descended  from  Charlemagne,  on  being  appointed  governor 
of  the  chief  towns  in  that  duchy,  assumed  the  name  of  De 
Burgo.  His  eldest  son,  Hubert  de  Burgo,  married  Arlota, 
mother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  from  their  son  Bo- 
bert  the  noble  house  of  Clanricarde  in  Ireland,  and  all  the 
families  of  the  name  of  De  Burgh  or  Burke,  in  that  kingdom, 
are  said  to  derive  their  descent.  In  1068,  William  the  Con- 
queror, learning  of  an  invasion  on  the  part  of  the  Danes,  in 
conjunction  with  the  disaffected  EngUsh,  aided  by  Malcolm 
the  Fourtii  of  Scotland,  appointed  Robert  de  Comyn  governor 
of  Northumberland,  who  by  a  rising  of  the  natives  was  mas- 
sacred with  his  whole  garrison  at  Durham  shortly  after.  The 
earliest  mentioned  in  Scottish  annals  was  William  de  Comyn. 
He  had  been  educated  for  the  church  under  Ganfred,  bishop  of 
Durham,  sometime  chancellor  to  Heniy  the  First  of  England. 
He  held  the  lands  oi  Northallerton  and  others  in  England, 
and  firom  Prince  Henry,  the  son  of  King  David,  he  obtained 
a  grant  of  the  estate  of  Unton-Roderick  in  Bozbuigbshire, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  place  of  settlement  in 
North  Britain  of  the  powerful  family  of  the  Comyns.  In 
1183,  he  was,  by  David  the  First,  nominated  chancellor  of 
Scotland.    His  name  appears  as  such  in  some  of  the  char- 

3a 


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ten  ot*  that  uionardL  lu  1142,  he  msu*»d  on  ui«  bittuoprio  of 
Durham,  under  a  grant  from  the  empress  Mande,  bat  soon 
after  resigned  that  see,  reserving  only  certain  of  the  episcopal 
estates  for  behoof  of  his  nephew  and  heir,  Richard.  In  the 
reigns  of  Malcolm  the  Foorth  and  William  the  Lion,  the 
name  of  Richard  de  Comyn,  appears  among  the  witnesses  to 
some  of  the  charters  of  those  monarchs.  In  the  reign  of  the 
former,  he  was  a  man  of  great  power  and  authority  in  Scot- 
land, and  by  King  William  he  was  created  ** justiciar"  of 
Scotland,  as  only  what  is  now  the  northern  part  of  the  king- 
dom was  then  called.  He  married  Hexilda,  great-grand- 
daughter of  King  Duncan,  and  died  about  1190. 

His  son  William  was,  in  1200,  sent  as  envoy  by  William 
the  lion  to  congratulate  King  John  on  his  succeeding  to  the 
throne  of  England.  He  was  also  engaged  in  several  other 
embasues  to  the  English  court  He  was  sheriff  of  Forfar, 
and,  like  his  father,  also  held  the  office  of  justiciary  for  Soot- 
land,  and  various  grants  of  land  were  made  to  him.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  putting  down  a  rebellion  of  the  native 
tribes  under  Guthred,  of  the  family  of  Hetb,  otherwise  Mac- 
William,  who  had  landed  from  Ireland,  and  whom  he  put  to 
death.  Through  his  marriage,  in  1210,  with  Marjory,  count- 
ess of  Buchan  in  her  own  right,  he  became  earl  of  Buchan. 
This  was  his  second  marriage,  and  his  son  by  it,  Alexander 
Comyn,  succeeded  him  m  the  earldom,  on  his  death  in  1233, 
(see  earldom  of  Buchan,  onle,  p.  453).  By  his  first  wife  (a 
lady  whose  name  has  not  descended  to  us),  WiUiam  earl  of 
Buchan  had  two  sons,  Richard  and  Walter.  In  1230,  Walter, 
who  had  become  eari  of  Menteith  in  right  of  his  wife,  acquired 
the  extensive  lordship  of  Badenooh  by  a  grant  from  Alexan- 
der the  Second,  (see  Bademogh,  surname  of,  and  Menteith, 
earl  of,)  and  thus  became  the  founder  of  the  senior  branch  of 
the  Comyns.  He  possessed  large  estates  in  the  south  of  Scot- 
land, and  neariy  caused  a  war  between  Alexander  the  Second 
and  Henry  the  Third,  by  erecting  two  castles,  one  in  Hermitage 
in  Liddesdale  and  another  in  Galloway,  without  the  consent 
of  the  king  of  England,  to  whom  the  suzerain^  of  these  dis- 
tricts of  right  pertained.  As  he  died  without  leaving  heirs 
male  of  his  body,  all  his  possessions  went  to  the  descendants 
of  his  brother  Richard.  The  son  of  the  latter,  John  Comyn, 
who  was  tbe  first  of  the  name  known  as  the  **  Red  Comyn," 
acted  a  conspicuous  part  during  the  minority  of  Alexander 
the  Third.  He  was  jusUdary  of  Galloway,  and  joined  the 
other  barons  who  demanded  security  from  Henry  the  Thu^ 
of  England,  before  they  would  allow  his  daughter  the  young 
queen  of  SootUnd  to  go  to  London  for  her  aocouclKnnent. 
In  1264,  with  John  Baliol  and  Robert  de  Bruce,  he  led  a 
body  of  Soots  to  the  assistanoe  of  Henry  against  his  rebellious 
barons.  He  died  about  1274.  William,  his  eldest  son,  ap- 
pears to  have  married  his  cousin,  the  heiress  of  Menteith,  but 
left  no  issue.  John,  the  second  son,  known  as  the  "  Black 
Comyn,**  became  lord  of  Badenoch,  and  was  named  among 
the  magnates  of  Scotland  who  settled  the  Norwegian  marriage 
of  the  princess  Margaret  in  1281.  In  1286,  on  the  decease 
of  Alexander  the  Third,  he  was  chosen  by  a  parliament  which 
met  at  Soone,  one  of  the  six  guardians  or  regents  of  Scotland, 
during  the  minority  of  the  Maiden  of  Norway,  his  cousin,  the 
eari  of  Buchan,  being  also  one  of  them.  On  the  death  of  the 
mfant  queen,  the  '*  Black  Comyn  '*  became  one  of  the  original 
candidates  for  the  crown,  as  descended  firom  King  Duncan  by 
the  daughter  of  his  son  Donald-bane ;  and  at  the  meeting  of 
Edward  the  First  with  the  competitors  at  Holy  well-haugh, 
on  2d  June  1291,  he  readily  took  the  oaths  offered  to  him, 
acknowledging  Edward  as  feudal  superior  of  Scotland.  He 
afterwards,  with  the  other  competitors,  the  regents  of  the 
kingdom,  and  Hiany  other  barons,  swore  fealty  to  the  English 


king.  After  the  election  of  Baliol  to  the  vacant  thruue,  he 
seems  to  have  retired  fiom  public  life.  It  is  uncertain  when 
he  died,  but  he  was  alive  in  1299.  He  married  Marjory,  sis- 
ter of  King  John  BalioL  Their  son,  John,  also,  like  his 
grandfather,  styled  the  '*  Red  Comyn,**  possessed  the  same 
right  to  the  Scottish  throne  which  was  vested  in  Balid  him- 
self, had  the  latter  died  without  issue.  He  adhered  to  the 
English  interest  as  long  as  Edward  supported  his  kin-smen 
the  Baliols,  but  when  his  insulting  treatment  of  John  Baliol 
drove  the  Scots  nobles  to  arms,  he  joined  the  army  which,  in 
1296,  under  the  leadership  of  the  earl  of  Buchan,  inv«ied 
England,  and  carried  fire  and  sword  through  the  county  of 
Cumberland.  Soon  after  he  was  among  the  Scots  nobles  and 
knights  who,  with  a  strong  force  of  followers,  were  admitted 
into  the  castle  of  Dunbar  by  the  countess  of  March,  (Maijory 
Comyn,  daughter  of  Alexander,  eari  of  Buchan,)  and  held  in 
check  the  large  army  which  Edward  despatched  under  War- 
rene,  eari  of  Surrey.  After  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  April  28, 
1296,  the  castle  snrrendo^  to  Edward  himself.  On  this 
occasion  Comyn  was  taken  prisoner  but  was  soon  released. 
After  the  dgnal  defeat  of  the  English  by  Wallace  at  the 
bridge  of  Stirling,  on  11th  September  1297,  Comyn  joined 
the  patriot  army,  and  at  the  battle  of  FaUdrk,  July  22,  1298, 
he  commanded  the  cavalry,  but  scarcely  had  the  battle  begun 
when  the  whole  body  under  his  command  turned  their  hones' 
heads,  and  shamelessly  fled  finom  the  field.  He  afterwards 
threatened  to  impeach  Wallace  for  treason  for  his  conduct 
during  the  war,  and  that  hero  in  consequence  voluntarily  re- 
signed the  office  of  governor  of  ScotUnd,  on  which  Comyn 
and  John  de  Soulis  were  chosen  regents,  and  after  some  time 
Bruce  earl  of  Carrick  and  Lamberton  bishop  of  St.  Andrews 
were  associated  with  them  in  the  government.  In  1300, 
when  Edward  again  invaded  Scotland,  the  eari  of  Bndian  and 
John  Comyn  of  Badenoch  had  an  interview  with  that  mon- 
arch, when  they  demanded  that  Baliol  their  lawful  king 
should  be  permitted  peaceably  to  rogn  over  them,  and  that 
their  estates,  which  had  been  unjustly  bestowed  upon  the 
English  nobles,  should  be  restored.  Edward  treated  these 
propositions  with  an  unceremonious  refusal ;  and,  after  dedar- 
ing  that  they  would  defend  themselves  to  the  uttermost,  the 
king  and  the  Scottish  barons  parted  in  wrath.  In  1302  he 
joined  forces  with  Sir  Simon  Eraser  of  Tweeddale,  and  on  the 
muir  of  Roslin  defeated  the  English  in  three  battles  in  one 
day,  the  25th  February  1803.  The  Eng^h  came  up  m  three 
divisions,  one  after  the  other,  each  exceeding  the  Scots  in 
number,  and  they  were  snccesavely  defeated  as  they  advanced ; 
the  first  under  Sir  John  de  Segrave,  the  English  governor  of 
Scotland ;  the  second  led  by  Sir  Ralph  de  Manton,  styled 
Ralph  the  Coffiorer  from  his  office  as  clerk  of  Edward's  ward- 
robe; and  the  third  headed  by  Sir  Robert  de  Nevilk.  After 
that  threefold  victory  he  continued  at  the  head  of  the  patri- 
ots, with  Sir  Sunon  Eraser  and  Sir  William  Wallace,  through- 
out the  unequal  and  terrible  struggle  that  ensued,  thus  nobly 
redeeming  hb  character,  which  had  been  tarnished  by  his 
fiying  finom  the  brunt  of  battle  at  Falkirk.  Scotland  having 
been  again  overrun  by  a  firesh  army  under  Edward  in  person, 
Comyn,  WaUace,  and  Eraser,  unable  to  make  head  against 
him,  were  driven  into  the  wilds  and  fastnesses,  where  thev 
still  carried  on  a  sort  of  guerilla  war  against  the  convoys  <rf 
the  EnglisL    Langtoft,  the  English  historian,  thus  writes: 

**  The  lord  of  Badenauh,  FreseOe,  and  Walals, 
Lived  at  thieves'  Uw,  ever  robbing  alle  wayes.** 

Edward  is  said  at  this  time  to  have  penetrated  as  fw  north 
as  Cromdale,  and  to  have  staid  some  time  in  the  castle  o( 
Lochindorb,  then  the  chief  stronghold  of  the  Comyns    Stii^ 


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ling  custle  was  almost  the  only  fortress  which  remained  in 
the  hands  of  the  Scots,  and  the  regent  Corayn,  with  the  view 
of  preventing  a  siege,  attempted  to  defend  the  passage  of  the 
Forth  against  Edward,  bat  his  small  force  was  routed  and 
dispersed  by  the  English ;  and  on  9th  Febmary  1304,  the 
earls  of  Pembroke  and  Ulster,  with  Sir  Heniy  Percy,  met 
Comyn  at  Strathurd  (probably  now  Struthers)  in  Fife,  and  a 
negotiation  took  place,  in  which  the  late  regent  and  his  fol- 
lowers, after  stipulating  for  the  preservation  of  their  lives, 
liberties,  and  lands,  delivered  themselves  up,  and  agreed  to 
the  infliction  of  any  pecuniary  fine  which  the  conqueror 
should  impose.  From  this  negotiation  Wallace  and  some 
others  were  specially  excepted.  Comyn*s  conduct  in  the  sub- 
sequent revolution  which  seated  his  great  rival  Robert  the 
Bruce  on  the  throne,  has  already  been  referred  to  (see  art. 
Bruce,  or  dk  Brus,  ante^  pp.  413,  414).  It  was  he  who 
was  stabbed  by  Bruce  before  the  high  altar  of  the  church  of 
the  Minorite  Friars  at  Dumfries,  and  slain,  with  his  uncle  Sir 
Robert  Comyn,  by  Bmce's  attendants,  Lindsay  and  Kirkpa- 
trick,  on  the  4th  of  February  1305-6.  Besides  his  daim  to 
the  crown  of  Scotland,  he  was  also  allied  by  blood  to  the 
royal  family  of  England,  having  married  Joan,  sister  and  co- 
heir of  Aymer  de  Valence,  earl  of  Pembroke,  whose  father 
was  uterine  brother  of  Henry  the  Third. 

John,  his  only  son,  died  in  1325,  without  issue,  and  with 
him  terminated  the  male  Hne  of  the  principal  family.  He 
had  two  sisters;  one  of  whom,  Joan,  married  the  eari  of 
Athol  of  the  time,  who  obtained  with  her  some  small  share  of 
the  vast  domains  of  the  once  powerful  family  of  the  Gomyns 
of  Badenoch,  but  having  revolted  against  Bruce,  his  estates 
were  forfeited.  The  power  of  the  Comyns  was  eflectually 
broken  after  the  battle  of  Inverury,  22d  May  1308,  in  which 
King  Robert  the  Bruce,  although  very  ill  at  the  time,  took 
the  field  in  person  against  the  third  earl  of  Buchan  of  the 
Comyn  family,  and  defeated  him  and  his  followers  with  great 
slaughter.  The  name  afterwards  sunk  into  an  obscurity  from 
which  it  did  not  emerge  for  centuries. 

Mr.  Carrick,  in  his  *  Life  of  Wallace,*  says  that  **  while  the 
Scots  in  the  low  country  cried  out  against  the  *  fause  Cum- 
yn*s  kyn,*  their  vassals  in  Badenoch  and  Lochaber  re-echoed 
the  chai^,  till  the  very  name  became  cognominal  with  de- 
ceit ;**  so  much  so  that,  in  those  parts  of  the  Highlands  where 
their  influence  extended,  there  was  a  Gaelic  proverb,  the  Eng- 
lish of  which  was,  that  **  while  there  are  trees  in  a  wood, 
there  will  be  deceit  in  a  Cumyn.** 

Seldom  have  the  claims  of  Celtic  traditionists  been  less 
happy  than  is  that  adopted  by  Logan  (Clans^  vol.  ii.  art  Clarm 
Chuimem)^  to  establish  the  existence  of  an  extensive  and 
powerful  native  clan  Gumming  in  Badenoch,  at  a  period  be- 
fore the  reach  of  other  record.  The  attempt  rests  on  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  second  abbot  of  loolmkill  was  named 
Cumine  anno  597,  and  that  the  sixth  abbot  (living  in  657) 
was  Comineus  Albus,  as  well  as  that  the  name  Gumming 
occurs  in  local  topography,  and  in  one  instance  in  connec- 
tion with  the  prefix  Kil  or  Gil  so  frequent  in  Scotch  and 
Irish  topography,  viz.,  Killie-Cumming  {KU-Chndmem)^  the 
original  name  of  Fort  Augustus  in  Inverness -shire.  This 
ecclesiastical  word,  (which  however  Logan  and  others  assum- 
ing to  be  Celtic  translate  variously  as  a  druidical  circle,  a 
grave,  6cc,)  is  from  the  Latin  celk^  a  cell,  and  exactly 
describes  those  edifices  which,  up  to  a  later  age  than  mo- 
dems are  prepared  to  believe,  served  as  places  of  devotion 
for  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  country,  which  Henry  of 
Huntingdon  describes  as  **  not  built  of  stone  but  of  wood, 
and  covered  with  reeds  as  is  the  custom  in  Scotland,**  and 
which  under  the  same  name  are  referred  to  by  him  as  con- 


structed even  in  his  age  in  remote  parts  of  England.  They 
are  not  univereally  dedicated  to  saints,  as  has  been  supposed, 
but  are  frequently  called  after  parties  by  whom  they  were 
erected  or  supported,  and  when  Uie  local  topography  of  Bri- 
tain shall  have  been  better  understood  will  be  found  to  have 
as  many  Norman  and  Saxon  terminations  and  compounds 
and  founders  as  early  British  or  Celtic.  Kellet,  the  litHe  celi^ 
two  localities  in  Bolton  le  Sands,  Lancashire ;  Kelling  {Kel- 
UnoCy,  another  Romanesque  diminutive  having  the  same  mean- 
ing, a  parish  in  Norfolk,  are  examples  under  the  variety  Kd; 
and  Kilgrant,  the  cell  of  Grant,  or  Powerstown,  in  Tipperaiy; 
Kildalkey,  the  cell  De  la  key  or  of  the  rock,  m  Meath ;  Kil- 
barry,  the  cell  of  Barri  or  De  Barri  in  Waterford;  and  among 
others  lUloonquhar,  the  cell  with  the  quhair  or  chour,  in  Fife, 
under  its  more  frequent  form  of  KiL  It  is  therefore  most 
natural  that  a  similar  rude  edifice,  constructed  for  devotion 
amongst  their  dependents  in  Badenoch  by  one  of  the  Norman 
conquerors  of  that  name,  should  be  called  after  him  Kil 
Cuimein  or  Killie-Cumming.  The  assumption  of  the  badge  of 
the  cvmin  plant  for  the  supposed  dan,  a  plant  that  is  only 
found  in  the  region  of  Egypt,  but  which  happens  to  be  named 
in  the  Old  Testament,  is  scarcely  correct.  It  is  rather  the 
conmion  sallow,  a  species  of  willow,  that  the  Gummings  have 
adopted  as  their  dan  badge,  although  Logan  calls  it  the 
cumin  plant. 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third,  as  stated  by  Fordnn, 
there  were  of  the  name  in  Scotland,  three  earls,  Buchan, 
Menteith,  and  Athol,  and  one  great  feudal  baron,  Comyn 
lord  of  Strathbogie,  with  thirty  knights  all  possessing  lands. 
The  chief  of  the  dan  was  lord  of  Badenoch  and  Lochaber, 
and  other  extensive  districts  in  the  Highlands.  Upwards  of 
sixty  belted  knights  were  bound  to  follow  his  banner  with  all 
their  vassals,  and  he  made  treaties  with  princes  as  a  prince 
himself.  One  such  compact  with  Lewellyn  of  Wales  is  pi^ 
served  in  RymePs  Foedera. 

The  Gummings,  as  the  name  is  now  spelled,  are  numerous 
in  the  counties  of  Aberdeen,  Banfl^  and  Moray ;  but  a  con- 
siderable number  changed  theur  names  to  Farquharson,  as 
being  descended  from  Ferquhard,  second  son  of  Alexander 
the  fourth  designed  of  Altyre,  who  lived  in  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  in  consequence  of  being  prevented,  for  some 
reason,  from  burying  their  relatives  in  the  family  burial-place. 
It  is  from  them  that  the  Farquharsons  of  Balthog,  Haughton, 
and  others  in  the  county  of  Aberdeen  derive  their  descent 


From  Sur  Robert  Comyu,  younger  son  of  John  lord  of  Bade- 
noch, who,  (as  ahready  mentioned,)  died  about  1274,  are  de- 
scended the  Cmnmings  of  Altyre,  Logic,  Anehiy,  (one  of 
whom  in  1760  founded  the  village  of  Guminestown  in  Aber- 
deenshire,) Rdugas,  &C.  His  son,  Thomas  Gumming,  was, 
by  an  act  of  pariiament  held  at  Perth  in  1820,  excepted  out 
of  the  forfeiture  of  the  Gummings,  from  which  it  would  seem 
that  he  was  never  engaged  in  the  Ballol  interest  His  ddest 
son.  Sir  Richard  Gumming,  was  in  high  favour  with  David 
the  Second,  by  whom  he  was,  in  1868,  sent  on  an  embassy  to 
the  court  of  England  to  negotiate  affairs  of  state,  for  which 
he  got  a  safe  conduct  from  King  Edward  the  Third.  He  re- 
ceived two  charters  from  Kmg  David,  the  one  dated  6th  Jan- 
uary 1368,  and  the  other  15th  December  1870.  By  the  for- 
mer he  got  the  lands  of  Devally,  with  the  office  of  forester  of 
the  forest  of  Temway  (Damaway)  in  the  county  of  Moray, 
&C.,  where  he  seems  to  have  resided ;  but  in  1871,  at  a  court 
held  at  Perth,  by  Robert  the  Second,  he  resigned  ^e  castle  of 
Damaway  to  Thomas,  son  of  John  the  Grant,  whose  daugh- 
ter he  had  married,  for  their  faithfbl  and  praiseworthy  service 
to  Thomas  Randolph,  earl  of  Moray,  regent  of  Sootkmd,  dur- 


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ing  the  minori^  of  David  the  Seoondf  and  Thomas  and  John, 
bifl  sons.  Sir  Richard's  second  son,  Duncan  Camming  of 
Lochtenrandich,  was  progenitor  of  the  Cummings  of  Anchry, 
one  of  whom,  WilUam  Cnmming,  the  first  who  possessed  that 
estate,  bom  in  1634  (and  eighth  from  Donoan),  bequeathed, 
on  12th  October  1693,  some  lands  near  Elgin,  for  the  snpport 
of  four  decayed  merchants  of  that  town,  who  are  called 
'*  Cnmming's  Beidmen."  He  also  built  the  church  of  Mon- 
quhitter. 

Ferquhard  Cnmming,  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Richard,  was  the 
first  of  the  family  designed  by  the  title  of  Altyre.  Sir  Thomas 
Cnmming  of  Altyre,  the  eldest  s6n  of  Ferquhard,  obtained  in 
1419,  a  warrant  from  the  crown  to  build  the  castles  and  for- 
talioes  of  DoUas  and  Eamside.  His  eldest  son,  James,  died 
without  issue,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  second  son,  Alexan- 
der, who  died  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Third.  John,  the 
third  son,  was  progenitor  of  the  Cummings  of  Eamside.  He 
had  also  a  daughter,  Jane,  called  for  her  beauty,  "  the  fair 
maid  of  Murray,"  the  fourth  wife  of  the  first  earl  of  Huntly. 

Alexander's  eldest  son,  Sir  Thomas  Cumnung  of  Altyre, 
by  his  prudent  management,  in  1470,  compromised  and  ad- 
justed all  the  di£fiarences  which  for  some  time  had  subsisted 
between  his  family  and  the  town  of  Forres,  oonceming  the 
mosses  of  Blair  and  Kirktown  of  Altyre.  His  son,  Alexander 
Cnmming  of  Altyre,  when  a  young  man,  was,  in  1602,  cho- 
sen one  of  the  arbiters  for  settling  some  differences  between 
Andrew  bishop  of  Moray  and  Hugh  Rose  of  Kih^vock. 
On  24th  July  1548  Alexander  Cnmming  of  Altyre  became 
cautioner  for  John  and  Hugh  Cumming  his  son  and  brother, 
and  ten  others,  to  xmderly  the  law  for  cutting  and  slaying 
with  their  swords  eleven  oxen  and  cows  belonging  to  Alexan- 
der Urquhart  of  Burrisyards,  and  for  casting  down  and  de- 
stroying two  houses  built  on  his  lands,  and  for  other  acts  of 
oppresnon  committed  by  thenu  He  had  also  a  feud  with  the 
laird  of  Brodie ;  as  we  find  that  on  November  14,  1550,  Al- 
exander Brodie  of  that  ilk,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
others,  were  denounced  rebels  and  put  to  the  bora,  for  not 
standing  their  trial  for  attacking  Alexander  Cumming  of 
Altyre  and  his  servants  between  his  place  of  Altyre  and  the 
lands  of  Balnafeny,  for  their  slaughter,  and  putting  them  to 
flight  in  great  numbers  on  horse  and  foot,  and  for  the  crael 
mutilation  of  one  of  them,  a  servant  of  Cnmming.  On  the 
26th  June  of  the  same  year  he  had  obtained  a  decreet  of 
exemption  for  himself,  his  Idnsmen,  dan,  and  friends  from 
attending  the  sheriff  court  of  Moray.  His  grandson,  Alexan- 
der, (eldest  son,  and  apparent  heir  of  Thomas  Cumming  of 
Altyre,)  a  man  of  great  bravery  and  resolutdon,  joined  his 
cousin  the  earl  of  Huntly,  in  the  rdgn  of  King  James  the 
Sixth,  and  had  the  oonunand  of  a  troop  of  horse  at  the  battle 
of  Glenlivet,  where  the  king's  troops  under  the  command  of 
the  earl  of  Aigyle  were  defeated,  3d  October,  1594. 

In  1627  Robert  Cumming  of  Altyre  gave  his  bond  to  the 
ooandl  of  Scotland  for  the  peace  of  the  Highlands.  His  sec- 
ond son  John,  was  direct  ancestor  of  the  Cummings  of  Lo- 
gic. In  1657,  his  eldest  son,  Robert  Cumming  of  Altyre,  took 
for  his  second  wife,  Lucy,  daughter  of  Sir  Ludovick  Gordon 
of  Gordonstown,  baronet,  and  was  great-great-grandfather 
of  Alexander  Cumming,  Esq.  of  Altyre,  who  entered  the 
army  early,  was  in  the  expedition  to  Carthagena  in  1741, 
and  reoeived  promotion  for  his  gallantry  in  the  attempt  to 
storm  the  Boccachicca  fort.  By  Grace  Pearoe,  niece  and 
sole  heiress  of  John  Penrose,  Esq.  of  Penrose,  in  the  county 
of  Cornwall,  he  had  six  sons  and  three  daughters.  His 
eldest  son,  Alexander  Penrose  Cunming  of  Altyre,  being 
heir  and  representative  of  the  last  Sk  William  Gordon  of  Gor- 
donstown, bart,  who  died  in  1795,  in  obedience  to  the  last  will 


of  that  gentleman,  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Gordon  of 
Gordonstown,  and  was  created  a  baronet,  2l8t  May,  1804. 
Early  in  life  Sir  Alexander  had  entered  the  army  as  an  officer 
in  the  13th  regiment.  He  was  subsequently  lieut^iant- 
colonel  of  the  Strathspey  Fencibles,  and  received  the  thanks 
of  the  commander-in-chief  for  suppressing  a  mutiny  at  Dnm- 
fries  in  1794.  He  was  M.P.  for  the  Inverness  district  of 
burghs,  and  died  10th  February  1806.  He  had  married,  in 
1773,  Helen,  daughter  of  Sir  Ludovic  Grant  of  Grant,  baro- 
net, and  had  four  sons  and  nine  daughters.  His  eldest  son, 
George,  of  the  Hon.  East  India  Company's  service,  died  un- 
married, in  1800.  The  second  son.  Sir  William  Gordon- 
Cumming,  the  second  baronet,  bora  20th  July  1787,  sat  in 
parliament  for  the  Elgin  burghs  at  the  period  of  the  pass- 
ing of  the  Reform  Bill.  He  died  23d  December  1854.  Ho 
married,  first,  in  1815,  the  eldest  daughter  of  John  Campbell, 
Esq.,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and  five  daughters.  His 
first  wife  having  died  in  1842,  he  married,  2dly,  the  2d  daugh- 
ter of  Mackintosh  of  Geddes,  and  had  one  daughter  by  her. 
His  eldest  son.  Sir  Alexandw  Penrose  Gordon-Cnmming,  bom 
17th  August  1816,  a  captam  4th  light  dragoons,  and  71st 
light  infantry,  became  third  baronet;  married  the  only  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Augustus  Campbell,  rector  of  Liverpool ;  issue, 
two  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  is  head  and  representative 
of  the  ancient  family  of  the  Comyns  so  celebrated  in  Scottish 
history ;  heir  general  to  the  Penrose  family  of  Cornwall,  and 
inherits,  through  female  descent,  the  estate  of  the  Gordons, 
premier  baronets  of  Nova  Scotia  (baronetage  now  extinct. 
The  second  son,  Roualeyn  George  Gordon-Curaming,  bora 
March  15,  1820,  when  a  young  man  was  an  officer  in  the 
Madras  cavalry  and  afterwards  in  the  Cape  mounted  rifles. 
An  enterprising  traveller  and  lion-hunter  in  the  interior  of 
South  Africa,  he  published  a  work  entitled  *  Five  Tears'  Ad- 
ventures in  the  far  interior  of  South  Africa,'  with  numerous 
illustrations,  2  vols,  post  8vo.  1850.  He  made  himself 
known  also  by  an  exhibition  of  hunting  trophies,  native 
arms  and  costume,  one  of  the  most  unique  of  its  kind. 

The  name  Roualeyn  appears  to  have  been  taken  horn  an 
ancient  possesion  of  the  family  of  that  name  in  ^e  district 
of  Cunningham,  Ayrshire,  afterwards  belonging  to  the  Mures, 
and  now  called  Rowallan.  In  Anderson^s  *  Diplomata  Sootis' 
is  an  acquittance  of  Walter  Cumin,  dominus  de  Roualeyn,  to 
Richard  de  Boyle  of  Calbume  (now  Kelburae),  ancestor  of 
the  earls  of  Glasgow,  of  forty  shillings  annually  paid  out  of 
the  lands  of  Malderland  in  that  barony. 

Sir  William*s  younger  brother,  Charies  James  Cumming, 
having  married  Mary  Brace  of  Kinnaird,  granddaughter  of 
the  Abyssinian  traveller,  (with  issue,  Mary  Elizabeth,  count- 
ess of  Elgin,  who  died  in  1843,)  assumed  the  name  of  Cum- 
ming Brace,  and  is  designated  of  Rosseisle  and  Eiimaird. 
One  of  his  sisters,  Helen,  numried  Sir  Archibald  Dunbar, 
baronet  of  Northfield,  and  another,  Louisa,  John  Hay  Forbes, 
Esq.,  a  lord  of  session,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Medwyn,  re- 
signed in  1852. 


A  branch  of  the  Cummings  of  some  oonaderation  in  its 
time,  was  the  family  of  Culter,  the  first  of  whidi,  Jardine 
Cumyn,  was  second  son  of  William  Cumyn  earl  of  Buchan, 
who  received  from  his  father  in  1270  the  lands  of  Inveralloch 
in  Buchan.  Alexander  Cumyn,  the  fourteenth  of  this  family, 
was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1672.  The  second 
baronet  was  a  very  eccentric  personage,  and  a  memoir  of  him 
foUows.  The  titie  became  extinct  on  the  death  of  the  third 
baronet,  bom  in  1737,  towards  the  end  of  last  century.  James 
Cumming  of  Culter  was  one  of  the  asaze  on  the  cel^yrated 
trial  of  the  master  of  Forbes  in  1537,  for  treasonable  coospi- 


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racy  against  the  king's  life  and  for  plotting  the  deetniction  of 
the  Scots  army  at  Jedburgh ;  and  Mr.  Archibald  Cumming, 
fiar  of  Colter,  was  ^so  one  of  the  assize  on  the  trial  of  Ham- 
ilton of  BothwellhaQgh  in  1580,  for  the  mmrder  of  the  regent 
Moray. 


In  the  list  of  the  grand  jury  of  Elgin  and  Forres,  of  date 
1556,  we  find  the  names  of  Alexander  Gnmming  of  Eanunde 
and  William  Camming  without  any  designation. 

On  Jane  11,  1596,  "  Ane  callit  Cuming  the  Muncke  was 
hangitfor  making  of  fake  wrettis,"  [jBwtcZT*  Diart/J] 

In  the  Bagman  Roll  occurs  the  name  of  Williehnos  Cumine 
of  Kilbride,  Lanarkshire,  as  having  sworn  fealty  to  £dward 
the  First.  His  son,  John  Camine,  was  forfeited  for  adhering 
to  the  English. 

A  celebrated  modem  bearer  of  the  name  is  the  ReY.  John 
Camming,  D.D.,  bom  in  Aberdeen  Nov.  10, 1810,  and  ordain- 
ed in  1882  minister  of  the  Scotch  church.  Crown  Court,  Lon- 
don, who  has  distinguished  himself  by  his  able  championship 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  and  by  his  nomerous 
theological  writings. 

The  first  of  the  family  styled  of  Relugas,  in  the  county  of 
Moray,  was  James  Camming,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  James 
the  Sixth.  He  was  the  son  of  William  Cumming  of  Presley, 
head  of  a  tribe  of  the  Cumming  clan  in  the  same  county,  and 
his  youngest  son,  George  Cumming,  was  an  officer  of  rank  in 
the  army  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  His  eldest  son,  John  Cum- 
ming of  Relugas,  had,  with  four  daughters,  seven  sons.  James 
Cumming,  the  eldest,  married  Jean,  daughter  of  Robert  Cum- 
ming of  Altyre,  and  had  two  sons,  Robert,  his  heir,  and  John, 
a  physician  in  Irvine,  father  of  another  John,  who,  being  also 
educated  for  the  medical  profession,  succeeded  him  in  his 
practice  in  that  town.  William  Cumming,  the  second  of  the 
seven  sons  of  the  second  lau-d,  was  professor  of  philosophy  in 
the  university  of  Edinburgh.  John,  the  third  son,  was  min- 
ister of  Auldearn,  and  dean  of  Moray.  The  eldest  son  of  the 
latter,  also  named  John  Cumming,  a  doctor  of  divinity,  was 
in  1695  appointed  regiua  professor  of  divinity  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal history  in  the  university  of  Edinbui*gh.  His  appointment 
created  considerable  excitement  at  the  time,  as  it  was  the 
first  regiu8  professorship  that  had  been  founded  in  any  of  the 
Scottish  universities,  and  no  professor  had  ever  been  admitted 
a  member  of  the  aenaius  aoademicus  of  Edinbuigh  college, 
without  being  nominated  by  the  town  council,  the  patrons  of 
the  university.  On  this  occasion,  however,  the  chair  of  ec- 
clesiastical history  had  been  instituted  by  the  government 
without  consulting  the  council  as  to  the  propriety  or  expe- 
diency of  the  measure,  and  they  naturally  felt  that  their 
rights  had  been  encroached  upon  in  the  matter.  The  other 
professors  Vecognised  at  once  the  validity  of  his  appointment ; 
but  the  town  council  was  not  so  easily  satisfied.  He  does 
not  appear  to  have  qualified  before  the  magistrates  till  the 
10th  of  November  1702,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  town  coun- 
cil held  on  the  15th  Februaiy  1703,  at  which  a  visitation  of 
the  college  was  resolved  upon,  the  lord  provost  acquainted 
the  council  that  '^  Mr.  Camming  was  come  into  the  college  as 
a  master  of  some  profession,  and  that  it  was  fit  to  see  his 
gift,  (or  commission,)  and  know  his  profession,  that  the  coun- 
cil may  give  rules  and  directions  thereanent."  The  council 
accordingly  ordained  Mr.  Cumming  to  give  in  his  commission 
to  the  clerk  to  that  eSeci,  This  requisition  not  being  com- 
plied with,  the  saUries  of  the  professors  were  ordered  to  be 
stopped,  till  they  produced  their  acts  of  admission.  **  This,** 
says  Mr.  Bower,  "  could  only  be  designed  as  a  check  upon  the 
manner  in  which  the  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  had 


been  admitted ;  and  they  calculated  that  they  could  thos  in- 
directiy  obtain  the  information  they  required."  But  after 
several  ineffectual  efforts  to  compel  him  to  produce  his  com- 
mission, the  matter  was  compromised.  This  professor  oonti- 
uaes  to  be  appointed  by  the  crown,  and  although  like  other 
regiut  professors,  he  is  introduced  to  the  senatui  acadmnicua 
by  the  coll^  bailie,  it  is  under  protest.  [^Bower's  History 
of  UniversiUf  ofEdmbwgh^  vol.  ii  pp.  25  and  319.] 

Patrick,  the  sixth  son  of  John  Cumming,  second  laird  of 
Relugas,  above  mentioned,  was  minister  of  Ormiston ;  and 
Duncan  Cumming,  the  seventh  and  youngest  son,  was  physi- 
cian to  King  William  of  Orange  at  the  battie  of  the  Boyne. 
This  may  explain  the  interest  which  his  nephew,  Dr.  John 
Cumming,  had  in  obtaining  the  institution  of  a  new  chair  in 
the  university  of  Edinburgh  in  his  favour. 

Robert  Cumming,  the  fourth  of  Relugas,  and  fifth  from 
William  of  Presley,  had  a  son,  Patrick  Cumming  of  Relugas, 
D.D.,  who,  like  his  father^s  cousin,  was  reffius  professor  of 
divinity  and  ecclesiastical  history  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, to  which  chair  he  was  appointed,  December  7,  1737, 
on  the  death  of  professor  Crawford.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
ministers  of  Edinburgh.  He  gave  lectures  in  the  university 
upon  Jo.  Alphonti  Turretim  Compendium  HistoricB  EccUsi- 
asUcm.  He  was  a  man  of  very  extensive  critical  knowledge, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  business  of  the  General 
Assembly,  of  which  he  was  three  times  moderator.  As  a 
preacher  he  is  represented  as  being  equalled  by  few  *^in  an 
easy,  fluent,  neat,  and  elegant  style."  Of  his  two  published 
sermons  one  was  preached  on  the  occasion  of  a  fast  appointed 
by  the  king  for  the  Rebellion  of  1745.  He  married  Jane, 
eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  David  Lauder,  third  son  of  Sir  John 
Lauder  of  Foontainhall,  baronet,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons 
and  a  daughter.  He  re«gned  his  professorship,  on  18th  June 
1762,  in  favour  of  his  eldest  son,  Robert,  also  a  clergyman, 
who  never  delivered  any  lectures  in  the  college.  On  his  death, 
in  1788,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  chair  by  Dr.  Thomas  Hardie, 
one  of  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh.  Patrick  Cumming,  a 
younger  brother  of  Robert,  was  professor  of  the  oriental  b&n- 
guages  in  the  university  of  Glasgow. 

CUMMING,  or  COMYN,  Sir  Alexander, 
Baronet,  an  entbosiast  of  great  bat  misapplied 
talents,  the  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Camming  of, 
Colter,  who  was  created  a  baronet  in  1672,  was 
bom  aboat  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centary. 
It  appears  by  his  Joamal,  which  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  late  Isaac  Beed,  Esq.,  that  he  was 
bred  to  the  law  in  Scotland,  bat  was  indaced  to 
qait  that  profession  by  a  pension  of  three  hundred 
pounds  a-year  being  assigned  to  him  by  govern- 
ment, which  was  withdi-awn  in  1721.  In  1729,  in 
consequence  of  a  dream  of  Lady  Camming,  (Anna, 
daughter  of  Lancelot  Whitehall,  a  gentleman  be- 
longing to  a  family  of  that  name  in  Shropshire, 
commissioner  of  the  customs  for  Scotland,)  he 
undertook  a  voyage  to  America  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  Cherokee  nations;  and  on  the  3d  of 
April  1730,  in  a  general  meeting  of  chiefs  at 
Nequisee  among  the  mountains,  he  was  crowned 


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GUMMING. 


742 


CUNNINGHAM. 


commander  and  chief  ruler  of  the  Chcrokees.  He 
returned  to  Charlestown,  April  13,  with  six 
Indian  chiefs,  and  on  June  5  aiiived  at  Dover. 
On  the  18tb  he  presented  the  Indians  to  George 
the  Second  at  Windsor,  when  he  laid  his  crown  at 
his  majesty^s  feet;  on  which  occasion  the  chiefs 
also  did  homage.  In  consequence  of  the  feelings 
of  dissatisfaction  which  Sir  Alexander  found  to 
prevail  in  America,  he  formed  the  design  of  esta- 
blishing banks  in  each  of  the  provinces  dependent 
on  the  British  exchequer,  and  accountable  to  the 
British  parliament,  as  the  only  means  of  securing 
the  dependency  of  the  colonics.  In  1748  he  laid 
his  plans  before  Mr.  Pelham,  the  Minister,  who 
treated  him  as  a  visionary  enthusiast.  He  con- 
nected this  scheme  with  the  restoration  of  the 
Jews,  for  which  he  supposed  the  time  appointed 
to  be  arrived,  and  that  he  himself  was  alluded  to 
in  various  passages  of  Scripture  as  their  deliverer. 
Finding  that  the  Minister  would  not  listen  to  his 
projects,  he  proposed  to  open  a  subscription  him- 
self for  five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  provincial  banks  in  America, 
and  settling  three  hundred  thousand  Jewish  fami- 
lies among  the  Cherokee  mountains.  He  next 
tunied  his  thoughts  to  alchemy,  and  began  to  try 
experiments  on  the  transmutation  of  metals.  Be- 
ing deeply  involved  in  debt,  he  was  indebted  for 
support  chiefly  to  the  contributions  of  his  friends. 
In  1766,  Archbishop  Seeker  appointed  him  a  pen- 
sioner in  the  Charter-house,  London,  where  he 
died  at  an  advanced  age  in  August  1775,  and  was 
interred  at  East  Bamet,  where  Lady  Cumming 
had  been  buried  in  1743.  His  son,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded him  in  his  title,  was  a  captain  in  the  army, 
but  became  deranged  in  his  intellects,  and  died  in 
indigence.  At  his  death  the  title  became  extinct. 
CUMMING,  William,  a  learned  physician,  the 
son  of  Mr.  James  Cumming,  mei-chant  in  Edin- 
burgh, was  bom  September  30, 1716.  He  studied 
medicine  for  four  years  in  the  university  of  his  na- 
tive city ;  and  in  1735  spent  nine  months  at  Paris, 
improving  himself  in  anatomy.  In  1738  he  quit- 
ted Edinburgh,  and  ultimately  settled  at  Dorches- 
ter, where  his  practice  became  very  extensive. 
To  Mr.  Hutchins'  History  of  Dorsetshii-e  he  ren- 
dered the  most  useful  assistance.  In  1752  he 
received  a  diploma  from  the  university  of  Edin- 


burgh ;  and  was  soon  after  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians  there.  In  1769  he 
was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries 
of  London,  and  in  1781,  of  that  of  Scotland.  He 
died  of  a  dropsy,  March  25,  1788,  in  the  seventy- 
fourth  year  of  his  age. 

CuNMiNOHAM,  a  stumame  derived  from  the  northern  dis- 
trict of  Ayrshire,  ancientlj  written  Konigham  (Teutonic),  sig- 
nifying regiuM  domiclUwn^  or  the  king's  bouse  or  halntation. 
The  name,  although  a  common  one  in  ScotUmd,  is  not  so 
prevalent  in  the  district  whence  it  originally  sprung,  (as  is 
now,  indeed^  the  case  pretty  generally  witJi  many  of  the 
names  of  the  more  ancient  families  of  local  origin),  there  hav- 
ing been  in  1852,  in  the  whole  forty-az  parishes  of  the  county 
of  Ayr,  only  forty-two  persons  bearing  this  surname,  as  ascer- 
tained from  the  Ayrshire  Directory  of  that  year. 

The  first  of  the  name  in  ScotUmd  was  one  Wemebald,  who 
came  from  the  north  of  England  in  the  b^inning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  settled  in  the  district  as  a  vassal  undo* 
Hugh  de  Morville,  lord  high  constable  of  Scotland;  from 
whom  he  obtained  the  manor  of  Cunningham,  whidi  compre- 
hended the  church  and  most  of  the  parish  of  Kilmaurs,  and 
in  consequence  assumed  the  name.  The  statement  of  Van 
Bassen,  a  Norwegian  genealogist,  that  one  Malcolm,  the  son 
of  Friskin,  obtained  the  thanedom  of  Cunningham,  for  assist- 
ing Malcolm  Canmore  when  prince  of  Scotland,  in  escaping 
from  Macbeth,  by  forking  hay  over  him  in  a  bam  in  which 
he  had  taken  shelter,  and  that  his  posterity,  from  that  car- 
cumstanoe,  adopted  Cunningham  as  a  surname  and  a  shake- 
fork  for  their  arms,  with  the  motto  **  over  fork  over, **  is  one 
of  those  traditionary  figments  with  which  the  origin  of  the 
surnames  of  most  of  our  ancient  families  have  been  invested, 
by  writers  anxious  to  give  to  them  a  greater  antiquity,  or  to 
ascribe  to  them  some  distinguished  feat  of  loyalty  or  enter- 
prize  in  the  service  of  our  earlier  kings.  Sir  George  Macken- 
zie, in  his  *  Science  of  Heraldty,^  says  that  this  family  being 
by  office  masters  of  the  ldng*s  stables,  took  for  their  armorial 
figure,  the  instrument  whereby  hay  is  thrown  up  to  horses, 
which  in  blazon  is  called  a  sbakefork.  Sir  James  Dafaymple 
absurdly  conjectures  that  the  first  of  the  Cunninghams  in 
Scotland  was  one  of  the  four  knights  who  mnrdei«d  Thomas 
a  Becket,  and  who  fled  from  England,  and  assumed  the  panife 
in  their  arms,  being  after  the  same  form  as  the  shakefbik, 
and  is  taken  by  some  for  an  episcopal  pall,  as  that  carried  in 
tns  arms  of  the  see  of  Canterbury. 

In  an  old  genealogical  memoir  of  the  Cnmmings  in  manu- 
script quoted  in  *  Hamilton's  Description  of  the  Shires  of 
Lanark  and  Renfrew,'  (p.  21,  fiote,)  the  origin  of  the  Cun- 
ningbames  is  thus  ingeniously  traced  to  that  dan:  ^And 
moreover,  I  am  able  to  prove  at  this  present  tyrae,  1622,  ther 
is  not  80  maney  noble  men  as  yet  of  one  surname  in  all  En- 
rope  as  professeth  the  name  of  Cuming,  sua  that  they  wer 
all  with  ther  lands  and  livings  in  one  realme ;  and  to  qnalifie 
and  mack  my  alleadgeance  good,  I  have  insert  heir,  as  efter 
followeth,  the  names  of  their  houss,  stylls  and  surnames 
quho  confesseth  themselves  to  be  laufullie  descended  of  the 
said  surname  of  Cumings.  Quhilk  oertainlie  I  have  in  pairt 
be  some  of  ther  oune  confessiones ;  for  being  at  super  in  the 
E.  of  Glenkaimes  hous,  in  Kilmamoch,  quhur  my  lord  wes 
present,  with  his  sons,  the  master,  as  also  the  old  laird  of 
Watterstoun,  Cunnynghame  to  his  surname,  and  my  lord 
goodschiris  (goodfather's)  brother,  quho  4id  all  thrie  oonfesa 


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CUNNINGHAM 


743 


OF  KTLMAimS. 


and  confer  that  Guminf;  was  ther  right  snmame,  quhilk  wes 
to  be  seen  in  my  lord's  ancient  evidents,  as  my  old  lord  did 
confess  at  this  tyme,  in  presence  of  the  whoU  companie, 
qnhair  ther  wer  divers  noble  men.  And  as  for  the  surname 
of  Connynghame,  they  took  it  of  that  province  qnhilk  wes 
called  of  aold  Cunnynghame,  as  Comimauld  (Cumbernauld) 
wes  called  Cuming's  hald.  Farder.  I  have  omitted  to  sett 
doune  heirfor,  the  cause  whey  the  earle  of  Glencaim  and  sur- 
name of  Cunnynghames  oonfesseth  that  thair  ryte  surname 
should  be  Cuming,  and  wearrs  not  the  Cuming's  armes,  the 
time  Shawes.  The  reason  whey,  as  I  understand :  Quhen  as 
the  principall  noblemen  of  Cumings  was  banished,  as  said  is, 
tho'  he  that  remained  within  the  realme  of  Scotland  was  not 
suffered  to  bruik  that  surname  of  Cumings,  nor  wear  their 
armes ;  nevertheles,  for  the  love  and  favor  that  the  Cunyng- 
hames  had  naturallie  to  ther  oune  surname  of  Cumings,  they, 
of  ther  humilitie,  took  the  schaich  (shake  fork)  for  the  tother 
arms,  quhilk  is  and  signifies  as  servand  to  the  scheawes.  This 
I  dyte  not  be  my  inventione,  but  be  more  ancient  and  learned 
men,  whose  more  curious  to  know  the  doubts  of  their  geno- 
logic." 

The  above-named  Wemebald  had  two  sons,  Robert  and 
Galfndns.  The  latter,  under  the  designation  of  Galfridus  de 
Cunninghame,  is  witness  in  a  charter  of  King  Malcolm  the 
Fourth,  of  a  donation  to  the  abbey  of  Scone.  Robert,  the 
elder  son,  styled  of  Rilmaurs,  with  the  consent  of  Richinda 
or  Resdnda  Barclay,  his  spouse,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir 
Humphrey  Barclay  of  GaimtiUy,  in  the  reign  of  Malcolm  the 
Fourth,  bequeathed  the  lands  of  Glenferchartlan6,  or  Glen- 
farquharlin,  in  the  county  of  Kncardine,  to  the  abbey  of 
Arbroath.  He  gave  also  his  village  of  Cunningham,  the 
patronage  of  the  kirk  of  Kilmaurs  and  half  a  carrucate  of 
land  belonging  to  the  said  kirk,  to  the  abbacy  of  Kelso,  which 
gift  was  confirmed  by  Richard  de  Morville,  constable  of  Scot- 
land, in  1162.  The  consideration  of  this  grant  was  an  easy 
reception  into  the  firatemity  of  that  house,  and  he  gave  to  the 
same  abbey  two  parts  of  such  goods  as  should  belong  to  him 
at  his  death.  He  was  a  vritness  in  a  charter  granted  by 
Richard  de  Morville  of  the  lands  of  Hermistoun  to  Henry 
Sinclair.  His  grandson,  Stephen  de  Cunningham,  was  one 
of  the  fifteen  hostages  given  to  Henry  the  Second  of  England 
for  the  liberation  of  King  William  the  Lion  in  1174. 

Richard  Cunningham,  the  fifth  from  Wemebald,  is  witness 
to  a  charter  granted  by  Allan  lord  of  Galloway,  of  the  lands 
of  Stephenston,  Corsbie,  and  Monoch,  to  Hugh  Crawford, 
ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Loudoun.  In  the  cartulary  of  Pais- 
ley the  name  frequmtly  occurs.  Fergus  de  Cunningham,' 
sixth  in  descent  from  Wemebald,  and  Malcolm  his  son  resigu 
all  thdr  lands  in  Kilpatrick,  to  Maldouin  earl  of  Lennox,  and 
when  that  earl  dispones  them  to  Paisley,  they  are  specified, 
and  called  Dundrinnans.  Immediately  after,  in  the  Inquest 
of  seven  men  about  the  lands  of  Mokineran,  Fergus  appears, 
of  date  June  1233 ;  and  in  a  gift  of  a  net  upon  the  water  of 
Leven  by  earl  Maldouin,  Fergus  is  designed  *'  filius  Cunning- 
name.'*  From  him  were  descended  the  Cunninghames  of 
Ranfiurly. 

Robert,  son  and  heir  of  Sir  Robert  de  Cunninghame,  is 
witness  in  the  confirmation  of  the  lands  of  Ingliston  by  Tho- 
mas, son  of  Adam  Carpentarius,  supposed  to  have  been  in 
the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Third. 

Hervey  de  Cunnmgham,  son  of  Robert  de  Cunningham  of 
Kilmaurs,  behaved  gallantly  at  the  battle  of  Largs  in  1263, 
and  from  Alexander  the  Third  in  the  following  year  he  got  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Kihnaurs.  He  died  before  1268.  He 
had  two  sons,  William  and  Galfndns.  The  latter  was  ances- 
tor of  the  Cunninghams  of  Glengamock.    Sir  William,  the 


elder  son,  is  witness  to  a  charter  of  Malcolm  earl  of  I^nnox, 
about  1275.  His  son,  Edward  de  Cunningham,  mortified  the 
lands  of  Grange  to  the  monastery  of  Kilwinning,  and  died 
about  1290.  He  had  two  sons,  Gilbert  and  Richard.  The 
younger  son  was  ancestor  of  the  Cunninghams  of  Polmaise. 
Gilbert  or  Gilmore,  the  elder,  was  one  of  the  nominees  of 
Robert  de  Brus,  in  his  competition  for  the  crown  of  Scotland 
in  1292.  He  afterwards  swore  allegiance  to  Edward  the 
First  He  had  three  sons,  Robert,  James  and  Donald.  James, 
the  second  son.  got  from  Robert  the  Brace,  the  lands  of  Has- 
sendean  in  Roxburghshire.  Sir  James  of  Cunninghame  is 
witness  in  a  charter  by  Walter  Stewart  of  Scotland  of  the 
kirk  of  Largs  to  Paisley,  dated  the  8d  of  Febraary  1818. 
Nigel  de  Coninghame,  the  son  of  James,  had  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Westbemys  (Bams)  in  Fife,  8th  December  1376,  on 
the  resignation  of  Sir  Patrick  de  Polwarth,  knight,  and  from 
him  the  Cunninghams  of  Beltan  and  Bams  are  descended. 

Sir  Robert  de  Cunningham  of  Kilmaurs,  the  eldest  son, 
swore  fealty  to  King  Edward  the  First  in  1296,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  his  name  appears  in  the  Ragman  Roll,  but 
afterwards  declared  for  Robot  the  Brace,  from  whom  he  got 
a  charter  under  the  great  seal,  of  the  lands  of  Lambrachtan 
in  Cunningham  in  1319.  He  had  two  sons,  William  and 
Andrew.  The  latter  was  ancestor  of  the  Cunninghams  ot 
Dramquhassel,  Ballindalloch,  Balbougie,  Banton,  and  other 
families  of  the  name. 

Sir  William  Cunningham  of  Kilmaurs,  the  eldest  son,  ii 
witness  to  a  donation  to  the  monastery  of  Kelso  in  1850. 
He  was  one  of  the  Scottish  gentlemen  proposed  as  a  hostage 
for  King  David  the  Second  in  1854.  He  married  the  lady 
Eleanor  Brace,  sister  and  heiress  of  Thomas,  eari  of  Carrick, 
and  in  her  right  had  a  charter  of  the  earldom  from  King 
David  the  Second,  in  1361.  It  has  generally  been  affirmed 
that  she  was  his  second  wife,  and  from  the  circumstance  that 
the  earldom  did  not  descend  in  his  family,  genealogists  have 
usually  stated  that  she  had  no  issue,  and  that  his  sons,  ot 
which  he  is  said  to  have  had  three,  were  the  oflbpring  of  a 
previous  marriage.  There  is  good  reason,  however,  /or  be- 
lieving that  she  had  five  sons  to  him,  and  it  appears  from 
certain  charters,  and  particularly  one  of  the  lands  of  Kinde- 
ven,  that  Sir  William  married  a  second  time  a  lady,  whose 
christian  name  was  Margaret,  but  of  what  family  is  not 
known.  In  the  charter  to  him  of  the  earldom,  no  mention  is 
made  of  heirs,  and  on  Lady  Eleanor's  death,  it  was  reassumed 
by  Robert  the  Second,  who  soon  after  conferred  it  on  his  own 
eldest  son,  John,  during  Sir  William's  lifetime.  Thomas,  his 
third  son,  was  ancestor  of  the  Cunninghams  of  Caprington, 
baronets,  and  of  the  Cunninghams  of  Enterkin  and  BedUn. 
Robert,  the  eldest  son,  one  of  the  hostages  for  King  David  the 
Second  in  1857,  died  before  his  father.  His  second  son,  also 
Sir  William  Cuiminghara,  had  a  share  of  the  forty  thousand 
francs  sent  by  the  king  of  France,  to  be  distributed  among 
the  principal  persons  in  Scotland  in  1385.  He  is  witness  in 
a  permission  by  Sir  John  Blair  to  draw  water  through  his 
lands  of  Adamton  in  Kyle,  to  the  mill  of  Monkton,  in  1890, 
wherein  he  is  designed  "  vicecomes  de  Air."  He  founded  the 
collegiate  church  of  Kilmaurs,  by  charter  of  date  18th  March 
1408,  and  in  1404  is  witness  to  the  confirmation  of  the  lands 
of  Thomly.  He  married  Margaret,  the  elder  of  the  two 
daughters  and  coheiresses  of  Sir  Robert  Dennieston  of  that 
ilk  (see  Dennieston,  Lord),  and  with  her  acquired  large 
possessions,  namely,  the  lands  and  baronies  of  Danielston  and 
Finlayston  in  Renfrewshire,  Kilmaronock  in  Dumbartonshire, 
Glencaim,  whence  his  desoendanu  took  their  title  of  earl,  in 
the  county  of  Dumfries,  and  Redhall  and  Collinton  in  Mid 
Lothian,  as  appears  from  the  original  contract  of  division  of 


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CUNNINGHAM 


744 


OF  CAPRINGTON. 


the  ooheiresses  in  1404.  He  died  in  1418.  He  had  three 
Bons :  Robert ;  William,  anc^tor  of  the  family  of  Canning- 
hamhead ;  tand  Henry,  who  distingnished  himself  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Beaug^  in  1421. 

Sir  Robert,  the  eldest  son,  got  a  charter  of  the  lands  of 
Kilmanrs  from  Robert  duke  of  Albany,  gOTernor  of  SootUnd, 
on  his  father*s  resignation  of  the  same  in  1418.  He  was 
knighted  by  King  James  the  First,  and  sat  on  the  juiy  on  the 
trial  of  Mordoch  duke  of  Albany  in  1426.  He  and  Sir  Alex- 
ander Montgomery  of  Ardrossan,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  £g- 
linton,  had  a  joint  commission  for  governing  and  defending 
Kintyre  and  Knapdale,  10th  August,  1480.  By  his  wife, 
Ann,  a  daughter  of  Sir  John  de  Montgoroeiy  of  Eglinton  and 
Ardrossan,  he  had  two  sons,  Alexander,  and  Ardiibald,  de- 
signed of  Waterston. 

Alexander  de  Cunningham,  of  the  fourteenth  generation 
from  Wamebald,  was  created  Lord  Kilmauis,  by  King  James 
the  Second,  in  1445,  and  earl  of  Glencaim,  by  King  James 
the  Third,  28th  May  1488.    See  Glbncairn,  earl  of. 

The  earl  of  Glencaim,  for  supporters  to  his  arms  had  two 
conies,  proper  relative  to  the  name  of  Cunningham  or  Con- 
Ingham. 

The  immediate  ancestor  of  the  Cunninghams  of  Caprington 
was  Thomas,  third  son  of  Sir  William  Oonningham  of  Kil- 
manrs, who  lived  in  the  reign  of  David  the  Second.  He  got 
from  his  father  in  patrimony  the  lands  of  Bai^and  in  Ayr- 
shire, by  charter  dated  in  1385.  His  son,  Adam  Cunning- 
ham, who  succeeded  him,  married  one  of  the  daughters  and 
coheiresses  of  Sir  Duncan  Wallace  of  Sundrum,  by  whom  he 
got  the  lands  of  Caprington,  which  became  the  chief  designa- 
tion of  the  family,  and  in  consequence  they  were  long  in  use 
of  quartering  the  arms  of  Wallace  with  their  own.  Adam 
Cunningham  of  Caprington  was,  in  1481,  one  of  the  hostages 
for  King  James  the  First,  in  the  room  of  Sir  William  Doug- 
las of  Drumlanrig.  He  died  in  the  end  of  the  reign  of  King 
James  the  Second. 

His  son.  Sir  Adam  Cunningham,  had  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood conferred  on  him  by  King  James  the  Fourth.  He  mar- 
ried Isabel,  daughter  of  Malcolm  Crawford  of  Kilbimey, 
progenitor  of  the  viscounts  Gamock,  and  died  in  1500.  His 
son,  John  Cunningham  of  Caprington,  seems  to  have  been 
engaged  in  many  of  the  feuds  of  the  period,  as  his  name  oflen 
occurs  in  the  Criminal  Records  of  the  time.  On  November 
23, 1527,  with  several  kinsmen  of  the  name  of  Cunningham, 
and  six  other  persons,  he  found  caution  to  appear  before  the 
justiciary,  for  intercommuning  with  Hugh  Campbell  of  Lpu- 
doun,  sheriff  of  Ayr,  a  declared  rebel  and  at  the  horn,  for  the 
slaughter  of  Gilbert  earl  of  Cassillis.  In  May  1530,  he  and 
seventeen  others  were  charged  with  being  art  and  part  in  the 
cruel  slaughter  of  John  Tod,  and  not  appearing,  they  were 
denounced  rebels,  along  with  David  Boswell  of  Auchinleck, 
for  this  crime.  On  August  9,  1537,  he  and  the  said  David 
Boswell,  with  twenty-seven  others,  found  caution  to  underly 
the  law  at  the  next  justice-aire  of  Ayr,  for  art  and  part 
of  the  mutilation  of  John  Sampson,  of  the  thumb  of  his  right 
hand,  of  forethought  felony.  By  his  first  wife,  Annabella, 
daughter  of  Sir  Matthew  Campbell  of  Loudoun,  he  had  two 
sons,  William,  and  Thomas,  who  b  supposed  to  have  got 
firom  his  father  the  lands  of  Baidland. 

William  Cunningham  of  Caprington,  the  elder  son,  was  a 
person  of  considerable  note  and  influence  in  his  day.  Hb 
name,  with  that  of  the  laird  of  Cunninghamhead,  appears  at 
the  famous  missive  sent  in  1570,  by  some  of  the  barons  of 
AjTsliire,  to  Ku-kaldy  of  Grange,  relative  to  hb  rumoured 
Intention  of  slaying  John  Knox.    At  the  parliament  held  at 


Stirling,  15th  July  1678,  the  liurd  of  Caprington  was  cmc  of 
the  persons  appointed  to  examine  and  report  on  the  Book  of 
Policy  presented  by  the  church,  which  the  lords  had  refused 
to  ratify.  He  was  one  of  the  assize  on  the  trial,  December 
23,  1680,  of  William  Lord  Ruthven,  lord  high  treasurer,  and 
eighty-two  others,  hb  attendants  and  servants,  for  the 
slaughter  of  John  Buchan,  a  servant  of  Lawrence  Lord  OH  - 
phant,  when  they  were  acquitted.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Assembly  at  Glasgow,  the  24th  April  1581,  William 
Cunningham  of  Caprington  was  appointed  the  king's  commis- 
sioner to  the  church,  and  presented  his  majesty's  letter  to  the 
Assembly.  The  instructions  given  to  him  by  the  king  on  the 
occasion  will  be  found  inserted  in  Calderwood's  Hbt<nry  of  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland,  vol  iii.  pp.  616—^19.  Early  in  1584  h« 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  sent  from  the  king  to  the  earl 
of  Gowrie  in  Perth,  to  command  him  to  take  a  remission 
for  the  raid  of  Ruthven,  and  to  condemn  the  act  as  trea- 
son, which  he  did.  In  the  General  Assembly  which  met  at 
Edinburgh  on  6th  February  1588,  he  was  one  of  the  persons 
appointed  to  concur  with  the  moderator,  and  advise  upon  the 
special  matters  to  be  considered  in  the  Assembly  at  extraor- 
dinary hours.  He  was  also  one  of  thirteen  members  appoint- 
ed to  meet  and  confer  with  six  of  the  king's  council  concern- 
ing papistrie,  the  plantation  of  kirks,  &c  He  died  about 
1597.  He  had  three  sons,  William,  hb  successor;  John,  of 
Broomhill,  who  carried  on  the  line  of  the  family ;  and  Hugh, 
of  Previck,  progenitor  of  the  family  of  Enterkine. 

The  eldest  son,  William  Cunningham  of  Caprington,  being, 
with  Daniel  Cunningham  of  Dalbeith,  charged,  in  ^e  begin- 
ning of  February  1698,  to  attend  the  raid  of  Dumfries,  ap- 
pointed by  the  earl  of  Angns,  lieutenant  and  warden  of  the 
west  manges,  for  the  pursuit  and  punishment  of  disorderiy 
persons,  as  was  the  custom  of  those  days,  went  to  the  gather- 
ing with  their  followers  armed  in  wariike  manner,  but  finding 
there  James  Douglas  of  Torthorwald,  who  was  then  "  a  rebel 
and  at  the  horn  ^  for  slaying  the  king's  cousin,  James  Stew- 
art of  Newton,  "and  their  near  kinsman,"  they  returned 
home  without  giving  Angus  the  assbtance  required  by  the 
proclamation,  and  also  abstained  from  going  to  another  raid 
appointed  by  him  at  Dumfries  in  September  1599 ;  and  being 
afterwards  indicted  at  law  for  abiding  from  these  raids,  they 
produced  a  letter  from  the  king  and  council,  dated  16th  Feb- 
ruary 1600,  discharging  the  justices  from  all  procedure  against 
them,  and  freeing  them  from  ever  attending  any  raid  to  whidi 
they  might  be  summoned,  where  the  said  James  Douglas  was 
sure  to  be.  "  Thb  letter,"  says  Mr.  Pit«aim,  "  affords  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  insecure  and  disturbed  state  of  the 
country  and  the  weakness  of  government  Douglas  of  Tor- 
thorwald residing  so  near  the  borders,  seems  to  have  been  too 
powerful  a  subject  to  be  sued  even  for  the  slaughter  of  a 
Stewart,  *  cousin  to  the  king.'  Although  *  at  the  horn  *  for 
this  slaughter,  the  lieutenant  scruples  not  to  accept  of  the 
assistance  of  thb  rebellious  subject  to  restore  peace  to  the 
borders,  instead  of  delivering  him  up  to  justice  for  hb  crimes !" 
[OtfiUfMi/  Trials^  voL  ii.  page  108,  note."] 

Sh"  William  Cunningham  of  Caprington,  the  son  of  tlus 
laird,  was,  in  1618,  knighted  by  Kng  James  the  Sixth.  He 
was,  at  one  period,  possessed  of  an  immense  estate,  but  partly 
by  his  expense  in  bnilding  and  profuse  manner  of  Hving,  and 
partly  by  hb  taking  the  losing  side  in  the  politics  of  the 
troubled  times  in  which  he  lived,  he  contracted  a  load  of  debt 
that  he  could  not  get  rid  of,  and  hb  estate  was  sold  by  hb 
creditors  to  the  Chancellor  Glencaim.  He  first  joined  the 
side  of  the  parliament,  and  in  1640  was  nominated  one  of 
their  committee.  In  1641,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
mittee for  stating  the  debts  of  the  nation,  and  one  of  the  up- 


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OF  CUNNINGHAM  HEAD. 


lifters  of  the  English  supply ;  also  one  of  the  members  for 
planting  of  kirks.  He  subsetinently  went  oyer  to  the  marquis 
of  Montrose,  for  which  parliament  in  1646  imposed  upon  him 
a  fine  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  sterling,  and  he  was  ordered 
to  be  imprisoned  in  Edinburgh  castle  till  it  was  paid ;  but  it 
being  found  that  he  oould  neither  pay  the  money  nor  give 
aecurity  for  the  amount,  he  was  liberated  in  1647,  on  his  giv- 
ing bond  to  appear  before  the  committee  when  called  upon. 
He  married  Lady  Margaret  Hamilton,  second  daughter  of  the 
first  marquis  of  Abercom,  and  died  without  issue,  whereby 
the  male  line  of  the  first  branch  of  the  family  of  Caprington 
became  extinct 

The  representation  devolved  upon  the  descendants  of  John 
Cunningham  of  Broomhill,  second  son  of  William  Cunning- 
ham, fourth  laird  of  Caprington.  This  John  Cunningham 
had  received  from  his  father,  in  patrimony,  the  lands  of 
Broomhill,  which  continued  to  be  the  chief  designatdon  of  this 
the  second  branch  of  the  family  till  they  acquired  the  lands  of 
Caprington  in  the  second  generation  following.  The  son  of 
this  John,  William  Cunningham,  appears  also  to  have  been 
engaged  on  the  parliament  side,  for  we  find  Mr.  William 
Cunningham  of  Broomhill  one  of  the  commissioners  from  the 
covenanters  to  the  king,  in  1639.  He  married,  first,  Janet, 
daughter  of  Patrick  Leslie,  Lord  IJndores,  by  whom  he  had 
eighteen  children  in  nine  years  (the  first  single,  four  times 
twins,  and  thrice  three  at  each  birth),  but  only  tliree  daugh- 
ters survived  to  be  married.  By  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  William  Sinclair  of  Ratter  (great-grandfather  of 
William,  tenth  earl  of  Ciuthness,  and  thuleenth  in  descent 
from  King  Robert  Bruce)  he  had  three  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters.   His  second  son  James  was  designed  of  Geise. 

His  eldest  son.  Sir  John  Cunningham,  an  eminent  lawyer, 
was,  on  19th  September  1669,  created  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia  by  Charles  the  Second.  He  possessed  the  lands  of 
Lambruchtan,  by  which  he  was  designated  before  he  pur- 
chased back  the  lands  of  Caprington  from  the  chancellor 
Glencaim.  That  nobleman  had  bestowed  that  estate  on  his 
son.  Lord  Kilmaurs,  and  it  was  burdened  with  the  jointure  of 
his  widow  (Lady  Betty  Hamilton,  a  daughter  of  William 
duke  of  Hamilton)  who  Hved  in  the  castlb  of  Caprington  for 
fifty  years  after  her  husband^s  death,  so  that  Sir  John  paid  at 
last  for  the  estate  above  three  times  its  value.  He  is  men- 
tioned with  great  commendation  as  a  lai^yer,  by  Sir  George 
Mackentie,  and  also  by  Bishop  Burnet  in  his  *  History  of  his 
own  Times.*  He  was,  by  many  of  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
ehosen,  with  Sir  George  Lockhart,  to  plead  against  the  duke 
of  Lauderdale's  misgovemment  in  Scotland,  before  Charles 
the  Second  in  council  at  I^ondon,  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  the 
lord  advocate,  being  employed  in  his  grace's  behalf.  The 
<luke's  fall  happened  soon  after.  Sir  John  died  in  1684.  By 
his  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  William  Murray  of  Polmaise 
and  Touchadam  in  Stirlingshire,  he  had  with  a  daughter  two 
sons:  William,  his  successor;  and  John,  who,  like  his  father, 
was  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  the  first  that  undertook  to  read 
lectures  on  the  Roman  law  in  Scotland,  as  also  on  the  Scots 
law.  He  kept  up  a  constant  correspondence  with  tlie  cele- 
brated Dutch  lawyer,  Voet,  and  by  this  method  he  perfected 
his  dasses  in  the  Roman  law,  and  saved  many  families  the 
expense  of  a  foreign  education  to  their  sons,  there  being  no 
professorships  of  these  branches  of  a  legal  education  in  Scot- 
land at  the  time.  He  continued  to  read  his  lectures  till  the 
year  1710,  when  he  died.  Janet,  the  daughter,  became  the 
wife  of  George  Primrose  of  Dunipaoe,  and  was  the  mother  of 
Sir  Archibald  Primrose  of  t)unipace,  executed  at  Carlisle  in 
1746  for  his  share  in  the  rebellion  of  the  preceding  year. 

The  elder  son.  Sir  William  Cunningham  ot  Caprington,  the 


second  baronet,  married  Janet,  only  child  and  heiress  of  Sir 
James  Dick  of  Prestonfield,  baronet,  (who  died  in  1728,)  by 
whom  he  had  six  sons  and  four  daughters. 

The  baronetcy  of  Prestonfielo  devolved,  first  on  William 
the  third  son  (James  the  second  son  having  died  young),  and 
on  his  death  in  1746,  upon  the  foiurth  but  third  surviving 
son,  Alexander,  who  also  inherited  the  estate,  and  in  confor- 
mity with  an  entail  executed  by  his  grandfather,  assumed  the 
name  of  Dick.  Previously  to  succeeding  to  the  title  he  had 
made  an  extensive  continental  tour  with  Allan  Ramsay,  the 
son  of  the  author  of  the  Gentle  Shepherd,  and  a  Journal 
which  he  kept  on  that  occasion  has  been  inserted  in  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine  for  1853.  Jle  afterwards  practised  as  a 
physidan  vrith  great  reputation  in  the  county  of  Pembroke, 
as  Dr.  Alexander  Cunningham.  [See  Dick,  Sir  Alexander, 
baronet.] 

On  the  death  of  his  father.  Sir  William  Cunningham,  in 
1740,  the  eldest  son,  John,  became  third  baronet  of  Capring- 
ton. He  was  esteemed  one  of  the  most  learned  and  accom- 
plished personages  of  his  day.  Most  of  his  time  was  spent 
in  literary  retirement  at  his  castle  of  Caprington ;  and  he  is 
represented  as  having  read  Homer  and  Ariosto  every  year  for 
the  last  thuly  years  of  his  life.  He  was  blessed  with  con- 
stant good  health,  and  his  faculties  continued  unimpaired  to 
the  last  Sitting  at  supper,  with  his  usual  cheerfulness,  at 
Caprington,  80th  November  1777,  he  was  seized  with  a  fit  of 
apoplexy,  fell  back  in  his  chair,  and  calmly  expired,  in  the 
eighty-second  year  of  his  age.  He  married  in  1749,  Lady 
Elizabeth  Montgomery,  eldest  daughter  of  Alexander,  ninth 
earl  of  Eglinton,  and  had  by  her  two  sons,  William,  his  suc- 
cessor, and  Alexander,  an  officer  in  the  army. 

His  elder  son,  Sir  William  Cunningham,  fourth  baronet, 
bom  19th  December  1762,  died  without  issue,  in  Januarj 
1829,  when  the  baronetcy  and  estate  of  Caprington  devolved 
on  his  cousin.  Sir  Robert  Keith  Dick  of  Prestonfield,  baronet, 
who  thus  inherited  two  baronetcies.  He  died  in  1849,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son.  Sir  William  Hanmer  Dick,  bom  at 
Silhet  in  Bengal  in  1808,  who  assumed  by  authority  of  par- 
liament the  name  of  Cunningham ;  married,  with  issue.  See 
Dick,  surname  of. 


The  family  of  Cunningham  of  Cunninghamhead  in  Ayrshire, 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  powerful  cadets  of  the  noble  family 
of  Glencaim,  had  at  one  time  large  possessions  not  only  in 
that  county  but  in  Lanarkslure  and  Mid  Lothian.  About 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  began  to  decline,  and  in 
1724,  the  male  line  of  the  family  became  extinct.  The  found- 
er of  it  was  William,  second  son  of  Sir  William  Cunningham 
of  Kilmaurs,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Dennieston.  He 
received  from  his  father  the  lands  of  Woodhead,  in  the  parish 
of  Dr^hom,  on  which  the  name  was  changed  to  Cunning- 
hamhead, in  compliment  to  the  family  name. 

This  branch  of  the  Cunninghams  had  a  feud  with  the  Mures 
of  Rowallan,  and  on  November  8, 1608,  Robert  Cunningham 
of  Cunninghamhead,  the  second  proprietor  of  the  estate,  was 
at  the  Ayr  jusUce-aire,  convicted  of  having,  with  convocation 
of  the  lieges,  gone  to  the  kirk  of  Stewarton,  against  John 
Mure  of  Rowallan  and  his  men,  for  the  office  of  parish  derk 
of  the  said  ku-k;  also  of  art  and  part  of  the  oppresmon 
done  to  Elizabeth  Ross,  Lady  Cunninghamhead,  in  occupying 
and  manuring  her  thurd  part  of  the  lands  of  Cunninghamhead 
and  Bonailly,  and  of  thereby  breaking  the  king's  protection 
upon  her,  in  the  year  1603 ;  and  of  art  and  part  of  the  op- 
pression done  to  the  abbot  and  convent  of  Kilwinning,  and  to 
HeW  eari  of  Eglinton,  their  tenant,  in  the  *'  spulzie  "  of  the 
telnd  sheaves  of  the  lands  of  Middleton,  in  the  parish  of  Per- 


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OF  KOBERTLAND. 


BtoHf  and  of  breaking  the  **  safegoard  *^  of  the  king  upon  the 
said  earl,  in  the  year  1608. 

William  Canningham  of  Cunninghamhead,  the  fifth  in  descent 
from  Sir  William  Cunningham  of  Kilmaurs,  was  that  laird  of 
Cunninghamhead  who,  in  1559,  was  sent,  with  the  laird  of 
Pittarrow,  to  the  queen  regent  to  explain  the  designs  of  the 
Lords  of  the  Congregation.  He  was  present  in  the  great  par- 
liament of  1560,  and  in  1562  subscribed  the  far-famed  bond 
for  support  of  the  reformed  religion,  drawn  up  by  John  Knox. 
On  May  12th  of  the  latter  year  William  Cunningham  of  Cun- 
ninghamhead was  indicted  for  abiding  from  the  raid  of  Jed- 
burgh, and  his  son,  **  the  young  laird,"'  was  amerciated  for 
his  non- entry  to  underly  the  law.  The  laird  of  Cunningham- 
head was  a  member  of  the  renowned  General  Assembly  which 
met  at  Edinburgh  on  25th  June  1565,  that  was  so  obnoxious 
to  the  popish  party  at  the  time,  and  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  present  its  articles  to  the  queen.  After 
the  "  Chase-About  Raid,"  the  same  year,  he  was  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Reformed  party,  who  with  the  earl  of  Moray, 
afterwards  regent,  retired  to  Carlisle  for  a  time.  In  1570  be 
was  among  the  Ayrshire  barons  who  signed  the  famous  letter 
to  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange  in  behalf  of  John  Knox. 

A  succeeding  laird,  his  grandson  or  nephew,  was,  on  11th 
March  1603,  retoured  heir  to  his  f&ther,  John  Cunningham 
of  Cunninghamhead,  in  the  lands  in  Ayrshire  as  well  as  in 
those  of  Woodhall  and  Bonailly  in  Mid-Lothian  (part  of  the 
ancient  estate  of  the  Denniestons,  and  which  continued  in  a 
branch  of  this  family  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  longer). 
By  his  wife  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  James  Edmonstone 
of  Duntreatb,  he  had  William,  his  successor,  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  elder  daughter,  Barbara,  married  in  1624,  James 
Fullarton,  younger  of  Fullarton.  and  their  descendant  Colonel 
William  Fullarton,  wa&  served  heir  to  this  family  of  Cunning- 
hamhead on  17th  December  1791. 

The  son.  Sir  William  Cunninghams,  succeeded  about  1607, 
and  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  1627.  He  died 
about  1640.  Barbara,  his  eldest  daughter,  married  Mure  of 
Caldwell,  and  was,  by  the  prelatieal  party,  subjected  to  much 
suffering  on  account  of  her  adherence  to  the  Covenant  His 
son,  Sir  William,  the  second  baronet,  married  in  August 
1661,  the  Hon.  Anne  Ruthven,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas 
first  Lord  Ruthven  of  Freeland,  who  survived  him,  and  took 
for  her  second  husband  William  Cunninghams  of  Craig- 
ends.  The  second  baronet  was,  in  1662,  by  the  ruling  party, 
for  his  support  of  the  covenant,  fined  two  hundred  pounds 
sterling.  In  1664  he  was  arraigned  as  a  delinquent  before 
the  high  commission,  and  escaped  with  difficulty.  In  1665 
he  was  committed  to  prison.  In  the  following  year,  when 
several  other  gentlemen  were  liberated,  he  was  detained,  and 
in  1688  he  was  still  more  strictly  confined.  He  got  little 
respite  till  December  1669,  when  he  was  finally  dischaiged, 
and  died  in  1670. 

His  only  son.  Sir  William,  third  baronet,  was  served  heir 
to  his  mother  in  1679,  and  on  the  decease  of  David,  second 
Lord  Ruthven,  in  1701,  without  issue,  he  assumed  the  name 
of  Ruthven  in  addition  to  his  own,  but  did  not  take  that 
peerage,  (although  there  was  no  male  claimant,  and  he  was 
the  son  of  the  elder  daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Rutiiven,)  but 
allowed  his  cousin,  Isabel,  the  daughter  of  his  mother  s  young- 
est sister,  Elizabeth,  to  ei\joy  the  title  of  Lady  Ruthven,  and 
her  descendants  now  possess  the  peerage  of  Ruthven.  like 
his  father  he  suffered  much  from  religious  persecution,  even 
when  but  a  schoolboy.  He  died  without  issue  in  1724,  when 
the  baronetcy  became  extinct  Cunninghamhead  was  sold, 
in  that  year,  to  John  Snodgrass,  Esq.,  and  is  still  possessed 
by  his  descendant,  Mr.  Snodgrass  Buchanan.    The  represen- 


tative of  the  family  is  now  in  the  person  of  Fullarton  of 
Fullarton,  as  lineally  descended  firom  Barbara,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  John  Cunninghame  of  Cunninghamehead,  married  to 
hb  ancestor  in  1624 


The  Cunninghames  of  Aiket,  also  in  Ayrshire,  a  veiy  an- 
cient family,  now  extinct,  descended  from  Gilbert  or  Gilmore 
de  Cunningham,  mentioned  (on  page  743)  as  one  of  the  no- 
minees of  Robert  de  Brus  in  the  competition  wi&  BalioL 
They  seem  to  have  been  actively  engaged  in  the  feuds  of  the 
Cunningham  fanuly  with  the  Sempills,  the  Mures,  and  the 
Moqtgomeries,  as  on  November  20,  1533,  Robert  Canning- 
ham  of  Aiket  and  William  his  son  were  among  those  who 
found  caution  to  underly  the  law  for  besetting  the  way,  on 
two  occasions,  of  William  Lord  Sempill,  for  his  slaughter, 
and  on  November  4th,  1570,  William  Cunninghame  of  Aiket 
and  two  of  his  servants,  with  John  Raebnm  of  that  ilk,  his 
son-in-law,  were  put  upon  their  trial  for  the  murder  of  John 
Mure  of  Caldwell,  when  they  pleaded  that  the  deed  was  com- 
mitted by  the  deceased  Alexander  Cunninghame  of  Aiket, 
and  they  were  unanimously  acquitted.  On  January  12t4i, 
1578-9,  Helen  Colquhoun,  the  wife  of  William  Cnnninghamft 
of  Aiket,  was  accused  of  administering  poison  to  her  husband, 
but  did  not  make  her  appearance  for  trial  Alexander  Cun- 
ninghame of  Aiket,  was,  in  1586,  concerned  in  the  murder  of 
Hugh,  fourth  earl  of  Eglinton  (see  Eolxntoh,  fourth  earl 
of),  Captain  James  Cunninghame,  the  seventh  from  the 
above  Robert,  was  retoured  heir  to  his  father,  James  Cun- 
ninghams, in  Aiket  and  some  adjacent  lands.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  same  vrith  Msjor  James  Cunninghame  of 
Aiket  who  appears  as  a  commissioner  of  supply  for  Ayrshire 
in  1704,  and  it  is  likely  was  the  same  gentleman  who  made 
such  a  distinguished  opposition  to  the  union  in  1707,  as  men- 
tioned in  the  histories  of  that  period.  Two  aged  ladies  who 
in  1823  were  living  in  Ayr  were  said  to  have  been  the  last  of 
this  family 


The  first  of  the  Cunnmghams  of  Robertlano  m  Ayrshire, 
was  William  Cunningham^  of  Craigends  in  Renfrewshire,  of 
the  noble  family  of  Glencaim.  He  bestowed  that  estate  on 
his  second  son,  David  Cunningham  of  Bartonholme,  whose 
son  and  grandson,  both  also  named  David,  succeeded  to  the 
estate.  The  latter,  who  was  knighted,  was  in  1586  a  party 
concerned  in  the  murder  of  Hu^  fourth  eari  of  Eglinton 
(see  EouNTON,  fourth  eari  of).  His  son,  also  Sir  David 
Cunningham,  had  three  sons:  David,  his  successor;  Alexan- 
der ;  and  Sir  James,  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber  to  King 
Charles  the  First  In  1644,  when  the  duke  of  Hamilton  and 
his  brother  the  earl  of  Lanaric  were  put  under  arrest  at  Ox- 
ford, Bm  James  Cunningham  was  extremely  instrumental  in 
aiding  the  escape  of  the  latter.  The  eldest  son,  David,  was 
served  heir  to  his  father  in  1628,  previous  to  whidi,  accord- 
ing to  Crawfurd,  he  was  master  of  the  works  to  King  James 
the  Sixth.  He  was,  by  Charles  the  First,  created  a  baronet 
of  Nova  Scotia,  25th  November  1630,  by  patent  to  him  and 
his  heirB  male  whatsoever.  In  the  subsequent  dvil  wan  he 
suffered  mucn  on  account  of  his  loyalty  to  that  unfortunate 
monarch.  His  successor.  Sir  David,  supposed  to  be  his  son, 
was  a  commissioner  of  supply  for  Ayrshhe  in  1661,  and  died 
before  1675,  when  his  uncle.  Sir  Alexander,  became  third 
baronet  Sir  David,  the  sixth  baronet,  in  1696  had  a  pro- 
tection in  his  favour  from  parliament  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  kinsman,  William  Cunningham  (son  of  William  Cunning- 
ham of  Auchenskdth,  whose  father,  John  Cunningham  of 
Waterston,  was  the  son  of  Christian,  killed  at  the  siege  of 
Namur,  second  son  of  Sir  David,  the  first  baronet).    He 


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CUNINGHAME, 


747 


OF  LAINSHAW. 


mnrried  in  1741  Margaret,  daughter  of  William  Fairlie  of 
Fuirlie,  in  the  same  county,  and  in  1778  was  served  heir  to 
Sir  Darid  Cuningham  of  Robertland,  and  assumed  the  title. 
He  died  25tli  October  1781.  He  had  two  sons,  William, 
his  heir,  and  Alexander  Cuningham,  collector  of  customs  at 
Irvine. 

Sir  William,  the  seventh  baronet,  was  the  gentleman  re> 
ferred  to  by  Bums  as  his  informant  of  the  anecdote  relative 
to  the  circumstances  under  which  Allan  Ramsav,  when  on  a 
visit  at  Loudoun  castle,  composed  his  song  of  the  '  Jmbs  of 
Patie*s  Mill.*  He  assumed  the  additional  surname  of  Fairlie, 
and  on  his  death  in  1811,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 
Sir  William,  who  died  February  1,  1837.  Sir  William's  bro- 
ther, Sir  John  Cuningham  Fairlie,  bom  29th  July  1779,  suc- 
ceeded him  as  7tli  baronet  He  married,  8th  August  1808, 
Janet  Lucretia,  daughter  of  John  Walhioe,  Esq.  of  Kelly,  but 
without  issue.  Died  1852,  when  his  next  brother.  Sir  Charles 
Cuningham  Fairlie,  became  8th.  baronet  Died  1859,  when 
his  son,  Sir  Percy  Arthur,  bora  in  1815,  became  9th  baronet 


A  baronetcy  is  also  possessed  by  the  family  of  Cuning- 
hame  of  Corsehill,  in  the  same  county,  descended  from  An- 
drew, second  son  of  the  fourth  earl  of  Glencaim.  From  his 
father  he  got  certain  lands  in  Ayrshire,  the  two  Corsehills 
being  particularly  specified,  and  the  grant  was  confirmed  to 
him  and  his  wife,  Margaret  Cuningham  (of  the  family  of 
Polmiuse),  by  royal  charter,  dated  4th  May  1587  and  4th 
January  1548.  Like  his  elder  brother,  Alexander,  fifth  earl 
of  Glencaim,  he  was  actively  engaged  in  support  of  the  Re- 
formation, and  b^ng  convicted  of  heresy  before  the  lords 
spiritual  in  1538,  had  his  estate  forfeited.  He  afterwards  re- 
ceived a  pardon,  and  obtained  a  new  charter  of  his  lands. 
He  died  in  1545. 

His  eldest  son,  Cuthbert,  married  Matilda,  daughter  of 
Cnnninghame  of  Aiket,  and  died  in  1575.  He  had  with  two 
daughters,  two  sons,  Patrick  and  Alexander,  minors  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  The  former  was  slain  in  the  feud  between 
the  Cunninghams  and  the  Montgomeries.  The  latter,  who 
succeeded,  died  in  May  1646.  With  three  daughters,  he  had 
two  sons,  Alexander  and  David  of  Dalbeith.  His  great- 
grandson,  Alexander  Cnninghame,  succeeded  in  1667,  and 
on  26th  February  1672,  he  was  created  a  baronet  of  Nova 
Scotia,  by  diploma,  to  himself  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body. 
His  son,  Sir  Alexander,  second  baronet,  succeeded  in  1685, 
and  died  in  1730.  His  son.  Sir  David  Cnninghame,  the  third 
baronet,  married  Penelope  Montgomery,  niece  and  heiress  of 
Sir  Walter  Montgomery,  baronet,  of  Kirktonholm  (descended 
from  the  Montgomeries  of  Skelmorley)  by  whom  he  had  three 
sons  and  a  daughter.  The  eldest  son,  Alexander  Cnning- 
hame, a  captain  in  the  army,  served  in  the  wan  in  Flanders. 
On  succeeding  to  the  estate  of  Kirktonholm,  he  adopted  the 
name  and  arms  of  Montgomery,  in  consequence  of  a  clause  to 
that  effect  in  the  deed  of  entail.  He  married  Elizabeth,  eld- 
est daughter  and  thereafter  heiress  of  David  Montgomery  of 
Lainshaw,  descended  from  Sir  Keil  Montgomery  of  Lainshaw, 
and  representative  of  the  family  of  Lyle  Ijord  Lyle.  He  pre- 
deceased his  father.  Sir  David,  by  a  few  months  in  1770. 
He  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  third  son,  Alexan- 
der, served  as  an  officer  in  the  duke  of  Hamilton's  regiment 
during  the  American  war,  and  died  unmarried  in  1782,  and 
his  youngest,  Heniy  Dramlanrig,  entered  the  navy  and  was 
lieutenant  on  board  the  Alfred  in  Rodney's  great  engagement, 
12th  April  1782.    He  died  in  1785. 

Sir  Walter,  eldest  son  of  Captain  Alexander  Cnninghame, 
and  fourth  baronet,  sold  the  estate  of  Lainshaw,  in  1779,  to 
William   Cuuinghame,    second  son  and  heir  of  Alexander 


Cunninghame  of  Bridgehouse  in  the  same  county.  On  his 
death,  unmarried,  in  March  1814,  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother.  Sir  David,  fifth  baronet,  who  had  previously  been  in 
the  royal  North  British  dragoons.  He  also  died  unmarried,  in 
November  following.  His  only  surviving  brother,  Sir  James, 
the  fifth  son  of  Captain  Alexander  Cnninghame,  became  the 
sixth  baronet.  He  married  Jessie,  second  daughter  of 
Thomas  Cuming,  Esq.,  banker  in  Edinburgh,  representative 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Cuming  of  Eamside,  whose  curious 
figure  is  among  the  most  characteristic  of  ^'  Kay's  Edinbui^h 
Portraits.*'  Sir  James  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters,  and 
died  in  1837.  The  eldest  son.  Sir  Alexander  David  Mont- 
gomery Cuuinghame,  died  8th  June  1846,  and  whs  succeeded 
by  his  brother.  Sir  Thomas  Montgomery  Cuninghame,  eighth 
baronet ;  married,  with  issue,  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters ;  one  of  the  claimants  of  the  dormant  earldom  of  Glen- 
caim, as  lineal  male  descendant  of  William,  fourth  earl. 
(See  Glengaibn,  earl  of.) 

The  Cunynghames  of  Milncraig,  Ayrshire,  and  Living- 
stone, Linlithgowshire,  who  also  possess  a  baronetcy,  are 
likewise  sprung  from  the  above-mentioned  William  Cunning- 
ham of  Craigends,  from  whom  descended  Cunyngham  of 
Polquhaine,  who  obtained  the  estate  of  Milncraig,  by  marry- 
ing one  of  the  daughters  and  coheiresses  of  William  Cathcart 
of  Corbiestoun  (a  junior  member  of  the  noble  family  of  Cath- 
cart), and  was  great-grandfather  of  David  Cunynghame  of 
Milncraig  and  Livingstone,  who  was  created  a  baronet  of 
Nova  Scotia  3d  Febraaiy,  1702.  Sir  David  Cunynghame 
was  a  person  of  eminent  talents,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  an 
eloquent  member  of  the  Scottish  parliament,  and  the  ^end 
and  coadjutor  of  Fletcher  of  Saltoun.  His  eldest  son,  Sir 
James  Cunynghame,  died,  unmarried,  in  1747,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother.  Sir  David,  a  lieutenant-general  in  the 
army,  and  colonel,  in  1757,  of  the  57th  regiment  of  infantry. 
He  died  suddenly,  of  the  gout  in  his  stomach,  10th  October, 
1767.  His  son,  Sir  William  Augustus,  fourth  baronet,  for 
many  years  M.P.  for  Linlithgowshire,  long  held  several  re- 
spectable offices  in  the  public  service.  He  died  17th  March 
1828.  His  eldest  son,  Sur  David  Cunynghame,  fifth  baronet, 
bom  in  1769,  died  in  1854.  He  was  a  colonel  (1797)  and 
served  at  Famars,  St  Amand,  and  lincelles,  where  he  was 
severely  wounded ;  also  served  at  the  siege  of  Valenciennes, 
and  the  action  at  Ostend  in  May  1798.  He  was  thrice  mar- 
ried, the  first  time,  in  1801,  to  a  daughter  of  Ix)rd-chancellor 
Thnrlow.  His  eldest  son.  Sir  David  Thurlow  Cunynghame, 
bom  in  1803,  succeeded  as  6th  baronet ;  married,  with  issue. 


The  family  of  Cnninghame  of  Craigends  in  Renfrewshire, 
so  often  mentioned,  is  lineally  descended  from  Sir  William 
Cunningham,  the  second  son  of  Alexander  first  earl  of  Glen- 
caim. He  received  the  lands  of  Craigends  from  his  father 
before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  One  of  the  family 
named  William  Cnninghame  of  Craigends  was,  in  1534,  killed 
by  Gabriel  Sempill  of  Cathcart  Another,  Gabriel  Cnning- 
hame, fell  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie  in  1547.  In  1689  the  free- 
holders of  Renfrewshire  elected  William  Cnninghame  of  Craig- 
ends tbdr  oommisdoner  to  the  convention  of  estates,  where, 
and  in  the  several  subsequent  sessions  of  parliament,  he  was 
distinguished  by  his  great  fidelity  and  honour.  The  family  is 
at  present  represented  by  a  gentleman  of  the  same  name. 


The  Cuninghames  of  Lainshaw  were  descended  from  Adam 
Cunninghame  of  Bridgehouse,  a  cadet  of  the  family  of  Ca- 
prington.  William  Cnninghame,  the  third  from  this  Adam 
and  fourtli  of  Bridgehouse,  purchased  in  1779  the  estate  of 


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CUNNINGIIAM, 


748 


ALEXANDER. 


LaioshaWf  in  tbe  vidnitj  of  Stevrarton,  from  Sir  Walter  Mont- 
gomery  Cuninghame,  baronet  of  CoraehilL  He  was  thrice  mar- 
ried, and  had  a  large  familj.  By  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  James  Oampbdl,  merchant  in  Glasgow,  he  had 
one  son,  William  Cuninghame,  who  snooeedad  him  in  Lain- 
shaw.  This  gentleman,  who  died  l^overaber  6,  1849,  was 
well-known  for  his  piety  and  benevolence,  and  for  his  writ- 
ings. He  pnblished  various  works  on  prophecy  and  scriptu- 
ral chronology,  of  which  a  list  is  subjoined : 

I>etter8  on  the  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion,  by  an 
Inquirer,  first  printed  in  the  Oriental  Star,  a  Newspaper  at 
Calcutta  in  Bengal.  Reprinted  at  Serampore,  in  Bengal, 
1802, 12mo.    2d.  edit  corrected  and  enlarged.     Lond.,  1804. 

Remarks  on  David  Levi's  Dissertations  on  th^  Prophecies 
relative  to  the  Messiah,  and  upon  the  Evidences  of  the  Divine 
Characters  of  Jesus  Christ,  addressed  to  the  Consideration  of 
the  Jews,  by  an  Inquirer.  Printed  by  the  London  Society  for 
promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews.     Lond.  1810,  8to. 

A  Dissertation  on  tlie  Seals  and  Trumpets  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, and  the  Prophetical  period  of  Twelve  Hundred  and 
Sixty  Years.    Lond.  1813.    Third  Edition.    Lond.  1817, 8vo. 

letters  and  Essays,  Controversial  and  Critical,  on  Subjecta 
connected  with  the  Conversion  and  National  Restoration  of 
Israel,  first  published  in  the  Jewish  Expositor.    Lond.  1822. 

Account  of  the  formation  of  a  Church  on  Congregational 
Principles  in  the  town  of  Stewarton.    Glasgow,  1827. 

The  Church  of  Rome  the  Apostacy,  and  the  Pope  the  Man 
of  Sin  and  Son  of  Perdition.  Second  Edition,  with  an 
Appendix.    Glasg.  1833. 

A  Review  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wardlaw*s  Sermon  on  the  Mil- 
lennium ;  with  an  Answer  to  his  Arguments  against  the  Mil- 
lennial Resurrection  and  Reign  of  the  Saints  and  Martyrs  of 
Jesu&     Second  Edition,  with  an  Appendix.     Glasg.  1833. 

The  Pre-Millennial  Advent  of  Messiah  Demonstrated  from 
the  Scriptures.  First  printed  in  the  Christian  Observer. 
Second  Edition.    Glasg.  1833.    Thu^i  edition. 

The  Doctrine  of  the  Millennial  Advent  and  Reign  of  Mes- 
siah vindicated  from  the  Objections  of  the  Edinburgh  Theo- 
logical Magazine.  With  an  Appendix,  containing  Remarks 
on  Dr.  Hamilton's  recent  Works  on  Millenarianism.  Second 
Edition,  with  some  Strictures  on  a  Review  of  the  Author's 
Pre-millennial  Advent  of  Messiah,  &c.,  in  a  late  Number  of 
the  Edinburgh  Christian  Instructor.    1834. 

Strictures  on  Mr.  Frere's  Pamphlet  on  the  General  Struc- 
ture of  the  Apocalypse ;  being  an  Appendix  to  the  Scheme  of 
Prophetical  Arrangement  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving  and  Mr. 
Frere,  critically  examined. 

A  Critical  Examination  of  some  of  the  Fundamental  Prin- 
ciples of  the  Rev.  George  Stanley  Faber's  Sacred  Calendar  of 
Prophecy,  with  an  Answer  to  his  Arguments  against  the 
Millennial  Advent  and  Reign  of  Messiah. 

Strictures  on  certain  leading  Positions  and  Interpretations 
of  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving's  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse. 

Strictures  on  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Maitland's  four  Pamphlets  on 
Prophecy,  and  in  Vindication  of  the  Protestant  Principles  of 
Prophetic  Interpretation.    1830,  8vo. 

The  Jnbilean  Chronology  of  the  Seventh  Trumpet  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  the  Judgment  of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  Dan. 
viL  9.  With  a  brief  account  of  the  Discoveries  of  Mons.  de 
Chesaux,  as  to  the  great  Astronomical  Cycles  of  2300  and 
1260  years,  and  theur  difierence  1040  years.    Glasg.  1834. 

The  Political  Destiny  of  the  Earth  as  revealed  in  the  Bible. 
Second  edition,  enlarged. 

The  Chronology  of  Israel  and  the  Jews,  firom  the  Exodus 
to  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans.    Glasg.  1835. 

The  Fulness  of  the  Times ;  being  an  Analysis  of  the  Chro- 


nology of  tbe  Seventy.  In  Two  Parts.  With  an  Introdiictoi7 
Dissertation,  containing  Strictures  on  the  Rev.  E.  Bicker- 
steth's  Scheme  of  Scripture  Chronology.    Lond.  1836. 

A  Synopsis  of  Chronology,  firom  tbe  Era  of  Creation,  ac- 
cording to  the  Septuagint,  to  the  year  1887.    Lond.  1837. 

A  Supplement  to  a  Dissertation  on  the  Seals  and  Tmm- 
pets  of  the  Apocaljrpee,  and  the  Prophetical  Period  of  Twelve 
Hundred  and  Sixty  Years.    Lond.  1838.    Part  ii.  1842. 

The  Septuagint  and  Hebrew  Chronologies  Tried  by  tbe 
Test  of  their  Internal  Scientific  Evidence;  with  a  Table  horn 
Creation  to  tbe  Accession  of  Usziah  in  b.  c  810,  showing 
their  Jubilean  Differences  at  each  Date.    Lond.  1838. 

The  Scientific  Chronology  of  the  Year  1839,  a  Sign  of  the 
near  approach  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.     Lond.  1839. 

A  Supplement  to  the  above,  comprising  the  Arithmetical 
Solution  and  Chronological  Application  of  the  Number  666. 

The  Season  of  the  End,  being  a  View  of  the  Scientific 
Times  of  the  year  1840  (computed  as  ending  on  the  30th 
Adar,  March  23d,  1841);  with  prefistoiy  remarks  on  Thaories 
of  Geology  as  opposed  to  the  Scriptures,  and  an  appendant 
dissertation  on  the  dates  of  the  Natmtj  and  Pasnon, 
London,  1841,  8vo. 

CUNNING tiAMf  Alexander,  an  historical 
writer  of  some  note,  son  of  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Ganningham,  minister  of  Ettrick,  was  bom  there 
in  1654.  He  acquired  the  elementary  branches  of 
his  education  at  home,  and  according  to  Che  cus- 
tom of  the  times,  went  to  Holland  to  finish  hia 
studies.  In  1688  he  accompanied  tbe  prince  of 
Orange  to  England.  He  afterwards  became  tutor 
and  trayelling  companion  to  the  earl  of  Hyndford, 
and  his  brother,  the  Hon.  William  Carmlchael; 
subsequently  to  John  Lord  Lorn,  afterwards  duke 
of  Argyle  and  Greenwich ;  and  thereafter  to  Vis- 
count Lonsdale.  He  seems  to  have  been  em- 
ployed by  the  English  ministry  in  some  political 
negociations  on  the  Continent,  and  we  are  inform- 
ed that  he  sent  an  exact  account  to  Eiug  William, 
with  whom  he  was  personally  acquainted,  of  the 
military  preparations  throughout  France.  In 
Carstairs^  State  Papers,  published  by  Dr.  Mac- 
Cormick,  there  are  two  letters  from  Mr.  Cunning- 
ham, dated  Pai'is,  August  22  and  26, 1701,  giving 
an  account  of  his  conferences  with  the  French 
minister,  relative  to  the  Scottish  trade  with  France. 
In  1703  he  visited  Hanover,  and  was  graciously 
received  by  the  elector  and  the  princess  Sophia. 
On  the  accession  of  George  the  First  he  was  sent 
as  Biitish  envoy  to  Venice,  where  he  resided  from 
1715  to  1720.  He  died  at  London  in  1737,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  83.    His  works  are : 

Animadversiones  in  R.  Bentleii  notas  et  enMndatioDefi  in 
Q.  Horatium  FlaocuuL    Lond.  1721,  8vo. 
Horatius  denuo  castigatus  in  usom  B.  BeotleiL    Hague, 


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CUNNINGHAM, 


749 


THOMAS  MOUNSEY. 


1721,  2  vols.  8vo.    Lond  1722,  8ro.    Thb  has  been  thought 
hy  some  to  have  been  edited  by  another  of  the  same  name. 

The  History  of  Great  Britain  from  the  Revolution  in  1688, 
to  the  Accession  of  George  L  To  which  is  prefixed,  An  Ac- 
count of  Mr.  Cunningham  and  his  Writings.  Lond.  1787,  2 
vols.  4to.  This- work  was  written  by  Mr.  C.  in  Latin,  trans- 
lated into  English  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Thomson,  and 
published  by  Thomas  Hollingbeny,  D.D. 

CUNNINGHAM,  Alexander,  a  critic  of  ac- 
knowledged learning,  often  confounded  with  the 
preceding,  was  a  native  of  Ayrshire.  Early  in 
life  he  went  to  Holland,  where  he  is  supposed  to 

'have  taught  the  civil  and  canon  law.  He  pub- 
lished the  works  of  Horace,  with  animadversions 
on  Bentley's  edition  of  that  poet,  in  2  vols.  8vo, 
1721.  He  died  at  the  Hague  in  December  1780. 
CUNNINGHAM,  Charles,  an  historical  paint- 
er of  considerable  genius,  was  bom  in  Scotland  in 
1741.  He  early  displayed  such  a  capacitor  for  de- 
sign and^such  a  lively  imagination  that  his  friends 
sent  him  to  Italy,  where  he  had  for  his  master 
Haphael  Mengs.  After  finishing  his  studies  he 
went  to  Russia,  where  ^e  painted  several  histori- 
cal pictures  for  Prince  Potemkin.  His  success 
was  so  brilliant  that  he  resolved  to  settle  in  St. 
Petersburg,  but  the  rigour  of  the  climate  affected 
his  health,  and  he  was  obliged)  in  consequence,  to 
quit  Russia.  The  glory  surrounding  the  name 
and  deeds  of  Frederick  the  Great  allured  him  to 
Piiissia.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Berlin  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts, 
and  painted  several  pictures  the  subjects  of  which 
were  taken  from  Prussian  history,  and  of  which 
Frederick  was  generally  the  hero.  Of  these,  the 
battle  of  Hochku*k,  fought  Oct.  14,  1758,  in  which 
Frederick  was  surprised  by  Marshal  Daun,  and 
defeated,  was  the  most  celebrated.  The  academy 
expressed  its  admiration  of  this  picture  in  terms 
which  were  alike  honourable  to  the  aits  and  the 
artist.  The  king,  Frederick  William  II.,  wishing 
to  reward  Cunningham  for  this  great  work  with 
something  more  substantial  than  thanks,  ordered 
his  minister  to  enter  his  name  for  the  first  pension 
which  should  fall  vacant.  This  intention  was  ren- 
dered nugatory,  however,  by  the  premature  death 
of  Cunningham,  which  took  place  in  1789. 

CUNNINGHAM,  Thomas  Mounsey,  a  lyric 
poet  of  considerable  merit,  second  son  of  John 
Cunningham,  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Harley,  and 
elder  brother  of  Allan  Cunningham,  was  born  at 

/ 


Culfaud,  in  the  county  of  Kirkcudbright,  J  unc  25th, 
1776,  and  was  named  after  Dr.  Mounsey  of  Ram- 
merscales,  near  Lochmaben*  His  father,  who  was 
a  farmer,  being  unsuccessful  in  his  speculations, 
relinquished  agriculture  on- his  own  account,  and 
became  steward  or  factor  to  Mr.  Syme  of  Barn- 
caillie,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  went 
with  his  family  to  reside  at  Blackwood  on  the 
Nith,  the  seat  of  Copland  of  Collieston.  Thomas 
Cunningham  received  the  first  part  of  his  educa- 
tion at  Kellieston  school,  in  that  neighbourhood, 
and  was  afterwards  removed  to  the  schools  of 
Dumfries,  where,  to  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic, he  added  book-keeping,  mathematics,  a 
good  deal  of  French,  and  a  little  Latin.  When  he 
was  about  sixteen,  he  became  clerk  to  John  Max- 
well of  Terraughty,  a  distant  connection  of  his 
mother,  with  whom  he  did  not  long  continue. 
Having  been  offered  a  clerkship  in  a  mercantile 
house  in  South  Carolina,  he  was  preparing  to  set 
out,  when  Mr.  Patrick  Miller  of  Dalswinton,  to 
whom  his  father  was  now  engaged  as  steward, 
being  consulted,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  he 
should  not  go,  and  Thomas  was  apprenticed,  in- 
stead, to  a  neighbouring  millwright.  He  began 
when  very  young  to  write  verses  in  the  language 
of  his  district,  and  in  a  strain  of  country  humour 
calculated  to  please  a  rustic  audience.  Ilia  first 
poem  of  a  graver  kind  was  called  the  ^Ilar'st 
Kim,'  descriptive  of  a  farm-house  scene  at  the 
conclusion  of  harvest,  written  in  1797.  On  the 
expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  in  October  of  that 
year,  he  went  to  England,  and  obtained  employ- 
ment at  Rotherham.  The  parting  scene  with  his 
family  he  embodied  in  a  little  poem  called  *The 
Traveller.'  His  employer  having  become  bank- 
rupt, he  made  his  way  to  London,  and  began  to 
entertain  a  design  of  going  to  the  West  Indies,  on 
a  speculation  of  sugar-mills ;  but  his  former  mas- 
ter having  recommenced  business  at  Lynn,  in 
Norfolk,  he  was  induced  to  return  to  his  employ- 
ment. He  afterwards  went  to  Wiltshire,  and 
subsequently  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Cambridge. 
While  here,  he  wrote  his  exquisite  song,  'The 
Hills  o'  Gallowa' ;'  also,  a  satirical  poem,  styled 
*  The  Cambridgeshire  Gailand,'  and  a  more  seri- 
ous one,  called  *  The  Unco  Grave. '  In  '  Brash  and 
Reid's  Poetry,  original  and  selected,'  will  be  found 


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CUNNINGHAM, 


750 


ALLAN. 


his  '  Har'st  Home,'  the  first  of  his  pieces,  we  be- 
lieve, that  appeared  in  priut.  He  now  became  a 
constant  contributor  to  the  Edinburgh  Magazine, 
to  which  he  sent  not  only  poems  and  songs,  bat 
also,  some  yeai-s  subsequently,  Sketches  of  Modem 
Society,  Stories  of  the  Olden  Time,  Snatches  of 
Antiquarianism,  and  Scraps  of  Song  and  Ballad. 
The  Ettrick  Shepherd  was  so  much  struck  with 
the  native  force  and  originality  of  his  strains,  that 
he  addressed  a  poetical  epistle  to  him  in  that 
periodical,  a  reply  to  which,  by  Cunningham,  also 
in  verse,  shortly  afterwards  appeared  in  the  same 
Magazine. 

Having  gone  to  Dover  in  seai-ch  of  employment, 
Cunningham  was  there  in  August  1805,  and 
witnessed  that  naval  combat  between  our  cruisers 
and  the  French  flotilla,  in  which  Lieutenant 
Marshall  fell.  One  of  his  poems  written  about 
this  time  was  entitled  '  London,'  and  had  as  little 
of  the  ix>mantic  in  it  as  the  gi*eat  city  itself.  He 
subsequently  settled  in  the  metropolis,  having 
obtained  employment  in  the  establishment  of  Mr. 
Rennie.  He  afterwards  became  foreman  to  a  Mr. 
Dickson,  and  on  quitting  him,  he  undertook  the 
superintendence  of  Fowler's  chain  cable  manu- 
factory near  the  I^ondon  Docks.  A  clerkship  be- 
coming vacant  in  Rennie's  establishment,  he  was, 
in  1812,  re-engaged  there,  and  latterly  became 
chief  clerk,  with  liberty  to  admit  his  eldest  son  as 
an  assistant.  In  1809,  when  the  Ettrick  Shepherd 
planned  *  The  Forest  Minstrel,'  he  requested  six- 
teen pages  or  so  of  verse  from  'Nithsdale's  lost 
and  darling  Cunningham,'  who  permitted  several 
of  his  shorter  pieces  to  appear  in  that  collection. 
He  had  ceased  to  write  anything,  either  in  prose 
or  poetry,  for  many  years.  A  poem,  called 
'  Brakenfell,'  which  he  composed  in  1818,  and 
the  scene  of  which  was  laid  at  Blackwood  on 
Nithside,  is  highly  spoken  of  by  hb  brother,  who 
tells  us  that,  from  blighted  views  in  literature,  in 
his  latter  years  he  burnt  many  of  his  manuscript 
tales  and  poems,  and  'Brakenfell'  among  the  rest. 
On  the  23d  October  1834,  just  one  week  after  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Mr.  Olver,  a  South 
American  merchant  of  re^ectability,  Cunningham 
was  seized  with  ch(dera,  and  after  eight  hours' 
severe  illness,  expired  a  little  after  twelve  o'clock 
at  night.    The  chief  characteristics  of  his  poetry 


are  tenderness,  oddity,  and  humour.  Besides  the 
pieces  specified,  his  ^  Hallowmass  Eve,'  and  *•  Mai^ 
Ogilvy,'  are  mentioned  as  happy  Instances  of  the 
romantic  and  the  imaginative. 

CUNNINGHAM,  Allan,  a  poet  and  novelist, 
was  bom  at  Blackwood,  near  Dalswinton,  in  Dom- 
fries-shire,  on  the  7th  December,  1784.  His  father 
was  gardener  to  a  gentleman  in  that  neighbour- 
hood, but  soon  after  Allan's  birth,  he  became  fac- 
tor or  land-steward  to  Mr.  Miller  of  Dalswinton, 
the  landlord  of  Bums  the  poet,  at  Ellisland.  After 
receiving  the  rudiments  of  his  education,  Allan 
was  taken  from  school,  when  only  eleven  years  of 
age,  and  apprenticed  as  a  stone-mason  to  an  uncle 
of  his,  who  was  a  country  builder  in  considerable 
business,  with  the  view  of  joining  or  succeeding 
him  In  his  trade ;  but  this  project  was  never  car- 
ried into  execution.  Notwithstanding  the  disad- 
vantageous circumstances  under  which  he  entered 
on  life,  he  contrived  to  acquire  a  considerable 
amount  of  varied  information,  from  great  though 
desultory  reading.  He  early  contributed  poetical 
effusions  to  the  periodical  works  of  the  day,  and 
nfade  a  pilgrimage  on  foot  to  Edinburgh  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  seeing  the  author  of  *  Marmion,' 
as  he  passed  along  the  street.  He  afterwards,  in 
1820,  had  the  opportunity  of  being  introduced  to 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  when  he  communicated  to  him 
Sir  Francis  Chantrey's  wish  that  he  should  sit  to 
him  for  his  bust.  When  Cromek,  the  London 
engraver,  visited  Scotland,  for  the  purpose  of  col- 
lecting any  unpublished  fragments  of  Bums  that 
could  be  gleaned,  he  was  du*ected  to  Allan  Cun- 
ningham as  the  most  likely  person  to  assist  him 
in  his  researches.  Allan  was  then  a  journeyman 
stonemason  and  a  married  man.  He  advised 
Cromek  to  form  a  collection  of  the  ancient  ballads 
and  songs  of  Nithsdale  and  Galloway,  and  wrote 
various  happy  imitations  of  them  which  he  sent 
to  Cromek  as  genuine  relics  of  ancient  song. 
Indeed,  nearly  all  the  songs  and  fragments  of  verse 
in  Cromek's  '  Remains  of  Nithsdale  and  Galloway 
Song,'  published  in  1810,  are  of  Cunningham's 
composition,  though  believed  by  Cromek,  who  was 
imposed  upon  by  their  beauty,  to  be  undoubted 
originals.  The  same  year  (1810)  Allan  Cunning- 
ham removed  to  I^ndon,  and  was  for  some  time 
employed  as  a  writer  for  the  newspapers.     In 


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CUNNINGHAM. 


751 


CURRIE. 


1814  be  wiu»  tiugdj^ed  as  clerk  oi'  the  works,  or  su- 
perintendent, in  the  studio  of  Sir  Francis  Glian- 
trej,  the  eminent  sculptor,  in  whose  establishment 
he  continued  till  his  death.  He  was  a  most  in- 
dustrious writer,  and  published  various  works  in 
different  departments  of  literature,  a  list  of  which 
is  subjoined.  Previous  to  the  publication  of  his 
^  Sir  Marmaduke  Maxwell,'  in  1822,  he  submitted 
the  MS.  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  for  his  opinion  and 
advice,  ithich  the  latter  conveyed  in  two  lettere, 
inserted  in  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott.  He  highly 
approved  of  the  drama,  though  he  did  not  think 
it  altogether  fitted  for  the  stage.  Cunningham*s 
collection  of  'The  Songs  of  Scotland,'  with  notes, 
appeared  in  1835.  He  also  edited  an  edition  of 
the  works  of  Burns,  in  eight  volumes,  to  which  he 
prefixed  a  life  of  the  poet,  intei-spersed  with  ori- 
ginal anecdotes  and  enriched  with  new  informa- 
tion. He  was  a  boy  of  twelve  yeara  of  age  at  the 
time  of  Bums'  death,  and  as  he  saw  him  just  pre- 
vious to  th%t  event,  and  was  a  witness  of  his 
funeral,  his  account  of  the  closing  scenes  of  the 
poet's  life,  and  the  state  of  feeling  in  Dumfries  at 
the  time,  is  intensely  interesting.  His  last  work, 
completed  just  two  days  before  hb  death,  was  the 
life  of  his  friend,  Sir  David  Wilkie,  the  distin- 
guished artist,  in  three  volumes.  Allan  Cunning- 
ham died  suddenly  of  apoplexy,  at  his  house  27 
Lower  Belgrave  Place,  London,  on  the  29th  Oc- 
tober, 1842,  aged  58.  Through  the  influence  of 
Sur  Walter  Scott,  two  of  Mr.  Cunningham's  sons 
obtained,  in  1828,  cadetships  in  the  ser>'ice  of  the 
East  India  Company.    He  left  two  other  sons. 

Allan  Cunningham's  genius  was  strong,  vigor- 
ous, and  earnest,  but  not  well  regulated.  It  has 
been  remarked  of  him  that  his  taste  and  attain- 
ments in  the  fine  arts  were  as  remarkable  a  fea- 
ture in  his  history  as  his  early  ballad  strains, 
which  undoubtedly  are  his  best  poetical  effusions. 
His  prose  style,  when  engaged  on  a  congenial  sub- 
ject, was  justly  admired  for  its  force  and  freedom. 
Strong  nationality  and  inextinguishable  ardour 
formed  conspicuous  traits  in  his  character.  His 
works  are : 


Sir  Mannadnke  MaxweU,  a  dramatio  poem,  foonoed  on 
border  story  and  sapentition ;  the  Mermaid  of  Qallowaj ;  the 
Legend  of  Richard  Faolder;  and  twenty  Scottish  Songs. 
Iwonden,  1822, 12mo. 


Traditional  Tales  of  EngUah  and  Scottish  Peasants.  2 
vols.  12mo.     London,  1822. 

The  Songs  of  Scotland,  ancient  and  modem,  with  an  Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  historical  and  critical,  and  Characters  of 
the  Lyric  Poets.    London,  1825,  4  vols.  8to. 

Paul  Jones.    A  Romance,  in  8  vols.  8vo.    Edin.  1826. 

Sir  Michael  Scott  A  Romance.  London,  1828.  8  vols. 
12mo. 

Lord  Roldan.    A  Novel  in  8  vols. 

The  Maid  of  Elvar.  A  rustic  epic,  in  12  parts.  London, 
1832,  8vo. 

The  Works  of  Bums,  with  a  Life  of  the  PoeL    8  vols. 

Lives  of  Eminent  British  Painters,  Sculptors,  and  Archi- 
tects. London,  1829-1833.  6  vols.  8vo.  The  most  popular 
of  his  prose  works,  contributed  to  Murray *s  Family  Libnury. 

Life  of  Sir  David  Wilkie,  with  his  Journals,  Tom-s,  and 
Critical  Remarks  on  Works  of  Art,  and  a  Selection  from  his 
Correspondence.    London,  1843,  3  vols.  8vo. 


CuRRiB,  a  surname  which  appears  to  have  been  derived 
from  Koria  or  Coria^  a  Roman  station.  The  parish  of  Gurrie, 
in  Mid  Lothian,  is  one  of  those  districts  which  still  retain 
their  ancient  Latin  appellation. 

Piers  de  Cnrrie,  descended  from  the  family  of  Cnrrie  of  that 
ilk,  in  Annandale,  is  celebrated  in  the  Norse  Chronicle,  as 
well  as  in  old  Scottish  balhtd,  for  his  exploits  at  the  battle  ol 
Largs,  where  he  was  slain  in  1263. 

The  elder  branch  of  the  Curries  of  that  ilk  merged  in  the 
Johnstones  of  Annandale,  by  the  marriage  of  one  of  that 
family  with  the  heiress  of  Cnrrie  about  1540.  From  a  cadet, 
Outhbert  Carrie,  of  Kirklands,  Dunse,  living  about  1670,  de- 
scended William  Currie,  (died  in  1681,)  ancestor  by  a  younger 
son,  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Currie,  the  biographer  of  Bums  (of 
whom  a  notice  follows);  while  from  hb  eldest  son  was  de- 
scended Sir  Frederick  Currie,  baronet,  (created  17th  Decem- 
ber 1846,)  one  of  the  secretaries  to  the  government  in  India; 
a  member  of  the  supreme  council  hi  India;  and  a  director  of 
the  £.  1.  C.    Thrice  married:  issue,  8  sons  and  3  daughters. 

CURRIE,  James,  an  eminent  physician,  the 
biographer  of  Bums,  was  the  son  of  the  Rev. 
James  Carrie,  minister  of  Ku*kpatrick-Flemi ng  in 
Dumfries-shire,  where  he  was  bom.  May  31, 1756. 
After  receiying  the  radiments  of  education  at  the 
parish  school  of  Middlebie,  of  which  parish  his 
father  had  become  minister,  he  was  sent  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  to  a  seminary  at  Dun;ifries,  conducted  by 
Dr.  Chapman,  the  author  of  a  work  on  education. 
He  afterwards  went  to  Virginia  with  a  view  to  tlie 
mercantile  profession ;  but  the  dissensions  between 
6i*eat  Britain  and  her  American  colonies,  which 
soon  put  a  stop  to  the  trade  of  the  two  countries, 
and  the  ungenerous  treatment  of  his  employers, 
disgusted  him  with  commerce,  and  turning  his 
attention  to  politics,  he  published  in  an  American 
paper,  under  the  signature  of  *An  Old  Man,*  a 
series  of  letters  in  defence  of  the  right  of  the  mother 
country  to  tax  her  colonies.  He  returned  to  his 
native  country  in  1776,  and  studied  medicine  at 


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CURRIE. 


762 


CURTEIS. 


Ediiibai*gb  till  1780.  Having  procured  au  uitru- 
duction  to  General  Sir  William  Erskine,  he  was 
appointed  by  bim  ensign  and  surgeon^s  assistant 
«n  bis  own  regiment.  Witb  the  view  of  obtaining 
the  situation  of  physician,  or  assistant  physician, 
to  the  forces,  with  an  expedition  then  going  out  to 
Jamaica,  be  took  bis  degree  of  M.D.  at  Glasgow, 
and  immediately  proceeded  to  London.  On  his 
arrival  in  the  metropolis,  however,  he  found  that 
the  appointment  bad  been  given  to  another.  By 
the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  was  induced,  in  Oc- 
tober 1780,  to  settle  in  Liverpool,  where  he  was 
soon  elected  one  of  the  physicians  to  the  Lifirmary, 
and  obtained  an  extensive  practice.  In  1783  he 
married  Lncy  Wallace,  daughter  of  a  respectable 
merchant,  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  hero  of 
Scotland ;  and  by  her  be  had  a  numerous  family. 

In  conjunction  with  Mr.  Roscoe,  and  the  late 
Mr.  William  Rathbone,  Dr.  Currie  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  literary  club,  the  first  institution  of  the 
kind  in  Liverpool.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Literary  Society  at  Manchester,  to  whose 
Transactions  he  contributed  some  ingenious  papers. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  London  Medical 
Society  in  1790;  and  in  1791  a  fellow  of  that  So- 
ciety. His  various  medical  publications  raised  his 
name  very  high,  but  he  was  less  successful  in  his 
miscellaneous  political  writings.  These  hitter 
were  invariably  on  the  unpopular  side ;  and  a  let- 
ter which  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Fitt  in  1793  raised 
him  a  host  of  enemies.  During  an  excursion 
which  he  made  into  Scotland  in  1792,  on  account 
of  his  health,  he  bad  become  personally  acquainted 
with  Robert  Bums.  On  the  death  of  the  poet,  at 
the  request  of  his  old  friend  Mr.  Syme  of  Ryedale, 
and  for  the  benefit  of  Bums'  family,  he  undertook 
the  superintendence  of  the  first  complete  edition 


uf  his  works,  with  an  account  of  his  life,  and  criti- 
cisms on  his  writings,  which  was  published  In 
1800,  in  4  vols.  8vo. 

In  1804  Dr.  Currie  was  seriously  attacked  by  a 
pulmonary  complaint,  to  which  he  had  been  for 
many  years  subject ;  and  having  relinquished  his 
practice  at  Liverpool,  he  spent  the  ensuing  winter 
alternately  at  Bath  and  Clifton.  In  March  1805 
he  felt  himself  so  far  recovered,  as  to  take  a  house 
at  Bath  and  commence  practice  there.  But  all  his 
complaints  returning  with  increased  violence,  he 
went,  as  a  last  resource,  to  Sidmouth  in  Devon- 
shire, where  he  died,  August  31,  1805,  in  the  50th 
year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  widow  and  five  children. 
His  works  are : 

A  Letter,  Commerdal  and  Political,  addressed  to  the  Right 
Honourable  William  Pitt,  by  Jasper  Wilson,  Esq.  1793. 
Two  editions. 

Medical  Reports  on  the  Efiects  of  Water,  cold  and  wann, 
as  a  Remedy  in  Fever  and  Febrile  Diseases,  whether  applied 
to  the  surface  of  the  Body,  or  used  as  a  Drink,  with  Obserta- 
tions  on  the  Nature  of  Ferer,  and  on  the  Effects  of  Opuro, 
Alcohol,  and  Inanition.  Liverpool^  1797,  8to.  2d  edition, 
enlarged  and  corrected.  1801,  2  vols.  8vo.  3d  edit  18(M, 
2  vols.  8vo.    5th  edit  1814,  2  vols.  8vo. 

The  Works  of  Robert  Bums,  with  an  Account  of  his  Life, 
and  a  Criticism  on  his  Writings.  To  which  are  prefixed. 
Some  Observations  on  the  Character  and  Condition  of  the 
Scottish  Peasantry.  Liverpool,  1800,  4  vols.  8vo.  New  edit 
Edin.  1818,  4  vols.  12mo.    Various  ecStions. 

Of  Tetanus,  and  of  Convulsive  Disorders,  Mem.  Med.  iil 
p.  147. 

Account  of  the  Remarkable  Effects  of  a  Shipwreck  on  the 
Mariners ;  with  Experiments  and  Observations  on  the  Influ- 
ence of  Immersion  in  Fresh  and  Salt  Water,  Hot  aad  Cold, 
on  the  Powers  of  the  Living  Body.  FhiL  Tnns.  Abr.  xviL 
198.    1792. 


'I      ! 


CnRTEis,  a  surname  evidently  deduced  from  a  personal 
quality,  being  the  ancient  form  of  q>elling  the  adjective  ccmr- 
teous.    Chaucer  says  of  his  "  young  squier  " — 

"CWtcif  he  was,  gentn  and  affiOde.** 

There  are  two  English  baronets  of  Uiis  nama 


END  OF  VOLUME  FIRST 


TCLUurroir  akd  mackab,  panrntas,  xonranBOB 


S\ 


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